On FPC we have spent a good deal of time debating the pre manifesto. A couple of weeks ago we had a marathon 4 and 3/4 hour jobby. We are no spaniels eagerly rolling over for our tummies to be tickled. Most of us have been elected by our peers on a clear mandate, one we abandon at our peril. Of course, we all want to be helpful to our elders and betters, but, none of us ever forget - this great party of ours still retains a legitimacy that the other two Tory parties have abandoned - namely democratic ...
Believe it or not, I would much rather agree with my political counterparts than disagree. Week in week out we see the adversarial goings-on at Westminster - what David Cameron calls the Punch and Judy show of British politics. A show which he has pledged to change... Just like our voting system, this way of doing politics [...]
On Tuesday morning I met up with Amanda Bigden from Victim Support and Cath Champion, one of her community advocates, at the Chapel Park Community Centre in St Leonards. They told me about the new initiative they are leading in East Sussex to support the victims of hate crime. It was great to learn about this, and the [...]
On Monday I was lucky enough to be invited to the Brickwall Hotel in Sedlescombe to join the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the Fellowship of St Nicholas. It was very interesting to rub shoulders with some of 'the great and the good of the area' as one wag had it. I don't think I qualified as [...]
Planning committee this afternoon had one of those decisions that I wish we never had to make. An empty site on a busy road into Stockton, a discount retail chain wanting to build a supermarket on it, residents strongly in favour of it because they want to be able to buy things at a lower price than they currently can in the local shops, policies written relatively recently in an effort to
great to get the hits, but if you fancy a comment drop down a line.
The British Beer and Pub Association have warned that a staggering 50 pubs are closing each week. They put it down to the recession with hard up punters drinking at home as it's cheaper. Rural pubs are said to be the worst affected. I love pubs. There are few things in life more enjoyable than going down the local for a few pints of real ale. Yet, in many ways, I'm one of those people responsible for their decline as I spend more time drinking at home now than I did a few years ago - although in my defence ...
Thank you to both Bill Hernshaw and Paul from environmental services, who answered questions on parking and problems residents have had with bin collections.The numbers of residents attending is growing each month and i thank the residents for taking the time out to meet.
{mickey-mouse1} Gone are the old egalitarian days of queueing up on a first come, first served basis. The amusement parks of the 21st century reward those who are agile of both body and mind - and preferably have fatter than average wallets. A vacation in Orlando doesn't come cheap and if you're spending the bulk of your time visiting amusement parks, you want to be sure you're wasting as little of it as possible in sweltering queues. At the two Universal Studios theme parks, this is simplicity itself. You pay for it. You can buy an Express pass which allows ...
Yeah but, no but, yeah but, no but, yeah.
David Cameron apparently will get rid of the protesters that live on Parliament Square as he thinks it has become a "pretty poor place". First of all Mr Cameron claims he supports freedom of speech but then he goes on and makes the following comments. Now I am known for having controversial opinions on issues that are in my head due to a number of aspects some including culture, naivety but Mr Cameron shouldn't have the problem because he is a grown man and has lived life. Mr Cameron also has advisors and clearly he making contradicting comments in one ...
As a child of the space age, it is hard not to be disappointed in the fact that we do not have human beings in permanent Moon bases, and should have landed humans on Mars some time ago. On the other hand it is also easy to notice that space has been very largely the realm of state enterprises, whether that is American NASA, the Russian Cosmodrome, ESA of the Europeans or indeed the Chinese government. But, of course, various treaties have dictated that no part of space, including the Moon, may be owned in any way except, as the ...
It looks unlikely but who knows if we see us in the position of no overall control. I would hope the council are in the position of acted swiftly. What format do the readers see for the council.If The Labour vote was to collapse which i find highly unlikely who will hold the balance of power?i [...]
One fears the inevitable as cats get older. They slow down, they become impossible to insure - you try insuring a cat over the age of 12 - and, eventually, they die. Given that my five cats were born in 1991. 1992 and 1993, my luck had been pretty good. Victoria was the first to go last year, as cancer finally caused her to succumb. Franklin suffered a stroke and Eleanor fell to renal failure, all of them last year. That leaves me with Cincinnati, a big orange and white bruiser with a heart of gold and a purr which ...
Dear friend, Ever since I became leader of the Liberal Democrats I have been travelling the country, holding public meetings, listening and talking to the people I meet. The economy is in a mess, people are losing jobs and everywhere I go, people are angry at the way politicians have let them down. The two old parties don't really want...
Nick Clegg and a fresh start for Britain can be read here
If you haven't already voted in the Total Politics blog awards then please can you vote as soon as possible? I have written about the competition on a previous blog post and if you are finding it hard to pick blogs here is a list that you can choose from: • Irfan Ahmed's Blog (preferably Number 1) • Norfolk Blogger • LibDemBlogs • And another thing... • politicalbetting.com • Shane Greer • standard.co.uk - Paul Waugh • Himmelgarten Café • Liberal Burblings • Tory Bear - right-wing political gossip • The Speaker • Prawn Free Lembit • Sadie's Tavern • ...
I visited the improved Bracknell Longshot Lane recycle centre this week. I was quite impressed. There are now more bays, a well ordered drive through system and plenty of recycle waste options. I was able to recycle my water cartridge filters, shoes, Books, cloths and drink cartons. The staff were also very helpful and the site was very clean. Longshot Lane is open to 8pm during the summer weeks so I was able to go later on a work day. Bracknell Reading and Wokingham councils have formed an organisation called RE3 which is a partnership between Bracknell, Reading and Wokingham ...
Last week I linked to the story of "too-tall" photographer Alex Turner, who was arrested by Kent Police after taking some photos in Chatham High Street. Turner was stopped by police again on Sunday, and asked to show his ID. The Register reports: Turner, perhaps foolishly, returned to the scene of his earlier crime (Chatham High St) late on Sunday to see whether the local community "would be... equally protected from suspected terrorism by night as it would be by day". The answer is yes. CCTV operators spotted him taking photos. A police car arrived and officers asked him to ...
Sorry for the lack of posting over the last few days, but I was unprepared for the amount of vitriol that came at me for that "Ten Things..." post (not, I hasten to add, from my regular reader/commenters, who mostly kept civil, whether here or over on Charlotte's response – and I'm very impressed with [...]
{sunflowers}
With the Norwich North polling day tomorrow I best make my predictions before everyone else starts throwing them out all over the blogosphere. I think the Conservatives will take the seat but it will be tight and the Lib Dems will come second. I believe Labour will come third with the greens coming fourth behind them. This is going to create a lot of problems for Labour and Brown I think will have to go if the result is as predicted. With this result before the Conference periods start Brown is in for a tough time in my opinion at ...
To recap, readers may recall that, two months ago (it really was that long), I got my knickers in a twist over an article in the Telegraph about Jo Swinson MP and her expenses. I – and others – complained to the Telegraph – as well as the Guardian and the BBC. We [...]
I've been a more than a little surprised by the reaction of journalists and politicians to the fact that Chek Whyte is in deep financial trouble and facing bankruptcy. Chek came to Salford from Nottingham at the behest of Channel 4 to do the Secret Millionaire show a couple of years ago. He very generously [...]
Just a quick note to say that taking in to account what I am legally able to say, I will be twittering from the count on Friday. To follow me click on the Twitter link on the right. The count is being held in South Norfolk at the Norfolk Showground. I was there a few weeks ago and just had a signal on Vodafone, so fingers crossed I will be able to Twitter from there.
In time and only in time Will my grand design be revealed In leaf and bud and spreading bough My arching triumph of shade and light A patterned tapestry on the floor below My leaves, soft and green in Summer Are soon set ablaze by Autumn One moment crimson, the next gone As laughing in the wind I let go And they spiral down, out of control Through winter I keep the sky above Taut and stretched with brittle fingers My bark reveals the patina of my age Lichen on the north and up above A sprig of mistletoe clings ...
Over at The Guardian, Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik returns to the subject whence he first came to public attention: the threat to the Earth of an asteroid impact. Here's an excerpt: The discovery of what appears to be a large crater caused by an asteroid impact on Jupiter provides a graphic illustration of the destructive potential of this type of cosmic event. Sixty-five million years ago, the reign of the dinosaurs was brought to a fiery end by a cataclysmic impact with a 10km-wide asteroid. It will happen again - we just don't know when. However, for the first ...
I am currently looking for a local newspaper that will take on an intern so that I can get some writing experience, improve my skills and all in all become a better writer. I know what the chattering classes will have to say about this and the sly remarks they will make but at the end of the day I need some writing experience and its good to get it via a newspaper. If anyone knows of any newspapers that are taking on interns do let me know. On another note- I no longer have any connection with the work ...
For anyone who want to know more about the candidates views and opinions without lots of the bias shown in the BBC debate the night (where the audience was packed with Tory councillors from outside of Norwich North with them being allowed to ask preprepared questions), you can use the below links to get the answers from the No2ID debate held last Friday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SFXQyi5SVs - Question 1, ID Card - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqa4p23rtDg - Question 1, ID Cards - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9oFwBX7BY4 - Question 2, Afghanistan - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2znXyOks5YA - Question 2, Afghanistan - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjmZBb_08GU - Question ...
I suppose I should be pleased that infant formula manufacturer Nutricia, whose brands include Cow and Gate and Milupa, has been told off by the Advertising Standards Authority for claiming that their products could support babies' natural immune system, claims for which they could not produce credible evidence. But I'm not pleased. I'm fizzing mad. It's taken two years since Baby Milk Action asked the ASA to investigate, two years in which parents have been misled by these reprehensible advertisements, for this ruling to be made. And what sanctions are to be levied on this company? None. It gets a ...
Over at The Guardian's Comment Is Free website, Nick Clegg argues that a Westminster stitch-up has seen both main parties dodge reform demands in the dash for the recess door. Here's an excerpt: If someone had told me two months ago, in the middle of the expenses scandal, that MPs would go on their summer break without having rewritten the rules of British politics, I wouldn't have believed it. I thought the public demand for change was, for once, overwhelming. Yet, scandalously, that's what's happened. ... It is easy to understand the resistance to reform from the Conservatives. Maintenance of ...
The party has published a key paper which is to be debated at party Conference in September. A Fresh Start for Britain sets out our priorities in the run up to the General Election and how we intend to go through the process of prioritising our spending ambitions in the light of the mess the economy is in. The document set out on the website is, in effect, the introductory section setting out the main themes we want to concentrate on: Creating a sustainable economy, Building a fairer society and Cleaning up politics. I an confident that it does a ...
The disclosure appears in the latest annual report by Sir Christopher Rose, the chief surveillance commissioner. He said it was "of significant concern" that councils were conducting covert surveillance of individuals for purposes now banned under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, Ripa. Local councils were authorised to conduct nearly 5,000 "directed surveillance" missions in the [...]
Any comments source ,MEN Laura Spence July 22, 2009 A CENTRE for young offenders is being moved to a residential area in Salford – triggering an outcry from neighbours. The council has voted to move the youth offending service from a run-down townhouse in Encombe Place to a former housing office in St Simon Street, Blackfriars, in the [...]
The Norwich North by-election is the first in the south eastern part of England that I haven't been involved with for more than 15 years. Had I still been Deputy Director of Campaigns I would have spent much of the last few weeks in Norwich. It feels a little odd to know that as I write this our excellent by-election team, ably supported by my successor Victoria Marsom, will now be into the feverish last 24 hours or so of campaigning. I'm not in a position to know exactly how we are doing, but I do know that April Pond ...
A day off today, and a chance to do some bread-making with Emma. We make bread every so often, she enjoys it, and it is surprisingly easy (as Liz Williams regularly describes on her blog). We use flour grown locally (the farms are listed on the back of the packet) and milled at the Wessex Mill in Wantage bought at Added Ingredients in Abingdon. Today we used 'Six Seed Flour' which has produced lovely brown bread and rolls full of flavour and texture. We're sitting here eating it with some lovely Raspberry and Kiwi jam from Local Roots, another newish ...
In The Guardian today, Nick Clegg has a good piece criticising MPs for going on holiday before they have rewritten the rules of British politics as many of them were promising a couple of months ago at the height of the expenses scandal. This section stood out for me: Take MPs' expenses. Gordon Brown believes the changes already introduced and the recommendations from Sir Christopher Kelly due later in the year will suffice. Yet any political system that gives hundreds of MPs jobs for life, no questions asked, will always risk being abused. Hundreds of Labour and Conservative MPs are ...
The old Victorian sewers in Belfast are currently undergoing a £100m refurbishment scheme. But somebody at Northern Ireland Water said, "Hang on lads, I've got a great idea." The idea was to approach the BBC with a number of proposals to use the new six mile series of tunnels in programming. The idea that struck was the possibility to recreate the classic scene from The Italian Job where Michael Caine and the team flee through the sewers of Turin (although the ones in Coventry were used for the shoot). But who to do such a thing. Some say they are ...
You are invlited to register with our blog - if you include your blog or website URL, I will include you on our blogroll and links pages. Hope to see you signing up in your droves, and contributing as well!!! Regards Chris Hall Blog Administrator wp.chrisandeddie.info
This is the final Lib Dem leaflet that I delivered to my locality earlier today. I expect there will be good morning and knock-up leaflet to follow. The Tories are delivering what we in the Lib Dem call a "D's and P's leaflet", to their, as they call them "pledges". It's great following a Tory doing this sort of leafletting as it allows you to note down which houses are Tory for our canvassing records. With the Tory leaflet to their voters which I will count as a proper leaflet, and counting the fact that the Green's have had a ...
Iain Dale has a blog forecasting a tight finish but still a Conservative victory with a majority of 1-2′000. I think this is probably how it will end-up finishing. The interest will be in the lower placings and how we fare against a split and collapsing Labour vote. I am not convinced by our hype [...]
This is an exciting day for Liberal Democrat campaigners, with publication of a very short new set of our priorities for these tight economic times and an interview with Nick Clegg in which he tells us which priorities got dropped (highlighting at least one major blunder). Our new approach in two Twitter-style bites: "Lib Dems: no to business as usual! A Fresh Start For Britain: creating a sustainable economy; building a fair society; cleaning up politics." "Lib Dems: right on the banking crisis, environment, cleaning up politics and Iraq. The others were wrong. Who'll be right on the next mess?" ...
When I was very young and just out of school and adding up the open positions in my chemicals pitch equities book on the Stock Exchange I once added instead of subtracting the figure in one column. As a result, my pitch was carrying what it thought was a whopping great open position in a particular stock just as people were trying to sell. It looked like that mistake would cost the partners of my firm a small fortune. Not something that could not be made back in a few days of lucky breaks, but a setback at least. I ...
haha - I feel that one od the the google adverts on the libdemblog site may be slightly off the mark! I don't think that an advert for the Tories will garner much support there lol! Ahh the complexities of google adverts and their way of determining suitable sites to place adverts on!
http://www.gmp.police.uk/ Great idea and informative. Give it a go..
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: Nine out of ten 25-34 year old Brits visited a social networking site in May according to the latest figures from comScore, and amongst those aged 55+ that number is still up at 67%. But there's more to these figures than simply drawing the (predictable) conclusion that social networks have a key role in communications plans. That's because the number of hours which people spend on average on social network sites is relatively modest: 4.6 hours per month or just under 10 minutes per day. Given the volume of data which flows through social networks, ...
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending Emirates Festival Day at Vision @ Seabraes. Emirates Festival Day is a celebration of the strong links between the United Arab Emirates and Scotland, based on the sister-city relationship between Dubai and Dundee, home of the Al-Maktoum Institute. Coinciding with the Institute's Emirati student Scotland Summer School, the Festival brought together people from both Scotland and the UAE for networking and a forum discussion, and hosted an exhibition on the links between Scotland and the UAE. It was a thoroughly enjoyable event - here's a couple of photos from it :
Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Local Government What next? i am happy as long as they shift it , any comments....Wednesday 22nd July 2009 – 9:39a Councils admit to 'secret searches' of residents' rubbish More than 80 councils in England have admitted completing secret searches on householders' rubbish in an effort to find out how much [...]
Published by Julie Longton for Contour Housing Group in Housing , Communities Wednesday 22nd July 2009 – 11:53am Ross Hemmings from Contour Housing Group and resident Euna Chawatama Broughton residents showcased photographs, audio clips and films recently at an event at the Hershel Weiss Centre. Five residents were involved in a unique Community Reporters scheme and charged [...]
Here's what Tory frontbencher Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, shadow minister for trade and devlopment, has to say about the third runway at Heathrow: This is a very difficult and controversial issue. Although I voted to oppose the third runway, I am fully aware of the potential damage this might do to Britain's international air travel. ... So I expect this is an issue that will need to be revisited after the election." Local Lib Dem MP for Richmond Susan Kramer – who stepped down from the party's shadow cabninet to focus her energies on the campaign against Heathrow's expansion – has been ...
By Friday Latvia may go bust unless the IMF agrees to certain levels of support. This would have a serious knock-on effect right across the European Union. For some sobering background to all this see the postings on 'A Fistful of Euros' blog from Edward Hughes. Such as this one on the European Community memorandum muddling the IMF approach. The (European Community) document also stipulates that the government will have to report every month on all key aspects of spending and revenue, including providing a breakdown for each ministry as well as for local governments. These performance criteria, given the ...
I wonder what colour the gerbil was~? only joking Nick
I'm back from my hols (sunny weather thanks) and I bring tidings of the Google StreetBike (well more of a tricycle) spotted in the historic Tuscan town of Siena. It seems that the rider needs a mate to help read the map and also to push him off (although you can't see this in the third picture this is what he was doing). Unfortunately I didn't manage to set up a surveillance feedback loop as before as others on holiday didn't seem to be that bothered by this chance sighting (shocking I know!) and wanted to move on and see ...
Adam, Sasha and myself were all present at this month's meeting of Launceston Town Council, as were local community network officers Mark O'Brien and Rosemary Stone. The Community Networks are a key plank of the move to a Unitary Council. There is no point creating a single council for Cornwall if all the power is then going to be centralised in Truro. The Cornish capital is fifty miles away from Launceston and most local people do not make the trip there with any sort of regularity. They are certainly not going to be able to go there for council meetings. ...
350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe upper limit. We are already at 385.World leaders will meet in Copenhagen in December to craft a new global treaty on cutting emissions. What can you do to help Look at 350 web site by following the link HERE. Then look to see what you can do to help to show that Bath People Care. Some local Bath people are...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvriKQ9xHA4 New video blog - comments welcome
Over at The Independent, former Lib Dem leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown argues that the history of the Afghan war is one of continuous mistakes, and outlines the key factors which can transform defeat into success. Here's an excerpt: I start from the proposition that the war in Afghanistan is one we have to fight and must win. The cost of failure there is just too great. It includes the certain fall of Pakistan and the possible emergence of the world's first Jihadist Government with a nuclear weapon; the re-creation in Afghanistan of a lawless space open for the preparation and ...
Nick Clegg the leader of the LIberal Democrats has launched the Liberal Democrat way forward:.A mesage from Nick is reprodced below. Ever since I became leader of the Liberal Democrats I have been travelling the country, holding public meetings, listening and talking to the people I meet. The economy is in a mess, people are losing jobs and everywhere I go, people are angry at the way...
The Mirror have rightly commented on how out of touch David Cameron is with the public. John Bercow was right in saying that Cameron can never really connect with the ordinary person on the street, as he has never had to go through a day of hardship himself, as so many other people have. The Etonian is one of several amongst the shadow cabinet who have been privately educated and gone to Oxbridge. How can they truly represent the everyday person is beyond me. It links to a point I made in my blog "Misguided view of social inequality and ...
A few days ago, I came across on You Tube two old but still striking examples of the political narrative as party election broadcast. I remember both of the adverts well. They feature here in a documentary of some sort, about innovative advertising in New Zealand elections. The first is a New Zealand Labour Party broadcast from the 1969 general election campaign. The party had been out of office for nine years (three terms) and believed, as did many observers, that their turn was coming around again. Labour's slogan, after nearly a decade of conservative National Party rule, was "make ...
I had an interesting experience yesterday that probably wouldn't have happened except for my blogging. I happened to be at the Houses of Parliament around 10:00am. I was actually heading back to the tube but I noticed the anti-war protest encampment on Parliament Square (founded by Brian Haw) and was curious to know what they thought about David Cameron's announcement that he would try and get it cleared if he got into power. I am pretty sure if it wasn't for my blogging and activism I would have left it at that and just wondered but I keep finding myself ...
There was a news story about how teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases rose sharply amongst American school girls who were urged to avoid sex before marriage under George Bush's evangelically-driven education policy. And there seems to be greater incidence of teenage pregnancies and STDs in the southern states, where there is usually the greatest emphasis on abstinence and religion. Proof, if any were needed, of the need to provide the best contraceptive, and relationship advice possible in schools, and to keep God out of the classroom.
More anonymous e-mails bouncing around this morning. We are now informed that Ros Scott has refused to respond to the letter from "Agent Orange", stating: "I have a strict policy of not responding to anonymous communications" Fair enough - but it doesn't elucidate much for the rest of us. So, at Liberal Vision we thought we would help by putting a real person on the end of the queries to Ros. Here's an open letter sent to Ros this morning: Dear Baroness Ros Scott, Following comments made on Liberal Democrat Voice claiming that there is going to be no internal ...
The Conservatives in Totnes are selecting their candidate for the General Election as their current MP Anthony Steen announced he would stand down at the election (it should be noted he did claim rather a lot of expenses). However for their selection they will be mailing all local electors who will have a vote from the shortlist of three.
Yesterday i sat and listened to the level of investment which will go into their housing stock. I like my fellow councillors relish the thought of better housing for our residents. Not only this but the stimulus it will offer to our local economy.What saddens me is to hear of the hundreds of houses which [...]
Nick Clegg has given an in-depth interview to The Independent this morning which is effectively a flyer for the launch of yet another policy initiative; 'A Fresh Start for Britain' later today. This document is expected to the be the basis of discussion at our Autumn conference. The first two paragraphs outline some worrying contradictions; apparently [...]
I have just come back form a very moving leavers assembly at Twerton Infant School. To see the young children speaking so proudly of their school was a true reflection of the way that the School has improved over the past few years. Many parents of the School who were there to watch their children at the school on their last day were nearly brought to tears with emotion. It all goes...
To chime with Nick Clegg's launch today of the pre-manifesto 'A Fresh Start for Britain' document, there is a smart, fresh website: www.freshstart.nickclegg.com. For those who prefer just text, the document is reproduced in its entirity, below: A Fresh Start for Britain: Choosing a different, better future Dear friend, Ever since I became leader of the Liberal Democrats I have been travelling the country, holding public meetings, listening and talking to the people I meet. The economy is in a mess, people are losing jobs and everywhere I go, people are angry at the way politicians have let them down. ...
Alan Milburn's social mobility report has prompted numerous articles and comments regarding Labour's record in government in terms of their inability to have helped tackle the engrained inequalities in our education system. Rightly, many point to how Labour have made the social inequalities in society worse. However, one article I came across in the Telegraph by Simon Heffer seemed to have totally missed the point. Whilst I agree with him in that the Labour target of having 50% of people in higher education is unrealistic and actually unhelpful, I disagree with him in that people should be denied university because ...
Poor Labour. Not only do they face losing the Norwich North by-election, but their candidate Chris Ostrowski has gone down with suspected swine flu. (Genuine sympathies to him for a speedy recovery). Today's Eastern Daily Press assesses the currrent state of play HERE, including this snippet: Private Lib Dem canvassing suggests that the party is lying second to the Tories, on 24pc. But other party canvassers report that the Greens are performing strongly in traditional Labour areas. (Actually I'm not sure there's necessarily a discrepancy between those two reports). Vince is, as ever, ready with a quote: We know [Labour's] ...
Double Carpet over at PB has an interesting blog post on the latest MORI but the paragraph that caught my attention was the following: MORI, as Our Genial Host always states, only include those 100% certain to vote in their headline numbers, and as has been mentioned before on PB, it won't be until the Conference season has finished in October that we'll get more meaningful polls again.I agree with Double Carpet that the poll results after the general election need to be maintained by the political parties and the goal for the next general election needs to be set. ...
There's an in-depth interview with Nick Clegg in today's Independent trailing the launch later today of 'A Fresh Start for Britain', a document outlining the principles on which the Lib Dems will build our general election manifesto. Here's how the article starts: Nick Clegg will today jettison many of the Liberal Democrats' long-standing policy pledges in an attempt to convince voters they would make the deep spending cuts needed to fill the hole in the public finances. In an interview with The Independent, Mr Clegg revealed that many of the promises cherished by his party will be downgraded from official ...
I received a letter the other day announcing the closure of 'Personal Computer World magazine'. PCW was one of the first UK based computer magazines. I remember avidly reading it whilst saving my pocket money to buy my first computer a ZX81 back in 1981. PCW covered a wide range of computers and even in its later guise it was still an interesting read despite a little to much focus on windows I guess the market for computer magazines had become increasingly crowded and it was inevitable that in the current climate not all of them will survive. The publisher ...
There was good news for people who operate search engines - and by extension for the users of search engines, which is pretty much everyone on the internet - with a ruling last week from Justice Eady in favour of Google. The case involved a UK training company, Metropolitan International Schools (MIS), who viewed comments made about its courses on a reviews website run by a US company as libellous. Extracts of those reviews appeared in Google search results. The full story involves a complicated set of arguments about the relative liability of that US company, Google in the US, ...
The public know it, opposition MPs have raised it and the army are losing soldiers because of it, and finally a government minister has had the gits to admit we do have a shortage of helicopters in Afghanistan. The sad thing is that it takes a minister who is standing down to finally have the backbone to admit something that is so patently obvious to everyone else. On the same theme (of sorts) isn't it time, given the shortage of Chinooks in Afghanistan that the RAF considered suspending its Chinook display team and instead sent them and their crews in ...
Blogging has been non-existent this week as I'm down in the big smoke for a few days. People need to smile more in this city. Here's a round-up of what's been going on back in Birmingham: Soldiers from Birmingham and the West Midlands will be welcomed home today with a march through the city centre. A one-minute silence will be observed and I will be joining in from 100 miles away. The "Gym For Free" scheme, so successful in its trial across Ladywood, looks set to be rolled out across the city. Jewellery Quarter based company Life has developed the ...
Nick Clegg has given an interview in which he sets out the reality facing the party when it comes to draw up its manifesto for the next election in the face of a recession and the need for spending cuts to rebalance the budget. Mr. Clegg is clear that the party is not dropping key policies but that the financial mess that faces the next government will mean that some will take longer to bring in. Instead he has prioritised some key areas that will form the headlines of the offering put before electors when they come to vote on ...
Is this the sort of party that stands up for British values ? Update - Cath Elliott highlight the lies they tell on leaflets too.
In an interview with the Independent, Nick Clegg has promised to slash the number of spending commitments the party will take into the next General Election. "The circumstances are utterly different from anything in the last 15 years. Our shopping list of commitments will be far, far, far, far, far shorter," he said. "We will have to ask ourselves some immensely difficult questions about what we as a party can afford. A lot of cherished Lib Dem policies will have to go on the back burner. They will remain our aspirations. They will remain our policies. But we are not ...
I have just spotted this in yesterday's Daily Telegraph but nevertheless thought it was worth highlighting. It is no laughing matter. The paper reports that Pakistanis who send jokes about Asif Zardari by text message, email or blog risk being arrested and given a 14-year prison sentence. They say that the country's interior minister, Rehman Malik, announced the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been asked to trace electronically transmitted jokes that "slander the political leadership of the country" under the new Cyber Crimes Act. Mr Malik, said the move would punish the authors of "ill motivated and concocted stories through ...
Anonymous blogger "Agent Orange" has sent the following letter to Lib Dem President Ros Scott: Baroness Scott, In a debate about dealing with sleaze on Liberal Democrat Voice a poster has made the following claims: "We are still waiting for Party President Baroness Scott to provide a report on how the party is progressing with an 'independent' audit of peers expenses. Her silence is hardly inspiring confidence." That's because there isn't going to be - and there never was going to be - an independent audit of Lib Dem peers expenses. The independent review referred to in Ros Scott's statement ...
Commenting on reports that the decision on the replacement of Britain's Trident submarines will now be delayed until next year, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: "The chaos and confusion surrounding Gordon Brown's machinations on Trident is staggering. "Ministers had always insisted the first contracts for replacing the submarines had to be signed this...
My plan for this morning was to write something about the latest knife crime figures. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to track down the data I'd need to draw conclusions. There's no shortage of problems in interpreting what's gone on. What do we mean by knife-related violence? Is a small increase in deaths just down to random variation? What's the split between domestic and non-domestic attacks? What's the geographic spread? Are any of the changes statistically significant? How reliable is the data from hospital admissions? The only general comment I'll make is that, when you look at changes in ...
Liberal England is currently running a quiz with a copy of James Hogg's biography of James Robertson Justice as a prize. The questions are here and the quiz closes at 23:59 on Monday 27 July 2009. The book was reviewed in the Spectator by Roger Lewis:Delving into Justice's private life has disclosed marvellous lies and mysteries, starting with the professional Scottishness. Justice was actually born in south London and raised in Bromley. He played rugby for Beckenham alongside Johnny Cradock, future husband of the fearless Fanny.Justice's decision to adopt the Robertson tartan may have had to do with a battle ...
This is a hoot. Vanity Fair asked their literary editor, their research department and their copy editor to go through Sarah Palin's resignation speech and correct it. What results is a sea of red, green and blue corrective ink all over the original speech transcript. I reproduce below just one page as an example (click on it to enlarge it) - Vanity Fair shows the rest here. As Vanity Fair comments: "If you watched Sarah Palin's resignation speech, you know one thing: her high-priced speechwriters moved back to the Beltway long ago."
Congratulations to Tom Daley at just 15 and while going through growing pains he has lifted the gold medal at the World Championships for diving. But don't be too embarrassed about your dad, parents keep on doing that, it's not just a teenage thing. Don't get me wrong I loved the fact that my father would try and get to cheer me on sometimes as often as 4 times on a 10 k road race. Having a map reader in the family who knows his walking pace has its advantages. When I was playing bowls in my breakthrough season I ...
Nick Bourne's suggestions as to how the Welsh Conservative Assembly Group might address its little problem with diversity has met with severe resistance from one of his key candidates. On the Aberconwy Conservative blog, Guto Bebb is quite scathing about the Welsh Tory leader's proposals to use the Assembly list system to get more women and people from ethnic minorities into winnable positions. Mr. Bourne also wishes to adopt the sort of practice observed by other political parties of ensuring women or ethnic minority candidates are shortlisted and providing mentoring and training. Of course the Welsh Liberal Democrats have also ...
I've been doing some updates on my site and have transferred a fair old list of blogs I've started following over the past couple of months. Quite a few new Libertarian/Anarchist/Mutualist type ones amongst the list, so I thought I ought to post them for your perusal if you haven't seen some of them before, delight (or not!) if you're amongst them, and so that they ought to get a ping: Austro-Athenian Empire | Roderick T Long Liberty - Human Rights The Jubilee Way Steve Keen's Debtwatch The Ft Economists' Forum William Buiter's Maverecon The Irish Economy Foundation for Economic ...
Well, yes, I know we ALL want a Carver, but does anyone REALLY want a Carver? You see, my brother, {[info - personal] } angeliiiii, spent so long trying to get hold of one that people are still telling him when one comes up for sale, even though he now has a nice pretty battleship grey one with I support Huddersfield Town stickers all over it. So if anyone fancies one in Stealth Black, and has a spare bit of cash floating around, now's your chance. My bro sent me some pictures: {Carver small} ( more under the cut ) ...
This is what my lovely wife made for pudding tonight: {cake} Guh. And, indeed, om nom nom. And people wonder why I am putting on weight! For those of you who are in the area, there is just less than half of it left, and if you hurry...
