Following my Twitter post yesterday, I've been asked a few times about School Transport Appeals.Here in Reading, children may have to travel some distance to get to school.Depending on how far they have to go, and things like the availability of places in nearby schools, the age of the child and the safety of the route (and also whether the school is primary or secondary), transport to school on the buses may be provided free.The rules are clear but may also be somewhat harsh. Sometimes the child's needs mean they should go to a particular school, yet the rules as ...
The mode of address "My Lord/Lady" is not, contrary to some TV programmes used for all judges, but only those of a certain seniority. It is used for High Court judges, Court of Appeal judges and naturally, House of Lords judges. It is also used for any judge sitting in the Old Bailey and certain senior [...]
ward surgery swung from one issue to another - but a common theme. you couldn't really imagine that vandals / thieves would remove fencing from a property and then remove the contents of the garden would you. But they have. Then we hear of a large company that has savaged some trees, albeit accidentally, but they are professionals. We don't know if they are breaking the law yet, but taxis...
This morning I attended an Ordsall & Langworthy L.P.D.G. meeting (my first), where representatives from the Police, council officers, ward councillors and residents come together to discuss issues affecting the local area. As the only resident in attendance I was able to participate in the meeting a good deal more than at, for example, our community committee meetings - where many more people are often vying for time to air their views and grievances. The agenda, and therefore majority of the discussion, was focused on crime reduction measures in the Ordsall & Langworthy area; some Langworthy specific issues were raised ...
From the Daily Mail: "We think it's somewhere in the East of England - possibly in Essex or Hertfordshire", said Dom Lane, of the West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers' Group. "We wanted to take a photograph of a piece of cheddar floating majestically in the firmament with the curve of the Earth below it."
Former Star Trek actor, William Shatner actor recites Alaskan governor Sarah Palin's resignation speech on The Tonight Show in the form of a poem - "The cold though, doesn't it split the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs?"
Good news for those of us hope Western civilisation may yet be saved. The Guardian website reports that the current series of Big Brother is the least watched of any of its 10 seasons so far. My hope is that the series will do so badly that Endemol, the company that produces it, will go out of business before it is over. This will leave the remaining housemates marooned, waiting for supplies of food that never arrive. This way, Big Brother will end with starvation and cannibalism being beamed out to the world, but there will be no one left ...
After reading a blog post about this topic on Charlotte Gore's blog, I got thinking about campaigning, politics and a candidates credibility on a whole and have some thoughts that I would like to share with anyone reading this. Following the Norwich North by election and the LPUK only getting 36 votes in the election, it makes you wonder if blogging does help in a campaign. Like Charlotte writes, LPUK blog readers don't support the party, vote them or just don't live in Norwich North. As otherwise you would expect that they would get more votes then 36. I shall ...
It's all a bit weird really. It is a gaffe from which Barack Obama is using his considerable reserves of "cool" ("Fancy a beer with Bazza, Sergeant?") to extract himself. But gaffe it, undeniably, is. And end of the 44th Presidential honeymoon it should be, but it's not as simple as that. Which makes it all the more fascinating. In fact, there are a number of fascinating aspects to this...and ironies (but perhaps not in the strictest sense - my offspring asked me what irony is the other day and I had to finally admit (after several attempts) that I ...
The Daily Mail and the Evening Standard are both reporting the story of Dr. Michael Irwin, 77. The retired GP admits that he help his patients receive assisted suicides abroad. He told the Standard: "I've done this before (help assisted suicide) and I would do it again if someone is terminally ill. It's so wrong that people have to travel abroad to die when they could die here at home with dignity. I say to the police 'arrest me'." He hopes to become an assisted suicide "martyr". By bringing attention to the laws which mean relatives, who choose to help ...
Today I are bin mostly:Making my potato barrel from two old dustbins, a lot of elbow grease, and judicious application of drill and the trusty Spear and Jackson Predator. There may be photos later, because I am really proud of it. Cleaning the yard and the steps Sorting out the existing pots in the garden, weeding, and getting ready for the arrival of the compost bin. planting out beetroot and radishes Getting my hair doneA productive day, I feel. :D This blog is proudly sponsored by
After Council I popped along to the Launceston Foyer for their seventh annual open day. The Foyer is a fantastic resource for young people aged between 16 and 25 who are homeless or vulnerably housed. The Foyer provides housing and learning - getting young people ready to live on their own. There are a number of foyers across Devon and Cornwall and the Launceston version is the smallest of these with five beds. At the moment only four are filled but it seems like they never stay that way for long as there are five people applying for each vacancy. ...
I don't read every blog on the blogosphere, which is actually a shame, as it leads to me missing out on news and opinion which I could have got otherwise. I missed the blog post by Ryan Cullen over at his blog about his new technology for twitter called twhash. The application allows users to follow hashtags in real time, reply to individuals at the hashtag and tweet at the hashtag alone in real time. Now, is that amazing or am I just a geek. So the next time you need to follow, reply to, and tweet in a hashtag ...
I had hoped to report the draw live from the Bonkers Arms again, but it turned out that it had already been booked by the local branch of the L. T. Hobhouse Appreciation Society. So we shall make do with posting the answers and the winner here. Thank you to everyone who entered. First the answers. You were asked to identify five films in which James Robertson Justice (JRJ) appeared: 1. A story of British heroism with a celebrated score by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Scott of the Antarctic 2. In this Ealing Comedy JRJ, spoke the great line: "It's a ...
A possible recession crime wave may be to blame with a dramatic increase in theft, burglaries and fraud, according to new Government figures recently released. Police have recorded 284,000 domestic burglaries – the first increase in six years.
The BBC report the very sad news that Chancellor Alistair Darling's cat, Sybil has died following a short illness. They say that Sybil was named after the fictional hotelier Basil Fawlty's wife in the 1970s comedy show Fawlty Towers. She moved into the chancellor's Downing Street flat from the Darling family home in Edinburgh in 2007 but left six months later after failing to settle. Back in November 2007 the Observer reported that she was receiving a large volume of letters from other cats, many enclosing photographs and with paw-prints at the bottom. She also had her own Facebook page. ...
My doorbell rang this afternoon and I was greeted by a smartly dressed lady of Indian subcontinent lineage, saying those dreaded words "It's alright, I'm not selling anything". This is nearly always a sign that they are selling something. She started by saying that she was just checking I'd got my letter from BT stating the exchange had been upgraded and I could now claim free calls. Now I know we had received no such letter, but I replied that I had received a letter from BT (we had received a bill) , and she seemed slightly confused. I asked ...
The BBC report that the Assembly Government has announced details of how it will spend an additional £4 million for Hospices in Wales. Welcome as the cash is the clear impression is that this is new money. It is not. The £4 million is money that was already in the budget and was announced the first time when that was published. It was also announced again as part of a Government amendment to a motion on hospices last month. It is funny how the government can get so much good publicity out of the same £4 million. The art of ...
I went into Cowley St this afternoon to sort out some photo issues. Now I am at the theatre about to watch Avenue Q. I'm doing tourist type things. I haven't done that in my years of travelling to London but now I can! Tomorrow however I am not being a tourist. I need to sort my garden in London instead. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
The major debate at today's council meeting was on a Lib Dem motion to freeze council allowances for the next four years and also cut mileage and other benefits to the levels given to staff. This was a commitment that was part of our manifesto and went down extremely well on the doorstep. We might not have won a majority of seats on the council, but we still owe it to those who voted for us to pursue our policies. You would have thought that the Conservatives would have been happy to go along with this. We even heard that ...
The International Rugby Board have today announced that England will host the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup. The Rugby Football Union won the backing of the Rugby World Cup Ltd (who run the competition), thus helping the board members to back the decision by 16 votes to 10. This is another feather in the cap of what will be the greatest decade ever for British sport. Not only do we have the Olympics in 2012, but there are tentative talks to host a Super Bowl at Wembley stadium (which would be the first Super Bowl outside America). Now all we ...
The popular scheme giving free swimming to people over 60 in Cornwall is under threat after Council leaders refused to say what would happen when the current round of funding runs out in early 2011. Liberal Democrat calls for a guarantee that the scheme would continue were refused by the Conservative/Independent administration during today's meeting of the Council. With my Shadow Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing hat on, I asked Council bosses about the scheme and how popular it had been. The cabinet member responsible for leisure admitted that free swimming - introduced under a Liberal Democrat administration with ...
Sad news this evening: Alistair Darling's cat Sybil has died following a short illness. As this blog showed back in 2007 she had black and white fur - a combination much favoured in the Darling family. And at least she died a natural death, unlike Humphrey who was cruelly murdered by Cherie Blair.
Today's meeting of the full council was the venue for a fairly large protest by Newquay residents who are concerned about the number of drink related incidents in the town and the subsequent damage to their reputation. It was a very good natured protest by a group who are right to be concerned. They are asking for better enforcement of licencing laws and more action from the Council on the problem. Local Lib Dem councillor Geoff Brown asked a question of the administration and the Council Leader proudly announced that more than £5000 had been spent last year and claimed ...
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Kurdistan region of Iraq launched its latest report at the House of Commons the other day, following a visit to the region by several British parliamentarians, including LibDem peer Tim Clement-Jones. The remit of the APPG is 'to promote friendship and understanding between the peoples of the Kurdistan Region [...]
Tue 28th
18:37
Albert Hall gig is a family affair for Salford orchestra? who the hell needs the BBC philharmonic.Sa...
An orchestra made up of Salford families has performed in front of 5,000 people at the Royal Albert Hall in London -
Plans have been unveiled for the £650m revitalisation of Salford's historic heart and we lend our support to what sounds like an incredibly exciting project - Fantastic News for Salford all political parties need to offer full support.
There is an ongoing debate between the columnist/papers and bloggers on the benefits of blogging over newspaper columns (with regards to political blogging), Mark Reckons attended a debate on this very subject (detail here). As a newbie to blogging I find this intellectual debate somewhat self facing as the wider public properly doesn't give a stuff. I only recently discovered blogs when Mark Thompson editor of Mark Reckons joined our LibDem local party here in Bracknell. I now write for the Bracknell blog and I am very much learning how to do this as I go along. I recently realised ...
By Jason Beattie 28/07/2009 Voters think David Cameron is a Notting Hillybilly toff, one of the Tories' poshest peers said yesterday. And Lord Salisbury added that the Conservative leader was perceived as lacking the bottle to make big political decisions. He rounded on Mr Cameron for being out of touch with the electorate, saying: "I haven't [...]
As for your threat to "tell Norman" not me a fellow Lib, I am afraid I will just have to live with the terror that a "few choice words" from Norman will come my way. Détente no chance.
The news today that the Ministry of Defence are attempting to cut the compensation payouts of two soldiers, one injured on duty, the other in training comes as no surprise from a Government Department that is supposed to owe a duty of care for our service personnel, but in reality is so out of touch [...]
As I lived and campaigned in Dartford for 14 years I know a little bit about the politics there, did you know Margaret Thatcher stood for Parliament for the first time in Dartford and I was a Parish Councillor there as well? - facts you may or may not have known. Just recently, in the last ten minutes I have seen various Tweets and emails that Howard Stoate MP is to stand down blaming the new rules on second jobs, as he is also a practising GP. I have never heard such a load of tosh in my life, the ...
tehwalrus has been convinced that Tuition fees can be made to work in some form, which may well help us balance the books on some awesome tax policy that could give us the poll lead we need to become the official opposition next May.
{Endoftermwaste2} A typical scene on Erleigh Road: excess waste dumped on the pavement in the heart of the University area Following our recent campaign calling for more action to clean up the University area we have (belatedly) received this response from Reading University's Community Relations Manager, Ann Westgarth which explains the University's appraoch to the problem: "I share your concern about the amount of rubbish in the area and the University, the Students' Union, Streetcare and local residents have been working together to try to alleviate the problem. There is no doubt that some of it is generated by students leaving ...
Whilst on holiday Guido Fawkes has been doing a bit of reporting, with his blog post about how MP's have increased the amount they can claim, without tax and receipts from £400 to £500. Many MP's including Allan Duncan claimed the £400 to the maximum, will they do the same post Expensegate? I think it's going to be an interesting year ahead for the general public, bloggers and MP's. If MP's claim that £500, the opposition will be around it like hot cakes, so will the general public and it might just lose the MP some vote if not their ...
Greetings to all at LibDemBlogs. I have just been accepted onto the site and look forward to having some intelligent feedback on the ideas I have presented and hope to present far more regularly from now on. So far I only have a few blog posts on reforming drugs laws, prostitution, electoral reform and saving old people from loneliness, but I hope the exposure LibDemBlogs will grant me will fan the flames of my creativity. If you are not moved to comment on my posts, please make use of my elect/true/meh/balls rating system. Meh being the appropriate rating if you ...
I'll read this stuff so you don't have to. If you try to have a successful career and be a mum, you'll kill yourself That's the message from this sad story about a the inquest into a mum and successful lawyer who threw herself into the Thames. OK, the story does mention post-natal depression briefly, later on, but we all know what it's really trying to say. How does Lembit get off with attractive women? The Mail doesn't know and is frustrated that no simple stereotypes can be applied. I couldn't give a toss. His latest young lady (or,at least, ...
William Hague famously on the eve of the 2001 election shouted from his soapbox there was only 24 hours to save the pound. Well 8 years later I still have it in my pocket, however this fate of Livngston FC may well be up at noon tomorrow. The paper that as a true Liverpool fan I cannot bring myself to read has a headline flashing up in google news 'No Tears if Livi Fold'. Well I believe Kenny Black the manager of Clydebank Airdrie United might have been the one of the mangers who knows just what a team means ...
LibDemVoice will be down between 19:00 and 20:00 (BST) for a server migration. Hopefully we have found a way to avoid DNS issues, however you might have problems accessing the site for the next few days. Apologies in advance.
Another great sporting event is coming to London after England wins the right to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup. With The Olympics and Commonwealth games coming to the UK all in the next 10 years we are building up a rightly deserved reputation of being a world class host. Well done!
Anyone thinking of voting the in annual blog awards should become a regular reader of Letter from a Tory. Read THIS to understand why his writing is so good.
2 Big Stories The biggest story of the day is surely controversy over the Ministry of Defense's efforts to reclaim money awarded to injured soldiers: The Ministry of Defence will go to the Court of Appeal later to try to significantly reduce the compensation awarded to two injured soldiers. One, who was shot in the leg in Iraq, received £46,000, while the other, injured in training, got £28,750. " Meanwhile, TV's Esther Rantzen plans to follow in the feet of Craig Murray and stand as an independent candidate at the next general election: She will attempt to win the Luton ...
The Metropolitan Police have recently set up a dedicated unit to take action over concerns that more people are walking around with dangerous looking dogs and reports that gangs are making more use of fighting dogs to intimidate and cause anti-social behaviour. If you live in the Oval area and are encountering problems with this, email us and let us know as much detail as you are able and we will take it up with the police. You can also contact the Oval Ward Safer Neighbourhood Team yourself on 020 8721 2761
I have written another blog post over at Political Betting's Channel 2, criticising Robert Smithson's prediction model with his predictions for Burnley as evidence arguing my corner.
The Ministry of Defence is bringing shame on the whole nation by trying to penny-pinch back money awarded to injured service personnel for complications following initial injuries. How dare they? If I didn't think the MOD so gormless that they would only pose a risk to our troops serving in Afghanistan I'd suggest they go and fight in the front line as quickly as possible. But I'd really like to send them somewhere! It really is time for our whole government to go.
Matthew Engel has an interesting article in today's Financial Times saying, quite rightly, that talk of a new politics is a horrid cliche which gets trotted by every leader who feels that conveniently they represent this new divine paradigm. However, looking at the Norwich North result Engel feels we are effectively in an 'Eight party [...]
Unsurprisingly, Esther Rantzen's announcement that she is going to contest Luton South at the next General Election has unleased a tirade of anger from people in politics. Whilst I may be about to add to that, I am well aware that the attitude of your average voter is probably: "good on her. She has shown [...]
Regular readers of this blog will know that I am not greatly enamoured with the local BBC we have in this area. BBC East have further highlighted their inability to do their research with a feature they are having this week about having a "Staycation", which according to the local BBC is all about "Holidaying in the UK" and in particular "in the East". Except, of course, this isn't what a "staycation" is. In simple terms it's about staying out home and visiting places locally. It is not about taking boating holidays on the Norfolk Broads instead of going to ...
On my way back from Wales yesterday a text message arrived to tell me that two Wolverhampton Councillors had been arrested for robbery. My mind started racing I envisaged various Councillors with stockinged masks holding up banks. The Express and Star billboards confirmed the story, it took me a little while longer to track the story down.
So, enjoying my holiday I've been on a bit of a film watching bender, having crammed in more films in the last 3 days than I thought humanly possible. The housemate's off on a literal mercy mission so I've got the Sky HD box and the Playstation 3 to myself. Oh happy days. I've decided to experiment with doing film reviews. Of course, with this being a politics blog you'll expect me to run things through some sort of ideological filter - and that's exactly what you're going to get. First up: The Film: The Day the Earth Stood Still ...
Now posted at Amused Cynicism.
Over the last year or so I have lost count of the number of times that Alistair Darling, Gordon Brown and myriad other government ministers have claimed that they are going to get banks lending to small businesses again at decent rates. Despite their numerous interventions and despite the fact that many of the banks are partially or largely owned by the taxpayer, so far the government has not been able to get them to change their approach. Darling was at it again yesterday. I run my own small business but we are in the fortunate position of not needing ...
I am currently following up on an issue about a licensing application on Garston Old Road. This is for an "alcohol off sales only" license from 6 am to 11pm 7 days a week at number 81, which is the old Spar shop - currently closed. I have been speaking to some residents and there is some concern about potential problems here. Some objections have already been sent in but Licensing Laws are a bit barmy so in order for the elected councillors to make comments/objections on any application we need to be specifically appointed by a resident (apart from ...
Big thanks to everyone who helped with the Friends of Garston Park stall last Friday. We got some new names of interested people and so we are still making progress. Sadly on the way back from the park Peter Millea and I walked past some rather obvious vandalism to the trees, which we have reported. Still now that a group is getting together I think we can do more to improve and promote this bit of Garston.
Friday evening saw a different type of "meeting" being tried out. For the last year or so the City Council has been paying for ward based events for residents, councillors, agency reps etc. (LCVS would do the organisation and publicity) I had felt that our ones in Cressington weren't quite hitting the mark - you never really got in depth discussion of an issue but people who wanted to make a quick contact on a single issue were forced to sit through a lot of other stuff. So we tried a different format which was a series of stalls - ...
New research by Ofcom concludes that consumers in Wales have to put up with slower broadband connections than the rest of the UK and that nobody will receive the top speeds advertised by providers. More than half of all broadband providers offer download speeds of up to 8 mega bits per second (Mbps) but in parctice Welsh users only get 3.3 Mbps compared to the UK average of 3.9 Mbps. The top download speed in Wales is 4.3 Mbps, lower than that available in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Rural areas in Wales are significantly worse off with one in ...
Tue 28th
12:19
Another self inclicted wound - What do headlines like this do for Labour's core vote ?
Is there any way to undermine Labour's core vote than to read headlines saying that the government is going to court to reduce the compensation payout to soldiers severely injured in Afghanistan ? I can't think of anything which could make the government look less caring and more hypocritical given the current climate and the perceived penny pinching in Afghanistan. It is symptomatic of this government though (as I wrote yesterday) that they are providing stories for The Daily Mail and The Express which write themselves (that is if the Express can avoid another Madeleine McCann story or link it ...
Following recent media reports that Stagecoach PLC is in talks with CVC Capital Partners, who, it is reported, may bid to take over the National Express Group, owners of National Express Dundee (formerly Travel Dundee), I received the following e-mail from the Managing Director of National Express Dundee this morning - I reproduce this with his permission : Fraser As you will be aware there is currently a lot speculation in the media about the future ownership of National Express and of our operation here in Dundee. I am keen to keep you updated on the facts as they develop ...
Esther did come down from the source of the River Lea and proclaim to the media 'the ego has spoken and told me that my children of Luton must have me and despite me saying I would only stand against the evil Moran, the ego has told me I am the only saviour, even though I have no policies. And the media did fall at her feet and pray, as she is their god. And she left them parting the waters of
Although the Norwich North by-election hogged the political headlines, it was the council by-elections that produced the more interesting, and less predictable, set of political news. This week's by-election results got off to an early start, thanks to the holiday plans of Kensington & Chelsea's Chief Executive creating that rare event - a Wednesday by-election. And what a result to start with! Our victory in Colville Ward, a formerly safe Labour seat which includes the famous Portobello Road, is the culmination of four years of hard work by Carol Caruana and her team. The campaign, ably led by Robin Meltzer, ...
Brilliant article from Robert Fisk in the Independent discussing why Arab countries have been so unsuccessful in recent decades. There are many good analyses and good suggestions but the best of them all seems to be the last one where he says that western governments simply need to get out of the Arab world and leave Arabs to sort their affairs out for themselves. He says that this will probably not lead to glorious western-style democracies but it will allow Arabs to do what they want for themselves. It is very difficult to argue with that.
After a decade of campaigning in Wales for a bank holiday and all-party support I thought for one moment today that we had finally made some progress. However, it is not to be. Work and Pensions Secretary, Yvette Cooper proposed yesterday that we should have an extra bank holiday but she wants it to commemorate people who have been killed at work and she is looking at the end of April, less than a week from the May Day bank holiday. It is almost as if we have been shouting at ourselves for the last ten years whilst the British ...
Just as politicians were very slow to grasp the public reaction to duck islands, moats and house 'flipping', the financial community has been extraordinarily obtuse in failing to appreciate why the public is angry about bankers. Without the taxpayer, many bankers would be without a job let alone the huge bonuses that they are enjoying. It could be argued that pay for top footballers is similarly disproportionate but Chelsea and Manchester City do not depend on British taxpayer guarantees. And we know both from experience and economic research that remuneration structures in banking have given incentives to excessive risk taking ...
Hey ho, so Esther Rantzen is to stand for Luton South at the next election. Hooray, the Kabbalah apologist TV bore is going to try her hand at being an MP. Maybe the sainted Joanna Lovely (Nepalis received her like a goddess, apparently, according to the patronising British media. Little brown people worshipped the glorious white woman. Hurrah, the empire is back!) will also stand and together they can transform politics - into a pastiche of what it is, with vapid TV hosts wittering on about their chosen subjects of interest and getting lots of coverage from the tabloids while ...
I have recently been to France and I travelled across the Channel on a fast ferry, a glorious thing which whizzed along majestically through delightfully choppy seas, throwing up fabulous spumes of water in its wake in which a rainbow danced the whole way across. It was really great and me and my son stayed outside for the whole trip to enjoy the noise and the sights. Sadly we couldn't enjoy the smells of the sea since every smoker on the south coast appeared to have got on the ferry and spent the whole voyage puffing away, ruining everyone else's ...
I had vaguely assumed that Parish Councils fell within the auspices of the Local Government Association. A fine body of men and women, I've attended a couple of events in my capacity as Presidential consort and been, I have to admit, pretty impressed. Unfortunately, they only cover Districts, Counties, Boroughs and Unitaries. Parish and Town Councils are covered by the National Association of Local Councils, a rather more cosy grouping. However, it is a group which does have a degree of clout, given that most parish and town councils are members, and that they cover virtually all of the country, ...
Tue 28th
10:34
Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman says the recession would "certainly" be worse under Tories
A couple of weeks back, I was in London for a Lib Dem reception and bumped into Vince Cable, or Blessed St Vincent of the Immaculate Perception as I like to think of him. Lo and behold there is a piece in today's Independent where he says that "if ...
Apparently 15th July was the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the postcode. Does anybody know when the postcode lottery first appeared?
Are there no depths to which Labour will not sink in their attempts to drag down SNP candidate in the Glasgow North East SNP candidate David Kerr. I've only just really caught up with the Sunday papers and found this report in the Sunday Herald where Labour candidate calls for Kerr to apologise to the people of Glasgow for an item he filmed in a Tesco car park in Springburn. Particularly pathetic was their insistence that "the incident could have alarmed others and questioned Kerr's judgment". Now, I've been lucky enough never to come across a random gunman in a ...
Keighley is fortunate to have a very good cinema, which was been brought back to life by private enterprise and at not a little risk. I'm absolutely against the soon-to-be-redundant college building having a cinema put into it. It's literally ...
A comment by Jacqui Smith in her rather candid interview with Iain Dale in the latest edition of Total Politics chimed with something I have thought for a long time. This is what she said: If I ever describe the process of becoming a minister - moving from one ministerial job to another - to somebody in almost any other job outside they think it is, frankly, pretty dysfunctional in the way that it works. That's not just this government... To be fair, Gordon had talked to me about whether or not I wanted to do a different job but ...
Tue 28th
08:50
Politics, money and elections: what changes with the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009?
Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire: The last year certainly hasn't been a quiet one when it comes to controversies over how parties raise and spend money. Whilst the massive and long-running story of MPs' expenses has rather overshadowed the previous stories, Royal Assent has just been given to the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009, which is intended to deal with the issues thrown up by those previous events. New rules on political donations The changes are intended both to reduce the administrative burden on volunteers such as local party treasurers but also to ensure that more information is revealed ...
I have become a contributor to Political Betting's Channel 2 and I shall post from time, to time over at the site. To read my introduction blog post, over at Channel 2 follow the link.
I never fail to be horrified at how horrendously badly this Government (and others before it to be fair) treats those who work for it. We see repressive and toxic management cultures in many Government Departments which stifle innovation and create environments where bullying flourishes. The Armed Forces, though, seem to come off particularly badly. Successive Governments abuse the willingness of men and women to make huge sacrifices for our country by failing to look after them properly. They send people to serve in war zones without the proper equipment, knowing that their families are struggling in substandard military housing. ...
Michael Crick and a Newsnight crew popped up in my back garden this afternoon filming a report on the Totnes selection battle for broadcast tonight.No one really knows how the three candidates are doi...
Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems had urged Members of Parliament to take time to deal with the situation of expenses and public confidence before they returned to their constituencies for the summer recess. End result the new outcry over the subsistence allowance. Not that there wasn't outcry over Gordon Brown's proposal when it was first muted, many MPs from all sides were pointing out that this would give more money with less accountability. The £25 pounds for each night spent away from their main home could amount to £9,000 without the need for a receipt to be shown. There ...
IBARW is a bittersweet thing. Bitter because it's awful that it's still necessary; sweet in that it's very cool to see so many people of so many nationalities standing up against the stupidity of racism. I'm not in the right headspace to compose something substantive about this tonight, but there will be a post before the end of the week. If any of the rest of you reading this want to join in, you can do so on LJ or Delicious, and if you're on DW add {[info] } ibarw_feed to your f-lists. Thanks. This blog is proudly sponsored by ...
The Tories are thinking of introducing tolls on new roads as a way of funding desperately needed infrastructure in this age of austerity. I think is a wholly sensible idea. Indeed, it rather begs the question, why don't they go further? If tolls are right for new roads, why not introduce them on existing ones? Indeed, why not privatise the primary road network altogether and allow the new private sector owners to toll users? This way, the state could release value from this huge asset helping to pay off public sector debt and providing a funding stream for new infrastructure. ...
As a general rule, I disagree with Andrew Gilligan, but every so often he comes up with some wonderful investigative journalism that uncovers public sector waste. In tonight's Evening Standard, for example, he has written a great piece about how local councils are putting local newspapers out of business through their own publicly funded newspapers. My initial reaction was surprise - if you see the marketing crap that comes from Surrey County Council, you would have to conclude the Surrey Advertiser has very little to worry about. But by all accounts, some Council's actually prepare very well written weekly newspapers ...
My latest quiz has now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered. The winner will be announced on Liberal England this evening.
