I know that the taxpayer didn't actually rescue HSBC and Barclays, although we did pour 1 trillion dollars into the system globally, but you would've thought that as a tribe they'd have learnt their lesson. As Vince Cable said earlier today, "It's fine when they make money. But when they lose money they lose big-time and the taxpayer picks up the bill as we did last year". People's memories aren't that short and the anger that was felt last year can easily resurface, if the banks don't show some restraint on bonuses, which may lead to even greater and tougher ...
Have Your Say Pot holes and shoddy repairs make road surfaces in Salford a disgrace. We No, your a bit late..
The Royal Bank of Scotland has pulled the plug on a key regeneration development in Southport. Vince Cable keeps going on about the need for banks to lend to businesses and here we would appear to have a good example of the failure of the nationalised bank to do the decent thing. The Southport Visiter ran a variant of the story and includes this claim from the developer Blythe Homes: Former director of Blythe Homes, Ian Rowe, said: "Both these projects have been hit by the credit crunch. RBS pulled its support for these schemes. "They actually withdrew the funding ...
The phrase "bonuses are back" should fill us all with disgust. The taxpayer's money is being used to support an industry which is in turn paying out staggering amounts to its employees in compensation. Barclays Capital, Barclays' investment banking arm has announced that it has made profits of £3bn on the first six months of this year. This implies an average pay out of £100,000 for the 22,000 people that work there just for this period. We should not be fooled by the idea that because Barclays did not receive any funds from the government directly that these profits are ...
A classic. Dewsbury Young Stars Cricket team all have the surname Patel. Even the scorer is called Patel. Excellent! One wonders how Brian Johnson would have handled a commentary on a game involving them. One suspects that some hilarious commentarial cock-up would have ensued.
I was rather disturbed by suggestions in the media today (try as I might I haven't found evidence that the Liberal Democrats' favourite minister, Phil Woolas, has said this) that involvement in the sort of demonstrations we saw against soldiers parading in Luton earlier this year would lose people points if they were trying to become or remain British citizens. Come off it. The right to protest is an integral, traditional part of the British way of life. By definition, everybody is not going to approve of, and agree with, every protest. If we all agreed with everything everybody wants ...
Just testing adding twitter alerts to my Drupal blog <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-8502734622986536"; /* 468x15 */ google_ad_slot = "9254756953"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 15; //-->
Many Councillors, moan and groan that their fellow party colleges aren't voting the way they want them to on certain issues in a Council Chamber and that's why I write this blog post. I think its time party groups in Councils, started whipping Councillors to vote a certain way on an issue. The Whipping will help the political party as they can push forward more election time promises by making sure Councillors vote the way the party wants them to vote. Moving on from that it will show that the political party is running smoothly and Councillors aren't sheep's without ...
Mon 3rd
22:10
Well i have just spent two hours at a City west housing forum, and if the negative comments are accr...
Well if organised chaos sums up tonight ,the only good thing i could see coming out of it was the tea. Like any councillor you hope for what ever levels of funding you can get for housing. But in my heart of hearts i would of preferred a fourth option, instead we have New prospect [...]
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I did not enjoy this Monday morning. Knowing that the holiday is at an end is one thing. Knowing that there were papers to be read for this afternoon's meeting and not really time to read them was bad. Finding out that I couldn't even download the papers because the laptop wouldn't connect to the council system and I couldn't even try to read them on a minute hand held screen because that
Today I had the pleasure of seeing progress on the extensive redevelopment of the church building at St Peter's Free Church in St Peter's Street. I am grateful to Rev David Robertson for showing me round - and giving reassurance regarding the impact of the works on adjacent residents. This is an exciting project that will not only provide the church with excellent and modern facilities; it will be a real community asset for the West End, and will doubtless be used for community events in the future. Click on the headline above to see photos of the redevelopment (on ...
I thought I'd share with you a picture of the amusingly named beer I found in Tuscany:
So, the SNP will probably not achieve their election promise of 1,000 extra police on the beat, but hey whats another broken promise to Alex Salmond and the SNP? It is not good that one of the major Police Forces in Scotland is proposing to run a deficit of between £12.4million and £34.7million and what is the response from the SNP government? Ministers said they had given councils record funding of £23bn to deliver services, and funding for 1,000 additional police officers. Well, at least we should be relieved they didn't mention the historic concordat! But seriously, for crying out ...
Sharon Bowles, Liberal Democrat MEP for the South East of England, has criticized EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes on behalf of local fishermen in Hastings & Rye. Earlier this year Ms Bowles asked the Competition Commissioner to investigate the fairness of the quota system in respect of producer organisations, and whether the UK Government was acting illegally [...]
A spate of phone calls and texts from the media remind me that it is two years since Baby Peter was 'allowed to die'. The anniversaries will come and go. The investigations, inspections and reports come and go. But what will really change? The fear that haunts me is that the words are easy - 'lessons must be learnt' - but we heard that beating of the chest and wringing of hands post Victoria Climbie - but nothing much actually changed at Haringey Council. New processes were brought in post Lord Laming's inquiry - but the culture of Haringey didn't ...
Dear Editor, I thought your letter from Karen Lushey last week was a breath of fresh air! It really captured the difficulties that our feathered friends can cause us. Up on Manor Road (as I am sure many other residents in other roads across the town will confirm) the seagulls continue to make a mess of the rubbish. I [...]
The New York Times has an enthusiastic previews of the Brit Noir season I wrote about the other day: The Britons weren't just producing high-toned, literary films intended for export, though it's easy to get that impression from reading most of the standard film histories. Britain was also home to a rich tradition of genre filmmaking — thrillers, musicals, comedies and crime films — much of which remains unknown to American audiences.Brit Noir, a four week, 44-film series that begins Friday at Film Forum in Manhattan, offers a tantalizing peek at a vast, still largely unexplored body of work: the ...
After 4 days in North Wales I am now heading home. The train has just pulled into York. I'm not back til after 10pm and I'm already hungry! I'll get dinner when I get back. In the meantime, I am reading a book about the Cold War by Jeremy Isaacs and Taylor Downing. I am feeling old as a result. Some of the events mentioned from the 1970s I remember. And I certainly remember the autumn of 1989
At 11.34am on Sunday 2nd August Mr Gilbert Symes of Delph reads the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity at the Ammon Wrigley statue. Chris speaks on behalf of the Yorkshire Ridings Society Glynis carries the banner through Uppermill High Street, in the Yorkshire Day Parade, with help from grandchildren Charlotte and Daniel. The Yorkshire Day Parade The Yorkshire Day Country Fair at the King George V Playing Field, Uppermill.
I went down to Town Hall Square at lunchtime to photograph the promised "furious protestors" against Leicester City Council's decision to debate the demolition of the Bowstring Bridge in secret. All I found was a desultory group talking to the Leicester Mercury and local radio, so here instead is another view of the bridge. Keith Perch, the editor of the Mercury, writes a blog. This morning he wrote: our lawyers have this morning written to Leicester City Council challenging their right to debate the future of the city's Bowstring Bridge in private.We have asked that they either let our reporter ...
Jeremt Reiner has an interesting take (in Ars Technica) on the prospects of Microsoft Word in the wiki-based world. I must say that I agree with his premise - the tools I used to write and edit text nowadays are not significantly different to those I used on a mainframe computer in the mid-70s. My need for formatting has disappeared and my printers haven't been used to actually print anything in months. Instead, I too have been running MediaWiki on my laptop for the last few years to develop articles, talks and other correspondence. It just works ;-P
Whilst the UK sets up hotlines, stocks tamiflu and works around the clock to get an effective vaccine to counter swine flu, it seems that the Russians come from hardier stock. Russian football fans have been told the best way to ward off the illness when they travel to Wales for next month's World Cup qualifier is to drink whisky: "We urge our fans to drink a lot of Welsh whisky as a form of disinfection," VOB head Alexander Shprygin told Reuters. "That should cure all symptoms of the disease." Now why didn't we think of that?
Rain affected Yorkshire Day in Thornaby this year. The Thornaby Yorkshire Day Society had a stall at the Yorkshire Day Celebrations, organised by Thornaby Town Council at Linear Park. The Mayor of Thornaby, Councillor Geoff Green and his wife is Celia, attended the event and read the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity. The Town Council has put £2,000 aside for the event for the last 2 years. Beryl Robinson Jim Lince Chairman of the Yorkshire Ridings Society North Riding Group Ruth Lince
If we get a leaders' debate I doubt very much if it will be of this quality.
I'm beginning to wonder. For many years, I was told by one of my vast panoply of brothers that our grandmother got her (see title) caught in the mangle. They even showed me where it happened and described it in excruciating detail. Then I met someone else who said the same thing happened to their grandmother. Then another. Then another. Um. I was then beginning to wonder whether there was some catastrophic failure in the health and safety features of mangles. Then I googled the title phrase and found out that it is an expression. I haven't laughed so much ...
How the tabloids love to bash Harriet Harman MP for stating what I think the majority of women (and some men) believe: that we need more equal representation of men and women in politics and in the boardroom. She has been roundly pilloried. Reading the lead story in the Evening Standard, which focuses on HH's remarks that the banking crisis could well have been avoided if more women had been involved in decisions in the bloke dominated testosterone fuelled boardrooms, you'd be forgiven for thinking she'd been advocating child labour. The majority of the comments posted at the end of ...
Vince Cable the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman speaking on Sky news today criticised the level of profits announced by Barclays and other banks, saying the rates charged by lenders were doing damage to the economy and would ultimately hurt the banks themselves. "This is doing terrible damage to the British economy and ultimately the banks themselves. It's ultimately a very...
The BBC reports: Universities in England are failing to safeguard degree standards, according to a damning report from MPs. The current system for ensuring quality is "out of date and should be replaced", the Commons universities select committee concluded. "... "We are extremely concerned that inconsistency in standards is rife and there is a reluctance to address this issue," said [Lib Dem MP] Mr [Phil] Willis, chair of the Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee. Lib Dem blogger 'Costigan Quist' is sanguine: ... what of the complaint that degrees from different institutions aren't directly comparable? That a 2:1 in ...
Congratulations and warmest wishes to Tavish and Kirsten Scott on the birth of their son, Archie. From the Press Association: "The wife of Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott has given birth to a baby boy, a party spokeswoman confirmed. Mr Scott and wife Kirsten, a BBC journalist, have named the youngster Archie. The couple married a year ago and announced the pregnancy in March."
Hosted by A Very British Dude.
So Watford's MP tries to get a big hurrah for the news that the government is to spend £8 million on youth offenders over the next two years? Let's do the maths. Spread over those 24 months and the whole of England & Wales, that's less than £7,500 for an entire parliamentary constituency. This is what [...]
I have found that some people talk about Bracknell as a chav town. Naturally I believe this is unfair as Bracknell is really a young families town with low unemployment and hard working people. Now I believe when people (by that I believe I mean middle class people generally) use the word chav they mean it for two very generalised groups. 1 Young guys wearing sports gear (not the expensive kind) who don't work or don't want to work and who they want to avoid as they are perceived to be dangerous. 2 Young ladies who have a number of ...
I am supporting the campaign to prosecute Jacqui Smith by the Sunlight Centre of Open Politics, and I ask blog readers and other bloggers to do the same! I blogged about this issue previously and I write this as a reminder to readers of this blog...
Share prices surged today as Barclays and HSBC posted combined profits of £6bn. The banks' investment banking arms largely accounted for the growth, which comes less than a year after the banking system was rescued with taxpayers' money. From the Guardian: "Barclays' chief executive, John Varley, who described the tumultuous events of the last two years as "humbling", stressed that bonuses would not be paid until the financial year ended and would be subject to tougher new rules. These are being devised by the bank's senior independent director, Sir Richard Broadbent, who will brief major shareholders later this year. "Varley ...
A consultation exercise is soon to be carried out by the Council on cutting the mobile library service. Many of these cuts fall on villages, but they also fall on communities in Bath. In Foxhill, for instance, the two library stops in Hawthorn Grove and in Bradford Park are to be cut. Mobile library visits to Twerton will be cut altogether. Cllr Roger Symonds (Liberal Democrat,...
Mon 3rd
17:15
CommentIsLinked@LDV... Vince Cable: Banks pay up for their 'crimes', so why not rapists?
Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable argues that Britain's system of compensation awards is "mad". Here's an excerpt: ... The real scandal, however, is the meanness of the criminal injuries and military compensation system. The Armed Forces scheme is now being, belatedly, reviewed. But criminal injury awards seem likely to remain not only pitifully small but severely restricted and tardy. I had to write angry letters to the Government agency dealing with criminal injuries when a constituent - an innocent bystander who had been attacked by gangsters throwing acid in a pub - had been ...
No, not really! At least I don't think so - yet. But nothing would surprise me at the moment. In Strictly Come Dancing the BBC seemed to have found the successor to the family variety shows that graced the 1970s and 1980s. Something that appealed to younger people, parents, grandparents and children. A combination of [...]
It seems I can't go anywhere without causing a technical glitch of some sort - maybe technology is allergic to me? I had hoped to be able to link to my time on the Fourth Plinth by now, given the speed that everyone else's had been put up on the website afterwards, but it seems something occurred that slowed that right down, and I'm still waiting now. Which may, of course, be a benefit to looking back, as I'll have to do it from memory and not influenced by looking at myself as an outsider, seeing what the internet was ...
So much of Bangkok these days is high-rise, anonymous and motorway-veined that it is a relief to walk along the clogged streets of the city's Chinatown and feel that one really is in a place with a vibrant past. Chinatown is the city's old commercial centre and is still a source of everything from automobile parts [...]
{alba} We Liberal Democrats do love a good banning. This is odd for a party that professes liberalism, a belief that individuals should be free to pursue their own ends as they see fit; a philosophy that trusts people to make choices for themselves. Sadly, too many within our party do not, as Gladstone said to the Tories, trust the people. And for our parliamentary party, the people are all-too-often seen as immoral exploiters who need to be reined in, or as dumb victims who need to be saved from themselves. Jo Swinson has today announced that the Liberal Democrats ...
Popping to the local shops at lunchtime, I was surprised to see a stream of buses that normally run along Essex Road – 341, 56, 476 and even the bendies 38 and 73 – heading down Canonbury Road. Apparently there has been an accident on Essex Road near Islington Green, involving a bike and one [...]
Conservative party chairman Eric Pickles has said recent changes to the structure of local government mean the position of council chief executive should be abolished. A spokesman for SOLACE is quoted: "The most successful councils are the ones where politicians elected to take the decisions work closely with excellent strategic managers trained to run large, [...]
I was surprised to find out this last week that Edinburgh West Lib Dem MP John Barrett was retiring from Westminster at the next General Election. Surprised mainly because he hadn't been in parliament long, but after reading the reason he has decided to go it seems perfectly understandable. Whilst I don't know John, I [...]
Bath & North East Somerset Council is opening a Book of Condolence which will give members of the public an opportunity to pay their respects to Harry Patch. It will be available for members of the public to sign from Monday August 3 - Friday August 14, on Mondays to Fridays from 8am - 6pm. The book will be available in the Guildhall as of today and at the Councils other...
Bath & North East Somerset Council is opening a Book of Condolence which will give members of the public an opportunity to pay their respects to Harry Patch. It will be available for members of the public to sign from Monday August 3 - Friday August 14, on Mondays to Fridays from 8am - 6pm. The book will be available in the Guildhall as of today and at the Councils other offices at...
Nick Clegg has described Gordon Brown's policy plans as "a hotch potch of unrelated Whitehall schemes" with no unifying vision from a prime minister who was "running out of steam". Mr Clegg said both the Prime Minister and David Cameron were treating the voters as if they were children who were "too young to know the truth". He said: "Neither are willing to come clean...
So once again the odious Phil Woolas has been blowing his twat-whistle with more tough on immigrants rhetoric. The plan is to require immigrants to accumulate points in order to gain British citizenship. Cultural activities such as voluntary work, political activism, and learning English, as well as economic factors such as earning potential, skills and qualifications, would earn points that
I'm glad to see that Jo Swinson has been praised for the way she uses Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with her constituents. I enjoy seeing her tweets coming in from Prime Minister's Questions, giving her perspective on what's going on, recounting something that we tv viewers wouldn't see. I like the way she asks for opinions on various issues via Facebook and Twitter. Both she and Sandra Gidley have recently asked for suggestions for Parliamentary questions, too. Jo has also been part of the Speakers' conference on diversity, aka how do we get the House of Commons ...
SALFORD DESTROYS TREE OF KNOWLEDGE SAVE THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE!CULTURAL VANDALISM SALFORD STYLE Star date 3rd August 2009 Only in Salford could the Tree of Knowledge be demolished! Tomorrow, Tuesday 4th August 2009, Salford's Tree of Knowledge is due to be demolished. The Tree of Knowledge is a huge, outstanding ceramic sculpture that currently adorns the end [...]
I'm still reeling after hearing Immigration Minister Phil Woolas' interview on the Today programme this morning. He was wheeled in to big up the government's proposal for a Citizenship points plan. The big idea is to award points for people who are in the UK as residents but working towards full citizenship and a UK passport. [...]
Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman is standing in for Gordon Brown over the summer and has chosen this time to air her views on women and political leadership. Yesterday she told the Sunday Times: "Men cannot be left to run things on their own. I think it's a thoroughly bad thing to have a men-only leadership. In a country where women regard themselves as equal, they are not prepared to see men just running the show themselves. I think a balanced team of men and women makes better decisions." Jo Swinson MP, the Liberal Democrat women's spokesperson (and former Chair ...
In the dying months of the last Tory government, when all was doom and gloom for the Tories, when everyone knew they were going to lose the 1997 election heavily, there was one Tory who was unbowed, still took the fight to Labour and despite the polls saying otherwise, was telling the press he was predicting a Tory majority of 20 seats. In many ways Michael Heseltine was like the German propaganda ministry in April 1945 or Comical Ali in Iraq in 2003, talking a good war, making much of tiny successes whilst ignoring t he obvious. It seemed slightly ...
Whilst over at Liberal Conspiracy, I came across a blog post about how Nick Clegg wants to be part of the Brown V Cameron debate that people want on TV. Personally I think Nick Clegg is right to bang on about it, because at the end of the day he is the leader of the third largest political party and deserves some respect. I don't know what Nick Clegg wants to achieve from taking part in a TV debate, but all I can suggest is that he doesn't see it as a means of trying to get more votes. I ...
The Daily Mail has a rather extensive splash on this story; leading off with the comments Peter Hain has made and finishing off with an lengthy rebuttal of Alan Johnson's rather lame 'well I would really like to keep McKinnon in the UK honest but I really can't' effort in the Sunday Times yesterday. Hain identifies [...]
Attention! Eyes right! Good. Now tell me what you see. Yes, quite correct, you see links to posts that are happening on other Lib Dem Blogs. Liberal Vision is delighted to from hereon provide a constant stream of the latest news from LibDemLand. Go try them out, some are actually quite good. P.S. Obvious tipping of hat to Ryan Cullen & co. who keep the Lib Dem Blogs aggregator running.
The newspapers are full of criticism for Harriet Harman today. I agree her comments about how men cannot be trusted etc etc are harsh and unhelpful; however, her proposals highlight the systematic male dominance in politics. I have been surprised a bit by the ignorance of some women writing in the newspapers today. For example, a Telegraph article says: "If the women are good, I'm with them; if they're not, I'm not" Yes, I am against appointing women just for the sake of them being women. However, many talented women in parliament are overlooked for cabinet jobs and other important ...
"Real Women," a new policy paper from the Liberal Democrats' women's policy group, has proposed a set of measures to protect women and girls from body image pressure and to encourage healthier lifestyles. These include: · Children to be protected from body image pressure by banning airbrushing in advertising aimed at under 16s · Adverts aimed at adults to indicate clearly the extent to which they have been airbrushed or digitally enhanced · Cosmetic surgery advertisements to give surgery success rates · Modules on body image, health and well-being, and media literacy to be taught in schools · Schools to ...
It has long been my conviction that The Guardian is on the brink of openly endorsing the Conservatives at the next election. Yesterday, in the pages of it's sister paper, The Observer, Richard Reeves was asking what appeared to be a largely rhetorical question about how progressive the Conservatives really are. Reeves rather fawning praise [...]
This delights me: Mark Higgins, president of Bolton university student union . . . said: "We're the customers and they're providing the services. We're giving feedback on their services."Student leaders credit the emerging protests to the introduction of variable tuition fees, which have fostered a growing sense that the professors are there to serve the students and should be held to account for their performance. Exactly! And if paying a rather small tuition fee increases the bottom-up pressure on professors, you have yet another reason to support the excellent policy of charging the people who benefit most for the tuition ...
July is usually a busy month in Parliament, as there is a rush to complete things before the long Parliamentary recess. This July has been no exception, and there were some long sessions, particularly in dealing with the Parliamentary Standards Bill, a rushed piece of legislation which has needed a considerable amount of work in terms of amendments, in order to make it workable. As an aside, I have been in discussion with the Electoral Commission on the question of another piece of legislation, the Political Parties and Elections Bill. I am concerned that the burden of bureaucracy placed upon ...
I have been involved in a lot of discussions over the last couple of years about the broadband speeds that most users need in the UK. This debate was given extra impetus with the Digital Britain report proposal for a universal broadband service at 2Mbps - To ensure all can access and benefit from the network of today, we confirm our intention to deliver the Universal Service Broadband Commitment at 2Mbps by 2012. My test for broadband speed is a functional one of whether it meets the reasonable expectations of users for delivering the typical basket of internet services at ...
I am enjoying the brouhaha going on at the moment about the possibility of TV debates in the run up to the General Election. The argument basically appears to fall into two parts: Is Gordon Brown chicken? and Should we allow someone who is not standing for Parliament to be in them? I should say that I am a big supporter of the debates. I think they will provide a key focal point to the campaigns and offer a politically neutral platform for politicians to engage with the public and, crucially, with each other. And if the West Wing is ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black, will be holding two advice surgeries this week. Mr. Black will be in Briton Ferry Library on Friday 7 August from 3pm to 4pm. He will then be available at Gorseinon Library from 4.30pm to 5.30pm. No appointment is necessary.
Is it me or are the media being allowed to continue to speculate about Peter Mandelson's leadership ambitions as a way of telling the country that things can get worse than a Gordon Brown premiership?
Campaigns are never won using just one skill, one talent, or one experience. To be successful, the abilities of everyone involved must be harnessed and put to good use. That's why as VC Campaigns I've created the Liberal Youth Talent Network for members with particular skills or talents that can help create and develop our campaigns. There's no set list of things we're looking for - tell us about your talents. However, if you're a photographer, graphic designer, film-maker, web coder, artist, writer or campaigner, we would love to hear from you. (1) Join our facebook group (2) Fill in ...
In an interview with Eric Pickles today, he talks about how Brown stepping down would make a Tory victory harder. You have to question the real reason for the Tories continually saying that they would fare worse if Brown stepped down. There are several possible reasons from what I can see. 1)They might genuinely believe that Brown standing down and someone like Johnson stepping in may make it harder for them to win the election. 2)However, if this was the case, then why would you keep talking about your weaknesses? Especially when Johnson or whoever would be the new leader ...
There is an old political trick of pulling out a long-standing policy which most people have forgotten about, repackaging it and then announcing it as a new and innovative way forward as part of an agenda for change that allegedly offers radical solutions for modern times. Labour leadership contender Huw Lewis has got that trick down to a fine art and, in today's offering he is ably assisted by former First Secretary, Aun Michael, who believes that the Welsh Government's record on housing is too 'conservative'. That is an interesting judgement from a man whose innate conservatism and bureaucratic tendencies ...
Today's report of the Assembly's Finance Committee into school funding is both apt and timely. The Committee concludes that schools are losing out on thousands of pounds because of the red tape surrounding special grants. They say that there is confusion over how much is available and how to apply for it. Their criticism is echoed by the National Association of Head Teachers, who say that people in leadership positions spend up to 15% of their time making detailed applications for grants even though only small amounts of money are on offer. The committee say that there are far too ...
I'm an occasional cycling fan. By which I mean, I love the Tour de France when it's on the TV, pay a bit of attention to the Olympics and World Championships if British cyclists are doing well and otherwise ride my exercise bike now and again. So having watched British cyclist Mark Cavendish storm to victory in the final stage in Paris, one of the most prestigious stages for anyone to win, I've been wanting to watch it again. Just how come slightly before the final corner his main rivals were right on his heels and then suddenly round the ...
The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people, just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that's fine, we're grateful for people taking the time to read the site. You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are three simple ways: 1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there's something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you're an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or ...
We're not quite sure what Conservative Party Chair Eric Pickles means when he suggests that many Local Authority Chief Executives could be abolished. In an interview with the Independent this morning Mr Pickles said "recent changes to the structure of local government meant many chief executives were no longer needed. Since 2000, many councils have switched to having a leader and elected cabinet members handling specific portfolios." Eric goes on to suggest that: I'm not one of these people who gets excited about high salaries but it should be in proportion to their responsibilities," Mr Pickles said. "A lot of ...
Some of these reviews can also be found on Amazon.In July 2009 I read the following books: 1. The Blind Watchmaker, by Richard Dawkins I was surprised when I realised that I hadn't actually read this. I wish I still hadn't. It is tediously repetitive - for example, at the beginning of chapter 10 he says " This book is mainly about evolution as the solution of the complex 'design' problem; evolution as the true explanation for the phenomena that [William] Paley thought proved the existence of a divine watchmaker. This is why I keep going on about eyes and ...
I am off on holiday to sunny Ireland for a couple of weeks from today so blogging will be light during that period. I have set up a few automatic timed posts but will not be around to interact with the comments and they will of course not be ultra topical. See you when I get back! Mark.
Mon 3rd
09:09Well since Mole Junior is trying to see how we can do something similar in Salford I wish him well.W...
Lord Clement-Jones launches a Bill aimed at reviving live music in England and Wales Fri, 31 Jul 2009 Culture, Media and Sport Spokesperson, Lord Clement-Jones has launched the Live Music Bill. The Bill received its First Reading in the House of Lords on 15th July 2009 and is awaiting a more formal second reading sometime in [...]
One of the huge worries I have as mother of a soon-to-be-teenage daughter is that she will feel pressure to conform to the increasingly unrealistic and actually unattainable expectations about appearance set by advertisers and magazines aimed at young people. Women are expected to have enormous breasts, disproportionately tiny waists, perfect skin, hair and teeth and they become objects of ridicule if they go out without make up. And if they don't have those things, there's a huge pressure on them to go out and buy themselves new teeth, bigger boobs, liposuction, a straighter nose and so on. I've seen ...
Chris Huhne said: "This strengthens the case for a full public inquiry into the involvement of the British Government in the criminal offences of torture and state kidnap. Commenting on reports that an MI5 officer visited Morocco three times at the same time as former terror suspect Binyam Mohamed claims he was being tortured there, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne...
Black Wednesday refers to the events of 16 September 1992 when the Conservative government was forced to withdraw the pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) after they were unable to keep sterling above its agreed lower limit. The most high profile of the currency market investors, George Soros, made over US$1 billion profit [...]
Last week the Food Standards Agency published a report suggesting there were no benefits to organic food, firstly I think they are wrong and the Soil Association (below) explains why, but secondly even if they were right and organics gave no benefits to the person eating the food there are still benefits to the environment. I eat organic food (not my whole diet but as for a large proportion) not because I think it is good for me but because I think it is good for the wider world so regardless of the report I will continue to eat organic ...
Mon 3rd
08:33The ghost of Britians economy,like Marleys Ghost as called back to see us will voting Tory help No, ...
Britain's economy had particular problems caused by government economic policy and partly reflecting Thatcher's failure to reverse long term weaknesses.The Lawson boom, a period of high but unsustainable growth which gave rise to the talk of an economic miracle, preceded the recession. It was caused by tax cuts for the rich, the deregulation of the [...]
Mon 3rd
08:24Breaking story Tory find new ideas to fund shortfalls no need to cuts services says Tory insider.
Westminster Tories sell old street signs on eBay to plug £17 million "black hole" google_protectAndRun("render_ads.js::google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad); Westminster City Council has resorted to selling old West End street signs on eBay for £10,000 in the Conservatives' latest attempt to fill the £17 million "black hole" in the Council's finances caused by investing Council Tax payers' money in [...]
A historian claims haggis is English - a great silly season story, but one with a useful message we all-too-often forget. Simple folk that we are, we want to interpret history in the light of modern developments, and one obvious modern change is the rise of nationalism and the nation-state, with its nice clear boundaries. So we want to say something is an English or a Scottish invention when, in many cases, the facts don't really support either. Take today's story. It seems a reference to haggis has been found in an English recipe book in 1616, well before we ...
Mon 3rd
08:13I put on my rose tinted Tory glasses and began to read this fantastic story of how every thing will ...
But we can still help families and businesses right now. We will freeze council tax for two years by reducing wasteful spending on advertising and consultancy in central government We will introduce a £50bn National Loan Guarantee Scheme to underwritebank lending to businesses and get credit flowing again We will provide tax cuts for new jobs with [...]
Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman spelled out the issue of spending curbs on the Andrew Marr show on BBC yesterday. If you missed it and what to see and hear what he had to say then follow the link HERE
You are a prime minister under pressure. What do you do? Give your most attractive rival a job which ensure that everyone will soon hate him. Since becoming home secretary, Alan Johnson has become the most prominent public defender of identity cards and of the extradition of Gary McKinnon. You may say that in both cases Johnson could have fought to be allowed to take a different line if he wanted to, but it does underline what a thankless job being home secretary is. By appointing Johnson to the post, Gordon Brown has ensured that the more libertarian elements amongst ...
One of the great claims to fame for Kilburn is the credit brought to it by Ian Dury. http://www.iandury.co.uk/ His first band (and though it's a bit unfair it was his band) was KILBURN AND THE HIGH ROADS. Although many of the band members were from and hung around Harrow, clearly Kilburn was a dominant part of the NW London entertainment scene. Being a collector and fascinated by the local area I've been out and boguht copies of the two albums that relate to this story. The first (pictured left) is the album Wotabunch, 1978 Warner Brothers Records - sleeve ...
The Scottish edition of the Times carries the true cost of ALex Salmond's true cost to the taxpayer. Since he was elected to Holyrood in 2007 he has been entitled to his full MPs salary, despite only attending on 15 occasions, one third of his MSPs salary, which he donates to charity and his First Minister's salary. An annual income of £144,990. If he had stood down as the MP for Banff and Buchan in 2007, he would have be able to claim the full MSPs salary as well as his First Ministers salary. However, including his charitable donation by ...
Strathclyde Police, Scotland's largest police force, is facing a budget crisis that may result is redundancies. The force is key to the SNP's election pledge to add 1,000 officers to the beat, earlier this summer they were pleased to announce that 846 had been added. However, the force that has claimed 465 of the new officers is looking at having to make £34.7 million which they say may result in some of those officers not being put on front line duties, or having exceeded 8,000 officers. Although with the discrepancy between income and outgoings set to increase to £65.6 million ...
With recess now on us, blogs have predictably got odder. Which given some of their usual levels, is odder than a cat flavoured boomerang. Not sure that analogy works. Too lazy to come up with a better one. This week David Cameron swore on the radio and the media had a spasm. We have to remember something, swearing is neither big nor clever, but it is funny. Aneurin Glyndwr sums up what happened, with what could be seen as a personal attack, which of course it isn't because the author doesn't believe in them. Both the BMA and Bevan Foundation ...
Dr.Brian Mathew the Lib Dems' Parliamentary Candidate for North Somerset returned from Zimbabwe at the weekend. His project with UNICEF and Care International has managed to bring clean safe water to 70 communities in the dry south East of the Country. Brian said "we have managed to get over 100,000 hygiene kits out to families to help them collect and purify water and also oral rehydration solution packs to the clinics and village health workers in the area as we are expecting a second epidemic later in the year when the weather starts to warm up". "In one village called ...
Sometime ago I came across this Tax Calculator on Martin Lewis's http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ website.
