The Argus gets our attention with the headline: Sussex councillor partied with "hot natives" on break from town hallThe story turns out to relate to Tory councillor Dan Kavanagh, who was given permission for a six-month leave of absence from Crawley Borough Council due to "business commitments" in Portugal. But, and here I quote the West Sussex County Times: his fuming opponents on Crawley Borough Council say he should quit the town hall after he posted a tale of 'beautiful weather, hot women, and jugs of sangria' on Facebook during a leave of absence from his post to 'work' abroad.Well, ...
The Daily Mail has an article with some interesting old photos of London and beyond. I was intrigued by the Kodak shop, which the Mail says is in Clerkenwell: but where? According to Nachphoto, it's Kodak's head office, in Clerkenwell Road, and the photo was taken in 1902. The building was designed by George Walton, a [...]
Whereas the decision to ask for payment for reading The Times, Sun and News of the Screws website will doubtless reduce readership of those websites, I am sure the modelling has been done to indicate that it would boost profits (or reduce losses) for News International when compared to the current (virtually) all-advertising model. Even if a relatively small number pay for some services, it could make the whole thing profitable. Remember, Rupert Murdoch and his company are very experienced at managing subscription services via Sky. And it is surely inevitable that eventually more and more newspaper websites will require ...
It's that time of the year again. The Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards, run in conjunction with Lib Dem Voice, are back for a fourth year. The full details are on Liberal Democrat Voice, but this year there are six awards: Best new Liberal Democrat blog (started since 1 September 2008)Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office (The Tim Garden Award)Best use of blogging / social networking / e-campaigning by a Liberal DemocratBest posting on a Liberal Democrat blog (since 1st September 2008)Best non-Liberal Democrat politics blogLiberal Democrat Blog of the YearSince you ask, this blog ...
Fancy standing for Parliament? Here are the selections coming up in the next month, courtesy of the LibDems4Parliament website: Bournemouth East – PPC (1st Aug 2009 – 28th Aug 2009). Stourbridge – PPC (1st Aug 2009 – 14th Aug 2009). Mid Norfolk & South West Norfolk – PPC (1st Aug 2009 – 23rd Sep 2009). Mid-Bedfordshire – PPC (1st Aug 2009 – 8th Aug 2009). Hertford & Stortford – PPC (Re-advertisement) (1st Aug 2009 – 8th Aug 2009). Harrow East – PPC (1st Aug 2009 – 14th Aug 2009). Basingstoke – PPC (1st Aug 2009 – 27th Aug 2009). Hertsmere ...
I have a feeling that BBC 4 might have had its highest audience figure ever with last night's "Spanish Flu - the Forgotten Fallen". It was spellbinding and by chance this fact-based drama of how Dr James Niven tried to protect the people of Manchester from Spanish flu was scheduled in the midst of the current flu outbreak. I was rather shocked to learn that Spanish flu was H1N1 - the same strain as the current swine flu, apparently. Of course at our house we were slightly distracted by the appearance of the Worth Valley Railway's Keighley station doing sterling ...
This is another of the posts that several people said they'd be interested in. Those of you who aren't, blame those people. This is pitched at the most non-technical of people, so my apologies if this feels patronising to some of you... Before I start, I'd better explain what GNU/Linux is, since many people won't know [...]
{pete-10k} You might remember that I mentioned about a month ago that my colleague Pete Pattisson was planning to run the London 10k for the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. Pete completed the run, and he's asked me to thank everyone who sponsored him. He writes: "A huge thanks to everyone who sponsored my 10K run, in aid of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a charity that helps people stay safe. I joined 27,000 others in the race through the streets of central London, raising £595. Too many people in Lewisham, especially young people, have become victims of violence recently, and so I ...
Earlier this evening I went to a book launch at Waterstone's in Market Harborough. It was for The Gates of Troy by Glyn Iliffe, who is a fellow member of Leicester Writers Club. When I moved here in 1973 there wasn't even a branch of W.H. Smith's in the town. Now we host book launches.
{woodyates-graffiti} Sven, Pete and I were up on Woodyates Road last night and were disappointed to see that a number of items of street furniture had been tagged, including the bench we funded from last year's locality fund. The bench was a request from local residents, so it's sad to see it defaced like this. All the tagging looks like it's by the same culprit. I've reported this to the Council and asked for it to be removed ASAP. If anyone knows who's responsible for the tagging, please do let me or our local Safer Neighbourhoods Team know.
Charlotte Gore has kindly extracted the list of Lib Dem blogs from Wikio's new top 100 for political blogs. It begins: 5. Liberal Democrat Voice Up 1 place 17. Mark Reckons Up 10 21. Charlotte Gore Up 2 32. Himmelgarten Cafe Up 4 33. Liberal England Down 2 As I have drifted down from second to fifth place in this list in recent months, it is time to insert a few caveats. The prominence that the Wikio rankings have recently attained is mainly down to their excellent promotion amongst bloggers - something I have been happy to help with. I ...
I ended up with this book by mistake. It was given to me by a friend. I also accept the only reason I read it was because it was written by a Liberal Democrat Councillor in York, albeit one that I don't know. The book is basically a farce, and I mean that in the best [...]
Over the last few months there has been a steady flow of Tory Parliamentary Candidates joining the ranks of the public affairs world. Although this will no doubt be viewed by some as sleazy, I can think of no better training for a wannabe national politician - no other job can provide a better understanding of how Government policy and public issues impact on businesses from a breadth of sectors. But Kevin Davis, the Tory Candidate for Yeovil, has gone one better - he has set up new public affairs agency. Now what would a parliamentary candidate be doing setting ...
On Sunday this blog will again be hosting the Britblog Roundup. If over the next week you see a posting on a British blog that you think particularly find, please send the URL to britblog [AT] gmail [DOT] com and I shall include it in the roundup. Nominating a posting for the Britiblog Roundup is a good way of promoting a blog that you think deserves more readers. And you are welcome to nominate a posting on your own blog too. All nominations by Sunday lunchtime please.
Fairtrade in the sun today - the Tristar Open Day in Preston Park was blessed with fine weather all day but round noon the sun was extremely hot. We had our stall for the Fairtrade Partnership set up, with samples of chocolate very kindly donated by the Co-op at Roseworth along with a luscious looking chocolate cake as a prize for the winner of our quiz. Stopping the samples melting in the sun
As Andrew and Caron have already told you, if you read their blogs, the Lib Dems have today announced that Eileen Baxendale has been selected as the candidate for the by election in Glasgow North East to replace the former speaker Michael Martin. Having been a social worker for 28 years, a director of the Fair Shares Trust, Ethnic Minorities Law Centre and Minority Ethnic Christians Together in Scotland Eileen brings a breadth and wealth of experience that would enhance the Houses of Commons. Commenting on her selection the South Lanarkshire Councillor said: "At a time when faith in MPs ...
When Guido moved to Wordpress he went for the .org option, after it failed on a number of occasions I think he changed his mind and has now decided to go for Wordpress.com VIP instead. The VIP Wordpress.com is Wordpress but high performance, for all the top names in blogging and all the top websites. I think Guido has made an excellent decision by switching to centrally hosted because this means that he doesn't have to do all the server work, doesn't have to pay for hostage and can quiet easily enjoy the blog at the cost of the URL. ...
Pop over to The Register to see an item on research by LSE fellow and former senior Microsoft chappie that public sector productivity has actually fallen since Labour came to power, despite massive increases in the spending on IT. Anyone who knows much about public sector IT procurement probably won't be hugely surprised that the money spent doesn't always deliver the benefits promised. A slick salesman from one of the big companies promises the senior civil servant wonderful benefits, politicians get startstruck by visits from the likes of Bill Gates, and out the money flows. Spending billions on grand schemes ...
Glasgow North East Liberal Democrats have chosen retired Social Worker Eileen Baxendale as their candidate in the forthcoming Glasgow North East by-election. Eileen has also served the community as a Director of the Ethnic Minorities Law Centre and the Fair Shares Trust. Speaking after her selection, Eileen said: "I'm delighted to be chosen as the Liberal Democrat candidate in this election. If elected I will be a strong voice for the people of Glasgow North East in Westminster. "At a time when faith in MPs is at an all time low, it's time for a fresh start in Springburn. "Gordon ...
Back in the early 1980s I worked in Birmingham on 2/6 a week. This taught me many valuable lessons - notably, not to work in Birmingham on 2/6 a week. One of the best sources of free entertainment was the city art gallery. Because it has a superb collection of Victoria art, I developed an interest in the Pre-Raphaelites. As Disgruntled Radical observes, the immensely enjoyable drama series Desperate Romantics concentrates on the three major figures of the Brotherhood: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Millais and Holman Hunt. But there were seven members in all. Back in the eighties I could have ...
As a lot of my Council work at the moment is dealing with issues relating to waste and recycling, I was naturally going to find this site interesting (discovered via It's the website of an American couple who are attempting to live for a year without throwing anything away to landfill - within reason, anyway, they have various common-sense exceptions from their rules. Of course, given that they're planning to write a book about their experience - and is there some law that when someone says 'I shall write a book about the time I did X for Y', ...
Many of my fellow Lib Dem bloggers will be getting their knickers in a twist over the Lib Dem blog awards, but not me this year I am happy to say. Last year I blogged about the competition, nominated myself but this year I have changed my mind and I am not going to nominate myself neither do I want anyone to nominate me. I personally believe the LDV blog awards are a farce and the party shouldn't play a part in it but chose to do so. Do the Conservatives or Labour parties have blog awards that the party ...
Nick Bye, the third-placed Tory candidate in their Totnes 'open primary', writes a cheerily self-deprecating account of his experiences in today's Times, A popular raspberry against yah-boo politics: Matthew Parris chaired the big hustings meeting, which I reckoned would be a walkover for me — it was very much my home territory. I'm a mayor and used to traditional, on-the-stump speeches. But this is where the open primary system really worked for Dr Wollaston. She had the good sense to appreciate that party political point-scoring was just not what this audience wanted to hear. I, however, made the mistake of ...
Every August e-mails circulate which suggest we are about to have a close encounter with Mars. The e-mails are a hoax, but they say something about our fascination with the Red Planet. The e-mail seems to promise something truly remarkable. It often starts: "The Red Planet is about to be spectacular." It ends with the screaming caps: "NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL...
As well as a large number of constituent issues and problems to deal with yesterday I also : * Attended a very interesting briefing by the City Council on the proposed "Winter Light Night" in Dundee - taking place on Friday 27th November. The evening will offer exciting entertainment, both visual and aural mixing light and music against a backdrop of street markets, performance and entertainment, street art, illuminations, torchlight processions, heritage walks, story telling, late opening shopping and cultural venues. Winter Light Night will take place during this year's West End Christmas Week and as the activities will take ...
Bill Clinton's successful mission to North Korea presents a "win-win" situation for President Obama. Never mind the nay-sayers, such as the neo-conservative former ambassador John Bolton, who has accused the administration of practically consorting with terrorists by engaging with the unpredictable Kim Jong-il. Contrary to Mr Bolton, who forgot in his previous incarnations working for George Bush...
At the start of the year, along with a number of other bloggers I published a list of my predictions for 2009. I thought just over half way through the year would be a good point to review how I am doing so far: Gordon Brown will not call a general election this year. I do not think he has the courage and he will run down the clock. This is looking like a safe bet and he may even be turfed out before he gets the chance. Either way, he will not call it himself.Labour's poll ratings will nosedive ...
{Ming discusses the importance of regeneration money with local MSP Iain Smith and St Andrews councillors.} North East Fife has been snubbed by the SNP Government's town centre regeneration fund according to North East Fife's MP Sir Menzies Campbell and MSP Iain Smith. Speaking after the announcement that bids for support from the fund from Cupar and St Andrews had been rejected by the Government Sir Menzies said: "The applications which came from North East Fife were entirely credible and would have made a real difference to these towns. It is unclear as to why they have been turned down ...
SALFORD UNIVERSITY SACKING Star date: 6th August 2009 GARY DUKE SACKED SHOCK (?) This morning Salford University lecturer, Gary Duke was sacked for `bringing the University into disrepute' after producing a spoof `Vice Consul's Newsletter' during the spate of job losses announced by the University. "There is a long satirical tradition within our University system" said Gary after the [...]
Thu 6th
17:28
Well we have had the Top and it looks like sheep people are flocking for more of the same. I thought...
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As twitter seems to be down at the moment, I just thought I'd remind Langworthy residents that our first PACT (Police and Communities Together) meeting is at 6pm this evening at the British Legion Club on Langworthy Road. I urge all residents that wish to come and discuss crime, anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping, security or any other local issues to pop along and meet fellow residents, police representatives, local ward councillors and other council officers to discuss any issues. Langworthy Lib Dem Councillor Lynn Drake is a bit ill at the moment, so won't be attending - but if anyone wishes ...
Thu 6th
17:14Sorry re post, conservatives ship in support from Manchester seem a little thin on the ground in Sal...
The Real pictues have been taken down. Had to find quick replacements.
The Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards, run in conjunction with Lib Dem Voice, are back for their fourth year. As usual, they'll be awarded in a budget lavish ceremony at the party's autumn conference in Bournemouth. (There's further information on the event over at the Lib Dems' Flock Together site). Click on the following links to see last year's Shortlist and the Winners. This year's awards are as follows: * Best new Liberal Democrat blog (started since 1st September 2008) * Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office (The Tim Garden Award) * Best use of ...
Thu 6th
16:37BBC move to Media City 'will cost £876m'- £20 million thanks to the kind people of Salfo...
8:42 am, August 6, 2009 Leaked documents show that the BBC's move to Media City UK will cost £876m, according to a report today. London-based newspaper City AM says that the figures show that relocating five divisions to Salford Quays will cost more than previously indicated. It quotes an internal BBC budget analysis as saying that the [...]
There is an interesting story on the BBC website about reactions in Germany to that country's soldiers having taken part in a military offensive for the first time since the 1939-45 war (although I am sure I recall that German Tornado aircraft saw action in the former Yugoslavia). The institution of a new German medal, the first since the [...]
Fire chiefs' £65,000 bill Exclusive Neal Keeling August 06, 2009 FIRE service bosses spent more than £65,000 on corporate credit cards last year – with claims including hotels, tracksuits, umbrellas and dry cleaning. Twenty senior officers and managers in Greater Manchester notched up a bill of £65,413 between them. It includes £286 for two nights in a Wigan hotel [...]
As anyone who follows Welsh politics will know, the Welsh government will soon be facing massive budget cuts – the kind that have not happened since the Assembly was established in 1999. Until now, all parts of Welsh public life have benefited from the certainty that next year's budget always goes up. But no longer. The most vulnerable part of the budget is probably the Heritage department, and I would not be surprised if the government is already looking at what savings can be made here. What worries me most is that there is an overwhelming sense of cultural insularity ...
At every election, the topic arises of a US-style debate between the leaders, and you can't beat the cut and thrust of a good verbal battle of ideas and propositions. However debates can be blamed for losing elections but never credited for winning. Nixon's performance against Kennedy in 1960 and Ford's Poland gaffe in 1976 are just two examples. For this reason we are, alas, unlikely to ever see them here. It is usually the one who is behind in the polls who is keen for it to happen - hence Labour's current interest. For our part, we should not, ...
And there is no truth that she was out selling Double glazing.She his out meeting her people. Sorry i nearly choked, where was i? Oh yes meeting the people, what worries me is when she asked a senior local labour member to go with her and she refused. Thing thats worrying me is who do [...]
A Mary Burns Exclusive! Hazel's Seat To Be Declared `Marginal' By Labour A Labour Party insider tells me that Salford has now-been declared "a marginal constituency" for the first time in...well, ages! People say you could stick a red rosette on a donkey and it'd get elected in Salford, but it seems that the Labour Party [...]
So, I've been well and truly bed-ridden for the past few days, and I've started to be sucked into the Lib Dem blogosphere again. And I was drawn today to Charlotte Gore's blog about domestic violence. Now, I have to say I like most of what she writes, normally. I may not agree with it, but having a refreshingly libertarian approach holds the more "socially democratic" amongst us to account. But not with this particular post. There was just something... jarring. And then it struck me what was quite wrong with this post. It's talking about domestic violence. It is ...
Tech Crunch has a blog post about how co-founder of YouTube Chad Hurley is investing in Formula 1 and a car might even get YouTube stickers on it. Now that would just be amazing for new media to see a Formula 1 car with YouTube stickers on it. If I had enough money I would invest in Formula 1 or maybe horse racing? But then again it's only a dream without the financial backing! Best file this post under wacky ideas by a 17 year old!
SALFORD UNIVERSITY HUMAN RIGHTS Star date: 5th August 2009 UNIVERSITY LECTURER'S JOB ADVERTISED BEFORE HE'S BEEN OFFICIALLY SACKED! The University of Salford is currently priding itself on its employment of human rights campaigners in top jobs. But where are the human rights for lecturer, Gary Duke, who went into a disciplinary meeting yesterday only to find that his [...]
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 ...
I have received some intelligence via a source of a conversation between the source and Agent Orange, and would like to share some thoughts will other Lib Dems and Lib Dem bloggers about this character. Following a blog post by Charlotte Gore and my intelligence, I am starting to think that Agent Orange is an employee of Cowley Street. Apart from that, other thoughts that have hit me include, Agent Orange not voting for Nick Clegg in the leadership election, voting for Lembit Opik in the Presidential election and someone who isn't a fan of Lord Rennard (he isn't alone). ...
Thu 6th
15:06
Big hair, frills and feathers - plenty of inspiration for the family this summer in Bath
Bath & North East Somerset Council's museums have plenty of creative and educational activities on offer to keep the children busy this summer. If you haven't visited The Story of The Supremes From the Mary Wilson Collection yet, there are a host of family activities at the exhibition at the Council-run Assembly Rooms. Children are invited to dress up as a Mini-Supreme in the...
The Mayor of London has been asked to remove an illegal shed that he put on the balcony of his home by his local Council in London. As the media are reporting, this must be bad news for City Hall advisors and it must be embarrassing for Mr Johnson but then again it is Boris we are talking about. Boris ran a great campaign to get elected as Mayor of London, it was the campaign that used bits of the Obama campaign and was truly crafted to a level of perfection that got him the seat of Mayor of London. ...
Guido has sent my attention to a news story which suggests Tory MP Michael Gove is earning a massive £1,250 per hour for writing a column and personally I am shocked at the figure. First of all I write this blog, a blog is like a column, it takes up the same amount of time to write and a blog can at times get more readers then a column but I don't even get 1% if what this Tory MP earns why is that? People like Murdoch claim Quality Journalism isn't cheap, how can it be if people are earning ...
{Lynnedaisypic} On the campaign trail in Hornsey and Wood Green in July with Lynne Featherstone MP I found out yesterday evening that I've been elected to the Safer Communities Board of the Local Government Association. The electorate was all Lib Dem councillors with over 80 Lib Dem Councillors putting their names forward for roles in the LGA Group this year. I got the second highest number first preference votes for the SCB which I was pretty amazed about as I've only been a councillor since 2006 and I was up against more experienced and established councillors. You can download the results in full here. It ...
Rupert Murdoch has had a wacky idea in which he thinks charging people to read news online will cover the losses that is company is facing and I have to assure him that his idea is stupid and will never work. People are not going to pay to read news online and they will just switch to other sources leading to Mr Murdoch losing even more money. Why would someone pay Murdoch and Co. for a bit of political gossip, tittle-tattle and commentary when they can read the blog of some guy with a Blogger account, who blogs from his ...
As the battle to replace Michael Martin as the MP for Glasgow North East hots up the Scottish Liberal Democrats have selected Eileen Baxendale as their candidate. Eileen has a strong track record in social work all across Glasgow but has spent an incredible amount of time in Glasgow North East working alongside and with many communities there so will be a strong candidate. Eileen, 64 is now a South Lanarkshire councillor and formerly a social worker with over 28 years experience in Glasgow. My hat goes off to people like Eileen, social workers get a hard time when things ...
I'm not a lover of the Daily Mail, but their article today on how easy — and fast — is was to clone and write new data onto the supposedly 'unforgeable' national ID card is just scary. This is the ID card that the Labour Government insist is fully and absolutely secure. This is the ID card that the Labour Government insist will protect us all from terrorists. This is the ID card that the Labour Government insist will stop people accessing services they have no right to access. "Yeah, right."
Well done to Ross Finnie MSP for getting the answer to his question about "botched" operations. The headline in today's Metro on page nine "Finnie: 5,000 botched ops in last five years" is quite alarming but as my friend and colleague Caron says "please don't panic". However, as Ross Finnie has uncovered these figures appear quite alarming, but are they really down to negligence? I suspect not. Are they down to surgeons rushing to comply with government targets? Maybe, maybe not. What they do show is that a little more patience and care is required and less rushing around. The ...
Devon and Cornwall Police Chief Constable Stephen Otter has warned that the force may have to lose 300 officers in budget cuts. He is asking that the Force's funding be improved so that the cuts are not needed. In response, local Tory MP Gary Streeter has accused Mr Otter of whingeing. If there really are to be such sever cuts then it will undoubtedly have a huge impact on local policing. True, Cornwall may not have the crime problems of some of the rest of the country, but we still have our problems. Order in local towns can sometimes be ...
Last night Paul, Sarah, Ron, Martin and I went to see Wolverhampton Wanderers beat AFC Wrexham 3-1 at the Racecourse Ground.
According to the independent Conservative website Conservative Home, the Tory Party should seriously consider scrapping free bus travel for the over 60s. They suggest that the subsidy is too costly. Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers is quite right to say that many councils are not receiving the funding from Government that they need to pay for the scheme. Some authorities are having to pay over a third of their total budgets for this because the Government money (which is supposed to fund the entire cost) is simply not enough. And some councils (not always the same ones) are running a ...
I simply love the latest media frenzy speculating about whether Peter Mandelson will become Prime Minister. 'There's nothing happening in the world of politics - beyond Harriet Harperson getting herself all mixed up as she so often does - so let's pick the most exciting story we can fabricate and run with it' must be the way of thinking in newsrooms across the land. There is no question that Peter Mandelson is a brilliant politician. There is no question that he has saved Brown from immediate doom. There is little question that Brown and the rest of the Labour Party ...
Mill himself was a Liberal Party supporter and had a short career as a Liberal MP, but many Conservative and Labour people have tried to claim his text On Liberty for their own traditions. The core claims of the book, I argue, are not socialist, or social democratic, because Mill is against enforcing economic equality; and they are nor conservative, because the core claims are against the power of tradition and custom. Most famously Mill emphasises free speech both as a value in itself, and as the best way to come close to the truth. Mill is willing to restrict ...
"Are you still planning to beat up women when you grow up, Tarquin?" Ah, so the Daily Mail seems to be going a bit mad at the moment. Harriet Harman is back in the news after announcing she wants children as young as 5 being taught, in school, that men beating up women is wrong. Great. After that, perhaps they can also explain that chasing cats into locked cat flaps is cruel, that using a lighter in combination with an Aerosol can is unforgivably naughty, then can teach them not to call the black child in the class a nigger, ...
Ok, if you're about to have an operation in a Scottish hospital, please don't panic. The chances are that the medical team operating on you are going to do their jobs with excellent professionalism and skill. However, the Scottish Liberal Democrat Health Spokesman Ross Finnie has obtained figures that give cause for some concern. He is worried that patient safety is being compromised in some cases as Health Boards are pressured to meet targets on things like waiting times. The figures released in a Parliamentary answer show that in the last 5 years, 3106 people have suffered some sort of ...
Rupert Murdoch has announced today that his newspapers websites are to become subscription sites, charging a fee, and will no longer be free. Whilst this might generate some cash, it is going to drastically affect the influence his companies have on the internet. For starters, the vast majority of people will not pay for news on the internet. If you want free news you can go to the BBC website (I know we pay a license fee but the website is free for everyone to use) or any other number of free to read sites. Murdoch believes other papers will ...
As reported by Charlotte Gore this month's Wikio rankings see Liberal Vision sliding in at a plum NO.9 out of LibDem Blogs and No. 61 out of all political blogs in the UK: 1 (5) Liberal Democrat Voice Climbs 1 2 (17) Mark Reckons Climbs 10 3 (21) Charlotte Gore Climbs 2 4 (32) Himmelgarten Cafe Climbs 4 5 (33) Liberal England Falls 2 6 (38) Quaequam Blog! Falls 5 7 (50) Peter Black AM Falls 2 8 (59) People's Republic of Mortimer Falls 9 9 (61) Liberal Vision New Entry 10 (68) Stephen's Linlithgow Journal Climbs 5 11 (75) ...
Results are in for Liberal Democrat positions on the Local Government Association bodies for 2009-2011. All (principle) councillors in England were polled with the highest turnout ever recorded. Richard Kemp (Liverpool) was returned unopposed as Group Leader. Cllr Gerald Vernon Jackson (Portsmouth) was elected as Deputy Group Leader. Cllr Jill Shortland (Somerset) was elected as Group Chair and Cllr John Commons (Manchester) as Group Whip. The full results are available here.
My sentence of the day is from Lord Skidelsky:The Queen's question was wrong, because it accepted at face value the predictive claim of economics Exactly - as I argued before, Her Majesty should order the decapitation of any economist who claims that some combination of improved technique, courage and moral stance could prevent or predict economic crises. Forecasts are not possible in dynamic systems. General rules - interest rates rise, consumption falls, that sort of thing - are possible, but "this structure will collapse in August" is not. Skidelsky argues that economics is a social science, and soOne cannot imagine ...
After two months of non-political activity it was back on the doorstep. Sun blazing. A good evening for chatting to people. A bouyant welcome in Brislington. A nice change to be chatting as a non-councillor about life and politics in general.
A parliamentary question by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that more than 3,000 patients' organs were accidentally cut or punctured during surgery over the past five years. From the Scotsman: The figures, obtained by Ross Finnie, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, reveal a series of mistakes, including unintentional cuts during operations, and failure of sterile precautions during surgery. The errors also include instances where "foreign bodies" were accidentally left in a patient's body during surgery, and an "inappropriate" operation being carried out. Mr Finnie, who obtained the statistics through parliamentary answers, said: "Most patients will accept that undergoing operations is ...
The Yorkshire Ridings Society and Redcar Ladies Lifeboat Guild raised £370.00 for Redcar lifeboat from the sales of white roses on Yorkshire Day in Redcar and Saltburn.
I got this news - that parts of Britain are using the Euro - via a Conservative acquaintance who linked it on Facebook with the comment, "no no NO!". In other words, Conservatives are very uncomfortable with the idea that people might of their own free will use a Europe-issued currency. Their nationalistic-authoritarian instincts are continuously at war with a superficial belief in economic liberalism, the view that people should in general be trusted to take their own decisions. They share a lot with centralising socialists in this regard - who don't like losing the ability to run amok, fiscally, ...
When looking at social progress, you can do worse than judge it by toilets. The ability to go to the loo in private, when you want and in a roughly sanitary way is something we see as pretty fundamental these days. It wasn't always so. In 19th century Manchester, the city council took decades to be convinced the poor people should have proper flushing toilets of any sort. (What they mostly had was a hole in a bench over a cess pit. The pit would be emptied out every few months by men with a cart, who would occasionally fall ...
Prompted by a tweet from Owen Blacker (@owenblacker) about his Twitter settings, I've taken a look at what external applications I've let access my Twitter, Facebook and Flickr data. Put like that, this sounds like a boring techie configuration question, but it really amounts to, "Who've I given rights to poke around my personal data?" Over time, it's easy to build up quite a large list of such applications, not all the members of which are necessarily wise choices - especially as the way applications behave can change over time. So if you're in the mood for some prudent house ...
The British historian Giles MacDonogh's last acclaimed book After the Reich was an admirable study of the disruption and misery prevalent in continental Europe that followed the defeat of Nazi Germany. Few nations came out smelling of roses in their treatment of the hordes of refugees then, not to mention the misdmeanours of the victorious armies. So there [...]
The Daily Mail is excelling itself this Silly Season. First of all it publishes an article advocating eugenics and now it sees plans to teach children that domestic violence is wrong as some sort of scary sign that civilisation is about to end and these nasty feminists are going to take over the world. This short article from the Economic and Social Research Council states that, depending on how you measure it, there are between 240,000 and almost a million children in the UK affected by domestic violence. They reckon that these figures are a gross understimation of the real ...
There is already grumbling amongst some MPs at the Presiding Officer's scheduled speech at the National Eisteddfod today. David Jones is particularly exercised at the claim by Dafydd Elis-Thomas that a Tory-dominated Welsh Affairs Select Committee could attempt to thwart new powers coming to the Assembly. Mr. Jones points out that the Welsh Affairs Select committee currently has three Conservative members. It also has one member from Plaid Cymru. He adds: 'Every report of the committee on legislative competence proposals has been delivered unanimously; not once has a Conservative demurred from the contents of a report or sought to deliver ...
The link is to the publication of the Wicks Report.I need to spend some time looking at it to work out where it is wrong. On the information I am aware of, however, we face a number of energy crunches on supply over the next decade. It will be an interesting task to reconcile this report with reality.
Lets bring Israel back onto the agenda, whilst watching the ten o' clock news on the BBC I watched the report of how when Palestinian children throw stones into Israel's part of the west bank, the army move in kidnap them and torture them at military camps. I know its silly season and the media have moved away from Palestine, but the problem has not gone away. I think its time we brought Palestine back onto the agenda. And a quick note for the BBC, please don't try to sneak a report like this one in before you start report ...
This willow did not enjoy the recent weather.
Writing for the Daily Telegraph website, Jeremy Warner suggests that Vince Cable's reputation as an economic sage will suffer if the economic Armageddon he has forecast fails to materialise. I think this misunderstands Vince's appeal to the public. It is not based on the detail of his views - indeed Tory commentators used to complain that his reputation as the man who saw the recession coming is not fully deserved. No, Vince is popular because he exudes knowledge and authority like an old-fashioned bank manager. It's not so much what he says that appeals: it's the way he says it. ...
Mark Pack links to this item in Computer Weekly, which reports that nine staff have been sacked from their local authority jobs for snooping on personal records of celebrities and personal acquaintances held on the core database of the government's National Identity Scheme. The report says that they are are among 34 council workers who illegally accessed the Customer Information System database, which holds the biographical data of the population that will underpin the government's multi-billion-pound ID card programme. They also provide some details on the breaches by council workers: Cardiff and Glasgow councils sacked staff after they looked up ...
..Torbay.. needs a new Mayor, but if Nick Bye won't stand down, perhaps he can change and start again. Following his failure to win the open primary in Totnes many people are calling on him to resign....
Last week the SFL demanded a bond of £720,000 (the equivalent of 18 away games at the highest grossing club) from the, then prospective, new owners of Livingston FC in order to fulfill their Division 1 football fixture. Neil Rankine, Gordon MacDougall and Ged Nixon had presented a plan to repay the debts that Angelo Massone had greatly ramped up over the last season. Yesterday the other 29 league clubs consigned that possible way out of the financial blackhole to history as they relegated the team to Division Three football. The odd visit of Dunfermline and Dundee (no matter how ...
Despite the promises made by Mr Obama on the campaign trail last year, the White House has provided no effective healthcare bill to put to Congress. In fact, Mr Obama has relied entirely upon members of Congress to concoct the bill on his behalf, with the White House espousing nothing more than a broad mandate for healthcare reform. Considering the vast number of very talented policy-makers that
I forgot to say, probably the best piece of work on Hiroshima is a magazine article written by John Hersey that appeared in The New Yorker magazine in August 1946. The article was soon made into a book, and I read it as teenager. It described how the bombing affected the lives of six individuals, a doctor, a Methodist minister, a widow, etc. and it's as powerful piece of reportage as you'll ever read.
Today, 64 years back, the city of Hiroshima was devastated by an atomic explosions killing more than 140,000 people. The horror continued with tens of thousands more injured and thousands more birth defects for years to come. Whilst mayor of ...
The full Wikio Blog Rankings are out. Wikio doesn't measure how many visitors a website has - it measures the number of reactions they get from the rest of the blogosphere, with more recent links weighted more heavily than older links. As with previous months, I've pulled out the Lib Dem blogs from the top 100, although this month I've included them all rather than just the top 10. Lib Dem Voice manages to climb to 5, which considering how fixed those top slots are that's a remarkable achievement for the team there. Mark Thompson's blog jumps 10 places and ...
