The Right isn't particularly famed for its sense of nuance. The shenanigans going on in the US over healthcare rather suggest that and even the touchy-feely Cameroons are not exactly strangers to Mister Brickbat. Yet when lefties employ the same tactics (as is the nature of politics), they suddenly lurch up on their hindlegs and demand to be treated like sensitive, intelligent human beings. It won't wash. The current source of the UK Right's distress is this #welovetheNHS twitter thing. Now, to most people participating in the meme, this was little more than a way of standing up and being ...
A day "off" looking after our grandchildren. We had a great time in York, especially at Dig having the opportunity to dig around finding artefacts 1,000 year old. An archeologist around to explain everything really well too. There are some advantages to getting older - a free bus pass to get into York (and we explained to the children that if far more people did that there wouldn't have been...
Today was the last day of consulting with children attending the playscheme and parents & other interested adults on the plans for the upgrading of St Margaret's Play area. Plans have been on display at Butts Lane school during the playscheme for the last 3 weeks and today I made time to go along and hear what people were saying. There's been surprisingly little comment from people but today
Tonight we were 'treated' to the BBC2 programme 'The Funny Side of Politics'. I had slight doubts, perhaps unsurprisingly given my defence of politicians on this blog, but actually it was pretty amusing. Whilst nowhere near the funniest bit, the bit I found most interesting was the excruciating interview with Cllr Keith House being asked why [...]
So Anne Main MP has survived attempts to deselect her as the Conservatives' candidate for St. Albans. But she staggers out of the meeting wounded by 100 arrows and with a poisoned chalice placed before her. As I stated on my earlier post today, Sandy Walkington's LibDem team had a clean sweep of all eight county council seats [...]
A Lands Tribunal has found that the District Valuer acting on behalf of Salford Council had undervalued a compulsorily purchased (CPO) property by 40%. The landmark case, brought by Jimmy Griffiths also showed that house prices on which the original compensation figure was based were"selective to a considerable degree" and that other valuations for CPOs in the area were based on an "arbitrary reduction"... Mr Griffiths became the first person in the country to be forcibly evicted from his home as a result of the Government's ill fated Pathfinder programme. He has now won his long running battle with Salford ...
Honestly, people are going to have to stop doing things I want them to do, that's twice in one lifetime now... Then again, with the IOC Executive Board's decision to recommend that golf and rugby sevens join the Olympic programme in 2016 still needing to be ratified by the IOC congress in October in one of the most political arenas in world sports, it's worth taking this opportunity to restate
Conservative Home reports that Ann Main MP, Tory MP for St Albansm has survived the attempt to deselect her. Which is good news from Sandy Walkington and St Albans Lib Dems. Some background here.
We live in a seriously screwed up country. We say, hey! Politicians! Stop being puppets and say what you really think! Then, if we find a politician stupid enough to listen we lynch them for it. Hell, you can be lynched for being seen to agree with someone speaking their mind these days. If the subject matter is the NHS then the politician is doubly cursed. Any criticism of the NHS is a sign that you don't love your country, that you're obviously a foaming right wing nut job that's into eugenics and laughing at people dying of cancer because ...
I have to agree with the blog post by Jonathan Fryer that it is a good time of year for Muslims to quit smoking, especially with Ramadan a week away. As a non smoker myself, I know of how hard it is for smokers to last a day without puffing away and with that in mind I think its best they just give it up for life! I know of at least two Muslim politicians who claim they are fasting but actually smoke in Ramadan and I think it's this that brings out bad thoughts and images about Islam. Pious ...
Are the Tories in a mini melt down mood today? First Alan Duncan goes on about having to live on rations! Now Sir Patrick Cormack is complaining that having to give to charity out of his mere £64,000 salary, sorry £64,766 is expensive! These Tories make your heart bleed don't they? Actually no, they sound like a load of privileged toffs who want it all their own way and that it is their given right to be an MP. Sir Patrick Cormack actually said; "One is expected to give liberally to all manner of charities, one is expected to attend ...
I today asked a fellow Liberal Youth member for a bit of advice via Facebook, in relation to a campaign for a PPC and he turned around and went to my wall and wrote an attack on me and my blog. First of all, my blog wasn't a part of the conversation so I don't understand why he started attacking the blog. If someone doesn't like this blog, or what is written on it they just start their own blog, or just go and read something else. Moving on from that, a personal attack was uncalled for as the person ...
Two picks of the day: remarkable comedy-horror-drama-tragedy Being Human, coming to BBC1 at 10.35 tonight (far less scary than Question Time), if you didn't see it on BBC3; and an old-fashioned gentleman's duel in the Lib Dem blogosphere. I don't say "gentlemen's," as there's only one involved, the Lady Mark. But that's not all - also in tonight's linkspamtastic collection, the less endearingly Victorian attitude of our police to naked statuary, a self-pityingly deluded Republican Congressman (doesn't narrow it down), what makes a good pie, what makes a bad pie, and even a chocolate recommendation. And all in bite-sized portions. ...
The BBC report on the outcome of a six-year legal battle, in which a family has succeeded in recovering more than £165,000 in nursing fees which were wrongly paid. Marjorie Eyton-Jones from Benllech, Anglesey, who had Alzheimer's, was admitted to a home on the Wirral in 1998, but had to pay for her care. Her family was forced to sell her home to fund the nursing fees until her death at the age of 88 in May 2007. The judgement is a landmark case that could have wide-ranging ramifications for the National Health Service and hopefully beneficial implications for families ...
Further to my post last night I have found a Welsh Government graph that puts the current swine flu outbreak into perspective.
I suspect it may in part have been because it gave them a chance to take a pop at Harriet Harman – but there's big coverage in The Sun, and other media, today for figures collated by the Liberal Democrats about the gender pay gap in central government: Official figures show female civil servants are paid up to A THIRD less than male colleagues. The revelations are an embarrassment to the party's self-styled women's champion Harriet Harman. She has vowed to close the gap between the sexes – and has threatened to name and shame firms who give men more. ...
NHS Tower Hamlets' Stop Smoking team deserve congratulations for standing outside the East London Mosque the other day, handing out leaflets explaining their campaign to 'Make Ramadan a good time to Stop!' During Ramadan — which is scheduled to begin at the end of next week — pious Muslims must not eat, drink, smoke or engage [...]
Legendary electirc guitar innovator Les Paul has died at the age of 94, he sure got plenty of sustain just like his hand crafted long necked creations loved by many. Although I have never owned a Les Paul Gibson amongst all my guitars I still feel the following is the only appropriate tribute.
BBC Politics had this story yesterday about an Audit Commission report warning that councils will need extra support as they deal with 'second wave' of the recession ie, the social fall out from rising unemployment and business failures. It accused some councils of complacency and failing to deal with the potentially devastating consequences of long-term [...]
I see that the Conservatives like the SNP have selected a former BBC journalist as their PPC for Glasgow North East, in Ruth Davidson. However, with echoes of Chloe Smith in Norwich North she went straight for the "fight a clean and honest campaign" sound bite. As Norfolk Blogger, Nich Starling, points out the Green who insitigated that pledge and the Tory who signed it have both proven to be less honest, clean and open than they pledged to be. So is it just me or does having to say I'm looking for a clean and honest campaign out in ...
Mandelson: Osborne's "positioning is an audacious attempt at political cross-dressing" <!– 08:47 am, Wed 12th Aug 2009 –> By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 Back from his holiday in Corfu, Peter Mandelson is again ubiquitous, and has attacked George's Osborne's "progressive conservativism" speech yesterday as "audacious political cross-dressing" in this morning's Guardian. Mandelson says that Osborne "doesn't believe in the necessity and [...]
Yesterday we brought you news about the bizarre battle between American rightwingers spreading misinformation about the NHS, and British users of the NHS who were actually quite proud of it. 24 hours later and Tweetminster (which monitors the twitter updates of MPs and PPCs and provides a service where you can search them) reports 65 #welovethenhs tweets from MPs & PPCS. 8 from @UKLabour MPs & 4 PPCs, 3 from @LibDems MPs & 3 PPCs, 1 from @Conservatives PPC Our own Nick_Clegg was amongst them, as was Prime Minister Brown (whose tweet looks like it's had help from a speechwriter): ...
I am surprised with the media response to the news that Hillary Clinton stood up for herself and women when refusing to be her husband's mouthpiece when asked by a student in Congo about Mr Clinton's views instead of her own. Obviously, we know about how different women's situation is over there, however, that was one of the main reasons she went over there, to address the concerns around the rape of women by the people who are supposed to be protecting them. An example article that I will comment on is one I found in The Guardian by, wait ...
Two days ago we read that Tamiflu is not considered to be good for children to take and it may do more harm than good. Today we hear the government are NOT, I repeat NOT, going to prioritise children for immunisations for swine flu. So children are left to rely on Tamiflu, which is dangerous to them. Warped and sadly fatal logic.
'The treatment of charges by the banks borders on the scandalous' so says Nick Clegg in a letter to the online http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/. The website, a favourite of my colleague Simon Shaw, wrote to Cameron challenging him to say how he would deal with the issue of bank charges. Cameron has said they are unfair but todate he has not backed any policy to have them refunded. After three weeks without a reply from Cameron Nick Clegg has moved into the vacum created by Cameron's silence and has written to Martin Lewis of the online journal: Dear Martin, As a subscriber ...
* 'V and A at Dundee' - hopeful of progress : I understand that, next Monday, Mark Jones, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum and Mike Russell MSP, Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution, will make an announcement relating to the 'V and A at Dundee' project. A feasibility study conducted for the project steering group by Whetstone Group and Conran & Partners, launched in February 2009 at the"V and A at Dundee: Making it Happen" conference, concluded that 'V and A at Dundee' would have significant economic and cultural benefits for Dundee, Tayside and Scotland. For ...
Earlier this week I read a piece about the "revolting" use of "manipulative language" by the present government in order to "inspire fear" concerning Britain's food security and prepare us all for Stalinist intervention with a view to imposing vegetarianism. (No, it was not in the Daily Mail: I don't read the rag.) Naturally this brought on a panic attack, but I managed to recover enough to go online and find the culprit publication apparently referred to. It is a report by DEFRA which gets right down to business in paragraph two with the sentence: "By any objective measure, we ...
'Tis the season for lists... All this week we are publishing the top 100 posts by Lib Dem bloggers, in descending order of popularity, for the last year - August 2008 to July 2009, inclusive, according to click-throughs from the Aggregator. (Profuse thanks to techno-wizard and stat-monkey Ryan Cullen for compiling this table.) In today's fourth instalment we run through 21-40: 21. Clegg puts his foot in it... (Darrell Goodliffe) 22. Cameron defects to the Lib Dems (Irfan Ahmed) 23. Neil Trafford, we'll miss you (Alex Folkes) 24. "Lemby" answers his critics............... (Linda Jack) 25. I'm sorry Mark, but you're just plain wrong (Sara Bedford) ...
Found this on a fellow bloggers site found it amusing
Isn't the NHS wonderful? It was there when my [insert family member]'s [insert name of dreadful injury/organ failure/whatever] exploded/failed/turned green. And yes, in terms of emergency treatment, the NHS is pretty good. Not so great at preventative treatment, overly target driven, but nonetheless, if I suffered a heart attack or other severe trauma, I would fancy the odds of survival to be as good or better here than in most other countries. It's the N, as in National, that concerns me slightly. How much provision do we want to have dictated from the centre? How does a National Health Service ...
Each week the Harborough Mail takes a look at stories from the past in a feature called The Vault. One of the stories this week is from 20 years ago. The Mail for 10 August 1989 reported that: A carnival-style launch was being planned to officially open the new all-weather pitch at Welland Park College [it has now been replaced with a new pitch, which was finished last year].I have entered history because I helped persuade Harborough District Council to stump up some of the funding for that pitch when I was a councillor. I recall agreeing the figure we ...
Been out on one estate in Swinton today , Great bunch of people Ann from city west was there Our PCSO and Mole junior. Still winds me up though when i see some of the problems some residents have to put up with. I looked at a young mans house today stood up no furniture yet and his walls [...]
Rupert Read gained himself a lot of publicity (but few votes) for his so called "Clean Campaign Pledge" in the Norwich North by-election. the Lib Dems, knowing what he is like and that this was a worthless pledge refused to sign, and the local press fell over themselves to tickle Rupert Read's belly and give his campaign more credibility which the result itself didn't justify. Well now the truth has come out about the "Clean Campaign" that Mr Read is currently running. It appears, as well as carrying a scathing attack on one of his opponents on his campaign website, ...
Pleasance Baby Grand 20:15 I suppose after doing reviews of the two shows I saw last night I should really back track and do the one I saw on the first night of the previews. After sweet talking the flyer for a bit I did manage to get tickets for myself, LYS President Ruaraidh Dobson and Kieran Leach to see an improvisation show. Some people say you should never expect much if you've been given a free ticket, but then that is just how I got to see Michael McIntyre's first ever fringe show so I'm never that way inclined. ...
Its sad to see that Adam Price, one of Plaid Cymru's MPs (a guy I normally have a helluva lot of respect for), is obsessing about one single sentence in a blog post on Freedom Central. Or maybe make that several sentences. I really don't care. A declaration of interests first: the Jeremy Townsend named by Adam Price repeatedly is my brother. Don't worry, I don't always agree with my brother (in fact, we frequently disagree quite vehemently). "Who cares?" That's what a sixteen year old said when she looked at the posts flying back and forth on blogs, Facebook ...
When Dan Hannan made the comments about how he wouldn't wish the NHS on anybody I blogged about it and now Mr Cameron has replied to the comments of his parties MEP by saying that he believes in the NHS 100% and it is important to him and his family. I think Mr Hannan needs to meet Mr Cameron and discuss the Conservative parties view on the NHS. From what I gather, Mr Cameron is a supporter of the NHS after the treatment it gave to his son that he lost a few months ago. Hannan might be able to ...
{Moto} Cllr Glenn Goodall, local residents, and myself collecting petition signatures calling for action to tackle mini-moto nuisance, Bede Walk, 2008 Mini-motos being ridden recklessly by youngsters on roads and pavements have long been a real nuisance in parts of Reading. These bikes and larger motorbikes present a real danger to both the youngsters riding them and pedestrians - as has been proved by the accidents - some fatal - that have sadly taken place in South Reading in recent years. Here in Redlands we have received a number of complaints over the years about kids on mini-motos riding around Hexham Rd estate to ...
In response to Iain Dale's question – can men use their sexuality to influence elections? – I bring you... "Congressman Studly" {AaronSchock} I know next to nothing about this man – I'm a little vague on the name – but I'd vote for that. Two interesting things happened about sex and nudity yesterday. First there were the German politicians getting their cleavage out in the name of electioneering. Secondly one of the participants in the plinth extravaganza in Trafalgar Square got up there and took all of his clothes off. He was promptly ordered by police to cover up – ...
Over at Political Betting's Channel 2 I asked a question, How long do you think we will have a Tory government for? and I have the results below: One Term 21% Two Terms 29% Three Terms 38% Longer 12% I personally hope for a one term government with Cameron as the Prime Minister and his party running the country, but we shall wait and see. The 38% must really be confident in the Conservatives to expect them to last three terms, I personally think Cameron's novice cabinet will not last that long. Interesting results, but what do you think?
I have just returned from doing the last preparations for my holiday (nothing like leaving things to the last minute, I am off at 6pm this evening). One of the jobs that I had to do was pay in some change to my bank. Now I had been told by friends and family, most notably my mother, that banks don't allow you to pay in large quantity of change at one time. I always took this as an urban myth to
Epping Forest council are introducing another wheelie binl, this time for green waste. For one, I am not against wheelie bins. I think, providing that rubbish is wrapped up properly and they are cleaned regular, they are far more hygienic than having to keep black bag in the garden/ garage. It doesn't concern me that I keep them at the front of my house. You only have to go into our big
Yesterday I will say that I'm proud to be British. After hearing the latest in the crazy, uninformed adverts by the Pro-Health Insurance Lobby in the USA, British Twitter users reacted . The trending #welovethenhs brought the whole of Twitter to a standstill. This was further compounded by Dan Hannan spouting out that he "wouldn't wish [the NHS] on anybody" and that he would rather fall ill in
Well, last spring, the Welsh youth wing of the party was relaunched and rebranded. It used to be MIDR Cymru (Welsh for LDYS Wales). Now, it is IR Cymru (Ieuenctid Rhyddfrydol Cymru, Liberal Youth Wales), and its already moving on in Wales. This September, our Freshers stalls in the universities of Wales are going to be the best yet. Not only do we have some fabulous materials from Federal Liberal Youth, but we are launching our own campaign in September (details to be announced soon!). IR Cymru will not be just an admin organisation for young people. Nor will it ...
I have been known to complain about the BBC's habit of describing the ageing presenters of Top Gear as "boys". The week after I last did so the programme's trailer ludicrously implied that they are "the kids on the street" who "never miss a beat". I was having my hair cut this morning and the barber's shop had TVs showing the Dave channel. As I gather is usual, it was running an old episode of Top Gear. And it suddenly struck me where I had seen the characters before. Three ageing men who, unencumbered by women or families, and with ...
{no2id} The government has always poo-pooed the idea that holding our personal information in a single database will make it vulnerable to abuse by those (hundreds of thousands) who have access to the system. Henry Porter's blog points to why we should be VERY concerned about this issue (regardless of where we are, or not, on implementation of the ID card scheme). Its already happening ! Council employees are illegally accessing personal information on celebrities, their friends, their girlfriends and themselves. Henry's source - Computer Weekly - has reported that nine people have been sacked for accessing personal information from ...
Below is the full text of an open letter from Mark Evans on the Quins website.Overall I am pleased with his openess. The one bit I do question (still) is:As a club, we felt it was important to wait until we received the written judgement, but before that we had begun conducting our own internal review with the evidence that was available to us.I really think the club should have acted much sooner
I recently wrote a post based on an article on Conservative Home that appeared to have been written by Lord Hanningfield, the leader of Essex County Council. Having seen the latest in their series of articles by 'Lord Hanningfield', it's clear to me that Conservative Home have clearly been taken in by a clever con, perpetrated by someone pretending to be Lord Hanningfield in order to post views that he would never have. It's a clever con, because the call for Councils to be able to hold local referenda so they could abide by the opinions of local people on ...
Over two years ago we asked for traffic calming on milner street, at the time we were told they was no accident data to warrant it. And surprise now there is well i will take any crumb that is offered and if it protects our kids give it 100% support. [...]
Gordon Prentice is a Labour party MP for Pendle. Gordon is a back bench MP who isn't the most loyal Labour MP and has voted against the government on issues like the Iraq war. Gordon is online as he has a constituency website that is paid for by the tax payer.
There's been a surge of messages on Twitter with people talking about the benefits of the NHS, using the tag #welovethenhs. It's been a reaction to some of the more absurd arguments being deployed in the US that (a) Obama's plans would make the US health system like Britain's and (b) Britain's health system is a disaster. Not only is (a) not true, but neither is (b). Given that the NHS costs less and covers more people than the US one it's perhaps no surprise that so many people have reacted badly to some Americans saying how awful the NHS ...
A Conservative MP has been blogging over at Conservative Home, about how he thinks the next general election shall be a YouTube election and I think I have to agree with him. YouTube really is growing and is becoming more popular, a quick add to YouTube and bookmark by a social network site can make a video very popular and with that in mind I think PPCs need to get onto YouTube. If you are a PPC and are reading this, my advice to you is to get yourself a YouTube account, a camera and get recording videos engaging with ...
As a result of the Investors Business Daily (IBD) publishing an attack on the NHS Twitter has gone mad with the highest trending hashtag being #welovethenhs with lots of Brits sticking up for the NHS.
Lord Mandelson and George Osborne, the old yachting buddies, are busy feuding over the Conservatives progressive credentials or lack of them. It reminds me of a scene from the BBC's Thick of It when Malcom Tucker demands that a rival slap his mandate on the table and they compare relative sizes. Joking aside there is [...]
Liberal Democrat MP Malcolm Bruce (far right in picture) is calling on MPs to lobby the Government on deaf related issues as part of this year's deaf awareness week campaign. Malcolm wants to strengthen the voice of the deaf community in Parliament further He is currently Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness, and spoke ahead of the group's annual general meeting later this month. He will update the group on the year's activities and look forward to the year ahead. The group currently has over 100 Parliamentarians from both Houses.
Cadgwith on the Lizard peninsula is a sublimely beautiful place. The weather has been mostly kind and we have managed to swim most days - the water is colder than Normandy/Brittany where we went last week for my niece's birthday but much warmer than the north of Scotland where we normally jump in and jump out again. And sitting on a beach after a swim is perfect for tackling the next slab of Henry James's Portrait of a Lady which I rather ambitiously brought as holiday reading. I also think that the standard of food in Cornish establishments now easily ...
The Guardian reports that David Cameron is today planning to deliver a public reprimand to Alan Duncan for complaining about MPs being "treated like shit". However, it is not believed that he is going to sack his Shadow Leader of the Commoms. This reflects what I have said earlier that the Tory inner circle appear to be immune from effective discipline on expenses misdemeanors. Mr. Duncan's claim that well-paid MPs are being "forced to live on rations" just goes to show how many of them do not 'get it'. The public are mad not just because of the abuse that ...
Well figures are getting better, it's great to see so many having a peek. Fancy a comment on anything don't be shy.
Star date: 13th August 2009 SALFORD UNDERVALUES CPO HOUSE BY 40% – OFFICIAL! Jimmy Griffiths, the first person in the country to be forcibly evicted from his home as a result of the Government's ill fated Pathfinder programme, has won his long running battle with Salford Council over compensation for the now demolished house. A Lands [...]
Plaid bloggers and tweeters are full of themselves at the moment as to how well Ieuan Wyn Jones is doing, as are some BBC commentators and if the Deputy First Minster is really responsible for the fact that Wales is bucking the trend then he deserves pluadits for it. However, things do not seem as straightforward as that. The latest statistics show a rise in unemployment for the whole of the UK to 2.43 million, the highest level since summer 1995, with 220,000 jobs lost, yet in Wales there was a quarterly fall in the number of people out of ...
I have been intrigued by the number of articles in the past few days drawing on the Sutton Trust findings, saying that it is the state educational sector's fault for the low number of working class students at top universities, and that the universities have nothing to do with this. Of course, I recognise that teachers at less established state schools will be less keen to recommend Oxbridge to their students, but this is fundamentally linked to the universities aura and attitude, so to say they have nothing to do with the class inequalities is wholly inaccurate. An example of ...
Alright, so I've been a mite mean to Charlotte and Sara although, if you make trite comments, you do risk retaliation. However, I promised some thoughts of my own, so here goes... It is said that you get what you pay for. In healthcare, that isn't exactly true. Does 15.3% of US GDP purchase a healthcare system that is 84% better than that of the United Kingdom (8.3% of GDP)? Almost certainly not. Yes, there are other factors - the increasingly vast burden of medical malpractice insurance, for example - but it isn't the amount of money you throw at ...
When MPs are appointed as government ministers they get an extra salary (£78,356 if they go into the Cabinet and £40,646 if just a minister) and pension in addition to the MPs salary. When they are subsequently fired in a reshuffle, or forced to leave under a cloud or just simply resign, they get a severance payment equivalent to one quarter of their final salary, provided they do not take another ministerial appointment within three months. Nearly 100 ex-ministers have benefited from these golden handouts. High profile beneficiaries include Peter Mandelson (twice), Charles Clarke, Alan Milburn, David Blunkett, Peter Hain, ...
I thought I would take a few minutes break from picking raspberries in Lotties Wood near my house in Sunniside and catch up on some political blogging. It is of course August and therefore we are well into the silly season (as well as the jam making season!)The story that is getting the silly season treatment is the leadership "ambitions" of Peter Mandelson. There was a time when most Labour
Enough people have linked to the latest stop on Tory MEP Daniel Hannan's 'Look at me, America! Look at me!' tour - an appearance with bloviating imbecile Glenn Beck - that I thought I ought to take a look. And I managed a couple of minutes before the urge to smash my head against a wall - though at least I could get the NHS to deal with that without them claiming that my medical insurance doesn't cover me for self-inflicted injuries - became too strong to allow me to continue. But, in that time, I learnt something. Mainly that ...
Over a year ago, I blogged about the expenses claims for second homes submitted by my Labour MP and her Conservative neighbour in St. Albans, Anne Main. I said, "Anne is a former councillor for Beaconsfield, where her family home has been for many years. The newspaper reports that she claimed the full £22,000 last year for a [...]
Due to heavy flooding last month causing damage to the swimming pool at Eston Sports Academy, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has organised a shuttle bus service between Eston Sports Academy and both Saltburn and Loftus Leisure Centres. The free bus service will allow children to continue to access free swimming throughout the Summer holidays whilst work is carried out on the pool at Eston. The shuttle service will be in operation Monday to Friday, it is important to note that because of the limited capacity of the bus, booking is essential and can be made at the Eston Sports ...
Yesterday I wrote about the contest to become the Green Party's external communications officer and the increasingly nasty tone it has been taking. Most of the nastiness seems to have come from supporters of Rupert Read, would-be Mr Clean of the recent Norwich by-election, and his running mate. This morning comes news this statement fromthe party's electoral returning officer (ERO): A contractor working with the party overstepped their authority by sending a message to all local parties making allegations against one of the candidates for External Communications Co-ordinator without that candidate having any possibility of a right to reply. I ...
Wednesday: So, the Conservatories' Spokesperson for Making Mr Ian Hislop's Job Easier has once again placed himself in mouth-foot conjunction, caught on hidden camera with the suggestion that MPs are "living on rations". Oh throw up your fluffy feet and decry how dreadful, greedy, out-of-touch, etc, etc copyright all overpaid news-editors. Except, let's be honest he was not SERIOUSLY comparing MPs' sixty-four thousand pounds-a-year salaries to wartime comestibles; he was using LIGHT-HEARTED language to explain the point he was making. No joke can survive ultra-po-faced analysis on the The Today Programme... and, let's face it, Mr Duncan-Doughnuts IS that joke. ...
The recent success of MS sufferer Debbie Purdy in persuading the country's most senior judges to back her call for a clarification of the law regarding assisted suicide has prompted a new national debate on the issue. The pro-euthanasia lobby, buoyed by the news that approximately 75% of the population now also support the full legalisation of assisted suicide, are more confident now than ever of achieving this, their ultimate goal. So, is it time for Parliament to reverse its long held position? If I were an MP, I would need to be convinced of three things to vote for ...
When I had the pleasure of being Vince Cables Parliamentary researcher we met frequently with representatives of the FSA.Vince was the Liberal Democrats DTI (Department of Trade & Industry) spokesman.We often wondered back then why the FSA existed in the form it did even back then.Now, in 2009 I wonder the same.The FSA have bottled it and won't investigate bankers extreme bonus payments, partly because in the early consultation the banks told the FSA they didn't want them to!Who's in charge of the banks regulatory body? It appears not to be the FSA it appears the banks can just do ...
Heard about this on LBC this morning and googled it and here you go - a squirrel was the surprise addition to a photo taken using a self-timer on a camera by a couple holidaying in Canada. Apparently, intrigued by the noise of the self-timer, he climbed up on the rock to investigate the noise, and [...]
At the time, there was stringent criticism from a vocal minority expressed online (such as in the comments thread on this site) of the court's decision to keep secret the names of the adults involved in the Baby Peter case. Now we know for sure the reasons: There were two reasons behind the veil of secrecy. The first being the need to protect the identity of Baby Peter's four siblings. Connelly has three other children by Baby Peter's father and gave birth to her youngest, who is Barker's child, in prison. The anonymity order was lifted because all four of ...
The Guardian reports the latest GDP growth figures for Germany and France - which are positive. Given their importance as trading partners, this must be good news for the UK as well, which must help explain the continued strength of the stock market today. The euphoria is a contrast with the prevailing tone in the Bank of England's Inflation report; Mervyn King's commentary demonstrated why he saw growth remaining weak, and the output gap high. Most of the reasons for this might be termed "balance sheet related":The financial sector is the most obvious, but not the only, sector that is ...
Propelled part of the Liberal Democrat's Women's Policy Paper into the public domain today - helped by the Today program - which was a great boost! We ran it on the back of the appalling figures that the Office of National Statistics published about the pay gap in the civil service - where women in some Government departments get around 30% less than the men. This sets a terrible example to the private sector. If equality begins at home - then the Government is shown to be failing woefully. There are two issues - the one highlighted by the civil ...
Don't you just love in when the Mail can't decide who it dislikes more? Today's paper carries the headline "Muslim woman banned from wearing a 'burkini' in a French swimming pool" which sounds almost neutral, as does the supporting text. It's like the advert where the child is asked who she likes more, Daddy, or chips. You can [...]
Mr Hannan has been up to his old Tory style tricks with his new comments, claiming that he wouldn't wish the NHS on anbody. Now I personally think the NHS is wonderful, many might not but I do. When I go to the doctors and get seen for free, get free medication it brings out the great of Labour even though most of the greatness has died out they still have the NHS to be proud of. Dan Hannan is a public paid stuck up Tory who has more money then sense and can talk rubbish like he has just ...
Alan Duncan is a friend of mine and is a Conservative Member of Parliament. He is an MP who doesn't like life as an MP since the expenses scandal and believes he has to ration to live. Alan Duncan is online at his constituency website.
Thu 13th
08:57
Sorry Miss Grace Fletcher -Hackwood your post made me laugh so i nicked it for my site forgive me.
Seems to be a slow day for Swinton South Lib Dems, who've been reduced to trying to think up a campaign song for the Tory PPC for Worsley & Eccles South. Regular visitors to this blog will know said PPC as my token Tory friend, so don't expect any sniping from me. However, while thinking about songs [...]
It's March 2000 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill is going through Parliament. Then Home Secretary Charles Clarke is defending the Bill during its second reading. Reading the views expressed by Conservatives in the debate shows up an interesting split: some MPs concerned about civil liberties but also some pressing for the powers to be made much more widely available. For Liberal Democrat MPs, the concerns are about the scale of snooping the Bill will permit and the controls over it. But all would be fine according to Charles Clarke: A number of suppositions have been flying around, both ...
I ask this question in all seriousness. they feel confident of forming the next council within the city.And of course like many councils we face immense problems. Employment Houses Anti social behavior Education Elderly Health Drink related problems. Social amenities. Child care Reducing taxes Transport Infostructure policing 13 issues maybe we could ask for some serious pointers to tell us what direction they will take us. Or perhaps we [...]
I had deliberately stayed up late last night until the allotted hour to see the meteor shower. We had a beautiful clear night over Edinburgh with all the stars twinkling. However, midnight came and went and nothing changed so, I went off to bed without the shower. I then see on the news this morning that the meteor shower came a little later in the early hours, oh well, I will have to wait for the next one!
Last night we went up to the North Yorkshire moors to look at the night sky. Once a year the planet goes through a cloud of dust and bigger debris and some of it turns into "shooting stars". For a more techie explanation see one of the more erudite sites on the subject! Suffice to say that a fair number of people gathered to watch as amazingly bright lights shot across the black night sky.
Heydon Prowse and his Don't Panic website are in the news because of a secretly filmed interview in which Alan Duncan complained that MPs are "treated like shit" and "have to live on rations". We may return to the ethics of this incident and what it tells us about Mr Duncan. For the time being, let me just point out that Prowse was a child actor in a 1993 film of The Secret Garden.
Been away and not had time to update recently, but now back with my blog and here is a taste of things to come over the next few days: Football and homophobia Sustainable Transport in London - is the case for 'green buses' justified? Route 507 - has the conversion to long single deck buses worked, or has [...]
I took this pic. almost from my pocket during a meeting and when flicking through the photo album couldn't work out what it was... After a bit of squinting and memory delving I realise that it's the interior roof of the newly restored St Stephen's on Rosslyn Hill, NW3. The brickwork in this former church is pretty stunning and I now have a mental note to get in there with a tripod and a good zoom lense... But until then, here's just a small taster of the quality and complexity of the architectural brick and stonework inside St Stephen's. ...
Readers of 'Liberal Bureaucracy' will be aware that I have had my problems with young Mr Ahmed over the past year. There have been issues regarding his use of language where I have felt it appropriate to register my concerns. For the most part though, I have overlooked a series of faux pas on the grounds that I have no desire to act as some kind of 'school prefect' for the Lib Dem blogosphere. However, that came to an end when he decided to launch a salvo at the 'Liberal Bureaucracy' household. I wrote what I thought was an astonishingly ...
Thu 13th
07:35Today i was Told off by a Miss Grace Fletcher Hackwood so i paid a visit to her site and i took off ...
In creating and publicising this blog I have been grateful for the advice of the much more experienced Greater Manchester blogger, Cllr Iain Lindley, despite the fact that he is, politically speaking, tapped. Sorry Iain i thought this was fantastic, and i will always visit this site for other comments, Miss Hackwood i will always be [...]
Monday, March 15, 2004 Perfectly Legal Two morality tales about culture and the free market. Some libertarians believe that a free market and enforceable contracts are all that's needed for virtue to triumph. I have never agreed. Peter Hitchens has spoken of police who enforce the letter of a beaureaucratic law rather than the spirit of an [...]
Richey Hall, Assembly 20:40 It wasn't until I started to hear Marcus speak for this long on a religious theme that I realised just how much he sounds like the Rev. Steve Chalke, Baptist Pastor and often TV Godspot personage. I recall me and my friend Rob performing a skit about Chalkie in front off him in Nurneburg in 1992. But I digress. As the title of the show suggests Marcus does indeed talk about one of those things you shouldn't talk about, religion, and does so more or less for the entire set. For the more sensitive among you ...
Pleasance One 19:20 You turn up and wonder is is possible that you will truly see 200 sketches before 20:20, the time not the year. But when the Troupe open with a song which they themselves sing is too long, and is more suitable for Sesame Street than the Edinburgh Fringe you do start to panic for them just a bit. However, soon they find some sort of momentum, if that is indeed what it is but the odd distraction, from a Time Machine and the group's newest friend Dean, who is a bit out of his time, Eon even. ...
Last week, a documentary on BBC Three looked into lowering the voting age to 16. The presenter mentioned that in 2005 (yes I know it's nearly four years ago, but I think this is interesting), the House of Commons voted to reject suffrage at 16 by just eight votes. Public Whip shows the following breakdown of this vote by the major parties:PartyNoAyeTurnoutCon107 (+2 tell) 357.1%Lab26 7328.0%LDem0
Dear Alan, as a History Lecturer, I thought you might like to know what rationing was actually like, at the height of the War the MAXIMUM weekly level for basic foodstuffs was as follows: Bacon/Ham 8oz Sugar 16oz loose Tea 4oz Meat 1s. 2d. Cheese 8oz (vegetarians were allowed an extra 3oz) Preserves 1lb/month Butter 8oz Margarine 12oz Lard 3oz Sweets 16oz/month For non-foodstuffs it was as below: At the start of the War, adults were allocated 66 "points" for clothing per year, by 1945 this had been cut to 24. In 1945, a man's suit "cost" 26 coupons, whilst ...
Jamie explains it all: There's been a giant Tesco five minutes walk away from me on Cheetham Hill Road since January, and the effect on the local retail scene so far seems to be precisely zero. This is partly because Tesco don't sell kebabs. But someday, someone in Tesco's product development lab in Cheshunt will crack the secret of the Tesco Value Kebab, and then where will be? (Aside from seeking treatment for food poisoning, anyway)
No I couldn't resist, the "bantam Tory frontbencher" was at best being crass, and at worse playing straight to type. After all this was a chap who back in the mid-1990s resigned his ministerial post after it emerged that he had abused the right-to-buy ...
The debate in the us about healthcare seems to be getting increasingly insane, with Obama being compared to Hitler, Sarah Palin spreading lies about "death panels" and assorted nonsense. A repeat of the debate in the early 1990s when the Clintons attempted to introduce healthcare reforms of their own was to be expected, but this debate is decidely more wacky. One interesting side aspect of this debate has been how the UK has been dragged into it. When Sarah Palin is talking about "death panels" it turns out that she is referring to NICE. Stephen Hawking, having been cited as ...
I think the big difference between a good care home and a great care home is having the opportunity to go on trips or do something extra on a regular basis. You don't have to take the opportunity. We don't all like opera or pop music but we all want opportunities even if it is just to say no thanks. Think of it as going into work and talking about what you did at weekend. You might not do anything special but you could still talk about the football or a film on television. It really doesn't matter what it ...
Should I write something, or is it glaringly ...
