Local Lib Dem Councillors are worried about the lack of progress in completing the riverside walkway going along St Georges Wharf from Vauxhall Bridge. We raised this with council planners and were told the walkway cannot be done until the completion of St Georges' 50 storey tower. The St George Tower has still not started 2 years after it got planning permission from former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. St George have now said they will not be starting on the tower before they finish the block by Vauxhall Bridge.
Norwich fans returning from West London last night after watching Brentford beat Norwich 2-1 suffered another blow after their train arrived home in Norwich at 6.35 am. The train, which broke down twice, took more than seven hours to get them home turning the usual two hour journey in to the journey from hell. How many football fans will drive instead of using the train in future ?
As the planning application wasn´t available on South Glos´s website for a few days, the consultation for the Sea Stores has been extended until 2 September 2009. Therefore, the plans will remain on display in the foyer at Poole Court until Friday 28 August. Please use this opportunity to give your views on this important development.
with 'History Repeating Itself'
Later today, I met with two senior representatives of the BBC digital switchover help scheme to discuss ways in which elderly and disabled people in the West End can be assisted with the digital TV switchover, taking place in Dundee and Tayside next summer. I met with Alan Moore, the Switchover Help Scheme Manager for Scotland and Colin Scott, the Scheme's regional project co-ordinator for Tayside, to be briefed on the details of the help scheme for elderly and disabled people to ensure that no residents are left with blank TV screens after analogue TV signals are ended across Tayside ...
I went to see Peter Hendy, Commissioner of Transport for Transport for London - the big cheese - to present the postcard campaign for a new bus to serve the new health facility at Hornsey Hospital. Miraculously - he said he would be willing to come personally and meet Haringey Health Trust to discuss the provision of public transport to the new facility. Hurrah! Score! It was clear that Transport for London don't think they should pay for all new public transport access - because in Mr Hendy's view - Haringey PCT (Primary Care Trust) should have thought about the ...
I've been voted as one of the top 30 councillor bloggers in the poll conducted by Total Politics. (I staggered into the top 30 at number 29). Huge thanks to all who voted for me.
I found my self nodding my head in some level of agreement with the Tories when they stated that there needs to be some way of differentiating a media studies A level from a maths or chemistry A level. For years, perhaps unfairly, media and film studies seem to have taken stick from the press for their perceived "easy ride" way of getting an A level or a degree. This may be unfair, but it does remind me of a chap I knew at university who excelled at nothing other than getting drunk. The be quite honest and fair, he ...
'It is interesting to see each week in the letters page that the election is under way with the Conservatives, Labour and even UKIP having an enjoyable time attacking each other. But I hope the voters won't forget the Liberal Democrats. 'I agree with Roger Truelove, the Labour chairman, that we should have a positive debate about national and local issues and how we should approach the challenges facing us - and we look forward to that debate during the campaign. But the bottom line is that the Labour government has failed and is now drifting through its last days ...
Every year (well, the last few), Total Politics magazine publishes a guide to UK Blogging. They're trailing the guide by publishing their top blogs of various types on their Party Lines blog over the next few weeks. I'm really chuffed to say I'm one of their top 30 councillor blogs. I just scraped in at number 28, but this is the second highest ranking Lib Dem blog. Congratulations to all the other councillors who made the list, especially fellow Lib Dems Cllr Fraser MacPherson (Dundee) who was the top Lib Dem and Cllrs Alex Folkes (Cornwall) and Mary Reid (Kingston ...
'Daniel Hannan is right to praise the use of an open primary in Totnes but forgets to state that, even if all MPs were selected this way, the end result would remain an unrepresentative parliament, still disproportionate to the voters wishes. 'The best answer is to adopt an electoral system known as Single Transferable Voting (STV). This is a method of large constituences with a number of MPs and allows voters to choose the individuals they want, rather than parties. A Tory voter would be able to choose from more than one candidate (as Mr Hannan encourages). 'An advantage would ...
I recently found the Ministry of Justice have quite irrational rules about email and the transmission of documents. Even documents completely in the public domain are forbidden to be emailed, and even where the same document has already been sent by normal unsecure post. This is ridiculous I have challenged Jack Straw to change it. Here is my letter to [...]
It must be summer recess when the good ol' Daily Mail has to let it's blood boil over and works up a lather against 'scroungers', single parents and assorted other 'miscreants'. Apparently, the news that the 'real jobless total' is set to 'soar' to 6.8 million ' raising fears Labour has created a generation of [...]
Those who attend Lib Dem conference and have taken part in the photo ops I have run at past events may be interested to know that we will definitely be holding more events at the forthcoming Bournemouth gathering. Not all arrangements have been sorted yet and not all MPs invited to take part have yet responded.However, those who have agreed to participate are Tim Farron (theme of fair treatment
As stated in a previous blog post, the 'Real Women' campaign appears to be a breakthrough in terms of the concerns around promoting women's interests. However, disappointingly, after posting it to Facebook, there were comments branding the policy document "sexist". As expected, this was a male's comment, but what was missing from the analysis was the true nature of the document, as they believed it was a magazine, not a policy document that expectedly addresses one issue. A woman even commented on the link, saying that it looked "patronsing". However, again the comment surrounded the belief that it was a ...
{Plymouthpride event QT panel (Aug 2009)} It was a real pleasure yesterday evening to be a panellist at the plymouthpride event Question Time, held in the lower hall of the Plymouth Guildhall. I was joined at the top table by a number of other people [pictured], including Cllr Tudor Evans, speaking for Labour, and the star attraction - Peter Tatchell. The event was very ably chaired by Paul Roberts of The Intercom Trust. There were more than 60 people in the audience, and they were keen to ask questions and make contributions about the many challenges that still face lesbian, ...
Hat-tip to Brad DeLong:Suburban Guerrilla: Late this afternoon I was gobsmacked by a Facebook announcement that a high school friend had died. I tracked down the story, and it is an absolute textbook example of everything that's wrong with our health care system - so knowing that we share a passion for this topic, I'll share it with you.She was 49 years old and in good health, other than a propensity to develop bronchitis. A couple of weeks ago, after a trip to Disneyland, she came down with a terrible flu. After running a high fever for four days she ...
Wed 19th
19:00
Angela Wileman's interview on an English Speaking Spanish Radio Station (Talk Radio Europe Maurice B...
Partly following on from my last post, I've now updated my blogroll. As well as Mark Reckons and Himmelgarten Cafe whom I've already referred to, the Honourable Lady Mark, Fraser MacPherson, that elephant in the room, the Social Liberal Forum (whose two recent posts on the health debate I'd recommend that people read), Norfolk Blogger and the excellent Welsh Lib Dem site Freedom Central all make it for the first time. I've also got round to updating the often infuriating, frequently plain wrong but always interesting Charlotte Gore from her old site to her new one.
Train fares were big news yesterday, with the news that most would fall by 0.4% next year. The amount train operators are allowed to raise fares is based on July's retail price index figure, plus 1%. So with this July's RPI being -1.4%, train operators will have to decrease fares by at least 0.4%. Prompt regrets about leaving London from some Lib Dem colleagues. However, reading the small print, it seems commuters from Lee and Hither Green won't benefit from this. That's because the our train operator, SouthEastern, has been given an exemption by government. They're allowed to raise fares ...
Construction firm Kensington Developments has donated £10,000 to Blackpool South Conservative Association after applying to build 570 properties in the area. Blackpool Council Leader Peter Callow (Conservative) has launched an investigation, saying he is "disgusted." From the BBC: An entry on the Electoral Commission's register of donations confirms the association received a donation of £5,000 from Kensington on 3 July 2008. A company spokesman confirmed a second donation was made in May 2009. Kensington unveiled controversial proposals to build properties around Moss House Road in March 2008, prompting a local campaign to prevent the development. Mr Callow, who is not ...
Apparently, the BNP is considering moving it's annual 'Red, White & Blue' festival. You can't help but wonder how much truth there is in the Deputy Leader, Simon Darby's claim that 'several' sites want the annual festival and not just its attendant anti-fascist protesters. Maybe they do bring coin into the local economy but it can [...]
The true colours of the Tories are really beginning to shine, hopefully the public will start to realise that they are not the voice of change that they claim to be. With the news that the Bromley Conservative council dropped plans to make the taxpayer contribute towards private education fees due to the recession meaning that the parents are unable to pay the often £12,000 tuition fees, it further highlights the Tories' out of touch policies, as it is shocking to believe they were even considering it. Quite rightly, our MP David Laws, stepped up for equality as he branded ...
Liberal Democrats regularly beat ourselves up for "not having a narrative". As I have argued many times, we always have a narrative but it's not necessarily the one we might want. Yet our problems on this front are as nothing compared to Gordon Brown's. In today's Guardian, Tom Clark describes the philosophical and marketing swamp in which the PM is now mired. He lists the worst of Brown's abortive attempts to define what his premiership is meant to be all about, from the moralising of two years ago to last autumn's promises to get tough with the bankers. In each ...
Mark Thompson's Mark Reckons blog is always thoughtful, well-written and interesting. He's certainly been one of the stars of the Lib Dem blogosphere over the past year. I really must get around some time to adding him to my blogroll, as well as one or two others like the cafe owner. But (you knew there was a but coming, didn't you?) I think his posting today about stopping MPs from having outside interests is wrong. In a battle of the Marks, Mr Bureaucracy also takes issue with Mr Reckons. I largely agree with Mark V that it's none of our ...
{Site of the new Library of Birmingham} {Proposed design of the new Library of Birmingham} The detailed planning application for the new Library of Birmingham has been submitted, which kicks off a public consultation period. It would appear the controversial design concept remains, although the height has been slightly reduced after complaints it would dwarf its neighbours. I am pleased to see the building will be connected to the Broad Street CHP (Combined Heat and Power) network. I am also intrigued by this: Publicly accessible terraces at the third and seventh floors will provide outdoor green spaces for a range ...
Okay - I featured the building of the West Hampstead Thameslink rail-bridge the other day and that progresses along quite visibly. However, whilst the massive investment in the transport network in London continues (much of it driven by a desire to get the service up to scratch ready for the 2012 Olympics) there is a series of knock-on effects. One of these has been to cut off transport access to the North London Overground Line and also the Jubilee Line virtually every weekend in this part of north west London. It has become something of a regular feature with ...
As reported on Bracknell Lib Dems web site Ray Earwicker, Lib Dem PPC goes on a walkabout at 11am in the Bracknell town centre this Saturday(22nd August). I indent to be there myself and I will report back on the comments from the voters we meet in town. Feel free to come along and ask any questions.
Alison Goldworthy on Twitter has raised an interesting issue this morning. Paul Waugh retweeted something from Ed Richmond where he had tweeted: At daughter's swim lesson. Why do 7 year olds need to learn butterfly? The swim equivalent of algebra; complex, elegant and utterly useless. Ali responded: I love algebra, I use it all the time. Why is being numerate useless and literate useful?! I am fully in agreement with her on this one. This little vignette from Ed sums up something I have thought for a long time. Literacy is very highly prized in this country. People generally are ...
There's a lot going on at Yate Shopping Centre. Peacocks and Bon Marche have just opened in the old Woolworths store, and progress is good on the Health Centre (pictured) and the new Library. The Library is currently ahead of schedule, and should open in mid-October, with the Health Centre opening in mid-November.
The Crown Prince of Bahrain, in The Washington Post:
Former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell was interviewed by Dr Raj Persaud in an event called the Psychiatrist's Chair at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. From the Times: It promised much — a candid, soul-baring encounter between a psychiatrist skilled in the probing of great minds and a political grandee seasoned by life's storms. Both men have their demons: the former tainted by scandal, the latter one of many ensnared in the parliamentary expenses affair. The article offers but tantalising snippets of the interview (patient confidentiality?), but content yourself here with such hints. It's a pity that the Times, ...
Following the suggestion by a Conservative MP that MPs salaries should be increased and all expenses taken away, I have to say I agree with him. The problem is, that many people including me don't trust MPs since Expense gate and for that reason an end to expenses is exactly what is needed. Back in March, when the expenses was an issue of interest to everyone and anyone I suggested that expenses are put to an end and MPs are given a salary to cover all the costs of coming to Parliament. If say an MP form the northern part ...
We may be barely mid-way through August, but I'm going to stick my neck out and say we've already had the winner of this year's "Silly Season" news stories. If you were listening to Radio 4 at about a quarter to eight yesterday morning, the Today Programme had a feature on the epidemiology of zombie movies, revealing that a zombie infestation would lead to the collapse of civilisation unless terminated with extreme prejudice. You can still hear it on iPlayer, but be careful - it's followed by Anne Atkins on Thought For the Day, and she will eat your brains. ...
More evidence-if evidence is needed-about the staggering incompetence of the Learning and Skill Council. Sefton already has one high profile casualty -the halting of the KGV VIth form college project in Southport-and now we have news that the Litherland VIth form college which is due to open in a few weeks time is £500,000 short of the money they expected from the LSC. The report revealing the crisis is to be discussed at a cabinet member meeting next week and the papers can be found here under item 5. The Liverpool Daily Post also carried a report (thanks to Jack ...
It's a mistake we've all seen people make. Having just lost your spouse to a rival, you call your now-ex girlfriend in the middle of the night, to politely request an explanation: "How can you be going out with HIM? He's a *****! He's a ****ing son of a **** !! Of course, such a display does not help your cause one iota, and in fact makes re-uniting with your girlfriend an even murkier prospect. Having just started going out with your rival, your girlfriend is unlikely to listen to anything bad you might have to say about him. Moreover, ...
You have to love the Tories. Sir Patrick Cormack, Tory MP for South Staffordshire, a man who looks as though he was born to develop gout, says that MPs should have their pay doubled to compensate for the removal of their second homes allowances. Now I have much sympathy for the view that MPs should have their salaries raised and their allowances removed but doubled? I'd also make the figure, whatever it may be, subject to the same rules as those for councillors. An external panel should decide how much they get paid, not MPs - and certainly not Sir ...
The Local Government Association has announced the new board chairs for the organisation, following a post-election reshuffle. The changes see the Conservatives gaining a chair at Labour's expense, but with the Liberal Democrats retaining its two current posts. The two Liberal Democrat chairs are: Cllr David Rogers from East Sussex County Council, who continues as Chair of the Community Wellbeing Board, and Cllr Chris White from Hertfordshire County Council, who continues as Chair of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board. Both David and Chris are ALDC members, and so we welcome their continuing prominent roles in the world of local ...
With the new Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 having received Royal Assent, many people are now realising the implications of this new piece of legislation. ALDC will produce its own advice on the practicalities of this legislation for local campaigning, however in the meantime Mark Park (former Head of Innovation for the Liberal Democrats) has produced his own introduction to the legislation. This gives you more information about the key changes, including: new rules on political donations changes to the procedure for electoral registration changes to the reporting of election expenditure outside of election time. You can read the ...
For at least a year, it has been widely acknowledged in the media and polls that Cameron is the 'PM in waiting', the expected winner of the next general election, a leader carrying the flag of a new modern progressive Conservative Party... but is the honeymoon coming to an end? Oh yes. What I would love is for people to wake up to the fact that we do not have a Presidential political system in the UK. Cameron can scream progressive, NHS friendly, environmentally friendly rhetoric until he is blue. The power lies with the party in Government more than ...
This morning, along with a number of other city councillors, I attended a briefing meeting shortly after receiving copies of the reports by former Fife Chief Constable Peter Wilson and independent social work consultant Jimmy Hawthorn into the circumstances surrounding the tragedy of Brandon Muir's death. It is absolutely vital that the recommendations from today's reports are acted upon swiftly and in full. At this morning's briefing meeting, I sought assurances that there is adequate risk assessment to prevent harm to children. What happened to Brandon Muir was a tragedy and it is vital that all agencies promptly address the ...
Liberal Democrat Health spokesman Norman Lamb says the NHS is using car parking charges as a "tax on the sick." From the Telegraph: Every year the NHS in England makes over £100 million from parking charges. While these charges do generate some much-needed income for the NHS, they can also cause real hardship for patients and their families. Patients are often faced with eye-wateringly high parking costs, but poor public transport links means that they sometimes have little alternative but to pay up. This is a scandalous and unfair situation: it needs to change. However, I do not believe that ...
Cornwall Council has apparently decided to site a new £700,000 play park in Redruth. The decision will come as a huge blow to the young people of North Cornwall. It had been expected that Bodmin or St Austell would be the favoured site for the park. According to one council officer, the reason that Redruth was chosen is because the site is near to the town's rail station. Forgive me if I am wrong, but I would have thought that the best place for a facility serving the whole of the county would be somewhere in the middle. Redruth, for ...
Does anyone remember the expenses scandal? The public outrage expressed over that little incident in Westminster was unprecedented. Question Time suddenly became essential viewing, if only to watch Margaret Beckett get verbally abused by the audience. Of course, no one will ever forget the expenses scandal; it changed the political landscape for ever. How can anyone forget the tax-payer funded duck house? So you might vividly remember the expenses scandal, and all the public apologies and red faces, but the question is, do you remember the reforms that the MPs were suddenly crying out for? I certainly do. I remember ...
To defend MPs at the moment is to take an unpopular position, and yet that's exactly what I'm going to do. Mark Thompson suggests this morning that MPs shouldn't have second jobs, and that Matthew Parris, writing in the Times, is wrong to differentiate between 'cuddly' second jobs (charity work, doctor etc) and 'non-cuddly' ones (company director, barrister and the like). And so, the non-slave to conformity that I am, I'm going to disagree with both of them. It is, in the nicest way, none of our damned business what MPs do when they're not performing their duties in the ...
So Iain Dale thinks he can argue, that a Tory spokesman having connections with a private health care company, will not effect his role as the spokesman for health. I ask Iain, how he can argue that. Mr Dale the issue is simple, when you have money coming in from an organisation the chances that you will bare them in mind when making decisions, is near enough 100% of the time. The Conservative in question should give up his role at the private health care company, or is it that the overnight stay allowance isn't enough for stuck up Tories ...
UKULELE ORCHESTRA Where better to expose the holiday tan than at a night at the Proms, seeing the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, no less. I can honestly say this was one of the most enjoyable concerts I've ever been to. From the first number, which I think was the theme to family favourites, to the [...]
Today on "things that shouldn't really be true in a fair democracy but somehow doesn't seem too shocking in the UK," we bring you the news that the Metropolitan police, as part of their heroic attempts to frisk every Londoner several times over, have used their powers of stop and search to, well stop and search 58 (fifty-eight) children (kids, bairns, young 'uns, wee whipper-snapppers) under the
I won't be putting all the Wolves results up through the season but I thought I would record that they won at Wigan last night 1-0 thanks to Andy Keogh's goal.
It is a foregone conclusion that the elections in Afghanistan will be declared to be 'free and fair'. But the fact that they will be declared as such bears little resemblance to whether the elections meet any sort of reasonable standard. How come? Well to start with, the term 'free and fair' is meaningless. There is no single benchmark that decides these things. Free is meant to indicate that the people are able to vote for their preferred candidate without hindrance and with the full understanding of what that candidate stands for. Fair is meant to indicate that the polling ...
Iain Dale, in an otherwise quite valid post about the Times attacks on a junior Tory Health Spokesman, says: "Contrary to popular rumour, peers to do not get paid. They get an attendance allowance of £174 per sitting day. Last year, that would have trousered them £27,840. So unless you have private means, you have to have outside work."Hmm - I would hope that this is not actually what Iain meant to say. If a person is used to having an income over £100k and has outgoings that reflect this, then they could not cope with seeing that drop to ...
Mr Nick Griffin the leader of the BNP, has according to a blog post over at LabourList claimed "gang rape is a phenomenon that comes from the Muslim community" and I would like to ask him how he believes that is the case. Mr Griffin, please study Islam before you attack it with racist drivel that makes you look stupid and uninformed. Islam teaches that rape is wrong and sharia has strict punishments for rapists, so how can Mr Griffin claim that gang rape has come from the Muslim community. Lets just pretend, Mr Griffin has got it mixed up ...
{doctor} Everybody is shocked by the fact that over 15% of Americans do not have health insurance. In a system that supposedly relies on private insurance as the only door to healthcare, that more than one in seven is uninsured is a disgrace. Right? But who are these uninsured? The poor? The old? American citizens? Don't you believe it. Hat-tip to Steve Bettison over at the Adam Smith Institute blog for analysing the US Census Bureau's Income, Poverty and Health Insurance statistics. Of the 45,667,000 people in the United States of America that do not have private health insurance: • 9,737,000 ...
When news broke that Mark Oaten was publishing a book we were told that it was to be published on 1 October. Now, to no one's great surprise, we learn from the Portsmouth News that it will appear on 18 September, the eve of the Liberal Democrat Conference. The paper also says that his publisher is looking for a serialisation deal.
Yesterday there was a meeting of the Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Scrutiny Committees are the bodies that are meant to analyse in close detail what the Cabinet and council are doing and to hold them to account. In a way they are like Select Committees in Parliament - they don't wield power, but they should have significant influence. At the first meeting of the Committee, a number of us complained that there was too long a delay until the next meeting and so this one was added. The subjects for scrutiny were the fire service - in view of ...
Liberal England comments on the continuing row over Prince Charles' role in scuttling Richard Rogers' plans for the Chelsea Barracks site by pointing out that in many instances the Princes' criticism of architectural schemes very much reflects a long-standing rift between public taste and expert opinion. That though does not answer the wider questions about Charles' influence (and nor has Jonathan Calder attempted to) and how it is exercised nor does it offer any understanding of how accountable the Prince is for using his position in this way. Judging by this article in The Times the chances of greater transparency ...
Accessibility of your local MP is an important issue to many, but for some its something that shouldn't even be talked about as it bores them, but I agree that it is an important issue. Should MPs have a constituency office? That's a question that I have asked previously, and most have argued that a constituency office is vital for an MP but I still agree it isn't. If an MP has a Parliamentary office, a good relationship with Councillors and regular surgeries around the constituency I don't think a constituency office is necessary. Many people now contact their local ...
The main change to election law this summer has come with the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009, but Parliament has also approved the Scottish Local Government (Elections) Act 2009. The primary purpose of the Act is to change the cycle for Scottish local elections, so that in future they will not be held on the same day as Scottish Parliamentary elections. Instead, the next round of local elections is being delayed by one year – from 2011 to 2012 – and the local elections will then run on a four-year cycle from there. Also in the Scottish Local Government ...
I recently picked up an A4 leaflet in my local Barclays branch (because it amused me). Leaving aside the fact that I find black and white photocopies scream professionalism (!), can anyone spot the mistake:
Hands up anyone else who woke up to find their twitter accounts turned into zombie spambots touting dodgy weight-loss schemes then? Rare that I ever use the ruddy thing - I'm almost in the Cameron camp regarding the megabytes of "what I had for breakfast" posts doing the rounds every second - but I keep one on because it does have some uses. This, however, was not one I was envisaging. Anyway, the password's now changed and there's more background regarding this attack here. This has been a public service announcement, folks. And so to the intended subject of today's ...
The fifth Ashes Test starts tomorrow at the Oval Cricket Ground. While of course we hope for an England victory, we want to ensure that the impact on the local community is kept to a minimum. If there are any problems, the residents complaint line will be open throughout the Ashes test - 020 7820 5656. You can also get information on road closures (and where alternative parking provision will be made available for local residents here. And let us know as local councillors if you are unhappy with the response you are getting.
Norfolk Blogger has a blog post about how a report suggests the UK should be 'careful' about who it sells weapons to as the weapons might be used against civilians and personally I agree. I think we shouldn't just be careful when it comes to Israel but we must not sell them any weapons. The Israeli government are trouble, and due to the backing they have from the west they think they can bully Palestine but let me warn them they can't do it without someone or another speaking up. Chris Davies is a great man, he fights the corner ...
No, not in life but in the Total Politics Blog awards, as many know last year I got 39th place in the Top 50 Lib Dem blogs but this year I want to get a higher position. I myself hope to get at least 29th or even higher. I have had a lot of votes in this year, many Tory blogs have asked their readers to vote for me, I have asked a lot of people to vote for me and my readers hopefully voted for me. Iain Dale might have found it awkward that this blog got a lot ...
I am today agreeing with a Tory, its not the first time but these days of agreement with Tories don't come regularly. Shane Greer has blogged about how he agrees with Hillary Clinton on the issue, that Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrah should not be allowed out of prison because he is ill. I personally think we should leave Megrah to die in a UK prison, he wants to go home and say good bye to his family but what about the people he killed? Did they get to go home and say good bye? No, that's why I agree ...
A report suggest the UK should be more careful about who we sell weapons to incase they are used against civilians. Tighter controls on who we sell stuff like this to should be welcomed, but we should be careful about the examples given. Israel has been singled out because of the use of the military equipment they have been sold against civilian targets outside the borders of the country. This is a valid argument. However, the report sites Sri Lanka as another country we have sold weapons to which might have seen civilians attacked using the weaponry. Sri Lanka is, ...
I have tried not to comment on the anniversary of the Russian attack against Georgia- the scale of the crime and weakness of the Western response tell their own grim story. However another, perhaps less reported story has been the explosion at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro electric plant which has killed at least 74 people. The accident is typical of the spectacularly bad safety record that attends most significant projects in Russia these days- the cause of the explosion remains unclear, but it is quite likely that water entering a capacitor bank was a major contributor to the disaster. At this ...
Matthew Parris' article in the Times from Saturday this week suggests that MPs should be allowed to have outside jobs, it's just that too many of them have the wrong sort of outside job (by his definition that is things like Company Director, Barrister - i.e. the sort of job that is likely to give them experience of a rarified world that most do not inhabit). On the other hand he claims that MPs doing outside jobs like being a Doctor or participating in charity work are fine. I am afraid I have to take issue with the redoubtable Mr ...
A Tory London Assembly Member wants his party to take the credit for a brief drop in London's unemployment figures, while the annual results show a different picture. Richard Tracey, Conservative London Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth (and a former Conservative Minister and MP for Surbiton) proudly wrote to the South London Press in March 2009: "London has bucked the tragedy of rising unemployment - it fell between November and January, whereas the UK as a whole saw a rise. It is no coincidence that unemployment in London has actually fallen in the last three months, given taxpayer-focused Conservative ...
If you're itching for the next big online philosophy argument, Jonathan Calder's Eight Sceptical Theses on Moral Rights might be just the ticket. The New Sophists over on Heresy Corner hauls the new Anti-Atheists over the fiery coals of reason. Letters From a Tory dares question the mighty Wikio... and has a point. Finally, Costigan Quist tells us not to use Mill as an "I Win" Button in arguments. Quote of the day goes to Sunny Hundal, who seems to have made a breakthrough in understanding why fascists and socialists are always able to easily recruit from each other's ranks ...
Returning to the UK after a prolonged spell overseas has been a deeply dispiriting experience- so depressing, in fact that any blog comments of mine seem somehow inadequate. It is not just the chaos that has engulfed our airports, though the fact that we are not members of the Schengen area and our politicians have embraced intrusive but futile border checks now means that it can take more than two hours to enter your own country. The Libyan flight that landed at the same time as my flight from Copenhagen seemed to get through far more rapidly. I hear that ...
Having finally gotten around to reading the excellent Dave Hill newsletter I see we are ever closer to having our own version of the velib in London, as part of Boris' legacy of his first, and hopefully, final term. I'm all for a velib type scheme, it was in fact a Lib Dem policy going into the last Mayoral elections but I do have some reservations about whether London is ready for such a scheme. Firstly, it's due to start in central London only - which means that it, like most of the other city schemes across the world, will ...
James notes that we might just have exhausted the possible uses of 'progressive': What's worrying is the way political discourse has become dominated by these non-words. Pace Obama, "change" including "real change", "the change we need" and "now for change" has become ubiquitous. Particularly in the UK a lot of people appear to have mistaken the accoutrements of the Obama brand for the core package and assumed that if you copy the former you will magically get the latter. When people on the other side of the world do this, we call them "cargo cultists" and patronise them. The important ...
I've collated my two previous blog posts on the changes introduced by the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 into one convenient pdf which is available via scribd.com. I've also taken the opportunity to update the text very slightly. Related posts:Politics, money and elections: what changes with the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009? Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire: The last year certainly hasn't...The Political Parties and Elections Act 2009: changes to election expenditure rules Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire: Hands up everyone who thought...Review: British Elections & Parties Review volumes 13 and 14 This review appeared in the Journal ...
Mike Smithson has covered a blog post by Tim Montgomerie over at Conservative Home defending the blogosphere and personally I think it's worth a look. The problem is, the MSM do not see blogs as being serious, many journalists don't wake up in the morning and head for the blogosphere, and they actually head for opposition newspapers. Journalists think bloggers are people who are unemployed, blog in their pyjamas and have no friends but let me assure them all three are not the case. My favourite bit is: 5. Not all blogs are same. Yes, some are tribal and deceitful. ...
Edinburgh has been voted top in a list of British cities to see "before you die".The list was compiled from 5,500 respondents to a survey by hotel chain Travelodge.First was Edinburgh, then Bath, Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow, Oxford, London, Cardiff, York and Cambridge.Newcastle-upon-Tyne was the friendliest city, followed by Liverpool and Manchester.London was the least friendly city followed by Birmingham and Glasgow.Finally, the city where the locals had the sexiest accent was Edinburgh.Well done Edinburgh. ------------------
Discuss the following. Do not attempt to write on both sides of the paper at once: Most modern discourse about morality resolves around rights. It therefore fails to answer the great moral questions like "How should I live my life?" and "What sort of person should I be?" If a ascribing a right to someone is to mean anything then there has to be a concomitant duty upon someone else to fulfil it, otherwise this right is worthless. NB This is not the same as the Blairite claim that rights and responsibilities go hand in hand - my rights impose ...
They want to appear to be the 'honest' party of British Politics, after all that does seem to be their latest mantra to throw into every sound bite. They want to appear to be fully behind the NHS after Daniel Hannan MEP saying the the NHS was a '60 year mistake'. They want openness and honest about their members second jobs, even as in the case of John Lamont seeking his second mandate after they have used such two-jobbing as a tool to attack. Yet it has emerged that Shadow Health Minister Lord Ian McColl hasn't been open about his ...
Yesterday's claim by Wales Office Minister, Wayne David that the LCO process is working well and is an enhancement to the devolution process has to be one of his most bizarre. What planet is he inhabiting? When he says that the system can be improved upon he is grasping at straws. The process is flawed because it depends on the co-operation of two different sets of Parliamentarians with competing aims, both working to further their own interests. It is astonishing that we have managed to get seven LCOs onto the statute book. More seriously, LCOs are just a bad way ...
Despite an attempt by the South Wales Echo to stir up controversy it seems that the story of the all-female shortlist for the Vale of Glamorgan is not a runner. The local Labour MP, John Smith is standing down after representing the constituency since 1997. So far nine women have applied for the vacancy with a selection contest due next month. The Echo reports that a female member of the Vale of Glamorgan party has contacted them to say that there is a silent majority of local Labour members who would oppose the imposition of a women-only shortlist. She alleges ...
According to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8206463.stm "warning over driving fines plan", plans to allow police to issue on-the-spot fines for careless driving would undermine justice. John Thornhill, chairman of the Magistrates' Association, said "ruling driving careless was subjective. Police would be acting as jury and sentencer if they were allowed to impose the fines". I have seen this before. It was said by the comic character Judge Dredd. I can just imagine the police, with terrifying shiny black uniforms and helmets shouting in their best Sly Stallone accents, "I am the law!" Why do our politicians seem to think that anything they've seen ...
So the MP expenses obsession in the media is slowly fizzling out, bar the odd report about the waiting for what is expected to be at least 50 more MPs not standing at the next GE as a result or indirect result of the 'scandals'. However, at 22.50pm GMT 18th August, one of the main headlines on the BBC Politics page.. "£498.4 million- cost of running parliament" The report states that Baroness Royall has discovered that cost of running the House of Commons is up more than £12m since last year. Gosh. You just know that a load of people ...
Residents on the Ashmole Estate in Oval Ward have voted "yes" to transfering their estate to the Metropolitan Housing Association from Lambeth Council. Number voting YES 180 (52.9% of the valid vote) Number voting NO 160 (47.1% of the valid vote) As the local councillors, we will still be here to help local people - even if the council does not manage the housing stock any more, and will continue to run our regular advice surgeries on the estate.
I've written a response to Andy Burnham's astounding Guardian article on the NHS on the SLF website: Given the choice between "national", "health" and "service" the word that Burnham considers most key to the Labour approach is the former. Ignore "health", never mind "service" – who needs a bandage when you can wrap yourself in a flag? Read the full article here, but frankly, Richard Grayson's article from Reinventing the State on the NHS is more interesting. While we're at it, here's an article from Chris Huhne from 2004 about why the party rejected the social insurance model for healthcare ...
I created this image of the Swing and High Level Bridges between Gateshead and Newcastle by editing together 5 separate images. The version I came up with has a far higher resolution that the above version but click on it to get a better view. The sloping right hand end of the High Level Bridge is caused by my having to rotate through a wide angle to capture the individual shots. Perhaps I should
