Many congratulations to Danyl Johnson from Arborfield, who is a teacher in Reading, on his breathtaking debut on X Factor this evening. It's not often that the words "Arborfield" and "Showbiz" go together, but on this occasion they indubitably do. Mr Johnson looks like he'll be the biggest thing out of Reading since the A329(M) Ricky Gervais. Here is his fantastic audition.
Mark Thompson has recently highlighted how frequently the Taxpayers' Alliance is quoted in the media. Mark gives some reasons for this, but it's a question highlighted again by a BBC report: Tim Newark, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, accused the council of "experimenting" with public money. This is a rather strange comment because what's the alternative to "experimenting" with public money? It's to only do things that you are nearly certain will work. Anything else, well that is an experiment. Yet we're surrounded by challenges that the public sector has faced for years: how to provide good quality health care without ...
....But I think I will be avoiding any contact with the TV or www.bbc.co.uk/sport for the next day or so. I can't take the suspense....
There is a fascinating article in today's FT by Tim Harford on why the poor pay for services even when they are offered free by the State. It is food for thought given the recent arguments over the NHS.
This unsalubrious watering hole, just across the road from where I am writing this, is King's Lynn Conservative Club. Note the flag that is being flown outside. Until a very few years ago it would have been unthinkable for it to have flown anything but the Union Jack. Is this a sign that the average Conservative member, in this part of Norfolk at least, no longer feels much affection for the union? And, by the way, it is perfectly in order to call it the Union Jack.
Err ... or him!
I preface this with the usual disclaimer. I did not buy the Daily Mail today but I did read it using a free copy helpfully provided at the excellent Victoria Park cafe in Newbury. Say what you like about the Mail's political rantings, its coverage of celebrity nonsense is without paralell. Today I became engrossed in a report of the minutiae of X Factor, several juicy bits of which I read out to my fellow cafeists. This was the clincher: Simon also requires lots of mirrors. Louis says: 'He has mirrors everywhere, and he looks at himself, and he's making ...
They are very good at catching insects on the wing and narrowly avoiding David Attenborough's head, but when it comes to saving Leicester's industrial heritage bats are useless. The Leicester Mercury reports: A wildlife survey of the Bowstring Bridge has found no protected species. It was hoped the discovery of endangered wildlife could have delayed the impending demolition of the Victorian landmark. But independent experts used by Leicester City Council looked at the bridge and its arches for bats on August 15 and found no sign of them. It wouldn't have taken much of an effort, but they were not ...
... and despite all the usual dreadful auditions in Week 1, in Joe McElderry we may have already heard the 2009 winner.
It is heartening for Fowey Regatta to feature prominently in several of the big circulation papers today. Well, not actually a report on the winners of the Troy class sailing race or anything like that. Several papers have pictures of the Red Arrows display at the regatta, mainly because it coincided with a rainbow. As the Mail puts it: "Plane beautiful: The day the Red Arrows were upstaged by Mother Nature".
Almost everyday (indeed several times a day, sometimes) we are reminded that David Cameron seems to be very unsuccessful at taming the beast which is the Tory party. At times it is ridiculous how he smarms his way around pretending to be "liberal" and progressive, while his party behave in the opposite way. The Daniel Hannan episode, and its subsequent revelations, was an excellent case in point. Today there is another absolute corker. You would have thought someone would have briefed Alan Scard. He is only the Chairman of the Association charged with finding a replacement for one of the ...
The chairman of Gosport Tories caused something of a furore by giving his view that a woman candidate might be a decent candidate if she were attractive. Now, he has apologised and said he thought the interview was over. This leads me to wonder if the Tories only say what they really think behind closed doors.
I have been listening to the cricket all day on the radio ( yes I am too tight to pay for sky sports ) and what a day it has been. England are on top with Australia needing over 460 to win. So lets all keep fingers crosssed that England can knock off the 10 wicketes that they need on Sunday.
A few weeks ago I noticed Cafe Rickshaw on Chapel Ash was doing Barbecue packs, last night I tried one with some friends and can certainly recommend them.
On 19th September students at the University of Aberdeen will launch a new independent online newspaper. This publication, called Vox Pop (short for the Latin phrase vox populi, meaning "voice of the people"), claims to be a free speech publication and promotes the right of the people to a free press. The newspaper has been created as part of a campaign by students for changes to Aberdeen
In the context of the Meghari release, it is worth recalling the case of Ernest Saunders, who was one of the "Guinness Four" in the trial involving that company. I quote from Jeremy Warner in the Independent: In an appeal, the judge reduced Mr Saunders' sentence to two and a half years, after hearing evidence that Mr Saunders was suffering from pre-senile dementia. With parole, Mr Saunders qualified for almost immediate release, having served just 10 months. As soon as the former Guinness chairman was free,...(Gerald) Ronson (in his auto-biography "Leading from the front") recalls, "Saunders miraculously 'recovered', apparently the ...
A small housekeeping announcement: when we revamped this site, we removed the list of links to the latest blog posts on Lib Dem Blogs as the list was slow to load, took up a lot of space and only showed posts for a very short period of time (given the volume of posts over on Lib Dem Blogs). Many readers have said though that they appreciated the convenient links through to other Liberal Democrat blogs, so we are testing out a Lib Dem Blogs button in the right-hand column, just under the latest poll. This gives you a clickable pop ...
I have to admit that the word that rhymes with "duck" was being used with volume and frequency in this house at the end of F1 qualifying in Valencia this afternoon. I knew that it was going to be a long wait for the fuel weights to come out so that we could really see the lie of the land. At the end of a thrilling final shoot out, the McLarens took the prime positions on the front row. It was Lewis Hamilton who emerged triumphant - Heikki Kovaleinen came close but had a wee mishap on the final corners ...
On A week is a long time, Jo Angelzarke has written an excellent post about the 'Real Women' document. I did see my role as that of Devil's Advocate when I posted about this earlier. As a standalone policy presentation document aimed at increasing the interest of women in our party, 'Real Women' is excellent. However, in the context of a policy paper for the conference (which I assumed it is - but perhaps there is something else in the offing for that purpose - in which case apologies for the criticism) it is indeed skimpy on rationale and background ...
No, my politics haven't changed (nor has my blog template colour) - actually it's the company that host this blog that has gone green. In a effort to help reduce the effect their servers and network equipment have on the environment, my hosting company (Compila) have committed to upgrade all of their technology to more energy efficient systems. They've also gone further and created a detailed green efficiency plan, which helps them to reduce the impact their business has on the environment, covering such areas as paper usage, waste, recycling, water and energy consumption, transport amongst other things. Compila are ...
Obviously it's a travel day today. I've been using National Express on the East Coast a lot recently, and while I have issues with some of their services, it's at least better than this vision provided by Simon Hoggart in today's Guardian: A witty reader (he's not sent his name, fearing legal reprisals) sends in a wonderful fantasy in which Michael O'Leary of Ryanair buys our east coast railway and runs it like his airline. The ticket prices will look like amazing bargains, say London to Edinburgh for £1. "But these principles will apply: fee of £5 for internet booking, ...
Tom Harris, the top Scottish and MP Blogger has posted about his "struggle" to get his DNA on the DNA database and, personally I think Tom is stupid if he wants to do that. The DNA database is an erosion of our civil liberties, and a reason I am a Lib Dem is because I don't want my liberties eroded otherwise I would have joined The Pirate Party*. Labour have since coming to power made the UK, into a police state where coppers have more power then the ordinary person and that's why I don't support the government database. If ...
I heard this story on the radio and television this morning, and it worries me greatly. Similarly to the government 'helping' FAST (the Federation Against Software 'Theft') or the music industry, this appears to be another slide down the slippery slope of a civil problem being punished — wrongly — by criminal law. Certainly, counterfeit brake pads, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, etc., where there is a clear and demonstrable danger to health or safety, should continue to be dealt with strongly, but to seize — and in some countries charge the owner of — fake handbags, paintings, and other ephemerae which are ...
I've resisted the urge up to now to purchase a copy of Total Politics, but today not only did I give in but have been pleasantly surprised.Not only did I learn that Hugh O'Donnell MSP has a love for Tai Chi, but that he also is a purple belt in karate.There's a great article by Andrew Hawkins - illuminating a dark art - a piece on polls.A good piece by Jon Craig whom I've now met at various by-elections, well worth reading.Then the interview by Iain Dale of Ann Widdecombe, a well written piece but the sad line in it ...
Getting into a debate with Paul Walter on Facebook is considerably easier than getting out of one, especially when it's about the new Lib Dem Policy Paper 'Real Women'. One of Paul's main criticisms is that no hard evidence is presented to illustrate the link between anorexic models and eating disorders. The only evidence presented is a survey of Grazia readers in which a third of 5000 women said that they worry about the way their body looks 'every waking minute'. Grazia, for those who don't know, is the woman's magazine most likely to have the highest percentage of its ...
Ah, the summer, that mystical time when politicians stop being lazy in their grand offices and spread their laziness across the land (or not, of course, though I suppose you can judge for yourself using the Western Mail's list...) The summer was never going to be politics-free, however, particularly in Wales where everyone has to factor in their annual visit to Senedd-on-Sea. Considerably Welsher than yow Or to be more accurate, Senedd-by-the-Lakeside, as this year's National Eisteddfod was held in Bala. With Rhodri's 70th birthday (his promised retirement date) little more than a month away, it was time for Bridgend ...
[IMG: IMG_1828] This morning I went along to the South Reading Community Fun Day in Cintra Park in Redlands. This event was the brainchild of my fantastic constituent, Tiffany Argent (pictured). Tiffany lives in North Whitley and is actively involved in Sure Start Whitley. Tiffany masterminded the whole event from start to finish - with support from other mums, the Council, Police and others. We need more low-cost activities for children and families in North Whitley so I was pleased to support this event. The aim of the totally-free event was to to increase the awareness of Sure Start Whitley and other local community groups ...
Earlier this week I met some of the people involved with setting up Sefton's Youth cabinet. It was good to see young people involved and intersted in doing things around the community. One of the key issues that concern them -and was also a theme of the event I visited rcently at the Clifton-was the public attitude towards young people. Well if eveidence was needed some more came along at the Flower show where Birkdale Youth club members have been involved in designing and building a garden . Youtube has a vidoeo which explains more:
[IMG: campbell] Figures secured by North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell show that the number of people claiming unemployment in the constituency in June 2009 has risen 72% compared with the same period last year. Commenting on the figures, Sir Menzies Campbell said: "In the last twelve months there has been a sudden, large increase in the number of unemployed people in North East Fife. What's worse is that these figures are going up month on month, with no sign of improvement. "What's happening in North East Fife is happening across the country, often to a much worse degree. ...
[IMG: Ming Campbell] Local MP Sir Menzies Campbell is urging people in North East Fife who served in the Armed Forces, the Merchant Navy or the Women's Land Army to apply for the badges produced by the Ministry of Defence to recognise their service. Sir Menzies has been spearheading the campaign in North East Fife to increase the number of eligible people taking up these badges and has helped over 100 people get the recognition that they deserve. Sir Menzies said: "It is very important that those who have served this country receive the recognition they deserve and these badges ...
[IMG: donald-lothian-and-menzies-campbell-in-gateside] North East Fife Liberal Democrat MP Menzies Campbell and Howe of Fife & Tay Coast councillor Donald Lothian have backed the Auchtermuchty & Strathmiglo Community Council's objection to the application by SITA to SEPA for an operators licence for a Waste to Energy Plant at Binn Farm. Commenting Menzies Campbell and Councillor Lothian said "The Community Council have clearly given this matter careful consideration and are right to raise their concerns with SEPA. We have both written to SEPA backing the Community Council's concerns".
Amongst the Guardian letters today, Godfrey Eland wonders: Having carefully read about Greyhound buses coming to the UK (Report, 20 August), I am at a loss to understand how these buses will be any different from National Express, Megabus or any other of the existing services on our motorways. Can someone enlighten me as to what all the fuss is about? The fuss, of course, is quite simple to explain. Whil your average travel journalist would never think of travelling anywhere by coach in Europe - after all, why slum it with the plebs for days on end when you ...
Oh good! Letter of 19th August from Nick Griffin (one time 4th placed parliamentary candidate for Keighley): "As you know we have all worked hard for many years to gain this success, many think our troubles are over now we have made such a huge political breakthrough. Not so! With political success come new challenges and obstacles (as the cyber-terrorist attacks on our website demonstrate), and the Party as a whole is suffering acute financial pressure." (Quoted from the BNP website) It's not all bad then!
[IMG: 150th anniversary] A little premature... One hundred and fifty years ago, on the 6 June 1859, at Willis Rooms in St James, Westminster, Radical, Peelite and Whig Members of Parliament met to formalise their Parliamentary coalition to oust the Conservative government and finally brought about the formation of the Liberal Party. To commemorate the compact made at Willis Rooms in 1859 and the consequent founding of the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democrat History Group and the National Liberal Club organised a joint event at the Club on 20 July 2009. The evening was chaired by Lord Wallace of Saltaire ...
Norfolk Blogger has a blog post, about how biased the Daily Mail is. He also writes about how they backed the Nazi's in the 1930's, and he worries they might backing the BNP now. I can't myself come up with a verdict on the Daily Mail and how it is backing the BNP, it isn't the most ethnic minorities supporting paper, but then which paper is ethnic minority friendly? Moving on from that, I wasn't alive in the 1930's and neither have I read articles from the Daily Mail from the time so I can't comment on the past of ...
The way the Repubicans are trying to get to grips with improving their internet presence following last year's Presidental election defeat suggest some interesting pointers for the UK. As I've often written in the past, US politics is very different from British politics – and so one should be cautious at reading across lessons from one country to another. Nonetheless, the Republicans efforts to catch-up do highlight what they feel are the most important areas. Yesterday's CNN report on the topic highlights two facets to this: the importance of Twitter and the degree to which a successful internet presence relies ...
Liberal Conspiracy, not a blog I always warm to, has a great article picking apart the Daily Mail story on immigrants outnumbering the number of people signing on for benefits. The implied bias of the Daily mail artcile was to make out that immigrants were over here putting British people out of work. In short the artcile was a BNP wet dream. It's well worth a read and can be found HERE. Whilst the Daily Mail's support for the Nazis in the 1930s (and indeed in to the 40s) might be a long time ago, its support for natioanlism still ...
So, the worried emails have started coming in because I haven't been internet active, and I thought I ought to post something... I have, however, made some progress on cleaning the house, done more in the garden, done lots of DIY, done a fair bit of Lib Demming, worked lots, and had two evenings of fun and frolics with friends - on Thursday last week we were pleased to entertain a state visit from the Glorious Leader of the People's Republic of Mortimer, which involved much drinking and playing of silly board games, and was fun all round. And last ...
Oh dear! David Cameron has devoted much of the past few years trying to convince that the all new Conservative Party is a fluffy, tolerant organisation with a commitment to equality and diversity. I say trying, because there have been a few banana skins for them on the way, as the real Tories, not Call me Dave's Stepford Children, have escaped from the cupboards where they've been locked to keep them out of public view, to give us all the evidence we ever needed that this leopard's spots haven't changed at all. Even in the last week and a half, ...
Today is the turn of West Port, South Tay Street and Nethergate to be the featured area for "Summer Saturday" - see http://tinyurl.com/summersaturday (or click on the headline above) to read more. Great to see local businesses participating in "Summer Saturday" in this vibrant shopping area in the West End.
Saturday 15th August Charlotte Gore tried to find some common ground in the intense debate regarding the NHS. Sunday 16th August In a piece that demonstrates her evident passion for the institution, Caron warned us not to mess with the NHS. Darrell on Moments of Clarity said that the "Brown" problem won't go away until something is done. He means Michael Brown, not Gordon. Sharpe's Opinion had an excellent fisk of Gordon Brown's open letter to the #WeLoveTheNHS tweeters. Monday 17th August Mark Pack speculated on a radical new business model for The Independent newspaper. Constantly Furious took Peter Mandelson ...
Two gains for the Liberal Democrats this week: Kevin Moore has been elected in Hucknall Central, Ashfield District Council. From the Ashfield Lib Dems website: Ashfield's Liberal Democrats remain the biggest group on the District Council with 13 seats. Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Jason Zadrozny says, "This once again shows the Liberal Democrats are the clear challengers to Labour in Ashfield. In election after election right across the District, local residents are picking Liberal Democrat candidates over Labour every time. In June's County elections the Lib Dems made 4 gains from Labour and now we have bagged the Hucknall ...
Each year, Liberal International presents the Prize for Freedom to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the promotion of freedom and human rights. Previous laureates include the late Benazir Bhutto, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Vaclav Havel, Mary Robinson, Aliaksandr Milinkevich and Lord Avebury (Eric Lubbock). The next Prize for Freedom will be awarded in the year 2010, under the following criteria for the nominees: 1. Individuals who fight for liberal values, promoting freedom of conscience, human rights, democracy and peace 2. Individuals who are key contributors to significant changes in a country or region 3. Individuals ...
It's been a long 4 weeks without Formula One. Although the sport has been making loads of headlines, with Michael Schumacher's coming back and then not coming back and lovely Nelson Piquet Jr being given his marching orders by Renault, there really is nothing like the scream of a V8 engine at full pelt to get your heart beating a wee bit faster. I'm a bit of a Valencia virgin. For some reason, that I strongly suspect has to do with the Glenrothes by-election, I missed this race last year. The circuit is weird. You have shots of cars speeding ...
The Gist: Quentin Tarantino experiments with War Propaganda. Who's in it: Brad Pitt. Sort of. Who made it: IMDB is your geeky friend but the headline is this: It's Tarantino. So the trailer for Inglourious Basterds (Or 'Custards' as they said on Radio 5 Live yesterday) promises Brad Pitt on a comedic Nazi killing adventure in France. If that's what you want to see, you're going to be disappointed. Just like the trailers for Home Alone actually gave away all the funny jokes, so the trailers for Basterds reveal most of what is actually a small aspect of the overall ...
This is the Old Coffee Mills in Market Harborough. It is from here that Noel Symington plotted world domination with his exploding soup. The building has recently been converted into flats.
Duncan Brack explains how party members can put questions to Nick Clegg and other key figures in the party for answering at Conference in September, without actually attending.
Well, despite having put my Mum on to the Caledonian sleeper at Euston a few times to go back home via Inverness I've never actually been a passenger myself. Until last night that is, the cost versus a normal train ticket and hotel room in London was significantly cheaper and that included the fact I went first class (my snoring prevents me from sharing anyway). However, if you book enough in advance and look at single tickets opposed to returns you can often go first class cheaper than standard! Illogical I know but who's ever claimed to have understood the ...
Party members not going to the Bournemouth conference still have a chance to input to some of the discussions. The conference features three Q&A sessions: Sunday 20th September (afternoon) – with Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats Monday 21st September (morning) – Crime Policy: Panel including Chris Huhne MP (Shadow Home Secretary), Jan Berry (Independent Reducing Bureaucracy Advocate), Juliet Lyon (Director, Prison Reform Trust) and Professor Larry Sherman (Wolfson Professor of Criminology, University of Cambridge) Tuesday 22nd September (afternoon) - The Economy: Panel including Vince Cable MP (Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer), Jeremy Purvis MSP ...
Those nice people at Lib Dem Voice are seeking your nominations for the various categories. The closing date is 4 September.
After a three year print-run, thelondonpaper is set to cease publication, with the loss of 60 jobs. Whilst distributing over half a million copies in July, which was about 100,000 more than London Lite, the advertising revenue was not coming in. Reporting a pre-tax loss of nearly £13M on a turnover of just over £14m, ...
As I said yesterday, I'm really happy to have risen 23 places in the Total Politics Blog Poll and am so grateful to everyone who voted for me. However, that result is not the most exciting thing that has happened to me in the last 48 hours. There are indeed much more important things than Mr Dale, or his lists, not that you'd think it from a brief look at the blogosphere. Imagine my excitement, while recovering from the exhilaration of seeing the Brawn boys (and it was Rubens who got top slot, yay!) reclaim their rightful place at the ...
Two people have been charged under Section 55 of the Data Protection Act* with leaking the BNP's membership list, including contact details and family information. From the Guardian: The list, which identified thousands of people linked to the far-right party, was posted on the web in November 2008. Information included addresses and other contact information such as mobile phone numbers and the names and ages of children in a family membership. Dyfed-Powys police said a 27-year-old man and 30-year-old woman were charged under the Data Protection Act after a joint investigation with the Information Commissioner's Office. The pair lived in ...
Over on Lib Dem Voice they have details of the Lib Dem Blog of the year award. They've been going for a good few years now and the Welsh Lib Dems have made their presence felt with Steph Ashley and Peter Black. To nominate send an email to ecampaignteam {at} libdems.org(.)uk the categories are * 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 blogging / social networking / e-campaigning by a Liberal Democrat * Best posting on a Liberal Democrat ...
One of my main political concerns is about the funding of the parties. Everyone knows that big business funds the Conservative Party but why do they do it? The answer is that they want to get something in return for their financial support. Businesses who support the Conservatives will say that Conservative policies are more helpful than those of other parties, but even if you don't think there is a direct link between funding and political support (and there often is) it just doesn't look good. Even in the Labour Party you can buy influence in Westminster. If you don't ...
