A website - In the Know - has been set up so that people working in the public services can send Nick Clegg their ideas for saving money in their workplace. I am all in favour of consultation, but there are two things that worry me about this. First, I share the view of Mark Littlewood that it would have been better to include the users of these services in the consultation too. Second, this initiative does nothing to remove the impression that the Clegg leadership is light on policy. We heard little from him about it in the leadership ...
The spectre of Britain under the Tories if the radical right gets its way loomed today, as the story broke about Barnet borough council in London adopting the business model of low cost airlines: offering no frills services, which would mean that some services now taken for granted in most local authorities would have to ...
Decline of the Logos has posted a reply to my eight sceptical theses on human rights. There are a few bits of cheap rhetoric and a bit of showing off (I've got a degree in philosophy too, darling) but also plenty of points I could engage with. But I am not going to, because I am not going to get into an argument with an anonymous blogger - if there is an author's name on the blog then I cannot find it. In part this is because I cannot take someone who is not prepared to reveal his or her ...
A little time today to catch up on reading some history, and a reminder that our welfare state had its beginning, and they were conroversial beginnings, with the Beveridge Report in 1943. Beveridge was elected as a Liberal MP in 1944, and although he was prominent in the Liberal Party's campaign in the 1945 election, most Liberal candidates making reference to his report and to the party's...
Whilst on holiday I managed to do something I have not done for a long time, actually read some books cover-to-cover. One of those books was Paddy Ashdown's autobiography. I relate this because of the current controversy over the presence of British troops in Afghanisatan. Back in late 2007/early 2008 Paddy was being considered as the UN Special Representative in Afghanistan until President Hamid Karzai made it clear that his government considered the former Liberal Democrat leader to not be an acceptable candidate for that post. Paddy's analysis of the situation is instructive and must raise questions for everybody as ...
For slightly complicated reasons that I need not enter into here, I have come into posssession of two new copies of Will Hay by Graham Rinaldi. The website of Tomahawk Press, the book's publisher, says: Every British comic actor that followed Will Hay owes Hay a debt of gratitude - for it was Hay who defined the modern essence of British comedy. Working closely with Hay's family, Graham Rinaldi's definitive tribute to the respected comic actor, takes a close look into Hay's on-screen and off-screen personae. Drawing upon Hay's own writings; - newspaper articles, notes from his astronomy observations and ...
From where I am looking at the whole Alex Hilton and the hoax site scam, that Alex has pulled off something that many might have dreamed about. Alex Hilton failed with his bid to claim that Thatcher was dead, so this is a success compared to his first job and he deserves praise even though it is childish. Alex is a childish blogger but you have to give it to him, a job like this doesn't happened over night and not everyone can pull it off. After seeing the website I have couldn't see the page so checked the code, ...
Well, I can't say this has ever happened to me before - I've just been detained under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act. That only meant being searched on Victoria Station, but still a surprise. It was particularly a surprise for three reasons. First, the embarrassed look on the British Transport Police officer who stopped me. I felt rather sorry for him. Second, why it should take three of them to do it - one to search, one to hold a clipboard and one to stand around watching? It can't have been target driven and I couldn't help wondering whether ...
Well Mister Stephen certainly got the lioness's hearts pumping, and a few of the lions as well, earlier when his posted this pic of Mister Andy. It makes you think that the event may be played at Blushing Meadow. But while Mister Nasty John is tipping the young cub from Dunblane to take over as king of the New York pride from Herr Roger, not Señor Rafa. There is a lioness cub and an other more experienced Brit lioness praying that the rain would go away and fall on SW11 rather that NYC. For both young Miss Laura* and Miss ...
While Nick Clegg has publicly disagreed with the SNP Scottish executive's decision to release convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi, former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy has joined David Steel in declaring his belief that the decision was the right one. Charles's local paper the Ross-shire Journal reports his views: The Justice Secretary faced an unenviable decision, in which neither of two practical options represents a good outcome. The whole tragic, tangled web of Pan Am Flight 103 raises profound issues of principle and of process. "The most regrettable aspect of what has happened is that the appeal was ...
I complained bitterly last year about the extent of weeds on road edges and pavements in the West End, and all credit to the City Development Department - weed spraying in the West End was started earlier this year and I have had far fewer complaints from residents this year. In response to an e-mail I sent the City Engineer recently, I received this from him today: "I can confirm that a request for a second spraying of the weeds at the junction of Blackness Road and Norwood Crescent has been forwarded to Dundee Contract Services. I have also forwarded ...
The Guardian big-ups Nick Clegg's plans to cut waste in the public services, specifically by trying to rein-in hospital trusts using their monopoly position to drive up costs. The paper bills it as "one of the most radical ideas of any of the main political parties to save money": Under the Lib Dem plan, hospital trusts would be forced to charge the same rate for operations as the cheapest and most efficient hospitals in the country. Clegg said: "It is a very specific but rather radical idea, of saying that all hospital tariffs under the 'payment by results' system should ...
The headline of this post is my last attempt to impersonate David Cameron visiting Barry but it sums up how I feel as I acclimatise myself after a week abroad in the sort of heat I hope not to revisit for some time. Still I feel more relaxed than I have been for some time, though that feeling will quickly dissipate. The first shock for me was the statistics for this blog. The last post I made before going away was about the shrine to Torchwood's Ianto that has appeared in Cardiff Bay. Over the next eight days this blog ...
There have been numerous news stories recently about the number of pubs closing. During my recent travels across England by bus I was indeed struck by the number of closed pubs I was seeing - in town as well as the countryside. What is to blame? People have variously blamed high taxes on drink, competition from supermarkets, the smoking ban and the moves against drink driving - today it is socially unacceptable as well as being illegal. And the Fair Pint group blames the large chains that own most pubs these days. You may say that this is just a ...
The BBC tells us: Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has queried the "workability" of a suggested tax on banks to curb excessive bonuses. Lord Turner, head of the UK's finance watchdog, has suggested taxing banks' financial transactions. The Treasury has urged restraint on bonuses but stressed taxation was a matter for the chancellor. Mr Clegg said the idea had practical pitfalls but agreed with Lord Turner's "sentiments" and said that some banks needed to be broken up. ... Mr Clegg said there were real questions marks about the "workability" of a UK-only bank tax, given that most banks operated across ...
The latest blog from the Conservative PPC for Wallasey can be found on the Blue Blog at conservatives.com. The title, Dealing with the causes and consequences of drug addiction offers no insights into either the causes or the consequences of drug use. Unfortunately it is typical of the disorganised thinking that we come to expect ...
After the news that Nick Clegg has met President Zardari of Pakistan, I have some issues that I want to raise. First of all it's great to see that Zardari even realises that the Lib Dems are the best party for the Pakistanis in the UK. Now let's return to my campaign to ask Obama to meet Nick Clegg, if the President of Pakistan believes that the Lib Dems play an important part in UK politics and has wanted to meet Nick Clegg then I think Barack Obama should as well. The problem is Barack Obama is too focused on ...
Here's a great quote from Oklahoman US Senator James Inhofe on the embryonic Health reform bill: I don't have to read it, or know what's in it. I'm going to oppose it anyways. From the Express-Star with a hat-tip to Tagean Goddard's Political Wire.
I'm not going to link to Irfan Ahmed's latest idiotic posting, in which he regurgitates a lie from Tory Bear that the Lib Dems are set to drop their policy of abolishing tuition fees. Not only did Irfan not check his facts (the Lib Dems reaffirmed our opposition to tuition fees as recently as our last conference), he chose to headline his posting 'Fib Dems?' If you look at the post, you'll find Irfan's struck through the text after comments from myself and others which demolished his argument. But this is only the latest instalment of idiocy from Mr Ahmed, ...
By Qassim Afzal Nick Clegg Leader of the Liberal Democrats today met the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari. The President was keen to meet with Nick Clegg during a private visit he is making to the UK. Discussions were held on the important role Pakistan plays in foreign policy, the upcoming British General Election and the contribution the Pakistani community makes in the UK. Nick Clegg was joined by the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Manchester Gorton Qassim Afzal who helped to arrange the meeting. Commenting on the meeting, Nick Clegg said "This meeting was important as the Liberal ...
I see that Tory Bear is up to his normal scare mongering, telling half truths and well.....fibbing about what the Lib Dems are up to. He is taking issue with this article published last year prior to Autumn conference which said: "The leaders of the Liberal Democrats plan to abandon the party's opposition to student tuition fees." But went on to say: "[Stephen] Williams acknowledged that he and Mr Clegg were likely to face strong opposition from many in the party who felt that its stance at the 2005 election, as the only mainstream party supporting free higher education, was ...
Over the course of the next month, residents of West Lindsey will be given the opporunity to participate in a wide ranging consultation on the priorities for housing in the district. Currently the priorities are:People: Meeting the challenges of an ageing population Places: Developing Gainsborough as a growth area and tackling poor housing in the town Homes: Increasing the supply of affordable
Why do I keep finding myself so surprised? The attitudes that some people have in society towards the women and men divide continues to annoy me. Jan Moir has an interesting article in the Daily Mail today, which has some points I agree with, but mainly ones I disagree with. The first part of her article that addresses the comments that often surround Anne Robinson is something I disagree with. She says that women who believe that Anne Robinson's cosmetic surgery is unnecessary are jealous, and makes out that it is a requirement for being a presenter in a modern ...
Last year's changes to the train ticket system were supposed to signal a radical shake-up of the sorry mess that had gone before. How are they doing? January's news about split tickets (a Lib Dem rail story I unaccountably missed) didn't exactly bode well, but my journey today pretty much sums up just how far we've come;Cardiff Central - Gloucester Off-Peak Return - £18.30Cardiff Central -
So, Barnet council has decided to adopt the 'Easyjet' model of running councils. Having flown on said airline many moons ago I have to say the comparison is far from flattering; popular they maybe but this is primarily with the terminally short of cash as an inexpensive way of flying; cattle in a truck however probably ...
Hat tip to Conservative Home for this one, which hat tips in turn Nigel Fletcher. Michael Martin's elevation to the peerage was slipped out in the London Gazette this morning. Perhaps that'll give somebody the impetus to get on and reform the place properly.
Last night House of Twits retweeted Caron's Tweet: So here, to the best of my recollection is any that is permissible for the public record. Me and Lionel turned up early and secured a table under cover next to the Pleasance Courtyard bar. From here I could watch both entrances to the Courtyard while Lionel got on with reading this months copy of Total Politics which just happened to be in my bag. The first blogger I recognised was Will Howells meandering across the Courtyard looking lost with his ear surgically conjoined to his mobile. However, he got close enough ...
The announcement yesterday by Network Rail that they support the creation of a high speed rail link through the Midlands and North West to Scotland is good for those regions. But what about the North East and Yorkshire? Our region subsidises the rest of the rail network - the East Coast Line is the only route where rail companies pay the government to use the line rather than the government pay
So you've spotted the 'churnalism' fiasco (exposed by Guido) that magnificently spouted from Alex Hilton's elaborate hoax of a fictional Mayor of Baltimore? Hilton's website is apparently subject to some sophisticated cyber-attack now and the front page flits on the screen for a millisecond before being replaced by a blank white screen. The alleged mayor allegedly said Britain was getting a bit like Midsummer Nights' Murders. I think a more apt smear would be to compare Britain's inner city streets to The Bill. Although The Wire is a heart-rending allegory to endemic violence, perpetual social decay and the immutable reality ...
I have recently read a few articles in the media, which suggest the Lib Dems are getting rid of the free education policy and personally I am saddened by this. As someone who is a Lib Dem because of the fact that the party has a free education policy, free health care for the elderly and the fight for civil liberties, I think the party is making a huge mistake by getting rid of the policy for free education. Tory Bear also has a post about how the LY are still advertising free education in their fresher packs, clearly they ...
That's the news being report in The Register today. Last September PA Consulting (one of those expensive IT companies the government is keen to outsource all its computing to) lost a memory stick. Originally it was thought to contain 127,000 records but now it turns out details on 377,000 people were held on it. The good news is that these people, all users of the Drugs Intervention Programme, were identified by initials only so probably don't need to worry too much. The bad news is that this sort of thing keeps on happening. And no surprise. When you can fit ...
There was one principal council by-election held on the 27th August. The Liberal Democrats held the seat. In two parish and Town council elections reported to ALDC the Lib Dems held one seat and the Tories gained one seat from Independents. In the Starbeck Ward in Harrogate the Tories made a strong attempt to wrest this strong Lib Dem ward from our grasp. A vigorous campaign around saving the local baths from Tory closure put paid to that but the campaign was notable for its strong postal vote. Of 1398 votes cast 530 were postal votes; 38%. At the outset ...
Couldn't resist highlighting a little flagrant plagiarism from Will Straw (son of Jack and rising star in Labour's sinking constellation). His new website 'Left Foot Forward', which is avowedly 'non partisan' but seems to attack the Tories more than Labour for some strange reason, carries this quick ambiguous summary of their purely 'evidence-based' approach towards predetermined ends. Sadly it just happens to be mildly similar to a table carried on the ThinkProgress blog, run from the Centre for American Progress. Oh well, Straw did do a stint at CAP so I'm prepared to admit there's a tiny chance he devised ...
[IMG: nick-clegg-photo] Nick Clegg's (woefully under-reported) initiative in seeking to save taxpayers' money is yet further evidence that the LibDem leader is taking the party in the right direction. Thousands of party members will have received a plea for advice from public sector workers on how savings can be made from bloated, excessive and increasingly unaffordable departmental budgets. Nick is honest and up front - money is going to be tight for years, if not decades. Without dramatic cuts in some areas, other services will falter and/or taxes will rise yet further. But I wish that the consultation had also ...
Some of you will have seen Plaid Cymru AM Dai Lloyd's bizarre assertion in the Western Mail's letters page yesterday that because various Welsh Lib Dem spokespeople have identified areas that need to be prioritised during a recession they are therefore undermining democracy. The letter I wrote in response was not printed so I have posted it below. Dear Sir, Dai Lloyd AM (Letters 27th August) makes a blind leap in suggesting that the Welsh Liberal Democrats scrutiny of government risks 'undermining the democratic process and people's faith in the political system'. The recent surge in pledged support for the ...
I knew this would happen. The consequences of Gordon Brown's pig-headed insistence on trying to draw ridiculous and unbelieveable lines between him and his political opponents (i.e. Labour "investment" vs Tory "cuts") is catching up with him. It has come out today that there is now a potential backbench rebellion from Labour MPs on Brown's plans to end a policy which allows benefit claimants to keep the difference if they can find a lower rent than the housing allowance level. The government think this will save about £150 million per year. Frankly I think this is misguided as the incentive ...
.. when I saw this site.
I have an article over at Comment is Free about Lord Turner's recent suggestion of a transactions tax. This is a really hot issue. Contrary to popular imagination, Lord T has not suddenly changed from free-market ideologue into Marxist: back in January I found his speech on the causes of the crisis one of the most thoughtful contributions to a pretty crowded debate. This was at least partly because of its mature recognition of the imperfections of free-wheeling finance. So there is no conversion to justify the label "unexpected radical" - it just shows that Aditya Chakrabortty was not paying ...
Pink News has the story: A Liberal Democrat MP has accused both the Tories on Bristol council and one of the city's newspapers of misrepresenting a National Lottery grant to a gay group. The Bristol Evening Post ran a story yesterday on Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH). The highly-respected group has been awarded £391,668 by the Big Lottery Fund for a project reaching out to LGBT young people. EACH said on its website: "Throughout the next five years this will be spent upon EACH's ground-breaking project, REACH: supporting lesbian, gay or bisexual young people develop a sense of pride in ...
The young lady in question is called Rosemary Port, the once-anonymous author of a blog called 'Skanks in NYC'. Last year, she accused a Canadian model, Liskula Cohen, of being, amongst other things, psychotic and lying. Unusually, Ms Cohen sent the lawyers in, demanding that Google reveal the identity of the author, and after a hearing in the Manhattan Supreme Court, Google, and its subsidiary Blogger.com, were forced to reveal the identity of Ms Port. Now, bear in mind that this took place in the land of the First Amendment, guaranteeing freedom of speech, in a jurisdiction that has been ...
Fri 28th
13:58
These exam results are the first for children educated solely under a Labour government
The exam results we are seeing come out at the moment are historic. The children who are getting their exam results this summer are the first set of children to be solely educated under a Labour government. They would have started school aged four (or shortly afterwards) in 1997 and are now sixteen. That's the first time that has happened - a full school career under a Labour government. I know. I am a member of the last generation which was largely (but not entirely) educated under a Labour government. I went to primary school aged five in 1964 when ...
Nick Clegg has today launched the Lib Dems' 'Ask the People in the Know' project inviting public sector workers to help identify ways in which government can cut out waste while protecting services in order to save taxpayers' money. Anyone working in the public sector can submit their ideas on where money can be saved at http://nickclegg.com/intheknow. Nick has pledged that ideas submitted via the 'Asking the People Who Know' website will help inform the work currently being undertaken by the party to identify areas of waste in public spending: Hard-working nurses and teachers tell me how frustrated they are ...
IntroductionThis week's report from NHS West Midlands shows that the rate of new cases of swine flu continues to slow across the region. Information provided indicates current impact on the local services.Key MessagesPatients presenting at primary care centres with influenza-like symptoms has decreased within the health economy over the last week. The number of people with swine flu admitted to
Harrogate BC, StarbeckLD Janet Law 886 (63.4; -8.8)Con 252 (18.0; +5.0)Ind 178 (12.7; +12.7)Lab 82 (5.9; +0.8)[BNP (0.0; -9.7)]Majority 634Turnout 31.81%LD holdPercentage change is since May 2007 Buckhurst Hill PC, Buckhurst Hill EastGavin Chambers (LD) - 614 (62.5)Marshall Vance (Con) - 312 (31.8%)Tom Richardson (BNP) - 56 (5.7%)Majority 302Turnout 28.1%Lib Dem hold. Party defending seat: LD.
Now Scotland seems to officially be a rouge nation I thought it was time to review Rogue Nation by Alan Clements.
I opened The Times this morning and saw the picture to the right by Howard Bingham and knew that a few of my readers would appreciate me sharing it. You know who you are! Lionel having met the fellow bloggers again last is getting all excited about doing some more blogging and indeed asked "Can I write about Mister Andrew's attempt to take Mister Roger's shiny pot off him?" with a request like that how could I refuse. Watch Lionel's take on proceedings at the US Open Tennis coming soon.
Finding a rhythm through the changing seasons A wider view from within Beyond here and now But still a part of it The tide flows out and returns Leaves fall, blossom to fruit All is change Yet remains constant Don't forget: International Peace Day September 21 http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/ And The Daily Politics returns on same day http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/
At Cardiff's Mardi Gras Festival, the Welsh Lib Dems' youth wing IR Cymru is launching a campaign against homophobic bullying in schools. Here, Vice Chair Ollie Townsend explains why. As you read this a teenager is attempting to kill themselves. They have put up with the taunts for long enough. They have dealt with the bullies targeting them and their siblings for a year. At times, the bullies follow them to the toilets and shout things through the cubicles. Sometimes they are forced against a wall while someone places a knife at their throat. Sometimes they are sexually assaulted and ...
Over on Liberal England, Jonathan Calder has expressed a certain amount of scepticism about the usefulness of moral rights in contemporary moral discourse. Since the only training I can make a full claim to is philosophical, I thought I'd take his points on. Most modern discourse about morality resolves around rights. It therefore fails to answer ...
Powys's County Times has noted the sudden spate of spoof websites linking some 90 Lib Dem MPs and candidates to the Nazis: Every Lib Dem MP in the UK has fallen foul of one political blogger, who goes under the tag 'Illiberal Democrat', and has created a series of blogs which appear to link the party to Naziism. Both Powys MP's are Liberal Democrats, and both have their own page filled with anti-liberal propaganda and Swastikas. Roger Williams MP, Brecon and Radnorshire, was quick to condemn the blogs: "I think it's rather pathetic and rather purile for someone to soil ...
Something of a bidding war is in progress to see who can propose the toughest measures aimed at bank profits/bonuses. The latest entrant is Lord Turner head of the Financial Services Authority, who, in an interview with Prospect magazine has argued in favour of governments levying a so-called 'Tobin Tax' on banking transactions. Given the likelihood ...
Harrogate BC, Starbeck Buckhurst Hill PC, Buckhurst Hill East Falmouth TC, Boslowick
I remember when I was living in Swansea and new to all this politics lark, someone once told me that 'you can tell when an election's near, you'll see Peter Black wandering around pointing at things.' Peter is yet to feature on the Glum Councillors site, but it collects other fine examples of local representatives pointing at things, wearing safety clothing and looking generally unhappy.
Liberal Democrat councillors are already ahead of the other parties on the way they use the internet. This is largely thanks to ALDC's MyCouncillor system which gives a free website to every member who wants one. This success was also reflected in the June technology edition of Campaigner, which is still available for ALDC members to read here, if you missed it before. But not wanting to rest on our laurels, Mark Pack has written a useful article giving some handy hints in how to use the internet more effectively. It includes ways of managing the massive amounts of information ...
We live in a world where walking into a local shop is like walking into your own little porn movie. Whilst I have made it clear in the past, I do not agree with porn, I feel it is up to the individual to decide if they want the experience. However, where is the choice when walking in to buy a paper? There is none. As stated before, there are no male porn magazines. Therefore, what this fosters is primarily the sexualisation of women, as the magazines encourage the view to all ages, both men and women, that looking at ...
There are many things to like about the revamped Lib Dem party website and I certainly couldn't do any better. But... Please could the "latest" feed at the top show something more recent than May, and please could we have a search bar at the top.
Readers may remember that I wrote to the BBC regarding the fact that on `The Westminster Hour` they mistakenly said that the Liberal Democrats `hold the balance of power` on Newcastle and Sheffied Councils. This was to do with their item `Dave's friends in the North` about Dave Cameron's efforts in the North of England. You ...
The discovery of Jaycee Lee Dugard after so many years of imprisonment by her abductor is tremendous news. Her life and those of her children must have been a living hell. Their problems won't be over yet, but my very best wishes go to them and their family. Apparently her abductor, Philip Garrido, was a registered sex offender and a religious nutter.
An interesting piece from the American Campaigns & Elections site which acts as a salutary reminder that, for all the impressiveness of Obama and his use of the internet, there's rather more to campaigning: Two recently released surveys on how Americans perceive brands and make decisions gives us geeky political junkies an idea of how different campaign tactics work to win votes. The first survey, released by Harris Interactive last week, indicates that while adults "use a mixture of traditional media and new media, including those that would constitute 'push' (advertising and websites) and 'pull' (information from neutral, informal communication)," ...
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: Getting your online presence right can significantly boost the impact of your TV advertising - that's the conclusion from research carried out ahead of the Edinburgh International Television Festival. The report, Television's Got Talent, has been produced by Deloitte and includes the results of a YouGov poll of the public carried out last month. It shows how closely related people's TV and online habits are: "Television viewing is increasingly accompanied by simultaneous surfing - over half of respondents polled combined television and browsing at some time. When consumption of TV and the Internet was concurrent, ...
Despite past concerns of the fertility rate in the UK remaining at below replacement level, (which in turn creates immense pressure on the future workforce to keep afloat our ageing population caused by earlier baby-booms), recent ONS figures reveal that fertility rates have reached their highest levels in 15 years. This means that the UK population has reached 61.4 million, and birth and death rates are the most prominent cause of the population growth, for the first time since 2001. Last year, 791,000 babies were born in the UK, which was an increase of 33,000 from the previous year. Many ...
Another posting celebrating Manchester Pride. I was struck by the progress in that now it's seen as unremarkable and almost unimportant that people like Evan Davies, Claire Balding, Graham Norton, Eddie Mair from the BBC are Lesbian and Gay people. I remember when Evan became in the public eye and there were some knowing winks among ...
Apparently, the taxman has taken to Facebook in the US. By using the search facility, they have been able to catch up with tax evaders who, it seems, are determined to avoid their obligations yet, simultaneously tell the rest of the world what they're doing and where they're doing it. If it's any consolation, at HM Revenue & Customs we don't have access to social networking sites. Some of us do have a BlackBerry though...
Today's Western Mail reports that the Assembly Government spent more than £300,000 on staff "away-days" last year despite the economic downturn. Some of Wales' finest hotels were used as venues for gatherings of civil servants, while others went on trips to museums and islands for "team-building" exercises. Among the most expensive individual events were: -an away-day for human resources staff at the Miskin Manor - a luxury hotel on the outskirts of Cardiff - costing £16,177.11; -a health department meeting to "improve effectiveness", which cost the taxpayer £11,024.57; -visits by members of the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service ...
What a film. I have seen a couple of Quentin Tarrantino films before. All blood and gore. But this one was different. There was a decent plot with a story on several levels. The characters had depth. Lots of drama and suspence. There was an unwarranted amount of gore at one point (the scalping of the nazis) where I was having to metaphorically hide behind the cushion. If only the film had been true the war would have ended sooner. That point is clear. The depravity and cruelty of the german regime during the war is not entertainment. Yet Tarantino ...
I'm not entirely sure whether these figures for the number of times certain TV shows and films have been downloaded are trustworthy – there's an air of 'and the World Cup Final has 5 billion people watching'* about them – but if they are in the same ballpark as the number of actual download viewers, then it does suggest a possible new business model, at least for TV productions. Why not create official downloads with advertisements? It'd be something like a distributed Hulu, without the expense of having to pay for the streaming bandwidth yourself. I would expect that people ...
According to a leading BNP councillor, the British way of showing your annoyance with someone is to throw a brick through their window. So Says Pat Richardson, leader of the BNP group on Epping Forest District Council in Essex. This strange custom comes courtesy of the story of Mr Noor Ramjanally, who was threatened with violence for ...
The best tribute to Ted Kennedy I have read is this one from Michael Tomasky in the Guardian, entitled, simply, "Ted Kennedy made the US a better place": There are and will be more Kennedys, but the Kennedy era is over now. Teddy was imperfect enough that some Americans will say amen to that. Let them. The rest of us know what a dramatically better place this country is because of him. The Boston Globe has an excellent series of videos on You Tube which relate Ted Kennedy's life story. The series includes this video about the 1980 CBS interview ...
Is it just me or does Colonel Gadaffi now have the look of an ageing rock star ? He looks like a sort of cross between Phil Spector, Keith Richards and Tom Jones (with no insult meant to any of them, except perhaps Phil Spector).
Yes, the most recent Golden Dozen saw the fiftieth entry from this blog, which comes as a bit of a surprise. My readership has never been vast, although it appears modestly loyal, and my subject matter varies from frivolous (crayfish aphrodisiacs) to mild outrage (anything to do with railway breakfasts) via my increasingly eccentric travels and life as a late convert to political campaigning. However, I would like to thank you all for passing through these halls over the past two and a half years and, hopefully, I'll give you cause to continue to do so. Let's just say that ...
Good work BBC: four people photographed to go with A level stories, all girls http://bit.ly/FUSrH #mediacliches # Linking Facebook pages to Twitter: http://bit.ly/UerVw # @adamdustagheer Thank you! in reply to adamdustagheer # RT @jonfildes: Rivals band to fight Google books: Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon will join a coalition to fight Google's http://bit.ly/O8my9 # @mattraines <fx:looks innocent> in reply to mattraines # @edtrelinski In that case perhaps we should write a textbook together! in reply to edtrelinski # @Tory_Politico Most kind; thanks. in reply to Tory_Politico # @ByrneTofferings Most kind; thanks. in reply to ByrneTofferings # BBC NEWS | Tech giants ...
The other day I showed you the ruins of Crowland Abbey in the background of one photograph - more of that another time. But Crowland has another remarkable feature: the Trinity Bridge. It was built in the 14th century to cross the rivers that then flowed through the town. Today the Welland runs a mile to the west. There is an interesting article by R. A. Waters on the repair and stabilisation of the bridge carried out in 2002 (pdf).
Full details tonight.
Right-thinking people are, to put it politely, cautious when politicians claim they can cut costs in the public sector. When the claim is that billions can be saved without affecting front-line services, eyebrows are raised. Because it's proven surprisingly difficult to do. Not just for one party or even for one country. Across the world, nations with modern standards of public services have found it very tough to make big savings. Thatcher talked the talk but the civil service grew under her stewardship. More recently, Labour has tried it. We were told that millions could be saved by job cuts ...
Hilton Community Centre in Inverness were running activities for young people that were proving so popular that is proving difficult for them to get them to leave at 10pm. A councillor John Finnie said: "There has been a lot of work which has gone into the facilities at Hilton Community Centre. "They are very attractive to young people and that is down to the work of volunteers, the council but primarily the excellent work of Hilton Community Centre management committee." He said sports, music and computer games sessions were on offer. But he added: "They are so very much appreciated ...
My recent experience has taught me that, as far as recycling goes, maybe we place undue prominence on it. The problem with recycling is that by the time it's done the product already exists. It may have been shipped halfway around the world before then, using intensive agriculture methods or drilled up from the sea bed. ...
A Muslim man has his house fire bombed and he was then abducted and held at knife point for holding prayers in a local community centre, the BNP when questioned on the matter said fire bombing wasn't the British way but a brick through that window was. I am pretty sure the BNP don't speak for everyone who is British and they definitely don't speak for me. The BNP are a wild bunch and their ideas are not accepted by society yet they try and force them upon people. The BNP in Lancashire went around with a camera recording their ...
Still too busy to think straight, although the end is in sight - at least I think it is. In lieu of interesting original content, I direct your invaluable attention towards Mr Thompson who, sadly, really did need to write a blog post explaining why admiring one aspect of a person doesn't mean you automatically agree with everything that person says. That the quality of political debate is being reduced to such a pathetically dismal level - these desperate, clawing attempts to land any sort of wound on your opponents, no matter how utterly spurious or inane your argument really ...
Have you ever seen abuse of the disabled parking badge? If you are struggling to think of an example then just watch a disabled parking space for a few minutes. You will probably see some very fit looking individuals who march away from their car. Another method may be to watch people park their cars on double yellow lines and then walk round the park with their dog. It may be that these people are disabled but have temporarily improved. It may be that these people are not disabled. This week in the local newspaper, the Morecambe Visitor, the headline ...
