Whilst I never accepted that there was a valid case for the war in Iraq, I have always been firmly of the opinion that Afghanistan, under the Taliban, was a rogue state that promoted and exported terrorism and as a result, our military actions there were worthy of support. I was also deeply aware that many of those in the Taliban were not Afghans and they Taliban were themselves referred to as "Arabs" due to the number of them who were from other countries and enjoying something of a free ride running around with guns on Toyota Landcruisers oppressing local ...
I am posting a shameless plug for a conference fringe I am involved with as this event will be of particular interest to our on-line community. IT and the Internet - Turning challenges into opportunities Westbourne Suite Bournemouth International Centre Mon 21st Sept 1300-1400 Following the recent publication of the Governments 'Digital Britain Report', a Dragon's Den of Parliamentary Candidates grilling industry representatives on political priorities for the on-line world. A hot buffet lunch and drinks will be provided. As the UK becomes increasingly reliant on computers and the internet, the Parliamentary cross party alliance on the information society, EURIM ...
The Loampit Vale planning application went to Lewisham Council's Strategic Planning Committee this evening. Max Calo was among the objectors who addressed the committee. Sue Luxton and I spoke against as local ward councillors. Voting was: FOR Cllr Alan Smith (Chair) (Lab) Cllr John Paschoud (Lab) Cllr Susan Wise (Lab) AGAINST Cllr Paul Bentley (Lib Dem) Cllr Dave Edgerton (Lib Dem) Cllr Dean Walton (Green) Passed on Chair's casting vote. Angry reaction from audience.
Congratulations to Colin Davies, the new Lib Dem councillor for Market Harborough Welland Ward. He won the seat at a Harborough District Council by-election today. It was previously a Lib Dem seat and we hold the other two seats in the ward too. The result: Colin Davies (Lib Dem) 600 Barry Champion (Con) 373 Geoffrey Dickens (BNP) 122
I've just come back from the count for the Whitehouse Ward Town Council by-election in Rayleigh. The result was:Conservatives : 488 - 69 percentLib Dems (Corey Vost) 166 - 23 percentBNP 57 - 8 percentThere was a 22 percent turnout.So, a clear win for the Conservatives - and we offered our congratulations to Mr Ward (now Councillor Ward!).Not a
I spent today in Newcastle doing photos and video for the Nick Clegg visit. We met him at the Central Station and then went to look at City Council apprenticeships, then the Newcastle Jobs Fair, the Cyrenians (training former drug addicts, in this instance in gardening) and then to Gosforth for a public meeting. All captured on video. I'll edit it and post it on Youtube tomorrow.---Sent via
Morag Jackson from the University Hospital Birmingham Trust will be attending the next meeting of the Stirchley Neighbourhood Forum to talk about the future for the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital as it nears completion. Services will start to transfer to the new hospital from Selly Oak and the old QE in June 2010.Anyone wanting to find out more about the new hospital and the move is welcome to
Well to be perfectly honest it is not a Derren Brown or David Copperfield grand illusion. It is merely down to the fact that the Ordinance Survey have used some new technology to discover that Sgurr Nan Ceanniachean is Wester Ross isn't the Munro* you were looking for. So if you've bagged it already (and I haven't) you have merely a Corbett on your list. At 913.4m it is a metre short. However, the Munro baggers task hasn't become that much easier there are still 283 Munros and 517 tops over 3000ft still to be reached for all those die ...
Thanks to a commenter on my Aylestone posting for the news that Leicester Civic Society is holding a protest rally against the city council's decision to demolish the Bowstring Bridge: This is your last opportunity to show Leicester City Councillors your disgust at the way they've railroaded through their decision to demolish the Bowstring Bridge. The protest will get significant publicity and we need as many people as possible to attend with their friends and families to show support. The rally takes place on Saturday (12 September) at 1 p.m. in Bede Park, off Western Boulevard.
y Following substantial refurbishment Roseworth Lodge celebrated with an open afternoon. The staff had worked flat out to make sure that everyone and everything looked their best, there were some wonderful items to be auctioned, a raffle and the Mayor and Mayoress of Stockton were there to make the day for many of the residents. The only disappointment was that no social workers turned up to
I don't know what league it puts Stockton in but for several days Councillors of other parties have been complaining that our group had a lot of questions down to be answered and didn't we know it was a big football match! Actually we didn't know, but even if we had that is not the point - we are elected to campaign, question and stand up for our constituents. Maureen Rigg has...
"Trade and oil played a part in the decision to include the Lockerbie bomber in a prisoner transfer deal, Jack Straw has admitted." This statement made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Finally someone admitted what we have all known and believed for weeks. The Labour Government of Gordon Brown had once ...
Reacting to an op-ed in the Wall Street journal, Liberal International (to which UK Liberal Democrats are affiliated) Deputy President Hans van Baalen MEP has defended ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt against accusations of being a "ideological European federalist who wants to impose heavy European taxes on [citizens] and who wants Europe to become a super state". Van Baalen states that the ALDE group consists of moderate political forces that combine a "passion for the free market and private enterprise with political freedom, human rights and civil liberties." He continues, "We European Liberals do not want a European super state but ...
You have to love James of the Two Doctors for trying yesterday he wrote a blogpost called 'In Praise of Liberal Bloggers' in which he praised me and Caron. He says: "If you read Scotland's top two Liberal bloggers, Stephen and Caron, you find an awful lot more sense, and on most of the key issues of the day they take a far "greener" line than their party." Before going on to say in conclusion: "Even so, are you good people not barking up the wrong tree? Are you really in the right party? I'm tempted to send you both ...
A number of people have asked how they can read the transcript of President Obamas speech to congress on his healthcare reform plan last night. Here courtesy of those great folks at the Hiffington Post is the transcript of the speech in full. "Madam Speaker, Vice President Biden, members of Congress, and the American people: When I ...
Birkdale Lib Dems went canvassing this evening. It was very encouraging. As far as we could see our vote is very firm. Some people who we previously had down as Labour are now positive Lib Dems. We even found a couple of 'soft Tories' swinging our way.It is always pleasing when people speak well of your efforts and we had a good few of those this evening. I did come across one 'hard Tory' who told me how useless the Tory candidate was and how Osborne was an embarrassment. He then went on to say only Vince Cable was credible ...
This story is on BBC News about the police searching two children under anti-terrorism powers. These are the same powers that we were assured by the government would only be used in the most extreme circumstances. There have been so many instances of these powers being abused by the police. Isn't it about time that the government took another look at how they are used? Now I'm far too cynical to think that Labour would try to protect our civil liberties and I'm not particularly hopeful that the Tories will tackle this issue either. However, there are a good few ...
Here's Tony Blair getting star attention outside the David Letterman Show yesterday (below). Here's a clip from his appearance. He supported the release of Al Meghari which, in front of an American audience, was big of him.
It was good to hear two young Keighly women from Bradford Area Youth Parliament speaking at the Town Council meeting last week. We as a council offered them support in the future. Two young stars!
Apologies for yet again not getting a hyperpost up today – I've got to fix some stuff with my wife's computer. I'm going to make it up by doing five posts in three days over the weekend. These posts are all planned so clearly in my head all I have to do is find the ...
So it must be true. Nick Clegg appears to be a 'Cameron lite'. The Liberal Democrat members will have all received an email from Clegg today regarding our new unemployement proposals. My concerns are not about the proposals themselves (whilst I do have some resevervations), they are more about his choice of words. I have included the letter again below, highlighting the phrase that made me think, are you serious? Dear Jane, We cannot afford to let millions of young people get trapped on the dole. That's why today I've launched a new plan to tackle youth unemployment. Did you ...
So, first of all, Georgie Osbourne refuses, in April, to ring-fence schools spending from any cuts in any future Conservative government scenario. Schools spending will receive a "shake-up" he said. In other words, it's back to the bad old days of the 80s and 90s when school governors didn't have a penny to scratch their bums with. We can expect, with reasonable probability, cuts in schools spending by a future Conservative government. Now Andrew Lansley says that the Conservatives will set a limit on future NHS spending - meaning only small increases, amid warnings from professionals that this will mean ...
It seems we are through to the world cup! First I knew was this evening when capello was being interviewed. They kept that one quite quiet. But then I'm not one for much football. I take the occassional peak if it is the England matches. I see that Bristol is biding to be one of the venues for our bid for 2010. Nice one! Let's not let it all go to the Liverpool and Manchester's of this life. It may enthuse me to take more of an interest in the game.
I doubt conflictions is even a word. Oh, well! As I've said on several of my blog pieces, I am a very conflicted individual. I grew up almost socialist with a liberal streak (largely because I was a youth, in South Wales, and even with Lib Dem parents it's the sort of ideology you fall for - like in those unrealistic romance novels when everyone swoons and swirls and swivels). I also grew up (what fantasy novel reader doesn't?) with a deep and abiding love for the monarchy. I love conversations as to who my favourite King or Queen is. ...
We cannot afford to let millions of young people get trapped on the dole. That's why today Nick Clegg has launched a new plan to tackle youth unemployment. Did you know that nearly a fifth of 18 to 24-year-olds are currently unemployed? Without action now, more than 1.2 million young people could be unemployed by the end of 2011. The Conservatives failed a whole generation in the wake of the last recession. A whole generation became trapped in a culture of dependency. Labour look set to repeat the same mistakes now. We can't let that happen. Today Nick's launching new ...
Is photovoltaic (PV) solar power about to reach a tipping point and come of age? A couple of announcements yesterday imply that it might be – and not just for niche markets and remote locations but for grid power – although sadly only in rather sunnier climes than Britain! Arizona based First Solar has announced that it ...
We learn from history that we learn nothing from history. George Bernard Shaw Regular readers of this blog will be aware that none of my formal education actually occurred in Scotland. My primary and secondary stages of education happened in Northern Ireland while my tertiary level education took place at what became Kingston University. So therefore I have no personal knowledge of what is taught in Scottish history classes. I did however learn about the unfair English landlords in Ireland who continued to export choice crops from their land while their tenants' meagre potato crop from their own plot was ...
I've been thinking a lot recently about blogging. That might seem quite surprising given my failure to blog much at all over the last few months. But it's the very lack of blogging that has made me question the whole thing. It's not that I don't enjoy it. I do. I suppose it's the mix of ...
On a visit to Afghanistan, in April 2006, former defence secretary John Reid is reported as saying: "We would be perfectly happy to leave in three years' time without firing a shot." But in the 12 months to April 2009 alone, the official estimate of shots fired by British forces in the country stands at 4,265,870. A full breakdown is available HERE in the online version of Hansard; the figures were released to the Commons this month in answer to a written parliamentary question. That colossal number illustrates more clearly than any TV news report the scale and ferocity ...
A piece in the Bournemouth Echo underlines just how important party conferences are to the resort's economy – and just how huge an event conference is, even for the smallest of the three main parties: It is estimated the event could boost the resort economy by £6.5 million, as delegates spend money in hotels, bars, restaurants and shops. "That's really working on the basis of about 6,000 delegates staying for an average of four nights," said Peter Gunn, director of the BIC and Pavilion. A few seconds with a calculator and those figures suggests delegates will be spending an average ...
[IMG: carosmith] Adam Smith is famous as the founder of economics, then known as political economy. There is never a completely clear case about who is that first at anything but Smith has a very strong case. His post was that of a Professor at Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow. As a student at Glasgow he studied with the distinguished moral philosopher, Frances Hutcheson. Hutcheson held the Chair that Smith himself held later. Hutcheson's predecessor was the first holder of that chair, Gershom Carmichael, an early figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith himself was succeeded by Thomas Reid, ...
So you can't wait until tomorrow when all is revealed? There's a number of theories doing the rounds today, all trying to explain how Derren Brown was able to "predict" the Lottery. The combination of lottery numbers and a good mystery is compelling for a Lost addict like I am (a parallel noted by Will Howells in his wonderful song), so let's get this figured out. Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way: Derren is a magician (believe it or not), one skilled in the arts of the mentalist (commonly known as 'mind readers'). His skill is not ...
There's shortly to be a mayoral by-election in Bedford following the August death of the incumbent mayor and blogger Frank Branston. Local Lib Dems are the first to name their candidate as Cllr Dave Hodgson, familiar to many attendees of party training as the membership recruitment and retention expert, spreading best practice to local parties up and down the country. LocalGov.co.uk reports: Cllr Dave Hodgson is leader of the Bedford Liberal Democrats group, and was appointed to Bedford BC's cabinet as member for partnerships and IT by the late mayor. He expressed his delight at being selected to stand, adding ...
I've started experimenting with a new blog format over here. Pop over and say hi. There will still be regular economic content on this site as well, with sharing of blog posts. The idea is for a more economics-focussed site, with perhaps a lighter feel and better comments. The first post is below, for those of you averse to clicking: I've commented on this thread* at Liberal Conspiracy about George Osborne being the reason we can all breathe easily about the debt - and, more importantly, that he is why the markets and the credit rating agencies are breathing easily, ...
The Following is an article I wrote for one of Estonia's leading newspapers. It was written in conjunction with a conference on Direct Democracy in Tartu which I spoke at this morning. Estonia is entering a new era in her democratic history. As in so many other areas, Estonia is pioneering the use of technology in its political system. Gradually, the use of e-voting is beginning to take hold and, as ever higher numbers of people cast their votes securely over the Internet, many suggest that it is the key to greater popular participation in the political process. Of course, ...
The whole 'save General Election night' thing appears to be getting the full allocation of its nine-days-wonder (and will no doubt get the same when the actual election comes) but while it fails to generate any real excitement in me, a thought: Why isn't the public announcement of election results actually public anymore in so many places? Obviously, many declarations can be seen by the public on TV, or heard on the radio, but from my recollection of most recent elections, the actual declaration takes place in the same venue the count was taking place which usually isn't open to ...
It seems that every day there are new comments about the issues involved in people downloading content over the internet, be it music, films, television, books, or images. 'Copyright' is the argument against it, alongside the suggestion that by downloading something for 'free' there is a direct, attributable, and identifiable loss of income to the producer or owner of that content. The Guardian has written about the Illegal filesharing crackdown launched by UK government whilst the BBC tells us that musicians' pressure group FAC — Featured Artists Coalition — along with other industry bodies say they "vehemently oppose" plans to ...
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: Across all the mainstream parties you'll find MPs who mutter about the BBC's funding setup and its editorial judgements, but most frequently those comments come from the Conservative Party's ranks However, a newly published poll of MPs asking them to list their favourite broadcast journalists shows the BBC dominating the preferences - even of Conservative MPs Overall, four of the top five broadcast journalists are from the BBC: 1. Nick Robinson 2. Andrew Marr 3. Jon Snow 4. John Humphrys 5. Jeremy Paxman Even amongst Conservative MPs alone, it is the BBC that dominates with ...
The 70th anniversary of the outbreak of WW2 continues continues to be marked by all manner of means. In our household this has been taken on a momentum of its own as our youngest daughter is starting out on her History GCSE course. We have read and watched numerous things about that period. Amongst them was the film with Kate Winslett about Bletchley Park and the cracking of the enigma code. One of our long standing ward members, who died last year, worked at Bletchley and so the whole episode has been of special interest. I was therefore interested in ...
Thu 10th
13:46
Why you still don't know what Party committees are up to (part 2) a brief, personal history of 'repo...
Curiously, the medium has been decidedly underused, given its relative simplicity. I blogged on events on the London Regional Executive from the point when I started 'Liberal Bureaucracy' in late 2005. I tended to be fairly cautious, as much because of my own innate sense of discretion, as a deep and abiding suspicion amongst many of my senior colleagues. The next year, I joined the English Candidates Committee, having been directly elected by English Council. Naturally, I covered events there, making sure that, where I was expressing an opinion, this was made abundantly clear. Otherwise, if discussions took place which ...
The introduction to the Guardian interview with Speech Debelle this morning runs:After a troubled childhood and years living in hostels, Speech Debelle came out on top - with the Mercury music prize. She always knew she could do itI wish Miss Debelle well, even though her music is probably not My Sort of Thing. But I can't help fearing that this sort of writing is a mark of the reach of Simon Cowell's influence on popular culture. Do you now need a sob story now to win the Mercury Prize as well as X Factor?
I love Stalin.
I attended a panel discussion organised by Editorial Intelligence yesterday evening where the topic was Quangos (Quasi autonomous non-governmental organisations) and what if anything we need to do about their proliferation. On the panel chaired by Martin Bright of The Spectator were Neil O'Brien from Policy Exchange, Peter Grant from the Cass Business School, Conservative MP Douglas Carswell (a renowned Quango reform advocate who I recently interviewed for this blog), Chief Constable Peter Neyroud the CEO of the National Policing Improvement Agency (a Quango) and Phillip Stephens Chief Political Commentator for the Financial Times. Here is a synopsis of what ...
Hello everyone, If you are attending LibDem Conference in Bournemouth Liberal Vision are hosting two events you won't want to miss: The first is on Sunday the 20th September in the Purbeck Suite of the Highcliff Marriott Hotel. Moats, Mortgages and Mayhem: the Expenses Scandal will take a look at the biggest political new story of the year. Our panel consists of Paul Staines (Guido Fawkes of order-order.com), Greg Dyke (former Director General of the BBC), Tessa Munt (PPC for Wells and a member of the Federal Executive) and Lord Teverson. Come join the debate. Our next event on Tuesday ...
Only STV can make MPs really accountable to voters on their expenses claims and local issues, or major decisions on war and peace, the environment and the economy – indeed all issues. Only STV offers voters a genuine choice of candidates from the same and different parties, which must be essential for anyone who believes in freedom, choice and freedom of choice. The current scandal of MPs' expenses and allowances has triggered a popular demand for reform and some people think that proportional representation (PR) should be an important part of a reform package. PR has many advantages; it would ...
I returned last night to Wolverhampton from a week in Portugal with some friends.
An unknown vandal has made their anger clear after an empty council house in the Oval's Ashmole Estate was daubed with slogans saying "Empty - why?"; "People can live here" and "Rats live here - why?" . While of course such vandalism is never acceptable, the anger at empty family sized homes is understandable. As local Lib Dem Councillors, we reported this empty house to the council 18 months ago and were told they could not afford the repair. Yet Labour's solution is to leave this house empty while spending tens of thousands of pounds on expensive outside consultants. Labour ...
I love this quote, a press release from Danny Alexander (Lib Dem) MP in response to Cameron's 'wide ranging constitutional reforms'! The Liberal Democrats have proposed not renewing Trident. David Cameron wants to increase the price of salads. While it's nice to finally have some concrete proposals from the Conservatives, at this rate it would take them several centuries to balance the books.
ArtsFest comes to the Jewellery Quarter this weekend, kicking off on Friday. FRIDAY - 5.00PM - STAN'S CAFé: GIANT STEPS A E Harris Factory Birmingham's internationally recognised theatre company, Stan's Café, present their new installation: do-it-yourself family theatre. FRIDAY - 8.00PM - DANCING BEAR MUSICAL SOCIETY CHORAL & OPERATIC CONCERT St. Paul's Church Featuring A Capella Birmingham Chamber Choir and members of Instant Opera.
This year's incarnation of ArtsFest is about to kick off, so I thought I'd spend some time going through the highlights, starting with Friday's performances across the city centre. FRIDAY - 1.15PM - CBSO PROMOTIONAL CONCERT Symphony Hall Lunchtime concert with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's electrifying music. FRIDAY - 4.30PM - BHANGRA WORLD RECORD WORKSHOP Centenary Square Dance Marquee Learn the dance steps for Saturday's World Record attempt. FRIDAY - 5.25PM - SAMBA SPECTACULAR Centenary Square Stage Featuring Someone @ the Door Samba Band & Bloco Louco FRIDAY - 7.00PM - THE FORTS OF KIMMY SUE ANNE... INNIT The ...
"Coal will remain the world's single most important source of electricity throughout the lifetimes of most of us here," I have just told The Coal Authority's annual conference in Manchester. The purpose of my speech was to provide an update on the latest state of play in Europe regarding the development of carbon capture and storage technology. The International Energy Agency predicts a huge increase in coal use over the next 20 years, and without CCS we have no hope of curtailing the emission of global warming gases. Within 3 months I expect the European Commission to announce that it ...
Following residents raising concerns with me about graffiti on the bridge over the rail line on the part of Riverside Drive north of the Riverside Inn (just south of the Botanic Garden), the City Engineer advises me : "Your constituents' complaint regarding the graffiti on Riverside Drive rail bridge was checked and has now been passed to the Council's Rapid Response Team to assess and deal with." I have also asked the City Engineer to consider a proper repainting and maintenance upgrade of the bridge. It has historical significance and it would be good to see it upgraded and fully ...
This is a very quick and easy recipe for an evening when you want something which is quick and tasty. I always have frozen spinach in the freezer to add to curries, as it it an easy way to bulk up the nutrients. Total time for a fresh supper is less than 30 minutes. 400 g ...
Whoever wins the next general election, they will have to make some tough choices about public spending. Will they dare look very close to home though? In late 1914 when Britain ruled much of the world and was fighting a world war, there were a total of 49 ministers. Gordon Brown's government currently has 119 ministers – an increase of 143%. Some of the growth is for reasons most people across most parties would support, such as the creation of the National Health Service resulting in the creation of some new roles. But those areas of 'consensus growth' are relatively ...
It's a real problem. You know when you change batteries that you need to recycle the old ones and that you mustn't put them in with the ordinary rubbish because they are hazardous - but there's nowhere convenient in Haringey to do the right thing! So my Liberal Democrat Haringey councillor colleague, Bob Hare (inveterate campaigner on all matters environmental) and I got together to illustrate our point. In a bid to make it easier for local residents to recycle their household batteries, we local Liberal Democrats have called on Haringey Council to increase the number of battery recycling points ...
A Haringey Labour councillor hasn't attended the local regeneration board that she is on for nearly two years. Obviously not all councillors can be at every meeting they should be at for reasons of clashes or other commitments - but for a local councillor not to attend a single meeting for nearly two years of such a vital local Board as FinFuture - which is all about improving the Finsbury Park area - is a dereliction of duty and shows exactly how little importance Labour attach to improving the Finsbury Park area. The local Liberal Democrat councillors say that Cllr ...
Today is the day of the Cheadle & Gatley by-election. Good luck to Iain Roberts and the team (I shall be part of it). Result in 2008: Con 2194 LD 2177 Lab 420 All the work's been done – we just need to get the vote out. If you can assist in any way call 0161 486 1045. More background ...
Just went you thought is was safe to reach for that biscuit, beware! Your choice of biscuit may have varying affects of your health. Mindlab have undertaken a risk assessment on 15 types of popular tea break biscuits and come up with some findings. Dr David Lewis of Mindlab explains: "We tested the physical properties of 15 popular types of biscuits. Along with aspects of their consumption such as 'dunkability' and crumb dispersal." I'm not sure which is worse the fact that Mindlab have come up with a Biscuit Injury Threat Evaluation or that the makers of Rocky commissioned the ...
Peter Black AM draws our attention to a very interesting suggestion from a correspondent to The Guardian yesterday regarding the BNP's appearance on BBC's Question Time: If the BBC is to invite the BNP on to Question Time, might I suggest that the other political parties all send non-white Britons to represent their point of view, to further emphasise how extreme is the BNP view of the country. Also, it is likely that the BNP would in turn "refuse to share a platform" with such people. Andy HunterHull Peter thinks this is well worth a try and I am inclined ...
It perhaps indicates the sort of film fans that I talk to that this was one of the most anticipated film events of the year: Sadly, as with real Hollywood films, anticipation from the trailer didn't live up to expectation and MS vs GO is just a bad film, not a 'so bad it's good' film. If you feel that your life isn't complete without watching a bad film featuring a giant prehistoric shark, then I'd recommend the much better (for values of 'better' that include forms of 'worse') Shark Attack 3. But I think Shark Attack 3, for all ...
Seeing the work going on at the new Bathgate and Armadale stations and the rest of the work going on to restore the Bathgate to Airdrie rail link is a wonderful sight. The news that a campaign is afoot to connect people in Grangemouth back to the rail network is additional welcome news. Rail lines still exist from Falkirk to Grangemouth to carry freight so less replacing of infrastructure may be required that the Bathgate to Airdrie scheme. Alex Macaulay, the director of SEStran has said that the issue of reinstating a station at Grangemouth would be considered as part ...
If there was one piece of news I enjoyed a lot in the past 24 hours it was the report by the Climate Change Committee that making special exemptions for the air travel sector is going to mean the sacrifices required elsewhere are going to be even greater. Does anyone seriously believe we can manage a ...
In his recent speech Jon Cruddas, the influential backbencher who was third in the contest for the deputy leadership position, put it simply when talking about the prospects for Labour in the General Election: "no compelling case for re-election". Now in West Lindsey, we already know this. We have no Labour councillors - they didn't even put up a candidate last time for West Lindsey and they
Conservative Home reports on a new book by Vernon Bogdanor in which he records that during the coalition discussions in Wales in 2007: 'There had been serious negotiations between the three non-Labour parties - Plaid Cymru, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats - with a view to forming a "rainbow" coalition. But these negotiations foundered, in part because the Conservatives would not countenance the introduction of proportional representation for local government elections. The Welsh Conservatives were, apparently, prepared to consider this proposal, and David Cameron, the Conservative leader at Westminster, was prepared to allow them to do so, but the ...
A letter in yesterday's Guardian offers an effective answer to the BBC's decision to invite Nick Griffin of the BNP onto Question Time: If the BBC is to invite the BNP on to Question Time, might I suggest that the other political parties all send non-white Britons to represent their point of view, to further emphasise how extreme is the BNP view of the country. Also, it is likely that the BNP would in turn "refuse to share a platform" with such people. Andy Hunter Hull Well worth a try in my view.
Yesterday's Western Mail reports that the Assembly Government is spending more than £15,000 a month on Blackberry handheld devices for ministers and staff. A total of 862 devices have been given to ministers, advisers and civil servants at a monthly rental cost of £15,696. A further 2,040 mobile phones are used by civil servants under an existing IT contract in place since 2004. No details are held centrally for expenditure on phone calls, ministers said. Conservative AM Darren Millar described the cost of funding hundreds of Blackberry devices as "staggering" and questioned why so many were needed for staff. The ...
The BBC report on a weekend to mark all things ginger, paid for by the local government in Breda, a city in the south east of the Netherlands. This is the fifth year this event has been held and it attracted 3,000 redheads and 7,000 non-ginger spectators: But the initiative is firmly with the redheads. And there is much common ground. Men and women sporting a spectrum of ginger, from strawberry blonde to rich ochre, swap stories of being picked on in the playground, discrimination in the wider world - a family in Newcastle claimed they were driven from their ...
So Derren Brown "predicted" all of the lottery numbers. It was certainly a good bit of TV but will we discover on Friday that it was just split-screen camera trickey? This video expresses my view on the matter... Update: Noticed my visitor stats go through the roof because of this post – thanks to everyone who's visited. If you enjoyed the video, please rate/comment/subscribe on YouTube or use one of the links below to share it more widely.
I have to agree with Nick Clegg in his interview regarding scrapping the VAT cut. Of all the policies, this has cost a lot but the public haven't really seen a difference. Last year when it was brought in, it cost retailers and business a large amount of money and has dropped the Exchequer's coffers to the tune of £28million per day. The money could have been better spent. If the economic
The BBC reports that Nick Clegg has renewed his call for the government's cut on VAT – from 17.5% to 15% – to be scrapped. He suggests instead thousands of new apprenticeships: In an interview with the BBC's Chris Brierley, he said youth unemployment should be the government's "top priority". He added: "We're proposing to give young people the hope that they can stay active, stay in study, stay in work, stay in training, rather than find themselves put on a course towards long-term unemployment. "This recession is, in my view, creating the real risk of a jobless generation and ...
No, seriously, they are! I have proof! I clicked "enlarge image" and I wanted to cry. In rather more cheering news, SJA is back soon. YAY! This blog is proudly sponsored by
I used to live in Great Harwood and my house backed onto a water treatment centre. It became a small housing estate while I lived there. I saw the houses being built and I saw trees come down that had preservation orders on them. It seemed that they were too close to the houses but the trees had been there a lot longer than the houses. I don't know if the builders suffered any reprimand for breaking this prevention order but I didn't hear about it. This week I spoke to someone whose house backs onto the land where Morecambe ...
2 Big Stories Tories announce curb in health spending increases As The Telegraph reports, Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said that the Tories would cut the rate at which NHS spending was increasing. The health service would have to "tighten its belt" and accept small increases in its budget, he added. Afghanistan Rescue Mission Debated Meanwhile, questions emerged overnight as to the British military intervention to rescue journalist Stephen Farrell: Military officials tonight defended the decision to launch a dramatic raid to rescue a British journalist from the Taliban, in which his Afghan assistant and a soldier were killed, ...
