I would very much agree with Mike Smithson's and Mark Littlewood's postings that the Party has been slow to admit that Afghanistan is unwinnable. Hounslow Liberal Democrats have submitted motions twice this year to Conference Committee calling for a managed withdrawal of all UK combat troops from Afghanistan. Now we have an Emergency Motion in for consideration asking Conference to call for a managed withdrawal by the end of 2010. The Russians found Afghanistan unconquerable. The US/UK/NATO are faring no better, nor is there any sign of so doing in the forseeable future. It is an unwinnable situation which we ...
Well done Mark Pack for highlighting an extraordinary series of facts about our cranky old electoral system. 29% of seats haven't changed hands since 1945. Half of the seats in England haven't changed hands since 1970. When you add this to the research by Mark Thompson (that showed that MPs in the safest seats were three times more likely to be involved in expenses scandals than those in the least safest seats) we are starting to get good solid evidence to support electoral reform.
Highly controversial Conservative London Assembly Member Brian Coleman is in the news again, though this time it's not for an outrageous expense claim or the like. The Barnet Standards Board has ruled that he broke the rulesfor sending an email that called the blogger Roger Tichbourne "an obsessive, poisonous individual". I'm not exactly over-joyed at the outcome. Yes, Brian Coleman has once again behaved stupidly. Yes, he deserves criticism. But should such matters really be up for standards boards to rule on? I don't think so. Let the actions of politicians be public and then let the voters or (if ...
I've done it. I have finally got some sort of clue about the health care debate in America. After months of looking foggy-eyed across the pond at the angry debates over labyrinthine health policies, I've cracked it. The heart of the debate is this - in the words of Barack Obama as delivered to a joint meeting of Congress this week: ...an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange. (Applause.) Now, let me be clear. Let me be clear. It would only be an option ...
We had been intending to take a week's holiday today, but had decided to put it off because of the impending auction next week, at which the memorial to Uncle Eric (see earlier posting) was to have been sold. To cut a long story short, we are advised by solicitors who know this area of the law extremely well, that I am the owner of the memorial as current head of the family, though somehow it got into the hands of the stonemasons Lloyd of Bedwyn. The solicitors have written to the auctioneers asking them to withdraw the stone aeroplane ...
My Allowances for 08/09 are as follows:Basic Allowance: £12,977.96SRA: £14,934.07Travel Expenses: £641.34Basic Allowance is received by every County Councillor.SRA, Special Responsibility Allowance is for my Cabinet position, Environment Portfolio.Travel Expenses, Excess travel, over and above my ward duties. I have given my position on the Council my full time commitment during this time, as I believe, having Cabinet responsibility deserves full attention, for further details see link below: http://www.conwy.gov.uk/doc.asp?cat=5219&doc=20111Full details of all Councillors allowances should be with each household in Conwy shortly via Conwy County Councils Magazine "The Bulletin", delivered via Royal Mail.
The latest initiative by the government to ensure that everyone who has anything to do with children, including those parents who give lifts to and from clubs is an astonishing amount of overkill and symbolic of this government's willingness to ignore common sense at all costs. Whilst we can all appreciate that criminal record checks (CRB checks) are important and necessary for those employed to work with children and those who run childrens' activities, it seems ludicrous to apply this to a further 11 million people. Clubs and voluntary groups find it hard enough to find volunteers and this move ...
That is the name of the project for which Stockton has been awarded several thousand pounds from a quango in order to try to involve more people in the Area Partnerships. At a meeting today I heard people getting very enthusiastic about the idea of encouraging more people to be involved by taking them round the area, showing them what's happened when money has been spent and how local people
There are reports in the Leicester Mercury and the Harborough Mail. The full result was as follows: Colin Davies (Lib Dem) 600 (54.8%, +7.2) Barry Champion (Con) 373 (34.1%, +5.4) Geoffrey Dickens (BNP) 122 (11.1%, +11.1). Swing of 0.9% from Con to LD since 2007. Thanks to Luke Akehurst, the only source I can find that gives the swing. Not the absence of a Labour candidate. It's a good things the Tories and Lib Dems didn't decide to give the BNP a free run too, isn't it? I was pleased to see Colin Davies win, not least because I knew ...
First have announced changes to some of the local bus services with effect from 27 September. Timetables for the X42 and 342 services have been adjusted to reduce some journey times, notably in the late evening when journeys have been decreased by just under ten minutes (end to end). First's website says that on "Service X27 the timetable has been altered slightly to improve punctuality and reliability" - the only change we can see is that they have altered an ingoing stop in Bristol, so the X27 will now drop off at The Haymarket (Stop Rg) instead of Bond Street ...
The West of England Partnership, made up of the four unitary authorities covering the old Avon area, is currently developing a plan setting out where waste facilities should be sited. Earlier in the year, we expressed concern that no specific site was stated for Yate, making it hard for local people to comment. They have now published a document that identifies a "Strategic Area" within Yate and they would like your views on it by 1st October. They are considering the trading estates on the eastern fringe of Yate. The Partnership contact details can be found here.
The fifth year of South Gloucestershire's "Taste" local food and drink festival runs from Saturday 12 September to Sunday 11 October. Events include the chance to visit Shipton Flour Mill, a tour of Thornbury Castle and vineyard and a butter making demonstration. For more information visit the South Gloucestershire Local Food website. While we're on the subject of food, today sees the launch of the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, which aims to get all of us to waste less food. A food waste diary competition is being run, more details on the South Glos website.
As the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall approaches, the bookshops are filling up with commemorative and interpretative volumes. One of the most welcome is Peter Millar's 1989 The Berlin Wall: My Part in Its Downfall (Arcadia Books, 11 pounds 99), which will be launched at the Frontline Club in London on ...
This year's Heritage Open Days run until Sunday 13th September. They include a chance to go on a guided tour of the remains of Ram Hill Colliery near Coalpit Heath on the Sunday. The information leaflet is available to download from the South Glos website. Coal mining buffs might also like to attend the free Open Day at Oldwood Pit between Yate and Rangeworth. There will be guided tours approximately every half an hour 2-6pm on Saturday and 11-5pm on Sunday, so it will be possible to visit both Ram Hill and Oldwood this weekend. More information can be found ...
Over the road at the politicalbetting.com blog, Mike Smithson discusses the electoral rewards and consequences that could subsequently come our way if the LibDem leadership were to propose a full withdrawal from Afghanistan at conference next week. One of the reasons I am proud to be a member of the Liberal Democrats is the party's strong opposition to the Iraq invasion and following occupation in 2003. That was a great, pivotal event in the party's history, and while I understand that in these uncertain political waters people are hunting for another that would re-energise our position as the anti-establishment party, ...
IdeasForTheKids reports: The centre of Market Harborough in Leicestershire will be packed with a wide variety of colourful and lively street entertainers and street on Sunday 13th September from mid-day. From a troop of giant druming (sic.) ants, acrobatic roadworkers, Australia's Slinkie Love theatre company, Gordon the Cycling Panda and much much more, there will be fun all afternoon. The video comes from the Arts Fresco site. All this and the reopening of the Harborough Museum next weekend too. Life here is just so much fun.
News from back home is that Alliance Euro Candidate and North Down* Councillor has joined the Conservatives (not quite merged with the Ulster Unionists yet). I'd been following the news on the Northern Irish blogs when I could during the day, held out a little hope when one story pointed to substantial inaccuracies in a report in the Mirror that he had defected to the Ulster Unionists. Something he refuted on his blog. The only inaccuracy appears to be that it's not the UUs he has joined but their soon to be bride Cameron's Tories. The move comes with speculation ...
The letter's page of the Scotsman today has two excellent contributions to the compulsory purchase order debate in Balmedie and Donald Trump's desire to use them. First up we have this from William W Scott of North Berwick, East Lothian. Compulsory purchase orders are needed to ensure projects for the public good, such as roads and railways, can be completed. I am sure when the enabling bill went through parliament it was never intended that it would be used to further the commercial interests of individuals such as Donald Trump. A point I made back in July when I wrote ...
Welcome to a new LDV feature, one of those ventures which we all may learn to love, or might die a dismal death – Reader, You Decide. The format's simple: five categories, each with five links. Feeling daring? Then read on ... 5 most-read stories on LDV this week 1. Gavin Webb quits Lib Dems, joins Libertarian Party (113) by Stephen Tall 2. 29% of seats have not changed hands since 1945 (11) by Mark Pack 3. Video: Don't let the Tories airbrush history (6) by The Voice 4. Save general election night! (12) by Mark Pack 5. Saving general ...
I got home at 11.30pm from the South of the Borough Neighbourhood meeting on Wednesday evening. It had been a very full agenda with 10 planning applications to consider. I was wondering whether the large number of planning applications was an indicator of the end of the recession - but when I looked more carefully I realised that I had asked for at least five of them to be placed on the agenda myself! Normally, 90% of planning applications are decided by planning officers. Most of these are simple home extensions and the Council tries to reduce the bureaucracy on ...
Posted by Chris: Former Leeds United defender, Peter Swan, has told the Yorkshire Post that the reason young players are being poached by other clubs is because the standard of coaching has declined at the Leeds Academy. This seems hard to believe when you look at the likes of Fabian Delph, Ben Parker, Jonathan Howson and Aidan White but Leeds have declined to comment and this sets alarm bells ringing. The most damning allegation concerns Swan's son George (14), who was recently lured away by Manchester City, along with another promising youngster, Louis Hutton, also 14. "Already, he is benefiting ...
Bracknell Conservatives are holding a open primary on Saturday 17th October to attend you will need to call 01344 868894 to book a place or email bracknellca@tory.org. This is to replace our current MP Andrew Mackay who is standing down after the 2nd homes scandal (see here). Please remember that Bracknell consistency will from the next election now include Martin's Heron, The Warren and Forest Park and now out of Bracknell but under Windsor are Warfield Harvest Ride and Binfield and Warfield. At the time of writing no venue had been decided but I understand that the candidates will be ...
I remember the first time the responsibilities of parenthood knocked me for six. It was when the midwife came to my house for a late pregnancy check and to get me to do my birth plan. The poor woman was subjected to the 2 pages of typed A4 that I had already produced. She then asked me if I wanted the baby to be given Vitamin K as I intended to breastfeed, to prevent haemorrhagic disease of the newborn, and if so, did I want it given by injection or orally. Now, I'd been very careful about what I ate ...
Latest information that I have thanks to Cllr Gail Engert, LibDem Children's Services Spokesperson on Haringey is about CRB checks. It would seem that the foster couple were relatively long term foster parents and had something like twelve placements from Haringey previously. They are CRB checked (advanced) as is the elderly father of one of them who lives in the same house - and he has been CRB checked (advanced). They have four daughters - three of whom have been CRB checked (advanced) but the youngest is only eleven - and they don't apparently CRB check at that age. They ...
The new Independent Safeguarding Authority marks another stage in the Labour Party's attempts to fracture our society into one where individuals fear each other. That we have come to such a point where ferrying the local kids, one or more of whom might be yours, to their Scout meeting requires you to apply for Government 'approval' is, to be blunt, yet another nail in the coffin of community. It appears that we are, as Mark Thompson puts it, dangerous until proven safe. Now pardon me, but isn't it a basic tenet of English law that we are innocent until proven ...
ArtsFest continues its weekend in the Jewellery Quarter, combining with Heritage Open Day Weekend events. The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter is open for tours, you can see work from Birmingham's contemporary artists at the RBSA Open Exhibition, visit The Pen Room, or have a wander around St Paul's Church and enjoy a BBQ!. Plus don't miss the latest work from Stan's Cafe at the A.E. Harris factory - "Giant Steps". SATURDAY - 11.00AM - GUIDED CEMETERY WALK Key Hill Cemetery Looking at those buried in the cemetery from Birmingham's past including the Bird family, Joseph Chamberlain and Robert Lucas ...
ArtsFest continues on Saturday with a fascinating world record attempt at forming the biggest bhangra dance group! You must register between 8am and 1pm in the Centenary Square dance marquee, with the main event taking place at 1.30pm. Other highlights include... SATURDAY - 11.00AM - BIRMINGHAM LIBRARIES The Library Theatre Birmingham's Young Poet Laureate event. SATURDAY - 11.00AM - BIRMINGHAM PHOTOSPACE pARTicipate Marquee 2, Victoria Square Have your portrait taken professionally. Professional photographers guided by the public will take as many portraits as possible of visitors to ArtsFest. SATURDAY - 2.20PM - THE PLAY HOUSE Birmingham REP - REP Door ...
[IMG: 070416-A-0000L-002] Over at politicalbetting.com, Mike Smithson ponders whether Nick Clegg might be close to calling for a withdrawal from Afghanistan. And suggests it could be an "Iraq" moment for the party. Unlike Nick, who believes we aren't "yet" at the point where we have to accept we can't do the job in Afghanistan properly, I think we passed that point many moons ago. We shouldn't set our foreign policy according to naked electoral calculations, but it's worth noting that Conservative voters are even more opposed to our continuing deployment in Afghanistan than Liberal Democrats. If we won over a ...
In April 2009 I wrote to Jonathan Porrit (Forum for the Future) and Paul King (UK Green Building Council) who are both advisors/ members to the Igloo Socially Responsible Investment Committee regarding concerns an ISIS project in Brentford. Igloo are major investors in ISIS and are in part owned by The Environment Agency Pension Fund. The original scheme proposed by ISIS (illustrated on the Igloo website), to which there was significant local opposition, was refused planning permission and then turned down at appeal by the planning inspector. However my view - and that of many others in the local community ...
I don't know where Andrew Gilligan got the information from about the fact that Haringey had placed a child to be fostered with the family where Abdulla Achmed Ali was living - but he must have phenomenal sources. Not a peep, not a dicky-bird had been said by the Council about this latest incident. At this point whilst we are asking the questions that need to be asked of Haringey - we don't know how badly or otherwise Haringey has performed in its duties to safeguard children it places in foster care - but unfortunately with Haringey's track record we ...
Before we start, a word about bankers' bonuses. With the head of the Financial Services Watchdog, Mr Airhead Turner, placing bankers on a scale between Socially Awkward and Totally Useless, people have been coming up with plans to curb excessive bonuses. Mr Airhead himself floated the idea of a transaction tax or Tobin tax, where you charge the bankers for passing money across the border. Captain Clegg and the Liberal Democrats don't think this would work, because the bankers would just pass their money over everyone's border but ours! We'd rather see bonuses cut down to size by cutting the ...
My letter to Barroso last week may have had some impact. On Tuesday the Commission decided to support the move to have bluefin tuna included in Annex 1 of CITES (the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species), which would ban all trade in the fish until stocks have recovered. This position needs to be approved by the Council of Ministers, which brings together ministers from each of the 27 member states; it already has the support of MEPs. Japan has lobbied against it (though the new Liberal government in Japan may change this position); Spain and Italy prefer ...
Yesterday, the City Council launched an initiative to further improve attendance in Dundee´s schools. You can read more about this from the "Evening Telegraph", including my own comments welcoming the initiative - by clicking on the headline above. The new initiative has to be reviewed after a period of time to ensure it is actually achieving what it set out to do, but I do welcome the Education Department´s proactivity in ensuring that attendance at the city´s schools is maximised.
Alan Turing Gordon Brown has apologised for the "appalling" treatment of Alan Turing. I am happy as a result. Turing was a genius. He helped us win the Second World War thanks to his invention – the first modern-day computer that cracked the coded messages the Germans were sending. The modern-day computer is probably the most important invention ...
The Wire finished its run on the BBC last night, and proved itself to be every bit as good as the hype that had surrounded it. Rather than delivering yet another encomium as to how good it is, I shall attempt an original comment regarding it instead. (Well, one that a brief Googling doesn't seem to reveal having been made before) I've noted some similarities between The Wire and some of the versions of Batman – Miller's Year One springs most to mind, but there are no doubt others – in that both depict cities that appear to be fundamentally ...
I've just been appointed as the Vice Chair of the new Elections Review Panel, which had its first meeting this morning. The panel is considering two key issues - the first is the finalisation of the boundaries for council wards and the second is to consider what went wrong with the conduct of the elections in June. Some may say that the boundaries should have been finalised before the election - and I would agree! But the short notice of the June poll meant that they had to be conducted on draft recommendations and so there are still some matters ...
Ieuan Wyn Jones's speech to his party's conference will be starting any minute now. Freedom Central will be bringing the highlights and lowlights to you, together with our own unique – and hopefully humourous – analysis. 14:15 – Dafydd Elis Thomas looking forward to the speech. He wants Plaid to be the 'European party'. Hilarious. DET says it's important that parties don't make promises that they can't deliver. Genius. I'll put a link to the One Wales agreement here in a minute. Here you go. 14:19 – Elin Jones providing the warm-up entertainment. 14:20 – Bloody hell this is dull. ...
Somebody once said that pop will eat itself, and I fear that this is true of blogging. In truth, that element of the leadership, national or regional, that is even aware of the blogosphere think of us as self-indulgent, irresponsible and with a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. I exclude the many councillors amongst us, most of whom are reaching out to their electorate first and the Lib Dem blogosphere second. However, most of the rest of us aren't actually responsible for that much, and claim the freedom to comment as we please. And I have to ...
Please note that until further notice, these briefings will be issued on a fortnightly basis.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
First Great Western is putting an extra carriage on an overcrowded morning service from Yate via Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads. From December there will be three carriages on a re-timed train at 8.16 am, instead of just two carriages at 8.09 am. This follows a campaign by the Friends of Yate Station and Steve Webb MP, who took a senior First GW manager on the train to show how overcrowded it was. This still leaves an overcrowding problem in the evening service back from Temple Meads. Steve Webb described the changes as just a ...
Haringey Labour Council hit the headlines again today - courtesy of investigative journalist Andrew Gilligan of the Standard. Haringey place a foster child in the family where - now convicted terrorist Abdulla Ahmed Ali of the liquid bomb plot to down seven planes lived! It beggars belief. Haringey seems to lurch from crisis to crisis - all generally of their own making. The child was fostered and Abdulla was living there - and apparently reading terrorist tomes which you might think would be a give away. Of Course the secret services weren't going to tell Haringey about their surveillance of ...
Last week I paid tribute to a very special friend: David Smith, at a moving Humanist service. David who died suddenly, was a founding member of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality(CHE), a passionate human rights campaigner all his life, who hated all forms of injustice and inequality. I've known David for much of my adult life, and met him when I was a teenager after I went to work in my first job while still at college as a library assistant in Finsbury Library in Islington. David was and still is a legendary figure in Islington Libraries, very much in ...
Well done to the English Men this week for qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and to the English Women for being the runners-up in the European Championship to Germany.
Save Election Night! Jonathan Isaby (Conservative Home) started this campaign against the rising threat of the count for elections starting the day after rather than on the night. Politicians from all parties have joined him to Save Election Night! I've joined the campaign! No - it's not just the excitement of the night nor is it about which day would be a better voting day - it's because we will be betwixt and between. If we want to count the day after an election then we need a change to the constitution. In America - there is no ultimate urgency ...
Over on Lib Dem Voice, Ed Fordham has penned a piece about a new award the party has set up to celebrate campaigning achievements and commemorate the wonderful, thoughtful and incredibly talented Neil Trafford who was killed in a car crash last year. Neil may have been the Campaigns Officer for the North West of England but he was held dear by many people here in Wales too. This is a brilliant way to remember him. So if you know a campaigner who should receive the award or are able to help contribute in any way, I've entirely ripped off ...
Campaigning is an all year round slog and most intensive for the staff and full-time campaigners who do this every day, every week. In that context many of you will have fond memories of Cllr Neil Trafford, Federal Campaigns Officer for the north west of England. Neil tragically died in an accident last year, but a group of us have used that sad occasion to institute a new award within the party. This award will be for the outstanding member of campaigns staff – be they employed by a Local Party, constituency, MP, MSP, AM, MEP or indeed the federal ...
Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones is a fascinating character. He's clearly a very able marketing man, being the driving force behind Kettle Chips, Loyd Grossman's sauces and, of course, Black Farmer sausages. The latter is a fascinating case study. A black man who bemoans people playing the "race card" yet who has carefully crafted a brand out of his ethnicity. He isn't, by his own admission, actually a farmer (he prefers the euphemism "gentleman farmer") and it appears doesn't even breed the pigs for his products on his estate. Nothing especially wrong with that per se, but it does make him an unlikely ...
I am officially fuming. Raging. Only, not even the same level of fuming that I was when Plaid Cymru stabbed students in the back with a bit of a smirk. No, I am in a cold rage, because the Labour Party has suggested something which will probably prevent me and hundreds of people from doing something I love almost more than the Liberal Democrats. I don't know how I've been sleepwalking into this. A while back I blogged about the ridiculous numbers of CRB checks. That was bad enough. Now I'm hearing about the Independent Safeguarding Authority, to prevent "unsuitable" ...
Friday: This is one of those things that Hard Labour do to make themselves TOTALLY UNELECTABLE. If you want to help out with kids, you've now got to get a police certificate to prove that you are not a kiddie fiddler. "We're NOT presuming everybody to be GUILTY," insisted Minister for Child-minding Dilly Moron. "We merely require them to PROVE that they are INNOCENT," she very nearly added. Yes, for a small fee (and why not a DNA swab; you KNOW they want to) every adult can now receive the comforting proof that they are not a slathering beastie. Probably. ...
Right, first, install CCTV in every single home, office and street in the UK. How would you monitor all these CCTV feeds though? How could you be sure the children are safe? Here's where the plan is genius: What we need is to vet everyone, and mark those who pass the test - wholesome lifestyle, no unusual sexual practices, no 'dodgy mates', no history of once, twenty years ago, puffing on a joint, no smoking, no over-eating, never been fired from a job, never been arrested or cautioned for anything - as "Trusted Workers." "Trusted Workers" will be entitled to ...
This weekend is ArtsFest - Birmingham's free arts festival. The blurb promises that it will fill the city centre with nearly 600 different events and performances - "From ballet to bhangra, dub poetry to indie rock, comedy to classical music and everything in between, there is sure to be something for everyone to enjoy."You can view the programme (by venue) on the official website. You can also
There is an interesting rumour developing in typical New Labour fashion [see how the media reports it before actually doing anything] that the government is considering an election day referendum on reform of the voting system. What an opportunity for us. If this does go ahead, LDs can quite reasonably campaign hard on the basis that we have been saying that the current voting system is laughable anywhere other than the local bowls club as hordes of people simply waste their vote. Also, the current system entrenches discrimination since it assumes that the good people of Northern Ireland are somehow ...
The Lib Dem campaign for a 20mph limit to tackle excessive speeding across King's Cross and Bloomsbury has won the backing of over 200 people in its first week. The Lib Dems have welcomed the fact that money will be spent on improving the Marchmont Street/Tavistock Place dangerous junction, but want pedestrians to feel safe on ...
As I have mentioned before there will be a Liberal Youth Action weekend in Bradford on the 10th of October. The Lib Dems have now selected our candidate. It is Cllr Dave Hodgson who was a member of the cabinet of the previous elected mayor. If you get the chance to, please come along and help. We need to show that when Lib Dems are in power in local government they do make a genuine difference. Elected mayors hold a huge amount of power and we have to fight hard to make sure we don't end up with another 'Doncaster'. ...
The latest Government scheme to get those who regularly drive children for sports and social clubs will have to undergo criminal record checks or face fines of up to £5000, may well encapture 25% of adults. This is so clearly another attempt at Big Brother by stealth. 11.3m innocent people are going to have to voluntarily submit to a police check. As Mark reckons is this a case of we are all dangerous until we are proven safe. What has happened to innocent until proven guilty? Or the principle of ei incumbit porbatio qui dicit, non qui negat*, not of ...
I happened to be watching Obama's healthcare reform speech to Congress (available on YouTube)... and counted not one, but two adverts for private health companies on the same page. It made me chuckle, and I thought I should share it with the world. (I apologise for the scruffy layout of this page – you will need to scroll to the right to see the other advert.) EDIT: amended now so you don't. [IMG: obama] No related posts.
In a chilling move, the Government has announced that it wants to ban the former bosses of MG Rover from ever running businesses again. The bosses, it's reported, walked away from Rover with £42 of bonuses and pensions (presumably as part of the deal to sell it). However you feel about the morality of claiming this money from a failing business, banning them from business for it? They've committed no crime here and they've not been declared bankrupt. What possible legal grounds would the Government have? Presumably none - the announcement is their way of getting some populist crap into ...
A few months ago there was quite a controversy in Parliament over attempts to allow MPs to keep their home addresses secret at election time. A large part of the controversy stemmed from the unsatisfactory way part of the debate was handled in Parliament – which fuelled suspicion about some MPs wanting to keep their addresses secret in order to make it harder for people to work out whether they were exploiting rules over Parliamentary expenses. Anyway, after debate back and forth the law was changed and the new rules are now in force, courtesy of the Political Parties and ...
If the campaign to replace Rhodri Morgan as Welsh Labour Leader and First Minister has not yet officially started then it is doing a good impression of having done so. Real Labour contender, Huw Lewis has spent a considerable amount of time over the last year building up support and credibility to the extent where he is now being quoted as second favourite by Ladbrokes at 11/4. Huw is staging a Wales 20:20 event today entitled 'The Future of the Left' in which the star speaker is Jon Cruddas MP. The Western Mail rightly interprets this as a heavyweight endorsement ...
[IMG: http://photographyofgrace.com] Many of us will have woken up this morning to find that parents who regularly drive children for sports or social clubs , and those that host foreign students, will have to undergo criminal record checks or face fines of up to £5,000 if they dont. The rules are intended to stop paedophiles from coming into contact with children. Informal arrangements between parents will not be covered, but "anyone taking part in activities involving "frequent" or "intensive" contact with children or vulnerable adults three times in a month, every month, or once overnight, must register". And here's the ...
Plaid Cymru Leader, Ieuan Wyn Jones is absolutely right when he alleges that Gordon Brown has failed Wales on the issue of devolution, however there are wider issues to take account of as well. In particular I am struggling with the idea that the Prime Minister would be able to actally 'sort out his MPs over powers for the Assembly and making sure the [transfer of powers] system worked properly' even if he really wanted to. Sometimes leaders just have to put the impossible to one side and try to achieve what they can do. For the one feature of ...
The report has now been released. It confirms a number of things. It confirms the substantial sums of money which in my view should not have been removed from the group whilst it was being managed by the directors although it makes it clear that one of the directors was uncomfortable about this.It also confirms that the community were squeezed out of the bid which initially involved more than 4
Looks like the monomaniacs from the Campaign for an English Parliament have decided to have a go at Bob Russell for reasons that, as usual for them, don't seem to make sense to people outside the English nationalist bubble. Yes, they're still wedded to the idea that any attempt to devolve power to something that's not an English Parliament is wrong, and recognising that Cumbria, Kent, Cornwall and Lincolnshire might have different priorities is somehow anti-English. Of course, a Parliament that represents 60m people with almost 90% of its members representing England is unrepresentative, yet somehow one representing 50m people ...
Cardiff Central MP, Jenny Willott has offered her support to Sir Alec Jeffreys, the founder of DNA fingerprinting, in his call for innocents to be removed from the National DNA Database. She said: "The credibility and legitimacy of the Government's policy to retain innocent people's DNA is in tatters. "Around 25,000 innocent people in Wales have been added to the DNA database under this government, including over 2,500 since the practice was ruled a breach of human rights in December last year. "Retaining the DNA of innocent people has now been rejected by leading scientists, the European Court of Human ...
Just as I was being relatively conciliatory, by my standards, towards Labour along comes yet another absolutely despicable piece of legislation akin to a witch-hunt, all done in the name of the "childruuun" (the Miniluv spokesperson on the Today programme cited the Soham murders which happened seven years ago as an excuse). Yet more unnecessary State interference, brought forth by sticking to its tabloid agenda; it's almost as if certain elements in power want us all to register so that we can be seen to be clear of thoughtcrime. It is high time that teachers, doctors, dentists, police and prison ...
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has just published a report saying the way to combat recession is to up the number of university places. I disagree. The problem is that while we have a culture where there's a course for everyone, we have a degree for everyone - smart or stupid, talented or talentless. This has led to a system where only two grades matter - First or Fail. A First sets you out from the majority of candidates for employment, who leave with 2:1s, 2:2s or thirds; a fail means you're back to square one. Anything ...
So, what to make of Pizza Express restaurant number 3? Basics first: it is more Langham Place than Charlotte Street in having echoing furnishings that make it fairly noisy (Ed: are you just getting old?) and it's relatively short on natural day light; it's got the worst toilets I've been to in a Pizza Express; but the staff were good and friendly. They were even quick when it came to paying - a point at which fast service often oddly slows down at other Pizza Expresses. It's got quite a fun split level layout with multiple entrances, which means that ...
The latest government proposals requiring all adults who regularly drive children to sports or social clubs to undergo criminal record checks come as no surprise. It is part and parcel of the sort of measures this government keeps bringing in. What are they actually trying to achieve here though? Presumably they think that their plans will make children safer. However as usual there will be unintended consequences from this new law. I will have a quick stab at some of the things that will flow from this: 1) Some (perhaps many) adults will be highly insulted to have to go ...
2 big stories Criminal record checks for parents who ferry children From the Guardian: Parents who regularly ferry groups of children on behalf of sports or social clubs such as the Scouts will have to undergo criminal record checks — or face fines of up to £5,000, it was disclosed today. They will fall under the scope of the government's new vetting and barring scheme, which is aimed at stopping paedophiles getting access to children. Failure to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority, the Home Office agency that administers the scheme, could lead to criminal prosecution and a court fine. ...
Florida ruling bans Google Ads from elections. Could same happen here? http://bit.ly/13cqpY # @CharlotteGore @sshrpe Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments? in reply to CharlotteGore # @antonhowes Most kind! in reply to antonhowes # And the moral of the story is, er..., getting drunk in a pub produces some of the best advertising work http://bit.ly/4wdUxG # RT @DigitalPublic: Reboot for UK's 'oldest' computer: http://bit.ly/1XSFyQ # RT @AndrexOnTheGo: 1739 - Men & women offered separate toilets for the first time http://ow.ly/nJjT < Vital toilet facts from a client # Liberal Conspiracy » Tories: ConservativeHome too right-wing for us http://bit.ly/95MSR < Agree about ...
Last month I blogged about the Youth Justice Board paying £1m over three years to one IT manager, employed as a consultant. They have now decided to end this arrangement and instead employ a normal member of staff, at much lower cost: An IT consultant who cost the Youth Justice Board (YJB) £336,000 last year is to be replaced by a permanent employee on a regular pay grade, CYP Now can reveal. The move, which could save the YJB more than £200,000 a year, comes on the back of concerns raised over the high cost of employing chief information officer ...
The internet is filled with comment these days. but one of my favourite columnists is still Martin Kettle of the Guardian. And today, he wonders whether the Lib Dems should be doing better... His point is simple. We have been right on a range of issues: "the economy, Europe, ID cards, Iraq and localism... climate change, ...
Last night the Prime Minister responded to the 30,805 signatures (as of yesterday) on a Downing Street petition by giving an unequivocal apology to World War II codebreaker Alan Turing. In 1952 the man who had played an important part in winning the war by cracking the German Enigma machines was convicted for gross indecency for having sexual relations with another man. He was given chemical castration as a 'treatment', which last night Gordon Brown called "horrifying" and "utterly unfair", and had his security privileges withdrawn causing him to lose his job at CGHQ. In 1954, a destroyed man, he ...
I lost a good friend yesterday and the world lost a true gentleman. After surviving a terrible stroke and 8 weeks in Hillingdon Hospital Tony eventually slipped away at the Nursing home off Charville Lane West. He wasn't happy there. He desperately wanted to go home to Ruislip where he had lived for 40 years but his medical needs were just too great. Tony is simply irreplaceable though he would never have admitted that. It was an honour to have known him. At last he will be with his beloved Brenda whose ashes he used to keep to prop open ...
In what can only be considered an iconic election where everything was at stake for both the Lib Dems and the Conservatives in terms of both the ward itself and more particularly the Cheadle Constituency (Patsy Calton's old constituency with the famous `33` vote victory) the Lib Dems smashed expectations. At the last election the Conservatives ...
Back in 2004 Terry's of York's factory in York was closed by its American owners Kraft. No longer do you get your Chocolate Orange from York but it comes from cheaper factories on the continent. This is one example of how the world is getting smaller it's also an example of globalisation. This week Cadbury turned down an offer of £10.2 bn from Kraft, but with this sort of offer I wouldn't be surprised if Cadbury were sold in the near future. Companies are sold when their shareholders say it is time to sell. In a free market sales are ...
The Thompson and Morgan seed catalogue came today. I want lots of things from it. I'm already growing some of these, but I also want this and this and this and this and (of course) this... And a big enough garden to plant them all in. And a shed. Dammit. It sucks being poor. Still, at least Alan Turing has his posthumous apology. That cheers me up a bit. It means my electronic signature wasn't wasted. This blog is proudly sponsored by
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