More material for Libdemologists, from the Telegraph: The Lib Dem leader said that members of the Labour Party had approached his party looking for help in preventing the Tories taking power after the next election... Mr Clegg, whose party begins its annual conference on Saturday in Bournemouth, said he will not take part in any alliance with Labour. Read the full story here
I'm afraid it's a few days off the Blaydon campaign trail as I go to Bournemouth for the annual Liberal Democrat conference. The country is facing up to hard times, a record budget deficit and there is a need for honesty about how to move the country forward whilst preserving essential public services. An important time and I believe the Lib Dems have a lot to contribute to the national debate. I will be putting forward the case for Blaydon and the North East and will try to endeavour to keep people updated.
A Greenpeace investigation into the full costs of replacing Trident reveals that successive Tory and Labour governments have consistently under-estimated the final bill. The government's figures for replacing Trident in the 2006 Defence White Paper, ...
The Israeli government has blown a giant raspberry at the UN report into the hostilities in and around Gaza earlier this year, in which an estimated 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died. The 575-page document was put together by a small team headed by the eminent South African judge Richard Goldstone. The Israeli authorities refused ...
Well now, inspired by Jennie, I thought I'd post my (insanely ambitious, probably to be completely abandoned when I get there) conference schedule for all your delectation. Hopefully you can see my Google Calendar above this line. You'll (obviously) need to look at the dates of conference to see what I'm on about. Anyway, see any of you who are at any of those there.
I have dropped one baby off at my mum's, and two (somewhat hairier) babies off at my brothers, and been through loads of roadworks and many rubbish drivers, and am now ensconced in the hotel. Room is lovely, bath is deep, I feel human again now I have had a bath, and the one fly in the ointment is that I can only get wifi in the hotel lobby, because they only have it at reception due to there not being much demand given that the average age of their guests is 70. So I am listening to someone murdering ...
If, like me, you will not be in Bournemouth for the Lib Dem Conference, do not despair. You can find all the news on the party website.
It's little wonder Eric Pickles is trying to persuade Liberal Democrats to vote for him; we've been winning council seats off the Conservatives in his constituency and he's obviously rattled. The Tory Chairman says liberal democracy is "part of the Conservative family", but I'm certain I'm no part of his family. His flawed view of history is matched only by his arrogance in assuming that he's got the General Election in the bag and can now order people to vote for him. Let's remember, the Conservatives are the party that opposed social welfare in 1909 and the creation of the ...
It's some time since we had a story from the Shropshire Star, so let's enjoy a little pop history: They were hurtling towards number one in the pop charts and starting to generate the kind of hysteria that would make young girls and boys scream like jet planes. It was at this moment that Tenbury Wells woman Pat Lambert sat down for supper with The Beatles. The date was April 15, 1963, the day the Fab Four came to Tenbury and, as one of a group of friends who booked the band to play, town hairdresser Pat was one of ...
Read today about a defection to the Tories by a councillor called James Keely, who I've genuinely never heard of. These things happen. What made me laugh out loud was the news that Party Chairman, Eric Pickles made a major speech today calling on Lib Dem voters to join the Tories as "Britain's main progressive party today" Progressive! To put this in context, over the last few months, I have been talking to a number of female Conservative councillors around the UK. Some are feeling very fed up and marginalised. One in particular, who is extremely talented, and hardworking, has ...
One consequence of my Digital Camera Diet is that I have been rapidly filling the free space Photobucket provides. It became clear that I was going to have to upgrade my account to Pro. When I came to do it I found that if I joined Love Film I could do so for free. As I was already planning to do just that, it was a bonus. My first two films have arrived - two films that have cropped up on this blog but I have never seen : Girl in the Headlines and Satan's Harvest. Oddly, there appears to ...
Normally I do not post his lordship's diary until Liberator has been mailed to subscribers. As most subscribers will be collecting their copy from the magazine's stall at Bournemouth I shall be posting his latest thoughts over this weekend. Monday This summer has been dominated by talk of "swine flu". The wireless news reports have come thick and, indeed, fast: a woman in Biggleswade has a sore throat; a schoolgirl in Kendal is feeling a bit under the weather; a man in Dingwall has stayed in bed and not gone to work, but hopes to get up later because there ...
Ah, the perils of blogging. A little while back I blogged about the Government's failure to use its existing legal powers to clarify how imprint rules for election leaflets apply to online campaigning, such as emails or YouTube videos. Got a bit of traffic, a few comments and an MP (Lynne Featherstone) decided to put in a written question in Parliament. And that was that. But then... an eagled-eyed BBC reporter spotted my post and decided there was a story in it. Cue two stories today on the BBC website: With a general election on the horizon, there are concerns ...
Drama and political passion over at the Jewish Chronicle, where Nick Clegg vows to Martin Bright that he will not silence controverial Lib Dem peer Baroness (Jenny) Tonge, whose outspoken comments on the Israeli-Palestine conflict have in the past landed her in hot water. Nick Clegg is angry. No, it's beyond angry. Incandescent almost gets it, but that still doesn't capture the full fury of the man as he leans forward from his chair in the Liberal Democrat leader's office in the House of Commons. The accusation that Mr Clegg had failed to honour his commitment to act against the ...
Woodcote Green Garden Centre & Nurseries Tour One of the bonuses of being a councillor is that I get invited to interesting events like this tour of a local garden centre & nurseries to celebrate its 50th anniversary. I got to join my colleague Richard Bailey & his wife Susan along with the Mayor of Sutton, Margaret ...
Copies of Graham Rinaldi's biography of Will Hay have been sent to the two lucky winners. In the comments on that post, Chris Black asked another question: Where was Will Hay's spot. In the absence of any guesses, I shall now reveal the answer: Will Hay's spot was (and is) on Saturn. Hay, you see, was a keen amateur astronomer. There now follows an obvious comic payoff: Well, it's better than having a spot on Uranus!
I get really disheartened sometimes, with the media. We have the start of the Lib Dem Conference, and who is top of the media story? Cameron talking about finance. It is actually maybe time to start talking to the Lib Dems? Just a thought, but I'm sure we're around a lot of journalists at the moment and could be talking about the economy. It annoys me, the way the Lib Dems are always, always, always sidelined in the media. Cue Nick Clegg's speech: Reporter: Yes, and we are reporting live from Bournemouth, where the Liberal Democrat Leader has announced what ...
Buckinghamshire CC, Amersham Conservative 1840 (46.6; -3.7)Lib Dem Davida Allen 1768 (44.8; 0.0)UKIP 140 (3.5; +3.5)Labour 106 (2.7, -2.2)Green 95 (2.4; +2.4)Conservative HOLDMajority 72Turnout 30.6Newark and Sherwood DC, BeaconConservative 413 (48.2; - 0.7)Lib Dem Decland Logue 296 (34.7; +7.8)Labour 147 (17.2; -7.1)Consvative HOLDMajority 117Turnout 16.6Nottinghamshire CC, Newark
Nibley Lane will be closed on Wednesday 23 September 2009 between 9.30am and 2.30pm for street cleansing and drainage maintenance. Access to properties will be maintained during the works.
A discussion with fellow freedom lovers threw up the names of a number of films of interest to Libertarians. Minority Report, Amazing Grace, and 1984 have all been suggested as films of interest to those of libertarian leanings. My personal favorite is, however, the often overlooked 'People Versus Larry Flynt'. The story focuses on the battle between publisher Larry Flynt and Christian Fundamentalist Gerry Falwell in 1988 over the publication of arguably libelous humour. The case threatened Flynts publising empire which was built on blue collar pornography. Flynt had been crippled in 1978 following an earlier court case in Georgia ...
Yesterday I posted about Rhodri Glyn Thomas' calls for Trident to be scrapped and how Rhodri Morgan claimed that this kind of lobbying was 'inappropriate'. Morgan's aides said that the Welsh government should not offer an opinion on anything that is not devolved to Wales. Putting aside whether or not it is appropriate, I wonder if Rhodri Morgan and his cabinet do ever indulge in a bit of the old soft selling to their counterparts in London. What about on the Welsh devolution settlement? Clearly Rhodri Morgan is not stupid. He knows as well as anyone else that the current ...
What could be simpler: five categories, each with five links. And it's Friday. 5 most-read stories on LDV this week 1. Parliamentary candidates can now keep their home addresses secret (8) by Mark Pack 2. Blog of the Year Awards 2009: The Shortlists (14) by Helen Duffett 3. Guardian asks Lib Dems, "When did you stop beating your wife?" (26) by Stephen Tall 4. Gavin Webb quits Lib Dems, joins Libertarian Party (138) by Stephen Tall 5. The MP conference fringe league table (2) by Mark Pack 5 recent #ldconf tweets >> miss_s_b is finally on her way to #ldconf ...
There has been a fair bit of comment in the Lib Dem blogosphere in the last couple of days about the document that Nick Clegg produced recently called "The Liberal Moment". Well, like a good little Lib Dem blogger I have tried to read it all but various work stuff has got in the way and I am only about half way through it. I am actually quite enjoying it though and agreeing with a fair bit so far. Maybe this is what some others have implied about it "tickling liberal erogenous zones". If so, then that's fine by me! ...
And to the strains of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35, I am bound for Bournemouth, for the opening of Federal Conference. The closer it gets, the less I really want to be there, as it increasingly represents something to be survived before I can return to the rest of my life. My personal Conference highlights are likely to be the opening and close of Conference, the Rally and the bit before the debate on the pre-manifesto. I admit that they might have one important thing in common but, hey, I'm as biased as all hell. ...
Lynne Featherstone's website is undergoing a revamp. The 'Under Construction' banners make it clear that this is a work-in-progress, but early indications are that this is a very nice job and is raising the bar for other MPs and PPCs.Sadly however I must take issue with the pie-chart showing the vote in her constituency at the 2005 general election. It misleads the voter into thinking that her
HAVE you ever been stopped and searched? This week the government announced that they'll be scrapping the lengthy forms that police officers have to fill in when they stop and search people. Previously, coppers had to write pages of details on anyone they searched even if they didn't arrest them. Now they'll only have to jot down the suspect's name, race, and why they were stopped. It's an attempt to cut red tape and free up bobbies to do what they're meant to be doing —fighting crime not filling in forms. But there is another side to this. The danger ...
I've only just received this email from Big Day Out. It seems we may be getting somewhere with Easywaste and Big Day Out agreeing to mediation.The mediation needs to be quick so that the cleaners get paid next week.*BIG DAY OUT LTD* PO Box 25341 Glasgow G2 5XS18th September 2009Mr Willie Rennie MP Dunfermline and West Fife Constituency Office 2nd Floor 1 High Street Dunfermline KY12 7DL Dear Mr RennieThank you for your letter of 16th September.As you are probably aware we are in dispute with Easywaste, who were the waste management contractor for this year's T in the Park.There ...
Look. I know women have far more fascinating wardrobes. I mean, no matter how metrosexual the male side of the world is (apparently) becoming, there's a limit to how much spicing up you can do as a man, in the wardrobe department. Alright, so there's the eternal dilemma about what sort of suit you wear. And some people try and choose a decent tie, trying to work out whether they should seem happy and relaxed by showing a gentler side of politics with a Snoopy tie... or whether they should seem serious and elegant with a dark blue tie. Oh. ...
It was great to see so many residents at last night's Langworthy Forum meeting at the British Legion on Langworthy Road. The Forum is always well attended and gives local people the chance to learn about events happening in the area and ask questions on a wide variety of subjects. We were fortunate to have council officers on hand from Salix Homes and the regeneration department who briefed us about the current HMR (Housing Market Renewal) programme going on in Seedley South. While the answers were a little vague, it was at least appreciated that officers were open and honest ...
Vaughan Roderick broke the news of his twitter that Adam Price was off to Harvard for a year. Clarification from others seems to suggest this means that he will be standing down as an MP (now confirmed by the BBC). Update: Beeb story now online, he's off to be a Fullbright scholar following in the footsteps of Rhodri Morgan, Charles Kennedy and a whole load of others. What will this mean for Plaid? No related posts.
There is of course no such thing as 'the Lib Dem blogsophere'. For sure there are hundreds of Lib Dems who write blogs, but any suggestion we can be neatly bundled together into one coherent entity is wide of the mark - we'd scarcely be liberals otherwise. Which is why if you visit the Lib Dem Blogs Aggregator - a site which collates the feeds of more than 220 active bloggers - you will find posts about potholes and proportional representation, pop-culture and Palestine, all nestling alongside each other. If anything defines 'the Lib Dem blogosphere' it is this eclecticism. ...
On Wednesday I briefly met with former black cab taxi driver Dave Evans, who is leading a campaign on behalf of Salford's taxi drivers (in particular the Hackney cab, aka black cab, drivers). Dave explained to me that Salford Council wish to remove the limit (de-limit) the number of Hackney cab licences, a subject I blogged about back in July. While the taxi drivers themselves are not opposed to the idea of allowing more black cabs on our roads, they wish for a structured or 'managed growth' of new taxi licences, rather than the free-for-all that the council proposes. Manchester ...
I get up in the dark and pull on a pair of trainers; I know what's out there. Returning to bed I look forward to another hour's sleep, but my ankle is itching. A CAT FLEA HAS GOT ME! Worse, I can feel it moving. I turn on the light and track it down. It jumps three times before I get it between my fingers. Cat fleas are hard to kill but eventually the black dot stays put. That's one down. No point going back to bed so I get up, go to the kitchen and find the can of ...
Lynne's new website (note - temporary link whilst DNS propagates fully) certainly looks different from her first, created back in 1999: [IMG: Lynne Featherstone's first website] [IMG: Lynne Featherstone's first website] Websites have come along a long way since then (though of course Lynne looks not a day older). Lynne's own site has been through a couple of versions, including a redesign by Kingston councillor Mary Reid and getting a blog added alongside a few years later. It's been showing signs of age, so it's great that now there is one, shinny, new integrated site - based on WordPress of ...
Apologies for the lack of activity of my blog, but It's been a busy old week since last weekend's Proms in the Park, which I thoroughly enjoyed. On Wednesday I managed to spare a couple of hours in the morning to attend Salford's first full council meeting following the summer recess. Compared to the last council (which lasted a full day), the agenda was comparatively light and could have been finished by lunch-time if it was not for the ridiculous amount of time wasted by Weaste & Seedley Independent Councillor Geoff Ainsworth on the subject of overview and scrutiny places. ...
The new leader of the Liberal Democrat MEPs, Fiona Hall, has said that its time for MEPs to have an increased profile in the party and for the European angle to have a greater role in Liberal Democrat policy making. In an interview with me on behalf of the Lib Dem European Group, Fiona said, "We need to get MEPs out of the ghetto of "Europe". MEPs do not do "Europe". MEPs do crime, security, civil liberties, finance, climate change, energy, biodiversity, agriculture, fisheries, international development ... with a particular emphasis on the European level of decision making in these ...
Many of my constituents have not received their pay for the hours spent cleaning up after T in the Park. This is the letter they have received from their employers Easywaste Solutions which informs them that because they haven't been paid then the employees won't be paid. So the workers lose out because the bosses of Easywaste and Big Day Out can't reach an agreement. Below is the story from the Daily Record today. I've been onto the company to ask for the immediate payment of the wages. Workers who cleaned up T in the Park site left out of ...
Gosh, they're not words that easily trip off my tongue! But having read about the man who is suing Tesco because asking him to remove his hood was against his Jedi religion, I think credit where it's due. Daniel Jones, who uses his Jedi name Morda Hehol, said: "I told them it was a requirement of my religion but ...
If you are a first time attendee at Federal Conference the range of fringes, debates, training and people to meet can be a bit bewildering. Some experienced conference goers in the party have given Freedom Central their top tips for where to go, what to do and how to survive the week. You can download the full agenda and directory from the party's website. If you wanted to play some weird kind of conference bingo you could see how many of Daran Hill's A-Z of Conference you can spot. But to help you separate the wheat from the chaff, check ...
"The crucial question on Afghanistan today is not whether this war is important. It is. It is not whether the consequences of failure are serious. They are. It is a much more brutal question: can we win? And the answer is no. Unless we change both our current policies and our present attitudes, failure is inevitable." Read the full article here.
So this is our Dear Leader's vision of the future, written in association with the think-tank Demos, which is a phrase that more often than not gets the alarm bells ringing in my head straight away. Much mention of the p-word in here, as one would expect with Demos' hands on it, and yet talk of "shifting power upwards, where necessary, to supranational organisations" suggests to me corporatism rather than "citizen empowerment", saints preserve us. Not a good start, though mercifully the document goes on to state that "a liberal believes a progressive society is distinguished by aspiration, creativity and ...
The Conservative party have jumped on the civil liberties bandwagon, taking advantage of widespread anger over the Government's new Vetting and Barring Scheme with a pledge to "check the rise of the surveillance state". It remains to be seen, however, whether this is simply a cheap charade in pursuit of votes, or a genuine about-turn from a party which was trampling civil liberties even before Labour got in on the act, and which has been complicit in their erosion ever since. In their new policy paper, the party propose scrapping the National Identity Register (tied to ID cards) and ContactPoint ...
Well last night after a 'pint' with LYS President Ruaraidh Dobson and Kieran Leach I headed to Edinburgh coach station. I did so on the off chance of getting on the supposedly full 22:00 Coach heading to London instead of the 06:45 from this morning I ended up getting booked on. Basically I hate having a long trip somewhere arriving late and not having time to relax before the action begins. Which answers Caron's question of why I'd left last night already. I was lucky, I got on the coach, but the overhead lights were working so my continuation of ...
Yesterday's Sparkbrook by-election saw REPECT hold the seat with a majority of 271 votes, however 387 postal ballots were rejected (about 20% of the total).
Steve Richards in the Indie has an interesting article about Gordon Brown remaining as Labour Leader to the general election. It is interesting because it focuses on Brown remaining as leader as if that were a new concept. Ever since the fiasco of the election-that-never-was, the coverage of Brown in the media has never strayed far from the view that he will not survive as leader. So the article
Those people who have received a notice under their windscreen wiper informing them they should park properly in Redcar & Cleveland Town Hall Car Park will be interested to see this picture of the Council's Labour leader parked in a prohibited area right next to the Town Hall entrance. Councillor George (I'm and ex steel worker - save our steel) Dunning's foreign car was parked all morning without getting a notice put on it. Peeping through the window, on the left, is George's sidekick deputy leader Sheelagh Clarke who almost blew a gasket in the lobby because we dared to ...
Update: This post was written before Eric Pickels decided to make most of our members decide to be homeless as i assume most would rather be homeless than join what he sees as the Lib Dem's home, that being the Tory party. I hope that this post will highlight how the Tories are NOT like ...
Towards the end of July, I updated www.dundeewestend.com regarding the issue of councillor salaries and the fact that the Liberal Democrat Group on the City Council wished to see councillor salaries frozen this year because of the significant financial challenges facing the City Council (click on headline to view this update from 21st July). As the previous updated indicated, we were prevented from moving such a motion at council committee as the Scottish Government regulations on councillor salaries do not permit local authorities to freeze or reduce the basic councillor salary or that of the Council Leader, not matter that ...
Having smelt the stench of fear on Labour in Gateshead yesterday, today I am giving them relief from their trauma. They can save their running-round-like-leaderless-headless-chickens performance for another day. Today I am in London. I came down last night to sort a few things in the flat before going to Bournemouth for Conference on Saturday. I need to be at the Marriott Hotel by midday for the
Labour run - Lambeth have been caught red-handed after trying to flog off two flats which were earmarked for a Housing Association to rent out to needy people. The Labour council proposed to sell off at auction two one bed flats on the Oval's Ashmole Estate - in Stoddart House and Bannerman House, claiming that the cost of refurbishment was too high. But residents on the estate voted to transfer the ownership of the estate to the Metropolitan Housing Association just a month ago - who would have brought these flats back into use as rented social housing. We believe ...
Vince Cable's paper on fiscal policy is the best, bar none, that I have read. I've debated it here on Freethinking Economist, (with an entertaining graph for the downhearted, giving some hope that the Tories aren't going to stroll home). Now that Brown is finally out in the open, we may be getting a proper debate: Vince is leading it. In other news, this caught my eye in the FT: Listed companies in the climate change sector - including renewable-power generators, nuclear, energy management, water and waste companies - reached a global turnover of $534bn in 2008, according to HSBC. ...
Two new developments that border onto Oval Ward have both taken a step further. New Covent Garden Market Authority have announced plans to re-develop the market site and build housing at the Vauxhall end of the site where it edges onto Lambeth. Plans are expected to go to neighbouring Wandsworth council in November. And Wandsworth Council have given outline planning permission for the plans for the US embassy - and have passed them onto the Mayor of London for his comments. More details can be found here.
It's all a bit rum. Back in December I put in a complaint via the Cabinet Office website about Gordon Brown. It was a pretty minor issue - using government letterhead for partisan purposes - but given how stringent the rules imposed on other bodies around the country, it seemed to me worth all of oooh 30 seconds to make the point of principle. But I got no reply. And I don't like that sort of thing... So I sent another message via their website. And got no reply. So I wrote a letter. And got no reply. So I ...
I have been invited onto Victoria Derbyshire's show on BBC Radio 5 Live next Monday (21st Sep) to be part of a panel at the Lib Dem Conference. I think the format is that they will keep coming back to us asking us questions every now and then during the programme. I am scheduled to be there from 10:00am until about 11:30am. I have already been put through my paces a bit by one of the show's researchers the other day over the phone and am really looking forward to it. I don't know what questions are going to be ...
This looks like it could be a fun event. Cycle Speke! Speke Garston Coastal Reserve Tuesday 22 September Discover Speke on this new guided bike ride! Come along for a bike ride to the Speke Garston Coastal Reserve. The ride leaves Austin Rawlinson Lifestyles at Parklands at 4pm. At a leisurely pace it heads to the Speke Garston Coastal Reserve. Cycling past the old northern airfield with its grade 2 listed buildings it's then back to Austin Rawlinson Lifestyles where the ride finishes after about 1.5 hours. All abilities welcome and the ride is led by qualified cycle instructors. There ...
Just heard that the strike by the refuse collectors ( the purple, blue and green wheelie bins and the bags) has been ended by a vote at a meeting this morning. The street cleansing teams are due to meet and vote at lunchtime today.
The Government has said that Councils have to decide, by the end of this year, on a change to the way they run things. They either have to have a slightly different leader and cabinet arrangement or decide to have an elected Mayor. There is a chance for people in Liverpool to have their say at this web page. If the link doesn't work, go to www.liverpool.gov.uk and look for the story which will be one of those on the front page
Steven Abbott (third left) with Glynis and some of the Campaign team after the Count. Our lad Steven improved the Lib Dem vote, on a lower turnout in Labour's safest seat to move within 88 votes of winning South Bank ward in yesterday's by-election. The result Sue Jeffrey (Lab).................. 442 (43.6%; -6.3%) Steven Abbott (Lib Dem)......... 354 (34.9%; +12.8%) Vince Smith (Ind).................. 102 (10.1%) Martin Gordon Bulmer (UKIP)...... 69 (6.8%) Joan Bolton (Con)................... 47 (4.6%; -0.1%) Turnout 21.3% Majority 88 Lab hold 9.55% swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats The result last time: Marilyn Bramley (Labour).... 652 (49.9; -0.6) ...
[IMG: conference-diary] So I'm getting ready for conference. I've got a talk to prepare for (please do come to the Politics and Prohibition event), a car to rent, and I'll be heading down on Sunday in time, hopefully, for the first Liberal Vision event, Moats, Mortgages and Mayhem which has Greg Dyke and Guido as panellists. Then, in the evening it's the Lib Dem Voice BOTY party, which I may or may not be too drunk and/or involved to blog about too much, although I will have my iPhone with me - Follow me on Twitter! There's no plan after ...
Following my letter to Sir Roger Singleton about the ISA's apparent reluctance to believe that a jury may acquit because it is sure someone is innocent, I have also written to Ed Balls. This time it's about the lopsided attitude to rethinking past decisions. Dear Secretary of State, I was glad to read that you have ordered a review into some of the workings of the Independent Safeguarding Authority. However, I wanted to raise with you one particular issue about the legislation around the ISA which your review does not appear to cover. In brief, it is this: if you ...
One of Wales' leading politcal commentators, Daran Hill, has written an article for WalesHome warning the other parties not to write off the Welsh Liberal Democrats. In a piece that is critical as well as encouraging for the Welsh Lib Dems, he concludes that the Welsh Lib Dems have an opportunity to prove whether they can really motor forward. In 2010 they should be judged not just on whether they hold their current four seats or whether new targets like Swansea West and Newport East fall to them; but also on whether they can further boost the total number of ...
meeting some very interesting people at the Oxford Social Media Convention #oxsmc09 today
Those of you with an interest in Colchester Town Centre may be interested to know that it will be the main topic of discussion at the next Policy Review and Development Panel meeting on Wednesday 23rd September. We'll be discussing the Council's public realm strategy, a draft lighting strategy for the town centre, and some of the interim findings of the Task and Finish Group looking at the night time economy. Remember that any member of the public can have their say on an item of the agenda, but you'll need to be at the meeting at the start to ...
I am receiving some great comments and feedback regarding my Blog, one thing that is very clear is that I have Two audiences, Council and Parliamentary. I have decided to separate these two different topics, in the week will be Council issues and the weekend my Parliamentary campaign. I believe they need separating and I only want to manage the one Blog at this moment.
2 big stories Star Wars – the end? The Guardian and the Times both lead with the news that President Barack Obama has decided to scrap US plans to build missile shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. This is seen by Republicans as an attempt to "appease" the Kremlin, which had objected that a missile shield so close to Russia's borders would threaten its own defences. President Obama justified the change of plan by citing new intelligence that shows Iran's long-range missile programme to be far less advanced than previously thought. Instead of being close to developing missiles capable ...
The Western Mail reports this morning that three of Wales' most senior politicians have called on councils not to abandon the tradition of counting votes as soon as polls close on the night of the General Election. Rhodri Morgan has been joined by Ieuan Wyn Jones and Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Kirsty Williams in warning that ditching Thursday night counts is a "bad mistake" which could damage democracy. Kirsty Williams said of election night: "I think it's part of the Welsh and British democratic process. I don't see any benefit in not having the count that evening. It's part of ...
We are at a moment in time, according to the article by Nick Clegg and Paddy Ashdown in today's Guardian, where we have reached the last chance saloon in Afghanistan. I disagree. That moment in time passed by long ago. Even so, having recognised this is the case, it may well be that the course of action they suggest is not implemented, and the consequence of that will be that the Liberal Democrats will then support a policy of withdrawing our troops sometime soon, maybe before the next general election. As a policy change, that will be a big improvement, ...
As I prepare to set off to Bournemouth for the Liberal Democrat Conference I was interested to read Daran Hill's piece on Wales Home on prospects for our party here at the next General Election. It is a fair and well-balanced piece that is worth a read. His conclusions very much reflect my own when I wrote on this topic on Freedom Central earlier this week. Unfortunately, I am not going to be at Conference long as I have to leave Bournemouth early on Monday morning so as to get to an Assembly Commission meeting in Cardiff. At that meeting ...
Sometimes it is difficult to coordinate policy in a UK context, especially when the legislative and administrative competence for decisions quite properly lie with Westminster as with defence, foreign affairs etc but the impact of those decisions will be felt on the position of a devolved legislature. Misunderstandings occur and people make mistakes. However, when differences are confined to the boundaries of one devolved nation and amount to the leadership of a particular party being openly opposed to the position taken at their conference and in their manifesto then it becomes much more noticeable. Thus, the unlikely alliance of Ieuan ...
@alexfoster Yikes, that commenter is a bit keen! in reply to alexfoster # Dear Nielsen, If someone runs focus group with 37 people that doesn't give results you can quote to nearest %. Tsk tsk http://bit.ly/9HOOy # Glad about content in Gordon Brown's Alan Turing statement - but my, the language is clunky http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571 # Conker spot. Hello autumn. # @shanerichmond Well done! Extra item on menu or displaced something? PS Don't forget to thank your mouse in reply to shanerichmond # @DuncanStott Thanks. Drop me a message with your email and I'll send you spreadsheet next week in reply ...
A small part of my brain still thinks 'back to school' in September, and it's not the only reminder of my childhood* around: this week seems stuck in the 1970s, though sadly the unconvincing stop-motion dinosaurs aren't in Doug McClure movies but 'live' from the TUC Conference. Thrillingly, the big unions are threatening to savage a dying Labour Government this Winter. Because that always worked out so well for them. And if seeing Peter (hiss) Mandelson exchange blows with Brendan (yawn) Barber isn't enough to excite you, there's the threat of postal strikes and Harriet Harman's career-best daft, petty foot-shooting... ...
RESPECT held the Sparkbrook Ward in yesterday's Birmingham City Council by-election.
Oh dear! - the Comet has got it completely wrong. It states that the Council has 'passed a motion in support of the controversial Greenwich Judgement'. No!!! Quite the opposite, in fact. The Greenwich Judgement is the legal ruling made in 1989 which said that school admissions policies were not allowed to favour children who lived in the borough. This has resulted in today's situation where three quarters of the pupils in the two Tiffin Schools come from outside the Royal Borough. In Kingston, all the political parties have opposed this. When Ian was Chair of Education in the 90s ...
Trafigura is one of the leading oil traders in the world. However, like most oil traders it has hardly been immune from controversy. Over the years, several such companies such as Marc Rich & Co. and Glencore have been accused or implicated in various bribery scandals and the accusation that they assisted Saddam Hussein in avoiding UN sanctions through the so-called "topping-off" scandal. So far, so unsurprising. Oil trading is a secretive and incredibly lucrative business, and beneath the shadows, rumours of industrial scale corruption have circulated for years. Most of the leading oil producers: Venezuela, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, ...
I travel a lot by train now, although I will be learning to drive again shortly, so increase your life insurance especially if you live in Edinburgh. I digress; the difference in standards between different train companies is massive, especially when it comes to customer service and cleanliness. Although many Scots will disagree I think Scotrail is one of the best rail companies out there, although I can hear the people already screaming, why? You have to understand, I lived for 14 years in Dartford, Kent where we had to endure Connex South East, their trains were constantly late, if ...
This morning, the oh-so-clever and so-very-amusing Hugo Rifkind writes his usual Friday morning fluff piece in which he declares: Who gives a damn what the Fire Brigades Union thinks about Gaza? Well... Yes, his columns are usually not to be taken too seriously. But in today's one, he insists that he's "not being facetious". What annoys me about statements ...
To many of us, notably Vince Cable, it has for long been blindingly obvious that the property boom would end – and end in pain for millions around the world. The scale of the crash may have surprised even most who expected something like it at this time, as borrowing against unsecured 'bubble' land values was bound to lead to massive default. However the Lib Dems' campaign group on land value taxation (LVT) which I chair, ALTER, believes that the 'Credit Crunch' can be turned into a major opportunity for the Party, if it can press home its renewed conviction ...
Mark Littlewood has articles on Liberal Vision and The Telegraph reminding us of his pamphlet The Cameron Effect last year. That's fair enough. It's equally fair enough for me to point you in the direction of my rebuttal of that pamphlet. What has changed in the previous twelve months? Mark is right to say that one thing that hasn't, frustratingly, is the opinion polls. Nonetheless that is to ignore the fact that they went up for the local elections in June (and down for the European Elections). We have every reason to expect those figures to pick up as we ...
Am I a bully? Over the past month I've been accused of bullying twice. Once for suggesting that calling one's political opponents "national socialists" is over the top and yesterday on twitter for suggesting that there is something ironic for the director of a subsidiary of an organisation called Progressive Vision to criticise people for using the word progressive. I will happily admit that both of these jokes were not especially funny and might well be frustrating for their intended targets, but they don't immediately spring to my mind as acts of bullying. I could laugh these accusations off. I ...
Well, it's nearly the weekend and there is still a lot going on in here in Redlands. I'm pleased to report that after a strong response from residents and councillors to plans to turn a hotel on Kendrick Road into a HMO officers are now seriously considering rejecting the planning application due to a number of issues. I have also called in an application relating to an HMO on Alexandra Road which is a major cause for concern for local residents. And yesterday evening at a meeting of HHCC Scrutiny Panel I won support for a stronger focus on promoting decent neighbourhoods, not just decent homes - something I ...
True happiness is finding out that the distance from Liberal Drinks at Conference to my Hotel is 'staggerable' :-)
Depressing that the latest figures show unemployment just shy of 2.5m, a 14-year high. The most depressing thing is that more young people are out of work than at any time since records began. Steve Webb has said that we should scrap the VAT cut ...
A car crash on the King's Cross gyratory in which pedestrians narrowly escaped injury or worse has underlined the need for safer speed limits on every road here. The accident happened earlier this week just outside the Camden ward of King's Cross, but on the gyratory system that also includes the Camden roads of Acton ...
There are two nearly ever present comments about the ability of online search tools to provide sentiment analysis: first, the sellers of such tools saying how enormously useful such analysis is and, second, theoreticians saying how enormously flawed and inaccurate such analysis is. So it's perhaps no surprise that it's take up is still fairly limited, prompting questions such as those from Emma Mulqueeny about its use and usefulness. Having dabbled with such analysis on and off for a few years, my overall experience is: 1. Yes, the individual scoring may often be inaccurate, but as long as you are ...
... of stuff I have been meaning to link to, but not got around to: Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work! Great article about poly-ness in the Indy. Definition of Kyriarchy, which is a word I like lots. Cities at Night photographed from the International Space Station. American cities are scary. I like London: it looks like a bacterium :D Right. That's it. Shutting down. Will see you all in Bournemouth! :D This blog is proudly sponsored by
I used to work at Accrington Victoria Hospital. It made the local and national news on Thursday 17th September so I know where the camera crew stood. It made the news because 14 (or 17 or 18 depending on which reports you read) women were told wrongly that they did not have breast cancer. This is not a good situation for those concerned, but correct diagnoses are given to patients on a much more regular basis and this information may be equally devastating. Individuals have to come to terms with what life throws at them and this attitude is not ...
That was the invitation received by Egglescliffe & Eaglescliffe council earlier this month - pay £1 and take over the red phone box on the village green at Egglescliffe. Apparently just 19 calls were made from it in the whole of last year and BT have decided it no longer justifies having a phone maintained in it. However, it's an old red phone box and it's in a conservation area so the council
Right, basically, I don't have time to read Nick Clegg's rather long pamphlet "The Liberal Moment" before Conference. I defer to my colleagues. What I've read (about a third of it now) looks like an attempt at that elusive "Lib Dem Narrative" - I'd be interested to know what Neil Stockley and Simon Goldie make of it. It's been far too long since I took an interest in how the Lib Dems 'sold' themselves. The short version is: "People are realising that Labour's means are wrong, bad, failing and dangerous. Liberalism offers them a way to get the progress they ...
Friday: One thing that everyone knows about the Macra: the First Rule of Macra Club is that there is no such thing as Macra Club. Dr Woo meets the Macra twice (or is it MORE than twice...?): the first time is when he is Mr Dr Pat and he and his friends Polly and Ben and Jamie visit "the Colony"; and the last time is when he is Mr Dr David and he and his friend Martha visit the New Earth. So what exactly ARE these creepy-crawly creatures, emblematic of Sixties mind-control paranoia and Noughties nostalgia, that definitely don't exist? ...
