Iain Dale highlights the Daily Mail's attitude towards gay Tory candidates and is going to the Press Complaints Commission to complain (quite rightly so in my opinion). Tomorrow the Conservative Party chooses to use the Daily Mail to publicise their new proposals on caring for the elderly. So what is the Tory Party doing ? Are they endorsing the views of The Daily Mail ?
Writing about Iain Dale's bid to become PPC for Bracknell the Daily Mail has resorted to its usual approach to those it disapproves of. 'Isn't it charming how homosexuals rally like-minded chaps to their cause' is one of the homophobic remarks made by the Daily Mail in guise of Ephraim Hardcastle . Of course - this is free speech and the Mail can say it - but Iain Dale is quite right to hit back and show the remark up for what it is - homophobia.
West Lancs Flowers at St John'n I went -a little unwillingly -to see the West Lancs Flower Club's 60th Anniversary Flower Festival. St John's Church in Birkdale is the venue for the event which is called 'Southport Scene in Flowers' It is amazing; the depiction of everything Southport from Shrimpers to Lord Street, Golf courses to the Arts Centre via the beach and Churchtown and heaven knows where else in between. The Festival is open tomorrow between 10.00am till 8.00pm and again on Sunday from 12 noon till 5.00pm go if you can . If you click on the photo ...
An interesting post on Radio 4 blogs tonight. They have a new pop science show, presented by Brian Cox and Robin Ince, which sounds like it is going to be generally awesome. The problem is... They don't know what to call it. Of the many suggestions put forward, none of them leaps out at me with a Yes! That one! but I do like Statman and Robin and Here's Looking at Euclid. If you have a marvellous idea for what this show should be called, do feel free to submit it to the poor uninspired dears. In other news, the ...
I don't think there is anybody on my various f-lists that is this dumb but the past fortnight really has worn down a lot of my faith in humanity so... If anyone here thinks that it's a terrible tragedy people are picking on that sweet little director Roman Polanski when all he did was drug and rape a child, please fuck off. No, really. Fuck right off. I am tolerant of a lot of things, I don't care if you guys run naked but for ears and a tail through the streets hitting each other with razor wire whips and ...
In these days of "I want it now" and "impatience is good", there is a pleasingly random element to the way that LoveFilm operates. You send them a list of the DVDs you would like to borrow from them, but you never know which ones they are going to send next. My mother tells me Boot's Library used to operate in the same way. My latest two discs have arrived. They are the Ealing horror portmanteau Dead of Night and the Will Hay comedy Oh Mr Porter. Having run a Will Hay quiz recently, I thought I should at least ...
This Saturday 12 - 1 is another drop-in session at Gorton Market with the Police. We will be in the seating area, all welcome to drop by and chat.
Yesterday was Full Council. I spoke a few times, including one speech (see below) calling on the controlling Labour Group to sign up to the 10:10 commitment to reduce the Council's carbon footprint by 10% in 2010. I have signed as an individual, and I've also signed up my business. Optimistically, I actually had high hopes that Labour would support my call. The Labour Cabinet member for climate
Dan Dan the Wikio man has slipped an email into my box again. You'll find the contents ( under the cut ) Congratulations and yet commiserations are due to [IMG: [info - personal] ] awesomegore, I feel, who is occupying what is known in Lib Dem circles as The Stephen Glenn Position. This blog is proudly sponsored by
[This post was originally written on The House of Twits] I've been to two Liberal Democrat conferences now. I've been to the Autumn one that just happened at Bournemouth and I've been to the last Spring conference - in Harrogate in March. One thing that has struck me at both of these conferences has been the equality. MPs are delegates just like anyone else. They have to fill in a speaker card if they wish to weigh in on a debate, they have one vote and they have no reserved seating. Sitting in one debate I had Tom Brake MP ...
[This post was originally written for The House of Twits] ... for allowing me to catch your eye and make my maiden post here today. I was surprised but very honoured to be asked to contribute to a House of Twits blog section and to represent the Lib Dems on it here. I think Twitter is brilliant as a social tool and excellent for politicos like you and I. I know many who try and use Twitter as a campaigning tool and to them I say, 'good luck to you' and if you can get it to work for you ...
The Southport Visiter has an article on the 'Cultural Centre'. I do dispair sometimes. The folk involves are so enthused about the project they fail to appreciate that most members of the public are having to cut back their own expenditure and are frightened about unemployement and so the sight of the council splashing out millions of pound on a scheme that they see as 'non essential' is not good news. The first job is to explain that the present building cannot be kept open unless several millions are spent. We can lever in lots of extra cash from grants ...
In an election in which the Tories believed that they had a natural right to win and who felt deeply wounded and upset if anyone wanted to question them, it is no wonder they resorted to dirty tricks. The election fought against and the backdrop of; economic decline, a large government deficit, proposal to increase tax on the property of the super rich and in which the role of women was an ever present topic -was always going to stir emotions. In Southport the Liberals had a colourful and wealthy candidate who took the fight to the Tories. He was ...
Thanks to Rachel and Annette I now have photo of Baron Maurice de Forest. You'll need to have read the linked posts to get the full picture
I have received a newsletter from the Police Inspector for Birkdale. I am sure many people will find it of interest. It is good too see the man attempting to steal a caravan from Dover Rd was arrested so promptly!
At fairly short notice, I found I had today free to knock on doors. An email or two assembled a number of people to go out with me, and so I have spent most of the day talking to residents. We were out from 9.30 until 11.30 in the morning and from 3 to about 6.30 in the afternoon (and I met up with a couple of our Leigh councillors to look and a photograph a troublesome crossing, just to fill out the day). If you don't enjoy meeting and talking to people, you shouldn't be in politics. But some ...
I've been down in Bournemouth the past couple of days at my 'day job' employer's Annual Conference. Just back and a wee bit tired - a 5am start yesterday and a late night last night at the Institute's Performance Awards Dinner! A lovely evening and great that no less than 5 Scottish councils were finalists, including Dundee City Council. Both Glasgow City Council and Dumfries and Galloway were UK award winners. The weather in Bournemouth was absolutely lovely - you'd have thought it was mid July rather than the start of October. Apart from a photo of part of the ...
Month on month the number of people visiting Freedom Central continues to rise. We had well over 7000 views from nearly 5000 visits from over 2,500 unique users in September. Most people seem to like what they are reading because they are coming back for more. The number of contributors continues to rise with pieces from Americans in Wales, someone in Brussels, a council leader and people new to the party. If you are interested in joining them please email info AT freedomcentral.org.uk We take pieces from independent commentators as well. With the conference agenda for Welsh Lib Dem conference ...
Actually, down the Tyne and on a ferry, hired for the evening for a charity fundraising event by the mayor of Gateshead. It's dark and cold outside but the disco is in full swing as we head to the mouth of the Tyne. Not that there's anyone on the dancefloor at the moment. I think everyone is waiting for the pie and pea supper, and possibly some music that is a bit more recent than the mid 60s!
Next week sees the Tory Party conference in Manchester, voters should not be fooled into thinking they have changed their spots since they were last in government. They are not liberal, not progressive, and not fit for government. They are not liberal, Cameron voted to retain Section 28, they would scrap the Human Rights Act, and 'Liberal' is still a term of abuse for the Tories, frontbencher Jeremy Hunt recently attacked the BBC for having a 'liberal bias'. They are not progressive, Cameron would cut taxes for millionaires, at a cost of £4.4bn, while doing nothing to help low earners. ...
Sir Keith Park is who Lord Tedder GCB, Marshal of the Royal Air Force, was talking about back in 1947. The full quote was "If any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I do not believe it is realised how much that one man, with his leadership, his calm judgment and his skill, did to save, not only this country, but the world." I first heard of Sir Keith Park many years ago in history lessons in school but he was really brought to my attention when I was Brian Paddick's Agent and Campaign Manager for the ...
What could be simpler: five categories, each with five links. And it's Friday. 5 most-read stories on LDV this week 1. That Andrew Marr question: wrong, wrong, wrong (32) by Stephen Tall 2. Opinion: The disaster of Bournemouth was avoidable (26) by William le Breton 3. NEW POLL: Do you support Vince's 'mansion tax'? (31) by Stephen Tall 4. Bournemouth was a hit, no shambolic disaster (26) by Iain Roberts 5. Opinion: Conservatives are complete hypocrites on LGBT issues as Section 28 raises its ugly head again (16) by Andrew Reeves 5 recent Lib Dem tweets >> paulwalteruk Cameron's tail ...
According to the BBC news at 6, Rio's Olympic 2016 win (and Chicago's loss) is like: "an international referendum on [Obama's] first nine months of leadership" Er....what? Yeah, absolutely, the world is totally bummed by Obama's healthcare reforms and have really stuck it to him through this decision of the IOC, hell yeah! Also, apparently, Rio won by basing their bid on sport! Who'd have though it? Basing an olympic bid on sport? That's the kind of revolutionary thinking you get in South America! We'd never have thought of that here...er...hang on...
Fair play to Sky News. It's a month since the broadcaster upped the ante on a leaders' debate, with Adam Boulton launching a full-throated campaign – including writing for LDV – for Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron to debate each other in the lead-up to general election day. The result? The AP tells us a deal has now been reached between the broadcasters: Broadcasters have written to Britain's main political parties proposing a series of televised debates before the general election. The BBC, Sky News television, and ITV have written to the leaders of the Labour, Conservative and ...
[IMG: Muswell Hill BT broadband trial] I want it! I went to see first hand the extra benefits local businesses and residents can enjoy this autumn as BT exclusively trials its super-fast broadband in the Muswell Hill area. BT have actually selected two areas - yes Muswell Hill and somewhere in Wales - to pilot this new super-fast highway. Andrew Campling, BT's general manager for London, showed me how fast the download actually is. Whoooooooosh and it's done. Given I occasionally use unparliamentary language as I wait and wait for downloads (and uploads for that matter) I want it. I ...
I was struck by the latest language being used by the Tories about the Lisbon treaty. It's "pretty shabby" for the UK not to hold a referendum on the issue, says Greg Clark. While agreeing, the language is obviously being toned down in the expectation of a climb down. "Pretty shabby" is not up there with "constitutional outrage" is it? With the Irish set to vote "yes", Mr Cameron has his tail between his legs on this one, as Mark Littlewood on Liberal Vision says. The Guardian reports that he has finally bowed to the inevitable: David Cameron indicated today ...
This is not a joke. This is not a spoof. This is John Cowan, Labour's PPC for SE Cambridgeshire, he's considerably older than 17, and he's deadly serious. Digging a little deeper onto his own blog, from which LL republished the post, I could wax lyrical about his wildly authoritarian proposals for drinkers, his schmoozing with the appalling Emma Harrison of A4E, and his laughable spelling and grammar, but the man himself makes those points so, so much better that further comment just isn't needed. Remember, this is not some backwoods blogger; this is a prospective Member of Parliament for ...
I've always considered myself a 'Generalist' in the right meaning of the word — indeed I used to have a business card which stated that as my job title — so this article by Edward Carr, called The last days of the Polymath is most intriguing. And highly recommended.
There used to be a set procedure for discussing a leaders' debate in General Elections: the leader of the opposition would propose it a couple of months before the election, the Prime Minister would say nothing but their spokespeople would umm and ahh over it, the leader(s) of the third party would then chime in ...
Peter Mandelson's speech to the Labour party conference was one of the stand-out political events of the week. I think it's one of the best pieces of political storytelling we've seen all year. The reasons that the speech worked so well weren't so much about his passion or his delivery, which was weird in parts. It was impressive because of the stories Mandelson told and the ways he told them. Let's start with the easy bits. Any government asking for another mandate always tries to say to the voters, "give it to us more time - we deserve another go". ...
Regular readers of this blog and others around the Scottish Blogosphere will be familiar with often very wise and relevant comments made by someone called PJ. For a long time I wondered who on earth this person was and then got chatting to her on Twitter. I've yet to meet her in real life, as my current state of health keeps me pretty much tied to the house, but she has been to a couple of the Bloggers' meets and I think it's safe to say everyone thinks she's fabulous. After she produced guest posts of this sort of quality ...
The Lib Dem target seat of Broadland received a timely boost yesterday when two local council gains were made in the constituency. In Wroxham, a large rural ward on Broadland District Council the Lib Dem vote was up by more than 50% to snatch the seat the Tories expected to pick up easily. This seat was won by the Tories in 1998, and although the councillor later sat as an independent, he was never known for being anything other than a Con-dependent and was not often opposed in elections by Tory candidates. In the other election, the Lib Dems gained ...
My lovely sister has decided to get into the blogging game. The title of her new blog, Choc and Wine, brings together two of her favourite things in life and sources close to her tell me that the first posting was written while she was on a Minstrels high. She might be 8 years younger than me but she's the one with the common sense in our family. She's also very funny. I don't think she knows yet quite where she's going with her blog, but I'm looking forward to finding out. So, pour yourself a glass, snap open a ...
Following the Lib Dem autumn conference in Bouremouth, Lib Dem Voice is conducting a survey of our Forum for party members on some of the issues that arose. The survey includes questions on why you did (or didn't) attend the conference; what you thought about it; your views on Nick Clegg's statements on tuition fees and spending cuts; Vince's 'mansion tax'; and which MPs you thought emerged best from the conference. The survey – a link to which has been emailed to all signed-up members of LDV's forum – should take only 5-10 minutes to complete, and your responses are ...
I'm a fresher, born and bread in a place that the Liberals forgot (Accrington). I came to Aberystwyth fully knowing that it was a LD seat with a sizable number of LD councillors placed all over Ceredigion. I am admit, however, that I hadn't quite grasped the concept in the title. To me, pre-Aber, politicians and especially elected officials were some form of superhero, held aloft on great wings made from ballot papers - a copy of On Liberty in one hand and their latest speech in the other. The nice thing is, they're actually not. I've met Mark Williams, ...
Sky News reports: A local authority in London has become the first in the world to charge motorists for parking on the basis of how "green" their vehicle is. Richmond upon Thames is to charge drivers varying prices based on the carbon dioxide emissions of their vehicle of choice. The system works for drivers who use the RingGo system to pay for their parking. Motorists register and pay by phone, and RingGo accesses the DVLA database for each customer's registration to determine emissions data on the car. Those who drive gas-guzzlers will pay 25% above the standard rate while those ...
Bolton MBC, CromptonLab 1528 (47.4; -2.6)Con 935 (29.0; +1.0)Ind 377 (11.7; +11.7)LD Anne Warren 284 (8.8; -13.2)Green 99 (3.1; +3.1)Majority 593Turnout 31%Lab holdPercentage change is since May 2008.Broadland DC, WroxhamLD Ben McGilvray 960 (62.5; +57.9) Con 346 (22.5; -9.5)UKIP 134 (8.7; +8.7)Green 50 (3.3; -2.8)Lab 46 (3.0; 0.0)[Others (0.0; -54.3)]Majority 614Turnout 38%LD gain from
Just as a quick follow up to yesterday's post, Malcolm Coles has published a more detailed list of instructions for people to follow if they are interested in ensuring that the Google search results for the Cervical Cancer vaccine include accurate stuff and not just sensationalist tripe. This will ensure that if people search for cervical cancer jab or cervical cancer vaccine they will find sites with proper information about it. Thanks to Malcolm for showing that geekery can actually be a good thing.
At last week's Liberal Democrat conference, I spoke in a debate on torture. The British Government stands accused of complicity in torture, and while the accusations remain unproven, we must have a proper public inquiry into what is alleged to have happened. Torture is not only morally wrong, but also totally inefficient - all the research shows that people being tortured will say anything to make it stop, rendering the "evidence" thus obtained useless. Also at Conference, I was among the organisers of Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel's (LDFI) fringe meeting, which was an exciting opportunity to hear about the ...
[IMG: irish-yes-posters] Following the last minute surge in the No vote last time round, the pro-Europeans in Ireland are wisely taking nothing for granted as polling takes place today in the "re-match". But I'm willing to stick my neck out and say that the Yes side will prevail, and with some considerable room to spare (I'm guessing a majority of about 10%). The bookmakers agree. That's a major headache for the Tory leader as his conference gets under way in Manchester this weekend. If the Conservatives do win the election next May, they will probably take office in a world ...
1. The Lisbon Treaty itself is not a problem. It's largely a tidying-up exercise, streamlining the way the EU works and getting rid of a few anomalies. Far from being a Brussels power grab, it gives citizens of EU countries a greater say, especially by increasing the role of the directly elected European Parliament. 2. The way in which the Treaty has been ratified is a major problem. If the Irish voters do indeed say yes to Lisbon today, the Treaty will have been brought into law in the most underhand fashion. Nothing shows more contempt for democracy than asking ...
I was honoured to be one of the speakers at a breakfast event hosted by Editorial Intelligence yesterday morning. They call the events "Thought for the day" and they invite two people to speak for 5 or so minutes each on topics of their choice. Then the other invitees (there were about 30 of them drawn from various sectors of the media and business) get to respond and make points or ask questions. I had decided to speak about the future of newspapers (a topic close to my heart). The other speaker turned out to be Zac Goldsmith, Conservative PPC ...
House prices are back at 2008 levels. Two words. Supply. Demand. We have a very different market to that in the US. Though Lombard Street Research think this cannot last (rising unemployment, tight money conditions. Tight money - still?) Raghuram Rajan says that Capital alone could not stop the next crisis. He brings in something called Contingent Capital instead. Meanwhile, the IMF is reportedly threatening to get banks worldwide to insure themselves against a repeat. Sounds a bit like a Tobin tax (see posts, passim) Mr Lipsky, himself a former banker, said: "It is right to think about [the costs ...
Is it just me or does the phrase "Dozens of people turned up" in this article in the York Press about Nick's York public meeting mean that either: a) Not many people turned up (a bit embarrassing) or b) A journalists is using it as a way of belittling us (cynical, moi?) Does anyone now what the actual figure was?
Yesterday evening I took time out to hear what the Council is doing to tackle the problem of the large number of young people who are not in education, employment or training here in Reading. So-called NEETs. This is an awful, dehumanising term for what is essentially not a new phenomenon. And we're talking about a whole generation of young people who have not benefitted from Blair or Brown. A few years ago (when Tony Blair took office) it was simply called social exclusion. This was designated a priority by Blair and a social exclusion unit was duly set up and then later disbanded. I raised the ...
I would like to thank all the Hendon Liberal Democrat party members who attended last night's selection meeting, at which I was chosen as the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Hendon. I thoroughly enjoyed answering members' questions after I had spoken, and I am truly honoured to have won the selection ballot. I now look forward to working hard to generate maximum support for the Liberal Democrats over the coming months. Here is the manifesto which I issued during the selection; it sets out what I hope to achieve now that I have been selected.
[IMG: longfield-suite-2.jpg] According to leaked reports to the Bury Times, Bury Conservatives are threatening to close the Longfield Suite and Radcliffe Civic Hall. The proposals come following a review of Civic Halls by a Council working group which could lead to the closure of Radcliffe Civic Hall and sweeping changes to the Longfield Suite or even closure - depending on final recommendations. The Longfield suite with its famous sprung dance floor, is the only one of the Councils Civic halls to make money but what is even more astounding is that the "review" comes after the Love Prestwich Strategy was ...
The picture says it all... Thank you to Chris Keating for spotting it.
According to the Guardian, the Prime Minister will campaign "passionately" in favour of a move to the alternative vote system if a referendum on electoral reform goes ahead. They report on an interview last night in which Mr Brown committed the party to back this system because he believes that it is fairer than the "first-past-the-post" system currently in use. Asked whether he "passionately" believed in and would be "urging people to vote for" the electoral reform, Mr Brown replied: "Yes I will". Maybe it is because I am a Liberal Democrat that I find this so bizarre. In actual ...
[IMG: myconservatives] Much excitement across the Tory blogosphere this morning over the launch of myconservatives.com. The launch hasn't been a totally 100% slick affair, as this screen-grabs illustrates – and as Chris Keating has already blogged: Much angst at the ConservativeHome comments thread on this where many people seem to be reporting you can't get through to it and that it redirects straight to the Tory Party homepage. Not great publicity, really. Someone should have thought that one through. Still, it's nice to know that technical cock-ups can occur in even the best-funded parties. Those LDV readers who occasionally stumble ...
So, as you may have read on my little blog yesterday, Right Wing homophobic Newspaper Strikes Again, well it appeared late last night that Iain Dale had received a personal apology from Peter McKay who does the Ephraim Hardcastle column in the Daily Mail. However, as the first editions were published online it appeared this apology was nothing more than a hoax, as today's column says; "Tory blogger Iain Dale complains about an item here yesterday. I mentioned that Dale, who is gay, is hoping to become the Tory candidate at Bracknell, Berkshire, and invited subscribers to PinkNews, the homosexual ...
This is part of a series I will be doing over the next two weeks, as I am going to Welsh conference on the 16th and would really like to speak about some of my views. So I am going to post blogs which may end up as speeches, but I want people to comment on them so that I can improve them or drop them altogether if they are no good. Okay, here goes, free prescriptions is my first port of call. When NHS Wales introduced them after the Government of Wales Act, I remember thinking it was an ...
The news that Wirral Borough Council's (WBC) volte-face regarding the closure of 11 Libraries and other services has produced much celebration for the majority of people on the Wirral who were opposed to the closures, the Conservatives on Wirral, are of course making much political capital out of it, as is expected of them. Accusations ...
Commenting on the admission by E.ON's UK boss that a new coal power plant at Kingsnorth in Kent would be unlikely to install clean coal technology in time to meet the Government's 2014 deadline, Simon Hughes said: "Kingsnorth II is now a dead duck. This disclosure should put it out of the running for Government funding. If Kingsnorth doesn't withdraw itself from the CCS pilot shortlist, it should be removed. "We need to have a carbon capture demonstration plant up and running by 2014 in order to roll out the technology across the sector by 2020. The Government has already ...
According to the Telegraph, "MyConservatives.com will offer local activists the chance to organise their own campaigns, in an echo of Barack Obama's successful use of social media ahead of the US presidential elections." Much angst at the ConservativeHome comments thread on this where many people seem to be reporting you can't get through to it and that it redirects straight to the Tory Party homepage. Not great publicity, really. Someone should have thought that one through. However one eagle-eyed commenter points out that by going to a url like www.myconservatives.com/nonsense you get taken to a nice error page with a ...
Fri 2nd
11:59
If the Tories think they can shut the Longfield Suite, they've got a fight on their hands
Bury's Conservative Council has released a statement confirming that they are looking into the future of our Civic Halls. There are four such venues in Bury - the Elizabethan Suite, Radcliffe Civic Hall, Ramsbottom Civic Hall and of course our own much-loved Longfield Suite in Prestwich. A report on the potential options came to the Resource and Performance Scrutiny Commission the other night. I sit on this committee, but unfortunately the report is legally confidential so I can't disclose it's contents on here. What I can say is that the report contained no firm conclusions - just options, and that ...
The Care Quality Commission has finished a report into the 'nationwide problems' in out-of-hours GP care. It is clear that there is an urgent need to improve how the out-of-hours care system works. The Government's neglect in this area has ...
Apparently Gordon Brown is 'passionately' in favour of electoral reform well at least to the point of supporting AV+. Quite rightly people will wonder if he has been so passionate why it will be deferred until after an election and why it has taken so long to make any progress on this issue. If you ...
Sat through an ill-tempered and frankly dire council meeting last night, it lasted more five-hours, and in the end it seems that everyone fell out with everyone else. What I found depressing is that we had the Tories in our sights and didn't take the ...
This is one of 57 photos I added to my Flickr site last night of Nick Clegg's tour of the exhibition area of Conference in Bournemouth last week. The photos can be used by Liberal Democrat members in Lib Dem literature.The link to the photos is:
According to today's Metro, Nestle, who my friend and colleague Caron blogs about occasionally (about boycotting them regarding baby milk), has admitted it bought milk from Gushungo Dairy Estate, owned by Grace Mugabe, the wife of Robert Mugabe the evil dictator who controls Zimbabwe. Apparently Grace Mugabe obtained Gushungo Dairy Estate during the 2002 controversial land seizure programme. So when you feel the urge for a KitKat, just think about it first. The 55p you hand over to the shopkeeper, goes in the till but how much actually then goes to Grace Mugabe who is no doubt funding Robert Mugabe's ...
The October edition of Total Politics has a piece from me on how local authorities can learn from the Obama campaign's mastery of the internet to build communities of active and engaged residents: Why does your local council exist? There are many answers to that question, especially from different points on the political spectrum, but at the heart of nearly all of them is the belief that there are some tasks best done together rather than individually. That rationale is the same one that drives the creation of political parties and political campaign teams. Yet look at the websites of ...
Simon Armitage, the Huddersfield poet, is usually pretty good value when you give him a microphone and let him extemporise on a theme and last night he surpassed himself with his BBC Four documentary Upgrade Me in which he visited Korea and saw some of the prototype technology that companies based there, notably Samsung, have in the pipeline for the immediate future, which inspired a mixture of wonder and terror; wonder at the amazing abilities and power and design of such devices and the sheer technical advancement of such a society compared to ours, terror at the way these gadgets ...
Staffordshire hoard excavation from Dan Pett on Vimeo.Artefacts from the Staffordshire Hoard of Angl0-Saxon treasures are currently on display in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until Tuesday 13 October 2009. This has generated a lot of interest - there have been long queues round the side of the museum and news stories from around the world.There are over 1,500 objects in the Hoard, most
As Welsh councils prepare for the announcement next week of the Assembly budget, and brace themselves for what is likely to be the lowest annual increase in funding for local government since devolution, I can't help but wonder if the Welsh Assembly Government will spare itself from the same level of pain that the front line services we provide expect to have to suffer. It is well known that a couple of years ago, for instance, WAG invented a new inspection role for a group of civil servants in its education department when the previous work they had engaged in ...
Norfolk Liberal Democrats are celebrating a superb double victory in district council by-elections yesterday (Thursday). Both Ben McGilvray, in the Wroxham ward of Broadland District Council, and Hugh Lanham, in the Walsingham ward of North Norfolk District Council, registered impressive victories with huge swings to the Lib Dems. Significantly, both seats will be part of the new Parliamentary constituency of Broadland. The by-elections had been caused by the deaths of two Independent councillors David Teager and Tom Moore who represented Wroxham and Walsingham respectively. Ben, Hugh and their teams fought terrific campaigns, highlighting local issues and national concerns and both ...
10am - 2pm 8th OctoberSt Ninians Church, Wilbraham Rd Chorlton & Whalley Range wards are launching an older peoples forum at this event next Thursday. Initially it is in conjunction with Chorlton Good Neighbours, but the scope for development is wider than that. There are a number of activities taking place, including massage, clay modelling, glass painting and a free lunch. We would love to see you there...
On wednesday night I went to a meeting about reducing homophobic bullying in schools held by the LGB Forum. This is obviously an important topic, as with all aspects of every child matters. No child should have to be a victim of violence, emotional or neglect - whether it is due to sexuality, race, faith or anything else for that matter. At the meeting various officers and cllrs spoke. But what was most striking was the description of one young man of his fight against harrasment at a local school. He looked as though he was holding back the tears. ...
Yesterday I went to a Council meeting with a difference, to see the Honourable Artillery Company receive the Freedom of the Borough of Islington. The HAC is often summed up as the TA branch for the City of London, but that is not really a full or fair description. The HAC is a much more ancient ...
In September I had 8,668 Pageviews from 7,008 Visits and a total of 4,354 Absolute Unique Visitors. My top 5 blog posts were: 1) Interview with Douglas Carswell MP about "The Plan"2) The future of newspapers3) Interview on drugs policy with Phillip Oppenheim, former Conservative minister4) Fisking Mike Ion on LabourList regarding voting against Labour5) Campaigning against the ISA will not be easy Top 5 referring sites were: 1) blogs.telegraph.co.uk2) Lib Dem Blogs3) Lib Dem Voice4) Iain Dale's Diary5) Twitter.com 1,207 visits came from search engines and the top 5 search terms were: 1) mark reckons (246)2) drayson + goldacre ...
If you are involved in any community group which is committed to improving the quality of life for local people, why not apply for a "Grants for Groups" award from Durham County Council and Derwentside Council for Voluntary Service. Don't delay. Applications need to be in by November 6th 2009. For an application form, guidance notes and advice please contact the Gants Officer of Derwentside CVS on 01207 218855 or email dcvs@derwentside.org.uk
Reading Borough Council and Wokingham BC operate a park and ride down next to the bridge at Loddon Valley. It gives people commuting into town the ability to park their cars for free and then buy a bus ticket into Reading town centre. They benefit from cheaper day rates for parking, the town benefits from reduced congestion on the roads. Usage has dropped off a little due to the recession and due to a flooding incident last year. Nevertheless Park and Ride is part of Reading's strategy to reduce town centre congestion, and we receive "TIF pump priming" money from ...
It's been a madly busy week. On Saturday we had an action day in Clerkenwell, with dozens of helpers piling in. They got all our leaflets out by lunchtime, and canvassed chunks of the ward too. Meanwhile I stole away to enjoy the launch of Black History Month at St Mary Magdalene Academy. Over lunch ...
I have been following the various discussions regarding that Andrew Marr question with interest over the past few days, thinking over the various issues that it raised. Stephen Tall put this well at LibDem Voice, when he broke it down into two different points: was Marr right to pose the question, and should it matter what the ...
The Electoral Commission has published a report laying out a series of detailed and powerful criticisms of the cost-benefit analysis carried out for the Greater London Returning Officer into the use of e-counting for the 2012 London Mayor and Assembly elections. However, the Greater London Returning Officer (GLRO) appears determined to go ahead with electronic counting, having told a meeting he had made this decision before even hearing the Electoral Commission's views and despite even the flawed cost-benefit analysis showing that e-counting is more expensive than manual counting. The Guardian reported on Wednesday: The Greater London Assembly ... indicated last ...
The figures for September are now out* (and more detailed than previous monthly figures). During the month the 10 Downing Street website got: 2,802,438 page views, with 1,048,879 visits from 842,892 unique users... The number of Twitter followers is nearly at 1.5 million (1,427,896 as of 1 October 2009). Views of photos on Flickr during September amounted to 77,563, and have been viewed a total of 792,279 times in total. A video of Britain's Got Talent winners Diversity performing outside Number 10 has been watched 156,345 times on YouTube. Good to see this openness from a publicly funded website. Hopefully ...
A follow-up to Wednesday's post about the Conservative MEPs' alliance with Valdemar Tomaševski, a homophobic Lithuanian MEP, with Ed Davey now commenting: This is yet more evidence of the shameful way that Cameron has taken the Tories out of the centre-right mainstream of European politics, and allied them with a lunatic fringe of extreme right wingers and homophobes. Cameron has been at pains to portray his party as one of modern, 'liberal Conservatives'. It is hard to see where this fits in with an alliance with parties which support homophobic laws such as this.
My Birkdale Ward colleague Councillor Simon Shaw has condemned a proposal from Sefton Council's Standards Committee which could prevent councillors from telling the public how they voted on controversial issues. This week's meeting of Sefton's ruling, all-party Cabinet is being asked to endorse new rules approved recently by the Standards Committee, contained within so-called "Elected Members Media Guidelines." Simon has attacked a proposed new rule which says that councillors are not allowed to disclose how they and other councillors voted on decisions taken behind closed doors. He has called for the Cabinet to reject the latest proposal as having no ...
An email arrives from M&S. "Dear Customer Thank you for making a recent purchase from the Marks & Spencer website. At Marks & Spencer, we value your feedback and would like to know your views about the recent purchase you have made from our website...." Given my experience with my first (and last) online M&S purchase, I was ...
Following news that the RNID criticised the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for their lack of facilities for deaf customers, I was invited to meet CLAUDE Clear Audio Systems. The Fife company provides advice and supplies the full spectrum of audio equipment so that the 15% of the population that have hearing difficulties are not excluded. The company made contact with me after I kicked off a campaign to improve the service offered by call centres to their deaf customers. I'll now be contacting the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to get the two together.
Two big news stories BAE faces criminal charges over deals The FT reports on a high-stakes court battle between BAE Systems and the Serious Fraud Office after corruption investigators decided to press for criminal charges against the arms manufacturer over its dealings in Eastern Europe, South Africa and Tanzania. The SFO's referral to the attorney-general will throw a hugely controversial case of alleged bribery back into the public spotlight after Tony Blair, former prime minister, intervened in 2006 following Saudi Arabian pressure to stop a probe into the £43bn Al-Yamamah deal under which Riyadh bought UK aircraft and other defence ...
RT @mandateblog: Which Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet members got the most media coverage? Mark Pack on our blog http://bit.ly/fNJis #ldconf # @ElrikMerlin No longer work at Lib Dems, but that makes me more free to lobby on policy lines [IMG: :)] Do let me know what you think it should be # Petition to introduce preferential voting for Parliamentary elections | Number10.gov.uk http://bit.ly/1jXO3f # One day I'll follow my advice to others + use photo of myself as Twitter avatar, but for today - say hello to a new chocolate photo # Liberal Democrat leader voted in as PM ... ...
At my writers' club yesterday evening a member mentioned that his brother-in-law's mother had been at school with Margaret Drabble. She called her "Margaret Dribble".
It's one of those mornings where time is tight... and, in any case, I haven't wrote much about what's going on in the world lately, so this seems an opportune moment for some Newsfelch! Could I be wrong? Could my bold prediction that President Blair would not happen be yet another miserable failure? The Times certainly ...
So the threat of Compulsory Purchase Orders still hangs over those in the path of Donald Trump's. The four families whose homes are under threat from the American entrepreneur describe it as "intolerable psychological torture". One representative of the four, David Milne, yesterday addressed a full meeting of Aberdeenshire saying: "I don't know how many of you have even tried to imagine what it's like not knowing if your home will be your own for much longer - not knowing if the next birthday or Christmas will be the last in your own house," he said. "It is a horrible ...
As the conference season draws to an end, there is one more important conference that will take place. No, I'm certainly not talking about the Tory conference; I'm talking about the Welsh Lib Dem Autumn Conference in Wrexham. The setting for this years' conference is the newly established Glyndwr University in Wrexham, a Welsh Lib Dem-led Council. We chose the venue given its recent status as a University where young people have the opportunity to learn and develop and enter the Welsh job market to boost the Welsh economy - a commitment that Lib Dems subscribe to all across the ...
Other Liberal Drinks events are better attended than ours. Other Liberal Drinks events have more exciting discussions than ours. Other Liberal Drinks events certainly have more important people at them than ours. But only at ours, Liberal Drinks West Yorkshire, first Thursday of every month, can you find the almost-award-winning Charlotte Gore pissed off her face and playing Radiohead songs on the pub guitar: [IMG: Why our liberal drinks is better than yours: @charlottegore o... on Twitpic] The bemused-looking gentleman looking on is the definitely-not-award-winning Hywel Morgan, who is the leafletmeister. This blog is proudly sponsored by
I don't think of myself as old, perhaps middle-aged, but not old. As you get older you see changes in society some of which are not good and it is not just reminiscing. At the moment I am thinking of our attitude to debt. My parents grew up with the idea that you saved for something and then bought it. Me too. Now we have this idea that we can enjoy life today and pay for it tomorrow. Take, for example the private funding initiatives. It doesn't matter what kind of building it is. We can build schools or hospitals ...
As some of you may know Bedford Borough Council will be holding a by-election for Mayor of Bedford on 15th October 2009. Dave Hodgson has been selected by Bedford Liberal Democrats as their candidate for Mayor of Bedford.
