Forty-two years ago today, the Space Age officially began with the launch of Spunik 1 from the Baikonur Spacedrome making the Soviet Union the first space power. My dad used to tell me with amazement how as a young man in Iran late that night round a friend's house, who was a radio ham, they were absolutely transfixed by the "Beep-beep-beep" signals they were picking up. Truly astonishing, what we humans can do if we put our hearts, minds, and passion to achieve.
Today, Councillor James Lewis was selected to stand for the Labour Party in the South Leeds seat of Elmet and Rothwell. He beat Karen Bruce in the selection this afternoon. Karen is Labours long-term, losing Rothwell candidate. James will have a job holding on to this Labour seat at the next election. What's interesting to me is how late these selections are taking place. There are now only 7 months till the next general election and Labour still haven't selected a candidate for their held seat of Pudsey. However there are rumours going round that their candidate will be the ...
Saturday we attended cousin Ivan Sokolov's memorial event at the Directory of Social Change near Euston. As well as family there were lots of colleagues who had collaborated with Ivan in his various social projects, particularly the Parent Network, which he founded. Jacqui had organised the event, with a few people saying things about his life, and pieces of his favourite music. I had spoken to Ivan on Skype a couple of weeks before he died, and although he was very week he was still talking about possible cures - and he had sent me a long email describing it. ...
I hear that the terrible smell in the field off Darlington Back Lane is back with knobs on. I thought, and hoped the action on Tuesday would sort it but obviously not. Cllr Julia Cherrett has reported it to Environmental Health for urgent action.
Apparently the artist (and I use that term loosely) Tracy Emin is considering moving abroad because she does not want to pay 50% tax. She states that "the French appreciate art". Indeed the French do appreciate art, which makes me wonder what ms Emin will do there ? After all, great art will always have an audience. Whereas her career appears to me to be based around a pompous London based market obsessed with spending large sums of money city bonus money on "installations" which are neither thought provoking or artistic. Great art needs to make people gasp at the ...
This week my satirical eye noticed lots of people on the twitter asking for Google Wave invites, so here's a song about it – also known as "How many words can Will think of that rhyme with Wave and how many of those can he shoehorn into a song?" I sang along a bit too much in a club last night so I'm afraid I'm a bit hoarse. I think you get the point anyway. If you have a YouTube account, do subscribe to my YouTube channel here and, if you like it, rate, favourite and comment on the song ...
The latest comment from the Vatican on the Church's child sex abuse scandal is attempting to shift blame to the gay community at large rather than at the priesthood (hattip to Daniel Edward Pitt @myinfamy). It states that it is caused by gay men preying on teenage boys not paedophiles. Ignore for a start that paedophilia is the sexual attraction to children and therefore is gender non-specific. That is just a spin that the Church appears to be trying to say somehow that being sexually attracted to an opposite sex child is somewhat less debauched. Now there may well be ...
We took the kids on a walk through Gatley and Cheadle today, and even without too much moaning - though the promise of chocolate cake in Costa probably helped. We walked through Abney Park, then past Mill Lane Cemetary (where the kids stocked up with conkers), along Mill Lane past the Alex. Then carrying on past the end of Mill Lane, we followed the path past Barnes Hospital, alongside the railway line and finally down South Park Road and back home. Abney Hall, if Wikipedia is to believed, is where Agatha Christie wrote two of her stories and the basis ...
My earlier post prompted me to take the Liberal Democrat focus team to Blackhall Mill to conduct a residents survey. My colleague John McClury (councillor for Whickham South and Sunniside) had to bring his dog Coco, who went down well with the local youth. Many residents told me this was the first time in their life that a politician had called in person! There are a number of issues that residents have raised with me that I will be pursuing. But it's not all hard work. I bought a great bag of greenhouse raised tomatoes from a guy opposite Fife ...
I'm sending out my first letter asking for your help shortly - be warned! What I'm asking for is not the usual sort of support requested - although money is always useful of course - what I really want is for people who want to see a different sort of politics in South Norfolk to come out with me, or telephone people for me so that I can find out what REALLY matters to people in the constituency. You don't have to be a committee member, or even experienced as an activist - you need to want to be part ...
David Amess, Tory MP for Southend, told Virgin Airlines that Osama Bin Laden packed his bags then had the nerve to complain about the way the airline treated him. On top of this, he became ill on the plane (blaming it on travel sickness) and threw up in front of immigration officials. As someone who gets travel sick on occasions (never on a plane or boat though), I have to say I have never lost the use of my legs (I've never been legless, so to speak) when I was ill. You can read more about it HERE.
From birkdalefocus What happens to all that green waste that is collected from Birkdale all year for recycling? Well it is turned into excellent compost. There is a special offer on NOW where you can take a bag or two and fill up with free compost. Full details here. Last year Richard Hands and I took up the free compost offer last year. Thanks to Roy Connell for the tip off.
Good stuff from the Liberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber: "We have this little piece of Yorkshire that is totally out of our control and indeed our national government and parliament's control. I this (sic) we need to make a statement every so often and ask some probing questions." More on the BBC News site.
I'm ill, and still blogging. That is commitment. Someone email me a lemsip. As the contest to succeed Rhodri Morgan as Labour leader/First Minister begins, it's obviously going to be the main subject on the blogs. We now have three declared candidates. Edwina Hart, Huw Lewis and Carwyn Jones. Not much surprise or inspiration there really. Carwyn Jones' campaign website went live today and a formal declaration is probable tomorrow. But there isn't much agreement on who the eventual winner will be. Glyn Davies has first-hand experience in working with both Edwina and Carwyn during his time in the assembly. ...
Some time ago, I set up a mirror site for www.dundeewestend.com (a Blogger site) at www.westendblog.org.uk (hosted by Wordpress) w hen Blogger was experiencing problems with loading speed (thankfully now resolved). The www.westendblog.org.uk site has now had an extensive makeover. Over the weekend, I have experimented with a new template for www.dundeewestend.com as well, but concluded that with a customised layout and 1350 posts, it was more trouble than it is worth! However, I have tidied up the widgets on www.dundeewestend.com - and the new layout on www.westendblog.org.uk is much improved.
For here is what Nick Robinson has to say about David Cameron on Europe: So what does the self proclaimed "straight talking" guy say about one of the biggest foreign policy dilemma he's likely to face if he becomes prime minister? Nothing. Nowt. Nix. Zippo. Zilch. You can read the full post here.
Dave refused to set out how much he is worth when Andrew Marr interviewed him today. The BBC is running this as a top story but is it? Does it matter what Dave has in the bank? Everyone has a clear idea that he is a wealthy man and that he is posh but this really is a sideline to the major political issue, which is his complete lack of any direction. The interview included questions about Dave's call for banks to be deregulated before the crash and he fumbled that quite badly. This is the issue, for heavens sake: ...
I have been speaking with Scott at www.dundeechannel.com, an excellent initiative for the city. Here's an update www.dundeechannel.com has sent me : The Dundee Channel at www.dundeechannel.com is an internet based TV station which through the high speed internet can offer local people news and features about the local area on their PCs, laptops and iphones. Though yet to prove itself commercially viable, it is based on business models in the US. The channel has a secret weapon in his line up many businesses (especially in the West End) contributed to a video project at the turn of the century ...
A few months ago (if not years) I blogged about the European Union's online TV service. At that time EuroParl TV was dreadful, it really was unusable. Happily they have been steadily improving the site, and it is now a useful and interesting resource to help understand what is going on in Brussels. In particular it is nice to have an deliberately pro-European source of info, as opposed to traditional media in the UK. Here's a sample:
With Edwina Hart and Huw Lewis already declared as candidates to succeed Rhodri Morgan as First Minister it was only a matter of time before Carwyn Jones threw his hat into the ring as well. And sure enough earlier this afternoon, Carwyn's website appeared on-line together with a video, shot with a handheld camera Hill Street Blues style, and a new twitter account in English and Welsh. No sign of an on-line presence from Huw Lewis yet. At about the time that Carwyn Jones' first tweet appeared drawing attention to his website, Leighton Andrews, who I believe is involved in ...
Bill's European report - he sent this 2 weeks ago, so I'm a bit late posting. Dear fellow Lib Dem in the East Midlands, A report-back from the parliament. Two important votes are approaching 1. the General Election in Germany on 27th September 2. the referendum in Ireland on 2nd October about the Lisbon Treaty One of our Irish Liberal MEPs emailed : "Many people have been asking me whether they can help in any way in the Irish referendum campaign, and the answer is that a national referendum is, by definition, an internal national matter, even where, as in ...
Back in the early 1970s Radio One DJs had a habit of playing what I regarded as soppy songs by Clifford T. Ward. Most often it was Gaye, which reached no. 8 in the singles chart in 1973. I find his songs rather touching today. He is certainly a 1970s' singer-songwriter, but there is something awkward and heartfelt about his work that makes in stand out. In this video he also looks like the former school teacher he was and even his name is a little naff. Before going into teaching he had an unsuccessful shot at pop stardom as ...
Scheduling the Irish referendum for the eve of the Conservative conference is the stuff of political soap opera. Having hoped for a showcase to display their back-of-an-envelope policies, suddenly the Conservatives' most divisive issue comes back to haunt them like a giant Euro chicken coming home to roost in Manchester. All that talk of honesty and being straight with the British people comes to
There's been a lot of debate recently about the morality, ethics and legality of filesharing – between the success of the Pirate Party in the European elections, the formation of a similar party here, the proposals to cut off internet access for 'offenders' and the comments made by that towering intellect Lily Allen. As someone ...
In ink-deep water dwells The Kelpie and it's fearsome spells Lost in those moor-locked pools Ripples running from it's hooves It waits in a weed-choked lair For passing fools and maidens fair To ride away with, free and high Across the lake, beyond the sky They'll realise all too late What's to be their awful fate As the Kelpie dives below Plung'd to icy death they go The water horse gallops, see the waves While mortal bones waste in watery graves The miller's daughter wanders near The millpond, up beyond the weir And there, reflected in gleaming deeps Her beauty ...
Poor old Arnold Schwarzenegger. He replaced a previously unpopular Californian Governor, Gray Davis, after a recall election. Now Arnie is as unpopular as Davis. Californian state staff are being paid in IOUs, unemployment is at its highest in 70 years and teachers are on hunger strike. It's being seriously suggested that California may become the USA's first failed state. Oh dear.
There is a revealing snippet on Iain Martin's Wall Street Journal blog today. It highlights how the decision to drop the agreement to a TV debate from Gordon Brown's speech was taken and the consequences of that decision. An exasperated Labour aide said: Do you know when the decision was finally taken by Gordon to drop the commitment to debate Cameron from the speech? At 1:30 in the morning on the day of his speech, that's when he decided. At that point there's panic. Quick, who has some substance we can use to fill the hole in the speech? That's ...
So finally the Tories have a proper disruption to their conference, something us Lib Dems are used to. Obviously, there will be a post conference boost in the polls, but it makes you wonder what would have happened in the European elections if it had not been overshadowed by the MP expenses, and we had had a ...
The idea that standards can be improved by sacking teachers, bringing in people who have received no teacher training and handing schools over to those organisations that have already proved cannot be trusted to run schools seems a daft idea. But not if you are a Tory education spokesman. Read more HERE. Would we sack privates in the army if a military operation failed ? Would we sack police officers if crime went up ? Would we sack firemen if a fire cannot be put out quickly ? Then if all these daft things were done, would we replace these ...
According to the Wikio stats, Liberal Vision has zoomed up the blog charts with a leap of seventeen places, thereby smashing in to the top 30 at number 24. Amongst political blogs, we are now 19th in the UK, a rise of thirteen places. Thanks to all our readers.
You are just coming up to your 50th birthday. Naturally, you pen a 3,500 word letter to your (younger) self and have it published in the Daily Mail. Naturellement. Doesn't everybody? -All part of the unending entertainment with which Simon Cowell provides us. We must be most grateful.
On Friday I blogged about how buying a kitkat was funding Robert Mugabe and that according to Nestle they stopped purchasing milk from Grace Mugabe who now owns Gushungo Dairy Estate. However, last Friday I emailed Nestle directly to ascertain the facts. Today I received a reply from a Consumer Relations Executive in the Consumer Services Department where at no point in the email does it say that Nestle have stopped purchasing milk from Grace Mugabe or Gushungo Dairy. Here is the email in full; "Dear Mr Reeves, Thank you very much for your email. Nestlé Zimbabwe owns and operates ...
Delegations aren't just about meeting politicians, there is as much to learn from meeting thinktanks whom, after all, contribute many of the ideas that politicians then adopt. And so, as a board member of a thinktank myself, I was interested to see whether Indian thinktanks operate in a similar fashion. The Centre for Policy Research, which describes itself as the premier think tank shaping policy debates since 1973. Unlike most thinktanks I am familiar with, CPR has a faculty, headed by K C Sivaramakrishnan, former Secretary at the Ministry of Urban Development. And that, perhaps, gives you a sense of ...
I was please to hear this weekend that Gordon Brown has a greed to debates in the run-up to the General Election. I like most Liberals can only welcome this move. It will give us the opportunity to show the electorate that only the Liberal Democrats can offer real change for our country. I will particularly hope that these debates will also include the Chancellor and George Osborne with Vince Cable alike. I think that the electorate will see that only the Liberal Democrats have been honest on the Economy.
An interesting detail from this BBC News story: But shadow foreign secretary William Hague has warned that the Tories would be prepared to lobby European capitals to block Mr Blair's appointment. If only there was an organisation for European centre-right parties that they could join. Why, such an organisation might include key European leaders like Merkel, Sarkozy ...
It'll be interesting to see the reaction from the Green movement and Ahmadinejad's own supporters if this news finds a way of exploding in Iran. Anyways, the Telegraph's article on the revelation speaks for itself.
Most people think that corruption in politics is about money or services swapping hands to oil a decision, but long before that stage is reached, there's an earlier stage. The stage when people in power seem to think that the rules don't quite apply to them, they are above the laws that us "little people" have to obey. That's the sign of a Government on the path to sleaze. Baroness Scotland was responsibly for bringing in the rules which she violated when employing her housekeeper. Rules which were highly complex (I have never hired a housekeeper, but I didn't know ...
I was delighted to be asked to open the new Talk Matters premises at Dickson House in Elgin Street, Dunfermline a couple of weeks ago. Talk Matters is a confidential counselling service available for people in Fife with a wide range of problems including anxiety, anger, stress, depression or bereavement.
I was in Blackhall Mill this morning helping our Blaydon candidate Neil Bradbury deliver a survey in the village. There was some door knocking and chatting to residents and a useful call into the community centre where a coffee morning was being held. People were happy to talk.From Blackhall Mill we headed to Rowlands Gill to deliver a couple of patches with our latest tabloid. 400 copies hit
Europe remains a constant thorn in the Conservatives side; in the Major years the factional fracas epitomised a government in decay. Now, it stands as a symbol of how little and how skin deep the changes the Conservatives have undergone actually are; while saying 'compassionate conservatism' and modern values are the Conservatives creed they are aligned in ...
At the start of his party's conference in Manchester, Tory leader David Cameron has announced plans "to get Britain working again" – but his comments have drawn a sharp response from the Lib Dems' shadow work and pensions secretary Steve Webb: This is yet more Tory posturing. Much of what David Cameron is proposing - such as reviewing people on incapacity benefit - is happening already. "But the central assumption - that unemployment is simply about the workshy not applying for jobs - is ridiculous in the middle of a global recession. There are parts of the country now where ...
Iain Dale is getting all excited about Louise Bagshaw summarising Tory policy on the Lisbon Treaty in three tweets. You can read it HERE. The version Iain is getting excited about is Here's our policy on Lisbon: we oppose it, and we want a referendum. And if it's not ratified by polling day, we'll have one. And if it is?If it is, we'll announce what we do about its lack of legitimacy then. The Tories: crossing bridges when we come to them. Labour hates it when David Cameron is pragmatic. It's sweet how desperate for a Euro-split they are. This ...
Islington residents will have smiled wryly at the claim that Labour-led boroughs will be freezing the Council Tax next year. As we know all too well, Islington Labour put up our council tax this year, to pay for their pet project of universal free primary school meals. Given that families on low incomes already get ...
Yesterday, here in Ankara, at the Congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Prıme Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan waxed quite poetic about his road map to solve the country's troublesome Kurdish question, without actually revealing what is in it. He said he was taking a risk and to an extent indeed he is; there are ...
A planning application has come in for the demolition of the buildings on the Builders Yard site, Springbank Road and the construction of a five storey building with 33 residential units. People can see the application on the Lewisham web site at http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/Environment/Planning or at Lewisham reference library. The reference number for this application is DC/09/72316 Comments should be sent by 15 October to planning@lewisham.gov.uk
House of Twits has done an rather brilliant thing. The Twitter aggregator site has expanded to become a political blog aggregator on which Liberal-Vision.org is featured. It's a must-read site for all those interested in what the grass roots of UK politics have to say. It's a non-partisan site featuring a wide-range of activists and commentators from all facets of the political spectrum and will be a invaluable resource during the next election. Check it out at houseoftwits.co.uk
There is no evidence that any of the major political parties in India see themselves as liberal in any sense that we might recognise. However, there are signs emerging that liberalism is becoming more relevant in terms of the political debate. In that vein, a breakfast meeting was held with the Director of the Liberty Institute, Barun Mitra, to see if there was potential for future collaboration. I admit that he came across as more of an academic than a politician, but there is no doubt that their agenda is well within the ballpark of modern liberalism. I was more ...
[IMG: Lynne Featherstone at book launch] The pub (The Three Compasses on Hornsey High Street) where I have my constituency office upstairs was designed by the famous architect John Farrer - hence local references Farrer Road, Farrer Mews etc). Last week - the Hornsey Historical Society launched a new book by one of its members, Janet Owen, 'John Farrer - The Man who changed Hornsey' in the Three Compasses - because the pub itself was designed by John Farrer and adorns the front cover! John Farrer's work is evident in many parts of Hornsey and his contibution to its development ...
When I think back to 15th May 2007 when I asked Will Howells to set this blog up, I never thought that I would ever get the high number of people that now regularly read my blog, some even daily or that I would ever get to do anything like guest editor for Scottish Roundup as I have done this week. I used to joke on the blog about both my readers but as I go round the UK to different events whether it be family, meetings or work I always get people coming up to me saying I read ...
I just watched Cameron on Andy Marr. It's just the same old same old. First thing he said was that he (and the Tories) were going to be straight talking. (Bit of a cheek as that is one of our three top lines). But worse - he then proceeded to be anything but straight over the Tory position on Europe and the referendum. If the Lisbon Treaty gets ratified by the remaining countries before the next General Election - what will the Conservatives then do? Perfectly fair question - but one that he doesn't want to answer. Cameron simply failed ...
Cancer Research UK welcomes the emphasis placed on public health and disease prevention in 'A Fresh Start For Britain' recently backed by the Liberal Democrat conference – through mention of the need to tackle obesity, alcohol abuse, and smoking. We know that around half of all cancers are potentially preventable, so we welcome this focus. However, we believe there is one important omission – the need to better regulate the sunbed industry. Earlier this year, the International Agency for Research on Cancer re-classified UV radiation (and therefore sunbeds) – elevating it to it's highest risk category for cancer, the same ...
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: We've been crunching the post-conference numbers again, and here are the top fifteen Labour Cabinet members when it comes to gaining coverage over their party's conference in the print media and their online versions. Listed in order of volume of coverage, it's no surprise that Gordon Brown tops the list - or that Peter Mandelson is in at number two. However, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth appears a long way down the list, despite the high profile of Britain's military deployments, whilst the friendly brotherly rivalry between the Miliband brothers still sees David being the more ...
It is becoming more obvious now that the public family law system in England particularly is broken. Within the system there are some good people doing a good job, but a lot of the system is almost going off at random. There is an overload of references for DV and the filtering system which should identify where action is needed fails.What particularly broke the system was in fact a
Hello everyone, I hope you're having a good weekend. Well, it's Tory Party Conference and Parliamentarians, journalists and various other strands of political flotsam and jetsam are amassing in Manchester. The same Labour Lovelies who would have been loitering about Labour Party Conference in 1996 have reinvented themselves as Tory Totty and thus the political circle of life is perpetuated. The atmosphere is expected to be buzzing in excitement at the prospect of a Tory government. Those in the Libertarian community are less excited. In fact we're expecting it to be an equally depressing prospect for those of us who ...
"Yeah, but, no, but, yeah, but, no, but" etc As their former leaders know, the Conservative party love a good punch-up over Europe. It's almost worth seeing them in government again to witness the fun we saw in the mid-90s. One minute they want to be 'at the heart of Europe', then they are Eurosceptics trying to 'save the pound', now a beautifully poised fudge. (To be fair, we can't blame David Cameron for being vague. He only has to keep everyone quiet and he will be walking into Number 10 - heaven help us). The Lisbon Treaty process is ...
The upcoming event Colleges Week is looking for talented filmmakers. Where are they likely to be hiding, other than Chorlton? The week long event take place from the 9 - 15th November and is designed to celebrate the opportunities colleges create for individuals, businesses and Britain. As part of the Colleges Week celebration, a nationwide competition is being launched called 'I'm running the show'. The competition is calling on students to submit a video, up to 2 minutes, of what they would do if they were 'running the show' for a day. Students are invited to answer the question in ...
Great action day in Bunhill yesterday. Yes, we had a record number of activists out – so many we had to go into the HQ in shifts. We delivered most of the ward and did so much canvassing we ran out of survey forms. We found lots of new supporters. I visited some of the ...
If you were in Bournemouth, you may have already picked up a copy of the latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.335 - September 2009). It's a bumper 40-page conference edition, packed with comment from many leading Liberal Democrats. Here's a summary of the contents: • The editorial column Commentary identifies the four key elements of 'Cleggism'. • The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin analyses the dispute in the Federal Policy Committee over 'commitments' and 'aspirations'. • Our lead article 'Stop, search, listen' is written by Duwayne Brooks (a Liberal Democrat councillor in Lewisham and author of Steve and Me: My Friendship with ...
The BPS Research Digest blog has recently posted this post about an interesting bit of research on political activism. Apparently... One hundred and twelve student participants were encouraged to write to the college cafeteria director calling on him to source food more locally and ethically. These students subsequently reported feeling more energised and alive than a ...
I asked Phillip Lee a few questions about his politics and what he can offer Bracknell in his selection of one of the 7 candidates who are standing in the open primary for the new Tory PPC to replace Andrew Mackay MP. Details of the other candidates on the short list can be found here. 1. What can you offer the Bracknell constituency? I can offer my enthusiasm, drive and professional experience. I have worked throughout the Bracknell constituency, having already cared for over 2500 constituents in Finchampstead and Bracknell Town. When I undertake sessions for the East Berkshire 'Out ...
I was stunned by David Cameron's interview on today's Andrew Marr Show. Have a look and draw your own conclusions.
Today's Sunday Times lead story begins: David Cameron is to unveil a plan to get Britain back to work by forcing millions of welfare claimants into training. The assault on the dependency culture is similar to programmes in America. Private firms that prepare people for employment and place them in jobs would be paid by results. Most people who have been unemployed for more than six months, including the disabled and single mothers, would be required to join the new privatised schemes or see their payments cut. I wonder how this will play with middle-class voters? Of course, we can ...
I have spent a chunk of this morning discussing Inheritance Tax with a few people on Twitter. There is clearly a very strong feeling amongst certain people about this tax. Phrases like "Death Duties" and "Taxing the dead" were used at various points. There was also one person who had been forced to sell their home in order to pay IHT. The view I have taken on IHT is that it is actually taxing the heirs rather than the dead. I have also perceived it as a means of increasing social mobility. However I fully accept that there are problems ...
David Cameron's confused policy on Europe became more opaque yesterday with the overwhelming vote in Ireland in favour of endorsing the Lisbon Treaty. The Independent on Sunday reports that the Tory leader heads into his party conference facing an increasingly bitter row over Europe and a new poll showing half of voters are uncertain over what he stands for. They say that the start of the Conservative conference in Manchester looks set to be overshadowed by escalating demands for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty after Ireland voted decisively in favour of EU reform: Mr Cameron yesterday refused to bow ...
Where to build 500 new home a year is a real challenge-that that is the dilemma which Sefton residents and councillors are wrestling with. As part of the exercise a working party was established to examine the matter in more detail. As we have reported before our Tories are very keen to have equal representation on such groups -even tho' they are the smallest party by some way-they simply haven't got the gist of proportionality. As we have also reported we have had the spectacle of the Tory leader jumping up at full council meetings and demanding to know why ...
In the early 1990s the World Health Organisation believed that Measles could be eradicated by 2010. Unfortunately they did not count on the tabloid hysteria that would surround one piece of research in 1998, which came to the conclusion that there could be a link between the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) jab and autistic spectrum disorders. This research has now been discredited. The Lancet, in which the piece was originally published, has stated that they 'regret' publishing the research and that they would not have done so 'with hindsight'. Many studies have been carried out since the 1998 research, ...
Many years ago I sat on the old Family Practitioners Committee (FPC) overseeing GPs, dentists etc. One Doctor (no doubt exhausted from being on call all night) regularly used to shut his eyes and nod off. It meant that when important votes were being taken he didn't always know what we were discussing. After a while I guess his colleagues had a word with him and he stopped attending. Something in the last few days has triggered that memory and the vision of that poor man's confusions has haunted my dreams. It is embarrassing when you land up voting the ...
Vince has a fab column on Gordon Brown's Poorhouses scheme this week. Unfortunately, it's in the Daily Fail. Click through if you can bear to give the fail your clicks, but if you do remember to vote up the good comments and down the bad ones ;)
Cameron's interview on The Andrew Marr show was very revealing. Not revealing in terms of learning much about the man or his policies, but revealing regarding his strategy for the coming months. To paraphrase Paul Waugh, Cameron is using tough rhetoric without giving concrete proposals. Sound tough now, answer the questions on the details later. ...
This week's headline figures, then:515 absolute unique visitors2073 visitsBusiest day: MondayMost-clicked-through-to entry: I am Woman, Hear Me Roar; 323 pageviews( more Google Analytics statporn under here ) I really ought to start making a dent on all that stuff I'm supposed to be doing tomorrow...
A quote from the Murdoch owned Times yesterday "Elderly people will no longer be forced to sell their homes to pay for care under a scheme proposed by the Conservatives. " Actually, what it should have said is "Elderly people who are able to afford it will no longer be foreced to sell their homes. Those who cannot afford to pay will still have their homes taken from them, under proposals put forward by the Conservatives.
Neil Stockley has written a great post illustrating the power of story telling in speeches, using the example of Katy Gordon's speech at the Liberal Democrat Bournemouth Conference. Katy was speaking about the proposals to take action over the widespread airbrushing of photographs illustrating female beauty: I wanted to know if the proposals in this paper would be seen as more of the nanny state: those do-gooding Liberals getting worked up over trivia. So I took it along to a group of ordinary women in my constituency of Glasgow North, at the North West Women's Centre in Maryhill. The group ...
The mycouncillor websites will be down for a period today. I aplogise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Light the fire, pour yourself a glass of whatever is your tipple and join in our new game. The Independent publishes a front page today depicting the two faces of Cameron. We have devised a 'local' version of the exercise and early indications suggest that when compared with our local Tories Cameron is a model of consistency and intellectual coherence. Why don't you play the game at home; how many examples can you find when local Tories have presented different policies on the same issue. Incidentally none of the examples identified to date come close to the version of Tory ...
It's crisis time at work again, at least for the next week, which means blogging's going to be light again. Apologies.
During the debate on MPs' expenses at the Lib Dem conference recently, one of the speakers, Michael Meadowcroft, suggested that instead of having open primaries as a way of restoring trust in the political process, why not use the Single Transferable Vote (STV) instead? STV has been the preferred voting system of the Liberal party and Liberal Democrats for many decades, and was championed by the greatest liberal of all, John Stuart Mill, in the nineteenth century. This week Gordon Brown announced that Labour, if re-elected, would propose a referendum on the Alternative Vote (AV) system, in which instead of ...
There is an article in this week's Golf Week (hattip to Two Doctors) which remonstrates Trump's two headed move into Scottish golf. First they are very strong about the recent decision of Aberdeenshire Council not ruling out compulsory nature. While there is nothing in the Royal and Ancient's Rules of Golf condemning it Golf Week says: "The prospect of four families being turned out of their homes for the sake of a golf course does not bear thinking about. I'm sure whole villages have been shifted in other parts of the world to make room for golf courses, but we're ...
Here's my latest column for the Ham & High: Every day we are bombarded with literally hundreds of images of people. In our city few surfaces are left without some form of graphical advertising. And as any good advertiser designer will tell you - you can't sell without a face. But how often have you ever stopped to study the faces that sell you something? If you took the time you would probably notice something odd about the people enticing you to buy. On close inspection you will find something surreal - teeth that gleam just a bit too brilliantly ...
You'll all remember the classic picture of Princess Diana in Agra, posed on a marble bench with the Taj Mahal itself as the backdrop. Indeed, you'll all know the story of the Taj Mahal - ruler meets girl, falls in love, swears undying love, builds enormous and magnificent tomb to mark her passing. Of course, Diana was there very early in the morning, when the public are excluded, and when the temperature was at its most bearable. They probably didn't mention the drive - she was probably flown - the fact that, in late September the temperatures are in the ...
On the BBC website now. Coming soon: Chris Moyles on Andrei Tarkovsky.
It's Sunday. It's 7am. It's time for the Daily View, today with an election night special. 2 Big Stories David Cameron stalls on Europe David Cameron bravely stuck his neck out by, er..., insisting that the Tories "could only have one policy at once". Not multitaskers then: David Cameron has refused to give an unequivocal commitment to a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, after Irish voters delivered a 67% "Yes" vote. The Tory leader promised a vote on the treaty should his party win the election – but only if it had not been ratified by all EU member states. ...
The supposed defection of the British Sun Newspaper from supporting Labour to supporting the Conservatives got me thinking about the overall state of health of the Newspaper industry, and why anyone would really care what some foreign-owned rag thinks about British politics. Like an increasing number of people I read much of my news online. I will focus on certain stories and try to get differing points of view. However the UK tabloid press generally has pretty awful websites, so I typically don't bother to read them. When in the UK I will sometimes go and buy an actual newspaper, ...
At last Gordon Brown has agreed to take part in this style of debate, it's worth noting that Nick Clegg and David Cameron agreed some time ago. Wonder what has persuaded Gordon to participate??
If you are interested in steam trains this video will be of interest to you. I filmed it at the recent Tanfield Railway steam gala weekend. The Tanfield Railway is the worlds oldest continuously running steam railway. It is also in my ward in Gateshead.
Some of these reviews can also be found on Amazon.In September 2009 I read the following books: 1. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley It's hard to decide what I think of this - other than that it's great and everyone should read it. It is not, contrary to what many think, an anti-technological screed, nor an anti-communist or anti-capitalist one. If anything it is anti-conformity and pro-individualism. That the World Controllers enforce conformity through technology and consumption of consumer goods is neither here nor there - it is clear that conformity enforced through other means, such as hierarchical religion, ...
Later this month I will be sharing a platform at the Libertarian Alliance Conference with Shane Firth of Progressive Vision and Mark Littlewood of Liberal Vision on the subject of how to advance libertarian ideals through other political parties. Sometimes, however, it is not clear to me why I should bother trying to promote the Liberal Democrats to those who want to see us with greater liberties. There are a few vocal Lib Dem members who appear to delight in every possible opportunity to denigrate libertarians in the party, and to dismiss us as the vanguard of a neo-Thatcherite "right" ...
It is now the C0nservatives' turn for dishing out policy to their members. I did mention Gordon's announcements last week as he pushed policy onto the members. How would I like policy to be announced? That's easy. Let the members debate the pros and cons and then vote. The first news that I have heard from the Tories is about financing residential care for the elderly without having to sell their homes. This is obviously good news because headlines are made when people sell their houses to pay for such homes. Well look a bit more at the Tory policy ...
