I am horrified as I read the Guardian article about them being gagged whilst I breakfast. Not pleased though to read on and see they have given the credit of the press having freedom to print the proceedings of parliament to John Wilkes. He was around but it was BRASS_CROSBY.DOC that did it. So whilst still eating porridge a letter was sent off The Guardian pointing this out. I don't expect...
PLANNING APPLICATION A Planning application has been lodged by Care UK for the siting of a mobile Health Clinic at Tesco's for a period of seven years. Details would be appear sketchy at present but presumably it will be one of those mobile testing clinics - where you can get your blood pressure checked out or perhaps have more serious matters checked/tested for problems. All potentially very good but immediately questions spring to mind. Firstly why isn't this happening at the walk in centre (or its much hoped for LIFT centre replacement)? I thought the NHS was hard up. So ...
It seems one of the major public health problems we have in this country at the moment is binge drinking. In the short term, you have the cost of policing Friday and Saturday nights and queues of injured drunkards at A&E, in the long term you have people with liver failure and other alcohol related injuries out of work and pushing up the cost of health and welfare. I would go so far to argue that certain people in my generation will never change their drinking habits. The current culture is as follows: Pre-load at home with cheap supermarket alcohol, ...
I asked Julia Manning a few questions about her politics and what she 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 will offer the best years of my life based on: 20 years real life experience in the NHS and business entrepreneur, the knowledge gained as a mum bringing up a family, working with some of the most ...
Tonight's "Evening Telegraph" had an excellent article about the graffiti menace in the city. Go to http://tinyurl.com/telegraffiti or click on the headline above to read the article. As I made clear in the article, the City Council's cleansing services manager had assured me that a short-life working group has been set up on a city-wide basis to look at ways of proactively tackling graffiti problems in Dundee - and an "anti-graffiti group" has also been established in the West End. The West End group meets on Thursday and arises out of a discussion about the graffiti problem at the West ...
[IMG: The sky above Bathwick] For those of you who tire of exhautively detailed pothole reports, we have an attractive picture of Bathwick in the evening. Living halfway up Bathwick Hill, I have the perfect combination of a good view but without too far to walk when I head into town. Thus, every morning on my way to work I have the city spread before me. Previously it has been lit with newly risen sunlight, but recently I find myself at work before the sun has cleared Claverton Down. This morning was particularly picturesque, however, with the mist hanging in ...
It struck me yesterday morning that Nick Clegg could really have stolen the thunder of Cameron by making an early statement to the effect that any Lib Dem MP not willing to pay back money owed would be deselected and have the whip withdrawn. I note this morning that Cameron has said words to this effect. A missed opportunity by Clegg.
When I heard that the Hammond Arboretum was going to be open to the public last Sunday I was keen to visit it. Because the last time I went there I got sent to the deputy head. You see, the arboretum adjoins the Robert Smyth School in Market Harborough, but it was firmly out of bounds when I was at the school. (And, incidentally, we did have permission to be there. Sort of. Very nearly.) In those days the arboretum was badly overgrown, but a lot of restoration work has been done in recent years. Francis Hammond was the headmaster ...
Shop of the Week this week goes to Stokes the Greengrocers. Having lived in Camborne for many years, I realise for some this may be a bit of a contentious choice. When Stokes first arrived in Camborne, there were many raised eyebrows about whether it would cause the other greengrocers in the town to lose business or even close down. Who can say what ultimately caused the other fruit and veg stores to sadly shut their doors, but now that Stokes is our only dedicated fresh groceries shop on the high street, I do think it's important to help ensure ...
I've had a response to my letter requesting that the owners of the Victoria Centre car park apply their parking restrictions only to cars that arrive between 6.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. It wasn't fulsome, but it may offer a glimmer of hope that common sense will prevail. Here it is: I refer to your letter of the 28th September in respect of the parking restrictions. We are currently considering your proposal and will respond to you shortly as to whether these matters will be considered. As always, I'll keep you posted.
Various MPs are disputing the fairness and legality of Thomas Legg's retrospective application of limits to cleaning and gardening expenses. They shouldn't. Their argument is that if you employer approved your expenses, they shouldn't later change the rules and ask for it back. The problem with this picture is that the parliamentary fees office isn't the MPs' superior, it is their subordinate. You cannot pass the buck to a subordinate. This is not a case of your boss saying "you can claim for this". It is more like your secretary saying "oh yes I'd claim for that if I were ...
Now call me old fashioned (and it appears that I have Stephen Tall for company here), but I'm beginning to get the impression that there is no level of self-abasement out of reach of our politicians. The expenses scandal was just that, with a regime for expenses which lacked any credibility, either in itself or in terms of its administration. Fine, change it. Make it transparent, punish those who transgress, whether as claimants or administrators. However, we are now going beyond retribution even, to a point where the laws of natural justice and common sense are placed in suspended animation. ...
At the beginning of One World Week there is going to be a Coffee Morning with the Fair Trade Store- a Birkdale based business. Please come along to St John's Church Hall between 10.00am and noon on Saturday 17th October. There will be lots to see and buy.
When CCTV cameras first appeared, we were assured that the images would only used for law and order - until DVDs of CCTV's greatest moments started to circulate. Now Manchester Airport is piloting new machines which effectively show people naked. Now that can be more appealing than the thought of being "patted down" (though that might depend on who is doing the patting), but the real question is what happens to the images? We are assured that the images will be destroyed at once, unless they show something which may be required in Court. This is the issue of trust. ...
I've been taking a wander round the Trafigura website after all the excitement yesterday and today. The state of the Trafigura website is the least of the company's problems at the moment, but it still provides a useful example of the problems all sorts of firms can run in to with their own web presence. It provides three lessons that are applicable to pretty much any corporate website, and all the more so if the firm is less in the media than Trafigura because in such situations the website plays a bigger role in the firm's identity. Lesson one: visit ...
... so we used up the remains of the last one tonight. Because I have been having ARGH BAD BACK we hadn't used much of it at all. So tonight's tea was a medley of roast vegetables (carrots, parsnips, beetroot and potatoes) with mashed butternut squash. Then I ran the apples and grapes through the juicer and we're having juice and gin for pudding. I totally had my five a day today :D Veg box is something that might at first seem something of a luxury, given our limited budget, but it has actually reduced our food spending enormously - ...
Planning Alerts has been a really useful website, I'm really disappointed to have received the following email tonight:As some of you may already have spotted in the news, Planning Alerts hasbeen effected by legal action by the Royal Mail:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7700621.stmWe are left with the choice of paying the Royal Mail up to £4,000 ayear for access to the postcode database and
Blogging may be light for the next week as I am off to New York, New York, New York (so good they named it several times or something) on Thursday. I may get the chance to post intermittently but I will mainly be focusing on having a good holiday. In an unusual move (for me) I'm going with my Mum. I haven't been on holiday with her for about 20 years! However, rest assured that the BBC Question Time Live Chat will still be on on Thursday evening. There will be a guest host this week, Dazmando from Bracknell Blog ...
The second half of my pen portraits of the England party to tour South Africa this winter has been posted at The Corridor: Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire) "Is that Sidebottom?" someone asked me at Trent Bridge a few summers ago. "No," I replied, "it's just a quirk of his bowling action." More about my writing for The Corridor here.
It's been somewhat overshadowed by the Trafigura affair, but it's good that Dutch MP Geert Wilders has managed to overturn the ban on him coming to the UK which was introduced by former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith (whatever happened to her?). I am no apologist for his views, which as I blogged in February are based on falsehoods and distortions. But I don't believe he incites violence and so he should be free to come to this country to air his views. People like Wilders can best be tackled if their opinions are exposed and argued with, not given a ...
Geert Wilders has won his appeal to be allowed into the UK. I am delighted. By keeping him out, the government gave him an air of matrydom and a sheen of mystique. By letting him, we can all plainly see what a preening idiot he is.
In the US Olympia Snowe (R-ME) has said she will vote for the health care reform bill in the Senate Finance Committee today. This is a mega epoch-making event. The Democrats have persuaded a single Republican senator to vote for the bill! It ought to be noted that Olympia Snowe represents a state which contains 0.43% of the population of the United States. Maine. "Murder she wrote" was based there - remember? They catch a lot of lobster there, too. In fact, the significance of Snowe's vote is not so much to give the reform plan a sort of "bipartisan" ...
Today has been very weird, I want you to be honest with me now, had you heard of Trafigura before the explosion on Twitter this morning? I certainly hadn't but thanks to the fuss this morning by Carter-Ruck I have spent a fair amount of time this evening reading up on it and am not overly impressed by what I have discovered. Trafigura sponsor the British & Irish Lions, the reason I mention this is because on the latest news and our news section that is the last bit of news, from the 31st March 2009 - hardly inspiring when ...
...to go from being a company known by relatively few people to becoming a symbol of global corporate evil within the space of 24 hours. It's even more remarkable to do so without having much coverage in the mainstream media. Today's events surrounding Trafigura and its doomed attempt to gag coverage of its toxic dumping in the Ivory Coast certainly show the ability of the internet/blogs/Twitter to make the running on a story like this, although Alix Mortimer is probably right that this would all have been in vain without political action also being taken. It certainly shows an ability ...
[IMG: 177.JPG] Twelve votes were all it took at my Scrutiny Committee today to advance plans to close Ewing school and radically alter Special Needs Provision in Manchester. The plan looks to equalise service throughout Manchester. North Manchester has no Special needs schools, but controversially Council officers have chosen to mainstream much of the provision, closing Ewing school in Didsbury & shrinking Lancasterian school, in Chorlton Park. I raised my concerns that there were no clear examples of best practice to suggest this would work, nobody anywhere had previously tracked positive results for this scheme and that a pilot must ...
As Helen Duffett already blogged earlier today on Lib Dem Voice, a combination of the Guardian's legal team and Twitter users worldwide combined today to restore some element of common-sense to the law – allowing the media to report a Parliamentary question tabled by Paul Farrelly asking about the publication of the Minton Report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura. [IMG: LDV trafigura TY] In one sense, Trafigura and its lawyers Carter Ruck behaved shamefully in attempting to gag newspapers from reporting on Parliamentary proceedings. But in another, more profound, sense we ...
The UKBA has begun the scientifically flawed, blatantly racist DNA profiling of asylum seekers to determine their ethnicity *ahem* 'nationality'.73% of children held at UKBA detention centres are developing mental health issues during their captivity. (More than half of these children won't even be deported).The UKBA is adding extra inconvenience for those claiming asylum by requiring them to
An excellent event at Jospice to launch Sefton's new standard for consultation. Jayne Vincent (photo right) and all the team have worked really hard and brought together a wide range of people and interests to sign up to these new standard. Further information should be on the Council's website soon. The great and the good were out in force; the police, the fire authority, voluntary sector, young people, PCT etc.The day began with Sefton CEO, Margaret Carney, and the PCT CEO, Lee Griffin, endorsing the new standards. I have no hesitation in telling you that this is real progress in ...
Anne Unwin wrote to me this morning: Can anyone help? Watching the 1959 General Election coverage on the BBC Parliament Channel last week I was amazed to see how crucial the result in Manchestor Gorton was because it was such a marginal seat. I was four at the time of the election and the footage showed my father who was Konni Zilliacus's election agent. We did not even have a TV in 1959 and weren't aware of film's existence. The BBC cannot supply me with a copy of the programme but we wondered if someone out there had recorded it. ...
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] Tonight, during this council meeting I am going to try an little experiment: I will be twittering the events - as they happen! (massive hat tip to Jo Swinson who did the same thing but in Parliament) Obviously, I will be primarily engaged in full council business - hence why it is only an experiment - but from time to time I will be posting what has been voted for in your name. I may have no time at all and end-up not saying a word! lol You can follow me on @glenn_goodall in twitter, or just read ...
As I gear up to bring the Liberal Democrats for Drug Policy Reform website online, I thought I'd practice ripping apart the arguments for retaining prohibition. Here's one from Melanie Phillips: The pimp state Daily Mail, 18 December 2006 "The idea that legalising drugs would get rid of crime is simply risible. Legal drugs would always be undercut — both by lower prices and higher strengths — by a black market. The only way to eradicate such an illegal trade would be to supply unlimited quantities of all drugs totally free of charge." If this paragraph contains Melanie's argument for ...
Michael Martin today took his seat in the House of Lords as Lord Martin of Springburn. We've all heard the story of Sir John Trevor, who was the last speaker to be unseated, in 1695, who was deposed by Parliament for taking a bribe of 1000 guineas, which in today's money would be in excess ...
On this page, which LDV will update as we receive information, we will publish the details of Sir Thomas Legg's findings as they relate to the Lib Dems' 63 MPs. Please email voice - voice.hat.libdemvoice.org.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one) to let us know anything we've missed: * Danny Alexander, Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, 2005 – present * Norman Baker, Lewes, 1997 – present ... Clean bill of health. * John Barrett, Edinburgh West, 2001 – present * Alan James Beith, Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1988 – present * ...
The Government has ordered the Territorial Army to cease all training for six months. I have petitioned the Prime Minister asking him to reconsider - this is not the right way to save money. The TA provides troops who serve in Afghanistan and other places and Labour is totally wrong to impose this halt to training. I urge you to sign the petition and we'll see if we can change Gordon Brown's mind on this.
Received from the City Council today : Dundee City Council propose to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating gas mains replacement works . The Order is expected to be in force for 5 weeks from 2 November 2009 . Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months. The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all vehicular traffic Park Place from its junction with Old Hawkhill for a distance of 170 metres or thereby in a southerly direction. Pedestrian thoroughfare is maintained and vehicular ...
Green carded! This is when a constituent comes to Parliament and has the right to lobby their MP - so long as the MP is around and free. They fill in a green card and then the House Officers give it to you - or as in this case - the reception from Central Lobby phones over to let you know someone is there to see you. It's hit and miss as to whether you are available though. I was in a meeting - and had ten minutes before another meeting with the National Deaf Children's Society - but managed ...
Railnews reports that London Mayor Boris Johnson could be considering a permanent split between the Bank and Charing Cross branches of the Northern Line. I have emailed the Mayor to say that this is a really bad idea. It would mean that ALL trains to and from Edgware were via Bank and ALL trains to and from High Barnet/Mill Hill East were via Charing Cross (or vice versa). So, if, for instance, you commute from Hendon Central into Bank or Tottenham Court Road each day, and you now found yourself living on the "wrong" branch of the Northern Line, you ...
MPs were clustering round their pigeon holes at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster today and yesterday, waiting to collect their letters from Sir Thomas Legg, who has been looking into the parliamentary expenses scandal. Some were relieved to be given clean reports, others were from pleased to be asked to clarify a number of ...
Fantastic North West Lib Dem MEP, Chris Davies, has thrown his hat in the ring to become President of the European Council. I'll let Chris explain why he's doing so in this video: And here's the letter he's written to the 27 Heads of State: President of the European Council You will shortly seek to fill the post ...
Mark Thompson asks why we're not doing better in the polls. As he observes we are in the worst financial crisis in most people's living memory, the government is deeply unpopular and out of ideas, politics itself is in crisis and politicians are seen as remote and untrustworthy; yet for all this the Liberal Democrats are stuck at only ...
I honestly cannot remember the last time Labour have risen out of the 20's into the 30s in an opinion poll (excluding the daily tracker You Gov ran during conference season). However, in the latest Populous poll for The Times it has happened (the last time they were in the 30s with them was April) so this ...
The Trafigura business should make us feel good today. A not inconsiderable blow was struck for free speech, and it couldn't have happened without the internet, or more precisely without social media networking. That much is fairly indisputable. But – and I hate to sound like I'm throwing a bucket of cold water all over your twittery ...
I have a letter in today's Independent. Here is the background, and the letter itself reads: 'Influential friends' woo the parties Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (12 October) claims that "all three parties were lavishly entertained by the over-influential Friends of Israel" at the recent party conferences. At the Liberal Democrat Conference, the Friends of Israel's sole gathering was a fringe meeting about President Obama's efforts towards Middle East peace. As at most fringe meetings, drinks and sandwiches were available, but nobody was "lavishly entertained"; had Yasmin attended what was essentially a symposium on the peace process, she might well have enjoyed it. ...
So, now all those who assumed Stephen Gately died of a drug overdose or binge drinking will now hopefully shut up and leave his partner and family to grieve for him. The BBC amongst others has now reported that Stephen died of nothing more than natural causes. A tragic horrible death of someone so young, but now let's hope he can rest in peace.
Tue 13th
15:59
Kirsty Williams, Welsh Lib Dem leader reaction to International Business Wales reviews
No related posts.
Tue 13th
15:30International Business Wales reviews demonstrate failings in Government's approach to delivering job...
The BBC report that two new reports have heavily criticised the Welsh Assembly Government's overseas business promotion arm. The performance of International Business Wales (IBW) is described as mixed at best, and there are questions over 10% of staff expenses. IBW was embroiled in a political row in July when First Minister Rhodri Morgan was forced to apologise to the Welsh Liberal Democrats. He firmly denied claims they had made about staff expenses, which later turned out to be true. Two reports were commissioned. The first, an audit of expenses, has found some policies for staff expenses claims abroad are ...
Damn right! Speaking as someone attempting to move at the moment, I can confirm that demand is massively outstripping supply. At last someone speaks the truth. After this BBC article a couple of weeks ago which trumpeted the rise in house prices with only a sentence referencing a possible supply issue it's good to see another BBC article today correctly identifying lack of supply as a driver. Certainly, in my area, any 3 bed house that's any good doesn't even make it onto rightmove. Sold signs just appear. UPDATE: Doh! Can't even get the title right...changed now
One for the ironic statistics corner. Count up the number of people in each of the three main party's Cabinet/Shadow Cabinet (taking the listings from their official national party websites). Line up the party's in order of enthusiasm for cutting public spending. And what do you find? The keener the party is on cutting public spending, the bigger is its team: Labour – 23 members Liberal Democrats – 30 members Conservatives – 32 members Hmm.
Look in the top right corner of the screenshot taken just now from the Carter Ruck website (click on graphic for full size version): [IMG: Carter-Ruck website with Guardian quote]
This is just a thought, but since not many of us had heard of Trafigura before last night, it's entirely possible that we are all financially supporting their disgusting behaviour without even knowing. Would it be possible to compile a list of all the products they make a profit out of, kind of like the Nestle List, and then those who want to boycott can? I'll edit in here the ones people tell me. British Lions rugby team h/t Andy Hinton. ING, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland banks (along with many more) h/t [IMG: [info - personal] ] ...
Several of us enjoyed dinner with Lord Paddy Ashdown at Ilkley last night. Many thanks to him for being so generous with his time and also to Sam whose idea it was and Vaughan who organised it. During the evening Paddy told us the secret of his bird - it was he himself who designed the Liberal Democrat Bird of Liberty. Never knew that before. I like the logo and wish it and Paddy many more happy years. Paddy signed my copy of his new book, A Fortunate Life, too. It's about the various careers he has had, including his ...
[IMG: wilders] Courtesy of the BBC - Dutch right-winger Geert Wilders has successfully appealed against the ban imposed on him entering the UK. I'm sure you all recall the situation: upon trying to enter the country in February, our ever illiberal Home Office chucked him on a flight back to the Netherlands. At the time Chris Huhne, disappointingly, endorsed the government's decision. Not all of us were impressed.
As I reported earlier Carter-Ruck had an injunction to prevent this question: 61 N Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory ...
Apparently William Ecclestone played the Doctor in 2005 according to this Telegraph gallery.
When Henryy Bonsu (Colourful Radio) said, on air, that I had something about me of the Helen Mirren - I could have kissed him. I tried, thereafter, to intimate that we were probably twins separated at birth........... Henry's assertion was based on my Russian ancestry as we were talking identity issues and I was saying that we all have multiple identities. Take me - I'm partly of Russian descent, single mother, ex-designer, current politician, short - from Haringey, Hornsey & Wood Green, Highgate, London, England, Britain and Europe - and I could use any of those to identify me. Apparently ...
The row over the Guardian being gagged from reporting a Parliamentary Question due for answer this week due to court proceedings has been growing apace since #trafigura and #CarterRuck became trending topics on Twitter last night. The Guardian is now reporting that within the past few hours the legal firm, Carter-Ruck, has withdrawn its opposition to the Guardian reporting proceedings in parliament that revealed the existence of a previously secret injunction against the media by oil traders Trafigura. Labour MP Paul Farrelly put down a question yesterday to the justice secretary, Jack Straw. It asked about the injunction obtained by ...
Breaking news from the Guardian : The existence of a previously-secret injunction against the media by oil traders Trafigura can now be revealed. Within the last hour, Trafigura's lawyers Carter-Ruck, abandoned an attempt to prevent the Guardian from reporting proceedings in parliament which revealed its existence. Labour MP Paul Farrelly put down a question yesterday to the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw. It asked about the injunction obtained by "Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton Report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura". The past 16 ...
Breaking news... the Guardian is gagged no more. For what it's worth, this was the question that was tabled by Paul Farrelly (Lab, Newcastle-under-Lyme), which the Graun was not allowed to report; 61 N Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on ...
Many of which may centre around whether they should get a version of the Streisand Effect named after them (the Trafigura Tactic, perhaps, or maybe the internet has a Trafigura Twitter Tendency?) In short, though, to follow up on last night's post, Carter-Ruck have now withdrawn their legal proceedings against the Guardian, which now allows the ...
Yeah, yeah, so Carter Ruck are the real world equivalent of Wolfram and Hart and Trafigura are evil waste-dumping murderers (if you have no idea what this is about go see Justin's excellent, and link-filled, summary here) but there are more important things in this world than a few thousand people dying in agony or being permanently disabled from toxic waste poisoning and an evil law firm preventing the Guardian from talking about it! Firstly, look at this trailer for the new series of SJA! LOOK AT IT! Shinyshiny sci-fi! Secondly Mitch Benn AND Brian Blessed AND Rock Wankman in ...
A report from the Guardian last month:Internal emails show that Trafigura, which yesterday suddenly announced an offer to pay compensation to 31,000 west African victims, was fully aware that its waste dumped in Ivory Coast was so toxic that it was banned in Europe.Thousands of west Africans besieged local hospitals in 2006, and a number died, after the dumping of hundreds of tonnes of highly toxic oil waste around the country's capital, Abidjan. Official local autopsy reports on 12 alleged victims appeared to show fatal levels of the poisonous gas hydrogen sulphide, one of the waste's lethal byproducts.Trafigura has been ...
Day with Planning Officers As a relative newcomer to the Development Control Committee I was invited with fellow newbies to spend a day in the Planning Department. We received information on the work of the department and had the opportunity to ask questions or delve more deeply into any specific areas of interest we might have. ...
Rowland Manthorpe reports Earlier this year, NatWest surveyed 9,000 young people about their salary expectations. The gloomy economic forecasts seem to have influenced the respondents, because their expected average earnings fell from last year's estimate. Instead of saying they would be earning £70,000 by the time they were 35, they modestly anticipated £45,000. It is a startling display of confidence. The average salary for a 35-year old is £23,893. (RSA Journal, Autumn 2009) Although very striking, I don't find this result that surprising because when you look at the media's coverage of issues such as property and holidays it's very ...
At first glance, it seems that the arbitrarily imposed limit of £2,000 per year on cleaning, gardening and window cleaning is quite generous, however these payments are usually made to people or agencies who employ people, usually at or around the minimum wage. So £2,000 a year for the last 5 years, assuming an average minimum wage of £5 (it's a bit more than that now, but has been below £5 in the past, so it's a reasonable average figure) adds up to 400 hours a year, or allowing for a couple of weeks off, approximately 8 hours a week ...
THE Lib Dems blustered in Bournemouth, Labour blathered in Birmingham, and this week the Tories were mincing in Manchester. Our right-wing revivalists had their chance to put forward a clear, distinctive, unconfusing message. But DID the Tory Party — which wants to ban 24-hour drinking—lead by example? Take a wild guess! Despite likeable senior Tory Eric Pickles optimistically trying to ban champagne at the conference, various big players like MP Alan Duncan were necking the bubbly anyway. So what? Who cares if they drink beer or champagne? I'm more worried about the fact that if they DO get into government, ...
Imagine you're a multinational firm facing the following question being asked in Parliament: Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, ...
Wow, if you are on Twitter you cannot fail to have noticed the trending topic of the Guardian injunction, Trafigura and Carter-Ruck. This all relates to a Parliamentary Question by Paul Farrelly, number 61 if you want to scroll down. The Guardian has been gagged from identifying the MP who asked the question, the wording of the actual question and where the question can be found. This is utterly ridiculous, as my link shows above this information is actually in the public domain anyway so why should a newspaper be gagged, and why has someone done this. Whatever happened to ...
is pleased to see the efforts of #carterruck to prevent hard questions being asked about #trafigura backfire
Message is important in British politics. Just look at how David Cameron improves his popularity, not by bringing out new policies, but by having the right message, and getting it over to the public in the right way. It should have been the Lib Dems who capitalized the most from the expenses scandal earlier this ...
Tue 13th
11:48
Heath and Burstow table urgent Commons questions about Guardian injunction #Trafigura #CarterRuck
The Lib Dem press office has just issued the following news release: In light of the injunction against the Guardian featured on its front page today, the Lib Dems have this morning requested an Urgent Question and debate on the reporting of parliamentary proceedings. My understanding is the Speaker will decide after midday today if he is happy to allow these to proceed. If this were to happen, the question would be asked this afternoon and the debate would take place tomorrow. UQ - David Heath I would be grateful if you would give consideration to the following Urgent Question ...
This pings in to my inbox from the Liberal Democrat press office: In light of the injunction against the Guardian featured on its front page today, the Lib Dems have this morning requested an Urgent Question and debate on the reporting of parliamentary proceedings. My understanding is the Speaker will decide after midday today if he is happy to allow these to proceed. If this were to happen, the question would be asked this afternoon and the debate would take place tomorrow. UQ - David Heath I would be grateful if you would give consideration to the following Urgent Question ...
"Like every MP I have received a letter from Sir Thomas Legg setting out his provisional conclusions. "I will be writing to Sir Thomas to seek further clarification about the terms of his letter. If the final recommendation is that any sum requires to be repaid I will do so."
I have to confess that I'd never heard of Trafigura until today. Then, this morning, I logged into Tweetdeck and found a stream of tweets containing tagged #trafigura so intense that it felt like being bombarded by water cannon. It's even made it into Twitter's trending topics. So who are these people, and what's all the fuss about? Well, their own corporate brochure describes them as the "world's third largest independent oil trader". From the same document, we can also see that they're bloody rich. While small businesses in this country still struggle to get a fair deal from their ...
I see local government assets are amongst the items Gordon Brown wants to put in his 'car boot' sale. Vince Cable was quick off the mark: Selling off what is left of the family silver is not going to solve the long term problem of Britain's structural deficit. Asset sales do have a role to play in Britain's recovery but selling them off now when markets are depressed is not the most prudent way to go. "With £16bn already pencilled into the budget, if this car boot sale fails to raise the necessary revenue there is a danger that the ...
I am pleased to have been told that "no action is required from you" in respect of my ACA claims from my election until March 2009. I ceased claiming in the next financial year (I think I made one claim), hence I can be pretty certain that my ACA is OK for 2009-10.It remains to be seen how many mistakes have been identified in expenses. In the past I have made all sorts of mistakes in paperwork
Those of you reading this in Colchester may be interested to know that the first part of our consultation on our waste and recycling processes is set to start next month – full details and a survey will be in the next edition of the Courier, which you should receive around the beginning of November. ...
You may remember a post I published regarding this service. Well, despite all that I received another letter saying `Reminder to book your hospital or clinic appointment` explaining that they thought their records showed that I may not have booked an appointment for your referral. Perplexed, I called them again asking whether they had a record of ...
Carter-Ruck receptionist: (Anxious) Err....Hello Carter-Ruck partners of law.....may I help you? Lord Alan Sugar: Yes it is Sir Alan, I mean Lord Sugar here, may I speak to Peter please, or someone else in charge. Receptionist: (Relieved) Certainly Sir Alan. Hello Mr Carter-Ruck I have Lord Sugar on line one. Mr Carter-Ruck: That's a relief you can put him through. Alan! Lord Sugar: Peter. Look as you know I'm not one to beat about the bush. Mr Carter-Ruck: Yes, of course Alan. Lord Sugar: So to keep it sweet and to the point. I'm being retained by Trafigura. (there is ...
As The Spectator reports, the Guardian has had an injunction served on it preventing it reporting a written question table in Parliament. This being the internet age, not only is #trafigura a trending topic on Twitter but more substantively the question in answer has been (at the time of writing) republished verbatim just under 300 times elsewhere on the internet (see these Google search results). I struggle to think of another Parliamentary question that has got that level of coverage. (Know otherwise? Do post up a comment.) The result of the injunction, far from stopping the spread of the story ...
"THE time, it is to be hoped, is gone by when any defence would be necessary of the "liberty of the press" as one of the securities against corrupt or tyrannical government. No argument, we may suppose, can now be needed, against permitting a legislature or an executive, not identified in interest with the people, to prescribe opinions to them, and determine what doctrines or what arguments they shall be allowed to hear. This aspect of the question, besides, has been so often and so triumphantly enforced by preceding writers, that it needs not be specially insisted on in this ...
So as we (hopefully) approach the final chapter in the expense claims scandal, MP's are receiving letter detailing over claims. It is being reported in the news that not all MP's are happy about some of what they are being asked to repay - especially the sums arising from the retrospective setting of spending limits for for instance cleaning. However, what I would say to any MP's (yes even Lib Dems) that don't think they should repay is that they are completely missing the mood of the country if they think they have a case. The public aren't interested in ...
These startling facts speak for themselves and point to over a decade of Labour's failure to tackle poverty in Reading: Over a quarter of children and young people in Reading live in the 20% most deprived nationally on the Income Deprviation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) The wards with most children in poverty are Whitley, Abbey and Church (33-38% of all children in these areas Percentage of all children eligible for free school meals was around 17% in 2007 - well above the South East average of 6.8% In 2007 (latest figures) more people in Reading were living in the most deprived areas than ...
The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced that it is going to make the 2,200 British artworks it owns available for public viewing, art, which includes works by LS Lowry and David Hockney. It is difficult to know how to respond to this largesse on behalf of RBS, but I was actually under the impression that ...
It is well acknowledged that our public services are overburdened with pointless and counter productive regulation, that there is too much wastage and bureaucracy which stops police officers, teachers and social workers getting on with the job, and front line staff are treated like teenagers who can't be trusted. Much of the blame lies with obsessive control driven from Whitehall. Every party - indeed every party for the last 30 years - has promised to remedy this by slashing bureaucracy and "re-empowering" the front line, but none have succeeded. Tony Blair made it a key priority, but made matters worse. ...
Yesterday, Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable tabled an innocuous sounding emergency question in the Commons: "To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the proposed sale of Government assets announced today." But that's not the Vince soundbite which has featured in virtually every headline in today's newspapers reporting on Labour's decision to sell up to £16 billion of assets to help fund the national debt. Here's Vince's statement in full: Selling off what is left of the family silver is not going to solve the long term problem of Britain's structural deficit. Asset ...
Nick Clegg (or at least his office) has just tweeted the following: Very interested concerned about this #trafigura / Guardian story the @LibDems are planning to take action on this If you're not on Twitter – where #trafigura is now the top-trending topic – then this post from Rob Fenwick will give you the astonishing background: namely that libel law specialists Carter-Ruck have succeeded in slapping an injunction on the Guardian preventing the newspaper from reporting the following question tabled in Parliament: Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the ...
In case you missed it, the Parliamentary question that the Guardian is not allowed to report on: 61 N Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of ...
The Voice enjoyed this snippet from Hugh Muir's diary in today's Guardian: Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat MP for the distant seat of Orkney and Shetland, received a parliamentary travel expenses form, which asked: "What is your nearest mainline railway station?" He contacted the Fees Office to explain that his constituency is in the middle of the North Sea but was told he had to answer. OK then, he said: Oslo. The member for Smarty-pants west.
Just picked this at random: (292409) 61 Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.
Walk around Cheadle village and you'll see quite a few roads where there was obviously a double yellow line in the past and one of the lines has been painted out, leaving a single yellow. Quite a few people have asked why it happened - and I didn't know the answer. Well, now I think I do. A while ago the law changed with regard to double yellow lines. It used to be that you could have a double yellow line that only applied at certain times of day, and you needed a sign to say so. Now, double yellow ...
The issue of the jurisdiction of courts to keep things secret in an internet age is under challenge today.The guardian is prevented from talking about a question in parliament. That is nothing new although I think it is wrong. However, Guido is currently in St Kitts. Hence as long as his servers are not in the UK he can post what he wants about this.I have an interesting chidlrens case
Having been impressed by Rowan Williams at the Iraq service held in St Paul's I note that he has now moved on the promoting allotments! The Times has a report; 'The Archbishop of Canterbury has called for "unsustainable" air-freighted food to be replaced gradually by homegrown produce from thousands of new allotments.' Well down on the plot this month I've planted some garlic and overwintering onions and thought about renewing my asparagus bed. The autumn clearing up has begun- which is far superior to visiting the gym. It is not clear from the Times article whether Rowan Williams tends his ...
Cross-posted from the Mandate Blog: A new research study by GroupM Search and Comscore shows how effectively social media campaigns can help the bottom line - not just through direct results but also through altering people's future behaviour: "Social media-exposed consumers are far more likely to search for brand and product-related terms, and click on a brand's paid search ad," said Graham Mudd, vice president of comScore, Inc. "This finding provides strong evidence that investing in social media marketing can both increase initial brand consideration and drive higher conversion rates once the consumer has decided to purchase." Amongst their detailed ...
In the couple of minutes since I searched for #trafigura on Twitter there have been an additional 61 tweets on it. So that's thousands per hour, before the peak internet use time of the day. Posted via email from Rob's posterous
It's been a long time since my daily commute was hit by a Tube strike having not lived in London since the mid 90s. However, I understand that the Underground Drivers are considering striking over the 1.5% pay rise that they have been offered. They are saying it is not in keeping with those in similar jobs. Maybe they should look over their shoulder at those they are transporting, not so much the bankers, but the shop workers, administrators, call centre workers, whoever. Ask themselves how many of them, often on lower salary than the train drivers, even managed to ...
So our local MP's expenses have once again hit the headlines. with news that she still hasn't paid back £25,000 she decided to pay back of the £180, 000 that she profited from the sale of her 'second' home (for parliamentary expenses purposes), but sold as her primary home (for tax purposes). She still stands by this decision, forgetting the moral issue here. Local Lib Dem Leader Jon Whitehouse
Stockton Council's efforts for Democracy week have centred on encouraging people to think about being a councillor. Word was sent out through various networks and the press and last night about 8 adults turned up to hear what is involved and to talk to political groups about what they do. Two teenagers came along also, interested in shadowing councillors to see more of their work.Almost 3 hours
Yesterday's Guardian has more voices in support of a Citizens' Convention to reform our political processes, kickstarted by the expenses scandal. Among various luminaries of the reformist left and centre are a number of Lib Dems, including Lib Dem Voice editor Stephen Tall, and Liberal Youth chair Elaine Bagshawe. Their cause is honourable, but there ...
Much as I love the image of Nats texting Calum Cashley with breaking news from my blog, I wonder if the last time I saw Tavish reach in his pocket to read a message it was because somebody, or my RSS fed had alerted his Blackberry, I feel his latest post needs a more thorough response than I could provide in his comments. The crux of the matter is that the conversation that is being started under the watchful eye and listening ear of Ross Finnie is to kick off in a members only session at conference. He's highlighted the ...
LabourList have taken a version of a post I've written about Aaronovitch versus Harris on the Left. In brief: the (highly reasonable) view that DA comes out with is CentreRepublicanism. And liberal democrats have been there for ages! Reading the article, my colleague found himself increasing irritated for this reason: the Left have got so much wrong over the last 30 years - Clause 4, nationalisation of everything, statist answers to every problem, 80% tax rates, flipflopping over Europe, you name it - and now, in their arrogance, they wander over to the idea that "The task of progressive politics ...
On Sunday this blog will again be hosting the Britblog Roundup. If over the next week you see a posting on a British blog that you think particularly find, please send the URL to britblog [AT] gmail [DOT] com and I shall include it in the roundup. Nominating a posting for the Britiblog Roundup is a good way of promoting a blog that you think deserves more readers. And you are welcome to nominate a posting on your own blog too. All nominations by Sunday lunchtime please.
Last night's "Evening Telegraph" covered concerns about speeding on Ninewells Road and Ninewells Drive - the two roads that run through the hospital site. I made clear in the Tele my own concern about the matter - the Ninewells Hospital site is very busy and it is important that all drivers stick to the speed limit. I have been in touch with Brian Main, NHS Tayside's hospital site manager, about the concerns.
Tue 13th
05:56
When Parliamentary Reporting is Gagged in the 21st Century #Trafigura #CarterRuck #fail
People don't normally pay much attention to written questions in the House of Commons to the Secretary of State for Justice. But when one has been fielded, after 60 others, in this the first week of the new session and the Guardian is gagged from reporting that text people are likely to sit up and notice. Bloggers from across the political blogosphere have rallied to the issue and the Twitterverse has lit up to many uses of the #Trafigura and #CarterRuck hashtags. So suddenly instead of solicitors Carter-Ruck trying to bury the fact that their client's actions are being questioned ...
Montgomeryshire's Welsh Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Öpik has backed calls for a 'step change' in the speed of emissions reductions in the UK. The Committee on Climate Change, an independent body which has been charged with examining the Government's work on reducing emissions and fulfilling Carbon Budgets, has said that, at the current rate of reduction, the Government will fail to meet the emissions targets set out in its own Climate Change Act. In its first progress report to Parliament, the Committee found that between 2003 and 2007 the UK cut its carbon emissions by around 0.5% per year. However, ...
Two big stories The Grauniad has been gagged: The Guardian has been prevented from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights. Today's published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found. Bonnie Greer and Chris Huhne to tackle Nick Griffin on next week's Question Time: The black ...
If you fancy helping to preserve our mining heritage, why not join the Friends of Ram Hill Colliery for a work party on Sunday 18th October at the Ram Hill site? It will begin around 10am and end by 3pm and you can join them for whatever period suits you. Work ranges from cutting back bushes to moving stones. For more information, ring the Chair, Steve Hillyard, on 0117 923 6595.
So Labour is to emulate the Tories of the 1980s and planning to sell £16bn worth of assets to try to shore up public finances. Hmmm... it may well be that the sale of some assets, like the Tote, is a sensible thing to do. However, now is not the time, because markets are very depressed, and as the experience of Qinetiq and other sales go to prove, the government always seem to sell off at the wrong time.
So, the MPs expenses thing is back in the news, and we are all gnashing our teeth and the MPs are putting on their hair shirts... I thought I'd just take a straw poll. Do feel free to tell your friends to come and vote too, if you like. Please note that ticky boxes are enabled, so you can pick as many answers as you like. View Poll: MPs expenses
If you haven't read this or seen this, you might never have heard of the oil company Trafigura before. Indeed, they could have stayed nicely below many people's radars, just they way they like to be, except for the fact they took their desire for secrecy a bit too far. Apparently, it's possible to use the ...
A few months ago I heard about the new Vetting and Barring scheme which is to be implemented at some time this month. It is to do with volunteers and making sure that there is some kind of check on them as an additional means of security following the Soham murders. We have in place a few checks already for people in employment but with voluteers there were stories going round that groups of parents could not have agreements with each other to take their children to organised activities. I was told a couple of days ago that parents could ...
