I went to a village in Blaydon constituency called Kibblesworth today with Neil Bradbury, our Parliamentary candidate. The aim was to deliver our latest tabloid in the village. We kept going until we ran out. There seemed to be an awful lot of dogs, all of which seemed to be located behind letter boxes and all of which seemed to be so hungry that they ate the leaflets as I put them through doors.
On behalf of the Town Council I've been doing a survey over the weekend of people attending the Keighley Oktoberfest and Farmers' Market. I enjoy meeting people, though it's harder work than it looks.
You have got to hand it to Carter-Ruck, they are failing miserably to work for their current and future clients (should they get any) benefit. Earlier this week they fought they would throw their hand in to hush the Guardian up about them publishing a Parliamentary Question relating to their clients Trafigura dumping toxic waste off the Ivory Coast. While they temporally silenced the mainstream media the blogosphere and Twitterverse jumped in. Of course the next matter was the issue of the Bill of Rights in 1688. The freedom enshrined in that for Parliament to be reported in the press ...
The next meeting of the Selly Oak Ward Committee is at 7pm on Wednesday 21 October 2009 at the Selly Park Technology College for Girls, Pershore Road, Selly Park (nearly opposite Dogpool Lane).The agenda includes:a representative from NHS South Birmingham will be attending to discuss the current comsultation on options for new dental contracts in the South Birmingham area;a verbal update on the
This song comes from the soundtrack of the film The Falcon and the Snowman. It reached no. 14 in the British charts in the spring of 1985, which explains why it reminds me so strongly of sitting around in pubs during my activist days. Like a lot of Bowie, it is more about mood or atmosphere than the melody of the meaning of the lyrics. And very atmospheric it is. At the time I took it as Bowie's regret that he would always be exiled from the heart of popular culture in the US. Reading about it now, in the ...
Welcome to this week's selection of the best in the British blogosphere. Oil companies and libel lawyers are trying to stop the reporting of questions in Parliament or even prevent their being asked at all. The British government is trying to prevent the courts from revealing its complicity in torture. But as far as the nominations received, the most important story this week is... Jan Moir and Stephen Gately New readers start here. Friday's Daily Mail carried an article on Stephen Gately's death that combined ignorance and prejudice to an extent remarkable even for that newspaper. Written by Jan Moir, ...
The next meeting of the Selly Oak Constituency Committee is on Tuesday 20 October 2009 at 7pm in Christ Church, 953 Pershore Road, Selly Park (almost opposite Hobson Road).The agenda includes:a verbal update on the Building Schools for the Future programme in relation to Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School and Kings Norton Boys School;a representative from NHS South Birmingham will be attending to
The John Redwood event at Conservative conference
Without wanting to (too) harshly stereotype, perhaps this photo of the Macclesfield primary goes some way to explaining why outcomes seem fairly similar to those observed following simple votes among local Tory panels. [IMG: maccers]
I was going to leave announcing this a little longer, but the Mindless Ones have announced their new format and I didn't want to look like I'm copying them – or indeed Alan Moore, who is also doing something similar to this... For about a month now I've been planning a new colour glossy POD magazine, ...
[IMG: Scout hut 17 october] So much going on both inside and outside the ward at the moment, it's hard to know where to start! I thought it was worth doing a quick recap. It was great to be out in the ward this weekend after a week in which I spent four out of five nights in the Council Offices. I took an afternoon off work on Tuesday to attend the Credit Crunch Summit on supporting young people and as well as two formal Council meetings (full Council and the Children's Health Scrutiny Review) I also managed to squeeze in a ...
Just a quick note to say how sorry I am that my old political foe Iain Dale was not selected for Bracknell. You can read more about it HERE. I ran myself in to the ground four years ago ensuring Norman Lamb beat Iain Dale in North Norfolk, but since then I have built up a great respect for Iain and I was happy to say that if I lived in Bracknell I would support Iain if i were able to vote at a Conservative selection meeting. I read that Iain is now off to a family party for his ...
How pleasing to see Jenson Button win the world championship today in some style showing real flair in his overtaking and real emotion in victory. We have a nasty habit of knocking our stars and the press have been full of those talking Jenson Button down in recent weeks, but he has become World Champion with a race to spare, and he's British. Let's be proud of him.
Just Home from conference in Wrexham. Came back to some sad news that our 18 year old cat "Zag" had to be put to sleep. To me he was a good, loyal, boy!! A very important motion was passed at conference regarding elected members allowances and transparency. A code of conduct for members of the Assembly and Parliament was passed. Every Welsh candidate or elected AM/MP will adhere to the following pledges: No Welsh Liberal Democrat AM/MP will be able to profit from selling their subsidised second homes. Any AM/MP already owning a second home will return any profits to ...
So, David Cameron is trying to dictate how many and what format the Leaders TV debates should be based on. Actually Mr Cameron it isn't your opinion that counts! It is becoming quite obvious that Cameron is now backtracking on his original challenge, I don't think he really expected Gordon Brown to respond positively, Nick Clegg was always going to respond because he is not scared of either Brown or Cameron. There is the idea of also having a Chancellor of the Exchequer debate between Darling, Cable and Osbourne and a further one between the Foreign Secretaries. I want to ...
Thursday saw the meeting of the Town Council's Amenities Committee and with it an agenda item regarding the promotion of the specialist shops in Cross Street. Three of the traders came along, to present a petition signed by many others, expressing their belief that extra signage was necessary in order to promote the range of shops available in Cross Street. Councillors gave the traders time to explain their issues and offered advice on the way to proceed with their efforts. It was resolved to support their aims in principle. One of my suggestions was that the traders formed a Cross ...
The first Briton to succeed another Briton as Formula 1 World Champion! After all these years struggling down the grid! From the BBC: 1836: Button takes both hands off the wheel and punches the air in abandoned delight. "Get in there Jenson, well done, awesome job," comes the message from Brawn. The response begins with a song: "We are the champions my friends... Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo. We are world champions. WORLD CHAMPIONS. Woo!" 1836: JENSON BUTTON IS THE 2009 WORLD CHAMPION
Mike Smithson on Political Betting today is speculating that the TV debates may now not happen. He quotes reports of arguments going on with both Brown and Cameron stipulating different formats and numbers of debates. Nick Clegg of course also wants to be involved in all the debates which as I have stated before I think has to happen. Mike thinks that Cameron is using the Blair playbook from 1997 on this which is agree the principle but allow the negotiations to get bogged down in the hope that it will all fall apart and not actually happen, after all ...
"That's amongst some people, particularly among some animal rights activists who think this is not a good way to treat rabbits." Remember what Anya said?
On Thursday this week I blogged about Willie Bain's contract with the voters of Glasgow North East, you can read it here, he launched his contract but did not sign it, I assume because he didn't agree with it? Well, now he has signed it but it is amended so he obviously wasn't happy with the first one, here is the new amended signed contract, which we will probably see at the Labour launch tomorrow.Now, the missing text is quite important, it is here below and if you visit the original blog post you will clearly see it there. It ...
I've spent what spare time I have researching a little bit about the philosophy behind the freedom of speech and listening intently to Dr Brandenburg's lectures in order to write this piece. It is a break from the usual strongly worded politics that I am fond of and instead forms a response to a comment on a previous piece by a reader. Now that I do finally write this, I am more convinced of my
The row about the future of the Longfield Suite rumbles on. As you may recall, the press has reported that the Council is considering changing the use of the Longfield Suite, despite it being the most used and most profitable of Bury's civic halls. Whilst I was away, Lib Dems including our parliamentary candidate for Bury South Vic D'Albert, organised a public meeting to debate this issue. Following that meeting at the Longfield Suite, Bury Councils Executive Committee has agreed to a special meeting in Prestwich. So, our inglorious Leader Cllr Bob Bibby needs to get his A-Z out, as ...
For reasons beyond my comprehension, the world doesn't stand still when I'm on holiday. In fact, lots of things have gone on in Prestwich whilst I've been away. One of them is that a Planning application has been lodged by Care UK for the siting of a mobile Health Clinic at Tesco for a period of seven years. Yes, that's right. Someone wants to stick a clinic in Tesco's car park, so that you can shop for an x-ray as you shop for your spuds. Details are sketchy at present but presumably it will be one of those mobile testing ...
I have been away this past week, hence the lack of bloggings. I have been in Hong Kong. As someone whose journeys to the far east were previously limited to a snatched weekend in Bridlington, this was quite an adventure. I am back now, addled by a lack of sleep and still shaking after thirteen hours on an aeroplane. But it's not every week I get to go to China, so I think it's worth a few lines because honestly I've never seen anything like it in my life. It began with a deeply unpleasant ten hour stay in an ...
Here is my latest column for the Muswell Hill & Highgate Flyers: It's that time of year again. No, I'm not going to get all political and talk about the conference season and the start of Parliament's new session. No, I'm not talking about school being back - hopefully your little darlings (and not so little ones) will be settling into their new classes. But instead - it's survey time! In one form or another I have been doing local surveys for over a decade. Whilst it has become a bit more of a mission to ask 45,000 odd households ...
Vince Cable was our guest speaker at the North East Liberal Democrats' regional conference in Gateshead yesterday. You can see the video of his speech below:As you would expect, I also took some photos which are now of Flickr. A few of them now follow:Me and Vince after the photo op with candidates. Thanks to Greg Stone for taking charge of the camera at this point.Carol Woods, candidate in
Well I've taken the plunge and move my blog to a new home. You can now find me at highbarnet.org. If you pay me a visit you will find more info on why I have made the move. Look forward to seeing you there. If you link to this blog please update your links to point to the new site. Please note that no public money has been spent on the new site.
ELMS COMMUNITY CENTRE, GREEN LANE WHITEFIELD from 6 to 7pm Come along , say hello and find out more about Vic D'Albert, Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South at the next General election. What are your priorities for the next Government? What kind of MP do you want? Do you have a burning question you would like to put to Vic?
Wolverhampton South West's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate Robin Lawrence has become a top-ten hit on Twitter according to the website twitterholic. Councillor Robin Lawrence's twitter account 'Robin4MP' has broken into the top ten twitter account ranked by followers in Wolverhampton.
A goal scored by a beach ball (which was loose on the pitch) for Sunderland against Liverpool yesterday. It's certainly a first. It seems unbelievable that the referee allowed it. The Guardian comments: Under the laws of the game the beachball, which bore a Liverpool crest, should have been considered an outside agent, which, whether an errant inflatable, plastic bag or yorkshire terrier, should bring a drop-ball if struck by the match ball. The referee, Mike Jones, despite seemingly having a clear view of the incident, allowed the goal to stand, however.
[IMG: Plymouth Conservatives' manifesto promises on the shelf] Maybe Plymouth Tories' manifesto promises are gathering dust on a shelf somewhere It's simple. A manifesto is a list of things a party promises to do, if elected. Plymouth's Tories published a manifesto before the last set of elections to the city council, last year. You can read it HERE. The Tories won that election, so we can hold them to their promises. Maybe the Tories just didn't expect people to hold them to account. Maybe they thought that once the election was out of the way, they could leave the manifesto ...
Following the tragic death of Suzanne Moseley the Conservative Councillor for the Moreton West and Saughall Massie ward, Wirral Borough Council have given details that the official notice of election will be posted on the 22 October 2009, and the poll will take place on Thursday 26 November. Moreton West and Saughall Massie was served ...
In his FT blog and column, The Undercover Economist, Tim Harford has set out a different funding model for health care. His argument in A brilliant (and doomed) template for health care reform suggests that the one thing that the UK and USA health care systems have in common is that both fail to ask "can I get better value treatment elsewhere"? The proponents of the free market tend to talk about rational economic models, efficiencies of pricing signals and why market failure happens. What they don't stress, and Harford is very good at doing, is making the point that ...
We have been here before in the debate generated by the Cambridge Primary Review report which amongst other measures suggests 'delaying the start of formal education until age six'. Specifically the LibDems had an education paper to conference a few years ago and Federal Conference actually, I believe, voted in favour of a play-based primary learning strategy until age 6. I can't find my printed copy of the briefing paper however, nor online resources. Our current touted policy on extra resources to cut 5 to 7 class sizes to 15 does seem to have abandoned this policy. I would find ...
Sir Ian Blair offers reflections about the Jean Charles de Menezes killing: If, as they thought, the officers were dealing with a suicide bomber, they would have deserved the George medal. Instead, tragically for the de Menezes family and for them, they live with the killing of an innocent man. -A somewhat earth-shattering statement of the blindingly obvious. Surely the whole point of the police force is for them to catch criminals, not innocent people, is it not? That's the trick isn't it? That's their job and it is why Blair and his colleagues were highly trained and rewarded from ...
It's a bit weird for it to be this time on a Formula One Sunday to not be watching the race - but today it's in Brazil and doesn't start until 6pm. Rather than bite my nails in anticipation at the duel to come, I've written an article on the Brawn team for those nice Brits on Pole people who thankfully seem to have forgotten that the last time they let me write for them, their site crashed. Let's hope I don't jinx them this time. My nerves are slightly in shreds after yesterday's dramatic and protracted qualifying session and ...
...except perhaps two on the same day... So, what was I doing in the North West? Naturally, I was in Widnes to attend a Regional Conference (I get everywhere eventually). However, the life of the First Husband is nothing if not glamorous, and I was only able to stay for about an hour before heading off for another engagement. However, I did get a chance to catch up with a number of people, including Mark Alcock from ALDC, Stan Collins, former Chair of the English Party, and Vera Roberts, whose graciousness in hosting a slightly battered bureaucrat was so appreciated ...
My first complaint to the PCC over the Mail Stephen Gately article seemed to be sent into that organisation's wastebasket. I received a reply saying "initial examination" showed that my complaint was probably invalid because I was unrelated to Stephen Gately or his family. I was absolutely incensed by this reply. The reply was received one minute after I sent the complaint on a Saturday evening. Any "initial examination" must have been conducted by a robot within a few nanu seconds. How the heck did they know that the complaint was even related to an invasion into the grief of ...
Today's 'Observer' has details of an attempted cover-up by someone who would prefer that the world doesn't know the far-right past of Michal Kaminski, leader of the European Conservative and Reformist group (ECR) in the European Parliament, to which the British Conservatives belong. Mr Kaminski was formerly a member of the neo-fascist National Revival of ...
The great Jay Rayner has a column in today's Observer about the shocking (and it really is shocking) use of beef and pork protein extracts in chicken processing. Unscrupulous producers, ever mindful of margins, use processed protein to enable them to 'fill' the chicken with water- obviously meat doesn't absorb large amounts of water, so ...
Another thought struck me this morning: what if Gordon Brown already knows when he's resigning? We can safely assume that if he was to resign that the General Election countdown clock would start, with the dissolution of Parliament likely happening within a week of the announcement of the new Labour leader. So, what if Brown and ...
A retaining wall is one that runs alongside a road, either stopping land above the road from falling onto the highway or supporting the highway to stop it collapsing down onto lower ground. The Department of Transport has put £45 million into repairing and maintaining retaining walls in Stockport, Tameside, Oldham and Rochdale to make them safe for years to come - over 100 walls will be repaired over the next three years. The first retaining wall to be tackled in Stockport is Brinksway in Cheadle Heath - the main road from Cheadle into Stockport. Work on three walls along ...
As a follow-up to my article on 7th October about the work needed to tidy up overgrown bushes and trees in Pennycook Lane (see http://tinyurl.com/pennycookwork or click on the headline above to view), the City Development Department of the City Council has now advised me that although my request that the work is carried out on a Sunday is not possible because of the work patterns of the contractor and cost involved, steps have been taken to minimise inconvenience to residents and other users of the car park. The work will happen on Friday 30th October, and I have been ...
Great day today getting the word out in Kibblesworth. A lovely village and got talking to a few residents about some anti social activity in the village. The Millennium centre in the village is a great facility and a great community venue.
Dazmando has done a sterling job on Bracknell Blog of recording what happened during yesterday's Bracknell Conservative Open Primary/Caucus event that was eventually won by Dr Phillip Lee. He has detailed how each of the seven candidates performed as well as provided details of their leaflets and his thoughts about how the event went as a whole with the things that worked well and some problems with the process too. It is well worth a read.
If you would like to buy tickets for Barnet Liberal Democrats' Quiz Supper, please click here for info, including contact details. This will be a fun quiz night with no politics, and you're welcome either to come on your own or with a group of people. We are asking people to please book in advance, so that we know how many people to cater for. I hope to see lots of you there.
I was fascinated to read Colonel Richard Kemp's testimony to the UN Human Rights Council on the Gaza War. I agree with his expert opinion and would recommend this (short) piece to anyone interested in the politics of the Middle East - this really deserves to be seen.
It seems that the Syrian authorities are up to their normal tricks again. My eye was drawn to a twitter message from a friend and colleague today about the disappearance of a prominent lawyer and human rights activist Haythan al-Maleh. "The Syrian government should reveal the fate of the prominent lawyer and rights activist Haytham al-Maleh, 78, who disappeared on October 14, 2009,and should release him immediately and unconditionally if it is detaining him", Human Rights Watch said today. The reason for the disappearance is being attributed to a telephone interview aired on an opposition TV station Barada TV on ...
Arriving early in the North West yesterday gave me a chance to catch up on English Party politics, and it seems that there will be a contest for Chair of the English Party this year. As Brian Orrell is term-limited after three years in the job, there will be a new Chair regardless, and the two candidates are Paul Clark, currently Chair of the East of England Liberal Democrats, and Jonathan Davies, formerly Treasurer of the English Party. In truth, many people will know little about the two candidates, although I consider both of them to be friends. And as ...
Sun 18th
10:31
Does Alex Salmond remember the last time "London danced to the SNP's tune"? : We got Thatcher!
Alex Salmond is a most impressive speaker, if you like someone who tells a tall tale. He speaks in great rhetoric and extreme hyperbole and if people are taken in by his words we will end up with a Conservative government, by the back door. Recently BBC Parliament showed a series of programmes about the 1979 vote ...
[IMG: Mark Oaten book cover] The repeated references to the stress caused by going bald sums up the good and the bad of Mark Oaten's autobiography. In Screwing up: How one MP survived politics, scandal and turning forty, Mark Oaten tries to explain his mid-life crisis - its causes and its impact. Talking about the impact of going bald usually results in one of two reactions in people - a blank bemusement that losing some hair might cause more than a few grumbles and jokes or a sympathetic understanding of just how tough the psychological pressures people face can be, ...
The Google search statistics for people coming to my article about Jan Moir, Stephen Gately and the PCC over on Lib Dem Voice are a handy reminder of just how big the long tail is on many search terms. Overall the post has done well at picking up traffic via Google searches, but only 16% of that search traffic has come through the most popular search term - "Jan Moir". There is a lot of variation on the the theme of her name, the Daily Mail, Stephen Gately, the Press Complaints Commission and how to make a complaint in all ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference has passed a code of conduct to ensure that no politician profits from allowances has been passed. The intention is that the new code will be signed by all current and prospective politicians at the Welsh Assembly, Westminster and European Parliaments. It says that no-one should profit in terms of allowances and there should be complete transparency in how allowances are spent. Kirsty Williams said that any Welsh Liberal Democrat MP, AM or MEP who refused to sign the code would not be allowed to stand for election or as party candidate. The code demands ...
Hopes that the run-up to the General Election might see a series of debates between the three main party leaders have run into the mire as Labour and the Conservatives pursue their own agenda as to what they want to use the discussions for. The Sunday Telegraph reports that after only a few weeks of negotiations, David Cameron has rejected the idea of a series of debates between all three party leaders. Gordon Brown has proposed up to six debates while the Liberal Democrats are demanding three three-way debates: Mr Cameron has proposed the most slimline option, involving one debate ...
I've blogged before about biofuels and the growing concern that growing food for fuel is the opposite of sustainability. Unless we can curb demand for fuel, through energy efficiency and more sustainable transport, all that we risk doing is converting land away from food production to growing fuel; or if the fuel is made from food ...
If truth be told Wikiedia is not exactly a reliable source of information and it certainly would not be a port of call for any reputable historian to establish facts. It is also the case that politicians and political parties often alter their own entries or those of others to reflect the message they want to send. I have certainly corrected my own entry to remove what I consider to be inaccurate comments placed there by members of other parties, but I have never sought to do the same to others. So the controversy about the changes made to the ...
I can be quite emotional at the very best of times and in recent weeks I have had to deal with the sudden diagnosis and then death of my Mum, that has hit me harder than I had ever realised it would. Sometimes watching things like Holby City and Casualty are just a little too bit close to home, if they hit me then my Sister must go through nightmares during those programmes. So, last night watching the coverage of Stephen's funeral was hard, listening to Ronan Keating breaking down was just a little too close to comfort. Stephen was ...
With the stock market recovering some of its losses, house prices rising moderately, optimism being reported locally and nationally, is there light at the end of the tunnel, or is it an express train ...
Anyone familiar with Gatley Station will know there's a patch of unused ground in the car park - land that you might think (well, I did) would be quite handy for some extra parking spaces. I asked Council officers to look into it and had an email this morning saying that the land isn't owned by Network Rail or the Council but by Electricity Northwest Ltd. We're making further enquiries but clearly that makes the situation difficult. At the very least, I'd like to see the owners maintain the land properly.
The conference season has come and gone with very little real impact on the overall state of play in the run of opinion polls. Even this relatively small fall in its support would see the Labour Party lose the election. However that is not the same thing as saying the Conservatives will win it. The distortions of our electoral system mean that in order to gain a majority of 2, the Conservatives need a swing of nearly seven percent- the second highest swing in recent electoral history. Yet the polls, while charting a solid lead for the Tories in the ...
For those of you who follow me on twitter it might soon look like I'm talking like a pirate. The reason? I've recently purchased a short url format to use as a custom URL redirect. For the moment it only works with my blog posts and the BBC News website, and it's only available to me (although if you do a RT nothing will break). Anyway I welcome argh.tc to the collection of domain names I now own.
[IMG: iain-dale] Last night, high profile blogger Iain Dale failed again in his search for a Tory seat in the next Parliament, by coming third in the Conservatives' open primary to find a PPC to replace disgraced incumbent MP Andrew MacKay in Bracknell. I don't know Iain very well, but on the occasions I have met him, he has always come across an intelligent and well rounded bloke with a real passion for politics - and, indeed, for the Conservative Party. The successfully selected Tory candidate was Philip Lee, who I understand is a local GP. I don't know Dr ...
Work was great tonight. Had fun working with Nicki, and yeah, there were a couple of tossers in, but that didn't really matter. Had a couple of bevvies with some of the regulars and Liz and Mark after knocking off and it was good, even though my back is still dicky. For those of you who are wondering why I stay a barmaid when the pay isn't that marvellous and I have two degrees: this is it. I have never had a job before where I actively enjoy working. I love my job. It's that simple. Have finished off the ...
Hurrah! News reaches me that the applicants for the lap-dancing club have not appealed the decision of Haringey Licensing committee which refused their application after a long and sustained campaign by LapOff supported by myself and LibDem Cllr Dave Winskill. They had three weeks after the refusal to lodge an appeal, but time ran out last Thursday. Dave has been ferocious in his support for local people in this campaign where it was clearly location that was the issue. It was up close to a primary school and a girls secondary school, vulnerable people and generally just a busy local ...
I have just come back from the Primary and reported a Bracknell Blog news flash with the news that Dr Phillip Lee won. It appears that local doctors have the edge at local primaries. I got the feeling from walking the floor that he was winning from the beginning. Each candidate had a leaflet on the chairs to read (all glossy and professional more about these later). We also had a CV from each and a scoring sheet for our use. Lott's were drawn to decide on the order of the candidates. The format was based on each candidate giving ...
Just been listening to this song from the album Homenaje a Violeta Parra by Mercedes Sosa who died a fortnight back. It is a beautiful and haunting melody with life affirming lyrics written by the Chilean Parra in the 1960s. She was a symbol of resistance against the vile Argentinean junta of the 1970s, a truly beautiful woman. If you've not heard the song or Mercedes go and buy it. Gracias a la Vida que me ha dado tanto me ha dado la risa y me ha dado el llanto, asi yo distingo dicha de quebranto los dos materiales que ...
My condolences to David Wilshire MP who was apparently working "dangerously close to minimum wage". Let me get this right MPs are paid nigh on £65K and the Minimum Wage is £5.80/hour which ironically he voted against, TWICE. And he had the gall ...
[IMG: owen-vince-small.jpg] These are buoyant times for Liberal Democrats in the North East, and today the Regional Conference in Gateshead was in an upbeat mood. There's much to be optimistic about, and delegates were cheered to hear the story behind a string of local council by-election victories in what would have previously been thought of as an unlikely hotbed for the party - Redcar - as well as sweeping victories in parish elections in what would once have been considered an equally unlikely place - Ashington. Then, to top it all, we were able to listen to the man who ...
A few weeks ago I bought a batch of beer from our local farm shop, one of which was a bottle of William Wilberforce Freedom Ale from those nice people at the Westerham Brewery in Kent. On reading the label I discovered that the beer had been brewed to commemorate the 200 anniversary of the abolition of slavery, and that profits from the beer were being given to the Stop The Traffik campaign. Now this sparked my interest because I had just been talking to our new Lib Dem MEP for the South East, Catherine Bearder, about this very issue. ...
I tried to comment on speed limits a couple of days ago and was sidetracked by the BNP so I'll try again. I decided a few years ago that a 40mph on Broadway in Morecambe was too high. This followed a survey of all the houses. Some people thought the 40mph limit was alright. Others told me it was too high. Some people told me that they regularly saw people breaking the speed limit and others told me that they never saw anything. The crunch comment was when a policeman told me that he stopped a vehicle for speeding near ...
