I missed this photo off yesterday. If you cannot see the words they are "Danger, cliff ahead. Beware lemmings".
Sorry I've been a bit crap at updating recently. Between computer problems at home, pressure at work, and the general blandness of most of the comics recently, I've not really had any momentum for posting. Hopefully that'll be back again soon and I'll be back to the level of productivity from last month within a ...
Lib Dem blogger Matt Davies reports on a clumsy attempt by Tory PPC for St Austell & Newquay, Caroline Righton, to extract political advantage from her Lib Dem opponent, Stephen Gilbert – but, unfortunately, without trying to check her facts first. Ms Righton accused Stephen of calling her a 'D***h***d!!!' on Twitter in an email to residents. Except that he didn't. And as Matt explains, it's hard to know how Ms Righton could have failed to realise this before broadcasting her allegation: She might not have liked Steve highlighting their different priorities when it comes to helping local residents or ...
Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable was back in the North East recently. It's great to hear him speak. Who else has been so right for so long on the state of Britain's economy and has such a clear understanding of the financial mess we're in? He stressed the need to close tax loopholes used by the wealthy and take on the greedy bankers. He also wants to lower the tax burden for lower and average earners and make the whole system fairer. Prospective MP Ian Swales took the opportunity to chat to Vince afterwards about the issues affecting our ...
On what was my fifth organised OUT event to Manchester Art Gallery there are two pictures that seem very pertinent to today's political volatility. One of the paintings is by Glasgow artist Ken Currie called `at the edge of the city`. It is a depiction of 80's Glasgow that is so bleak as to be almost utterly ...
"We must overthrow the cult of the car and the Lycra-clad vanguard of aggressive men, if more of us are to take to our bikes." Not my words, those of Times columnist, Janice Turner, but I couldn't agree more. "Only when the fear is gone will big jessies stop riding on pavements, maniacs stop charging red lights, the streets be reclaimed from cars, and cycling from angry men with tiny bums." Read more here.
On Thursday, local Lib Dem Councillors Glyn and Irene Nightingale once again took part in a "patch walk" with local police officers and representatives of Coast & Country Housing and the Fire Service. We found a whole load instances of graffiti, fly-tipping and damaged roads signs. There was widespread litter all over the area which Coast & Country are responsible for. But surprisingly, they have no schedule for clearing up. It's not the first time that we've had to report these sort of problems on the estate to Council officials to seek their urgent attention to sort things out. But ...
Sunday nights are often spent typing away on here about what I'm going to do with my week. It's not very exciting, but I either do that or spend time contemplating the deeply disappointing spectre of another working week, and the more time I spend doing that the more chance there is of me ending up naked on a hilltop howling at the sky. Tonight the situation is even more acute, as I have been banished from my living room whilst my in-laws-to-be (who are here for the weekend, which I never knew until today actually means "Friday afternoon until ...
The BBC made the right decision in inviting the leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin, to Question Time. The BNP needs to be scrutinised and exposed for the racist party that it is. However, the potential surge in support for the BNP will not have been Griffin's appearance on the beeb. Something much more sinister happened last Thursday. Question Time's panel and chair coalesced to attack Griffin
Today of course is the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt in France. One of the best descriptions of the battle comes from James Burke's book Connections wherein he relates how Henry V had brought his armies to France to settle his claim to the French throne. At Agincourt, he found his forces greatly outnumbered by a factor of about 6:1. However, the battle lasted barely, half-an-hour, the English lost 500 men, compared to 10,000 French. The English possessed a technology that virtually rendered obsolete the military technology used by the French, namely the Welsh longbow. It had been introduced ...
The clocks went back last night/this morning and the usual bleating is heard from those, usually resident in the south of these isles, who want us to stick with BST all the year round. Why, I ask myself? Why do we have BST at all these days? How many farmers and labourers need that extra hour in the summer evenings to gather in the harvest or get home from work? Here in the North East of
Today in my role as Deputy Mayor of Calderdale, I had the great honour of joining the Mayor and a host of other civic leaders to the Madni Mosque in Halifax to celebrate the first ever Civic Service by any Mayor in West Yorkshire, as far as we know, to ...
As a former campaign organiser for the Liberal Democrats in London I worked with some amazing Councillors who really worked hard trying to do their bit to improve their wards, Stephen Gilbert was one of those who I only got to work with for a short while, but he has turned into one of my best friends within the party. The one thing that always struck me with Steve was his love for his Cornwall, and when the opportunity came to stand to e the next MP for St. Austell & Newquay he jumped for it and I am so ...
I've blogged before about my former Fortis Green ward colleague Steve Gilbert's campaign to be the first MP for the new seat of St.Austell & Newquay - which is where he was born, grew up, went to school, lives and works... a lot is often said about local candidates, but they really don't come much more local than that! Well, speaking to Steve this weekend, it seems that the campaign by Caroline Righton (the Conservative candidate for the seat) has got nasty. She has misrepresented Steve - either deliberately or stupidly - in an email she has sent to local ...
There's a new facility on many of our local bus stops. At the bottom of the timetable is a code for the stop. If you text the code to the number provided, you get a text message back with the next timetabled bus due for each service at your stop. (Please note that there's a charge of 25 pence plus your normal network text charge)
Sun 25th
18:29
Wapley Bushes Local Nature Reserve - autumn events - planning, working, looking for fungi!
Lots of things are happening on the Nature Reserve over the next few days: Saturday 31 Oct 9.30 am - have your say about the Management Plan for the next five years - walk around the Reserve with the consultant who is updating the plan. Everyone welcome. Sunday 1 November 10.00 am - work morning with members of the Conservation Group. Please come and help out! Tuesday 3 November 2.00 pm - a Fungus Foray with expert Justin Smith. There are lots of fungi on the reserve at the moment, some the size of small plates. Come and find out ...
Newcastle Brown Ale is as much an icon of Tyneside as the Eiffel Tower is of Paris. So the idea that brewing Broon should be transferred by Scottish and Newcastle to Tadcaster in Yorkshire is not being universally welcomed on my home patch. So we are launching a petition to the company asking them to think again.I met up with some of my colleagues this morning to launch the campaign outside the
Nick Griffin's mother-in-law describes him as a "work-shy pretender," according today's Sunday Telepgraph. She continued: "Nick is still a racist. He still holds those views - always has. He wants to see an all-white Britain, but that will never happen... he's living in the Dark Ages." She describes him as 'work-shy' because his wife is apparently the ...
Welcome to the 140th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (18th – 24th October 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, partly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget, by the way, you can now sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. When Postal Strikes and ...
This month's booze tasting was a variety of rums, although it was structured as a rum and chocolate tasting, not just rum. The session was led by Duane Dove of Tobago Cocoa, who also runs a restaurant and bar (warning: music) in Stockholm, with a very large selection of rums.Again, rum is a spirit I don't really know much about - I've drunk some before, obviously, but only stuff that you can get in any supermarket or pub - so the evening was educational as well as refreshing. And as with the armagnac tasting, I rather lack the vocabulary to ...
Is it any wonder that Aberdeenshire Council have not been taken action to protect local members from the threat of Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs)? As far back as April this year they have been preparing to help the billionaire property developer overcome the public outcry of such an action. A letter from the council's senior planning officer Dr Christine Gore dated 7 April reads: "In terms of public relations and management of the inevitable media interest, I would request that we be given at least a week's notice of your intended submission date. Thereafter, close liaison will be required . ...
Having had my email from the Liberal Democrats about Shirley Williams book, I thought I would update my Amazon Wish List (at www.amazon.co.uk) - I am the Colin Ross that is in Walsall (as Amazon have problems delivering to me at home in Wolverhampton).
Despite real fears about crime, the figures are getting better. Crime fell 14% in Islington last year, and the Lib Dem Council is funding a new team to support crime victims and work with residents to increase the number of anti-social behaviour cases going to court. Meanwhile one Finsbury resident has been jailed for a ...
It is just about two years since I posted my first Sunday video (Rock el Casbah by Rachid Taha), so let me be a little self-indulgent. The video runs for 10 minutes and even then you don't quite get the whole song in. It could be worse: the version on the Traffic On the Road album lasts for over 17 minutes (and its not the longest track either). Who said "noodling"? This version comes from a concert in Santa Monica in 1972. You can buy the DVD Traffic - Live at Santa Monica or watch other songs from it I ...
Where are all the women Directors? Where are all the women MP's? Where are all the Women Blogger's? Recently the conservative leader David Cameron has come out in favour of all women short lists following in Labours footsteps with the Blair Babes (a real shame this phase I think as it degrades the female Labour MP's). I'm not sure I totally agree with this myself. I find myself more agreeing with Iain Dale and Ann Widdecombe where Ann wants to be able to look the male MP's in the eye and say she got here the same means as they ...
[IMG: Me campaigning for Xmas lights back in December 2006] Great news – my colleague Ed Butcher has been in contact with Islington Council and they've agreed for the third year in a row to pay for Christmas lights on the Stroud Green Road. However, in worst scrooge tradition, Haringey Council is still refusing to pay its share of bringing Christmas cheer to the road (which is on the boundary of the two Boroughs). Ed and I launched our campaign for Christmas lights in December 2006 (see picture), and every year we press Haringey to match Islington's generosity (for example ...
Normally, at this stage of a newly elected parliament, the major task is to hold individual hearings of the 27 candidate Commissioners who would have been proposed, one by each national parliament (or government, in truth). But this cannot happen because the Lisbon Treaty is still not in effect. If the President of the Czech Republic signs it soon, then the planning is that the Treaty will come into force from 1st January. Meanwhile the new candidate Commissioners will be interrogated probably next month - and then MEPs will vote them into office for five years, or reject them. Also ...
Here it is.
The Sunday Times reports: Senior Liberal Democrat figures will hold talks in an attempt to halt a growing rebellion within the party's ranks over its opposition to Alex Salmond's Referendum Bill. Party managers will meet on Monday to decide the best way of tackling the revolt, which could seriously undermine Tavish Scott's leadership of the party. Strategists have yet to decide whether they will allow the issue to go to a vote at a special conference being held in Dunfermline next Saturday to confirm the party's stance. It is understood that several of the party's Westminster candidates are preparing to ...
John Pienaar's guest on his 5 Live political podcast this week was James Forsyth, the new political editor of The Spectator (it is still accessible here for a few days). The discussion was about BBC Question Time, Nick Griffin and the BNP and James made a number of what I thought were good points about the programme and how it played out. What caught my ear most though was when he highlighted what he perceives as a major reason why the BNP has increased in popularity. It is a short section from about 9 minutes in for about 20 seconds: ...
Sat late last night, or early this morning depending on you look at it just going through a pile of newspapers seeing what to blog about over the weekend and came across the jobs pages in Mondays Guardian. The advert says, Beatbloggers - 12 month freelance contracts in Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh. "The Guardian is launching an initiative in a small number of locations and would like to recruit a blogger in each of Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh, to create and curate local text and multimedia content. "You will lead the Guardian's innovative approach to community news coverage by reporting ...
For anyone fooled by Nick Griffin, and I was talking to a pensioner yesterday who seemed to have been fooled by the twaddle Nick Griffin spoke on Question Time, Channel 4 have fact checked every statement of "fact" he made on the show and , er, to put it nicely, it appears he was attmepting to pull the wool over voters eyes. Check out what Mr Griffin said, and the real facts by clicking HERE Hat Tip to Peter Black for finding this information.
Visited the food festival this morning, Conwy is looking great with big crowds and a steady stream of local people walking across the cob, it's really great to see such an event at the end of the season. I spoke with some traders they said that despite yesterdays poor start with the weather, they were expecting good trade today, I wish them well. Conwy is one of my most favourite Towns and it does seem to buck the trend with it's very successful butchers, bakers, fruit and Veg shop and Conwy Fine Wines, to name a few. http://www.conwyfeast.co.uk/
This is a letter to the Sunday Telegraph following a long article by Christopher Booker who regularly writes a column disputing climate change etc. I put it here as they are unlikely to publish it. 'Dear Editor' 'Interesting article by Christopher Booker - but I have one question for him.' 'Earlier this year we had a heavy snowfall. Kids aged 12 and 13 were very excited because they 'have never seen snow before'. It was all gone in three days.' 'When I was their age in the 1970s we used to get at least two or three weeks snow every ...
The Thick of It returned to our TV screens this Saturday. It has moved from BBC 4 to BBC 2 and for those who have HD, you can see the glorious Malcolm Tucker getting up close and personal in high definition. The Department for Social Affairs and Citizenship has a new Secretary of State in the shape of Nicola Murray played superbly by Rebecca Front. Murray has two problems: her husband works for a company that has a PFI arrangement with the department and she is about to send her 11 year old to an independent school. To appreciate the ...
Sun 25th
12:09
How much of the price you pay for charity Christmas cards actually goes to the charity?
Did you know that if you buy charity Christmas cards from a high street store then as little as 6% of what you pay might be donated to the charity? Which? has just done a report on this. It hasn't been posted online yet, so I can't give a direct link, but the BBC reported it. Whilst a small handful of promotions in stores do give up to the full retail price to the charity, the vast majority do not, with an average donation of about 10%. So how do you make sure that most of the price you pay ...
There is a "significant risk" that conventional oil production will peak before 2020, and forecasts that delay the event beyond 2030 are based on assumptions that are "at best optimistic and at worst implausible". So says a major new report that puts the excitement over recent 'giant' oil discoveries into perspective and directly contradicts the British government's position. It also warns that failure to recognise the threat of peak oil could undermine efforts to combat climate change. The report, entitled 'Global Oil Depletion: An assessment of the evidence for a near-term peak in global oil production', comes from the UK ...
The Glasgow North East by-election is well under way now and the Liberal Democrats nomination papers went in on Friday, the Labour Party apparently had only just collected theirs the day before! However, that is not the story, what fueled my anger this morning is seeing the Scotland on Sunday front page headline - "BNP man's racist vow". Forget Question Time, Glasgow North East is where the argument with the BNP is at. The BNP by-election candidate, David Baillie has said that he will "go to his grave" wanting his party to remain for whites only and racist! He also ...
... because I'm going to run away for a couple of days and hide from life. I have some fun things to do lined up, and hopefully it will be a restorative. See you on the other side.
Fred Weavers -my colleague from Kew Ward- was putting his unicycle skills to good use on Saturday. Fred -an ex-SBS man-was raising funds for the Help for Heroes charity which is working with armed forces people coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Mike Booth, David and Julie Pullen and others were out shaking the cans and raise a very encouraging sum. I shall return to this item with information about the sum raised and a link for you to donate on-line One wag-a knight of the borough (by which description he is easily identified)- suggested he did it along Portland ...
Sun 25th
11:04
LibLink ... Vince Cable: Economic recovery? It's vanished into a yawning gap between a rich capital ...
Over at the Mail, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable examines the "trickiest problem" facing Government: "to rein in public borrowing without making recession worse or damaging the useful things government does". Here's an excerpt: The grim news that the economy is still in recession makes this dilemma more acute. It also reminds us that Britain is a deeply divided country. In the inflated metropolitan bubble of the City, there is a lot of excited talk about recovery based on a bounce-back in the stock market, city bonuses and rising house prices in posher parts of London. This is a ...
Last week there were — allegedly — two days of strikes at the Royal Mail. I say 'allegedly' as I didn't notice any effect, but others report some, so let's presume there were. On Friday the Communications Workers Union announced there would be three more days of industrial action in the coming week. All this, of course, has meant the media publicising the 'alternative mail services' that supposedly exist, from TNT to a bloke on a bicycle in Portsmouth. Thing is with very few exceptions none of these 'alternative' organisations actually deliver the mail they collect. They cream off the ...
Lib Dem Home Affairs Spokesperson Chris Huhne MP has congratulated Hastings for rejecting the BNP, despite the town being targeted by the Far Right party in recent elections. Nick Perry, the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Hastings & Rye, updated Mr Huhne on the situation in Hastings just two days after the MP shared a panel ...
A West End resident, who recently moved to Dundee, wrote to me recently about some of the book stock at Blackness Library : "We are very happy to be in the area of the West End of Dundee, enjoying the extra cultural activities that the larger city offers. I thought I'd just drop you a line, however, to voice my observation regarding the books at Blackness Library. A great many of them, particularly the classics, look very tired. Undoubtedly they have been well used in the past, but although wishing to borrow some, I decided against it because of their ...
Remember the Labour attack on David Cameron. They called him Dave the Chameleon because he changes what he says to suit his audience. A reasonably accurate description but there is another Dave-The-Chameleon on the block. It is none other than David Anderson, Labour MP for Blaydon. Readers of this blog will recall that the interesting inconsistencies do often get raised by me. However, I have
A parish notice from the team here at The Voice. Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that a new person has recently joined the team in the LDV Towers – Iain Roberts. Iain was elected a councillor earlier this year for Cheadle & Gately, in north west England. You can follow his local work as a councillor here, but he's been active in the party for many years prior to this election. Indeed, back in 1992 he founded Hairnet, an email discussion list for the then Liberal Democrat Youth and Students (LDYS, the forerunner to Liberal Youth). That makes him one ...
My next post will be from my hospital bed - you can't keep a good Liberal Democrat down! Watch this space for my views on health and social care issues!
Only days before the Liberal International is due to hold its Congress in Cairo, the prominent Egyptian Liberal Ayman Nour, leader of the El Ghad party, has reportedly been set upon by a dozen plainclothes thugs as he left a restaurant in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada with colleagues. According to a local news ...
The story starts: SHOPPERS are being inconvenienced by signs pointing to toilets that do not exist. OK so far; sounds like a not uncommon story of signs that are wrong, out of date or pointing the wrong way. But then we get the explanation: Local Councillor Harold Moth (Conservative, Fullwell) explained the matter was going through a European tendering process. He said: "The signs have three arms, and the other two are accurate". So (a) blame Brussels, and (b) don't worry because other signs are ok. Hmm... Full story here. Hat-tip: @AndrexOnTheGo (Andrex is a work client)
I watched the repeat of Have I Got News for You yesterday evening. It was worth it for the moment when Grayson Perry was talking about art and Ian Hislop affected to be baffled by him. What Perry said next was: "Don't pretend not to understand, Ian"Well said. There is a style of argument that is so common amongst those who were educated at public schools that I suspect the Headmasters' Conference insists it is included in the curriculum. When you say something they do not agree with, particularly something a bit left wing, they do not disagree with you: ...
Summertime is officially over and I for one was glad of an extra hour in bed this morning, while wondering at the same time if it was worth the effort of altering every clock, phone and piece of IT in the house! It's always a time of reflection for me - the start of the winter months. I am doing a lot of driving around beautiful South Norfolk at the moment - talking to people. We are surrounded by the wonderful colours of Autumn but for many people Winter is already here. If you are unemployed, getting older or struggling ...
I just wanted to give a small plug to a new group I have found called Chorlton Chapters, a reading group that meeting the Lounge bar monthly.
I had a great time last night at the Black History Month Groups achievement awards at the Crowne Plaza. This was the fifth year of the awards which were organised to recognise all sorts of achievements by people in, or working with, Black communities. Liverpool City Council was one of the two main sponsors of the event so I joined staff from the equal opps team and other Councillors last night. It was wonderful to see so many people and organisations recognised, and the presentation did the job in that it told you something... but left you wanting to find ...
By the final whistle yesterday, I was beginning to regret having said I would blog about Spurs after the match with Stoke was out of the way. You can get a proper match report here. Having only lost to Chelsea and Man Utd this season before yesterday and sitting in third place in the Premiership knowing a win would move us level at the top, it was probably inevitable that Stoke would win. The nature of the loss is particularly galling though. It's not that unusual to see a team arrive at White Hart Lane with the sole intention of ...
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] [IMG: Dave and the Hoodie] It's no secret that Cameron would scrap the Human Rights Act which was how the UK incorporated the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention on Human Rights in to UK law. The key point is that you don't have to be a citizen to have these rights, you simply need to be Human... Lets face it the first draft of the ECHR started about 800 years ago - it was called Magna Carta! It's my opinion that all the "issues" with the Human Rights Act comes from rightwing Tabloid hysteria. ...
The e-petition asking Gordon Brown to instigate a review of the selection process for the Academy sites keeps getting closer to the magic 500 which is our target. If you haven't signed yet, please do so here (or if you're nosy and just want to see what the number's up to). An e-petition is not like a paper based one where people can be asked directly to sign. Every signature is from a willing volunteer, so how about contacting some of your friends and asking them to volunteer?
Stockport Art Gallery is holding a cake-making competition - you've got until 29th November to register. Call 474 4453 or email stockport.artgallery@stockport.gov.uk for more information. There are two categories: a cake inspired by a creative masterpiece, judged on its looks; and "You are what you eat" which is about creating a great healthy cake. Cakes have to be delivered to Stockport Art Gallery on 6th December, with judging and awards that afternoon.
I don't want to harp on about Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time, after all that is the only thing the mainstream media can talk about, but I did want to draw attention to this page on Channel Four's website. They have fact-checked the BNP's pronouncements on the programme and concluded like the rest of us that he was being economical with the actualité: the claim "Guided tours in the Lake District have been cancelled because only English people, white people, were going on them." Nick Griffin MEP, BBC One's Question Time, 22 October 2009. The analysis Griffin's statement's met ...
Morning all. Clocks changed? Good. Now it's time to catch up on the news including, as it's a Sunday, another in my occasional series of "Forget Obama; forget West Wing – now THIS is what we should be copying from US politics". It's the political ad that is just bursting to be copied for our next party political broadcast. Send you lobbying email to Cowley Street now. (Probably best do that now rather than after watching the ad. In case you don't agree with me. But you'd be mad not to. This is quality political advertising at its very best.) ...
Sun 25th
05:20
Survey shows local Councils are getting their act together on protection of personal data
A survey of all local Councils in Wales conducted by the Welsh Liberal Democrat Local Government Spokesperson, Peter Black, has found that the vast majority have put in place appropriate policies and procedures to protect personal data they hold. Mr. Black wrote to all 22 Councils in July and August of this year requesting information regarding their data protection policies and how they are enforced, their policies and security measures for portable media drives, and records of any incidents of personal data loss or improper use of data. Nearly three quarters of them replied to the request. There were only ...
Liberal Democrat Opposition Day Debates: The Liberal Democrat opposition day debates were both ones that Labour should have supported. Labour failed to do so on both votes. The first was on Equitable Life - and I am sure that every MP in the House has had heartbreaking letters from people who have lost their life savings through Equitable Life and are fed up waiting for the always promised, never delivered compensation. The second motion was asking Parliament to sign up to the 10:10 campaign. Lots of individual MPs (including me) and councils have already signed up to reduce their carbon ...
Computer problems have caused a huge delay for me in getting any new posts done. I'd just like to say that no-one should ever buy anything from Clas Ohlson, at least if they want something functional... ESPECIALLY don't buy their record players (the ones on half-price sale with built in CD player and USB MP3 ...
