James Schneider's post amazingly shows that people are trying to connect the shennanigans of EU honcho-appointment with Jewish conspiracies.
Thu 19th
23:02
David Curry, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standards and Privileges Committee, resigns
From the Daily Telegraph this evening: David Curry, the MP who heads the committee responsible for policing Commons expenses, has claimed almost £30,000 for a second home that his wife has banned him from staying in.Mr Curry has resigned his chairmanship of the Parliamentary Standards and Privileges Committee and told the Telegraph that he will refer himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner. The newspaper goes on to allege: The Conservative MP is accused of having an affair with a headmistress in his Yorkshire constituency and using a taxpayer-funded cottage to meet his lover. A Telegraph investigation has learned that four years ...
Many readers will remember Irfan Ahmed, the enfant terrible of Liberal Democrat blogging. He removed his blog from the LibDemBlogs aggregator a few months ago and little has been heard of him since. But it seems that his idiosyncratic views have landed him in trouble and that he has closed his blog down as a result. Full details on Political Scrapbook and in the Burnley Citizen. I hope we will see an older, wiser Irfan return to blogging one day.
Tonight's meeting of the Greenfields Neighbourhood Forum, saw an update on a number of local issues including: Acocks Green Christmas Lights Switch On: This will take place at the Inn on the Green on Tuesday 1st December starting at 6pm with live music, the switch on itself, and refreshments. A 'Village Hero' scheme has been launched to celebrate the best of Acocks Green Village. Monthly 'Heros' will be awarded - with nomination forms available in the Library. A website for the Forum is under construction and will hopefully be up and running soon. In the meantime you can mail the ...
I really couldn't believe my eyes this morning when in the Daily Telegraph they were reporting that to turn the Christmas lights on at the Westfield shopping centre in West London Mariah Carey was being a diva, darling. According to the Daily Telegraph, Mariah Carey's demands included; Driven in a pink rolls royce, down a pink carpet to a pink podium, where she was to wave a want to turn them on!80 security guards, plus an entourage of 15Confetti shaped like her favourite insect, the butterflyNow, those were the ones that the organisers apparently complied with...... Those that were turned ...
The remarkable thing about the whole "Blair for President" nonsense is that it really is breathtaking that Tony Blair actually thought he had a cat in hell's chance of being elected President of the EU council by the member countries. To justify that thought, it only requires a few words: Iraq Bush poodle Smart Alec Merkel Sarkozy 'Nuff said. It really takes arrogance, just sheer head-up-in-orbit arrogance, for Blair to even dream of the post in the first place. Or was perhaps this Gordon Brown's revenge on him? Put our Tone up for a role he knew he wouldn't get, ...
Conservative MP, David Curry has now resigned as the chairman of the Parliamentary Standards and Privileges Committee and now faces a formal inquiry into his £30,000 expenses claims for the second home. Back in 2004, David Curry was apparently having an affair using his constituency home to meet his mistress, once his wife discovered the affair she banned him from that home despite this he continued to claim for this property. When the Daily Telegraph approached him with the claim that he continued to claim for this second home from Parliamentary Allowances he immediately referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner. ...
A reasonably breathtaking article from the Telegraph.
Congratulations to Cllr Meral Ece (Islington) on her appointment as a commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Operation Black Vote reports: A race advisor to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, Ece has her hands full having been handed special responsibility for race, gender and religion on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Speaking to OBV Blog, Ece said: "I'm really happy to be appointed. It's a great opportunity and challenge. It's important to put party politics aside and work to have a strong, healthy organisation. "We need a strong regulatory body, to work towards a society ...
There was an interesting interview on the BBC's Good Morning Wales programme today in which Welsh Labour Leadership contender, Huw Lewis was put on the spot about a future referendum on primary law-making powers. Huw was intent on not giving a straight answer to fairly straightforward questions but one contribution stood out. He said that during the 1997 referendum campaign he had occupied a senior organising post in Welsh Labour HQ. A decision was taken to prioritise the push for a 'yes' vote and the Labour party brought in 20 full time organisers and put in £300,000 to pay for ...
Commenting on the wildcat prison officer strikes taking place at several prisons, Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary, David Howarth said: "Because of the unique position prison officers are in, the Government has a responsibility to ensure serious grievances are dealt with before officers feel they have no choice but to strike. "Whatever the rights and wrongs of a particular strike action, the very fact that it has reached this point is a failure of Government."
Holly is doing excellently in all subjects, but she's not working to her full potential was the basic report at school. She's in the top set for everything except Maths (in which she would be in the top set if she worked faster), and is one of the best readers in the school, apparently. And she has an amazing imagination and is very creative. It's just that sometimes she drifts off into a little world of her own and won't work. But she's such a little individual, and has such forthright views... It's eerie, really. They could just photocopy my ...
So it seems a consensus emerged quickly among the 27 EU leaders, and Herman van Rumpuy and Catherine Ashton have been chosen as the new President of the European Council and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, respectively. Personally I think it's good that these posts have been created, and from what I've read ...
President of the European Union: Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy European High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy: Baroness Cathy Ashton The EU is the world's biggest economic power. It has the world's biggest single market, largest aid budget. The lisbon treaty was supposed to translate this into a wider influence on security, the global economy, climate change, human rights, conflict resolution, the fight against cross border terrorist cells etc, which I'm all for because it makes the EU a global player on a par with China and the United States. However, the EU cannot punch it's weight ...
[IMG: Plymouth Hoe (12 Sept 2009)] There was bad news for Plymouth's green credentials today. The city dropped from 3rd to 12th place in the annual Sustainable Cities Index, produced by Forum for the Future. The index, in its third year, ranks Britain's 20 biggest cities on their sustainability. The index is made up of three separate rankings. One on the environment, where Plymouth dropped from 1st down to 14th! This includes measures on things like air quality. There is also quality of life, where the city dropped two places to stand at 6th. This is affected by factors ...
These are the ISMs that Cruddas thinks can show us that he is on the side of the Good
Now that Blair is out of the picture Brown is pushing Baroness Ashton to be EU Foreign Minister. I really hope that this is merely a bargaining position so that the UK gets to keep a key economic brief in the Commission (i.e. Trade). Even if it is, its bloody embarrassing. What makes Ashton a good candidate? Lets take a brief look at her CV. 1998 - 2001 - Chaired the Hertfordshire Health Authority 2001 - PUS in the Dept. Education and skills 2002 - Sure Start Minister 2004 - PUS Dept. Constitutional Affairs, brief covering National Archives and Public ...
Today I had a meeting with a member of the Town Council staff to talk about my ideas for improving Keighley's environment, as part of the Town Plan steering committee. She thought my ideas were very interesting.
I was shocked by the leaked letter (see my earlier post) that showed the Whittington would lose it's A & E department under all four options being put forward for the reorganisation of health services in what is called London North Central (LNC) Sector of the Strategic Health Authority (Islington, Camden, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey). I had not been reassured by the hasty press release by LNC saying that the first letter had been confusing and re-issuing a version which changed the Whittington's fate to being designated a 'local hospital' in the options rather than mentioning A& E at all. ...
Watching the Queen's speech yesterday I was very disappointed - but not surprised - to hear that there was nothing whatsoever in the Labour government's plans about housing. Nothing about building more affordable housing. Nothing about improving housing standards. And yet we are facing a housing crisis in this country. It is one of the clearest indicators of inequality of wealth and you can see evidence of this division up and down the country - in towns, cities and villages too. But nothing Gordon Brown said yesterday will alieviate the problems families are facing in Reading desperately trying to get on the ...
For those of you who missed it, or couldn't bear to watch the full 7 minutes, here's the edited highlights from yesterday's "Queen's Peach" as my 5 year old niece called it.
Apparently the latest M&S Christmas ads are being complained about because they are sexist because Philip Glenister, very much in character as DCI Gene Hunt from Ashes to Ashes, says he wants as his Christmas present the girl from the ad who takes her clothes off. Strange that those people who are complaining never moaned about women lusting after naked men in the Diet Coke ads from a few years back.
Local Lib Dems recently went along to the opening of the Kennington Park Nature Trail. It is the culmination of lots of hard work from the Friends of Kennington Park and parks staff. We were delighted that Simon Hughes MP was able to join us. Congratulations to all involved with the project and we look forward to supporting it as local councillors in the years to come.
The link is to the bill on parliament's website. The text of the bill follows from hereI wonder if the "guarantees" in this are "cast iron guarantees" or not.I need to go through the family proceedings stuff in detail, but it appears that Jack Straw's Civil Servants have betrayed him again and are setting up a system so that a journalist has to be present to say what went on and that otherwise
It's #bbcqt day again and as usual the Live Chat on this blog will start tonight at 10:30pm. The panel will include the Immigration Minister Phil Woolas MP, the shadow home secretary Chris Grayling (Alan Johnson's mini-me), the Liberal Democrat MP and former leader Sir Menzies Campbell, the broadcaster Nick Ferrari (Richard Littlejohn's mini-me) and the Independent MP and former thorn in Tony Blair's side Clare Short. And for anyone wondering where I disappeared to half way through last week's chat, sorry abut that but I had a dog/carrot emergency to attend to! Luckily, Dazmando was hosting it anyway. Join ...
If we can't stop this, it's beginning of the end for the net in Britain That's what Cory Doctorow suggests when reporting the news that Mandelson is seeking to use a back door to grant himself powers that grant him yet more powers to do just about anything in the interest of protecting Copyright. It's terrifying stuff that, if he's successful, will cripple Britain's technological progress. I use a programme called, "Drop Box" and it allows me to transfer files from my MacBook to my PC using the Internet. I don't want such files to be publicly available because they're ...
The public are invited to attend the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is holding its annual members meeting on Thursday, November 26th at 6pm. This will be held at the Post Graduate Medical Centre at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough this can be found at entrance 4. Presentations will start at 7pm. This will be a great opportunity to speak to the trust's Chief Eexecutive Julie Burgess as well as the Chairman & Governors. The bigger the turnout of the public the better as this will demostrate the to Julie Burgess the public feeling about keeping Heatherwood ...
The first Annual Report on the Governments' Command Paper on services provided to the Forces, their families and veterans, published today, reports that: The Royal British Legion considers that 'little effective progress has been made in the past year' on the veterans' priority treatment scheme, with delivery remaining inadequate and awareness low In England and Wales: 33% of GPs questioned knew nothing at all about priority treatment for War Pensioners Of those GPs who had heard of priority treatment, most (58%) heard about it from the media, 7% from the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency or elsewhere in the MOD, ...
The Government has long had a knack of turning a good idea into an operational nightmare. One case in point is the Queen's Speech proposal for personal care at home. The Prime Minister has given an undertaking to find a way of ensuring that older people with the highest needs can remain at home, regardless of means. The bill will attempt to help 400,000 people ('guaranteeing' free personal care for 280,000 and providing assistance to 130,000 others). Difficult to argue with? In the small print not covered by the nationals screaming about the General Election is the fact that this ...
The Christmas lights will be switched on in Malden Rushett, Chessington North and Hook tomorrow. If you make your way to Malden Rushett at 4.30pm a small group of us will gather to ceremonially switch on the festoons around the lamp-posts there. Then at 5.30pm we'll have a slightly busier event around the Christmas tree on North Parade with carols from a local school. The picture shows last year's tree on North Parade. The Hook Parade lights will turn themselves on at about the same time without any help from us. Finally, the Tolworth Christmas lights will be switched on ...
I splashed out today with a refund from my car insurance brokers and purchased a netbook - a Compaq Mini - which is something I have had my eyes on for a while now... Much more portable than the HP lap top and quite fast using my O2 broadband dongle too
I must confess, I have been quite at a loss about what to write this week. My usual blog fodder is the general ridiculousness of the Council meetings I have to go to. But this week there haven't been any. So instead I have turned my attentions to other pursuits, and written a kids' poem. It's called "Barnacle Bay" and it's got nothing whatsoever to do with politics or the Liberal Democrats. I suspect it has precisely no literary merit either. But your kids might like it. And if they did, that would make me as happy as all the ...
An FT party leaves me bleary but optimistic. Reading the internet soon deals with that.
"It's bureaucracy gone mad!" is a familiar cry from Lib Dem MPs, councillors and activists across the country. But I think in Portsmouth we probably have something that takes the biscuit in that regard. Here, Mike Hancock has been taken up the case of a 94 year-old Second World War veteran, Mr Bob McGowan who was denied his winter fuel payment by moving one day too late. He is now threatening to hand back his war medals in disgust at the way that he has been treated unless, at the very least, he gets an apology and a donation to ...
These are tumultuous days in South London, the new trains timetables have been announced and those that have realized that their trains will be soon reduced or cancelled altogether are up in arms. Trains through Hither Green have been spared from the chop, but other lines in Lewisham and beyond have not been so lucky ...
This week I've spent some time speaking to a number of residents on Hexham Road estate about a range of issues that need sorting out. I really enjoying catching up with constituents - many of them are good friends now as I've spent a lot of time in the area over the years. First some good news. The Council has just completed a public consultation on plans to plant more trees, flowers and plants on the estate. This was the result of a very successful local Lib Dem campaign to improve the local environment. We welcomed the plans but made it ...
[IMG: Proud of Stockport] This is your chance to reward and recognise people who make a difference in Stockport by entering them in the borough's citizens' awards: Proud of Stockport. The Awards are now in their third year, celebrating those who do exceptional and extraordinary things to support our communities. Do you know an individual or a group of people going out of their way to make Stockport a better place? Is there a residents' association or community group, which has greatly improved things for local people? If so, this is the chance to give these people their spot in ...
I think it is important to reflect on the inequality that many women face when it comes to motherhood, childcare, domestic responsibility and employment work. Whilst more men may have started to help domestically, research shows that women's responsibility in terms of childcare has actually increased. Inefficient childcare policy is one ...
India is apparently set to pass the one billion mobile phones mark in 2015. That's a lot of phones. Think how many customers' data T-mobile could sell if they were active there. I still haven't had a reply from T-mobile to my email asking whether mine had been sold.
Thu 19th
15:24
15 years of the National Lottery - but did you hear about the Starship Enterprise centre or the dino...
The National Lottery is 15 years old this week, and no doubt people will be celebrating with a purchase of ticket to win the jackpot. As we all know money from the lottery goes to 'good causes' but have there been many requests for less 'good causes' over the years? According to The Telegraph some of ...
[*]Gratuitous Icon Post The t-shirt is in the wash, but the text on the picture is accurate and answers his question. Copy of this post on Dreamwidth, where there are [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments I'd prefer it if you comment there if you are able to keep the discussion together.
As residents will be aware, the City Council has sought deregulation from the 1967 School Premises (general requirements and standards) (Scotland) Regulations in respect of the proposal to build new primary school facilities for St Joseph's and Park Place Primary Schools and a new Park Place Nursery School. A decision by Scottish Government has taken weeks and I recently asked for an update from the Director of Education. Here is his response : "Dear Fraser Part of the process for determining whether deregulation should be approved or not is the consideration by the Government to a report by HMIe on ...
Watching the debate in the House of Commons yesterday about the Queen's Speech I found my jaw dropping at the rudeness of Gordon Brown. Watch this clip where David Cameron is trying to get Brown to respond to the question of why there was nothing about MPs' expenses in the Queen's Speech: Twice Cameron offers to give way so that Brown can clarify the position and twice he declines. My problem however is not so much with him declining (although that does show that Cameron had him on the rack in my view) - it is in the way that ...
Election forecasting, that is the using data such as party standings, leader ratings and economic indicators to predict the result of the next general election, is still in its infancy. The combination of general elections only every four years or so with the relatively recent innovation of regular detailed polling figures means that there has often been a shortage of data and election results with which to create and test models. However, as each general election passes the volume of data accumulates and predictive models get more sophisticated. Of course, this begs the question about how well you can predict ...
Occasionally on this blog I like to meander into the world of sport; having not actually heard the match between France and the Republic of Ireland last night but caught -up with the news I thought I would have my two-pennies worth before Gordon Brown or another leading politician decides to stick their oar in. Firstly, it ...
Further to my articles from earlier this week, about the policy of not replacement street lights where damaged by motor vehicles and the driver cannot be traced, the City Council Chief Executive called me this afternoon to advise that a report is to come to the City Development Committee on 7th December that will recommend amending the policy. Although I have yet to see the detail, it is a step in the right direction that the policy is being reviewed. I will be suggesting that all street lamps that have not been replaced across the city are replaced as a ...
Plenary went on rather late yesterday so I was obliged to leave before the short debate to attend a meeting in Swansea. The short debate is the Assembly equivalent of an adjournment debate in the House of Commons. There is no vote and opportunities to participate are limited. It is essentially an opportunity for a member to speak for 15 minutes on the subject of his or her choice and have a Minister respond to the matters raised. Nevertheless there have been one or two memorable contributions including the time Dafydd Wigley led a walkout of the Plaid Cymru group ...
Interesting post on Left Foot Forward which argues Britain's net debt is set to remain roughly in-line with the rest of the OECD; As the ONS publish data showing that Net Debt as a percentage of GDP (including financial sector interventions) has risen this month to 58.9 per cent (p.11), the OECD predict that Britain's gross financial ...
The agenda with report is at
Mick Bates, Assembly Member for Montgomery, relates how cross-party resolution was obtained over Wales' commitment to reduce our impact on climate change.
Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, says that the sooner the decision is taken to hold a referendum on the basis of the Report of the All Wales Convention, the better. Full story on Freedom Central.
I was really pleased to see that, the morning after all that torrential rain, there was almost no standing water in front of the Gatley Green Co-op. The recent work has obviously done the trick - for now at least. As I noted a few days ago, there's no shortage of other blocked grids to be tackling, but it's good to see progress being made.
"After today's Queen's Speech we now know that the opportunity to do the right thing has been squandered, yet again, by this Government," said the Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
"After today's Queen's Speech we now know that the opportunity to do the right thing has been squandered, yet again, by this Government," said the Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
There has been a row going on in the blog world about the accuracy of a Labour party video. As far as I can gather, Sara Bedford, a Lib Dem, was the first to provide a detailed rebuttal. You can read it here. Now Guido Fawkes's new initiative 'Guy News' has produced its own response. The video is at the end of this post. In the past, political parties would argue over accuracy or simply ignore something they disagreed with. Now party activists or political hobbyists can get stuck in and offer an alternative view. Communicators need to think hard ...
[IMG: 1988_heaton_park_under_threat.jpg] Last night The Save Heaton Park campaign held a public meeting to launch the final push to stop Goals Soccer centres building pay-to-use sports pitches on open grass in a corner of the park near to houses. Following an update on progress so far to the packed St.Margarets Church Hall in Prestwich, a short video was shown of a Goals centre somewhere else so residents could see what they can expect if these plans get the go-ahead. GET YOUR OBJECTION IN NOW The plans are set to go before Manchester City Councils Planning Committee on December 17th. If ...
Thu 19th
13:24Tales from Wales - 'Leaflets, canvassing and posters but how do I raise my profile?' 'You could alwa...
As a Liberal Democrat campaigner you have to go to some local council by-election campaigns, in target seats, to support the local organisation run a winning campaign. Such it was that I went to a meeting in Cardigan in 2002, before the Welsh Assembly election the year after. Cardigan is a main town in Ceredigion, now ...
Thu 19th
13:10
John Lamont is the most expensive MSP and the Conservatives stick their fingers up to Kelly Report
The latest batch of MSP expenses are out and there are two names that stand out John Lamont MSP and Jim Hume MSP, both of which have spent in excess of £20,000 in the last twelve months on postage and office costs. Firstly, let us tackle the issue of dual mandate, something the Conservative leader in Scotland has long banged her drum about, however it appears that her MSPs aren't following the spirit of her campaign. John Lamont MSP and Alex Johnstone MSP, both Conservatives, are sticking two fingers up at Annabel Goldie and David Cameron. In fact David Cameron ...
Lynne Featherstone has written a piece on Lib Dem Voice arguing that there should be more women in Parliament. This is a regular refrain and there can be very few LD members who would demur from this common-sense view. Like most people with a brain I agree entirely. However, it is a bit of a disappointment that she states this blindingly obvious point of view without really going into the 'how' of changing the current system. Now forgive me if I am being a tad disloyal but this smacks of the old lag propping up the bar at the local ...
when they need an item on the `to do` list to remind them to be fiscally responsible. What's the matter – can't they do it by instinct?
Today it has been announced that Duncan Sharkey has accepted the position of Managing Director at Worcester City Council. It's with sadness that I hear this news, no doubt expedited by the turmoil at WLDC and the hastily arranged 'Management Structure Review' by the Leader and Deputy Leader. It has been my pleasure to work with Duncan over the past four years as he has had a drive and vision to
[IMG: schumpeter] Schumpeter was an Austrian born in Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic, then part of the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied economics and law in Vienna, attending the economics classes of Eugen Böhm-Bawerk and Friedrich von Wieser. Böhm-Bawerk was a major critic of Marx and together with Wieser was a major figure in the Austrian School of Economics, which produced Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek and therefore a major component of classical liberal and libertarian thinking. Schumpeter was not a real member of the school, but had affinities with, and influence on it. An extraordinarily complicated ...
http://twitter.com/cllrpaulankers Keep up to date with what is going on in Chorlton politics
Thu 19th
12:08
The majority of voters are female, so does it matter that the majority of MPs are men?
Cross-posted from Lib Dem Voice: Women now have the vote on the same terms as men. With the majority of the electorate female - and indeed the majority of actual voters at the last general election female too - what's there left to worry about, one might ask? Well - with only around one in five MPs female, there's a big difference between what goes in to the electoral system (majority: female) and what comes out (overwhelming majority: male). So what I want to address in this piece head on why I believe this matters. It is in everyone's interests ...
I spoke during the Queens Speech debate yesterday. The link gives a video.
Figures revealing which party's candidates were most likely to do leafleting, canvassing, internet campaigning and a set of other activities have just been published by the Electoral Commission. The Commission carried out a survey of local election candidates from the June 2009 campaign and found: Conservative candidates were most likely to have produced a campaign leaflet (98% versus 70% for Lib Dems and 60% for Labour) Labour and Conservative candidates were equally likely to have had telephone canvassing in their campaign (27% each, with 21% for the Lib Dems) On average, Conservative candidates spent 21 hours a week campaigning during ...
[IMG: individuals-consensus] (Hat-tip: Creating Passionate Users blog).
Thu 19th
11:24Military support for BBC's Top Gear came to 141 days in 5 years - surely it's just good product plac...
The MoD has apparently been criticised for the 141 equivalent days it has given to BBC's Top Gear programme in the past five years. But, I can't but think that this is extremely good product placement by our military. I am guessing but I suspect that the viewers are predominantly male and younger than average, which ...
The more I think about it, the more I am coming to the conclusion that the Fiscal Responsibility Bill that was outlined in Labour's Queen's Speech yesterday is actually a landmine set to go off under a potential future Tory government. The bill will say that the deficit must be halved in the next four years, by law. Yesterday I was saying it seemed bizarre that the government would feel the need to try and put a legislative lock on itself like this and that it would appear to be more to do with sending a signal to the markets ...
Although the Queen's speech yesterday was very much a non-event the glaring omission was clearly any statement of intent regarding MP's expenses. It is the case of course that the government has said that they will accept the Christopher Kelly review in full, but having made that statement there also appears to be a bit of back-sliding all round. It would have been useful therefore to have had her Majesty make a clear statement of intent as part of her speech. After all the whole thing only lasted six minutes, it is not as if she was pushed for time. ...
Fascinating vignettes from the Queen's Speech yesterday, mostly arising from the arguments after the event. First, how telling to see that Dave and Gordon could barely speak to each other. The pictures I have seen of them walking to the Lords did not cast Brown in a good light. If I were a senior Labour official I would be sharpening the axe simply because, in this image-obsessed world, Brown looks like a loser and whatever the 'fair play argument might be, that is going to affect a lot of potential voters. That said, Dave has to work on losing the ...
See the PDF flier From David and Sue at BossCo: This year Gatley will be hosting its very first outdoor Christmas Market on the 26th November, for all the local community to enjoy. The new Christmas Market featuring 16 festive stalls will provide an array of seasonal treats from local traders and crafts people this winter. Stalls will be selling unique crafts and Christmas decorations, Belgian chocolates, handcrafted accessories and artisan jewellery as well as fun puzzles and games for all the family. Organised by BOSSco in support of the Clic Sargent charity, the outdoor Christmas Market aims to bring ...
I am a naughty Lib Dem blogger, of that there is no doubt. Yesterday I didn't write anything about the Queen's Speech, opting instead to say nice things about the lady herself rather than the tripe written for her by the Government. I only had so much energy left after that and was faced with the choice of writing about the Speech, or Jenson Button's surprise and sensational (and in my view idiotic and ill-advised) move to McLaren and what was going on with the old Brawn team. It's interesting that the Brawn management share my view and you can ...
The National Lottery is celebrating its 15th birthday today. There were many controversies in the run up to its launch. Would it encourage gambling and result in more problems of gambling addiction? Would it be a welcome source of funds for good causes or would it provide an excuse for government to cut its funding? Would the profits for the operators dwarf the money given to good causes? Would it be a welcome new source of revenue for local shops? And so on. So, fifteen years on: what do you think?
If I was a betting man, I'd predict that the Advertiser that drops through your door later today will carry a story about Planning and Development experts GVA Grimley being commissioned to develop a masterplan for Consett. If it carries any comments from your opposition councillors it will be a miracle, because we knew nothing about it till 4.30 on Wednesday afternoon, long after the Advertiser had gone to press. The story will no doubt urge you to "get involved" and assert that the purpose is "to ensure that local people can help shape the proposals for Consett". I don't ...
Following a Welsh Liberal Democrat debate the Welsh Assembly has agreed, with cross party support, to reduce emissions by 40% by 2020. As the Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for the Environment and Sustainability, I will now writing to Gordon Brown calling on the Prime Minister to take forward the message to Copenhagen that Wales and the UK is committed as a nation to agree a vital new global deal, to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. The Copenhagen Climate Summit on December 7th is now less than 30 days away. With this key conference on the horizon, ...
I can barely contain my excitement at the prospect of the inaugural Liberal Democrat Voice Bloggers' Unconference (a bit Winnie the Pooh, but so what) in Edinburth this Saturday. Every so often an event comes along that is an I'll-do-it-if-it-kills-me must and this is it. It also marks the first time in a long time I will have attempted to be out for a whole day. It may yet end in tears, but I am not missing the chance to meet the Lib Dem Voice all-stars team of Mark Pack, Helen Duffett and Alex Foster, only one of which I ...
[IMG: Arms of Stockport Council] Next Thursday, 26th November, is my first Full Council meeting since being elected, and the notes for the meeting - in the form of a bound 302-page book - dropped onto my doormat this afternoon. You can download it in PDF format here. I'm reliably informed that I don't need to read most of it - the first five pages are the most important: the agenda for the meeting and the text of two motions submitted (one on the funding of nursery educaton, the other on "Leisure and Cultural Services - provision to Armed forces ...
Yesterday's Queen's Speech was seven minutes of tedium. The event itself is worth watching, but mostly because I would love it if something went wrong. Maybe the crown slips just a little on the Queen's head. Maybe Jack Straw falls on his arse because he can't bear to turn his back on the Queen. Maybe Lord ...
I was slightly bemused to watch David Cameron talk on BBC Breakfast just now about the legislation that needs to be brought forward from the Kelly Report into MPs' Expenses. One of the specific things he mentioned was that MPs shouldn't be members of two Parliaments, which smacks of breathtaking hypocrisy given that John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire is the Conservative candidate for the Westminster seat of Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk. If Cameron accepts Kelly's recommendation, surely he should insist that Lamont either steps down as an MSP now or before the election or resigns as a candidate. ...
Good morning, and welcome to Daily View. Today, in 1990, Milli Vanilli were stripped of their Grammy. It's the birthday of American President and pizza-loving cat James Garfield. Today is also both International Men's Day and International Toilet Day. 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here's are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: How much food can be grown on a balcony? Cllr Alexis Rowell gives the answer: quite a lot, actually Time to stop calling them "honour" killings Meral Ece takes on a difficult subject. Spotted any ...
Here is a piece from the Independent about the Queen's Speech programme for the new session of Parliament. "The X-party have chosen politically aggressive measures, as they turn the Commons into a key battleground for a May election. Any legislation that does not fit in with the X-party's election campaign strategy has been kept out of the Queen's Speech, leaving it not so much a programme for a Parliament, as a trailer for next year's X-party manifesto, and a taste of the anti-Y-party campaign to come". Sounds dreadful, doesn't it? I should've said, although I'm sure many of you have ...
The deputy leader of council said at the Extraordinary meeting of council on 17th November that there is no crisis at West Lindsey District Council. Web Cast (12:20). Unfortunately I think that we are seeing a crisis. Officers suspended and other officers looking for new jobs outside of WLDC smacks of a crisis to me. If I was an officer in the planning department and someone came to me and said
I know that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has to think of all the patients and the costs of all drugs for the NHS. However, surely if there is a drug available that helps liver cancer patients live longer then that has to be a price worth paying. Not everything in life should be about cost, and perhaps NICE and the Government, who claim they are taking cancer seriously should then approach the drug companies and say right then, we have this many people in the UK diagnosed with this cancer, we will commit to purchasing ...
I have too much to do to code this properly, so you can just have a list: The Atheist Bus Campaign's Latest Campaign strikes me as an important one. Gender and Sentencing in British courts. Cleggy's actions speak louder than his words? Looks like it to me, although he's got good press from it. I've got two cup sizes brainier since Mat moved in! Anyone who likes the film The Wicker Man should read this post. Holly's latest obsession on the Wii. Doctor Who Spoiler roundup on Den of Geek (go on, Duracell Bunny, click it, you know you want ...
The Liberal Democrats at County Hall have reported the county council to the Information Commissioner as a result of intrusive survey methods. Lib Dem Leader Chris White said: 'We understand that the council is doing surveys about traffic movements into car parks. These use both number plate recognition software installed in order to catch criminals and face to face surveys. In both cases the number plates of innocent motorists are being recorded. 'We believe that this is potentially unlawful and in any case unethical. Hertfordshire citizens have the right to go about their business without being spied on by the ...
The new Passivhaus home being built by bere:architects in West Hampstead is starting to take shape. The foundations are now in. The exposed pipes have to be perfectly positioned in order to match up to the wooden shell which is being made in Austria. In the photo below you can see the thickness of the super-insulated walls being made in the Austrian factory. Passivhaus buildings have been around for more than 20 years on the continent. In Frankfurt all new public buildings have to be Passivhaus. In Belgium all new schools have to be Passivhaus. Over here we have one ...
I saw the queen's speech today. All the pomp and ceremony was fine but the highlight was Dennis Skinner who said *here comes the Royal expenses" (or something like that) when the MPs were called to see the queen. Prior to the queen's speech there was a comment from Peter Mandelson about the need for the queen to go through this ceremony and tell of the government's intentions even when there was no hope of passing the legislation. It may be that one or two bills do get passed but I see the point of the question. Peter continued by ...
