I don't normally write about issues in the Eaglescliffe area where I live (but John represents on the Council, not me). But then I don't usually get bombarded with protests by everyone I meet about a letter from our Labour MP, Dari Taylor. This letter appears to have gone to everyone in Eagleslciffe except us. Dari is expressing her support for Egglescliffe School to be rebuilt in Preston Park....
Mon 30th
23:40
ComRes Poll for the Independant 01 December 2009 - are the LibDems in with a chance?????
On LBC tonight, whilst driving home from the debacle at IKEA, I heard on the news that the latest ComRes poll which was run on behalf of the Independent, had been released and that it was indicating that there was a potential of a NOC result, based on the poll results. Britain is on course for ...
A bit late I know, but I've had a really busy day and only got home half-an-hour back. I was in the magistrates' court today, really busy with many interesting cases. Then a meeting with council officers, and finally a Lib Dem Group meeting in preparation for Wednesday's Council meeting. Finally, home, a cup of tea, and a glass of whisky before bed. I know it's not Burns Night but I couldn't let the opportunity pass for a verse of A Man's A Man for A' That, from the Bard: Is there for honest poverty That hangs his head, an' ...
Charlie Falconer, Blair chum, and former Justice secretary said the most incredible thing on last Wednesday's Question Time. Speaking about bank charges on overdrafts he said that the banks had to stop using their cartel position to charge unfairly. I repeat "stop using their cartel position"? Who voluntarily stops using their cartel position? He's operating on another planet. The banks have to be preventing from creating oligopolistic cartels so that they can't treat people this way. Falconer was so close to the solution but happened to skate idiotically around the side.
If you know me well, watch this one and enjoy the canine joke. And if you don't, watch this one and enjoy the utter implausibility of such adulation. Either way, it's really quite a clever campaign.
Bryan Talbot's Grandville is a huge stylistic change from Talbot's other recent work. While his most recent work, 2007's Alice In Sunderland (which would have to be on a shortlist for best graphic novel of the decade) was a deeply personal discursive essay about the history of Sunderland, Lewis Carrol, and the comics medium, Grandville ...
There's been a small reshuffle of the Liberal Democrat team in the House of Lords. The most notable change is Chris Rennard joining the front bench teams for Constitutional Affairs and for Communities & Local Government. Other changes included Sue Miller stepping down from Home Affairs, to be replaced by Sally Hamwee. Graham Tope takes over at Communities & Local Government. The full Lords team is: Leader Lord McNally Deputy Leader Lord Dholakia Lord Wallace of Saltaire Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Lord Razzall Lord Vallance of Tummel Lord Sharman Lord Cotter (Small Business) Baroness Sharp of Guildford (Science and ...
The building of minarets has been banned by law in Switzerland, following a 57-43 per cent vote by the public in a referendum on whether they should be forbidden. The far-right 'Yes' campaigners – who plastered billboards with provocative images of minarets ranged up like nuclear missiles and a woman in a niqab (an extremely rare ...
I blogged earlier today speculating that today was one of Nick Clegg's most important since becoming leader. So, how did he do? Very well in my humble opinion. Here's a round-up of Lib Dem tax plan related things. First, Nick in his own words, via YouTube (with what looks like a jolly nice scarf) So, what have ...
An interesting topic has come up in conversation re this and addressing why more DELGA people don't politically blog! Why don't u????
Dear Fraser If you want to know how committed a Government is to fairness, then you need look no further than its tax system. Labour has created a tax regime where the poorest pay a bigger slice of their income than the richest. Polluters are allowed to get away with harming our environment without paying for the clean-up. And we lose as much as £40 billion a year to tax dodgers. This has to change. The Conservatives tell us that we are all in this together whilst promising tax cuts for millionaires and then say that there might be tax ...
Now who'd have thought u could manage a posting about those two subjects together? I am missing flash forward cos I am stuck in the infernal customer service queue at IKEA circling the outer 9th ring of hades. Not impressed at all.
This is the challenge that Nick Clegg and Vince Cable have set themselves and it's a laudable aim. Taking the lowest paid out of tax and rebalancing the horrible imbalance that sees them take on a disproportionate amount of the tax burden is something that should be done and is the genesis of redistributive taxation. How ...
What a joke. All I want to do is return a set of drawers aa they are 4mm too high and here I am on a cold evening waiting to be served. 6 customer service desks 15 people waiting to be served. A lovely corporate sign says 'we will endeavour to serve you in nine ...
Love Scotland - bin the £12 million referendum! Tavish Scott MSP said, "Polls show support for independence is at a new low, but still the SNP are determined to waste time and £12 million of taxpayers' money on their pet project." £12 million could be better spent on schools and hospitals.
It appears that UKIP or someone has registered the http://www.libdem.org.uk/ as the UKIP Website. Type this into your browser and see what result you get. If you use www.libdems.org.uk you will have the official Liberal Democrat web site. Take the 's' out and your be transported to UKIP. Interesting? How rude!
The Financial Times Westminster Blog gives Zac Goldsmith a thorough going over today over his tax affairs and his status as a non-dom. The FT piece includes pointing out how the Richmond Conservative Party's own website talks about their desire to crack down on non-doms and also David Cameron's past criticisms of non-doms for not paying enough tax. I wonder if they knew they were talking about their own candidate, Zac Goldsmith, at the time... You can read the full post about Zac Goldsmith here.
During a tour of Andover to meet local community activists Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Tom McCann met anti-litter campaigner Manuela Wahnon. Tom and Manuela discussed her Attitude of Gratitude to clean up Andover and the rest of Test Valley. Manuela's philosophy is simple "we've always got something to be grateful for in our lives, so with that in mind, obviously don't drop litter, but if you pick up one piece of litter a day you can make the world you live in a better place. " Tom praised her hard work, funded entirely from her own limited resources, as an ...
I went on a short trip to a nearby town today. I shall save it the embarrassment of naming it, but it made a pleasant change. It's really not true that everywhere looks the same, nor is it true that local councils cannot make a difference to their townscape. Here in St Neots, the efforts of the Town Council to make the town as attractive as possible are increasingly appreciated by residents. The final replacement of the notorious St Neots 'Fence' by our egregious County Council has corrected the last blot on our landscape and all is well on the ...
The way the design for the stained glass window for the new Northbrook School building has been approved by the Council 'behind closed doors' has caused a lot of controversy and ill-feeling locally. As I wrote last week, I believe there's a need for a written policy so that residents can understand how such decisions are made (even if they don't agree with the decision itself!) and so that it's clear when 'details' become big deals and need to be consulted on. I promised to raise this at Council and did so last Wednesday. My question, and the Deputy Mayor's ...
No-one enjoys paying taxes, but without them we wouldn't have police officers, nurses, doctors, midwives, roads, trains, firefighters, or even the right to vote. What's important is that taxes are fair. Right now they aren't, and that's what the Lib Dems' new tax plans are all about - making taxes fairer. What does this mean for you? Well, if you're earning £10,000 or less per year then under a Lib Dem Government you won't pay a single penny in income tax. Nothing. Zilch. Zero. I used to earn £10,000 per year and it was a real struggle, so I know ...
I do not normally have a lot of time for Baroness Warsi, the Conservative Shadow Communities Minister. However after she is pelted with eggs on the street in London she handles it really well as shown in this BBC video. Shame she is homophobic though.
Mon 30th
20:03
If I was a football pundit, I'd be telling you how to fix the Thierry Henry fallout at a stroke
It's terribly easy. Take one American import - the coach's challenge from American football. Each team's manager is allowed to challenge two referee decisions in a match, with a challenge meaning an extra official consults the TV replay footage and then makes a decision (a bit like the fourth umpire in cricket too). The crucial point is that each manager gets two, and only two, challenges per match. That means you don't get a fast flowing game held up all the time for footage consultation. (Hence the need to do something different that simply copy the cricket rules.) It would ...
I discovered this lunchtime that my favourite lunchtime haunt in Leicester has closed. It was firmly locked and there were legal reposession orders pasted up in the window. It was nice while it lasted. I shall miss the seat in the corner by the radiator.
Mon 30th
19:24
'So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye,' from SNP's Alex Salmond to the Union, but he forgets ...
It was with some interest that I settled down to listen to Alex Salmond's official announcement on the proposed independence referendum. As he explained the multiple options that he was planning to put to the Scottish people I couldn't help be reminded of the slightly sad song from the Sound of Music, as the von Trapp ...
Saturday Despite being much in demand to speak at fringe meetings, I was able to snatch a few minutes with Vince 'High Voltage' Cable at Bournemouth to discuss the party's economic policies for the next election. "It's very simple," he told me. "We are proposing savage spending cuts to please the voters in Southern seats where the Tories are challenging us and my new mansion tax to please voters in the North where we are trying to win seats from Labour." "That's all very well," I returned almost immediately, "but what happens if the voters in the South hear about ...
[IMG: bbpa-film.jpg] http://www.youtube.com/user/imbackingthepub
Well done, Piotr Skiba of Farsley Celtic.
This week with Charles Crawford.
Here for LDV readers' delectation is Nick Clegg speaking to camera just after launching the Lib Dems' tax proposals for the next election: tax cuts for millions of people paid for by closing tax loopholes, making polluters pay and introducing a mansion tax on homes worth over £2m. PS to the Lib Dem video production person: I don't mind the slightly shaky camera work or the under-exposed picture – all adds to the authenticity – but can we please work on getting the background right, showing Nick in an ordinary setting with people going about their everyday lives behind him ...
I was very disturbed by the cold-blooded killing of four police officers in Washington State. One really feels deeply for their families with Christmas coming up. The man wanted for the murders had his sentence commuted and was released from jail in 2000 (having served 11 years of a 95 year sentence) in Arkansas by the then governor, Mike Huckabee. So we may well see an increase in the down-peddling of Huckabee's intention to run for President in 2012. After all, he will remember poor old Michael Dukakis and the way his presidential ambitions were stymied by adverts about his ...
As the markets scratch their heads about the impact of the suspension of debt payments by Dubai, several other markets are coming into question. One of these is Greece. The fact that the Greeks are members of the Eurozone has certainly provided protection in the eyes of global investors. Other markets, such as the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were said to be more vulnerable, yet now that Latvia has been refinanced by a syndicate including the ECB, IMF and several other states, led by Sweden, attention is turning to other countries. Whereas Hungary and Poland have devalued, ...
What a week! Not only did we gain three seats, but they were all at the expense of the Conservatives, which shows that no matter how high they are riding in the polls we can still beat them. In June, we underperformed across Cornwall but one of the bright spots was in the new St. Austell & Newquay constituency. Despite this, St. Austell Bay was the 3rd safest Conservative seat in the county. Our candidate was a well known local community activist, whereas the Tory candidate didn't even live in the town - although he was also their agent for ...
If you want to know how committed a Government is to fairness, then you need look no further than its tax system. Labour has created a tax regime where the poorest pay a bigger slice of their income than the richest. Polluters are allowed to get away with harming our environment without paying for the clean-up. And we lose as much as £40 billion a year to tax dodgers. This has to change. The Conservatives tell us that we are all in this together whilst promising tax cuts for millionaires and then say that there might be tax rises for ...
Mon 30th
17:05
Nick: Government's Afghanistan strategy "over-ambitious in aim and under-resourced in practice"
The BBC reports: Gordon Brown has confirmed he will send 500 more troops to Afghanistan, taking the total UK deployment to over 10,000. He told MPs all conditions had now been met to send the extra personnel and that eight other countries had also offered additional troops. The UK force level will reach 9,500 but special forces takes this to 10,000. Here in full is Nick Clegg's Commons response to Gordon Brown's announcement: I join the Prime Minister in recognising and commending the enormously impressive work of our Armed Forces in Afghanistan. Finally it has become mainstream to talk about ...
I just left a comment on a post by Michael Gradwell about the fundamental injustice of the pharmaceutical industry. I thought I'd turn my comment into a whole post here. The patent system creates an artificial monopoly and distortion of a genuinely free market. Under a free market the benefits of technological innovation (like new drugs) are meant to flow to the consumer in lower costs, better services etc. Under our current State sanctioned monopoly the benefits of innovation are stolen and horded. The idea that it is only patents, and the huge profits that they yield, that provide enough ...
Oh it's that time again. There are stories in the press as to how Christmas (and by extension Christianity) is under attack from Political Correctness, local authorities and multiculturalism. As usual this is 99.9999% hogwash. It's not even new hogwash as this old entry explains.
So Zac Goldminesmith confesses to being a 'non-dom', and tells us this isn't a problem as he'll relinquish this status to become UK domiciled in the future. This story is interesting on several levels. Firstly, there's a general point about the utter contempt with which Zac treats those he wishes to represent – those whose vote ...
The video of Nick and Vince's relaunch of the Mansion tax and other goodies is online.
Is it just me, or is there something ironic about the Foreign Office commemorating St Andrew's Day just when the SNP want a referendum?
This morning CentreForum hosted 'A Fair Tax System' with Nick Clegg and Vince Cable - a wide-ranging statement of the tax policies the Liberal Democrats will present to the public at the next election. The most prominent message, or at least, the most interesting one for the media it seems, was the aspect that they are planning to double the threshold of the Mansion Tax. The papers seem unsure whether this is bolder or tamer than the original plans, with one broadsheet focusing on the fact that it has doubled, whereas another has described it as watered down. Perhaps the ...
Go on, guess who: "Whatever faith people had in the political process is now in tatters. I've seen that directly, on the doorstep, where people are rightly enraged. We can reverse the decline, but it requires genuine reform, not tinkering. You can't legislate for decency, and in any case, if there's a will to abuse power, there will always be a way. The only solution is a combination of openness and real local democracy." Yes, this very evening, at St James' Church, Piccadilly, you can here all about the major challenges facing us, in particular the key question: "We face ...
Mon 30th
16:24Goldsmith to the right of me, Goldsmith to the left of me, Goldsmith's in front of me, I marched int...
All this discussion of Zac Goldsmith, and his apparent lack of desire to pay the UK Taxman and Lord Goldsmith and his apparent uncertainty as to the legality of the war in Iraq, has reminded me of my visit to Goldsmith's College 20 years ago. It was my second choice University, but as I was very ...
Development Control Committee The applications under consideration at this meeting were the North Site of the Institute of Cancer Research Campus, The Royal Marsden Hospital, 40 Coleridge Avenue, 11 Park Hill treeworks application and 2 Beggars Roost Lane. We ran out of time to consider the Beggars Roost application so this was postponed. Although item 5 on the ...
I'm a bit of a Lomborgist on Global Warming. I'm highly dubious of the ability for large State action to prevent degradation of the environment. There are several things the State can do, which involves a change in its distorting position, not an increase. Take, for example, the UK airline subsidy which is calculated at around £10 billion per annum. Removing this subsidy would not only help close our yawning structural deficit, but also reduce air travel by ending the unfair advantage air travel has over, say, rail. On an equal footing, without the air subsidy, more people would travel ...
There is no local controversy which cannot be worsened by central government intervention. Not many political parties say much about libraries in their manifestos. And they don't tend to get raised as an issue on the doorstep – potholes, litter, crime and the level of council tax are much more popular topics. Nor do canvassers hear a great deal about trees or the maintenance of municipal flower beds. But there are ex-councillors who will forever warn of the political dangers of cutting down trees, uprooting flowerbeds or closing a library. In some ways libraries are like the local church. Most ...
Nadine Dorries, the controversial MP for Mid-Bedfordshire has been tweeting again. Yesterday she decided to try and tackle an issue that I have covered many times on here, drugs policy. Here were her first couple of tweets: So she was trying to rebut Norman Lamb's comments about alcohol being more dangerous than some currently illegal drugs (the same point that Professor Nutt made backed up with evidence before he was sacked recently) by saying that she has never seen booze being sold at a school gate unlike presumably illegal drugs. Firstly, just because she has never seen it does not ...
[IMG: Bankers Bonus cartoon] Following the launch of the national annual ifs Young Business Writer of the Year competition, Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell has urged teenagers living in the Stockport area to get involved and say what they think about bankers pay and bonuses. The banking crisis has had wide ranging effects on the UK and much has been said about the huge salaries and bonuses enjoyed by City bankers but up until now voices from younger generations have been left out. That's all set to change with the start of this competition which is open to all UK ...
I'll confess that I know very little about Scottish politics so I'm going to leave this one to Andrew Reeves, the Lib Dems Scottish campaigns officer, to explain.
The Liberal Democrats have written to the county council today to ask for assurances over the condition of bridges in Hertfordshire. Group Leader Chris White said: 'The rains in Cumbria were a wake up call. Hertfordshire has also been recently flooded and - as the climate changes - will no doubt flood again. 'I think the public will want assurances that our bridges are in reasonable condition and are not in danger of being swept away.'
[IMG: ALDC Kickstart: Councillor @alexfoster in a feedback session with his local team] Yesterday saw the conclusion of ALDC's annual training event Kickstart, designed for councillors and campaigners who are defending and targetting council seats at next year's local elections. Next year is a special year indeed, because in all probability the General Election will happen on the same day as local elections. Whilst this is nothing new, the councils that are facing election this time are not the councils that usually combine with a general election. Indeed, it's likely to be the first time since 1979 that London Boroughs ...
Are you planning to go to central London this Saturday 5th December to join in the Wave? Then why not cycle it there with the cyclists' group organised by Councillor Pete Pattison? The group will leave from the Clock Tower in Lewisham Town Centre at 11am.
The recent rains have shown up more problems. The latest is on london Road outside the old Odeon cinema, which I have reported. If there are any others, please let me know.
Ever since the Lib Dems shadow chancellor Vince Cable launched his proposed Mansion Tax on an unsuspecting world in September, there has been a suspicion that neighbouring Richmond Lib Dem MP Susan Kramer – who faces a tough battle against trustafarian Tory Zac Goldsmith – was, how shall we put this?, a little less than enamoured of the proposal that those living in houses worth £1m would be taxed more. In a BBC interview, Susan declined the opportunity to support the tax as originally proposed, while the Hounslow Chronicle summed it up bluntly, and I suspect accurately: It's Kramer versus ...
Back in the days when the BBC covered by-elections properly, a standing feature of any coverage would include Peter Snow producing a map of the UK showing what the result would mean for UK politics nationwide. One particular highlight was the result of the Ribble Valley by-election when the entire country went Lib Dem gold except for a tiny portion of East Anglia. John Major would have been the only Tory MP to survive the onslaught. Following the Lib Dem win in St Austell Bay last Thursday, I've done the same thing for Cornwall Council. Based on a uniform swing ...
This morning's Western Mail reveals that a survey of the general public in the run-up to Copenhagen has produced a general expectation that it is up to politicians to lead from the front on climate change. It is no real surprise therefore to find another news story in the same paper in which the Welsh Government is failing dismally to meet those expectations. Unfortunately, even at this late stage of the day the paper has failed to post this story on their website. The report tells us that taxpayers are to subsidise a bigger aircraft to fly between North and ...
Just a quick reminder for those of you in Colchester that tomorrow we have our first public meetings as part of the waste consultation – 12-2pm and 5-7pm in the Moot Hall. We are planning to video some of it and make it available on the web for people who can't there to see. And if ...
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg today pledged to put fair taxes at the heart of the party's message to the British people.The party's new tax plans will see tax cuts for millions of people, paid for by closing tax loopholes, making polluters pay and introducing a 'mansion tax' on homes worth over £2m. Nick Clegg said: "If you want to know how committed a government is to fairness then look at its tax system. "Gordon Brown has created a tax regime that forces some of the lowest earners in society to pay hundreds of pounds in tax they can't afford, ...
But I might as well be. I'm in Solihull. My laptop charger cable is broken, hence the lack of blogging/email answering recently. I have borrowed my dad's Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee to type this and I have 351 unread emails which number I am desperately trying to reduce - eeeeeeeeek! Brother is trying to mend laptop cable for me, but he can't find his soldering iron so he's using a little blowtorch... I can't see this ending well, but I shall keep you posted. Anyhew, I am in Solihull because I am going to the bike show with daddy dearest, so blogging would ...
The froth and bother of Bury Council's business that I write about on here barely registers a flutter of interest. But when I write about Criminal Records Bureau checks, and the problems that a lot of people are having with them, my metaphorical phone rings red hot. Some time ago I was made aware that enhanced CRB forms sometimes disclose unproven allegations, "soft" information, rumour and hearsay, even where this information has never been heard in a court, and sometimes even when this information has been heard and the person concerned acquitted. I found this unjust, wrote about it, and ...
As reported in the Manchester Evening News: only 749 people have made an appointment to enrol in Greater Manchester for an ID card. That is around 0.04 per cent of the total eligible population of 1.8m in this 'pilot' area for the ID card scheme. When will the Government admit they've got it wrong and stop wasting our money on this daft scheme.
At the weekend a team from Wolverhampton South West Liberal Democrats went to ALDC's kickstart weekend just off the M6.
Something struck me when discussing the thorny coalition question; that as soon as we start talking about it we start surrounding almost ultra-leftist, continually parroting the line that there is no difference between Labour and the Conservatives. The debate is not about 'lesser evils'; most people given the choice would not choose evil at all ...
Mon 30th
13:54You might think over 40 years after his death there weren't many new Churchill stories...
Despite dying in 1965 Winston Churchill still throws up a few new stories. Today would have been his 135th birthday so it seems an appropriate time to tell my Churchill story. Before we start let me make it clear that I never met him, unfortunately, as he died many years before I was born, but only ...
It seems that Zac Goldsmith who's the Tory candidate facing Susan Kramer in Richmond Park thinks that paying tax in the UK is some kind of choice if you're rich enough. Although Iain Dale is completely right when he points out that Zac hasn't actually broken the law, he completely misses the point. Zac Goldsmith wants to decide how our money is spent but treats paying tax as some kind of opt in system. Again Dale tries to defend Goldsmith by saying that he will start paying tax soon. That again misses the point completely! He wants to spend our ...
The Lib Dems have launched their tax plans today with radical moves which will make taxes fairer, simpler and clearer. Under the plans personal allowances will be raised to £10,000, cutting the average working age person's income tax bill by £700 and cutting pensioner's income tax bills by £100. Almost 4 million people on low incomes will no longer have to pay any income tax at all. This major tax cut will be paid for by: Closing tax loopholes and cutting reliefs that benefit the wealthiest. The biggest element of this is restricting tax relief on pension contributions to the ...
On 14 December, the following item is on the list of business in the House of Lords; Baroness Deech to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make proposals relating to the titles used by the husbands of women members of the House of Lords. Now I don't know where this question comes from, and I'm not sure what Baroness Deech's motivation is, but I am certainly intrigued by the prospect of an answer. However, it isn't clear to me what title one might give. Of course, the wife of a male Peer is given the honorific 'Lady' (I'm not ...
As the Fusiliers march through Bury Town Centre, the Government has just announced a further deployment of 500 troops to Afghanistan, presumably as part of a deal with Obama who is expected to announce major troop increases tomorrow. However after 8 years and thousands of deaths across the spectrum, this surely is the beginning of the end of the Afghanistan war - at least so far as direct western involvement is concerned. There is much talk of starting to bring troops home by next christmas, so much will hang on the new strategy devised to finish the task. At last ...
Mon 30th
12:56
Can someone buy alex salmond a really difficult puzzle for christmas to keep him busy?
So here we go again. A pointless little man in Edinburgh, apparently unhappy with the job he is supposed to be doing of running Scotland, instead wants independence in one of the worst economic periods the world has faced in decades. His country has a small economy and his proposals for its future would at the very least deliver the citizens of Scotland into a situation of huge uncertainty, if not economic slump which. you might conclude, would not be the actions of a sensible politician. As ever, the best response to the bleatings of Salmond is the LD proposal ...
Today I heard the awful news that Jack Allen Holdings (the people who wanted to put the waste plant at Garston Dock right next to the Cressington Heath development and other housing), are launching an appeal. The City Council planning committee said no to their planning application earlier this year. The law however means that applicants can launch an appeal against a decision, and it looks like they are doing just that. Appeals are not heard by the Council but are considered by the Planning Inspectorate. In fact the City Council will now need to spend time and money defending ...
What is emerging from the Iraq War Enquiry is a clear picture that, despite assurances given by Tony Blair at the time that everything possible was being done to avoid war, the decision to go to war was in fact taken long before Parliament properly got to debate it, or the UN resolutions were passed. At the same time an equally depressing picture is emerging of a near total failure to plan for the aftermath. At the time, many of us felt that the case for weapons of mass destruction posing a credible threat from Iraq had not been made ...
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: Since its launch earlier this year, Google's Sidewiki has resulted in some warning those in PR of the new ways it lets corporate reputation be damaged. Here is how PR Week reported the issue in October: PR professionals this week warned of fresh hurdles to managing corporate brand reputation following the launch of a new Google application. Companies are facing up to a new social media challenge after Google unveiled its Sidewiki technology. The application enables members of the public to write comments directly next to a brand's website. It certainly is possible that Sidewiki ...
[IMG: greenalien] In today's debut edition of It's global warming wot done it, we bring you: Sex changes! Alien invasions! Killer cornflakes! More to come, in this exciting new series.
Plenty of coverage – both in the national media and on Lib Dem blogs – of the Sunday Times' revelations that multimillionaire Tory candidate for Richmond Park Zac Goldsmith has 'non-dom' status to avoid paying tax in the UK on any of his offshore wealth. Here's what Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, said: He's not fit to sit in Parliament when he's claimed non-dom status all his life to keep his offshore hundreds of millions free of income, capital gains or inheritance tax." Here's a round-up of some of the news coverage: Tory Zac Goldsmith admits ...
There's a handy summary of the timetable for March, April, May or June 2010 general elections in a research paper produced earlier this year by the House of Commons Library. The paper is here and the timetables are on page 13.
As I write, Nick Clegg and Vince Cable are setting out the framework of 'the party's tax policies, the philosophical basis that underpins them and the contrast between the Liberal Democrats' policies and those of the other two parties.' This has been well trailed in the media this morning, with Nick conducting a series of media interviews. Much focus so far on the tweak to the 'mansion tax' proposals that Vince mooted at conference to public acclaim, but some disquiet among his own Parliamentary colleagues (many of whom knew nothing about it in advance). The party has responded to criticisms ...
Last Saturday at the Bloggers' Unconference, our final interview of the day was with Jo Swinson MP – which was particularly kind of her, since she'd flown back from New York the day before, and must have been jet-lagged. Falling at the end of the day, the discussion we had with Jo was one of the most informal of the day, but was all the better for that. Her enthusiasm for finding new ways of communicating really shone through, and she talked to us about creating the video below. In particular, she was really keen to show us her new ...
A couple of weeks hiatus in posting has been due entirely to a by-election on Earley Town Council. Carol Mitchell, a Lib Dem town councillor in Radstock ward, sadly died. The Tories refused to co-opt anybody but a Tory so we called an election. And, last Thursday, we won! Hooray! Radstock was split last time it was up in 2007, 2 Lib Dems and 1 Tory, so it was always going to be close. But we ran a decent campaign, with a good candidate (Steve Scarrott - congratulation, councillor), and won 618 to 600, in a straight fight with the ...
Mon 30th
10:54'Local Liberal Democrats are on a war-footing!' - The Press Officer's Guide Lesson 7 - Know when to ...
It was a cold morning when a knock on my door woke me. It was strange to be woken by the couple I lodged with at the time, and even stranger to hear the strains of 'Happy Birthday' at the same time, especially as it wasn't. Shaken out of my reverie I asked what on earth was ...
The Electoral Commission has published the latest donation and borrowing figures for the political parties this week, and its website allow us to gain a picture of the Lib Dems' fundraising efforts over the years. Below is the full breakdown of cash and non-cash donations received by quarter since 2005, and annually between 2001 and 2004. Lots of familiar names on the 2009 Q3 list, with five/six-figure gifts coming from the following: Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (£231k), Bloomberg Tradebook Europe Limited (£25k), Mr Christopher Nicholson (£21.5k), Professor John Howson (£10k), Mrs Joan Ramsden (£10k), and Philip Young (£10k). Fewer Parliamentarians ...
Just did this Tweet Cloud thing and it comes up with your three most often used words on twitter over the last year. Mine are Leeds, time and people. Here's the link to it.
I read this article in the Guardian yesterday with a deep sense of unease. Barbara Ellen is essentially arguing that Madeleine Martin, the 39 year old RE-teacher who was recently jailed for 32 months for having an affair with a 15 year old male pupil should not be treated the same as a male teacher would be in similar circumstances. Barbara's argument seems to be that boys at 15 are "up for it" and having sex with a 39 year old woman for them would be seen as a conquest whereas for a 15 year old girl to have sex ...
My understanding is that there is good news on the way today for certain schools in Darlington, courtesy of Schools Secretary Ed Balls who is dishing out £1bn to a few councils around the country to enable the rebuilding of run-down secondary schools. The announcement is nicely timed for Jenny Chapman, cabinet portfolio holder for children's services, just before she faces the local Labour Party
Susan Kramer MP and the Lib Dems in Richmond Park in London must be feeling Christmas has come early. It has been revealed that their golden boy Tory opponent, the super-rich Zac Goldsmith, is a tax-avoiding non dom. Mr Goldsmith argues that it's something he inherited so therefore it's hardly something he sought to have. He seems to think we will all accept it is a bit like an unwanted
CentreForum is hosting a Nick Clegg Vince Cable event today on tax policy. Watch this space for an updated post.
Today is surely one of Nick Clegg's more important days since taking over as Leader of the Lib Dems. He and Vince Cable are today setting out Lib Dem tax plans that we will go into the general election with. I don't think we're anticipating any surprises, but what can be guaranteed, I think, is ...
Over the weekend I took the opportunity to see the Birmingham Seen exhibition in the Gas Hall of the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (located off Chamberlain Square on the far side of the Council House from Victoria Square).Lasting until 3 January 2010, this exhibition contains a wide range of photographs, plans and works of art showing the changing landscape and people of Birmingham since 1820.
Labour last night selected Jamie Hanley to replace Paul Truswell MP as their Pudsey PPC. The chances of Labour holding this seat look extremely unlikely but can't be completely ruled out. Jamie Hanley is the son of Ted Hanley, a Leeds City Councillor. As I mentioned on a previous post it has been likely for some time that he would be selected.
If you go down to the 'Rood# today, you'd better go not in disguise If you go down to the 'Rood today, you'll not get a big surprise For every Nat* that ever there was Is gathered there this morning because Today's the day the SNP launch their stealth bomb. I say stealth bomb as this is basically what Independent Nationalist MSP called the SNP's tactics with the Referendum Bill, launched today on St. Andrew's Day. Indeed from someone who has supported independence for Scotland all her political career, she was quite scathing in Saturday's Times about the whole scenario, ...
The Liberal Democrats will outline plans later today for "the most radical tax reform in a generation". The party will pledge to scrap income tax for four million low earners – those on less than £10,000 a year – if it wins the next general election. It says it would fund the measure by introducing an annual 1% tax for those owning homes worth more than £2m. This is an increase in the property price threshold from the original £1 million whilst the tax rate itself will be increased from 0.5% to 1%. That would mean a person living in ...
I'm delighted to hear that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, John Denham MP, thinks strong leadership, clear vision and ambition from councils could deliver reductions in carbon emissions of millions of tonnes annually. My feelings exactly, which is why I'm writing a book about how communities and councils can promote a low carbon future. In a speech at the Local Action on Climate Change Summit last week, Mr Denham outlined his vision for radically enhancing the role of councils with greater autonomy and powers to drive low carbon living - changing the expectations of what local ...
This morning, on St. Andrew's Day, Alex Salmond publishes a white paper laying out what his government would do, if only it could get the backing of the Scottish Parliament... The Telegraph have called his blueprint "doomed" – and that's probably right. The SNP will not get the necessary support to get the referendum plan through. ...
[IMG: DSCF0060] Plymouth councillors vote today on whether they should sell off CityBus. Right now, the council owns 100 per cent of the profitable bus company. In the Herald, the Conservative council leader Vivien Pengelly has said that there is "no valid reason" to vote against the sale. "No valid reason" to oppose her policy... I think that qualifies as arrogance; it certainly does in my book. The Tories' massive majority on the council means they'll be able to push through the sale if that's what they want - regardless of what everyone else thinks. What makes this much more ...
Welcome to a new week, and the anniversary of the end of the invasion of Iraq ... first time round, that is – Operation Desert Storm officially finished in 1995. And happy birthday to David Mamet, Billy Idol, Lorraine Kelly and Gary Lineker and Gael García Bernal. On with the 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: Richmond Park: Lib Dem Hold (Jonathan Calder) ... some will ask how [Zac Goldsmith's] extraordinary personal wealth can be squared with [his' ...
Thanks to Colby Palmer.
Rumours are emerging that the planned merger of the Whittington and Royal Free Hospitals will not be enough to satisfy NHS bosses and that there may instead be a forced marriage between the Whittington, Royal Free and UCLH Hospitals. This raises interesting questions, because UCLH is a Foundation Trust. I believe this may mean that the proposed 'merger' will be nothing of the sort, but will instead be a take-over by UCLH of the other two hospitals - a wonderful Xmas present for UCLH, which has been dreaming of this for years.... This disaster just goes on and on...." Meanwhile, ...
We the undersigned ask Lewisham Council to make the Councillors' expenses list available online from the Council's website with immediate effect. We also ask Lewisham Council to produce an official statement explaining why these non-confidential papers were not published online together with the rest of the Standards Committee papers of 24th November 2009. Click here to learn ...
... Just so that this blog doesn't ever have the chance to get over run with my ramblings about the greatness that is listening to Level 42, I finally caved and built a custom blog for all things Level 42. You can find it here if you are so inclined. Be warned. If you don't like ...
Keith Angus, LibDem PPC for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, played host this evening at a fundraising dinner for the borough party at the YumYum Thai restaurant in his constituency — a splendid venue occupying historic former Council offices. Made me think that the House of Commons could be turned into an excellent diner. Anyway, ...
Did you know that when you buy Panadol you are buying Paracetamol but paying a lot more for the name? If Joe Public can spend over the odds for something that is relatively straightforward then what chance do we have with relatively complex medicines on a world scale? What chance do we have if one company has a monopoly on a drug? We often see this from the point of view of the patient. If they received a particular drug then it could prolong their life but it is so expensive. One example is a drug called Nexavar that helps ...
