The Liberal Democrats have put forward tax plans to help ordinary people. Anyone earning under £10,000 will pay no income tax. This means a tax cut of £700 for people on low and middle incomes - giving families the help they need. This tax cut will be paid for by closing tax loopholes exploited by big business and the rich.
Today's announcement by Nick Clegg of a fair tax system is something that I believe will be of tremendous benefit to the hard working families in Luton. Fairness is essential to helping our country out of the current financial downturn and it must be central to any tax system which aims to help our community. While the Conservatives still plan on cutting taxes for multi-millionaires, what we really need is a government that is firmly on the side of the people during these difficult economic times. By cutting taxes for those on lower wages while cutting loopholes and scrapping tax ...
This week I've spent a fair amount of time helping RBC tenants with heating problems. Yet again I think I've hit the tip of an iceberg. Following my post last week about tenants who had received really shoddy service connected to the installation of central heating on Hadrians Walk East I have come across a number of other people in the ward who are in real difficulty. This is a worry as we head deeper into winter. And it bothers me that more people are not doing something about it. Out knocking on doors around Hexham Road recently tenants have been complaining bitterly about long waits for central heating. This is something many ...
Tonight I was the quiz master at the Mayor of Waltham of Waltham Forest's Quiz Night. Over 80 people were in attendance making up 11 teams. Thank you to everyone who supported the event and who added to the light-hearted evening. I hope you enjoyed the evening.The winning team was made up of the members' support unit, pictured here with the Mayor of Waltham Forest.
A priceless example of total bovine scatology from David Cameron today. An entire speech based on complete myth, ridiculous generalisations and scare stories. He listed a series of supposed examples and said that the 'health and safety culture' needs to change because of them. Let's go through them: When children are made to wear goggles by their headteacher to play conkers This has happened at one primary school five years ago and the headteacher concerned explained on PM today that his school was not wrapped in cotton wool and in fact was the top local school for rugby league. He ...
The news from the Labour Party is that they will legislate before the general election for a referendum on PR – to be held after the next general election. The referendum would be on AV (the alternative vote versus the status quo). UPDATE: The proposal raises two issues: timing of referendum and choice of options within it. My own preference on timing would have been for Tony Blair to have stuck to his promises, and Labour to have stuck to their manifesto, with a referendum on electoral reforms years ago. But given where we are now, this proposal is the ...
Late in the day, but today is of course World Aids Day. You can read a little bit more about the day and, if you can, make a donation to the Terrence Higgins Trust by clicking here - a great charity that I raised money for the first time I did the marathon, back in 2003. And the BBC have an excellent slideshow of HIV/AIDS campaign posters which is definitely worth a look.
De Beers, the notorious diamond company, is planning to raise $1 billion from investors to help cover its $3.2 Billion external debts. De Beers has a pretty filthy record of maintaining monopolist control over the industry without going into the human cost of its business practices. Don't fund the firm. Don't let your pension fund the firm.
Hearing the Man U fans shout "Freak" every time Peter Crouch went anywhere near the ball reminded me how cheap they are.
Acocks Green's Christmas Lights were switched on this evening by Ray Newton. There was a good attendance with children from local schools, their parents and many others coming along. The weather played its part with the rain just holding off until after the switch on and no-one seemed to mind the delay between the finish of the countdown and the lights actually coming on! Well done to Melinda Brown, our Town Centre Manager, Rev Vicki Atkinson, Dave Swingle and everyone else who helped to make it happen. It was good to honour Ray's tremendous contribution to the community in this ...
The Scottish Liberal Democrats on Saturday informed all four parties in the Scottish Parliament that we intended to propose a motion of no confidence in Fiona Hyslop as Education Secretary. The First Minister has now bowed to pressure and sacked the Education Secretary. Commenting, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott MSP, said, "Since the weekend we have been in discussions with all the other parties. "There is a growing crisis in Scottish education that can only be addressed with a fresh Education Secretary. "There are 54,000 children in P7 who face a new Curriculum For Excellence next August. Yet teachers ...
I was looking yesterday to again read Labour controlled Gateshead Councils proposals for cuts. except of course it is very hard to find on their website. In fact a Mars bar to the first reader who tells me where it is - I can't find it on the website! Fortunately our Lib Dem councillors have seen it. Gateshead Council is great at many things, its wonderful nurseries and flower show for example, but doesn't really get consultation. They have two sessions but both are in Gateshead Town Centre. No need to consult residents of Blaydon constituency and the south and ...
This morning, I had the pleasure in taking part in the planting ceremony of a new cherry tree at the Rose Garden in Balgay Park, organised by the City Council's Leisure and Communities Department and the Friends of Balgay. Photos to follow - but although a cold morning, it was a thoroughly beuatiful morning - and a good turnout of residents and their dogs!
There Cameron goes again, making out that marriage is the be all and end all. His backwards attack on Ed Balls, who rightly claimed that marriage is one of the many forms of relationships in the modern era, highlights the outdated nature of the Tories. Yes, marriage can work. But yes, marriage can fail. We ...
Our policy on Europe is a bit of a mess; to put it mildly. As Mark Reckons chronicles Sir Menzies Campbell effectively ditched the policy saying there was 'no public appetite for a vote'. Hours later his successor, Nick Clegg told the BBC's Radio 5 Live and Simon Mayo that the 'In/Out' referendum was still ...
Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne today tackled Alan Johnson on his decision not to block the extradition of computer hacker Gary McKinnon, who has Asperger's, to the USA. (LDV has previously covered the story here). Their exchange in the Commons today is recorded below, and you can read the whole Hansard debate here: Chris Huhne (Eastleigh) (LD): The Home Secretary is, in my view, a very brave man to hold out his judgment of the medical condition—and of the worsening of the medical condition—of Gary McKinnon against such overwhelming evidence as we have heard from the hon. Member ...
Having been exposed as a non-dom and having most probably alienated a substantial number of voters in the Richmond Park Constituency, one would have thought that Zac Goldsmith might lie low for a bit. However, he seems determined to make his mark and this time it may be his party leader who is not so pleased at his intervention. According to the New Statesman, Mr.Goldsmith used a lecture in London last night to deliver a stinging attack on the Sun over its recent treatment of Gordon Brown. He said: [My] heart went out to Gordon Brown and I was repulsed ...
It seems that we are in the middle of National Tree Week. It runs from 25 November to 6 December, which means it is so good that it lasts a fortnight. There is a list of local events on The Tree Council website. A piece on iwalkdevon suggests that: according to the Woodland Trust the UK's ancient indigenous woodland is being felled faster than the Amazon rainforest.I can't find the report from which this statistic comes, but it was discussed in a Guardian article last year. Anyway, conservation begins at home.
I am typing this on my brother [IMG: [info - personal] ] angeliiiii's computer. I think you should all be told that I am being forced to use IE because he is a disciple of Gates and mistrusts Firefox. Eurgh. I feel dirty. Anyway, the bike show was fab. I sat on lots and lots of bikes, and although my little leggies were too short for many of them, they were fine on the ones I actually want - the Triumph Daytona 675SE (hubba hubba), which will be for if I get a stonking great pay rise, or the more ...
Looking at pictures of the new leader of the Labour Party in Wales, it makes me even more sure that attempting to get in to parliament is not for me. Apparently Carwyn Jones is 42 years of age. I am turning 39 next month. If politics makes you look that old, that quickly, then I'm better off staying in the teaching profession !
You can tell that a general election is coming when William Rees-Mogg starts using his Times column to talk up his various offspring who have been selected as Conservative candidates, linked to reminiscing about his own efforts in the Tory cause - "I recall that when I contested Dunny on the Wold in 1867 Benjamin D. was most generous in his advice and time". In past years these columns have entertained us with their somewhat optimistic views of likely familial success - I especially enjoyed his claims of an unsuspected Tory breakthrough in Fife! This time two of his children ...
Today is a day of remembrance for me, as every World AIDS day is. I came out twenty five years ago when AIDS wasn't even talked about so many of my gay friends that I grew up with or people on the Nottingham gay scene that I knew like I were oblivious to this awful disease. Over the years I have lost friends and colleagues to AIDS and it is always a constant reminder to me how important sex education is, which is why I get angry when people in influential positions such as the Pope who said "don't use ...
I was surprised and pleased to see that two of my recent postings about Edinburgh have been included in this week's Scottish Roundup.
The flooding on Avenue Road has also been reported to Herts Highways. As yet I have had no answer.
From Aslef's website (mid-November): ASLEF's executive committee has set in motion a ballot for strike action of its 550-plus members working in First Capital Connect. The ballot result will be known on 9 December and industrial action could commence a week after that date. At the root of the problem is the pay offer made by the company which consists of nothing this year, and 3% (or one percent over inflation if that is more) next year. 'Last year the company was awarded the Evening Standard's 'award' for the company which combined the worst service and the biggest profits,' says ...
Tue 1st
18:56
England's Rugby dilemma - makes you want Dean Richards as Director of Rugby, and what about Jonnie?
I start this from the point of being a Harlequins fan, so excuse the bias. But the difference in performance of Quins players when playing for the club, or the Lions, and playing in Martin Johnson's England side is very telling. Compare and contrast what Ugo Monye does with the ball when playing for the Lions - highest try scorer in the squad and an incredible intercept leading to a try run the
I've an article published today at The Guardian's Comment Is Free blog, entitled, Help save Labour with PR? No thanks – republished below. (For the record, though I'm perfectly happy with the headline, I baulk a little at the sub-ed-supplied tagline: 'We Lib Dems might be expected to back any call for electoral reform. But we'll steer clear of this contemptible new campaign.' Not written by me, and I wouldn't use the word 'contemptible' about Compass's campaign.) This week the left-leaning pressure group Compass launched a campaign for a referendum on proportional representation, its chair Neal Lawson declaring, "Labour promised ...
So tomorrow (December 2nd) is meant to be the final part of the switch-over. Hopefully that should be the last retune of the Freeview boxes. It should also mean that the power at the transmitters will be put back up, which should stop the heavily pixellated channels which we have at the moment. Mind you, we were promised that the output power would go up after the November part of the switchover and it went down to 70% of what it was previously. Good luck!
[IMG: gedc0479.JPG] New odds have been published by Ladbrokes showing strengthening support for John in the upcoming election battle. John is on offer at 4/9, akin to Kauto's Star in its pomp. His Labour challenger, Lucy Powell is drifting at 13/8. It by no means means that the election is settled 6 months out, but it can only be a boost for us and a blow for Lucy, who would rather concentrate on the imminent birth of her daughter I am sure.
I wouldn't normally post an internal email on my blog, but this one just had to be shared. The email below was sent to all staff at Liberal Democrat headquarters in Cowley Street in Westminster earlier today. Of course, they could instead belong to one of their neighbours on the street... former Labour cabinet minister John ...
Following another tragic death of a young child at the hands of a dangerous dog, kept illegally, in the full knowledge of the fact that these dogs are killers, one wonders how many children will die before the Dangerous Dogs Act, a rushed and very poor piece of legislation, is amended or replaced. It seems clear that what is needed is proper legislation that puts the onus on the police to take action, and where people who breed and keep dangerous dogs are not merely threatened with the dog being destroyed, but face a prison sentence that is commensurate with ...
Today on the Daily Politics BBC2 show ex Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said "When the issue of whether or not there should be a referendum on Lisbon came up then we said it would be much more sensible to have a referendum on 'in or out' but the Lisbon Treaty is now history." Nick Clegg confirmed that we would keep this pledge during the Liberal Democrat annual conference (I remember I was there). But now the position is not clear. Was Sir Menzies Campbell simply wrong or are the Liberal Democrats withdrawing the EU In/Out referendum. Apparently this ...
Tue 1st
18:06
Is India blocking phones for security reasons or helping oligopoly control of the market?
India has an incredibly fast growing mobile phone market. Part of this growth is fueled by unbranded low cost phones. There are an estimated 25 million unbranded mobiles which are either made in India or imported from China. These are popular because they are cheap, with lots of competition over price between phones (a phone's a phone etc). The Indian Government has decided that this market is dangerous and a security risk because the phones don't come with a 15 digit code which allows the phone and calls made from and to it to be tracked. So... they've blocked the ...
Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling upon the Government to hold urgent talks with their UK counterparts in order to address an emerging crisis in medicinal drug availability. Due to the favourable exchange rates between the UK and Eurozone countries, drugs allocated to the UK market are being traded in large quantities onto the European market and away from patients here in Wales. Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats commented: "This unethical, despicable behaviour has to stop. I'm receiving a large amount of casework from patients with serious health conditions who are unable to access drugs essential to their ...
It appears that a John Pepin currently owns www.libdem.org.uk, which is currently directed to the UKIP Website. It also appear that John Peterson owns the web site domain http://www.labourparty.org.uk/ which is currently directed to a web site called don't vote Labour. These domains are owned in the hope that the parties pay a sum of money to claim the domains. See this link here on Cybersquatters. Oddly enough it also appears that no Conservative website name has been registered other than the ones already used by the UK Conservative party or other Conservative parties. Perhaps I should Cybersquat http://www.myconservatrives.org.uk/ with ...
Yesterday was St Andrew's Day, a special day of celebration in Scotland. If Iain Smith, Liberal Democrat MSP for NE Fife which includes the town of St Andrews had his way, it would have been a full public holiday, not just the half day that civil servants can take if they want that the SNP have delivered in Government. There's a lot going on in Scottish politics at the moment. Here are just a few snippets: On Tuesday, First Minister Alex Salmond was forced to demote his Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop after pressure from the Liberal Democrats. Having promised to ...
The Rodford Way crossing was the main item of discussion at last week's Yate Safer Stronger Community Group meeting. South Glos tabled a report at the meeting giving background and listing actions they are taking: Schools road safety education - continuing at all local schoolsTackling anti-social behaviour - a CCTV dome has now been erected near the newsagents, and a multi-agency meeting is being arrangedSubway maintenance - graffitti removal, cutting back undergrowth at entranceSouth Glos asked for local people to work with S Glos to help improve usage of the subway, but they did not seem to have heard of ...
Having a peer in the Tory Party whose tax arrangements are unclear (step forward Lord Ashcroft) is not that surprising. However, having a parliamentary candidate who is a "non domicile" is surprising.The FT's Westminster blog points out on Richmond Park Conservatives Website That they say:6. Tax the Super Rich and "non-domiciles".The over-seas population, living in this country, would make a
It seems that there will be a new hat thrown in the ring in the general election in Leeds North West. Greg Mulholland MP will be defending the seat for the Lib Dems, Julia Mulligan (an ex North Yorkshire councillor in Skipton) will be contesting the seat for the Tories and Cllr Judith Blake (a Leeds City Councillor representing Middleton Park in the South of the city) will be contesting the seat for Labour. The new, independent candidate is called Ted Winter and his website is here. I've met Ted a couple of times and he is involved with the ...
Stephen Tall is not impressed with the Compass campaign for a referendum on Proportional Representation. He says that the Liberal Democrat leadership won't be supporting this campaign and rightly so because it is 'self-serving' and it's agenda is to 'save Labour'. Welcome to politics where things often happen not in the interests of higher principle but ...
Alex Salmond was today forced to demote Cabinet Secretary for Education Fiona Hyslop after the Liberal Democrats signalled their intention to bring a vote of no confidence in her to the Holyrood Parliament this Thursday. The First Minister knew that there was no way MSPs would back Ms Hyslop after her reported threat to nationalise every school in Scotland and her failure to deliver on key SNP manifesto pledges. "We will reduce class sizes in Primary 1, 2 and 3 to eighteen pupils or less to give children more time with their teacher at this vital stage of their development." ...
Ignore Frank Field. Unless you're an opportunistic Tory.
Ming Campbell has indicated on The Daily Politics today that the Lib Dems may be moving away from their pledge on an in/out referendum for the EU. If this is true then I think this is a mistake. I have been a bit back and forth on the Lib Dem's approach to the Lisbon treaty. I tried to sum up my views in a blogpost early last month: I think that the EU hugely over complicates these treaties and makes it difficult for non-technocrats to understand them. I certainly haven't the time or inclination to wade through it. I don't ...
Cast your mind back a few months. Speaking on Radio 4's You and Yours on 16th June 2009, Nick Clegg said the only way to sort out the debate about EU membership was to have a referendum in this country as to whether we stay in or stay out. What we can't do is to be a member of a club and complain about it from the sidelines. That Lib Dem policy may have started out as a quick fix to get the party out of a tight spot, but as it's been stuck to, it's become seen by many ...
Tue 1st
15:54
Does two U-turns in two days mean you have come full circle or are you going round in circles?
I was unsurprised, as I am sure many were, when we suddenly heard that a million pounds no longer buys you a mansion and so the Lib Dems decided that only 'mansions' over £2 Million would be subject to the dreaded tax. All those former Bullingdon members on the Tory front bench were no doubt off ...
[IMG: nhs] Britain's state-run National Health Service (NHS) doesn't fare too well in comparisons of cancer survival rates. Every year studies show far more deaths under the NHS's watch than in countries of comparable wealth. "20% higher than Europe" reported a recent headline, while new cancer drugs continue to be rationed, often considered "not cost effective". Now it's the turn of survival rates within the UK to throw up some shocking results, and destroy a few fallacies in the process. The Guardian reports that your likelihood of beating cancer differs hugely depending on where in Britain you live. People in ...
Compass, the left-leaning pressure group, has launched a campaign for a referendum on proportional representation. Music to the Lib Dems' ears? Lib Dem Voice's own Stephen Tall explains today at Comment is Free why it's not something we'll be supporting as a party, this side of the General Election: Labour has had 12 years in which to renew the democratic fabric of this country. They failed to do anything about it because, quite simply, they didn't care enough about it. If they care now, it is only because it's expedient to; and expediency is the worst possible motive for reform. ...
The Lib Dems have won a major victory in St Austell Bay Ward in the first ever Cornwall council by election. Andrew Reeves makes the point here that the Tory PPC for St Austell has still not apologised to the Lib Dem PPC for smearing him and lying to local voters. The Lib Dems won the seat (the third safest Tory seat in Cornwall) with a swing of 13% from the Tories to the Lib Dems. This despite the fact that the Tory candidate in the seat was their election-supremo for the whole of Cornwall! This bodes really well for ...
Courtesy of the LibDems4Parliament Resource Centre, here is the list of PPC selections closing this month: Broadland Norfolk – PPC (04 Dec 2009) Huntingdon – PPC (04 Dec 2009) Cambridge – PPC (05 Dec 2009) Chelsea & Fulham – PPC (09 Dec 2009) Chatham & Aylesford – PPC (11 Dec 2009) Newcastle-under-Lyme (Staffs) – PPC (12 Dec 2009) Dewsbury – PPC (18 Dec 2009) Tatton – PPC (23 Dec 2009) For further details on how you could become the Liberal Democrat prospective candidate in any of these constituencies see http://libdems4parliament.org.uk/events.
Back in the saddle with a pinch and a punch; just been a wee bit under the weather over the last few days, hence the radio silence, plus I've been spending more time than a healthy growing boy should trawling through broadcast archives (and if you're interested I'll do a post about those). Needless to say, the Legislation of Sod is in force as usual, what with today being a Quiet News Day and the weekend's news having been covered comprehensively enough over at the usual channels. So instead I'm going to talk about bookshops. Very sad to see the ...
Just what has led to SNP Education Minister being removed from the Education brief in cabinet, after all she has been the SNP education Spokesperson/Minister for quite a number of years now. There was obviously the shift in blame over teacher numbers. Only last week Hyslop was about to encourage Local Authorities to borrow money to pension off older teachers. This despite them being unable to meet their lower class sizes policy for primaries 1,2 and 3. Then at the weekend the blame for the falling teacher numbers fell to the local authorities. But surely only a few days before ...
I have blogged before about the urgent need for work to make the parking restrictions in Launceston enforceable. The 'signs and lines' are not currently right and so bad parking cannot be punished. Cornwall Council has the necessary works planned but is waiting for a few days of dry weather to be able to get out in town and do the work.
I attended a candlelight vigil outside Wood Green Library to mark World AIDS Day - and very important it is to continue to send out that public statement about AIDS and HIV. There still exists a stigma around AIDS and HIV and there shouldn't be. I don't know why this should still persist today - when we are so much better informed about how the disease is transmitted. It shouldn't do. We can't catch it from toilets or shaking hands - in fact - it was one of the really good things Diana Princess of Wales did. She visited an ...
Tue 1st
13:54'Lives, damned lives and statistics' on my blog in November - it all went a bit silly really...
I was interested to see that there appears to be quite sensible monthly roundup of people showing how their blog has performed over the past month. I think this seems to be a very interesting way of, if for nobody else's benefit, keeping track of movement and weighting of activity on my blog. My former colleague, Duncan ...
The end of the month is an unsettling time for many people and families in Wales. The Labour government has forced millions of people to pay hundreds of pounds in income tax, keeping pensioners on the bread line and forcing people on benefits because working simply does not pay. This cannot go on. On Monday, the Liberal Democrats announced tax plans to help millions of people on low and middle incomes. Under our plans, people will not pay a penny on the first ten thousand pounds they earn. That would put £700 back in the pockets of the vast majority ...
Thank you to everyone who came along to Kickstart and made it such a huge success. This is the biggest Kickstart event we've ever done and there was a real buzz about the whole weekend, and we have high hopes now of many of the council groups who attended having excellent results in the coming years. If you want to find out more about what you missed, then Alex Foster has written an excellent article on Liberal Democrat Voice about the weekend and gives a sense of what happened. Our favourite quotes include: "During the weekend, several of them told ...
You may remember that I was keen to get a bus stop for my village, and the process of obtaining one was duly kicked off, with a request to the County Council. A potential site was found, and I was really quite optimistic, especially when our site was judged to meet the criteria. However, we now have bad news to report. Apparently, the policy of Suffolk County Council is that you have to have a bus stop on each side of the road. The bus stop has to be placed next to a raised curb to allow easy entrance to ...
Should something like this be situated next to a school? Another day of embarrassment for Leeds City Council in the letters pages of the Yorkshire Evening Post. A barrage of criticism is directed at proposals to situate a 'waste transfer site' opposite the playground of Kirkstall Valley Primary School. Students at the school organised a protest last ...
[IMG: aids-day.jpg] It's World Aid day -and is it me or has Aids/HIV ceased to be news? Yet millions of the worlds population are HIV positive or living with Aids, from babies to adults, male, female, gay, straight, black, white. Millions are dying or suffering. Across Africa millions are orphaned, homeless or starve as a result. Aids is the disease that cursed the 1980's and 90's and ravaged Africa. And we must not forget the millions worldwide that have circumbed to this terrible wasting disease. We must also not forget the millions neglected of crucial anti-virul drugs in Africa, because ...
The Liberal Democrats gained another District Council and Parish Council seat from the Conservatives last week in Stratford On Avon. The Liberal Democrats are putting together a very impressive string of results there from last year's District Council elections, this year's County Council elections and now these, could this be a seat to watch at the General Election>
An enlightening glimpse of the three main parties and tax over the weekend and yesterday. First, Tory A-lister and high profile parliamentary candidate Zac Goldsmith was revealed to have used non-domicile status to protect some of his considerable wealth. Clearly one law for the rich, one for the rest of us. About the only firm Tory tax pledge is to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £2 million precisely to protect people like Mr Goldsmith. It's bad enough having all the MPs who have abused the expenses system. But how can politicians dream of proposing spending cuts, tightening belts and ...
Welcome to December (political pinch-punch and no returns?) Today is World Aids Day and also 90 years since the first female MP, Nancy Astor, took her seat in the Commons. 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: UKIP HOW RUDE! Thats not your website Bracknell Blog spots a domain squatter. What St Austell Bay means for Cornwall (clue: lots more Lib Dems) Alex Folkes has been a very good blogger all year and deserves a swingometer for Christmas. Spotted any other ...
[IMG: dusty_kid] With all eyes on the UN summit at Copenhagen this month, keen observers are wondering whether collaborations are possible to mitigate climate change. Yet some proposals would do more harm than good, with "green" protectionism the most dangerous of all. These are proposals to permit trade restrictions on the grounds that they will help to prevent climate change–a sadly misleading theory, which has predictably gained support already from uncompetitive industries and other vested interests have jumped on the bandwagon. In our petition against these measures, the Freedom to Trade campaign explains: "Trade enables specialisation, which results in the ...
I suspect that the only people who read local political blogs are other local politicians, and I'm no exception to that rule. Occasionally I look at Conservative PPC David Nuttall's, and it was whilst doing so the other day that I was alerted to the existence of Bury Speakeasy, a very worthy charity helping people with a condition called Aphasia. My Grandpa suffered from Aphasia towards the end of his life, and when I read about Bury Speakeasy on David's blog I contacted them to say how good it is that they are providing a service for people with Aphasia ...
At each Full Council meeting, Cabinet Members produce a report on what they and their service have been doing in recent weeks. This gem comes from the report of Tory Cabinet Member for Stronger Communities Lance Kennedy: "There has (sic) been 60 visits to enforce underage sales of alcohol"
[IMG: I recently challenged Glenda Jackson over her failure to attend an important vote in Parliament whilst debating at the BRAT Hustings in Kilburn] In the 24 days leading up to Christmas, I will be recapping some of the campaigns and issue I have been involved in throughout 2009. Ed Fordham's countdown to Christmas: Day 1 - Protecting our civil liberties Back in January I was working hard to highlight the impact of clauses in the Coroners & Justice Bill on personal liberty. Sadly, the Labour Government fauiled to reflect the views of it's political tradituion and have, during the ...
A few days ago I wrote to the Canadian High Commissioner in London to berate his country for the climate destruction it is causing, and the diplomatic negotiations it risks derailing, with its continued production of oil tar sands. Now George Monbiot has broken his self-imposed flying ban to go to Canada and add his voice to the protests. Canada is in serious danger of destroying its image as a guardian of civilised, progressive values. And of losing its friends. See here for a video about tar sands on the Greenpeace website and for ways you can protest.
It's December, folks, and the last month of the decade* we've never quite been able to bring ourselves to call 'The Noughties'. In celebration of its passing, Lib Dem Voice will be running a series of polls for which we're seeking your help. What categories would you like to see polled? My draft list of 21 includes the following politics, media and culture 'Best ofs': Liberal Democrat Politician of the Decade Liberal Democrat Backbencher of the Decade Conservative Politician of the Decade Labour Politician of the Decade Most Influential Campaigner of the Decade Best Political Speech of the Decade Best ...
... We'd say a big thank you to the 29,252 'absolute unique visitors'* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in November. This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 Dec 2008 - 30 Nov 2009) to 292,073, over 40% higher than the equivalent figure for 2007-08 of 205,099. The 5 top-read stories during the month were: 1. Lib Dem Voice publishes exclusive general election prediction (55) by Mark Pack 2. NEW POLL: Who do you least want to be Prime Minister in a year's time: Gordo or Dave? (52) by Stephen Tall 3. Lib Dem ...
Two weeks ago, I blogged about the hand of Henry and the issues raised around the 'win at all costs' attitude of some sportsmen. Today Gerard Houllier, a manager with experience of club and international management, said that he did not believe that Thierry Henry should be punished for the incident. He said 'Thierry Henry did not cheat' and ...
The Stockport Express is reporting that a body was dragged from the River Mersey near Tiviot Way in Stockport this morning. Arrests have already been made, with two men and a woman in custody.
Maverecon has to stop writing. Given his famously strong views against bailouts, I am intruigued by Buiter's decision to go to Citi. After all, haven't Citi enjoyed some rather large asset insurance from the Government? And what does Buiter think of That? He is very good – not always right – but very good. And sometimes ...
I see via the Steamie that local Linlithgow resident Fiona Hyslop is the first of the SNP cabinet to be forced from office. Considering that last week their were almost back to back announcements. The first that Local Authorities were to be encouraged to 'retire' elder teachers to make room (especially within budgets) to allow new teachers to take their places. The second that local were to blame for the fall in teacher numbers. So the mantle of SNP buck-passing on education policy has been passed from Ms Hyslop to some other sucker, err I mean Mike Russell, who you'd ...
I've just been completing the survey many of us have been sent on the services provided by Warwick District Council. One question looks at the proportion of our council tax spent on various services and asks us how we would like to apportion the money. It is not surprising that there is no option to reduce the cost of Councilors Allowances so that we can spend it on something useful such as travel for elderly or disabled for example. Since the council has been controlled by the Conservatives there has been a marked increase in the number of councilors who ...
So, Alex Salmond has today sacked Fiona Hyslop as Education Secretary and moved her to a non cabinet position covering the external affairs and culture portfolio and to add insult to injury the responsibility for the constitution has been removed from the post. Mike Russell (previously Environment minister sacked for proposing to sell off 25% of Scotland's forests) has now been moved from Culture minister to Education Secretary. Let's hope his first idea isn't selling off 25% of the schools! This reshuffle has come about partly because of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. On Saturday, Tavish Scott informed all four main ...
Tue 1st
12:10
Listen to This if you Care about Children: Haringey, Baby P and a Social Worker who Cared
Haringey Council presided over the deaths of Victoria Climbie and Baby Peter. Here a Social Worker who worked for Haringey Social Services, and tried but failed to get them to follow proper procedures, speaks in this morning's BBC Radio 4's The Choice. She describes the management as being "cold and uncaring". Nevres Kemal talks about the management of Haringey Social Services' appalling failures here: Haringey's failure to protect children
I think the friends and aquaintances who read this will fall into two groups. Those that have already experienced what I'm talking about, and those who will glaze over when parents start talking about their little ones. Our son is just about 10 months old. He was 7 weeks early, and spent his first four weeks in a special care unit. He is reportedly doing well, even though he is small. At his 8 months check he was said to as well developed as any 8 month old, sitting up and smiling and reacting as the nursery nurse expected. He's ...
I'm chasing up why only one of Gatley's Christmas stars is lit up, and why the tree on Gatley Green isn't lit. Could be a good explanation, but elsewhere the lights seem to be up and running (including Heald Green, the other Local Centre in our area).
Freethinking Economist finds himself listening to statist conservative miserabilism and their opprtunistic financial reform plans. He thanks God for the pungent scepticism of Anthony Hilton
What a month I've had, took a fortnight's holiday and had a week without broadband and then the Laptop packed up. Therefore I don't expect the stats of this month to be all that good. Although Mark Valadares did call me 'the godfather of Scottish Lib Dem blogging', and I did make the Golden Dozen in the midst of my local difficulties. However, at the start I climbed into the top 40 of the Wikio Political blogs to 34, just behind Jeff not sure if that is the reason I have been removed again from his blogroll, he really doesn't ...
I was looking in the mirror this morning, and realised that I can no longer ignore the strands of grey hair starting to appear. There are more than just the one or two 'wild' hairs I'd tried to ignore as random accidents. However then reading an article on the BBC news website it seem that I can, indeed should, blame my parents for this; it is all their fault! Somehow, though, I'm not sure it makes me feel better...
The Press Gazette reports: Human rights barrister Lord Lester has drawn up a defamation reform bill which he says has cross-party support and would be available to whoever wins next year's general election. According to the Sunday Times, the Lib Dem peer's "moderate" bill would tackle the issues of libel tourism and the huge costs to publishers of cases brought under no win, no fee rules... Lord Lester's bill would: Reform the no-win no-fee which makes the costs so high for publishers that they often settle just to minimise their risks. End the rule whereby every time a web story ...
There's been a small reshuffle of the Liberal Democrat team in the House of Lords. The main change is that Chris Rennard has joined the front bench teams for both Constitutional Affairs and for Communities & Local Government.This change will add some serious experience to these two teams. Other changes included Sue Miller stepping down from Home Affairs, who has been replaced by Sally Hamwee and Graham Tope takes over at Communities & Local Government.
I have written a piece this morning for Left Foot Forward which summarises the Lib Dem tax plans that were announced yesterday and also initial reaction from within the Lib Dems and outside. One thing I didn't say in the piece is that putting aside the arguments of how it is paid for, I think the £10,000 starting threshold for income tax will turn out to be very popular as it is a concept that people can easily grasp and is clearly designed to benefit the least well off in the working population. I would not be at all surprised ...
Tue 1st
11:24'All he needs now is a reference from the Captain of the Titanic and he's got the full set...' The P...
Any martial arts expert will tell you that even smaller opponents can defeat larger opponents by identifying their larger opponents' weaknesses. As such, when the phone call came through to tell us that the new Conservative candidate for our constituency had been selected we needed to respond quickly with a line that made them seem much ...
Michael Meacher has been an MP for a long time. So long in fact that it was he who, as a government minister in January 1977, gave a written answer revealing the shocking statistical news that: Ladies rubberised raincoats are not separately distinguished in the overseas trade statistics. Liked this story? Find other gems from Hansard on my archive page for this series of posts.
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: Given the way in which social media cuts across customer services, PR and marketing there is no one size fits all answer to where social media operations best sit in a company. Looking at what companies actually do, there is not even one clear favourite route being taken as the new survey from Econsultancy demonstrates. Their Social Media and Online PR survey reports that a third of companies (35%) manage their social activity through their digital marketing team whilst just over a fifth (21%) manage it via their PR or communications team. However, when it ...
On the obviously very slim chance that The Voice's activist readers haven't already finished sending off all their Christmas cards (paper or electronic) to family, friends, deliverers, helpers, councillors, would-be candidates, favourite members of ex-party staff (hint, hint) and so on – and are still stuck using that largely nineteenth century technology, the Christmas Card – the last posting dates are: [IMG: Posting Christmas cards] International Airmail: 4 December is the earliest (varies with country) Second Class: 18 December First Class: 21 December Special Delivery: 23 December Details for other postal options and the full list of countries and dates ...
It's a full meeting of the Council tomorrow. There are several important decisions going through, such as the decision to close Ewings School (which will have a terrible effect on many young people with speech and language problems), plus a new structure of governance, imposed by a Government which keeps trying to give all power to the Leader of the Council (despite the fact that nobody, including the Leader of the Council wants to run Manchester as a one man band). In addition that there's decisions on the future of the Library Theatre and Manchester's contributions to cutting our carbon ...
Monday: You cannot have failed to notice the revelation that Conservatory golden/green poster-boy and anti-Liberal Democrat candidate Mr Zac Goldfinger, son of millionaire Bond Villain Sir Jammy Goldfinger, has been caught out avoiding tax. In particular, Daddy Alex is VERY CROSS about Master Goldfinger saying we should be GRATEFUL for his CHARITY*! But I've been wondering why this news should leak now? Meanwhile, ENTIRELY COINCIDENTALLY, Monday 30 November was the deadline (now extended to January) for UK citizens to tell Mrs the Queen's Customs and Revenue about any pots of cash that they have squirreled away in OFFSHORE TAX HAVENS. ...
After ten years of devolution you would think that the National Assembly for Wales has become fairly established. Even if you do not agree with it you cannot deny its existence, or can you. I have recently been trying to upgrade my mobile phone and arranged for a new one to be delivered to my home yesterday. It duly arrived but it was faulty so I asked the company concerned to replace it. They were pleased to do so and even agreed to carry out the swap at my place of work seeing as how I am now ensconced here ...
Over the course of the third quarter of this year, the impact of the financial tsunami which hit the global economy in 2008 has appeared to stabilise. Banks whose balance sheets have been severely damaged by the crisis have been forcibly merged, restructured or taken into public ownership. The single major player- Lehman- that went under caused so much damage that policy makers have vowed not to repeat that mistake. As banks struggled to retrench without increasing the global problems, the monetary authorities released huge amounts of liquidity. The result has been a rally in asset prices as the availability ...
I spent this weekend being simultaneously translated into Macedonian and Albanian working with a group of MPs in the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. Like parliamentarians the world over they are grappling with a collapse of public trust in politics. However, for them the alternative to a healthy democracy means slipping back towards civil war. It always feels a bit odd going off to train other countries about how to get their politics working well when ours in this country is so obviously up the spout. Turnout in our elections is miserably low and none of the major parties seem ...
I looked out of the window this morning and saw frost. Well, I shouldn't be surprised. I was out last night in Dunston delivering Focuses. It was a difficult patch which I haven't done since the council byelection a couple of years ago. I had planned to do it in the morning but the rain set in. Doing it in the evening would have been easier if I had night vision. At least the weather was dry last
A lot has been written and said about Griffin representing the European Parliament as part of its 15 strong delegation to the Copenhagen climate conference. The BBC has the story here. I personally think it's ridiculous that he should even sit on the EU climate and energy committee considering he believes climate change to be a hoax and skin to Maoist or Stalinist conspiracy. However he was elected and so is fully entitled to go and represent us at this summit. I think this is a wake up call to all those who didn't vote in the Euro elections this ...
Like many people today, I'll be wearing my red ribbon, to mark World AIDS Day. It was interesting to see the Daily Mail's take on the event this morning: they asked whether wearing the ribbon for 1 December had become as obligatory as wearing a poppy for 11 November, because all the contestants on The X ...
In today's 'You couldn't make it up' news, multi-millionaire Conservative candidate tax-dodger Zac Goldsmith has furiously defended his "non-domicile" tax status... Because he gives away some of his tax-dodged wealth. As he nearly said, 'How dare you criticise me, you plebs, just because you get taxed for working hard for a living and I dodge tax on my unearned millions! I spend all my money how I like, and if I'm bountiful enough to drop a few coppers to paupers, they should be jolly grateful, so I'm jolly cross they don't doff their bally caps. Let them eat environmentally-friendly cake!' ...
According to a poll carried out last month by MORI, the majority of people believe that men are paid more than women for doing equal work. The poll found that 52% of people disagree with the statement that men and women receive the same pay for doing jobs of equal value. Overall 40% think that men and woman are paid equally. There is however a big gender gap – 48% of men think men and women are paid equally but only 32% of women. The poll also found that 85% of people agree with introducing "a legal requirement for employers ...
This has to be the first 'punch the air' moment on the way to the election next year. The bubble Dave very cleverly managed to create around the Tories appears to have been well and truly punctured as the basic lack of detail they have been able to offer on what a Tory government might do if elected comes more sharply into focus. On top of that, the long lead into the widely anticipated Tory victory has allowed the spotlight to be shone quite nicely on just what that party is made up of, from Central American Peers through backward ...
There now follows a short notice updating you on the copyright rules we use for articles that appear on Lib Dem Voice after 1st December. In effect, these are the rules we have used all along, but we are now putting them on a more formal footing. Articles that appear on the Lib Dem Voice after 1st December 2009 will be copyright Lib Dem Voice and the original author, and will be licensed under the Creative Commons terms Attribution, Non-commercial licence. Lib Dem Voice reserve the right to use material commercially to further the aims of the blog. Articles from ...
Last time I blogged - a month ago, whoops, various uncomfortable reasons - I excoriated nasty Labour and Tory smears. This morning, I must apologise. In the interests of political balance, I regret that I omitted to mention any SNP smears. Fortunately, to celebrate Alex Salmond's hijacking of a Scottish national holiday to announce his delusional plans for absolute power despite winning only a third of the vote (just like Labour at Westminster), Andrew Reeves brings news of an SNP hatchet man who, while being paid by the public, ran a vicious anonymous smear website (just like Labour's Damian McBride). ...
In November I had 11,084 Pageviews from 9,272 Visits and a total of 6,426 Absolute Unique Visitors. My top 5 blog posts were: 1) What is Nadine Dorries on?2) Fiscal Responsibility Bill is a landmine for the Tories3) The Sun smears Professor David Nutt's family4) Sir Jeremy Bagge: "Women, Know Your Limits!"5) Five years for handing in a gun to the police? Top 5 referring sites were: 1) Twitter.com2) Iain Dale's Diary3) Lib Dem Blogs4) Order-Order.com5) Lib Dem Voice 2,582 visits came from search engines and the top 5 search terms were: 1) mark reckons (233)2) sir jeremy bagge (162)3) ...
I've just been energy audited as part of the Belsize Home Energy Efficiency Programme pilot for the whole of London. Up to 1,000 households will each receive 10 energy and water efficiency measures installed for free. The aim is to test the concept for the whole of London. I have to say that the installer struggled to find much to put into our flat. She ended up giving us an hourglass shower timer and a multi-plug which has a little remote control enabling you to turn off electrical appliances rather than leave them on standby. Her visit did however prompt ...
The big news of the day, judging by his appearances on national radio last night and this morning, is that Darlington has appointed the country's first "Twitterer-in-residence". Mike McTimony, a frequent contributor to this blog's comments' section and a leading light in the town's cycling fraternity, has been appointed to the £140 a year position. No doubt the usual suspects will line up to mock
From the Richmond and Twickenham Times: Zac Goldsmith today hit back at reports he had dodged taxes – and insisted he would not give up the chance to be Richmond's next MP. It had been reported Mr Goldsmith, Conservative candidate for Richmond Park, was avoiding large tax bills on his fortune, estimated to be about £200m, because he claimed non-domicile tax status. Lord Oakeshott, Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman, said Mr Goldsmith was not fit to sit in Parliament because he had "claimed non-dom status all his life to keep his offshore hundreds of millions free of income, capital gains or ...
Psephologically speaking, I mean. Apparently, yes. The Australian Liberal Party – who aren't very liberal – have just elected a new leader. A new fall guy, perhaps, but certainly someone who thinks he can take the fight to the governing Labor Party. And the key issue? What other than that thing that gets conservatives across the globe hot under ...
The link is to a recent judgment in which para 10 says:I think it important to remember when one is looking either at the independent assessments by social workers or at applications under section 38(6) of the Act that one needs to be child focused. It is not a question of the mother's right to have a further assessment, it is: would the assessment assist the judge in reaching a conclusion or the
Another week at Bonkers Hall has draws to a close. Sunday Walking beside Rutland Water this morning, I am pleased to discover that the pirate ships are again flourishing. Back in the 1960s there were dozens of them. The pirates would all gather on deck and play sea shanties Extremely Loudly to the crowds of young people that had gathered on the shore to listen. This greatly concerned my old friend Anthony Wedgwood Benn - or 'Viscount Stan' as he called himself in those days because he thought it more demotic - who would come over to Rutland to chide ...
[IMG: Support World AIDS Day] Today is World AIDS day. The number of people in the UK living with HIV has actually trebled in the last 10 years. However, despite more people living with it less people know that someone they know has it, this is because the treatments now available allow people to look healthier with HIV than they did in the 1980s. Last year of the 7,298 new diagnoses in the UK, 2,760 new diagnoses where amongst men who have sex with men, and 2,790 of the rest were from black or ethnic minorities. Worldwide the figures are: ...
[IMG: diary.JPG] 1st - Economy, Environment & Transport Scrutiny Commission, 7pm Bury Town Hall, public welcome 3rd - Standards Hearing 4th - Civic Ball in aid of Mayoral charities, The Longfield Suite 6th - THE LINK- Opponents to Council plans to "reconfigure" the Longfield Suite will be forming a human chain around the Longfield Suite at 12.30pm - Come and join us - all welcome. 7th - Area Partnership Chairs meeting 14th - Climate Change Working Group 5pm, Bury Town Hall - Public welcome 16th - FULL COUNCIL - Meeting of all Bury Councillors, 7pm Bury Town Hall. Public welcome. ...
Our health care appears to be in chaos with reports of failing health trusts, hospitals that have disastrously high levels of deaths and medicines sold abroad as poor old Britain can't afford them. The hideous tales from Basildon University Hospital last week epitomize how bad things are. An unannounced visit by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found "Third World" conditions. The death rate at the hospital was one third higher than it should have been. However, it wasn't that long before that Basildon got a very good rating from its CQC inspection. Moreover, it is a Foundation Trust hospital - ...
The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust has scored 3.43 out of 100(!) ending third from the bottom in the list of Hspital Trusts in Britain for patients' safety. Dr Foster's Hospital Guide for 2009 has revealed that death rates in English NHS hospitals have fallen by seven per cent last year, but that quality of ...
Once again to Stephen Glenn, I am going to continue the monthly summary of my visitor stats according to google analytics for November 2009. I have done this for the last two months here and here and it was quite interesting for me just to see, other sites do this as well. The busiest day on my blog last month was Sunday 29th November when the Mark MacLachlan smear story broke and Zac Goldsmith admitted being a non-dom. Last month I had 2,091 absolute unique visitors, down from 2,549 in October but up from 1,311 in September. They made 3,066 ...
The County Council plans to "unveil" its plans for the proposed Consett Academy, which it intends to build on Belle Vue, at a meeting at Consett Community Sports College (aka Blackfyne) on Monday December 7th between 4.00 p.m. and 8.00 p.m. I was informed of a meeting to brief councillors on the plans at County Hall this Wednesday afternoon. I explained that it wasn't convenient because it clashed with a planning committee site visit but apparently it had to be then because it "best accommodates Councillors' and other colleagues' diaries." I made the necessary arrangements. Today I was told this ...
The theme for this year's World AIDS Day Universal Access and Human Rights. Universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and care, is vital as is recognising these as fundamental human rights. Although valuable progress has been made in increasing access to HIV/AIDS services, even greater commitment is needed. Millions continue to be infected with HIV every year. In low- and middle-income countries, less than half of those in need of anti-retroviral therapy are receiving it, and far too many don't have access to adequate care services. World AIDS Day provides an opportunity for all of us, individuals, groups, and communities, ...
I wrote about the morality of owning two houses last week. If we have empty houses and people living on the streets then there should be some social pressure for us to house them. I know that some people will argue that homeless people want to be homeless and there is plenty of support for them. If they find one or two people who have chosen this way of life then anecdotally they are correct. It is freezing on the streets of Morecambe today so my anecdote is that I would not chose to be homeless and however good your ...
Tory Baroness Warsi's behaviour contrasted extremely well with that of some yobs who threw eggs at her in Luton. Baroness Warsi's dignified response to ...
Exactly ninety years ago, Nancy Lady Astor becomes first woman MP to take her seat in Parliament, although she had been elected in a by-election on 28 November. She deserves her place in British political history, because Connie Markiewicz who was the ...
