Nick Clegg, Simon Hughes and Susan Kramer led hundreds of Liberal Democrats on Saturday 5th December as we particpated in the Copenhagen Wave. I led a team from Kensington and Chelsea. It was an exhilerating experience to march through traffic-free streets in central London from Park Lane to Westminster, with thousands of other campaigners making our voices heard for real global change on dealing with Climate Chaos. Labour has failed to cut emissions in the past, leaving Britain at the bottom of the European league table for levels of renewable energy, only above Malta and Luxembourg. The Conservatives are a ...
Two new entries this month which means there are now 15 rather than 14 Lib Dem blogs in the top 100 (Himmelgarten Cafe has dropped out). Welcome to Sara Bedford's Always Win When You're Singing and Dazmando's Bracknell Blog. I have included Charlotte Gore because her blog sailed under the Lib Dem flag throughout November. It will be interesting to see how she does without it. More fallers than climbers this month. Play up school! 1 (5) Liberal Democrat Voice Non mover 2 (14) Charlotte Gore Falls 1 3 (15) Mark Reckons Falls 3 4 (32) Liberal England Falls 5 ...
OK, it's stretching the point a bit, but now the e-petiton has reached 502 with months to go till its closing date I expect the following statement from the Number 10 website to apply: Once your petition has closed, usually provided there are 500 signatures or more, it will be passed to officials who work for the Prime Minister in Downing Street, or sent to the relevant Government department for a response. I'm sure you're confident, as I am, that the Prime Minister himself will take a personal interest in the issue. What interests me is that, with no pressure ...
Sat 5th
21:58
Environment - a political area women are represented well in. But for the right reasons?
Out of all the protester groups that would have been at The Wave protest today, it is notable that a Telegraph headline focused on the presence of the Women's Institute: "Copenhagen climate summit: Women's Institute join the 'Wave' protest" The article had the following to say about the Women's Institute (each paragraph will be analysed – what will ...
Wycombe Liberal Democrats took to the streets in London today to support the fight against climate change. [IMG: Wycombe Liberal Youth member Callum Morton leads the huge Lib Dem group] The next parliament is likely to be the last that can stop dangerous climate change. And there is only one party that is both serious about the environment and in a position to exact real change: the Liberal Democrats. Copenhagen is a vital staging post in the international fight to reduce carbon but the Government is not up to the task of driving through changes. Labour has failed to cut ...
Taxing banks profits seems to be in vogue; however we should be careful before expecting too much of the stories suggesting it is in the pipeline. This article from The Times in 2005 shows that the idea floats around on occasion and usually in practice is the plant of the Treasury in regard to forcing the banks hands ...
In Joe McElderry, I suspect we have X Factor winner 2009. Olly was weakest tonight ...
Last week there was both Andrew Lansley and Kirstie Allsopp on the BBC 1 Question Time panel. Kirstie Allsopp is an adviser to the Conservative party on housing matters, has been tipped for a peerage under a Tory government and is reported to be favoured as a parliamentary candidate by David Cameron. Incredibly, this week, they'll be another two Tories on the panel, According to today's Swindon Advertiser: William Hague and General Sir Richard Dannatt, who is to become a Conservative peer and is a Conservative adviser on defence. This is confirmed by this BBC press release. Are the Tories ...
You really couldn't make this story up. After 8 years of toeing the party line and helping new Labour push through all sorts of anti libertarian nonsense Helen Clark lost her seat. She was arrested after a row with staff at the city's Great Northern Hotel in June 2008. You can read the full story here but to cut a long story short she had her DNA taken before being cleared of all criminal charges. Now here is the sting in the tail. Ms Clark wants her DNA removed from the DNA database. Now of course she should have it ...
Today I attended the annual Climate Change march in London for the third year in a row. This time I eschewed my 'Towards a slightly warmer Britain' banner in an effort to avoid attracting too much controversy, particularly since I planned to march right amongst a large crowd of Liberal Youthers, who this year were ...
It is that time of the month again Wikio have announced the the political rankings for December. With Hogmanay approaching at the end of the month everyone really wants to be a Scotsman or woman this month, but not all of the bloggers can be so what has actually happened this month. The same 13 blogs still represent the best of Scottish blogging inside the top 100 and indeed we almost have 10, 11 or 12 within the top 75. Yes 76-78 is the new grouping of Scots. For a change I have to report that Tom Harris has moved, ...
There are a number of people reading this blog to whom I owe lengthy-ish emails (Richard, Pillock, Prankster, probably others). Some of these have been owed for weeks. I'm afraid I'm simply in no fit state to send them right now. I have a tremendous amount on my plate (PEP!, work on my Master's degree, my ...
As I mentioned earlier this week, on Tuesday, I attended a tree planting ceremony at the Rose Garden in Balgay Park. With thanks to the Friends of Balgay, here's a few photographs of the event on a beautiful but cold winter morning!
Because of a load of West End Ward commitments today, I was not able to attend the Glasgow Wave event, but pleased to see that the Scottish Liberal Democrats were well represented. With thanks to my party colleague Andrew Reeves (http://andrewrunning.blogspot.com/) here's a photo of some of the LibDem team in Glasgow today. You can read more at : http://tinyurl.com/waveglasgow.
Rubber Soul, the Beatles' second album of 1965, is generally considered the first album of their middle, most creative period. Only the second album they made to consist entirely of originals, it saw the band's influences opening up – to include Stax, Indian music and the Byrds – and saw the band's lyrical style change ...
Well we didn't get a reprieve from the weeks of relentless rain for the annual festive ceremony, but at least it wasn't raining as hard as usual for the countdown! There was much good-natured banter about our Christmas tree coming from Redruth this year. Although better for the environment than being convoyed over from Scandinavia, for many original Camborners Redruth is more of a foreign land! Let's hope the pitch isn't too waterlogged for our yearly Boxing Day inter-town rugby match in a few weeks' time. The Town Square was packed with local families taking part in and watching the ...
Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Kirsty Williams marked International Day for Disabled Persons on Thursday, by visiting the Remploy processing facility in Porth where some 99 local people are employed. Commenting she said: "This day is all about highlighting the challenges faced by people with a disability in their everyday lives. Sadly, many people still find it difficult to get work experience or full employment." "Today, I visited Remploy in Porth where disability is no barrier to success. Not only is the factory employing, training and supporting 60 local people but it's doing highly technical data cleansing work and establishing itself ...
Pictures by James Harrison I'm sitting on the bus heading back home after the Wave in Glasgow. You may be asking why so late but at Kelvingrove Park the use of my laptop was requested by LYS for use of the secretary at their exec meeting held afterwards, which is the end was not in fact used. Anyway this was the driest Wave I have ever been in the middle of, I have have been in some big Atlantic rollers at the strands in Portrush or Portstewart when we holidayed when I was a child. The Glasgow weather was mercifully ...
Not the best weather for marching through the streets of Glasgow, although it was much better in Glasgow than when I left Edinburgh. I met up with a group of Liberal Democrats at Glasgow Queen Street station before we headed to Ibrox to meet the rest. A group of 20+ there to meet us before we all headed off to Bellahouston Park where our numbers continued to grow with George Lyon MEP, Katy Gordon, Robert Brown MSP and Alison McInnes MSP and many of Liberal Youth Scotland. Robert, Alison and George all went off to do the official photos while ...
This morning I got up early to take the train down to London to take part in 'The Wave' climate change demonstration. 'The Wave' was aimed at demonstraiting to world leaders how important action against climate change is. The Liberal Democrats demanded at The Wave that the Government takes real action whilst at the same time, showing that the Lib Dems are the only party with the ambition and policies to reverse climate change. But local councils also need to take action to tackle climate change. That is why I discussed with Nick Clegg, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, ...
This morning I got up early to take the train down to London to take part in 'The Wave' climate change demonstration. 'The Wave' was aimed at demonstraiting to world leaders how important action against climate change is. The Liberal Democrats demanded at The Wave that the Government takes real action whilst at the same time, showing that the Lib Dems are the only party with the ambition and policies to reverse climate change. But local councils also need to take action to tackle climate change. That is why I discussed with Nick Clegg, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, ...
From the Sheffield Star: A WELL-KNOWN councillor and former leader in Sheffield's war on crime has been arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs. Sheffield councillor Mazher Iqbal, a prominent member of the city council's Labour shadow cabinet, was one of two men arrested in the Handsworth area on suspicion of possessing a controlled drug. He has been released on police bail while officers carry out further investigations. You can read the full story here.
Oh David Cameron. Where do I start with you? How do I give you (and the repulsive, narrow-minded, self-interested guff cloud of a party you lead) the kicking you fully deserve without resorting to the usual clichés about silver spoons, policy vacuums and the Bullingdon Club? Maybe I should critique the few policies you and ...
Here's the YouTube video I recorded of Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg MP speaking at The Wave climate change march in London this morning. It's eight minutes, but well worth it. I'm pleased to report that as far as I could tell Nick was the only party leader there, and I didn't spot a single Conservative at all. So much for 'Vote Blue, Go Green'!
Avid fans of the X-files will be disappointed to learn from today's Guardian that the Ministry of Defence has closed down the hotline on which members of the public could previously report UFO sightings. They have concluded that after 11,000 sightings that in these tough economic times investigating UFOs can no longer be justified: Are we alone in the universe? The MoD doesn't care any more. When you ring the old hotline number, you get a terse recorded message, which you can listen to here: Listen! "Please note it is no longer MoD policy to record, respond to, or investigate ...
As part of the nationwide Carers' Right Day I set up my stall on Dunfermline's High Street and was overwhelmed by the demand for information and support for the cause. A couple travelled from Glenrothes to lend their support. I heard story after story about the difficulties that carers face including on finance and respite care. Carers are entitled to just over £50 per week carers allowance and now a new pension credit. To find out more log onto Carers UK website.
As an avid racing fan I watched with complete pleasure the ease at which Twist Magic pulverised the opposition in today's Tingle Creek. Behind the scenes though is the trainer Paul Nicholls. Kauto, Denman and now Twist Magic – not only a straightforward kind of chap his smart and strategic handling of horses allows the enthusiast ...
Another weekend, another training session. This time is was the General Election Planning Workshop run by the Director of Campaigns Hilary Stephenson and West Midlands Campaigns Officer Austin Rathe.
It seems that, according to the Independent, the Tories are becoming increasingly split on the issue of climate change. This really isn't a huge surprise to be honest. The majority of the Tories that I have met at university have been at the very least sceptical about the issue of climate change. One of their members at a recent question time event at the university asked the Leeds North West PPCs if they thought climate change was a conspiracy thought up to push us towards state control and ultimately socialism. Luckily all the PPCs just laughed and the chair quickly ...
This organisation was support by the council, but recently funding was withdrawn, another cut with out thought by the current council, they planted over 1 million trees.From the ashes has started a new organisation http://www.forestofavon.org.uk/ as a charitable trust.
Today's Leicester Mercury reports: Fare-dodgers will be hit by new penalties if they board a train without a valid ticket. East Midlands Trains is introducing a new penalty fares system on Monday. Individuals travelling without a valid ticket for their journey face a penalty fare of £20 or twice the full single fare - whichever is the greater amount - to the next station at which the train stops. We are all against fare dodgers, but there is a little more to this story than that. Because the train operating companies have had to agree to pay the government huge ...
I was pleased to be invited to attend West End Boys Amateur Boxing Club at Dundee West Church today, along with Rev Andrew Greaves, to see the club's training session being filmed by STV. The club is going from strength to strength with good turnouts to training sessions - and all ages too! The BBC visited last weekend and its really good to see the level of interest in the club's growing success. Above : STV filming Above : Rev Andrew Greaves shows his boxing prowess! Above : Training session
I've got a little list, I've got a little list And they'd none of them be missed, They'd none of them be missed ... And it includes those cheeky RBS bankers. Go on, resign! What are you waiting for?
I received a lovely letter from David Cameron today. He very nicely tells me that although I may have a very good and effective local Liberal Democrat MP, I should still vote him out in the next election in favour of a Conservative. His rationale is that a vote for the Liberal Democrats nationally is ...
The controversial plans to close King George Hospital A&E department has now gone out to consultation. the Health for North East London plans will close our A & E at Kings George Hospital, Barley lane and replace it with the new dazzling polyclinic. This closure in my opinion will have a severe impact on the health of people in Buckhurst Hill , Grange Hill , chigwell as this is often one of the first point of calls in an emergency that we would use. Myself and Parliamentary candidate Ann Haigh (Lib Dem's) are opposed to this closure and urge the ...
"Fantasy" - another Earth, Wind and Fire Classic!
Today is the day of The Wave - which contrary to what you might have heard from Our Glorious Leader and the media is NOT just happening in London - so Today's BitL is a Protest Special, in which I shall link to a bunch of online protests which I think are worthwhile - online ones because I know y'all are lazy like me and don't want to get out of bed on a Saturday afternoon.Fresh Squeezings From the veins of the InternetRAGE Against Simon Cowell. The predictability of the X-Factor winner becoming Christmas number one has been tiresome over ...
Ten days to save the cheque. See my story on Lib Dem Voice and sign Mark Hunter's petition on the Number 10 website.
Yate Shopping Centre has been getting into the Christmas spirit, with their usual excellent decorations and children queuing up to see Santa. Today was made extra special by a performance of carols and seasonal musicby Dodington Parish Band. This friendly local band welcomes players of all standards - please check out the Dodington Parish Band website for more details.
Last night was a long one as I baked cakes for the Whickham Lib Dem Christmas Fayre. Yes that's right for those of you who know me, I baked. An Apple and Cinnamon Cake and a Sultana and Orange traybake. And very nice they looked too in my opinion! The Fayre was great - and all the local councillors chipped in. It was really busy and other charities and groups were there to raise funds. Special praise must go to Susan Craig for pulling it all together. Then off to the Ryton Hirings
The transformation from worship to residence is not an entirely uncommon feature in vast tracts of the country... Here in Loudon Road, South Hampstead, we have a charming concernsion for parish 13 You can read more here
... I have been re-arranging my sidebar. Again. Please to be noting that I now link to my profile on Lib Dem ACT among other things. I've also got around to making buttons for most of the links, as opposed to having them as text. If you are on any of the networking things in particular, do feel free to add me as a friend. I'll probably add you back on some of them. If I remember to check my friend requests. I really ought to get out of bed at some point today. Suspect it will be about 20 ...
One of the great features about having a Google Calendar was the ability to make a calendar public. This meant that if I wanted to have the 2009 F1 schedule, instead of manually typing it out myself I could search for "F1" and it would return ready made calendars. There were some small issues with the public calendars. For example the times would be set to various different time zones making them a bit pointless for me, or the author would insist on using CAPS FOR EVERYTHING, so on the odd (read that as most) occasions I would end up ...
From Dave Hill on Comment is Free: The alleged crony in question is Veronica Wadley who, as editor of the Evening Standard during the 2008 mayoral election campaign, daily waged a zealous war against Johnson's opponent Ken Livingstone. In some ways, it did her no good: under a new owner the first large act of her successor was to woo lost readers by launching an advertising campaign apologising for the previous regime. Johnson, though, has remained a Wadley fan. In late April this year, the couple lunched. Afterwards, Wadley wrote Johnson a note, daintily seeking his blessing to apply for ...
Sadly won't be able to join the march or the Wave today (still hobbling) - but well done to everyone who is going to show just how vital the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference is. The sun is shining and it will be a fantastic demonstration. I know Nick Clegg and a big cohort of LibDems are going and I am sure members of all political parties will be there - as will the Women's Institute. They are joining the Wave - and I always think when the W.I. march - it is a statement from the heart of Britain.
I have two one gift cards from Lovefilm for two months free rentals on the top rank of the scheme. They reckon to be worth £37. You want 'em? Post a comment. First come first served. Both gone now. YAY!
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice A few years ago, David Cameron was saying things like "Let sunshine win the day" (Winner of the RoundSpericalsRUs prize for the most fatuous statement by a politician in the history of mankind), that he is a "liberal Conservative" and going on about the quality of life. Well, have a read of his speech on health and safety this week, if you haven't already done so. It marks a complete full circle which has been navigated by Cameron over the last four years. Welcome back the David Cameron - in my view as near to ...
In case you've not been following the media coverage of Sally Bercow, who is married to House of Commons Speaker John Bercow, here is a summary: Shock no.1: she's a person in her own right, Shock no.2: she doesn't agree with everything John Bercow thinks, Shock no.3: she has drunk alcohol, and Shock no.4: she's human. Personally, I'd have been more shocked if it turned out that Sally Bercow was a teetotal alien from Rockall who was in a permanent state of hypnotic control by John Bercow, but there you go.
I've had internet banking for the majority of my adult life, but I still write and receive a surprising number of cheques. I may not be able to use them to buy petrol, but they pay for the kids' school dinners and activities, cover the milk bill, pay tradesmen and allow relatives to safely send financial gifts in a way that "I've transferred £30 to your bank account" just doesn't match. As a nation, we write nearly four million cheques every day. They might be expensive and annoying for the banks to deal with, but they're still useful for us, ...
Three of the seven areas inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) were judged to be "performing excellently" and four were "performing well." In addition the CQC said that all Stockport's services for older and vulnerable people in 2008-09 consistently delivered above minimum requirements for local residents, were cost effective, and contributed to a better quality of life for local people and communities. Strong partnership working with NHS Stockport was highlighted and the Council was also praised for its leadership and commissioning and use of resources. To view the full report please visit the CQC website.
The message from Paul Holmes MP at Regional Conference was clear. If, perchance, some of us felt that the national Lib Dems were not presenting a very strong narrative these days, then it would be up to us locals to make up for them. We needed to demonstrate a distinctive appeal at local level. Well, in the course of gaining a 19% swing* from the Tories at a Rushcliffe by-election last month, I think we did just that. We had all piled in to a small rural ward and put out five leaflets. So we did expect to make progress. ...
The people of Gosport must be pretty sick that even the BBC is now decsribing them as the "Duck island town". Anyway, Caroline Dineage has been selected to fight the seat for the Tories following the retirement on Duck island grounds of Sir Peter Viggers. I would mention en passant that I watch Fred Dineage, this lady's father, on Meridian Tonight most evenings as I am changing. He is a jovial old cove. I quite like him. I am going to show my age here and say that I remember him on "How and when he used to stand in ...
Iain Dale has this update on the continuing action from Europe attempting to force the UK to allow prisoners to vote. He gets a lot of his info from the excellent Jailhouselawyer blog. I beleive that prisoners should be allowed to vote and hope that the UK government is forced by the EU into bringing this about. It will be interesting to see the press reaction to this as at the moment there has been very little. The tabloid reaction will be quite predictable I would imagine but considering how much the Lib Dems were mocked by the broadsheets when ...
Back when the economy was doing well, Cameron made a pledge. It was sensible at the time as a way of nullifying the issue of whether the Tories could be trusted with the NHS. Cameron said that an incoming Tory government would match Labour spending plans. The implicit expectation behind that was that Labour would be ...
During the week, the last episode of Flash Forward was screened for a while. It being a US show that is, unusually, being broadcast at nearly the same time in the UK, this means we've also got one of the US scheduling habits imported with the show - the mid-season break. The next new episode won't appear until next year. (The mid-season break, incidentally, is why so many US shows have episodes preceded by blurb advertising the episode as being "all new". During the mid-season breaks, repeats of older episodes are often shown, so even if you are in the ...
Baroness Buscombe has me intrigued. She's in favour of the media attacks on the House of Commons, but against those on the House of Lords. (Source) She's in favour of the Press Complaint Commission's remit being extended outside its core areas, but against that of Ofcom being extended outside its core areas. (Source: here and here.) Oh, and she's both a member of the House of Lords and chair of the Press Complaints Commission. Intriguing pattern don't you think?
A few years ago, David Cameron was saying things like "Let sunshine win the day" (Winner of the RoundSpericalsRUs prize for the most fatuous statement by a politician in the history of mankind), that he is a "liberal Conservative" and going on about the quality of life. Well, have a read of his speech on health and safety this week, if you haven't already done so. It marks a complete full circle which has been navigated by Cameron over the last four years. Welcome back the David Cameron - in my view as near to the real David Cameron as ...
Street Scene is the organisation within Darlington Borough Council that is responsible for street cleaning, refuse collections, parks and gardens and all that sort of thing. It was created a few years ago by merging together all these various responsibilities into one organisation where most of the workforce would be generalists, able to turn their hand to anything, be it shrub pruning or
[IMG: With survey responses in Granville Road] Yesterday, we presented Haringey Council will the final results of the Stroud Green Parking Survey. We got a huge response with over 300 surveys completed either on the doorstep or online. We started the survey because so many residents in the roads outside the existing Finsbury Park and Crouch End CPZs were contacting us to complain about parking (see post on launching the survey). The key results were: 79% of residents believe that parking has got worse this year 61% of residents say they are now in favour of a CPZ , 32% ...
From this week's Times a tale of theft in a virtual world leading to a real-world arrest: A man who hacked into accounts to steal virtual characters and their possessions on one of the world's biggest multi-player online games has been arrested. In what experts believe is the first case of its kind in Britain, the man obtained log-in details for RuneScape, a web-based role playing game with more than ten million members, to steal their "virtual" characters. You can read the full story here.
Welcome to part nine of our "Introduction to blogging" guide for Liberal Democrat bloggers or would-be bloggers. It's appearing each Saturday between now and Christmas, with all the posts available via this page. The series will then be revised and collated into an e-book, so please do post up your comments as the series progresses. Today it's the turn of Charlotte Gore. So you've picked your blogging platform, created your blog-roll, found your niche and worked out your style – you're blogging! But is it enough to rely on libdemblogs.co.uk to bring you new readers and win you new friends? ...
The Independent is reporting that the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) have written to Police forces across the country have been warned to stop using anti-terror laws to question and search innocent photographers. The message in full reads. "Officers and PCSOs are reminded that we should not be stopping and searching people for taking photos. There are very clear rules around how stop-and-search powers can be used. However, there are no powers prohibiting the taking of photographs, film or digital images in a public place. Therefore members of the public and press should not be prevented from doing so. ...
[IMG: Whittington Hospital protest] Here's my latest Ham & High column: The world works in mysterious ways. If I hadn't broken a bone in my foot a couple of weeks ago - I might not have heard what was being planned for the future of the Whittington in such a timely fashion. The position put out by Rachel Tyndall (CEO for North London Central NHS) in a letter to senior NHS managers was that the Whittington would lose its Accident & Emergency services. But after the letter was publicised, the situation abruptly changed. A revised letter was sent out in ...
As you may well be aware there are mass demonstrations in London and Glasgow ahead of next week's Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen. As I will be out and about on the streets of Glasgow here is a feel for the event from the hastags and some of the Twitter accounts that I follow of people who will be there at either location. <a >The Wave - Copenhagen Climate Change March 5-12-09</a>
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) are once again not best pleased with the Scottish Tories (or the SNP for that matter). They have decided to side with the SNP in not reinstating the £170m funding for the Glasgow Airport Rail Link back into the 2010-11 budget at the Finance Committee in Holyrood yesterday. The CBI have in recent weeks been attacking the SNPs budget proposals as not being in the best interests of encouraging much needed growth in the Scottish economy and the decision of the Tories on the Committee to side with the SNP on this issue raise ...
How galling for the rich family of Amanda Knox, now convicted of the murder or British student Meredith Kercher, that running an expensive media campaign and spending over a million dollars during her defence, to find that the Italian legal system is not as flawed as the US system, and that money and fame does not ensure a not guilty verdict. Now let's hope that the family of Meredith Kercher can get some peace, for despite all the fuss caused by Knox's family, it is poor murdered Meredith and her family who seem to have gone unmentioned in all this. ...
Once again we see the Conservative leader David Cameron try to muscle in on ground taken by Nick Clegg. The Conservatives have announced today that they will double the tour allowance to troops returning from Afghanistan, from £2,400. This coming after months of campaigning by Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats on costed plans to increase the overall pay for our troops. It is becoming more and more obvious that Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats are impacting on the Conservative vote because this is not the first time we have seen this happen and nor will it be the ...
Was surprised and delighted by article and editorial in Ham & High this week. Apparently I have been mentioned in Hansard 2559 times since being elected. Hansard records when each MP speaks and what they say. The figures revealed that I had spoken up more times than other local MPs, including Frank Dobson (2508), Rudy Vis (219) and Glenda Jackson (40). You can't judge MPs solely on how many times they speak in Parliament. However, speaking up is important -as is gets the Government on the record and embarrasses them publicly. But writing to Ministers, meetings with Ministers, Parliamentary Questions ...
This week's full Council Meeting saw the adoption of the "Birmingham Declaration on Climate Change" following a motion proposed by the Council's Lib Dem Group. The motion was added to and supported by both the Tory and Labour Groups. Proposed by Lib Dem Group Leader Cllr Paul Tilsley and seconded by Lib Dem cabinet member, Cllr Ayoub Khan, the Declaration demonstrates Birmingham's leadership in setting out plans to tackle climate change and prepare our economy for a future of much scarcer raw materials, such as oil. The Declaration will mean the country's biggest local authority will use its purchasing power ...
This seems largely aimed at library professionals but we can see no reason why members of the public should not also be involved. If you want to participate click here.
Monday offers addicts of community meetings a glut of opportunity. From 4.00 till 8.00 you can drop in at Consett Community Sports College/Blackfyne to see the plans the county has for Belle Vue. It's important that people do that. Those who intend to oppose the plans need to have a very clear view of what they are. Those who back building on Belle Vue still need to make sure that the plans are as good as they can be. From there you can hot-foot it to the Demi for a Police Consultative Meeting from 7.00 - 8.00. It's your chance ...
I saw some pigeons yesterday who looked like they had a death wish. There were three of four of them who were feeding on something in the road. A car came along and slowed down and then stopped. Then a pedestrian clapped her hands and they flew off - only to come back a few seconds later. I knew this person who told me that she had seen flattened pigeons and she even saw one person drive over a pigeon. He stopped very near to the incident and she managed to give him a piece of her mind. My opinion ...
