OK, so earlier there was no news. This is what is so frustrating about being shut out of the Bella Centre – I, like you, must get my news from the Guardian and the BBC, who aren't always going to tell us the whole story. However, we do have two conflicting stories, which I think ...
By this, I am referring to the BBC poll that asked whether homosexuals should face execution, commenting on the situation in Uganda – who are voting on whether homosexuality should be 'punished' by death. Of corse they shouldn't, and opening the question up provides legitimacy to the idea that it is a right question to ...
I, being Teh Dumb, left it too late to by Christmas pressies online, so had to visit shops. I gather that there are people who visit shops regularly throughout the year, and I wonder why. To buy three books and a toy took something like three hours. To buy three books and a toy using proper websites takes less than ten minutes. How many billions of hours are wasted in the UK alone by the continued existence of obsolete shops? And in the 21st century, there's far more choice, so I wouldn't have had to make do with buying stuff ...
And, hot on the heels of the last post, we have proof that class defiantly still does matter in the decision of the High Court to block the proposed action of BA Cabin Crew. I am going to use The Times for my quotes for this piece because it can hardly be said to be a ...
A busy Thursday. I firstly participated in the City Council's Improvement and Efficiency sub-committee, where I queried progress with the Council Plan and lean service reviews and also gave positive comments about the "Cash in your ideas" employee suggestion scheme - a real success. You can read the committee agenda content by clicking on the headline above or by going to http://tinyurl.com/iecommittee. Later in the day, we had a useful and productive 'West End Christmas Week' debrief meeting and the overall view is that we had a very successful 2009 Christmas Week but we want to see the biggest and ...
I spent this morning in front of a judge. I was arguing my case for a judicial review of the cabinet's decision to build the Academy on Belle Vue, but I was unable to change the judgement which refused it permission to proceed. I was given a fair hearing; I think it would be fair to say that I was given a sympathetic hearing. But I was still refused permission to proceed and ordered to pay £2,500 towards the council's costs. The only good news is that that was rather less than Durham County Council tried to claim, and bearing ...
I noticed a house which sported a "Vote Green" poster in the recent Norwich North by-election has shown its owners up to be true to the values of the Green Party. In true "Do as I say, not as I do" style, the house is festooned with Christmas lights outside it. Presumably the lights are all powered by someone inside the house on an exercise bike with a dynamo ?
Planting a tree to remember a great gentleman, and bulbs around it that he donated before he died. Lovely - but it was cold! Bill Dodsworth had kindly given us the bulbs to put where we thought fit - and where better than the piece of grass outside his bungalow where families pass every day on their way to school. Some children from St Marks School came to help (sorry, best not to put in...
Earlier in the month Jeff said that the "storm over Alex Salmond's choice of Christmas card really quite remarkable and not a little bit depressing." Here is the card that he is talking about from the Scottish First Minister. He went on the say: "The accusation that Salmond has politicised Christmas is part of a growing trend for everything to be reduced to a petty level, and I do mean all parties for that."So he seems to admit that there is a little politicising going on with Salmond's choice of imagery, however today the Times have run a report on ...
From the BBC: "Stephen Gately's civil partner Andrew Cowles has formally complained to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) over a Daily Mail article about his death. Mr Cowles claims Jan Moir's column, published in October, breached guidelines on accuracy, intrusion into grief or shock, and discrimination. A PCC investigation will also consider the 25,000 complaints about the piece." As Mark pointed out in October the Press Complaints Commission's remit states: "We normally accept complaints only from those who are directly affected by the matters about which they are complaining." Although 25,000 of us complained about the article, with many stating ...
Richard Williams, Head of Legal and Democratic Services at Cornwall Council, performs Duran Duran's 'A View To A Kill' in front of a stunned Council Chamber.
Just back from a lovely Hanukkah party at a friend's house. It was really delightful, the girls sang a pretty song about the Syrian King Antiochus and the miracle of the oil with much gusto. The food was delicious, the company charming, and the drink flowed with abandon. There was Hanukkah gelt, some tasty jam-filled ponchkas, and cider! Unfortunately they are moving down to London, I shall miss them awfully.
This evening I had the honour of lighting a candle on the Menorah to celebrate Chanukah outside of Luton Town Hall. It was wonderful to see so many people braving the weather to join us for the occasion! I'm sure I speak for all those present when I say that it was a pleasure to see people from many different faiths together to celebrate the occasion. Tonight clearly demonstrated that in Luton we are a united community and proud of our diversity, tolerance and commitment towards working together. I hope everyone enjoyed the donuts and music!
I am pleased to hear Cllr Ian Carr has finally admitted that Prezzo's delays in moving into the Guildhall are unacceptable. It is, however, a pity he chose to do this through the media rather than at a council meeting so that Andover's elected representatives could quiz him on it. Prezzo have had over two years in which to finalise their plans. During this time Test Valley has spent more than £200,000 on alternative arrangements for previous users of the building. Cllr Carr is quite right to ask Prezzo to sign up or go away. The delays and the subsequent ...
Ed Conway lifts the debate about inflation, which has many more dimensions than the Spectator crowd can understand.
Jennifer Jones, star of the greatest film ever made in Shropshire, has died at the age of 90. Her obituary is in the Daily Telegraph. The photograph above (borrowed from the marvellous Powell & Pressburger tribute site) shows her as Hazel Woodus in the 1950 film Gone to Earth. It was based on a novel by the Shropshire novelist Mary Webb and shot in some of the places where she set the book. All of which makes me rather embarrassed that I once wrote on the New Statesman website: it has put me in mind of Gone to Earth - ...
[IMG: Daisy Benson] Councillor Daisy BensonYour Redlands CandidateAs some of you will already know, Daisy will be restanding in the 2010 local elections for Redlands. I'm so pleased about this. As well being very hard working in the ward, frequently coming top of the list of casework by Reading councillors (published by the Council), Daisy chairs the important Housing, Health and Community Care Scrutiny Panel and has brought about some big policy changes on private sector housing, a vital issue for Redlands. Her campaigns on empty homes and safer communities have received national recognition. She is respected across the Council, ...
We may not have forces fighting in Iraq any more, but there are still more than 10,000 UK troops serving in Afghanistan and many more on other bases around the world. With a General Election due in the next six months, I believe that this country owes it to our soldiers, sailors and airmen to make sure that they have a real opportunity to vote in that election. That means two things. Firstly, the Government needs to ensure that everyone who wears the British uniform is allowed to vote. According to the MOD, as of 05/11/09 there were 5,119 service ...
A bit of variation from the weighty national matters of the moment comes in the form of this welcome news from Edinburgh, where Kevin Lang has an excellent chance of winning the Westminster Parliamentary seat from Labour: John Loughton, the winner of Big Brother and former Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament, has joined the Scottish Liberal Democrats and today announced his backing for Kevin Lang to become the new MP for his home constituency of Edinburgh North & Leith. John won Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack in January 2008 and served as the Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament. He ...
Ok, so this headline is a little harsh; I am sure Tom is a throughly decent guy but he is also totally wrong in his latest post 'Class war is for losers'. He argues that John Rentoul is right to warn Labour off of choosing class as a political battleground. Harris starts his arguments thus; Inevitably, ...
I'm just back from Rochdale Town Hall where Nick Clegg was holding one of his public meetings. Despite unexpected snow, there were probably around 200 people there: a great turnout for an event like this. The highlight for me was definitely Nick's complete and utter destruction of the nonsense expressed by a BNP parliamentary candidate ...
Listening to Radio 5Live in the way home from work consisted of travel and wqeather updates followed by them reading out stacks of emails from people in Canada, people who have family in Russia or people who live in Scandinavia telling us how we are so pathetic because they can cope with snow really well. Of course they cope well with snow. They are guaranteed to have snow in Canada, Russia, Poland, Scandinavia, etc, and as a result, people know to fit studded tires (which would destroy our roads because they are only suitable for roads that have snow on ...
Remember way back in October when Jan Moir wrote her poisonous piece on the eve of Stephen Gately's funeral in the Daily Fail. Many of us ordinary people, 25,000 to be almost exact, took to our keyboards and wrote to the Press Complaints Commission and even though they did make a special case about it on their website. They wrote back to us saying there was nothing they could do under the code as none of us were 'directly' affected by the words on Jan Moir's hard drive. Well today that has changed. Andrew Cowles was directly affected by the ...
Despite wide acceptance in all areas of Welsh civic life that the Barnett formula, which determines how much money the Assembly gets to spend, the Treasury has confirmed that it is not going to play ball. A House of Lords Committee had suggested an independent funding commission to allocate funds to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the Treasury replied that "notwithstanding the potentially substantial costs of establishing and running such a system, [we] currently have no plans to set up such a body." In their official response the mandarins said: "The Government's view is that the Barnett formula has ...
Oh yes, I have a blog, don't I? So I should probably take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and direct you to my new song on the subject of what should be this year's Christmas number 1 (warning: contains a swear). And, for balance, here's Tim Minchin's White Wine in the Sun, which, should you wish, you can buy from iTunes here.
Just in case you missed it and were not aware here are the timings for Christmas and New Year bin collections; NOTE: Unless your bin collection is on a Friday you will not notice any changes. For those with a usual collection day of Friday the collection on the 25th December will instead be done on the 28th (Monday) and the collection on 1st January will instead be collected on the 2nd (Tuesday). If there are problems with snow this year keep an eye on the City Council website for up to date information or call the help desk on ...
A round-up of various things for the next few days: There will be an advice bureau at Emmanuel Church tonight 7:30 - 8:30. Yes, I know it's snowing but if I can get there... The Gorton Gospel Singers will be at Gorton Market on Saturday morning. Do come along and listen. There will be a celebration of the Nativity at the Monastery on Sunday at 2. All welcome.
As the snow falls over Central London, and the prospects for a deal on climate change ebb away in Copenhagen, I find myself wondering whether our approach is the correct one. Alright, I admit, I am a sceptic on the issue of climate change. It isn't that I dispute the science - it is clear that the chemistry is sound enough - but, as a statistician, I was trained to question any set of numbers presented to me. I'm not keen on the notion of calling those with dispute the science 'deniers' either, it all smacks of polarising the debate ...
The Times has pictures of the christmas cards sent out by the three main party leaders + Boris. Now there's something which made even my flinty old Scroogelike heart melt: Nick Clegg's Christmas card, as drawn by his 8 & 5 year old boys. How cute is that? I love the way that Our Glorious Leader is cuddling the reindeer, and Miguel is swigging from a festive bottle (of milk, obvs, in case Liam Donaldson is reading). Cameron's is clearly created by someone who has a background in design, but it's a bit crap, and insert brand here. Gordon's, though, ...
I am at the Sage in Gateshead, the fantastic new music hall on the banks of the Tyne. And I can exclusively reveal that Lib Dem spring conference will be held here in March 2012. Fantastic news. Really pleased. I knew conference office were interested in coming here and when I was at Cowley St I was constantly plugging the location as ideal for conference. So come to Gateshead in 2012 and enjoy
I wrote about Tulay Goren, the young 16 year old Turkish woman who disappeared more than 10 years ago here. Her father, Mehmet Goren, was today found guilty of her murder and jailed for life. As I wrote before, what was crucial in bringing this conviction, was the evidence given by Tulay's mother, who for years had clearly been too afraid to come forward. The judge said: "Your wife Hanim has finally had the courage to break free of the domination and reveal what she knew of what you did in January 1999." Mehmet Goren's wife Hanim, 45, is now ...
Ladbrokes have released there odds for the Bracknell Constituency General Election they are; Conservatives 1/100 Liberal Democrats 50/1 Labour 50/1 UKIP 100/1 I think its worth a flutter. Of course your MP may of been chosen already by a few hundred people at the Bracknell Open Primary/Caucus. The words Safe and Seat come to mind. Other odds can be viewed here
THE UK's ill-fated expedition in Afghanistan hit a grim milestone on Monday with the loss of our 100th soldier this year. Lance-Corporal Adam Drane, 23, died in a gun battle in Helmand Province. Total coalition deaths in 2009 are now approaching the five hundred mark, with hundreds more Afghani soldiers and civilians dead or missing. The Daily Sport, and millions of people, have said again and again that its time to bring our troops home. And we'll carry on saying it until the government does just that. It's clear now that military measures are not the way forward in Afghanistan. ...
Seumas Milne has a rather excellent piece on The Guardian's Comment is Free pages arguing that the impunity which Israel is given from international law will have far-reaching and uniformly bad consequences for the Middle East and also, potentially, Western powers if the situation 'spilsover'. Much of what Milne said should go without saying and ...
This morning's Western Mail carries figures released to Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg which show that just 317 of the 2,688 or 12% of the civil servants working in the body's headquarters at Cathays Park, Cardiff, can speak Welsh. Out of the Assembly Government's entire workforce of 6,513, only 203 (3.1%) are Welsh learners - down from 7.3% in 2003. This is despite the fact that the 2001 census recorded that more than one-in-five people living in Wales could speak Welsh, with more recent surveys suggesting it is now closer to 25%. According to the Menna Machreth Jones, who chairs the ...
2009 is coming to a close – so here is a quick look back at everything we have achieved this year. Events -Talks by Phil Booth (national no2id co-ordinator), Steve Webb MP, David Howarth MP and Evan Harris MP. Panel Discussions on Women in Politics, Obama's first year in office and higher education funding. Several of our members attended Spring and Autumn federal party conferences. Campaigns – Student fares on Reading Buses, against an increase in tuitition fees, opposing department closures and a fairer deal for Bulmershe campus. Regular action days helping Lib Dem councillors and PPCs. Socials – Liberal ...
[IMG: Nick Clegg and Mark Hunter at Stepping Hill Hospital] Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg today visited Stepping Hill Hospital and then came to lunch at the Village Hotel in Cheadle.As the Stockport Express reports: Mr Clegg, himself a father of three young children, praised the way the new unit involved families, especially fathers, in the birthing process. He said: "This neonatal unit is cutting edge. I would like to see units like this in every hospital up and down the country. "Speaking not only as a politician, but also as a dad of three, it is fantastic to see ...
Tom Smithard, the Lib Dems' Parliamentary Campaigns & Intelligence Analyst, has been compiling an occasional polling report - collating interesting material from published polls and providing a bit of commentary – for internal use within Cowley Street since he started working for the party this summer. We're publishing his latest assessment in two parts: today focuses on the Lib Dems' poll ratings; tomorrow, the second anniversary of Nick Clegg's election as Lib Dem leader, Tom looks at Nick's personal ratings as leader. December has seen a pleasing turnaround in our share of the vote with ComRes. On November 11 we ...
Put it out for composting, but only if it is a real one. After Christmas, of course. The Council will be collecting trees on the same day as your normal wheelie bin collection during the two weeks from 11th Jan to 22nd Jan.
Well there are now only eight sleeps to Christmas Day which means on my countdown of the decades Christmas number ones we are up to 2002. She is now one of the people who si helping the shape the sound of the Christmas Number Ones as one of the judges on the X-Factor but in 2002 Cheryl Cole was part of another talent show band that made that top spot. Girls Aloud were top with Sounds of the Underground. So Christmases past we look to another favourite Rolf Harris. He was at number one on my First Christmas with Two ...
The Sage is the concert hall on the Gateshead Quays. It was opened 5 years ago and is today celebrating its 5th birthday. Thanks to the short-sightedness of the then Labour run Newcastle Council, Gateshead got the Sage, rather than it going north of the Tyne. Nevertheless, we are all proud of it on Tyneside. I am on the bus heading to Gateshead now to go to the Sage birthday party.I had thought I
Last night was the regular "Full Council" meeing for Bury Council. This is the meeting that brings together all 51 members of the Council five or six times a year. The mood of the meeting last night was restrained, if only because it was SO awful the time before, that everybody seemed to want to be on their best behavior. I only hope it lasts.... Not much on the agenda either: Recommendations of the Executive and Regulatory Committees We agreed three items, all of them quite important, but mostly not eliciting extra debate because they have already been discussed at ...
Over at The Guardian's Comment Is Free blog, Lib Dem blogger James Graham argues that political engagement via entertainment is a failed model, and asks - shouldn't we be talking about how to make politics less like the X Factor? Here's an excerpt: The public perception of MPs and X Factor contestants is remarkably similar: both are regarded as vapid, essentially interchangeable, only in it for the money and the glory, bitchy, having laughable hairstyles and as all coming from the same school. ... In reality, the X Factor could only dream of having as many voters as we take ...
Kew had a great time at their christmas party last week. A few of the not so shy one agreed to have the photo taken
A couple of good pieces show that nef is not getting it all its own way.
Hands-up who doesn't know about the new rules relating to election expenditure that come into force in the New Year. Sadly i guess lots of hands went up, the Liberal Democrats have been far from good at communicating this to their local parties - as a Local Party Chair I have had no official communication about it from the party, neither has the other local party I work with.
As we reported in our recent Keeping in Touch leaflet, the Tatton site developers have now launched a formal appeal. The proposal being appealed is to have a large convenience store in the cinema building, limited parking at the front and a care home at the rear. This was rejected by councillors back in the spring. To quote from the letter being sent out to local residents: The appeals to be decided at Informal Hearing to be heard by an Inspector appointed by the First Secretary of State. I will inform you of the date and venue in due course. ...
[IMG: climate-change.jpg] I am growing increasingly concerned that the semi-stalled climate talks in Copenhagen are going to fail to reach much needed major agreements. Of course it is always difficult to get meaningful agreements out of these Governmental summits, and when they do they are almost always hard fought compromises that are often ignored or watered down further over time. But I was hoping this time would be different. As the world fast approaches the point of no return regarding climate change and global warming, I had hoped that the growing climate crisis would start to break through national self ...
Thu 17th
12:30
Countdown to Christmas. Day 17 - one north star, 2 polar bears and a very busy Finchley Road
Given all of the outrage and hurrumph over The Golden Compass (will there be the sequels?) it seems only right to highlight our own bit of Northern Lights (no offense to anyone). Of course in our instance it's just a pub on the Finchley Road but a great example of a coaching inn on a key part of road north and south.The best bit I like is the sign and if you did nothing else wandering down to have a peek at the polar bear climbing apparently lazily over the sign... aaah, it's so
Non-story of the moment is the manufactured battle between Simon Cowell's latest automaton and major-label rebellion-by-numbers merchants Rage Against The Machine for the "prestigious" Christmas number one spot, and boy oh boy has there been a lot of hot air about nothing on this subject from unexpected quarters, to say nothing of the zillions of column inches in the prolefeed sheets. What makes it a non-story is not so much the fact that both tracks are released by the same multinational conglomerate megacorp, nor is it Cowell (no relation to Henry) and his marketing methods, but the records show that ...
There is a small section of my Fortis Green ward that you might be forgiven for thinking is in Barnet, not Haringey - part of Aylmer Road and half of Bancroft Avenue. If you look at a map, you'll see what I mean - it's the bit of Haringey that pokes out the other side of the Great North Road. Fortis Green ward has a small section of Aylmer Road and half of Bancroft, but everything else north of Aylmer Road in that 'segment' is part of Haringey. My ward colleagues Martin, Sara and I know very well that it's ...
Which year was this observation made and, for double bragging rights, by who? The tit-for-tat arguments presented in 'balanced' television programmes may have helped to confuse the public's sense of the differences between the parties, and to add to their cynicism about any party's claims to have a monopoly of wisdom. The idea that one party represented the working class and the other the middle and upper class hardly fitted the predominantly middle class university graduate character of the two front benches. Guess away in the comments thread and check back same time tomorrow to find the answer.
Keen film buffs will know that the awards season is nearly on us. The Golden Globes, the Oscars, the BAFTAs. None of these compare in any way to the Property Week North West Awards, which have remarkably decided to shortlist Bury in the "Best town" category. And, which is more, you now get to temper the X-Factor withdrawl symptoms by voting for us. The award is given to a town or city in the North West of England whose public sector agencies have achieved most in terms of regeneration and innovation during the period 1 October 2008 to 1 October ...
Last night's Council meeting was notable for a number of firsts. It was the first meeting to have been broadcast to the world live via Twitter, courtesy of the Prestwich Advertiser's reporter beaming our thoughts to the globe. Unsurprisingly this didn't result in an international internet meltdown, but I saw this morning that at least one or two people had tuned in. Hopefully the interest will grow. I am of the view that we should follow the example of other Councils and broadcast the meetings themselves on line. The more open and viewable we can be, the better. It might ...
Cornwall's Conservative led Cabinet has excluded all Liberal Democrats from a review of County Farms. These are the agricultural holdings which are owned by the Council and rented to farmers. A review of the County Farms strategy is very sensible and the Cabinet agreed yesterday that a review panel should be set up. You would have thought that the membership would have encompassed councillors from across the county and across the political divide to make sure that every aspect is considered. Yet Carolyn Rule - the Cabinet Member responsible - has decided that no Lib Dems should be allowed to ...
Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member, Peter Black, writing in his capacity as an Assembly Commission has an article in today's Western Mail about e-democracy. Peter points out that there is a danger that when you hear politicians bandying about buzzwords such as Bebo, MySpace and Twitter it can often induce the same toe-curling reaction he received when he addressed a group of young people earlier this year: They said that seeing the Assembly and politicians on Facebook would be like "watching their Dad dancing in a disco". This does not stop him from having his own profile on Facebook and ...
It's just because, seeing the card drawn by their sons Antonio and Alberto, you can't help but wonder...
Thu 17th
11:15
Base effect: or, why the Right will be screaming "inflation!!" even as we go into deflation
Predictable effects over the next few months will see inflation 'soaring', even if the economy gets weaker. What will happen then?
No, is the basic conclusion of my article on Comment is Free today: In reality, the X Factor could only dream of having as many voters as we take for granted in UK elections. Ten million votes may sound like a lot, but it is only two-thirds the number of people who voted in the European ...
According to the Government's Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson, I have a middle-class obsession. Actually I am a mother attempting to have a middle-class obsession. My attempted obsession? Feeding my child alcohol. Now before you run off and report me to social services as an unfit parent, I should point out that this only goes ...
Some choice articles and quotes for you this morning; just to ingrain an appropriate sense of injustice and dispair. We are powerless to do anything now; it is up to the people who won our elections, the people we bash in the press every day, the people who actually run the world, to sort this out now.
Dr Steve Goddard was the Parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Oxford East at the 2001 and 2005 general elections, slashing Labour's majority from over 10,000 to just 963. He will be fighting the seat for a third time in 2010. As Liberal Democrat Voice readers will be aware, Peter Tatchell, after two and a half years as Green Party candidate for Oxford East, yesterday announced his resignation due to injuries sustained during some of his campaigning activities. Although I haven't had the chance to get to know Peter well – I only met him twice or thrice during ...
MP for Middlesbrough, Sir Stuart Bell is being criticised after press comments he made about the Corus situation. He claims that matters will be helped by a pipe order for Shetland gas fields that he has been working on for two years. Liberal Democrat prospective MP for Redcar said "Sir Stuart Bell should know that steel from the mothballed plant does not go into pipes. He also talks about his hopes that the steel mill will be mothballed for the shortest possible time. The coil plate mill on the site was sold to the Chinese nine years ago and the ...
The rules against people calling themselves an MP usually get a flurry of publicity in the run-up to a general election. Indeed, it's part of the pre-election "Will it be an internet election this time?" tradition to have a story about how "MPs who use [insert currently fashionable internet tool] face disaster because they've called themselves an MP". This time round it's been Twitter, with the story that MPs who have chosen a Twitter username containing "MP" will run into problems as they officially stop being MPs when Parliament is dissolved for a general election. So if they tweet during ...
[IMG: Town Hall] If the last full council was bad tempered, apallingly managed and abused by some councillors, last nights affair was flat, passionless and sterile. Following a slap-on-the-wrist letter from the Chief Executive to Councillors asking that they behave better and control themselves we ended up with a non-event that achieved little if anything. We had (by Government dictat) to approve a "Strong" leadership model constitution, which places more power and discretion in the hands of the leader of the Council who is apppointed for a term of 4 years (from next May). We had no choice to approve ...
Thu 17th
10:20
Lib Dem MP Jeremy Browne appeals against decision which would have stopped him buying Taunton home
Here's the statement on Jeremy's website: Taunton constituency MP Jeremy Browne is appealing against a decision by the House of Commons ACA Review Team that would have prevented him from buying a home in Taunton with his own money. Instead Sir Thomas Legg's House of Commons ACA Review Team has requested a repayment of £17,894 in mortgage interest payments, dating from the initial arrangements Jeremy Browne made when he was elected in 2005. The appeal, conducted by Sir Paul Kennedy, will be considered and published, along with the full ACA Review Team report, in January 2010. Jeremy Browne said: "When ...
Good morning, and welcome to Daily View. Today we're wishing happy birthday to children's author Jacqueline Wilson and commemorating the death of Dorothy L Sayers. 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: Auntie's moral compass flushed down the toilet as BBC asks "Should gays be executed?" Caron takes the BBC down for a particularly crass way of starting a debate on Ugandan policy. Particularly unfair in that the BBC ban homophobic contributions, so presumably anyone who thought gays should be executed ...
Now that's such a mean title... But the last part is definitely true. The news yesterday that Peter Tatchell will not be standing for the Greens at the next election in the seat of Oxford East will, I'm sure, have raised a wee cheer at Lib Dem Towers in Cowley Street. Tatchell says his reasons for not standing ...
Yesterday I called on the BBC to remove an online debate on its website labelled, 'should homosexuals face execution'. The title was a topic for debate on the BBC News 'Have Your Say'. Since my news release condemning this - the BBC has changed the headline. I would be the first person to stand up for open debate and free speech, but any conversation that starts, 'should homosexuals face execution' is completely skewed and unacceptable in this forum. Suggesting that the state-sponsored murder of gay people is OK as a legitimate topic for debate is deeply offensive. The BBC are ...
The Afan Leisure complex was severely damaged and surrounding homes and facilities disrupted by a fire which started last night, apparently by a poolside. There is more news, with comments, here. We note that the Neath Port Talbot cabinet has given a virtually open-ended commitment to a complete restoration. Swimming pool fires have occurred in the Port Talbot area before, but apparently when the pool was being used to store council records.
Yesterday I went on a walkbout around Gatley (not the whole village - there's only so much you can cover in 90 minutes!). It was with our new Area Conditions Officer Julie Henshall and Richard Daniels, also from Environmental Services at Stockport Council - I'm grateful to both of them for coming out with me. Here are some of the things we identified for action: Bags of rubbish dumped by station car park - Environmental Services will be tracing the owners. Poor state of land around electricity substation -vegetation needs tidying. It should be United Utilities' responsibility. Concrete bollard by ...
I have been absent from the blogosphere for a week or so, since my old blog collapsed when my hosting company went out of business. Sadly there was a bug in my backups, so I have lost about four months of posts. I do at least have text copies of these, so I shall spend ...
Public Administration Committee - First Report Bad Language: The Use and Abuse of Official Language Now that's a report title and topic ripe for satire and mockery, but it's actually a very accessible read and looks to be quite a useful piece of work. It also contains some gems, such as this: There is still the occasional example of confusing and arcane legislative language, as this extract from the (now-repealed) Regulatory Reform Act 2001, attempting to explain the Act's purpose, illustrates: ...to enable provision to be made for the purpose of reforming legislation which has the effect of imposing burdens ...
The demise of Flyglobespan yesterday should be a timely warning shot to cabin crew at British Airways. The airline industry is in a perilous state and companies such as British Airways can either get their costs under control or collapse. Given the former is the lesser of the two evils, the decision by BA cabin crew to strike over Christmas seems like little other than a vote to jump off the top
To Index on Censorship and English PEN it has become increasingly clear that English libel law and the use of 'super-injunctions' are having a profoundly negative impact on freedom of expression, both in the UK and abroad. Writers such as Simon Singh, and respected current affairs programme Newsnight, have found themselves facing defamation suits, whilst human rights campaigners are often forced to edit and retract articles in the face of potential libel action. We need to persuade politicians from all the political parties to commit to reform of our unjust libel laws. Now visit their website.
[IMG: cd_ripping.jpg] [IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] Liberal Democrat peer, Tim Clement-Jones has tabled an amendment to the Digital Economy Bill which was heard on the 16 December 2009 to delete controversial Clause 17 which would allow the Government's Secretary of State (i.e. Peter Mandelson) to change copyright law in the future without further debate or scrutiny. Lord Clement-Jones said: This clause would give the Government carte-blanche to change all copyright law relating to the internet as and when they please." Such powers are unnecessary and over-reaching and we have tabled an amendment to delete Clause 17. Internet giants, such as Google, Facebook, ...
Finally, the residents of West Gorton have real hope that their estate will be improved under a PFI initiative. When the meetings started for the Stock Transfer (which eventually became the transfer to Eastlands), the West Gorton Tenants were part of it, but they were then put on their own scheme for a PFI improvement. I don't think that any of us sitting round the table at the time thought that they'd still be waiting after the rest of the area had completed the stock transfer and the improvements well underway. Earlier in the year a report came to the ...
The Guardian yesterday compared the Christmas cards sent by the leaders of the three main parties, so we thought LDV readers might appreciate seeing the festive missive despatched from Nick Clegg to those lucky people who're on his list. Here's what The Times had to say about it: ...Nick Clegg's card, drawn by his sons Antonio, 8, and Alberto, 5, is so touchy-feely and brimming with yuletide innocence that one worries it might be delivered with a free hug from the Liberal Democrat leader himself. Is the man in the red suit Uncle Vince? "It is very sweet," mused Mr ...
A. The Simpsons Almost uniquely this TV series has had a phenomenal impact on American popular culture and even political satire. The academic Duncan Beard, put it most succinctly when he said that it uses pre-existing mass media ...
This is my fourth Canadian winter and each one gets a little easier to bear, but still when the temperature drops below -20 C and the landscape is blanketed in thick snow which probably won't melt until April or even May, then I get homesick. I cope by cocooning myself in Britishness with the help of the internet. The essential website is, of course, the BBC, particularly radios 3, 4 and 7. The BBC iplayer won't play TV programmes outside the UK, but I can catch up on The Archers, listen to Farming Today, and in a few days time ...
Later today the Planning Committee of Manchester City Council will consider the proposals to develop the Hardy Farm site. Dave Morris from the Planning Department has recommended the Committee accept the proposals. I have already written to each member of the planning committee asking them to reject the recommendation and to support a site visit. We must go and show our objections by turning up in large numbers. Please join me at the main entrance to the Town Hall at 1.30pm on Thursday 17th Dec where we will meet Cllr Paul Ankers who will take us to the Public Gallery ...
Later today the Planning Committee of Manchester City Council will consider the proposals to develop the Hardy Farm site. Dave Morris from the Planning Department has recommended the Committee accept the proposals. I have already written to each member of the planning committee asking them to reject the recommendation and to support a site visit. We must go and show our objections by turning up in large numbers. Please join me at the main entrance to the Town Hall at 1.30pm on Thursday 17th Dec where we will meet Cllr Paul Ankers who will take us to the Public Gallery ...
The county council is at last admitting that it has a problem with secondary school places in the district of St Albans. Papers coming before county councillors today say: 'A shortage of places is forecast from 2014-2015 [ie in four years' time]. Together with demand in Harpenden...and allowing for some surplus capacity to meet parental preference an additional 14 forms of entry (420 places) will be required up to 2021.' Action so far? Next to nothing. STAGS admission numbers will go up from 178 to 196 plus some expansion of Harpenden schools. Oh: by the way, fourteen forms of entry ...
I give a hat tip to Caron for this who tweeted my attention to it via SohoPolitico. Now I have friends who work, some of them quite high up, in BBC New Media, but I hope that none of them were involved in approving or setting up this debate in have your say. The question is "Should Homosexuals be executed?". I'm pretty sure my jaw dropping wasn't due to a particularly heavy swell hitting the ship but abject disbelieve that I am reading this on the BBC. Has the Daily Fail bought out the public broadcaster? It feels like it. ...
As a student of American history, one of the episodes I remember about the Civil War was an order issued by General Grant on this day in 1862. It was notorious inasmuch as it ordered the expulsion of all Jews in Kentucky, Mississippi, and ...
If we are to have an ID card then it has to be compulsory, otherwise anyone who wants to avoid discovery will just say they don't have a card. So if they are to be compulsory what would the punishment be if you forgot to carry it? Let's say for the sake of argument (because I am against them) that they are important so the fine should be significant. Ideally it would relate to income otherwise it is only a punishment for the poor. Again for the sake of argument, let's call this significant fine a day's wage. Did you ...
