"I don't think we should invent differences where none exist". DC David Cameron, "Whether you're Labour, Conservative, or Liberal Democrat, you're motivated by... progressive aims... a country... where opportunity is more equal". Progressive, the Tories? "Tory tax plans put child benefit at risk" The Independent "Raise the inheritance tax threshold from £700k to £1m" The Guardian "Scrapping vehicle excise duty on the least environmentally friendly cars" The Times "Tories reassure independent schools about their charitable status" The Independent "Tory marriage tax allowance would give the highest earners 13 times as much as those on lower incomes" Oh yes and they ...
One of the reasons I am grateful to be a Liberal is that we're not completely moonbat when it comes to Europe. Although I may have discovered the reason many are. Truly shocking as a propaganda attempt:
Nurses for Reform claims it is a; growing pan-European network of nurses dedicated to consumer-led reform of British, European and other healthcare systems around the world. This is a bold claim indeed; surely the National Health Service must be in trouble if nurses are turning against it? However, a look at the advisory board is less than ...
I have said before, and I will repeat, I don't agree with this whole well you went there and you went here, I think all parties have problems with class and just hammering the Tories (who I accept are the worst) is hardly going to help the wider picture. There are inequalities within politics that ...
I recently received a Christmas card from Dr Phillip Lee the Conservative PPC for Bracknell who is standing in place of soon to be former MP, Andrew Mackay. This Christmas card got me thinking. What has Dr Phillip Lee been up too? and will Andrew Mackay help him get elected next year?If Andrew Mackay MP did campaign on behalf of Phillip Lee. I guess it may not be to Phillips advantage if he did as he would want to Avoid any rub off from the expenses scandal.Will former MP's campaign to help their replacements?I guess they could make a difference ...
It's easy to end up accumulating a large number of "spam"* followers on Twitter (i.e. accounts which only pump out marketing messages, often using @ replies on completely unrelated topics and sometimes using dubious links to con you in to going to dubious sites). Does it matter? Well, in the short term if anything it's a bonus for the cynical - because it boosts your follower numbers, making you look more popular and boosting your ratings on various Twitter grading services. But we'll all lose out if Twitter is over-run by spam. Removing spam followers reduces the value of the ...
We ate our Christmas dinner in a light smog, due to my continuing inability to adapt my cooking to a North American oven. Next year we'll have pot-roast again and I'll wait until I'm back in the UK with an oven that does not smoke and a kitchen which is a separate room with doors, before I attempt another roast duck (or goose or chicken or turkey). In Europe the advantage of having ones kitchen separate from the rest of the dwelling area had been discovered by the medieval period. N. American kitchens are an example of how a culture ...
David Cameron's media release cardex system has spun round to "cuddle up to the LibDems" again. On the BBC News he said that politicians should work together and then contradicted himself in the same breath by saying that a hung parliament must be avoided at all costs, so that there is 'decisive, strong government'. Hello? Working together = hung parliament or "no overall control" as it is known in many very well working councils across the country. "Strong, decisive government" = Not working together. He said: "There are many things on which Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agree". Round spherical objects. ...
It's been an odd day at Archbishop Cranmer, usually one of the more thoughtful Conservative blogs - or at least as thoughtful as a consistent High Tory can allow himself to be. He reprints David Cameron's "New Year message" in full and without comment, introducing him as "the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". The more arrogance like that we see from Conservatives, the greater the chance of Cameron failing to win the next election. Far more odd is Cranmer's meditation on the White House Christmas tree. Through an excess of zeal in ...
The link is to a summary of the research on adoptive parenting performed by Alan Rushton and Elizabeth Monck.It is also possible to order the more detailed research book from BAAF amongst other routes. During the quiet period of Christmas I have read the book.The book itself looks at the question as to whether a specific form of advice for adoptive parents is of any substantial benefit. What is
Welcome to the 149th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere – the last of this deacde – featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (20th – 26th December 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, usually courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget, by the way, you can now sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our ...
Neda the Iranian who was shot dead when she wasn't even involved in the protests for democracy in June this year was last week named Times person of the year. The news from Iran today is that eight more people have lost their lives protesting against the Government. Of the four shot dead in Tehran today one was the nephew of the former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi stepped aside instead of contesting the run off election after many were killed over allegations that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had rigged the results in the elections. In the worse day for ...
Here are the Sunday music videos I have chosen over the course of 2009. Videos do tend to disappear from YouTube after a while. Where I have noticed this and been able to find a close equivalent, I have quietly made the substitution. But the moral is clear: enjoy these songs while you can. I started choosing a Sunday music video when I finally got broadband access in October 2007. You can find my earlier choices in a posting from August of this year. 4 January The Byrds: Mr Tambourine Man 11 January Martha and the Muffins: Echo Beach 18 ...
The ice this morning was the worst I've known on our estate pavements. No-one on my route off the estate had cleared the pavement in front of their house and the result of yesterday's thaw, and last night's freeze was an ice rink. I had to give up trying to walk and return home, terrified I'd end up with broken bones in North Tees Hospital. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about people
Alex Salmond is in danger of being labelled the scrooge of the Leaders debates if he doesn't stop moaning about not being included. I think I've made my thoughts on the SNP being featured in a televised leaders debate quite clear before. They are not a UK wide party and don't even have a mathematical chance of taking a Westminster majority even if they were to win every seat in which they stood. Nich Starling makes the point very well here. If the SNP were allowed to participate it would open the doors for all sorts of minor parties. What ...
Tim Montgomerie, writing on Conservative Home, is worried; There is more evidence today that the Left is getting its online effort together. He goes onto talk about various left-wing sites including the newly launched 'Tory Stories'. I think there is an element of truth in the observation that the left-wing blogsphere is gathering pace although some of this is ...
Having managed to connect Steve Winwood with John Masefield, I may as well follow my obsession and choose this as today's music video. This recent solo acoustic version of "Can't Find My Way Home" turned up on YouTube and Steve Winwood's website the other day. It gives you the opportunity to compare this performance to one he gave over 40 years ago with Blind Faith, for whom he wrote the song, at a free concert in Hyde Park. That sort of thing never used to be possible in popular music. I chose another version of this, by Winwood and Eric ...
One notable influence on the counter-culture of the 1960s was children's literature. Sometimes this is shown explicitly, as in the Jefferson Airplane song White Rabbit; sometimes tragically, as in the drowning of Brian Jones at Cotchford Farm, where A.A. Milne had written the Winnie the Pooh books; and sometimes in passing, as in Steve Winwood's observation that Traffic's life at their famous cottage was "like William and the Outlaws". That cottage was near the village of Aston Tirrold, which reveals another connection. John Masefield's The Midnight Folk was published in 1927. Though largely forgotten today (its sequel The Box of ...
After months of design, redesign, numerous bottles of intoxicating liquids and much tearing up of sheets of paper with nice sketchy diagrams and outlines, we are finally getting nearer to the release of: v3 wp.chrisandeddie.info v2 www.chrisandeddie.info In association with this new launch of sites, I am also releasing a new series of new site designs across my ...
Nick Clegg is a lead signatory for a letter in today's Observer calling on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to abide by UN security council resolution 1860 and bring an end to the suffering of the people of Gaza. Here's what it says: One year on from Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli government continues to imprison 1.5 million Palestinians and prevent the rebuilding of its shattered infrastructure. Israel's blockade of Gaza, described by the UN fact-finding mission as "collective punishment", stops reconstruction materials and humanitarian aid from reaching those who so desperately require it. ...
More news of the horrific injustice being meted out by China on North Londoner Akmal Shaikh. They haven't even told him he is going to be excuted in two days time! This case really is an outrage!
One of my favourite songs is Barry McGuire's 1965 protest song, Eve of Destruction: I was interested to discover that a group called The Spokesmen had responded to McGuire (and PF Sloan, who wrote Eve of Destruction) with a song called Dawn of Correction: As ever, you can see why the original is remembered, while the answer ...
...How does Michael Howard have the bloody nerve to pose as the only person who's ever opposed the BNP, when he ran the most anti-immigration General Election campaign by any major party for half a century? He's even more responsible for legitimising the BNP by cashing in on their scapegoating bigotry than Labour's disgusting race-baiting rhetoric and legislation. Who can forget Rory Bremner summarising the whole 2005 Tory banner under Mr Howard and his slyly deniable racism-pandering posters: "Are you thinking what we're thinking?" "People have said my message is 'Less tax, less blacks'. That's quite wrong. It's 'Fewer blacks'." ...
Lib Dem candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, Ed Fordham, is cited by today's Observer as one of the rising stars of British politics: "It will be a barometer seat without a doubt," says Liberal Democrat Ed Fordham of his battle against veteran Labour MP Glenda Jackson in Hampstead and Kilburn. The 38-year-old, a former Lib Dem campaigns officer who is expected to play a major part in shaping the party's future agenda, needs an estimated gain of 474 votes to be elected, in one of the closest-fought battles of the coming election. Fordham, has already won some influential supporters. Former ...
Much of Gorton missed out on the recycling collection on Tuesday. I was assured that the recycling would be caught up with on Wednesday (didn't happen), then Thursday (didn't happen), then Sunday 27th. So the bins have been left out for nearly a week (making it tricky to recycle as we have to leave the bins out because we keep getting promised that a collection will happen). Hopefully, it will be done today. Please let me know if you've not been collected by the end of today. Update - still not collected at of 4pm. That's now nearly a week ...
From the Leicester Mercury: North West Leicestershire MP David Taylor has died suddenly. Mr Taylor was enjoying a walk with his family at Calke Abbey, in Derbyshire, yesterday when he suffered a massive heart attack. He was taken to Queens Hospital, in Burton-on-Trent, but medics were unable to save him.I am sorry to hear this: Taylor always seemed one of the more good-natured MPs and has strong local roots.
Over at the Mail today, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable anticipates a year of fevered political battle, and issues a call for a reformed political system and a grown-up debate. Here's an excerpt: Once the seasonal festivities are out of the way, the public will be on the receiving end of months of sustained political bombardment over the airwaves and through the letterbox until a General Election puts an end to it. As someone who will be firing a lot of the ammunition, I am ready for this battle but I am conscious that the old rules no longer ...
Shameless governments have a habit of doing nasty things over Christmas, when they hope most of the world's journalists aren't looking — or are on holiday. Think the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Israel's Operation Cast Lead and now China's disgraceful sentencing of the dissident writer Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for his political and human rights ...
Tessa Jowell has used an interview with the Daily Telegraph to call for an end to the so-called 'class war' strategy; Ms Jowell, the Olympics Minister, urged the Prime Minister to stop attacking the Conservative leader for having a privileged background as such personal insults only alienated voters and risked bringing politics into disrepute. This is the ...
Yesterday's Western Mail contained an article citing the views of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors chief economist, Simon Rubinsohn on the Welsh housing market. Mr. Rubinsohn told the paper that a two-tier housing market has emerged in Wales with first-time buyers cut adrift from the dream of home ownership. He said that even though the recession has forced prices down by 20%, a lack of finance means they can still not afford to climb onto the first rung of the property ladder. But at the middle and top end of the market there is high demand for property, with ...
Throughout the festive season, LDV is offering our readers another chance to read the 12 most popular opinion articles which have appeared on the blog since 1st January, 2009. The tenth most-read LDV op-ed of 2009 was by LDV co-editor Stephen Tall, and originally appeared on 4th May ... What must happen for the Lib Dems to overtake Labour? It's a serious question: what do we think needs to happen for the Lib Dems to become the official opposition within the next 10 years? What are the circumstances, and which are the ones we have the control to influence? In ...
Today's Times publishes a study by Professor Colin Rallings and Professor Michael Thrasher of Plymouth University based on actual votes cast in the dozens of by-elections that take place for council seats each month. Here are the headline findings: It shows that although David Cameron's Conservatives have a 10-point lead over Labour as the year draws to a close, the gap has been narrowing since the summer. The by-election model, which has been reworked to take account of different patterns of competition between the parties, has the Tories on 38%, with both Labour and the Liberal Democrats on 28%. The ...
Once you have accepted the principle that education is no longer going to be free, then you have turned a place of learning into a marketplace. Then it is just a matter of setting the price and the consquence of that is a bidding war. Hence in this morning's Observer we have David "Danny" Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee calling for students from well-off families to be charged the "market rate" of up to £30,000 a year to go to university. He believes that universities should be able to charge the richest students ...
Philip Young has this post on Lib Dem Voice questioning why the Lib Dems in Buckinghamshire seem unwilling to fight John Bercow, the speaker, at the general election. Although I disagree with the comments about the speakers wife (comments I believe have no reference to the point of the article), I do agree with the point he is making. Why should we bow to the normal parliamentary conventions and not stand against a speaker who, whatever we think of him politically, does not have the confidence of the full House of Commons? More importantly, if the Lib Dems don't stand ...
If the media reports are accurate, another attempted terrorist attack on an aeroplane failed when the would-be mass-murderer managed nothing more lethal than setting fire to himself, leaving the 289 passengers and crew on flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit unharmed. The world breaths a sigh of relief and anyone flying in the next few weeks looks forward to more security checks and delays. As the only person injured in this attack would seem to be the attacker, 23 year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, what lessons can we draw? Carrying out a successful terrorist attack, especially on an aeroplane, would ...
A group of British MPs have called for an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip, in an open letter published today. One year on from Israel's invasion of Gaza, which left over 1,300 Palestinians dead, the signatories, including leader of the Liberal Democrats Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP and Chair of the Britain Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group Richard Burden MP, call for an to the siege that
A facebook friend sent me this link which tells of authorities who wickedly remove wardens from sheltered housing schemes. Older and vulnerable people go into sheltered housing often exactly because they want to know there is someone on hand, particularly overnight, should they need help. If you follow the link - it tells two tales of successful action against authorities who removed the wardens from sheltered housing schemes or changed the scheme to a 'mobile' warden moving around from place to place. Now - that is a happy ending and hopefully a red flag to stop this diminution of service ...
Tony Blair as the former Prime Minister receives police protection, as do senior members of the government and members of the Royal Family. However, Tony Blair is no longer an MP and his protection is costing the taxpayer £115,000 per day, or £6million per year as uncovered by the Daily Telegraph. There are also concerns that next year that may have to increase as Tony Blair will be giving evidence in the Iraq Inquiry in London. The high costs are often put down to his frequent trips abroad as many will require a prior visit from his security advance team ...
Two years ago I wrote about the lies peddled by the Countryside Alliance regarding hunting. It appears two years on nothing has changed, indeed they CSA laim to have more support than ever for hunting. Can we assume therefore that their claims of doom, job losses, the mass culling of hounds and us all being overun by foxes were lies ? The fact is, as I proved HERE, the Countryside Alliance are little more than a Tory front anyway. They actively campaigned against MPs who did not even support the hunting ban in 2005, highlighting that fact that they are ...
[IMG: bins.jpg] Rubbish collections throughout Derwentside will be unaffected by Christmas this year. You can just put the bins out as usual, even on Bank Holiday Monday December 28th. I'm sure all residents of the district will be grateful for this - and to the men and women who make it happen. In a new move, too, you can get yor Christmas tree picked up for recycling (real ones only - no artificial trees) by ringing customer services on 01207 693693 between January 4 -8. They will then be picked up in the week beginning January 11th. The only way ...
It's Sunday. It's 7am. It's time for the Chicken Song, but first the news. 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here's are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: Clegg's Clear Stance on Gaza: Jonathan Fryer writes. Day 3281 (again): DOCTOR WHO: The End of Ten (Part One): rumour has it that some Lib Dems are Doctor Who fans; rumour has it too that some believe an elephant is talking to them. If you are in both groups, then this post is for you. Spotted any other great posts ...
There is an old series of TV adverts for The Guardian which showed a news event from one angle but when viewed from a different perspective the whole story changed. The moral was don't believe the first thing you read or see. I thought of these adverts when I saw the news articles about the attack on the pope at the Christmas Mass. Early reports described the attack but it looked to me like the damage was done not by the 'attacker' but because she was pulled over by those who were protecting him. The reports went on to suggest ...
