Happy new year to anyone who reads this, hope the next year treats you well!
[IMG: new-year.jpg] WISHING YOU PEACE, HEALTH AND HAPPINESS IN 2010
Reason.com thinks so. Or at least since the '90s. Warning: very American. Happy 2010, from everyone at Liberal Vision.
As the year closes, it seems appropriate to give a last hurrah to two great figures whose bicentennials have been celebrated in 2009: Charles Darwin, who changed the way we think about ourselves and opened the world to the wonders of evolution (and whose On the Origin of Species had its own one hundred and fiftieth anniversary); and William Ewart Gladstone, the Grand Old Man of British Liberalism, probably Britain's greatest ever Prime Minister as well as perhaps the greatest polymath and possibly even the most insufferable human being - though with far greater competition - to hold that office. ...
I know this song from Martin Carthy's LP Landfall, but Moore's version is a good substitute.
I wish my readers a Happy New Year and every success in 2010 though, of course, some less electoral success than others
It doesn't seem like 10 years since we celebrated the dawn of a new millennium. Now we're at the dawn of another decade - will it see peace in the Middle East or is that a hope too far? Will there be fewer refugees seeking safety around the world?On a personal level this year is ending better than it began, with many of the heartaches and headaches in the past. Although I needed to visit
Happy new year to all my readers. i hope 2010 brings you the success you deserve!
As ever, the Ludlow & Tenbury Wells Advertiser is first with news.
In January I will re-commence regular attendance at the gym which I joined in September; my attendance fell off after the temperature dropped below -20 C. My response to the cold during my first two winters here was to reach for the familiar British comforts of stodgy puddings and cocoa and crumpets by the fireside, and as a result I became clinically overweight for the first time in my life. Thanks to the gym's classes for the over-fifties, the pudgy phase of my life is now over. In February I will cash in my Scottish Widows Savings Bond, which I ...
Dear Fraser The Scottish Liberal Democrats have ended 2009 very strongly and can look forward with confidence to 2010, which will be one of the most momentous in politics for generations. In the last month of the year our candidate Ashay Ghai gained the Bearsden South council seat from the Conservatives. It added to the gain of the Conservatives' fourth safest seat in Scotland earlier in the year by Rosemary Bruce in a fantastic win in Aboyne and Deeside. Hundreds of people have joined the Scottish Liberal Democrats this year. Our recruitment at universities has been record-breaking. We lead the ...
2009 for me personally has been a hard year, not just with elections and work but not selling our old flat in Dartford, my partner Roger not able to get a job for a year, finding out my Mum had pancreatic cancer, closely followed by her death only a matter of weeks later, finding out a close friend died in May, losing two good friends in December and then at 4.20am this morning on her birthday, Roger's Nan lost her fight with cancer - 2009 f**k off, you've been shit! So, I sat here and wondered how to remember this ...
With thanks to Dave Martin of Fotopress, who covered the photocall at Barnetts Motor Group yesterday for the Press & Journal, here's three photos from the event, taken on a rather better camera than mine! The article "Why it's party time for balloon boy Adam" in today's P&J can be read at http://tinyurl.com/pandjballoon.
Wishing all Lib Dem bloggers, friends and colleagues, a very Happy, Healthy, and Successful New Year!! Wouldn't it be great if the next decade was more peaceful, and if our world leaders learned lessons from history, and resisted the urge to start any new wars? We need to value kindness far more in our society than we do (okay, I'll shut up now!) Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun!
I have just finished listening to a special edition of Radio 4's "The World Tonight" that was broadcast on Christmas Eve about drugs policy (it's still here on iPlayer although I am not sure for how much longer). I was disappointed by how little of the 40 minute programme was given to the idea of legalisation and regulation of drugs. It was touched upon tangentially a couple of times and then there was a small amount of time at the end where one of the contributors (former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda) stated that he was in favour of legalisation ...
More winter maintenance issues raised by residents over the past day, including the situation in the Pentland area (where the refuse collection could not be made yesterday) and the need for additional grit bins in Thomson Street and Tait's Lane. As always, I have raised all issues with the City Council. Above : The wintery scene in Marchfield Road earlier today
Looking at a map of Nice, I had spotted the city's other main railway station, that of the Chemins de Fer de Provence, with a line that heads up the valley of the River Var. And so, having discovered that the line is served by little diesel railcars, Ros and I had decided to take an excursion. Agreeing to meet one of Ros's colleagues and her husband, whom we had met at London City on the way out, it was decided that we would catch the 12:55 train to Entrevaux, famed for its medieval building and Vauban-designed fortifications. The day ...
Thu 31st
18:57
Anybody want to buy a brooch from the Brunei Royal Family for a friend with the initial "H"?
Back in the 1990s Prince Jefri, a member of the Brunei Royal Family, used to stage concerts by major stars to mark the birthdays of his three children, Princes Hakeem and Bahar and Princess Hamidah. There were concerts by Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Elton John, Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, Sting and Bryan Adams. all directed by Gavin Taylor, the Director of Channel 4 music
Although I love 40 of these songs (and like ten others) I find it most uninspiring though it's good that one of the 40 was the no 1 simply because I think Will Young was the best new voice of the decade in terms of pure quality and character. Well done Will – though I think ...
Earlier today, I heard that my friend Paul Blakey, and indirectly the Street Angels, had received an MBE for services to Community Safety in Halifax. As Deputy Mayor of Calderdale, I had the great privilege of attending the Street Angels' fourth birthday party earlier this month, and a nicer and more dedicated team of volunteers you couldn't wish to meet. A couple of years back, when I was Mayor of Hebden Royd, I invited Paul and his team to Hebden Bridge to show us how the scheme operated, and I am pleased to say that following their example, earlier this ...
My other resolutions are: To avoid using the word invidious, which I thought meant unenviable, but according to the dictionary means the exact opposite (admit it -- you thought it meant unenviable too).To say nice things about Canada.
Iris Robinson has announced that she will be leaving politics. The circumstances in which she has made her decision to leave aren't pleasent for her and her family and I wish her a speedy recovery from the depression from which she is suffering. However Iris Robinson is one of the most hateful politicians still sitting in the Westminster parliament. Her views are prehistoric and politically she certainly won't be missed by me or many others.
10 Predictions: Barack Obama's approval ratings will improve, but the Democrats will nonetheless have a disappointing set of mid-terms. The Lib Dems will gain more seats at the general election than they lose. Any hung parliament which may arise from the general election will not produce a full coalition government, but instead the Lib Dems will offer confidence ...
This will now be my 803rd Blog Post of 2009, indeed it is the 102nd of this very productive month (of course I go a write three more while coming up with my shortlist). The leanest month was June when there were still 37 blogposts, may have been down to post election syndrome, but that still an average of just over one per day. December was the most productive. Even if it meant one particular Saturday scouring You Tube and coming up with posts for when I thought I might not be so readily online over the holiday period. However ...
This guy piped up and Dave Cameron thought `time to get rid of another old codger`
When is zero more than zero? When it's zero!
No, not the British hostage in Iraq who was mercifully released today, but a colourful character by the same name, who sadly died just before Christmas. Peter was best known as a Town Crier; he served the Mayor of London, the City of Westminster and many London boroughs in that role. I took this photo at the annual Pearly Kings and Queens Harvest Festival. He led the parade from Guildhall to St Mary-le-Bow. Tomorrow, according to the BBC, he was to have been awarded a lifetime award at the New Year's Day Parade. Also on the BBC site is a ...
Mrs Arlene Bell, the headteacher of Beechdale Nursery School in Consett, has been awarded an OBE in the New Years Honours list for services to local and national Early Years Education. Though I have never met Mrs Bell, I know what high regard the school is held in, and has been for decades. I'm sure all of Consett will be delighted for her, her staff and the pupils of Beechdale Nursery School.
One of my New Year's resolutions is to increase our charitable donations, because when we moved to Canada in '06 we canceled some of our regular donations to British charities and I'm ashamed to admit that our charitable giving is still not at the level it was. So, we have just become Kiva loaners, making microloans to low-income entrepreneurs. I think the Kiva site is a work of genius; you can see the people you are lending to and the loans being made. When a loan is just a few dollars short of being fulfilled, helping to make it up ...
Just heard the great news today that my fellow Lib Dem councillor, Yogan Yoganathan, has been awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours. Many people probably don't realise just how much Yogan does for the community. He has been co-Chair of Surbiton Neighbourhood for some years, but he was active long before being elected as a Councillor for St Marks ward in 2002. Yogan first became involved in community things when he founded the Kingston Tamil School. That led to several other responsibilities including acting as Chair of the very effective Kingston Racial Equality Council. He currently chairs the ...
Just posted on The Corridor.
At the moment everyone is Facebooking, Tweeting, and in my case outeverywhereing (www.outeverywhere.com) as well as texting one wonders whether the downsides to all this will become apparent in 2010. I see great upsides to it all not least in my earlier post of people trying to save someones life – although that is an extreme ...
I'm just sipping some tea, earl grey, hot in honour of Sir Patrick Stewart who has been knighted in today's New Year's Honours list. About time too! He's one of our best actors. I'm looking forward to watching his and David Tennant's Hamlet which is waiting for me on my Sky Plus. Of course, being a Star Trek fan, he will always be, above all, Captain Jean-Luc Picard to me. The role required great versatility. From being assimilated by the Borg, tortured by the Cardassians, to playing detective in the Holodeck, to the episode where he was stuck in a ...
In what is fast becoming a pre-New Year tradition as eagerly anticipated as 'the biggest ever DFS sale', Lib Dem Voice is publishing its list of 10 key questions, the answers to which we think might well help shape 2010 for the party. You can read last year's list here; and our answers to those questions here (Part I) and here (Part II). Here below, then, are my top 10 questions for the coming year in Lib Demmery: 1. In the 2010 general election, how many Lib Dem MPs will be elected? Will we increase our number from the current ...
I don't send round robin letters with my Christmas cards. I don't usually manage to send Christmas cards. But if I did send cards and if I did include a letter, the tradition would be to brag about how my kids are doing so well in school and how gorgeous our new kitchen is. Failing that, I thought I'd have a quick look back at some of the stuff that happened to me me me me me this year. I thought it might be cathartic. For me. Me me me. (Links to Twitpics where appropriate.) January I took part in ...
If you fancy taking a morbid wager, [IMG: [community profile] ] dead_pool is now up and running. I have posted the rules post and a post for everyone to attach their lists to today. I have a couple of meatspace people whose lists I will be obtaining later, but anyone else who wants to join in, do feel free to do so. You can join the comm on Dreamwidth with an open ID if you don't have a Dreamwidth account (or if you want an account, I have a few invite codes), or if you don't want to join the ...
[IMG: Old phone box on Weston Park] If you have a particular grot-spot you want sorted in 2010, or some ugly old street furniture you want removed then now could be your chance. On 14th January I've arranged to do a walkabout with Stroud Green's new "Street Enforcement Officer" so I can point out problem areas. One of my New Year's wishes would be for the Council to eventually remove this ugly defunct old non-BT phone box on Weston Park (see picture). Its something I've raised repeatedly over the years but the Council refuse to remove it themselves saying its ...
Now that I have a Facebook page, open to anyone, you will find me more often over there: http://www.facebook.com/Robinson4ChelmsfordLatest news story: Chelmsford Needs REAL change in 2010
New Year's Eve: As the much-loved Fluffy Elephant of Time paraglides towards the Bouncy Castle of Fate and wonders why it's blocking the Landing Pad of Destiny, we realise that the Old Year is likewise headed for a rubbery conclusion and reflect on what a year it's been. Anyway, the notion of nonimating my fluffy self for this year's Mr Eric Blair Awards was making its way through my fluffy head, and it occurred to me that I am a MUCH more famouser author than him so I should be handing out awards of my OWN... and here they are! ...
I'd like to wish everybody who visits this site a very Happy New Year for 2010. Surely I'm not the only one who can't believe that it's ten years since we saw a glum-looking Queen staring disdainfully at Tony Blair's attempts to get her to link hands to Auld Land Sine before the wall of fire failed to materialise on the Thames? Whatever else this decade has been, it's been quick!
First I should say that they aren't really called the Scotties. That's just me being me. It is kind of appropriate though. If you think it's a bit vomit inducing, think of it as a tribute to a certain Enterprise based engineer. Those nice people at Scottish Round Up have introduced the Scotblogs Awards to honour the best of the Scottish Blogosphere. The Awards take place in two stages. First, they're looking for nominations e-mailed to scottishroundup+awards@gmail.com by 13th January at 6pm. They also want to have suggestions for categories by the same deadline. Then there will be a second ...
As Thomas Friedman once aptly commented, commenting on the Middle East tends to be an intellectual desert, in which 'charlatans and ideologues, hucksters and holymen, regularly opine and divine, unencumbered by facts, history or statistics'. So it is with considerable relief that I can recommend as my Book of 2009 Avi Shlaim's Israel and Palestine ...
Techinically they can leave this seat vacant until the next general election and since they are likely to be defeated by the Tories in the seat this is an entirely plausible course of action. The Independent has a good analysis of the situation here. As pointed out in the article Labour left the Glasgow North East by election four months and there is nothing to say they wouldn't leave this one longer. I think they would have a much better chance of holding the seat if it were left to the general election when the Tories will be concentrating on ...
I am puzzled by some words attributed to Norman Baker in a couple of today's newspapers. In the Daily Telegraph, for instance, commenting on calls for full body scanners to be installed at British airports, he is quoted as saying: "Once again the Department for Transport looks flat footed and the price is being paid by hundreds of thousands of people going through our airports."I am not surprised to see Theresa Villiers junking the Tories' new-found libertarianism at the first prospect of political advantage, but is Norman really in favour of these scanners? I should have thought that giving private ...
Enjoy 2010!
The Loampit Vale website homepage have not been updated in last few weeks, it still says: Loampit Vale was granted planning permission at a Strategic Planning Committee meeting on 10th September 2009. Barratt Homes hope to start on site before the end of the year. And unless works start in the next few hours before midnight this ...
Well, I don't often agree with Tom Harris, as you might remember. However, we have found some common ground. My world is polarising at the moment, into two camps. Those who believe that a new decade starts tonight and those, like Tom and I who believe that, actually, the new decade starts at the end of 2010. The advantage of the latter position, of course, is that you get to celebrate twice. Tonight with everyone else and again next year. Anyway, I should probably leave this post until next year, but I won't, for reasons I'll show you, but this, ...
A lot of commentators have been setting out their predictions for 2010. It is a tempting game because if you get it right you can say, 'look wasn't I clever?' but embarrassing if you are completely out. To their credit most commentators own up to the howlers. If you are going to make some predictions then it might be worth bearing in mind the following points. The polls There has been a lot of focus on whether there will be an outright winner at the next general election. This is based on the polls looking like we are in hung ...
The last month of the year: a time for taking stock, and anticpating the challenges of the 12 months to come. So what could be more fitting than for LDV – no slavish followers of the polls, we – to reflect on 2009's polls? Let's start, though, with the latest polling data. Here, in chronological order, are the results of the nine polls published in December: Tories 40, Labour 29, Lib Dems 19 (6 Dec, ICM) Tories 40, Labour 27, Lib Dems 18 (6 Dec, YouGov) Tories 38, Labour 30, Lib Dems 20 (8 Dec, Populus) Tories 40, Labour 23, ...
I'm really pleased to see that, despite the current financial pressures, the Lib Dems have restated their commitment to scrap University Tuition Fees. The state of the economy has meant that to keep our plans financially responsible, phasing out fees will take a total of six years, but it will be done in such a way that all students feel some benefit soon. In the first year fees will be scrapped for final year students, the year which is most painful for students to pay. In the following 2 years, part-time fees will be regulated and fee loans will become ...
During the recent cold spell it became quite clear that the Council's current gritting strategy is not sufficient (especially for sustained periods). Gritting was limited to main roads and even then they were still very icy. I don't think the gritting trucks came to Chorlton very much, as I didn't see any and nobody I have spoken to saw any during the icy period. The more minor and residential roads didn't receive any attention from the gritters. If gritting salt had been provided, I imagine many residents would have been happy to grit their own roads. Conditions were also very ...
During the recent cold spell it became quite clear that the Council's current gritting strategy is not sufficient (especially for sustained periods). Gritting was limited to main roads and even then they were still very icy. I don't think the gritting trucks came to Chorlton very much, as I didn't see any and nobody I have spoken to saw any during the icy period. The more minor and residential roads didn't receive any attention from the gritters. If gritting salt had been provided, I imagine many residents would have been happy to grit their own roads. Conditions were also very ...
Iain Dale amoung others has made some predictions for happenings in 2010 so here is my attempt at 10 purely political predictions for 2010:- 1. The Conservative majority after the General Election will be between 0 and 30. 2. Liberal Democrats will occupy between 45-50 seats after the election. In the General Election; both Caroline Lucas and Nigel Farage will ...
Dear Mr Branson, It's a simple request really. There's a utility box of yours that's sat on pavement and been badly broken for months. Having passed it a few times myself, I finally got round to reporting it five months ago. Since then I've sent a fair few emails, I've been promised this has been raised with your firm, I've been told you've missed the legal deadline for responding, I've sent more emails. And you know what? That broken, badly damaged box at the corner of Hornsey Lane and Crouch End Hill in north London is still there. There is ...
It's pretty shocking at any level - to lose your Prime Minister through violence - but the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin sent a serious shock wave through all those seeking peace. It was probably the biggest world event for 1995 - considering the impact of the Middle East on world affairs... So for me heading to the now named 'Yitzhak Rabin Square' was always going to be a core staple of being in Israel and specifically Tel Aviv. What I hadn't quite thought through was the extent to which not only is he honoured and recognised - the bust and ...
IT'S finally been agreed! Next year, in the run up to the General Election, there'll be televised debates with the party leaders. Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg will go for it on air. It's the first time a leader's TV debate has happened in a British election. They're common in America but the trend never caught on over here, until now. I think it's going to be good.The public can really put the leaders on the spot.And the leaders can do the same to each other for a full 90 minutes, not the half-hour at Prime Minister's Questions. ...
[IMG: Should this be your New Year's resolution?] Should this be your New Year's resolution?
A very happy New Year to everyone. Keep smiling! [IMG: A toast to you!]
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. Today is the turn of LDV co-editor Mark Pack, and originally appeared on 17th October ... Jan Moir: the dilemma for the PCC (and what you should say in your complaint) The reaction to Jan Moir's article about the death of Stephen Gately has been widespread and swift. Fuelled primarily by Twitter and Facebook, complaints about homophobia flooded in on the Daily Mail, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) and the firms ...
Oh, I know I'm asking for trouble with a headline like that. You may mock, but there is a serious point to it all if the number of folk who are usually around on Twitter in the middle of the night is anything to go by. I was lying in bed last night, uncharacteristically, and somewhat ironically, unable to sleep. The buzz of my blackberry alerted me to this. Jim Tolson MSP for Dunfermline West asked the Scottish Government's Health Minister Shona Robison a series of questions relating to sleep disorders and prescriptions of drugs to aid sleep. The answers ...
There is a certain daily publication which refers to itself as a "newspaper" and has a two-word title. That title starts with the letter "D" and ends with the letter "L". As of today, 31st December 2009, this blog, Liberal Burblings, will never again refer to this atrocious, steaming pile of horse manure by its name and will certainly never provide any links to it. The so-called "newspaper" in question will be referred to only as "The Usual Suspect". I used to regularly read said "newspaper" for many years. It can be, insidiously, a carefree read over a coffee, with ...
At present I've got three living Christmas trees, though all of them have seen better days. I didn't get one at all this year, but I've three in pots (from various years) in the yard. They must go back at least six years because I always use ...
1. There will be a General Election 2. The boat race will be won by Oxford....or Cambridge...one of those two teams at any rate. 3. The ice and snow currently covering large swathes of Scotland will melt. 4. During the Football World Cup in South Africa there will descent from players against at least one official. 5. There will be new boxing world champions....what you want the divisions, belts etc?...hey these are the bleeding obvious predictions not Nostradamus or some Mayans. 6. Talking of Mayan's somebody somewhere during the year will point out that the end of the Mayan calendar ...
On the first day of this year I foolishly sucumbed to the blogger's disease of seeking to make predictions for the year ahead. I do not intend to repeat the exercise tomorrow. However, in the interests of neatness I have assessed my performance below: 1. There will be a General Election in 2009, most probably in the autumn. The Liberal Demorats will slightly increase their number of MPs, holding on to all four of their Welsh seats. Gordon Brown will emerge from the election with a single figure majority - OK, that was wrong. I no longer believe that Gordon ...
And just to prove that we are leaving 2009 on a low, the BBC report that the controversy over Police holding the DNA of innocent people looks set to rumble on into the new year. In fact, even civil liberty breaches appear to be subject to a postcode lottery these days. They say that some forces delete the profiles of most of those innocent applicants who ask, but others refuse to remove any at all. The average removal rate is only 22%, with six forces not removing any. The forces that did not remove the DNA profiles of any applicants ...
It's funny how, as the years go by, the reputation of politics continues to decline. Year after year of disaster on top of another has that effect, I suppose. But this year really did take the biscuit. The obvious thing has been the long-running expenses saga, which now threatens to become an annual event unless Parliamentarians ...
Ten years ago, my neighbour and friend was in despair. Her son, only a month younger than my daughter, was almost three and was not reliably potty trained. Pressure from relatives left her with the feeling that she was a failure to her oldest child and all his ante & post natal class peers were ...
Each day this week I'm giving a tip related to computers and campaigning. The exact details of how you follow each tip will vary depending on your own situation, so if you're not quite sure what to do by all means pop up a question in the comments. Today's tip: make sure your local website is listed in the main places. Does www.libdems.org.uk list your MP/PPC's website and your local website? (If not, contact website - website.hat.libdems.org.uk.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one)) Are they also listed in ...
So it seems David Cameron wants to 'love bomb' me! I don't mind admitting that I'm a bit scared of this prospect! The Lib Dems and Conservatives are similar?! Don't make me laugh! The only reason that the two parties are even remotely similar is because the few good points in Tory policy (and believe me, there are few) have been nicked from the Lib Dems because we have been saying them for thirty years or more. Camerons new tactic of cosying up to the gay community and the rubbish he spouts about the Tory party being the new environmental ...
Here are my predictions: 1. The GE will be held on the same day as the local elections 2. The Lib Dems will hold off most of the Tory challenges 3. We will lose one seat in London but gain three others 4. We will hold all our seats in the NW and there'll be at least one other ...
After yesterday's leak of the Prime Minister's New Year message in which he declared that the recession is over, that unemployment will start falling within a year and promised that a "decade of shared prosperity" lies ahead it is interesting to note from today's Guardian how big a hole he has dug for us. They report on the conclusions of Oxford Economics that the recession has pushed living standards in Britain to below the 2005 general election level. They say that Gross Domestic Product per person is £225 lower than in 2005, whilst UK living standards trail those in US ...
From YouTube:
Just been to the Tate Modern to see the pop art exhibition, and the current work in the turbine hall. Some of the pop art stuff was great – Andy Warhol's work is mesmerising. Some of it's also pretty ropey, but that's the way of it, I suppose. Before leaving we took a look at the ...
The Queen's New Years Honour's list is out [link to PDF file] and there are some interesting honourees amongst them, from Sir Patrick Stewart, through Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi of Status Quo (obviously for long term service to three chords) to many of the unsung heroes in mundane but important jobs. But it is the omission of some of the biggest sectors of honourees that speaks volumes for 2009. First up this is the last Honour's list before the dissolution of Parliament, of course there may well be dissolution honours handed out by Gordon Brown, but often in the ...
Here are my predictions for the coming year: Gordon Brown will push the General Election very late to May or June.There will be a hung parliament after the General Election with the Conservatives as the largest single party.The Lib Dems will lose seats despite the vote share being very similar to last time.David Miliband will become Labour leader after the election.England will go out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals (sorry to sound unpatriotic but 44 years of hurt and all that...)Like last year, I again predict that Eddie Mair will become the new host of Question Time.Caroline Lucas ...
[IMG: A windmill made of the flags of Europe with the slogan "whatever the weather, we must move together"] Good morning on New Year's Eve 2009 as we here at LDV Towers celebrate the passing of the year and indeed the decade. There'll be fizz spilled on the Night Desk for sure, and I'm cooking beef wellington canapés and a chocolate/chestnut torte. But what, I hear you ask over the hubub, happened on this day in history? Well, did you know that until the 1750s, the new year actually began on Lady Day (no, not her) in March? And in ...
Ok, so my ten predictions for 2010. I expect to be fully castigated / praised for them in 12 months time :-) 1. Although my political sense tells me Brown should go to the country in March he will hold the general election on 6th May. 2. A hung Parliament is likely but at the moment I have the Tories winning the election by 20-50 seats 3. The Liberal Democrats will increase their number of seats in parliament by unexpectedly (according to the pundits) defending seats against the Tories and making large gains against Labour - my prediction 75-85 4. ...
The Public and Commercial Services Union has said that to beat the recession the concentrating on tax avoidance, evasion and non-collection instead of making merely "savage" heavy cuts. They reckon that £70 billion was lost through tax evasion and £25 billion through avoidance, while uncollected tax increased by £2.7 billion to £27.7 billion this year. Now where I have heard that message before? Alistair Darling? No. George Osbourne? No. Vince Cable? Absolutely and not just a random statement but an ongoing statement of intent. Yes he did mention it in his conference speech in Bournemouth: "Spending first. If public spending ...
Ten Resolutions:Make and stick to a cleaning schedule with Mat.Stick to the budget we calculated so that hopefully we will end the year better off than we start it.Keep up with karate.Use manic time and google calendar more effectively to keep track of my commitments.Miss less deadlines.Walk the dogs at least once per day and don't make Mat do it out of laziness.Get another tattoo.Finally get around to getting married.Speak at Conference.Use the library more effectively. And ten predictions:The election will be in May.Turnout will be up on the last three, but not as high as 1992.The Tories will win ...
[IMG: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE:Carol's face] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: minowa*naitoh It may be that I am going all soft in my old age, but I found this a charming film. You are transported to a sort of fantasy world where, nevertheless, there are grim realities. The ending is one for Kleenex to sponsor. All in all, a film which gives you a soft, gooey feeling inside.
I have watched It's a Wonderful Life again this Chrismas and even though it was made in 1946 it was the best thing I saw in the last couple of weeks. In the film James Stewart runs the Building and Loan Association that gives out loans based on personal knowledge of an individual's character and he saves the bank from ruin. It sounds like we could have done with him when Northern Rock collapsed. The film did make me think of why I am a Liberal Democrat. If you believe in small government and low taxation then this Conservative view ...
If you've not yet recovered from Christmas, you know the best cure - chocolate. So after posting this at the weekend, I've added plenty more, particularly about Thorntons. You can still catch up with Radio Four's Doctor Who weekend on iPlayer, too: The Lost Episodes, On the Outside It Looked Like an Old-Fashioned Police Box and David Tennant's Desert Island Discs. And if you saw the new Day of the Triffids, with beefed-up sauntering Eddie Izzard villainy and off-the-peg unresolved father-son tension and mysticism, why not see for free the closer-to-the-book 1981 adaptation, with a sexier lead and scarier plants? ...
