Over at The Times, Nick Clegg has penned an article setting out, perhaps in the clearest detail yet, exactly how the Lib Dems will respond in the event of a 'hung Parliament'. He begins by noting the heat-without-light debate that the new year has brought: Much of what we have heard so far is unsurprising: absurd pledges on spending, vitriolic attacks on cuts. But one development is new: both the old parties now claim to be almost identical to the Liberal Democrats. David Cameron and Gordon Brown are ostentatiously flirting with Liberal Democrat voters, clumsily trying to woo them — ...
Nick Perry, the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Hastings & Rye, who has spearheaded a campaign against hospital parking charges at the Conquest Hospital said, "Our Labour MP said to me at the Town Conference earlier this year that he did not think hospital parking charges was a big issue. I think it is a big ...
Today in 1884, the Fabian Society was founded, and over more than a century they have contributed much valuable radical and reformist thinking to the progressive movement. Happy Birthday the Fabians.
So the general election campaign seems to have started-ish, and the first whiff of pressure Cameron begins to buckle. I refer of course to the Tory leader's half-cock comments on tax breaks for married couples, first it's on, then it's off, then a few ...
Finally getting round to watching series seven of 24 around the same time as the Christmas two-parter for Doctor Who highlighted a common challenge faced by both shows. [IMG: Big red button. Photo credit: clix from sxc.hu] The special plot reset button, courtesy of Doctor Who and 24 Both have often made use of a special plot reset button which, when pressed, not only can get the plot out of any apparent cul-de-sac but it can whisk you in high speed reverse to undo whatever you thought had been done. Where, though, does that leave development of tension or unrolling ...
The long pre-election campaign has began, with both the Conservatives and Labour wooing Lib Dem voters as neither side can win outright based on current polls. The Conservatives are peddling the line that a hung parliament means a weak government and so people (especially Lib Dems)should vote for them to prevent this and get rid of ...
[IMG: 2010.jpg] I am afraid my computer had a serious breakdown over the holiday period so I have not been able to update my blog but I will report back on the highlights of December's full council meeting very soon! Looking forward to an exciting 2010.
of your wheelie bin, that is!When the Environment select committee reviewed Wastes Management we recommended that when plastic and cardboard was being collected for recycling no side waste should be collected from households (with an exception over the Christmas/New Year period if needed). A report to the committee today claimed that this was working well and my own observation is that there is
I do sometimes wonder if the load which Wootton Bassett bears, admirably, should be shared a little. It is, of course, geographically and procedurally correct that all repatriations go through the town from RAF Lyneham to Oxford. Fine. And thank goodness the townsfolk and others turn out to show their respect to our soldiers. But in a country of 61,399,118 you would think the load of grief for returning deceased soldiers could be spread a little more evenly than solely on the shoulders of a small town 11,043 people. One of the unfortunate ramifications of the present arrangement is the ...
In the Times today, mention was made of Googles latest offering; Google Goggles. Thus apprently allows you to search by taking a photo of something or even perhaps someone (?). Interesting. What result would u get if u pointed your iPhone camera at Gordon Brown?Again, according to the Times, as he's been voted the worst ...
I am fed up with reading Labour MPs everyday, from the prime minister down, claiming somehow education is not going to be cut. Ed Ball's joined in again today, claiming: "We said very clearly education spending will rise this year, next year, the year after. It's going to keep going up, it's vital to the future ...
So it looks like the debating bug has caught on. The BBC is reporting that Education Secretary Ed Balls has laid down the gauntlet to his counterparts, Michael Gove and David Laws. He wants an open debate in front of parents and pupils. Just thing missing, teachers!Surely any debate, with questions, should involve the very people who experience and have to deliver day in, day out the results of
If the election campaign is going to be one giant Dutch-auction of claim/counterclaim regarding public spending then it could be a less exciting spectacle than people think it will be. Alistair Darling led the way today by claiming that there is a £34 billion gap in the Conservatives spending proposals. David Cameron joined in by rebutting ...
I am horrified to see on the front page of The Guardian that John walked to the Co-op to get that there are proposals for adverts promoting products to be part of the script in TV programmes. Really worried at how some products can be promoted that way that might not be in people's best interest in the long run, but no doubt there will be some body set up to censor and control to add to the big...
Cllr Allan Knox and the Lib Dem team have been told that Ribble Valley Borough Council is aware that in parts of the Borough wheelie bins and paper sacks are overdue for collection. The Council apologises for these delays which are due to the unusually adverse weather conditions. They advise that - weather conditions permitting - bins will be collected on the next regular collection date. In the current circumstances where there has been delay, side waste (i.e. additional items) will be collected Paper sacks will also be collected on the next regular collection date, this collection also being subject ...
The government's roll out of the "voluntary" ID card started in Liverpool, and other bits of the region, today. As a Lib Dem I have consistently opposed these cards. Its not just the card, its the whole database that goes with it. The whole scheme will fundamentally alter the relationship between the citizen and the state. And promoting this as a voluntary thing that will help people is merely a form of soft marketing before trying something more compulsory. I did an interview for Juice FM about this earlier today. Hopefully Liverpool people will see through the charade and won't ...
Mon 4th
21:14
What is wrong with our legal system that takes 14 months for a traffic offence to come before a cour...
Ashley Cole, the footballer, adulterer and husband of Cheryl Cole, was found guilty of speeding by a court today. Astonishingly, the arrest was made in November 2008 ! Why the hell do our courts react so slowly ? Why has it taken 14 months before this case was heard ? Is it any wonder people have no faith in the legal system ? The fact is that the CPS and our court system is held in such low regard by people in general. I was told be a friend who is related to a barrister that he knows which cases, ...
Call it laziness, call it New Year ennui, but I'd half a mind not to re-commence my monthly LDV statporn posts. I realise they can be a little bit self-congratulatory and/or self-obsessed. But I've finally got round to doing it. And here's why. First, because I think it's only fair to LDV's readers and, more importantly, our contributors (both those who write for us, and those who comment on what's written here) to know how many people read this site. It is not my blog, or that of any of the small, volunteer team who runs LDV: it is a ...
Now here's a quandary for all right thinking folk. Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary for the next few weeks, says he would ban an Islamic march through Wootton Bassett if the Wiltshire police asked him to. Well, fair enough and there is likely to be trouble if these vicious loons go ahead with their proposed march. But wait just a second, wouldn't the fact that a group of clearly quite unhinged people were able to march in this country in the name of their interpretation of Islam pretty much put the seal on any suggestions that the approach of the ...
OK Dave here's the score. As you eventually made up your mind this evening about recognising marriage in the tax code, are you: a) going to expand the same provision to civil partnerships? or b) going to allow same sex marriage? I suspect the answer to both is likely to be in the negative. Even though Cameron himself has said: "I stood up... and said that marriage was important, and as far as I was concerned it didn't matter whether it was between a man and a woman, a man and a man or a woman and a woman." Therefore ...
I was going to post a blog about profiling last week but I didn't really know what I wanted to say. I then had a lengthy discussion about it (on New Year's Eve of all times!) with some friends, and have read some more articles and blogposts since. I think one obvious thing needs pointing ...
So (yawn) Gordon Brown has started to put out feelers to us in advance of the election. Or at lest that was the perceptive report from the BBC over his comments on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday. Hmm, I must have a really sensitive political antenna because I sensed some almost imperceptible undertones suggesting that he was about as genuine as a crocodile and that he didn't mean a word he uttered. Maybe it was the fact that he referred to the 'Liberals' that led me to conclude that all is not right with his overtures. Its kind of ...
South Glos Council will be running the Big Spring Clean campaign again in 2010. It will be starting on 1st March, a month earlier than last year so litter can be collected before the vegetation starts to grow. The campaign will run for two months. To register your interest call 01454 863592 from today or email naturalenvironment@southglos.gov.uk You will then be sent an information pack and booking form. You can use the form to order gloves, bags and even a skip if necessary. The official launch of the Big Spring Clean 2010 will take place on Saturday 20th March - ...
... and for disbelieving colleagues. These are amazing, particularly the ones with the slide and the bookcases set in to the stairs: http://www.oddee.com/item_96905.aspx
I was going to do a post about the inconsistencies in the Conservative Party's health manifesto (it's got something for everyone: more targets, fewer targets; more political control, less political control) but Dizzy Thinks has pretty much written it for me already. So to find out why I'm not impressed with the Tory plans go and read a Tory blogger.
Conservative Home has got itself worked-up into a right lather regarding David Osler's post on Liberal Conspiracy. In the eyes of Conservative Home Osler saying; the principled humanist secular left with a huge headache. After all, if we do not uphold the elementary argument for freedom of speech, who will? So here we are, forced to ...
A continuing series of spelling out Conservative plans Part 6. They say that a week is a long time in politics. But an hour and forty two minutes! Yeah that is how long it took the Dave to spell out that "could not guarantee a Conservative government would be able to offer a tax break to married couples". Until he, well, he had to correct himself. So less that just two days into spelling out just what the Conservative policies are going to be and they have to get out the Tippex*. Oops. * Other correction fluids are available, probably ...
Ming Campbell has been answering a wide range of questions: What is Cleggism as a political philosophy? Did the dream of proportional representation die with Roy Jenkins? How can Liberal Democrats withstand the onslaught of [Tory donor] Ashcroft money in marginals in the South-west? Cameron is right about the genuine symmetry between Tories and Lib Dems. So why won't you admit you'll prop him up in a hung parliament? and more. Read the full set of questions and answers here.
This election campaign is going to be great fun if today is anything to go by. The Tories have had plenty of warning of the election campaign. After all, it's in the constitution, such as it is. Indeed, Cameron made a speech last Saturday virtually declaring the campaign open. Their war chest is awash with cash. And the Tories have been bleating on about giving a tax break to married couples for years. Indeed, at times it has been about the only policy they have had. So you would have thought that someone within that finely tuned, highly monied Tory ...
I was half sleeping on my journey this morning and as my coach stopped in a London traffic jam I opened one eye to look out the window to get a big shock. There, staring straight at me, was a six foot image of David Cameron's head! Quite a fright! I later discovered these posters are all over London - I must have seen 12 Dave Camerons today. If you haven't seen them, they feature his very large head with the message 'We can't go on like this. I'll cut the deficit, not the NHS.' On later reflection there are ...
[IMG: Haringey Council leaves child abuse files on train]
Or more specifically Clause 26. The right of many Home Educators to continue schooling their children is being threatened by the Children, Schools and Families Bill which is currently being fast-tracked through Parliament. This legislation was based on the seriously flawed Badman Review of Elective Home Education which was recently criticised by the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee. The legislation was drafted before the Select Committee could finish reporting and also before the conclusion of a DCSF consultation on Elective Home Education which drew an unprecedented 5000 responses from the Home Education Community. This legislation seeks a compulsory annual ...
I expect there will be a few furrowed brows in CCHQ tonight regarding what David Cameron said earlier today and then later had to clarify. Regarding recognising marriage in the tax system he first said: It's something within a parliament I would definitely hope to do... We're not able to give people absolute certainty on everything. So in other words an aspiration that could not be guaranteed. But by later this afternoon, lo and behold it was described as something he felt very strongly about and: It's something we will definitely do in the next parliament. So he went from ...
A few days ago, I raised concerns about the difficulty older folk in particular have had getting on and off buses in the snowy weather (see http://tinyurl.com/winterbusstops) and raised the matter of gritting at the stops with the City Council. I also raised the matter with National Express Dundee about the need to lower the bus platform in all cases during this challenging weather. I have now received the following response from Lawrence Davie, the company's Managing Director : With regard to access to our buses during the cold weather we have been repeatedly in touch with the Roads maintained ...
This is Fantastic! Teehee!
It is not a good start to the Tories unofficial election campaign that under proper scrutiny, the sort of scrutiny he can expect every single day of a general election campaign, David Cameron appeared to flip flop, changing Tory party policy from the previous policy then changing it back again in the space of a few hours. As the BBC reports (Cameron) was forced on to the defensive over tax breaks for married couples after telling the BBC he hoped to bring them in but could not promise them.Mr Cameron later issued a statement saying they would "definitely" come in. ...
they change their policies every 15 minutes!
Bloody stupid card cloners cloned my card over Christmas and the new one hasn't come yet. Anyone who is coming to Liberal Drinks on Thursday (or who just lives nearby and can come and grab the cash off me) who is willing to pay across my wage as a bank transfer will be loved forever. In the meantime, to distract me from that annoyance, I present to you the decade's firstFresh Squeezings From the veins of the InternetIa! Ia! Cthuugle fhtagn! Yes, the search engine dedicated to all things Lovecraftian is once more stalking the intarwebz. Hurrah! Doctor Who News: ...
It can be hard pre-launching an election campaign, can't it? Here's the PoliticsHome rolling news front page from today: At 3.04 pm, the site reported: David Cameron said he could not guarantee a Conservative government would be able to offer a tax break to married couples, despite having personally supported such a move. "It's something within a parliament I would definitely hope to do," he said, but insisted the state of the public finances prevented him from offering any guarantee. "We're not able to give people absolute certainty on everything," he said. By 4.50 pm, the state of the nation's ...
I've been contacted by a concerned resident about the murder that took place a few days ago on the Stroud Green Road. It has been covered a bit by the BBC and apparently there was a police cordon and a very high officer presence at the weekend. This is obviously all quite alarming for local residents, so I asked for some information from the Council's Cabinet Member for Community Safety and have got this statement: At 6.20am on Thursday, December 31st, police were called to an address in Stroud Green Road, Haringey, where a woman aged 40, was found unconscious. ...
This morning, whilst sat in the car at 07.30 waiting for the ice that had formed on the inside of my windscreen to melt, it occurred to me that I will still be going to work in the year 2050. Sat there as I was, the first day back after Christmas, the thermometer in my car indicating -8, that was pretty much the most disheartening Monday morning thought in a long litany of disheartening Monday morning thoughts. By then I'll be 68 years old, which is apparently the new retirement age, so at least come the first Monday of 2050 ...
I have been reporting on a number of visa issues relating too Intercompany Transfer Visas and foreign workers replacing the contracts of EEA with information provided to me from IT contractors, See these articles here and here on Lloyds are Being Investigated by the UK Border Agancy and Unfair Competition for UK and EU IT Workers? Recently one of my contacts was on BBC Radio 4 on the program 'The Report' entitled 'Immigration 31st Dec 2009'. Steve can be heard from 21 minutes to about 26 minutes into the report here, although the whole report worth a listen. the report ...
Here's the latest from Stockport Council on gritting: A Council spokesman, said: "During the recent cold weather the Council has worked around the clock to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum. A fleet of eight dedicated highway gritters supported by a fleet of smaller gritting vehicles, tippers and JCB's are working relentlessly to address the worsening conditions. Snow and ice gritting operations will continue to be undertaken on the Council's priority and local feeder roads, which includes bus routes, this is in accordance with the Council's winter maintenance policy which can be found at www.stockport.gov.uk/transportpolicy The Council has ...
A Conservative announcement to cut the deficit without touching the £110bn NHS budget only draws attention to the thinness of their deficit cutting plans announced so far.
Hardly the most surprising headline ever but it seems that CCHQ is keen to make the case to Tory members in the constituency of John Bercow that campaigning for the UKIP leader Nigel Farage will not be tolerated. I've spoken to many Tory members over the last few years who seem more at home in the ranks of UKIP than the Tory party and I suspect CCHQ is worried that if Farage were successful in becoming an MP many more young Tory activists would view UKIP as a viable alternative to the Tories. I just hope UKIP manage to find ...
Actually, it has already begun with both Tories and Labour engaging in high profile political cross dressing. Yes, Election 2010 is underway and the first skirmishes have taken place. The Conservatives claim to be in love with the NHS - and I can imagine A&E depts of NHS hospitals today being flooded with people who fell off their seats laughing at the Tory claims. Meanwhile, Chancellor Darling
I only ask because there was not a single Conservative committee member present when the scrutiny committee discussed the Council's Housing and Homelessness Strategies this afternoon. The only Conservative member in the room was John Biggs, who is not a member of the committee. The Housing cabinet member, Mark Kaczmarek, was also absent.
The most notable aspect of today's scrutiny committee meeting was just how freezing it was in the meeting room. Councillors and officers gradually added layers as the meeting went on so that by the end there were bobble hats, scarves, woolly coats and even blankets wrapped around legs. Whether or not this was a cunning plan to try to put us off scrutiny remains to be seen.
A copy of an e-mail sent out by Sefton UNISON to its members, just before Christmas, has been forwarded on to me. I have rarely seen a document which contains more factual errors. In summary, the e-mail accuses councillors of all parties of putting their own pet projects and their own financial interests ahead of the interests of UNISON members employed by Sefton Council, some of whom face redundancy to help cover a £25 million funding gap. To quote from the e-mail, it refers to decisions in relation to efficiency savings "made by our elected members with matters of their ...
SO that's it folks— tonight we'll be seeing off 2009 with a load of fireworks, champagne and hugs with random strangers! How's the year been for you? Politically it's been one of the most bumpy in a long time! We lost more than a hundred troops in Afghanistan, faced a political crisis over MP's expenses and sunk into the worst recession for years. Dictators like Robert Mugabe have survived another year and there were riots at the G20 summit and protests at the Copenhagen summit. But nothing really changed — the poor are still poor and we're still wrecking our ...
This winter has seen the city of Birmingham smash the previous record for the number of consecutive nights the roads have been gritted. Last night was the 20th consecutive night, the previous record was 14. Wrap up warm, folks!
Happy New Year, dear reader! I hope you had a good festive period. We're back to work rested and full of energy to campaign on the issues that matter to local residents :-) It seems the recent bad weather is continuing to play havoc with bin collections in many parts of Town. If you're red or grey wheelie bin has not been collected and you have concerns please read the message below which I was sent by the Council a few minutes ago: "Refuse crews have been working hard over the last week to catch up on delayed collections caused by ...
This advert is a prime example why Photoshoping of adverts has to stop. To take a blemished tired complexion and airbrush it to look like the model has perfect skin, less fat around their face and is years younger than reality is something that could just drive people to want to all sorts of extremes. Imagery like this, and the use of claims made without any foundation in the advertising copy,
"Let's make this the year for change - the year when the positive defeats the negative" Thus spake Dave on Saturday. But on Monday Tory Bear et al launch their internet campaign to get Labour MP for Kerry McCarthy Bristol East out. As Liberal Vision point out it isn't a campaign with reasons to get Adeela Shafi (her Tory Opponent) in. The fact that one of the main thrust appears to be Ms McCarthy's expenses maybe these Tories should look at the plank in their own eyes. Or wait until Dave manages to sor out this issue within his own ...
Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable has wasted no time in pointing out the huge gaps in the arithmetic of the Conservatives' draft election manifesto. Earlier today, at the launch of the manifesto, David Cameron stated that his proposed inheritance tax cut would be paid for by taxing non-doms, saying: "Every other spending pledge we have made, every tax pledge we have made, is fully costed and fully set out. If you take for example the pledge on inheritance tax, which we've said is not for a first budget but is a pledge for a parliament, that is to be ...
I hadn't expected to return to Regional party politics so soon after leaving London, but when the call comes, you have to respond. And so, having only been a member of the Bury St Edmunds local party since early October, I find myself Regional Secretary for the East of England. Given that most of our activity for the first six months will revolve around the forthcoming General Election, I suspect that my role will be very much secondary to more campaign-related activity (I truly hope so, anyway...). However, there will be much to do, and little time or money, as ...
Christmas has gone and Lewisham Central residents can bring their trees to Mountsfield Park (George Lane entrance). But, if the most clever member of your family is a dog, then just give it to it to chew. A few weeks ago I saw this dog having fun with this sapling in Rushey Green, his owner just ...
Fraser Nelson wrote a piece on the Spectator blog yesterday where he took David Cameron to task for what he described as a new year's speech that was "vapid nonsense". I quite agree, however I wanted to focus on something Fraser said towards the end of his article in response to one of the points that Cameron made: "Since I started speaking today, more than half a million pounds has been added to our national debt." I have to hand it to Cameron, I do like that line. He should use that more often. I am afraid I very much ...
With a new term about to start in Leeds at all three universities students at Trinity and All Saints have got this campaign together about the unfair treatment they get from First Bus compared to the other two Leeds universities. I urge you to join the group and to help them out in any way you can.
Today marked the launch of the #kerryout campaign. New Labour's poster girl for New Media, Kerry McCarthy, is being fought in an increasingly heated battle by her own weapon of choice: Twitter.com. However, there have been cries of foul play. Naturally the Left have counter-attacked and there have been accusations of "bullying" and "playground tactics". It's not bullying at all, in fact, but it is negative campaigning. Why, for instance, is the campaign #kerryout rather than #shafiin (Adeela Shafi is McCarthy's Conservative opponent in Bristol East). It essentially boils down to the fact that McCarthy was the first to stick ...
Remember a few weeks ago when the Conservatives made a big hoo-hah about the level of debt held by Cornwall Council? Now it appears that they are proposing to increase that debt level by £150 million over the next four years (around 30%). Council debt is like a mortgage - the authority borrows in order to buy buildings or finance services over the long term. They know that they have the income to service the debt but want the benefits now rather than having to save up the full cost of what they want. But those debt levels have to ...
The OFT has attacked budget airline Ryanair for being childish over their charging policy. It appears that Ryanair - well known in Cornwall for their hypocritical attitude to customer service - has chosen an obscure pre-paid credit card as the only way for customers to avoid having to pay extortionate card service fees. The full report is here. There is a much simpler way to avoid having to pay the fees - don't travel by Ryanair.
Some Christmas Quiz questions for you. Who said: 1.'Around a quarter of public spending is controlled at local level; the rest is directed from the centre' 2.'There are 102 different local authority spending streams, including 49 in education and children's services, 11 in adult social care and six in policing' 3.'We will also cut consultancy spend by 50% and marketing and communications spend by 25%'. Is it a first glimpse at the Liberal Democrat manifesto? Or (dare I say it) the Tory manifesto? I will give a clue. The same document also includes the following pledge: We will introduce best ...
Plans by Islam4uk to parade symbolic empty coffins through Wootton Bassett should be cancelled. Whilst I am concious that there have been many deaths amongst muslim insurgents it is important that this nation can show respect and honour our fallen. And the now familiar parade through Wootton Bassett of the repatriated fallen servicemen has become a focal point of that need as a nation. So I sincerely hope that the leaders of the Islamic group in question re-think these plans and consider other ways of raising awareness of the numbers killed in this conflict. In a war situation many are ...
JW and Maite left yesterday evening; our three Catalan visitors the day before, and Maurice and Olivia on the evening of January 1. Their flight from London was cancelled after several delays on Friday night and Singapore Airlines finally decided to put them in an hotel at the airport at 02.00. The replacement flight left at 14.00, 16 hours late.and when they got Singapore, there was another 7 hour wait for the connection to Auckland, during which again they were transferred to an hotel, so at least they got some sleep. Ah, the joys of air travel. Today I'm preparing ...
[IMG: save-our-pubs-and-clubs1] You may not be surprised to know that I am a supporter of the excellent SAVE OUR PUBS AND CLUBS CAMPAIGN. If you have not come across the campaign I urge you to visit the site and sign up. I also urge you to read this article that appeared in the Daily Telegraph on Saturday. Vicki Woods writes about how her local pub died as a result of the smoking ban. It touched a nerve. When I spent a splendidly frosty News Years Eve down in my home village with family, I learned that my local too had ...
So.. all the mainstream politicians are reaching for a knee-jerk quick fix reaction to the christmas underpants bomber.. unfortunately the EXPENSIVE and INTRUSIVE fix they're reaching would not prevent the exact same thing happening again.. (and o...
This was high on my list of visit options in Tel Aviv and managed to get there today before heading up to Jerusalem via Mobi'in. And sure enough, David Ben Gurions house did not diappopint. Getting there early meant there was no-one else in the house so we had the whole place to ourselves. The charm, the simplicty, the learned knowledge hungry nature of the man that I had read about stood out more than anything else. The ground floor is so of it's time - 50's I think - the green tiling has a style that is so retro ...
I'm still deciding what they are. I have several options. One is to avoid spending too much money in the vending machine at work. Easier said than done, but a lot easier than other options. Another is to get a grip of my reaction to stressful situations. Also a toughie. A third is to develop a more relaxed attitude to ignorance and cynicism. Knee jerk cynicism is not the same as intelligent scepticism. It's a corrosive attitude. We need more sceptics and fewer cynics in my view.
A continuing series of spelling out Conservative plans Part 4. I've just taken a quick look through the Conservative Party's manifesto chapter on health (you can access it here). Now on a cursory glance although expense and savings are mentioned many times there is no actual figures for much of this. Indeed apart from a line of in the introduction that says: "By the time you've finished reading this sentence we'll have racked up £33,000 more in [national] debt" There are only three figures of actual costs either current or future of what is involved. First up we have we ...
So I've joined a bunch of groups at the libdems act site, and created two of my own : "LibDem Air Travellers against stupdity" .. 'Fed up with paying pointless faux-green taxes on flights or the infantile pointless security theatre at airports - ...
Controversies over budgets and election timings are not new things under the UK political sun. Way back in 1950 Attlee wanted to call the 1950 election for May, after a spring budget that would have included the ending of petrol rationing. However his chancellor Stafford Cripps had other ideas. .... Cripps was adamant that it would be immoral to deliver a budget just before an election - and threatened to resign over the issue. Such was Cripps standing in the country ... that Attlee felt he had no alternative but to yield to Cripps wishes. But as he remarked privately ...
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 penultimate article, the second most-read LDV op-ed of 2009, was by Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson, and originally appeared on 26th April ... Jo Swinson writes... Experiences of a Female MP: Overcoming the Ultimate Old Boys Club On 8th April, 2009, Jo Swinson MP delievered the Elizabeth Wallace Memorial Lecture at Glasgow University, hosted by the Glasgow Association of University Women. It was entitled 'Experiences of a Female MP: Overcoming ...
There are no easy answers to the fiscal dilemmas of 2010-15 - but Brown's outright denialism is plain irresponsible, and will not win votes
Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's off to an election we go - and can't you just tell from the first salvos from Labour against Cameron and Tories against Brown that it's going to be an edifying few months. No doubt we LibDems will be above such things - judging from Nick's pronouncement this morning (continuing a theme from Conference) that we are different to the other two parties. We are. We definitely are. So - let's hope we remain different. The last thing this country needs is the same bankrupt politics that has held sway for so long. New hope ...
I hope you all had a great Christmas and celebrated the New Year in style. It has been an excellent 2009 for Liberal Youth Wales - Starting with the relaunch at Spring Conference in Cardiff, our incredibly successful campaigns, and at Fresher's Fayre's up and down Wales in September we increased our membership by 50%. However all of this was thanks to the people who ran Liberal Youth Wales. I would like to thank the current executive members, and those who have stood down this year, namely Corey, Richard and Leanne for their part in making Liberal Youth Wales what ...
Just before New Year the Green Party released an ICM poll of Brighton Pavilion. The poll showed them on 35% (up 14% on the notional 2005 result), the Conservatives second on 27% (+4), Labour, who currently hold the seat, third on 25% (-13) and the Liberal Democrats on 11% (-5).
Failed to get up and do the Brown Willie run. But did get out for a slow 6 miles, along the river, and then braved the scales. Not a happy moment. Been out for a run, or walk, every day since! But there are more important things than my weight in the weeks ahead. Tomorrow the Newham appeal starts. That's the plan to build 1000 houses on the edge of Truro, adding perhaps 3000 people to our population, an increase of about 15%. We knocked the developers back when they tried to slip it past the Implementation Executive, in the ...
Apparently, Suffolk is being lined up for the site of a 'reintroduction' of the white-tailed sea eagle, according to an opinion piece in today's Times. Libby Purves is against them, on the grounds that Suffolk isn't a very big place (I paraphrase and precis a bit here). Whilst I'm slightly bemused as to why Natural England and the RSPB are bothering, I can't see the harm in it. There is already an established colony of sea eagles in the Netherlands, just across the North Sea, and in all likelihood, we experience the odd visit already. The question is, are there ...
This article on ConHome caught my eye. It suggests that Cameron could approach leading figures from the Lib Dems and the Labour Party to ask them to take positions in his government. Quite apart from whether Cameron would do this in the first place (I suspect not - the right wing of his party would hate it as can be seen by some of the comments on ConHome) people like Lord Ashdown should be very wary of such offers. A Conservative government will pursue fundamentally different objectives from a Liberal Democrat one and although there may an (very small amount ...
Fans of non-fixed term parliaments often point to the USA for an example of why our system is much better. After all, their presidential campaigns are now never any shorter than 16 months, sometimes even more. That leads to election fatigue in even the most seasoned veterans. And even then, as soon as one cycle begins, ...
MP urges constituents to call the Home Heat Helpline on 0800 33 66 99 for their free Little Book of Energy advice booklet Thousand of households in South Manchester could be missing out on savings of up to £250 a year on the energy bills because they are failing to claim free insulation grants to which they are entitled, local MP John Leech warned today. Recent research suggests there are 3.6 million eligible households across the country that missing out on free help and up to 3600 homes in South Manchester could be saving around £150 a year on their ...
A quick post to note that today is the start of a monumental week of meetings at County Hall. Each day there is a meeting of a scrutiny committee looking at a different aspect of the budget for next year. First up is the Communities Scrutiny, which covers things such as housing, leisure centres, libraries and community services. It is the Committee on which I lead for the Liberal Democrats. I'll post again with some notes from the meeting later today.
Morning all, and welcome to LDV's 'Back-to-Work'* edition of the Daily View, on the day in 1642 King Charles I sent soldiers to arrest members of Parliament, and Rose Heilbron became the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, in 1972. And a very happy birthday to Sir Isaac Newton, born 367 years ago today, and chef Rick Stein, 62 today. * For those of us with cushy office-based jobs. 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that caught my eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: Labour ...
Well, a long holiday- and a long break from blogging. I have travelled several thousand miles across several European countries, but am now back in Tallinn, under a record covering of snow. Like all of Northern Europe, the winter here is breaking records, being both much colder and much snowier than usual. The ice is beginning to cover the sea, and we are told that the ice road to the islands will be open within a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the last part of 2009 was a time of a large number of goodbyes- including the flat I lived in ...
Update at 12.00 noon Phillip's High School is completely closed today Monday 4th January 2010, but year 11 are expected to be in from Tuesday 5th (and year 10 for Science lessons, some Maths and Business Studies - the year 10 pupils were told in assembly). St Mary's RC Primary, Radcliffe will also be closed today, to all pupils. Year 2 pupils at St Peter's CE Primary School, were sent home this morning due to a burst pipe and flooding St Michael's RC Primary School is closed today to all pupils due to a boiler failure St Mary's RC Primary, ...
After 12 and half years can a Government who had as its mantra "Education, education, education" be allowed room for error over those at Primary School level? The answer has got to be no. Yet this morning the Prime Minister and his School's Secretary are going to announce plans to guarantee extra tuition for primary pupils who fall behind. Considering Ed Balls is also calling for a debate with his opposite numbers does he really want to defend that Labour record and that election pledge after 13 years of Labour Government. Brave man. So why after 12 and half years ...
It's not a literary masterpiece nor is it easy to read, but might it be the most important book ever written? Dr James Hansen, the NASA scientist who has done so much over the last 30 years to try to warn a sceptical United States about global warming, attempts to explain why most climate predictions are understatements. Here are four key thoughts from "Storms of my grandchildren - The truth about the coming climate catastrophe and our last change to save humanity": 1) Ice melts much faster than it forms and everyone (especially the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is ...
Over the last few days I've heard that we have lots in common with David Cameron and his Tories and that we share ideals with Gordon Brown and Labour. We must be getting something very wrong!! Or has Westminster become such a smoke and mirrors place that those two can't see through their own spin?Maybe I should invite them to Stockton to see how they could work together in a joint administration
Just before Christmas, the Government published two media releases on the subject of crime and sentencing. The first concerned making several 'legal highs' illegal; the second announced a review of the maximum sentences for dangerous driving. What grabbed my attention was the current similarity of sentences for very different crimes. Currently the maximum sentence for dangerous ...
There's a tradition amongst some bloggers of publishing statistics - how many people visited the blog over a month, quarter or year. My blog is a local one - most of my posts are (I would expect) only of interest to residents in my Cheadle & Gatley ward or, at most, Stockport Borough. Looking at the geographic spread of visitors, whilst the biggest proportion are local, there's a surprising number from across the country and even abroad. Many of those, I'm sure, have arrived in error, but perhaps a few found what they were looking for. I've done a bit ...
The One Wales Government continued to follow its unusual course today with open dissatisfaction being voiced by a Plaid Cymru Assembly Member at the performance of her Labour opposite number. Helen Mary Jones, who speaks for Plaid Cymru on health and social services felt it was necessary to go public on her concern that a key One Wales commitment could fall victim to spending cuts after virtually no progress being made in implementing it in the last two and a half years. She pointed out that the pledge to provide at least one family nurse per secondary school has still ...
He may have said that he is not going to give evidence to the Chilcott Inquiry on the Iraq War but Prince Charles has made sure that his views on this conflict have been made public today. A senior royal aide insisted yesterday that the Prince would not allow any documents detailing discussions he had about the war with the then prime minister Tony Blair to be seen by Sir John Chilcot's inquiry. His refusal comes after it was claimed that, behind the scenes, Charles - who was given access to the same secret intelligence papers and briefing notes as ...
I'm not entirely sure that I can keep up with the unceasing love-bombing that is raining down on me. With that nice Mr Cameron inviting us to take the blame for anything that happens during the 'war on something' help him fight the war on terror, and now the rather less affable Mr Brown claiming that; "The Liberals I think are closer to us on tax and public services, there's obviously the possibility of people working in common harmony. But equally we've got party politics that come in the way. I think our policies, you know, appeal to Liberal voters ...
The #kerryout campaign launches today amidst cries of foul play from Labour stooges. The thing is when New Labour appointed expense fiddler Kerry McCarthy as the poster girl for new media campaigning they forgot one very crucial element: she's rubbish at it. Labour are now flailing about besides themselves whilst failing to grasp the irony that their "Twitter Tsar" is being out-twittered. Proof that campaigning is becoming more visual is the accompanying video: It's only 1 and 1/2 minutes long and could easily go viral. This is a modern style of campaigning the LibDems could easily adapt to snatch target ...
The Times reports that fears by senior Labour figures that that Tony Blair's appearance at the Iraq inquiry in the coming weeks will wreck any prospect of him helping the party at the general election. They say that the Iraq inquiry, which was set up by Gordon Brown and which resumes its hearings tomorrow, is reopening old divisions between Brownites and Blairites months before Labour seeks a fourth term. Apparently, growing criticism is being voiced within the former Prime Minister's inner circle about Mr Brown's decision to hold the inquiry with public hearings in the run-up to the election: Mr ...
Here is what the First Bus website says about services for today. Fair enough it is a Saturday timetable. So my normal bus the X1 is not running, my alternative service to work on the Calder Road is the 27/28 service. Here is what the timetable says for Saturday service. The circled is my bus stop in Bathgate. I stood there from 6:40 this morning in readiness for the 6:52. It didn't show. Then the 7:23 didn't show. So I am now typing on the 7:53. I mean it is not like it is warm or anything. I could have ...
Writing about the More Arms, a recently closed Shropshire pub, I mentioned the stories of Ronnie Lane (from the Small Faces) and Eric Clapton playing impromptu concerts there and in other equally remote hostelries on the Shropshire/Montgomeryshire border. There is more detail on the Rod Stewart Fan Club site, which tells us that Lane moved to Fishpool Farm in the village of Hyssington, which is a couple of fields into Wales, just off the Shrewsbury to Bishop's Castle road: The stories of Lane and his rock and roll friends are part of local folklore. Many remember impromptu performances round a ...
[IMG: Lynne campaigning for Oyster pre-pay on First Capital Connect] For many Stroud Greeners today will be the first back at work after the Christmas break, and time to dust off the oster card and get commuting. The good news is that the oyster machines at Harringay have been switched on at last and oyster pre-pay can now be used. This is long overdue -Transport for London (TfL) and First Capital Connect (FCC) have been wrangling over its implementation for years. Lynne Featherstone helped push things along with a campaign launched in 2008 to get them to commit to a ...
When Carter-Ruck and Trafigura attempted to curb the free reporting of Parliament, which most of us thought had been guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, I complained in House Points that while: Nick Clegg, David Heath and Paul Burstow all spoke out in defence of the public's right to unimpeded reporting of Parliament ... their expenses were far dearer to the hearts of most members. Second houses, furnishings, gardening... that was what moved them.It seems that Labour MPs have now remembered the Bill of Rights. Yesterday's Sunday Times reported: Three Labour MPs being investigated for expenses fraud are arguing that ...
Chris Huhne has taken the same line as Norman Baker in criticising the government for not installing full-body scanners at British airports sooner. It would be more impressive if either had discovered this enthusiasm for scanners before Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempted attack. But will these scanners make air passengers any safer? Two reports in yesterday's newspapers suggested that they may not. The Mail on Sunday quotes the Tory MP Ben Wallace, who worked on the scanners at the defence research organisation QinetiQ before entering Parliament in 2005, as suggesting that the £100,000 'millimetre wave' machines would not have been able ...
From Monday 18 January the SM19 service from Epping Station to Harlow via Thornwood will also run on Saturdays along a route which has been extended to Ongar. [Information from Essex County Council's Bus Passenger News.] You can find out more about local bus services here and at Traveline (tel: 0871 200 2233). I've also found this independent website useful for Epping to Harlow journeys.
The agony of planning pretty much complete, work begins on our new outbuilding this week, at least, it will if the snow melts and the man with the digger can see what it is he's trying to work on. However, here's a picture of where we are now... The paw prints that you can just make out are those of our neighbour's cat, Timpy, and at the back you can see the wheelbarrows ready for action. We even have two signs in the shed to warn drivers that work is taking place...
An unholy row has broken out here in Malaysia about whether non-Muslims have the right to refer to God as 'Allah'. A local Catholic publication, The Herald, did so, causing protests from some Islamic groups, but a judge then upheld the right of non-Muslims to use the word Allah within their own community. However, sensitivities in this ...
On December 18th 2009, Iain Dale wrote a blogpost promoting the removal of Kerry McCarthy MP at the next general election. To achieve this he encouraged his billions of readers to donate to her Tory rival in Bristol East, Adeela Shafi. The campaign took off moderately well, particularly on Twitter with the #KerryOut hashtag, and has raised £1,300 for the Tory PPC. Sadly, there does seem to be a distinct nastiness towards this campaign. I am no fan of Kerry McCarthy, but she seems to me to be just another insignificant Labour backbencher. Other than her prolific Twitter use, I ...
I haven't made a New Year's Resolution this year, but I did last year. I vowed to buy and listen to an album for every week of the year. Here's what I bought: Boxcutter - Glyphic Trentemoller - The Last Resort Justice - Cross Flying Lotus - Los Angeles De La Soul - Buhloone Mindstate Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior Azaxx - The Exotic Delight Bay Royksopp - Junior Mistabishi - Drop DJ Hidden - The Later After Mutt - Treading Water Various - Balmer Loosies vol 3 Stonephace - Stonephace Hint - Driven From Distraction Natural Self ...
Today I jailbroke my phone, using the stupidly named blackra1n, and following the step-by-step guide here. There were a couple of points during the jailbreak at which iTunes tried to start - presumably something it did made the iPhone appear to have been just plugged in and so iTunes tried to start, and so I killed iTunes each time with extreme prejudice before it had a chance to communicate with the iPhone and potentially brick it. In retrospect, I should have turned that off in iTunes first before doing this.Everything seems to have worked just fine.So far I've found and ...
Following years of Labour and Conservative politicians treating the Liberal Democrats with complete contempt, suddenly it's love. In fact if you watch This Week, (a programme which I admit is one I love, despite what I'm about to say), the attitude of the other two main parties is that the Liberal Democrats are just there ...
Arsene Wenger was "infuriated" yesterday when the game was stopped because a West Ham player was injured and the referee stopped the game. How dare he stop the game when Arsenal had an extra player on the pitch? Ironically Arsenal got their winner with ten men on the pitch but the point is that we have lost our sense of the importance of the individual. It doesn't seem to matter at all that a player was injured. When I was a sports physiotherapist the great advantage in American Football and in rugby was that I could go on the pitch ...
