My source tells me that the results are in for the selection of the candidate to replace Liberal Democrat MP David Howarth. And the winner is... Julian Huppert:http://www.julianhuppert.org.uk/ Full results to follow
Well the late apology from the government over the Thalidomide disaster is better than never. However, there has to be more recognition of how the disaster is symptomatic of the problems caused by companies having too much economic and social power, which is congruent with their lack of moral responsibility and care for civil liberties. This relates to the ...
****PARENTAL ADVISORY WORDING***** Just thought I'd share this hilarious/worrying/scary [delete as applicable] geek test from this months Attitude. I've made slight adjustments to be Omni-sexual. 1. Is Forbidden Planet your favourite pick up joint?2. Do you relate to the characters in Douglas Coupland's Mircoserfs?3. Do you see sexual* allegory in fantasy adventure stories?4. Get a stiffy/moist** for Daleks? (Or ever wanted to be a noughties assistant? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.) 5. Have you ever spent an entire afternoon posting negative thoughts on online forums?6. Do you spend every afternoon posting negative thoughts on online forums?7. Do you live for the ...
I pass no comment, merely post the eBay link. ;-)
My response to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority consultation: Question 1: Do you agree that the CSPL's principles, supplemented as proposed, should form the basis of the new expenses system? Yes Additional comments: The public must have a right to know the specifics of expenses. This implied by "open and transparent" but MPs have for years insisted that ...
You can donate via the Disasters Emergency Committee to help the people of Haiti here. The "Disaster Emergency Committee" sounds a tad bureaucratic but it is basically all the major UK overseas aid charities (listed below) clubbing together to collect money and use it to help in cases of dire emergency across the world. They also act to produce appeals with the broadcasters. Today John Hurt and Kirsty Young are fronting just such an appeal for Haiti. There's an ITN report on this below. The charities represented on the Disasters Emergency Committee are: Action Aid, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE ...
Don't get me wrong, I'm fully behind Jo Swinson and the Real Women campaign. But having blogged this morning on the miraculous transformation of our Tory PPC I am now informed that the same thing has happened next door in Sefton Central! If you go to the Sefton Tories Website, and click on the link to Debi's website guess where you land up? And so it is that Debi is airbrushed. This morning this young lady was on the Southport Tory PPC's website. Now she is acting as a body double for Sefton Cenral Tory PPC Debi Jones. No sexist ...
On getting home late from work I had an email with the following message about bin collections tomorrow. The issue has been a burning one all week, so though I know that it is late to put it on this website, I hope you'll pass the message on if you get it: There has been a concentration on the collection of general waste today with extra runs along with the collection of additional bags in many areas. There will be a collection on Saturday which will concentrate on the recycling bins for rounds for rounds 1-4 (Consett, Leadgate, Dipton and ...
A short debate took place on John Hemming's motion yesterday and it was referred to the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee. Some background.
My little tribute to Teddy Pendergrass, giant of soul music. One hell of a performer.
Following yesterday's resignation of Bruce Cameron-Laker, there is a vacant seat on Mid Suffolk District Council in Haughley & Wetherden, north-west of Stowmarket, and one of the four district wards that make up the County division of Upper Gipping (why does that sound vaguely familiar?). I don't know Bruce at all, except that he is a Conservative who won the ward by just 45 votes in 2007 over Liberal Democrat candidate, Geoff Clarke. The full result last time: 354 votes Bruce Cameron-Laker (Conservative) 309 votes Geoff Clarke (Liberal Democrat) 122 votes Jenny Overett (Green) So, less than a 3% swing ...
I blogged on Wednesday about The Independent's coverage of Nick Clegg's interview in Attitude magazine. So this afternoon on the way home (via Clifton Terrace to drop off my conference registration) you guess which article I read first. The one about Gareth Thomas the rugby player? No. The one about E4's latest show about teenagers Glee? No. The interview with Nick Clegg. Could be. Indeed how could it be anything else, though the article of geek love sandwiched between Gareth and Nick almost got my attention. Only joking. So apart from the gay agenda which the Indy picked up on ...
As I blogged yesterday our long campaign for a temporary library had a success yesterday. Here is a letter I have sent to the keep folk up todate with progress. A big thank you to them all and especially to Jean Alexander (Hilda Ogden) who was the mega star of the campaign Dear Friend This Thursday all your hard work paid off as the cabinet meeting at Southport Town Hall changed its mind about a replacement town centre library. Previously, it was decided that residents would have to use the locallibraries in Ainsdale, Birkdale and Churchtown during the 3-yearclosure. However, ...
In June of last year I wrote about one of the more entertaining expense claims that had come to light at Westiminster. David Tredinnick, the Tory MP for Bosworth in Leicestershire, had claimed for astrology software bought from a company called Crucial Astro Tools and for tuition from the same company to show him how to use it. News comes today, courtesy of the Leicester Mercury, that he has repayed the £755 he received for these claims. Though Tredinnick still defends this use of public money: "There are, in my view, links between astrology and healthcare and this is held ...
Only just found this thanks to ComeAllWithin. England U18s beating Scotland 63-0 in March. Incredible pace, support, offloading and attacking the gain line. Think MJ should be made to watch it!
AS you probably know, Northern Ireland MP Iris Robinson had an affair. The press went bonkers about it because, like in the film The Graduate, Mrs Robinson had got friendly with a much younger chap. This time it wasn't Dustin Hoffman, but Kirk McCambley - who was 19 at the time. The fiery politician is married to Peter Robinson, head of the Northern Irish Assembly. Some claim that she was involved in financial wheeling and dealing too. Irate Iris is quitting the politics game, and her husband hasn't managed to dodge the flak either. Poor Peter's stepped down as boss ...
I've filled out the online questionaire to input into the MPs' expenses consultation by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Hopefully this will be the last review/consultation. So it's worth getting your views in here. The summaries (of their deliberations on the main issues on the site) indicate that they are thinking along the right lines from my point of view – and I am a relatively extreme "MPs should be like anyone else in business and if they don't like it they can get another job" merchant (see sample post "Boo Hoo! MPs don't get paid enough") If you want ...
I forgot, of course, to mention that today in 1919, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, were tortured and murdered by the ultra-nationalist paramilitary thugs. Ruhe in Frieden Rosa und Karl.
The news that Cambridgeshire Chief Constable Julie Spence has been appointed to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) is likely to divide people. Depending on your point of view, Julie Spence either has fed just the sort of whipped up fears of immigrants stories based on flawed 'facts' that the tabloids so love (and so will be decidedly bad news at the PCC) or has been herself the victim of tabloid misreporting (and so may bring some very useful insights to the PCC). A previous profile of Julie Spence in The Guardian lays out both sides of the case: This chief ...
[IMG: Democratic Ornament] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: prettywar-stl It should have been a shoe-in for the Democrats. Ted Kennedy's old senate seat is up for grabs at a special (by-) election on January 19th. This is in Massachusetts, the heartland of the Democrats. The last time Ted Kennedy was re-elected, he got 69% of the vote. It's been a safe seat for the Democrats for 60 years! State Attorney General, Martha Coakley, selected to fight for the Democrats, was ahead by 20 points a few weeks ago. Then the polls started going neck and neck. Now she's behind ...
Research released by the Liberal Democrats has found that over 100,000 innocent people have been added to the National DNA Database since the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled the practice illegal in December 2008. In our area Merseyside Police hold 150,820 profiles, and of this figure there are 31,371 innocent people included on ...
Was walking up to the flat this evening I thought we'd had quite a thaw today while I was out at work because the road was remarkably clear. I soon found out the reason why. The ploughs have been here, they have heaped snow up to five a half feet high out the back. Taking up people's parking spaces, in fact they have heaped it up outside on one bay which is a disabled person's parking space. There are three spaces in our section that are unusable. Just after I shot a video (which I am attempting to upload) one ...
I think that this story on ConHome should taken with a large pinch of salt. There's absolutely no proof that this letter came from the Labour party as ConHome reports. However if it did I wouldn't be hugely surprised if it was the work of people close to Nick Brown. He's not exactly renowned for playing nice!
http://twitpic.com/xcvic – Half-way thru my Sat lunchtime chore – snowman building. # RT @iaindale Blogpost: Why the LibDems Will Gain Seats in Scotland http://tinyurl.com/y9oje9q <– looks good to me # Lab shadow cabinet results 1996 (via @paulwaugh) http://bit.ly/7Y1QoT Fascinating top 7: Beckett, Taylor, Short, Strang, Cook, Dewar, Dobson # http://twitpic.com/xcyyk – @jamesgraham @philipfh Everyone's a critic (u cd have been more phallic). Finished version. # phew, just finished article on LD prospects for the 2010 general election for the Government Gazette. Let the weekend commence ... Oh. # 'Wikipedia appeal raises $430,000 in one day' from 13,000 peopke http://bit.ly/6uu6rC interesting? ...
The major resurfacing work due for the lower end of Shire Way was delayed yet again because of the snow. It has now been rescheduled to start on Monday 18 January, and to be complete by Wednesday 27 January. Temporary traffic lights will be in operation. This will be a full-scale excavate and resurface process similar to what was done on the other part of Shire Way. It will not be the same as the thin coating that was put on Heron Way, about which there were many complaints at the Area Forum at the Shireway Community Centre recently - ...
Last night I attended Cameron Direct with Mark Reckons who has done a blog on the event here. I agree with Mark that it was good to see the possible future Prime Minister up close. David Cameron is an excellent performer live, this is his 157th Cameron Direct. Although there is a Blair feeling about him when you see him live. I can also see him doing very well in the leader debate. What bothered me about this event was that it did have enough swing voters there. Infact most of the audience were those in politics (there were two ...
[IMG: Cameron poster]
The Yorkshire MEP Edward McMillan-Scott, who was expelled from the Conservative Party for opposing David Cameron's unholy alliance with right-wing parties such as Poland's Law and Justice Party (PiS) in the European Parliament, is mounting a High Court legal challenge to his expulsion. Mr McMillan-Scott has been excluded from the party for a period of five years — ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. And when I tried to high-five Stephen Tall by way of celebration, he thought I was putting up my hand and asking to compile the Friday Five again. Ah, why not - 5 most-read stories on LDV this week 1. Revealed: the Lib-Con pact election poster (33) by Stephen Tall 2. What do we want? Section 63 of the Metropolitan Paving Act 1817 of course (20) by Mark Pack 3. NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year? (22) by Stephen Tall 4. Gina Ford vs Nick Clegg (12) by Mark Pack 5. ...
....some birthdays and a bit of sporting history. Yeah it is 5pm on Friday time to pack up the office for another weekend, but on this particular Friday the following people if any of them were still alive would be celebrating their birthdays. First up is the Scottish poet Ivor Cutler who was born 87 years ago today. He based away in 2006 but here he is singing Shoplifters. Ten years old it would have been Lloyd Bridges 97th birthday today, but the father of Jeff and Beau died in 1998. Finally some more music from Lynyrd Skynyrd in honour ...
Time to get back in the swing especially with an election coming up. The weather has produced chaos all over Woking and Surrey. I'll cover that later, but more importantly, I've learned that the black bins in my part of Horsell are going to be emptied tomorrow, Saturday, for the first time since 23rd December! Hooray. Well done Woking Borough Council (not). So if your bin is normally emptied on Wednesday get it out there now!
Nick Clegg will be holding an online forum for young people on Wednesday 20 January from 4:30 p.m. He will answer questions on issues facing young people and you can join in the forum. Here is a link to Lynne Featherstone MP's Parliament and Online ...
I've just had some really worrying figures through about the number of people with their details stored on the national DNA database - both nationally and on Merseyside. Back in Decemer 2008 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that it was illegal to keep innocent people's details on teh databse. Yet it seems that more than 100,000 people who are have not been found guilty of anything, have had their details added to the database since then. The figures have come out through research by the Lib Dems in Parliament. The figures for Merseyside are: 150,820 profiles held. Of ...
Boscombe News! Please send me your news and events. info@boscalicious.info If you are forwarded this email and wish to subscribe direct, Please go to http://www.boscalicious.co.uk Editor: Lisa Northover Boscombe Sea Road Public Art Trail: Meet the artist Residents in Bournemouth are being invited to meet the artist appointed to design and produce a series of seven high quality public artworks
The Government has launched a new national scheme, the Boiler Scrappage Scheme. Households in England can apply for a £400 voucher to help with the cost of replacing old, G-rated boilers for a new A-rated boiler or renewable heating system such as a biomass boiler or a heat pump. The scheme is open to householders, including tenants, and landlords who privately own and rent dwellings. To be
Do you live in Boscombe West, Springbourne or East Cliff? Would you like to make sure your home is safe and secure? Want to fi nd out more? Call 0300 111 3303 Contact local charity Help and Care to see if you are eligible for a FREE home security and safety check. Working in Partnership Local charity Help and Care is working in partnership with Bournemouth Borough Council to provide free home
Today would've been Martin Luther King's birthday - a public holiday in the US. At just 35 years old, King was awarded the Noble Peace Prize in 1964 for his work on the civil rights movement in America. King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. His famous ' I ...
When I studied 'A' level politics, I was taught that there was a straight line that went from left to right. The line defined where parties and individuals were. When the question came up about the similarity between dictators such as Hitler and Stalin the line became curved and the left and right extremes met. At university, I was introduced to a box concept to understand political positions. In this new shape, one could be a libertarian but on the right or left and so on and so forth. This concept is the one used by political compass, political survey ...
What was the typical total on the constituency election expense returns from candidates in the 1910 general elections who fought contested elections? Answer in today's money is below the jump. The answer is around £85,000. Although this figure is very high by current standards, national expenditure was much lower. The 1906 Liberal election campaign centrally cost around £8.5 million in current money and, most impressively, raised so much money that it made a profit equivalent to around £15 million.
Never has rain felt as good as it did this morning, heralding the long-awaited thaw. Obviously that's an exaggeration (as anyone living as a subsistence farmer anywhere where it never rains will tell you), but it's nowhere near as bad an exaggeration as Alistair Darling's growth forecasts so I am relatively OK. Unfortunately the melting snow has revealed some extremely dodgy ice underneath, which actually meant it was more difficult getting to work today than on any of the other days in this whole cold spell. I hadn't had cause to curse the snow particularly vocally before, but as I ...
Seems ConHome is launching a campaign to help Conservative candidates in Tory/Lib Dem marginals. If there's one thing I'm sure of they will face a very tough fight!
I've had a few queries from people about the waste collection as there was a backlog because of last week's weather. Collections got going again on Monday this week but there will also be extra collections on Saturday to help deal with bins that haven't been emptied during the week. So if your bin isn't collected today it may be on the Saturday route.
RU Lib Dems welcome Nick Clegg's calls for full gay rights equality. In an article in the Independent, Clegg has gone further than any major party leader by demanding the end to the gay blood ban, the introduction of marriage rather than civil partnerships, anti homophobic bullying policies to be introduced in all schools – including faith schools, guaranteed asylum for LGBT people fleeing discrimination abroad and a review of Uganda's membership of the Commonwealth. The Lib Dem leader complimented Labour for its track record on gay rights, which has included the introduction of civil partnerships, the equalisation of the ...
Both UKIP and the Tories have had problems with MEPs this week. As reported earlier in the week UKIP MEP Nikki Sinclaire left the UKIP group in the European Parliament and now faces being kicked out of UKIP. Tory MEP Edward McMillan-Scott has been expelled after he defied the party and stood for a vice-president of the European Parliament.
[IMG: houses.jpg] The Liberal Democrats today set out plans to bring a quarter of a million empty homes back into use, making homes available for people who need them and creating 65,000 jobs. There are over 760,000 empty properties across England which are no longer used as homes but can be brought back into use with some investment. People who own these homes will get a grant or a cheap loan to renovate them so they can be used: grants if the home is for social housing, loans for private use. Across Bury there is a staggering 1840 empty properties ...
I attended David Cameron's "Cameron Direct" event in Reading yesterday. It was held in one of the conference rooms at the Madejski Stadium. There had been some problems with the organisation and it had been postponed from last Friday because of the weather. I have also heard that some people struggled to get places booked as it was necessary to pre-register. The fact that it started at 5:15pm on a weekday probably didn't help with maximising the possibility of all those who wished to attend being able to. Anyway, I found the whole experience fascinating from the perspective of someone ...
Nick Brown, Labour's Chief Whip, made unfounded allegations of electoral fraud against Newcastle City Council's ruling Liberal Democrats earlier this week. He claimed he could not trust the Lib Dem council with ballot boxes and papers to be left overnight so that counting could take place in the day after polling day.His groundless comments have caused a storm of protest. Now, Lib Dem chief whip
[IMG: gmp.jpg] In the latest Homewatch newsletter local Police are urging school children not to flaunt expensive gifts publicly. Thieves will be on the look out for people with new mobile phones/Ipods etc so make sure you keep them safe and try not to flash them about too much! The newsletter is packed with other useful information and recent crime statistics you can read it here: homewath-newsletter-january.pdf
I was on Wave 102 news yesterday speaking about the subject of literacy in Scotland ... click 'play' to listen.
You can help the Disasters Emergency Committee Haiti Appeal by going to http://www.dec.org.uk/donate_now/ or phone 0370 60 60 900 By Post: Please send a cheque made payable to DEC HAITI EARTHQUAKE and send it to DEC HAITI EARTHQUAKE, PO BOX 999, LONDON, EC3A 3AA.
Fri 15th
12:35
Full text of leaked Tory civil war letter that has sent folk scurrying to their lawyers
I've put the full text of Porter's letter in our download section. Well the person who wrote it said that they wanted it to have wider circulation. I have received so many copies now it would seem churlish not to share. Just for background since Mrs Porter became their parliamentary candidate the local Tories have been at each others throats. There are only six of them left on the council ! This latest outbreak is against Tom Glover the longest serving Tory first elected in 1963. When Tom was Leader 0f the Council there were 18 Tory Councillors in the ...
The other day I post about the potential opening up of China with the arrival of the Mr Gay China Pageant. Guess what? The event that was due to start today has been shut down by the Chinese police. As the Guardian article concluded on Tuesday: "Officials could show up and say 'your fire hydrant is in the wrong place. It is still a sensitive issue." So today they did indeed turn up and said the event had not followed the "correct procedures", such a 'clear' reason of what is wrong is obviously difficult for organisers to appease the officials. ...
Welcome, Daily Viewers, to January 15th – and a public engagement special. [IMG: There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm on the ferry going to pick... on Twitpic] A year ago today US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency landing into New York's Hudson River. Eyewitness Janis Krums took this famous photo of the plane (right) and immediately shared it with the internet via Twitter, thus proving the website could be used for so much more than telling the world what you had for breakfast. (The only twitpic photo that's come close since then was of a fox on the ...
For the first time ever in British politics, Labour have been in power for a whole decade, from 2000 to 2010, the noughties. So what were the Labour noughties like? This is the fifth post in the series. This post isn't meant to be particularly partisan (but I always find it hard to be totally neutral!). It is intended to be a list of the governments last 10 years of political successes and failures. Feel free to add any yourselves in the comments. In Conclusion The last 13 years have seen the most historic period in the history of the ...
Right, just a quick update on the situation in Liberal Youth (hopefully the last one I have to write for a while!). Today I spoke with Alan Belmore who, by virtue of being the last vice-president standing, is the acting president of Liberal Youth. It was really good to have this kind of direct communication with branch chairs, something which Liberal Youth needs to do a much better job of in the future. The situation is this: after the resignations of 3 of the 4 vice chairs and the chair as well as a number of GEMs there will be ...
Since the New Year my leg is more or less functional and I'm only using a stick when I go out on the snow and ice. This week we had the last evidence session - from the Minister, Lord West - in the Select Committee's current inquiry into EU policy on protecting Europe from large-scale cyber attacks, and the report will be ready by about the end of February. (The session with Lord West is to be broadcast on BBC Parliament on Monday 18 January at 10.50). Monday I fielded a question about visas for athletes attending the Olympic Games, ...
Congratulations to the Liberal Democrats who have been shortlisted in various categories for the Councillor of the Year awards, run by the Local Government Information Unit and CCLA. Warren Bradley (Liverpool) - Leader of the Year Carla Butler (Newhaven) - Young Councillor of the Year Alexis Rowell (Camden) and Paul Tilsley (Birmingham) - Sustainability councillor of the year Alex Folkes (Cornwall) and Dennis Meredith (Northants) - New Councillor of the Year Daisy Benson (Reading) and Alex Perkins (Canterbury) - Online Councillor of the Year Tracy Ismail (Islington) - Community Champion of the Year Good luck to all of them and ...
Thanks to my former colleague Mark Pack for posting up a government document on his site using Scribd. I have to confess I had never come across this site before but now that I have, I've signed up and can now put various publications for which I am responsible directly onto the web.The following is the Northern Democrat which I finished last night and which is about to be emailed to Lib Dems in
Statutory instruments. A Bill of Rights. Freedom of Information. Proportional Representation. Such ideas are not ones you hear bandied about by your average man or women on the street. Yet they were among those chosen by members of the public to try and mend the lack of trust in Britain's political system. For those of you who've not yet heard of Power2010 it's a campaign which launched in the wake of the expenses scandal, with public trust in politics at an all time low. It's a campaign for political and democratic reform, but with a difference. At every stage of ...
The latest "House of Comments" podcast with myself and Stuart Sharpe of the Sharpe's Opinion political blog is now live. The website for the podcasts is here and the tenth episode which we recorded across Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th Jan is available to download via this page here (raw mp3 file here if you prefer). You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes here. The format is to invite one or two other political bloggers each week and discuss a few of the stories that are making waves in the blogosphere. This week we were joined by Sara Bedford ...
Yesterday was our monthly meeting with the police, the one where we go through individual issues - often in some detail. Our area, Stockport West, is headed up from the police side by Inspector Stephen Gilbertson of Greater Manchester Police. Representatives from Stockport Council's Community Safety Unit, Services for Young People and Neighbourhood Renewal teams also come along. Several councillors also make it each time - though rarely any Conservatives for some reason: at yesterday's meeting there were three Lib Dems, two Ratepayers Association (from Heald Green) and no Conservatives at all. (There are no Labour councillors in the area ...
Excellent news and great work from the dozens of campaigners deeply involved. I am on Channel M talking about it tonight, but here is John Leech's fuller report into it. I will blog in full very soon.
Tory Party Chairman Eric Pickles has resorted to personal attacks on his Lib Dem opponents - surely a desperate measure from someone who is meant to be leading the 'love-bombing' efforts. A week or so ago, former Lib Dem Leader Paddy Ashdown gave an interview to the Western Morning News in which he warned that a return of the Conservatives to Government would be bad news for Cornwall. He talked about what the Conservatives had done when they were last in power and, in particular the high water charges that all Cornish taxpayers face. Mr Pickles has now hit back. ...
Praise be! Our Lord President Obama has actually taken an opinion on something! Yesterday he unveiled an opportunity to extract large sums of cash from the corporate monster that is the banking sector. The plan itself is remarkably bold for a man who has been so timid on various issues throughout the first year of his presidency, when ...
The birthday of Martin Luther King today and Nader's post on it reminds me of the day when I heard Dr King make a speech in person. I was in the audience when he was awarded an honorary degree at my university, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. We listened with bated breath when he uttered the immortal words which had become his "signature" as it were, "I have a dream ..." We were truly in the prescence of greatness. Only a few months later he was killed in his campaign for equal rights for all American citizens. But his legacy lives on. At that ...
As Helen has covered on The Voice, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority is running a public consultation on MPs' expenses. Comments on its proposals can be submitted until 11 February 2010. A couple of people mentioned in comments to that post that the proposals are rather better than the media coverage made them fear, and reading through the IPSA's proposals I've had the same reaction. Even so, it is well worth responding to the consultation because the IPSA will very likely be receiving significant lobbying from some MPs to water down various proposals. Unless other MPs and the public lobby ...
The papers give a big fanfare to George Osborne's announcement that he will cut the benefits paid to the middle classes, by removing tax credits for people earning over £50,000, and stopping Child Trust Funds for all but the poorest third of families. The Daily Mail gives the total amount saved by these changes as £700 ...
Yesterday I saw Jack Straw speak at LUU. Although he gave the usual stock government minister answers he did have a pretty good sense of humour to go along with them. He answered questions on crime and justice, Iraq, tuition fees and constitutional reform. He almost managed to compliment the Lib Dems, praising their support for constitutional reform. What was most interesting was when he talked about the things Labour hadn't done as well on regarding constitutional reform, He said Labour hadn't gone far enough with giving MPs power over the commons timetable and the government had not done a ...
Fri 15th
10:08
LIB DEM LEADER IN HOUSE OF LORDS CHALLENGES TRANSPORT SECRETARY OVER FCC's WOEFUL PERFORMANCE
Lord Tom McNally, St Albans resident and Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, today confronted the Transport Secretary Lord Adonis over the woeful performance of First Capital Connect. He used the first ever occasion for Lord Adonis to answer formal transport questions in the House of Lords to ask: "Is the Secretary of State aware that I ask this Question not as Leader of the Liberal Democrats but as one of the Poor Bloody Infantry who has to try to get in to work each day on First Capital Connect's Bedford to Brighton line. This morning ...
Fascinating blog entry yesterday from Heledd Fychan, the Plaid candidate for Montgomeryshire at the next General Election in which she makes it clear that her experience of talking to people in the constituency indicates that Glyn Davies' hype about winning is largely self-delusion and that he has a very steep hill to climb indeed if he is to oust Lembit Őpik. She joins Tory blogger and political pundit, Iain Dale in predicting that the Liberal Democrats will hold this seat. Yes, the Tories did top the poll here in Montgomeryshire at last year's European election. BUT, and this is one ...
[IMG: Dilbert.com]
Eagle eyed visitors may notice that I have placed a clickable link for the DEC Haiti appeal on my sidebar. If you would like to add this to your blog, the code is: <a href="http://www.dec.org.uk/item/200"><img border="0" /></a>
Lib Dem pensions spokesman Steve Webb has claimed the total pension deficit of local authorities in England and Wales is likely to hit £60 billion this year. If true, it would mean the deficit has increased by nearly a billion pounds a month since 2007. As the BBC reports: Using the Freedom of Information Act, Mr Webb obtained internal estimates from some councils, which showed: 83 of 87 local authorities were in deficit at their last official valuation in 2007 before the stock market slump and recession. Since then, 10% of funds have conducted their own valuations which showed deficits ...
The Welsh Affairs' Select Committee has produced a report on the Legislative Competence Order system which correctly identifies one of the reason why it is unfit for purpose but bizarrely concludes that it can be made to work better. The report identifies that requests from the Welsh Government for extra powers too often "disappear in the black hole of Whitehall". They say that Whitehall departments' sluggishness in clearing requests for additional devolution is creating long delays. They cited the plan to devolve extra responsibility for environmental policy, held up for nearly two years, and a bid to give the Assembly ...
The picture on the right is NOT of Brenda Porter, so why is it on her website? I've been holding this story for a good while now wondering how long it would last. I thought with some much bad news for Southport Tories today I would (as an act of charity) send in out today. If you go on to the Southport Conservative website the lead is a picture of their parliamentary candidate and a link to her website. I urge you to follow that link to: http://www.tellbrenda.com/. There you will find the photo opposite and a marketing agencies selling ...
Speaks for itself.
The Electoral Commission and police have just published what a report into the allegations of electoral practice held in June 2009. What does the latest one show about the state of our electoral system? The good news is that the headline figures for number of allegations and convictions are relatively modest: A total of 48 cases involving 107 allegations were recorded by police forces across Great Britain. The largest single case in Great Britain involved allegations that 24 photocopied ballot papers were sent to a Returning Officer in Aylesbury. A total of 38 cases (79% of all reported cases) involved ...
Stopping tax credits to high earners. We will stop paying Child Tax Credits to those earning over £50,000. Well, I suppose that you can't really argue with this in terms of fairness, and there is no doubt that it is bizarre to use public funds to give credits to the wealthy. I have had a look at how much in the way of child tax credits would be received by someone earning £50,000, and I make it about £550 per annum, assuming that their partner doesn't work and they have one child (try the HMRC calculator if you're interested or, ...
Newly created last year, unitary Cornwall Council is taking its first steps in drawing up a social media policy as part of a wider communications review. Although the initial paper is rather timid in its conclusions ('here are some ideas we must think about') this point struck me as particularly well made: In considering how the council can use social media, it would be a mistake to focus on specific tools like Facebook when in fact what weare really talking about is developing a new approach to communications. The key is in the word "social". This is about conversations. It ...
Another top Tory has been suspended by the Porter (Tory PPC) faction. The Southport Visiter has a full version of the foolish letter written by candidate's husband. It was a wretched day for Southport Tories yesterday and the behavior of their candidate-who is also a councillor-at yesterday's cabinet will only have served to confirm the openly expressed views of party members that she is not up to the job. If you've not read the extract from the extraordinary attack on top Southport Tories by Porter's chief cheer leader you should do so now. Follow the links to Dirty Politics from ...
We (me as Youth Spokesperson and the youth policy working group) suggested to Nick Clegg that he should meet and answer questions on issues facing young people. The result is that on 20 January from 4.30pm Nick will take any question on any issue from a young person, but the focus is on what young people care about. The event is jointly hosted with UK Youth Parliament and questions can be submitted via Twitter, or via UKYP's online forum. UKYP is an organisation focused on encouraging young people aged 11-18 to bring about positive social change. It is made up ...
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] With Labour generally making a dogs dinner of the UK, how can people seriously believe that the Tories would be any better: [IMG: c3.jpg]
RT @libdemvoice: Result: Woodfield by-election, Harrogate BC: Lib Dem gain. LD Greta Knight 688; Con 246; BNP 92; Lab 73 # @edtrelinski Excellent news! in reply to edtrelinski # Congrats to BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight team on their Robinson story - shows there's plenty of room still for high quality journalism # @RaymondSnoddy Other readers of Booker look to have come to a very different conclusion, e.g. http://bit.ly/6K9FdZ in reply to RaymondSnoddy # Digital Economy Bill: round-up of Lords amendments from paidContent:UK - http://bit.ly/6k8ID5 # @jamesseddon Ta! in reply to jamesseddon # RT @GoodandBadPR: Clever! RT @louisedoherty Have you been ...
I predicted this in Nov 07 and more is still to come. Read about it in today's Liverpool Daily Post
Here's the verdict of The Economist's columnist on British politics, the pseudonymous Bagehot: In some ways, miraculous to report, the Liberal Democrats have the most mature position on the deficit. Nick Clegg, their leader, this week demoted some of the party's spending pledges (for example, on pensions and university funding) to aspirations, pre-emptively narrowing his manifesto to a few, affordable core themes. He has not promised to protect any departmental budgets. Vince Cable, his Treasury spokesman, has a longer list of items for the chop than Mr Osborne, including some cherished defence projects, but accepts that the axeman's hand should ...
My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Ford unpopular Interviewed by the Sunday Times last week, Nick Clegg mentioned that he and Miriam had tried then discarded the methods advocated by the mother-and-baby guru Gina Ford. "It was like following a sort of Ikea assembly instruction manual. It made us feel strangely passive as parents." I doubt this was planned by Cowley Street spin doctors: it reads like one of those outbreaks of candour Nick is prone to (and which make insiders nervous). But readers' comments on the paper's website suggest he struck a chord with the public. ...
Earlier this week, I updated residents on http://www.dundeewestend.com/ about the recent report to City Development Committee of Dundee City Council on residents' parking. Last night, the Evening Telegraph ran a news article on the subject, including my comments, and you can read this by going to http://tinyurl.com/teleparking.
I notice from my almanac that today is littered with anniversaries some important and some not so. Elizabeth is crowned Queen of England in 1559, and two hundred years later the British Museum opens. No the two are not directly ...
"Mirror, signal, manoeuvre." That is the order of actions to be taken over overtaking, changing lanes etc whilst driving a car. The equivalent, "look, announce, move" may well be said of a Chancellor driving an economy out of recession. Such a warning that the Conservatives party are not going to do this has come from Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats Treasury Spokesman. "It's foolish to set a political timetable with no regard for the state of the economy. There's a big risk that if cuts begin suddenly and on a purely political basis the economy will be plunged back into ...
Liberal Democrat-led Swansea Council has been praised by Amateur Photographer magazine for bucking the trend amongst Councils who try to restrict photographs in public places. The magazine reports: Amid continued controversy surrounding the attitude of many officials towards photographers, an amateur has praised the approach of his local council as a 'breath of fresh air'. Swansea Council posted a sign outside its 'Winter Wonderland' warning people that the event was likely to attract photographers. It stated: 'Please be aware that a high level of photography by members of the public is likely at this event. Thank you for your co-operation.' ...
Yesterday's Times published this eye opener on Tories policies on localism and planning: The Shadow Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, said: "Whoever wins the election, funding will be under severe strain, with the need to cut the deficit. But we're proposing a new approach to housing finance in urban areas where, for every new home built and ...
Today is the birthday of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., probably the singlemost influential American Black man of the 20th century. Without the work that he did as leader of the struggle for Black emancipation in the 1950s and 60s, work carried on by ...
Responding to George Osborne's admission that the Conservatives would begin to cut spending immediately after the General Election if they won. Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: "Nobody doubts that serious budget discipline will be required in the coming years in order for Britain to maintain its credit worthiness, but it's foolish to set a political timetable with no regard for the state of the economy. "There's a big risk that if cuts begin suddenly and on a purely political basis that the economy will be plunged back into prolonged recession. "What is needed is a set of clear ...
Next week's cabinet report confirms the worst fears - and expectations - of Consett's place in Durham County's plans. Firmly amongst the also-rans. A report on "building an office accomodation portfolio to support a workforce capable of delivering a transformational authority" ranks Consett alongside Stanley, Easington, Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Newton Aycliffe Seaham and Stanhope as "Supporting Centres". The premiership "Main Centres" will be at Chester-le-Street, Durham, Crook, Spennymoor and a shadowy "presence in the A19 corridor". These will handle all the main functions of the council, education, social services, planning, administration etc. They will be where most of the ...
Local residents are celebrating today after plans to build on Chorlton Meadows were withdrawn by the developers. In the face of huge local opposition, the developers withdrew the plans halfway through Thursday's meeting of the planning committee after members of the committee made it clear that the plans would be rejected. Local Lib Dems oppossed the plans from the start. I am delighted that the committee members listened to local residents and were planning to throw out the application before it was withdrawn. We all want to see improvements in local amenities, but these plans were just not right for ...
Local residents are celebrating today after plans to build on Chorlton Meadows were withdrawn by the developers. In the face of huge local opposition, the developers withdrew the plans halfway through Thursday's meeting of the planning committee after members of the committee made it clear that the plans would be rejected. Local Lib Dems oppossed the plans from the start. I am delighted that the committee members listened to local residents and were planning to throw out the application before it was withdrawn. We all want to see improvements in local amenities, but these plans were just not right for ...
Chris Huhne was excellent as ever on QT and he wasn't that disadvantaged by having to cope with two Labour and two Tory panellists. When will there be two Lib Dem panellists to make up for the weeks we've had two panellists from the red/blue parties? There are many intellectuals, bloggers and even a few thinking ...
I couldn't help it. I said I would give you two blogs on this poster but I will just add one more. I know you can probably think of many other possible manipulations but I am not adding any beards or moustaches. I promise no more overlap between http://politicsfornovices.blogspot.com/ and http://photographyfornovices.blogspot.com/ but if you want to see some good uses for photographic manipulation you could take a look at http://gradwellphotography.co.uk/secrets.html I can recommend the work (well it was me). Change the world (and a few photographs)
