Lynne Featherstone, the local MP, who has been pressing for the publication, sees some progress.
2010 is really turning out to be a big steaming pile of shite. Anyone else got anything to throw at me? Come on, bring it on. I can take it. I'm a big girl. I really, really, really want to go and kick the shit out of something right now. Somebody give me an excuse. Please.
The petition has finally been handed in. "Hands off Preston Park", set up by our 3 Lib Dem Councillors in Eaglescliffe in response the overwhelming demand from local residents attracted a grand total of 2561 names from both the paper and web petition. What is amazing is that all those names were gathered by individuals getting concerned friends and neighbours to sign, as well as a lot of local...
Today the cabinet agreed to put out to consultation a proposal to close six local authority residential care homes, and develop others for specialist purposes. The issue dosesn't affect Consett directly, though it does affect Lynwood in Lanchester, and Manor House and Stanfield House on the Stanley side of the Loud Bank. Fortunately for the people of Stanhope, Newtown House is to stay open because of the lack of suitable alternatives nearby. It's a difficult issue because the council's homes would need big investment to meet the standards that will be required in the future, and faced with those bills ...
Earlier today I received an email asking me to sign this petition concerning the Equality Bill. It's about Schedule 9, Paragraph 2, Subsection 8. I tried to do a bit of reading on this but soon found myself tightly enmeshed within a complex web of accusations, denials, schedules, clauses etc etc The petition reads: We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Remove the current employment provisions set out in Schedule 9, Paragraph 2, subsection 8 of the Equality Bill (the occupational requirements relating to sex, marriage and sexual orientation for the purposes of organised religion). These restrict the rights ...
As reported in the Evening Gazette tonight's council meeting was the moment when the work of the last few weeks came to its culmination. The petiton against siting Egglescliffe School in Preston park was presented by 2 members of our local community, Stella and Cynthia, supported by former ward councillor and now Preston Parish Councillor Mike Cherrett. When we arrived at the Town Hall we were
I am not talking about major structural changes to the system, instead I think it is right to call for a more socialist system. I don't understand the logic of the discourse being used to talk about the recovery that hounds in on the lack of spending and the more conservative saving attitude of many at the moment, as ...
On the first day of debate in the Scottish budget both Nick Clegg in Westminster and Tavish Scott in Holyrood highlighted in different ways the failure of our banks to lend. While Nick asked in the Commons how a bank we bailed out, which is not lending to domestic businesses to protect jobs, is leading to an American takeover of a UK company that will lead to losses, Tavish tried to deal with the SNP budget. Writing to all members he says: "The economic background is serious. Unemployment continues to rise in Scotland, when it is falling in the rest ...
I was really pleased when Channel 4 started running their trailers for their Indian Winter season, it was disappointing that they chose to play it safe and come up with a whole load of stereotypes. Just watching Gordon Ramsay, not one of my favourite actors, tends to play to his potty-mouth screen persona, bit like the Geoff Boycott and his "professional Yorkshireman" schtick. Anyway, he's been shipped off all over India preparing food and swearing a lot (though thankfully not at the "natives") and being generally amazed at everything and everyone, without any insight, perception, or in fact anything new ...
The EDP writes today Norfolk's neediest youngsters could miss out on lifeline support because of a £1.9m cut in funding to more than one-third of the county's schools, many in the most deprived areas. The county council is set to slice the sum out of the grants it makes to schools to help them boost results among vulnerable children. In all 167 schools will get less money than they were promised - with cuts ranging from a few hundred pounds to almost £93,000 for the biggest loser, Great Yarmouth High. Interesting to note that despite Cameron's pledge to defend eduction ...
The Green candidate in Great Yarmouth is standing down in order to support and help the Tory candidate. You really couldn't make it up, but it sums up what many of us find about the Greens here in Norfolk. The oppose things they support, the offer no solutions, only criticism, and they even support other parties which are widely acknowledged as being the most sceptical when it comes to climate change and have the poorest eco credentials. People in Norwich South ought to take note.
The following update comes with thanks to Sheena Wellington! "Carolan, Connellan and Lyons" - a special concert of 18th century harp music by three famous old Irish composers, will be held this weekend in Dundee's Wighton Centre. The Friends of Wighton's January Cappuccino Concert will be held in the atmospheric setting of the Wighton Heritage Centre, upstairs in Dundee Central Library. The concert is on Saturday 23rd January 2010. Coffee and papers are served from 10.30am, and the music starts at 11am. Playing replicas of historical Irish and Scottish harps, with brass, silver and gold wire strings, historical harp specialist ...
For years this Charles Crichton film for Ealing was rumoured to be lost or known only in a damaged version, but it has recently been released on DVD and now LoveFilm has sent it to me. Painted Boats was released in 1945 and is as much a documentary as a drama. The schoolmasterly commentary, written Louis MacNeice, recalls many films in that genre from the 1930s. The cast contains stalwarts of the era like Megs Jenkins and Harry Fowler, but the two principals, in as far as the film has any, are less well known. Robert Griffiths hardly appeared in ...
Yes, so today is the day that Massachusetts gave Ted Kennedy's old seat to a Republican, making the prospects for healthcare reform rather more grim than they were. But hey, look on the bright side: The BBC have implicitly announced that they are definitely making more Sarah Jane Adventures. And with that, the worry that RTD's ...
Yesterday, I attended an informal cross-party meeting at the City Council, on the revenue budget for 2010/11, attended by the SNP and Conservative group leaders, the administration's finance spokesperson, the Lord Provost, the Chief Executive, Director of Finance and myself, representing the Liberal Democrats. As I indicated to the Courier thereafter, I felt the meeting was constructive, although I have sought clarification of a number of savings that are being proposed. My greatest area of concern about the 2010/11 budget is the reduction in Fairer Scotland Fund budgets, resulting in the removal of funding from a number of excellent projects ...
Congratulations to Betsan for her blog of the year, in the aftermath of the coalitions err more than local difficulties late last year. Freedom Central's very own Jeremy Townsend came second. Syniadau came third. More information on waleshome.
Melting snow and rain = floods in Winnersh, just as they did last February. Guess what? The park and ride was flooded. Suprise, surprise. I understand that despite the developers' best efforts with their Flood Risk Assessment and altered flood risk methodology the Environment Agency has not yet withdrawn its objection to the plans by Bovis to build several hundred houses at Hatch Farm Dairies, between King Street Lane and Lower Earley Way, with a relief road straight across the flood plain - right where it flooded on Sunday. Again. I have made a Freedom of Information request to the ...
Wed 20th
19:58
Charles Masterman's fate shows we should not be surprised the Democrats lost in Massachusetts
In August of last year I compared the difficulties President Obama was having introducing socialised medicine with the experience of the Liberal government that introduced Lloyd George's Health Insurance Act in Britain. The junior minister who took that Act through the Commons was my hero Charles Masterman. His subsequent career shows why we should not have been too surprised that Obama has run into trouble. As a reward for his remarkable work on health, in 1914 Masterman was appointed to the cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. As the law stood at the time, any MP accepting an ...
I need not write much to explain this, but quite simply someone within the Council wants to spend £188k on a software update for a single product we buy for finances. Click here and see page 9. "Jog on" I say, "jog on..."
I received a reply to my enquiry about the operation of the gym that's opening at the Firemaster building and here's what it says: Hi Max, Thank you for your interest in our facility. We are only in the early stages of developing it. It will primarily be a facility for our private courses and classes. These classes will ...
The Daily Telegraph reports: A total of 181 people aged over 65 were successfully pursued through the courts for violent attacks in 2007, up from 101 ten years earlier. Their offences ranged from murder and attempted murder to more minor crimes such as common assault. Commenting on these figures, Paul Holmes says: "It seems that the Government's obsession with criminalising people does not stop at the elderly. "Labour's target-driven, box-ticking approach to policing, where minor misdemeanours are treated the same as convictions for murder or rape, has led to mass criminalisation. "I find it more likely that this increase is ...
In the absence of the Conservatives saying anything much about anything, we are often left to guess where the latest incarnation of the Tories stands on a number of issues. This survey, published on the Conservative website, might help to shed light on some of this however. The survey questioned 250 of the Conservatives' top general election candidates on their personal priorities and the results make for interesting reading. These are supposedly the 'personal priorities' of the individual candidates, but it is safe to use this list as a proxy for official party priorities for a number of reasons. Firstly, ...
New Blog to watch the progress of the Sea Rd Public Art Trail! http://www.searoadpublicarttrail.blogspot.com/
.....when. Courtesy of the Belfast Telegraph. Thankfully being from the burbs I haven't done or know all of these.
The brilliant BBC Democracy Live site has a series of videoas and sound clips from Parliament over the last 20 years or so. This little archive of political snippets is well worth a few minutes of your time so take a look.
Well, news reaches me that my 200 words can be found on the letters page of tonight's Evening Standard. I'd better pick up a copy, hadn't I?
Before Christmas, the Police ran the first phase of Operation Beach, which successfully cut burglaries where it was run in parts of the west side of Gatley and Heald Green. Now the next phase is starting. The main objective is to get us, the householders, to be more careful about protecting our property and to keep an eye on what's happening in our area. For example in the snow, a group of lads spent hours driving around Cheadle Hulme and Bramhall in the morning, looking for anyone leaving their keys in their car while it was de-icing. is there a ...
As I presaged last Wednesday, the Democrats lost Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat to the Republicans for the first time in over 60 years. Big disaster. However, it's very clear that their candidate, Martha Coakley, was disastrous – losing 11 points during the campaign. With a decent candidate, the Democrats would have won by nine points, instead of losing by five points. Fascinatingly, the Republicans didn't actually gain on the votes cast for John McCain last November. The Democrat vote just dropped. In her best town, Coakley was only getting 80% of Obama's vote. As for health care, Andrew Sullivan ...
A lot of Bracknell politics is conducted through the local press. In particular the letters column of the free paper the Bracknell Standard. This mostly evolves the PPC's from the opposition parties (in Bracknell) to the Tories trying to get one up on each other on the letter pages of the Bracknell Standard. Personally I find this interesting as im interested in politics, but I do wonder what the people of Bracknell think about this. I think this is playing into the hands of the local Conservative party after all its they who how have most of the seats on ...
I received an update from the Information Commissioner on progress (or not) on my request for the Serious Case Review (the document compiled immediately after Baby Peter's death) to be published. Subject: Information Commissioner's Office[Ref. FS50234513] Dear Ms Featherstone, Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000 Complaint about the London Borough of Haringey - FS50234513 As you know, we have been considering whether we are in a position to make a final decision. In December, we decided that it would be necessary to arrange a meeting to discuss some of the issues raised by this case involving some senior staff members. ...
The Guardian often makes me angry, but never more so than when it talks about my second love, philosophy. And now one of their CiF twats have posted an article about how Heidegger was so beastly that all his books should be put on the shelf alongside Mein Kampf. It's clear that the author has not ...
Peter Tatchell reports on Uganda's drift to authoritarianism ... Uganda's President, Yoweri Museveni, was once seen as the country's great democratic saviour. Increasingly, he is becoming ever-more tyrannical, repeatedly violating the democratic and human rights principles of the African Union, United Nations and the Commonwealth. The international community is mute. It colludes with his regime. How odd. World leaders readily condemn President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan – but they happily fund and support Museveni. Why the double standards? How can they justify such silence and inaction? President Museveni's Ugandan critics say his regime is ...
Following my poll asking you to help me decide the subjects I should choose for BBC Mastermind (they make you choose all 4 subjects prior to application in case you get through to the final) the results are now in. Over 200 of you voted selecting the subjects you like the sound of best (each person could vote multiple times): There are obviously a lot of Sci-fi/comedy fans amongst you! I was particularly disappointed with the poor showing for "Friends". I think this might actually be my best topic. Other people have suggested that some of my topics, e.g. the ...
I watched Prime Minister's Question Time today from the BBC studios in Ty Hywel as part of the AM PM programme on BBC2. I was quite surprised that although some very relevant issues were raised, none of the opposition MPs tried to hold the Prime Minister to account for his role in withholding much needed funds from our troops in the run-up to the Iraq war. Today's Independent reports on former Defence Minister, Geoff Hoon's evidence to the Chilcot inquiry that the Ministry of Defence had "asked for significantly more money than we eventually received" from the Treasury in July ...
[IMG: Phone cabinet with missing door in Denton Road] Today I did a walkabout with Stroud Green's new 'street enforcement officer', which was originally planned for earlier in the month, but delayed due to the snow. It was a great opportunity to find out what progress he has already made and to point out some of the many problem issues that residents have raised with me over the last few years. The officer had already sorted out one issue I'd raised with him, which was the builders at a house on Mount View Road who had spread all over the ...
Launceston Town Councillor Dave Gordon deserves our support for the efforts he is putting in to reviving Launceston Carnival. The Carnival used to be run by the Lions but stopped 6 years ago because of difficulties over insurance and health adn safety fears. Since then, people say, the town has lacked a bit of social spirit - or community glue as Dave has called it. Last week about 30 people got together to discuss geeting the carnival back on track and, although I wasn't there, I'm backing these efforts to the hilt. If any readers want to back a revived ...
... sang the Bee Gees. And that's exactly where failed Democratic candidate Martha Coakley will be staying today, after her humiliating defeat at the hands of the Republican machine. The Democrat blogosphere is filled with much analysis today. Some of it good, some of it not so good. Reactions have varied from "it was a little ...
Wed 20th
14:54
'How Long is a piece of string?' The Press Officer's Guide Lesson 14 - You'd be amazed what you can ...
Press conferences are considered to be an essential part of any election campaign. I am not such a big fan, as many national media people are, mainly because they have the potential to go wrong without any apparent justification. Sitting behind a table at the regional launch of an election campaign, surely nothing can go wrong. With Manchester ...
It's a bitter day for Rayleigh, with the announcement that all 600 or so jobs at Eon will be lost.Cadbury's employees - be warned.
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will today use a new and social media initiative co-hosted by the UK Youth Parliament to launch the party's youth jobs manifesto pledge. On the day that new statistics show the number of young people unemployed for more than six months has doubled in two years, Nick Clegg will announce the party's plans using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The proposals would ensure young people do not spend more than 90 days on Jobseekers Allowance before they get more training, education, an internship or a place on a work programme. Today's announcement forms the next step ...
As the Government owns 84% of the Royal Bank of Scotland is the Government therefore 84% liable for the £12bn loan they have given Kraft to buy Cadbury's putting British jobs at risk. That is the question (iPlayer Nick Starts at 17:54) that Nick Clegg the Lib Dem leader asked Gordon Brown at PMQ's today. Also why are they lending such amounts to American based multi-nationals when they still refuse to lend to British businesses trying to invest in British jobs and British products. The Prime Minister responded with the crumbliest, flakiest answer. An answer that did not taste like ...
Peter May's campaign to win Swansea West for the Liberal Democrats is going from strength to strength. Already a great deal of literature has gone out underlining the closeness of this contest between Labour and the Lib Dems. The latest full colour magazine has not gone unremarked in other media either.
I have just handed in the call-in papers so that Cornwall Council's mis-named office accommodation 'vision' will be subjected to further scrutiny. The policy was discussed at last week's Cabinet meeting and passed despite the strong objections of many councillors. I blogged about it here. In essence, the Council has decided to move from 78 office buildings to 30 - but they refuse to say which are the 40 buildings they will be getting rid of. They claim that this has yet to be decided. However, they seem sure enough that the Higher Trenant offices in Wadebridge are surplus to ...
By Dwylo Cerrig Dwylo Cerrig takes a look at the weekly sport the bubble has with our former leader's column. Class and grass, sometime partners in rhyme (depending on where on the former's spectrum you are), have been much in the political news this week. The Prime Minister's clunking move from class warfare to the battleground for Middle Britain and his rejection of Alan Milburn's social mobility proposals, alongside the consistent focus on Dave Cameron's blue riband background, means that this week is not uncommon in seeing class near the top of the political agenda. Grass, or to snitch, tell ...
In a piece posted earlier today, I described an image which may have caused some discomfort to my readers. Having further considered the idea of Matthew d'Ancona in a tight sweater, short skirt and pompoms, I would like to apologise to you all. I'll try not to do that again...
The Welsh Assembly Government will be told this afternoon that the tolls on both Severn Bridges into Wales should be abolished. Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member, Michael German, will use his speech to the Assembly this afternoon to demand that the Welsh Government urgently commission a study to on the effects of the Severn tolls on the Welsh economy Mr. German says that the bridges will revert back to public ownership around 2016 and the Welsh Government is now in a prime position to push for a decision: reduce the tolls or take them away. "The current situation is no ...
On Monday I blogged about problems residents were facing getting their bins collected by Reading Borough Council. I raised these issues with RBC's Streetcare team and I have just had this response: "Unfortunately there are a number of areas in Reading that are suffering similar circumstances to those you describe in Redlands Road, some in fact are in a worse situation. There can be no doubt that our crews did their utmost in what were very difficult conditions over the past few weeks. However it was necessary to make a decision on how we would get everyone back to ...
The Crooked Vultures (Dave Grohl, Joshua Homme and John Paul Jones) new album is reviewed in the form of a poem here.
Cornwall Council is at the forefront of the move by local authorities towards using social networking and other new media to communicate with residents. That's great news, but comes with a caveat - the front of a glacier still doesn't move that fast. Quite correctly, the Council identifies the need to have two way communication with residents as being the key factor - not simply 'being on Facebook' or 'using Twitter'. It's not the particular platform that is vital - it's the motivation behind it. That said, the Council does have a Twitter feed. Today's Corporate Resources scrutiny committee discussed ...
The Royal Park Community Consortium have submitted their bid to the Council to take over the Royal Park School site. They need our full support so that the school can be brought back into community use and once again be a hub for the people of the many diverse communities in Hyde Park.
I have made myself unpopular in some quarters this week by refusing to back a motion to Federal Conference which would create two new statutory duties: on local authorities to stockpile a certain quantity of salt and on householders to clear snow from the pavements in front of their homes. This, I am assured (and believe) is common in other parts of Europe. There are two problems here: one is liberalism and the other is localism. The potential legal obligation to clear snow from the pavements actually falls to pieces in practical terms long before it becomes an issue of ...
Thanks to Mark Pack - part of award-winning Team Lynne, campaigner & social media guru for bringing to my attention a report published by the Home Office which found, surprise, surprise, that when it comes to crime talking to the public and involving the public works. Since I was first elected in 2006 (including my time as Lib Dem Group's Safer Communities spokesperson (2006-2009)) I have campaigned for greater public involvement in tackling crime at a neighbourhood level. The Lib Dems in Reading have consistently argued that Labour's top down approach to dealing with crime and anti-social behavour isn't working and ...
On Saturday the mail in Blackburn, West Lothian faced an unexpected mishap. While the postie was delivering to Bathgate Road in Susan Boyle's home town his trolley and the two sacks of letters on it were taken by a thief. He ran towards the Mill Shopping Centre, where some of the early pictures of SoBo leading her normal live were taken, where he abandoned the trolley and made off with the sacks of mail. Inspector Michaela Kerr who is leading the investigation said: "Crimes such as this carry many victims - people in the community who will not receive their ...
Now that Mass has fallen all my hopes about that country have gone. I don't want to pay the extra for traveller's health insurance I don't want to pay extra taxes for travellers I don't want to have the indignity of the TSA (especially for transit flights) I don't want to patronise the country at all either over there ...
As the weeks move on I'm more than convinced that my vote for Nick Clegg for leader was the right one – with Chris acting as the attack dog and Vince on the Economythey are slowly becoming a formidable trio. Today yet again he was on fire at PMQs. The fact we have only two questions helps ...
Commenting on the launch of the Conservatives' crime section of their draft manifesto, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said: "The Tories love to tell you they are the party of law and order, when in fact they are the party of crime."Their disgraceful record in Government speaks for itself - crime nearly doubled, violent crime nearly tripled and robbery quadrupled. "A vote for the Tories is a vote for more crime; a vote for more tried and tested policies which don't work. "The Tories cannot be trusted - one of their policies is to reduce one of the ...
At last nights meeting of Polefield Tenants and Residents Association we had the usual collection of council officers, Police, residents and me! As is usually the case the business was upbeat with plenty of positive developments. Key business was the planning of the estates next fun day for the young people on the estate. This has now been arranged for the week of half term on wednesday, February 17th from 12 noon and will cover activities on the patch of land at the junction of Polefield Circle/Polefield Hall Rd and also on St.Josephs fields at the rear of Prestwich Heys. ...
So, having let Josh have his 150-200 words, it's time to give some less sparing comment on what did Matthew d'Ancona actually wrote. To be honest, especially as Matthew seems so keen on not being so, I am astounded by the astonishing chutzpah that he calls upon in writing it. If Dylan Jones is a rather embarrassing cheerleader for 'Project Cameron', then Mr d'Ancona is equally guilty of donning the tight sweater, short skirt and pompoms in support of his man. The first paragraph is an clear indication of the intellectual rigour that we can expect... No less than Tony ...
From any dispassionate view, it's clear that the Liberal Democrats have consistently believed that the protection of our right to privacy is vital for a free and open society. However, protecting that fragile right is a complex process that requires genuine and tangible policy objectives that will make a real difference. To reverse the rise of surveillance is a task that goes to the heart of how we are governed. Making a real difference will require a courageous agenda of change that reaches deep into the powerful institutions of parliament and government. There is no doubt in the mind of ...
Yesterday there was a meeting of the Sittingbourne Local Engagement Forum. I have previously written about this forum in October. It is a good idea allowing ordinary people to connect with their councillors to hear some of what they are up to. The main item was a presentation and discussion of an integrated transport plan for Kent and we had representatives from the trains, buses and Kent CC present. Quite an eye opener and a lot of thought had gone into it. After the presentations I stood up, proudly introduced myself as the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, and asked two ...
The Hustings went well last week, the speech was better than expected, the voting carried out, and the paperwork all complete - so I am now the officially approved parliamentary candidate for the Sittingbourne and Sheppey Liberal Democrats. My first interview was with some students from London who asked some surprisingly tough questions. But now the work begins. This weekend we had our first strategy meeting to discuss tactics before and during the election campaign - and I have a long to-do list as a result. Mobilising the local party and getting our message out there is the top priority. ...
I was in the bizarre situation yesterday of walking to a meeting in the morning in Gateshead because it was quicker that using any vehicle on the roads. I was supposed to be in Gateshead at 9am. I am taking part in a health promotion drive with other councillors and it starts with a health check. That was my 9am meeting. The bus I got from Sunniside took me as far as the Teams when I decided that the traffic was so congested it was time to put my legs into action and walk the rest of the route. The ...
Not that I need reminding, but this recent survey of 250 Conservative Candidates in target parliamentary seats has just confirmed why a David Cameron Government is just the wrong answer for this Country. Bizarrely Conservatives put the Environment (reducing Britain's Carbon Footprint); affordable housing, and better transport BELOW "victory in Afghanistan", "cutting red tape for small businesses" and "reducing welfare benefits". [IMG: 6a00d83451b31c69e20120a7e318b8970b]
Today is your chance to join in Nick Clegg's forum on young people's issues, from 4:30 p.m. onwards. Follow the link to Lynne's blog to find out how: Nick Clegg Forum: Here is a chance for the young people of Keighley to make a difference to politics.
Last night Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate for Massachusetts Senate, lost by 5 points a race that just weeks ago everyone was declaring hers by right. And even before the polls closed it seemed like everyone was playing the blame game. Coakley's team and the White House pointed the fingers at each other. Some are blaming the economy, the excellence of Republican candidate Scott Brown (our first centrefold Senator, history should note), or Coakleys repeated Red Sox related gaffs. There's even a "Drunk Electorate" theory. All of these factors surely played some part. I'd add in that to some extent ...
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will today use a new and social media initiative co-hosted by the UK Youth Parliament to launch the party's youth jobs manifesto pledge. On the day that new statistics show the number of young people unemployed for more than six months has doubled in two years, Nick Clegg will announce the party's plans using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The proposals would ensure young people do not spend more than 90 days on Jobseekers Allowance before they get more training, education, an internship or a place on a work programme. Today's announcement forms the next step ...
London Councils has recently published a number of useful leaflets about parking in London, which obviously will also apply in Sutton. The leaflets can be downloaded from their website. There are leaflets covering loading restrictions, footway parking and paying to park. I would particularly recommend the leaflet: Parking your car in London. The rest of the page ...
The Home Office has recently published a review of the research into how to improve public confidence in the police. One of their conclusions? The very community politics idea, expressed in very New Labour vocabulary, that The strategies most likely to be effective in improving confidence are initiatives aimed at increasing community engagement. Three out of the four interventions classified in the 'what works' evidence all included an element of communicating and engaging with the community (embedding neighbourhood policing; high quality community engagement; and using local-level communications/newsletters). In other words: talk to people, listen to them and involve them. That ...
Dan Hannan is one of the least likable people in politics. After rising to prominence after his scathing attack on Brown in the European Parliament he has gone on to campaign against Obama's health reforms, call for the abolition of the NHS and he counts Enoch Powell among his political heroes. That's why it's especially nice to see that his complaint to the Press Complaints Commission against the Mirror has been turned down. I don't know what he was thinking when he tried to justify the hateful aspects of the campaign against Obama. It's one thing to disagree with Obama's ...
As usual, the Government is great on announcements, poor on delivery. It's a good initiative to subsidise the installation of new efficient boilers for old inefficient ones. Unfortunately the amount of funding is only enough to benefit a very small proportion of the installed boilers in the UK and this has led to a rush to find out more information and the relevant page of the Energy Saving Trust web site crashing. In addition the industry representative from the Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors has said that the resources of their members will be overstretched for a short time, ...
I have written before about the nonsense of Royal marriages and succession, now the Joint Committee on Human rights has ruled that they break the European Convention on Human Rights.
[IMG: cigsandbooze] Fresh from his latest efforts to ruin everything, Hugo Rafael Chavez has launched a scathing tirade on lots of fun stuff. The Venezuelan despotic nut-job said in his Weekly Address to the Proletariat: "[Capitalist countries] promote the need for cigarettes, drugs and alcohol so they can sell them." Having displayed this unparalleled ability to unravel the evils of 'the West', the Dear Leader concluded: "That's capitalism, the road to hell." Which is funny, because usually when I peer lovingly at a seemingly-perspiring chilled glass of gin & tonic I think: "Bejesus, this is the road from hell. Deliver ...
Off to Lingfield Point last night to sit in a huge empty factory unit, complete with lovely silver foil wrapped extraction ducts, for the inaugural Darlington Debate: "The Economic Future of Darlington: Dynamism or Decline". It was presented as a "Question Time" style event, cordially chaired by Peter Barron, editor of the Northern Echo. Unfortunately it lacked that key ingredient that makes QT
David Jack, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Stoke-on-Trent North, resigned yesterday after accusations that he sent a racist email to a constituent. David cited professional and personal issues as the reason for his decision to step down, but last night's Channel 4 News gave details of an email allegedly sent by Mr Jack, which contained racist and abusive language. He has denied sending the email, claiming he was out drinking with friends at the time the email was sent. The former candidate is involved in a legal dispute with a number of companies as a result of exposing an ...
The timetable for the Epping Parking Review has slipped again. I now understand that the Traffic Regulation Orders (official notices from the county council advertising the formal proposals) will probably be published in early February. As Janet and I reported in the most recent Epping Focus leaflet, the main way residents will know about this is from notices attached to lamposts. Residents will be able to inspect the full proposals by looking at Essex County Council's website or at Epping Library. The links on the left of this page give outline details of what we expect to happen.
In a weird display of the mutual weakness at the top of the Labour Party, the Prime Minister and Chief Whip are in disagreement over Gordon Brown's plans to legislate for a referendum on AV (which would be held after the general election). Earlier this week the Parliamentary Labour Party debated the proposal and ended up divided and without agreement. Whilst Gordon Brown and, rather surprisingly given his views on the Liberal Democrats, Jack Straw are both in favour, prominent opponents include Chief Whip Nick Brown. He seems to be particularly motivated by fears that under AV he would lose ...
The local assembly went well last night – I'll do a proper write-up when I get the chance. For now though, just a quick event plug: The Icarus Club takes place every Thursday from 8pm at The Station pub on Staplehurst Road. There's jazz, blues and acoustic music. It's absolutely free, and apparently turning into a very popular night. Do get yourself along. More details on their blog here. They're also organising an event at Blackheath Halls this Friday, when Darrell Scott will be headlining. More details about that event, and the chance to buy tickets online here.
You learn something new every day, and today I learned about Eco Schools at the Environment Working Group of the Derwent Valley Partnership. It's not about new schools, or green design, but an awards programme to recognise schools that build learning about the environment and conservation of resources into the everyday life of schools and the children and teachers in them. It's always good to hear about something people are passionate about (where passionate is not just an advertising slogan) and I was enthused by it. I hope to hear about it making further progress in our district so that ...
Shop of the week this week is Superdrug. Although part of a chain, I am pleased to see this store supporting the long-term employment of local people. I know that each time I pop in to stock up on toiletries, that I will see the same friendly faces welcoming me in the aisles and at the tills, serving me with a smile and being as helpful as possible. The post-Xmas sale is still in full flow, so if stocking up on bargains is your style, do pop in before everything is snapped up! You'll be hard-pressed to visit Superdrug without ...
A poem to start the day, this time from John Hegley, who's even better seen in the flesh. I said Pat you are fat and you are cataclysmically desirable and to think I used to think that slim was where it's at well not any more Pat you've changed all that you love yourself you flatter yourself you shatter their narrow image of the erotic and Pat said what do you mean FAT? 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: Tim ...
A letter has arrived from Rachel Tyndall, Chief Exec of North Central London NHS, responding to local objections to the threatened closure of the Whittington A&E. Basically it tells us to watch this space: "There are no plans in place to make changes to these services... a review of services across North Central London is ...
I got an unexpected telephone call yesterday, from a very polite young man at the Evening Standard called Josh, and I should confess that it took me a little while to get to grips with the idea that a newspaper would call me - it seemed improbable that any good would come of it. Yes, I'm married to a politician, so I'm painfully aware of what some journalists can do. However, once I had gathered myself, he explained that he had read my posting on David Cameron and marriage, and wondered if I would be willing to respond to a ...
Back in July 2005 I posted my first blog post here. I'd just come fresh-ish from the General Election and was looking to getting some sort of semblance of normality back in my life before the next phase of electioneering really heated up in 2007. Last night my last post was my 2000th; therefore this is 2001. I started blogging to really start to put down my thoughts about political and local issues hoping that somebody out there might read them from time to time. Every time I run into a group of Lib Dems these days somebody new seems ...
Apparently the recent cold snap, or winter to you and I, has cost the four big supermarket chains - ASDA, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury's - a mere £750million, as more and more people shopped locally. The out of town stores obviously suffered far more than the in town supermarket branches, but strangely, I don't feel any sympathy whatever the reason. If it forced more of us to shop locally, then we may well have had a better experience, we may even have realised that we have a local butcher, baker and even a greengrocer, and we might even now know ...
The long saga of Kraft's bid for Cadbury is now over. The board of the British chocolate company has now agreed that the bid from the American food giant should now go ahead. Personally I think it is the wrong decision at several levels. Firstly Kraft has a poor record in confectionery: their takeover of the Swiss Jacob Suchard thirty years ago was not a demonstrable success. and the once premium Suchard brands like Milka are now mostly also-rans in their markets. It is not clear to me that the Illinois-based company will be a particularly good steward of these ...
This Monday 18th January Southeastern Railways wrote to the leader of the Lewisham Lib Dem group Cllr Chris Maines, the letter had a title written in bold characters: Liberal Democrat Petition! In the letter Southeastern proposes to meet with us for discussions, and so on Monday night me, Tam Langley and Chris Maines met and ...
.......the Indy has this story about 9 year old Haitian Wideline - when asked about how she felt, living in squalor in an orphanage, having lost her parents, her only possession the tartan dress on her back - she said - hungry and scared. One of the frighteningly numbing effects of disaster is that we can lose sight of the human impact - the 70,000 - 200,000 - 1,000.000 lives lost are all nameless, faceless, remote, other. Coming face to face with the countless survivors, like Wideline, reminds of the humanity of all. If we feel powerless in the face ...
St Albans is one of the most historic places in Britain; with its medieval Abbey and important Roman ruins. However, there is much more to St Albans than these historical and archaeologically important landmarks that are located in the City centre. A new book, published by the Museum of St Albans, aims to shed some light on the history behind the less high profile area of Fleetville which can trace its roots as a settlement back to the 18th century with the building of the road to Hatfield. Fleetville: A community in St Albans, explains how the area experienced rapid ...
Yesterday I blogged about confidentiality. I have written about keeping secrets when I wrote about Tiger Woods and what he must have told his wife. The common defence is that the truth hurts so we are protecting others. It may be that the secret simultaneously hurts and protects. Hurts because that is the cause of the secret, and protects because the truth hurts. We would all prefer secrets to limit embarrasment. If you are not sure then ask any celebrity. What if a regime is corrupt? Then the best remedy is publicity. If we live with the expectation that there ...
