Has anyone noticed the amazing resemblance between Cllr Roger Hayes from Kingston and Jonathan Pryce in "Sweeney Todd" at the Whitehall Theatre. I wonder if by any chance they are related. Perhaps we should be told.
It is almost impossible to remember the euphoria last year when Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first person of colour to be inaugurated as President of the United States, but euphoric it was. The media are a fickle bunch, last year he could do no wrong and this year well he can do right. The main thing that seems to have upset them is his health care proposals. It's difficult for us on this side of the pond to appreciate why the topic is so toxic. An important fact to bear in mind is that of the nigh on ...
Prestwich Area Partnership met last night, the first meeting since the removal of Carran O'Grady from the post of Prestwich LAP Manager. Carran was a true champion of Prestwich, responsible for making the Festival happen amongst many other things. Sadly, the Conservatives running the Council decided to remove her from Prestwich and swap her with the Whitefield LAP Manager. I've got nothing against Rose De, the ex-Whitefield and now Prestwich Manager, but she like Carran had no wish to move, and the people of both Whitefield and Prestwich are angry that this swap has happened with no consultation and no ...
You can tell that David Cameron has no real experience of social hardship when he equates the Edlington case to an everyday example of our so-called 'broken society' (something Liam Bryne has rightly criticised). Time and time again we are told that our society is morally bankrupt and that only the Tories can save it. ...
I saw a face I thought I knew in a television trailer. It was Hugh Lloyd, who used to appear in Hancock's Half Hour. I looked him up and discovered, to my delight, that he was a lifelong Liberal. Asked to appear in a Conservative PPB, he responded, "I rather jump off Beachy Head". His Liberalism began at the age of five when Lloyd George patted him on the head.
The University of Chard offers the post of Reader in History of Comedy to the first person to respond with Sid James' middle name, which is most unexpected.
On Tuesday the indefatigable Millennium Elephant covered the story began his posting on Stephen Gough, the naked rambler, with the words: So it's 2010 and the VICTORIAN ERA is still well and truly in full complete-lack-of-swing here in ye Olde Grande Britannia.Up to a fluffy point. Having once pointed out that the Victorians did not cover piano legs because they thought them immodest, I had better also point out that the Victorians were remarkably relaxed about nudity - nudity among males in particular. Much more relaxed, in fact, than we are today. Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience by Ronald ...
Finally, at 930 this morning, the council computer decided to work as it should. Mark from IT support sat down in front of it and bingo, before he had chance to lay a finger on it, the screen was showing exactly what it should show, no more and no less. The calendar was no longer muddled with the inbox, the scroll bars were back and the myriad of other problems had disappeared. I must confess
Many local people will be very pleased to hear that the Neighbourhood Committee gave planning permission to the Fircroft Trust to build a carehome on the site of the White Hart. We (ie the Committee) were all sorry to lose a pub, especially one with such a long history as this one. Sadly the police had closed it down a few years ago, and no-one has expressed an interest in reviving it as a pub or restaurant. The earliest record of the White Hart is dated 1752, when the local ratepayers met there to elect the 'Constables and Headboroughs' for ...
Following the success of the last Quiz Night, another evening is being arranged in aid of the Mayor of Waltham Forest's two charities on Tuesday 2 February. I have been working hard on the questions and have only one more round to pen the questions for. The details are as follows:Date: Tuesday 2 FebruaryTime: 7pm startVenue: Social Club next to Walthamstow Town HallCost: £10 to include a fish
David Cameron's attempt to make political capital from the Edlington case is, of course, a nonsense. But it is a reminder of just how closely he has modelled his strategy on that employed by Tony Blair and New Labour in the years before the 1997 general election. An Observer article by Nick Cohen from 2001 reminds us of the depth to which Blair was prepared to sink: After James Bulger's murder, Blair went to Wellingborough and announced that the killing was 'a hammer-blow against the sleeping conscience of the country'. It was a daring move. He was using a dead ...
As reported in today's Courier, I was pleased to receive an assurance last night from the City Council's Chief Executive that the Council's Convener of Policy & Resources had now agreed that the Dundee Employment and Aftercare Project would be allowed to speak to councillors on Monday (see earlier article at http://tiny.cc/deap). The council's 'raid' on Fairer Scotland Funding - funding aimed at assisting those in Dundee on the lowest incomes - is to be regretted and DEAP and the other projects that have been told their funding has been removed, are rightly perplexed at the decision to take vital ...
[IMG: Burglar + Bag] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: Johnny Grim There must be an election coming up. You can measure the bovine scatology being talked about householders and intruders by the yard. Question Time last night was in danger of being inundated by the stuff. "Historian" (Cue: gravespinning by A.L.Rowse and his like) Andrew Roberts was in particular danger of asphyxiating on his own output (He held up the Mylene Klass knife waving episode as an example of the absurdity of the law. Give me strength. Marina Hyde has very clearly outlined how that whole thing was a ...
Stockport Council will be marking the UK's 10th annual Holocaust Memorial Day on Wednesday 27th January. Holocaust Memorial Day aims to educate people about the dangers of anti-Semitism, racism and all forms of discrimination. It is commemorated internationally on 27th January, the date in 1945 when the allies liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp. The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2010 is The Legacy of Hope. The Council's 14 libraries have organised special displays during the week to mark the event which was established to remember the victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution, and to reflect on more ...
I used to say "I" and "me" Now it's "us", now it's "we" Ben, most people would turn you away I don't listen to a word they say They don't see you as I do I wish they would try to I'm sure they'd think again If they had a friend like Ben from Ben by Michael Jackson The problems is for one little Ben that chance may not be forthcoming. Earlier this week Fife Council put him on at risk-register once they were aware that he had been born last Friday. At four days old Irish Social services came ...
The Tories' shadow chancellor George Osborne was proud to declare on this morning's BBC Radio 4 Today Programme that he had been in favour of banking reforms now being championed by President Obama – to break up the big banks – "since last July". This will come as something of a surprise to anyone who's been following Tory policy on the banking industry over the past six months. In fact, let's take a look at what the Tories were saying last July, the month the party launched its white paper on financial regulation. Mr Osborne put forward six policy proposals ...
Today's House Points column from Liberal Democrat News. I have used all these arguments before, but then that is rather the point of the column. On the blind side One of the best things about the rugby union commentaries by Bill McLaren, who died on Tuesday, was that they were always much the same. You could tick off his favourite phrases during every match he described for the BBC. "Playing together for the 19th time in a major international." "A bit of nonsense in the scrum there." "As the referee's whistle goes for no side." My great hope was that ...
ThisIsPlymouth.co.uk has the story: THE Liberal Democrats have suspended their Plymouth branch after an extraordinary spell of in-fighting among members. After losing two chairmen in five months, the party's London headquarters stepped in yesterday and shut down the branch. The first sign of turmoil in the local party came last summer when chairman Steve Barton resigned after a dispute with Dr Judy Evans, the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Sutton and Devonport. In a heated exchange of emails Mr Barton accused Dr Evans of making "negative and destructive comments" and of misusing electoral data software, the Election Agents Record System ...
The report in today's Daily Post does not make comforting reading. It is estimated that Merseyside Police Authority (MPA) could, and I stress the could, face between £5-£30 million shortfall between April this year and 2013. When £20 million was cut from the Authority in the 1990s, Merseyside Police lost some 600 officers. The MPA has ...
Twitter today proved just how useful it can be as a part of our democratic process. Cornwall Council has recently introduced a wi-fi system in New County Hall which visitors and humble councillors like myself can access. As a member of the councillor twitter gang (we really need a better name), I have taken to occasionally tweeting live from meetings. This afternoon I sent out a tweet about the meeting of the Sea Fisheries Committee that was just about to start and which would consider a new bye-law to prevent any scort of scallop fishing in a part of Falmouth ...
I have not been blogging for a while due to a crazy amount of work at the Guildhall dealing with budgets, opposition trivia (a leaky washing machine in the Guildhall!) and secondary schools attempting to fingerprint children for lunches! The last issue deserves a fuller posting so I am going to attempt a decent one over this weekend. Anyhoo, excuses over. What has caught my attention is this article on the BBC website regarding the new laws Labour has created. Through the use of Parliamentary questions Lib Dem MP Chris Huhne has worked out that between 1997 and 2009, 4,289 ...
The inadequate summary of the serious case review has been published. It does, however, include the following phrase:An important reason for that failure was the reluctance of Children's Social Care Services to become involved; when they did, they do not act with sufficient purpose and do not complete the enquiries or assessments required by legislation and national standards.This is part of a
If you believe, as I do, that the banks are now the key issue in politics - not just sitting on wads of money but actively hoovering up the money in the world out of productive enterprise - then Obama's plan to break them up has to be an exciting move. It isn't very clear what he means by 'break them up', but since he says he wants to limit their size, I hope this will go beyond splitting domestic banking rom investment banking. We'll have to see. The disappointment in all this is George Osborne. His rather evasive interview ...
Andrew Allison highlights on his blog just how useless the Labour MP for Hull North is. Of course, with the Lib Dems in a clear second place, it gives people even more reason to try and get her out of Westminster at the enxt election. It's a shame that there is no decent opposition to Nadine Dorries who, according to people I follow on Twitter, is also adept at blocking anyone from her Twitter feed if they don't agree with what she says.
A good fundraising slogan for 2010 – 'I've upped my giving. Up yours!' http://bit.ly/53lpv2 # Online giving to not-for-profits to hit US$4bn in 2010? So says Convivio via the Agitator http://bit.ly/4xBMR3 # MOT done. Tax return being done. Having a grown up morning. # Oxford Uni bans Spotify to cut down on bandwidth http://bit.ly/6cGbrJ <- fair enough, but obvs I think staff shd be an exception [IMG: :)] # Good article on how the Met Office can improve its weather forcesasts http://bit.ly/7×834M <- be clear, transparent and accountable. # Macintrye @NewStatesman uses tired old poll on hung Pment http://bit.ly/5IhItX Here's ...
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 Highways Information Keep up to date with highways information, closures, and delays, with my new website http://bournemouthhighwaysinformation.blogspot.com/ Older people Free transportTwo
Leeds City Council now recycle almost 80% of their own waste, nearly quadrupling the rate of recycling in three years. What a great achievement. This follows on from news that the recycling rate across the whole city has risen every year under the Lib Dem led administration. This is a testament to the work of the Lib Dem run environmental services department and is a great example of how having Lib Dems in charge makes a real difference.
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week 1. Julian Huppert selected for Lib Dems in Cambridge (13) by Helen Duffett 2. Lib Dem PPC resigns over e-mail allegations (17) by Sara Bedford 3. Lib Dem MPs split on Euro referendum? (9) by Stephen Tall 4. Home schooling: what is the liberal approach? (37) by Stephen Tall 5. It's "Let's Make Nice Month": experimental change to LDV's comments policy (31) by Stephen Tall 5 active LDV Members' Forum threads Fox Hunting Ban Cameron's love bombing ...
I wrote to the Bury Times last week, criticising the Bury Conservatives for voting en masse to oppose the Lib Dem proposal that the Council sign up to the 10:10 climate change campaign. If there's one thing guaranteed to rile the Bury Conservatives, it's some perfectly just criticism. So I expected a letter in response. I must say that what was published (read all about it here) was jaw-droppingly tame even by their standards. The letter picks up on a mistake I made in claiming that all the Bury Conservative Councillors voted against 10:10. What I should have said was ...
Well it is that time on Friday to head home for the weekend. Put away the mouse on the desk in the office, which links in very well to this weeks first clip. On the 22 January during the Superbowl a small computer company announced the arrival of their new computer being released the following week. Directed by Ridely Scott the advert was a landmark in advertising circles as well as for the product it was announcing. It was the product that popularised the "mouse". As all good sci-fi fans know 42 is the answer to life, the universe and ...
If this website doesn't satisfy your craving to read what I write, there is now an alternative source, courtesy of the good people at ALDC (Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors). They have hired a few "Councillor Columnists," and I am one of the select band in the first cohort. A bit like the John Glenn of the Councillor world, I like to think. You can read my first effort here, all about snow and grit. For some reason the word "remains" is missing from the middle of the eleventh line, rendering one sentence devoid of meaning. But don't let that ...
This week's Pod Delusion podcast is now out (embedded below). There are some goodies on it this week including a discussion with comedy and skeptic godfather Robin Ince. Also, if you want to hear me attempt to do an impression of John Cleese in a homeopathic medicine version of the classic Python "Dead Parrot Sketch" written by Crispian Jago (who also plays the Michael Palin role) then make sure you listen to the third piece... Contents: Proposition 8 Update (1:18) by Salim FadhleyYouTube Censorship (8:36) by Dave ColeHomeopathy and Python (14:24) by Crispian Jago (ft Mark Thompson)I'm Feeling Sleepy (21:17) ...
This first appeared on the PRSD website HERE. To visit the front page of the PRSD website, click HERE. If NHS materity services here in the South West issued a loyalty card for regular users, my family would be doing quite well. My mother was born in Exeter, I was born in Truro, my niece was born in Barnstaple and a whole load of relatives were born here in Plymouth. We've made good use of maternity services right across both Devon and Cornwall. And the latest figures reveal that we are far from alone. Since 2001, the number of babies ...
The writer of this story in The Mirror has clearly never heard of my ancestral home Leominster, represented by Bill Wiggin MP: A heartless Tory was branded a disgrace yesterday for calling thousands of Cadbury's workers fighting for their jobs "whingers". Mp Bill Wiggin, who went to Eton with David Cameron, said staff should stop moaning about the Kraft takeover which could lead to huge redundancies. The ex-banker, who has a Cadbury's factory in his constituency, said they should just knuckle down and get on with it if they wanted to stay employed. The Leamington MP said he had heard ...
It's January 22nd. It's one year to the day since President Obama ordered Guantánamo Bay detention camp to be closed - within one year. 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts - each with a question - that caught my eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: How good is the Taliban internal communications department? Rob Blackie asks this because the Taliban have issued their members with a code of conduct: As anyone in internal communications will tell you - it's getting people to read and internalise this sort of guidance that's ...
South Gloucestershire Council is premiering two short films created by young people from the St Nicholas Youth Centre in Yate. The films examine the lives and aspirations of young people in the area and were made in conjunction with artist Vivi Stamatatos. The films, which premier at 2pm on Saturday 30 January at Yate library with the film makers in attendance, were commissioned by the Council's Arts Development Service for display at the refurbished library on its new plasma screens. Road to Somewhere looks at the change in youth culture through generations, contrasting the experiences of young people today with ...
Tonight in Tallinn is set to be one of the coldest nights so far: minus 24 Celsius. In fact it has not been above -14 for a while now. Personally I prefer it like this than when it is around freezing point, because there is no damp in the air, so it feels drier. Not to mention the fact that every day has begun with a beautiful clear sunrise and with the sun on the frost, the days are bright and cheerful. We have some snow forecast in the middle of next week, but I will be back for a ...
The Labour twitteratti have come up with a very good way to of using Twitter to relate to real life campaigning. Instead of stooping to the level of the Kerry Out campaign being put forward by the Tories, this campaign is positive action to get people on the phones talking to voters. I was following it a bit on Twitter this evening and it seems to have gone quite well. Definitely something that the Lib Dems should be picking up on.
I welcome the Scottish Government's decision to include the Liberal Democrat proposal to remove the right-to-buy for new build council and social landlord houses in the draft Housing (Scotland) Bill. There is an overwhelming case to abolish the right to buy for new build council houses. However, I was disappointed to hear that my fellow parliamentary candidate, Tory, Alberto Costa, is not supporting the proposal. I am surprised that Mr Costa does not appreciate the hugely negative impact this policy has had on the most vulnerable families, Angus Council's budget and taxpayers' funds. Families across Angus and indeed, Scotland, are ...
I wrote recently about the train-wreck that is happening before our eyes with the new student visa rules. Well, there has been a new development. The UK Border Agency has abruptly suspended the visa-sponsoring licences of more than 50 private colleges without giving reasons. All over the place, crisis talks are taking place in the colleges affected, as people try to work out what on earth is happening. Is this more of the deep-rooted incompetence that we have all come to expect from the Home Office, or has a political decision been taken to expel lots of dark faces and ...
I've been receiving a large number of comments from one individual on this blog about war crimes that he is alleging have been committed because of the actions of the Lib Dems in Yugoslavia. He has failed to provide any evidence of these allegations, so I will not be allowing these comments as I believe they could be illegal. I don't like stopping comments but sometimes it becomes necessary.
In the flavour of the times, I too am writing in a Matt O'Grady "good God I'm so angry I just have to blog" moment. Although, admittedly I first read about this development yesterday evening and have given myself a few hours of distance to temper my thoughts and opinions. I suppose I should introduce myself as the American studying overseas this quarter as it provides a bit of clarity as to why I am both upset and connected to the Supreme Court decision that was handed down from the federal judiciary just a few hours ago. I hope you ...
W00t! It's not every day of the week that I get the opportunity to interview famous French film stars, but it looks like I will be doing so in a week or two. Interesting, and poignant in the week that saw the death of Eric Rohmer, to see that she has a track on her new album called "La Collectionneuse", though AFAIK she never worked with the great man. I can think of many questions I'd like to ask Charlotte, most of them concerning her father who remains one of my all-time cultural heroes, but if any of youse lot ...
A few months ago I attended an event in Guildford where Vince Cable was the guest of honour (I blogged about it on Lib Dem Voice here). On that occasion he had to rush off and I didn't get a chance to properly meet him. Yesterday I attended another event where he was the main guest, this time a more intimate affair for business people in Islington (I run a business that has offices there) organised by Bridget Fox, the Lib Dem PPC for the area who I have previously interviewed for this blog and who had very kindly invited ...
A Conservative councillor on Bradford District Council, Robert Payne, has an accountancy businessknown as ARL Enterprises (Europe) Ltd. He has failed to pay employee Justine Bentley, a single parent, money awarded to her by an employment tribunal in unpaid wages by the deadline of August 2009. Miss Bentley is now faced with having to go to the County Court over the unpaid money. There are three things I'd like to raise about this. In the first place Councillor Payne's company is an accountancy firm. He more than most should understand how to deal with financial matters in an honest and ...
Prestwich Area Partnership met last night and in so doing we welcomed the new Partnership manager - Rose De', who has replaced Carran O'Grady. Some readers will recall that virtually everyone from all sides of the political spectrum and none were opposed to this move by Bury Council. But a couple of officers along with the Councils Tory leadership thought it was a good idea and the majority view was therefore ignored, leaving us with a shameful decision that has undoubtedly damaged the Area Partnerships in Bury. After welcoming Rose I paid tribute to Carran's work over the past 8 ...
According to a tweet from Peter Barron, the editor of the Northern Echo, who chaired the first Darlington Debate earlier this week, the next Debate will be an election special featuring the candidates.But will they - should they - invite the BNP candidate?
Friday: If you want something doing, ask a LIBERAL DEMOCRAT. Last week, Captain Clegg put the Prime Monster in a tight spot about the Iraq inquiry and now Mr Frown finds he'll be facing questions and answering for his actions BEFORE not AFTER the Election. This week, Captain Clegg skewered Mr Frown AGAIN, with a timely question about the Royal Bank-that-we-own of Scotland funding the foreign takeover of yet another British institution. And all Mr Balloon can do meanwhile is COPY Lord Blairimort and bring up his very own "Jamie Bulger case" as "proof" that Great Britain is "broken". Again. ...
If you haven't visited the London Transport Museum website, it's a real gem, and an important supplement to the Museum itself. Today comes the exciting news that London Transport Museum has launched an online archive of its films: London's public transport companies have been using moving images to promote services and train staff since the early years of the twentieth century. Although the film collection we inherited from London Transport is perhaps best known for the documentaries made by British Transport Films in the 1950s and 60s, we have chosen a broader range of titles for this initial online selection, ...
Carly Whyborn is Chief Executive Officer, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust On the 27th of January hundreds of events across the country will commemorate the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp. Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) remembers the victims and honours the survivors of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution and those affected by subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Sixty-five years on it is clear that the myriad of lessons and hopes for the future have not freed the world from hatred and atrocity. This new decade offers us a new challenge ...
I suspect the emboldened line from a comment from a party spokesman earlier this month is going to be appearing on Labour election literature of whoever of the four candidates gets selected. "There is a very strong Labour vote in Livingston (so strong that they lost the Holyrood seat of most of the constituency in 2007 mind)*. At the last general election Labour had a very significant majority and we would expect to hold that."Labour took very tough action and we are providing Livingston with a new candidate because we expect the highest possible standards from our MPs." I would ...
Erewash BC, West Hallam and Dale Abbey Con 692 (51.4; -22.6)LD Gary Hamson 506 (37.6; +37.6)Lab 149 (11.1; -15.0)Majority 186Turnout 33.81%Con holdPercentage change is since May 2007.Wakefield MBC, Airedale and Ferry FrystonLab 1330 (49.9; +3.2)LD Paul Kirby 603 (22.6; +8.3)BNP 353 (13.3; -7.7)Con 275 (10.3; -7.7)Ind 102 (3.8; +3.8)Majority 727Turnout 23.39%Lab holdPercentage change is since May
I know this may sound a bit like tempting fate, but it looks like there could be good news on the horizon for the Ridgegrove play areas. A brief bit of background: The Ridgegrove Estate has two small play areas. Neither are very to date and both sit on slopes. At the end of last year, some equipment was removed from one of the areas for safety reasons although other equipment passed a safety audit and remains in place (but some crucial safety work still needs doing). There is no facility for kicking a ball about safely on the estate. ...
We had the first formal meeting for the new Launceston Community Network last night and agreed the formal set up of the new panel which I will chair for the next year. The Network is the local face of Cornwall Council. It includes representatives from the 16 parishes and the town council as well as the Launceston Forum. The Police and the Health Service are also standing members and we will be inviting lots of other groups to come along to chat about issues that matter to them. But the panel is not a closed shop. The aim is to ...
The following is from the "Overview" section at the top of the front page of the website for this technology. It's from the first sentence and is the first mention of the product's benefits. So you might expect it to tell you something distinctive about what the technology actually does: [It] enables you to connect and empower people through an integrated set of rich features. Want to hazard a guess? Perhaps it's a new social network? Or something to do with email? Or a new mobile phone? Or... (In this case, it's Microsoft Sharepoint and gee, they do love their ...
[IMG: Picture 6] Power 2010 is a non-Party campaign to promote democratic change - find out more at their website - www.power2010.org.uk Power 2010 are currently running a national "vote" to see what people's priorities are for democratic reform. At the moment, "Stronger Local Government" is down in 7th place, so it could do with our votes! If you want to get local government higher up the agenda for democratic reform, vote today at: www.power2010.org.uk/vote
Over Christmas ALDC has been busy recruiting some volunteer Councillor Columnists, to write in the headline "editorial" section of our website www.aldc.org. There are four online so far: Cornwall Councillor Alex Folkes explains why Cornwall is Different. Peter Black AM talks about the link between Wales and Local Government Bury Councillor Richard Baum talks of his frustration with some Home Truths on Gritting and Gateshead Councillor Jonathan Wallace tell us, well, a Day in the Life of Jonathan Wallace Have a read, and feel free to comment or tell us or the Councillors what you think! - open to all ...
On Ridgegrove Hill stands a line of small cottages. One of these is the former home of the poet Charles Causley, perhaps Launceston's most famous son. The house is now owned by the Charles Causley Trust which is seeking support to save the property and turn it into a museum and poetry centre. Yesterday I met with two of the Trustees who are seeking support with their aims - support that I was very glad to give. Although the house is in a bad way at the moment, it has the potential to be a fascinating attraction in the same ...
Vince Cable, Lib Dem conference, 21st September 2009: We have a seriously distorted economy, over dependent for growth and revenue on financial services. Gordon Brown's unwillingness to take on the vested financial interests is pathetic. The principles should be clear. Full compulsory disclosure of all pay, bonuses and perks for those earning more than the Prime ...
The campaign group I'm a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! invites photographers to gather in London this Saturday in defence of street photography. The Mass Photo Gathering is in Trafalgar Square at 12 noon on Saturday 23 January. (Map here.) Over 1,400 people have already confirmed their attendance via this Facebook page. We've covered many cases, on Lib Dem Voice, of anti-terrorist legislation being misused, particularly to detain photographers. Prompted by incidents like these, PHNAT calls on photographers, whether amateur or professional, as well as anyone who values visual imagery, "to defend our rights and stop the abuse of the terror ...
It's January 22nd. It's one year to the day since President Obama ordered Guantánamo Bay detention camp to be closed – within one year. 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts – each with a question – that caught my eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: How good is the Taliban internal communications department? Rob Blackie asks this because the Taliban have issued their members with a code of conduct: As anyone in internal communications will tell you – it's getting people to read and internalise this sort of guidance that's ...
Chorlton's Big Green Festival has a new and rather excellent website. The festival is just over 2 months away. Looking forward to it already.
The Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne MP, has highlighted the astounding fact that since coming to power in Britain in 1997, New Labour has created 4,289 new criminal offences. As Chris comments tartly, 'This legislative diarrhoea is not about making us safer, it is merely Ministers posturing on penalties. Many of these offences are ...
Don't worry my usual 5pm clips are on their way. But seeing as the news this week has been dominated by Britiain's premier chocolate manfacturer I thought you'd like these for your elevenses (after all the Stephen Glenn position has it's own hour). Modern Classic School Boy Memories That first sex symbol Frank Muir making it up as he goes along But then there is also this.
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 (cast your eyes in awe at the shiny new layout!) and the tenth episode which we recorded on Wednesday 20th 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. Or you can listen to it right now here: The format is to invite one or two other political bloggers each week and discuss a few of the ...
Salford council has enthusiastically embraced the Government's Academy schools programme, which sees private groups running schools in return for 'sponsorship' which pays for a small part of the building of the school. And, as I mentioned a couple of posts ago, rich religious men involved in the running of these academies have been busy donating ...
On Wednesday evening St Albans district council passed a motion which was heavily critical of the county council's response to the recent snowy conditions. Cllr Anthony Rowlands who introduced the motion said: 'If more of our roads and pavements had been properly treated by the County Council over recent weeks, residents and businesses would have been spared a great deal of misery and inconvenience. Our motion urges County to improve radically how they respond to prolonged snow and ice. It is bizarre that the Tories voted against this plea to County.' Cllr Chris White who seconded the motion rounded on ...
Mark Pack has an interesting assessment of the electoral commission's report into electoral fraud in 2009 and it's recommendations for the future. What I found quite interesting is the statistics in the report relating the number of allegations of different types of fraud to the cases put forward by the police. These statistics reveal that by far the easiest case for the police to prosecute is missing or incorrect election imprints. Something that all agents should bear in mind!
I've just received a ticket to attend the afternoon session of the Iraq Inquiry next Friday, when former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is due to give evidence. Unfortunately it is for the additional viewing facility so I am not sure if I will attend.
We have a decent amount of debate about the role of MPs – in particular whether they should be spending less time sorting out their constituents' problems and more in Westminster holding the Government to account and taking part in the law-making process. So it may be instructive to see how W.J. Brown MP saw the role back in 1945. In addition to debating in the chamber, Brown described the role of an MP (and I'm not sure if he intended these to be in order of importance) as: 1. Representing the local interests of his constituency and see that ...
Cheadle's Abney Hall has been a stately home, featured in an Agatha Christie novel, been a town hall, a language school and an office building. Now its owners, Bruntwood, want it to become an Independent school, and they came along to Thursday's Cheadle Village Partnership to tell us about it and get some feedback. So what was the message from Bruntwood? They were keen to stress that the development protects Abney Hall, that a lot of attention will be paid to avoiding traffic problems, and that users of the park will still be able to walk everywhere they can now. ...
In my previous post I mentioned that the council are building a stadium for Salford Reds at a cost of £20m. This story has appeared in the local press and an extremely unequivocal statement by Steve Simms - Salford Red's Director of Football (deputy leader cllr. Lancaster was astonishingly rude about Simms and his statement ...
Watching Question Time last night I had one of those 'good god, I'm so angry I just have to blog' moments. Which when I think about it, is possibly the saddest thing I've ever thought and I feel slightly more dead inside as a result. David Cameron's marriage proposals are, at the best of times, confusing. But one thing has been made clear by him and the Tories, they think that marriage is important and wants the state to recognise this. But why should governments be telling us how we should be conducting our personal relationships? Some people don't want ...
It's nine days since Nick Clegg challenged Gordon Brown to volunteer to appear before Sir John Chilcot's inquiry into the Iraq war this side of the general election "before people decide how to vote on his record in government?" And now it seems that Nick's pressure has paid off – the BBC reports: Gordon Brown will give evidence to the Iraq Inquiry before the general election, the BBC understands. Mr Brown, who has said he is "happy" to face the inquiry whenever called, had been under pressure to do so before the election, which must be held by June. The ...
Am I alone in feeling uneasy about the way in which the 12 year old boy in Darlington, who was identified as one of three children photographed bus-surfing, has been paraded in the press and on regional tv? Bus surfing is a craze at the moment among a small group of young teens in the town. It is stupid and could well have serious consequences. I'm pleased to see that Arriva have made physical
President Obama's decision to adopt Liberal Democrat policy on breaking up the banks has certainly caught the headlines. It should be remembered that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have consistently opposed moves against the banks when called for by Vince Cable. Now, they say, Obama's proposals are the best thing since sliced bread.But the response of George Osborne is the most remarkable. Boy
I am working ridiculously long hours this weekend, so probably won't see you all until Monday, when I shall be unveiling my new sponsor. Thanks for the advice on the car, I shall have to beg for more money to get it MOTed. I hate being in debt... It's so frustrating that Mat actually HAS a job now, but we won't actually start seeing any money from it for at least another month. Anyway, say goodbye to Ozzy...
The link is to today's Daily Mail story about Mark and Kelly in Ireland. I believe that the removal of their baby under an Irish EPO is in fact unlawful (that is advice they have had in Ireland).It looks like the local Health Board are acting at the instigation of Fife rather than making their own decisions. That is not actually lawful either.
This year, the Jack Petchey Speak Out speaking competition was hosted by Alexandra Park School. Year 10 (14 - 15 years of age) students from all over Haringey came together to compete in the Regional Final Stage. I was meant to have been a judge - but due to a debate on Violence Against Women being put in for yesterday afternoon - it meant I would not make it for the briefing of judges and the first half of the speakers - but would be there to listen to the last half, give out certificates to all and the prizes ...
The Liberal Democrat Group on Cannock Chase Council has warmly welcomed Councillors Keith and Diane Bennett to its ranks, following their recent decision to leave the Conservative Group.
Last week I reported on problems with the Commissioner-designate from Bulgaria. This week she stood down after it became clear the MEPs would not approve her. The Bulgarian government has since nominated a lady called Kristalina Georgieva, currently a Vice President of the World Bank. She will come before us next week for consideration for the development aid portfolio which was also proposed for the candidate we rejected. This means we will not vote the investiture of the new Commission until 9 February, two days before the 27 heads of state and government meet to discuss the EU's economic situation. ...
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 ...
President Barack Obama is in a mean mood. Furious that his Democrats were unable to hold one of the safest seats in the Senate, he allocates at least some of the blame for this on the large bonuses that the Wall St. bankers paid themselves in the middle of the election campaign. In the battle between America's Main Street and Wall Street- the votes are largely on Main Street. Yesterday the President made his move: He has announced that he intended to restrict the ability of banks to use their own capital to take positions in the market, so-called proprietary ...
RT @libdemvoice: What do the latest electoral fraud figures reveal? http://ldv.org.uk/17550 # RT @tweetmeme Google stands up to China, but Twitter is the big winner — Digital Public http://ow.ly/1n1Z3E # UK drops to third in list of which countries Twitterers come from; Brazil up to second: Sysomos Blog - http://bit.ly/8kboqM # @IanDouglas Useful story - thanks! in reply to IanDouglas # RT @libdemvoice: New post: MPs' expenses: have you sent in your views yet? http://ldv.org.uk/17494 # @RuthBarnett Good luck with the new role in reply to RuthBarnett # RT @SamuelCoates: The footer on http://www.poshtory.com/ made me chuckle # @Bethn27 Hello! ...
There will be a bike marking opportunity on Saturday 23rd January at Tesco Car Park in Gorton. This is an opportunity to get bikes stamped, making them much easier to reunite stolen bikes with their owners. Just bring your bikes along.
The Heroes Welcome in Stockport campaign was launched on 11th November 2009 by the Mayor Colin MacAlister. It aims to encourage local businesses and organisations including retailers to offer discounts to serving armed forces personnel on production of an identification card. Sounds good to me. If you're a business sign up, decide what level of discount you'll offer, get a sticker to display and (if you wish) go on the national Heroes Welcome in the UK database. See the leaflet and application form below. [IMG: Heroes Welcome in Stockport leaflet] Application form: [IMG: Heroes Welcome in Stockport application form] [IMG: ...
One of the consequences of the recent inclement climatic conditions is that up to 5,600 pensioners in Keighley and Ilkley will miss out on Cold Weather Payments. Nationally, up to 1.7m pensioners will be going colder than they need to. Cold ...
Finally, Gordon Brown has conceded defeat and will be appearing before the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry after repeated calls by Nick Clegg amongst others. Nick Clegg and democracy have won the day. Now, Gordon Brown, who signed all of the cheques to pay for the illegal war in Iraq will have to appear in front of the Iraq Inquiry to explain his actions, potentially as early now as next week. With Alistair Campbell giving evidence last week and then issuing a "what I meant to say statement", Jack Straw giving evidence yesterday, and Tony Blair due soon as well, the heat ...
Baldrick: You had a cunning plan my Lord? Lord Straw: Yes Baldrick, one so mind numbingly cunning and secret that I didn't mention it on 18th March 2003 when we debated the issue, nor mentioned to cabinet. But at some future point in my defence will produce it in an 8,000 word memorandum. Baldrick: But what about Cook? Lord Straw: What's Mrs Miggins got to do with this? Baldrick: Not Mrs Miggins, my Lord, but Robert Finlayson Cook. Lord Straw: Ah well the red, beard, Robin, went bob, bob, bobbin' along. So Jack Straw had a secret plan to keep ...
Busy day at the Assembly yesterday culminating in a protest by several hundred ex-Visteon workers on the Senedd steps, drawing attention to the loss of part of their pensions after the UK company went into liquidation last year. The union are meeting with Ford in New York later today in a last ditch attempt to avoid legal action against the company because the pensioners believe that Ford guaranteed them their full pension rights when the car giant created Visteon in 2000. Swansea workers like their colleagues in the other plants in Belfast, Enfield and Basildon, which were spun off at ...
Highways House 41-45 Broadwater Road Welwyn Garden City Hertfordshire AL7 3SP Tel 01707 356200 Fax 01707 356380 ADVANCE NOTIFICATION OF CARRIAGEWAY RESURFACING WORKS INFORMATION BULLETIN No.1 Issued on 22nd January 2009 A1057 Hatfield Road - Between Station Way and Beaconsfield/Lemsford Road In February the A1057 Hatfield Road between Station Way and Lemsford Road is to be re-surfaced as part of Hertfordshire Highways' programme for maintenance of the strategic road network. The works will commence on the Monday 1st February and will last for approximately 4 days, weather permitting. A return visit will be required approximately 2 weeks after the main ...
The defection, two days ago, of senior Cabinet member Cllr Brian Haley to the Liberal Democrats spells disaster for the future of Labour in Haringey. And Rightly so! Labour has been in power for nearly 40 years but has failed to address problems with deprivation, poverty and failing services. Residents in Haringey now have to put up with officially the worst Council in London (after the recent Audit Commission report).The defection of such a senior Labour councillor like Cllr Haley (with others in the Labour Group also looking to move) means that the end is finally near for Labour in ...
The last time I did a big interview for the BBC, it wasn't broadcast, despite having put in a large amount of work and research for the programme (it was Panorama over a year ago - I was interviewed about opencast mining). I am a bit more hopeful that the interview I did this morning will be broadcast. It was for the BBC Politics Programme, North East edition. Mark Denten interviewed me about how
Earlier this week, friends started e-mailing me asking if I'd meant to send them a communication (or was aware that I had) purporting to offer good quality Canadian Viagra. Needless to say, I had absolutely no idea what they were on about until ...
Answer is, it depends on the constituency. Whether it is rural, lots of compact estates, full of flats etc. A lot also depends on the deliverers and the speed they can walk. There are approximately 35,000 homes in most constituencies and on average a deliverer can do 100 an hour. So a just a small question of finding 350 man hours...and some may ...
We now have the detailed unemployment figures for December. The headine numbers are that seasonally adjusted unemployment in the UK fell by 19,700 in the month. On the surface this is a surprisingly good result. National unemployment now stands at 5.8%, while in Birmingham it is over twice this level at 12.8%. Within Birmingham unadjusted unemployment fell in 30 of the 40 Wards in December. Sadly in Acocks Green it rose by 13 to 1,336 or 12.1%. This is up 320 on the year. The fall in unemployment, modest and patchy though it is, has surprised economists, because unemployment usually ...
In April the health agreement with the Isle of Man finishes. If you live in the UK then your first thought may have been that you will have to take out insurance if you want to go there on holiday. However residents of the island are to face a similar challenge to their travels to the UK. It may well hurt them more than it hurts us so you won't be surprised to hear that it was Westminster who decided to end the reciprocal agreement. After all, it is a way for the government to save money. The same costs ...
Friday: Anything Mr Balloon can do... I can do BETTER! [IMG: Posted by Picasa] This has been my one-thousand-one-hundredth diary, brought to you by the miracle of "mymrballon.com"" .
