I've just watched the TV programme. How refreshing to see such candour and straightforward talking. She had her whole heart in what she did, was prepared to be alongside all sides for the one single aim of bringing peace. Not a piece of spin in sight either. I met Mo a number of times, always loved it, and will never forget the first time. It was before she was an MP, and the...
Continuing my attempts to blog about every book I've read for the first time this year, we come to this, which I actually finished about ten days ago, but didn't get around to writing about because, like everything in my life for the last few weeks, it's been delayed by repeated bouts of borderline illness ...
I've just spent a most enjoyable day at Kelvedon Hatch "Secret" Nuclear Bunker with brilliant bloggers Alex Wilcock and Richard Flowers. I took zillions of photos, many of which will end up in my Flickr photostream, but these are the ones that just couldn't wait! Alex, a man celebrated for his brain, but not normally for his brevity, proved today that he can explain something in fewer than 3,000 words with this series of terror threat level photos. I do believe Twitter (which he joined this week) is having quite an effect on him... See and download the full gallery ...
When I was a film critic in Belgium in the 1970s, I used to see five films a week in the various distributors' screening rooms, whereas these days I am lucky if I get to five films a year. Journalism and politics combined leave little time for 'normal' activities. But I was lucky in my first 2010 ...
The rumours are happening all over again, saying that Nigel Griffiths MP will shortly be announcing that he is to stand down from Parliament. The word on the street is that the Edinburgh South Labour party are already looking for the replacement to Nigel. I have seen it on Twitter, had 7 texts and 2 phone calls this evening. To be honest it sort of doesn't matter in some respects as Fred Mackintosh is pushing him as the main challenger for this election anyway. So, if he did stand down before the election many people would not be that surprised. ...
It was all go last week at school. But one particular event caught even the local paper's eye. Our site manager, on his usual tour of the school site, noticed that a group of birds were attacking another bird. After frightening the birds away it became evident that it wasn't any old bird, it was a parrot (later we discovered that it was an African Grey). A short while later Mr Pacitto managed
In November I discovered Evelyn Cheesman, the governess from Gumley Hall who collected specimens in the South Seas. There is more about her work, including a video, on the Natural History Museum website: Whether skinning lizards, battling with leeches, or getting trapped in giant spider webs, Evelyn Cheesman (1881-1969) had a passion for nature and a sense of adventure to match. Evelyn was not daunted by Pacific Ocean expeditions even though they were considered hazardous for European women at the time. Her interest and research into the native, or endemic, fauna of the New Guinea region made her one of ...
*literally puts head in hands and cries* EDIT: I'll deal with this tomorrow...
Three Lib Dems are among the 70 MPs who lodged appeals after being told to pay back some of their taxpayer-funded Commons expenses by Sir Thomas Legg, reports today's Telegraph: At least 35 Labour MPs and former Labour MPs have appealed against Sir Thomas's findings, as well as 30 Conservatives, three Liberal Democrats and two independents. Among them are MPs who made some of the highest-profile claims exposed by the Telegraph investigation, including £1,645 for a duck house. Sir Thomas's 30-page report is thought to identify more than 300 MPs — nearly half of those in Parliament — whom he ...
I knew that ginger DNA was a regressive gene but didn't know there were ginger dinosaurs.
On Friday night I accompanied Dad to the Mayor of Croydon's charity dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Croydon. It was a great evening with good food, great company (I sat next to the Mayor of Richmond's consort) and an even better Sue Perkins, of Mel and Sue fame.Sue, originally from Croydon herself, has been one of my heroes since university so the evening was kicked off to a great start when Sue
According to THIS posting, Conservative MEPs think that it is not the role of MEPs speak out on issues in Africa. However, THIS posting makes clear that Conservative MEPs do think it is the role of MEPs to speak out on issues in Africa. I'm confused. Is it because the Tories don't actually care about gay rights or am I reading too much in to this ? P.S. And for the record, I agree 100% with Robert Sturdy. It's a shame his South West colleagues do not use their role and influence to speak out similarly against wrongs and injustices. ...
This story has been in the press in recent days, but let's go to the best source. The Leicestershire Museums blog reports: What is believed to be the oldest Roman coin ever found in Britain makes its museum debut, 2220 years after it was made. The silver denarius coin is now on display at Harborough Museum, Market Harborough alongside other coins that were excavated with it. It is 4 years older than the coin previously thought to be the oldest surviving example. The coin was found during excavation of a site near the village of Hallaton, Leicestershire. It is one ...
So I'm clearing out my shelves this weekend, and it has come to my attention that I have a number of Doctor Who videos from the olden days which are now redundant, since I have the DVD editions of the same stories. Having looked on eBay, there clearly isn't much of a market in selling ...
Welcome to the 154th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (24th – 30th January 2010), together with a hand-picked quintet, usually courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget, by the way, you can now sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Conservative reaction to Tory ...
A day with a vowel in, another day on the campaign trail! Today, we were in Rowlands Gill talking to residents. A great response on the doorstep and great to see so many of my colleagues out with me.
3 minutes 33 seconds of animation good enough so that you can almost sniff the salt air...Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.And there's more here, including my favourite short film of all time:World Builder from BranitVFX on Vimeo.
Tesco & Sainsbury's are planning to unleash a supermarket war on Chorlton's doorstep, with developments close to Lancashire Cricket Ground. Chorlton Lib Dems are campaigning against both, fearful that Chorlton could be the real loser in their battle. According to Tesco's own figures, 10% of Chorlton trade would be lost. The combined toll could be 25%. Local Campaigner Victor Chamberlain said "These developments could severely affect the vitality of Chorlton centre and could be disastrous for local businesses. That is why I have asked Manchester City Council to put in formal objections. " The Council have since objected, but campaigners ...
Vince Cable in Southport starts his remarks with a warm and generous endorsement of our MP John Pugh.
Birmingham's brand new city centre park is a step closer to reality as an outline planning application has now been submitted. The planned park is an unusual long, narrow shape snaking its way through the Eastside area. Beginning by Moor Street Station off Park Street, the park will wrap around the front of the new BCU campus building up to Thinktank's Science Garden in front of Millennium Point. The park then runs alongside most of the length of Curzon Street. Commuters and travellers arriving in to Birmingham New Street from Birmingham Airport and London will get a full view of ...
Jim Capaldi died five years ago this week, which gives me a good reason for posting one of the few songs from Traffic's 1972 Santa Monica concert that has not yet appeared here. Capaldi was the band's drummer, though at this stage in his career he preferred to groove with a tambourine and sing the occasional lead vocal. He was also Traffic's lyricist and recorded many solo albums, reaching no. 4 in the UK singles chart with his recording of "Love Hurts" in 1975. This track also displays the versatity of Traffic's members. It was not just that Steve Winwood ...
The web has been full all day about David Cameron's dynamite quote, "The moment a burglar steps over your threshold, and invades your property, with all the threat that gives to you, your family and your livelihood, I think they leave their human rights outside." which he made on the Politics Show today during an interview. I do agree this quote is dynamite, only because I think this could blow up in David Cameron's face like many other silly throw away populist comments he and his colleagues have made. Over on Sara Bedford's blog, she has discovered one commentator at ...
I have blogged before about how deeply unfair school funding is in this country; read THIS post, for example. The South West as a whole does badly, not just our city. This unfairness has been long acknowledged by the Liberal Democrats, and the party has now come forward to solid plans to address the problem. £85m will be spent on South West schools, targeted at those areas with more children from disadvantaged backgrounds. In Plymouth this would mean an extra £13.3 million, which schools would spend on things like more one-to-one tuition.
[IMG: Site for proposed new Tesco store] Tesco has submitted plans for a new superstore on the edge of Birmingham City Centre, within walking distance of the Jewellery Quarter and much of Ladywood. The land, bounded by Camden Street, Icknield Street and Spring Hill, has been derelict since 2002 when the former Brookfield shopping precinct was demolished. It had long suffered from a lack of tenants and vandalism. Tesco have owned the land for some time so an application has been expected. But the application is for more than just a Tesco! The existing Spring Hill Library is sympathetically blended ...
I always said I'd resist Twitter, because I can't imagine there's anyone in the world interested in the minutiae of my life. But it turns out that you can upload "tweets" by just texting them, and since I send lots of texts I may as well have an outlet for ones that really don't deserve to go to one unlucky person alone. So I have created myself a twitter account and you can follow each and every thing I do (and choose to tell the world about) on www.twitter.com/richardbaum. Presently I am like a rubbish cult leader - I have ...
With the recent introduction of the Westminster Government's Digital Economy Bill in parliament, I have concerns at the government's handling of the future of radio, particularly that, when radio follows television in moving to digital-only transmission (DAB) by around 2015, many people may lose out in receiving radio reception and many local stations may not be available on digital. Several constituents have contacted me to ask why it is that some local people still cannot receive digital radio services. This appears to be because the digital radio signal only broadcasts locally from the Angus transmitter and quite a few West ...
I am reliably informed that we shall see further ructions in Southport Tories made public in the next few of days. From what I have learned this is a significant development. Unrelated to that tip off I met a man last night whilst out walking the dog. I have no memory of meeting him before. He recognised me and immediately told me of his anger at the shenanigans in the Tories. What he couldn't get over was why-given the the Association AGM is due shortly-was Jackie Glover removed in such an unnecessary and humiliating way? Why not wait for a ...
Two hours before David Cameron made his 'dynamite' quote about the human rights of burglars, I was watching BBC1's The Big Question. A young mother stated that she believed that paedophiles 'had lost their human rights when they chose to abuse a child'. I find this rather disconcerting. Surely every human has inalienable human rights? That doesn't mean ...
I ring BT. I report an issue to them. They say they'll sort it. They give me a number to call for any follow up. The issue is outstanding. I ring that number. They tell me that's the wrong number. They give me another number, and tell me to pick option 6. I ring the number. It gives me options 1-5. And then the phone goes dead. I ring back. It's still only options 1-5, with no option to speak to a human. And if you wait too long, the phone goes dead. I ring back again. I try option ...
[IMG: Me by the offending phone box] Good news! In a previous post I mentioned that for a number of years now I have been nagging the Council to remove the derelict old phone box by the shops on Weston Park. It was installed by a private (non-BT) phone company and hasn't been in operation for many years (see picture). The Council have previously refused to remove it unless the company that installed it paid to do so - but of course the company has long since vanished. However, for the first time, I have now gained a commitment from ...
[IMG: Cllr Sven Griesenbeck - winning for older people] My colleague Cllr Sven Griesenbeck scored an important win for older people at Wednesday night's Full Council. The Council passed a motion proposed by Sven to remind all older residents in the borough of their entitlement to Winter Fuel Payments. Councillors from all parties joined behind Sven's motion calling on the Mayor to ensure that all elderly residents are aware of their entitlements, and to publicise the scheme further. Most older residents receive these entitlements automatically, but there are a minority of people who are entitled to the payment but won't ...
I wrote to Richard Branson with my New Year wish on 31st December, asking not much really: It's a simple request really. There's a utility box of yours that's sat on pavement and been badly broken for months. Having passed it a few times myself, I finally got round to reporting it five months ago. Since then I've sent a fair few emails, I've been promised this has been raised with your firm, I've been told you've missed the legal deadline for responding, I've sent more emails. And you know what? That broken, badly damaged box at the corner of ...
Betsan Powys reports on her blog that in an attempt to have some degree of certainty in achieving the 40 votes necessary to secure a referendum on moving to Part Four of the Government of Wales Act, there will be an attempt to suspend standing orders so as to enable the Presiding Officer and Deputy Presiding Officer to vote. At present they cannot do so. In many ways this is academic because if we are serious about winning this referendum there needs to be all party agreement on the motion. Any discussions about the suspension of standng orders (for which ...
From the Telegraph: The Kernow branch of the Celtic League complained to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) about the use of the term and other mockery of the people of Cornwall in the media. But the commission said it was powerless to prosecute anyone because under the Race Relations Act, the Cornish did not exist as a separate nationality from the English. In this reply to the Celtic League, Qaiser Razzak, the South West regional manager of the EHRC, said that in order for any remedy to be available in domestic (UK) legal proceedings, the Cornish would need ...
In recent posts, I have asked the question, if one seriously wishes to move towards a liberal society how should one do it: political activity within a mainstream party, set up a new party or simply get on with stuff yourself? In a recent talk, Jonathan Zittrain suggests that just getting on with stuff might well be the answer. Here is his video. (Thanks to Tom Paine for spotting this one)
[IMG: Lib Dems winning in Downham, Feb 2009] There's been some concern that the drama of election night might become a thing of the past, as many councils have been considering moving the election count from the traditional Thursday night slot to Friday daytime. This has prompted a cross party campaign to 'Save Election Night'. If people give up their time to troop down to the Polling Station and vote, then the least they can expect is that their vote will be counted quickly and accurately. With a tight result expected nationally (and here in Lewisham), then it's only right ...
The third series of Mad Men is off to a great start with our ad agency heroes battling with their new British owners over, of all things, integrity. It is showing on BBC 4, BBC HD and BBC 2. In episode two, Don Draper, provides some advice to a potential client: "If you don't like what is being said, change the conversation." Coincidentally, this Friday Britain's former Prime Minister was doing just that at the Chilcot enquiry. Changing the conversation is one of Tony Blair's skills. Bill Clinton did it when he was President, David Cameron at times seems like ...
When former PM Tony Blair appeared before the Iraq Inquiry on Friday saying that he had "no regrets" and that he'd make the same decision - to go to war - again, I probably had the same reaction as most people. I found it depressing that this man made no apology, neither did he admit to being sorry, for the deaths of so many people in a war that was fought to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction that it didn't have. Today I read the response of Plymouth Labour MP Linda Gilroy. She is quoted in the Herald ...
A. A. Milne who created all the creatures of Hundred Acre Wood, seems to have been a prescient political commentator. In The House at Pooh Corner written in 1928, we read the following exchange. "I've got a sort of idea", said Pooh at last, "but I don't suppose it's a very good one". "I don't suppose it is either", said Eeyore. Now all you have to do is replace Pooh with Cameron and Eeyore with the British electorate, and you'll see what I mean. The poor man is desperately caught between saying what he thinks he needs to to get ...
Cosworth makes a return to F1 this season providing engines for no less than five teams, USF1, Campos, Lotus, Virgin and Williams. These will be powering the teams round the the likes of the historic circuits of Monaco, Spa and Monza. Rubens Barrichello, who's moved from Brawn to Williams, recently visited the Cosworth factory with Williams Technical Director Sam Michael. This video tells us a little bit about Cosworth, gives us a bit of an insight into life behind the scenes, but most importantly, shows what a lovely guy Rubens is. He tells how he's spending time sleeping in his ...
Togo's reserve keeper Kodjovi Obilale (pictured) still lies in a bed in Johannesburg with bullet lodged near his spine. He has been in intensive care since the shooting incident on the Togonese coach on the 8 January in the Cabinda province of Northern Angola. Three families the coach drivers, one of the teams assistant coaches and their press relations officer are not so lucky their men never made it alive. Yet 24 hours before the final of the Africa Nations Cup the Confederation of African Football (Caf) announced that Toga were suspended from the next two stagings of the Africa ...
Liberator (Jan 2010) carries a review by former Southport Young Liberal Michael Meadowcroft, who incidentally went on to be the Liberal M.P. for Leeds West. He is reviewing Mark Egan's book'Coming into Focus' which charts the post war (WW2) survival of the Liberal Party. Leaving aside all Michael's erudite analysis -which you can read by buying your own copy of Liberator- I want to concentrate on a story Michael tells about the selection of Sam Goldberg to fight the 1959 General Election. 1959 was not the best year to be a Liberal Party Parliamentary candidate. Jo Grimond had become Leader ...
1) Iain fails to report the selection of a Lib Dem candidate in Broadland (the seat which comprises part of North Norfolk where Iain has stood and part of Mid Norfolk where is friend Keith Simpson is the Tory MP.) Iain was very keen to write of Lib Dem chanches here in his EDP column when no Lib Dem MP candidate was selected, but has been strangely silent since the selection of a well knwn local campaigner. Iain claims never to have heard of Dan Roper, which is odd as he really is not that unknown (unless you really are ...
The AGM of the Friends of Maygrove Peace Park was held last week and reviewed progress on the park since last year - an amazing amount has happened - mew adventure play equipment, new under fives area, outdoor gym equipment, CCTV, clearing and planting and creating new sightlines - its just not the same place as it was a year ago after Thames Water had fin ished their work and left the place a shambles! The Friends group have put in lots of effort and mounted several events - notably a cream tea in the summer- much enjoyed by all. ...
It is hard to keep pace with the civil war in Southport Tories. Newspaper headlines like: 'Angry Rift leaves Town's Tories in Crisis', Former Tory MP backs Lib Dems, Feuding between Southport Conservatives leaves Brenda Porter's campaign in disarray, 'Cameron puts Southport Tories in 'Special Measures' or Respected Tory ex Mayor Suspended, or Former Tory Leader (Tom Glover) Suspended, or 'Former Tory Leader (Les Byrom) leaves Party', they keep coming. To explain the implosion of the Southport Tories we need to go back to the autumn of 2007 and the eve of the General Election that didn't happen. Gordon Brown's ...
A busy week for the campaign. This week - interviews with the local media and one article appeared in the Sittingbourne Messenger (see link at end). I have also been to a PACT meeting in Murston, where I met quite a few people, sent some targeted emails, and delivered some more leaflets. On Friday we had a strategy meeting where we made some progress as to who is doing what. Today, Sunday, we have been around various locations in the constituency taking photos for upcoming literature. I also attended a church dinner yesterday. This was not a political event although ...
Mark Egan's book Coming into Focus: The Transformation of the Liberal Party 1945-64 examines how and why the Liberal Party survived its bleakest decades and survived a run of dismal general election results. He's not the first to look at this question but the book takes a unique approach, being based on an extensive set of interviews carried out in the 1990s with Liberal activists from 1945-64. These are supplemented by an analysis of how local party structures fared during this twenty year span. Whilst other studies have concentrated on issues of national policies, personalities and politics, Mark Egan draws ...
[IMG: Appearing on Radio 4's The Westminster Hour with Carolyn Quinn] I'm back on The Westminster Hour tonight (Sunday) - tune in to Radio 4 from 10pm. If you miss the show you'll be able to listen again on their website.
For seven series of Strictly Come Dancing, Camilla Dallerup entertained us with her talented choreography. Who can forget the dramatic Tango she did with James Martin, where she was the doll and he was the toymaker to Mein Herr from Cabaret or the broadway themed Showdance she put together for Tom Chambers? Last night she and her fiance, Hollyoaks actor Kevin Sacre slept rough in Hatfield to raise money and awareness of homelessness. Their Twitter feeds tell the story of their very cold night on the streets. Around one in the morning, Camilla asked: How do homeless people cope in ...
An email arrives from the editor of YourThurrock.com pointing us to a YouTube interview they've done with local PPC Geoff Williams (South Basildon and East Thurrock): They've previously interviewed another local Liberal Democrat PPC Carys Davies, which you can read about here. You can find out more about both of them and how to support their campaigns on the Basildon Liberal Democrats website.
Details of a traffic calming scheme for the southern part of Heywood Road (from Heys Road down to Scholes Lane) have been announced. The proposals include a 20mph zone as the road nears the area of Park View Primary School (Rectory Lane roundabout to Scholes Lane, including Park View Road itself. [IMG: screen-shot-2010-01-31-at-152903] The full details of the scheme can be downloaded here.
[IMG: Prestwich's Longfield Suite] Bury Council has finally launched their formal consultation on the future of the Longfield Suite, Radcliffe Civic Suite and other threatened Bury Community centres. Now is the time to act, whether you have signed the petition or not, if you care about the future of our local community centres then it is crucial that you complete a consultation form. Forms are being circulated and are available in Council buildings and the Civic suites themselves. The consultation can also be completed online here . Don't forget to let Bury Council know what you think, don't forget to ...
Earlier this afternoon, David Cameron told BBC1's Politics Show "The moment a burglar steps over your threshold, and invades your property, with all the threat that gives to you, your family and your livelihood, I think they leave their human rights outside." To many people, dismayed by recent headline court cases, I expect this sounds really good. ...
Oh dear! What chance do we have of cleaning up the political system and putting expenses and allowances onto an acceptable, transparent and accountable basis when headlines such as this one in the Independent on Sunday are generated? They say that Sir Ian Kennedy, who has been put in charge of policing MPs' expenses took hundreds of door-to-door taxi journeys between home and work when he was boss of a health watchdog - and left taxpayers to pick up the bill. Apparently, Sir Ian claimed almost £16,000 on private-hire vehicles to transport him around London during less than five years ...
Ted Jeory, the paper's Whitehall correspondent writes: Even more alarmingly, Tory supporters also highlighted yesterday the false sense of security gained from even a narrow lead in the opinion polls. Recent council by-elections had shown a sharp drop in support for the party, completely against the national picture, they said. Last Thursday, the Tories lost a council seat in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, when the party suffered a 14 per cent swing to the Lib Dems. The seat falls within the constituency of Shadow Attorney General Edward Garnier, one of the Lib Dems' top targets in the general election.
With the cold weather returning to Angus over the weekend, I want to remind pensioners that they may be eligible for Cold Weather Payments. However I am disappointed that up to 3,000 pensioners in Angus may miss out on the payment due to the complicated application process. Cold Weather Payments are due if the temperature drops below zero on seven consecutive days. A payment of £25 is due for each week. Through the cold spell at the beginning of the year, this was triggered 3 times across large parts of Angus. However, pensioners must have applied for the Pensions Credit ...
It's a cold day, today, for sure. I kind of like these sunny end of January days - they kind of give you hope that the horrible dark Winter will end at some point. It always used to be around mid to end January that it would dawn on me when walking home from school in Wick that it wasn't dark anymore. The price you pay for lovely, bright yellow sun and blue sky is that it's so, so cold. And as I write this, my husband tells there's a problem with the heating. We're in for a fun night, ...
Our local Lib Dem MP for Hornsey and Wood Green Lynne Featherstone is asking for details of your experiences of Whittington Hospital Accident & Emergency Department. This is all part of our campaign to stop Whittington A&E being closed down. Lynne is leading this and you can read all about it on her website. I have already blogged about my very positive experiences of the A&E at Whittington (and indeed the whole hospital) and why I think it's so important that a full A&E service is retained. If you have your own story to tell then do let Lynne have ...
Nearly three years ago I added keyword support to this 'ere journal. Well, now it supports negative keyword filtering. So if you want to see posts that are not tagged "geeky", for example, here's the linky.
Now in the Grassroots Liberal Democracy series we come to an area which is very close to my heart – grassroots campaigning. For me, this is the most important part of what being a Liberal Democrat is about, helping people in their daily lives. We live in a society where we give some of our income ...
While you won't notice any changes, there have been biiiig upgrades at CPANdeps. Here's the diff.Until now, it's used a SQLite database of test results that I downloaded every day and then mangled a bit to do things like add some necessary indices, figure out which reports are from dev versions of perl, and so on. That worked really well back in the summer of 2007, when there were only half a million reports in the database. I started worrying a bit at the beginning of 2009 when we hit 3 million, but the update happened overnight so I didn't ...
I get to the widest possible focus for Liberals in today's instalment of Love and Liberty, a 1999 booklet exploring my own Liberalism - continuing my series on what the Liberal Democrats stand for, this time it's the planet Earth. That's a light topic for a Sunday noon. What's the philosophical case for looking out for the interests of future generations? How uncomfortable should you be with thinking, 'Hmm, I'm not sure this bit and this bit of my philosophy quite fit together'? And when am I going to get on to the "Liberty" part? It starts off today, actually... ...
There are lots of people who need homes to live in, and there are a lot of homes that lie empty. It's because of this that the Lib Dems have 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, including over 5,500 in Plymouth, 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 ...
This looks promising ...Hat-tip : Volokh Conspiracy
According to the Khaleej Times, a Gulf newspaper, A Bahraini court jailed two men last week for five years after convicting them of possessing arms, plotting to attack foreign interests and linking up with Al-Qaeda, their lawyers said Wednesday. Their lawyer Farid Ghazi said the verdict was purely "based on the possession of weapons," and rejected charges that the defendants "belong to a terrorist organisation," using the local term for Al-Qaeda. "It is impossible that an organisation like Al-Qaeda could execute an attack using people that have no experience with arms, like our clients." Ghazi said the prosecution had also ...
A news release from the party pings into my inbox: Almost 2/3rd of the RAF's Merlin helicopters, which the Government has hailed as a key part of increasing capacity and 'ideally suited' to Afghanistan, are incapable of carrying out their planned missions, according to figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats. Answers to Parliamentary Questions have shown that of the 19 RAF Merlins in the 'Forward Fleet' (those aircraft which frontline commands are meant to be able to use), just seven - or 37% - are classed as 'available' (defined as 'considered capable of carrying out their planned missions on a ...
Saturday: Twelve. Centauri, the funny-shaped Federation Ambassador to Peladon, is described as an hermaphrodite hexapod. That means he/she/it walks on six legs. But we can clearly SEE six more tentacle-like arms waving gaily out the front. The rest is simple maths. Of course in a completely different TV series, Londo Mollari, the funny-shaped Centauri Ambassador to Babylon 5, lets slip that the Centauri there have six prehensile, er, tentacles, sticking out the front too. And along with their four other limbs that must make them very nearly related to Alpha. Though that probably makes Alpha even RUDER than she/he/it looks! ...
Several hundred people in the UK have died from swine flu since May 2009. As a historical note, this text from 1942 puts our modern health problems in some perspective. In the England of 1840 the average age of death was twenty-nine, today [1942] it is fifty-eight. ...the babies of 1840 suffered an appalling mortality. To-day one child in seventeen dies before it is a year old, but in 1840 the figure was about one in six, and about a third of the children born died before the age of five....Infants died of convulsions, diarroea, and atrophy, the latter being ...
On 11 February 1990 Nelson Mandela finally walked free after 26 years of captivity. Today's Observer has an interview with Frederik Willem de Klerk the then South African President about the lead up to that day. On the 9th Mandela was taken to Cape Town to meet the President in his office. FW de Klerk says: "I told him he would be flown to Johannesburg and released there on 11 February 1990. Mr Mandela's reaction was not at all as I had expected. He said: 'No, it is too soon, we need more time for preparation.' That is when I ...
The end of another week at Bonkers Hall. Sunday We stand upon the verge of a new political year (informed sources tell me to expect a general election, probably on a Thursday in the first five months). I foresee that global warming will continue to be a major concern of the world's parliamentarians - what a blessing it was that everyone got home from Copenhagen before the snow set in! Oh, and do not expect preparations for the London Olympics to be complete for at least another two years. Nearer to home, my bell tower is in need of renovation ...
Rupert Murdock plans for all his newspaper sites to have paid for content. A plan many think won't work as a pay wall will stop people linking to the site and stop the casual reader, reading anything other than the headlines. Of course in America there is a perceived news bias. There is now an emergence of paid for news which is paid for by the users. One example of video news is The Real News which is an independent daily video and documentary news service. The Real News does not accept any government or corporate funding only user funding ...
Iain Dale, failed Tory candidate in North Norfolk last General Election, frequently uses his EDP column to attack the Liberal Democrats (no sour grapes of course!). In particular, he has often tried to score political points by drawing attention to the fact that since April Pond was selected to fight the Norwich North by-election, the Lib Dems have been without a PPC in the neighbouring and nominal target seat of Broadland. It is no suprise then that to date, Dale has failed to acknowledge in blog or column that the Liberal Democrats have selected well-known local campaigner Dan Roper to ...
It's Sunday. It's 9am. It's time for RISO: The Movie, but first the news. 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here's are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: Simon Hughes takes on First Capital Connect: Chris White reports Liberal Internationalism: Alex Wilcock takes a reassuringly extensive look at what the Liberal Democrats stand for Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren't on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all. It's nearly time for RISO: The Movie. Nearly, ...
Plymouth's three Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidates, myself included, stand in full-square opposition to any new incinerator. Burning rubbish should be the last resort, not the first. We are rushing headlong towards building a massive incinerator when we should instead adopt much more ambitious plans to cut the amount of waste we produce. That would mean much less rubbish needing to go to landfill without us having to resort to incineration. Do that and we can avoid having a big, ugly incinerator slap-bang in the middle of our city, belching out fumes that will float over our homes and schools. ...
A BPIX poll today in the Mail on Sunday (I never thought I'd ever write that sentence) shows the Tories down below the crucial 40% threshold which would give us a hung parliament. On the face of it great news, and even more reason to vote for the ONLY ...
Greater Manchester Police has launched a new cross-divisional task force to target burglars, robbers and car thieves that move between areas of Manchester and Stockport to commit crime. The Operation Mistral team consists of dedicated crime analysts, intelligence officers and senior investigation officers that deploy a range of specialist officers from the mounted, dog, tactical aid and roads policing units to support local policing teams in targeting prolific offenders. The task force is based at Cheadle Heath police station and also includes a team of highly experienced crime investigators that is working with forensics experts and the Crown Prosecution Service ...
Tomorrow Nader Fekri and the other parliamentary candidates for Keighley will be taking part in a public forum at the Bangladeshi Community Association at Kesington Street. It starts at 6:00 p.m.
There could be a lot more recognition of bravery of our troops in Afghanistan than is currently the case. But currently the chests of our brave men and women in the field are being kept emptier than their commanding officers would like by over 50%. The issue is a Whitehall quota system that restricts the number of medals to a certain number per tour based on the number of troops in each brigade deployed. Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan says: "The way the quota is used at the moment is very strict, the rules are ...
I had an action packed day today. My colleague Cllr Paul Ankers and I were joined by Cllrs Norman Lewis and Lianne Williams and others for some residents surveying in the morning. We got a very good reception on the doorstep and I was able to pick up some important casework to do with gullies and traffic calming. In the afternoon I went along to the Swap Shop at St John's RC Primary School. This was a really well run event that promoted recycling and was a great chance to talk to local parents and environmental activists. I especially enjoyed ...
A couple of days ago I saw the Manchester United footballer Darren Fletcher on the local news because he had been fined for a motoring offence. In fact it was his father who had been driving faster than the speed limit but I noticed that when Darren was walking into court 'Mr Loophole' was there in the background. It sounds like he should be a Mr Man character but he is in fact a lawyer who usually manages to avoid convictions for celebrities or anyone else who can afford his services. How can this be? How can Mr Loophole be ...
