A morning with fog and icy puddles isn't one to tempt you out, but we had a mini estate walkabout planned for the Council estate in the ward to meet our new Tristar patch manager. Once we got going it was enjoyable, meeting people, listening to and looking at their problems, as well as getting to know each other. A visit to the Community Centre to sort a few things out and I realise...
This morning we had a one and three quarter hour meeting with the Minister, Baroness Thornton, who is steering the Equality Bill through the Lords, at her invitation, to put the case for dealing with caste discrimination while the Bill gives us the opportunity. The agenda is reproduced below and would you believe it, all those listed spoke, plus others besides. It was a unique and historic demonstration of unity by the organisations representing several hundred thousand people from the Dalits and 'Scheduled Castes' living in the UK, and as the Minister said in her reply, this is an issue ...
The long awaited cabinet report on the possibilities for the schools in the south of the Borough is available to councillors today and to the public tomorrow. The meeting of cabinet next week will be held in the Library Lecture theatre after all, with the furniture suitably rearranged to accommodate the sizeable public presence that's expected.The report is not all we'd hoped by any means. It
[IMG: 2010_0203StAHalfMarathonPoolC0030] I can well remember my first time in Bedmond. It was circa 1985. With a friend, I had done a great circular cycle ride from St Albans reaching Sarratt. Coming back, we came up Toms Lane, and I well remember the weary push. All I wanted was the ridge and the then easy ride back to St Albans. Imagine my astonishment when I came to the top and found the tin church. These are common in the Highlands, but I never thought I would see one in Hertfordshire. It's the original flat pack church. Apparently you could buy ...
I am not going to attempt to review every DVD I watch, but this is something special. Queen of Spades is another all but lost British film that has recently been released. It is an adaptation of a Pushkin short story filmed by Thorold Dickinson in 1948. Early 19th century St Petersburg was recreated in a cramped studio in Welwyn Garden City, giving the film a theatrical feel. Not because the acting is stagy - it isn't - but because it has a romantic, expressionist look. As Peter Bradshaw said in the Guardian: Dickinson's film is full of shadows and ...
The first week of the month is a busy one for me as three local residents' groups all meet in it - but at least they're on different days! It's not always easy to get motivated to go out, what with frost and fog, but it's always worth going because the people who make these groups function are all people who want to make a difference. So here's a quick portrait of each. First Tuesdays are the Berry Edge Residents' Association meetings at the YMCA. This is a very localised group who represent the interests of the original streets in ...
Here's a thought: everyone is arguing about which is better: AV, AV+, FPTP or STV. Or at least, lefties are - clearly STV is best! - but instead of gambling five years of potentially ruinous governance on a proposition with no local evidence, why don't we run some trials, eh? Take ten random constituencies and have them vote AV, another ten, AV+, another ten STV. See what happens. Take some time, get some evidence. Is that really such a crazy idea?
My complaint tonight to the BBC: Yet again the BBC has no Liberal Democrat representative on Question Time, though has 2 left wing former Labour MPs - respects George Galloway and Independent Claire Short. In addition it has a Conservative sympathising journalist as well as Conservative MP. The constant ignoring of the Liberal Democrats is getting serious. Not only are we in the run up to a
As I blogged last week, a diagonal pedestrian crossing is to be introduced outside Wood Green tube station. Since then I've been finding out more about the project, including emailing Haringey Council and going along to their mini-exhibition at Wood Green Library this evening. Haringey added only one artists' impression of the scheme to their website today, but kindly sent me the two pictures below: I also took this photo of the plan which was on display (wishing I hadn't left my decent camera at home, but if you click on the photo you'll see a larger view). The council ...
On December 5, 2008, I was asked to take up the case of a British citizen Mr A who was detained by the police at Heathrow and required to give a sample of his DNA and to have his fingerprints taken. Just before that the European Court of Human Rights had ruled, in the case of S and Marper, that the indefinite retention by the authorities of biometric samples taken under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act from persons with no criminal record is unlawful. Mr A's samples were taken under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 but the ...
I'm really impressed by this....
A couple of years back, I was moved to write to the BBC complaining about Question Time's pro-Tory bias, regularly featuring Tory-supporting journalists alongside Tory MPs. Well, that'll learn me to be careful what you wish for. Because what do we have to look forward to on tonight's QT panel? The following: an official Labour representative (Lord Falconer), and two former Labour MPs (Clare Short and George Galloway); and, for balance, an official Tory representative (Theresa May), and professional right-wing agitpropette (Melanie Phillips). Deep joy. As Love and Liberty's Alex Wilcock acerbically notes: It's not as if the Liberal Democrats ...
A couple of years back, I was moved to write to the BBC complaining about Question Time's pro-Tory bias, regularly featuring Tory-supporting journalists alongside Tory MPs. Well, that'll learn me to be careful what you wish for. Because what do we have to look forward to on tonight's QT panel? The following: an official Labour representative (Lord Falconer), and two former Labour MPs (Clare Short and George Galloway); and, for balance, an official Tory representative (Theresa May), and professional right-wing agitpropette (Melanie Phillips). Deep joy. As Love and Liberty's Alex Wilcock acerbically notes: It's not as if the Liberal Democrats ...
What a contrast. A few weeks ago, Clegg announced a very competent set of policies that address the inequalities that homosexuals still face. Whilst Cameron does support the law that would enable asylum seekers to settle here if they are fleeing prosecution because of their sexual orientation, he is less committed to removing the ban that ...
This evening, city councillors were given a guided tour of the revitalised and beautifully restored McManus Art Gallery & Museum. I have no doubt that all who attended were thoroughly impressed by the stunning and sympathetic refurbishment. McManus reopens to the public on Sunday 28th February at 12.30pm.
Roger Gale MP has, as mentioned in the press, been successful in sorting out, a misunderstanding over parliamentary expenses claims for telephone calls and I can say that I'm genuine pleased, since I doubt Roger Gale is going to risk his reputation for a few quid. I'm also sure that Thanet's other MP Ladyman, is similarly honest, but one thing that still bugs me, is that I believe both have claimed for food expenses, which I feel is wrong. Why is it wrong, simply because both earn considerably more money than most of their constituents, and are able to dine ...
This is a very bad week for me as far as blogging goes – my wife's been a little unwell, we've had visitors round the last three days on the run (normally never happens), I'm working longer than usual hours, I have an assignment worth 25% of my marks for this module due in for ...
Liberal Democrats in Bury today set out their General Election plans to put more police on the beat. The extra officers for Bury will be funded by the savings from scrapping ID cards, and are part of the Liberal Democrats' Safer Streets - More and Better Police manifesto commitment. People are scared of crime. Expensive ID cards aren't going to change that, but an extra officer walking down Bury New Road or more police in Bury on Friday night will. The Liberal Democrats are committed to more police, and this is the only way to create safer streets. Commenting, Liberal ...
It's been a pleasure over the last few years, for various reasons of business, pleasure and Liberal Democracy, to have had the opportunity to mooch around some of the British Isles' grand cities, such as Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, London, Manchester and Liverpool. And today, I had a little time to have a looksie at Glasgow. This fellow caught my eye just outside Glasgow's Central Station. The Glasgow Photo Library website explains: This memorial, outside Glasgow's Central station, was erected in 2001 in memory of the firemen who have lost their lives in Glasgow and the West of Scotland. In ...
I nearly forgot about FMQs today. I was so absorbed in my work that it was 12:11 before I realised and switched it on just as Tavish Scott was enquiring of Alex Salmond for the nth time what is to be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet. Seriously, though, why do they bother with those questions? I mean, it's hardly likely Alex is going to turn round and say something like "we cracked open a bottle of pinot grigio and discussed the pros and cons of Susan in Neighbours acting as a surrogate for her daughter." Not that ...
Do you remember a few months ago I got a bit dischuffed that Jo Swinson had been dropped from Question Time in the week that both Iraq and the Calman Commission report, issues on which the Lib Dems had a unique viewpoint? Well, it looks like history is repeating itself. Not for Jo, but again in a week where there's a referendum on voting reform on the agenda as well as Blair's evidence at the Iraq Inquiry and MP's expenses pulling our Legg again, all strong Lib Dem issues, there will be no Liberal Democrat on the panel. And the ...
Earlier this week the Conservative Party made the headlines for all the wrong reasons as they were roundly criticised for misrepresenting figures on violent crime for political gain. I caught a bit of Chris Grayling, Shadow Home Secretary being interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme and I cringed. He said something about how if you talked to people on the streets they would confirm crime had risen - hardly very scientific! The point there is that what people feel about crime is based on people's perceptions not hard data: and I would agree that fear of crime is an issue. ...
Yesterday we had an hour's debate in the Grand Committee on the appalling problems in the DRC, initiated by my colleague David Chidgey. He summarised the situation brilliantly in the ten minutes he was allotted. But I couldn't help reflecting that the previous debate on the DRC, as long ago as November 2008, was in Government time, and I asked the Minister Bill Brett to see that we had regular periodic opportunities of reviewing the UN's involvement, and the UK's influence on UN policies. The DRC is after all the largest UN peacekeeping operation in the world, having a budget ...
It's #bbcqt day and as usual the Live Chat on this blog will start tonight at 10:30pm. The panel are the former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer, the shadow secretary of state for work and pensions Theresa May MP, the former Labour and now Independent MP Clare Short, the Respect MP George Galloway and the Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips (*shudders*). So no Lib Dem (again) and 3 current or former Labour parliamentarians. Nice. Given the release of the Legg report today, expect fireworks if it's anything like the last expenses themed edition. Join us from 10:30pm below: BBC Question Time ...
Sir Thomas Legg's commission has now ruled on the amount that MPs must repay from their second home expenses claims. There are two MPs covering Acocks Green - until the General Election, when the whole of the Ward will become part of the Yardley constituency. The situation for our MPs is as follows: John Hemming, Lib Dem MP for Yardley, does not have to repay anything, Roger Godsiff, Labour MP for Sparkbrook & Small Heath, has to repay £2,224.30. According to the BBC he is one of the MPs who has not yet repayed what he owes. The full list ...
Today, the Guardian deicated much of its G2 section celebrating 40 years of Nancy Banks-Smith's contribution to the paper. The woman is a delight and can reasonably said to add to the sum of human joy whenever she puts pen to paper. If you want to find out what I'm blathering about look here She was the first thing I used to turn to when reading my "Grauniad", as it is I still try to find her contribution (she contributes intermittently). Her writing, is warm, witty, and wonderful. She ALWAYS makes me smile. I shall have a glass of ...
It's always nice to see these awards being won close to home. This one goes to the Harborough Mail for its: Police tell intruders to get a moo-ve onThe story concerns two cows who wandered on to the playing fields at the Robert Smyth School. It is surprising that they did so because houses have been built all around the school since I went to it. Back in the 1970s the playing fields were bounded by open fields and we would often have horses grazing the football pitches. They were the piebalds favoured by Gypsies an often bore a close ...
Having given Greg Mulholland a bit of a hard time recently, it's only fair that I highlight this Early Day Motion (EDM) - also from Greg. Great stuff. This particular EDM concerns the Sec state for health "considering" an extension of the smoking ban to include beer gardens and the outside of pubs. I did not agree with every word in the EDM and would have liked some reference to some of the other measures (such as the possible move to enforce plain-packaging on all cigarette packs) but I did approve of his point that "there needs to be a ...
Commenting on the news that they have lost another councillor, Haringey Labour Chief Whip Cllr Joe Goldberg claims that these local difficulties (which are starting to look like a mass exodus from Haringey Labour) are the result of a democratic selection process... he says: We are the only party to maintain this level of democracy for council candidate selections and I believe it keeps us closer to communities we seek to serve. Absolute rubbish, of course, as well he knows. How democratic the Labour ward selections are is up for debate anyway - but the point I unfortunately have to ...
Over at The Guardian's Comment Is Free site, Lib Dem shadow health secretary Norman Lamb argues that instead of slashing NHS budgets, we can get smarter services by devolving power to patients and professionals. Here's an excerpt: Opinion polls suggest that satisfaction with NHS has never been higher. The challenge facing all political parties is to sustain that support in an era of reduced public spending. The NHS is facing a perfect storm of rising costs due to our ageing population, a range of lifestyle conditions and a constant flow of expensive new treatments, but there will be no significant ...
I attended last night's Acocks Green South Police Tasking meeting at Lakey Lane Primary School. As usual there was a good attendance from local residents and a variety of topics, local and general were covered. An update was given on the previous priorities (from the December meeting, as the January meeting was cancelled due to the snow) was given: 1) Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) at the top of Edenbridge Road and Lakefield Close: Action has been taken with one youth who lives in the maisonettes in this section of Edenbridge road identified. He has been interviewed by the Police and ...
The EDP reports that government minister John Denham, who has responsibility for making the decision about the bids for unitary status in Norfolk, may decide to keep the present council system, but allow Norwich City Council to become a Unitary Authority on its existing boundaries. Firstly, can I say how pleased I am if this is the decision. Not because I particularly want to change education authorities (as I work in Norwich), but because I have long been an advocate of keeping the existing district councils which are more in touch and often more relevent to local people in our ...
Just a reminder that from this Friday evening, there are FREE sports activities for 13-19 year olds at Colfe's School Sports Centre every Friday night. The action kicks off at 6.30pm and continues til 8.30pm – no need to book, just turn up. For more info contact Lewisham Youth Service – Muhammad Rahmani at muhammad.rahmani {at} lewisham.gov(.)uk This regular session has been kick-started by the Lee Green Assembly's work to establish youth facilities in Lee Green Ward. Many thanks to Muhammad and his colleagues at the youth service for securing extra funding in order to run these sessions. Directions to ...
Fancy buying a helicopter? Or even two?As the website of the Colorado Springs Police Department explains, the US city of Colorado Springs is selling off both of its police helicopters. This is due to 'financial constraints'The city is short of money, doesn't want to increase taxes, and hence is heading into a crisis. The helicopter sale is just one of many cuts being made to the city budget, and
Last week it was Lib Dem MP Jeremy Browne has won his appeal against repaying £18,000 of expenses. Now fellow Lib Dem Lembit Opik has also had his appeal against repaying hundreds of pounds in parliamentary expenses allowed by Sir Paul Kennedy, the judge brought in to arbitrate on disputed claims. The BBC reports: Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Opik was ordered to pay back £900 he claimed for a mobile phone bill. Sir Thomas Legg, the retired civil servant auditing MPs' expenses, said the Liberal Democrat MP should not have been able to claim for the phone bill. But Mr Opik ...
North Londoners are facing some big public transport challenges over the coming months. First the London Overground is being shut completely through Islington for upgrading from 20 February 2010 until 31 May 2010, with weekend closures for longer. That's bad enough but just about bearable on its own. But now the Northern Line is facing ...
Here's a scan of my Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA), taken at King's on January 4. The width is 4.97 cm, compared with the previous measurement of 4.5 cm, taken as I remember it a year ago. An AAA is a thin section of the wall of the aorta that bulges outward. Its weaker than normal artery wall and may not withstand the pressure of blood inside - though at the bulge, the pressure is less than in the rest of the aorta by the normal laws of hydrodynamics. If the width is greater than 5.5 cm the odds on rupture ...
Following the release of the Legg report on MPs' expenses today, I have been taking a closer look at the breakdown of the amounts by party. I have listed below the highest amount that has been decided should be repaid, the average amount for each of the 3 main parties (averaged across all their MPs who have been told to repay something, after appeal) and the percentage of MPs from each party who have to pay back something. No party comes out of this well, I just thought it would be interesting to see the figures. Thanks to Left Foot ...
So - another one bites the dust. Cllr Sheik Thomson, who was Mayor of Haringey for Labour only the year before last, has resigned from the Labour party and become an independent. Last week Cllr Brian Haley resigned from Labour and joined the LibDems. Just before that, Labour Cllr Alan Dobbie resigned from Labour to become a Tory. They are dropping like flies. With votes now on the casting vote of the Mayor - that would explain why Labour suddenly cancelled the budget meeting that was set for next Monday. Roll on the local elections of May 6!
I was this week's guest on John Pienaar's Radio 5 Live political review podcast this week. We covered PMQs and focused on the legacy of Gordon Brown's time as Chancellor with respect to the defence budget, the Lib Dems questions on Trident and what may have caused Gordon's Damascene conversion to being a staunch advocate of the (non-proportional) Alternative Vote system for Westminster and how it might relate to the MPs' expenses scandal. You can download the podcast from here. You can also subscribe to it on iTunes via this link here.
ICBA to do much of a proper update today; been a little under the weather this past couple of days, and tonight I'll be drinking BEER with my fellow bleeding-heart libruls in Brighouse. So, I'll leave you with a very choice link courtesy of chrishansenhome; for all of you who grew up watching Tomorrow's World and cheesy science-fiction and feel a little cheated that you're not driving round in hovercars today, this is the place to go. Also, via enemiesofreason, this one's for you, ms_siobhan :)
[IMG: Lime Grove School] As I have written before, the old school on Lime Grove has been considered by the Conservative council as a site for a wet-house. For all the time that the site was the leading contender for a homeless hostel, suitable for alcohol consumption, the plans were kept secret and only leaked out when the cabinet member accidentally referred to them in a council meeting. Currently, the planned location is by Kingsmead Square - although this is also hotly contested. My ward colleague in Kingsmead has asked for the documentation about the decision and was only able ...
For anyone who is interested there is a new site on Facebook called 'Old Pics of Liscard'. In just over two weeks it has had over a thousand people sign up, however, the pictures are not just of Liscard, most of Wallasey is covered here and you may like to add to it. I suspect ...
John O Shea has said there was something wrong with the phrasing of the question. What exactly is wrong with this:"At the weekend, National Express group cancelled without consultation the number 41 bus in Birmingham, causing major problems for people in Birmingham.""This is symptomatic of a national problem. When will the rest of the country be allowed to use the same system for bus management
Chris Giles' excellent blog has highlighted the 'rationalisation after the fact' of QE – changing your mind about how it works. Taking the MPC minutes, they demonstrate how the emphasis has changed over time, using an amusing colour coded pair of tables. Their conclusions: it is obvious the Bank has flipped and flopped over the intermediate ...
James Graham gives Comment is Free the benefit of his views on Gordon Brown's electoral reform fudge: AV is the perfect electoral system for Gordon Brown. It enables him to look in two directions at once: supporting a system which ensures that fewer votes are wasted while being resolutely non-proportional. Superficially it sounds like a big deal, but in most elections it will probably only change the result in a handful of seats. And, like all Gordon Brown policies, it has a fair chance of blowing up in his face; because of AV's habit of exaggerating swings, the system is ...
Shamed MP, Iris Robinson, who quit politics last month after it was revealed she had an affair with a 19-year-old is facing further embarrassment today in revelations that she spent a whopping £1644 on a bed! Sir Thomas Legg has published his report into MPs expenses and it has been revealed that Iris Robinson spent £1644.90 on a Pocket Suberb 1800 bed, which is well over the £1100 guideline price MPs are asked to adhere to. There are way too many innuendo's and jokes possible from this announcement!
The Tories has got themselves into a right pickle over violent crime I gather they have put out figure for every constituency. Yesterday we had a Southport Area committee at which the police to answer questions. I took the chance to ask them whether there had been a 79% increase in violent crime in the town.No. There has been a significant reduction. Crimes that were not recorded as violent in 2001 are today. The inspector reeled of a long list of crimes that were not recorded as violent crimes then that today. First rules of stats :compare like with like. ...
I was taken with Cllr Sir Ron Watson's (Dukes Ward, Con) quote published in the LGA magazine recently. I don't wish to cause trouble in the Southport Tory group (altho I am confident that Sir Ron can look after himself) but given our local Tory leadership want to leave the LGA and have set their face like a flint against facilitating Sir Ron's involvement, just mentioning LGA and Sir Ron in the same sentence is likely to see him relegated to what Tory dissidents call the 'naughty step'. Anyway back to Sir Ron's quote : 'I do believe, however, that ...
This month, I got a paper published in a journal called History & Theory (the ampersand is important). It's been a long wait – a round of revisions, some serious collaborative editing to make it consumable in America, plus the usual long stretches of peer-review and publication. It's about counterfactualism. Here's the abstract as it appears ...
Further to my earlier items about the proposed footpath improvements in Elliot Road, I was pleased today to be advised that work has now started (slightly later than originally proposed).
First Capital Connect has been in the news. Commuters have finally lost patience with poor service, high costs, questionable pricing policies and overcrowding. An overtime ban coupled with a feeble reaction to recent snowfalls has compounded the situation into one of genuine public anger. Railways in many parts of the country are monopolies. You buy a house away from where you work, relying upon public transport to get you to and from your place of employment. The car is often not a realistic alternative. Other railway lines may well not be available. What does the public do when faced with ...
Residents have been in contact to warn me that some of the work already done seems to be coming out. Herts Highways are aware of this and will ensure, they tell me, rectification.
Liberal Democrats have always been clear on where political power should reside. We are democrats and we are instinctive supporters of decentralisation and empowerment. We trust people to make their own choices and to run their own lives, or do we? A few years ago I sat on the Party's commission to look at public services. It was an unwieldy body that struggled to find focus and despite the fact that it was tasked to produce federal policy it delivered instead pages of English-only imperatives that served only to pad out its main thesis, that we should be empowering local ...
Alright, playing with sticklebricks done, what have I learned? The answer shouldn't have surprised me. If you find someone utterly incapable of doing their job, take them out and, presuming you can't sack them, make them responsible for quality control. In improving the quality by removing the main cause of error, you reduce their new role to one of trying to look busy and justifying their existence, none of which does any positive harm to the product. Eventually (hopefully) someone will discover that they serve no useful purpose, merely to depress the profit margin, and let them go. I'm not ...
Lewisham borough presents a variety of local parades, some are very successful, some less so. Today Brockley Central posted an item about Honor Oak Park, which is probably as good as it gets and should be used as a benchmark for what a local parade can aspire to, and discusses the implications of parking policies ...
Greater Manchester Police are reporting the arrest of a suspect over the desecration of muslim graves in the Autumn. A 22 year old man has been detained. I am delighted. I attended a vigil protesting against this in November, along with John Leech MP & Cllrs John Grant & Norman Lewis. Cllr Grant and I also attended a meeting with community leaders and Police. As a result of that, CCTV was installed outside the cemetery. Good work GMP.
Cannock South Councillor Mark Green, has decided to follow the lead of colleagues Councillors Keith and Diane Bennett, by becoming the third Conservative to join the Liberal Democrat group at Cannock Chase District Council.
Last nights Full meeting of Bury Council which brings all 51 councillors together in the ritual mud slinging contest was mercifully low on mud hurling for once. SUPPORTING FAIR FUNDING FOR GMP As mentioned previously the Lib Dem Group proposed a motion in support of Greater Manchester Police. We are concerned that financial pressures may lead to 100 or more front line Police officers being lost, with all the consequences for crime fighting that would have. We reiterated our support for GMP and called on the Government to provide greater financial support by releasing funds originally granted (by a funding ...
Mr John Hemming MPBirmingham YardleyMr Hemming has no issues.
On today's 'Daily Politics' , the Shadow Health spokesman Andrew Lansley criticised Primary Care Trusts, saying PCTs ' are not assessing the quality of out-of-hours service, they are contracting on price alone'. Excuse me, Mr Lansley! Thatcher's Conservative govenments introduced Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT) in the Local Government Planning and Land Act (1980) and extended it further in the ...
Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there's new stories of interest. Some people like subscribing to its news feed (RSS) and checking that way. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day's posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want to take a read. Just go to our email sign up page to start getting these emails. You can also sign up for a special once-a-week email, bringing ...
Margaret Newton and Rosie Deverell from FLAG will be holding a drop-in information session on Wed 10th Feb from 2-4pm at Cafe Unity in Heald Green. FLAG is a free independent service that puts people who need practical or emotional help, due to disability or illness or age, in touch with those local organisations who provide it. FLAG is your link to the health and social care services provided by a consortium of independent voluntary organisations in the area, as well as the services provided by Stockport Council. Whatever your problem, issue or need, talk to FLAG first. If help ...
Yesterday I wrote about Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling's extraordinarily twisted use of statistics to try to justify part of the Conservatives' 'Broken Britain' narrative. Today the BBC's Mark Easton, who broke the original story, has the news that Chris Grayling has just been sent a sharp letter from Parliament's statistics watchdog, informing him that his mis-use of statistics about violent crime is 'likely to damage public trust in official statistics'. The Chairman of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), Sir Michael Scholar, says he does 'not wish to become involved in political controversy', but 'must take issue' with Grayling's comments ...
[IMG: Birmingham New Street station redesign] Birmingham City Council's planning committee have given the final approval to plans to redevelop Birmingham New Street station. The bold design will transform the welcome visitors to Birmingham receive, with vastly increased passenger capacity thanks to a bright, new concourse. The station is going to remain operational throughout the work, which starts later this year. Phase 1 should be complete by 2012. But what will make the most difference for Birmingham's commuters is reopening the Camp Hill line.
[IMG: Pothole in Mount View Road February 2010] Like many councillors I've spent the last few weeks reporting all the potholes I can spot on our local roads. Its a pretty thankless task – sometimes you think it would be easier to send in a list of all the places that don't have potholes. So far I've reported them on Granville, Inderwick, Nelson, Stapleton Hall and Mount View Roads (this photo is from Mount View). Of course, the current rash of potholes has been caused by the snow and ice, and the Lib Dems have pressed the Council to do ...
[IMG: POWER2010 Logo] POWER2010 is a new campaign aimed at grassroots democratic reform - putting more power in the hands of people, and giving us more say over what goes on in Westminster. They have a list of proposed reforms, of which five will be chosen on 22nd February to form the POWER2010 Manifesto, on which the group will campaign during the election. Most of their proposals seem sensible, and many are already Liberal Democrat policy for democratic reform. I've voted in favour of the following reforms: Scrap ID cards and roll back the database state - the compulsory £10,000,000,000 ...
Liberal Democrats won three of the nine awards in the LGIU's first Councillor of the Year Awards. Alexis Rowell, from Camden, won the Sustainability Councillor of the Year award. He was described by judges as, "a "real terrier"; and noted that he is "someone who won't let you forget about the climate change agenda. He is a very visible champion of these issues and his local persistence has made him well known in Camden and beyond." Alex Folkes from Cornwall, has won the New Councillor of the Year Award with judges saying, "that he was an impressive candidate and had ...
Simple question, simple answer. But do you know it? The Swedish election of 1956 saw a political first. What was it? Post your guesses below and check back same time tomorrow to find out the answer.
Tayside Police is holding a Community Surgery for the West End in Blackness Library next Tuesday - click on headline to view more or see below :
Facsinating article in the Western Mail as the now former Plaid Cymru Councillor Siân Caiach delivers a parting shot as she leaves the party she has been a member of for 33 years. Talking about the coalition talks back in 2007 she says that senior figures in Plaid Cymru decided to opt for a coalition deal with Labour because they thought Ieuan Wyn Jones was not up to being First Minister. She says: "I have no doubt than given the proper choice between coalitions, the Plaid membership would have chosen the Rainbow coalition. I suspect the majority of the people ...
I'm proud to be referred to a Politico, it is a word that predates the Internet, one quick Internet search shows it appears in Webster's dictionary in 1913. In the UK there are Labour politicos, Lib Dem Politicos, Green Politicos and Tory Politicos. One of the latter is of course Tory Politico but heaven forbid that the might of corporate legislative America should claim that a word in common parlance should be copyrighted and used exclusively by them. But that is what they have done to Tory Politico. I note that this company claiming copyright has a Wikipedia page which ...
Here is an extract from Sir Thomas Legg Report. ''Rt Hon Andrew Mackay MP Bracknell Mr Mackay is married to another MP. He designated his London flat as his second home, while his wife nominated it as her main home. He designated his constituency home as his main home while his wife nominated it as her second home. This meant that, between them, the couple had no main home which was not funded by the ACA. Throughout the five years of the review period, they both claimed at or close to the full allowance to support their two homes. These ...
Download it as a pdf or browse it from here.
As many of you know, I am a great fan of Coronation Street, and today marks the 90th birthday of Coro legend Betty Williams (although Betty Driver, the actress who has played Betty for 40 years isn't 90 in real-life until May!) It turns out that Betty of Hot Pot fame is actuallly a vegetarian! More can be read on the excellent Coronation Street Blog at http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com/!
The Legg report on MPs expenses has just been published and most of the MPs with the biggest amount to pay back are Tories. The Press Association says " The largest sums ordered to be repaid by sitting MPs - after appeals are taken into account - were £42,458 by Barbara Follett (Lab, Stevenage), £36,909 by Bernard Jenkin (Con, North Essex), £31,193 by Andrew Mackay (Con, Bracknell), £29,398 by John Gummer (Con, Suffolk Coastal), £29,243 by Julie Kirkbride (Con, Bromsgrove) and £24,878 by Liam Fox (Con, Woodspring)." So of the top 6 worst offenders 5 were Tories. I've always wondered ...
This morning's Independent seems to have been put together on a theme - love bomb the Liberal Democrats. It is something we have become used to from the increasingly unsure leaders of Labour and the Conservatives but it must be a first from a national newspaper. First off is Steve Richards, who uses his column to explain why the Liberal Democrats' hour has come. He sets out a number of reasons: 1. The most important change comes in the form of the mighty opinion polls, those trackers of fickle opinion that determine the political mood. Several polls point to a ...
Yesterday it was announced that the Northern Irish First Minister was returning to duty (was he actually away)following the completion of the probe into his finances. The Electoral Commission's findings have been published. Here is what was found out against what Peter has claimed: Peter Robinson source Newsletter June 2009 I give my assembly salary to the party. Actual quote: "Every one of our councillors, every one of our Assembly members, every one of our post holders, every one of our ministers, pays into the party in accordance with what they receive for those positions [second jobs etc]. "That means ...
Full credit to Rachel Tyndall (Chair of the North London Central Review Panel) for sending me the NCL Strategy Plan for our local health services. I had heard that these had been submitted to NHS London and asked for a copy - and it was given to me virtually immediately. I have circulated the document for information. The content is of concern. First let me say - this is a long, technical document - in which the arguments are laid out for the configuration of health services across five boroughs and between five hospitals: Barnet, Royal Free, North Mids, UCLH ...
Well done, John Redwood: Someone today on the radio said he could not see how QE led to inflation. He should try looking at how the government overpays for all too many things and how it also slaps extra taxes on which drives prices up further. Um, what? I am sure there is a mechanism linking QE ...
The Manchester Evening News report on our taking the Labour members of the Planning Committee to the Standards Board. It relates to Chorlton Meadows and the Labour team delivering letters within an hour of the decision. I briefly spoke at Full Council on the matter last week. Obviously, I am glad that the meadows plans would have been rejected(had they not been withdrawn), but it can't operate behind closed doors. There can't be any impropriety on Planning matters.
Welcome to the concluding part of a two-part series about the real impact social media (or social networking) is having on politics in Britain. Last week I looked at the groups which face extinction; today it's why pundits searching for the impact of social media on politics in 2010 are looking in the wrong place. For the third general election in a row, people are lining up to debate whether or not this one will be the internet election; the election when politics radically changes in the face of the technological change that has already swept the world. Here's my ...
This is a letter the police are putting out, reporting on Operation Beach in the Gatley area. Over the last two and a half months the West Neighbourhood Policing Team has run an anti burglary operation within Gatley called Operation Beach. Operation Beach has reduced the rate of Burglaries by 67% compared to last years figures. The operation has also assisted to reduce robberies by 75%. This is an excellent achievement. As part of the operation, the mobile police station was deployed to the area to be used as a base to conduct the operation. Over 1800 residents were visited ...
Hate crime should be reported. This is defined as: Any incident, which may or may ot constitute a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hate towards the victim because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or the fact that they have a disability. If you feel that you are being targeted in this way then you should report the incident to the police statig that you feel this to be the case. There does not have to be evidence to suggest the motivation, the fact that you ...
Interesting article The Register on what they describe as draconian new laws in South Australia. The new Australian law came into force on January 6, and makes it an offence for anyone to comment online about state elections (including one shortly to be held in March) unless they also publish their real name and postcode. Failure to do so - even posting under a pseudonym - is now an offence. Media organisations will be required to keep posters' details on file for six months and face "fines of $5000 if they do not hand over this information to the Electoral ...
New Liberal Democrat plans for policing across the UK, will lead to an extra 63 officers for South Wales Police, as part of an expansion of 3000 extra officers across the UK, the Cardiff Central Liberal Democrat, Jenny Willott has said. Commenting on the initiative, Jenny said "The only proven way to tackle crime and the fear of crime is by putting more bobbies on the beat. "But police force numbers in Wales have fallen over the last five years. Under Labour and Tory plans, they are likely to fall even further. "With the new police officers the Liberal Democrats ...
With the news this morning once again filled with stories about MPs and their expenses, it's made me wonder just what would satisfy not just the media, but the baying mobs of the general public. The stocks? Self-flagellation? Walking barefoot across a firey pit of doom in the depths of Mordor? No. Nothing would. The point was ...
I attended my first planning meeting at South Cambs District Council yesterday - speaking re a cottage in Coton, a proposed new development for Caldecote and the proposed sixth form college for Comberton. Given that we were in Cambourne I'm relieved I got all village names out in the right order! What stunned me was the robustness of the debate. Officers were put through the mill by members to make sure that all issues were thoroughly thrashed out before a vote was taken. It was also heartening to see that members were not voting along any party lines - it ...
The BBC today denied accusations that filling Question Time with five authoritarian egomaniacs displayed any lack of political balance. 'Last week we had three Tories - today, three Labour people,' a spokesperson said. 'How much more balanced could we be? It's not as if the Liberal Democrats have anything distinctive to contribute about tonight's topics of Iraq and electoral reform. I'm sorry, what? 'With Lord Falconer, Theresa May, Clare Short, George Galloway and Melanie Phillips on tonight's panel [see our EXCLUSIVE advance photograph], the audience can be assured a full range of political colours. Mr Dimbleby is in the chair. ...
Of course, work as a civil servant isn't all tea drinking and paper shuffling. Sometimes, we get exposed to the latest in management consultancy. I say latest, although these fads only tend to reach us just as they become totally discredited in the all-seeing, all-knowing private sector. Today is a case in point. The latest 'this will be our future' concept is something called Pacesetter, which introduces the production line ethos into our activities. As part of its introduction, I will undergo training in 'the Pacesetter Way', which sounds a bit like a bureaucratic version of Eastern martial philosophy, designed ...
At the last full council I asked how many bicycles had been reported stolen in the last 2 years. This issue is very dear to me as I have had 3 bikes stolen from various locations in Reading since I first moved here. I also continually hear about friends and constituents who have their bikes stolen. One friend had his bike locked to a Sheffield-post near the stadium. He returned a day later to find that not only had the bike gone, but so had the post! From 2007/08 to 2008/09 there was a minimal increase of 5 reports, but ...
Greens need to be careful their righteous fury does not damage the standing of their cause, or the methods needed to further it.
John O Shea is trying to face both ways on the issue of the No 41 bus.I raised a serious issue about how the 1985 Transport Act is continuing to undermine bus services outside London. I did this at Prime Ministers question time. The Prime Minister is in charge of a government that is responsible for the statutory environment for buses.On The Stirrer John O Shea says:"As a matter of fact, I
it has been a pretty ho-hum week for David Cameron. Despite a good performance on Prime Minister's question time, he has had to consider a swathe of polls all showing Labour support up, and the Conservatives down. Many Conservative commentators are coming out of the woodwork to give advice to Mr. Cameron- and the chorus has increased in intensity with every percentage point the Tory lead falls. Amongst the various voices trying to steady the ship, there is a growing voice of simple perplexity: "how", they think, "can the Tory lead be in danger, when Labour has so manifestly failed?" ...
Beautiful words in an excellent article by Steve Richards today as he discusses what is becoming the best opportunity for the LDs for decades to make a substantial advance. He describes the Tories thus: Cameron's policies are finally coming under a degree of scrutiny: the rootless, focus group driven oscillations in relation to their plans for "tax and spend"; the unreformed Euroscepticism; and the wider contradictory objectives. Suddenly the unquestioned common assumption that Cameron has moved his party on to the centre ground is being questioned a little. Or at least there is recognition that this untested, inexperienced political leader ...
As I've already blogged, one single councillor has now taken on responsibility for the whole of both the environment and housing portfolios in Haringey. Either alone is a massive job. One example of the huge task that Cllr Bevan already had on his hands with just housing is the issue of empty homes, highlighted by my Lib Dem colleague Cllr Richard Wilson recently. Richard is pictured here with fellow Lib Dem campaigner Katherine Reece-Thomas outside a large three storey terrace house in Stroud Green ward, which has been empty for nearly a year. At the same time as this property ...
Last night, newly elected councillor Alex Folkes broke the news on his blog that he'd won the New Councillor award in the LGIU c'llr awards. Obviously I'm very very chuffed at the news and want to thank the LGIU very much indeed. LDV often share facilities with Cllr Folkes at conference when he's working as a photographer – indeed much of his work is available for use, if correctly credited, at the Lib Dem Flickr group. The criteria for the award were: election for the first time in June 2009 visible positive impact on the political group and/or community they ...
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: A survey of over 2,000 businesses by the US firm HubSpot found that firms with active blogs get seven times more organic search engine traffic (i.e. traffic not driven by adverts) than non-blogging firms: Businesses that published at least 5 blog articles in the last 7 days draw 6.9 times more organic search traffic and 1.12 times more referral traffic than those who don't blog at all. In addition, Among companies that blog, organic search and referrals traffic are high[er] for those who published more blog articles up to date. Although, as ever, correlation is ...
A bumper month in January, largely due to lots of visitors coming to find out about which schools were closed in the snow (though still well up on last month when those visits are excluded). Total unique visitors: 3,997 Total page loads: 5,629 And for those using the ALDC MyCouncillor service who want to see how much they're beating me by, here are the numbers for their stats: MyCouncillor Hits: 34,381 MyCouncillor Hits Mk II: 7,588
Julie Trollope's letter in last week's Bath Chronicle newspaper implies that the Conservatives are promoting and practicing biblical values - the true Christian party of British politics! Ms Trollope needs to be reminded that there are many things that are also un-Christian about the Tory Party. For instance, their support for the illegal invasion of Iraq, their lack of support for the poorer members of our society and their general disinterest in social reform programmes which foster better communities. She writes to suggest that the Tory plans to give tax cuts to married families is biblical. I completely disagree! No ...
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has produced a report today saying that there is still massive uncertainty over the outlook for the British economy. It is critical that the Government has a plan to tackle the public finances which is flexible ...
Nigh on a quarter of a century ago I made a mess of taking my Birkdale colleague's wedding photos. This misdemeanor slipped my mind when I handed him my camera on Saturday. The meeting with Vince was held in the Town Hall-the same venue as his wedding to Lyn. When he handed me the camera back after my photo call with Vince I had a lovely picture of the banister. He did better. So no hard feelings.
You wouldn't believe how long it took three grown men to take a photograph.
The meeting with Vince Cable at Southport Town Hall was a great success. These things don't just happen. Many folk contributed, not least of all Miss Howard pictured opposite with her camera. Of course she wasn't alone and I have more photos to post of other people who worked hard behind the scenes to add to the blog.
Youtube comments are not noted for their intellectual content, but a comment on the Traffic song Light Up or Leave Me Alone gets it just right: "I think this is the ultimate, 'get out of my room Mom!' song." And karenparetto has also put her finger on the problem with many libertarian bloggers. They are irredeemably adolescent. The issues that motivate them over and over again are "get out of my room Mom!" ones: alcohol, gambling and smoking. Even the splendid Charlotte Gore has succumbed to this world view. On Saturday she announced she was closing her blog down because ...
One day soon I shall bring together other examples of nonsense. The Tory Leader has had many Town Hall meetings. I wonder whether in any of those places Lib Dem Councillors felt it necessary to ask for such a notice to be displayed?I wonder who insisted on this notice?
And if there had been more of the world, They would have reached it. So wrote Luís de Camões in the 16th century in the Lusiads, an epic poem celebrating the voyages of Vasco de Gama in Homeric fashion. The Lusiads are Portugal's national epic, ...
Stephen Hester, the Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland does not seem to learn, the RBS is effectively a state owned bank, backed by us, the mere taxpayers, of which millions have lost their jobs in recent times. Now we are told that the RBS bankers are receiving bonuses as shares, which they can convert a large percentage of into cash within a twelve week period. Now Stephen Hester has defended this outrageous back door bonus culture to investors by sticking to the bankers standard line that they need to be able to attract and retain the top ...
Good morning, on this misty day which in history saw three awful earthquakes – in Haicheng, Guatemala and Afghanistan. This day is a birthday to American civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks (pictured) as well as to the American vice-president famously unable to spell "potato", Dan Quayle. Deaths on the 4th February include Liberace and American novelist novellist writer Patricia Highsmith, who wrote Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr Ripley, and – according to Wikipedia at least – the first lesbian novel with a happy ending. Today is also Facebook's 6th birthday. How many other 6 year-olds earned $300m last ...
Yesterday I visited the Darlington Storysack and Toy Resources charity, based at Corporation Road School. It is faced with possible closure, and certainly a massive reduction in the service it can offer, thanks to the Labour Cabinet's proposed budget cuts.Funded by a grant of £75,000 per annum, the charity which runs this superb service faces the complete removal of their subsidy following this
After the 2007 election the SNP formed an council administration in West Lothian with the support of the sole Tory and the three Save St. John's Hospital members. However, one of the St. John's councillors Gordon Beurskens (pictured) has withdrawn his support for the SNP leaving a 13-13 split in the council chamber. The Conservative Provost Tom Kerr would hold the deciding vote on any split decision. The Whitburn and Blackburn is currently under a Standards Commission investigation into allegations of planning corruption from 2008. But is claiming that the SNP are taking up a "hypocritical" stance with regards to ...
So, my latest audiobook recording, this time actually "commissioned" by Stephan via the Mises Institute, is Stephan Kinsella's monograph "Against Intellectual Property". You can get the text at the Mises.org website, or buy a dead tree version, or read it online at Scribd or in HTML at the author's own site. Attached to this blogpost though you'll find the audiobook version in several formats - a single MP3 that will work on more or less anything, a set of one-per-heading MP3s (and a zip file of those), and for iTunes/iPod users an m4b version that comes in one file but ...
Party President Ros Scott reports the broad outlines of our general election campaign: * Reform of the tax system to create a fairer base, * introducing the pupil premium to give all children a fairer start in life, * creating sustainable housing and jobs and * political reform to bring in a fairer voting system, and the power for citizens to recall an MP. It remains to be seen how the middle two subject areas, which are devolved in Wales, figure in Welsh candidates' campaigns.
There's a really useful number to know. It's called the "council tax base". It is, I think, the number of households liable for Council Tax in an area, multiplied by the percentage of households that actually pay, and it allows you to work out how much any council expenditure puts on the average (band D) Council Tax bill. For Plymouth, for this year at least, it's 76,750. In other words, divide any spending by Plymouth City Council by 76,750 and you can tell how much it puts on an average C-Tax bill. Want an example? Well, Plymouth city councillors claimed over ...
I didn't think that I would be writing about dementia so soon after my blog on Tuesday, but there was a news article on this subject yesterday on Radio Lancashire. The Dementia Society tell us that dementia is the biggest medical challenge of the 21st century and affects over 800 000 of us. They go on to tell us that this figure is 15% higher than previously thought and there is no cure. On the television I heard that if you reach the age of 65 then you have a one in three chance of developing dementia. However what really ...
