Well not quite! The annual Mayor's charity dinner and dance was this evening and some people will still be there as I write, enjoying the band and the dancing. My more delicate ears needed to get out of the room and in fact the building. The music was good and I'd have enjoyed it at half or better still a quarter of the volume. Why it's considered right to have music at a volume which would
Being an MP you get asked to do a lot of cr.... well you know what comes next. Quite a lot of it you would really rather just walk away from. Sometimes, however, being an MP brings the chance to be involved with something that is really worthwhile. Some of the people I have met and worked ...
Today's events make me think what price do we put on things. It isn't logical! Going to James Cook Hospital on the bus (worried nowhere to park adn I don't know the streets round there ) - Free both ways from Middlesbrough Consultant listening, looking properly, going through test results and discussing future management and actuially caring about long standing skin...
It's never been easy ruling from Chelmsford, as this video demonstrates:
The Rotherham website provides an unexpected glimpse of my hero J.W. Logan. Logan was a partner in the railway contractors Logan & Hemingway and is remembered by one Alderman Geo. Gummer, J.P.: The construction of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire line from Attercliffe to Mexbro' was carried out by Messrs. Logan and Hemingway. Mr. Logan, known more familiarly as "Paddy" Logan, had methods of his own when dealing with recalcitrant labour. His physique and determination were the dominant factors in many an awkward situation. Without hesitation, lurkers and shifty workers were told to get a move on or quit. Often ...
It's a toughly contested field. But I think we have a clear winner in the "most improbable excuse for expenses claims" stakes. Step forward David Amess, Conservative MP for Southend West. He previously took to hiding in a hairdressers to avoid answering questions about his expense claims, he was one of the MPs who voted to block expense reform in the summer of 2008 and now he's come out with this: [IMG: Southend Echo - Amess - Bank Told Me To Overclaim]
There's an intriguing item in Salford's list of efficiency saving for this year's budget (for efficiency savings you can often read 'cuts to services' or 'increase in charges'). In amongst some truly worrying items, like increased costs for already stretched local schools, and cuts to domestic care for those who struggle to care for them ...
This new Tesco Metro opened on Tuesday. Obviously, I would rather it it were an organic wholefood store, but it is useful to have a shop on my way to the station.
Average expense payback of a Welsh Conservative MP - £2095 Average expense payback of a Welsh Labour MP - £2080 Average expense payback of a Plaid MP - £398.20 Expense payback of Wales's Independent MP - £110 Average expense payback of a Welsh Liberal Democrat MP - £38.50
Malc is back blogging. Hurrah!! And has laid down the gauntlet of predicting the scores if the Six Nations. So here is my take on the weekend's action. Ireland 41-9 Italy England 21-16 Wales Scotland 16-17 France Game one is in Dublin. The only decision to be made is in the score. I see Ireland dominating the Azurri. The only real choice is how many tries they can run in, I expect the majority of Ireland's tries to be in the second half. I think game two may well be between the two teams challenging Ireland for the trophy BO'D ...
Given the 'Journey' revival of late, it sort of seemed appropriate to feature!
Considering how short a time I have now lived in Scotland I am really quite honoured that my little blog came in as 4th best Lib Dem blog in the top 5 Lib Dem blogs and 64th best Scottish blog in the top 100 Scottish blogs in the Scotblog Awards from Scottish Round Up. So, a huge thank you to those who voted and more importantly a massive thank you to those people who actually take time out of their day to visit my blog, read the stories and make comments as well.
Yeah it is that time of the week again (only a bit later than normal I was too busy to pre-write it), but it is also Superbowl weekend. One of those odd occassions where the first four Roman numeral demarkers are used and only once each. It is Superbowl XLIV in Miami on Sunday night. So first up lets look at some past Superbowl highlights. Of course for many the hightlight is the half time show. Here are the guys from America's Whose Line is is Anyway with the worst possible Half Time Shows. But one of the best had ...
My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Some of the same arguments have appeared in recent posts on this blog. Bare cheek The introduction of full-body scanners to British airports was announced in a Commons written answer last month by Paul Clark. More than that, he announced that no alternative search methods will be offered. Travellers who refuse to submit to a scan, which produces an image of the naked body, will not be allowed to fly. Paul Clark? Me neither, but extensive research reveals him to be the Labour MP for Gingham and Rainham and a junior ...
We had an excellent and productive meeting of the Dundee West Transition Town group at lunchtime today and are planning a public launch - full details to follow! I have agreed to speak about home insulation and energy efficiency measures at the launch meeting. And ... another West End project taking shape is the proposed Riverside Nature Park. The project team are giving a presentation to West End Community Council this coming Tuesday. I have had the following update from the City Development Department on the project : "The Nature Park project is programmed to achieve full VDLF spend by ...
This week Nick Clegg gave a speech at Barnado's on Lib Dem education policy for the general election. The pledges focus on reducing inequality in education, with an extra £2.5bn being invested in schools - which could be used to cut class sizes, offer one-on-one tuition and provide catch-up classes. The main schools to benefit from the money will be those taking on children who need more help, to start redressing the imbalance between those children who go to private schools and those who come from the poorest backgrounds. You can read about the policy in detail by clicking here. ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott this week challenged the First Minister about police officers who are not specialist firearms officers being issued with Tasers. The First Minister refused to get involved, claiming it was an operational matter for the force. But when Liberal Democrat MSP Jeremy Purvis questioned the previous First Minister about the same subject, he was given a Ministerial policy answer. In England, the Home Secretary had to give agreement before the weapons were issued to more officers. Commenting after First Minister's Questions, Mr Scott said: "When Tasers were put on trial in England, within the first ...
This has got to be one of the most bonkers political ads ever. It's being run by Carly (Fiorina) for California. It is based on the premise that it is good for a politician to act like a sheep. (Is it?) As well as lots of sheep, there are also pigs in the ad. And it ends with a man dressed as a wolf, dressed as a sheep. Geddit? It's also very long. It really is far too angry as well. Expect some retaliation.
I'm delighted to say that the Camden & Islington Passivhaus Conference on Wednesday seems to have gone down really well. The proof of the pudding will come in the eating however. Let's see whether councils now feel able to require the Passivhaus standard in their planning rules. Here's the press release from cuttingthecarbon: The Liberal Democrat shadow Climate Change and Energy Secretary, Simon Hughes MP, this week vowed to become the first politician to live in a Passivhaus home so energy efficient it wouldn't need central heating. Mr Hughes, who was speaking before a packed audience of planners, building control ...
Fri 5th
18:26
Why does Cameron stand by someone accused of using figures "likely to mislead he public"
It is unsurprising that the Tory press and media have tried not to mention Chris Graylings rather disturbing misuse of statistics in order to make a political attack on the government. This government is poor enough to be criticised on its real record. Quite why Chris Grayling has to go to such lengths to make inconsistent comparisons between data is really poor, highlights his unsuitablility for high office and must make people question why it is that David Cameron is standing by him. Are front bench spokesmen for the Tories encouraged to lie ? Anyway, the Independent has a full ...
Things may be going from bad to worse for Luciana Berger, the newly-selected Labour PPC for Liverpool Wavertree. After mutterings about the selection process, followed by concerns about the candidate living in the same house as hundreds of ballot papers, the actor Ricky Tomlinson, famous for roles in Brookside and the Royle Family, has announced that he will be seeking the nomination of Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party for the seat. Tomlinson, a long-time active socialist and former militant trade unionist, has said that he may give up acting to stand in Wavertree, in protest at what he sees as ...
It's been a funny week for me, so I've only just got round to watching Mo on Channel Four. You can watch it here. It really is a first class drama and a very fitting tribute to Mo Mowlam. Julie Walters deserves a clutch of awards for her portrayal of Mowlam. She gets the voice, the shoulders, the walk, the manner – all right. That's difficult because there are about four or five Mowlams portrayed in the film, from the svelte carefree new Redcar MP to the terminally ill patient. But Walters conveys the depth of the emotion and passion ...
Goodbye Andrew Mackay have registered Andew Mackays second home payments as a crime see here. After the news that Andrew Mackay has made a payment as per Sir Thomas Legg Report and after the news that three Labour MPs and one Tory peer will face criminal charges over their expenses. I will follow this story closely to see if anything results from this. It will also be interesting to know if this has or is happening to any other MP's around the country? Meanwhile.... In other news I note that Bracknell Green Party Blogger Green Gabbles has written an interesting ...
Not a good end to the week for Vodafone with the following message sent out on their official @VodafoneUK account: VodafoneUK is fed up of dirty homo's and is going after beaver In response though Vodafone have not tried to dodge around the issue and are responding to numerous people, saying: We're very sorry. A severe breach of rules by staff in our building, dealing with that internally. Not a good position to be in, but credit for such a direct and open response. Although sending numerous @ replies makes the Vodafone page look rather odd - same apology, repeated ...
There were four principal council elections held on the 4th February. The Tories held one seat. The Lib Dems held one seat but also lost two seats to Labour. There were three Parish council elections reported to ALDC. Rarely, thankfully, do we have to report on an utter disaster, but that was the case in the Holmewood and Heath by-election in North East Derbyshire. In 2007 two Labour councillors were elected for the ward un-opposed. In fact they had been unopposed for the last 20 years and only Labour had ever been elected in this coal mining and largely council ...
damn, forgot to cancel New Statesman Kindle subscription before 14-day trial ended. Is it worth $5.49 a month? # @nmackinnon true. And it seems to take less time to read without the ads. in reply to nmackinnon # @caronmlindsay s'alright – I can cancel and only pay a month's worth. in reply to caronmlindsay # Phew, that's my online self-assessment done, and I'm only £12.30 the poorer for it. (Not counting time wasted waiting for HMRC site to load) # Betfair Blog "reasons for LIb Dems to be cheerful about their 2010 general election chances" http://bit.ly/aJrP1G # there is a ...
Vodaphone have put in a planning application to effectively add to the site of the phone mast on the central reservation of Brodie Avenue (near the junction with Lanville). Richard, Peter and I have all sent in objections to this for a number of reasons. We think the addition of extra cabinets will look pretty awful. We think the addition of stuff here could also cause road safety problems (already I am told by people living nearby there are problems with sight lines). We are also pretty hacked off at the promises Vodaphone made in the past which quite clearly ...
Here's the motion I proposed at the Full Council meeting just gone. I proposed it jointly with Flo Clucas and Gary Millar. It was passed unanimously ************************ Communities Day In view of the major contribution made by Liverpool's International Community to the prosperity, health and well being of the City, Council asks the Chief Executive to report on the creation of an International Day for the City. This would be an occasion to celebrate the involvement in the life of the City by all international groups and to encourage intercultural dialogue within the City, building on the successful experience of ...
Fabulously mad video from Carly Fiorina (ex Chief Exec of HP) accusing her Republican rival for the Senatorial nomination in Californian of being a devil sheep. I'm lost for words at how good this is. Posted via email from Rob's posterous
The Economist gives a good kicking to the idea that Britain is Broken.
There were four principal council elections held on the 4th February. The Tories held one seat. The Lib Dems held one seat but also lost two seats to Labour. There were three Parish council elections reported to ALDC. Rarely, thankfully, do we have to report on an utter disaster, but that was the case in the Holmewood and Heath by-election in North East Derbyshire. In 2007 two Labour councillors were elected for the ward un-opposed. In fact they had been unopposed for the last 20 years and only Labour had ever been elected in this coal mining and largely council ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week 1. So, what do you make of this graph about gender and politics? (24) by Mark Pack. 2. Opinion: UK Border Agency plunges colleges into crisis (20) by the Head of a private college. 3. Crikey, I appear to know more about Liverpool than the new Labour candidate (5) by Mark Pack. 4. The Independent View: Why Lib Dem, Labour and Green progressives must work together (46) by Anneliese Midgley. 5. The second biggest fight in Wales: ...
Every month(ish) in Y Barcud Oren, I try as best as possible to explain the latest developments in Welsh politics to the English. It's a task I enjoy enormously (and let's face it, if you had two government parties throwing you this much comedy material, you'd be enjoying it too) but sometimes covering the news isn't enough to give a sense of the developing trends sneaking their way into the mix. And with just ninety days (presumably) until the polls open, there's one developing trend in Welsh politics we really should be looking at. There's a party excited about a ...
Leeds' Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland has put down the following Early Day Motion in response to the suggestion that the smoking ban could be extended outdoors. For those who don't know Early day motions (EDMs) are formal motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons. However, very few EDMs are actually make it to the floor of the chamber to be debated. Instead, they are used as a type of Parliamentary petition, drawing attention to issues, and demonstrating the extent of parliamentary support for a particular cause. EDM 785: Extension of the smoking ban That this House is ...
PoliticsHome reports the resignation of Lord Hanningfield from the Tory front bench. A Conservative Party spokesman says: "The Conservative Party has led the way in dealing with the MPs' expenses scandal". And to be fair they did their bit once the scandal broke. Quicker off the mark than the Labour Party certainly. Of course, if the spokesman's memory had gone back a bit further, he would remember the disgraceful attempt by David Maclean (a Conservative MP) to exempt MPs from the FOI Act with the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill. If that bill had succeeded the whole scandal of MPs' ...
It's Conference weekend! And now herds of enthusiastic Liberal Democrats are, as I type, scurrying across the plains towards Swansea. In their hands, they carry the new policy motions, the agendas and the fringe meeting guides. As I type, flocks of IR Cymru members are delivering in Swansea West for Peter Black - hopefully a new MP in the next election! Alas, alas, alas. I cannot make it to the rally tonight. But I will be there tomorrow morning for the first official day of Conference. It is at times like this that I start to reflect on my membership ...
Lib Dem MP Lembit Öpik has written an article for the Progressive London blog based on his speech to their recent conference on the topic, The Tories are not Progressive. Lembit reveals himself to be a "left-leaning libertarian" with deep scepticism that the Tories under David Cameron have actually changed. There's lots of eminently quotable material, but here's just a few excerpts: I'm a practical kind of person. I don't like the high levels of dogma which seems to attach itself to party politics and elections. There are good people in every political party, and no major grouping is 100% ...
John Pugh-who is one of the MPs with the smallest claims for expenses-does not appear on Sir Thomas Legg's list of MPs who have to pay back expenses. No one who knows John is the least surprise that he has behave properly throughout the MPs expenses scandal. It is sad that everyone else has not acted in the same way. Lib Dem Voice has a analysis of the MP's who have had to pay back cash. It is well worth reading, amongst other interesting findings: Amount to be repaid per MP based on the total number of MPs per party ...
This is just fantastic. It's one Cornishman's take on Arnold Schwarzenegger's come to California advert featuring David Beckham et al.
I've received this letter from Richard Booker at the Council. It also includes a map showing where the multi-user games area (MUGA) will be situated - I'll add it when I can. This is excellent news - Cllr Pam King has done a lot of work to get this facility going, and the process has involved the residents association right through the process. Ask For: Richard Booker Telephone:0161 474 4829 E-mail: Richard.booker@stockport.gov.uk Dear Resident, I am writing to inform you about the improvements that will take place in Brookfield Recreation Ground. There will be path improvement works carried out to ...
At the end of their joint statement moments after the charges against them were announced the three Labour MPs Jim Devine, Elliot Morley and David Chaytor said they would not be available for media interviews. However, that must mean that Devine's interviews with Sky News and the BBC didn't happen. So people didn't hear this "I'm absolutely distraught and astonished at the decision that has been taken today. It is noticeable that there's no reference to shelving, there's no reference to mileage ... and some two new charges have been brought, both of which ... I will explain in court. ...
I was in London yesterday for the LGiU Councullor of the Year Conference. The keynote speakers were the three Party local government spokespeople - John Denham for Labour, Caroline Spellman for the Conservatives and Julia Goldsworthy for the Lib Dems. John Denham arrived late and left early, but argued while he was there that Labour had great plans to devolve lots more powers to local government. But, as I asked him, why should we believe Labour now when they have had 13 years to give more powers to local authorities and have done virtually nothing. Caroline Spellman also explained the ...
Just back from a trip to Uganda, running a seminar for MPs over there, on behalf of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. Ugandan politicians are just getting their heads around the concept of multi-party democracy. Up until a few years ago they had a system, quaintly referred to as "No-Party" Democracy. Essentially you could vote for your MP but there were no political parties - everyone was part of "The Movement". A few MPs on our seminar were a little nostalgic. There are some downsides to political parties, as anyone who has followed Westminster politics over the last few years ...
Yesterday Salford independent councillor Joe O'Neill used his blog to liken Coventry councillor and former Labour MP Dave Nellis to a Nazi. Frankly, I think this kind of behaviour crosses the line of behaviour expected from an elected representative. It's one thing to accuse right-wing fascist politicians of being Nazis, especially when they've been caught ...
I tend not to give much credence to Simon Carr of the Independent as he is a bit too chatty and 'clever, clever' but his piece today on the ability of politicians to work around any set of rules and procedures was interesting for his very simple conclusion, which is not new but it is sensible and bears repeating. Quite simply all MPs' and Lords' expenses claims should be published on the internet for everyone to see. This will perform the simple function of shining a light on them and making it clear that the more ludicrous expenses, such as ...
Not surprisingly, my revelation that the Royal Mail are planning to close Launceston Post Office and move to Newport has led to a lot of discussion in the town and has made the news (including my own appearance on Radio Cornwall). The good news is that Royal Mail say that they are open to new offers until the end of the month - so if anyone can find suitable premises and comes forward offering to run a post office in the town, they will look at the proposal. A second piece of good news is that Royal Mail managers have ...
It seems that the Corporate Resources scrutiny committee understands more about how a vision is meant to work than the Cabinet does. At the meeting last night they voted unanimously in favour of Lib Dem Leader Doris Ansari's motion to have the Higher Trenant office sell off considered as part of the startegic vision, rather than on its own. Why is this important? Well first it shows that it is more than just the Lib Dems who are objecting to the way that the Cabinet is dealing with this issue. The scrutiny committee is a cross-party grouping chaired by an ...
This is an article I wrote for the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors' website and was first published here. 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 ...
They are here the February political Wikio Rankings. Last month I finished with "So until next time when the snow may or may not still be with us, bon chance, bon spiel and careful how you go." Well the snow has largely gone around me except where it was heaped up, yes we still have some of the snow that fell in December with us in February, the Bonspiel didn't 'officially' happen, and some of you have had one or two minor mishaps. First up apologies for last Month missing off Captain Ranty who entered the top 100 at 80. ...
An incumbent member of Unlock Democracy's Council and Management Board, professionally I am a civil servant. Outside work, I am an active Liberal Democrat, serving as Secretary of the party's East of England Region. I first became interested in electoral systems and voter participation in the mid-eighties, and have spent the intervening years administrating and improving our internal party democracy. I live in Creeting St Peter, Suffolk, where I am a parish councillor, with my wife Ros, and two cats, Katherine and Cincinnati. My blog, 'Liberal Bureaucracy', is apparently the 106th most influential political blog in the UK. I offer ...
I was shocked to read of proposals for parking charges for the Fairfax Road car park in Prestwich, which are to be introduced by the Conservatives running Bury Council. These proposals will damage Prestwich businesses, and come on top of Bury Tory threats to close the Longfield Suite. Their neglect of Prestwich seems to be turning into an active campaign to ruin it, and this is simply not acceptable to me either as a Prestwich resident or a local Lib Dem Councillor. The Conservative Leader of the Council, Cllr Bob Bibby, has claimed that the parking charges are in response ...
Readers may have seen in the news today that Bury North Labour MP David Chaytor faces charges related to his expenses claims. He is one of three MPs and one Peer to face such charges. David Chaytor faces three charges under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968 for false accounting. The first count alleges that in May 2006 Mr Chaytor dishonestly claimed £1,950 for computer services by using false invoices. The second count alleges that between September 2005 and September 2006 Mr Chaytor dishonestly claimed £12,925 for renting a property in Regency Street, London, when he was allegedly its ...
A request from Martin Davey: I am updating the History of Gatley in Pictures written by Frank & Terreta Mitchell and published by St James Church in 1981. I make no claim to emulate the historical research skills of the Mitchells but I do have the advantage of numerous witnesses to the changes in the period I am covering. I believe that as someone who has known the village during that period your thoughts and observations combined with others with similar and different view points would help me to produce a rounded narrative to accompany the pictorial records of that ...
The Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer has confirmed three Labour MPs and one Conservative member of the House of Lords will face criminal charges over their expenses, Labour MPs Elliot Morley, Jim Devine and David Chaytor along with Lord Hanningfield will be charged under the Theft Act.
Liberal Democrats in Bury South 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. Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South, Vic D'Albert said: "People in Bury South are often telling me how they feel unsafe. "Expensive ID cards aren't going to change that, but an extra officer walking down Bury New Road or Dumers Lane or more police in Radcliffe on Friday night will. ...
I'm very grateful to a pseudonymous Lib Dem commenter, Goupillon, on PoliticalBetting.com for emailing through to LDV his tables showing how the parties compare when it comes to the expenses repayments demanded of MPs by Sir Thomas Legg. The tables which follow are based on data from the list of expenses miscreants provided by the BBC. Total expenses to be paid back based on party affiliation: Labour: £446,416.28 Conservative: £449,821.83 Lib Dem: £42,945.18 Others: £38,575.96 Total: £977,759.25 MPs per party who have been called on to pay back expenses: (not including those who have successfully appealed against Sir Thomas Legg's ...
Picking up the baton passed on by Jonathan Calder, here are the Liberal Democrat entries in the top 100 political blogs as ranked by Wikio: 1 (5) Liberal Democrat Voice Falls 1 2 (21) Mark Reckons Falls 6 3 (44) Liberal England Falls 5 4 (48) Stephen's Linlithgow Journal Climbs 2 5 (51) Liberal Vision Falls 3 6 (57) Peter Black Non mover 7 (58) Caron's Musings Falls 12 8 (65) Quaequam Blog! Falls 9 9 (70) Mark Pack Falls 3 10 (76) Miss S B (Jennie Rigg) Falls 15 11 (80) Andrew Reeves's Running Blog Falls 5 12 (85) ...
Blackburn with Darwen UA, Queens ParkLab 638 (54.2; +3.0)LD Imtiaz Patel 366 (31.1; -17.8)Con 174 (14.8; +14.8)Majority 272Turnout 28%Lab gain from LDPercentage change is since May 2008.Newcastle under Lyme BC, NewchapelCon 208 (33.5; -10.6)UKIP 148 (23.8; +10.4)Lab 138 (22.2; -1.1)LD Adrian Rhodes 127 (20.5; +1.4)Majority 60Turnout not known.Con holdPercentage change is since May 2008.North East
Jim Devine, Livingston's soon to be ex-MP foretold he would be 'astonished' is he faced criminal charges. After the event he actually says he is 'absolutely devastated'. His is accused of "dishonestly claiming" money for cleaning services and for stationery using false invoices. Maybe he should put that crystal ball about his own reactions back on the shelf. If only he can find it....the shelf that is. This post has been sent via email therefore spacing and fonts may not appear at my usual standard. Also there may be links to other relevant blog entries or other content added later ...
Relations with the US were on the agenda in Brussels this week. Hilary Clinton is upset that the European Parliament's justice and home affairs committee voted yesterday to reject the latest proposal for a regime governing bank account data transfer to the US (to help them fight crime). The matter will have to come to the floor of the House before a final decision can be reached, but I think we will follow the committee's advice. And Barack Obama has upset the EU by letting it be known he will not attend the six-monthly EU-US summit planned for this Spring. ...
Yesterday's political poser was: The Swedish election of 1956 saw a political first. What was it? The answer? This was the first election to feature a televised debate. Forget Kennedy, Nixon and 1960: it was the Swedes in 1956 who led the way. Congratulations to Bernard Salmon for being first with the answer. (By the way, the 1948 US Presidential election had a set of pre and post surveys to gauge why people voted the way they did, which is why Oranjepan's and Toby were both wrong.) I'll search further in the recesses of history next time to try to ...
Cross-posted from the Mandate blog: The question of people's attitudes to privacy has been in the news following Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's comments that, "People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people" and that sharing, rather than privacy, is the new "social norm". However, the British public still greatly value their privacy according to a poll commissioned by the Sunday Times fromYouGov: Mark Zuckerberg, founder of social networking site 'Facebook', said recently that privacy is no longer a social norm because people have become comfortable with sharing a ...
Don Foster the Liberal Democrats Shadow Secratary for Culture, Media and Sport has today published The Power of Creativity in which he sets out the vision of how to nuture creativity and support the arts and culture. In the introduction he says. The Arts celebrate and contribute to the diversity and richness of modern, multi-cultural Britain; they ...
A cyclist is apparently fighting for his life in a Camden hospital after being involved in a collision in Chalk Farm yesterday morning. According to the Ham&High newspaper the driver opened the car door as the cyclist, believed to be in his 60s, was riding past. How many more deaths and serious injuries to cyclists will it take before we accept that our streets are not safe for cyclists? When will we get to grips with the question of how to install properly separated cycle lanes? That's what those who are too scared to cycle want as a recent Sustrans ...
Stockport County fans packed the (not enormous but normally still half-empty) public gallery for last night's Full Council meeting. As last time, I was tweeting from the meeting. Here are all my tweets together in one place. full council about to start. Cllr maureen walsh sitting with independents for 1st time. I'm sitting right behind the executive - best behaviour, then. Rabbi Chaim from Gatley's Yeshurun synagogue opens with a prayer. Mayor detailing smbc gritting efforts - members of gritting team in gallery. Round of applause for council's gritters - which they fully deserve. Stockport county motion withdrawn, leader will ...
Earlier today Livingston MP Jim Devine (pictured left) said he would be "astonished" if he were to face criminal charges from the Criminal Prosecution Service over his expenses. Well to his astonishment but not many of his constituents that is just what has been announced. Along with Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Lord Hanningfield he is being charged under the Theft Act. Director of Public Prosecution Karl Starmer said: "In four cases, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges and that it is in the public interest to charge the individuals concerned. "Accordingly, summonses in ...
We were concerned to hear recently of burglaries in the Oval ward area, and thought readers of this blogsite would find the information below of use to help make your home more secure. A decision had been made to extend a scheme which would provide grants for things like window locks and night latches to all residents in Lambeth who wish to have additional security to their properties - regardless of whether you live in a council property, housing association, or your home is privately owned. Age Concern have been commissioned to carry out this work and they are able ...
Whether I had any part to play in it I don't know – Woman's Hour today had Sue Doughty as our representative (along with Oonagh King for Labour and Edwina Currie for the Conservatives). I had made two earlier seperate complaints about this programme concerning the lack of a Liberal Democrat representative when they had Labour/Conservative ...
Happy birthday to Jo Swinson, Lib Dem MP for East Dunbartonshire! 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: Biometric data How many people have had theirs taken under the Terrorism Act 2000, and how successful have they been at getting the samples destroyed? Lord Eric Avebury has put down a Parliamentary Question. Will libertarian bloggers ever grow up? Jonathan Calder wants libertarian bloggers to widen their repertoire beyond "Get out of my room Mom!" Spotted any other great posts in the ...
Northern Ireland's political deal this morning is very good news for that part of the world, largely because as long as the parties are working together, even if they don't really produce anything new, there is much less risk of a dangerous development seriously undermining the fragile political setup there. Northern Ireland is the demonstration of ...
Just received the e-mail below from Lewisham Library services. Councillors get a preview on 11 Feb; it goes live on 22 Feb. If this works out, I could save a fortune on library fines. OTOH, imagine the frustration when the file deletes just as you get to the final chapter of this week's Agatha Christie. "A new collection of electronic books and audio books will soon be available to Lewisham residents. From 22nd February the new service launches to Lewisham residents, and through our partner boroughs, simultaneously to residents in Bexley and Bromley. All users will be able to borrow ...
The Daily Post has the story of Vince's speech in Liverpool last Saturday. Southport was well represented.The video is from Vince's meeting at Southport Town Hall. More to follow.
So, Chris Grayling MP who has been publicly humiliated this week, now today receives another slap, not from other politicians or political parties but from Sir Michael Scholar, the chairman of the UK Statistics Authority. Sir Michael Scholar has warned Chris Grayling MP that the way he used the figures for violent crime were "likely to mislead the public". This does beg the question, how can we trust the Conservatives? This is the party who are arrogantly assuming they are going to form the next government, however given these revelations, how are we supposed to trust anything they say or ...
This post is co-written by me and Will Straw, editor of Left Foot Forward. Last May, Mark did a series of blogposts which analysed the data from the expenses scandal and suggested that there could be a link between the first-past-the-post electoral system and the likelihood of an MP being involved in the scandal. New evidence from the Legg report suggests this is the case. As the graph below shows, the average majority of the worst offenders is higher than that of those expenses-sinners who wrongly claimed smaller amounts. Mark's first post was published on May 17 at which point ...
I could never baldly accuse them of lying, you understand...Does it get better than this? Our wannabee ruling party can't quite understand government statistics so it appears to have decided to tell a story instead. The approach of the Tories appears to be to scare us all in our beds, when the actual situation, based on boring old evidence collected by boring old statisticians, appears to be that crime does appear to have gone down in many areas. The Tory spokesman, one Chris Grayling, even criticised the widely respected British Crime Survey as being unreliable, when pretty much everyone else ...
In my previous post, I said that Boris Johnson was acting the Court Jester at the Court of King Cameron. I should clarify and say that I had in mind Rigoletto (although I am no way suggesting that he is capable of hiring an assassin to murder his master), rather than Feste in Twelfth Night, a jester "wise enough to play the fool". Of course my favourite court jester was the film of the same name starring Danny Kaye: The chalice from the palace have the pellet with the poison? No, the pellet with the poison's in the vessel with ...
As I blogged last month, The Voice is going to start rating the quality of the media's coverage of opinion polls, which is often far from perfect: There is progress, helped no doubt by the criticism from Anthony Wells and Mike Smithson, both of whom are respected by many of the relevant journalists. However, there is still much more that could be done to raise the overall quality of such reporting, so here at The Voice we're going to start scoring each poll commissioned by a traditional media outlet and the way in which its initial report is worded. Once ...
As a sitting magistrate, I generally do not like to comment on "Crime and Punishment" issues. I do not want in anyway to compromise (or give the impression) my impartiality and independence. However, figures put out by the Tory Shadow Home Secretary ...
Yes they almost were talking about it until the 12th.... ....April that is, not July. It certainly feels like it, and reading some of my friends' Facebook updates from Hillsborough Castle of the last couple of years, err, I mean weeks, they certainly say it felt like it. But responsibility for the Police in Northern Ireland will be transferred from Westminster to Stormont on 12th April. The PSNI go from ello, ello, ello to bout ye in just over 2 months times.
Last night, like most nights, we were out door-knocking, persuading people to vote, and to vote for the Liberal Democrats. It's getting easier and easier as people respond to our campaign messages. I was with the Holloway team, going round an estate in N7. One of my canvassers wanted me to go back to a ...
Peter Robinson has to be the Houdini of British politics. A few weeks ago he had two intertwined problems (a Gordian knot) - the lack of a deal on policing and justice plus trouble over his wife's shenanigans. It was almost impossible to see a way out for him. It looked like curtains for the political career of Peter Robinson and the prospects for the devolved Northern Ireland administration seemed dire. But then he executed the deft move of standing aside for a few weeks while work went ahead at full tilt on the deal on P&J. The step aside ...
politics.co.uk has the full list, broken down by region.
Five years ago today, I remember exactly what I was doing - it was the first day of the Scottish Liberal Democrats' 2 day training for activists and candidates in the run up to the 2005 election. It was held in Dunfermline and a huge amount of fun was had by all, as well as serious hard work, of course. My day started at around 7am and ended at 4.45 the following morning after we had managed to drink the bar out of all of the red wine that we liked. As someone pointed out, we seemed to be having ...
For more, follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/ybqwxs7
Looking for ex-MPs standing again. Is it really only Stephen Twigg and Sue Doughty? # MPs seeking to make comebacks: add David Rendall, Phil Sawford, Jonathan Evans, Ivan Harris to list. Thanks all. Any more? # @chriskeating @lordbonkers I really should have remember those two! in reply to chriskeating # @peterhay Why choose? in reply to peterhay # Ooops, Twitter having problem with UK trends at the moment. Why is "pequeña gigante" in there, esp as none of the tweets are in English? # @justinpearse Technology may be easy to operate, but huge skill in using well. cf me and ...
Councillor Colin MacAlister, the Mayor of Stockport, has joined the Liberal Democrat Group on Stockport Council. Having begun his mayoral term of office as a Labour councillor, Colin first became Independent and has now joined the ruling Lib Dem group. Colin's move comes hot on the heels of Cllr Maureen Walsh leaving the Conservatives to sit as an Independent. Maureen was the Deputy Leader of the Conservative group. Labour remain the second largest group on Stockport Council, with the Conservatives being third (the Independent Ratepayers Association also hold three seats).
I keep spotting former Labour MP for Hornsey & Wood Green Barbara Roche's name popping up on various blogs and political websites, as she looks for a seat to stand in at the general election. Barbara had a majority of over 20,000 when Lynne Featherstone first stood against her in 1997, but of course Lynne's hard work overturned that and in 2005 Lynne was elected as the first Lib Dem MP for Hornsey and Wood Green. Barbara has tried to be selected for a number of safe Labour seats (and they'll need to be pretty safe, as she did lose ...
This is your chance to have your say direct to the managers. In the past they have BANNED the press from attending (so much for real accountability) and have brought the British Transport Police along for protection - an abuse of police powers, frankly. Don't be intimidated by these tactics! Make sure they hear loud and clear the messages we and others are delivering loud and clear to the Government - that we don't want First Group on this railway and that we want a proper compensation package.
Working as I do with data day in and day out the one thing you learn is that you have to compare like with like to get an actual comparison. There are little comments all over our spreadsheets which say when something started, moved or a calculation was changed. It not simply for us to keep a track on changes but also so that we know if data from different periods is comparable simply from the raw figures. In 2002 what happened with violent crime statistics was that instead of the incident being recorded as violent at the discretion of ...
That's the striking quote from Nick Clegg which opens The Power of Creativity, a set of new proposals for the arts and creative industries published today by the Liberal Democrats. The paper goes on to make the point that, The first chairman of the Arts Council was that great Liberal John Maynard Keynes. His vision as set out in 1946 remains ours in 2010: "to create an environment, to breed a spirit, to cultivate an opinion, to offer a stimulus to such purpose that the artist and the public can each sustain and live on the other in that union ...
There is something about a newspaper whereby the credibility and esteem in which it is held is built on when it was founded - almost as though the sense that it has survived all those years means it is well read, respected, attached to it's community. So here we are at Premier Corner, on Kilburn Lane near Queen's Park Tube station (West Kilburn by my geography) and have the foundation stone in the new offices (built, according to the plaque in 1964). The masthead of the Kilburn Times still proudly proclaims Established 1868 So the plaque reads: The north-western printing ...
On Thursday evening, I was live for an hour on the excellent political discussion programme on JNET, an online Jewish radio station. I thoroughly enjoyed this stimulating debate, which is everything that a radio discussion programme should be. The programme's repeated from 12pm on Friday 5 February; I'm on from about 1pm and I highly recommend listening. We had a lively discussion about a range of topics (including Israel) on which I was able to give a Lib Dem perspective. I obviously haven't heard it yet, having been on it live, but I do feel that it was a great ...
The RSPCA has taken the campaign against the badger cull in North Pembrokeshire on-line with a new page on its 'give animals a voice' site here. On the site they pose the question: 'Is a cull of one species ever justified to stop the spread of disease to other animals? If so, under what circumstances?' They say: Badgers are under threat in Wales as the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) has given the green light to a badger cull. The cull is part of a strategy to tackle bovine tuberculosis (TB) in cattle. The Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones, has ...
On Thursday night I attended the Cofton Hackett PACT (Partners and Communities Together) meeting, purely as an observer. PACT meetings give local residents the chance to tell the local policing team, local authority and other partner agencies about the issues that are causing concern within their neighbourhood and attendees vote to prioritise which issues they want ...
Following Stephen Glenn's excellent letter I decided to send one of my own. I note others have put their points too. Here is the text: In today's Question Time all five speakers were either conservative-aligned or are or had been Labour MPs. There was no Liberal Democrat representation. Indeed, I made an earlier complaint about Jo Swinson ...
Twitter was buzzing — and rightly so — last evening when there was no LibDem on the panel on Question Time on an occasion where the Iraq War — inevitably — was a major topic of discussion. Instead, the producers invited rent-a-gob George Galloway, who was in no way an appropriate substitute. Has the BBC ...
Back in December I wrote to complain about lack of Liberal Democrat representation when Jo Swinson MP was removed from the panel. It was also the last time that Melanie Philips appeared on the Question Time Panel. She seems at present to have a better appearance than the 63 elected representatives of the UK's third largest party. At the time you responded with comments from Executive Editor Gavin Allen: "We have to keep a constant editorial eye out for the best possible panel and this can of course mean last-minute alterations. To ensure the widest range of political views are ...
The list of those MPs who have to repay expenses was published yesterday (Thursday), and it brought good news for some MPs, but not for others. Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb has nothing to repay, having made no false claims, and he is joined by Richard Bacon (Tory MP for South Norfolk), Henry Bellingham (Tory MP for NW Norfolk), and Tony Wright (Labour MP for Great Yarmouth). Charles Clarke (Labour MP for Norwich South) won an appeal so will not now be asked for a repayment of any monies after initially being told to repay £743. Those MPs investigated who ...
A few days after the Haiti earthquake, aid supplies began to arrive at the Port-au-Prince airport. Reports emerged that supplies were not being distributed amongst concerns over security, with UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon calling for extra troops to be sent to the country. Reports also emerged of looting and lawlessness amongst the population and major concerns were raised about the ability to distribute food in those circumstances. However, an alternative view was taken by Andy Kershaw, in The Independent, where he wrote an excellent article "Stop treating these people like savages". It soon became clear that priorities had become ...
I wrote a blog on the 10th January. It was about the council acting on behalf of residents. The exact subject doesn't matter but I received a comment asking if I had considered the matter of increased council tax if councils are asked to do more. Voters don't like to pay more council tax. I think I understand this point, but voters also want services. We want good roads without potholes. Yesterday's local radio news included an article on injuries to cyclists caused by potholes. I would make the same point that the cost of treating injuries to people, vehicles ...
Seemingly an arcane topic, but Section 106 monies are those monies provided by developers to mitigate the impact of new houses. Locally there are still funds available for works at the junction of Hatfield Road and Station Way: these could be used, for instance, to improve the cycle lane (rather short as it heads away from the station, despite the large numbers of cyclists who use this road) or to provide a box junction on Hatfield Road itself - there is clear evidence of the junction being blocked at peak time as cars queue across it. There is also money ...
Average expense payback of a Welsh Conservative MP – £2095 Average expense payback of a Welsh Labour MP – £2080 Average expense payback of a Plaid MP – £398.20 Expense payback of Wales's Independent MP – £110 Average expense payback of a Welsh Liberal Democrat MP – £38.50 All parties have been affected by the expenses scandal, but some far, far more so than the others. Well done to Jenny, Roger, Mark and Lembit for not milking the system. It's interesting to see that EVERY Welsh Tory MP had to pay a significant amount back. Also well done to all ...
Just watched David Mellor describe DC as that happy, clappy, chappy. There are some things that money can't ...
