[IMG: Lib Dems and the Boathouse Clock] Platt Fields Park has kicked off a year of centenary celebrations with the unveiling of a new clock on the boathouse today. Friends of Platt Fields,who received a £4,800 grant from Lib Dem councillors in Rusholme, organised the event in conjunction with the Council's parks and leisure department, and arranged funding for the clock from Sainsburys. The clock on the boathouse has been missing for around 50 years - nobody can quite remember when it went! However, even in these days when everybody's got a mobile phone to tell them the time, it's ...
The fact that my colleague, Mark Pack, has indicated an enthusiasm for the proposal for an independent Office for Tax Simplification has, unsurprisingly, encouraged me to take a look. What I find doesn't, unfortunately, encourage me. Courtesy of the Conservative Party's website... We will restore the tax system's reputation for simplicity, stability and predictability. In our first Budget we will set out a five year road map for the direction of corporate tax reform, providing greater certainty and stability to businesses. We will publish all technical changes to the tax system by the Pre-Budget Report in advance of each Budget ...
Your Focus team is campaigning for a more open South Glos Council. At January's meeting of full Council, Lib Dem Councillor Alan Lawrance won backing for all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests to be published on the Council's website. Now Laddenbrook Councillor Howard Gawler is asking the Leader of Council to support the publication of any Council contracts or payments over £25,000, as is the case in some other Councils.
Great day. Out early in the chill sunshine, knocking on doors in Belfairs. Lots of pleasant conversations of the "we don't often see a candidate..." type. Then over the border into Southend East, to visit a mosque together with Graham Longley. Then lunch courtesy of the Plough (with Graham) and Oldham's before getting together with the team to deliver newspapers to swathes of Prittlewell, Westborough, and Chalkwell. As the newspapers ran out, I reverted to some door knocking. This produced one of the best responses I have ever known: "I've been a Labour voter all my life, but I will ...
I am delighted to announce the launch of the website for Ron Beadle, the Lib Dem candidate for Newcastle upon Tyne - North
Mailings intended to tell people who have recently moved how to get on the electoral register have mistakenly been going out to people who have not moved in years. A circular from the Electoral Commission sent to councils around the country explains, As you will be aware, the Commission is currently running a campaign to encourage home movers to register to vote. It has become apparent that there is a problem with one of the data sources being used for the campaign, resulting in some people who have not recently moved home being sent the mailing in error. We are ...
on this blog Volumes have gone up so far, I might even be at 1% of Guido's levels. A centi-Guido. seriously, I am going to keep this subject going. The more I think about it, the more I realise that: banks need serious reform they do some really valuable things they do some really dangerous things the TUC and its merry ...
This photograph, borrowed from The Transport Archive, shows the filming of the 1968 BBC television production of The Railway Children. Like the more celebrated Lionel Jefferies film made two years later, it starred Jenny Agutter as Bobby and was shot at Oakworth Station on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. Of particular interest, to this blog at least, is the locomotive in the photograph. The Transport Archive explains that it is the former Logan & Hemingway contractors' locomotive Sir Berkeley. And the Logan in Logan & Hemingway, as we recently saw, was none other than J.W. "Paddy" Logan, for many ...
I went to get some petrol today in Taverham, and as I was sorting out my PIN number when paying, the chap behind the counter said "You still teaching then ?" Now most teacher will know that feeling when an ex pupil from many years ago recognises you but you cannot remember them. The odd thing was that this chap had been in a class I had only taught for one lesson a week ten years ago. Now I do have a peculiarly good memory for names and events and I could recall his class and many people he knew. ...
Sometimes all a politician has is his dignity, when faced with adversity, it seemed that last week Ted Watt-Ruffel had faced up to his culpability in negligent treatment of a family pet, since then I'm not entirely sure that he's is going do what many would expect, yes we know he's stepping down from his post as Margate Mayor and no longer part of the Tory group on Thanet District council, but shouldn't he also resign from the district council, I for one object to being represented Cllr convicted of neglecting animals. Someone who is always dignified is Labour TDC ...
The Tories yesterday published a list of 'Ten reasons to vote Conservative' which did not include any reference to the environment or climate change. This is despite David Cameron's claim that he has 'sought to push the environment up to the top of the political agenda', and his own Shadow Climate Change ...
Last night I attended a meeting at the Hook Clinic, on the corner of Gosbury Hill, about the proposals for a walk-in clinic on the site. It wasn't a public meeting, but one called to share the proposals with councillors, council officers and patient participation groups. Since NHS Kingston announced their plans just four weeks ago there has been a great deal of interest, to say the least. In fact, I've received loads of emails and phone calls about it, and I know that many letters have been sent to NHS Kingston as well as the Council planning department. So ...
Yesterday I started to look at the common questions that Johann Hari posed to David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown over the last three months in Attitude. I'm initially going to look at the common questions and each leaders response. The second such question was: Who were the first gay people you knew? Point of information: All three leaders are of roughly the same generation, though Gordon is of course slightly older. Gordon in 59 this Saturday, David Cameron is only a few months older than Nick Clegg who recently turned 43. Clegg: That is a difficult question for ...
Recently a number of commentators and pundits have declared the recession is over. However, the publication today of the latest figures relating to the number of people in Reading claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), by the independent Office for National Statistics. suggest that for many local people the 'economic downturn', 'credit crunch', or whatever you care to call it continues to bite. The number of people claiming unemployment benefit - specifically JSA, rose in Reading in January: from 3,970 i(n December 2009) to 4,190. This is not good news and should serve as a warning to those who think that ...
An email dropped in my inbox this morning from Lib Dem Group Leader on Epping Forest District Council, Jon Whitehouse. In it, he explains that the Lib Dems put forward an amendment to freeze council tax at last year's levels rather than put it up like the Conservative Group was proposing.On his blog Jon explains that the council's officers had undertaken research showing that a zero percent rise
I was out doing some LibDem deliveries in my local area today, and I came across this rather amusing sign on a house attached to a church. And yes, it IS real! I did wonder, though: what happens if there is a "Holy Water Emergency" outside of business hours? Who does one call? Where does one go? Can I just ...
Boris Johnson has a very strange way of allocating funds to multicultural events in around London it would seem with the news today that he has allocated £100,000 to a US Day event whilst at the same time slashing the funding for Black History Month to £10,000 from £132,000. Also the victim of Boris' hacking ...
One of the leading Conservative blogs, Letters from a Tory, has written a post complaining of the: naivety;incompetence;stupidity; andinappropriatenessof the party's current campaigning. It concludes: I'm not going to lie to you - I will be voting Conservative at the next election, not least because I despise Labour and everything they stand for but also because you deserve a chance to put into practice what you have preached over the last five years. Even so, when my party membership next comes up for renewal, I suspect that my direct debit may well slip by the wayside. Never forget that, while ...
From Saudi Jeans:While the Religious Police today launched their annual nationwide crackdown on stores selling items that are red or in any other way allude to the banned celebrations of Valentine's Day, Reem Asaad and her fellow woman continue their lingerie jihad. Starting on the 13th of February and for two weeks, women are called to boycott all lingerie shops that employ men.This is the
The blogger Andrew Sullivan has a very soberly written , but extremely angry post today about torture - particularly as seen from a Catholic viewpoint.It's well worth reading in full. But here's a paragraph:As Christians and as Catholics, we are required to follow Our Lord's impossible example and not just love our friends, but to love our enemies. This does not mean pacifism; and I have a long,
Just a quick update. It was a busy weekend of campaigning - including one of our regular surgeries, plus a street surgery on the Great North Road. Plenty of leaflet delivery too, in my ward and one of our key target wards. While out delivering in Fortis Green, a resident showed me a leaflet they had received from the local Tories - partly as they were surprised to get a leaflet from someone other than the local Lib Dems and partly as they were amused by the title: It's a three horse race. It is a hilarious leaflet. The Conservative ...
I bet that got your attention! It seems quite unbelievable at the beginning of the 21st century that 8 out 10 kids questioned think that it's justified for a man to beat up a woman if they're late with the tea! I can't imagine what punishment they think is desrved in this house, then, when dinner is regularly late as I finish a blog post, talk on the phone or, horror of horrors, expect my husband to make it himself. So, if, like mine, your blood pressure is slightly raised, maybe it's time to look at it in a bit ...
I regretted calling Guido innumerate. And still do. And I like the way he is holding up lib dem tax policy as an example to all here. But his calling QE a 'cost' that can be compared to a tax cut is extremely confusing, in the light of his financial expertise. He writes: Imagine, and this ...
The chair of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, Sir Ian Kennedy, has said that gains from rises in the value of second homes "should not be retained" by MPs. Back in May last year Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, called for MPs to be banned from making a profit from selling second homes bought using their Commons allowances. A call he renewed today, as well as pledging to support any legislation needed to make payback of sale profits from the taxpayer-funded second homes of MPs possible. The public will expect Gordon Brown and David Cameron to make a similar ...
This is aimed at the presumed business model of transactional banking that Richard offered us on 'Robin Hood Part Deux', in this comment defending Robin Hood taxes. He hopes to prove that the transactional costs might be borne by overpaid bankers, who are in any case a cost on the industry. Richard says: "profit is a ...
Over at Pink News, Nick Clegg answers questions from its readers on gay marriage, homophobic violence, faith schools, LGBT asylum seekers, and many other political issues. Here's a taster: The number one question submitted by our readers was on whether Nick Clegg and his party support gay marriage. Mr Clegg said last month he supported civil partners calling themselves husband or wife but would he change the law to allow gay civil marriage? Yes, I support gay marriage. Love is the same, straight or gay, so the civil institution should be the same, too. All couples should be able to ...
Of course all right thinking people would agree with Sir Ian Kennedy (yesterday) that MPs should not keep any profit made from the sale of second homes. But if you think that sounds familiar it's because Nick Clegg, leader of the Lib Dems, said the same thing on 13th May 2009. A BBC article quotes Nick Clegg: 'Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has repeatedly criticised the practice, saying it amounted to some MPs becoming "spivvy property speculators, trading up from one home to the next for personal profit". Mr Clegg said he would support legislation to force MPs to pay ...
...That is the question! I made a pact with my local LibDem PPC the other night after a particularly good meeting to plan activity for the campaign which may come back to haunt me. I was asked if I would run in her seat for borough councillor on Woking Borough Council should she get elected as ...
Oh look, Nick Herbert, the Tory Shadow Environment Secretary is telling the Americans that the new fluffy, cuddly Tories are best friends forever with all lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people. Gone are the days when they introduced the likes of Clause 28. Now they embrace equality in all its forms. Aye right. We know their record ain't that good in the dim and distant past. No point in going over that ground again. Let's just look at how much they've changed since David Cameron became leader. The best way to judge people, I find, is not on what they ...
The impact of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Blogs has been much debated over the last few weeks. Also publicised are the high profile casualties that have already been claimed in the blogosphere through ill advised tweets that have come back to haunt the posters. What impact with the social media scene ...
Lib Dem shadow health secretary Norman Lamb has today written to his Tory opposite number Andrew Lansley to urge him to attend this Friday's conference on social care. The Tories are refusing to attend the cross-party conference – following last week's tribal spat – on the basis that the Labour Government will not rule out a compulsory levy. This is despite earlier indications that Mr Lansley accepted that the issue of voluntary versus compulsory schemes was one of the key points to be resolved in a consensus building process. Norman has also called for the talks to be held in ...
There have been many blog posts over the past few weeks or months about the Conservatives and gay rights. Most of them have been examples of exhaustive, agonising examination of the Shadow Cabinet. And some of the points raised by the bloggers have been important and constructive. However, what I find extremely distasteful, is the way in which we have begun to use it in the Party, as a political football. Ask me the question "Which political party in the UK is most committed to gay rights?" The answer would come back loud and clear, "The Liberal Democrats." From the ...
The theory that Gordon Brown is a really unpopular Prime Minister who cannot hope to be re-elected has been blown out of the water today by a survey by student accommodation provider Unite, who have found that most people do not know who he is. The survey found that one in three University students is unaware that Gordon Brown is the leader of the Labour Party, a similar number could not identify David Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party, while only 48 per cent were able to name Nick Clegg as the Liberal Democrat leader. To be fair if ...
So, Tories really are sheep in respectable politicians' clothing. In a comment to me on Facebook of all places, Conservative Future Scotland Chair Duncan Stewart attempted to make excuses for Tory spin doctors dropping in "stunt students" for David Cameron's press conference at University of East London this week. At the press conference Mr Cameron took the opportunity to attack Gordon Brown over expenses, claiming that the Tories were the "new generation" of politicians "at ease with openness" needed to reform politics. However, UEL Student Union President Joseph Bitrus blew the whistle on Cameron's latest attempt at public deception. He ...
Tom Champagne may have stopped writing the cheques for the Reader's Digest Prize draw in 2003, but the 117 employees of the UK arm of Readers Digest would love to see an envelope landing on its doorstep in Swindon with his cheery signature saying you have won £125m. For that is the deficit in the Reader's Digest UK's pension fund which has led to the company that first started trading here in 1938 to enter administration. The US parent company is expected to come out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection shortly after struggling with interest on its own £1.4bn ($2.2bn) ...
We are looking for an image to use on our report about QE. I will NOT be using on like this (from the Guardian): This is not what has happened. As the Bank's latest MPC minutes has recognised, the money supply has not grown strongly. The last thing that has happened is that the man in ...
Today the tiny independent group on Salford's council completely failed to put forward any budget proposals. Instead they stood with Labour, backing them unequivocally. Their spokesman offered hopes, and concerns, but no solutions. Rather, they offered glowing support for Labour and voted with them. It seems that they have become cheerleaders for the ruling group. A real ...
Bless Nick Herbert: he's doing his best today to make the claim that the Tories' attitudes to homosexuality have changed, and that gay people should trust the party. The trouble is Nick has to contend with the reality of the Tories' voting record – which, as the Lib Dems have pointed out, shows what the Tory party really believes. The voting records of current Tory MPs who are standing again in 2010 show that: One in six voted against the repeal of Section 28 in 2003 – including David Cameron and a third of the Tory shadow cabinet; One in ...
Earlier today Nick Herbert spoke at the Cato Institute on the theme Is there a place for gay people in Conservatism and Conservative politics? Mr Herbert told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think David Cameron has taken the view that we need to broaden to appeal of the Conservative Party - that you can't be a party that is seeking to appeal to the whole country unless you are properly representative of the whole country. "And that the position that we had been taking in the past towards gay people had been one that appeared to be hostile and ...
My friend Christiane introduced me to the poetry of Heinrich Heine at university, and one of my favourite quotes of his from Almansor which roughly translates as, "Where they burn books, in the end they will also burn ...
I was reading this piece in The Guardian and to be perfectly honest, I really couldn't stop laughing. Tory MP Nick Herbert is using his parliamentary recess time to go and tell the Republicans that they should embrace gay rights. Nick Herbert will tell the Republicans that a Conservative government would "show leadership" on issues like homophobic abuse in sport and homophobic bullying, although he will not promise new legislation."We will also understand where we should give a lead and where there is a need for law," he will say. "Conservatives should never leap to legislate."However, Liberal Democrat analysis of ...
Liberal Democrat candidates are being sent a free "Candidates Handbook" from ALDC, with details of the election campaign, how to survive, and essential contact and election law advice. This is a new publication from ALDC and aims to ensure all our candidates have the essential information for the election at their fingertips. The Handbook was sent out by post in the last two week - so if you or your candidates didn't receive, then it's because ALDC hasn't been given details of your candidates! We'll be sending out the Handbook to every candidate we're notified of before the deadline for ...
This article first appeared on Liberal Democrat Voice on February 17th 2010. My other articles for ldv can be found here. As people who know me well will tell you, I've always been something of an idealist, daydreaming about some abstract political philosophy whilst everyone else deals with more pragmatic concerns - or 'living in the real world' as I believe it's known. I make this point as what
As the internet's regular correspondent on spoon crime (retired), I'm really not sure if this is the solution - or by mixing knives and spoons will make it all the more worse. I may have to come out of retirement.
I've received notice of a licensing application from Little Forest newsagent at 17 Dartmouth Road: they want a licence to sell alcohol between 6am and 10pm. You're asked to email any comments to Thracia Webster in the licensing team. If you're objecting, you must provide evidence of how giving them a licence would damage the ...
As people who know me well will tell you, I've always been something of an idealist, daydreaming about some abstract political philosophy whilst everyone else deals with more pragmatic concerns – or 'living in the real world' as I believe it's known. I make this point as what I'm about to write alludes to an apparent confluence – potentially at least – of strands of abstract political thought and practical everyday policy that I believe should gain prominence as the general election approaches. First of all let's deal with the practicalities (unusual for me but there you go...). Earlier this ...
Paul Waugh of the Evening Standard has an excellant Blog called 'Mackay and Kirkbride may not want Legg/Kennedy as referees' which I would like to direct my readers too. As well as linking into Mark Reckons's blogpost about MP Andrew Mackay he finds a damaging verdict which was buried in Sir Paul Kennedy's ruling on their appeals (retired High Court judge). As Paul Waugh writes (taken from his blog post) Kirkbride We learned from Sir Paul that she argued that hubby Mackay's "family" lived in our near her Bromsgrove constituency, "hence making it his natural home". As a result, he ...
From today's Leicester Mercury:The Liberal Democrats have suspended a local party branch in a key election battleground - just weeks before the General Election.The party's London headquarters stepped in and shut down the North West Leicestershire branch - which has 60 members - after allegations of in-fighting and rule-breaking.It followed a bid to revoke the membership of county and district councillor Michael Wyatt.More gossip when I get it. For the time being, let's just note that this move strongly suggests Cowley Street is not expecting a by-election in this constituency before the general election.
In a speech today, Conservative Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Spokesperson, Nick Herbert will claim that: 'For the modern Conservative Party, embracing gay equality is neither a temporary phenomenon, nor an agenda which can be reversed.'
Since I got my iPhone in January 2009 it has become an invaluable gadget for me. I thought it might be worthwhile to share the top 10 iPhone apps that I regularly use and why I like them so much. Here goes then: 1) Instapaper This is an invaluable little app. Instapaper is a service that allows you to press a button in your web browser which instantly stores the URL from a web page for later reference. You can then go to your Instapaper page and see them all listed. So far so good. However the iPhone app "scrapes" ...
What is is with the Daily Mail and the death of gay men? First it was the outrageous bigotry of Jan Moir on the death of Stephen Gately; today Mail journalist Geoffrey Levy turns the paper's moral fire onto Ray Gosling. With the headline 'Brilliant, eccentric BBC film-maker Ray Gosling says he killed his dying gay ...
Please note the deadline for nominations for the Liberal Democrat Council Group of the Year 2009 has been extended to 5pm on Monday 1 March 2010. Does your authority or group have a track record - or have you promoted a specific policy - in any of the following areas over 2009? Lewisham Lib Dems winning at the awards last year. Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour Helping children and young people Supporting culture, leisure and regeneration Improving local housing Improving Transport Improving social care services Council Group of the Year Award The winner of the Council Group of the Year Award will ...
This year's Liberal Democrat Spring Conference is in the City of Birmingham, 12 -14 March 2010. The event is open to all Liberal Democrats - register here. Day delegate rates are available if you are within a day's travel distance of Birmingham. ALDC has a busy programme at the Conference, largely focussed on the important general and local elections that we face in a couple of months. "Campaign Essentials" Training - focussed on winning in 2010 Winning in the Last Week (9.15am) Maximising the Postal Vote (11.00am) Running an Effective Polling Day (14.30pm) 8 Weeks to Go (16.00pm) (briefing from ...
Further to my earlier article about this, I have now had the following information back from the Head of Libraries, Information and Cultural Services at Dundee City Council : "I can now provide the following information regarding the change in library opening hours, Blackness in particular. Details of the new opening hours will be notified on the Council website from 1 March onwards, indicating that these changes will be effective from 1 April. It was felt that one month's notice was sufficient to inform whilst not leading to confusion over a perception of earlier implementation. In addition, flyers and bookmarks ...
Alberto Costa, the Tory candidate for Angus, recently wrote to the Brechin Advertiser to set out his views on tackling alcohol abuse in Scotland, particularly amongst younger people. In his letter, he talked at length about how in mainland Europe, "children are exposed to alcoholic drinks, such as a glass of wine over a normal family dinner... removing any of the mystiques that so many of our youngsters attach to alcohol." Mr Costa is clearly completely out of touch with the real causes of under age drinking in Scotland. Fellow Angus Lib Dems and I have discussed precisely this issue ...
Positive: Co-op Capitalism: Co-op's are neither socialist or capitalist necessarily. Most hedge funds are co-ops, owned by the partners with the profits shared by the workers. Many law firms are co-ops, luxury apartment blocks are run by self-selecting co-ops, huge agri-businesses are run by co-ops of rich farmers, mutual funds are a form of co-op, the list is endless. Lefties might want co-operatives to be non-profit, organic wool knitters but the most successful ones are not. They do this because they are smart and don't want a third party to profit at their expense. Co-ops have nothing to do with ...
The deaths of ten civilians during the recent Afghan assault, raises the issue of reporting civilian deaths in Afghanistan. I believe that they should be given the same official reporting prominence as military deaths. This petition on the Number Ten website articulates the matter very well: We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Report civilian Iraqi and Afghan casualties with comparable prominence to that given to UK military losses. The government has a duty to present a fair and balanced view of the civilian consequences of the military actions carried out in the name of the British people, alongside ...
For a multitude of reasons to be honest... Last night, on the way home from meeting however, the reason I do so was demonstrated. Driving in the heavy rain, I witnesses an RTC 100 yards in front of me – pizza delivery bike vs car (you can guess who came worse off!). I stopped in a safe ...
Has anybody got any? Poor old Mark is a bit like me, he doesn't photograph in the most flattering way. And all the pictures we have show him with an odd facial expression, or are otherwise dodgy. So has anyone got any nice ones? I'm doing a little graphics project for him, and it would be nice if he looked nice. Thanking you in advance. My February Sponsor is To view this post with minimal formatting, click here. To view this post in your own Dreamwidth style, click here.
Commenting on today's figures from the Office for National Statistics showing a sharp rise in underemployment during the recession, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Steve Webb said: "Ministers are guilty of playing down the impact of the recession on working people by ignoring underemployment. "While labour market flexibility has prevented an explosion in unemployment during this recession, one in 10 people who want more hours can't find enough work. This can have a devastating financial impact on them and their families. "We need to invest in a green jobs package which will support the economy now and build ...
"Still I need your swing" – almost sang The Kooks in one of their not very good songs that still sticks in my head. Recently on Politicalbetting.com, long time poster Andy Cooke has written a few articles which have postulated his own theory as to what the election result will be based on various percentage results. ...
With so much political attention on the next general election, it's easy to forget that there are a large number of council seats up for election on the first Thursday in May. Many of those wielding power after the local votes are counted will have far more power than MPs or even junior ministers. What's up for election? It's a big round of local elections: All the seats in the 32 London boroughs One third of the seats in the 36 Mets One third of the seats in 20 unitary authorities Half the seats in 7 district councils One third ...
The other day the Conservatives listed their 10 reasons to vote for them. 1. The NHS - our number one priority. 2. Dealing with Labour's debt crisis. 3. Creating new jobs. 4. Protecting the poorest. 5. Supporting families. 6. Giving every child a good education. 7. Helping keep bills down and clamping down on consumer rip-offs. 8. Fairness for pensioners. 9. Fighting back against crime. 10. Building more affordable homes. In 2006 David Cameron wrote: "Since becoming leader of the Conservative Party I have sought to push the environment up to the top of the political agenda." Now it doesn't ...
(Also on YouTube here) It is clear from the overwhelming response to the campaign and petition that local people want the Whittington A & E to remain and remain 24/7. In fact - most people can't believe closure is even being proposed - as to anyone locally this is madness. But the fight doesn't stop at a petition. On the 4th March, I have arranged a public meeting, where local residents will get the chance to hear at first hand, what the hospital bosses have to say about the threat to the A&E. To represent the NHS, I have invited ...
As Valere says in Moliere's The Miser "One must eat to live, and not live to eat". More than a month on from the Haiti earthquake, I still find it inspirational and life-affirming that despite the desperate plight of the hundreds of thousands of ...
It's official! There's only one entry in this year's Anti-Toff Class War Gold Cup and the runner in this prestigious horse race is Ronnie Campbell, Labour MP for Blyth Valley, riding his horse, Class Warrior. Ronnie, bless him, has been providing us with light entertainment and amusing relief from the realities of politics for many years. His ability to avoid serious political comment is well
As the Manchester Evening News reports: Councillors in Salford will be banned from using Twitter in meetings. Gatherings of the full council at Salford's town hall have been covered live by councillors via their micro-blogging profiles. The debates have attracted hundreds of followers, but town hall bosses have now banned members from using the site during meetings. I have to admit to being rather confused by this opposition to Twitter that's creeping across a few Town Halls. The argument is that councillors who are twittering can't be paying attention, but how can you report on a meeting if you're not ...
Apparently the PDF is appearing differently for Pillock than for me – there's no italics in his Sick With The Fear for him, but I can see them (and Scribus *should* have embedded the fonts). Anyone else having issues with that? I'll re-create the PDF and reupload tonight... ETA Brief inspection seems to suggest that the ...
I'm struggling to work out why you'd want to do this, but a follow-up to my post about the unusual email sign up options offered by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Not only, as I pointed out, does it offer you the chance to sign up to emails from the US Environmental Protection Agency, it also offers you the chance to sign up to Twitter information. I speculated whether this was because, "they regularly do news releases with an analysis of what's up on Twitter and how their use of it is going" - which would make such ...
Danny Finkelstein has an opinion piece in The Times today entitled "The Tories will get burnt fighting fire with fire" in which he argues that they should stop going negative against Labour in their campaigning and instead be more positive about what they would do: Question this approach and senior Conservatives will remind you that they are not unilateralists. A multilateralist sees Mr Brown's favourite technique and knows how to respond. The PM likes to make up a Tory policy and then attack it. He likes, for instance, to assail the Conservatives for planning to take away tax credits from ...
It's Wednesday 17th February and for me, like so many other Lib Dem activists, another day of delivering leaflets and knocking on doors (plus a Council meeting in the evening). On this day in 1933 prohibition ended in the United States, and in 2003 London got a new congestion charge. There, wasn't that interesting. 2 Lib Dem-related Stories Lib Dem voters are the kinkiest Thanks to Sara Scarlett for spotting this report in the Telegraph. There's lots there on the sex lives of supporters of the three main parties, including: If it's instant gratification you're after, Labour voters are the ...
The Wikipedia entry for South Luffenham says: In 1908, The Rev. John Francis Richards succeeded the Rev. Shaw, and being a Greek scholar, pupils came from abroad to be taught at the rectory. Among these reputedly was the son of the German Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Hermann Göring. Indeed, on one of the panes of a lower floor window Göring scratched his initials in a corner.This point is annotated with "citation needed". You can say that again. The Information Underground repeats this story and adds: During his visits to England he went to Burghley House in which he decided ...
Lindsey Jacobellis must be the unluckiest Olympian there is. Four years ago in Torino she was leading by a country mile but decided to do a grab off the last jump within sight of the gold. This year having won everything in between she crashed through one of the control gates in the semi-final and ended up having to content herself with winning the B-Final for 5th place overall. Meanwhile the main event saw more Canadian gold as Maelle Ricker who lives in Vancouver won not just on home soil, but her home mountain. As with the men it was ...
That's what I should have signed off with in my speech to Cabinet last night. But maybe the Star Trek reference would have been lost on the justifiably angry Darlington Borough Council staff and unions who crowded into the public seats and stood up around the room. While even Conservative controlled North Yorkshire is going for a 3% Council Tax increase, the Labour Group in Darlington, mindful of
The news that Adeela Shafi, the Conservative candidate for Bristol East, is experiencing some fairly serious financial problems, has been the source of some schadenfreude for Conservative activists in Bristol no doubt. It is certainly the case that Labour activists, riled by Conservative attempts to unseat Kerry McCarthy via #KerryOut, have taken great delight in noting her problems. So, let's see where we are. The blue team decided that raising money for their candidate via the internet was a good idea, and I was certainly intrigued by what they were up to. So far, they've raised £1,881, 94% of the ...
Nowadays, when we hear of religious intolerance, most folk tend to think of Islam, forgetting that Christianity and Judaism among others have not had a terribly glorious past (or present) in their acceptance of heterodoxy. On this day in 1600, the ...
The President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez, has issued a decree. The decree says all ships must get prior permission from Argentinian authorities before entering Argentine seas. It appears however that Argentina considers the entire South Atlantic continental shelf to be its territorial waters, despite the victory Britain had when the Argentinians invaded the Falkland Islands. All is not as it appears. Is this decree anyhting to do with the fact that several British companies are about to start offshore exploration? Desire Petroleum has licensed six areas where it predicts around 3.5 billion barrels of oil and nine trillion cubic feet ...
Has there ever been a study of the tiles in the entrance doors of north west London or more generally. It's certainly something that I have copied on here before and it's amazing the range of tiles that exist out there - this is a small set that I have icked up recently in the Brondesbury Park area that I thought you might enjoy To my mind they all have an amazing sense of colour and vibrancy and are a sort of post metrolandstyle and design - it's tricky to see how old they are precisely - I suspect some ...
I'm out of the UK at the moment working in Burundi. The country has a long history of inter-ethnic violence (it shares many of the same tensions as Rwanda) but is emerging as a democracy and has a series of elections (local, parliamentary and presidential) scheduled for later this year. The Liberal Democrats, as all the main UK parties, have a number of sister parties around the world. In Burundi, we work with the ADR - a relatively new party headed by the hugely charismatic Alice Nzomukunda. Our work here is to run a training for trainers course - that ...
Pink News has done their normal election run up leaders questions session and this month was the turn of Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg. It gives their readers the opportunity to post whatever questions they like to Nick. The overwhelming subject mentioned was gay marriage, showing how important an issue this is for Pink News readers. Other popular questions were on homophobic violence, faith schools and LGBT asylum seekers. You can read the questions and Nick's answers here.
It is only a letter but there is a deadline and so far the First Minister has not put pen to paper. The BBC report that Carwyn Jones has not yet sent a letter asking for the referendum process to begin. The BBC explain that after AMs voted by 53 to zero on Tuesday, 9 February, in the so-called "trigger" vote to start the formal process towards holding a referendum on further law making powers for the national assembly then under the Government of Wales Act, the first minister must, "as soon as is reasonably practicable after the resolution is ...
Here's just a few of the things I've been doing the last couple of days:Attending my place of work. I was going to say working, but, to be fair, although there's a lot of physical work involved, there's also a lot of fun. I mean, one of my colleagues is [IMG: [livejournal.com profile] ] burlesque_bunny and my boss does hornet impressions like this: I wonder when we're going to get some Brew Dog beers in? Enjoying mine and [IMG: [personal profile] ] matgb's third anniversary on Monday. Yes, that is another euphemism ;) Having a pub lunch with some local ...
The Farmer's Boy has applied to the licensing department of the St Albans District Council for an extension to their licence for amplified live music from one night a week to seven nights a week. To see the full details of their application go to the council web site www.stalbans.gov.uk and follow link to licence registry You can ring the Licensing Department for more information 01727 819541 If you wish to make a representation you can do so by email to licensing@stalbans.gov.uk or by mail to Licensing SADC, The Civic Centre, St Peters Street, St Albans AL1 3JE. Please ...
I along with the Chorlton Lib Dem team have fought the car parking charges at Chorlton Precinct from the start. The charges have significantly hurt traders and discouraged shoppers from coming to Chorlton. During an economic downturn we need to be helping our local shops and their customers - not making it even harder for them. When I have been out talking to local people it is one of the big issues that keep reoccurring. The team recently delivered an 800 strong petition to Parliament. I will keep campaigning alongside my Lib Dem colleagues to abolish the charges.
Recently I came across a blog from a BNP supporter who described himself (I think it is a he) as "quite the thinker". I have made a few comments on his blog because this gave him the chance to think and it also gave me the chance to get a deeper insight into the psyche of a BNP supporter. They don't think they are racist. Just think of the way Nick Griffin described the forced move to open membership to everyone regardless of colour of skin as proof that they weren't racist. To me this is proof that they are ...
