After watching this you'd have to be certified. Although this Channel 4 interview with Jim Devine, Labour MP for Livingston is a little over 10 minutes – it's well worth it. The car-wreck begins almost immediately and I don't think Krish could quite believe some of the answers he was hearing... [IMG: Share/Bookmark]
The consultation on the proposed parking restrictions around the new Badminton Road Council Offices ends on Friday. Have your say on the South Glos website. Claire Young asked about the details of the permit scheme. Officers have suggested that it will offer two permits per household, one of which could be given to visitors, workmen etc providing that you don't need both for your own vehicles. Deliveries can be loaded and unloaded, they are not affected by the restrictions. The fine detail of the permit system is still to be developed and Claire is awaiting further information from officers.
Osborne's speech
The Woking News and Mail website today published an announcement from Woking Borough Council that it had purchased the Wolsey Place Shopping Centre. Council Chief Executive Ray Morgan and Leader of the Executive John Kingsbury announced the news in a press conference at the Civic Offices on Monday morning. The costs of purchasing the shopping ...
The Times' claims, that voters in the South West (SW) are turning away from the Libdems towards the Tories, need to be considered in the context of an Angus Reid's analysis by Anthony Wells on marginal seat data (also note the unrealiable use of individual comments by The Times being constructed as representative of the majority Libdem to Tory voters ...
With the likelihood of a hung parliament becoming more and more real, there appears to be real concern over what to actually do if said event happens in the halls of Whitehall. Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell (who has also been in the news over the 'bullygate' scandal this week) has declared that there is ...
Kent Police just like so much of the Kent public sector seems more concerned about PR than offering a proper service. Kent Police is an occasional source of embarrassment to the people of Kent, this time its news that an Assistant Chief Constable (I believe there is more than one) has got round to apologising to DJ Alioune Haynes, four long years since colleagues had presumably decided to rough up the advisor who'd been helping the police having given several diversity talks to Kent police the month before. [IMG: bouttime] Kent police are currently running a rather slick marketing programme, ...
Sometimes you plan something out as well as you can and think it's all going to be fine, but it's not until it comes to implementing it that you realise just how daft something is in practice. Take this superb example where I am sure that the lighting engineer did everything right in the way of getting the new lighting up Claremont Road and Eastbourne Avenue techically in the correct positions, but surely while the contractor is putting it in something must think that something isn't quite right... I know that the picture isn't great as this was taken at ...
Godfrey Bloom UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber recently wrote, "politicians... are both stupid and deceitful... I am an ex-investment banker turned politician". Whilst congratulating him for his bravery, is he really owning up to being a dim-witted liar? If so, he should do the one decent thing he can and resign his seat. I am sure that the unreformed banking sector will welcome him with open arms.
The BBC need to start listening to their viewers and stop fobbing them and the Liberal Democrats off with pathetic excuses about balance. This week, for the third time out of the last four, there will be no Liberal Democrat Parliamentarian on BBC Question Time. Some weeks back they dropped Jo Swinson MP, then on the week Iraq was discussed, they dropped Sir Menzies Campbell MP - so it was down to the Conservatives to defend their record and yet, it was the Liberal Democrats who voted against the Iraq war, not Labour, nor Cameron's Conservatives. When I recently complained ...
This evening I attended a special meeting of West Berkshire Council's Eastern Area Committee held at Little Heath School where plans for 750 new homes between Theale and Tilehurst were due to be discussed. This plan has caused a lot of disquiet in the community and attracted over a thousand written objections from residents when it was submitted. I attended the meeting with my colleague, Tilehurst Cllr Ricky Duveen and my friend Jean Gardner, longstanding chairwoman of Tilehurst Parish Council. Jean has long been concerned about the impact the proposed development could have on people living in Tilehurst Parish. Jean ...
Today the Luton News published why I seek the honour of representing my home town in Westminster. As you can imagine, trying to fit every aspect of the change I would work to bring to Luton South in 200 words wasn't easy! I couldn't help but notice that one candidate referred to 'our community' when he doesn't even live in Luton! Also, Labour and Conservatives were once again playing the game that it was a fight between them to represent Luton South, have they not noticed that there are 13 Labour Councillors, 11 Liberal Democrats and only TWO Concervatives elected ...
Writing on Crooked Timber, Maria cites a favorite quotation of Colin Ward. It comes from the German anarchist Gustav Landauer: The State is not something which can be destroyed by a revolution, but is a condition, a certain relationship between human beings, a mode of human behaviour; we destroy it by contracting other relationships, by behaving differently.
At long last the final act of our campaign to get a Town Centre Library for Southport comes to cabinet on 4th March. The report is public and can be found here Item 24. We collected over 7000 signature on a petition and we are clear that we have the support of the people of Southport
I am particularly pleased to promote this latest update from Friends of Wighton, given Kyle Howie's performances at Blackness Library's Rhymetime! Brilliant young Dundee musician Kyle Howie will be the guest at the Friends of Wighton Lunchtime Recital on Wednesday 3rd March. The Recital is from 1.15 - 1.45pm in the Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library, Dundee, and will be an occasion to celebrate Kyle's success in gaining a place on the prestigious piping degree course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow Kyle has been playing pipes since the age of nine having only been ...
East Midlands Trains were back to normal this evening, right down to the unexplained last minute platform change. From Saturday afternoon until this morning there were no trains through Market Harborough. Trains were diverted through Corby (giving that town an unexpected through service to Derby and Sheffield) and we had to use a replacement bus service to get to Leicester or Kettering. And what caused all this trouble? The Leicester Mercury explains: More than 1,200 railway sleepers were damaged when two wheels on an East Midlands Train travelling near East Langton buckled, puncturing the fuel tank. Drivers on the nearby ...
Wed 24th
20:37
Alistair Darling: how wild a conspiracy theory do you want, or is it just about the Budget?
So, how to explain what Alistair Darling has been up to with his comments about Number 10 unleashing the forces of hell on him? Let's go for the carefully plotted conspiracy theories first (warning: may contain irony). Explanation number one: it's all a clever plot to make sure the Conservatives win the general election and are then crippled for a generation by having to carry out huge spending cuts. After all, look at the damage winning in 1992 did to the Conservative Party in the long run. This is a consistent, long-term and well thought out plot of course because ...
The City Council launches its new house letting policy on 1st March - you can read more at http://tinyurl.com/dccletting.
Following the debacle of the City Council's budget meeting earlier this month, along with other council group leaders and the Lord Provost and Depute Lord Provost, I met with the Chief Executive and the Depute Chief Executive this morning about the running of council meetings. As the Evening Telegraph reports tonight, the meeting was positive and constructive. As well as discussing procedures at council committee meetings, we also covered the forthcoming review of scrutiny arrangements within the council, a review I believe to be welcome.
In my original posting, bullying helpline breaches callers confidentiality, I was not looking at the specifics of the alleged bullying in Downing Street but more at the callers confidentiality that Christine Pratt had breached, and now continues to ignore in her rants. Well, despite Christine Pratt's protests I obviously wasn't the only one who was unhappy about the breaches in confidentiality and in fact all four Patrons of the National Bulling Helpline have now resigned over the very same issue. Yesterday morning the first of the NBH Patron's to quit was Professor Cary Cooper, an academic and work-place stress expert, ...
Do you live in Minehead? Do you fancy snooping on your neighbours? You could be in luck, because the council and police are looking for volunteers to monitor the town's CCTV cameras. Big Brother Watch has the full story. Nick Cohen asks if Gordon Brown will now dump Charlie Whelan (though I think you will find Whelan went to a council boarding school not a public school). One of the more interesting constituency battles at the general election will be at Bethnal Green and Bow. Diamond Geezer lives there. Earthpal is outraged at the detention of the children of asylum ...
It is great to see Kew Ward Lib Dems launch a blog under the editorship of Mike Booth. A quarter of a century ago I was a Kew Ward councillor myself and I am delighted with the way the team have kept up the hard work for Kew. Maureen Fearn is still one of the trio of Councillors and will be made Mayor of Sefton in a few weeks The photo shows Fred Weavers, Maureen Fearn and Mike Booth
A press release from the Kennel Club offers the very welcome news that Wales' Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones has agreed that, subject to approval by the National Assembly for Wales, the use of electric shock collars will be banned in Wales. This is a useful addition to the animal welfare measures in place inWales. It is a shame that the same concern does not stretch to the preservation of protected species such as the badger or the biodiversity in our countryside that they represent.
Tonight I should be here watching him in this. But I can't. Because of this I should be grateful though. I am warm. I am about to have lovely food, specifically a rather nice curry, in my tummy. I have a beautiful daughter and my husband is a saint. And, I'm going to listen to her on this.
The latest "House of Comments" podcast with myself and Stuart Sharpe of the Sharpe's Opinion political blog is now live. The website for the podcasts is here and the fifthteenth episode which we recorded on Tuesday 23rd Feb is available to download via this page here (raw mp3 file here if you prefer). You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes here. Or you can listen to it right now here: The format is to invite one or two other political bloggers each week and discuss a few of the stories that are making waves in the blogosphere. This week ...
North West Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies has blogged about how he's rejected a nomination as Politician of the Year for the 2010 Erotic Awards. The Flying Golden Penis award will, it would seem, be flying elsewhere this year. It's an honour to be considered but it's not justified. I organised a fringe meeting to give sex workers a voice at last year's party conference, and more recently I put out a press release defending sex workers from prohibitionist government policies. But it's not enough. Whether this spurs Chris to even greater heights to be worthy of the 2011 trophy ...
For the third time in four weeks, the BBC won't be having a Liberal Democrat on Question Time. As Freedom Central reports: A number of Lib Dems have complained, with gathering pace, about this lack of representation. The response from Gavin Allen was: "The Liberal Democrats like all parties get representation based on their level of electoral support, which means they are on most - but not all - 'Question Time' panels across each series. We believe it adds to the breadth of debate to have perspectives from politicians and non-politicians alike, so places are always limited even within a ...
According to the BBC, Merthyr Tydfil has the highest rate of pregnancy (73 per 1000) among 15-17-year-olds for the whole of England and Wales, with Rhondda Cynon Taf coming second. And is anyone surprised? What really irritated me, though, was the same tired response as we always get to these stories, that wasn't even graced with a name: Proposals to tackle teenage pregnancies in Wales were unveiled last summer with plans for better sex education to be taught. The assembly government also aimed to cut the rates of sexually transmitted infections and highlight the dangers of unprotected sex. The Assembly ...
Andrew Lilico of Policy Exchange (plus many other areas, such as the Shadow MPC), has come up with an interesting compromise for those Centre-Right thinkers who are both annoyed by the high level of public spending, and worried about the macroeconomic consequences of cutting the deficit. Why not do a temporary tax cut at the ...
I have come into some information on the Tory Councillor Denise Whitbread of the Wildridings and Central ward, Bracknell Forest Borough Council. After some investigations I have received the following statement from the Holyport C of E Primary School Governors. 'Ms Whitbread was employed by us as a teacher until she was dismissed on 13th June 2008. She was suspended following a benefit payment investigation by the Department of Work and Pensions and Bracknell Forest Council and subsequently dismissed.' The following details were recently published on the web by the General Teaching Council for England here. This is repeated below; ...
We held a very productive meeting with representatives from the Post Office today discussing the future of Launceston Post Office. The PO explained that they had not had a permanent tenant for a number of years and the landlord wanted a long term deal. The PO did not feel this was possible at the moment and so they were given notice to leave the premises by the end of May. The only application up until three weeks ago came from the person who wanted to move the PO to Newport. Three weeks ago another applicant came forward with the desire ...
Just come back from an extraordinary meeting about compensation for Equitable Life policy holders who lost out due to 'maladministration' by the Financial Services Authority. The meeting was organised by the all-party group Justice for Equitable Policyholders. We were moved at the last minute to a smaller meeting room, and by the time 40-50 MPs had crammed in it was very much standing room only. The 'witnesses' were the Treasury minister Liam Byrne, and Sir John Chadwick, who has been asked by the Government to advise on appropriate compensation for policyholders. One of the main complaints raised was how long ...
Well we seem to be into another season of uproars over the Falklands, with Argentina apparently taking the UK to the United Nations over the start of oil drilling in the area. And of course alternative statements of history are proliferating. A detailed study of the Falklands history timeline (up to May 2008) that maintains the British position is on the Falklands History webpages. Spanish version here. This is a reply to a seminar held in the Argentine embassy in London on 3 December 2007, which was apparently the first time the Argentine case for the Falklands was ever presented ...
Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat Shadow Scotland Secretary, has tabled amendments to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill aimed at bringing an end to MSPs and MPs holding both jobs at the same time. The amendments follow legislation backed by both the Government and the Conservatives which seeks to end 'double jobbing' by Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs) who are also MPs. They offer two options: a measure which would end the ability of MPs who are also MSPs to receive salaries from both jobs, along the same lines as the Government and Conservative-backed legislation on MLAs and intended ...
I have just watched Nicola Sturgeon's statement to a hushed Holyrood, and I have to say I thought she handled herself extremely well. Even an old cynic of some 25 years' experience in politics like me could believe that her words were genuine and sincere. We're used to Nicola being abrasive, with a reputation for political pyrotechnics that rivals Alex Salmond's.Today everything about her showed respect. From her words to her body language, she struck exactly the right tone. The transcript will be available later, obviously, but here's my notes of what she said to keep you going. She started ...
Following the tragic death on hunger strike of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, I have requested a meeting with the Cuban embassy, to discuss Cuba's appalling human rights record. Something can and must be done to improve the fate of the dissidents being harrassed by the Castro regime, including the 200 prisoners of conscience. The Castro regime's human rights abuses are just as disgusting as any that might be carried out by any fascist regime. My email follows below: For the attention of: Counsellor (Political Affairs) Mr.Luís Jesús Marrón Oroza I just telephoned the Cuban Embassy and pressed the button to be ...
Someone told me that the BBC Doctor Who website has a trailer for the new series starting at Easter. It puts me in the mood to see this new series. Which is a shame as I probably won't be able to see much of it this year due to the move... but more about that in another post. Thinking back six years to when the Russell T Davies revival was first announced, I felt ambivalent about the revival. Russell was a good writer and loved the series. I'd seen his Channel 4 series, and heard good stuff about the serials ...
I'm going to start with an analogy. A pretty piss poor one. If I offered you a job painting my fence, and promised to increase your supply of sandwiches by ten sandwiches, you'd probably expect me to give you ten sandwiches at the end of the painting. If I then gave you six sandwiches, and explained that 'supply of' meant that I'd create ten sandwiches and then sell four of them and only give you six, you'd be pretty annoyed. Then, I'll just attack you and steal the six sandwiches. That isn't part of the analogy, that's just because I ...
With another opinion poll showing that the Tories are failing to make the sort of headway they need to secure an outright victory political folk are once again discussing how the British Constitution will handle the situation. I have lived most of political life 'in the balance'. Two of the three Councils on which I have served -Cheshire County Council and Sefton MBC have been held up as models of good practice for no overall councils. (We shall draw a veil over Congleton). I am at present involved in drawing up new conventions to cope with the 'strong Leader 'model ...
The news has just come through that Cornwall has failed in its bid to become the UK City of Culture 2013. Cornwall was one of fourteen bids but has failed to make the final shortlist which is made ujp of Norwich, Sheffield, Birmingham and Derry/Londonderry. This is undoubtedly a blow. Cornwall has been bidding for a range of cultural events including hosting the Manifesta event in 2011, European Capital of Culture in 2012 and the UK City of Culture status. I have asked the officers in charge to share the feedback they will receive from the Government as to why ...
Work dominates blogging today, by a wide margin. Hopefully it will be obvious why, later. In the meantime, these pieces are half-read or waiting for me to have a moment: A long profile of Paul Krugman; I have not got far enough to understand why it is called "The Deflationist" Tim Worstall on the myth of a declining ...
You wouldn't have needed a top of the range crystal ball to have an inkling that PMQs would descend into mudslinging, given Bullygate and Alistair Darling's comments. Would Cameron unleash the forces of hell on the Prime Minister? The Prime Minister was eased into the session with a question on banking that was so obviously planted that I don't know how the MP asking it could have any self respect at all. Maybe he thought Nick Cleggwould go on banking, given The Almighty Vince's statement yesterday and wanted to get a less robust, friendlier question in to stop him. Brown ...
It isn't often that Members of Parliament are praised, vilified as they are over their expenses, point-scoring and deference to vested interests. Yet this week has seen a moment of real clarity in Westminster, a true demonstration of how our elected leaders can exercise critical thinking and formulate policy based on objective, rational evidence - and all this over some tiny sugar pills. Monday saw the publication of Evidence Check: Homeopathy, a report by the House of Commons Science and Technology committee (full report available as a PDF here). This report followed months of taking evidence from various parties - ...
Wallington Integrated Transport Package Steering Group True to its name the aim of this group is to steer the plans for the Wallington Integrated Transport Package. This package is the result of Transport for London providing a larger sum of money to improve travel and transport routes on an area basis. In the past this money ...
One of the great projects proposed by the Government is to create a single fire control centre for the whole of the South West. The new centre - in Taunton - is already costing taxpayers £155,000 a month even though it is standing empty. Over-runs are said to be almost £4.5 million and local taxpayers may have to pick up that tab and apparently fire chiefs are concerned that the new centre may be using obsolete technology. You can read more about the concerns on This is Cornwall. I have asked that councillors receive an update on this issue at ...
[IMG: Sanjay visiting Forfar Fire Station with Community Councillor Avril Simpson]
Yesterday was something of an emotional roller coaster. Having spent Monday night gently corrupting the eldest Duffettling (he's only 14, so it was verbal corruption only ;) ) I got up on Tuesday and went for my awkward lunch date. Which started off pretty awkward and got progressively less so... Which was good, I think. But then I went back to chez Duffett to get my stuff and was on the end of a few phone calls which it probably would have been politer not to take in Helen's living room, and which involved me being berated and then apologised ...
I hope that after 4 years most Lib Dems know that I am the Lib Dem Leader at the LGA. Not so many will be aware that I am also the portfolio holder for European & International Affairs. I was volunteered for the job when we needed to mainstream our E & I work and make it more relevant to the wider local government family and I happily decided at accept the position. Interestingly the portfolio holder for the Welsh LGA, Chris Holley, is also a Lib Dem. Perhaps it's just something about practising what we preach! Much of the ...
So much for "Bullygate"; the opinion polls show a point or two chipped off the Tory lead, the "National Bullying Helpline" has been suspended, and in what is surely the clincher that discredits the whole sordid affair, its disgraced founder Christine Pratt has thrown in her lot with slimy sleb trash supremo Max Clifford. How amusing it is to see egg on the Tories' faces. Of course, they ought to know a thing or two about bullying; it appears Cameron's chief spin doctor Andy Coulson will be finding himself in hot water over the illegal hacking of telephone lines of ...
Wed 24th
11:50Why Gordon Brown will start the TV election debates with an advantage over David Cameron
The political impact of TV debates in other Parliamentary democracies (and yes, yawn yawn, obligatory American reference, in the US too) has often been more about expectations than about absolute performance. Beat expectations and you benefit from the debate, even if that means people viewed you as the narrow loser. But if you were expected to be a big loser and then beat expectations and only just lose, you benefit. Also the impact of debates has often been to reinforce people's existing predilections rather than switch people between different parties or candidates. That has, for example, been a common feature ...
A number of policy related discussions have recently caught my eye, and my ire it has to be said, because they seem to involve people proposing state interventions in some area or another, along the lines of "something must be done" without first examining and understanding the real cause of the problem they are trying to ameliorate. And often as not the problems can be shown to have been caused by previous state action or legislation. And that getting rid of that previous action or legislation rather than piling on yet more legislation ought to be the first response. To ...
[IMG: Sanjay visiting Arbroath's Signal Tower Musuem]
I have written extensively about how Labour's policies in Reading are hitting the poorest and most vulnerable hardest. Many of them despite Gordon Brown's recent pronouncements are just plain unfair.The most recent example has been imposing service charges on Reading's council tenants - for basic services they currently get as part of their rent. Well, last night Labour politicians in Reading went one better (or rather one worse ) - pushing through a 2.2% Council Tax increase. The proposed increase was higher than the national average (1.9%) and many neighbouring authorities. The timing of this hike could not be worse ...
It's official - Cornwall Conservatives are a high tax party. A study by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has found that the average council tax bill rise this year will be about 1.8%. CIPFA are the recognised experts in this area and you can bet they have done their homework well. In contrast with this average 1.8% rise, Cornwall Conservatives have chosen to raise council tax by 2.9%. When the higher precepts charged by town and parish councils and the Police are taken into account, the average rise in Cornwall will be over 3%. At the ...
The Ham & High just organised a photo-op outside the Whittington in advance of the march on Saturday (Highbury & Islington corner at noon) so that they can give it advance publicity. Well - done Ham & High! The key in all of this - is where the power and the decisions lie - and sadly - it isn't with the people. If it was - we wouldn't be in this postion to start with. We are at the mercy of high paid, managers and bureaucrats moving around services on paper - without any understanding of our wishes or our ...
Word reaches us that my Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies has declined nomination to win the esteemed Flying Golden Penis Trophy. Chris' reasons for declining the award sound reasonable, but I'm fairly certain that his minor contributions to the defence of sex workers outweigh those of most parliamentarians in Brussels or Westminster. An MEP accepting nomination ...
Throughout our community in Luton there are carers working tireslessly to help vulnerable people and seek no reward for doing so. While some bankers are rewarding themselves with huge bonuses from our tax money, carers recieve little support from the government with few breaks, a lack of specialist advice and without the emotional support and back-up they deserve. This week Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg, spoke about the urgent need to spend £420 million to support what he rightly called a 'hidden army of heroes'. Having met and worked with carers for many years I know the pride and dedication ...
Wed 24th
10:50Times report: Tories "make inroads" into Lib Dem support in south-west England. (But where's the evi...
There's a curious article in today's Times by the paper's chief political correspondent Sam Coates. Here's how the report starts: Voters are abandoning the Liberal Democrats in parts of their South West stronghold as dislike of Gordon Brown boosts support for the Conservatives. A tour by The Times of Lib Dem constituencies in the region found genuine signs of support for the Tories, with voters who backed the Lib Dems in 2005 now responding positively to the high-spending Tory campaign. Conservative strategists believe the party is significantly more popular in swing seats that have been the target of campaign spending ...
Homeopathic medicine is no more effective than a placebo, but does it follow that it is unethical for a doctor to prescribe it? Personally, I think homeopathy is ridiculous and I'd never use it, but I ask the question because homeopathic medicines are not the only drugs which doctors prescribe which only have a placebo effect. Compare homeopathic medicines with anti-depressants. Homeopathic remedies will not cure you, but they are not toxic either, unlike anti-depressants, which can have unpleasant or harmful side-effects. In 2006 UK doctors issued 31 million prescriptions for anti-depressants, and 38 million in 2008, even after a ...
Labour MP David Drew will be arguing in Parliament this afternoon that public bodies - including schools, hospitals and social services - should only use fish which is 'demonstrably sustainable'. Whilst this Bill has no chance of being passed at the moment, if it ever came to law then it could be the end of the Cornish fishing industry. The key here is the use of the phrase 'demonstrably sustainable'. Because that means that the judgement will be very subjective. What is sustainable to one person - even one scientist - is not sustainable to another. Most people can agree ...
Every now and again, some opinion poll or other asks people to name their own MP and politocos tutt when, invariably, a good proportion fail the test. But, if you were to speak to every MP and ask them who the MP for their own constituency is, you'd hope for a better result. Sadly, news reaches us that at least one MP may be unsure. Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent South, held a coffee morning on Friday with Rt Hon Paul Boateng MP. Is that right? Surely Paul Boateng isn't still an MP. Let's not jump to conclusions. Boateng ...
The licensing application by the Farmer's Boy (London Road) has been withdrawn. The planning application by Great Northern (London Road) has also been withdrawn. Councillors are advising both pubs to scale back their plans to take into account residents' wishes.
The editor of Forum magazine, Sarah Berry, writes to invite me to accept a nomination as Politician of the Year for the 2010 Erotic Awards. It is tempting. There are free tickets for the Night of the Senses awards ceremony (raising money for disabled people) and the chance to win the 'coveted' Flying Golden Penis Trophy. A declaration is required that I support their ethos, which I could provide without difficulty, but I decline to proceed. It's an honour to be considered but it's not justified. I organised a fringe meeting to give sex workers a voice at last year's ...
There seems to be a strange local media storm being drummed up in the letters pages of the Manchester Evening News that the Gorton Liberal Democrat Councillors are attempting to abolish Abbey Hey. Now Abbey Hey is a strong community with a strong sense of identity, so no Councillor of any party would ever wish to do anything of the sort and anyone daft enough to try would fail (and quite rightly). However this does now seem to be turning into a party political thing so here are some facts: 1. Abbey Hey was part of the old Gorton Urban ...
Lib Dems are protesting against more closures on the Northern Line. TfL announced plans to close Mornington Crescent, Camden Town and Chalk Farm at weekends from this Martch to October 2011. The plans may also mean that the stations shut early during the week from July this year. Local campaigner Chris Richards said: "From March it ...
The polls have closed and over 100,000 votes been counted in the Power 2010 online consultation on political reform (which we've previously covered here). The most popular proposals, with people able to pick more than one from a list, were a proportional voting system, the end of ID cards and government data hoarding, an elected House of Lords, English votes on English laws and a commitment to drawing up a written constitution. The next stage in Power 2010's campaign will involve candidates being challenged to back this set of proposals. The campaign's director, Pam Giddy, says, "The vote shows that ...
I'm a bit of a documentary junkie and the Beeb is my friend issuing more and more. The best so far was The Love of Money, tracing the unfolding of the financial collapse of the Lehman Brothers and the ensuing economic crisis. The third and final episode was inevitably 'weaker' as it attempted to look into the future and make sense of it all. Yet, the series as a whole was simply excellent: no
With the local elections coming up in May, Haringey residents have the chance to get rid of Labour after four decades. As you can see from the numbers top left of my blog, the Lib Dems are the only party that can end Haringey Labour's rule. At the last local elections in 2006, Haringey elected 30 Labour councillors and 27 Lib Dems - not a single Conservative or Green was elected. In fact, it's now 12 years since the Conservatives won any council seat in Haringey. I took this photo over Christmas when I was on holiday in New Zealand ...
Council tax meetings are always tense, as they involve important decisions: how much to cut, where to invest a bit more, and in the end how much residents have to pay for their services. Even more challenging is that the poorest and most vulnerable rely on Council services, and yet it these people and those just getting by who tend to pay the most, as a proportion of their income. This year, we were absolutely opposed to Labour's 2.2% rise, and came prepared to have all the discussions needed to get a lower number. My own view was like Liberal ...
On this day in 1920 (according to the nice people at Wikipedia), the Nazi Party was founded. The days when the Daily Mail publically paraded its sympathies for the Nazis are long gone – their interests lie elsewhere these days... 2 Stories The story Mail hacks have been waiting for This story must have felt like Christmas and Easter rolled into one for reporters at the Daily Mail – it's got everything. A 'lesbian' who dared to suggest she was better than a man has been jailed – for forcibly perfoming a drunken sex act on another women. Teresa Cottingham, ...
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon makes a statement in Holyrood about the letter she wrote on behalf of (not in support of) convicted benefits fraudster Abdul Rauf. I've already made my feelings clear on this. The dangers of allowing casework to be spun and twisted in the political arena could mean that people with genuine cases and genuine needs might be turned away because their marginal seat parliamentarian is too scared to do anything in case opponents try to gain political capital. What I want to see from Nicola today is that she's taken on board some of the less ...
Just listening to Janet Daley (the thinking man's Melanie Phillips) on yesterday's `Woman's Hour`. You can almost hear her trying to restrain her blushes. She enthused over Sarah Palin's use of sarcasm – you know the ending of her sentences like `I'd like to say to all those people who were supporters of the current administration, ...
I recently asked for for an assessment for housing adaptations to be carried out for a lady who is in her eighties and has had a knee operation. She's facing real problems getting up and down her stairs and told me that it's so bad that she will have to move home if she doesn't ...
The last time the Union of the Provinces of the River Plate actually governed the Islas Malvinas was from 1820-1833, but they only installed a Governor for the Islands in 1829. Twenty eight years ago there was an long diplomatic negotiation which had been going on before on the 2 April the Argentine army invaded. Therefore the fact that Hugo Chávez the Venuzuelan President and other Latin American leaders have back Argentina and are heading to the UN is a throw back to the 70s and early 80s. Chávez and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner the Argentine President wouldn't have been ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats will use their party debate time today to set out why the Labour-Plaid government's Green Jobs Strategy for Wales is just a tick in the box exercise for the One Wales delivery programme. They will also make clear why Wales needs to be promoting a green economy and building a sustainable future. The Green Jobs Strategy - 'Capturing the Potential'- was launched in 2009 after much dithering, with no baseline figures against which to measure progress and no set of indicators of how to measure growth and development. In addition, the Deputy First Minister's recent change ...
Just when you thought that nothing more could go wrong for Gordon Brown further troubles appear through an extraordinary interview with Alisdair Darling. Speaking to Sky News the Chancellor of the Excheqeur said that people working for Mr Brown tried to damage him because he told the truth about the economy. His remarks follow reports in a new book by Andrew Rawnsley that Mr Brown's aides tried to undermine him after he forecast the worse economic downturn for 60 years. "Nobody likes the sort of briefing that goes on," Mr Darling said, "the forces of hell were unleashed". According to ...
I've been very satisfied with the beta and release candidates of Windows 7 but the lifetime of the (free) RC is rapidly coming to an end and I had to consider my options as it had been the OS on my main laptop for the past year. Except for one machine in London (mostly my tv and file archiver) all my other machines (up to 10 in regular use, including servers and notebook) all run on Linux or FreeBSD or Solaris, so the question under review was "do I actually *need* Windows? So I made a list of the software ...
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] [IMG: torystrike.jpg] Council begins at 18.30: Glenn_Goodall Readings council tax and budget will (hopefully) be set tonight... #rdg #rdgcouncil about 7 hours ago from web Glenn_Goodall #rdgCouncil some good questions to council - Redlands has had a surge in ASB, don't we know it! about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck Glenn_Goodall #rdgCouncil 'local area agreement' passes - NI35 remains though [IMG: :(] about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck Glenn_Goodall #rdgCouncil 'Reading Cultural Strategy' passes - no talk of fringe groups/events [IMG: :(] about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck Glenn_Goodall #rdgCouncil Labour say Reading council tax is cheaper than ...
[IMG: Lib Dems visit YM, Montrose] Left to Right: Sanjay, Montrose Cllr David May, Val Cooper from YM, Anna Robertson, YM committee member, Alison McInnes, MSP for NE Scotland.
Wed 24th
00:14"Report blows a gaping hole in the News of the World's line that only a sole rogue reporter was invo...
Reacting to the DCMS select committee report on "Press standards, privacy and libel", which has just been published, Chris Huhne has said: This report blows a gaping hole in the News of the World's line that only a sole rogue reporter was involved in illegal hacking of phones, and reveals enormous worries about the feeble response of the Metropolitan Police in investigating what was clearly widespread illegal activity. There are very serious issues at stake here for the privacy of the citizen and the report highlights deep concern at the weak reaction to these illegal intrusions by News International, the ...
I went to see the Royal Yacht Britannia last week but I couldn't take a photo by walking round the port as it was closed off. It didn't look like there was any special reason for closing this specific area to the public but I think it was something to do with terrorism. I'm not sure how terrorists work but I found lots of books with photographs of the yacht in the gift shop. I may be wrong but it strikes me that a lot of terrorism laws are used to protect copyright and increase sales. I think there is ...
Estonia is a young country but a very old nation. Archeology and DNA suggests that the Estonians or their relatives have been on living on the shores of the Baltic Sea for several thousand years. After being conquered in the early thirteenth century by the Teutonic Knights, the Estonians endured German rule under various overlords: Danish, Swedish, Polish, Russian until 1918. The Germans- unlike the Normans who invaded England a hundred and forty years before- never assimilated with the local population, at least not linguistically, indeed until 1816 the Germans owned Estonians as slaves. However, the national awakening that followed ...
Many thanks are due to the students and teachers of Gordano School in Portishead, where I was given the chance to debate and answer questions put by the students on Tuesday. The level of the questions asked, which ranged from Afghanistan to the economy and student debt, was very high and the future of these students is bright if they can keep up this level of questioning, enquiry and analysis. It looks like there could be some budding politicians as well! I was at Gordano School along with Stephen Perry Hearn, the Labour candidate who has recently been appointed. Stephen ...
