lots of preparations for the election today - it reallyl would help to know when it is going to be. I only hope that this is the last time that the Prime Minister of the day can call the shots like this. It isn't just the politicians that are on hold in their lives, not knowing when pollingday is. Lots of public bodies and organisaitons are "on hold" till the result is known. Also think of...
Southend West Liberal Democrats had a lot on today. In Prittlewell a team was out in numbers in the morning. Leigh and West Leigh had (as every Saturday) a coffee morning. But you can't be everywhere, so I started the day in the Blenheim Ward surgery. It was good to catch up with Jim Clinkscales and Graham Longley, but there have been busier Councillors' surgeries than this. Had lunch with Graham, then went with him to the centre of Southend to take a few photos for his election address - and then up the Estuary to take a few more ...
This morning I was passing the Jehovah's Witnesses' hall in Market Harborough. There was the notice of a planning application on the gate and a lot of people around. I asked one of them and, sure enough, it is being demolished in a few days so that they can build a better church in its place. Later on I came back to try some more shots in case the light was better. This time I was invited inside to see some photos that were taken when the Hall was put up in the late 1960s. It is hardly a thing ...
Leave the house about 10.15 to make sure I'm in good time for our action day. A 46 bus comes immediately and there's no traffic, so I arrive early at the Chair's house, our base for the day. We do a bit of chatting and planning and then news comes through that a photographer from one ...
Leonard aka ludickid, whose wit and wisdom you should all be reading, has just made an interesting little post about how just typing the letters of the alphabet into the Google search bar and checking the first five entries for each letter opens up something of a "window into the American psyche". So, seeing as I'm bored on a Saturday night, I've repeated the experiment this side of the pond, and here are the results (grouping together dupes such as "Amazon/Amazon UK" and "BBC News/Weather/Sport", as Leonard appears to have done). See for yourself; Argos Amazon Autotrader Asda AA Route ...
There are times when you realise that you may have made a mistake, and this evening is one of them. I could have been at a birthday party in Clare, a lovely little town on the Suffolk border, with the woman I love (for the avoidance of doubt, that's Ros). Instead, I'm in a perfectly harmless Holiday Inn in suburban York, having eaten a perfectly harmless but lonely dinner. In short, all is not well on Planet Bureaucrat. And why am I in York (apart from the obvious - it's the Liberal Youth conference, I'm their Returning 0fficer and there ...
The floodgates are open and the MPs are flooding through, one after another and with only 68 days to go you have to question their loyalty to their constituents and the Labour Party, don't you? Well, now it is the turn of Labour's Joan Humble, MP for Blackpool North & Fleetwood (which becomes Blackpool North and Cleveleys) to stand down at the forthcoming general election. Joan Humble told her local paper, Fleetwood Weekly News;"I have reached this decision after careful thought. My husband Paul is very close to retirement and we naturally wish to spend more time together in retirement. ...
Just come abck from the Old Vic. I saw a production called Pedestrian. Almost a stream of consciousness - well not so much consciousness as it was a sort of dream state. It almost seemed like a psychotic state. He did very well. Never again will I doubt the mystery of a goldfish on Broadmead having a soya latte. His interpretation o fcurrent affairs was interesting. The music and effects were good. I left wondering if I had enjoyed it - and mentally exhausted. I'm still not sure what to make of some of the material.
The Tea Party movement is well know in the US for its rabble rousing and political noise and now, Daniel Hannan, the world's worst expert on the British NHS has launched his very own UK version to coincide with the Conservative Spring Conference down in Brighton this weekend. His 'bright idea' was no doubt inspired ...
This morning I was honoured to accept an invitation from my Lib Dem colleague Tilehurst Councillor Peter Beard, a Trustee of Reading-based charity 'The Forgotten British Gurkha' , to meet a group of Gurkhas currently living in Theale. Following the successful campaign last year for settlement rights led by Joanna Lumley, Nick Clegg and backed by Reading West MP Martin Salter to enable retired Gurkhas to live in the UK the latest battle the Gurkhas and their supporters are fighting is for decent housing and financial help to enable them to survive in the UK. They are also campaigning for ...
Sat 27th
21:24
Throwing newspapers........excusable due to pressures of being PM - throwing water bottles.......mus...
I received the following today - Seventeen people - all Muslim - have already been given extremely harsh and disproportionate custodial sentences to the alleged offence of violent disorder. Last week, a 19 year old aspiring to be a dentist, was sentenced to a year in prison for throwing a water bottle in the direction of the Israeli embassy. Despite the judge's admission that the young man had an excellent character and the bottle thrown did not hurt anyone, he wanted 'to send a message of deterrent to the rest of the community'. The court has also failed to take ...
Luciana Berger's candidature has been plagued from the start but she does keep putting her foot in the proverbial crap, and today shows yet another example of her lack of understanding of the people of Liverpool. You can read further coverage here and here. Now, before all of the Labour hacks jump on me and say be fair to her, I am stating that even I got three out of four of these questions and I certainly didn't say "You can't ask a gay a football question" in the same manner she (pathetically) said "You can't ask a girl a ...
The Conservative Party has shown once again today at its Spring Conference that it simply doesn't know which way to turn next with the announcement of its 6 point 'plan for change'. Given that only a few days ago, the party gave grass-roots activists a list of the '10 reasons to vote Conservative' to campaign ...
There were two things that struck me about Daniel Radcliffe's interview in Attitude magazine last year. The first was obviously that he'd said he would be voting Liberal Democrat in his first general election vote, the second was how tuned in and comfortable he was for such a young, straight star with LGBT issues. Therefore it isn't really a surprise that Daniel is willing to record an ad for a LGBT youth helpline in the US. Speaking of the project on MTV Radcliffe said: "The Trevor Project is the only [US] nationwide around-the-clock crisis- and suicide-prevention help line [of its ...
The news in the last couple of day of both Andrew Koenig, 41 year old son of Walter, and Michael Blosil, 18 year old son of Maria Osmond, killing themselves after suffering depression highlights the issue with the illness. Both were at different parts of their life Koenig had established his own niche in the film and televsion industries, Blosil was just starting out on his adult life but had already had a lifelong struggle with depression. There is help out there and if you are suffering from depression or suspect that someone you love does you can contact Depression ...
Clearly it's the season for ridiculously long-running sagas to be sorted out for have just spotted that another long-damaged utility box has finally been removed. This one is on Hornsey Lane, Crouch End and, as with the one in Westminster, it involved a long and tortuous process including the local council (Haringey Council this time) saying that the wrong firm owned the box. Thank you to Crouch End councillor Lyn Weber for helping get this sorted in the end and making this piece of pavement empty: [IMG: Cleared pavement, Hornsey Lane, Crouch End]
I enjoy Saturdays like a lot of people in this country for the live football that we get to sit down and enjoy after a hard weeks work. Being the daughter of an Arsenal fan i was looking forwards to the Stoke City v Arsenal game this evening but it was tarnished by another of ...
Beware of Ug99 - it's a fungus that has the potential of creating a massive famine:This distinct new race of P. graminis, dubbed Ug99 after its country of origin (Uganda) and year of christening (1999), is storming east, working its way through Africa and the Middle East and threatening India and China. More than a billion lives are at stake. "It's an absolute game-changer," says Brian Steffenson
In recent discussions about the 'poor ground' at Balgay Cemetery at the recent Balgay Stakeholders' group meeting, the history of the former Logie Secondary School site was discussed - principally its role as the Liff and Benvie Poorhouse during the nineteenth century. This establishment that was latterly known as the Western Poorhouse, was financed from the Poor Law Assessment Rates that were collected from owners, tenants and occupiers of property in the area. The men's apartments were situated to the west end and the women's to the east end of the building. The Friends of Dundee City Archives have a ...
I got two rather bemusing emails today. The first was the party's official line on what our reaction to the Science and Technology Select Committee's report on homeopathy is. The second one was to inform me that, five hours later, it has been rescinded. I can see why. The line (and this is ...
About time I had a themed week again, and what could be better than 10cc! "The Things we do for love"
Welcome to this latest LDVideo instalment, highlighting three political video clips from the past week. First up, there's Lies, damn lies and Conservative statistics courtesy Political Scrapbook (and with a nod towards this iconic Guinness advert): (Hat-tip: Left Foot Forward. Available on YouTube here). Secondly, here's Nick Clegg responding to questions posted to Facebook (Facebook.com/nickclegg) and Twitter (@Nick_Clegg) in his latest online Q&A session with voters, and covering a variety of topics: support for carers, voter apathy, voting Lib Dem, military pay, the 'Robin Hood Tax', democratic accountability, Scottish independence; the hunger strikers and rights of children at Yarl's Wood ...
Save our A&E! Save our A&E! Save our maternity! So rang out the chants on the march to save the Whittington A&E this morning. The rain kept mainly on the plain - thank goodness - and we marched and chanted all the way from Highbury and Islington Tube to the Whittington - where we had a huge rally. Big thanks to the Defend the Whittington Coalition - who organised the whole caboodle - and it takes some organisation - with having Holloway Road closed off in one direction, the Whittington main entrance closed during the rally and, lovely surprise, a ...
I am pleased to report that Tube Lines has now replied in detail to my email about weekend closures on the Northern Line. I am grateful for this, but having also had another email from London Underground (LU), I have replied to both organisations demanding urgent further clarification. Bluntly, there appear to be blatant contradictions between the emails from Tube Lines and LU. Tube Lines say that they proposed fewer weekend closures, but that LU turned them own. LU say that they are now urging Tube Lines to have fewer weekend closures and that they have no power to turn ...
So the Owlsmoor by-elections were on Thursday and I didn't win as I blogged about briefly on Friday morning. I did however come second in both the Borough and Town elections behind the Tories who retained both seats. To be honest, this is the sort of result that we have come to expect in Sandhurst and the Bracknell constituency more generally. The Conservatives hold 39 out of the 42 Bracknell Forest Borough Council seats (the other three are held by Labour) and the entirety of Sandhurst Town Council. They have a big constituency presence with many more members than we ...
Over at the Guardian's Comment is Free, Nick Clegg contributes to the Citizen Ethics strand. He recalls Margaret Thatcher's economic aims in the 1980s, saying that he seeks a revolution as big as the one in the 1980s, but of a different quality: "I do not want to change things back; I want to change them forward." Here's an excerpt: I do not believe that society is broken. There are minor miracles done every day by parents, teachers, carers, total strangers: acts of kindness that are the overwhelming majority of human experience. For every banker justifying their grotesque bonus, there ...
Norfolk Tories want to turn off most street lights at night, in a move which has angered lots of people across Norfolk. Yet whilst door knocking today I was pointed in the direction of a street light that never ever turns off, indeed, according to one residents, it may have been on for several years. This light has been reported on a number of occasions, but nothing has been done by The Tory run County Council. Isn't it crazy that they want to turn off lights at night in the face of much local opposition, but they are happy to ...
Iain Martin's general election commentary for the Wall Street Journal is rapidly become a must-read for me due to his record of unearthing useful bits of extra information that shed an extra light on the big political stories. This week he had a good piece on the Conservative Party's preparation for televised party leader debates during the general election: Advisers close to U.S. President Barack Obama have been drafted by David Cameron to help the Conservatives in their election campaign against Gordon Brown and Labour. The Tories have signed a contract with Squier, Knapp, Dunn Communications—a Washington-based Democrat-leaning political consultancy— ...
When canvassing today in Taverham, I was surprised to hear from local residents that they had been canvassed by the Conservatives who were claiming to oppose a three quarters NDR "Road to nowhere". The odd thing is I was at a Council meeting on Thursday night when the Tories voted through a new Distrct plan which supported the building of a three quarters Northern Distributor Road (NDR), without making finishing the final link to complete the road. Is it any wonder that people can despair of politicians when they do one thing at a meeting on a Thursday night yet ...
[IMG: Hornsey Police Station] Yesterday I had to take a late night trip Hornsey Police Station after narrowly avoiding my bank account being emptied by cashpoint criminals. On the way home from a night out at the theatre, I decided to get some money out from the cashpoint at the Post Office in Crouch End (on Topsfield Parade), at about 11pm. The cashpoint made lots of whirring sounds but didn't give me my card back. This made me suspicious and I suddenly realised there was a device attached to the card slot. A little look around and I also spotted ...
A friend of mine, who lives outside of Blaydon constituency, bizarrely received a leaflet from my Conservative opponent, Glenn Hall. Very interesting reading! There is one thing at least that he agrees with my Labour Opponent on. That it is between the Conservatives and Labour here and you definitely shouldn't consider voting for the pesky Lib Dems! I welcome these silly season articles from Glenn and our outgoing Labour MP, because it gives me another opportunity to remind readers of the actual facts of this election in Blaydon. The Conservatives got 8% of the vote last time and don't have ...
In today's Times, George Osborne promises to be straight with us, unlike that 'phoney' Blair. At last, a politican that is going to be honest – someone should have thought of that earlier. Bet Labour are kicking themselves (and Vince Cable is hoping to sue). Osborne's most important statement follows. "We will turn an economy built ...
I am due in Oxfordshire tomorrow to do a set of photos for one of the constituencies there. Inevitably, I have been paying attention to the weather forecasts. Typically, a massive storm is on its way. It is somewhere over the Iberian Peninsula at the moment but it is expected to hit southern England tomorrow. So I am likely to get rather wet. Currently it is patchy sun. The calm before the storm
So said a feature in the Swindon Advertiser a couple of weeks ago. Its writer had approached "about 30 random strangers" in the town's Regent Street and found that only four had heard of him. Yet: The Richard Jefferies Museum, based at his old house, has been open since the early 1960s, having been acquired from a private owner in the 1920s by the old Swindon Corporation under the visionary eye of councillor and mayor Reuben George. ... the visitor to the Jefferies Museum can know for certain that they are standing where the author stood, gazing from the windows ...
On Thursday local environmental group Transition Luton hosted the first Luton South hustings event of the election campaign. I wasn't there myself, I was at a local party social event that night, but I've had reports there were just over 150 people at the event who listened to the eight declared candidates expressing a range of views on climate change and other environmental issues. A fuller report from one of the organisers can be found on the 'Make Wealth History' blog and a (rather poor quality) video of excerpts from the event can be found below:
As a nation we seem to have degenerated into letting the big, important things get into a mess. We reward the people at the top, no matter how badly they have let us down. We are expected to put paper targets ahead of genuine achievement. Everyone who gets paid by government in some shape or form seems to have been dragged down. This nonsense started with the Conservative bringing in targets and it rumbles on and on. The Labour government has done nothing to stop it. Does it matter? Here are some of the results: * At least one hospital ...
[IMG: Fairtrade] We're in the middle of Fairtrade fortnight (22nd Feb- 7th March) and to celebrate there are a few Fairtrade events coming up at Manor House Library: borrow a book, CD or DVD and get a free fairtrade teabag (while stocks last!) on Monday coming (1st March), the Manor House is hosting a Fairtrade Tea Dance from 2pm until 4pm. Fairtrade tea and cakes are provided. Call 8852 0357 to book your place. there'll be a showing of the Black Gold Movie ( a film about coffee and trade) on Saturday 6th March at 2.30pm 'The Luckiest Nut in ...
London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon sets out how the Mayor of London's approach to problems with the London Oyster travelcard is a demonstration of Boris Johnsons wider approach to addressing issues that face Londoners: This week at City Hall I was accused by Boris Johnson of being a "negative Liberal Democrat" when I dared to question him over some of the problems that have happened as a result of the extension of Oyster Pay as You Go to national rail services across London. Well I stand by my questioning of the Mayor as there is no doubt that a huge ...
So David Cameron has gone with the slogan "Year for Change" the day after The Times exposed just how little change [pdf link] there was in his list of candidates. Yesterday it was revealed that of 167 candidates questioned by The Times 83 gave their idea of a political hero, 32 of which chose Margaret Thatcher. Indeed Mo Mowlam with 4 was double the number who had suggested the new 'change' hero of the party David Cameron was their hero. Of course the Cameron/Osborne urge to cut the deficit quickly and bugger the consequences to the workers is right up ...
As an executive member of Union of Liberal Students I went to Liberal Assembly in Margate hundreds of years ago. At a fringe meeting about something or other, I heard an extremely articulate young man who was the PPC for some West Country constituency, and thought he'll go far. His slightly militaristic bearing was a tad anomalous given the peacenik mood of everyone else present, as was his dress sense, cords and brogues. Well gentle reader, you won't be surprised to hear that that young (!) man was none other than Jeremy John Durham Ashdown aka Paddy, whose birthday it ...
Saturday: Daddy! Daddy! Daddy... stop watching the trailer for the 2010 series and see if you can't finish reviewing the 2005 one! Oh, all right. Once more... ...satisfied? Right. This is an odd little story, much derided at the time though for no obvious reason, because it's brilliant. The title is (nearly) a triple pun, playing on both the Gold Rush boom town that Mayor Margaret promises and the "boom" that will inevitably destroy the "town" at the conclusion of her scheme, while also slyly referencing the Butetown district of Cardiff where, by an extraordinary coincidence, the episode is filmed. ...
At a meeting a fortnight ago with the Keighley and District Association for the Blind it was made clear that the current state of the pavements in parts of the District are a danger to the elderly, disabled, and those with poor sight. Together with ...
This governments disregard for law and order and international justice is well documented. Enthusiastic support of the "war on terror", their wide use of anti-terror laws on ordinary citizens participating in peaceful protest, their attempts at pushing through the "End of Parliament Act" (which was luckily stymied by Lib Dem Shadow Justice Secretary David Howarth,) are just a few of the ridiculous things this government seem to have no problem with. But today we got another, altogether shocking example. read more
My fellow Liberal Democrats and I are out delivering today; even rain won't stop us! Minutes after the photo was taken even more people turned up. So, if you see any of us out and about today say hello!
[IMG: Julian Huppert with Nick Clegg and students] My campaign to take over from David Howarth in Cambridge was given a huge boost on Thursday, when we were visited by Nick Clegg, who did a Q+A session for students in Trinity Hall. The turnout was huge - we overflowed the meeting room that was prepared for us. As we walked in, it was clear that there was a great energy in the room. Nick didn't do a preamble speech - the idea was just to answer questions, dealing with whatever the attendees thought was important, not just the normal talking ...
Now, anyone that lives in the South of Scotland or journeys through it that everything is by bus, as the trains only stop at a few stations such as Dunblane or Berwick as the remainder of the region has no railway at all anymore. So this morning I was struck by this story on the BBC website - Railway station faces rejection. The proposals are for a new station and housing development in Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway. Unfortunately the plans are due to be "recomended for refusal" by Dumfries and Galloway Council planning officers when it comes up at ameeting ...
... is why there appears to be a group of Conservative supporters who (a) are convinced Gordon Brown is an indecisive bottler but also (b) at the slightest whiff of news (the sun has come up! a Labour councillor left his home 10 minutes earlier than usual! my mother's uncle's nephew works at the council and isn't take a holiday next week as usual!) are convinced that Gordon Brown is about to be decisive and shocking by calling an early election. Meanwhile, here's a rather good set of reasons from Left Foot Forward why there won't be an election before ...
There is a growing campaign at the moment that suggests that we must do something to improve the lot of interns across the country. But especially those working in Westminster. The campaign is called Intern Aware and it is presently stepping up its efforts to lobby for them to be paid at least the minimum ...
Followers of mine on Twitter will have been expecting updates from the recent budget-setting Council meeting. Sadly, this wasn't possible after a decision by the Conservative-run Council to ban Councillors from using mobile phones for any reason in meetings. As someone who tweets by text, this means no Twitter for me, and no updates for constituents. At the start of the meeting, the Mayor informed us that anyone using a phone for any reason would be asked to leave the meeting because such activity is rude and discourteous. I respected the Mayor's request, but I disagree with it. It might ...
As things stand, we have had one person snuff it who appears on someone's list, and that's JD Salinger, who is on both Stephen and Jon's list. So it's still all to play for. If anyone else would like to join in, do feel free, but remember you can't pick anyone who is already dead. Those of you who have already posted lists? There remain a couple of you who have not given me a tenner yet. Expect a naggy email :P My February Sponsor is To view this post with minimal formatting, click here. To view this post in ...
Even if Gordon Brown calls the general election for Thursday 6 May, the date on which local elections are also due to be held, that won't be the only round of elections this spring. That's because the holding of the general election on the same day as local elections means any contested parish and community elections due on 6 May will be postponed by three weeks. Uncontested elections will still be concluded on 6 May, with people taking office subsequently in the usual way (i.e. on the fourth day after the election). Where there are delayed contested elections, the date ...
The general election in Ashfield is looking more and more interesting. The late decision of Labour MP Geoff Hoon to stand down is a bonus for Liberal Democrat candidate Jason Zadrozny and now in a council by-election in the constituency this week the Liberal Democrats have taken a seat from Labour with a 23% swing. The Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors (ALDC) says of the winning campaign: We won the county seat last June with 49.7% of the vote so mopping up one of the District seats should perhaps come as no surprise, but it's still a welcome fillip in ...
Today is the West Midlands Liberal Democrat Regional Conference in Kidderminster. It will also be the first for a while that I have missed.
[IMG: Digital caliper] How do you measure social media? Cross-posted from ReputationOnline: Love it or loathe it, many clients instinctively try to evaluate social media in ways similar to advertising. Whether it's because you want to justify social media on those grounds - or because you want to persuade the client why that isn't appropriate - you need to know the lingo. This three part mini-series introduces you to the main acronyms you might come up against. Part 1: OTS OTS or "opportunities to see" is a traditional advertising measure, indicating the number of times your target audience is exposed ...
Caledonian Road tube station (on the Piccadilly line) is reportedly closed this morning due to defective lifts. Tickets are apparently being accepted on local bus routes – though the quickest alternative is probably to get off at Holloway Road and cut through Pollard Close towards the Cally instead. Meanwhile Archway tube station (Northern line) is closed ...
Here's the official announcement on Stockport's Council Tax. Because of rising costs and the small grant we get from central government, millions have been cut from spending to keep the rise this low - I'm very happy to go into more detail about exactly what's changed, and any other details (some of which I'll try to post over the next few days anyway). My personal feeling is that we've got the balance about right. We've cut spending but protected services in this budget. The Conservatives are arguing for big cuts in services too (15-20% over some years - equivalent to ...
Howard's cartoon from last week's Liberal Democrat News.
Here's your starter for ten as we continue our new Saturday slot posing a view for debate: All liberals will happily sign up to the concept of free speech. But the practise of it often makes us uneasy. JS Mill summed up the dilemma by asserting that while all opinions should be aired, one can't "shout 'fire' in a crowded theatre". In other words, freedom of speech must be tempered by individual responsibility. The inevitable question then arises: who should exercise that responsibility: the individual, or should it be regulated by the state in some way? One of the less ...
Prof. Paul Reynolds excoriates (hem, hem) Tory plans to introduce street cameras with number plate recognition software to North West Leicestershire. Invaluable work from the Environmental Justice Foundation and Anti-Slavery International in exposing child labour in Uzbekistan is highlighted by Craig Murray. Skipper argues that Alistair Darling has proved himself the real star of Brown's original cabinet. On the Guardian Books Blog Alison Flood celebrates the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen - and Alan Garner's work in general. But why no mention of Elidor? Unmitigated England explains why the Wheel & Compass in Weston by ...
This weekend, possibly Monday, a major row between the Conservative and Labour campaign teams in Darlington is expected to hit the pages of the Northern Echo. The Conservative Party's Regional Office has formally complained to Darlington Borough Council about public support being given to Jenny Chapman, the Labour candidate, from within the Council. I am an outsider looking in, and I haven't seen
Robert Popper, a man to whom many of us should be indebted for services to comedy, decided to make a call into LBC which was a hoax. I mean, can you believe what the prime minister did with a tangerine? No neither could I. Though the citric idiot thing may have been quite quickwitted actually. This story has now been taken up by The FT, The Sun, The Beeb (14 odd minutes in) and the Telegraph. It's also had a nice animation done for it by a Hong Kong news channel. (Hat tip: Robert Popper) No related posts.
One of the features of the proposed cull of badgers in North Pembrokeshire is how little information has been made available to anxious residents about timing and even the boundaries of the cull area. As part of my scrutiny role and so as to seek clarity on some of these issues I wrote to the Minister a few weeks ago and have now had a reply. The letter that was sent to me however, was at best esoteric, at worst deliberatively unhelpful. In particular the Minister states that she 'has no plans to release information detailing the precise boundaries for ...
As the General Election approaches the tensions between the two Welsh Government coalition partners has started to become palpable, not least in Llanelli where Labour MP Nia Griffiths faces a difficult defence against an increasingly aggressive Plaid Cymru campaign. She is understandably upset at a Welsh Government advertising campaign that seems to have more to do with promoting Ieuan Wyn Jones than the business support programme it is meant to be advocating: On the eve of the [Labour] conference, Llanelli Labour MP Nia Griffith condemned an advertisement featuring Plaid Cymru leader and Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones as "despicable". ...
Excellent stuff from Ben Goldacre about how relatively few medical treatments and the like really can back up the claims in their adverts, aimed at medical professionals, with high quality research and evidence. And for this sort of stuff we pay for state-monopoly drugs regulators, "clinical excellence" panels and similar, whose effect is to push up the costs of medical developments whilst holding back potential miracle cures and now also, it seems, letting through an awful lot of potential quackery dressed up as science. Surely a competing market in certification could only do better. After all, that is really just ...
Hertfordshire County Council ruling Conservatives have come under fire from the Liberal Democrat opposition after they exposed news that the county council has had to pay back almost a £0.25m to developers and may have to pay back almost another £1m. Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Highways, has discovered that in the last five years the county council has had to repay £214,206, mainly to house builders, because it has failed to spend money given to it in accordance with the legal agreements. These legal agreements (known as Section 106 agreements) normally identify schemes and projects in the ...
As regular readers will know, I have started to add comments to a blog from a member of the BNP in order to understand the way he thinks, and he has reciprocated. There are many aspects of his thinking and the thinking of BNP members in general that I would like to question. I could take up most sentences of my correspondence with him as well as most sentences of his blog but I'll just take two of them. He wrote "I think that anybody who refuses to believe a person when they set out precisely what their party's ideology ...
