We Lib Dems will continue to campaign on this issue on behalf of local people and will be keeping a close eye on what the Tory-run County Council decide to do.
So it finally had to happen! BBC Question Time is coming to Woking! I was unsuccessful getting onto the panel last time round as i was told that being a member of a political party meant that i could not get on the panel at all. Now i know that this is crap, i feel somewhat ...
Although there are many British bloggers writing about politics, election law and the workings of the Electoral Commission get relatively little coverage except when there's a specific big issue in the public eye. In fact, for many announcements by the Electoral Commission or the Ministry of Justice the only blogging coverage you'll find about them are posts over on Liberal Democrat Voice. However, those posts have tended to get slightly lost in amongst the other coverage: great if you're interested in the range of topics Liberal Democrat Voice covers, but less good if you're interested in election law but not ...
The first part is dire: acting as if the government's borrowing is a choice that has got us into trouble, rather than a necessary reaction to the private sector retrenchment. He has compared the borrowing (4% cost) to a credit card (17% cost); would you want a finance director with that bad a sense of proportion? He ...
Monday Frank Russell came to see me about the African Gifted Trust, on which I have agreed to become a trustee. The paperwork for setting up a new trust seems to be unnecessarily complicated, requiring the production of a passport and another piece of identification such as a driving licence, to prove that you live at the address stated on the forms. But there's nothing to stop people convicted of serious offences becoming trustees. Tuesday P G came to see me about his libel action against the Lake House publishers in Sri Lanka. He got judgement in the English courts ...
As part of today's budget coverage in The Times, Peter Riddell gives a good description of how Labour and Conservatives differ on the economy and the arguments they use. I think he gets it about right - Labour's "safety first" vs. the Conservatives' "time for a change". "The differences are also about the role of government. Mr Darling is arguing for a benevolent and activist State helping people and businesses. For Mr Cameron, it is not just about cutting the State, but also changing it, "unleashing enterprise" and radical welfare and school reform." But these statements are not, in themselves, ...
I have to be honest, it's taken me a while to write this because I cannot believe how naive Matthew Sephton has been. For someone who wants to be an MP, he perhaps needs to think a little more in life. For those who don't know, Matthew Sephton is Cameron's Conservative candidate in Salford and he is also the Chairman of the LGB Tory group. Now, you maybe you are wondering where this is going, well remember Cameron's catastrophic interview with Gay Times and Channel 4? If you don't know what I am on about (you must be the only ...
Good to see the coverage in today's Scotsman of the meeting we held earlier this week to progress a memorial to the victims of the 1879 Tay Rail Bridge Disaster. This follows on from yesterday's coverage in the Courier, and includes quotes from Stuart Morris of Balgonie and myself. You can read the article from the Scotsman at http://tinyurl.com/tay-scotsman. Today, I attended the latest meeting of the West End Schools Projects Board (relative to the St Joseph's Primary School and Park Place Nursery and Primary Schools projects) and later tonight I chaired the latest Friends of Magdalen Green meeting.
The British general election is unlikely to be called until 6 April at the earliest, but already the phoney war is in full swing. This afternoon, Latymer School in Edmonton – which has a lively politics society — put on a 4-party Question Time in their splendid new studio auditorium, attended by a couple of hundred ...
The Darlington and Stockton Times reports: An award-winning children's writer whose career was ruined when he was jailed for sex attacks on children has been found dead at his home in the Yorkshire Dales. William Mayne, who was 82, was the author of more than 100 books and was regarded as one of the leading children's authors of the 20th-century. But his career crashed to a halt in 2004 when he was jailed for two-and-a-half years by a judge at Teesside Crown Court. He was also placed on the sex offenders' register and banned from working with children for life ...
Some residents on Albert Street have raised the issue of cars parking on double yellow lines overnight with little enforcement being done to tackle this problem. Just to let you know we have raised the issue with the Council and hope to have greater enforcement in the area. In addition some residents have mentioned the issue ...
No, not me, but fame at last for Sven – he's made it on to the Glum Councillors site, which celebrates the work of local elected representatives, and the odd photos they find themselves in as a result. Follow Sven on the journey to the centre of the Earth, via Lewisham's biggest pot hole, here.
It's that day again and the #bbcqt Live Chat starts here at 10:30pm. And if you're good little boys and girls we might even extend it afterwards again for This Week and what has become known as #brillochat. The panel are the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne MP, the Conservative shadow minister for communities Baroness Warsi, the Liberal Democrat communities spokesman Julia Goldsworthy MP, the First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond and businessman Sir Martin Sorrell. Join us from 10:30pm below: BBC Question Time - 25th March 2010
Thu 25th
21:42
Dinner with David Howarth MP for Cambridge. Shame that he is standing down at the election. Talking ...
Dinner with David Howarth MP for Cambridge. Shame that he is standing down at the election. Talking to us about the need for radical parliamentary reform
Ah, the old tricks are always the best. Readers may recall during the Henley by-election campaign, the Tories issued an empty threat to sue the Lib Dems "unless the Lib Dems withdraw a leaflet and remove claims from their website by noon". Of course, they didn't do it but a gullible media ran with the story anyway. Fast forward a couple of years, and it seems Labour's Roberta Blackman-Woods is apeing the Tories' tactics. Here's what Politics.co.uk has to say: Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (City of Durham) has instructed solicitors to inform the Liberal Democrat candidate that she must apologise for ...
I have a new gadget in my hands, a BlackBerry 9700 Bold. It is something of an upgrade on the BlackBerry 8700 I had before and, whilst I am struggling to make it do all of the things I could get its predecessor to do, I'm sure that it and I will get on swimmingly in due course. However, it does serve to remind me that technology is not altogether the boon that we are often told it is. When I was Secretary of the Young Liberal Democrats, many years ago when I was a much smaller, more evenly furry ...
[IMG: Vince_Cable_Nick_Clegg_Budget_2010] Responding to Alistair Darling's Budget, Nick Clegg said: "This Budget was a political dodge not an economic plan. "Britain needed a Budget that gave us honesty in spending and fairness in tax, we have got neither. "Labour is in denial, while the Conservatives are talking tough to cover up that they only offer more of the same. "The Chancellor is incapable of coming clean about where spending cuts will have to fall. "Rather than being honest with people about what the Government can and cannot afford, the Chancellor would rather let others indiscriminately shave departmental budgets. "By confirming ...
Today, as part of the expansion of our blog into areas relating to London (with particular reference to the City of Westminster), we have launched London Life which will be addressing a number of topics in the lead up to the local authority and general election. The first topic we have selected is potholes! They are ...
The Evening Standard reports: The Evening Standard has won a significant victory in a High Court libel battle brought by a Conservative MP. Jacqui Lait, MP for Beckenham, had sued over an article headlined "Women MPs will be put off by Kelly reforms". Mr Justice Eady today struck out elements of her claim and ordered her to pay £10,400 legal costs. The November 2009 article correctly pointed out Ms Lait had claimed "large sums" to travel to her family home in Sussex even though her constituency home is only 11 miles from Westminster... The judge said it was "unreal to ...
Mark Pack has posted the video of David Cameron's Gay Times interview disaster - and a second, equally amusing, one. You know those EU regulations against bendy bananas? The ones that only exist in the fevered imaginations of Eurosceptics? The good news is that they were abolished a few years ago. Even better, reports Chris Davies MEP, attempts to revive them have been thwarted. The blog run by the mental health charity Mind has news of an agreement between politicians not to use slurs about their opponents' mental health when campaigning. Ideal Government is collecting arguments against fingerprinting children in ...
As is common on big Parliamentary set piece occasions I am normally asked to give a response to our local journalists regarding how the national statement may affect Hull. On budget day My response is normally "lets look at the small print!" Even in my wildest dreams I would never have thought the small print would contain this gem that Paul Waugh at the Standard has dug up. Apparently the budget contains a tax break for millionaire footballers. Next Tuesday the very last item to be discussed is the "Future Taxation" clause including..... (i) provision exempting certain persons from income ...
Dick Puddlecote reports on something that could lead to speed cameras becoming obsolete.Transform Drug Policy Foundation think mephedrone is on the fast track to banned status, probably before the election.Political Betting has some fascinating data showing that only a quarter of people in marginal seats realise that fact. Could that have an impact on the outcome?And good luck to Jennie Rigg who is standing in a council election. Thursday bonus is this astonishing footage of David Cameron going into meltdown under questioning about his party's attitude to gay issues. He seems to not understand whether it should be a conscience ...
There wasn't much in yesterday's budget for charities, but one snippet caught my eye: the extension of gift aid reliefs on charitable donations to the EU. This means a UK resident can now make a philanthropic donation to any charity in the European Union (or Norway or Iceland) so long as that charity meets the requirements of the regulators in their home country. Fair 'nuff, you say – but what's that got to do with Lord Ashcroft? Panopticon Policy explains: These changes are very welcome and will help the charity sector and will hopefully encourage cross-border philanthropy and cut red ...
Many congratulations to Carl Minns and his team in Hull on this much deserved acolade: Hull City Council has been crowned the most improved in England, six years after it came bottom in a survey of 150 local authorities. Hull beat four other councils to win the 'Most Improved Title' at the Local Government Chronicle awards... Leader of Hull City Council, Carl Minns said: "The most important factor is to ensure that residents get excellent quality services but it is always good to have external recognition of the improvements to services." (BBC) The local newspaper adds: Reductions in litter, fly ...
I don't want to gloat at others' misfortunes, what with it being my birthday and everything. But it is hard to suppress a smile at the news that the Parliamentary Standards Commission is to resume its inquiry into whether Margaret Moran has breached the MPs' Code of Conduct. As Dunstable Today reports: The Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, launched an investigation last year after the MP referred herself to him following the expenses scandal. But it suspended the inquiry at the end of last year because of the MP's ill health, which has seen her unable to work since her ...
For the delectation of LDV's readers, you might be interested in clicking on the following two links: 1. Mark Thompson interviews Anna Arrowsmith The Mark Reckons blog carries an interview with the Lib Dems' candidate for Gravesham in Kent, Anna Arrowsmith, who shot to prominence last week owing to her successful career as the UK's first female director of pronography. 2. Total Politics interviews Paul Walter The Lib Dem blogosphere's very own Burbler-in-Chief Paul Walter is profiled here by Total Politics magazine. Find out Paul's least favourite blogger, his political idol, and what would be the one thing above all ...
In case you missed David Cameron's interview meltdown on gay rights, you can now watch it again via YouTube: Though personally I think this YouTube clip still shows him in a worse light:
Communities Minister John Denham has announced that £5 million is being given by the Government to help re-generate coastal towns. Mr Denham correctly identifies that many traditional coastal towns are suffering and need regeneration: "Our coastal areas are rich with history and a high quality of life that makes them attractive places to live in and many seafronts have been transformed in recent years with government investment and support. "Places like St Ives, Hastings and Scarborough are showing they can thrive once again through strong local leadership and dynamic businesses, no longer dependent on British weather, attracting visitors all year ...
In between meeting people at Greencroft went to this board meeting. Spoke with a Labour councillor also on this board this person is as sick as the country of the Labour party and is hanging on as a member by the skin of teeth
The news that the Ulster Unionists' only MP is quitting the party to stand as an independent in the general election is surely going to hurt the Conservative's ambitions to win seats for the first time in Nortern Ireland. Having already ostracised the other NI parties by entering an electoral agreement with the only party to oppose the devolution of police and justice powers to the province, this looks like it might well be the death knell for this particular experiment. Whether it was for profoundly decent philosophical reasons, or as a cynical attempt to secure an extra vote or ...
At Comment is Free today, Steve Webb MP reiterates the Liberal Democrats' focus on redistributive policies and fairness. He's replying to Tim Horton's suggestion that the Liberal Democrats have seen a "rightward shift" under Nick Clegg, at the expense of the party's progressive credentials. Webb responds with the £10,000 tax allowance, smarter public spending (including introducing the pupil premium and scrapping ID cards) and the Lib Dems' fairness in politics agenda: We have argued for an effective cap on political donations, so that no political party in Britain can be bought by sectional interests: the two old parties have, not ...
So after the budget we are all worse off. Any surprises in that ? I would hope not. The fact is this country's finances are in a mess and more needs to be done about it. The problem we have is that nobody trusts the Labour government to do anything about it and finding anyone who has any real faith in the Tory alternative, George "Gideon" Osborne is like looking for needle in a haystack. The long and the short of it is that the one person people do trust to tell the truth is Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince ...
It has taken me a little while to write about this week's Channel 4 News report where Jon Snow visited the town to ask if Luton is emblematic of broken Britain. This is partly because I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. I think the report was an honest and accurate picture of the issues faced by the town and the attitudes of many residents to those challenges. Maybe it gave a slightly too negative picture. There are lots of positives about Luton that I could point to that weren't covered. Yet in saying that, I am wary ...
From the Mirror: A journalist who filmed an interview about gay rights with a stumbling, confused David Cameron yesterday said the Tory leader's press chiefs begged him not to release the embarrassing footage. Mr Cameron got so tied in knots he pleaded for the camera to be turned off so he could gather his thoughts. And as soon as the question and answer session for Gay Times magazine was over, Mr Cameron's aides pounced on interviewer Martin Popplewell. Mr Popplewell said: "I'd just finished the most extraordinary interview of my career and David Cameron's press team moved in. "One pleaded, ...
Please let the council know if you come across any potholes in the roads that have not been marked for repair with orange paint. More than 1100 pothole repairs have been ordered as a result of the winter snow and ice, with temporary repairs made to those considered dangerous. However there may be more out there ...
[IMG: ming-25] North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell and MSP Iain Smith have welcomed the news that the National Trust for Scotland are going to keep the Hill of Tarvit mansion house open to the public, albeit only on selected dates throughout the visitor season. They said: "This is a welcome step in the right direction. This decision is recognition of public opinion and the campaign that was fought to keep it open. It paves the way for a more sustainable and more successful operation that will benefit the visiting public, the local community and the National Trust itself. ...
Yesterday saw the budget and Labour's last throw of the dice to try and re-establish some credibility for their mishandling of the economy. There was nothing unexpected in the budget, and the widely tipped increase to the threshold for Stamp Duty for first time buyers to £250,000, was announced to a flurry of papers being waved ...
Latest IPSOS/MORI Reuters polling info (maybe I am going mad but I still not sure whether they have swopped the two main parties round): LONDON (Reuters) – The Conservatives still lag Labour in crucial marginal constituencies they must win to secure a clearcut election victory, according to a poll commissioned by Reuters. The Ipsos MORI poll, based on responses from 1,007 prospective voters in key marginals, shows 41 percent of those who say they are certain to vote in the next election would vote Labour compared to 37 percent who would vote Conservative. ...The Ipsos MORI poll shows the Conservatives ...
If you want a host for show a show Debi Jones will be there, if you want someone to sing a sing, the first verse of Silent Night at a Carol Service she's your girl-all smiles, not politics and lots of photos, and as the say on Merseyside ''she'd even turn up for the opening of an envelope if she thought there would be a picture'' So why is the lady so shy of being questioned? The FT has done an article this morning on the Sefton Central constituency.(you may need to -register to read it) The article says how ...
Today I have cast my vote in the European Parliament on an issue of great principle, and helped to bring about a decisive victory. The right of people to buy bendy bananas, crooked carrots and curvy cucumbers has been maintained. And the Spanish - who grow boringly straight products in their acres of glasshouses - have been dished. Their attempt to reintroduce the old 'community marketing rules' was rejected by a large majority. It is shameful to discard food that is healthy but misshapen. People should be able to make up their own minds about whether to buy such products. ...
First we brought you a smudge. But now there's no mistaking this Liberal Democrat superboard on Google Streetview. Well, I say spring, but this image from Bedford looks as though it was taken in autumn - during the campaign to elect Dave Hodgson as mayor? Anyway, now that the stakes have been raised (ahem), has anyone spotted a more impressive political campaign poster on Google Street View? Crossposted from Liberal Democrat Voice, an independent, collaborative website run by Liberal Democrat activists. Helen is a contributing editor at the site.
The US blogosphere – in particular Scott Sumner – was a major influence in getting my thick head around the advantages of Nominal Growth Targetting as an answer to the world's problems. Hey, if I had not started on Sumner's blog I would never have written Credit Where It's Due. So I am now rather chuffed ...
Oh dear. You'd have thought a party funded by non-doms like Lord Ascroft and Zac Goldsmith would at least have the money to throw at professional, vote-winning advertising. Thankfully, though the Tories may preach value-for-money to others, they show zero signs of putting it into effect themselves. Example One: Political posters The Tories, after all, are the party which brought us the most famous British advertising slogan of all times: Labour Isn't Working. Yet their most recent attempt – the confused and confusing "I'll cut the deficit, not the NHS" – brought universal derision thanks to the weak message, the ...
Very few of our armed forces will actually vote in the forthcoming General Election due to the systems used. Anyone stationed abroad must vote by post and, given the deadlines, very few of them will be able to vote in time. This will be especially true for those stationed in remote parts and fighting on the front line in Afghanistan. Ian Swales, Liberal Democrat prospective MP for Redcar, said "it's a scandal that many of our troops are bravely fighting to bring democracy to other countries while they are denied their basic democratic rights at home. In practice few of ...
Robert's story: My 12-year-old son fell off his bike recently and broke his arm. We took him to The Whittington at about 8pm and were delighted to discover that there was a dedicated children's A&E department - a much less forbidding environment for an injured child. The staff were exceptionally friendly and efficient and by 9.30 we'd been through triage, X-ray, consulation and plaster. Without fail, the staff were cheerful and happy to answer my son's questions about what was happening. Six weeks later, after two visits to the Whittington's excellent fracture clinic, he's back on his bike. Having this ...
Anna Arrowsmith was recently selected as the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Gravesham in Kent. She was already fairly well known as a leading director and producer of pornographic films for women (under the pseudonym "Anna Span") and hence her selection has caused a fair bit of comment in the media with even a question being asked about her on BBC's Question Time programme last week. I interviewed Anna over Skype a couple of days ago. I was interested in finding out more about her background, her campaign, why she chose the Lib Dems and what the extent of her ...
It's a slightly disingenuous excuse anyway, but let's take Iain Dale's remarks on Cameron's YouTube meltdown (below) at face value: I think the inherent problem with the interview was that Cameron didn't know if he was giving a print interview or a film interview. As Stephen Tall comments: Sure thing, Iain - I can see exactly how the confusion arose. After all which senior politician hasn't wondered, when being interviewed two metres away from a three-person camera crew, "Is this being filmed?" Iain Dale has consistently bigged-up Cameron as a superb media performer who is completely at ease with the ...
.... here is the latest from the League of Gentlemen about P Blond and Respublica's Red Toryism: I've learned one thing from listening to Phillip Blond's recent talk at Georgetown: I'm no Red Tory. My turning point came about halfway through the lecture. Blond had thrown out a few zingers here and ...
The budget reminds me a little of a story of an American soldier back in WW2 time. He and his girlfriend turned up at the office of a Justice Of the Peace on a Friday afternoon asking to be married - the man was to be shipped off overseas on Monday morning. 'Sure thing soldier' said the Justice. 'Just let me see your marriage license.' 'License - we need a license?' says the young man. 'Yes and I am sorry. Without the license I just cant marry you'. 'Well in that case Judge, could you just say a few words ...
I'd like to give a big shout of thanks to the kind folks over at the Level 42 Website who very kindly keep highlighting my posts on their site for discussion. Its great to see that politics is once again reaching out to the masses. Its been driving traffic up and furthering the political ...
BBC News at One quoted the government as saying that the tax threshold freeze will save them £2billion. Presuming that is over a year, that is spookily the same as a 1 penny rise in income tax. Indeed, if you take all the various tax and NI changes the government is enacting over the next three years (see table below), it amounts to the equivalent of nearly a five pence rise in the rate of income tax. Year £Bn 2010 2.2 2011 10.95 2012 14.8 Total 27.95 Average 9.3
Excuse me, while I discard my customery mode of politness, and begin to vent ... [vent] What is it with the media, and their inability to report the Lib Dems or our policies or statements? The political news this morning has been dominated by a 'Stealth tax' dispute ... PoliticsHome informs us that, 'The Conservatives have accused the government of a effectively creating an additional tax on 30 million people by freezing personal allowances on income tax, as part of yesterday's Budget.' Except it took the Tories a day to cotton on to that story. The chap who spotted Labour's ...
Yesterday's Budget from Labour was another non-event, it offered a little bit for businesses and first time buyers but was effectively an hour long political speech What is lacking from both the Labour and Conservative Party is how the huge deficit would be cut. Lots of rhetoric and wait until after the election, but it's not ...
Tom Harris is a Labour MP and former minister. He is one of the most prolific bloggers in Parliament, and one of the most widely read. I personally do not read his blog that frequently as I find most of his views not only too loyal to the New Labour government but also expressed in a manner that I sometimes find disagreeable. Yesterday he posted an interesting response to the recent story of the Christian B&B owner who turned away a homosexual couple who wanted to stay at the B&B. Now. It goes without saying that Harris's knowledge of Scripture ...
I listened to the budget yesterday and it did seem Cider drinkers were over persecuted. Just as well I had no intention of voting Labour anyone - or they would have lost my vote!
I want to encourage local residents to buy shares in a new local company - en10ergy! This is a really wonderful project to come forward and needs and deserves support from all of us. There has never been anything like it before in Muswell Hill and it is a first for North London. Local people are invited to invest in en10ergy by buying £1 shares that are not transferable and can be sold back only after three years. En10ergy is a local social enterprise company registered with the Financial Services Authority on 30 October 2009. It is technically an Industrial ...
Yesterday, I popped into Ed Fordham's very busy campaign office in Hampstead and Kilburn to have a quick chat with him. In between helping to fold some leaflets and chat with his very enthusiastic staff I managed to ask him about his earlier days in the party, his campaign, online engagement and how his experiences as a Chess player have helped with his political career:
Bloody impressive, even so:
The imminence of the General Election has inevitably got people thinking about their messages, both positive and negative. This one from a student at Aberystwyth University.
Wales on-line reports that the troubled airline which links north and south Wales announced today that it has gone into administration with a "substantial number of redundancies" inevitable: Directors of Inverness-based Highland Airways called in administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) last night. The airline runs flights linking some of the Inner and Outer Hebrides to the mainland via Oban and Inverness as well as a Cardiff to Anglesey route, and all flights have been cancelled with immediate effect. The company employs around 100 people but said it was too early to say how many redundancies there would be. Welsh Liberal Democrat ...
I wrote my email newsletter for constituents and sent it out on Monday. It goes to 1000 homes in the Whickham area directly but we know many more people receive it as it is forwarded by friends and family (including to some expats on the other side of the world!). Edition 59 led on school closures but also had coverage of other local news stories, including the latest news on the failed plans to
Together, they make the arguments for Credit Where It's Due far better than I managed. The arguments being: don't worry about inflation right now, and a nominal growth target is superior. First Hat Tip to Luis commenting here, for the link to this blogpost: "Target the Cause not the Symptom". It is worth reading twice to ...
Women born between 1938 and 1944 could be receive a boost in their pension if they respond to a 5th April deadline. Under the scheme women born between 1938 and 1944 who are not receiving a full state pension have the opportunity to boost their pension on exceptionally favourable terms. The women who are likely to benefit ...
The budget has been received with a degree of acclaim by many commentators, primarily because Chancellor Alastair Darling did not mess up. He has been commended for walking a budgetary tightrope just a few weeks before an election without dropping the patient that is the economy and without slipping up to drop his own party in it so close to polling day. These furiously mixed metaphors aside, the problem with the budget was not what it said but what it didn't say. Everyone is aware that the country is in a difficult situation. The government has borrowed a huge amount ...
[IMG: Cllr Ann Jones with a petitionee] Here in Epsom & Ewell, balancing the books this year has been a tricky business. Car park income is down and since our little borough only gets 11% of council tax charged, that is a pretty important revenue stream. We abandoned flat-rate Sunday charges a year ago (amidst much complaint) and the ruling Residents' Party, comprising of so-called independent councillors, has decided to charge Blue Badge holders who had, up until now, been accustomed to free parking in our car parks. Neighbouring boroughs are varied: Sutton is free we believe, Kingston charges for ...
Wednesday's editorial for the Guardian – which I found online here – is one of those pieces you see all too often in the Guardian, the time honoured preparation of the nose peg. Hold your nose, disregard the stench and put the cross by the rose. It tries to find some vestige of hope in the Labour party, one thing remaining that is still worth voting for. But it's the penultimate paragraph and not its conclusion that rings truest: The party's activists and MPs are so obviously convinced of their own decent intentions and past record that they fail to ...
North Down my home constituency is renowned for its mavericks at least in my life time. In 1970 they returned Jim Kilfedder as an Ulster Unionist MP, but he resigned from the party seven years later to become an Independent Unionist in 1977 then formed the Ulster Popular Unionist Party which was basically him and a few local councillors. At the end of his time he was challenged in 1987 by Bob McCartney who stood as a real Unionist. Bob had actually been his Ulster Unionist opponent in the previous 1983 election. McCartney then went out to fight as a ...
Beware! The title of this post is deliberately misleading, for there have been no post-Budget polls yet! But still, it is post-Budget, and this seems an ideal time to calibrate the Monster's Poll index so that we have a baseline if it has any affect. Let's give it a whirl: CONSERVATIVES: 38% (N/C) LABOUR: 26% (+1%) LIB DEMS: 21% ...
I can fully see why the residents of Woodstock Drive get angry about the parking in their street. Often there are cars parked both sides of this narrow cul-de sac. As our photo shows they park up right to the junction and even obstruct the dropped curb -there for wheel chair users. We've had the engineers out on several occasions to explore ways of ameliorating the situation. At present we have a recommendation that has been approved by the road safety people. We have asked for further options to be drawn up and the residents consulted. Some of you may ...
Today I saw a truly heart-warming story that was reported in last week's M.E.N. The story regards one Iggy the Labrador and a very special return! Iggy, who belongs to the Howard family from Balladen, Rawtenstall, disappeared back in August 2005, leaving his owners dismayed. They were overjoyed, however, when their beloved pet was discovered a 130 ...
So you've been selected as a candidate for council or general election as a Lib Dem. Hurrah! The first step on the path to world domination and ever-lasting glory has been taken, and now you're wondering what the next step is. You look at your campaign budget. You realise that thruppence ha'penny and a tin of organic pasta sauce is not going to go as far as the Ashcroft millions the Tories have access to, or the union funding of Labour. You're going to have to use all your wiles and cunning to even get noticed as a member of ...
Ageism and control freakery We reported last week on the roll call of Sefton Tory Councillors who had received the black spot from the Porter-Parry leadership: Wendy Jones, David Pearson, Ron Roberts, Les Byrom, Tom Glover and now Eric Storey. It would appear that the most dangerous thing to be in Sefton is a former leader of the Tory group. Every single one of them has been targeted by Ms Parry. Let us be clear Eric was unanimously selected by Formby Tories to fight the seat. It seems that they have been over-ruled. So much for local control of the ...
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 Nineteenth episode which we recorded on Tuesday 23rd March 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 political bloggers on each week to discuss a few of the stories that are making waves in the blogosphere. This week we were joined ...
1st Lib Dems 2nd Labour 3rd Conservative According to an article by Bob Roberts (No, not the fictional Tim Robbins character in the 1992 film of the same name) in yesterday's Mirror, support for the would-be Chancellors of the three parties placed the sainted Vince Cable head and shoulders above the current incumbent, and the Tory whose name I forget. So now you know, don't bother with the rest vote for the best. Go for Gold go Lib Dems.
A pleasant surprise this morning to wake up and find that, despite the fact I am doing the Daily View, it is indeed Thursday and not Tuesday! In celebration of yesterday's Budget, there's riproaring inflation of the number of posts featured in today's Daily View. Don't tell Vince! Is it sustainable? I doubt it, so enjoy while you can.. Thirty years ago, the British Olympic Association (BOA) voted by a large majority to defy the government and send athletes to the Olympic Games in Moscow. The Conservative government has pressed the BOA to boycott the event in a protest at ...
I am not blindly pro-VAT. I recognise the social injustice, and would and will argue for these to be mitigated should it rise again. But defending it with oversimplified analogies, a blackbox model and mischaracterisations that go against the evidence has not, in my humble view, advanced the argument.
The GDP calculation underpins the budget. This image from the Bank of England website:Demonstrates the level of current uncertainty (actually February uncertainty). I have saved it on my computer and if the image disappears I can put it up somewhere else.The problem about the budget is that this component drives the aggregate financial position.
Firstly, an admission of failure. I tried really hard to write some kind of blog every day, but the last few days have been even more manic than usual, and I've failed. But, some good news – new volunteers ahoy! So I'm sure with their help I'll catch up. Back to the subject in hand – climate ...
That's the difference, it seems, between Darling and Osborne on the economy. Despite all his sound and fury, George Osborne wants to reduce the "bulk" of the structural deficit in the next parliament versus Darling's 67% planned reduction. Osborne wants 80% of the reduction to come from spending cuts, while Darling wants 67% from spending – a difference, by the way, of just £5billion or 1% of annual government spending. That's what the difference between Labour and the Tories boils down to, as beautifully illustrated by Evan Davis on Today in his interview with a lamb to the slaughter George ...
Despite what your Labour MPs may be telling you about how they agree that the Digital Economy Bill deserves a full debate. Or that it is not appearing on the order papers and therefore not likely to appear before the house before the dissolution. The rumours last night are that today there will be announcement that the 3rd reading in the House of Commons is going to get 90 minutes. Just as people will be protesting outside. It may only take an hour and 30 minutes minutes to see large holes left in the Internet and families cut off from ...
Yes, it's the moment we've all been waiting for: David Cameron's bewildered, stumbling, confused, squirming, befuddled, painful TV interview with broadcaster Martin Popplewell is now available to view on YouTube – over 17,000 people have watched it to date. LDV highlighted the footage late Tuesday. To give them their due, ConservativeHome didn't shy away from it either. The Tory blogger Iain Dale loyally attempted to gloss over Mr Cameron's dire performance, desperately claiming "I think the inherent problem with the interview was that Cameron didn't know if he was giving a print interview or a film interview". Sure thing, Iain ...
It appears that the Department for which I work is rubbish at answering telephone calls, according to a report issued today by the Commons Public Accounts Committee. In 2008/09, out of 103 million calls made to HMRC's main helplines, 45 million went unanswered and, even if you get through, the average hold time before an advisor is available is two minutes, and up to four minutes at peak times. And whilst those figures have improved this year, whereby 77% of calls are answered, one can only say that, from the perspective of its 'customers', it isn't good enough, especially when ...
Today's budget wasn't honest. The Chancellor is incapable of coming clean about where spending cuts will have to fall. Rather than being honest with people about what the Government can and cannot afford, the Chancellor would rather let others indiscriminately shave departmental budgets. And the Budget did nothing to make Britain a fairer society. We're campaigning for fair taxes, lifting millions of people out of income tax altogether. But today's Budget, by confirming the freeze in personal allowances, means everyone will see a real increase in their income tax bill. Rather than forcing the nationalised banks to lend to good ...
Chancellor Alistair Darling refused to appear on the Today programme this morning to discuss the budget. After hearing the appalling duck and weave by the Tory shadow chancellor, George Osborne I don't think he should have turned up either. Compare and contrast with Vince 'The Brain' Cable. [IMG: Share/Bookmark]
We are pleased that the committee recognises our commitment to human rights, which are at the heart of our counter- terrorism legislation. That's the Home Office response to a cross-party parliamentary committee which has criticised the Government's terror legislation and the nearly-nine-year public emergency we are still in. Who said satire was dead? The question is, and has always been, how best to balance the need to keep society safe against the human rights of those who, whether innocent or guilty, may be caught up in those efforts. The Lib Dem view, and now the view of the joint committee ...
This is absolute dynamite. As The Guardian reported on Monday the UK government is finally creating a space for a discussion about peak oil. Up until now the government has always pooh-poohed any suggested that global oil supplies might be about to peak. Not any longer. For the moment it's a private discussion behind closed doors session under Chatham House rules. But at least the Transition Towns movement was invited to take part. Read Rob Hopkins' report of the event here.
This morning's Daily Telegraph carries a report about a survey carried out in America about the attitude of hardline Republicans to their President. The results are frankly freaky and shows that some people will believe virtually anything they are told: The survey showed that 24 per cent of Republican respondents agreed with the statement that the president might be the Antichrist, and 38 per cent thought he was "doing many of the things Hitler did." According to the poll 67 per cent of Republicans thought President Obama was a socialist, 57 per cent thought that he was secretly a Muslim, ...
Although when you first read this news story that Anne Moffat MP had in fact planned to stand down due to ill health and had already agreed a pension on this basis you think Anne Moffat has had the last laugh over her former colleagues. Technically she has, but it isn't her laughing just at the East Lothian Labour Party, the Scottish Labour Party or even Iain Gray MSP, she in fact is laughing at us, the taxpayers, who as well as the Scottish Labour Party she has therefore taken for a ride. Because it is us, the taxpayer who ...
An unexpected defection in Babergh, the District Council which covers most of South Suffolk, has seen Dean Walton, the councillor for Sudbury East, join the Green Party. So far, so uninteresting. However, what is interesting is that he has left the Conservative Party to join them. From the perspective of Babergh, which is in no overall control, the new composition of the Council is: Conservatives - 18 Liberal Democrats - 16 Independents - 7 Green - 1 No Description - 1 However, given the rather vast gulf between Conservative and Green policy on virtually everything, one does wonder whether his ...
Firstly, Happy Golden Jubilee to the Lib Dems' Blogfather, Lord Bonkers' alter ego Jonathan Calder. I met him at the Bloggers' Unconference in Edinburgh in November and I was completely starstruck. Hope he has a fantastic next decade! The Lovely Elephant critiques the Budget and shows how the Tories haven't exactly covered themselves in glory in the past. Scott at Love and Garbage gives us a beautifully written account of the Doctor's presence in his life. Quite brought a tear to my eye, as I'm sure it did to his wife's when he told her to wait when she thought ...
This is a statement from Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable MP released yesterday on the day of the Budget: Today, Britain needed a Budget that gave us honesty in spending and fairness in tax. Alistair Darling has given us neither. Labour is in denial, while the Conservatives are talking tough to cover up the fact that they only offer more of the same. You can watch my video response to the Budget here: Today's budget wasn't honest. The Chancellor is incapable of coming clean about where spending cuts will have to fall. Rather than being honest with people about ...
I have decided that reaching the age of 50 is something to be proud of rather than something to hide.
I often get asked where I get the content for the blog and especially the reference text books. The simple answer is that virtually all of the blog is driven by my own photographs but I have a shelf of local history text books that I constantly refer to to try and check things out. So over the next few weeks I'll try and gve a few pointers of recommended books and pamphlets: - Hampstead Past, by Christopher Wade, published in 1989 and reprinted in 2002 by Historical Publications Ltd. ISBN 0 948667 05 2 - Wartime Camden (booklet), compiled ...
Responding to Alistair Darling's Budget, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: "This Budget was a political dodge not an economic plan. "Britain needed a Budget that gave us honesty in spending and fairness in tax, we have got neither. "Labour is in denial, while the Conservatives are talking tough to cover up that they only offer more of the same. "The Chancellor is incapable of coming clean about where spending cuts will have to fall. "Rather than being honest with people about what the Government can and cannot afford, the Chancellor would rather let others indiscriminately shave departmental budgets. "By ...
Cardiff Central's Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Willott has warned about the dangers of spiralling student debt after a report by the National Union of Students showed a dramatic increase in the cost of student accommodation in Wales. The NUS report, released today, shows that the cost of student rent in Wales has gone up 18.5% in the last three years. The average cost of rent per Welsh student now stands at £79.40 per week. At the same time the financial support given to students across the UK has remained largely unchanged meaning the burden of these increases fall on students ...
How much more? War without end - or no happy one. We can't lose any more of our brave soldiers led by donkey politicians
by Peter Brookes in The Times 25 March 2010 There are three things about Alistair Darling's budget statement that point out just how ineffectual he is in the role of chancellor on the shifting tide of current economic situation. The first is his setting of the personal income tax allowance, the second his long range growth forecasts, the third is the unexpected larger return on taxing bankers bonuses. "I have no further announcements on VAT, on income tax or on national insurance rates." Normally by that point of the statement the chancellor has announced changes to the personal allowance at ...
It appears the Russians have been playing a bit of cat and mouse over the Western Isles. The two Russian Tupolev TU-160 bombers were tracked by the RAF beforehand and they made no attempt to get in contact before or during their flight into British restricted airspace with British air traffic control. As this was then classed as a perceived threat two F3 Tornado's from 111 fighter squadron based at RAF Leuchars were scrambled to intercept the Russian bombers. Wing Cdr Mark Gorringe said on the BBC website: "This is not an unusual incident and people may be surprised to ...
It's been a busy few months for the local Liberal Democrats facing up to the challenges of a General Election campaign. We have selected our candiate Belinda Brooks-Gordon, she will prove a formidable adversary for George Osbourne's right hand man Matt Hancock. Our insiders from the hustings said there were quite a few moans about the selection from the local toryocracy. Belinda will offer fresh ideas to the electorate here and has already been engaging local people and impressing them with her willingness to listen and foprm her own opinion on issies that concern local voters.
"Today, Britain needed a Budget that gave us honesty in spending and fairness in tax. Alistair Darling has given us neither. "Labour is in denial, while the Conservatives are talking tough to cover up the fact that they only offer more of the same. "Today's budget wasn't honest. "The Chancellor is incapable of coming clean about where spending cuts will have to fall. Rather than being honest with people about what the Government can and cannot afford, the Chancellor would rather let others indiscriminately shave departmental budgets. "And the Budget did nothing to make Britain a fairer society. "We're campaigning ...
Tonight we are holding the Seedley & Langworthy Community Forum at the Salford Arts Theatre on Kempsing Walk (off Liverpool Street) at 7pm. Please come along, our Forum meetings are always well attended. At the last Forum meeting it was decided to roll our PACT (Police & Communities Together) meeting into the Forum – this means your local beat officers and PCSOs will be attendance to answer any questions you may have about policing or crime across our area. Items on the agenda include: Priorities for regeneration, Friends of Chimney Pot Park, community health projects, crime & community safety, how ...
My apologies for the gap in service on the blog - it's been a shade busy as I'm sure you all understand. The election is now looming big and proper - but that's just the excuse - I have loads of bits and pieces worth sharing on here so am now playing catch up. Most recently I was at the east London reception for President Sharrif Ahmed, President of the Transitional Government of Somalia. It was an incredibly moving and emotional evening for the 9,000 Somalis present - and as one of the few non-Somalis pre sent it was a ...
Last year I met the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Morecambe. He complained to me that it was difficult to get anything published in the local newspapers but since then I have seen articles about him. However in comparison to the Labour MP there has been little written about him, and there has been very little written about all the other candidates. I think the Liberal Democrat candidate Les Jones has only been named once, but the Tories have a cunning plan to increase their presence. In yesterday's Morecambe Visitor there is a headline "Tory candidate cuffed by police" along with ...
