Its not quite the nineteen seventies, for one I'm not a self centered, rude, inarticulate yoof, disrespectful of most institutions with a passion for loud music no I'm more mature and rounded and er grumpy maybe a bit deaf, the rest still applies. Not everything was brilliant back in 70's, but peoples jobs were protected more than today, the media was dominated by right wing lackeys, the BBC was innately conservative, and society had yet to be written off by right wing nutters and tax dodging Tory backers. Today is reminiscent of 1970's, in as much as we have a ...
We have been hearing how some civil servants are saying they don't want to leave London. They don't know what they are missing. tonight we drove to hear the Cleveland Philarmonic choir sing, and it took less than 15 minutes to drive there, free parking only yards away and a wonderful, beautiful concert. A lovely atmosphere too, with a lot of friendly faces around. Beat that ! talking of...
Because all the publicity for this "earth hour" thing suggested pure-dead-brilliant-like ways of spreading the cause and, presumably, feeling smugly superior to all those who didn't participate, I give you... Jock, observing Earth Hour 2010: Okay, so maybe it's not quite in the spirit of the thing that I charged up the battery for my digicamera for an hour or so for the first time in, like, a year, just to take the picture of me hiding from the light, but you get the idea :) NB in accordance with Lib Dem regulations, I am obliged to inform you that ...
I took a trip down to one of our target wards this afternoon to take some photos for the Focus newsletter I spent the morning writing. I spent 2 hours in the office tonight printing it (plus the one I wrote last night). I am thinking of running a competition for "Things you don't want to do on a Saturday evening but know they have to be done." I suspect quite a few Lib Dems will be entering with
Between 8.30 and 9.30pm this evening, we managed the big switch-off – gas and electricity off for an hour. Not that difficult really, but made easier for us because we were having friends round but had to cancel as the chef was ill. My wife says I cook once a year, but it's more like ...
As I've been working my way through the House of Cards trilogy recently (what better way to get in the mood for a General Election?), this week's list is fictional British Prime Ministers from off of the telly. Minor spoilers for old dramas follow. From House of Cards: Charles Collingridge – Margaret Thatcher's successor, who makes the mistake of leaving Francis Urquhart unpromoted Francis Urquhart – F.U. himself, a ruthless right-wing PM brought brilliantly to life by Ian Richardson Maureen Graty – the British PM who appears briefly in the sixth season of The West Wing, played by Pamela Salem ...
Lib Dem TV has a 28-minute video which features Chris Huhne and the delights of Lib Dem conference. Talking of videos, A Very Public Sociologist has one putting the staff side in the British Airways dispute. While Stumbling and Mumbling suggests that management may be "a con-trick, promising - but never actually delivering - increased efficiency." Longrider points us to an article by the excellent Henry Porter: "The last days of this dreadful government are being accompanied by an attack on rights and privacy that seems unprecedented during Labour's 13-year rule." The Marrakesh Express is taken by On An Overgrown ...
It was only a few years ago that I first heard of Jacques Brel. He was a Belgian singer-songwriter, famed in France for his complex, poetic songs and energetic performances. Although his songs were nearly all in French, they have been widely translated into English – the best known are Scott Walker's Jackie (Spotify link), an accurate reflection of Brel's original, and Terry Jacks's Seasons in the Sun, which is, erm, less so – the original, Le Moribond, has a markedly darker emphasis. Scott Walker recorded English versions of a number of Brel's songs, as did David Bowie. Compare versions ...
We are approaching the time of year when the Birkdale Nightingale will be heard by the slacks and across the dunes . Jean Speckman's award winning book of poems Tilt contains: (Bufo calamito - the Natterjack toad) On Spring nights you can hear them two miles away, calling their mates to the breeding place, a wet slack in the dunes. Lovers hiding nearby are surprised by desperate music. One man searched all night for a crashed spaceship. For amphibians, they are terrible swimmers: where it's tricky to get ashore, they drown. By day they sleep in crevices under the boardwalk, ...
Spent today talking to local supporters in Brixton who are finding Labour's rent hikes hard to take, especially the traders at Brixton market, some of whom have gone out of business causing empty units in the market. I reassured them that if I was elected I would fight for the rights of our community members just as I did when I saved the 25 year old community centre from closing down in East Dulwich. As a local resident, and someone who used to work in Atlantic Road, I understand the needs of part of the constituency.
Harborough Liberal Democrats rented an empty shop in Wigston during the last general election campaign, but it must be many, many decades since the Liberals had premises in Market Harborough. You can find us in St Mary's Road, half-way between The Square and the railway station.
I have expressed concern that householders in part of the West End suffered a poor quality water supply for three days towards the end of last week. The area concerned included Abbotsford Place where many of the properties are sheltered housing for elderly people. I received concerns from residents in the area that water in their kitchens and bathrooms was running discoloured brown for three days and I have contacted Scottish Water's Community Manager about this as I am anxious to ensure that the problem is permanently resolved.
http://www.abctales.com/story/catherine-poarch/bird-sky To find out more visit the UK Chagos Support Association at www.chagossupport.org.uk.
I've been assisting John Barnett's campaign for the Dundee West Westminster seat again today - here's John pictured (below) along with Craig Duncan campaigning in Brackens in the constituency this afternoon. John's proving to be a dynamic and campaigning candidate and I'm pleased to accept his invitation to be his Election Agent for the forthcoming General Election.
Just spent last night in hospital, feeling much better, but may not post for a couple of days.
In the early 1990s Matthew Parris's sketches must have been my favourite bit in The Times. Sometimes incredibly funny and always perceptive about the dying Major administration – in fact, I just spent 10 minuts googling for some preNet piece where he is spectacularly rude about Teresa Gorman. Now his columns seem to be no more ...
If you agree with me that there is a place for municipally provided facilities such as swimming pools, then you should join the Facebook group to Save Saltdean Lido. Also, display this poster in your car or house window: [IMG: Save Saltdean Lido] On a recent trip to Paris, my architect friend showed me the Loisirs Sports Urbains swimming pool and leisure centre in Paris that had recently been completed with public money. Why is England so incapable of similar projects?
The Guardian had the story this week about the former chair of the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee (yes, the former chair of the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee): Tory MP David Curry was today ordered to repay £28,000 and issue an apology after the Commons standards and privileges committee ruled that he had broken rules relating to parliamentary expenses. The findings are particularly embarrassing because Curry was chairman of the committee until he stood down in November last year after he called for an investigation into the expenses allegations made against him. He was ordered ...
North Durham Lib Dems Facebook Page
The Tories don't like Vince Cable. They don't like the fact that he is trusted by people because he speaks common sense, has a dry unplanned humour that seems natural and unrehearsed, and they don't like the fact that he has been proved right so many times and provides a sharp contrast between himself and the Tories George Osborne It was Vince Cable who said that Northern Rock might have to be nationalised whilst the Tories claimed the plan was ridiculous. In the end Vince was proved right whilst the Tories never ever produced a plan for Northern Rock other ...
I generally do not intend to make a habit of linking to official party videos on here but this is one that although hosted on the Lib Dems YouTube channel is quite quirky and independent spirited and does not really fall into the "official" category. It was shot by Jonathan Wallace and presented by Lib Dem MP and Home Affairs Spokesperson Chris Huhne. It is a whistle-stop tour of the highlights of Lib Dem Spring Conference with a focus on trying to persuade members who have perhaps not been before to give it a try. It includes interviews with MPs, ...
I recently found myself directed on to the National Post's editorial board, which was discussing the idea of Earth Hour and why it was a bad idea, By Tim Montgomerie via his twitter account. His tweet said "#earthhour has it the wrong way round, it's the light that saves us, not the dark" so I assumed that
If evidence is required as to why voting Labout can be a liability, THIS is it. Who would send an email begging for help in the General Election to their main opponent TWICE !
One of the main campaign issues I will be pressing on at the General Election is the improvement of the lives and livelihoods of young people in Blaenau Gwent, and everywhere else for that matter. As someone who turned 22 a week ago, most of the issues that young people experience today are issues that I myself have experienced first-hand within recent years. In this post I will explain them, and why I think engaging in Politics is the answer to a lot of our problems. When I sat my GCSE's in 2004, my school year got the best exam ...
Thanks to Richard Osley (via Arthur Graves) for this little gem. It's a photo of the Tory PPC for Hamstead and Kilburn, Chris Philp, out campaigning with...well, a few of Cameron's stiffs, for sale to the highest bidder perhaps? There isn't really anything more to say about this pic, other than wonder – was the photographer a ...
Over on the Friends of the Earth site they've published Nick Clegg's response to their 2010 election lobbying campaign: This election could be a turning point, not just for Britain but for the world environment. Some people think that's overstating it, but the scientists tell us that the coming five years could be our last chance to avert dangerous climate change. That means the government we elect next has the most enormous responsibility: to provide change at home and leadership abroad to stop the disaster from happening. I am a huge supporter of Friends of the Earth. I've met up ...
Howard's cartoon from yesterday's Liberal Democrat News.
Commenting on provisional Government figures showing that public sector carbon emissions in 2009 were up on 2007 levels in spite of the recession, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Simon Hughes said: "It's a travesty that while businesses and others are trying to pull their weight, Government and public sector emissions have actually increased in spite of the recession. "No-one believes Labour will make the sustained emissions cuts we need when it's taken a severe recession to cause real reductions. "It is time to seriously invest in protecting our future. Only the Liberal Democrats have the bold plans ...
Commenting on today's [Friday] National Audit Office report on support provided to business during the recession, Liberal Democrat Shadow Business Secretary, John Thurso said: "Businesses have been let down by Labour. This report shows that they got less than £1 for every six that ministers announced. "The Government was asleep at the wheel just as the economy was driven off a cliff. "There weren't even any plans on the table to help business until October 2008 despite clear signs of the credit crisis in the summer of 2007. "Ministers were left playing catch-up and it's no wonder that schemes like ...
Everyone knows that the great triumph of David Cameron's leadership has been to detoxify the Tory brand. Despite this, the last two months has seen the Conservative party lead shrink in the polls. The party has taken to heart their ad poster campaign message, 'we can't go on like this' and brought in MC Saatchi to reinvigorate their campaign. Being an outsider, I have not seen the Conservative communication plan that was devised by the legendary Steve Hilton. That being the case, what I am about to write may well be wrong and is only a theory. However, it could ...
Another YouTube milestone for me. One of my videos has now reached 150,000 viewings. I filmed "Inside a Former Soviet Secret Submarine Base" when I was in Balaklava in the Crimea, Ukraine, in 2006. It has been a consistently good performer on YouTube and is also a YouTube featured video. So, if you really feel the urge to view it, here it is:
Marcus Hickman, from wearesocial.net, highlights the aims of Saturday night's Earth Hour, and how everyone can get involved ... Tonight at 8:30 pm people, businesses and iconic buildings around the world will switch off their lights to show the support for WWF's Earth Hour. Participating is easy; all you have to do is sign-up and join others across the UK as they switch off for an hour tonight at 8:30pm. Last year Earth Hour saw hundreds of millions of people across 3,000 cities and towns in 83 countries participate to show the world's governments that climate change needs to be ...
Well, today is my birthday and I can't think of a better way to spend it than meeting with friends to go out campaigning across the constituency! Earlier in the day I had been out campaigning in Stopsley to raise awareness of the upcoming public meeting on Wednesday evening regarding the Swimming Pool. Was a pleasure to hear their thoughts on the issue and I hope the Labour Council will, for once, listen to them and their concerns. Afterwards we headed out to Wigmore, Crawley, Biscot, Round Green, High Town, Farley and South delivering thousands and thousands of letters and ...
Ah democracy! That inspiring dream, that brave and elusive venture, that noble truth! Well, not quite. Democracy is just a form of government. It is based on the idea that people should be in charge of their own destiny. But democracy is not an idea or a principle, but a very real attempt to give 'power to the people'. As such, it is always imperfect, intrinsically faulty, as human beings are,
The US Republicans really are being silly, since the Health Care bill passed. Firstly, John McCain spat his dummy out: There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year. They have poisoned the well in what they've done and how they've done it. Now Republican Senators are refusing to work after 2 o'clock in the afternoon, invoking a little known Senate rule. So they're paid generously by the taxpayer to work a full day, but are refusing to do so. Had it never occurred to them that this tactic might backfire on them?
The new service 88/630 being provided as part of the Green Travel Plan for the new South Glos offices will be good news for Iron Acton, because it will pick up in Iron Acton High Street where the X27 no longer goes. However there are problems at the other end of the route. The bus will start in Chipping Sodbury, then run via Yate shops and the station. This means that a lot of the all-day parking spaces in Chipping Sodbury (proposed to be reduced under the Waitrose scheme) will be occupied by South Glos workers. Far from getting rid ...
If you read nothing else today: Bridget Fox writes for Lib Dem Voice on our MPs' activities re the Digital Economy Bill since her successful efforts to change our party's direction on this. Cicero wonders why we're not making more of a fuss about a former KGB Officer owning a British newspaer. When I saw that Duncan was offering a critique of F1 television coverage, I thought he was going to take the name of the Blessed Brundle in vain. I should have known better - a very well argued piece on how Bernie Ecclestone could do better. The Honourable ...
On 4th April, some new and changed bus services start to support the Green Travel Plan for the new Badminton Road Council offices: Service 85 Emersons Green - Yate (proposed service 688) will operate every half hour Mondays to Fridays via Blackhorse and Coalpit Heath. A few evening peak journeys will also extend to/from Chipping Sodbury.Service 86 Kingswood - Yate - Wotton-u-Edge: Service renumbered from 686 with only minor timetable changes.Service 87 Longwell Green - Chipping Sodbury (proposed enhancement to service 686) will operate during peak times only. It will also serve Kingswood, Emersons Green, Coalpit & Yate.Service 88 Chipping ...
The council's planning committee this week voted to refuse planning permission for the 149 metre tower development at Bondway. Residents, supported by local Lib Dem Councillor Andrew Sawdown, spoke about the unnacceptable impact it would have on Vauxhall Park and the nearby residential area. The developers had already taken the case to appeal so while we are pleased the council has refused permission, the work will continue. More information is available at the excellent Viva Vauxhall website.
Well, I survived my first hustings in tact. It was a lively event and was my first opportunity to meet a couple of the other candidates, including the venerable Ms Abbott. Oops, sorry, I meant vulnerable – given that I'm biting at her heels to take the seat of Hackney North & Stoke Newington ...
Football fans are getting a raw deal. 1.4 million who want to play football can't due to scant facilities. Season tickets for top clubs are a rip-off; costing 5 times more than in Spain and Italy. Disabled fans are treated shamefully. Only two Premiership Clubs meet the recommended level of number of spaces specially designed for wheelchair users. The game is disappearing from free-to-air TV. And fans can't stand at matches, though many want to. According to the Football Fans' Census, 91% of fans think they should be able to choose to stand. Of course, none of us can forget ...
Don'f forget that as well as a general election, there will also be local elections in Bury this year. Whilst the date of the general election is still up in the air, the locals will definitely be on 6th May. It will probably end up that both elections are actually on the same day, which is easier all round, but it's important to remember that the situation on Bury Council is very different to the situation in the country as a whole. Here in Bury, the Conservatives are already in power, and they have been since 2007. In that time ...
Have you ever regretted pressing send before doing a final check of the people you are sending that email to? Roberta Blackman-Woods MP for Durham and her team must be wishing just that today. According to the Live Journal, the email from Dr Blackman-Woods said she was "absolutely desperate" for leaflet deliverers. "We're really up against it with the Lib Dems in Durham at the moment. "They have plenty of money to put out their glossy magazines and we need to hit back. "We may not have the money but we certainly have the spirit and now is the time ...
It is with much regret that I announce the death of Cincinnati, our much loved and much treasured orange and white cat, of multiple causes, this morning at approximately 11.30. For those that knew him, especially in his prime, it will be hard to imagine his passing, as he was the ultimate 'people cat'. He was always first on the scene when there were visitors to the house, and he took a keen interest in the activities of service engineers, estate agents and Liberal Democrats. But it was our personal bond that made him a central part of my life. ...
Sheila's story: It would be appalling if the Whittington A&E were to close. My husband owes his life to it. In February 2003, already with a heart condition, he had breathing difficulties at home. I called an ambulance which arrived quickly and took him to the Whittington. Just as he arrived he suffered a cardiac arrest. It was touch and go while the emergency staff worked on him for sometime but thanks to them he lived and is now enjoying a busy , healthy life. If he had had to go to the Royal Free he would have died before ...
There's no prize at stake - just the opportunity to prove you're wittier than any other LDV reader ... Here's Lib Dem MP for Somerton and Frome David Heath promoting the campaign to axe the beer tax. What do you think David, or his companion, might be saying to each other, or thinking about each other? The winner of our most recent caption competition, the "Lembit pops his cork edition" edition last month - according to The Voice's judging panel of one - was this one from Anthony Aloysius St.
This morning's Times reports that the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland will be pressed to quit if he refuses to resign over the growing child abuse scandal. According to the article the Vatican believes that nothing less than Cardinal Sean Brady's resignation will diminish fury at the highest levels in Rome over his role in paedophile priest cover-ups. Dr Brady's exit, after the resignations of two other bishops, would set in train a Catholic reformation in the country. Other bishops are also expected to go after the influential Tablet journal called for the forced retirement of nearly ...
My phone went wiggy last night and I had to do a hard reset. I have therefore lost ALL my contacts. Yes, even [IMG: [personal profile] ] matgb. Please, if you can read this and you have my number can you text me, saying who the text is from? And then I can get some of them back, at least. Number is on my contacts page on DW (f-locked) or my profile page on Faceache. And now I go to redownload all my apps and resubscribe to all my podcasts... My March sponsor is < a href="http://markreckons.blogspot.com/">Mark Reckons</a>, and yes, ...
Remember when we went on all those training courses from work (and the Lib Dems for that matter) when we had it drilled into us that our objectives had to be SMART? Woe betide you if you came up with a set of plans that were vague, unrealisic, unachievable, unmeaasurable or not given a target time. Compare and contrast with what Labour, after 13 years in office, are now offering us as their pledges for the coming election: Secure the recovery Raise family living standards Build a High Tech economy Protect frontline services Strengthen fairness in communities What in the ...
Sat 27th
10:35
High Court ruling on Heathrow proves Labour has head in the clouds over transport policy
The news that campaigners have won a High Court battle over plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport is very welcome. Last year Liberal Democrat analysis of the economic benefits of a third runway at Heathrow highlighted the huge error made by the Government in using outdated figures, which underestimated by several billions of pounds the financial impact of the extra greenhouse gases and offsetting the pollution caused by a third runway at Heathrow. This hugely incompetent mistake and the High Court ruling against the Government's attempt to push ahead with a third runway at Heathrow is symbolic of ...
Caroline Pidgeon is a Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member and member of the London Fire Emergency and Planning Authority (LFEPA) Walking out of a meeting as a protest is something I would not normally recommend, but last week I felt had no other option and left a key budget meeting of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA). Both the Lib Dem leader on the Fire Authority, Councillor Ed Butcher from Haringey, and I knew we had to make a protest at the decision of the Conservative Chair Brian Coleman to prohibit TV cameras from filming the meeting, and ...
I have of course been to the boxiest Pizza Express in London many times before, but not since I started my (very slow) journey round them all. So yesterday it was Pizza Express Millbank. [IMG: Pizza Express Millbank] It's square. It's rectangular. It's a box. What else is there to say? Other than it has probably the widest corridors leading to the toilets of any London Pizza Express and just what is that hanging on the wall above the oven? It looks as if someone on a very home-made broomstick crash-landed in a waste paper bin and the results have ...
My ex-partner's 4 year old nephew (many moons ago) was in the back of a hire car kicking the front seat. When I turned round to see what he was doing he said `look that way!` ie ignore what I'm doing, I know it's wrong. Don't ask me questions i'll show you how you should ...
A new academic study has plenty of important and useful findings, but none more so than the conclusion: We found that influence is not gained spontaneously or accidentally, but through concerted effort. In order to gain and maintain influence, users need to keep great personal involvement. In other words, it takes time and persistence - an important point to remember when sometimes the instinct for companies is to view Twitter as a tool for a short-term campaigns. It can have such a role, but Twitter is usually at its most useful when viewed as a long-term commitment that brings long-term ...
Welcome to the anonymous new cricket blog Down at Third Man, which gracefully walks a difficult path by celebrating both the Indian Premier League and Derek Shackleton. Welcome also to Arse Online, written by a colleague from work and dealing with the second best team in London. Note particularly his post arguing that Arsenal will win the Premiership because they have the easiest run in of the three contenders. Speaking as a Chelsea fan, I find it worryingly convincing.
I couldn't let my final post of the week go by without making some comment on the success of the US Congress to, finally, pass a healthcare reform bill. A bill that was lauded as a "big fucking deal" by Vice President Joe Biden must have something going for it. And it does. It makes a ...
This is a victory for licence-payers. From the Times: The BBC will be forced to open its accounts to the National Audit Office after the three major political parties agreed that the Government's spending watchdog should be able to investigate what it pays its stars. So at least in future, the National Audit Office will be able to see the salary figures. I'd like things to go further so that licence payers can know the salaries. It has been ludicrous that licence payers haven't known what the BBC is paying Jonathan Ross, Terry Wogan, Chris Myoles etc. They deserve to ...
The first, and so far only, hustings meeting of the General Election campaign took place in Wisbech last night, organised by Churches Together in Wisbech at St Augustine's Church Hall. Steve Barclay (Conservative) wasn't there - his office said he'd been double booked, and apparently didn't offer an alternative representative. The organisers had tried to contact UKIP, but the telephone number offered 'doesn't accept incoming calls' according to their answerphone message. And Peter Roberts (Labour) arrived half an hour late for what was therefore a two-way meeting. Some interesting questions, including education for employment in the light of the recent ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Conspiracy: Last year, the Committee on Standards in Public Life made one of those simple suggestions which make you think, "Why haven't people been suggesting this for years?" Their proposal was that in a general election candidates should have to make the same sort of declaration of financial interests as MPs have to make. After all, if the point of such declarations is to have some transparency and let people judge politicians, doesn't it make sense to provide that information to the public before we decide how to vote rather than only telling us afterwards whether perhaps ...
So the polls are narrowing, the Tory lead tottering along within the range of 2-7%. As we all know, the Tories need to poll at around 40% to be sure of a working majority, or else they will have to significantly out-perform their national ratings in the key marginal battlegrounds. And if they don't succeed? Well, that will clearly be a disaster for David Cameron's leadership which has been predicated on the fact that he's the Tories' talisman. A hung parliament with a minority Labour/Tory government, perhaps with the tacit consent of the Lib Dems, appears at this stage the ...
..but the RAF has reported 20 recent Russian incursions into British Airspace. As I have mentioned previously, several well known British politicians in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords have lucrative board positions of companies which are either Russian controlled or which have significant business interests in Russia. A former KGB officer ("former"?- "once a Chekist, always a Chekist"- Vladimir V. Putin), Aleksander Lebedev is now the owner of a significant part of the British newspaper industry. Strangely muted comments from journalists on this takeover... I wonder why?
Click to link below to see how David Cameron tries to cope with an interview where he's asked about the practical effects of the Tories' alliance with homophobic parties in the European Union: Confused Cameron He does not come across as the next leader of the country. He doesn't come across as the leader of his own party. Acknowledgements to Stephen Tall of Lib Dem Voice.
Well, some things are just worth getting up at 6:30 for. After knackering myself yesterday getting up at the crack of dawn for Practice, I hadn't intended watching Qualifying live, but I woke up naturally just in tme to see 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, my least favourite driver since Jacques Villeneuve, rather unceremoniously fail to make the final qualifying session for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix. I don't know quite what it is about stepping onto Australian soil that turns Hamilton into even more of an idiot than usual. We are supposed to believe that he's grown up since ...
Today's Daily Telegraph has obtained leaked documents that reveal secret plans for £20 billion of health cuts. The report shows planned cuts from across England and includes an internal presentation by NHS Yorkshire and the Humber, which is expects to make about £2 billion in cuts, by proposing [similar suggestions to London's SHA to save up to £2 billion from community care budgets, which cover GPs' surgeries] and replacing them with "teleservices." You will not save this amount of money with tinkerng around the edges. You have to assume GP surgeries will be directly affected. You only save money by ...
Just when you thought it was safe to walk past a Labour activist's pocket the pledge cards are back. Yeah Gordon Brown will be unveiling Labour's 2010 pledge card this weekend. secure the recovery raise family living standards build a hi-tech economy protect frontline investment in policing, schools, childcare and the NHS - with a new guarantee of cancer test results within a week strengthen fairness in communities through controlled immigration, guarantees of education, apprenticeships and jobs for young people and a crackdown on antisocial behaviour.Following Wednesday's budget we know that "Future Fairness for All" doesn't include in the tax ...
Our second debate this week on the topic of animal welfare and organised by Mike from the RSPCA. This was a subject I knew very little about and much homework was necessary - hence the main benefit of the debate is that I know a lot more about animal welfare than I did previously. And, as I said in the discussion, I receive more emails from people on this topic than on any other subject. There were about 25 people in the audience in the Avenue Theatre, Sittingbourne but all participated well and the flow was better and longer than ...
Tory blogger Ellee Seymour has an interesting story about a UKIP poster in Cambridge that has been defaced, which bring to mind the contradictions that UKIP is. I blogged last year about the UKIP leaflets in the Norwich North by-elections and the fact that, to my mind, they bordered on being the sort of leaflets the BNP would be proud to deliver. The only problem is that whenever I have met UKIP people they are a long way from being racists. Most UKIP people I have met are actually pretty decent people who are polite, thoughtful (unlike the Tory who ...
After three years of literally doing nothing in the way of political campaigning haven taken a complete break after standing down from North Norfolk District Council, I am now firmly back in the swing of things. As many of you will know I gained a council seat from the Tories 10 days ago in Taverham North, and in the process of knocking on doors and speaking to local residents, we found so many issues that affect people locally that we are now rolling the whole campaign out to neighbouring wards and taking the political fight to the Tories on issues ...
There have been two police officers in the news this week. On Thursday there were the reports that PC Ian Terry had been killed unlawfully. In 2008 he was the "robber" in a training exercise which went tragically wrong. How could this happen? Over the years I have spoken with police officers and they have told me about the stringent training that goes with firearms. If you are holding a gun you point it towards the ground. I know that but it seems that even with rigorous training one officer failed to point the gun at the car tyre and ...
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 ...
Saturday: Time is running out for Dr Woo. It won't be long before the new fellow arrives. And Daddy's been distracted by another TRAILER! This calls for DRASTIC ACTION. Let's try changing channels at random and see what we end up with. Ooh! It looks a bit like this... It must be one of the most arresting openings of any Doctor Who story: materialising in a broom cupboard, the Doctor staggers out to find himself literally live on Big Brother and Davina summons him to the diary room. As the man himself puts it, you have got to be kidding. ...
