So in case you have missed this fact I am actually a Sheffield Wednesday fan [insert insult here]. As you may or may not have seen we were recently relegated and it in fact came down to the last day of the season against Crystal Palace. We had actually had a very good start to ... Read more
This past weekend I have been away with my old church twenties group. We arrived at a converted barn, just outside of hitchin, on Friday evening at around 10:00 and stayed until 12 ish on Sunday. In between we read the book of Ruth, discussed our testimonies or things that God had been speaking to us recently, had a lot ... Read more
Unbelievably, terrorists have attacked the Jinnah hospital in Lahore, where the injured from Friday's massacres at the two Ahmadi mosques were being treated. They were dressed in police uniforms, and it was surmised that their main purpose was to rescue the severely wounded terrorist who had been captured on Friday. Apparently he was in the intensive care ward, and they didn't find him, but 12 people were killed in the operation, including five police officers. How disastrously incompetent the Punjab authorities are, and how high a price the people are paying for their years of appeasing the Deobandis.
The new situation in Parliament reminded me of an occasion when I had spoken from the Conservative front bench, on March 26, 1970. It was in fact the last time I spoke in the Commons, and the last sitting before the general election of that year. Seeing that there was nobody on the Tory benches, I decided to make a speech to get that on the record, as was helpfully underlined by Mr Speaker:
I recall the Beatles song a "Day in the Life" with the line about 2000 Holes in Blackburn Lancashire. Edinburgh is 11 short of that according to the Evening News. of the great frustrations I have is the number of missing manhole covers I see around the city.I have reported this repeatedly. The council is, rightly, spending a fortune repairing potholes but many missing manhole covers are in the middle of the street and are often just big enough to trap a foot. I once counted 17 missing manholes in one short street off Princes St. Hopefully this new ...
US scientists have managed to develop a vaccine for breast cancer! Over 45000 women in the UK are affected by breast cancer. Currently the US has 2 licensed vaccines against cancers - Cervical and Liver - but these are really vaccines against the viruses surrounding those diseases. Currently Parvovirus (for some cervical cancers) vaccines are being rolled out to school age girls in Scotland and have been for the last couple of years. This new development sound very interesting indeed. The key component is á-selactalbumin, a whey protein in cows milk. So far it has been tested on mice and ...
Over on Freedom Central a few days ago I speculated that the First Minister's decision to reject school reorganisation proposals in the west of Cardiff might lead to some unhappiness amongst his Plaid Cymru allies. For my sins I was accused of petty and gleeful point scoring and yet my suggestion of disharmony amongst the coalition partners appears to be spot on. The Western Mail reports that 'Plaid Cymru figures heaped further criticism on the First Minister yesterday after the party's National Executive Committee passed a no confidence motion in his rejection of plans to replace an English school with ...
All, I had a great day at the Wool Fair today, particular since my niece turned up, and seemed determined to take over the Town Crier job from the present incumbent, Marian Ladd. Ruth wasn't the only famous (well, she is to me) - Lord Howe also came to see the fun. [IMG: Marian Ladd, Lord Howe and Cllr. Alan Noyce] I'm guessing I haven't won the raffle - at least no-one's rung yet - but I'll have another go next year. Regards, Philip
The consultation on South Gloucestershire Council's Draft Core Strategy is important to anybody interested in how and where development will take place up until 2026 - so don't be put off by the title! As well as thousands of new homes in the Patchway, Cribbs Causeway and Harry Stoke areas, proposals include 2,400 at North Yate. There are many other important issues such as housing densities, parking standards, employment in villages as well as towns, wildlife corridors, climate change, play and dealing with the extra traffic. You can view the document on the South Glos website and hard copies will ...
Rather foolishly I went away for the weekend having first written a series of posts to be published during my absence. One of these was on Freedom Central and celebrated the fact that the Thirsk and Malton delayed election indicated that the coalition government was still in its honeymoon period. Of course within hours of my arrival at Hay-on-Wye the first indications of the Telegraph story on David Laws hit Twitter and it no longer felt like any sort of honeymoon. For the record I do not believe that David Laws had any choice but to resign as it seems ...
The Welsh Lib Dem Councillor for Tirymynach Ward in Ceredigion, Paul Hinge had a letter published in today's Western Mail, a letter which I thought was rather interesting and after checking for his approval, I've reproduced it below. The letter ... Continue reading →
Dundee City Council proposes to make an Order under Section 14 (1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating construction works. The Order is expected to be in force for ten days from 21st June 2010. Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months. The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all vehicular traffic in South Tay Street from Nethergate to Tay Square (at No 18 South Tay Street). Access to premises will be maintained where possible. An alternative route will be available for Northbound traffic via Nethergate, West Marketgait, ...
Excellent article by Tavish Scott MSP in yesterday's Scotland on Sunday - see http://tinyurl.com/tavishlibdems. .
Cambridge City Council has cut the amount of rubbish it sends to landfill by more than 2,500 tonnes despite the number of homes increasing by around 1,500. Figures show that in 2006/07 596kg of black bin waste was collected from each household making a total of 28,124 tonnes across the city. Last year 526kg of waste was collected from each home making a total of 25,595 tonnes - a reduction of 12 per cent. Mike Pitt, your local ward Councillor and Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Environmental and Waste Services said: "These figures are extremely encouraging. They relate directly to ...
I have, in the past, remarked on the lack of a obvious cultural life in Stowmarket. So, you can imagine my surprise when my stepdaughter, Sally, invited us to the inaugural Comedy Club at the Regal, Stowmarket's premier entertainment venue. Compered by James Redmond, formerly of Hollyoaks and Casualty, comedians Ali Cook, Diane Spencer and Robin Ince had the responsibility of trying to make Stowmarket laugh. Ali Cook does a comedy magic act, and the magic is pretty good, at least from the perspective of a sceptic like me. Alright, some of the references to obscure(ish) sexual acts might have ...
Here's our wee dog Bunty taking a nap ... looks a bit like rigor mortis!
From BBC News: An annual cheese rolling contest in which contestants chase cheese down a steep hill has gone ahead despite officially being cancelled. The event at Coopers Hill in Gloucestershire was called off on health and safety grounds after 15,000 people attended last year. Officials feared the event could not host so many people safely. Despite the warnings, more than 100 people were believed have attended an unauthorised cheese-rolling event. And today spectators were allowed on to the outfield at Lord's for the first time in years. Slowly but surely, the bony fingers of socialism are being prised from ...
* This morning's Courier and Press and Journal covered my concerns over the future of Ward 6 at Royal Victoria Hospital - see http://tinyurl.com/ward6rvh. * This evening's Evening Telegraph notes my welcome for nearly £60 000 of funding for a new community and arts centre at Dundee Rail Station, but I also point out the need for substantial investment to improve the station, particularly as it is adjacent to the site of the proposed V&A in Dundee. * Tomorrow's press will report on Dundee Councillors' Salaries and Expenses for 2009/10. Dundee's two Liberal Democrat councillors - Helen Dick and myself ...
"Several thousand people gathered in Whitehall outside the entrance to Downing Street this afternoon, to voice their anger and disgust at the criminal Israeli assault on the Gaza aid flotilla in international waters. It was impressive how many people turned up at such short notice — an interesting reflection of the power of social networking media, including Twitter," says Jonathan Fryer, who was there. So was Craig Murray - in fact, he was one of the speakers. He writes that "anybody with any fairness is bound to admit that the statement William Hague came out with is much better than ...
Lib Dem Voice has been conducting a survey of party members registered on our members' forum asking them for their views of the coalition, Labour leadership and the party's general election result. Over 400 have responded, and here's part three of what you've told us ... LDV asked: What was your number one highlight of the general election campaign? Here's what you told us: 1. "I agree with Nick". Shame there was more than one debate 2. "I agree with Nick." 3. #nickcleggsfault 4. #nickcleggsfault 5. #nickcleggsfault 6. #nickcleggsfault 7. #nickcleggsfault 8. #nickcleggsfault + right-wing press's confusion 9. 'bigoted woman' ...
Running late today
Along with others i have been spending a lot of time making agreeing policies; "selling" them; explaining them; seeing a number in the Queens Speech. The last still amazes me, and of course that is brilliant, but it is easy to lose track of what really matters. Happiness. Of course, thinking of policies, many are key to finding happiness. It helps if you are not scratching...
I think that anybody with any fairness is bound to admit that the statement William Hague came out with is much better than anything on Israel which New Labour ever came out with, especially this bit: "This news underlines the need to lift the restrictions on access to Gaza, in line with UNSCR 1860. The closure is unacceptable and counter-productive. There can be no better response from the international community to this tragedy than to achieve urgently a durable resolution to the Gaza crisis. I call on the Government of Israel to open the crossings to allow unfettered access for ...
My thoughts tonight are with the family of Ali El-Awaisi, the 21 year old from Dundee, caught up in the massacre of the flotilla taking much-needed aid to the people of Gaza. Ali's family have been, as yet, unable to make contact with him following the disgraceful and unlawful actions of Israeli commandos. I know Ali's father - Professor Abd al-Fattah El-Awaisi - well, from his period as Principal of the Al-Maktoum Institute in Dundee. Ali was part of a humanitarian relief effort and I hope and pray that he is safe and well.
I do feel that I should do something to publicise the various candidates for the Liberal Youth elections so, over the next day or so, I will publish links to websites, Facebook groups and Twitter feeds, so that you can find out more about them. Hopefully, they will use these media to encourage turnout and engage members so. We'll start with the candidates for Chair... Facebook Matthew Folker Phil Jarvest and Richard Heinrich Adam Parsons Martin Shapland Richard Wilson Twitter Matthew Folker Phil Jarvest and Richard Heinrich Adam Parsons Martin Shapland Richard Wilson Soon, the candidates for the Vice Chair ...
Much of the rhetoric around the alleged attacks by Israeli forces on an "aid flotilla" today is strident and generally focussing on whether Israel was excessive or wrong to do so. Some are concentrating on the body that organised the flotilla and it's links to Hamas and other organisations considered to be terrorists. To step ...
Several thousand people gathered in Whitehall outside the entrance to Downing Street this afternoon, to voice their anger and disgust at the criminal Israeli assault on the Gaza aid flotilla in international waters. It was impressive how many people turned up at such short notice — an interesting reflection of the power of social networking media, ...
The Express & Star reports: A Tory election candidate has been arrested on suspicion of postal vote fraud in the first West Midlands Police operation of its kind linked to the 2010 polls. Gulfam Wali was held by detectives probing claims that postal votes in the Walsall ward where he stood for election were inappropriately used. The 32-year-old, of Neale Street, Birchills, Walsall, who failed to get elected in Pleck ward, was arrested by detectives from West Midlands Police's specialist economic crime team. He was held on suspicion of personation, which is an allegation that votes have been cast in ...
I am no longer confused! Here is a quick tutorial in how to post images to Twitpic and Twitter when using OAuth. I'm indebted to Steve Corona of Twitpic, for his help with this. You can see the full code on Dabr's Google Code page. First of all, you'll need to have enabled OAuth for your Twitter client. I use Abraham's excellent OAuth libraries for PHP. This tutorial assumes you already have OAuth working. I'll attempt to explain what I'm doing as I go along – but the code should be pretty readable. Start by reading the Twitpic API documentation. ...
[IMG: funny pictures] moar funny pictures And because today is a Bank Holiday too...
I was flicking through YouTube the other day and was pleasantly surprised to see several recent live videos of the Scottish rock group Nazareth. They had a few hits in the early seventies but it is marvellous that they are still going strong with two of their original line-up including lead singer Dan McCafferty. My favourite from them is "Shanghai'd in Shanghai". The original record version is below together with a live version from Norway in 2006. Nazareth are currently touring over the next few months in Austria, Germany, Norway and Canada.
Last night I watched most of Genesis of the Daleks with Anna. Her friend from school had lent her the DVD - although we didn't get to see much of the last episode as it was scratched and wouldn't play, much to our disappointment. Anna was so desperate to find out how it all ended that I had to Wikipedia. I first watched this when it was first broadcast in 1975 when I was 7 and I've seen from various repeats on the infernal wickedness of Sky since how much of the allegory I missed as a child. It was ...
Mon 31st
17:45
The LDV Bank Holiday caption competition: Lib Dem deputy leadership "Simon Hughes mucks in" edition
There's no prize at stake - just the opportunity to prove you're wittier than any other LDV reader ... (Image: via Flickr). Here's contender for the Lib Dem deputy leadership Simon Hughes hard at work, gardening for Springwatch in London. What do you reckon he might be thinking? The winner of our most recent caption competition, the rather belated "Clegg & Cameron love-in" edition - according to The Voice's judging panel of one - was this one by Alison, with a special commendation for this one by Phil Rodgers.
Nick Clegg, The Guardian, Tuesday 22 December 2009: And what has the British government and the international community done to lift the blockade? Next to nothing. Tough-sounding declarations are issued at regular intervals but little real pressure is applied. It is a scandal that the international community has sat on its hands in the face of this unfolding crisis. No doubt the febrile sensitivities of the Middle East have deterred governments, caught between recriminations from both sides. No doubt diplomats have warned that exerting pressure on Israel and Egypt may complicate the peace process. But surely the consequences of not ...
I'm feeling rather better today, for reasons which will become clear later. The primary beneficiaries have been the various Liberal Youth candidates and, hopefully, the membership at large. So, here's a summary of recent events; I have issued an e-mail to all candidates advising them of the key election rules, as defined by Article 9.15 of the Liberal Youth constitution. I have issued stern warnings to three candidates for breaching them, as well as reminding all candidates of the implications of doing so. I have proposed that links to the various websites and social media used for candidate campaigning be ...
Coming out of the closet no longer means coming out of the Cabinet. Unless your closet was bought on expenses. I feel very let down by David Laws. Not because he claimed rent – but because he seemed to think he was living in the 1950s. We've lost one of the most talented politicians from the fledgling Coalition, from a job at the Treasury that seemed made for him, and at a time when we need the brightest brains of Britain to solve a devastating financial crisis. And all because he didn't want people to know that he's gay. I ...
The original title for this fine post, as seen under the banner "Israel's biggest enemy is itself" on Liberal Conspiracy, was (marvellously) Self-Clowning Lunatics Strike Again. The money shot: Shorter - there really is an urgent and perilous threat to Israel. It's called "the Israeli government". A neat line, but that's not really what this is about, and that's the problem. The Zionist argument has always been that certain ethical contortions have to be made to protect the state of Israel from its aggressors, and from the threats that imperil its very existence. This argument resonates with those who were ...
A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Lib Dems should get used to constant attacks and scrutiny. Everyone used to it now? Enoch Powell may not have said a great deal I agree with, but he certainly had a point with his oft-repeated quote that: For a politician to complain about the press is like a ship's captain complaining about the sea This is what the press do. We can point out the errors when they're particularly egregious or complain to the rather-toothless PCC. Parliament might even want to take one of its occasional looks at changing the law. ...
"The Telegraph is, if nothing else, the go-to-paper of the grasping, venal tax avoider, while effortlessly accommodating the excruciating pub bore who rants about what Brown did to his pension, or the great gold reserve give-away, or how the country has gone to the dogs at the hands of a bunch of left-wing homosexuals hell-bent on handing our national identity over to Johnny Bloody Foreigner."
Welcome to the twelfth in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here. International development has been one of the totemic policy areas which David Cameron chose to show how he was changing the party. As a result, just as a promise to increase spending on the NHS was used to argue that the party was changing in its attitude to public services, so too a commitment to increase spending on international aid was used to argue that the party was leaving behind its 'nasty party' roots. ...
Ever since the General Election finished I've been mulling over the idea of restarting this blog. After all, I've enjoyed doing it over the years. Not so much when I've ended up being on the receiving end of a tirade of abuse or when people have misunderstood what I've written, but the good times have ...
Israel is doing its best to maintain a news blackout to reduce the impact of its attack on the Gaza relief convoy in international waters, but the truth is getting out. Israel has once again proven that it is a rogue state. The EU is calling for an "inquiry," but this does not do justice to the situation. In any case we know from Goldstone how Israel reacts to "inquiries" that find against it. It is time that our words were matched by deeds. Israel must be made to realise that unacceptable actions will have consequences. Ten days ago President ...
The last few days have been odd. We've had those on the right, represented by the Telegraph, unleashing crude but effective attacks on the Lib Dems. People who think like the Barclay brothers, owners of the Telegraph, those who are ... Continue reading →
The deadly attack by Israeli Naval forces on the Gaza Aid ships in international waters is outrageous. For many people, this issue will be a test both of Mr Clegg's political integrity given his article from the Guardian last year: Mr Clegg should now put the whole weight of his Office as Deputy Prime Minister behind a clear and unequivocal condemnation of Israel's volation of international law.
There has, for some time, been genuine concern about the way that the Liberal Democrats select their Parliamentary candidates. How they are approved, how the process whereby candidates are selected has become more and more out of touch with modern campaigning methods, let alone questions of diversity, all of these have come under attack in recent years. In fairness, those concerns have been reflected within the English Candidates Committee and action has been taken to remedy some of the most obvious problems. Before the last General Election, a new approval system was launched, designed to reflect the need to test ...
Norway gives an example of a reasonable diplomatic reaction to the Israeli atrocity. The silence from the Lib-Con coalition is truly shocking and completely indefensible.
I've just sent an email to the Guardian's Readers' Editor, for the Corrections and Clarifications column. I'll let the email speak for itself: Dear Reader's Editor Guardian main supplement Saturday 29th May 2010 Page 27 Simon Hoggart's week – picture at bottom of column 1 This photo is captioned as "Fowey, Cornwall". In fact, it is a photograph of Polruan, Cornwall. With best wishes Paul Walter
The attack on the aid convoy to Gaza has to be seen as a job for the international criminal court to investigate as an act of piracy.It does, however, raise the question as to how it becomes possible to move towards peace in the Middle East without greater intervention from international bodies. Somehow there needs to be international peace keeping action to keep the sides to the conflict from
...Guido lost £500 on a bet that David Laws would stay in his cabinet post. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to raise a grin at that....think of all the Guinness you could buy with £500!
A consultation exercise is taking place with parish councils in early June 2010, in relation to Central Bedfordshire Council's public space CCTV system. The Council is currently reviewing its CCTV provision - the review will consider various options including out-sourcing to another provider, scaling back the current facility, monitoring all authority cameras from Dunstable, and maintaining the status quo. On completion a report will be submitted to Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 7 September and then Executive Committee on 28 September 2010. Should you wish to know more please contact: Steve Barrett Community Safety Operations Manager Community Safety ...
[IMG: Liberal Youth action day] There have been many debates in these Liberal Youth elections, many of them, dare I say it, ill-informed. The situation Liberal Youth is in is an interesting one. The vast, vast, vast majority of our members never chose to join the organisation. Due to the very nature of the system where you are automatically a member if you are under the age of 26 or a student people don't choose to be a member of Liberal Youth, they just are. There are around 250 members who are actively involved in the organisation and around 1000 ...
In a shocking list of advice being given out about capital gains tax, MPs were told: "Don't forget to claim expenses" "Become a butterfly and flit between homes" "Exploit personal allowances and minimise rates" and more. The advice urges people to make use of "a range of little-known tax breaks" and quotes a tax advisor saying, "It is possible to reduce a tax bill of a few hundred thousand pounds to virtually zero". Oh wait. Hang on. That's a list of advice that was written for the public and not just MPs, wasn't it? And the list was written by ...
...or maybe a fruit & veg vendor? One does wonder when one reads the strapline to the lead story on Page 1: No 10 seeks to reassure markets as Lib Dem's (sic) worry at loss of influence
As Mark Pack makes clear on Liberal Democrat Voice, this morning's Daily Telegraph splash on Danny Alexander's tax affairs is completely without foundation. To put it briefly, Danny did not pay capital gains tax on the sale of his London home because, er, not tax was payable. At least this has made the Telegraph's agenda clear to all. The paper opposes the government's plans to raise capital gains tax and, more generally, resents David Cameron's efforts to return the Conservative Party to the political mainstream. It is seeking to undermine the Liberal Democrats, the coalition and Cameron's leadership of the ...
Welcome to a new series that I am thinking of doing called Retrospektive, this will look at old issues and examine them from our current knowledge. For the first one I have chosen the Iraq war and the complaints about the conflict from the communitarian and Cosmopolitan view points of Foreign Policy. The Iraq war ... Read more
I have just spoken to the FCO press spokesman. The line on the legality of the Israeli attack is "We are not getting into that, especially when the details are unclear." They are waiting for "clarification from our Embassy in Tel Aviv". That is a terrible reaction from the coailition government to its first test on human rights. The detail can make no difference to the fact that the Israelis attacked foreign flagged vessels in international waters. That is a priori illegal. Where the hell are FCO legal advisers? Is this government ignoring them just like New Labour? UPDATE Demonstration ...
David Cameron today announced plans few Lib Dems would disagree with: to free up a lot more public sector data. As the Conservative Party website reports Key proposals include: Items of local government expenditure over £500 Details of all government contracts over £10,000 Items of central government expenditure over £25,000 Names and salaries of all civil servants earning more than £150,000 per year Data covering the last three months on the number of cases of MRSA and C.Difficile infection in each hospital Data on crime in each street As anyone familiar with the issues of huge swathes of data being ...
if the UK does not condemn this Israeli massacre? I can tell you categorically, as a former Head of the FCO Maritime Section, that a Turkish flagged ship on the high seas is Turkish territory. This Israeli attack was undeniably illegal. Having seen so many illegal wars lately, you might be interested to know that in international law Turkey could now with perfect legality declare itself to be at war with Israel. I do not advocate that, but after the fake justification over Iraq I thought you might be interested to see what a genuine causus belli looks like. But ...
I was driving my 13 year old daughter to the school bus stop when the dulcet tones of Radio 4's newsreader announced that the police had found body parts belonging to Suzanne Blamires. Without thinking, I glanced at my daughter sitting in the passenger seat and burst into tears. I imagined the mothers of Suzanne Blamires, Susan ...
So here are the facts as we know them (and see his statement that Helen blogged): In 1999 – 2006 he and his wife owned one property (in London) In 2005 he became an MP In 2006 he bought a house in his constituency. That house has been designated his main home for Parliamentary expense purposes. In 2007 they sold their property in London and bought another one. They haven't paid capital gains tax on the sale. Capital Gains Tax rules says that you don't have to pay Capital Gains Tax when you sell your main home. If that was ...
I haven't read The Spirit Level or its riposte, The Spirit Level Delusion so cannot say how good the quality of the arguments are of either book. Here, Rob Fisher, provides a very detailed review of the latter.
Welcome to the eleventh in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here. Unlike the nearly all of the rest of the document, both of these sections lift very heavily from Conservative Party policy, with little of the Liberal Democrat manifesto featuring. However, whilst in the immigration section that means policies which will leave many Liberal Democrats uncomfortable, in the government transparency section this is good news – for truth be told, the Conservative manifesto was rather better than the Liberal Democrat manifesto in this regard. Our ...
In a recent post, I mentioned that when I was about fifteen I wrote a short scene for a drama class. The scene involved a man sitting on a park bench and then being told to move. I made it up. Depressingly, Rob Fisher recounts an episode in a park that is not too dissimilar to my teenage imaginings. You can read his account here.
In two and a half hours of coverage BBC News has interviewed the Israeli government spokesman and covered live an Israeli government press conference, while reporters have set out at length the Israeli government view of events nine times. There has been no attempt to interview anyone from the convoy organisers, from the Turkish government, or from the Palestinians, and no expression of scepticism or even reserve by any reporter about the Israeli version of events. A BBC journalist has stated - quite wrongly - that the blockade of Gaza is legal, and there has been no mention of the ...
Upon the news that a gay couple in Malawi, Mr Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Mr Steven Monjeza, were to be jailed for 14 years for unnatural acts, myself as Minister for Equality, foreign minister Henry Bellingham and international development minister Stephen O'Brien issued a joint statement. The statement said: "We are deeply dismayed by the conviction for buggery and indecent practices of Mr Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Mr Steven Monjeza. "We are also very concerned by the allegations of their mistreatment in police custody. "Malawi has made significant progress on human rights in recent years. "The government has signed up to international ...
Professor John Howson, President of the Liberal Democrat Education Association, and a well known educationalist, is a good friend of mine and we have been comparing notes on our mutual concerns about the coalition's drive towards mass expansion of Academies and "free" schools. John is far more willing than me to give both a chance, given appropriate safeguards he outlines below. I trust these concerns will be taken into account by those driving these policies (at odds it should be said with current Lib Dem policies) forward - I welcome the ideas for the Bills outlined in the Queen's Speech ...
I have been pretty strident with my arguments regarding why David Laws had to go. Until now, none of them have been posted here, though I posted these comments elsewhere. I'm surprised at just how poor the judgement of my fellow Lib Dems has been. That many of us couldn't see what was blindingly obvious ...
I blogged on one of the good points of the queens speech 'Queens Speech Equitable Life Bill'. Now for one of the more worrying points within the educations bill specifically free schools. My concerned is the plan to allow parents to setup their own local school or Free state school. The new "free" state school will be ran by parents, teachers or charities. Funded by taxpayers but, independent of the state. Firstly does this mean less funding for other established schools? What controls will there be to make sure parents don't setup schools for all the wrong reasons? For example ...
The Daily Telegraph's agenda is clear. They oppose the Coalition and want a return to old style confrontational politics. They are part of an informal alliance of the Tory Right and Tribal Labour who are desperate for the Coalition to fail. Both sides of this unholy but shared outlook fear they will be shut out of power if the liberal consensus around which the government has reached agreement is
And then the inevitable happened. When the coalition was formed, as a blogosphere we all wondered how we would react when the first scandal came; lo and behold, when it did it came with a big dollop of core liberal issues attached. Then again, I guess the response to Friday night and Saturday morning, up to and including David's resignation, was just as inevitable given the collective political response to expenses from day one. Looking back, the occasional Margaret Moran joke notwithstanding, I never blogged on the topic. Normally that might be explained by my general attitude to any sort ...
Last week I pointed out that AV is being used for both the Labour leadership contest and for the election of select committee chairs in the Commons, which could make for the fun sight of Labour MPs who have happily used it in both those contests then turning round and explaining how they think it's really a terrible system for the public to use. What I missed then (but now realise) is that the election for the Commons Deputy Speakers will also see two features in use because MPs have adopted them but which I suspect a fair few MPs ...
So now we have a reported 16 new Rachel Corries, as commandos of the rogue Israeli state massacre unarmed activists taking aid - building materials, purified water and electric powered wheelchairs - to Gaza. At least 60 more are reported injured, some critically. The nationalities of the dead and injured are not yet known, but one would hope that this would finally turn the tide of unthinking Zionism among senior politicians that has enabled them to overlook Israel's inexorable trend into a more and more racist, militarised and intolerant state. The brave activists who died will certainly have helped turn ...
Danny Alexander has made a statement, following an article in the Telegraph on Sunday night, which reported that he had avoided paying Capital Gains Tax on a south London property in 2007: "My wife and I bought our property in Elspeth Road in 1999, we sold it and moved to the current property in June 2007. Until the spring of 2006 this was the only property we owned. I had rented a place in Aviemore until then, we subsequently bought a place there and moved into it. I have always listed London as my second home on the basis set ...
[IMG: funny pictures of cats with captions] see more Lolcats and funny pictures
In Estonia they are so familiar with the economic crisis, they have given it a nick-name: "Masu", which comes from Majandus Krisis- Economic Crisis. Headlines are full of the latest doings of this wayward creature: the latest fall in retail sales, the steady slowing of lending, the gradual deceleration of the economy. The Masu is developing its own personality: rather like a bear, damaging and clumsy though, rather than rapacious. Today, however, the Masu is off the front pages and there is some better economic news: Estonia has joined the OECD, the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development. "So what?" ...
The article by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times to which Jaime draws attention (click here) contains some interesting figures: The UK economy is presently operating at 10% below its pre-crisis trend (which means there's lots of idle capacity, of capital as well as people)the UK Government is able to borrow at a real rate of interest below 1% (which means it's not a bad time to be in debt)the average maturity of UK debt is 13 years (which means there's no need to panic at the moment)the UK's debt to GDP ratio was 68% at the end of last ...
I would love to publicly announce who I am voting for in the Liberal Democrat Deputy Leadership contest but apparently I do not have a vote. The electorate is an exclusive one. It is the 57 MPs and that is it. Therefore campaigning activity is likely to be limited. This is despite the fact that the role is absolutely crucial in liaising between the Government, the rest of the Parliamentary Party and the party at large. A job that cannot be done by the Party President alone. If I had a vote I would be backing Simon Hughes. I think ...
The Welsh Assembly's Presiding Officer, Lord Elis-Thomas has announced a review of the body's procedures to make sure it works effectively. Organisations and individuals are invited to write in with their views on whether the Assembly's Standing Orders should be changed. The Orders cover all aspects of Assembly proceedings, including the organisation of business in plenary sessions, how AMs can question Ministers, the legislative process and how AMs undertake their scrutiny role in committees. Submissions should be made by July 16, either to Llinos Madeley, Procedures Clerk, National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff Bay, CF99 1NA or by e-mail to StandingOrders@wales.gsi.gov.uk ...
Okay, I said I would stay off David Laws and get back to the business of attacking politicians and governments and so I am, in a way. One of the things that the Laws fall from grace has done is raise the ugly spectre of people calling for curbs, one way or another, on the influence of "big media". Let me say from the outset, "I am a Liberal and I am against this sort of thing".... (This feed is supplying post/comment summaries only, please click through to the webpage to read the whole article...)
Following the revelations around David Laws and Danny Alexander I am in no doubt the Daily Telegraph is engaged in a campaign to hurt the Liberal Democrats. Notwithstanding any wrongdoing that any jo...
Danny Alexander has made a statement, following an article in the Telegraph on Sunday night, which reported that he had avoided paying Capital Gains Tax on a south London property in 2007: My wife and I bought our property in Elspeth Road in 1999, we sold it and moved to the current property in June 2007. Until the spring of 2006 this was the only property we owned. I had rented a place in Aviemore until then, we subsequently bought a place there and moved into it. I have always listed London as my second home on the basis set ...
I was flicking through the channels tonight and came across a debate on BBC parliament. It was a debate between MEPs from different countries about the Common Agricultural Policy. It featured a number of European MEP, among them a UK Conservative MEP. Being very interested in Europe and the European Parliament, which I visited as part of my candidature for the European Parliament last year, which saw our excellent Lib Dem MEP Fiona Hall re-elected. Like many, I see the fact that the Tories split off from the centre right grouping in the parliament and joined a rag tag bunch ...
The reaction to David Laws's sad downfall this weekend has, as Stephen Tall noted, been pretty depressing, for all sorts of reasons. That Laws did something which in retrospect was a bad idea is not in question. He infringed the rules, by not changing his arrangements when the rules changed. He has treated himself in ...
I could have written this blog yesterday but I wanted to give it more than my usual amount of thought. David Laws has resigned from the cabinet because he claimed £40 000 over nine years as payment for his accommodation which was paid to his friend. Since then there has been a great deal of support for David from all parties. The money is hardly in question. The cost of accommodation could have been far greater, and with his background in the city there has certainly been no intention of going into politics to make money. He is supported because ...
