I asked a supplementary question about the two Pakistanis whose successful appeal to SIAC against the decision to deport them was not appealed by the Crown. It was rightly considered that no point of law had arisen, on which an appeal might have been founded, and SIAC left the door ajar for their deportation later, if their two co-conspirators who had returned to Pakistan voluntarily were not subjected to torture or cruel or degrading treatment. Then I asked a question about prostitution on behalf of Navnit Dholakia, who had tabled it but was unavoidably absent, see www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldtoday/04.htm. A woman who ...
I've just got back after an evening spent with the retained firefighters at Falmouth Fire Station together with fellow councillors Judith Haycock and John Fitter. I sit on the small scrutiny group which is helping to make sure our fire and rescue service is the best it can be. As part of our work, we went to Falmouth which is one of two whole timed crewed stations in Cornwall (the other is Camborne). But we weren't there to see the whole time firefighters. Instead, we were meeting the retained section. These are fully trained crews who work 120 hours a ...
Why does landlocked Melton Mowbray have a Boat Inn? An article by Eric Swift on "The Inns and Inn Signs of Leicestershire and Rutland" written for the Leicestershire Archaelogical and Historical Society (it is not dated but appears to have been published in 1964 or shortly afterwards) gives the explanation: A most remarkable relic is The Boat Inn at Melton Mowbray where the canal basin and the wharves that the inn was built to serve have been filled in and the road crossing the railway has taken their place.That there was ever a canal basin in Melton may still surprise ...
BBC Radio Cornwall's Graham Smith has caught onto a problem which has been concerning a number of us for a few months. That is the Conservative manifesto pledge both to cut the number of MPs and to equalise the number of voters in each seat. Both are laudable aims, but they run into significant trouble because of the unhelpful geography of the UK. The Boundary Commission has always been tasked with trying to make constituency sizes as equal as possible. But they have also worked to rules which say that boundaries should not cross county lines and that 'special circumstances' ...
I've never met Michael Gove, but I grew to respect him over the last few years. I defended his policy of free schools. I struggled to keep something like that - something eminently Liberal based on the Danish and Swedish models - in the Lib Dem manifesto. I still think its an important idea. And every time I wander around Croydon where I live I feel confirmed in that feeling. There was nothing so disempowering to parents than the Blairite roll-out of 'choice' of schools. It has left us as pathetic, powerless supplicants in places like south east London where ...
The shootings in Cumbria yesterday have, unsurprisingly, prompted a lot of discussion on the tubes about the merits or otherwise of gun control: much, but not all of it, entirely predictable. We've seen Sean Gabb fire off a press release on behalf of the excellent Libertarian Alliance saying it wouldn't have panned out quite as badly if other people were routinely armed, whilst B&D appears broadly supportive of the status quo and certainly does not want further restrictions. Left Outside take exception to the lack of evidence supposedly behind Sean's suggestion that we would be both safer and freer without ...
Today, the FT's Fiona Harvey has provided a quick, useful summary of the politics surrounding this week's climate change talks in Bonn. This year, "climategate", whilst overblown, has helped to make the public less receptive to messages about climate change. She concludes: . . . the recession has grabbed all attention, and now the crisis in the Eurozone means European Union countries are far less interested in climate change than they are in the survival of the single currency. As finance is central to any progress on climate change negotiations, the recession could yet be the rock on which these ...
Note to lazy journalists - this article is a bit of alternate history speculation not TEH FIRST SIGN OF CRACKS IN TEH COALITION!!!!!111 Sometime in late April 2001, I was knocking on doors on a street of bungalows on the edge of some small town in Norfolk. "Will you be voting for Norman Lamb in the General Election coming?", I asked a man of about 60. "Actually I'm normally a Conservative supporter" he said. "Oh, are you a big fan of William Hague then?" I asked. He grimaced. "Actually maybe I will vote for your man after all" he said. ...
There is some good news for David Laws following the rather forced and sudden nature of his coming out over the weekend his family have accepted his sexuality and welcomed James his partner into their lives. Speaking to the Western Daily News he said: "I guess it was pretty stupid really, because all of the people I have spoken to since Friday have accepted it without hesitation: my parents, family and friends. Not being honest with them has meant a huge price over recent years. I have had to keep a large part of my life secret." "I have heard ...
As a result of the formation of the coalition Government, a number of responsibilities will be transferred from the Secretary of State for Justice to the Deputy Prime Minister. Nick Clegg has already been given special responsibility for political and constitutional reform; now Prime Minister David Cameron has listed the powers which will help Clegg bring this into effect: Introducing fixed-term Parliaments Legislating to hold a referendum on the alternative vote system for the House of Commons and to create fewer and more equal sized constituencies Supporting people with disabilities to become MPs Introducing a power for people to recall ...
"Thanks to 13,976 Tory voters for kick-starting a career I didn't even know I wanted." -Former Lib Dem MP Lembit Öpik performed his first standup comedy gig last night, winning plaudits for his delivery, if not his jokes. Julian Hall of the Independent gave him two stars: There was a kind of bittersweet irony that, on the day of the first Prime Minister's Question Time of the coalition government, the former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik was performing an open-spot stand-up gig in a tiny basement comedy club. Opik, it could be argued, has performed comedy in a niche environment ...
I will be hosting Mark Reckons Live BBC Question Time Chat for at least part of the show while Mark travels back from the LBC studios. Do come and join me.
The Liberal Democrats are seeking nominations for their two party awards, to be presented at September's Autumn Conference. One award will be given to a party member who has been elected to public office; the other to a member who has never been elected. From www.LibDems.org: Nominations are sought for: Harriet Smith Liberal Democrat Distinguished Service Award Open to any Party Member never elected to public office. President's Award Open to any Party Member elected to public office. These awards are awarded to members of the Party who have given outstanding service in promoting liberal democracy. The awards are normally ...
David Laws has spoken of his relief now that his sexuality has been revealed, and explains his motivation was privacy rather than profit. From the Daily Mail: We were conscious this was a much more expensive way of managing our lives than if we had just been honest about our relationship, because if we had, we could have claimed a significantly greater amount of money than we did. We would often say to ourselves 'this is ridiculous', as a consequence of having this bizarre private life, we are costing ourselves far more than if we had just been honest about ...
A nationwide survey by PoliticsHome shows that Vince Cable, Business Secretary and outgoing Lib Dem deputy leader, has a higher approval rating from the public than David Cameron. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg enjoys a clear popularity gap ahead of the Prime Minister, holding an approval rating of 17, compared to David Cameron's rating of 11. While the two men both attract the approval of 39% of the public, fewer disapprove of Mr Clegg (22%) than Mr Cameron (28%). From the Guardian: The strong rating for Cable will hearten his fans, who were concerned when he announced last week his ...
It's #bbcqt day again and the Live Chat starts on this blog from 10:30pm as normal. Dazmando from Bracknell Blog will be in the hosting chair initially although I hope to be along within 20 minutes of the start to relieve him. Join us below from 10:30pm: <a >BBC Question Time - 3rd June 2010</a>
As a result of the formation of the coalition Government, a number of responsibilities will be transferred from the Secretary of State for Justice to the Deputy Prime Minister. Nick Clegg has already been given special responsibility for political and constitutional reform; now Prime Minister David Cameron has listed the powers which will help Clegg bring this into effect: Introducing fixed-term Parliaments Legislating to hold a referendum on the alternative vote system for the House of Commons and to create fewer and more equal sized constituencies Supporting people with disabilities to become MPs Introducing a power for people to recall ...
Earlier today the Daily Mail posted an interview with David Laws on its website. You can find the full version on the This is Somerset website and in (I think) the Western Daily Press. In this interview David mentions the knife sharpener given to him by Disgruntled Radical. He has given it to Danny Alexander. I like to imagine it being passed from Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury to Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury down the generations.
"Thanks to 13,976 Tory voters for kick-starting a career I didn't even know I wanted." -Former Lib Dem MP Lembit Öpik performed his first standup comedy gig last night, winning plaudits for his delivery, if not his jokes. Julian Hall of the Independent gave him two stars: There was a kind of bittersweet irony that, on the day of the first Prime Minister's Question Time of the coalition government, the former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik was performing an open-spot stand-up gig in a tiny basement comedy club. Opik, it could be argued, has performed comedy in a niche environment ...
Here then are the scores on the doors for 2010 so far, listing the number of reports I've made: 143 graffiti 28 dumped rubbish from the corporate sector 74 dumped rubbish from private individuals 2 road name sign issues 10 utility cabinets issues 9 street lights not working 20 pot holes 25 other issues ... for a grand total of 311, a rate which if kept up through the year would produce a total of 746 by 31 December, a big drop on the previous projection. Quite possibly something to do with me being busy electioneering...
I will be on LBC again from 8pm this evening as part of Petrie Hoskin's political panel along with a couple of other politicos. It's been good fun previously with high quality debate and I expect it will be so again. You can listen to it on 97.3 if you're in or near London or via this link online if you aren't. You can even call in to join in the debate on 0845 60 60 973 from 8pm.
Contrary to virtually all media reports to date, it appears the Mavi Marmara was reflagged from Turkey to the Comoros Islands around 20 May, shortly before heading the peace flotilla. This is very important. While the Israeli attack remains illegal, it means that the injured party - and the party with legal jurisdiction over the event - is the incapable Comoros Islands rather than the highly capable Turkey. It also greatly reduces the NATO angle, unless other attacked ships were flying the Turkish flag. But the question must be why on earth was the flag changed just before sailing, and ...
Moderator: Welcome to Obsolete Anonymous! I've gathered you all here to welcome our latest member, the Print Industry. J.A. Konrath asks Is Print Dead?
And here's one I made earlier....
The Liberal Democrats are seeking nominations for their two party awards, to be presented at September's Autumn Conference. One award will be given to a party member who has been elected to public office; the other to a member who has never been elected. From www.LibDems.org: Nominations are sought for: Harriet Smith Liberal Democrat Distinguished Service Award Open to any Party Member never elected to public office. President's Award Open to any Party Member elected to public office. These awards are awarded to members of the Party who have given outstanding service in promoting liberal democracy. The awards are normally ...
Tonight's Evening Telegraph includes my comments about keeping the Green tidy - see http://tinyurl.com/maggrntidy.
I've been in Belfast the last couple of days with the "day job" - lovely weather and a super conference today at the recently renovated Belfast City Hall - a superb setting - see below :
Yesterday, I mentioned concerns about safe parking at St Joseph's Primary School and I am pleased today to have been advised by the Education Department that, following my request, at the car park in Wilkie's Lane to the back of the school, Dundee Contract Services has been asked to fill in pot holes and smooth out car park surface. It is important that the car park surface is improved here and I am pleased at the Education Department's prompt response.
It's Volunteers Week this week, and to mark the event, Volunteer Centre Fenland hosted an event at the Boathouse Business Centre in Wisbech this morning to celebrate volunteers and volunteering, and recognise the organisations in the area that promote and support volunteers. During the recent General Election campaign, I signed the Volunteering Pledge (on the last page of the Volunteering Manifesto. As a result, Annette Houghton from Volunteer Centre Fenland invited me to today's event, where I met some of the many organisations working in and around Wisbech. Amanda Scott from Excelcare was there to promote volunteering at Glennfield Care ...
Lib Dem Ministers and Secretaries of State are, I'm sure, focused on stabilising the economy, helping the most vulnerable in our society, and creating the green, free and fair country all Lib Dems believe in.
Thu 3rd
17:05
There will be trains and buses for all - the latest in motherhood and apple pie from Cornwall Counci...
As required by law, Cornwall Council is currently in the throes of developing a new local transport plan. This will be the third such plan and the crucial difference from previous plans is that this is set to last for 20 years rather than five years each for the previous plans. You can access the online version of the plan here (download it under Item 11, appendix 1). This is both good and bad news. In theory, a longer plan should allow a more strategic approach. In other words, we can think more about what we would like to see ...
You should make it this one by Tory Rascal. He has been quite quiet in the last few weeks and today courageously reveals that it is due to a recurrent problem he has with depression. Kudos to him for being so open about this subject that affects millions of people but is too often brushed under the carpet. Welcome back TR!
David Laws has spoken of his relief now that his sexuality has been revealed, and explains his motivation was privacy rather than profit. From the Daily Mail: We were conscious this was a much more expensive way of managing our lives than if we had just been honest about our relationship, because if we had, we could have claimed a significantly greater amount of money than we did. We would often say to ourselves 'this is ridiculous', as a consequence of having this bizarre private life, we are costing ourselves far more than if we had just been honest about ...
In June 1954 Alan Turing committed suicide. He was 43 and a man to whom Britain owed an unbelievable debt as a front runner in the cracking of the German codes in WWII and a pioneer of the computer. In 1952 he was exposed as an homosexual and was given the choice of prison or castration by chemical injection. Fifty six years on David Laws commits a silly indiscretion driven by fear of the consequences of his homosexuality and, despite widely acclaimed talent (although not in Turing's league), is hounded out of office by our great & glorious press. Pity ...
Well, I suppose it was an accident waiting to happen. Former corporate big shot Carly Fiorina is running for the US Senate in California. She has been producing some very odd TV adverts in her Republican primary campaign, buoyed by her personal fortune. Now she has set her sights on the incumbent, Democrat Barbara Boxer, and has, I think, scored an own goal, give Californians' sympathy for Global Warming: From Political Wire: In a new ad, Carly Fiorina (R) mocks Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D-CA) concern for climate change as a national security issue. Says Fiorina: "Terrorism kills — and Barbara ...
Thu 3rd
15:37
Shock Horror as "4 Star" Kent Council in 5 day Cock-up - retiring Chief Exec had to hang on while in...
Crikey like me, you've probably read all those publications from KCC droning on about how flippin marvellous they are, how about this one I just tripped over. It has been no secret that the "Great" former Chief Executive Peter Gilroy would be retiring this last May, it was in the public domain back in September as this report from Paul Francis, broke the news to a tearful public. I must admit, myself I bitterly regret, not accepting the offer of meeting with Mr Gilroy to discuss KCC's use of digital media particularly as it impacted my freedom of speech. Anyhow ...
With the Westminster elections out of the way and with Holyrood selections heading ahead at full steam it is time to look at some of those promises that the SNP made. On school building they said that they would match brick for brick the money for the proposed school building programme that the Labour/Lib Dem administration were proposing before the 2007 election. So yesterday's announcement, once again, a re-announcement of the words still lacking the action that actually does match brick for brick of new schools none of which will be completed before 5 May 2011 is a sensational admission ...
PoliticsHome research reveals that Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg receives a higher approval rating from the public than prime minister David Cameron. Clegg enjoys a clear popularity gap ahead of the Prime Minister, holding an approval rating of 17, compared to the David Cameron's rating of 11
A nationwide survey by PoliticsHome shows that Vince Cable, Business Secretary and outgoing Lib Dem deputy leader, has a higher approval rating from the public than David Cameron. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg enjoys a clear popularity gap ahead of the Prime Minister, holding an approval rating of 17, compared to David Cameron's rating of 11. While the two men both attract the approval of 39% of the public, fewer disapprove of Mr Clegg (22%) than Mr Cameron (28%). From the Guardian: The strong rating for Cable will hearten his fans, who were concerned when he announced last week his ...
Harriet Harperson's been at it again (full story here) calling for 50% of the new Labour Shadow Cabinet to be Female. Lets face it, the entire concept of gender quotas is a bizarre one. We all acknowledge that more women ... Continue reading →
I see that the Head of Cornwall's tourism arm, Malcolm Bell, is complaining that bookings are down because the Met Office predicted less than perfect weather for our area over the half term week. I can sympathise with the basic point that Malcolm makes - that forecasts affect bookings and longer range forecasts can be very inaccurate. Malcolm concludes by suggesting that the Met Office not make longer range forecasts for this very reason. But I do not believe that the Met Office is biased one way or the other and I genuinely believe that they do their best. They ...
It is most probably unfair to say that having spent the General Election whinging Plaid Cymru are continuing in the same vein, but there is certainly a case for them to change the record, if only because their narrow and blinkered view of the UK economy is both trite and misleading. Today's South Wales Evening Post carries a non-story from the newly elected Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr in which he criticises Nick Clegg for saying that plans ware being put in place to protect certain areas of the UK, those heavily dependent on public sector jobs, ...
Nominations closed at 5pm yesterday for the Deputy Leadership of the Liberal Democrats, and it's going to be a contest between Tim Farron and Simon Hughes. Already the Independent is calling it for Simon: Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat left-winger, was on course last night to become the party's deputy leader. The former party president is understood to have secured the backing of more than half of its 57 MPs. Although he voted in favour of forming a power-sharing deal with the Conservatives, he is likely to prove a thorn in Nick Clegg's side. Following the close of nominations, he ...
Today the weather is great, it's half term and the playing fields are... [IMG: Newark] ...empty?
The last few days, and weeks, it has been impossible to escape the topic of discrimination. David laws covered up the fact he was gay out of fear it would impact his career, the number of women in the cabinet, the number of women elected to parliament and the number of bme candidates as well ... Read more
I was interviewed by Total Politics last week about blogging, what I think of the new coalition government and which bloggers I like (and dislike). You can read what I said here.
I like to think of Kent's Conservatives, as being a sort of rare breed, outside the mainstream of political life, indeed I believe that Paul Carter (Kent Councils Tory Leader) was one of the few hiccups apart from Nick Clegg in David Cameron's recent election campaign. Anyhow its seems that politicians at national level in the Coalition, Tory and Libs are pretty much on message as far as sorting out a bloated public sector. However Kent's Conservative County Councillors appear to be bucking the trend, suggest you take a gander at this from Paul Francis "Storm brews after council advertises ...
Andrew Reeves has the news: Jamie Stone, Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, has announced that he will step down from the Scottish Parliament at the next Scottish election. Mr Stone is stepping down 25 years of public service to pursue new avenues. Jamie is the second Highland Liberal Democrats MSP to announce he is standing down. John Farquar-Munro MSP is also standing down and Alan MacRae has been selected to replace John and fight the seat at next years election. You can read the full story here.
Nominations closed at 5pm yesterday for the Deputy Leadership of the Liberal Democrats, and it's going to be a contest between Tim Farron and Simon Hughes. Already the Independent is calling it for Simon: Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat left-winger, was on course last night to become the party's deputy leader. The former party president is understood to have secured the backing of more than half of its 57 MPs. Although he voted in favour of forming a power-sharing deal with the Conservatives, he is likely to prove a thorn in Nick Clegg's side. Following the close of nominations, he ...
This is the CNN YouTube footage of the Israeli flotilla attack that was shown on CNN before the Israeli's cut off communications. Filed under: Spidey Says Tagged: Al Jazeera, cnn flotilla coverage, israel attacks flotilla
Life is full of blessings and curses. Recently, my somewhat superannuated car had a fault which I needed to get sorted out at work. I didn't have roadside breakdown cover so I had to sign up there and then, resulting in a considerable premium being charged by the RAC. However the man who turned up was cheerful and resolved the problem quickly and got me on my way so it was money reasonably well spent. He also advised me what the problem was and said I would need to get it sorted at my local garage. This I duly did ...
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] [IMG: Labourfail] Despite the highly negative comments from Labour and the Green Party members regarding the local coalition and how it will be cutting every service ever... "Oh wont some one think of the children"... actually the truth is a little different. Our joint coalition agreement has now been published so now we can be judged by our words and actions over the coming year. Under 'Finances and Efficiency' there is a clear statement: "Any cost savings will be prioritised in back office functions before front line services." So, in fact, no axes will be falling on child ...
Thu 3rd
12:45
Clegg more popular than Cameron; Cable is most popular politician; Labour figures languishing
All good stuff from PoliticsHome.
Julian Hall in The Independent has a review of Lembit's comedy debut last night:Ultimately the evening was a moderately amusing jolly, and much less of a disaster than many a debut open spot. If the former politician is serious about stand-up, he definitely has the tenacity and fearlessness that is required if not yet the material or the right stylistic approach.
Welcome to the sixteenth in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here. The political reform section of the coalition document is the second longest in the whole agreement, beaten for length only by the NHS section. By now the headlines from this section are very familiar: Fixed-term Parliaments A referendum on the alternative vote The ability for voters to force an MP to face a special by-election if they have been found guilty of serious wrongdoing ("recall") A "wholly or mainly" elected House of Lords, using ...
Fresh options for the multi-million pound Coatham Links regeneration scheme are to be considered tomorrow. Initial proposals to bring new leisure facilities and hundreds of homes to the area were abandoned earlier this year after the Supreme Court ruled that part of the land earmarked for development at Coatham should be registered as a village green. But Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council's cabinet will meet on Friday, June 4, to assess two options designed to enhance the area, providing first-class swimming and leisure facilities. One option for a £22.7m scheme would see a new leisure centre and swimming pool developed ...
According to a YouGov poll 73% of the population believe that politicians should not have to be open about their sexuality, providing they do not lie or 'behave hypocritically'. This finding does of course come in the week after it was revealed and since been surmised that if David Laws had changed his accommodation claims at the time of the rule change he would have been 'outing' his relationship. Caron ran through the various options he was facing on Saturday, which outline the difficult choices he had if he were to remain in a private relationship. Only one in twenty ...
There are many things which mark me out as a pariah in certain sections of Who fandom. I am female, which is a big no-no in some fandom spaces, although gradually these are getting less. I thought David Tennant was the worst doctor ever, which is practically a hanging offence in most of the majority-female WhoFan arenas. But worst of all, my favourite Doctor is Old Sixie, which means that (for example) I can't read Behind The Sofa without going into paroxysms of rage, because they casually slag off Fat Colin on a regular basis. There are, however, safe spaces ...
And yet his crime was extraordinary, evil, wicked, unconscionable. [IMG: Derrick Bird] It's at times like these that I feel least like a liberal. Nick Clegg says liberalism has to be optimistic about people, that it rests on the belief that people are 'born good'. But he himself recognises that sometimes it's hard to get over just how easily people end up behaving badly. If he finds it hard to square these things, how hard is it for a Christian - and a Calvinist at that? It's pretty obvious I don't take the same line as Nick Clegg on the ...
I don't pretend to understand a huge amount about the science of opinion polling – like any political geek, I dabble, but that's it. However, I do understand a little more of the art of opinion polling, of manufacturing the response you want to deliver a story. So I was pretty disappointed to read the latest ComRes poll, commissioned by The Independent, which asked a couple of deeply flawed questions. Here's the worst of the bunch, asking the public to agree or disagree with the following statement: The political horsetrading which followed the inconclusive General Election result showed that an ...
Two of Acocks Green's Neighbourhood Forums hold public meetings next week On Monday 7th June the Fox Hollies Green Neighbourhood Forum will meet at Oaklands School in Dolphin Lane. The meeting will start at 7pm and the main topics on the agenda will be: 1) The Fox Hollies Childrens Centre 2) The work of the Park Rangers Service 3) The Primary Care Trust Then on Thursday, 10th June, the Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum holds its next public meeting, which will start at 7.30pm at the Baptist Church Community Hall on Yardley Road. The main topic will be a presentation by ...
Hat tip to Mark Reckons and the need for Labour to do some `listening and learning`. Is this really enough? I think the main problem in politics in the past 13 years has been too much listening and learning and not enough honesty with the British electorate. One can `listen and learn` as long as ...
Monday: How can ANYONE think of comparing the State of Israel to the People's Democratic Republic of North Korea?! I mean, Israel would have to have: nuclear weapons; sealed borders; denials about people starving in their country;unresolved war issues with their neighbours; defied UN resolutions; an attitude that they can do what they like 'cos they've got a Superpower ally;and to go around attacking ships from other countries... ...oh. .
I have been playing with, and teaching myself, video editing. Anyone suggest a good FREE editing package. Windows Movie Maker is simple, and frustratingly restricted. But it's been fun learning and my Youtube account is growing. You can find it here So to celebrate, I've created OMMS Productions©, Spielberg watch out :-) , NOT.
... has to be Enemy Property, which dealt with the handling of property seized from people during the Second World War. It's not just the gap of several decades between the last seizure of property and the invention of the web, let alone the creation of the website, which caught my eye but also this detail: The database on this website has not been edited. It therefore includes assets which were repaid in the 1950s. In other words, someone actually sat down to create a website that contained information that was already several decades out of date. Though perhaps someone ...
Last week's announcement of new peers didn't seem much like a "new way of doing politics". On the Tory side, wealthy party donors were rewarded for their largess. On our own side, just two of the nine appointments were of people directly elected to the interim peers list, three owed their place on that list to being ex-MPs and four had not come from the interim peers list at all – so much for party democracy! The statement in the coalition deal that "Lords appointments will be made with the objective of creating a second chamber that is reflective of ...
Mike Smithson makes the point this morning that it is exactly a year ago today that David Miliband made the biggest decision of his political career when he decided not to follow James Purnell over the top and to instead stand by Gordon Brown. Mike goes on: ... looking back there was never a better chance for a rebellion against Mr. Brown to succeed but, not for the first time, Miliband held back and the rest, as they say, is history. Given Labour's polling performance since Brown's departure then there's a good argument for saying that the general election outcome ...
Yesterday's first Coalition PMQs provided much grist to the sketchwriters' mills. And it also illustrated just how Labour intends to proceed taking on the cosy coalition. After yesterday, the big dilemma for Nick Clegg will be to decide whether he should attend or not. Yes, it's a coalition, and it would look mighty suspicious if ...
Every comments thread on every internet site on the world which has discussed the Israeli naval murders, has been inundated by organised ZIonist commenters stating that the Israeli action was legal under the San Remo Manual of International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea. They ignore those parts of San Remo that specifically state that it is illegal to enforce a general blockade on an entire population. But even apart from that, San Remo simply does not apply. The manual relates specifically to legal practice in time of war. With whom is Israel at war? There is no war. ...
Note: the following post has been substantially updated as a combination of circumstances meant the original had various inaccuracies. Apologies for that. It's not only Liberal Democrat MPs who are gearing up to vote next week. So too are their colleagues in the upper house where the leader of the Lib Dem peers Tom McNally now in government at the Ministry of Justice. Navnit Dholakia is unopposed for deputy leader but a new 'backbench forum' is also being created and that will see some contests. Joan Walmsley and John Alderdice are standing for convenor and Kishwer Falkner and Jane Bonham ...
It's difficult to find words about the Cumbrian shooting tragedy. Suffice it to say, my prayers are with the whole community of Cumbria who will take years to come to terms with this horrific event. There are chilling paralells with (and some key differences from) the 1987 Hungerford tragedy. More were killed in the Hungerford tragedy but it involved a lone man who snapped and killed a close family member as well as random people. The Hungerford killings started in a wood. The Cumbrian killings ended in a wood. The Hungerford tragedy hit, more or less, one community (although the ...
There was a programme on Radio 4 yesterday evening about the historical precedents for co-operation between the Liberals and Conservatives. As the webpage for the programme says: The new politics isn't as new as people think. Shaun Ley looks back at the historical links between Conservatives and Liberals, the previous coalitions and the common philosophical traditions between the two parties. What can history tell us about the implications for the parties today? We hear from the LibDem MP John Thurso, whose grandfather Archibald Sinclair was the last Liberal to sit in a cabinet during the wartime coalition. Lord Heseltine explains ...
All local residents are invited to the next Friends of Magdalen Green Public Meeting : [IMG: Justify Full] Date: Thursday 10th June Time: 7pm Venue: Dundee West Church Speaker: Iain Flett - Dundee City Archivist Topic: Magdalen Green 400 years of Parade and Pleasure Ground Refreshments The talk will be followed by the Friends' Annual General Meeting.
Yesterday afternoon when I heard that a gunman was shooting people in Whitehaven, my first thoughts were of my cousin who works in the town. As soon as I could I was checking on that first port of call in our social media age Facebook, to see if she had updated her profile to tell us she was OK. Thankfully she had, but for 12 others the news was not so great and further 25 had been injured. After Hungerford and Dunblane our guns laws in the UK have become some of the most stringent in the world. But there ...
Thu 3rd
07:05
Our kids deserve better than Labour ministers using schools reorganisation as a political football
Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) policy is quite clear in requiring local authorities to take action to remove excessive surplus places in schools. This policy has been in place now for some years and viewed objectively it is difficult to disagree with the rationale. Quite simply surplus places cost money that could otherwise be spent directly funding the teaching of children, and nobody could sensibly argue that it's right to waste millions of pounds a year funding empty desks that aren't needed. The former First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, outlined the extent of the situation quite clearly during an Assembly plenary session ...
In the contest for the leadership of the Labour Party there is much talk of listening to the electorate and reconnecting with party members and core supporters. Of course, now that the electorate is party members and every vote counts equally (where have you heard that before?) they will listen to committed activists, but during general elections, and between them, the listening is to focus groups. The aim is not to seek to stimulate the faithful throughout the country and inspire the nation with a vision of how society should be, but to discover how to attract the support of ...
It's sad to see that even in the year or so that I've been posting on this site, some of the shops which I've written about have closed their doors for the final time. Seeing a new shop open up is therefore even more welcome than usual and to support one of the more recent additions to Trelowarren Street, I'd like to mention the new Wholefoods Shop, a few doors down from the turn for Adelaide Street. A whole range of organic, fairtrade, locally-produced and sustainable products adorn the shelves and it was hard not to pack my shopping basket ...
As Monday was a bank holiday, I did no politics that day but went instead to the Northumberland County Show in Corbridge where I could exercise my odd interest in rotovators and hen houses for my allotment and generally have an enjoyable day out. If you feel the urge to catch up with what I did there, you can read about it on my recently established travel blog: http://
List of links: Today's list of news, stories, blog articles and so on that I have tagged as particularly interesting or excellent in my news reader. As ever, clicking on the titles should take you to the full version of the story on its home site... Democracy is not the object by/at: The Devil's Knife Cumbria Massacre and the failure of gun bans by/at: Libertarian Party UK Someone speaks the truth by/at: ANGRY TEEN Responding to the Deepwater Horizon disaster by/at: Out of the Libertarian Labyrinth Targeting Government Violence: Markets vs. "Law" by/at: John Redwood Benjamin Franklin was right by/at: ...
No doubt the county of Cumbria is in shock following yesterday's events. It may be a beautiful and remote area but we know that nowhere is immune from such tragic events. I am not quite sure what advice residents could have been given when Derrick Bird was on the loose but some holidaymakers on a campsite were told to stay in groups. However if they stayed in groups then they could have been shot in groups. There will be questions asked as to whether his victims were targeted or were they innocent bystanders. It may well be that he knew ...
