Preston Park Hall is hosting an exhibition of Girl Guiding, and I was invited to the preview today. Most interesting to see the collection of photos and uniforms. Most of the information was local so a lot of work had gone into setting it up. Well worth a visit. It isn't just very interesting though, it celebrates not only the foudning of the Guides, but the hard work, dedication and...
The Futility Monster looks forward to the next London Mayoral election: "This time, the Liberal Democrats will probably battle it out between non-entities on the London Assembly, or other London Lib Dems no one's ever heard of. But it doesn't have to be this way. If, somehow, the Lib Dems can prise Lembit Opik away from his attraction to a career as a stand-up comedian, and I know that will be difficult, they have themselves the right candidate." A message of support has been sent to the first ever international congress on the human rights of transgender people by equalities ...
I would say well done to Michael Gove for axing the General Teaching Council. The GTC was set up with no support from teachers, no campaign asking for its creation, no support fro the unions, and with no clear purpose. The GTC is supposed to fight for teachers interests, but is no more than a chocolate fireguard. It has achieved not one thing of any note for the teaching profession and its passing will not see any mourning or sorrow from teachers. Good riddance GTC.
A Multi-million pound regeneration scheme for Redcar has been given the go ahead today by Redcar and Cleveland Council. The Council's Cabinet held a special meeting to discuss options to invest in and develop the town and have agreed to: · the creation of a 'myplace' arts and media centre for young people . a leisure centre and swimming pool developed between Kirkleatham Street and Ridley Street · a new library and civic and community facilities · a multi-storey car park. The total cost of the scheme, which will be developed in two phases, is projected to be £36.9 m, ...
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This week's House Points column from Liberal Democrat News. The argument will be familiar to anyone who has been reading this blog in recent days. And a belated acknowledgement: last week's mention of the popular comedy duo Abbott and Portillo was inspired an observation from Millennium Elephant. Telegraph target This coalition government was always going to come under strain. Because one of the parties has been out of government for a long time and sometimes gives the impression that it is more interested in doctrinal purity than in getting back into power. That party, of course, is the Conservatives. It ...
I look at the world at odd angles; I sometimes wonder if I am easily depressed by situations and things beyond my complete control. Or is it just that the world is mad and I am sane? Wonko The Sane; from So Long and Thanks For All The Fish, which is the fourth book in the Hitch Hikers Trilogy by Douglas Adams ; is to put it mildly either bonkers or sane: "When Wonko saw instructions on how to use a toothpick on a packet of toothpicks he became convinced that the world had gone crazy and so built the ...
Making or way gently along the Stratford Canal we came to Preston Bagot Lock with it's interesting lock keeper's cottage with it's barrel roof which is typical of the architecture on Warwickshire canals. It was built origially in 1810
Statcounter has been throwing up some very curious statistics in the last few days. A large number of individuals are coming to the site and staying on it for perhaps four or five hours, hopping exclusively between recent articles about the Gaza convoy. Strangely, all the users with that profile use Firefox not IE, and if they come via a search engine usually arrive on the site via a Yahoo search not a google search. Download file Now this is from a significant sample - 500 - and the sample changes in real time, but Firefox has been ahead all ...
I've just found an interesting piece from an Indian blogger, Ullas Sharma: that's worth reading: It made me wonder how it would have been if the Mahatma were a Palestinian. He would have reveled in the opportunity; a just cause, and a just means to the end - a Palestinian state carved out of the philosophy of non-violence. How would he have gone about it? Well, for starters, he would have read
I have raised in past months concerns about the condition of the ground on the east side of Glenagnes Road - and the fallen boundary fencing. Some of the fencing is still fallen over (see below) so I have again contacted the City Council's Planning Enforcement Officer to chase up the site owners about this matter.
Agnes - "Release Me" - rather superb!
"The Zionist Federation together with the English Defence League demonstrated opposite the Israeli embassy in support of the Israeli Defence Force action against the Gaza aid flotilla" Whatever its initial aspirations, the State of Israel has become a vicious racist entity. As you can see by its friends.
Total Politics has picked Burnley Liberal Democrat MP Gordon Birtwistle for its diary of the week: I am just beginning now, to find my feet in this strange place (and to find my way around). To say the first couple of weeks have been overwhelming has been an understatement! I did not think that when I was eventually successfully elected, it would be as part of a party in government. You can read Gordon's diary in full here.
It's something that most of never even give a thought to - our gender. We just are what we are. But that is not the case for those in the trans community. Readers of this blog will know - especially those who followed my blogging during the passage of the Equality Bill through its parliamentary stages - that one of the protected characteristics in the Bill was 'gender reassignment'. (A protected characteristic is a 'strand' which receives protection from discrimination under the Equality Act such as sexual orientation, disability, race, religion and so on.) Gender reassignment as a protected characteristic ...
@rfenwick Yes. in reply to rfenwick # @rfenwick Indeed have just blogged ~that. The rumours and newspaper hints have been round long enough. Hope they both emerge stronger. in reply to rfenwick # Wasn't all the outrage over expenses about MPs *not* living in the homes they were claiming for. Laws claimed for the place he lived in ... # ... so not quite getting what the big issue here is. # @jonny_wright Which is fair enough – but clearly not the case for Laws. in reply to jonny_wright # @agnt_orange But it's odd if public now obsessed with rules ...
Over at The Guardian's Comment is Free, LDV Co-Editor Mark Pack notes that the behaviour of the new Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury, Danny Alexander, wasn't a patch on the sort of tax avoidance measures the Telegraph repeatedly recommends. Here's an excerpt: ... a piece by Ian Cowie, from May 2010, lays out in detail how Telegraph readers can avoid paying capital gains tax. It even says: "Do as MPs do and 'flip' your home ... large potential CGT liabilities can be avoided quite legally in this way." The story goes on to urge a full exploitation of ...
I often forget to post stuff, which I get sent to me, I always think later well this is later not Sunday when I think Damn! So for your enlightenment a couple of items worth your attention! STARTING THIS WEEKEND (Friday as it happens but till 27th June) At the Margate Gallery [IMG: this is dreamland] "This is a Dreamland is an exhibition that consists of photographic prints, collage and mixed media. All of the works in the show explore Margate as a town where vibrancy, colour and inspiration is found everywhere. The work on show is a response to ...
PoliticsHome.com reports: Simon Hughes already has the firm commitment of 30 of the 57 Liberal Democrat MPs that they will vote for him to be Deputy Leader of the party in the vote on 9th June, his spokesman has told PoliticsHome today. ... Only some of the MPs have publicly declared their support for Mr Hughes, which the spokesman explains as follows: "We haven't had that many people coming out publicly ... because many of them are senior party officials, government officials and they don't want to be seen to be supporting anyone at this stage." So is there any ...
Imagine some green valley, most of the year covered in cows and things, that for a long weekend in summer turns into a mini city, with a hundred thousand campers having fun in the sun, or perhaps the mud. There are all sorts of activities laid on - classes in environmental issues, alternative therapy tents and food and drink of every description, but the top billing acts are not the Gorillaz or U2. [IMG: Image taken from geeklawyer's Flickr.com photostream under an attribution-non-commercial-share-alike Creative Commons License from http://www.flickr.com/photos/geeklawyer/7670882/sizes/o/] At this festival those honours would go to the likes of Niall ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week 1. David Laws issues statement on his expenses and sexuality (221) by Stephen Tall 2. David Laws: what should happen next? (80) by Stephen Tall 3. David Laws: should I stay as an MP? (69) by Mark Pack 4. Danny Alexander issues a statement on his Capital Gains Tax affairs (97) by Helen Duffett 5. Is the Mail on Sunday in a different time zone? Or how it got a string of facts wrong (19) by Mark ...
It is starting to look like neither of the two left-wing candidates for the Labour leadership (Diane Abbott and John McDonnell) are going to get the 33 nominations needed to secure a place in the ballot. McDonnell currently has 7 declared for him and Abbott has just 5. There has been much debate about whether the rules should be changed in order to allow a left wing challenger who may struggle to get through this initial electoral college hurdle for the party at large to be able to judge them and what they have to offer. I think it is ...
Another summer and Cornwall braces itself for another series of stories highlighting the activities of visitors to Newquay. Last summer there were the tragic deaths of two young visitors who fell off cliffs when drunk. We also saw organised pub crawls causing chaos and distress to local residents. As a result, the Newquay Safe project was started by Cornwall Council working in partnership with the town council and local Police. My colleague Geoff Brown also went on a tour to schools in Berkshire (where one of the victims came from) to warn of the dangers that alcohol can bring in ...
The last couple of years Margate's Big Event has been free, subsidised by business and car parking fees and taxpayers. Living as I do within 10 minutes walk of the cliff top venue for me its been a pretty good deal, but as we are now coming to realise, stuff cost even when supplied by the local council. I don't doubt many will be disappointed at the thought of actually having to pay for entertainment, probably the same people who baulk at the idea of having to work for a living but tough. I understand that the entrance fee is ...
Welcome to the eighteenth in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here. At the time David Cameron started talking about the Big Society, the concept struck me as a mix of traditional community politics and vagueness. Looking at the specifics in this section, there is still a fair amount of vagueness, but the specifics are ones that often touch on themes which our party (or more precisely the Liberal Party) has talked about in the past and rather neglected in more recent years. In other words, ...
Tomorrow sees the first ever Charles Causley Festival in Launceston. The Festival is named in honour of Charles Causley, Launceston's most famous son and one of the UK's finest poets. There will be a range of events throughout the day including book signings and readings, a poetry walk, art exhibition and cream tea. The event is a pilot project for what will hopefully become an annual event. It's not meant to be solely about poetry or about Charles Causley - although both will always be key to the festival. The event is for all ages and backgrounds and as many ...
I've received an email from David Laws' office: David has asked me to thank you for taking the time to contact him. He has been overwhelmed by the positive encouragement he has received in the last few days. I do hope that means he will soon feel able to rejoin the cabinet.
The latest "House of Comments" podcast with myself and Stuart Sharpe of the Sharpe's Opinion political blog is now live. The website for the podcasts is here and the 28th episode which we recorded on Tuesday 1st June is available to download via this page here (raw mp3 file here if you prefer). You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes here. Or you can listen to it right now here: The format is to invite political bloggers on each week to discuss a few of the stories that are making waves in the blogosphere. This week we were joined ...
The subject line will mean *nothing* to anyone except those of us at last night's Liberal Drinks[1], which wasn't so much about liberalism as the kind of geekdom that often goes a-whooshing over my head (though STV and RISOs did come up in conversation), but a splendid time was had by all, great to meet the famous innerbrat at last, and it's nice to see that it spawned this offering from Jennie. And I get the feeling that while Mat *might* or might not have sold New New Who to me, he certainly went the right way about doing so ...
There's been some interesting discussion on LabourList about whether Labour should – yet again – pick Ken Livingstone as their candidate for London Mayor. Declan Gaffney has made use of some very interesting research into the demographics of London elections (published here). That demographic analysis deserves a long second look; and once you do, the picture isn't pretty for anyone who wants Ken Livingstone to be elected as Mayor of London. The most striking feature in the demographic facts and figures is the polarisation of London politics between 2004 and 2008. The study looks at the election results, ward by ...
An interesting short film from the RSA about what really drives people and motivates them to do good jobs. It turns out that what motivates us is less the prospect of profit and more chance to make a difference. That finding challenges a lot of the preconceptions of both capitalists and socialists, although it has to be said that for menial tasks it turns out there is a profit motive. So, we should be giving factory workers financial incentives (and should be taxing demerit goods) but shouldn't be rewarding managers in a similar way. I'm increasingly finding linkages between the ...
Test Valley's Northern Planning Committee has given permission for the Askalot shop to remain open for a further three years. The shop opened in 2007 with temporary permission to operate out of the old video hire shop in Atholl Court. At the time it was argued this would be a short term let until King Arthur's Hall could be refurbished to accomodate Askalot. A new application was submiited for extended opening hours and a permanent change of use last month. The permanent change of use was opposed by the Alamein Community Association on the grounds it would undermine lettings at ...
So, if any of you are wondering where I am going to be at any point over the next three days, here is a handy schedule for you to stalk me:Friday 4th June 2010 15.40 Century Falls (TV Heaven) 16:45 FFW 2010 Short Films 18:45 Matthew Hopkins Witchfinder General 20:30 Psycho Saturday 5th June 2010 13.20 Raven (TV Heaven) 13:45 Horror Express YAAAAAAAAAAAY! 15:45 The Giant Spider Invasion 18:15 Screentalk: Michael Armstrong 20:15 Mark of The Devil 23:59 Midnight Screamer: Birdemic Sunday 6th June 2010 12.00 Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons (TV Heaven) 12.40 Timeslip (TV Heaven) 13.20 Dark Season ...
I was a guest on this week's House of Comments podcast, hosted by Mark Thompson and Stuart Sharp, alongside Labour blogger Emma Burnell. You can listen to our discursions here, or download the MP3 file directly using this link. The debate was dominated by the fallout from David Laws' resignation, with brief excursions into the Lib Dem deputy and Labour leadership races.
I'm taking part in a video Q+A session on this topic run by Yoosk. More information and links to submit your questions are on the Yoosk site.
Lib Dem Voice have done a risible attempt at a How Lib Dem Are You? test. Here's a more realistic one: Update: And of course, there is the very important and probably unanswerable question 14, as formulated by Andrew Hickey in the comments below: 14. Do you instinctively reject binary yes/no answers to more complicated questions? Yes/No/Depends/What?/Define Instinctively/Fnord/Remind me again what Mill says about it...?/Even asking that question proves you're really a Tory/I know a humorous song attacking the Limp Dims from 1982 that that question reminds me of/insert humorous cat picture here. Not including question 14, I score 11/13 ...
Welcome to the seventeenth in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here. The public health section is very brief and rather anomalous as a section on its own, though given the length of the NHS section splitting this area off makes some sense. There is little of surprise in what there is of this section – public health is important (gosh), it should be improved (shock) and the government will be ambitious (crikey). Innovation is also good (well I never). The details do however give a ...
Throughout February and March the pre-campaign campaign continued. I was out most evenings doorstep canvassing around Murston, telephone canvassing at the weekends, attended a couple of functions in London, a meeting at Fulston Manor school, some debates with the other candidates, much deliveries of leaflets, more media interviews, and various email correspondence. I also wrote a series of local policy documents. On 6 April the election was called - we were under way. I booked my leave from work, we accelerated the pace, we completed our planned timetable up to the election date, and things were going along nicely. All ...
This morning's Guardian reports that the new coalition is to embark on a new era of open and transparent government by giving the public free access to its accounting books for the first time. This will entail publishing the entire contents of its spending database, a total of 24m individual entries documenting where public money comes from, what it is spent on and whose pocket it ends up in. The catch lies in how we interpret this information, and for that we may require some help: The complex, 120GB Combined Online Information System (Coins) database won't, however, be accessible to ...
Have been unwell, hence lack of posts. Doctor Who post tonight, with any luck. LessWrong have a more-intuitive-than-normal description of Bayes' Theorem, while Decision Science News has a counterintuitive probability puzzle you can try that on. Fred at Slacktivist talks about fundamentalists' attitudes to sexuality and money. A personal letter from Steve Martin. An interesting ...
Being the Lib Dem candidate for mayor is not a job for those who have an aspiration on actually winning it. The main reason for that is London is stuck in a Labour/Tory battle of the beasts, and they absorb all the coverage to the detriment of everyone else. This is helped by the fact ...
The Labour Party suffered a big defeat at the polls last month. It may not seem like it due to quirks in our electoral system giving them far more seats than any other party would have got on 29% of the vote but that vote share is the second worst for them since before the second world war. The voters have rejected the party. The fact that Gordon Brown stood down so quickly is an acknowledgement of this fact. He recognised that the party needed to draw a line under what had gone before and move on. It can be ...
In response to a question from Tom Watson, Government minister Francis Maude asserted that Government departmental websites should "wherever possible" use Open Source Software. This is very significant change in emphasis from the previous government, which merely said that open source and proprietary solutions should both be considered on an equal footing. The implication, if this policy is implemented, will be departments having to justify not using open source for their websites should they choose to go down the proprietary route. We await seeing how this turns out in practice, since warm words from the cabinet office don't necessarily translate ...
So the UK has some of the tightest firearms licensing regulation in the world, apparently surpassed only by Japan. Yet we still have a reasonable level of firearm related crime, predominantly using illegal weapons. With the unfortunate events of this week we've very quickly seen calls for increased control over the availability and storage of ...
The other morning I heard a discussion on Woman's Hour about lap dancing jobs being advertised at job centres. If you put this together with stricter benefit rules about to be brought in then the logical conclusion is that anyone, including girls - and ...
Everyone in Britain must be as shocked and saddened as I am about the killings in ...
With a tip of our hat to the Daily Mail – which today asks its readers 13 questions so they can tell if they're posh or not – Lib Dem Voice presents our special How Lib Dem are you? test: (Click on the image to enlarge). All you have to do is answer 'Yes' or 'No' to the following questions to get your answer ... 1. Do you complain about long driveways and low letterboxes after an afternoon's leaflet delivery? 2. Do you obsessively count the number of garden posters of the different parties at election time? 3. Is your mood affected by ...
A parade of middle-class pretentious – perhaps the public thought that these were the only people who could afford to vote Labour.
I am spitting mad with fury that Inverness, the town of my birth, has been nominated for a Carbuncle Award. This is not a simple matter of me looking back with rose tinted spectacles. I visit the city regularly and although you can't help but wonder exactly what the architects who designed some of the questionable 60s architecture at the bottom of Bridge Street were on, I still think it's one of the loveliest places I've ever been to. I never fail to smile at that bit on the A9 where the Kessock Bridge comes into view and Inverness unfolds ...
Long suffering readers of my blog may remember that it was Simon's bid to become party leader that was the reason Looz Muze ever got going in the first place, so as you might suspect, despite the sad reality that members don't get a say in who becomes deputy leader (why not?) I am afraid I still feel compelled to lob in my own 2 penneth on the subject. A while ago some droll soul commented on a blog post where I had mentioned that a fellow councillor referred to me as "the late Linda Jack, "oh that must be ...
Thanks to @rhodri on Twitter for drawing my attention to this headline from the Times & Citizen yesterday: Wonderful stuff! Thanks also to CitizenBB for spotting it in the first place.
Mark Prisk is Minister of State for Business & Enterprise and is MP for Hertford & Stortford: Cutting the burden of regulation is vital if we are to help the private sector grow. This is especially the case for small and medium sized enterprises that face disproportionate costs from unnecessary red tape. Under Labour the burden of regulation grew inexorably, to the point that by the time of the May 2010 election it was implementing the equivalent of 14 new regulations every working day. The Federation of Small Businesses has worked out that this meant that the average small business ...
I would like to offer my congratulations and best wishes to Oxfordshire's newest Liberal Democrat councillor, John Griffin, who was elected to South Oxfordshire District Council last night. John is the chair of Crowmarsh Parish Council and he was a district councillor between 1995 and 2003 so he's active, able and experienced and he will doubtless be an asset to the local party. To anyone concerned about coalition with the Conservatives or unhappy that your vote in the General Election did not count in Oxfordshire, I hope this result reassures you that Liberal Democrats are out there 52 weeks of ...
Good bits: * I have four days off work now * I have had a haircut which is FAB. There may be pictures later * [IMG: [personal profile] ] innerbrat is here, and the Fantastic Films Weekend starts today. * Liberal Drinks last night was a fabulous geekfest. Bad Bits: * stupid woman on the canal path who refused to stop blocking the entire path with her dog and it's very long lead when I was cycling home from work yesterday, forcing me to brake sharply and go head first over the handlebars and skin all my chin. Ouch. * ...
In March a combination of Conservative and Labour councillors on Warwickshire County Council voted down my motion calling for an immediate halt to Project Transform, the joint project with Coventry and Solihull to build a replacement for the Coventry incinerator by 2016. However, the recent local election results in Coventry and Solihull have changed the political balance for the project, with the Conservatives losing control of both councils. I'm encouraged by public statements from the new Labour leader of Coventry City Council, which suggest that he is looking again critically at this project. I am also very hopeful that the ...
Commenters may wish to dig around on this one. Just how precise a correlation is there between media supporters of the illegal invasion of Iraq, and media supporters of the illegal attack on the Gaza convoy? Take both old and new media into account. I think you will find the correlation is approaching 100% - and is a much higher correlation in the media than among politicians. Now how do you explain this? Discuss
I have a confession to make. I've been regularly consuming alcohol since I was probably 9 years old. And I don't think it's done me any harm at all. I'm not sure exactly when this started, but I'm guessing around 1976. Every Sunday we had a proper Sunday dinner and my dad opened a bottle of decent red wine. Every Sunday I had a small glass of this decent red wine. I still think that this was a factor in me never really having a great desire to get drunk in my teens. The only really costly effect is that ...
Plaid Cymru Assembly Member, Dai Lloyd graces the pages of today's South Wales Evening Post (yes, I know it is the morning -don't ask) criticising Councils in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire for their expenditure on chauffeur-driven cars. The cost of this method of transport for all three Councils is more than £120,000, with Neath Port Talbot spending £101,465, a figure that includes chauffeur costs. Swansea is paying out just under £12,000, whilst Carmarthenshire's bill is £12,328. Neither of these last two figures include staff however. Dai has a valid point. In these stringent times all local Councils need ...
According to the test in The Daily Mail today I am! Have a guess which 3 I said yes to to qualify. Hattip @TimMontgomerie via Dizzy Thinks
I am now a parent! went to the registry office a couple of days ago. through the layers of red tape that bring a baby into the world. A painless procedure. Although we needed to lash out 3.50 for a copy of the certificate. Apparently the price goes up to 7 quid the next day. Is that an illegal price racket?
On Saturday the 5th there will be another drop-in session at Gorton Market, 12 'till 1. All welcome, we'll be in the seated area in the middle of the market, so any problems, or even if you just want to chat, do come along.
What does icon in bottom right mean + how is it set? http://flic.kr/p/85ExQG # @JoshFeldberg Nope. Or at least not the alarm you set with "Set alarm" in reply to JoshFeldberg # Cable backing Hughes for Deputy Leader shows how meaningless the "Orange Book" label is in understanding Lib Dem politics # @chrisjw133 Yup - which shows the point given he's backing Hughes in reply to chrisjw133 # Hughes claimed 25 backers. Farron lists Birtwistle, Campbell, Mullholland, Munt, Rogerson, Swales as supporters #libdemdeputy # Interesting move by The Independent to Disqus for commenting system - http://bit.ly/cMkDKZ Looks good so far ...
Ocassionally (mind you this is an extream rarity) the Daily Mail decides to forget about all those terrible terrible people who are going to take down the country, all those terrible foods that WILL give you cancer and generally just how our life is now worse than it use to be. Instead it actually comes out with ... Read more
Liberal Democrats are celebrating four by-election wins this week (two gains, two holds) in Newquay, South Oxfordshire and St Albans. [IMG: Cllr Dave Sleeman wins in Gannel ward, Newquay TC] Gannel ward, Newquay Town Council Lib Dem GAIN. LD Dave Sleeman 591 Con 405 Turnout 22.2% Cllr Dave Sleeman said, It's a great honour to have been elected to serve my home town. I will live up to my promise of being a voice for the people and bringing respect back to the streets of Newquay. Stephen Gilbert MP said, Dave has consistently championed the issues that matter to local ...
Residents in the Ashcroft road area of Gainsborough are being asked to comment on the plans to introduce new dog control orders on this land to try and curb the amount of dog fouling. The order is to: Ban dogs from the park at all times Fine any dog owner who is found to be in breach of the ban (currently up to £1,000) or a fixed penalty notice. The ban will not apply to support dogs, trained by a prescribed charity, accompanying people who are deaf, registered blind, or otherwise disable. You can fill the survey out online at ...
WALES' first ever Blog Awards has been launched today, to mark the growing number of bloggers in Wales. The event aims to award those writing creative and interesting blogs on a range of subjects including politics, fashion and their local community. Bloggers are able to enter their own work or nominate the blogs they enjoy reading. The categories include: - Best Welsh Language Blog - Best Writing on a Blog - Best Political Blog - Best Community Blog - Best Lifestyle Blog - Best Technology Blog - Best Sports Blog There will also be an overall award for the Best ...
Liberal/Liberal Democrat veterans such as myself have always supposed that if only the media would take some notice of us then the electorate would be so impressed by our "oh so beautiful" policies that they would flock to us in their millions and we should be swept into power. For a brief period towards the end of the February 1974 campaign the media did take notice of us and there was even speculation as to who would be in the Liberal cabinet (no talk of the half-way house coalitions in those high and far-off times), but the surge came too ...
There are many comments that could be said about Kelvin MacKenzie on question time but I shall choose to stick to my area of best knowledge and just mention a few other the interesting comments he made about christianity on BBC Question Time tonight. Firstly Kelvin came out with the interesting statement that if there ... Read more
We all take Journey's, some of them are so short we don't even noticed, like the walk down to the local shop to buy a newspaper and some essential snacks whilst you're at it (only to discover that you don't have enough money for both...and realise that you can see most of the newspaper online...) ... Read more
Following the election of Cllr Jenny Chapman to be the new Labour MP for Darlington, a by-election has been called to fill the vacancy caused by her resignation as councillor for Cockerton West ward. The by-election will be held on July 8th.This is only the second by-election to be held during the current four year term of this Council, which is now in its final year. It will be interesting to
The Free Gaza movement has just announced that they are sending their ship, the Rachel Corrie, to a port to have a check up in view of apparent Israeli sabotage of some other freedom flotilla ships even ahead of the murderous attacks. So we are going to make sure the Rachel Corrie is well protected and that Israel is put on notice that anything that happens to her, the passengers and the crew will rest with Israel. As a result of these threats, we're going to pull Rachel Corrie into a port, add more high-profile people on board, and insist ...
There are many professionals who will now be considering the causes of the Cumbrian murders. They will look for causes and methods to prevent further occurences. I gave a rather simplistic answer yesterday. If I thought that the spokesperson for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation was correct (if these were the only reasons not to ban guns) in justifying the continued private ownership of guns, then I would ban them immediately. I am generally against banning things but I would make the banning of guns an exception if I thought it was possible. An alternative view to the ...
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... Debate: The Internet and Democracy by/at: FORA.tv - Program Feed 'War on drugs' behind endless misery by/at: Transform Drug Policy Foundation Blog This isn't localism by/at: The Real Blog Doing God's Work at Goldman by/at: The Distributist Review Guns, Guns, Guns by/at: The Charlotte Gore Blog Lembit Öpik's standup debut - a star is ...
