Last week, when we got the papers and the advance copy of the tabled questions, it looked like Full Council was going to be a relatively low key affair finished by 4pm. It didn't go like that at all. Questions didn't go as planned because a number of people were missing – if either questionner or questionee is missing, the question is deferred and answered in writing, and that happened to two interesting ones. The Conservative chair of the Wilford and Clifton area committee wasn't present to talk about his views of the A453 widening scheme threatened by government cuts; ...
I'm delighted to see that Harvey's is re-opening. The bar and bistro in Church Street has been closed a for a number of months. It is a prime position in the middle of town and having it closed is not great for our image or the prosperity of other businesses. According to posters in the windows, the bar will re-open on the 23rd and the bistro the next day.
They were busy building the stage for Othello at Ludlow Castle today. It made things difficult for anyone trying to view the ruins, but I have fond memories of seeing both Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream here. Cathy Tyson arrived on her bicycle to play Titania - as fresh and wholesome as Felicity Kendall.
View Poll: #1579413 Current FIFA rankings: Argentina 7th, France 9th, Greece 13th, Mexico 17th, Nigeria 21st, South Korea 47th. Congrats to brookedavis93 and scott_lynch for forecasting today's results - very few people thought Switzerland could do it, certainly the most surprising result so far (at least going by the series of polls I have been posting).
Yesterday I drove along a road I drive along every day and I saw something out of place. It would not be unlike me for that to have been the case for weeks and I'd not noticed it. I am not, after all, the most observant person on this planet. I checked, though, and it seems that it was replaced very recently. You know that I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to spelling and punctuation, but even the most laid back of people would insist on getting the education stories and the headlines right. Or signposts. ...
I was intending to write a slightly more in-depth post about my assessment of the candidates based on last night's Newsnight, but real paying work put paid to all that. Instead, a short summary... Andy Burnham Why was he there? Believe it or not, Andy is actually the biggest "no change" candidate there is. Offered ...
I bought this three years ago, ages before I had my plan of reading Gibbon from start to finish, but at a time when I had vague thoughts of another project which in the end I gave up on before I started - reading books by winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature. One of the reasons I gave up, of course, was that in its earliest phase the prize often went to worthy but unexciting writers. The second laureate, after French poet Sully Prudhomme, was German historian Theodor Mommsen, and his History of Rome was particularly cited by the ...
The Fink singles out Dawn Primarolo as a candidate for Labour's worst minister. I can think of a few contenders for that title. Maybe we should have a vote...Alex Massie on how Obama's pragmatism is his strength and also his weakness.Emma Burnell writes about what socialism means to her.John Stossell suggests that despite claims to the contrary, "The War on Drugs" is far from over. In fact if anything the latest "crackdowns" by the Obama administration show the "War" is very much alive and kicking. Wednesday bonus is coverage of how senior BP management dealt with a recent coffee spill ...
Newton Emerson's satirical online newsletter brightened up the early Noughties in Northern Irish politics (previously celebrated on this blog here, here and here). It irritated the heck out of some, to the point that the Andersonstown News, that bastion of free speech and unbiased enquiry, got him sacked from his job for updating his website at work. The book basically pulls together, somewhat edited, his articles from March 2001 to 2004, a period of political stagnation; it's all somewhat dated now, and his casual sexism was not even funny then, but his sæva indignatio at the sectarianism and hypocrisy of ...
Fair play to Theresa May. I had my doubts when she was initially appointed as Home Secretary but she has wasted little time in starting to address one of the most egregious pieces of legislation brought in by the previous government, that of the Vetting and Barring scheme. I have blogged at length about the scheme previously (see here, here and here for examples) and I am not going to go over old ground too much. Suffice to say it's horribly authoritarian and in its current form is likely to massively undermine community cohesion and foster suspicion and fear as ...
What is it with the Labour Party? You can lead the country into an illegal war which is opposed by millions and when you eventually stand down, you get a standing ovation in the House of Commons. You can send troops into battle without the correct equipment and not resign from the Government for your incompetence. You can preside over the creation of a benefits system which is not fit for purpose and widens the gap between rich and poor and not resign from the Government. You can create an over complicated tax credit system which causes misery for millions ...
The British and Irish media are full of the Bloody Sunday report, and justifiably so. We have witnessed the extraordinary sight of a Conservative Prime Minister standing at the despatch box and admitting that British soldiers killed 13 unarmed civilians in Derry on 30 January 1972. I haven't had a chance to read more than the summary and skim one chapter of Lord Saville's report, but it is thorough and forensic: the Paras shot without justification, and lied thoroughly, and had the full backing of the state. The House of Commons was the setting for the statement yesterday. It was ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice Prime Minister's Questions today was preceded by Scottish Questions, with our man in the chair. So we had a real bonus today, LibbyDemmy Chaps and Chapesses ! Nick Clegg on Cameron's right and the large granite-like figure of Michael Moore on the left. For it was indeed he - as voted "Most Handsome LibDem MP 1997 -2004" or "1997 - present day" for some, I'm told. Pass the smelling salts - the intoxication of power is overcoming me! Talking of people on the front bench behind Cameron, they ought to realise that the camera picks ...
The phrase isn't mine. In Cabinet this morning the Deputy Leader of the county council used it at least three times as a prelude to dire warnings about the effects that they claim government spending cuts will have in County Durham. It's a rather less than subtle approach to attacking the coalition government. Don't get me wrong. Of course cuts are going to have some damaging effects, and there will no doubt be occasions when each one of us bitterly regrets those effects. But of course, overspending also has damaging long term effects - as anyone who has ever run ...
[IMG: Nick Clegg in Madrid] Photo credit: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, www.ukinspain.fco.gov.uk Giles Paxman, British ambassador to Spain, has blogged about Nick Clegg's visit to Spain last week. While emphasising Britain's interest in the Eurozone's economic success, the Deputy Prime Minister showed he's economising too: The top priority, obviously, is tackling the problems with our public finances. Nick Clegg made the point strongly, in his long meeting with Prime Minister Zapatero and his speech to a packed audience of top Spanish movers and shakers, that this was a duty that we owe to future generations and that there is nothing ...
Our outgoing Ambassador to Peru came to lunch with me at the House and we had a useful chat about the current situation there, also about his last posting, Colombia. We have a debate coming up on Latin America next week, so it was timely. Then to the Foreign Office for a meeting with Alastair Burt MP, the Minister who deals with Pakistan, to discuss the recent atrocities in Lahore against the Ahmadiyya Muslim community - first at the Friday prayers in their principal mosques, where 86 Ahmadis were killed, and then at the hospital where the injured were being ...
Prime Minister's Questions today was preceded by Scottish Questions, with our man in the chair. So we had a real bonus today, LibDemmy Chaps and Chapesses ! Nick Clegg on Cameron's right and the large granite-like figure of Michael Moore on the left. For it was indeed he - "Most Handsome LibDem MP 1997 -2004" or "1997 - present day" for some, I'm told. Pass the smelling salts - the intoxication of power is overcoming me! Talking of people on the front bench behind Cameron, they ought to realise that the camera picks them up. They seem to think if ...
[IMG: Friends of Platt Fields Logo] This just in from the hardworking volunteers at Friends of Platt Fields: OUR MIDSUMMER STRAWBERRY AND CREAM TEA PARTY THIS SATURDAY 19TH JUNE On the lawns in front of Platt Hall, in Platt Fields. There will be lots of Victorian games and activities (stick and hoop, jacks, croquet, hopscotch, egg and spoon races, giant chess and draughts, three-legged races, sackraces), along with a few more modern ones - giant jenga, spacehoppers, and traditional floor mazes ... a Victorian juggling show, try your hand at hulahooping, strawberries and cream tea, lemonade, cucumber sandwiches etc! Also ...
The latest "House of Comments" podcast with myself and Stuart Sharpe of the Sharpe's Opinion political blog is now live. The 30th episode which we recorded on Tuesday 15th June is available to download raw mp3 file here or you can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes 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 by Tory Rascal and Matt Wardman of The Wardman Wire. We discussed the Saville report into Bloody Sunday and the political reaction, the ...
It seems that buildings are falling down all over Salford. If the council aren't tearing them down in the name of "regeneration" then council-owned buildings are falling down, due to poor maintenance (or lack thereof). Case in point, a row of shops on Liverpool Street in Langworthy (adjacent to Seedley Primary School). The shops have been vacant for many years and the council has been unable to let them, latterly because they have been uninhabitable. The picture above (taken courtesy of Google Streetview) is by my reckoning at least a couple of years old, and you can see how bad ...
Today we heard evidence from Jack Allen Holdings' two witnesses. This included cross examination. Much of what they said revolved around the actual effect of a waste plant on the housing market and what evidence existed. There was a lot said about the likely sale and use of Dingle Bank for housing. I was concerned, and affronted if I am honest, at the witness who seemed to believe that perceptions and feelings counted for very little if not nothing. Demanding hard evidence is all very well but we all know that there are things in life, including things in the ...
A few weeks ago, I was clicking through a few links and reading about the latest additions to DC comics' spectacular racefail that they're calling Brightest Day. I'm not reading that, and whatever I'd have to say has been said much better by other people. What did strike me, though, was when the conversation turned to characters with learning impairments and someone brought up Cassandra Cain as possibly maybe autistic. It was a week old comment even then, so I refrained from reviving the comment thread, but it, and other such comments I've seen in the past. is still bugging ...
The University of Creative Arts, no I'd not heard of it either, it's the university that specialises in creativity and straddles Kent and Surrey and is to award an honorary degree to local hero Bob Geldof. According to the BBC's report on the matter Dianne Taylor, Pro Vice-Chancellor at the university, has said: "As a broadcaster and musician, Bob Geldof's contribution to the creative arts has been substantial. "He will be an inspiration to our graduating students." She added: "As a Kent resident he has been tireless in promoting education in the local area, opening schools and supporting local campaigns." ...
News just in from north of the border: Labour MSP Frank McAveety has resigned after being caught making a few casual remarks about the attractiveness of a (presumably) young woman. The BBC has the story. A friend linked me this earlier in the day and my initial reaction was "pffft, what a load of nonsense about nothing." At that point the "load of nonsense" consisted of a few blog posts, and the SNP sanctimoniously demanding a resignation. But now the storm has spiralled out of the teacup. It is actual news, and he has actually quit. What exactly has he ...
The Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) — on whose Board I sit — held a reception in the Jubilee Room of the House of Commons this lunchtime to introduce itelf to newly elected MPs. Amongst the speeches was a short address from the ubiquitous and urbane Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, the ...
I was pleased to receive an update today from Emilio Places-Rey about the West End Boys' Amateur Boxing Club - they have just met with the BBC again who are going to be filming at the club in the near future. Here's a couple of photographs from their most recent training session - below. It is good to see the club going from strength to strength.
The highly esteemed Lord Bonkers of this parish (whom y'all should be reading, for he is wise and good and shares my fandoms) will recall that his musical hero Mr Winwood once recorded a track called "(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired" on, IIRC, the Shootout at the Fantasy Factory LP, and right now I can see exactly where Stev(i)e was coming from. I've no idea whether it's down to the torpor-inducing heat or the general lack of newsworthy news but it seems it's not just me that's been slow to update. Certainly, there has been little to enthuse me from ...
This is the response that my recent freedom of information request regarding the number of people who had been fined for BBQing on Woodhouse Moor. The answer is none. So to get this right Leeds City Council is spending £26,000 for a golf buggy to drive round Woodhouse Moor with two park wardens doing what exactly?!
At the weekend Liberty held its AGM. Jo Shaw was there... We are, as our esteemed director, Shami Chakrabarti said on Saturday "a gobby lot". In that, the Liberty membership share much in common with the membership of the Lib Dems. Both share a tradition of being unwilling to shut up, of asking difficult questions and not necessarily toeing the line which might be expected or helpful for the leadership. Liberty was formed 76 years ago in response to police brutality against protestors against hunger and unemployment. Police tactics at demonstrations and the politics of dissent are currently high in ...
I am delighted to confirm that your Liberal Democrat team have now secured funding to plant eight replacement trees on Brocklebank Road. These trees will be planted at the beginning of this years planting season rather than immediately. The decision to plant the trees at the end of November or beginning of December will mean the trees planted have the greatest chance of establishing themselves and are least likely to need removal and replanting. This action follows contacts made by residents on Brocklebank Road contacting your Lib Dem team with concerns regarding the proposed removal of 8 trees along Brocklebank ...
This "cuts" malarkey is doing my achilles no good at all. The more hyperbole comes from both sides over the dangers of cutting or the dangers of not cutting, the more I seem to limp. By the time the budget happens next week, I'll be slithering along the ground like the treacherous snake I am no doubt perceived as by some Labour supporters. I'm finding it odd being a Lib Dem at the moment. On the one hand I suspect I wince a lot more than a lot of Conservatives do about cutting public services, but at the same time ...
So apologies to those of you who may find this post a bit parochial but I think that the issues raised in Leeds regarding coalition negotiations really are fascinating and could have national relevance very soon. Leeds really has had a fascinating few years politically. Six years ago, after many years of Labour rule, a coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats took over the council with support from the Green Party and the Morley Borough Independents. They year after, in 2005, the Liberal Democrats took Leeds North West from Labour leaving 7 Labour MPs and one Lib Dem MP in ...
A thought-provoking piece from Steven Pinker in the New York Times: NEW forms of media have always caused moral panics: the printing press, newspapers, paperbacks and television were all once denounced as threats to their consumers' brainpower and moral fiber. So too with electronic technologies. PowerPoint, we're told, is reducing discourse to bullet points. Search engines lower our intelligence, encouraging us to skim on the surface of knowledge rather than dive to its depths. Twitter is shrinking our attention spans. But such panics often fail basic reality checks. When comic books were accused of turning juveniles into delinquents in the ...
Very interesting take on the code of US journalism. Its a bit different for the UK where the newspaper market is far more competitive - and hence the editorial offers far more differentiated - than the US. What were traditionally city monopolies in US newspapers (just thinks of the names of the key US papers: the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times...) required a more balanced (arguably read "dry") approach to the world. But the underlying ethos of the US journalist (think Watergate) remains the ideal for many.
Last night I attended the final event in the Prestwich Concert Series organised by Philip White at St.Mary's Church. Over the past weeks there have been 9 events featuring a wide spectrum of music and 80 performers and it was particularly pleasing to hear that a new series is being planned for the autumn. Last nights final concert was an organ recital by Andrew Cundliffe-Jones and featured a variety of music - compositions for the organ and also adaptations. Now, I don't pretend to be an organ music expert or enthusiast, but I love live music and will listen to ...
The following data is from MORI's aggregate polling 6 April – 6 May and shows how levels of Liberal Democrat support and turnout varied across different age groups: [IMG: MORI election data graph] This problem isn't new to the 2010 general election, though the pattern was less neat in 2005. It does raise an interesting question for the party's get out the vote efforts though, both in terms of technology and targeting. Some places have made very successful use of technology such as text messaging to remind people to vote, but generally there is very patchy take-up of these sorts ...
An article in Third Sector, based on research by Legacy Foresight, illustrates just how closely related is the growth of the economy to the value of legacy donations received by charities: The figures show that the value of legacy donations fell by 1.2 per cent in the 12 months to March 2010, the smallest year-on-year decline since the start of 2009. The 42 charities that are members of the legacy monitor research programme consortium received total legacy income of £883m in the year to March 2010. This was £11m down on the same period last year and £30m below the ...
The headlines mine, the press release that follows is 100% genuine. ..Torbay.. Council PR 2735 15/06/2010 [For Immediate Release] Unique development opportunity in the New English Riviera Torb...
There is a peculiar symmetry about the Bloody Sunday inquiry into the killing by soldiers of unarmed demonstrators concluding just as the Israeli inquiry into the shooting of unarmed peace activists is set up. But there is another fascinating common factor - David Trimble. Trimble opposed the Bloody Sunday inquiry from the start. This from the BBC in 1998: But the Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, dismissed Mr Blair's hope that an inquiry could be part of the healing process in Northern Ireland. "Opening old wounds like this is likely to do more harm than good," Mr Trimble said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/51740.stm ...
When the Coalition announces its Emergency Budget next week, attention will rightly focus on the Government's plans to cut the deficit. But the Budget will also be a chance to set out an agenda for a more competitive economy and more productive private sector. With the Office of Budget Responsibility's revised projections suggesting the UK's trend rate of growth will be slower than was hoped for this Parliament, it is now more important than ever before to improve the UK's business environment. Even while running up huge debts, the last Government felt it necessary to set out an ambitious active ...
Crossposted from the Social Liberal Forum social network. The deadline for autumn conference motions is looming (30 June to be precise), so we don't have much time. But what should the Social Liberal Forum be championing to get onto the agenda? Here are some ideas: Secondary education – academies and free schools in particular – appears to be a simmering issue (see John Howson's article on the SLF website). Should we push for ensuring that the academies system is brought under greater local control and scrutiny? What else? Higher education: tuitions fees is clearly a big issue. Is there a ...
This morning the Council's Parking Policy Panel was discussing how the different towns in Cornwall should be grouped for car parking purposes. We were not allowed to talk about charging at this stage, but about making sure that similar places are treated the same. I am not a member of the panel, but went along to argue the case for Launceston being treated in a manner that reflects the problems faced by local businesses and residents. The proposal before the panel was to treat Launceston on the same basis as St Austell - Cornwall's biggest single town. I argued against ...
North East Liberal Democrats' regional conference was held on Saturday 12th June at Gateshead Civic Centre. John Shipley, Leader of Newcastle City Council and about to become a member of the House of Lords, was the first speaker. Here is his speech:A few photos of the conference:Above and below, John Shipley addressing conferencePeter Freitag (former North East Regional President), John Shipley
Running Canada a close second as the current country of choice to look at for deficit cutting lessons is Sweden. As I previously looked at the Canadian experience, now it's the turn of Sweden. The think tank Bruegel has published a pamphlet from Jens Henriksson about the Swedish experience of turning a budget deficit of over 11% of GDP into a surplus. He was a policy adviser to the Swedish government during this period. The pamphlet spreads over more than 40 pages, though politically the most important point is made by him right at the start: [This] is not a ...
The link is to an Irish article refering to what happened in New South Wales in Australia where the same mistake as being made in England was made.Having more and more references to Child Protection services does not make children safer. All it does is to overwhelm the system.
Monday evening, attended the Abbott Award presentation by Mr Speaker. I'm one of the judges for the award, which is presented to a journalist who has upheld the principle of freedom of expression in a dangerous environment. This year the award was to have been given to a Somali journalist, the BBC correspondent in Mogadishu, but he was refused a visa by the UKBA. The reason I was told, at second hand, was that he hadn't submitted payslips showing his earnings from the BBC with his application for a visa. We must establish an agreed protocol for ensuring that in ...
So now we get our annual controversy about whether or not Nick Griffin should be invited to the Buckingham Palace Garden Party now that he is an elected Member of the European Parliament. My view on this is simple. If people don't want the Buckingham Palace Garden Party politicised then don't invite politicians to it. If you do invite politicians then it would be an extremely dangerous precedent for the palace to set if it didn't invite politicians because it disagreed with them. Our constitutional arrangement is shaky at best and if the monarchy starts openly expressing it's political preferences ...
A coalition of anti-trafficking groups has today come out and critised the UK's anti-trafficking procedures as being not fit for purpose! Their main criticism focuses on the fact that Victims of human trafficking are often themselves punished. Many officals involved have also shown a fundermental lack of understanding about the issues of human trafficking, often ...
Worried about the global economic crisis? Concerned for the Euro? Doubtful about European markets for British goods? Don't be! The French government has announced plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. The good news is that we can expect the French to accept these necessary measures and to eschew the demonstrations and violence which have so damaged Greece in the name of defending the rights of Greek trombonists. I am sure that the moderate French unions will accept these plans with a workmanlike common sense. It will doubtless be a reassurance to the thousands of British visitors ...
From the Council: Stockport Council's new civic building will be the first in the borough to meet the Changing Places requirements for fully accessible facilities. The Changing Places Consortium runs a campaign on behalf of people who cannot use standard accessible toilets, a figure which currently stands at 230,000 in the UK. This includes people with profound and multiple learning disabilities as well as other serious impairments, their carers and many other disabled people. The new facilities will provide enough space and equipment including height adjustable changing bench and hoists. The new building has been designed to be fully accessible ...
Wed 16th
09:20
Racism is still stopping Britain's ethnic minorities from entering the best-paid professions
So reports The Guardian: Racism is still stopping Britain's ethnic minorities from entering the best-paid professions despite them having a stronger work ethic and greater drive than white Britons, a report released tomorrow claims. The report, funded by the government and compiled by charity Business in the Community, whose president is Prince Charles, says too many ethnic minority Britons feel prestige jobs in the law, banking, media and politics are closed to them. It finds "blatant racism", including taunts about being terrorists, is still closing doors and warns that the government and business must take tougher action. For the study, ...
The annual statement of Allowances and Expenses paid to councillors by Sefton Council has just been published. The "official" statement is available on Sefton's website. We have also done some detailed analysis, and you can see that on our website Once again it shows that, on average, Conservative councillors were the highest paid on Sefton Council, with Liberal Democrats being the lowest paid. The average members allowances paid, by Party, in 2009/10 were: Conservative £15,930Labour £14,370Liberal Democrat £13,540 We covered this item last year when it was noted: The most interesting/surprising thing to me is that, on average, Conservative councillors ...
Last night Southport Lib Dem executive met. This was the first truly post election meeting and we spent no time dwelling on the results. Meeting have been held about that and lessons drawn and written down for future use. Last night we began working out how to take our campaigning forward. I find very little negative reaction to the coalition. There is a recognition that reducing the deficit is going to be hard and that aspects of it will be extremely difficult. I have already suggested that the future funding of long term social care needs speedy action and a ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, Peter Black is to stage a short debate in the Assembly today in support of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association UK and British Lung Foundation's campaign to end the restrictions and charges that airlines place on people with a lung condition. People with respiratory diseases such as Pulmonary Hypertension Chronic and Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) often require additional supplementary oxygen due to the low levels of oxygen in their blood. During his debate, Peter Black will outline how the policies set by airline companies, make it both expensive and difficult for people with this disability ...
Last Friday was the closing date to apply to be a Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly candidate for constituencies around Wales. I did not put my name into the hat. I took this decision after long and hard consideration. The Welsh Liberal Democrats came within 500 votes of winning Swansea West, within my region at the General Election. There is every possibility that they can build on that success and take this seat in 2011. However, there is no point in just swapping a regional Assembly Member for a constituency AM, which is what the system is designed to do. We ...
...Well it must be a close contender. Malahide, County Dublin. Photos taken at around 6am today. ...Did I mention I am in Ireland?
This morning's Western Mail carries a story about a farmer and a former magistrate who has been fined for trapping and shooting a badger which had dug up his garden, within the cull area. This underlines a particular danger with the Labour-Plaid Cymru government's cull, that people may consider that it is OK to take the killing of badgers into their own hands. It is not. They are a protected species and the legislation passed by the Assembly to implement the cull does not change that. It is absolutely wrong that there should be one law for individuals and another ...
I know I am in danger of repeating myself but really the date of the referendum on Assembly powers does not matter provided that it is held before the Assembly elections and that we do not confuse things by holding it on that day. The other consideration is that we get it right and that is why the failure of the previous Labour UK government and the present rules out an 2010 autumn poll. It is also why I welcome the announcement by the Secretary of State for Wales that she is now considering a referendum in the first quarter ...
Thanks to Guido for drawing my attention to this on the Smarkets betting market: Clearly punters think that Clegg is likely to pitch up in Birmingham in October and address the Conservative faithful. It would be an interesting move that I suspect would not go down well with some Lib Dems. The question is though is it the right thing for him to do? Paul Goodman on Con Home last month suggested it would be and may help to foster Conservative/Lib-Dem links of the type that exist in abundance between Labour/Lib-Dem. I think it would certainly be a way for ...
As the final days of the campaign drifted on, there was further canvassing, leafleting, school visits, racing round to rally troops, up early to catch commuters and so on. At this stage we noticed a disturbing trend - people who had considered voting for us were now drifting back to the two main parties. David Cameron had impressed in the last leaders' debate and the continual media attacks on us were hitting home. The big day arrived - and I got up at 4am for a 25 hour day. The defence of Murston remained our primary target. Roman was our ...
Tom Harris has been writing fairly extensively in recent weeks about the problems he and others have experienced with the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. On some issues, I agree with him - I really don't see why MPs should have to pay 15% of their constituency office phone bills. They should not have to subsidise their public service. Of course, it's the MPs who work hardest to serve their constituents who will end up paying out more in hard cash. It's a very silly rule, and I hope it changes. In his latest post, Tom gives some examples of ...
Every time there is a big job up for grabs the name of Sir Menzies Campbell finds its way into the newspapers. This time the job is High Commissioner to Australia and the Daily Mail suggests: A move for Sir Ming, 69, would remove a potentially tricky coalition critic and suit his wife Elspeth's social aspirations.
The Lowdham Book Festival began yesterday and runs until 1 July. The festival website says: After last year's enormous tenth Lowdham Book Festival we've slimmed down a little! But we hope there is still something for everyone, particularly on our last day when, as always, all events are free and there is a very large book fair and café. We have quite a few events outside the village, including our Bloomsbury Reading Groups Day in Hoveringham and a free concert at Southwell Minster. I shall be speaking about blogging at the festival as part of a panel from Leicester Writers ...
The rock show is back fortnightly from this Friday between 9pm and 11pm on Riviera.fm. You can tune in via http://www.riviera.fm - expect some classic rock, prog rock, blues, punk and even a little r...
I've been a wee bit busy myself to actually look into the Saville report in depth. I have the Independent to gorge on later with 10 pages of coverage. However, overall it does appear to have cleared up 38 years of lies and the injustice that the Widgery report laid on the victims and their families. Alliance Party Justice Spokesperson* Stephen Farry MLA issued the following statement: "The party welcomes the outcome and conclusions of the Saville Inquiry. While the detail of the report will require serious scrutiny it is clear that this report confirms what has been understood for ...
Just to let those of you in Colchester know, the next meeting of the Castle Neighbourhood Action Panel will be on Wednesday 23rd June, starting at 1pm in the Town Hall. Any residents can come along and raise issues that they want the NAP to deal with, or if you can't make it to the meeting, ...
A roof repair programme for parts of City Road, Tullideph Road and Tullideph Place starts on Monday (21st June), with work on Tullideph Road starting first, City Road second and concluding with Tullideph Place. The programme should complete by September. The Housing Department has written to tenants with full details and I am also happy to speak with any tenant who may have any questions about the forthcoming work.
View Poll: #1579136 Current FIFA rankings: getawaywithit and hotaruanne for calling all three of yesterday's matches. Congratulations even more to Ji Yun-Nam and Winston Reid for their last-minute goals yesterday!
Well I've watched Obama's Oval Office speech. I still don't really understand why he elevated the Gulf oil spill to such an august height – a national presidential address. The only way I can rationalise it, is that the mid-term elections are coming up, so he'd better do something. His approval ratings aren't going down, by the way, whatever lazy references are made by some. And, OK, Obama certainly gave the appearance of someone in charge (although why he wants people to see him as the person in charge of such a debacle is questionable) and who knows what needs ...
Yesterday, I attended a talk on the theme of our natural resource legacy by economist Paul Collier. He questioned the ethics of depleting resources in order to produce other goods- "our children's children are unlikely to be impressed when we offer them computer games instead of fish stocks" he mused. He even managed to work in a good natured dig at Goldman, which made me think about another of our legacies: the UK's economic environment. Now, we all know everyone hates bankers at the moment. Allister Heath reminds us that Osborne will use tonight's Mansion House address to indulge in ...
Have some fresh squeezings from the veins of the internet:Beer List for our Beer Festival at work. It's world cup themed, and most of the beers have some football-inspired pun for their name. We are also doing world cup cocktails and various other things. The festival runs from Thursday to Sunday of this week, and you're all welcome. Science Tarot cards. The art is not to my taste, but the concept and the design is great. Chris Huhne launched Wind Week today. You can make up your own jokes. Marriage has little effect on child development. Of course, some of ...
Hopefully, once he's spoken, we'll find out the logic of his decision to use an Oval Office address tonight, for the first time in his presidency, to talk about the BP oil spill. At the moment, however, I do wonder whether Obama has flipped his lid. Will this go down as an insane moment, rather like when Carter lectured the US about energy in the 70s? At the very least, he will, after his address, one suspects, be the proud owner of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill problem. BP, sort of, owned it up til now. But once Obama ...
I don't know if you are caught up in world cup fever but I have been watching matches whenever I can. Fortunately this meant that I only saw the first half of England against the USA. I enjoy watching the matches but I can't find the enthusiasm to jump up and down or do any chanting. However it is a fine thing if you can be enthusiastic about any sport or hobby. If you are delighted when a piece of leather hits a net then your life is the richer for it. I know there is a negative aspect to ...
Saturday: For starters: Big Fluffy Hugs and Thank Yous to Mr Chris and Mr Joe (and Auntie Jennie) for mentioning my diary on their Eleventh Hour Podcast show. We've downloaded ALL your shows, now! The only question is: can Daddy listen to them all before the Pandorica Opens? ('Cos after that... ominous pause... SILENCE WILL FALL... Oooh!) Before that though, there seems to be a lot of FOOTBALL* about. Elephants, obviously, have NO INTEREST in football so we're watching Dr Woo... What? This? Sigh. OK... elephants, obviously, are BEST at football, but IN SPITE of that we're watching Dr Woo ...
