OK slightly different post for all the pals on Twitter that have asked! I cooked a little recipe called Dutch Chicken tonight for which I am somewhat famous amongst my American chums in Oklahoma. I cooked this when i went to the states last year and served it for 4th July. It was really popular ...
I've shared a few of my thoughts on the match with people and so I thought I'd share them on my blog. Firstly there was the psychological issues that were facing all the players. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory obviously affected all the players and the disappointing end to the USA match had clearly made all the ...
Andrew Stunnel MP for Hazelgrove, gave a speech last night to the North-West Liberal Democrats Regional Dinner. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government said of the Liberal Democrat-Conservative Government, "the coalition document is the greenest and most libertarian program for Government ever" and went on to express his opinion that "just eight weeks ago, we couldn't imagine the situation we face now". Addressing the cuts in public spending, Mr Stunnell said, "imagine you have a family in your constituency, and they earn £300 per week, but they spend £400 per week and put ...
The next Forest Hill ward assembly is going to be held tomorrow (Monday 21st June) at Sydenham School, Dartmouth Road (in Forest Hill ward). It's your opportunity to help review how the projects to acheive last term's priorities have been going, and to talk about those priorities themselves. Be there at 7pm for a 7:30pm ...
View Poll: #1581043 Current FIFA rankings: madam_raven, hotaruanne, taversham and lauchis all got three out of three.
This morning was a very special morning for the parishioners of St Mary & St Romuald in Yarm. For 150 years there has been a church on that site, a place for the Catholics of the area to gather in worship and community. Today the Bishop came to celebrate and Mass was followed by coffee and cake in the Parish Hall. People who don't usually linger stayed and chatted, news was exchanged, children
Crossposted from Quaequam Blog! As the implications of what it appears that the coalition is about to do in the upcoming budget sinks in, I have to admit to growing increasingly concerned. No-one – outside of the Labour leadership contest anyway – denies that the structural deficit needs to be tackled or that we don't face some unpleasant spending cuts over the next few years. But I'm mystified by the economic strategy behind what the government apparently has planned. If the government does have a game plan, thus far it has not been spelled out. Nick Clegg's speech on Monday ...
As the implications of what it appears that the coalition is about to do in the upcoming budget sinks in, I have to admit to growing increasingly concerned. No-one – outside of the Labour leadership contest anyway – denies that the structural deficit needs to be tackled or that we don't face some unpleasant ...
Statewatch has a 30-page analysis - "Rolling back the authoritarian state? An analysis of the coalition government's commitment to civil liberties" - by Max Rowlands (pdf file). His conclusion: Many of their commitments on civil liberties are to be commended, but often the wording is vague and open to interpretation and some pressing issues have been ignored completely. The devil will lie in the detail of the new Freedom Bill. It is to be hoped that the Lib Dems remain resolute during the drafting process and refuse to compromise their convictions in order to secure concessions in other areas of ...
Although it's in Manchester, not Stockport, I've received a letter from Rank Group proposing a new casino on the site of the old bingo hall at Parrs Wood. I've scanned in the letter so click on the thumbnail images below to see it in full. You'll see there are four public consultation sessions in July with Rank Group proposing to submit a planning application in August. [IMG: Casino letter page 1] [IMG: Casino letter page 2]
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 174th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (13th – 19th June, 2010), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Tory ...
By John Howson Plans for so-called 'free schools' announced by the Secretary of State recognise the need to improve the education for all pupils; harnessing the enthusiasm of new groups offers the chance to widen community involvement in education. But, like a 1960s child of the flower power revolution, Mr Gove seems more intent on letting a 1,000 flowers bloom than on ensuring a school system fit for purpose and offering value for money in a time of austerity. Schools in England have always been run by a diverse group of bodies ranging from faith groups to livery companies. Letting ...
I am having a rather childish giggle at the blind faith and the stubborn attitude of a Christian Nazi (U.S of course) who blights a tweet hash on atheism. I pointed out to him in my usual polite manner (looks around to see if anyone is looking over my shoulder) the following: How do you reconcile your obvious Nazism with your 'faith'? Jesus,if he existed wouldn't have been white, would he? The reply was; The Bible is infallible. My bible has a picture of a white Jesus in it.To which I retorted with; I have a picture of Humpty Dumpty ...
I do wonder when I read this blog post from Prezza - John Prescott. He uses the word "collaborators" to describe Labour people advising the government, as if he is talking about traitors of the country in a war. He says of Kate Hoey, Frank Field and John Hutton: I would ask if they can live with their conscience but I'd question whether they even had one to begin with. -Strong stuff. There seem to be some people in the Labour party who are so tribal, they cannot possibly understand the interests of our country as a separate concern, not ...
River Song used hallucinogenic lipstick twice in last night's Doctor Who episode - once to get out of Space Nick and the other to convince the Romans who weren't really Romans that she was Cleopatra. In the interests of frivolity, what would you do if you had some? And if that isn't enough fun for one day, my friend Naome gave out the impossible dilemma on Twitter the other day. Shag, marry, chuck off a cliff: David Tennant, Matt Smith, Chris Eccleston?? I mean, that's really not fair. For me it was Dave over the cliff, despite the fact that ...
I had a look at The People in the newsagent today. I felt the urge to wash my hands afterwards. The front page is here "YES...YES...YES MINISTER!" – goes the headline. P-ul-lease! "The story they all wanted...the picture they all wanted". Who are "they" precisely? I'd love to know. Are people – as opposed to People – really interested in this? "We catch dad-of-5 Huhne & mistress" they say, ostentatiously salivating. Presumably that line is intended to encourage readers to buy the paper and open to find some sort of revealing photo of the couple. Really? And of course, on ...
The first-ever WestFest was launched this afternoon with a host of events at Balgay Hill and Victoria Park. You can download the calendar on the WestFest website or find out more information by calling into the new WestFest shop in Perth Road.
The Edge Of Destruction Writer: David Whittaker Directors: Richard Martin and Frank Cox DVD Availability: As Disc 3 of The Beginnings Box Set (Buy from Amazon) Other Availability – legally viewable on YouTube for those with Flash – episode 1, episode 2 A review I read of last night's Doctor Who (which I've not yet ...
This afternoon, I had the pleasure of addressing the AGM of River Crescent Residents' Association in the Botanic Garden's Glass Classroom. It was a very well-attended meeting and good views of the garden from the glass classroom (see right) but very warm on such a lovely day!
The 25th Chipping Sodbury Festival ended today with a range of activities. Statistics of the day: 60 cyclists in the Bike Rides10 duck races in Jubilee Park120 doughnuts eaten (cycling and duck racing makes you hungry)A big thank you to the Festival Committee and all the volunteers who give up so much of their time to make the Festival so successful. The Wildlife Trust Duck Races in full swing (Apparently plastic ducks go faster if you shout at them)
Kavita Mohan has been selected as the new Liberal Democrat candidate for this election. If you can help then please contact the campaign team via ian.morton@wycombelibdems.org.uk Kavita Mohan says "I am delighted to have been selected as a candidate in this election and I am looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible over the next few weeks. I feel in light of a new era of politics I can offer a different candidate, one who is hard working and determined to serve their local community and fight for the causes that are important to the residents'. Being ...
I have got a third of the way through this and still don't know what is going on, and have forgotten who the characters are, despite having read the two previous books in the series, so I'm putting it away.
When the Conservative and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government, I speculated that we might be seeing something like a Whig government. Since then the dominating narrative has been spending cuts. There are voices from the Labour party and academia that are warning that cutting too early will damage the recovery, while the Government has remained steadfast in its commitment to deal with the structural deficit as quickly as possible. It is important to get this policy right. Not being an economist, I leave it to others to argue the merits of when to cut and by how much. As ...
People rather like to be able to blame someone else for the hard choices. Speaking to that angry customer at work, isn't it so much easier to blame management or "the rules" for not giving her a refund. Isn't it so much harder – and less pleasant – to explain to her that you've made the decision to deny her request and you could have decided otherwise, even though you'd rather like having that power. Politicians are no different. We want to have the power, but it doesn't hurt if someone else can take the blame for those unpopular choices. ...
Sometimes, when I think about technology I feel like I have lived through more than one lifetime. Let me see if I can explain what I mean. I am 35 years old and computers entered my life when I was 9 years old. I was given a ZX Spectrum by my parents for Christmas in 1983 nearly 27 years ago. I loved that computer and cut my gaming and programming teeth on it. I still look back on those days with a smile. I also now struggle to remember a time when computers were not an integral part of my ...
The third season of 30 Rock sees Tina Fey and the excellent cast get into their comedic stride. Not that seasons one and two weren't funny. It is just that by season three it is clear they are confident enough to play around with the characters and conventions they have set up. The show also boasts some fantastic guests playing parts or themselves. Alec Baldwin has probably never been better but like the first two seasons, it is Fey who is the star. She is a superb physical comic and has the ability to deliver wonderful one-liners with ease. The ...
Just for full clarity on something. From now on, when I post about books, DVDs or whatever, I'll be adding a text-only Amazon affiliate link. This is just because I'm skint and have a bunch of domain renewals all coming up at the same time (this one and the two for the National Pep, which ...
I rated the previous volume in this series last in my Hugo voting last year, as did the voters, despite it being the only nominee that was made available to all as part of the Hugo voters package. This year all five nominees are available, though I'd already bought hard copies of the three that have been published in dead-tree format, and I am still putting Schlock Mercenary last. Longshoreman of the Apocalypse made slightly more sense than The Body Politic, but that's not saying much, and I still found it not very funny; I guess I know too much ...
I've finally caught up with the current run of Big Finish audio plays, and have resolved that in future I'm going to do them individually as I listen to them, as I do with books. In the past I had been writing them up in groups, as much as anything so as not to spam readers who were less interested in Doctor Who; but I think that those who were bored by that sort have thing have already stopped reading me, so I am going to suit my own convenience in future. Twelve plays here, and I'm going to write ...
I spent much of Saturday morning helping to introduce screenings by Edinburgh school children as part of an award scheme at the Film Festival. I did this event a couple of years ago and it was hilarious - it included an animated short which was a cross between Reservoir Dogs and Pirates of the Caribbean but with a bloodier ending! Lets just say a crocodile was involved. The Primary school children had a lot of wit in their short films and, on occasion, surrealism that Dali would be proud of including a banana having a fight with a carrot. The ...
The right wing press has, once again, shown itself to be brazen in their vindictive hounding of Lib Dem MPs over their private lives, the latest victim being Chris Huhne who's split from his wife of 26 years after a year-long affair with another woman. The correct response is, of course, to ignore it – politics, like journalism, is a high pressure business and – regretably – politicians are no more immune to these things than the rest of us. If we were to demand everyone who ever had an affair stood down from their job, the queues to sign ...
This week has been one of the most intense, creative and rewarding weeks of my life. It was a week three passions in my life, politics, music and business, were all in play and I got to test myself in all three areas. On Monday I attended the Liberal Democrats Policy Roadshow in Edinburgh where ...
Simon Heffer had a thought provoking column in The Telegraph yesterday entitled "Beer should be the lifeblood of any village". In it he argues that the drink driving limits should not be reduced any further and that the smoking ban has damaged local pubs especially in rural communities. He clearly feels strongly that people should be free to imbibe one and half pints of beer and then drive as they generally can currently. He also clearly thinks that the state stepping in to ban people from smoking anywhere on private commercial premises is over the top and a bit more ...
I read that Brighton and Hove Council have incorporated sheep into their grass cutting programme. They have been overun with volunteers to become shepherds. Could we do this in Bristol. I have written to the BEP to see if there is a flavour for this.
I once wrote about the Liberal MP and Congregationalist minister Silvester Horne, who was the father of the comedian Kenneth Horne. In that post I mentioned that there was a Silvester Horne Institute erected (bold!) in his honour in Church Stretton. Here is a photograph of it that I took last week. One day I shall go back to the town and photograph his grave. In the mean time you can read a whole book about Silvester Horne on the web.
Please fill in this survey by First Bus about it's new fares system for Leeds. The new system can lead to ridiculous price hikes for many and we need to let First Bus know that we are not happy with their new system. The sooner that fares and routes are publicly controlled by Metro, the better!
Having pets is mostly a really enjoyable time and over the last 16 years we have had great times with Zennor and her sister Madron, who died in 2007.Unfortunately since December Zennor hasn't been so well but had really deteriorated over the last two weeks.Roger and I discussed a plan and yesterday at 11am said goodbye to our little girl.Although the last few days, especially yesterday have been so hard for us its important to balance that with the years of great memories;When Madron sat next to Roger and clawed the broccoli off his dinner plate and then ate it.Zennor ...
KM's Kent online website has a story which quotes a statement from Kent council which I assume seeks to explain the highly controvershall payment to ex-employee Adam Wilkinson who resigned on personal grounds from the council. An astonishing sum of £365,000 was paid out after just 12 months service. Having read the article I find myself with no clearer idea of why KCC handed over so much money. Below are some extracts taken from Paul Francis's article of Cllr Roger Gough, KCC cabinet member for corporate services, statement "We fully understand how people feel about large payments and we feel ...
Just been to turn the spuds over. Dinner sure does look good! Mmmmmm. #sundayroast #fb # Mmmmmmmmmm. Who says men can't cook? #fb http://yfrog.com/epajauj # Happily watching Michael Schumacher being lapped, then overtaken, then lapped again [IMG: :-D] #fb # Ok I'll probably regret this, but ask away: http://www.formspring.me/nealbrown #fb # Q:Do you miss me Noel? A:Yes, like a hole in the head and before you jump the gun, without head-holes I couldn't eat... http://4ms.me/dnq9C0 # Q:You like to make sexy chit chat we me yes? A:You haven't gotten me drunk in quite a while.... http://4ms.me/bWYTCv # Q:Ah, I'll make ...
The former Labour leader of Bridgend Council should start his own blog or else get himself a regular column on one such as Wales Home. He is certainly very active commenting on the media or on a succession of blogs and for the most part, even though I do not always agree with him, he is insightful, informed and thought-provoking. Jeff's comment today on Alun Davies' typically vindictive and one-sided analysis of how the new UK Government is treating Wales is a case in point. He writes: Voters would have more respect for Labour politicians if instead of writing pseudo ...
Living (formerly the Disabled Living Centre) are holding an exhibition of new equipment from 10am-3pm on Thursday 1st July at The Vassall Centre, Gill Avenue, Fishponds, Bristol BS16 2QQ. Admission is free and all are welcome. You can find out more on their website.
...his blood is affected by gravity and some leaves his head head for the lower organs. If he does this too quickly he can feel dizzy and faint. That is all. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
When I was at my lowest point. Which resulted in me huddled on my sofa humming loudly to myself to counteract against the never ending ring of tinnitus. The all pervasive and debilitating tinnitus that still ruins my life; when I was so weak and tired through lack of sleep yet too tired to fall asleep and madness was only a short step away. The pills crushed up and the bottle ready, the half bottle of bleach I swallowed then threw straight back up, The blackness that falls and sometimes you think you hear someone talk to you. Delirium and ...
Ever spent time looking at the online comments to a Daily Express or Daily Mail story? Really, life's too short. But is this a new phenomenon? The sheer volume of lunacy allowed by the Internet is a change, but beyond that it seems little has altered in the last century. Here are some readers' comments about suffragettes, from the Daily Express in 1913. "These neurotic women clamour for the vote. What they need is a fire hose." "Hard labour and salts and senna would soon quench the ardour of these notoriety-beating females." "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the ...
I had always thought that the word Review implied that there would be spoilers, which there are here in multitudinous number. I don't think there is an unspilt bean in sight. I am not technically clever enough to work out how to do what Charlotte has done, but do go and read her review later too. Oh blimey. That was one hell of a Doctor Who episode last night. My head hurts after watching it and I need Millennium's Daddy Richard to explain it all to me. I just hope he's been sitting up all night writing his review because ...
It has always been my view that banning things is an action of last resort and that there has to be clear benefits for the vast majority of the population before it can be considered. The smoking ban fell into that category because it amounted to a health and safety measure for workers in pubs, bars, nightclubs and other premises where secondhand smoke damaged their health. Their right to work in a smoke free environment trumped the right of others to smoke because, let's face it, the smokers could always go elsewhere to enjoy their guilty pleasure. I have not ...
Ed Balls is right. As he wrote on Thursday, an increase in VAT would be unfair to the poorest and damaging to jobs and the economy, and the coalition will be making a big mistake if George Osborne's budget includes such an increase. Balls has said, in an email to Labour Party members, that "Raising ...
[IMG: Dilbert.com]
The Executive The most noteworthy items on the agenda were the proposed primary school expansion programme and two items relating to the construction of Stanley Park High School. The primary school expansion programme proposed opening three new reception classes for the September 2010 intake to deal with the increased demand for places this year. There had ...
Name of ward: Rogate Council: Chichester District Electoral Region: South East Last Contested: 2007 Nigel JOHNSON-HILL representing the Conservative Party was elected unopposed Name of ward: North Holme Council: East Lindsey Electoral Region: East Midlands Last Contested: 2007 JEREMY (commonly known as Jez) MARK BOOTHMAN (British National Party) 102 votes (19.8% +4.9%) MARY WINIFRED FINCH (Liberal Democrats) 88 votes (17.1% -58.2%) SUSAN ETHELWYN LOCKING (Independent) 72 votes (14.0% +14.0%) PHILIP ERNEST STURMAN (Labour) 142 votes (27.6% +27.6%) FRANCIS (commonly known as Fran) WILLIAM PATRICK TREANOR (Conservatives) 111 votes (21.6% +21.6%) Labour GAIN from Liberal Democrat with a majority of 31 ...
When musicOMH wrote: When listening to Black Carrot, a band of Midlands-based Krautrockers, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Captain Beefheart had upped sticks and gone to live in Market Harborough.I had to pay attention. And they do sound good. According to Andy Gill in the Independent, this track is "oddly infectious stutter-funk". More about Black Carrot on their website.
One interesting feature of the new coalition between the Greens and the Labour Party in Leeds is the need to politicise the Lord Mayor. There are 99 councillors in Leeds so any party or group of parties needs 50 votes to get a motion through council. Labour and the Greens together only have 50 seats including the Lord Mayor. This means that the Lord Mayor will be forced to vote as an ordinary councillor at every single vote. This is completely out of the ordinary. The Lord Mayor has a casting vote in order to break political deadlock on the ...
Caron's Musings is delighted that the Liberal Democrat MPs Jo Swinson and Duncan Hames have got engaged. In a thoroughly modern way, the proposal and reply (happily not "WTF? ROTFLMAO") both took place on Twitter. It seems that not all is well with the current Liberal Youth internal elections. So Liberal Bureaucrat finds himself "putting aside my Returning Officer hat and replacing it with my 'old enough to be your father' hat". Spiderplant Land views Labour opposition to government cuts with suspicion. Besides, as Mark Pack on Liberal Democrat Voice points out, Labour last budget committed it to £44bn of ...
28th June – 4th July brings about the start of Deaf Awareness Week and is one of the reasons why I have been so incredibly busy at RNID of late. The week is all about raising awareness of the issues that people who are deaf face in their day=to-day lives. This is especially important when ...
I do a fair bit of recruiting - hiring interns two or three times a year, and occasional involvement in more senior hires - and a couple of thoughts came together for me this week. First of all, if you don't get the job you applied for, it is always worth asking for feedback as to why your application was unsuccessful. You may or may not get a response, but you lose nothing by making the request, and may get some useful insights. I get more requests from candidates who were not shortlisted, asking to know why they weren't, than ...
A guest Blog from Kevin Carter I'm not often drawn to comment on articles, but I thoroughly agree with the article on Politico by Josh Gerstein, ACLU chief 'disgusted' with Obama . After 18 months it feels like all we've had are the implied approval of Bush's war-mongering and cutting of civil liberties by not reversing those policies when Obama had the opportunity. For example, we've had further expansion of activity in Afghanistan. We've also had no reversal of Bush's relaxation of environmental regulations on - for example - the energy industry, which helped contribute to the situation in the ...
1982 is when life starts getting interesting. The newly formed Liberal/SDP alliance is on the scene (founded a year earlier in March 1981). The Alliance storm to victory in Bredbury with over 50% of the vote. My friend Ken Anstis was elected in Cheadle Hulme North and the Alliance won in Cheadle Hulme South too. The Conservatives were still sweeping all before them in Cheadle ward, but Iain Kirk was flying the Alliance flag. John Ashworth (who's sadly missed) took Edgeley for the Alliance and a young, dynamic Peter Burns swept into Heald Green, keeping the Ratepayer's Association tradition alive. ...
This time last month, I delivered a pretty positive piece on why I was, broadly, supportive of the Coalition. It's only been a month, but I've downgrading my status to "neutral". I'm not AGAINST the Coalition as such, but I certainly can't treat the Coalition like I would a Lib Dem Government. I'd be happy to defend a Lib Dem's Government's mistakes because I'd trust they were just that. However I find myself unable to defend the Coalition's and must thus say I'm not a supporter. Here's why: Well firstly, it's not because of cuts! Since the General Election my ...
- That may well be the only instance of that expression on the internet. I certainly can't find it on Google. Indeed, it may be that only my father actually says it. It is perhaps a long by-gone memory from the imperial measures age. The first time my dad said it to me, I was mightily confused. I had just finished my first pint of beer at a lunchtime session at the Social Club, Bude. "Fancy the other half?" he asked. "The other half?", I asked, perplexed (I had just had two halves – of a pint). My dad then ...
I had hoped not to write this story immediately after the last, less happy one, but sometimes, them's the breaks. Not since Baroness Scott and the Lib Dem's bureaucrat of choice Mark Valladeres changed their facebook statuses to "engaged" has the Lib Dem online world been so charged with romance. Now Jo Swinson and Duncan Hames used the medium of Twitter to tell the world of their engagement, to cheers of encouragement all round. Every congratulation and wish for happiness from all your friends at t'Voice.
Here's to all you Dad's out there. My Dad is getting a card and a decent bottle of red! Oh and I get to borrow his Drill and Garden Vac!!
Many congratulations to Lib Dem MPs Jo Swinson and Duncan Hames who have got engaged. Those of us who (were sad enough to have) logged on to Twitter after getting home last night were in the virtual front row for the whole event. Just after midnight, Duncan (@duncanhames) tweeted: 'Asking the question.' Which was followed by Jo (@joswinson) responding: 'answering "yes" :o)' Duncan is the new Lib Dem MP for Chippenham in Wiltshire and Jo was elected in 2005 for East Dumbartonshire. Both have been friends of mine for a while. Jo was actually one of the attendees at a ...
It is a perfect Summer morning and what better to add to the general feeling of wellbeing than some really good news? After all, all the world loves a love story and all of that. I'm hoping that these tweets I've seen mean what I think......... From Chippenam Liberal Democrat MP Duncan Hames: "Asking the question." From Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire: "Answering yes." From their friend James Graham in inimitably curmudgeonly style: "Waking up to read the good news about @joswinson and @duncanhames - it's about bloody time!" And much more politely and excitedly from his ...
I love boxing. I know - but I always have loved boxing. Many decades ago - I used to get up in the middle of the night to watch the heavy-wight championships of the world with all the greats. They were such exciting occasions - partly because they always did seem to be at about 3 in the morning - but also because that era of heavyweights were just so exciting. That's why - ever since I was invited to my very first evening event to watch the Haringey Police Amateur Boxing Club kids fight - I have not only ...
Well, it has happened: I have finally read a John Scalzi story that I actually liked. The God Engines is a very tight story about a future spacefaring humanity which relies on harnessing the powers of captive gods for spaceflight; there are a number of very good set-pieces as Ean Tephe, the central character, deals with shipboard crises, confronts his own ecclesiastical hierarchy, takes on a colonial mission, and finally particiaptes in a battle where the stakes are much larger than he at first realises. There are strong elements of horror and some nasty violence; and while Scalzi doesn't turn ...
There was a time when Bath and North Somerset was one of the highest recycling areas in the country, that was before the conservatives took control, and then everything got put off, now we are just average.Finally the council is starting a new weekly food waste recycling collection from 4 October 2010. This new collection will be for everyone who currently has access to the green box recycling
All the comments out of Government is that the regional assemblies will be abolished and that their powers will be returned to local councils. This will mean that we will have the powers to decide housing numbers and where they go. Bath still needs housing as there are many people that want someone to live in Bath, but are priced out of the market. At least now a decision will be made local if
The council has released their recent 'Voicebox' public perception survey to a random sample of just over 3000 households in the Bath and North East Somerset area.This survey has been funded by departments within the council and is designed to support decision making and budget setting. Questions are being asked about the following services:- Contacting the Council/Council Connect- Social
We have received this from the officers."The last of the grass cutting was scheduled to take place today so all areas should now have been cut once at least. The intention is that the frequency for grass cutting will be once every two weeks for the rest of the season until the autumn.The shrubs work will be programmed in for later in the year."
The humorous writer Arthur Mashall often described how "treat jostled with treat" in his sleepy village, and I find much the same in my retirement. Yesterday two treats jostled together: a conference on the Steady State Economy which I may refer to in a later post, and a party to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of first standing for parliament in the Liberal interest, thrown by David Shutt. The 1970 general election was actually on the 18th June, 30 years after de Gaull's famous call to arms to the French (though I didn't realise it at the time.) David was candidate ...
Once upon a time there was a game called Bejeweled. It was fun. You moved colours jewels around and when you made a line of three they disappeared. It was a Facebook application and you could play it against your friends. That turned a slightly addictive game into a competitive one and I got a bit hooked. For a while, I played it a lot. I was pretty good, obviously. And one day I decided I really should just stop, and so I did. I went a long time without playing Bejeweled. And then, last year, I got an iPhone ...
This week I heard about the possibility of increasing the restriction on the amount of alcohol you can drink before you drive illegally. After a drink the blood level of alcohol varies from person to person. It also depends on how much they have been eating, how long it has been since their previous alcoholic drink, their metabolism and many other aspects. The list was quite long and so was the confusion as to how much people could drink. However it was simplified by the police. You will be under the limit if you don't drink anything. The trouble with ...
15.1 In the event of an ambiguity arising concerning the interpretation of this Constitution, subject to the provisions of 12.10 above, the matter shall be referred for a Rule of Interpretation to the Chair or, if the ambiguity relates to an LIBERAL YOUTH election, the Returning Officer. Curiously, the Liberal Youth Constitution is silent on what happens if an ordinary member commits an election offence as defined by Article 9.15. It does, at Article 9.12 (h), give me the power to take action, up to and including disqualification, against candidates who breach any clause of Article 9.15. However, it seems ...
