I have had a bad brain day today. This has meant I have listened to all of my podcasts and have none left and am thus craving new ones. Here is a list of what I currently listen to (starred ones I consider to be essential listening): 6 Music Recommends - BBC 6 Music Analysis - BBC Radio 4 Best of Natural History Radio - BBC Radio 4 Beyond Belief - BBC Radio 4 Click On - BBC Radio 4 *Dirty Whoers - independently produced *The Eleventh Hour Podcast - independently produced *Dr Karl and the Naked Scientist - BBC ...
You still have a few days to watch Steve Winwood: English Soul on BBC iPlayer. It is a thorough and engaging survey of his career, though I was a disappointed that there was little archive footage that I am not familiar with from Youtube. Still, you can never watch Georgia on my Mind too often. There were bound to be omissions when cramming such a long musical life into an hour. There was no mention of his work playing as a session man on an extraordinary range of other people's records - Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland, Lou Reed's Berlin. And ...
Labour bloggers at Left Foot Forward have written a thorough post with their take on the distributional impacts of today's Budget. They make a case that in percentile terms the Budget is marginally more regressive than progressive. Nick Clegg conversely has written to Liberal Democrat party highlighting how the budget lays the foundations for a "fairer society". What is gripping about both articles though is... not a lot. The main issue with distribution rhetoric is that it very hard to relate any sense of good, bad, right or wrong to the shape of the Lorenz curve, an economists tool for ...
Todays Emergency Budget, the first budget of the new Coalition Government, contained a lot for Liberal Democrats up and down the country to smile at. The Budget is tough, the problems we have face are tougher and this budget truly will make Britain Fairer. · The £1,000 increase in the Income Tax allowance will mean that 880,000 low paid workers will be freed from Income Tax altogether. This is the first step towards delivering our manifesto commitment to ensure no-one pays tax on the first £10,000 they earn.· The Budget puts in place our promise of a new tax on ...
I was looking back at the poster launched by the Lib Dems at the start of the election campaign less than three months ago and, from my own moral compass, I feel something of a hypocrite having delivered leaflets with this message on only to find three months later that a Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury was presiding over the "VAT Bombshell" the Lib Dems were warning about. Taking a more measured view, I do find it hard to argue against a large chunk of the budget today. Quite clearly Labour have been running this country on the ...
The incoming Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition has inherited a perilous financial situation. The troubles hitting Greece and Spain could easily transfer to the UK. Part of the problem is that people do not easily visualize how big a hole £64Billion is. A million seconds is about a week and a half. A billion seconds is about 31 years. Thats how much bigger a billion is...
Only one application in Southdown Ward this week. If you have any comments please feel free to contact either of us via this blog or other methods. You can view the application details via the planning section on the Council website www.bathnes.gov.uk Ward: Southdown App Ref: 10/01303/FUL
Before the General Election the previous Labour Government delayed the decision on whether the decision by Trafford Planning Authority would be "called in" by the Secretary of State. Today I received an email from Eric Pickles the new Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. I'm bitterly disappointed to say that he has decided ...
View Poll: #1582340 Current FIFA rankings (looking increasingly irrelevant): vampydirector, the only person to call all four of today's matches correctly. I certainly was not bold enough to vote my hopes rather than my fears and predict the South African win.
View Poll: #1582340 Current FIFA rankings (looking increasingly irrelevant): vampydirector, the only person to call all four of today's matches correctly. I certainly was not bold enough to vote my hopes rather than my fears and predict the South African win.
[IMG: Treasury Ministers with the Budget] Today we saw the British Chancellor deliver a Budget which raised capital gains tax, introduced a levy on banks, delivered a tax cut for the lowest-paid workers, restored the pensions-earnings link, and increased child tax credits by £2bn for the poorest. It also made Labour really angry. Cuckoo!
Neville Chamberlain comes to mind
The police have been out again on South Park Road, in both morning and evening rush hours, and have issued a total of around 250 warning letters. Having given motorists proper warning, the next stage is to issue fines. Note that the offence being committed does not lead to points on the licence - just a £30 fine. The police, and I, would like to know whether residents on the South Park Road estate feel the situation has improved or not, so please do let me have your thoughts.
Colour film of London's railway termini in the 1960s set to asoundtrack of pirate radio (Radio City 299 and Radio Caroline) and some TV theme tunes of the period. Thanks to a reader for putting me on to the nostalgia gold.
A few years ago, my friend Tilt and I were, for reasons we shall not go into right now, watching an old episode of The Wheeltappers And Shunter's Social Club, when Freddie Garrity of Freddie & The Dreamers came on. I mentioned how I'd been shocked that, when he died, a powerpop mailing list I ...
"A government without a constitution is a government without a right" asserted Labour MP Graham Allen quoting Tom Paine in an article . He is now the new (elected) chair of the relevant select committee and part of his contribution was broadcast in Peter Riddell's Week in Westminster which is on iplayer for a week.(If you are really keen it can be listened to it by clicking on the title of this posting) He went on: A new written settlement, having created clearly defined institutions and rights, where everyone can know the rules, is just the beginning. The relationship and ...
I served with Andrew Stunell on Cheshire County Council where his straight forward approach to issues was appreciated on all sides-altho I have to say that I've never thought of him as a 'pin up boy' as the Wellingborough Tory MP seems to suggest. It is good to find that he is still making himself useful as this exchange recorded in Hansard shows: Standards Board for England6. Dr John Pugh (Southport) (LD): What steps he plans to take to abolish the Standards Board for England. [1540] (Andrew expresses his view before he is made a Minister) 14. Mr Peter Bone ...
As I said before, the budget today wasn't pleasant. It was hard, and it will be hard for everyone in the country who's affected by it. And it will probably get harder as the detail behind the cuts emerges. But it was necessary. I wanted a Lib Dem budget. Sadly, not enough people voted for us for that. Far more people voted Conservative than for any other party in the country at the election, so it is right that the budget is predominantly as they would have liked it. But thanks to the coalition agreement the budget is only largely ...
I listened to the Budget live today when I was driving to Liverpool for work. When I got to Warrington George Osborne finished and Harriet Harman started for Labour. Naturally she was full of rage about what she saw as the budget's unfairness and the damage she claimed it will do to people's lives. What she didn't have though was any alternative suggestions. It's fine to criticise the budget, and incredibly easy when pretty much everyone in the country is going to be less well off as a result. Maybe Labour think that by stirring up enough anger they'll get ...
We must remember that this is neither a Lib Dem Budget, nor is it a Tory Budget. It is as Simon has stated a compromise coalition budget. there are some positives to take way from this, some of our pledges have been addressed, if not met straight away. It is not as bad as it could have been if the Tories were a majority and this was solely their Budget.The 2.5% increase in VAT is very regressive, I think the bank levies proposed are a little too lenient (considering they are a major factor to this mess), The Public Sector ...
I think I've seen enough "tabloidesque" attacks on us from the Labour Party. I want to see our leadership give a bit back. No, really it's about time! Labour is showing itself to be the most irresponsible opposition, exhibiting the leer of a convict that has won immunity from prosecution from the safety of the Queens Official Opposition comfy seats. And (I would dish) there is nothing noble in opting out and choosing opposition. I would seek to use the Budget response broadcast to state not only the positive measures we have been able to win through coalition and to ...
Yesterday, co-chaired a meeting on North Korea to hear from the UN Rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, who is coming to the end of a six year stint in post. He had to acknowledge that the results of his labour were almost invisible, and in his last report he wrote about the 'broad range of systematic and widespread human rights violations in the DPRK'. There was limited engagement on economic rights such as the right to food, because there is endemic starvation in the population, and they need help from the World Food Programme and ...
Today's Budget is the predicted tough package of measures - raising taxes and cutting spending to address the huge deficit that the Coalition Government inherited from Labour. It is a budget which will set the tone of the debate until the next General Election. Its toughness will make it controversial, but my reaction is that it has got the big calls correct - and that it is far better for the noticeable Lib Dem input, than it would have been if had been a pure Tory affair. For me the big issues are: 1) How fast to cut the Deficit? ...
On past experience there will be a lot more detail that will come out over the next few days regarding today's budget so I will no doubt blog further on specifics later in the week. There are a few headlines for me to praise / knock though. First of all it is important to remind ourselves why we are here. Labour left a public expenditure black hole and was massively overspending. On today's figures the country will borrow £149 billion in the next year. To put this in some perspective, interest payments on UK sovereign debt currently stand at £80,000 ...
George Monbiot may be a self-confessed hard-hearted bastard, but along with David Leigh, Simon Jenkins and Marina Hyde he prevents the Guardian from being only a NuLab propaganda machine.
The Office of Budget Responsibility's website doesn't come up very well in searches on "Office for Budget Responsibility", the widely used slightly wrong version of its name "Office of Budget Responsibility" or, less surprisingly, "OBR". Even allowing for its newness, that's not terribly impressive - and also annoying when I'm trying to find it. So here is a public service announcement to myself: the Office for Budget Responsibility's website is here. (If you're interested in search engine optimisation matters note how the OBR website's URL doesn't help it come out high in searches such as these in the way that ...
well her it goes. the age of austerity. the bottom line is that unless we do something dramatic we would have ended up in a double dip. so a bit of a reality check. we need the deficit under control. rather than the nonesense proposals that labour couldn't afford. they were in lala land. the VAT will pinch us but the reality is that even I will be hit. I work for the public sector. I am under 21,000 salary so I will only get 250 increases over the next two years. better than getting made redundant. and the other ...
Before I even say anything about the Budget, I have to say a huge thank you to the lovely elephant, whose well-timed publication of his review of last Saturday's Doctor Who, during the Budget speech, calmed me down a lot after Osborne had sat down. Clever elephant, and thoughtful Daddy Richard! I've had a few hours to look a bit more at the details, and on balance, it's better than I initially thought. There's a lot of Lib Dem wins in there, so, thank you Almighty Vince for coming up with them in the first place: - raising Capital Gains ...
The much hyped emergency budget is now over, Thank god we all now know what the pain is going to be. For the Lib Dems it's going to be harder take because of the increase in the VAT rate. I understand that in a coalition you don't get everything you want or campaign for like the VAT rise. Yes the Lib Dems have many of their policies in this budget, such as a link to earnings for the pension and a move towards the 10k tax allowance, a bank Levy and spending on capital projects etc. The big issue for ...
I am one of the two City Councillors on the Liverpool John Lennon airport noise monitoring sub committee. In fact I am now deputy chair of this. I wonder if anyone living near the airport has actually ever heard of this group. Our meetings mainly consist of a list of complaints made to the airport and the airport's replies. But I am not at all sure it's clear to people how to complain and who to complain to. Now I don't want to whip up complaints where none actually exist. But it strikes me that if this group exists, the ...
Some time ago we agreed, at a City Council meeting, to set up a Liverpool Poverty Commission. The idea wasn't just to bang on about what the Council should, or shouldn't, be doing but to look at poverty in the City in a broader sense and look at what all organisations that could have an impact should be doing. When the Lib Dems were in power, it was part of my job to make sure this got set up so we recruited various members (from different sectors) thought about who might give evidence and found a Chairperson. Sandra Tai from ...
Liberal Conspiracy has just put up an incredibly lazy article which is little more than an anti-monarchy piece. What's wrong with that? I hear you liberal sorts cry. Nothing except it doesn't really advance a positive case for a republic does it? If we start choosing our systems based on which one isn't the one we've got, we're in trouble. Of course, full disclosure is required. I'm an unabashed royalist. But in keeping with the style of the original piece, I'm not going to defend that position (mainly because I find it hard to, I think the Royal Family is ...
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] [IMG: Labourfail] So, it's happened and the Coalition have put forwards their emergency budget. I'm sure we will hear countless Labour supports shouting "wont someone think of the children." But the facts are that after years of Labour rule they have left our country with a mountain of debt. Every minute gov't has to spend an eye-watering £80,000 interest on the national debt racked up by Labour, that's over £800 million a week. If action wasn't taken now then the markets would force us into even more drastic measures as they have in Greece and Spain. Look through ...
Today's budget was a horrible but necessary thing. I didn't get into politics to cut the benefits of people who need them, or to ask people to pay more for the things they buy. I didn't get into it to make nurses and teachers accept pay freezes (which also apply to me - I work in the NHS too). These are not decisions that any government wants to take but we have no choice except to clear up the financial mess that we're in. If Labour were in government, they'd have had to make similarly tough choices. Maybe they'd have ...
I still haven't had time to go through everything three times like Conrad Russell always advised, but I thought I would let you have a look at Nick's e-mail to Party members sent after the Budget was delivered. He is right that this Budget is a darned sight better than it would have been if Osborne hadn't had his conscience forcibly pricked by the presence of Lib Dem eyeballs across the Cabinet Table. As the afternoon has gone on, I think I'm most mad with the Labour Party for getting us into this mess in the first place and then ...
I wrote to you about why we have to take difficult decisions to tackle the deficit and lay the foundations of a fairer society. These are not decisions that any government wants to take but we have no choice except to clear up the financial mess that Labour left us. Today's Budget takes these difficult decisions in an honest and fair way and with the clear stamp of Liberal Democrat values running through it. In the past, efforts to tackle a big deficit have always hit the poorest the most. The coalition has ensured that - for the first time ...
With the exception of 20% VAT from next January, which is a bit of a stinger, the budget is, thank goodness, something of a damp squib after all the hype. There's no blood on the floor or pips squeaking. It is a relatively balanced budget with some good things in it, such as raising the income tax threshold, increasing Child tax credits for lower earners and a raft of infrastructure projects (such as expanding Birmingham New Street station – long overdue IMHO) being given the greenlight. There is a clear plan to reduce Whitehall departmental spending by 25% over 4 ...
Nick Clegg's email to party members and supporters reads: Yesterday I wrote to you about why we have to take difficult decisions to tackle the deficit and lay the foundations of a fairer society. These are not decisions that any government wants to take but we have no choice except to clear up the financial mess that Labour left us. Today's Budget takes these difficult decisions in an honest and fair way and with the clear stamp of Liberal Democrat values running through it. In the past, efforts to tackle a big deficit have always hit the poorest the most. ...
Thought I'd post up this news release from the Treasury as I've seen several people asking questions along the lines of 'what happened to tackling tax avoidance?" As set out in the Coalition Agreement, the Government is committed to making every effort to tackle tax avoidance. The Government will take a more strategic approach to the risk of avoidance to prevent increasing complexity and reduce the need for frequent legislative change. In this context, the Government is tackling long-standing avoidance risks in a way that makes it clear what result the legislation intends to achieve. The Government will continue to ...
Today's Budget has... irritated me. Just a little. I don't buy any of this rubbish that the Coalition are spinning: "it's worse than we thought". Frankly, it can't possibly be worse than they thought, considering the budget deficit is smaller than Labour had predicted, by almost £20bn compared to Labour's first estimate. Meanwhile, inflation is ...
Having taken a bit of time to digest the budget I can't get past the VAT hike and the message it sends out. Not only is VAT a hugely regressive form of taxation which is likely to hit the poorest hardest, but there is also the message it sends about our Government - both halves of it - that what they said before the election and what they are doing now don't match up. Nick Clegg in his email to members yesterday talked about how hard some of the decisions were. But for all that the books are in a ...
Without wishing to crow at the elimination of France from the World Cup by a spirited Bafana Bafana, it's hard to have any sympathy for their multi-millionaire prima donnas given the circumstances of how they came to qualify in the first place. At least Inger-lund qualified fairly and squarely, though TBH I won't be shedding any tears if Slovenia beat them tomorrow. Spiritual heirs to great sportsmen like Stanley Matthews and Nat Lofthouse they are not, and as everyone knows I much prefer cricket anyway. So, in some respects the Budget does not look quite as grim as it could ...
At last - the waiting is over. I always think that not knowing is much worse than knowing. And now we know! Yes - there are things in the Budget that will affect everyone to some extent - but at least it is everyone. First in line for the pain are the bankers (with a new levy) and then there are those high earners who try to sneak extra for themselves by taking some of their earnings as shares or something that attracts Capital Gains tax at 18% rather than the 40% rate of income tax for higher earners. Capital ...
Dear Chris, Yesterday I wrote to you about why we have to take difficult decisions to tackle the deficit and lay the foundations of a fairer society. These are not decisions that any government wants to take but we have no choice except to clear up the financial mess that Labour left us. Today's Budget takes these difficult decisions in an honest and fair way and with the clear stamp of Liberal Democrat values running through it. In the past, efforts to tackle a big deficit have always hit the poorest the most. The coalition has ensured that - for ...
There were two articles in The Sun the other day on public sector pay. One was headed '£240k boss search axed' and was a reference to the fact that the Government has vetoed the proposed salary package for a new Chief Executive of the Audit Commission. The other much more substantial article was over the LGA's search for a Director of Communications on £124,000 a year. (As someone who receives a shilling or two from both organisations I must declare an interest.) Meanwhile Nick Clegg has been applauded by the Daily Mail for his comments on public sector pensions, calling ...
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Today's budget contains many of the measures that the Liberal Democrats campaigned for during the general election. Norwich South MP Simon Wright said:
I remember having a passionate argument with John Pardoe about VAT in a pub during the Cambridge City by-election. Pardoe enjoyed Vince Cable levels of popularity as a liberal economic spokesman in those days - his flagship policy proposal was reducing income tax and increasing sales tax (sorry, too lazy to check if it was already called VAT then). He characterised it as switching from tax on income to tax on consumption. I was 17. I took myself very seriously in those days; it was with retrospect kind of him to do so. I argued VAT was regressive - the ...
Speaking after today's emergency Budget, North East Fife's MP Sir Menzies Campbell said: "I very much regret the need to increase VAT but you must look at the budget as a whole. Labour's irresponsibility has left the country's finances in a dire condition and tough decisions were inevitable. "But the increase in tax allowances will benefit those on low incomes. The restoration of the earnings link for pensioners will benefit the elderly, some of whom are the poorest in the country, and increasing child tax credit will ensure no further increase in the child poverty over which Labour has shamefully ...
Another packed day of WestFest activity, including Environmental Question Time and West End Poets tonight. And an update about one of the great events taking place tomorrow : Friends of Wighton at WestFest As part of WestFest, Friends of Wighton will be presenting a concert at St Peter's Church, St Peter's Street, Dundee on Wednesday 23rd June. The concert, which starts at 7.30, will feature the Wighton Singers, Simon Chadwick on medieval harp, fiddle players Karen Hannah and Gordon Penman, and singer Sheena Wellington. Tickets, price £4.50 are available from Dundee City Box Office 6 City Square, Dundee, DD1 3BG ...
So we now know following George Osborne's first budget today what measures are going to be taken over the next few years to get the deficit under control. I have picked out some of the main points along with my thoughts below: VAT up to 20%. As I have repeatedly stated on here I would have preferred income tax to go up rather than VAT as at least that is clear and based on ability to pay. VAT is a stealth tax and by some measures is regressive. But governments hate putting up income tax (because the public hates it ...
So, that's it. The Emergency Budget has been given & as I write this the debate is beginning, now that Harriet "Banshee" Harperson has decided to stop imitating a vuvuzela and screeching out tired old partisan rhetoric with little reference ... Continue reading →
Whilst I was over on Mark Reckons Live Chat for the budget one Labour supporter sent the message that they "can't decided if I wanted the budget to fall completely flat so the conservatives are out of power for another 10-20 years." How very progressive, hoping for a really poor budget that doesn't work and so ...
So Caroline Nokes MP feels "betrayed by friend" who revealed details of her extra marital liasons to a Sunday newspaper. I have no interest in Mrs Nokes private life or her morals. I am surprised, however, that she has not had a decency to comment on behaviour many would find hypocritical given her previous support for Christian values and the family. But more to the point she has not apologised to her constituents for her betrayal of their trust. Having been given a highly paid and responsible job she has proved herself unfit for it in less than five weeks. ...
There were two articles in The Sun the other day on public sector pay. One was headed '£240k boss search axed' and was a reference to the fact that the Government has vetoed the proposed salary package for a new Chief Executive of the Audit Commission. The other much more substantial article was over the LGA's search for a Director of Communications on £124,000 a year. (As someone who receives a shilling or two from both organisations I must declare an interest.) Meanwhile Nick Clegg has been applauded by the Daily Mail for his comments on public sector pensions, calling ...
I've just returned from Bury Crossroads 18ths Birthday party. The carers charity in Bury has been going now for 18 years and wanted to celebrate the occasion with carers, staff, trustees and anyone else (like me) who wanted to pop in. So I dropped round to Bury United Reformed Church to show my support and offer best wishes and so on. Unfortunately it was in my lunchtime and I couldn't spare the time to get stuck into the buffet, tempting though it was. I would just take this opportunity though to congratulate Crossroads on their 18 years. 18 years of ...
Before I start into what is in the actual budget, two parties admitted in the General election that things would have to be tougher than Alistair Darling intimated in his last budget. Of course the party that didn't say that was Labour, they said they had done enough in the last budget to make things better for the economy and fairer for the poorest. The budget that George Osborne has just brought before the house does a number of things to improve fairness. It has lifted the personal income tax allowance by £1000, realigned state pensions increases with earnings (or ...
It was very reassuring as a former candidate to hear clear Lib Dem manifesto commitments being announced in today's budget speech along with the necessary pain of higher taxes. If you remain dubious about the coalition (I do!) you may reassure yourself as follows: 1. From next year pensions will be linked to earnings, reversing a Tory decision from the 1980s which Labour avoided addressing for 13 years. That's a clear Lib Dem manifesto commitment. Our manifesto said we would increase pensions by the same rate as earnings, prices or 2.5%, whichever was bigger in any given year and that's ...
It seems that I am not the only one to notice the failure of collective responsibility within the One Wales Government. This morning's Western Mail takes up the theme by pointing out that despite the Welsh Government last year, welcoming the granting of planning permission to the Pembroke Power Station, and the jobs that go with it this has not achieved uniform support within one of the governing parties. They say that Plaid Cymru's President-elect has been accused by one of her Labour allies of putting hundreds of jobs at risk and undermining her own party leader by backing a ...
Congratulations to Edinburgh Tenants Federation who scooped the nationally acclaimed Frances Nelson Award for their pioneering work on mental health and particularly in the area of suicide prevention in high rise blocks. The award was in the Umbrella Group category. As a result of ETF campaigning 200 council staff received suicide awareness training, key fobs with the Breathing Space Support helpline contacts were issued to tenants along with other other work with tenants with mental health problems. This has been a cutting edge project and one which I know has already saved a number of lives. Well done ETF.
Tue 22nd
13:58
Over 50,000 workers will pay no income tax and thousands to get more of their money back
Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Kirsty Williams, has welcomed the announcement by the Chancellor to raise the income tax threshold to lift thousands of people in Wales out of paying income tax. An estimated 50,000 workers in Wales will no longer pay income tax and many more will see a £200 reduction in their income tax bill as a result of the Chancellor's plans to raise the income tax allowance by £1,000. Raising the income tax allowance was a key commitment of the Liberal Democrats during the General election. Kirsty Williams said: "Increasing the tax threshold to help people on low ...
Stockport's Hat Works, the UK's only museum dedicated to the hatting industry, opened its latest exhibition entitled Decade Parade: Small Hats Big Look last weekend. 2010 is Hat Works' 10th birthday and to celebrate the museum is showcasing this special exhibition featuring the very best entries from its international miniature millinery competition launched in honour of this landmark birthday. Alongside the exhibition the museum is running a series of workshops aimed at anyone who is interested in acquiring hat making skills of their own. Young people can sign up for the 'Eat My Hat' workshops on 12th and 13th August ...
The comments thread awaits you...
The Yoosk website recently put together a panel of bloggers to answer questions about the impact of the internet, and social media in particular, on British politics. Alongside Iain Dale, Alex Smith and James Evans I answered a range of questions: Was the UK 2010 general election an internet election? Which bloggers or Twitterers made the biggest contribution to UK 2010 election? Will Twitter have a serious effect on elections? Then there were two questions that were specifically asked of just myself (see the Yoosk site for those asked specifically of others): Is there too much discussion about getting people ...
So far there have been five politicians charged over the expenses scandal. Four Labour MPs and one Conservative Peer. It seems as if the Liberal Democrats were right during the election campaign when we said that none of the really serious MPs expense abuses had been perpetrated by Liberal Democrats.
Saturday: Auntie Caron wants Daddy Richard to explain this week's Dr Woo. Well, good luck with that! I think he's more likely to make your fluffy head spin even more! Is any of this real? At the end of "The Pandorica Opens", we pull out from a close-up on the end of Rory's universe, Amy dead in his arms at his hands, to the Earth from space as all around every star and every planet explodes instantly into nothing and we are left alone in darkness, the end of the Doctor's universe. Even the incidental music fades as silence falls. ...
I often wonder whether, in all the shock and awe of the last couple of months, Liberal Democrats have grasped fully one of the biggest potential "wins" from the coalition government. Surely, we should be pinning our hopes on the environmental agenda. The Liberal Democrats can now drive faster progress towards a zero carbon Britain. The point is well made in an article for The Guardian by Matthew Spencer, the new head of Green Alliance. He says that the delivery of environmental policies is a major test - and a major opportunity - for the coalition government. He points out ...
Cuts are inevitable. Some Liberal Democrats think Labour had things about right and that we should go along with what they were doing. I don't. I don't think we should continue along an unsustainable path, getting deeper and deeper into debt. That would make us very vulnerable as a nation. In any case according to Mark Pack (Liberal Democrat Voice) Labour had been planning a little £44 billion cut before they left office. I hope that science and technology will be supported because they are the things that can help the economy the most, especially green technology. I know this ...
The unavoidable budget, says Osborne "I am not going to hide hard truths from the British people." "Everyone will share in rewards when we succeed - we really are all in this together." Structural deficit should be in balance by 2015/16. There will be a fixed target for debt to fall as proportion of GDP by 2015-16. Not sure I understand why it has to go down quite so quickly. "False choice between going for growth and dealing with debt. What's happening in Eurozone shows growth won't happen without dealing with debt." "We have overspent. We are not undertaxed." Net ...
We all wait to see what the budget has in store. This is less fun than it used to be, as it has been heavily trailed that the personal tax allowance will be raised by £1,000 as a first stage towards lifting a very significant number of people out of tax altogether, and improving the work/benefit incentive. That is a good thing. The banking levy will be another good thing, but far better would be a transaction tax that penalises continual speculative trades. Capital Gains Tax increases are likely to be watered down to protect wealthy tories with second homes. ...
Tue 22nd
12:32
Rant for the day - Will the governments budget go far enough and rebalance our society.
This is just some quick random thoughts on all the excitement about the "emergency" budget about to be announced. Its my view the public sector have been well looked after, obviously a few of those at the bottom of the heap have been screwed just like the rest of us, but the majority have done all right and some like senior management have been helping themselves for too long with bogus bonuses, you wont have to look to far here in Kent. I hope that not only, do those on reasonable incomes say 20 grand plus have zero pay increases ...
Over the last few weeks and particularly after the coalition was announced, and also in the run up to the emergency budget, there has been a lot of Labours attacks directed towards the Lib Dem's. This has tended to come in the form that Lib Dems have betrayed their voters and that they aren't progressive. ...
This morning I have been spending some time around the town with the supervisor of the traffic wardens who work in Launceston. Since the signs and lines have been fixed, the civil enforcement officers have been able to do their bit to make the traffic flow as freely as possible. This includes making sure that people don't park in loading bays, that they don't overstay in the limited time parking bays and, of course, that they don't park on yellow lines. Since April 1st, the officers have also had responsibility for our car parks - including coping with the RingGo ...
An application has been submitted to the Council to convert the launderette at 78 Church Road, by Gatley Green, to a take-away/pizza delivery. As usual, I won't comment on this as, were I to come out for or against at this stage, I might not be able to participate in taking the decision if it comes before the councillors. However, both Pam and I are concerned about having too many take-aways and fast food places in our villages. There are provisions in our planning rules to stop that happening, though there's a debate to be had on whether they go ...
Many congratulations to Margaret Wills and her team at Launceston in Bloom who are currently planting flowers on the steps of the war memorial in the Town Square. Many thanks also to all the sponsors and businesses who have kindly supported this year's effort. As well as the bedding plants, there are also hanging baskets on most town centre businesses. It's just a shame that a few of the bigger companies - including Barclays and Alliance and Leicester - are not showing the same community spirit.
Angel of the North sculptor Antony Gormley has just completed his first Scottish Project. Six life sized statues have been placed in the Water of Leith from the point where the river snakes round past the Gallery of Modern Art down to the end of a Pier in Leith. Art is such a subjective thing and big public sculpture even more so. In Edinburgh we have hasd very mixed results with such public art. The Everyman Statue outside the Council HQ has been criticized by politicians; we had a kinetic sculpture at the top of Leith Walk for 10 years ...
Sir Menzies Campbell MP has written to the new Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore MP, to seek his assurance that any debate on 'Double Summertime' will take into account the effect of the change on people living in Scotland. The introduction of Double Summer Time would see the UK one hour ahead of GMT during winter and two hours ahead during the summer. The UK would be in the same time zone as central European countries such as France, Germany and Spain. Commenting, Sir Menzies said: "Any measure which might lead to fewer accidents on our roads and ...
Today, the coalition government will deliver an emergency budget to bring order back to the public finances. It will be a difficult budget - but remember, as you hear it, why we have to do this. Labour left our country with a mountain of debt. Every minute that goes by the government spends a staggering £80,000 on interest, that's over £800 million a week. If we don't take action now, the markets will force us into even more drastic measures as they have in Greece and Spain. Without action on the deficit, we will carry on racking up unaffordable debts ...
From 12:00 noon today I am participating in a Budget Live Chat coordinated by Left Foot Forward across a number of other blogs. You can join us from 12:00 noon below, budget itself starts at 12:30pm:
Despite the weather not being the best for Margate's Big event, organisers claim around 30,000 visitors which I feel shows the broad appeal of aeroplanes for anoraks, fun fair grounds for teens, and music for everyone. Although my stay wasn't the longest, I didn't begrudge one penny of the two pound admission fee, although the "something for nothing" culture is as strong as every here in Thanet, where even this minimalist charge has to be criticised. Wasn't happy about the "shake down" of visitors at the entrance, as last year the event was free, searching bags I assume was for ...
It's not so long since I last rewatched The War Games, but it still strikes me as one of the greatest ever Who stories (see also Neil Gaiman's take). I wrote last time of why I appreciated most of the other stories of this season rather more in context, but The War Games stands on its own, with the threats gradually escalating from the war zones to the control centre to the ultimate destruction of Team Tardis by the Time Lords. Those two glorious moments - at the end of episode 4 when the War Chief and the Doctor recognise ...
On Monday afternoon I attended a conference run by the 10:10 Lighter Later Campaign and supported by PACTS (the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety). This group aims to change British clocks to GMT+1 in the winter, and GMT+2 in the summer to bring us in line with most other central European countries. They argue ...
Every minute that goes by the government spends a staggering £80,000 on interest - that's about the same as my mortgage which will take me a lifetime to pay back.
To copy wholesale from looking2dastars 's post title: First Gail Simone says I'm awesome. And now I've gotten an award! Which is nice. anyway, he pinned on me this award: This award also comes with rules, naturally. 1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award. 2. Share 7 things about yourself. 3. Pass the award along to 5 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...) 4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award. Seven Things About Me 1. ...
Throughout the election campaign I always had it in mind that we could be doing it all again very soon. The polls pointed to a hung parliament with the Conservatives taking the most seats and I thought, if that were the result, that David Cameron would form a minority government, write a Queens' speech and then call another election for October. It was my intention to run again in this second election - if selected by my local party. In a way I was looking forward to another campaign, mostly because we wouldn't be burdened by the council elections taking ...
Some elements of our great & glorious press make our little chests swell with pride at the grasp they have of true priorities. Never mind the floods in Brazil, the tragic death of the 300th soldier in Afghanistan, ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and so on & so on. Yesterdays Daily Mail devoted its' entire front page to the love life of Chris Huhne.
Those nice people at Wikio have a new project to translate selected blog postings from bloggers all over Europe into other European languages. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how some women have real reason to fear the World Cup because domestic violence rises during this tournament. This now appears here in French. And here in Italian. I think this is a great initiative, introducing us to a whole new range of blogs and ideas. If you want your blog to join this venture, or if you want to get involved in doing the translating to French, German, ...
Inspired by Journalism Grads: 30 Things You Should Do This Summer and prompted by Stephen Tall, last summer I ran a list of 30 suggestions for would-be politicians, particularly those new to public office or seeking it in the next few years. As it went down well, here it is back for a new summer and a new Parliament, with a new lick of paint, a few updates along the way and my thanks to those who commented last year: [IMG: Sitting on a summer holiday] Look up a piece of legislation, read it line by line and keep on ...
One thing that is so frustrating during all the debates about cuts with the Labour Party is that they are fundamentally dishonest about what their own plans for the country would have been. As Mark Pack points out, the Labour Party were intending to cut £44 billion from the national budget. Listening to the Labour Party now you could be forgiven for thinking that all these cuts would have been achieved without any cuts to front line services and that they would all have been completely progressive. However we can't tell that because after leaving the country bust Labour refused ...
Tue 22nd
09:20
The Independent View: A fair, humane and effective asylum system can quite literally be an issue of ...
Last week, people across the UK celebrated Refugee Week - a time to reflect on the contribution refugees make to their communities around the UK, and celebrating that refugees are welcomed and valued here. As we approach the 60th anniversary of the UN Convention for Refugees next year, it is ever more important that the new government honour our proud tradition of offering shelter to those fleeing persecution in their own countries. It is clear that the main countries refugees have been fleeing from over the last ten years - Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Eritrea - are countries where conflict ...
According to reports, George Osborne is likely to raise the threshold at which people start to pay income by £1000 to £7,475. This is apparently to be paid for by clawing it back from top-rate taxpayers. I am am not clear on exactly how this second part will work but if this is correct then I think it is excellent news. Firstly it is the beginning of an implementation of the Lib Dem policy to take everyone earning less than £10,000 per year out of income tax. It gets us over a quarter of the way to realising this aim. ...
I've written up the other three novella nominees in separate entries, as is my usual practice with books, and now come to the final two. "Palimpsest", by Charles Stross, didn't really grab me I'm afraid. It is a tale of time police and overlapping universes and histories, broken up by some reflections on the evolution of the solar system presented in rather odd powerpoint format. I wasn't really convinced either by the astronomy or the mathematics of deep time, and they appeared to be the point of the story. On the other hand, the story does get my approval for ...
In the next few days I will be submitting a motion to conference calling for an impact assessment to be carried out on current drugs policy and for expansion of heroin maintenance treatment programmes across the country. The motion calls for current policy to be compared to its alternatives including more stringent prohibition, decriminalisation of possession and use, and strict control and regulation by the government. There will undoubtedly be some who will seek to present the latter option as "legalisation" and encourage us to "think of the children" as they go on to describe some drug-addled dystopian nightmare scenario. ...
Let's be honest cuts were going to have to come at some point to pay of the deficit, be that now or in the future when more debt had been racked up. I say this because certain tweeters seam to be saying that actually we can continually live in deficit and so continue to gain ...
Nick Clegg's email last night promised: You will see the stamp of our Liberal Democrat values in tomorrow's budget. ....We can only wait and see. But hold on! It seems that a major element of the budget has been leaked in advance! The last Chancellor who leaked his budget was sacked wasn't he? Anyway, the leak is that there will be a tax threshold rise which will be, thank the Lord, clawed back from higher earners so that it benefits lower earners in the main. Great. I come from the position that I hope all these gloom and doom pronouncements ...
Dear George (Dave, Nick and Danny), I know you are finishing off the Budget for later on but thought you might want my advice on VAT.
Amidst all the speculation on the budget, I hear so many reports of government plans - not so much leaks as news management. Whatever happened to the Chancellor's traditional purdah ? What happened to promises to announce things in parliament first ? We used to demand that in opposition.
I don't know about you, but there is something that puzzles me. BP is enemy number one in the US, Hayward is vilified for taking a day off, while this disaster destroys the livelihoods of countless thousands. President Obama is clear - not only will BP pick up THE WHOLE TAB, the administration of this compensation scheme will be by an independent body, NOT BP. Last evening, like many of you, I got an email from Nick Clegg, preparing me for bad news tomorrow, "why we have to do this" - hmmm, that's what tends to happen when you jump ...
Every year around this time there seems to be some story about a potential cure for the misery of Hay Fever. And every year there seems to be no actual cure arriving. It's just like when I used to go hillwallking with my husband and he always used to say to me that the top was "just over this hump" - except there was always another hump to get over. This year's ray of hope comes, as reported in the Torygraph, in the form of a jab which could deal with all sorts of allergies and related conditios in one ...
Tuesday The coalition agreement, I will freely admit, came as something of a surprise. One day I was supervising the digging of elephant traps to catch the unwarier Tory canvasser: the next I was fishing my Conservative neighbours' lakes on the grounds that we were all on the same side now so they could not possibly complain. And splendidly fishy lakes they proved in those strange, sunny days during which the fate of our nation hung in the balance. I did have a nasty turn when I heard we were talking to Labour as well (and was faced with the ...
This is a coalition budget and it reflects the determination of the government to act decisively but in a way that has fairness at its heart.Labour has left the public finances in a catastrophic state...
Dear Simon Hughes First congratulations on your election as deputy leader. I hope you see one of your functions as being to keep the social liberal flame, and our Keynesian traditions, alive. I am increasingly concerned that, as Seumas Milne put it in the Guardian (For the Lib-Cons, this is an excuse to shrink the state,17/06/10) "cuts have become, like light touch financial regulation before them, conventional wisdom" and that this view, which I believe to be profoundly mistaken, appears to be unchallenged by Liberal Democrats in government. The view that cuts now are inappropriate and unnecessary is held by ...
Nick Clegg e-mailed party members last night to outline why today's budget is so important and so necessary: Tomorrow, the coalition government will deliver an emergency budget to bring order back to the public finances. It will be a difficult budget – but remember, as you hear it, why we have to do this. Labour left our country with a mountain of debt. Every minute that goes by the government spends a staggering £80,000 on interest, that's over £800 million a week. If we don't take action now, the markets will force us into even more drastic measures as they ...
Yes Labour cuts. These cuts were inevitable when Labour spent all of this government's money during the last government. Tax rises are also Labour's fault - they have already spent all the money any new taxes will raise. Yet to hear them, you'd think this was all unnecessary. We could keep spending. Deficits don't matter. Cuts are ideological. Well maybe they are for some, but it is hardly a criticism you can make when you have £44bn of cuts in your own fiscal plans. To be clear, Labour do not have a leg to stand on when they criticise the ...
Currently patients have to live in a GP practice's catchment area before they can register. This system dates back to 1948 when the NHS was created and one of the reasons was to help GPs manage their workload, especially home visits. The Government is now looking at options to change this so people can choose a GP Practice that suits them. Most people want a practice that is near their home but some find it difficult to see a GP - for example, people who work fulltime and cant get to their GP during opening hours. Other people may want ...
At various points of my life, I have had short hair and long hair, worn dresses and heels, worn combat boots and corsets, dyed my hair a rainbow of colours, had a shaved pussy and a full bush, been chubby and thin, been pale and tanned, fucked men and women, and I have always been beautiful. - Halo P Jones, via Yes Means Yes. This. A thousand times this.
Regardless of what Liberal Democrats might like the budget to be tomorrow, we always knew it was going to be a compromise between the Lib Dems and Conservatives in government. The Parliamentary arithmetic always meant that the Lib Dems' game plan in coalition was restraining the Tories rather than getting them to abandon their policies altogether. So the issue with the rumours and hints that have been flying around over the past few days is not that the party isn't winning the argument, but that the budget that seems to be emerging represents a total abandonment of Lib Dem policy. ...
On a Monday karate training is from 7 - 8 the same as Thursday, but then at 8 all the kids go home and there's an extra hour just for adults. I have sat and watched it a lot, but tonight was my first time actually joining in properly as anything other than target practise. It was hard (well, duh!), and there were a lot of move combinations that were far more advanced than I would normally be attempting as a mere red belt, but I gave it my best shot... I think I got the basics of them, anyway. ...
I was talking with a friend recently who spoke about his serious illness a few years ago. If you know about oesophageal varices then you will now how serious it can be. Well my friend was in intensive care and was sedated. However he could hear and understand everything around him and this included two doctors talking about when they should stop treating him. He couldn't speak or move but he was desperate to tell them that he was still here and wanted them to continue working on him. The point here is that the problem wasn't the job that ...
