At least one skunk kit has survived and is still foraging in our backyard. Last night she dug up some of our leeks. The video shows her (or him) paying a visit to our garage. We hope she will find his way back to the river valley because, as my neighbour Karen said, life is tough for a skunk in the big city.
Imagine if Joss Whedon's Firefly had been made in the early 1980s, and had an Airwolf/Blue Thunder/Manimal style opening credits: Now, fans will of course notice that the makers forgot the ship's doctor, so they made a new one: ( Simon Tam, M.D. ) Bot these via Bad Astronomy, and I'm inclined to agree that it makes me want to watch it again, it's been, oh, at least 6 months...
From the Burnley Citizen website this evening: Pendle-based Lord Tony Greaves is the first major Lib Dem politician to break ranks with his party because of the initiatives and policies being introduced by the Conservative/Lib Dem pact. He is particululary unhappy at policies in relation to education, health and cuts to local services. Lord Greaves, who lives in Winewall, near Colne, has written a weekly column in the Lancashire Telegraph for more than six years. However, he announced yesterday that he felt unable to continue the role, fearing the column would only develop into a vehicle for his rants against ...
I just attended my first school reunion on 10 July, well strictly speaking my sixth form college reunion, since my old grammar school in Eccles was rased to the ground some years ago to make way for a housing estate. It was big fun and will be the start of an alumni network, thanks to the foresight of the principal, Dr Savvas, who wants to create a web of people of goodwill to help young students as they move beyond teenage life into adult life and careers. Why did it take 38 years for a principal to do that? Why ...
Lib Dem policy committee chair Richard Grayson has written a long article in today's New Statesman, which has allowed them to put a picture of Nick Clegg on the cover apparently cracking like an egg: It isn't exactly good publicity for the party, but I completely agreed with Richard about the future direction of the social liberal wing of the party - "arguing for a new political economy that puts issues of power in the workplace and the ownership of assets back onto the political agenda as the old Liberal Party once did." That is absolutely bang on. So ...
Mon 12th
22:14
Lessons from history on Labour / Lib Dem cooperation: Kier Hardie and Ramsay MacDonald
Sunder Katwala of the Fabians has a thought-provoking post about the role of Kier Hardie in Labour's current political traditions and attitudes towards working with other parties. Others with more knowledge of Labour history than me will be far better placed to comment on that debate, but what particularly struck me reading it is how current Liberal Democrat suspicion of Labour's motives when it comes to cross-party cooperation may have rather deep historic roots. Many in the Lib Dems perceive Labour as having a rather arrogant or manipulative approach where cross-party cooperation really means "you must agree with Labour". Hence, ...
What an underwhelming World Cup that was! At least it got the final it deserved; dour, cynical, and very poorly refereed. If there were any justice, Howard Webb would spend the next four years on traffic duty in East Herringthorpe with vuvuzelas blasting in his ears; Holland should have been down to eight men by half-time. At times, watching the Dutch was like watching Crazy Gang-era Wimbledon, with Mark Van Bommel in the role of Vinnie Jones only without the charisma. Anyway Spain won, which I guess is only right as they have been the best national team in the ...
Many thanks to the reader who put me on to this British Transport Film from 1955. A group of CTC members take the train from London to Rugby and then go on a ride. Sensibly, they head towards Market Harborough, so there are shots of Husbands Bosworth, Foxton Locks and the Battle of Naseby monument.
The Independent reveals that the UK Border Agency has refused visas to child victims of Chernobyl fallout to have holidays here. I have written to Chris Huhne and Lynne Featherstone. If you agree, write to a Liberal minister as well.
While helping with an architectural assignment, I discovered that there are no "front on" photos of Newbury's Corn Exchange on the internet. ...Not easily findable anyway. All the photos are arty side shots. So, to correct that inbalance, here are a couple photos taken straight on.
Following complaints from residents about broken glass on the cycle path that runs through the former goods yard area and now, in part, digital media park - from the City Centre at South Marketgait/Greenmarket to Roseangle - I raised the matter with Scottish Enterprise Tayside, who replied today as follows : "I am advised that the path will be cleaned of glass by our contractor this week."
Mon 12th
20:06
Only 2 months into the job and already Mark Reckless MP (quite literally) falls from favour
Rochester basked in the political spotlight during the General Election campaign. Gordon Brown kicked off the entire campaign in the constituency by visiting Morrison's in Strood. It seems that even after the election, the media spotlight has stayed on the constituency : the antics of Rochester & Strood MP Mark Reckless have made headlines in Britain and beyond. Mr Reckless took part in a binge drinking session on Tuesday night ahead of a vote on the budget in the early hours of Wednesday. The incident, which Mr Reckless has described as 'very embarrassing', brought scathing criticism. Many papers questioned why ...
The Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Simon Hughes, today distanced his party from education secretary Michael Gove over the contentious decision to cancel 700 school rebuilding projects. Hughes said he was not entirely comfortable with the handling of the announcement, adding it would be "a nonsense" to build the new free schools proposed by Gove using cash that could have improved existing buildings. claimed Patrick Wintour in this morning's Guardian. I don't suppose anyone is "entirely comfortable" with the handling of the announcement - certainly not Gove himself. But I am not convinced that Simon Hughes can single-handedly distance the party ...
Gary Gibbon, on Channel 4 news, has just suggested that the Coalition Government is considering introducing a graduate tax to replace the current tuition fees/student loans system introduced by Labour (pending an ongoing review by Lord Browne). I, for one, would certainly welcome this, as would most other Lib Dems (and students), but I also ...
David Cameron has said he is 'terrified' about sending his children to secondary school because of the 'low standards of comprehensives'. He says he understands why some parents 'break the bank' to pay for private schooling. My parents are one those who spend alot of money on my education. If my parents didn't have the money to do this than i would've been sent to a comprehensive school in my area which isn't of a high standard. All state schools in my opinion should be of a high standard where the children come out of it with an ability to ...
The party has today announced the list of Liberal Democrat MPs have been nominated to serve on Select Committees: Business, Innovation and Skills - David Ward Communities and Local Government - Stephen Gilbert Culture, Media & Sport - Adrian Sanders Defence - Mike Hancock Education - Tessa Munt Energy and Climate Change - Sir Robert Smith Environmental Audit Committee - Simon Wright Environment Food and Rural Affairs - Dan Rogerson Foreign Affairs - Menzies Campbell Health - Andrew George Home Affairs - Julian Huppert International Development [Chair] - Malcolm Bruce Justice [Chair] - Sir Alan Beith Procedure Committee - John ...
I will be on LBC again from 8pm this evening as part of Petrie Hoskin's political panel along with a couple of other politicos. I may also get the chance to talk about the drugs poll that I blogged about on Friday which shows 70% of people in the UK think cannabis should be legalised. You can listen to it on 97.3 if you're in or near London or via this link online if you aren't. You can even call in to join in the debate on 0845 60 60 973 from 8pm.
If you feel benevolent and particularly generous, this writer always appreciates things bought for him from his wishlist
[IMG: European Parliament chamber in Strasbourg] We hear often from Conservative and Ukip MEPs that they are standing up for Britain. Voting for them, they argue, is a vote to protect Britain from the EU's relentless onslaught. Blah, blah, blah. Well, thanks for a very useful website called VoteWatch.eu, we can see that there is less truth to that than Conservative and Ukip Euro-MPs would have you believe. Click HERE and you'll be taken to a league table of the UK's MEPs, ranked by attendance at the European Parliament's plenary sessions (where the MEPs vote for or against new laws). At the ...
From the Council: Stockport Homes have been nominated for two NFA (National Federation of ALMOS) awards. To see why, visit http://www.almos.org.uk/awards.php and then click on the Stockport Homes videos. For further information please email cheryl.harrison@stockporthomes.org
It was recently announced that 26 councillors in Exeter and Norwich have lost their seats following a High Court decision over unitary status. As the BBC reported: Mr Justice Ouseley last month quashed a Labour government decision to allow the cities to take over county council powers and now members must stand down. Each council lost 13 councillors and was ordered to pay legal costs. The 26 councillors were due to stand for re-election in May but had been granted extensions in office as part of provisional arrangements for unitary status. The judge has now ruled the by-elections must take ...
Taking advantage of an internet cafe in Hoehoe quickly to post this picture. Three days on farms and I still look like a Persil advert. There goes my street cred. Hope to do a post on the work this evening. My driver Peter who tool the photo just suggested there's more money in the wellington boots than the organic chilli peppers we were working on. [IMG: 124.jpg]
Last week saw Bournemouth hosting the thirteenth Local Government Association annual conference. These conferences started in 1997, shortly after the election of a shiny new Labour Government. Delegates do a double take: LGA conferences take place in the same places as party conferences but you find that you are standing at the bar with people from other parties. And council officers. Altogether the LGA version is less intense and, shall we say, less exuberant than the annual outings of the major political parties (although until last year London Councils put on a disco - a bit like the Glee Club ...
A while back, Pam and I were chasing up on getting the fly-posting at the corner of Longley Lane and Altrincham Road in Gatley cleared away. Unfortunately, it turned out that the side of the road with the problem (the north west corner of the junction) is in Manchester, so we just had to pass it over and keep our fingers crossed. But, credit where it's due, they've got it sorted and everything's been removed. If only we could get the old, rusting metal bench on the corner sorted too.
Richard Grayson (former head of policy for the party and one of the leading lights behind the Social Liberal Forum) has written a thoughtful pamphlet for Compass about the different strains of thought within the Liberal Democrats and what they mean for coalition government. The subtlety of some of Richard's views mean you have to read the whole piece to do them justice, but a flavour of his interpretation of the so-called social liberal versus economic liberal difference is given by these extracts: One other point needs to be made about the supposed social-economic liberal divide is that for the ...
1,500,000 children a year suffer from abuse every year, and two a week are killed by abuse and neglect. Social services are woefully under-resourced to cope with the problem.Of the 1.5 million suffering abuse, only 550,000 are reported, and social services are only equipped to allocate a social worker to 35,100. The voluntary sector is doing its bit to help. One charity, Kids Company, runs centres for vulnerable children across London, but the problem is huge. Research by the University of London shows that of the 14,000 children and young people Kids Company reaches, 84% are homeless, 83% suffer sustained ...
Here (pdf).
Two new Tory MPs have been publicly named and shamed in today's papers for getting so drunk that – allegedly – one fell to the floor of the House of Commons bar, while another was rude to a Commons official. Mark Reckless (for it is he) has 'fessed up to his own drunkenness, including being so paralytic he missed a Budget vote. The Mail reports: Worst affected was Mark Reckless, who has been Tory MP for Rochester for just two months. The former banker, who has campaigned to save the 'Great British pub', fell to the floor of a Commons ...
Mon 12th
14:16
Mike Russell MSP, the man who wanted to sell Argyll & Bute's forests now wants to be their SNP c...
So with the news that Jim Mather MSP is standing down at the next Scottish election the SNP in Argyll & Bute are now looking to select their next candidate. Mike Russell MSP has announced via Argyll News that he would like to offer himself as the SNP candidate in fact they go on to also explain that to be the MSP for Argyll & Bute you really need to be a Minister in the Holyrood Government to be the MSP for Argyll & Bute. Given they have had George Lyon (LibDem) representing them for eight years and Jim Mathers ...
The Daily Post, and to a lesser extent the Liverpool Echo, have today published a story about my call for recorded votes in the Council Chamber and for more transparency on the part of organisations taking decisions affecting citizens. Here's a link to the story in the Daily Post. I'll gloss over the comment from Cllr Anderson (although Joe you really do need to speak to your own staff and team before making an assumption like that) and focus on the absolutely dismissive response from Merseytravel. What I asked for was for organisations, like the Transport Authority, which are making ...
I've been in the job for more than six months now, so perhaps I should be able to tell people what I do. And this is it... 3.6 The Secretary shall be responsible for (a) arranging the meetings of the Regional Executive,and keeping minutes; (b) receiving and distributing the minutes of the Regional Party's committees, sub-committees and working groups; (c) maintaining an up-to-date list of regional conference representatives and supervising the conduct of the Region's internal elections; and (d) for ensuring that the Region makes effective communications with Local Parties and other bodies within the Party. 4.8. Within seven days ...
With all manner of public spending cuts coming our way and VAT going up, the logic of excluding Trident from a defence review does strike me as indefensible. Surely this is a proper area for the Conference in Liverpool to discuss? Liberal Voice has a bit this morning. If the level of deficit reduction is significantly greater than we at first envisaged and needs to be undertaken more quickly than we argued then surely we should also rethink this.
Anti-gay preacher arrested for 'homophobic' election leaflets. That's the headline of a story today on Pink News. His crime? To write an election leaflet that was insulting. According to the Colchester Daily Gazette, it condemned gays and lesbians and said they should be jailed. Mr Shaw was arrested on June 11th on suspicion of inciting hatred, specifically homophobia. He was released on bail without charge until the middle of next month. "Inciting hatred"? A bit like this: Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they ...
Mon 12th
13:20
What Nick told Gordon (according to Peter) when asking him to quit: "Please understand I have no per...
The first of the post-New Labour memoirs, Lord (Peter) Mandelson's The Third Man, begins its serialisation in The Times today. Those who pay for the paper, in print or online, will have the joy of relishing its every detail. If like me you're reliant on the Press Association's fillet, it seems the big splash is what we knew already: that Nick Clegg told Gordon Brown he would have no option but to resign if there were to be any chance of Labour and the Liberal Democrats cutting a deal. Unlike every other Labour MP except James Purnell, however, Nick did ...
The Government is set to announce a radical shakeup of the NHS, ostensibly handing much of the NHS budget for commissioning services etc down to local GP's. The NHS budget currently stands at £105bn. About 80% of this is given to local health managers working for 152 primary care trusts which in turn commission services for their areas. A Government White Paper to be published later, is expected to call for much of this to be handed to GPs working together in formal partnerships in what would be a major shake-up of the NHS structure. Now it's not hard to ...
Today could be the best day of my life. I've just been to my local Sainsbury's which – until today – seemed behind the times when it came to point of sale technology. The Tesco by my office has them. The giant Sainsbury's down the road has them. But today, for the first time, I was able to use self-service checkout machines at my local supermarket. They're brilliant. I mean, they're awful if there's an unexpected item in the bagging area, if you can't find your un-barcoded item in the menus, if you're trying to buy alcohol and there's no-one ...
Cornwall's Liberal Democrat councillors are calling on the Council to back a campaign for a local approach to administering European and central government support for the Duchy. The campaign comes after the Government took the decision to abolish the unaccountable Regional Development Agencies and replace them with Local Enterprise Partnerships. The coalition government has quite rightly made localism a key policy. If there are funds available from Europe or from central government to assist Cornish development and Cornish industry then it should be accountable local politicians and business leaders who should oversee how that money is spent." Until now, Cornwall ...
If so, this may be of interest. 40% of calls to Stratford DC were abandoned in April-June! If you did get through you had to wait on average for over 4 minutes! Liberal Democrats are asking the Council what action they're going to take to put this right. Philip [Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]
Those of us who are supportive of the coalition still recognise the need for our own identity and there are some in the Liberal Democrats who are concerned that this is being lost - and for good reason. In Swale we are planning to take on the almighty iron grip of the Conservative party but of course some voters may think we are now on their side. Labour's strategy has been to concentrate their fire on the Lib Dems, presumably hoping to bring down the coalition, although another general election may not be favourable to the Labour party. Liberal Democrat ...
Wasn't the World Cup DULL? I watched a large amount of the final last night, and it just seemed like long periods of people wandering around the park, vaguely kicking a ball. None of them seemed particularly bothered, and even the much-vaunted Dutch thuggery seemed lazy and half-hearted. I can't get excited about a contest where a waft from an opposition player's armpit means you have to hurl yourself to the floor and pretend to be in agony in the hopes of tricking the ref into giving you a free kick, either. The sooner they get video refs like rugger ...
A lorry driver from Weston-Super-Mare has been fined £115 and ordered to pay £583 in costs for driving a 13 tonne heavy goods vehicle through the 7.5 tonne weight restriction in Westerleigh. Read more on the South Glos website
It's official! Edinburgh has Scotland's best Housing Department. The Scottish Housing Regulator has just announced the results of his recent Inspection and Edinburgh has been awarded an A for Housing Management and a B for Asset Management and Repairs to go with our A for Homelessness already in the bag. This is the best score ever achieved by a Council in Scotland. In the report the Regulator said the Council had 'major strengths in the delivery of its services' such as strong strategic planning and performance management frameworkdemonstrates continuous improvements against its objectives over a number of yearsits approach to ...
The Conservative-run Council plan to impose charges on the Fairfax Road car park. People will be charged £1 for up to two hours, and £2 for more than that. We have opposed these plans since the beginning and voted against them when they were proposed because we think they will deter shoppers and cause congestion on nearby roads. They will also impact on people needing to get to the NHS facilities nearby. There are many alternatives to the planned proposals, and the short-term charges will be particularly damaging. Now there is a consultation period, so you can let the Council ...
Most parties have identity crises after being kicked out of power; we are having one upon gaining it for the first time. This crisis is not an internal one, as most Liberal Democrats seem to be holding firm, but rather a crisis of what the public perceive us to be. Tough decisions of power have meant for our long term electoral success, our basic thinking and ideology needs to be made clearer to the public. Having voted for the first time this general election, I found many of my first time voter friends simply did not know what the Liberal ...
[IMG: image873679780.jpg] All, Last week, after 7 months of work by STMP (a local community organisation) the Conservative-run Stratford District Council backed out if the plan to allow it's former offices in Telegraph Street to be put to community use. STMP's plan would have seen District and County Council services (as well as a number of other voluntary organisations) working together in a community run 'One Stop Shop.' Stephen Gray, the Leader of the Council, has referred the matter back to the Cabinet (which consists solely of Conservative councillors). A campaign against this move has started - and I am ...
I am not a religious person and therefore do not always appreciate the priorities set by those who are but I do think that the Bishop of Motherwell's congregation members aren't worrying about what he is worrying about and that perhaps he is getting his proverbial knickers in a twist over nothing. Over on the BBC News website the story is reported this morning; A Scottish bishop has criticised Prime Minister David Cameron for failing to act quickly to scrap the law preventing Catholics from taking the throne.Really? Is this what the Catholic people in Motherwell are really concerned about? ...
Margaret Thatcher famously "handbagged" her opponents within her own party. Now the weapon of choice for the Labour party, at least, is the diary. "Third Man", the probably less than gripping self-justifications of Peter Mandelson are about to hit the shelves of Britain's bookshops. He has certainly wasted no time in swinging his boot into the proverbial knackers of his Labour colleagues before
Am I the only person who is scared by the fact that we must convince people that the death penalty is wrong? Are people so willing to trust those "in power" as to allow them the ability to murder citizens?
The Pirme Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, have jointly authored an article in today's Telegraph setting out their hopes for the coming Parliament. Dealing with the deficit is vital, they say – but the real mission of the Coalition is to give people control over their lives. On dealing with the deficit: ... for both of us, sorting out the public finances is a responsibility, not a passion. We didn't come into politics just to balance the books. We are both ambitious for Britain: we want to change our country for the better. We want ...
Another quick Android tutorial. I couldn't find an easy or correct method of launching a browser when you click on a homescreen widget. Well, here it is... public class clickWidget extends AppWidgetProvider { @Override public void onUpdate( Context context, AppWidgetManager appWidgetManager, int[] appWidgetIds ) { RemoteViews remoteViews = new RemoteViews( context.getPackageName(), R.layout.widget ); remoteViews.setImageViewResource(R.id.ImageView01, drawableResourse); ComponentName myWidget = new ComponentName( context, clickWidget.class ); // Create an Intent to launch Browser Intent intent = new Intent( Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("http://example.com") ); PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(context, 0, intent, 0); remoteViews.setOnClickPendingIntent(R.id.ImageView01, pendingIntent); appWidgetManager.updateAppWidget( myWidget, remoteViews); } I've used this as the basis of a demo ...
My weekend was not wholly successful. It began with the Bradley Cup Bowling Competition on Friday, as mentioned in that day's post. This is the annual Councillors v Officers competition that has been played every year for about one hundred years, and which I thought I may as well have a go at seeing as how I'm up for election next time round and may never have the chance again. I'd never bowled before, so I'm glad I didn't spend any time clearing a space on the mantelpiece for the cup, which unsurprisingly didn't return home with me. Like the ...
Dear Labour Party, This is a difficult letter to write, but write it I must. It is important that I put down in words my misdeeds in the hope that others can learn from my mistakes. I admit I strayed. Even now I am not sure exactly what it was. The debates helped for sure ...
The SNP government in Scotland has come under fire – again – for missing its self-imposed target that every child do two hours of formal P.E. a week. Only 35% of primaries and 23% of secondaries have achieved the two hour goal. But why have the target at all? What's it actually achieving? Surely it's sensible to only impose this sort of national target when there's clear evidence of benefit. Will two hours of P.E. make our young people more lithe and reduce obesity? Not according to the evidence. A study published in the BMJ journal Archives for Disease in ...
Regional Development Agencies: Funding Question Asked by Baroness Scott of Needham Market To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the funding allocated to regional development agencies for the provision of leaders' boards under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 will continue until legislation repealing the leaders' boards has been enacted.[HL228] The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Hanham): The Secretary of State has announced that government funding for regional local authority leaders' boards-which took over most of the functions and staff of the old regional assemblies-has been ended. This does not need to ...
Bury Ranger Service in conjunction with The Friends of Prestwich Forest Park are organising a Action/Clean up day on July 18th. See below for more details and contact Bury Ranger, Ian Rogers, for more information. What; Working in the clough stream to improve stream flow involving moving stones and re-channelling. (Please note, it will be quite physical at times) When; Sunday 18th July 9.30am. Where; Prestwich Clough, Prestwich. Meet at Clough entrance on St Anns rd, opposite Lowther Rd at 9.30 or come and find us in the Clough. Bury Ranger service will provide gloves and tools but would recommended ...
[IMG: image] Sometimes it's the little things in life that irritate, couple of things recently, I've noticed, one is the apparent commandeering of part of the Northdown road as a loading bay for Tesco Metro, the other a sign plastered to the fence of tennis courts on the cliffs overlooking Palm Bay. [IMG: image] Fortunately the good citizens of Margate ignore the 6am to 6pm curfew on parking, much of time, and so far no I've not heard of any Margate vigilantes mounting a campaign against the council allowing advertising banners along the fence of the Tennis courts, despite the ...
"Note to Nick: Regulatory Framework for School Fetes, Section 3, subsection 5c , Use of stocks for members of parliament - top priority for removal in Freedom Bill." Caption competition over on Lib Dem Voice.
[IMG: Map of the different review areas] Earlier this month I attended a meeting with the parking officers in charge of the review of the Finsbury Park Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ), and the new cabinet member in charge of parking Cllr Nilgun Canver. The officers came armed with maps of the proposed consultation areas, which they'd drawn up following a previous meeting (see picture). The full consultation with residents will happen in the Autumn, with residents inside the CPZ being asked if they still support the CPZ and whether they want the rules changed (different hours and different sub-zones within ...
Both Peter Mandelson and David Miliband have made comments recently which are clearly critical of Gordon Brown. In Mandy's case it is in order to help shift copies of his new book. In Mili_D's case it is part of his positioning for the Labour leadership contest. Miliband's comments are particularly strident. He accuses him of lacking "moral seriousness". That will particularly hurt Brown given all his talk about his moral compass. He also claimed that spin and high-handedness intensified. There are other criticisms about failure to renew the party in office. Well in response to this all I can say ...
It fills me with absolute horror that Florence Mhango, and her 10 year old daughter Precious, might be deported imminently. Precious has been in this country since she was 3 years old and came in with her mother and father who was studying here. Because of violence from her husband, Florence fled with her daughter for her own safety. They sought asylum in this country on the grounds that if they were forced to return to Malawi, Precious would be taken away from her mother and handed over to her father's family and, basically, could never her mother again. I ...
The Sunday newspaper story that got the most headlines over the weekend was the serialisation of Peter Mandelson's book in the Sunday Times, and the bit that's got the most coverage is the apparent "revelation" that Clegg asked Brown to stand aside. As Mike Smithson has pointed out, none of this is much of a ...
The Public Inquiry into the Town or Village Green application for Belle Vue starts today at 10.00 a.m. in the Council Chamber at Consett Civic Centre. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
My heart said Holland from the start. The English have a certain affinity with the Netherlands and us football fans still think of the Dutch as the total footballers of Cruyff, the power of van Basten and, for those of use who are Gunners, the sublime silkiness of Dennis Bergkamp. But this wasn't anything resembling ...
During the Millennium Bug scare...top British Airways executives plan to be aloft as the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, 1999 -- a gesture to signal confidence that the airline's planes would not be falling out of the sky as a result of computer chaosand, if I recall correctly, some countries forced their airline executives to do the same. What if something similar was to apply to public services? Could services be improved by making those people who make decisions that affect the services be forced about them use them? Should ministers - and potentially decision makers in LEAs be ...
According to the BBC today, a £40m super computer project is being launched that will give businesses and universities in Wales access to the most advanced computing technology currently available. High Performance Computing Wales will provide computers that can handle and analyse massive amounts of data at a high speed. That is a lot of money so maybe I can help out. The answer is 42. Don't ask me what the question was.
The BBC report that the number of student places at Welsh universities will be capped next year for the first time: Professor Philip Gummett, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, said recruitment had to be controlled. Applications to some universities are up over 30% this year, leading to fears thousands of students could miss out on a place. Prof Gummett said the cap was needed because of the cost of student support. A Welsh Government spokesperson admitted that the new policy was down to them: "We gave an indication in HEFCW's remit letter that they needed ...
The Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales has called for the referendum on more powers for the Welsh assembly to be held on the same day as two other polls, the BBC report. Dafydd Elis-Thomas said he has no "constitutional objections" to it taking place on 5 May when the assembly elections and UK voting referendum are held. Cost is the "overriding issue", he said. Wales Home has the full text of Dafydd Elis-Thomas' letter to the Secretary of State for Wales: You kindly consulted me formally about the timing and question of the referendum under Part 4 ...
Your browser does not support iframes. I remain devoted to the British Pathé website. This newsreel has shots of Oakham, Uppingham and Manton from 1944. As ever, click on the picture to go to the film.
South Glos Council has decided to demolish the buildings at Rodford School, Yate, as soon as the school closes on July 23rd - from the end of the term it is being merged with Kings Court Primary School to form Woodlands Primary School. South Glos say this is necessary to prevent vandalism, but nobody has asked the local community about this. For example, there's a hall which could be a useful public facility. Lib Dem Cllr Ruth Davis has asked S Glos to look at potential uses for the site, for example to provide community facilities, especially as groups like ...
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES Sir... many of the troubles of the world at the present time are due to imprudent borrowing and spending on the part of the public authorities. We do not desire to see a renewal of such practices. At best they mortgage the Budgets of the future and they tend to drive up the rate of interest - a process which is surely particularly undesirable at this juncture, when the revival of the supply of capital to private industry is an admittedly urgent necessity. The depression has abundantly shown that the existence of public debt ...
The latest information Pembrokeshire against the Cull have is that the verdict on the Badger Trust's Appeal against the Welsh Ministers' decision to cull badgers will be handed down at 10am on Tuesday, 13th July in the Royal Courts Justice, Strand, London. This is a change from the expected Cardiff location. However, further last minute changes cannot be ruled out - the notice says that any changes will be notified by 4.30pm on Monday 12th July. Meanwhile, in the Assembly last Wednesday I pressed the case with the Minister for vaccination instead, with little success: Peter Black: Minister, now that ...
i) births and deaths 12 July 1933: birth of Brian Cant, who I knew as one of the great BBC children's presenters of the 1970s but before then had appeared in The Daleks' Master Plan (1965) as Kert Gantry and The Dominators (1968) as Tensa. 12 July 1980: birth of Tom Price (PC Andy in Torchwood). 12 July 1995: death of Gordon Flemyng, director of Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966) ii) broadcast anniversaries None. iii) date almost specified in story 12 July 1966: It is roughly about this date that WOTAN starts ...
Europe's assault on Western Sahara Isn't there something rotten about how Europe throws a pittance at the poor, while it empties the seas of their homeland? (tags: westernsahara eu)
Lib Dem blogger Jonathan Calder, who writes House Points for Lib Dem News, has written an excellent article and blog post about the absurd posturing and policy demands of Labour MP for Washington and Sunderland North, Sharon Hodgson. You can read Jonathan's blog at www.liberalengland.blogspot.com.For those who have not heard of Sharon Hodgson (likely to be a significant majority), she was the
Well done Spain. In spite of my pre-tournament hopes for Holland, the better team won on the night, with Spain's skillful passing game finally overcoming the more prosaic, combative Dutch style in the dying minutes of extra time. I was disappointed for Holland, even though their first half exhibition of the more physical side of ...
Have you ever been in the company of someone who has killed a wasp. Then you find out that someone else in your company is shocked by this action as the wasp was a living creature and deserved respect. There are so many other methods of removing a wasp without hitting it with newspaper and some methods will keep it alive. These two people don't usually become firm friends. Raoul Moat has made headlines for more than a week. There are so many points to be made and I am sure he will make headlines for days to come, but ...
