The final meeting of the John Owens Trophy meeting tonight. All is on track, and more so than previous years ! We are guaranteeing that there will be no vuvuzelas, but will be African Drummers. There is a facebook page, but for those of you not on facebook the match is on Sunday starting at 3.00 pm, being kicked off by the current mayor, following on from the tradition I started 5 years ago. ...
Thu 29th
22:51
Early Learning Centre apologises and changes website in response to complaints about sexist language
Finally, here is the follow up post I promised after the brief one I e-mailed earlier. I am delighted to report that, after Jennie, I and others encouraged our readers to complain to the Early Learning Centre regarding the wording on their website which suggested that girls should dress up in nurses' outfits while the doctors' ones were for boys, the relevant section has changed from this: "For the little princess in the family we have great feminine outfits like Butterfly Fairy, Sleeping Beauty, Ballerina and Nurse's uniform. Why not add a medical case for that extra touch of authenticity.The ...
It was a good day for England's cricketers at Trent Bridge in [IMG: Eoin Morgan] Nottingham, with Eoin Morgan (right, in Middlesex one-day colours) treating us to his finest Graham Thorpe impersonation by the end of the day. Pakistan's attack is promising but callow, and even the most exciting teenager in the game, Mohammad Aamer, lost some of his snap as England exerted their authority. For the first time, the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) was being used in a Test match in England, and it got a fair bit of use. Given England's travails with the system in the ...
Pink Stinks and Construction Toys Are For Girls Too have been banging on about the horrendous sexism at the early learning centre for over a year now. The last few days have seen this signal boosted to an extraordinary degree, to the point where even some boys started posting about it. Suddenly, now the boys are taking notice, they are doing something about it. Now, a lot of feminists would bemoan this, saying Oh, nothing ever gets done about sexism till men get involved... but not I. On the grounds that the patriarchy hurts men too, that some of my ...
One is bound to ask, if Ed Balls is the answer for Labour, what's the question. His needlessly aggressive and arrogant approach to the coalition negotiations as witnessed here is probably one of the reasons Labour finds itself in opposition now, rather than in government. The other fact which became clear is that had a person other than Gordon Brown (i.e. David Miliband, who evidently lacked the neccesary political 'ticker' to challenge him) been occupying No.10, there would have been a greater chance of some sort of Lib-Lab deal rather than the impatient rush to get out of office and ...
You scored 93.333 out of 100 masculine points, 47.5 out of 100 feminine points, and 60.833 out of 100 androgynous (neutral) points. Check your score here. Substantive sexism post coming up shortly.
At Grand Central station, in the olive oil shop (yes, there is one) I found myself in the rather strange position of defending American beer to a very genial fellow from Connecticut. He posited the view that Europeans do beer much better than the USA. I pointed out there are oceans of European beer which are rubbish, and that there are many fine American beers. "Which?" he asked. "Well, there's Anchor for a start", I retorted. "And...?" he enquired. "Um....ah....um" I stuttered to a halt. Fortunately, my visit to the USA reminded me of the delights of Samuel Adams. I ...
Jonathan Calder has posted a defence of eating squirrels. It turns out that Jenny Seagrove is against it. Just an excuse for posting her picture as she appeared in Local Hero but with a pirate squirrel as company.
On arriving at King Arthur's Hall (see below) I was pleased to see that at last the potholes at the entrance to Galahad Close were finally being repaired and the road resurfaced. My thanks to Highways for doing the job. Isn't it a pity however that these jobs never get done unless I and residents complain continually for action. Unfortunately this was just one of the poor sections of road in Alamein ward. I will now move on to see if we can get others done as well. If you have any particular examples of badly maintained roads please let ...
My laptop has been taken over by 11 year olds but I've just checked my e-mail & found a message from the Early Learning Centre in response to the complaint I sent them on Tuesday night regarding the way their dressing up outfits were marketed, specifying, among other things, that nurses' outfits were for girls & doctors' outfits for boys.They have removed that language.I'm speechless but thrilled that they have acted so quickly. I only boosted the signal raised by Jennie & others, as did Stephen.I know that ELC received several complaints as a result of my post alone so ...
This evening I attended the performance of "Letters" a music and theatre show organised by the Turnaround project and performed by local children and young people from Alamein ward. King Arthurs Hall was full to capacity to see and excellent performance. This was all conceived and perfected in four days of workshops which showed our young people don't just hang around on street corners but can and do produce something thy can be really proud of. Congatulations to Mags, Chris, Mo and everyone from Turnaround and Fusion for the work done and special congratulations to to all those who took ...
From BBC News: A north London grocery store is committing "wildlife massacre" by selling squirrel meat, an animal welfare group has claimed. Vegetarians International Voice for Animals (Viva) accused a branch of Budgens of supporting a "barbaric and needless cull" of grey squirrels. An independently-owned branch in Crouch End has been selling the meat for four months. I think Viva is barking up the wrong tree here. There is far more cruelty involved in the factory farming of more conventional animals than there is in killing squirrels. They have a happy time leaping from bough to bough and playing with ...
A little bit of local cricket history on The Corridor.
Yes you read that right. With the Labour leadership contenders still in deficit denial. With Ed Balls blaming Darling for losing the election over his (limited) honesty in admitting the extent of cuts that would be necessary, it is worth reminding ourselves what borrowing means. The longer we take to balance the budget, the more money is borrowed on the way, and the bigger the national debt we end up with. A bigger national debt means more spending on interest instead of public services. So if your policy leads to a bigger debt than the other lot, the in the ...
Thu 29th
19:24
Guilty pleasure - A definite contender for the title of 'the most beautiful view in the world'
I apologise in advance for harping on about my holiday in New York City. I'll be like some particularly nerdish holiday slide shower for the next few weeks. But, hey, that's blogging! This (above) is the view of Manhattan from the Upper Bay area (or lower Hudson River area) at night. Not a particularly good photo, I'm afraid. I took it on Monday evening. On an unbelievably wonderful and celebratory (25th years' of the old ball and chain – since you ask) dinner yacht experience I expected to be enthralled by the Statue of Liberty. But I was more enthralled ...
Due to popular Demand*, I am going to run my own series of blog awards again. I am seeking nominations in the following categories:Best Political Blog (e.g. Caron's Musings, Helen Duffett) Best Fandom Blog (e.g. [IMG: [personal profile] ] lizbee, Den of Geek) Best Feminist Blog (e.g. Feminist Law Professors, Pink Stinks) Wittiest Blog (e.g. FailBlog, BBC Comedy Blog) Prettiest Blog design (e.g. Thagomizer, Jon Ball) Sexiest Blogger (e.g. Penny Red, [IMG: [personal profile] ] djm4) Best Beardy Blogger (e.g. [IMG: [livejournal.com profile] ] burkesworks, my own dear wife). Best Non-human Blogger (e.g. Millennium Elephant, Pink Dog) Geekiest Blogger (e.g. ...
If you have five minutes, I strongly urge you to read this article by Miriam Shaviv. I entirely agree with her and I think the points she makes are extremely valid
With the Coalition Government now in place, there is a chance for marriage equality to become a reality. But it's not going to come to us without effort, as this week's events have shown. We are going to need to fight for it. Other countries take the issue more seriously and have dedicated organisations fighting for it. But that takes time to set up, and money. And I don't think it's necessary in our situation. But with large organisations like Stonewall failing to take up the fight, it's down to small organisations, and us individuals, to form what @LawrenceMills called ...
I am finding it difficult to defend some of the decisions Nick Clegg and the those Lib Dems whose flattery and obsequious behaviour to their governments' senior partners at every utterance from the frontbench coalition. The stance on the VAT rise, the schools programme, the dreadful changes in Incapacity and Housing benefits as well as the Disability Allowance; all these sure to please the blinkered Daily Mail brigade that anyone with an illness is a benefit scrounging wastrel, and anyway aren't there workhouses for them? But when it comes to his 'Road to Damascus' on The Cuts, we now discover ...
Mark Reckons is waving his willy so furiously that at least two other blogs have posted about it (not linking to the original because Mark runs MessageSpace). If you want to subvert his desires for Total Blogosphere Domination, vote Debi. And Caron. And Helen. And other ladies. Or gentlemen with beards. Instructions follow:1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite). 2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted. 3. You MUST include at least ...
Here's the next instalment in a new regular feature where I introduce the bloggers on my blogroll, letting you know why they are there and how I got to know them. First up is Sara's Always win when you're singing blog. I first came across Sara Tustin as she then was when she was in SDP Students standing for the NUS Executive in the 1980s. I was much too scared to even dare speak to someone as important as she was way back then, but then in the 90s we were both involved in the first Liberal Democrat internet conferencing ...
Following on from Roy Connell's contribution over the renewal of Trident I am grateful for Lord Bonkers retweeting this article from Greenpeace.(I'm slowly getting a handle on the twittering malarkey): Trident replacement is looking less likely today after Chancellor George Osborne told media that the Treasury weren't willing to stump up for the project out of central funds. Speaking in New Delhi, where he is accompanying David Cameron on his visit to India, Mr Osborne told the Bloomberg newswire: "All budgets have pressure. I don't think there's anything particularly unique about the Ministry of Defence. I have made it very ...
After the site visit at 11.30am earlier today, Councillors returned to the Town Hall to make a decision on the floodlights application made by West Didsbury and Chorlton AFC. To recap, some of the key details surrounding this matter, the club had applied last year for an all-weather pitch, new main pitch and floodlights to ...
Thu 29th
17:28
Isn't the Tories criticism of Labour over voting reform just the slightest bit hypocritical ?
There are plenty of people in both the Labour and Conservative Parties who have long sought to label the lib Dems as political opportunists over the issue of voting reform because a more proportional system favours the Lib Dems. However, the ignore the fact that the Lib Dems are the only party who have ever stood on a platform, of "elect us as a majority and we'll introduce a voting system that will ever prevent us from having a majority government again", which if STV ever gets introduced, will be the result. However, we have seen in recent week s ...
Early this year I was blogging about the Chartist campaign. At the time I couldn't bring to mind what the sixth point of the charter was. I am grateful to Stephen Glen for refreshing my memory. You may recall that in the 1830's a major push for expanding the franchise was under way and a charter of six point was drawn up, so acknowledgments Stephen they were: A vote for every man twenty-one years of age, of sound mind, and not undergoing punishment for crime. The secret ballot. - To protect the elector in the exercise of his vote. No ...
There was an armed robbery at Cheadle Post Office this morning (Thursday 29th July) at 9.30am. The robbers stole a security van with money, dumped it on Bruntwood Park and crossed the park on foot to another vehicle. No-one was injured in the robbery. If you have any information that might help the police, please contact them.
Keighley Town Council will be holding a Yorkshire Day celebration at Church Green at the St Andrews Church end of North Street on Yorkshire Day - this Sunday - 1st August. It promises to be great fun, with two live bands, the internationally known Wes Paul Band playing country and western music and home grown Keighley band Jamba, playing samba music. There'll be afternoon teas at the Lord Rodney, home made cakes at the Shared Church (St Andrews), cask ale and children's roundabouts. If you were born in or live in Yorkshire you can get your own Yorkshire passport for ...
Oh well, Bradford Council has cancelled its promised try out of a one way system around the centre of Keighley while gas pipes are renewed in East Parade. Too expensive. Fancy waterworks in Centenary Square aren't too expensive, of ...
[IMG: Willimijen verkaik Frei Und Swerelos] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: The Western Sky I am not one of nature's musical lovers. That's putting it mildly. I normally get pulled along to musicals by the distaff side of my family, with one of them detailed to give me an elbow in the ribs every time they detect the merest hint that I am nodding off. Anyway, we were blessed to see "Chicago" at the Ambassador's Theatre on Broadway on Tuesday night. Given the humungous size of everything else in New York City, I was expecting a huge theatre the ...
I must admit that despite my mild addiction to crime novels-I'm reading the Susan Hill 'The Vows of Silence'-I have not come across Tess Grittitsen until last night.During a presentation on the Southport Flower Show I learned that they were developing a mini 'bloomin book festival' and that one of the stars is Ms Gerritsen. I checked out her website and sure enough she is in the UK for a Book Tour in August-altho Southport is not -as yet- mentioned in her itinerary. Well I can confirm she will be at the Flower Show: Sunday 22nd August 2.00pm Tess Gerritsen ...
Labour's behaviour over the Government's plans for electoral reform has infuriated me. It's as if they think that shouting loud and using nasty words like gerrymandering will make mud stick particularly to the Liberal Democrats. Well, it's no substitute for the intelligent, reasoned debate that people are entitled to expect. I was going to write about this in greater detail but on this occasion I'm bowing out because so many other people have already done it better. Instead, here's a round up of some of the best of the articles on electoral reform: First of all, have a look at ...
I am attempting to return to more regular blogging and will start with the news that the man who threw an egg at Tory peer Baroness Warsi when she visited Luton back in November last year has been jailed for six weeks. The man, a 23 year old Luton resident named Gavin Reid, was sentenced by City of Westminster magistrates court today. Details on the BBC website; 'Luton man who threw egg at Baroness Warsi jailed', & on the Guardian website; 'Man gets six weeks in jail for throwing eggs at Tory peer Lady Warsi' Call me an old liberal ...
On August 2nd 1860 the first leisure pier in Great Britain was opened in Southport. Late in the C20th it was restored and today is the second longest pier in Britain. On Monday August 2nd at 12 noon there will be an appropriate and modest celebration. All are welcome. Congratulations to all involved in the pier restoration and management today. Mike Swift raised this at last nights Area Committee and I was very happy to add our congratulations. I waited with baited breath for his supplementary question but he had genuinely come to draw to out attention the piers 150th ...
Last month Labour opposed the VAT increase because, they said, of the effect this would have on the less well off in society. This EDM spells it out quite nicely. This month some of the same lefties produce an EDM complaining about the below cost selling of food. Of course raising the cost of food will not disproportionately affect the less well off in society! H/T Dizzy thinks
This morning, the City Council published the following public notice : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 : SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of A90 Swallow/Landmark roundabout carriageway resurfacing works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in 1 Dykes of Gray Road (from its junction with A90 to Landmark Hotel access road), Dundee. 2 A85 Riverside Avenue (from its junction with A90 to Apollo Way), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Sunday 8 August 2010 for 5 nights (from ...
Professor John Adams has submitted a Mill-esque proposal for the Government's Freedom Bill. Adams, author of "Risk", explains on his blog: The Cream Buns Act would remove all existing laws and regulations that proscribe behaviour that risks only the health or safety of mentally competent adult risk takers. Two nominations for early repeal: the seat belt law and the set of laws criminalizing the sale or use of drugs. They merit priority not only because they pass the Cream Buns Test but, more importantly, because they have criminalized millions and can be shown to have had highly significant adverse consequences. ...
Victoria Derbyshire's 5Live phone in today played host to a live debate between the five candidates seeking to be the next leader of the Labour party. Prior to this debate VN had thrown its weight behind Ed Balls (rather sarcastically,) and more genuinely behind Ed Miliband (his living wage campaign is good, but it should have been done whilst in government.) However that all changed today. After hearing the debate the most promising candidates seem to be Andy Burnham and Diane Abbot. Now this may seem strange. Politically VN is an orange blog, (i.e. pro Lib Dems, and pro Orange ...
As reported in tonight's "Evening Telegraph", I have been in touch with the City Council's Chief Executive and the Director of Housing about the travellers' encampment at the Riverside Business Park, following on from my letter to them earlier this week. There's been a significant build up of litter and rubbish and, in addition to residents' concerns about the mess, the further concern is that, as the site is close to Dundee Airport, this litter blowing about and the build up of gulls in the area as a result, could pose a threat to aircraft. As residents are aware, the ...
I've just been having a look around Your Freedom, the site set up at the instigation of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg where we are asked for our suggestions of unnecessary laws to repeal in the Freedom Bill to be published in the next session of Parliament. Here are some ideas I've come across that I think are worth considering: A couple of weeks ago I had a prescription to pick up. I went to the pharmacy but was told I'd have to wait an hour or so because the locum pharmacist was on lunch. Fair enough. When I returned, ...
You will of course not see the word (S)socialism in any Labour party manifesto since 1992. Of course this was a result of the removal of Clause 4. There is another precursor to the Labour party through the labour movement: Chartism. The People's Charter of 1838 laid out 6 principles, in he language and context of parliament of the day they were. A vote for every man twenty-one years of age, of sound mind, and not undergoing punishment for crime.The secret ballot. - To protect the elector in the exercise of his vote. No property qualification for members of Parliament ...
With the permission of Marianne Dee at the University of Dundee's School of Computing, here's an update on the SiDE project and a request for participants : "SiDE is a research project which is being conducted at four universities across the UK. Here in Dundee, in the University's School of Computing, SiDE Dundee is building up a Research Pool of 1000 people aged 50 and over who are willing to take part in research studies over the next four years. Researchers want to understand the ways in which technology is used in people's lives. They are interested in all technologies ...
Having taken a short holiday last week I am now working through the recess, carrying out a whole range of visits and meetings both in my constituency and on behalf of my constituents. I managed to make a day in the Royal Welsh Show last week, which gave me the opportunity to talk to a number of organisations. I also found myself walking past the cattle society stands but fortunately nobody recognised me or else I could have found myself embroiled in a long discussion on bovine TB. On Friday I attended the 10th anniversary celebration for Swansea Care and ...
Some of the ludicrous claims about the Liberal Democrats made by Labour since we have gone into government have been encapsulated in a headline generating website here. There are hours of fun to be had. Enjoy!
The Western Mail reports on research that shows that thousands of young people across Wales remain out of work and not in education. They say that official figures show a total of 12% of 16 to 18-year-olds were so-called Neets (Not in Employment, Education or Training) at the end of last year. The situation among 19 to 24-year-olds was even more serious, with more than a fifth (21.6%) in this situation, up from 17.6% in 2008. These statistics show how fmuch the Welsh Government has to improve its performance if it is to hit its target of ensuring that 93% ...
Back in the old days, before we had a government that cared about civil liberties, Labour were busy telling us how wonderful ID cards were. No-one was quite sure what they were useful for (beating terrorism? tackling benefit fraud? getting a drink in the pub? travelling to France without a passport?) but whatever it was, they were really good at it. Now, thanks to some persistent questioning from No2ID National Co-ordinator Phil Booth, we know that of the nine people who featured in the glossy advertising telling us how ID cards had transformed their lives and possibly cured cancer, all ...
I work as a campaigner in the renewables industry. Right, that's the disclaimer out of the way – although I should stress I signed up because of principles and the planet and bunnies and the green green grass of home and that sort of thing, rather than the derisory sums they pay me. The Devil's ...
argh! i'm going to eat my hat. i thought that cobbles were nice bobbly things that make an area look twee. now i have come full circle. i took out the buggy on tuesday around the waterfront and experience a very bobbly experience. can you get vibration white finger me thinks? anyway, the area from ss great britain down to the M shed has a row of cobbles every 2 metres. then the area around pero's bridge and the arnolfini is the worst. i had a job maintaining a healthy apce with the buggy at all. baby was fine. parent ...
Latest figures released by the office for National Statistics shows Bury witnessed a big decrease in Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) Claimants from the previous month. Claims were down 5.8% to 4,095. Bury had the highest decrease of JSA claimants (5.8%) in Greater Manchester with the combined Local Authorities total reaching 3.6%, slightly less than the UK average of 3.9%. Bury District has seen an annual decrease in JSA claimants, 10.9% combined over the past 12 months, with Moorside and Church wards of Bury seeing decreases of 23.4% and 20.7% respectively. The total number of jobs provided by the Jobcentre Plus ...
I've had a letter published in the Camden New Journal today. It was a response to this quite strange editorial in last week's edition, which argued that it is 'Orwellian' to claim that Labour caused the financial crisis. My letter was edited quite ... Continue reading →
Early today while I was listening to the Labour Leadership debate on BBC Five Live I tweeted this '#labourhustings what an unfair voting system for labour leader no wonder they don't now support AV'. The Labour leader is voted under a more unfair system than the Deputy Leadership see Harriet Harman won under Alternative Vote System (not as many members of course as this was done at the Labour Party conference) The Labour leadership system is made up of weighted votes. Voters do have a list candidates in order of preference system but use an electoral college system. This is ...
The Coalition Government plans to scrap the default retirement age of 65 from October 2011, allowing people to work beyond that age if they choose. Employers will not be allowed to dismiss staff simply because they're 65 years old. As the BBC reports: Business group, the CBI, criticised the speed of the proposed changes saying it left firms "with many unresolved problems". The government's timetable to scrap the default retirement age would give companies little time to prepare, it added. However Rachel Krys of the Employers Forum on Age was delighted, saying it was "really unfair" that people had been ...
What's the good of a blog if one can't use it to blow one's own trumpet? So I should mention that while this blog was on sabbatical my first full-length research article was published in the journal Parliamentary History. Entitled 'Empire, Patriotism and the Working-Class Electorate: The 1900 General Election in the Battersea Constituency', it is intended as a contribution to the debate on how important a factor the South African war was in the Conservative/Unionist victory in that election. Broadly speaking, it concludes that it was indeed important, and disagrees with those historians who have sought to play down ...
So Gillian Duffy could well effect another election! I can't quite decide whether David Miliband's team have been sickeningly cynical or quite clever in obtaining the endorsement of Gillian Duffy however she did come to represent (rightly or wrongly) the Labour voters who felt let down by new Labour. It is these voters that any new Labour leader will have to bring back to the party and it is important that Labour engages with some of it's natural vote that has drifted to the BNP over the last ten years. However it is also important that Labour does not lose ...
This morning the Planning Committee of Manchester City Council carried out a site visit at West Didsbury and Chorlton AFC, before this afternoon's decision on whether floodlights will be allowed to be constructed. Though the club's application to join the North West Counties Football League for the 2010/11 season has already been rejected by the ...
[IMG: Click here to vote in the Total Politics Best Blogs Poll 2010] Mark Thompson has just posted a rather timely reminder that there are only TWO days left to vote for your favourite blogs of 2010 in the Total Politics Best Blogs Poll 2010. Having just starting reading my copy of the magazine this morning. I had too good a time at Wagamama last night to start when I got in, I'd say very worth while. The poll is run by Total Politics (backed by ) and for the second year running it is also being co-promoted/sponsored by Liberal ...
Can I introduce you to the Chorlton refurb group, set up to hopefully make many more properties in Chorlton sustainable in the future. Ways to get involved are available. The next meeting is on 16th September. I will trail it in advance, when the venue is 100% confirmed.
Following on from the revelation that Shepway Lib Dems cost you less, we have the Shepway Tories appalling response to a Liberal Democrat motion for a cut in the councillors allowances. The Folkestone Herald reports: District councillors have refused to take a cut in their allowances - despite the idea potentially saving civic centre jobs. Members of Shepway District Council met last week where the motion of chopping 10 per cent off their £3,867 basic allowance was discussed. It was estimated the reduction in expenses, which also included special responsibility allowances, would free up around £40,000 in the budget - ...
Theresa May is making it very hard for me to dislike her at the moment. She's always been a rather "Mheh" person in politics. Not really anything much. Not really interesting, not totally dull as to make you want to tear your ears off, but still, very mheh. Though maybe her idea for democratising the ...
I had an absolutely brilliant time at Wagamama in Livingston last night with Andrew, Stephen and Elspeth, It's my birthday on Saturday so we had an early celebration. Elspeth is a long time fan of Wagamama and I've really enjoyed the meals I've had there but it was a new experience for Andrew and Stephen. I ended up mistakenly ordering a vegetarian dish, the yasai yaki soba, which had egg, beansprouts, peppers, onions and garlic with fried shallots, pickled ginger, sesame seeds and coriander vinegar. Despite the lack of chicken and shrimp, which Elspeth had, it was absolutely delicious - ...
Much as the individual online in the privacy home will always tend to forget their tweets and posts are actually very public, the employee under commercial pressures will always tend to forget they may be interfering with people's private lives. These are unavoidable consequences of human nature, and only external forces will prevent these tendencies from becoming troublesome. Therefore I find it encouraging to see growing awareness in the business community of online privacy. Articles such as this one in the FT give me hope that the corporate world may start to listen to the advocacy groups: Using software to ...
Few disagree that non-violent crime has been falling since 1995, sharply at first and more slowly over the last decade. One of the explanations for the drop is simply that it's become more difficult to commit certain sorts of crime. Improved security, with the spread of double glazing and stronger doors as standard, has made life more difficult for the opportunistic thief. Car security has improved and, whilst the serious car thief may not be put off, it's certainly raised the bar. But car colour? Research from the Netherlands suggests that cars and bikes in more unusual colours, like yellow ...
[IMG: Click here to vote in the Total Politics Best Blogs Poll 2010] Just a quick reminder that there are two days left to vote for your favourite blogs of 2010. The poll is run by Total Politics (backed by Iain Dale) and for the second year running it is also being co-promoted/sponsored by Liberal Democrat Voice and LabourList. Rules recap: 1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not ...
Writing in the Guardian, Martin Kettle isn't wholly impressed with Labour's approach to reform. It tells you something about today's Labour party that it is no longer willing to go into the parliamentary lobbies in September to advance the equality of representation for which the Chartists campaigned. Instead it will enter the lobbies with the opposite goals. It aims to block a reform that would equalise parliamentary constituencies. And it seeks to protect an unequal status quo of over-empowered smaller seats of which Labour is the main beneficiary. It will do this, moreover, in the largely deluded belief that it ...
My boss leaves her copy of The Publican on the newspaper pile for the customers to leaf through once she's read it. Last night there was much hilarity over the adverts for this. If you'd like to count the misogyny fails in the advert, do feel free. Even the unreconstructed Yorkshiremen at work spotted and laughed at lots of them. Do it fast, though. I expect Iron Press to not last very long as a product. Me, personally, I'd rather have a drink for Real Women, like Sarah Hughes.
Yesterday I was part of the cross-party delegation that went down to London to lobby Lord Hill of the education department about schools funding in Liverpool. When I say cross party, I was the only non Labour politician there but there's not a lot I can do about the fact that all the Liverpool MPs are currently Labour! (Well not till 2015 anyway) I don't have a lot of experience of lobbying ministers (well none actually) but it seemed to go well. We got a hearing and some commitments to let us input into the Government's capital spending review. The ...
It's good to see that all Leeds MPs are uniting around calls to the Transport Minister Norman Baker to keep the funding in place for the trolleybus scheme in Leeds. There are still many details of the scheme that need to be ironed out but so much work has been done over the last decade, firstly on the tram scheme and more recently on this scheme, that it would be a huge waste to dump the project. The government must also take into account the benefits that the new trolleybus system would provide to the local economy and in turn ...
The Trades Union Congress has withdrawn an invitation to Vince Cable to speak at their Autumn conference. The Financial Times (free registration required) reports that leaders of the big unions are upset about Government cuts (which might raise the issue of how they would have dealt with Labour's £44 billion proposed cuts had they won the election). As the FT reports: A moderate unionist said: "It's a serious embarrassment, a joke, I don't know what they're playing at." The TUC struck a conciliatory note, telling the FT that it would find an alternative mechanism to keep dialogue open with the ...
Three months ago the British Labour Party supported a change in the UK electoral system. It did so for a very good reason: the current electoral system does not give the result that people vote for, which is a pretty serious problem if you believe in Democracy. Now Jack Straw tells us that his party no longer supports changing the electoral system, and will vote against the legislation to offer a referendum to the British people on adopting a (slightly) better system. Well, Jack Straw used to be a Stalinist, so I guess we shouldn't be too surprised that he ...
When I was working in the Policy Unit in Cowley St, one of the policy proposals I wrote up was the plan to abolish compulsory retirement at 65. This morning I woke to the news that the Coalition is to end from October next year the forced retirement of people at the age of 65. Excellent news!We have an aging population and we are part of a competitive global economy. Forcing people with a high
Another week and another unprovoked homophobic attack. This time in Perth, Scotland. Apparently the 30-year-old man, who was with his partner at the time, required first aid treatment by Twa Tams bar staff after the attack where he was punched at least three times in the face by the offender in his mid-30s. The Perthshire Advertiser reports: Bar manager Zoe Cooper said security staff did not witness the unprovoked attack but responded quickly, escorting the assailant outside, who then left the scene before police arrived. Staff and patrons have been interviewed by police investigating the 9pm assault, which was captured ...
If you have not yet seen this, it is genius. For legal reasons he can only be named as 'Journalist F', but today this young member of The Daily Mail's editorial staff is in hiding as threats and invective continue to spew from Paul Dacre's office after their top secret editorial formula was leaked to the press. Journalist F, rumoured to be less than five years in the job, somehow gained access to Dacre's high-security office, known in journalistic circles as 'Fortress Britain', and saw the secret formula tacked to the wall. Shocked by its similarity to a public transport ...
Labour peer Lord Waheed Alli who tabled an amendment in the last Parliament to allow religious civil partnerships is calling for full marriage equality. Writing on the Labour Uncut blog he said: "[In] the final weeks of the last parliamentary session, I was proud to see that the energy for change hadn't flickered out, as over 100 peers came to a late-night debate and overwhelmingly supported my amendment to the Equality Bill in a bipartisan vote. The amendment allowed religious groups who wish to do so - like Liberal Jews, Quakers and Unitarians - to conduct civil partnerships at their ...
(if, that is, any are reading this): I see that the Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery has released a new beer called Oud Heverlee Belgian Pale Ale - since it is named after my home village, I will be very interested to hear field reports of its quality!
date almost specified in canon 29 July 1977: first scenes of Image of the Fendahl (1977) as the hiker meets his doom and the scientists play with their pet skull. (Will give reasons for this dating on Saturday.) date of real event, almost but not quite specified in canon 29 July 1890: death of Vincent van Gogh
It's been remarkable to see how easily and naturally the Labour Party has slipped into its role as the opposition. That's not surprising at Westminster, but at County Hall it's a revelation. They still have a commanding majority in the council, but you wouldn't have guessed they had any authority today. "We have little choice but to do what is handed down by Westminster", bemoaned the leader. Then we got another of those fake motions put by the Labour Group asking the council to write to County Durham's MPs calling on them to vote against the rise in VAT. Had ...
So bull fighting has stopped in Catalonia. It may have been part of Spanish culture for centuries but barbaric blood sports have no place in the 21st century. They have no place in any century but we may think of ourselves as more civilised than our forefathers. These moves are bound to put more pressure on other areas of Spain to ban bullfighting but the vote was not that convincing with 68 voting for the ban and 55 against. It seems likely that we will have to live with bullfighting for some years to come. Rome wasn't built in a ...
