A slightly sardonic video from the Economist changes Europe's borders.... not to mention coastlines! Hat-Tip: Hit and Run
I discovered a new word this week, one which perhaps provides an apt description of the sort of "free market capitalism" real freed marketeers rail against. Corporatocracy I watched a film sponsored by the Georgist advocacy group the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation released in 2008 called "The End of Poverty". I can only really link to the trailer, for my non-US readers, since the only source of the entire film on line appears to be at Hulu.com and unless like me you have a clever little VPN that allows you to pretend to have a US IP address you won't be ...
Over the years I've been writing this blog, a rich vein of material has been provided by Paul Carters Conservative KCC administration, at some considerable cost to the taxpayer. All sorts of waste, millions on half baked ideas, like links to Virginia, Kent TV, Health watch, Icelandic banks, bonuses paid out to fat cat officers for simply doing their jobs, all the while, services to children and the elderly are being cut. It seems that officers and KCC councillors, maintain a taste for the high life, whilst you and I are wondering if we will have a job next week ...
[IMG: Rock Road Library] The County Council is looking to save £2 million from its library budget — about 30%. On Monday (August 9th) hey are launching a consultation on different services and facilities. There will be a series of public meetings and roadshows as well as a questionnaire at libraries and online at the County's webpage. Views are sought on the following cuts: possible new shared and/or externalized management and support self-service machine and greater use of volunteers streamlining the mobile library service new support for Library Access Points a review of library provision in the city and surrounding ...
Today's "Courier" gives readers a useful update on the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Group's impending public appeal, including my own comments - see http://tinyurl.com/couriertay. The group is going from strength to strength and if you are interested in learning more about it, do please contact info@taymemorial.com.
The consultation period for the competition to run a new primary school on Gunhild Way has less than two weeks to go. If you haven't already commented, you can do so up till 20th August, by writing to David Clark at Cambridgeshire County Council. Comments are invited from everyone, but the choice of provider of the new school is especially important for parents of children about to go to school, ie those currently at nursery school or younger, who will be applying to primary school soon. Nursery schools have not been included in the consultation. There is a significant amount ...
This afternoon, I had the pleasure of attending the Friends of Balgay Summer Meeting at the Mills Observatory. Unfortunately the planned speaker did not materialise, but hero of the hour was Stewart Murdoch, the City Council's Director of Leisure & Communities who gave an impromptu talk about the arts in the city, including progress with the V&A project. All credit to Stewart - not just impromptu but informative and entertaining too! At the meeting, the Friends' new publication - "A Visitor's Guide to the Treasures of Balgay" - was launched. It is an extremely well presented and informative guide to ...
Ow ow ow!
Have you got your Youth Unltd discounted bus pass? If you are a young person in full-time education living in South Gloucestsrshire, the Youth Unltd card gives you half price adult fares on single and return journeys. It is not valid for day/weekly/monthly/annual tickets. You can find out more on the South Glos website.
Rileys snooker club in Yate, which closed in February, has been offered to Yate Town Council for community use. It's not yet clear how much it might cost, and what conditions there might be. The Town Council has asked for more details of the offer.
There are few simpler pleasures in life than leafing through random shelves of second-hand books, so how delighted I was this morning to receive three large box loads of them from a very nice lady called Mary who came all the way from Leeds to deliver them along with other random items including a large Bristol blue glass bowl and one of those little multistandard televisions that I can use for DXing. Even taking it on spec this wee lot sounded far too good for Meanwood Road tip. Hooray for Freecycle; and if you read this Mary - thank you, ...
This was a story which entirely passed me by, but throws up a couple of intriguing questions. I tip my hat to the Independent's John Rentoul for highlighting Tony Blair's address to the Institute for Government entitled, How to Be Prime Minister, held at the end of June. In it Mr Blair commented, The British people have again elected a centrist government, and that's what they decided to do in that extraordinary way they do, they decide they will put in the Conservatives and put the Lib Dems alongside them. As Mr Rentoul notes, ... this rather goes against the ...
A post on politicalbetting.com this morning by the always excellent David Herdson about the tedium of the Labour leadership contest got me thinking. David's point was that the contenders just aren't really talking about anything. They can all do platitude, but none of them is seriously raising a genuine policy agenda for what they would ...
The Westminster Civil Service play scheme, which I have been attending for the last 6 years, is due to be shut down. The play scheme is subsidized by the civil service who have decided to cut it. The Government is meant to be making family friendly decisions but with this closure what will the parents who use this play scheme do with their children during the school holidays? It is known that women are the main users of public services so it is mothers like mine who are hardest hit by this decision. Since the Government is trying to get ...
Sat 7th
17:36
August Books 5) A Viceroy's Vindication? Sir Henry Sidney's Memoir of Service in Ireland, 1556-78
Reviving my 16th-century history project, I come to this interesting first-person account by the man appointed to rule Ireland by Elizabeth I in 1565-1571 and again in 1575-1578. Let's bear in mind that in the last hundred years only Bertie Ahern, W.T. Cosgrave and Éamon de Valera (and, stretching a point, Augustine Birrell) have run the Irish government for longer than that, so he demonstrated considerable staying power. In 1583 he wrote a long account of his public life to Sir Francis Walsingham, who was the queen's Principal Secretary and whose son was about to marry his daughter. It is ...
There's no prize at stake - just the opportunity to prove you're wittier than any other LDV reader ... Here's former Lib Dem leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown out campaigning. What caption do you think might adorn this becoming image? The winner of our most recent caption competition, the "Kramer vs Zac" edition - according to The Voice's judging panel of one - was this one by John Ruddy, with an honourable mention to this one by Chris Squire. Got a photo of a prominent Lib Dem you think would work well for a future caption competition? Then please email us ...
A few days ago I wrote about Early Day Motions – the petitions that only MPs can start and sign. Here are a few of my favourites from this parliament, starting with one for MPs not too familiar with the Internet. EDM 629: That this House deplores the easy access children have to pornography by means of satellite and cable television; and calls on Ofcom, the appropriate regulator, to amend its broadcasting code in order to ensure that access to pornographic material is only available via a secure authentication system. And who could begrudge Harlow its place in the limelight... ...
Sat 7th
14:03
Miss SB's Very Prestigious and Entirely Serious Blog Awards - Category Three: Best Feminist Blog
Here is a list of all the blogs which have been nominated for best feminist blog: Broadsides Debi Linton Feministe Feminist Hulk Feminist Law Professors Geek Feminism The Hathor Legacy Jezebel Mothers For Women's Lib Penny Red Pink Stinks Please take a look at them, assess them, and then vote. The vote is anonymous, and you don't have to have a Dreamwidth account to vote - instructions on logging in with open ID are here. Do feel free to pimp it out to your readers if you've been nominated. The poll will remain open for a week, and the next ...
Good News - mum got out of hospital in time to go on her holiday to Cornwall with Holly Bad News - I am Hollyless for AGES now :( Yesterday was a bit of a weird day. We got news that one of the regulars at the pub had passed away, so the mood was a bit fragile. There were some tears and hugs when Bob came in to give us the news. Imogen and I both seemed to have the same reaction to this: clinging on to Things That Are Normal, becoming a tight double act behind the bar. ...
RBS is the latest British bank to return to profit, with the 84% state-owned bank reporting a first-half pre-tax profit of £1.14bn yesterday. This prompted Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Treasury Policy Committee, Stephen Williams, to make call for RBS to make greater efforts to assist UK firms: RBS is almost entirely owned by the taxpayer, so these huge profits must be used for the national interest and not just to pay massive bonuses to senior staff. There is no excuse for RBS not to loan to good British companies that are struggling to get credit. We cannot simply allow ...
At the end of last month, I reported the impending overnight roadworks at the Swallow/Landmark roundabout. These start tomorrow - Sunday 8th August - for 5 nights (from 7.30pm to 6.30am). It now appears that there will be 'overlapping' roadworks resulting in overnight closure of the Tay Road Bridge - effectively Dundee's only other main road link to the south and I have had exchanges of correspondence with the City Council regarding the fact that both roads will be affected overnight on one night. I paste below an update from the City Council I received yesterday : "Further to your ...
Not feeling too political today, but then I haven't read the paper yet! Software can be very useful in politics of course so I thought I might share two favourites. #1 Bento: I have a long held belief that we suffer lower productivity in the UK because we use spreadsheets where we ought to use databases. Nothing against such as 'Excel' per se however for me the difference was most profound with my previous employer who had corporate spreadsheet OCD, if you know what I mean! I could see that by contrast a database allowed a different approach to acquired ...
From Stockport Council: Thursday, 12th August sees Stockport Market's first Family Dog Show, running from 11 till 3! Classes include:- · Waggiest Tail · Scruffiest Dog · Best Six Legs (Dog and Handler most alike!) · Saddest Eyes · Dog the Judge would most like to take home Entry costs £1.50 per class (£1 per class for Leisure Key Holders) and £1 for each try at the time trial Agility Course! The Agility Course will run all day. Collect your entry forms from Dave the optician in the Covered Market Hall or the Tourist Information Centre at 30 Market Place; ...
In my copy of PC Pro this month a leaflet dropped out offering a free £50 trial of Google AdWords. Although I had never really considered advertising for this blog before I thought if it's free I could give it a go, mainly as a test to see how effective £50 worth of advertising this way could be. I am a bit sceptical as to its value for something like this and certainly would not pay anything without evidence that it was worth it. In the small print at the bottom of the flyer it states: A £5 account activation ...
As reported in today's Courier, I spoke yesterday with the City Council's Chief Executive David Dorward about the latest travellers' encampment and was advised that council officers have already been in touch with Aviva, owners of the former Norwich Union/GA site at Dundee's Technology Park . In my discussions with the council's Chief Executive, he advised me that Aviva are taking necessary steps to have the caravans moved on. However, there are clearly issues about the occupation of sites in the city and the need for proper security to avoid unauthorised entry. Furthermore, there is a need to ensure that ...
I understand from Greg Stone that Basil came fourth with 3526 votes - only 341,000 votes behind the winner
I know that to many people the concept of an Independent 'group' on Cornwall Council is an anathema. Why should a lot of individuals who were elected without party support band together in a common purpose? Whilst the hackneyed view of independents in local politics is that they are Conservatives in disguise, Cornwall's bunch are a very disparate lot. For sure, there are some who are true blue Tories, and some who are probably more right wing than that. Others are more Green or MK in their outlook and I'm pretty sure that at least a couple of them vote ...
If the Daily Mail is to be believed [insert own punchline here] Conservative Party foreign secretary William Hague is to address this year's Lib Dem conference, offering (apparently) "a 'witty' address, rather than focusing heavily on policy" – which seems right up Mr Haugue's street. In eager anticipation of this event, we at Lib Dem Voice have dug out some of the highlights of Tory conferences from yesteryear right up to the present to illustrate quite how far David Cameron's party has travelled in the last three decades. First up, here's Rowan Atkinson slipping into the role of Golfing Tory ...
Sometimes I wonder about people, I really do. Apology after disabled man told to leave Medway centre "A council has apologised to a disabled man who was told to leave a sports centre because he was making noise. Laurence Morgan, 20, who suffers from tuberous sclerosis and autism was asked to leave Strood Sports Centre after a member of the public complained. The genetic disease causes tumours to grow on his organs, including his brain, and he communicates through sounds, some of which are high pitched." Sounds pretty meanspirited already doesn't it? Well just wait: "Mr Morgan had been waiting ...
Whether you consider yourself a Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat or another party voter, everyone will have made assumptions about the world and how it works; whether these are conscious or not. Equally, a solution-focused approach to politics also makes some assumptions, which can be tested indirectly through the approach. These are based on the long ...
^Scottish Edinburgh 10 Year Meet And Curry Ten years ago (on Thursday*) the inaugural H2G2 (Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy) Scottish Researchers Group meet up happened. We met under the Scott Monument although I was a little late having come the whole way from Northern Ireland that morning to be there. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. SRG members have fallen in love with each other, fallen out of love, there have been weddings, handknottings and bairns. However, we at least are re-enacting that first contact by meeting in the same place, under the ...
One you may have missed from June 27th 2009 I hardly ever buy a daily paper during in the week nowadays. It seems silly when you can read so much online or watch it on the box. I do usually buy a Guardian on Saturdays, mainly spurred on by my nearest and dearest's enthusiasm for "The Guide" which is the handiest telly guide around (as well as covering a lot of other stuff which we never read). Sometimes I miss a Saturday, especially if I haven't yet read the previous week's non-news sections. I then spend a weekend catching up. ...
This morning's Western Mail continues to report on First Minister, Carwyn Jones' speech at the Eisteddfod at which he linked the reform of the Barnett formula to a 'yes' vote in the referendum. His analogy has earned a sharp rebuke from Kirsty Williams: "The 'Barnett formula' system of funding is widely discredited and delivers a poor deal for Wales. But it is Labour's formula - invented by Labour and sustained by successive Labour governments. "The issue of Barnett review is separate to the debate on strengthening law making powers for Wales. "The UK Government has acted swiftly to ensure a ...
Adam Price is interviewed in this morning's Western Mail about his decision not to stand for the Assembly in May. Apparently, he wants more experience of the outside world before being plunged into government. What is most interesting though is his judgement on Carwyn Jones' tenure as First Minister. He very much hits the nail on the head: Mr Price said that although he liked Carwyn Jones personally, he was not impressed by his performance as First Minister so far. "The best thing about being Prime Minister or First Minister is what you can do with the role - and ...
The tenth and last volume of the Blood Sunday Report is lengthy (541 numbered pages) but doen't really add much substance. The first 36 pages are a two-part appendix, a longish memo about how and to a lesser extent why the Inquiry was set up and then a listing of the lawyers involved; and there then follows another appendix containing Saville's opening statement, 41 rulings made by the Tribunal in the course of gathering and hearing evidence, and eight court judgements which over-rode the Tribunal's own rulings. The last three pages are a short bibliography. The first of these elements ...
I am astonished by this article in today's Guardian in which they report on a police operation to "out" prostitutes even when they have not been convicted of any crime: Six street-based sex workers in Newham, east London, were named on the Metropolitan police website. Police posted their photos, full names and dates of birth. In a second case, two Polish women who were selling sex from their home in Aldgate, east London, were raided by City of London police as part of Operation Monaco. Operation Monaco was launched in May 2009 but police have admitted that just one charge ...
It is bad enough spending most of our time correcting all the misinformation regarding the coalition government being put about the opposition and their friends in the Guardian without also having to counter untrue mischief-making about the Liberal Democrats as well. However, that is what we are having to do again this morning regarding this Daily Mail piece that alleges that William Hague will be addressing the Liberal Democrat Conference in Liverpool. As Liberal Democrat Voice points out there is no truth in the article. They quote a party spokesperson as saying: William Hague is not part of the conference ...
The Daily Mail today has a story that William Hague is to address the Lib Dem conference next month: The Foreign Secretary, widely seen as one of the best orators in the Commons, is expected to lead a Conservative charm offensive at the gathering in Liverpool in the hope of winning over disaffected LibDem activists. Tory sources suggest Mr Hague will give a 'witty' address, rather than focusing heavily on policy. However according to a Cowley Street source that has got in touch it aint true: William Hague is not part of the conference agenda and I can confirm that ...
Here's your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate: In all the recent controversy surrounding David Cameron's recent foreign policy pronouncements some of the substance has perhaps been lost: here was the leader of a major European country unequivocally urging that Turkey be admitted as a member of the European Union. This has tended to be an uncontroversial view among the British political classes, who regard Turkey as a vital fulcrum in reconciling the West and the Islamic world. It is far less popular among the voters of Europe, as ...
The French actress, writer and director Cecile Aubry died recently. She had a short acting career after the war and during the shooting of a film in Morocco, says her Guardian obituary, she met and married: Si Brahim El Glaoui, the oldest son of the pasha of Marrakech. They were married in secret because she thought that a marriage would harm her Hollywood career.In the event that career did not last long, but she went on to have a succesful career as a writer and in television. When I was very young there were three imported television series that were ...
William Hague (or any other senior Tories) will not be addressing the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in Liverpool next month. According to Liberal Democrat Voice, 'A party spokesman said: "William Hague is not part of the conference agenda and I can confirm that he has not been asked to speak at the Liberal Democrat conference. No Conservative ministers ...
According to today's Daily Mail, the Foreign Secretary William Hague is being lined up to speak at the Liberal Democrats' annual conference in Liverpool next month. The paper describes Hague's participation as 'a move designed to cement relations between the coalition partners'. The Foreign Secretary, widely seen as one of the best orators in the Commons, is expected to lead a Conservative charm offensive at the gathering in Liverpool in the hope of winning over disaffected LibDem activists. Tory sources suggest Mr Hague will give a 'witty' address, rather than focusing heavily on policy. The attendance of the former Conservative ...
This has to be seen to be believed
births and deaths 7th August 1924: birth of Kenneth Kendall, who appeared as a newsreader in The War Machines (1966), the first celebrity to portray himself on Doctor Who (unless you count the Beatles). 7th August 1952: birth of Alexei Sayle, who plays the DJ in Revelation of the Daleks (1986). 'Allo John, got a new motor? Is there life on Mars? Is there life in Peckham? 7th August 1999: death of Ric Felgate who played Roy Stone (the American reporter) in The War Machines (1966), Brent (Ms Kelly's assistant) in The Seeds of Death (1969) and Van Lyden (the ...
There is a lot of wailing going on about the legal aid proposals. Some of it may be valid.However, given that most firms of solicitors merely roll over when facing care proceedings against their clients I see a lot of the money as being simply wasted.Furthermore given that legal aid is from time to time refused for parents who wish to contest proceedings I wonder what it is all about.
The time before last I was in Wales, I was in a pub with a group of friends when we got into a weird and unpleasant conversation with a "poet" (= stoner). He was trying to either cadge more dope or share what he had, and we weren't into that. My friends looked away and melted off to the bar, and somehow it was me in the conversation without a lot of back up. Somehow the guy thought me standoffish and in much of the ensuing nattering before I parked him on someone else, I got roundly upbraided for being ...
I like going to the theatre and I often get my tickets on the internet. I bought some tickets this week for a comedy and this time I was asked if I wanted to give to their charity. The wording was quite good and I was persuaded to give them something. I didn't go for the gift aid which would have given them more money from the government but it did make me think that the theatre could take money rather than give it to the government. I am sure that the tax man is already involved, but what could ...
