Today's been an odd one! Duly turned up at my scheduled meeting with DfID to find that the person in charge of the Dept dealing with the Equalities Agenda had only arrived in Uganda two weeks before me, and had about the same level of knowledge on the situation regarding disabilities as I did. None the less we spent nearly two hours kicking around the issues that had been identified during last weeks workshop with the VSO and the disability network here in Kampala. All in all reasonably useful and a good start to the engagement process. Uganda has some ...
Sorry I've been away for a few days, but I've had a migraine for three straight days now... For those of you on Emusic, two great albums you *must* download. Asphalt Orchestra by the band of the same name is an album by a marching band. But it's a marching band playing – accurately – ...
In an article on the Big Think website, Stephen Hawking advocates that our future is in space. Not just the Lib Dem's of course but rather "the long term future of the human race must be in space". Hawking has been a long standing advocate of colonising space but here he considers it essential for the survival of mankind, an insurance policy no less for the natural or manmade disasters that might possibly befall our species. "The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet". Many Lib Dem's might immediately twinge about the costly ...
Amazing to see no.10 react so quickly when the Health Minister Anne Milton suggested reviewing stopping the free 189ml milk for nursery kids every school day. Apparently this would save £50m. Free milk is also given to private schools. It seems entirely sensible to review whether this policy is getting the best results for kids. Is full fat milk the best idea we can can come up with for £50m per annum for the health and development of our children? Is their a soya milk alternative for kids who don't like or are allergic to cow's milk. Is this policy ...
[IMG: Katherine with PC Paul Kelly] As part of our campaign to slow down traffic on Upper Tollington Park, my colleague Cllr Katherine Reece has joined a local police patrol in the area. After being alerted to the problem by councillors and local residents, the neighbourhood police team have been taking action to catch people speeding near the pedestrian crossing at the junction with Florence Road. In this patrol a few weeks ago, four cars were stopped for speeding, a penalty notice was issued for failing to stop at a crossing, and a ticket was given out for using a ...
Part 2: Either-Or Yes, we've reached the second part of this mighty tome! The title is a little odd: it's either a bizarre reference to Kierkegaard's work of the same name, or a poncey reference to Rand's Manichean approach to individuals – they're either worthwhile or they're not. Chapter 11: The Man who Belonged on ...
Lambeth Council is currently flying a kite about being a cooperative council. I've looked on their website and I really could'nt find anything to explain what that meant. Lots of mealy mouthed stuff about involving lots more people in making decisions - more consultation and lobbying - buts councils are duty bound to do this already. I thought cooperatives were organisations where the owners are customers who make a capital investment in the organisation for a fixed rate of return. That this investment was limited to ensure no one person or group become dominant. Then I read elsewhere that it ...
I was really sad to hear this evening that former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy and his wife Sarah Gurling have decided to separate. It's hard enough to end a relationship even if the split is amicable as this one is. It must bring added stress to do so in the public eye. My thoughts are with them both and their five year old son Donald, who Charles & Sarah have made clear is their number one priority. I hope they are given peace and privacy as they adjust to their new situation. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone ...
The Press Association, amongst others has the very, very sad news that Charles and Sarah have announced their separation. Former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy and his wife Sarah are to separate. A statement issued by the couple's respective lawyers said it was "with great sadness" that they had decided to split. "In doing so amicably, our ongoing and overriding priority will obviously remain our son," it went on. "We wish this to remain an entirely private family matter." Mr Kennedy married Sarah Gurling in 2002 and their son, Donald, was born during the 2005 general election campaign while he ...
Why the heterosexism in Sherlock is more annoying than the racism. Alright, I admit that this isn't entirely true. I was pitching for controversy. 'Cause really, for all the quality of the production, we are talking about a three-episode mini series in which the middle episode was so appalling it should really have been marketed with a warning: "This programme was produced by white people and as such may be unsuitable for persons of a sensitive disposition or those who thinks Chinese people amount to more than just tea-obsessed circus performing gangsters." Watching that episode was a distinctly uncomfortable experience. ...
Last week's West End Christmas Week meeting took place at the new cafe facility at Dundee West Church - Roseangle Cafe Arts at The Bridge. It is a super new cafe for the West End and Rev Andrew Greaves & the congregation of Dundee West must be proud of what has been achieved. Emma, the Manager, is making a superb job of running the new cafe - it is really warm and welcoming! You can read more about the cafe at its Facebook page at http://tinyurl.com/roseanglecafearts. The new cafe and arts space is in the basement of Dundee West- across ...
The Press Association reports the sad news: Former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy and his wife Sarah are to separate. A statement issued by the couple's respective lawyers said it was "with great sadness" that they had decided to split. "In doing so amicably, our ongoing and overriding priority will obviously remain our son," it went on. "We wish this to remain an entirely private family matter." Mr Kennedy married Sarah Gurling in 2002 and their son, Donald, was born during the 2005 general election campaign while he was still party leader.
Southampton football club have joined the long list of clubs that ban or want to ban the media from their matches as it suits. Back in November it was Portsmouth FC banning a journalist whose coverage it didn't like and Alex Ferguson for a long time did not allow the BBC to interview him, again because he didn't like the tone of its coverage. This time it is photographers in the firing line as Southampton has banned them from its matches, wanting people instead to buy official photographs for use in media coverage. This has at least been good news ...
Trading Standards have issued some very useful information sheets - click the links to see them: Distraction burglaries - vulnerable people can now protect themselves with a password Rogue Traders - offering to repave driveways, paint roof tiles and repair fascias Unsolicited callers - these come in many forms, but for example there's a scam offering to paint roof tiles with a special micro-porous paint, but it's often just ordinary paint.
Manchester residents are being asked for their views on where they vote in elections. There are a few minor changes in Chorlton. The biggest would be moving the polling station for the Buckingham Rd area to either the Leisure Centre or Manley Rd Methodist Church. The Keppel Rd area would vote there as the polling district boundary would become Manchester Rd, not the Metro line. By law the Council has to undertake a review of polling places and districts at least every four years. Initial proposals for changes to polling arrangements have now been published following feedback from councillors, MPs, ...
Following politics closely can give you a different prospective on the world of breaking news stories to that of the 24hour news media. Take the scrap free milk for children under five story which was reported as the government not knowing what it is doing by most news channels. I think this error was mostly all down to the Conservative MP for Guildford not knowing the difference between what has been decided on and what is up for discussion. Of course this looked worse when the PM office heard the story and released a press statement saying that this is ...
Liberal Democrat Voice is running a poll on whether nuclear power should be part of the UK's energy mix. This is in the light of Chris Huhne's recent declaration that the government is fully behind the opening of a new nuclear power station in eight years' time. I used to cycle the lanes of Leicestershire in a "Nuclear Power? No Thanks" T-shirt, but I think such an announcement has been inevitable for some time now. Ever since, in fact, the environmental movement embraced the concept of man-made global warming with such enthusiasm. Whatever the science says, you have to admit ...
Mon 9th
17:15
Vince's verdict on the Tories: "I've been pleasantly surprised that they're not as I'd envisaged the...
There's a fascinating interview of Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable by Decca Aitkenhead in today's Guardian (much more revealing than yesterday's in the Telegraph). As ever with Vince, there are some great one-liners – and, more importantly, a very down-to-earth and honest assessment of his work and that of the Coalition. Vince on continuing to travel by Tube: I don't feel comfortable with luxury, and I try to stay fairly normal. I mean, the first week I became a minister I discovered that there were ministerial cars and Jaguars and all this kind of thing, but I very quickly ...
I will be doing an f-list/reading list cull across several platforms today. This is (again) due to time reasons, and not anything else.What does this mean for you?Dreamwidth - if I take you off my reading list and you have access, I won't take you off my access list. If I take you off my reading list and you don't have access, I'll just stop reading you. I won't be offended by reciprocal removals. Facebook - I use my personal facebook profile in a very restricted way. If you get removed, and you're not horribly offended at being knocked off ...
This morning's Guardian has an interview with his Vinceness by Decca Aitkenhead. As she reminds us, Vince Cable is "widely tipped as the minister most likely to resign from the coalition". Vince's own words suggest this is unlikely: "According to the papers," as he says himself, "I'm miserable, alienated, and on the brink of resignation." For many Labour voters - and a lot of disillusioned Lib Dems too - Cable's resignation would represent some sort of moral triumph, or at the very least, a return to politics as normal. "But that's simply not where I am," he says.In fact what ...
Naturally, any dyed in the wool Eurosceptic will be opposed to this: The European Commission wants EU member states to consider allowing it to levy direct taxes – a move that could ease the burden on national budgets. The EU's Budget Commissioner, Janusz Lewandowski, said he would present some options next month for direct EU ...
Mon 9th
16:12
Miss SB's Very Prestigious and Entirely Serious Blog Awards - Category Five: Prettiest Blog
[IMG: [livejournal.com profile] ] ginasketch Jon Ball Male Submission Art TV Cream 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 category will go up tomorrow. View Poll: Prettiest Blog Design Other Categories: Best Political Blog - 1 day left to vote!Best Fandom Blog - 2 days left ...
The following was recently brought to my attention : "On the north kerb at Annfield Street , about half way between Peddie Street and Blackness Street there are two large holes. One is surrounded by a metal cage. It looks like someone has once done work on the gas supply but never refilled in the hole. Next to it is a 1/2 metre square hole in the tarmac about 8 inches deep. I can't tell why it has been dug out or by who. I placed a bin over it to stop people falling down the hole." I contacted Dundee ...
Liberal Democrat Energy Minister in the Coalition, Chris Huhne, today announced the end of the "ridiculous" ban on local authorities selling the renewable energy that they generate. Follow link http://bit.ly/cHgw2b
Lib Dem Voice have put a poll asking Lib Dems to vote on Huhne's new nuclear stance. The party's official line is that new nuclear power is not necessary to combat climate change, and is a danger in itself. Since starting work in the energy industry, I've realised that's almost certainly daft. However, a lot ...
A story in today's Daily Mail looks like the sort of thing you'd expect to find in a BNP leaflet. The headline says it all Revealed: The UK maternity units in which only 1 in 10 mothers is of white British origin Of course there's variation around the country – always has been, always will be. Nationally the figures (which appear later on in the Mail article) are: 62% white British 7% other white 5% black 4% pakistani 3% indian 8% other 11% unknown Concern about immigration is legitimate, but why is the Mail so worried about the mothers' skin ...
Back in June, I had the pleasure of presenting a cheque to the 26th Dundee Scouts at Logie St John's (Cross) Church Hall- and thank all involved, including the generous sponsors that made their silent auction such a success. This is a now a link to the Scouts Scotland website which has more news about the Dundee Scout Auction - see http://tiny.cc/scoutslogiestjohns.
I've had the priveledge to serve on a jury in a criminal case and the inner workings of the law and the courts have always fascinated me. So watching the trial of Charles Taylor in the Special Court on Sierra Leone on BBC News has been an interesting break from the usual churn of Coalition ...
The most interesting thing that I've noticed about the modern-day update/reboot of Sherlock Holmes that all the Dr Who fangrrls and bois have been raving about elsewhere on my f-list over this past couple of weeks is the fact that the lead actor, one Benedict Cumberbatch, is the son of an actress who certainly does bring back very fond, warm memories for me, and doubtless other men of a certain age and mindset too. I'm talking about the beautiful and criminally underrated Wanda Ventham who, had she been French or Italian, would almost certainly have become one of those very ...
I don't know what's happened since Judge Walker announced his ruling in the Prop 8 trial, but I like it. Suddenly the pro-marriage equality types have found their legal voice and in polite ways are destroying the anti-marriage equality arguments. Here's a two on-screen examples: Ted Olson on Fox News David Boies on Face The Nation: If you feel benevolent and particularly generous, this writer always appreciates things bought for him from his wishlist
St Albans City and District Council is urging residents to water newly-planted trees to help prevent them from wilting and dying during what has been one of the most pronounced spells of dry weather in years. It is appealing for residents to 'Adopt a tree' which has been planted in their local vicinity within the past five years and to help care for it by carrying out three simple tasks: · water the tree daily with one small bucket of water, · clear the base of the tree from weeds without strimming which damages bark, · check that any tree ...
Following on from my May post regarding the block on Twitter that Damian Collins, my local MP, has set up against me, it would seem he's done it to quite a few other constituents. Given Tory MP for Esher and Walton Dominic Raab has been caught saying he doesn't want to receive emails from his constituents, perhaps this is just how Tory MPs like to communicate with their electorates. If you feel benevolent and particularly generous, this writer always appreciates things bought for him from his wishlist
There are many great presentations about usage of social media shared around the place, but for those of us working in the UK the major drawback often is that pretty much all the hard numbers in them are for US rather than UK users. So this exception from the Simply Zesty folks is particularly welcome:
Climate change and energy secretary Chris Huhne was on Radio 4 this morning with what will have been, for many Lib Dems, a surprise announcement: that the Lib Dem / Conservative coalition government is fully behind the opening of a new nuclear power station in eight years' time. Arguing in favour of in favour of a mix of more nuclear, oil and gas and renewable energy, Chris declared, "I have no intention of the lights going out on my watch." This is something of a change in direction for Liberal Democrat party policy. For example, in the 2010 manifesto the ...
Summer in clubland means a couple of things. The first is obviously Ibiza. The next, is the 'summer single'. Many producers would give anything to put together the beats that become the soundtrack to the sun, but this year there is already a clear winner; Swedish House Mafia have released 'One (your name)' with the help of a certain Pharell Williams. The original is massively danceable, radio friendly (ask Fearne Cotton), and has a hook that embeds itself into your brain, permanently. The remixes (including VN's favourite by Netsky,) take the best of the original version, and twist the track ...
On saturday I was delighted and honoured to have been able to attend the wedding of fellow Lib Dem Councillor, Richard Baum to Tamsin Thomson. For those that don't know, Richard is a Lib Dem Councillor for St.Mary's ward, Prestwich, where he has lived with Tamsin for some time. Now whilst it probably didn't match the same scale as the recent Chelsea Clinton wedding, just! It was nevertheless a marvellous occasion, in a beautiful setting, with an emotionally charged ceremony. On Bury Council Richard has built a reputation as an eloquent, effective speaker at Council meetings, and so it was ...
The Guardian reports on the 19-strong "Facebook Users' Union" which wants Facebook's users to have more control over where the company's money goes. ...people are effectively working for free to create wealth for Facebook's shareholders. "Online tools really aren't free. We pay for them with micropayments of personal information." Buchanan wants someone to calculate the value of each Facebook user, based on how much money Facebook (or Google, or MySpace) makes from advertising next to their information. "It may be a small amount but it adds up when scaled into the half billion. Thus I feel we, the users, should ...
This new policy from the coalition looks absolutely fantastic on the face of it. People are now living and staying healthier for far longer so it seems hugely unfair that companies can still force employees to retire at 65 without any regard for their health or circumstances. Of course, if people can no longer do the job they are meant to be doing then that is a different matter. However one of the things that really worries me about this new policy is what it will mean for the job market for younger people. If people are allowed to stay ...
It's noticeable that so far this year the weed spraying (particularly in the entries) appears to have been less than successful. I have chased it up and now been assured that the entries have finally been sprayed in the last week or so. It will take 10-14 days to kill the weeds. Please can people keep me posted as to whether your entry has been sprayed and whether the predicted die-back happens on schedule?
Chris Huhne, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, has announced that new, privately owned nuclear power stations will be up and running by 2018 and that they will receive no government subsidy. This, I assume, is the same Chris Huhne who bemoaned the abject situation in his new department when he took over in May this year. At the time, he complained bitterly about the fact that almost all of his budget for the foreseeable future would need to be spent on nuclear decommissioning, giving him virtually nothing to spend on renewables, which of course have the advantage of being, ...
"Is there now no crime in Jericho?" asks my most assiduous commenter Dreaming Spire. I am told that when the first Morse book was written it was a rather seedy area. Now it is what estate agents call a highly sought-after residential area and has house prices to match. That does not mean there is no crime there, of course. Jericho is made up of a tight little grid of Victorian terraces. It is beside the Oxford Canal and dominated by the tall campanile of St Barnabas. (Campanile fans will also enjoy the stables at Gumley Hall.) In December of ...
No planning applications last week, and just one this week. It is for "Extension of time for implementation of 07/0484/FUL for first floor rear extension", that is to say a previous application is about to expire. This application has reference 10/0577/EXP. More information on it can be obtained at the public access, or in person. See the city council's development control pages for more info. As usual, in case of difficulty contact the team.
It is a day for Sarah's on the blog, firstly Sarah Tisdall and now Southport Liberal Youth chair (and Birkdale resident) Sarah Harding who has an article on Lib Dem Voice
I don't often watch adverts on television - partly because life is too short to deal with a constant stream of corporate bull, and partly because I don't think today's ads match up to the crackers of my youth - the Flake girl, the Milk Tray Man, the Smash space aliens, that kind of thing. Mostly, I am watching things that have been recorded so I can flick through them. However, last night, I learned, courtesy of Vanish, that my clothes are all bacteria ridden because I wash them at too low a temperature and I need to buy their ...
August 5th is rapidly becoming known as International Beer Day, a celebration hoping to spread the word about this quaint and little-known British traditional beverage! In need of more support, perhaps, are the nation's by-election watchers; we have a paltry one principal council contest to report on and nothing at all out in the towns. The single election that took place was for the Sitwell ward on Rotherham M.B.C., with the Conservatives defending after the death of the previous councillor. The Tories were successful in their defence, squeezing a four percent increase out of voters at the polls. With no ...
[IMG: Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice] I got an email this morning from a regular reader alerting me to the inclusion of the a posting on the Birkdale blog in this weeks 'Golden Dozen' over on Lib Dem Voice. It was not the sort of week when we expected such an accolade as we have been chiefly concerned with the allotment on Sefton Council-those types of posting attract a lots of hits but not via Lib Dem Blogs. Looking back at the stats for the last couple of weeks we have had a increase in hits from USA and Europe-it's ...
Yesterday afternoon I wandered into the Lamb & Flag, an Oxford pub that has connections with Tolkien and C.S. Lewis - though not such strong connections as the Eagle & Child across the road. After I had ordered a drink the man at the bar next to me said: "Is it Jonathan? Jonathan Calder?" It turned out that I was and he turned out to be the former Liberal Democrat Voice stalwart Richard Huzzey. I spent the evening with him, his fiancée and friends. We went for a curry and came second in a pub quiz. Very enjoyable and very ...
This Motown classic reached number 5 in the UK singles chart in 1969, though the recording dates from 1967. It was meant to be my Sunday music video, but because I scheduled it wrongly it will have to my Monday music video. A site about the Isley Brothers has a couple of excellent trivial facts: They employed Elton John as a keyboardist during their 1964 UK tour;Their 1966 single "Testify" features the first recorded appearance of guitarist Jimmy James, later known as Jimi Hendrix.
Mon 9th
11:20Book review: The Spirit Level - Why equality is better for everyone by Richard Wilkinson & Kate ...
Although first published under a Labour government in 2009, this book is still highly relevant now we have a Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition. In fact, it is even more relevant because the current political and economic circumstances are forcing Liberal Democrats to think carefully about how much we are worried about inequality of outcome. Wilkinson and Pickett argue that widespread inequality helps increase a huge range of social ills, with the result that everyone suffers - even the most well off. Inequality in their view isn't just bad for the poor, it's also bad for the rich. [IMG: The ...
I think, if I didn't have podcasts, I'd have snapped long before this (so close to finishing I can feel it) stage. When I was very young, my parents swore by Ladybird books on tape as a way of keeping my sister and I amused on car journeys/keeping me in bed in the evening. When I 'grew out' of it, graduating to musical radio, I never looked back on spoken word audios and failed to occur to me that the benefit I got from it as a child would contuine as a grown up; that is, something to ground me, ...
Many children cross Scott Way on their way to and from school, Kingsgate Park and other destinations. At the moment there's just a refuge island in the middle of the road near the footpath to Merlin Way. Raysfield Junior School's travel plan group identified the need for a zebra crossing. Investigations have show that the improvment is necessary for improved safety, especially for children (43% of people crossing there are children) and people with mobility problems. South Glos Council has now produced plans, and the formal consultation (click here) is open until 10 September. If the scheme is then approved ...
Kirkstall Labour Councillor John Illingworth has lost a case for a judicial review over the release of minutes from his own, Labour controlled, council! Councillor Illingworth is well known amongst senior council officers for his frequent Freedom of Information requests. Councillor Illingworth has been ordered to pay £1,900 in costs by the court and I have been assured that the council will be pursuing full costs against him. For this kind of case the costs could be quite high. What is genuinely confusing is why Councillor Illingworth opted to go to court rather than follow the usual FOI channels in ...
The last couple of months saw a battle emerging between science geek MP Julian Huppert and homeopathy fan David Tredinnick, and one of the battlegrounds was the Early Day Motion – those petitions that only MPs can start or sign. Five times, David Tredinnick put down an EDM such as 284 (BMA ANNUAL REPRESENTATIVE MEETING MOTIONS ON HOMEOPATHY) or 285 (EFFECT OF HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES ON BREAST CANCER CELLS), in each case singing the praises of homeopathy or lauding some study that generated a positive result. Five times Julian Huppert launched an amendment to the EDM pointing out what he saw ...
It appears that a sizeable group of Lib Dems, including 2 cabinet ministers and 8 junior ministers, will oppose plans to end lifetime tenancies. What is very interesting about this news is not only the size of the potentially rebellious group, but also the fact that there are several key contributors to the orange book involved (including Ed Davey, Steve Webb and Chris Huhne). The orange
One of the things that sometimes gets lost in all the talk about drug laws, harm reduction, classification etc. is the sheer amount of time that the police spend on activity relating to the existing drug laws. They spend millions of man hours every year, a good chunk of it on arresting and processing people for possession of drugs that were only going to be used by that person. In other words they were not going to harm anyone else. It also includes time spent chasing small time dealers who are supplying drugs like cannabis and ecstasy (the ones that ...
One you may have missed A posting from May 2006. Bully Reid's smokescreen I have hugely enjoyed reading John Reid laying into the Home Office. Remarkable. One could get carried away with this tough Scot talking about the immigration department as "averse to a culture of personal responsibility" and "led by officials that are incapable of producing facts or figures that remain accurate for even a short period of time". All great fun. A sort of blood sport, in fact. Those of us who watched Sir Humphrey repeatedly coming out victorious and smug in "Yes Minister", intuitively cheer when they ...
As summer arrives in Wales, much of the political world decamps to two key events - the Royal Welsh Show, celebrating our agricultural heritage and the National Eisteddfod, which celebrates our cultural heritage. I have attended both and was pleased to see our AMs, MPs and candidates visit as well. The events are crucial, not just because they celebrate Welsh culture but because they allow us to show off what Wales offers to the world. The Royal Welsh is the jewel in the crown of Welsh agriculture and the Eisteddfod showcases Welsh culture in action. The Royal Welsh Show takes ...
The Guardian reports today: More than half of Liberal Democrat MPs, including two cabinet members and eight junior ministers, are on record as opposing plans by David Cameron to water down security of tenure for new social housing tenants. The scale of the opposition suggests Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem deputy leader, is speaking for the bulk of the party in opposing the ideas floated by the prime minister. Cameron suggested the idea of fixed-term tenancies for new tenants last week, and the housing minister, Grant Shapps, continued to defend the plan this weekend, saying lifetime tenancies did not make ...
After calling Michael Gove a "miserable pipsqueek of a man" Tom Watson has returned to a cause close to his heart whinning wine. You may remember his earlier campaign about the ministerial wine cellar and producing Freedom of Information requests to assertain the full value of the content and whether the recent topping up of content has been done with cheap bottles of wine or vintages. With the
[IMG: gedc0157.JPG] City Car Club is now up and running in Chorlton and residents are already using the service as an alternative to private car ownership. The pay as you go and pay by the hour service will also save residents money, whilst the low emission car reduces the carbon created by Chorlton. Iy has been estimated that one CityCar takes 20 low used cars off our streets. Chorlton's bay is on Nicolas Rd. Follow this link to find out more.
Today's Daily Telegraph reports that officials working for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority have had to endure shouted insults and threats of legal action from MPs angry at the strict rules now imposed on their parliamentary allowances: IPSA employees put up a sign stating that "abuse of staff will not be tolerated" after they were repeatedly harangued by members complaining that they had not been paid money they were owed, or that old entitlements had been withdrawn following last year's scandal. It has now emerged that under Nigel Gooding, IPSA's original operations director - who left "for the sake of ...
It must be an awful dilemma to have two sons competing for the same job, especially when, as a mother, you have a vote and must choose between them. However, Mrs Miliband has solved the problem to her satisfaction. She is not voting for either of them. Instead she is backing Diane Abbott to be Labour leader. We have not been told what she will do with her subsequent preferences though.
I've come home to discover that I've been nominated in Jennie's Very Prestigious and Entirely Serious Blog Awards for best political blog. That makes me happy. My vote has gone to the Elephant for all round brilliance and ingenuity. Anyone looking here for the first time might think from my last few posts that I don't write about politics and serious things cos the front page is currently full of teddy bears and holiday stuff, but I can. If you want to cast your vote in the political category you can do so here by tomorrow, however don't just confine ...
It's really extraordinary to think that a book this influential was written by a teenager - is there any other similar case in the history of literature? It's a bit uneven structurally - the nested stories are a bit of a mess, and the dialogue sometimes sounds like a bunch of young but very earnest intellectuals sitting indoors during a dull Swiss holiday - but the central thrust of the narrative, Frankenstein giving life to his creature which then goes on the rampage, is deeply compelling. It is a long time since I last read this, and I had forgotten ...
This morning's Western Mail claims that the future of the search and rescue service, which saves hundreds of lives each year, is in doubt because of spending cuts. They say that the project to replace the Sea King helicopters used by the service by the end of their lifespan in 2017 has been suspended and is being reviewed. This does not mean that the project will not go ahead of course, just that the decision will be taken later than anticipated because, as with other projects approved by the outgoing Labour Government in its last days, the money was not ...
I spotted this in the background of a scene on Sherlock last night. Reminds me of going swimming as a kid, before I knew what "petting" was! [IMG: Enhanced by Zemanta]
i) births and deaths 9th August 1920: birth of Graham Leaman who played four roles in five Old Who stories: the captive Controller in The Macra Terror (1967), Price the communications office in Fury from the Deep (1968), the Grand Marshall of the Ice Warriors in The Seeds of Death (1969), and an un-named Time Lord in Colony in Space (1971) and The Three Doctors (1973). 9th August 1931: birth of Alethea Charlton who plays Hur in An Unearthly Child (1963) and Edith in The Time Meddler (1965). 9th August 1953: birth of Roberta Tovey who plays Dr. Who's granddaughter ...
The series so far, barring the gender-and-race-fail which is endemic in television (and which has been amply covered elsewhere - for example here and here), has been excellent. And yeah, I know that's a big thing to be barring, but... The third and final episode wasn't as bad as the first two (especially not the second) for those things. What it was, was:beautifully written by Mark Gatiss, seamlessly slotting in clever references to the source materials with modern twistsbrilliantly directed, pulling the stylistic cues we had got used to from the first two episodes and swirling them around the story ...
Jake Rushton was a developer who until recently published a bunch of popular free plugins for WordPress. Giving away free software is normally the domain of "freetards" like myself, however Jake seems to have something of a business-mind, since his plug-ins have rather a sneaky way of earning him back some money: Jake's plug-ins pull a really mean trick since it's not immediately possible to determine what his plug-ins actually do aside from their stated function. For example, I installed a plugin called "jr_ratings" There's no obvious opt-in or opt-out on the configuration panel page, only the ambiguous text: "Show ...
Liberal Vision's Timothy Cox has called for the "Liberal Democrats to stand up and be counted on foreign aid". He calls for the Lib Dems to "distance themselves from the aid ring-fence", arguing, with good reason, that "government-to government aid has done very little to promote development over the last half century" and can "perpetuate ...
Should an MP be local? There is strong criticism of my MP in the local paper because it was his third attempt at gaining a seat and it was his third different constituency. The author wonders if our MP would have moved on and made somewhere else his primary aim at the next election if he had lost. Does it matter if an MP is local? It certainly matter that an MP knows and understands local concerns. Knowing how an MP views certain problems is also important. It may be that you can guess how they would react because of ...
