So Liam Fox appears to think that a decision on the nature of our armed forces can revolve around an arbitrary date in the future (i.e., the 2020 option) based upon the foreign policy goals that the coalition (or rather the Tories) will establish and the threats and technology expected at that time. Do you see the potential flaw? Snatch Land Rovers, limited body armour and negligible helicopters in Iraq and Afghanistan immediately come to mind over a past decade which began without anticipating 911 and all that followed. The very real danger is that we will substantially wind-down our ...
have you noticed how it is more and more difficult to buy locally produced food in our supermarkets ? It was brought home to me today when at the Farm Shop (recommended - Fox's off Yarm Back Lane) there was a pile of apples that I know must not be imported - they were, horror of horrors not all the same shape and size ! Yes they were the first Worcestor Permain's. It really is shocking that we...
If there's one thing I hate more than SMS spam – it's crap SMS spam. [IMG: SMS Spam from Floors2Go] Let's count the errors in this atrocious attempt at mobile marketing. Where is my nearest Floors-2-Go store?What number should I call to find the nearest store?WHY THE random capitalisation of SOME words?Grammatical and spelling errors ("UKS" should be "UK's". "upto" should be "up to")No return number – I can't opt-out nor text them for more information.No mobile website.IT'S SPAM! HORRIBLE NASTY EVIL SPAM. The mobile is the only battery powered toy I caress against my face and take to bed ...
Further to my update on 7th August on the Swallow roundabout roadworks, I have received the following update from the City Council late today : "For your information, BEAR(S) have informed me today that A85 Riverside Avenue at Swallow roundabout re-opened early this morning by 2.30am (closure was planned for two nights) after successful completion of the overnight resurfacing works with no delays experienced through the short diversion route via the Technology Park. No delays were also experienced on the other 4 nights when the roundabout coped well with the contraflow system as predicted by BEAR and ourselves. The essential ...
Firstly we had the resignation of Lee Barnes the BNP legal officer, then mass suspensions of members and senior party officers mainly for supporting other people prepared to stand as leader against Nick Griffin, accusations of bankruptcy and now Richard Barnbrook, the BNP London Assembly Member has resigned and will sit as an independent. Not that it changes his right wing views of course, nor to be honest will anyone really notice. But Andrew Gilligan has the story. Richard Barnbrook, the BNP's London leader and its representative on the London Assembly, has today resigned the BNP label and will sit ...
The Edinburgh Science Festival is always a feature of the Easter Holidays for us and last year Anna discovered there that she could get the chance to be a public judge at the Dare Protoplay event in Edinburgh in August. This is basically a competition organised by the University of Abertay for teams of game designers who have been locked away developing their entries since 7th June. She went along last year and loved trying out all the games and giving feedback to the competitors. She was obviously keen to go along again this year and that's where she's been ...
@CllrIainRoberts good god that LabUncut post is a long-winded diatribe of drivel. in reply to CllrIainRoberts # @mssusieday A quick puck is always allowable? Was't good? Totally failed to get tickets [IMG: :(] in reply to mssusieday # RT @tweetminster There are now 205 MPs on Twitter – CON: 84, LAB: 83, LDEM: 29, Others: 9 >> so over half LD MPs now tweeting. # RT @helenduffett Tuna muffins. What do we reckon? >> Better than chocolate steak? #unlessyourheston # Still smiling in awe at brilliance of #Sherlock. Tip to BBC tho: leave out episode 2 for the box-set. No-one ...
Here is a selection of issues making headlines during the past few weeks: Local News 'We will not cut services' says cllr Lee 'At a meeting of Wokingham Borough Council's executive on Thursday last week, councillors approved the proposals as part of £1.2m belt-tightening measures.' Bid for old bin policy rubbished - Local Tories don't agree with Communities secretary Eric Pickles. Threatened ASBOs do the job - I'm not a fan of ASBO's myself. Local Links Redwood again - Time to speak for the UK, Mr Hague - On a EU fine for not displaying flags. I agree with John ...
I must admit that when I looked in detail recently at one of the Audit Commission's inspection I saw an inspection where the conclusions had been identified before the inspection started.A good way of saving money, therefore, is to stop such ludicrous inspections from even starting.
I have been forwarded an email sent by the Leadership of the trade union Unite to political levy payers urging them to vote for Ed Miliband to be the new Labour leader. I could not resist the temptation to take a scalpel to it to dissect it!It opens with the statement, "Who we elect as the next Labour Party Leader matters for the future of our Party and the future of the country." This is a
Well it is Friday so I'm going to let you in on some of what I got up to this week and linked into what happened last weekend. As Patrician Neal, who died during the week starred in The Day the Earth Stood Still it is just cause to show you this which mentions here co-star Michael Rennie in the opening line. As Mat Bowles who gets my hat tip says it isn't perfect in places but good none the less. But hey as it was the tenth anniversary of H2G2's Scottish Researchers Group last Saturday it is also an ...
I picked this up last night and really couldn't put it down. Despite the instinctive racism (against Australian aborigines and Japanese, though the Malays get off rather better) and the resounding endorsement of Shute's firmly conservative values, I found Jean Paget a fascinating character - survivor and leader of a group of prisoners in Malay during the second world war, then pursuing the man she loves and thought was dead to his home in Australia, then when she finds his home town is not the sort of place she wants to spend the rest of her life, she decides to ...
I was pleased to see in today's 'Times' Newspaper, a letter calling for a formal inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly signed by a group of 'distinguished experts'. Dr Kelly was found in the woods in Oxfordshire, in 2003. I can't really believe it is that long ago that it all happened. I still remain as angry about his death today as I did at the time, always believing that there was some sort of cover up over Dr Kelly's death. I read Norman Baker's book (link to amazon) what he wrote and found it enlightening. I recommend ...
I was on the Radio Tay News this morning following the mess left at the Aviva/Norwich Union site at the Technology Park - check 'play' to listen:
In Norwich we are in the unique position of having local elections this September because the labour Government decided, unlawfully as it turned out, to cancel the elections this May after they decided (unlawfully as it turned out) to impose a Unitary Council on Norwich which was contrary to all the criteria laid down under which a Unitary Authority should be created. I don't want to go in to all the details, but Norwich's Unitary bid cost the Labour run council millions, no cost benefit was clearly identified that would justify the unitary council and the option the Labour Government ...
Confidence in the administration of elections by Bristol Council was badly shaken this May after a series of problems, including ballot papers found in the wrong place, election results taking 6 hours longer than expected to be declared and numerous phone calls going unanswered. A detailed review of electoral administration was subsequently ordered and it has called for major changes. The Bristol Evening Post reported, Apart from more than half of the election phone queries going unanswered, the office for the council's electoral services department in the Corn Exchange has been described as "woefully inadequate". One of Ms Dixon's many ...
While we were in the cafe at Edinburgh Castle yesterday afternoon, I checked my Blackberry and found this tweet from Tom Harris, Labour MP for Glasgow South: I see @caronmlindsay's new blog design has a battered LibDem bird being swallowed in a sea of blue. Interesting...,http://bit.ly/3SM1qqWhat he couldn't have anticipated, or I suspect would have wanted, however much he tries to be the pantomime villain as far as the Lib Dems were concerned, was that Anna, who drew the picture in question, was reading over my shoulder. It's safe to say that she was none too pleased, taking particular exception ...
Yesterday Sara highlighted the Newsnight report into the political impact of reducing the number of Parliamentary constituencies. Democratic Audit have kindly provided me with a copy of their research which was used for the BBC headlines about how the Liberal Democrats were likely to lose out disproportionately. You can read their report in full below, but it's worth highlighting the significant caveats that Democratic Audit put on their results: "While it is possible to draw conclusions about how the proposals could impact on party representation, these findings must be regarded as purely indicative ... It is very difficult to produce ...
Freom the Council: Seven visitor attractions within Stockport Council's cultural portfolio have recently been awarded rosettes for successfully passing a 'mystery shop' inspection by VAQAS, the Visitor Quality Assurance Service provided by Visit Britain. It is the first time all seven attractions have gained the accreditation together, as Stockport Art Gallery receives its first ever award. The quality mark is used by the national tourism board, Visit Britain, to assess cultural venues across the country for the quality of the visitor experience. For more information about the visitor attractions log onto www.visit-stockport.com/attractions or contact the Tourist Information Centre on 0161 ...
Defence Secretary Liam Fox's speech this morning was an excellent explanation as to why Trident replacement should be cancelled. He spoke of the need to adapt to the conditions of the twenty first century and attacked the magnitude of Labour's legacy of unfunded but gigantic defence schemes. Interestingly, he constantly pressed the point about the Cold War being over and weapons of that era no
Part 12 of blogging my way through my first reading of Atlas Shrugged. You can find the first part here. Chapter 12: The Aristocracy of the Pull The Pull Aristocracy referred to in the title here refers to the victory of Rand's socialist strawmen over the men of commerce – now, the path to influence ...
Goals of the coalition government The Guardian has a piece titled "this coalition's incoherent first chapter" with the criticism effectively being that they are not all signing to the same hymn sheet. Goals are important and so how you set goals must be equally important. One of the most important reasons why individuals and organizations ...
The Government are currently undergoing a review of defence spending, as part of the overall spending review across all departments. The review is much needed not just because of the terrible spending deficit we face but also to ensure the armed forces are modernised to meet the challenges of the next generation with the best possible equipment for our servicemen and women and the most appropriate organisation and logistical support. It cannot be right for instance that an army of 100,000 soldiers is served by a beaurocracy of 85,000 civil servants! But whilst that is not right , surely it ...
Thinking about making a few changes to this site, such as presenting the different books I've edited / contributed to more clearly, adding in the new Twitter button feature and tweaking the design. Before I finalise the list, over to you... what changes (if any!) would you like to see?
In what you could only describe as an act of George Orwell style double thinking Jack Straw has said the following.......... "the last Government had "the greatest advances in civil liberties of any post-war government." Sorry, come again? Does Mr. Straw remember trying to restrict and remove trials by jury? Or how about ID cards, the database state, attacks on freedom of speech, freedom of choice and freedom of movement, attacks on the right to protest and creating a climate of fear so great that many photographers are treated as terrorists. I could go on & on & on........ It ...
Due to work, by-elections and illness, I haven't been near the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for years, but yesterday we went in with my sister and her children, none of whom had ever seen the colourful and varied array of street performers who take over the High Street in August. They were amazed by the woman with nearly 7000 piercings and the various "statues" - although they may not have been as taken with the heavily bronzed young man wearing nothing but a gold garment which just concealed his modesty as my sister and I were. We were solely impressed by ...
A quick counterpart to my previous Lessons from Canada: poster design, this time looking at Australian election posters such as this one: [IMG: Australian Liberal Party election poster] As you can see from this example from North Sydney, the usual Australian style (as is the case in European countries such as Germany) is to feature candidate or party leader photo very large, with the name of the candidate or party more like a caption to the poster than its main content. By contrast, in the UK, the name of party or candidate are usually the dominant information and in those ...
When I first read this I didn't know Vinge's work all that well, and now I've read a few more of his books I can spot some of the standard elements - viewpoint characters who are young or even children, dark ill-explained conspiracies in the background, slightly deus ex machina ending. But what makes this book special is the alien Tines, a lovely concept of packs of four to eight dog-like aliens with mini-hive minds, and the political economy of what happens to their pre-industrial culture when two different factions rescue children off a crashed earth ship and start developing ...
The Party is currently underaking a survey of members around training. This is an online survey and all members of the Party are encouraged to take part - it is only a one page survey, so won't take too long! As many people as possible are encouraged to respond by 5th September 2010. The survey is online here.
The ten local authorities that make up Greater Manchester are considering imposing a minimum alcohol price of 50 pence a unit across the area – and David Cameron is certainly interested. The move, planned for October, would see a standard bottle of wine costing at least £4.50, a 700ml bottle of whisky £14 and a six pack of lager at least £6. Health officials are in favour, believing it will cut alcohol-related illness, improve life expectancy and reduce inequality. One of the ten authorities, Stockport, is cautious, though. Stockport's concern is not so much about the principle of minimum pricing ...
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? There are estimated to be between 2.54 and 7 million Muslims living the the USA, 37% of that number are Caucasian, 24% black, 20% Asian, 4% Hispanic and the rest mixed race. That is between 0.8 and 2.3% of the total population. Currently there are just over 1,200 mosques in the country but that number is in danger of finding it very hard to grow. The reason for such negativity on a Friday morning is the growing outrage against any ...
Fri 13th
10:20
Worth a second outing: Great Liberal Speeches: sacrificing the constitution on the altar of public s...
Welcome to a series where old posts are revived for a second outing for reasons such as their subject has become topical again, they have aged well but were first posted when the site's readership was only a tenth or less of what it is currently or they got published and the site crashed, hiding the finest words of wisdom behind an incomprehensible error message. I was one of the contributors to Great Liberal Speeches. Here is my introduction to the selected speech from George Tierney, followed by the speech itself. The issues are arguments are still very pertinent today. ...
One you may have missed from November 20th 2007 Original title: Nick Clegg – potentially a great leader of our party First of all, I'll repeat what I wrote yesterday: I've just come back from an interview with Nick Clegg by a LibDems bloggers' panel. It was a big privilege to be part of the panel. Thanks very much to Nick for his time, to the Millennium Elephant for presiding over it and to his Daddy Richard for organising it. I was lucky enough to sit next to Nick and see him answering the questions at close quarters. He is ...
The news that parts of Wales have the highest number of mortgage repossession claims in Britain is a sure sign that the Welsh Government must review the rules and the funding of their flagship mortgage rescue scheme. Fewer people in the UK are now expected to lose their homes this year after a decline in repossessions in June, but Rhondda Cynon Taf, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil top the league table of mortgage repossessions, highlighting that this is still a major problem in Wales. The £9 million mortgage rescue scheme put in place by the Welsh Government has exhausted ...
Andrew Reeves has got details of John Holden, charged over alleged benefit fraud, and Gilbert Davidson, accused of inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague.
PFI costs a lot as the BBC have found (hat tip Bob Piper) - see link.The government claim it is value for money. The problem is that it is not.It is only calculated as being value for money by using an adjustment to the alternative public sector procurement cost. This is called optimism bias.I have explained this a number of times. The last time in the house was hereWe have a similar problem
@dirktherabbit Rather depressing the number which boil down to 'Does US spelling trump all?', esp for a self-professed international site in reply to dirktherabbit # Hmm, not quite an electoral landslide for one of my American namesakes. The fisherman or MD would have done better http://bit.ly/d3XiPl # It's common for US websites to list UK wrongly as "England" on e-commerce forms. But Foreign Affairs magazine? Tsk tsk # Good to see a civil servant taking part in a Wikipedia debate such as this one - http://bit.ly/bxsSJT # RT @tweetmeme 9 Useful HTML tips for bloggers http://bit.ly/baMkXj # To win again, ...
The publication of details of spending on all items in excess of £500 by the Department for Communities and Local Government has caused a bit of a stir in the press. The published information shows that a trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach and a payment to a firm offering on-site corporate massages were among the spending decisions approved by the last government. Apparently, the communities department spent more than £1,600 on massages for staff and £539 on an awayday trip to Blackpool pleasure beach. It also spent £626 on a trip to the Attenborough Nature Centre, near Nottingham. All very ...
Yet another article from the Financial Times, Future generations will curse us for cutting in a slump, this time by the distinguished economist Robert Skidelsky and former Treasury official Michael Kennedy, argues the folly of the government's slash and burn economic policy. Liberal Democrats should be dissociating themselves as far as politically possible from this barely hidden agenda of ideologically motivated cuts.
You may have noticed that Flock Together now includes a Tweet Button like this one: Tweet in the top right hand corner of each event page. Let me know what you think.
I was in Kendal yesterday and saw adverts for a circus. I even passed the big top which is not difficult as it is next to the main road that leads into Kendal. I heard that this circus has been criticised for using animals as part of the acts and the advert that I saw had the ringmaster on the back of a horse. Is it wrong to use animals in performances? The answer, like most answers in the social sciences, is not a clear yes or no. It is wrong to beat animals, treat them badly and get them ...
