Today was Allison's funeral. I am not known for being early, but was very much so knowing I needed to be for a seat and a parking place as so many people would be there, and there were. Enforcement officers that Allison worked with a lot were lined up on the street outside and the Church was full of her many family and friends as well as other Council colleagues from all Parties, Council and...
Tonight health walk leaders locally were treated to an exceptionally informative tranining session from the Bat Conservation Trust. We learned all about bats for the first hour and then were let loose with bat detectors milling around Mina Rd Park. This was totally awesome. Like wandering around with a geiger counter trying to spot the bats up in the trees. I have signed up to the Bat Trust and can't wait to share my batty skills with other people!
I have long had a vague interest in Thomas Merton, who became a Trappist monk after a dissolute youth (part of which was spent studying at my own later stamping ground, Clare College, Cambridge), and so was looking forward to reading this collection of his writings from the early 1960s - not least because I have been uncomfortably aware that I have enjoyed reading atheist tracts (Lucretius, Russell) more than Christian apologetics in the last few years. I wasn't disappointed. A lot of this has dated - Merton's historical experience is of the Second World War and he writes in ...
[IMG: Pizza Express Baker Street] The Baker Street Pizza Express is located in an old bank and as a result has huge windows letting in plenty of natural daylight along with an old fashioned mosaic floor. Both give the place a more relaxed and traditional feel than some of the more modern Pizza Express design. Sat looking out through the windows you get a great view of the impressive building above Baker Street station. Though the station was opened in 1863, the building dates from 1912 and save for a few aerials on the roof it is only at the ...
I picked Byron up from the vet's this teatime, and he was very sorry for himself, and still somewhat groggy from the anaesthetic. ( click here to see where your money went - black dog on black sofa, so not great image. Wound-free. ) ( Despcription of what happened at the vet's ) Anyway, the upshot is that we still don't know what it was, but it's been removed. The vet says if it turns out to have been malignant it will almost certainly come back, because the composition of it made it impossible to be sure he'd got every ...
I do like Austria. It offers a super lifestyle for outdoor types, both winter and summer, with hiking, sight-seeing and swimming in lakes, my summer favourite. Plus the beer is good. Life seems amazingly relaxed, with a high level of trust that their people will gauge any risk in their lives at the right level. There are no lifeguards keeping watch on high perches at their swimming lakes, and large slabs of cheese sit alongside salami, kaesekrainer and raw meat in the local butchers. It's all rather fun and works well and apparently very safely. The landlords we have known ...
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Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is opening its Collections Centre for a free Open Day on Sunday 22nd August 2010 between 10.30am and 5.00pm. For this Open Day there will also be some extra activities for the whole family - free donkey rides for children, falconry displays, and children's trails.The Collections Centre is only a couple of miles from the city centre close to Duddeston Station or
I actually wrote this this afternoon and scheduled it for later - before I realised that Iain was talking about universal benefits on his LBC Show and I decided to phone in and take part in the discussion, talking about how my husband and I don't need Winter Fuel Allowance and shouldn't get it, and why raising children benefits all of society therefore it's in the State's interests to share some of the costs involved, cos kids sure don't come cheap. The one they call the egregious Tory Tosser is looking for an Executive Assistant, as his Twitter feed announced ...
I was reminded of this a few days ago. It's a clip from Peter Kay's Britain's got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice, which is a genius parody of all the reality shows we know and love... or hate. Part of its success was down to the attention to detail, with lots of nuanced observational comedy. Another factor is the participation of real-life reality TV stars - it's "presented" by Cat Deeley who plys her trade on So You Think You Can Dance in the States (and also the UK version) ...
The new series of Eighth Doctor plays from Big Finish began with Situation Vacant, where Joanna Kanska stole the show, guest starring as a hotel duty manager; this time Fenella Woolgar (who was Agatha Christie in The Unicorn and the Wasp) steals the show, guest starring as an interstellar war criminal incarcerated in a jail designed with an Edgar Allan Poe theme. Alan Barnes is one of the best Big Finish writers, but this isn't one of his best scripts, with a slightly daft premise and lots of references to Poe's work including giant robot ravens chanting "Nevermore". I haven't ...
It's time for the next gripping instalment of my journey round my BlogRoll, so you can learn a bit more about the people whose blogs I read regularly. Cicero's Songs is a must read for me, particularly about international affairs and when I need to understand how international finance works. I was at university with the author and I was completely in awe of how someone just a year or so older than me could have such an amazing grasp of the way the world works when I first met him. He is even more passionate now about the Baltic ...
Monday: a session at King's with the orthopaedics consultant, after x-rays of my right knee and left foot. The knee is seized up with arthritis and they offered a replacement if I felt that it was getting very painful. But it hasn't reached that stage, and they will see me again in a year's time. The lump on my left foot, neither the consultant, the senior consultant or the radiologist had ever seen anything like it before, but they said it could be removed in day surgery, or at the most I might have to stay in overnight just so ...
Thu 19th
19:50
August Books 15) The Moldovans: Romania, Russia and the Politics of Culture, by Charles King
A decade after it was published, this remains the most serious examination of the identity of the people(s) of Moldova, the little-known ex-Soviet republic wedged between Romania and Ukraine, and of its breakaway Transdniestria region, a thin strip along the Ukrainian border. Most of the territory of what is now Moldova, lying between the rivers Prut and Dniester, was in the old territory known as Bessarabia, annexed by the Russian Empire in 1812 and then by the much enlarged Kingdom of Romania in 1918, and then by the Soviet Union in 1940, reclaimed by Romania in 1941 and finally again ...
Well, we're into the 101st day of the Coalition – and, still, despite the many media sightings of 'splits' and 'tensions', the Government has yet to founder on the rocks. The latest round of media sniping was triggered by Simon Hughes' comments yesterday, widely – but inaccurately – reported as Lib Dems 'need backbench veto'. So let's look at what Simon actually said, as opposed to what the news media chose to paraphrase: If the coalition wants to deliver [parliamentary] votes, neither party on its own has a majority, so we have to make sure everyone is brought into that. ...
Well, we're into the 101st day of the Coalition – and, still, despite the many media sightings of 'splits' and 'tensions', the Government has yet to founder on the rocks. The latest round of media sniping was triggered by Simon Hughes' comments yesterday, widely – but inaccurately – reported as Lib Dems 'need backbench veto'. So let's look at what Simon actually said, as opposed to what the news media chose to paraphrase: If the coalition wants to deliver [parliamentary] votes, neither party on its own has a majority, so we have to make sure everyone is brought into that. ...
Social mobility is apparently what the new coalition Government is about - for Nick Clegg, Deputy PM, at least. The aim of the Government is to create a "fairer nation" and this means "in particular, creating a more socially mobile Britain." He also argued that, "Labour, despite 13 years of government, billions of pounds of investment and a plethora of initiatives, schemes and credits, appears to have failed to move the needle on social mobility." Like most politicians, Clegg is trampling over a complex conceptual terrain whilst twisting the empirical evidence to piddle on the achievements of his predecessors. Poor ...
[IMG: Tube station corridor] A typographer would say it's because the "Please walk on the right" signs don't use a clear enough font. An ad man would say it's because there aren't enough adverts in the station reminding you. A sociologist would say it's because you just follow the person in front. An architect would say it's because the design means sometimes you have to walk on the right but sometimes on the left. A consumer PR person would say it's because you haven't seen enough celebrities walking on the correct side. An economist would say it's because there's no ...
When the Liberal Democrats went into coalition with the Conservatives back in May, after Labour had made it clear they were not interested, who would've predicted the so-called 'left wing' media's onslaught and Labour's vitriol? I for one didn't. Like many others, I would have been far more comfortable with a Lib-Lab arrangement. As a member of the Federal Executive at the time, I wasn't alone. But as we know from a wide range of sources, Labour didn't want to know. Like any partnership, it takes two to tango. Now we have Labour supporting commentators harping on about how the ...
We attended the demonstration and the cabinet meeting, it was very disappointing to hear the rubbish spoken, basically the comments were we need to"close Culverhay to stop Oldfield School becoming an academy".It is another attack on Bath by a group of councillors that represent wards outside of Bath, first the BRT now this. All they appear to want to do is to sell off the site. There many
Just over 100 days into coalition, it's becoming clearer how the Parliamentary Party (in the Commons) is shaping up and where dissent is likely to come from in future. As I've argued previously, overall the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party has been remarkably united over the last few years. (Even the ousting of Charles Kennedy was conducted with a remarkable degree of speed and agreement amongst MPs, especially when compared with the long-running leadership agonies in Labour and, pre-2005, the Conservatives.) Coalition is putting that Lib Dem cohesion to the test in new ways and we're starting to see who the ...
Two illegal donations totalling £101,500 dating back to 2004 and 2006 have been forfeited by the Conservative Party. The issue came to light after it was revealed that over £1m in donations taken by the Conservative Party and booked as being from RF Trustee Co Ltd were not in fact donations from the company but from a series of individuals. As a result, the Conservative Party re-examined the donations and discovered it had accepted £1,500 in 2004 from an unidentifiable source and £100,000 in 2006 from Mrs Joanna Kate King, who was not on the electoral register at the time. ...
One example of the influence of the Liberal Democrats on the coalition was recently pointed out to me. The first step on the way to the Liberal Democrat policy of lifting the income tax threshold to £10,000 was announced in the emergency budget. This first step increased the tax allowance by £1000 to £7475. Despite the tight budget constraints left by Labour this first step will lift 880,000 out of paying income tax. It also is a step towards breaking the situation where some people end up worse off if they start work than if they stay on benefits. The ...
I apologise for my recent absence. I can assure you, it's for the right reasons. I am back in paid employment and making myself useful. Once I've got into the swing of things I'll be back ranting and raving about marriage equality, Tories and my (reserved) love of the Liberal Democrats. In the meantime we've had a rather interesting list of comments from various LGBT rights organisations on the issue of marriage equality published by Pink News. Interesting both in that all support marriage equality, and that Stonewall (one of my favourite groups to criticise) refused to give it's opinion. ...
A long, long time ago, I had a boyfriend who lived in a tranquil corner of rural Lanarkshire, near Strathaven, so I spent a bit of time in the area. I'm not very pleased to hear that a whopping big incinerator is proposed for part of that beautiful countryside, a move which seems to fly in the face of local planning policy. However, I am relieved to see that Jim Hume, Liberal Democrat MSP for the South of Scotland is helping the campaign against this proposal for a number of reasons: it's in the countryside, on greenbelt, near an organic ...
I have reached Conwy in North Wales on the final leg of my holiday. My hotel room has a print depicting vignettes of "Life on Board HM Training Ship Exmouth". I take it as a reminder that, however bad the service may be, life could be a lot worse.
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 182nd weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (8th – 14th August, 2010), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Thoughts ...
The BBC is reporting that Yasmin Qureshi, Labour MP for Bolton South East has been banned from driving for six months and fined £1,250 plus costs for using her mobile phone whilst driving and driving without insurance. Qureshi already had nine points on her licence. Qureshi, according to the report, said being uninsured was a mistake and she thought the policy had been renewed. Given how many of us do use our mobile phones whilst behind the wheel, at least from time to time, this case should perhaps be more of the "there but for the grace of God..." variety ...
With the school year having started yesterday, my weekly surgeries for the West End start again tonight - at 6.15pm at Blackness Primary School (staffroom, ground floor). You can get full details of both my Thursday and Monday surgeries at http://tinyurl.com/frasersurgeries. I can also be contacted at home at any time on Dundee 459378 or you can use my e-surgery facility by e-mailing esurgery@frasermacpherson.org.uk.
Tonight, at 7pm in the Tartan Coffee House in Perth Road, the next West End Local Community Planning Partnership meeting takes place. Tonight's meeting will see a presentation of the Dundee Waterfront project, amongst other local issues that will be discussed. All local residents in the West End are welcome to attend.
"The final idea was to go out and literally ambush smokers and take their cigarettes off them. The adverts don't work, so we are going to make you stop smoking." - taken from kentonline.co.uk A Question for you dear readers.... A few days ago a gang of youths aged between 16 - 18 ran down Chatham high street randomly ganging up on innocent people screaming abuse and confiscating their property. The youths also filmed the harassment (and assaults?) Would you think that: A... This would be a matter for the police / Council to deal with or B.... The police, ...
The Washington Post provides an American view of the coalition. The article suggests that some coalition policies are echoes of the US tea party. This chimes with my view that we may be seeing a British tea party emerging. The article also says that the Lib Dems are made up of left-wing elements as well as libertarian. The author doesn't say who the libertarians are but one can take a guess.
Thanks to a prompt from Liam Rhodes, I've had a quick look at the bill that will introduce the AV referendum (because I rock). Here is what it says about how an elector should mark his/her ballot paper: (1) In Schedule 1 to the 1983 Act (parliamentary elections rules), after rule 37 there is inserted— "How votes are to be given 37A (1) A voter votes by marking the ballot paper with— (a) the number 1 opposite the name of the candidate who is the voter's first preference (or, as the case may be, the only candidate for whom the ...
Lions of Bath (Click on photo for full image size) Stopping off for lunch in the beautiful city of Bath, it was plain to see that something was afoot. This summer, over 100 life-size lion sculptures have been specially commissioned and now, while prowling around the elegant Georgian crescents and terraces, you can bag your own big cat (with camera only!). Each one is sponsored by a business or community and individually decorated. They all form an impressive piece of public art and are great fun to either happen across by chance or to go on a lion safari across ...
If someone publically told you to shut up and called you a "dick" and a "fool", would you feel that person was treating you with respect? Most people would say not, and when it comes to standards boards, the rulings tend to agree. Perfectly OK to say someone's idea is foolish, but not to call them a fool. So how to explain a blog post by James Cleverly, who sits on the London Assembly as a Conservative? Titled "Oh do shut up Simon", Mr Cleverly lays into Simon Hughes who, it's safe to say, he doesn't quite see eye to ...
It seems at least in the circles I move in that it's quite the in thing to attack S'onewall and Ben Summerskill in particular. Well, just for the record I'm not jumping on the bandwagon because we helped give it a push start in 2008. It may be that S'onewall haven't forgiven the Trans community for upsetting their nice awards though. I noticed earlier this year that their mention of IDAHO, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia strangely missed out the Transphobia. More recently I ran across their statement about their membership of the Equality and Diversity Forum which ...
Numerous Acocks Green residents have been in touch with me, the other Acocks Green councillors and the police over recent weeks about a group of travellers, who have camped at a number of locations across Acocks Green. Taking advantage of the '7 day rule' (which requires 7 days notice being given to force travellers to move on) they have, at various times, stayed in the car park of the old Britannia pub on the Warwick Road, Curtis Gardens on Fox Hollies Road, land by the Fitness Suite at Fox Hollies Leisure Centre, as well as other locations nearby Acocks Green. ...
Way back in 1985, I wrote my dissertation for my Certificate of Sixth Year Studies History paper on Poverty and the Poor Law, charting the circumstances behind the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 and its implementation. I remember being both heartbroken and outraged at some of the stories I read, thinking at the time how my dogs led a better life than many of the Victorian poor. Today's tabloid narrative, which stigmatises benefits claimants, virtually all of whom are trying to do the best for their families, is nothing new when you consider how in Victorian times some considered ...
A-level results ... congratulate the kids ... record passes ... record A grades ... not enough University places ... dumbing down ... getting easier every year... yadda... yadda... And yadda again. But this year, thanks to the interweb, you need not even buy a copy of any of Fleet Street's finest rags; for THIS WEBSITE has compiled all the best shots of busty, ecstatic 18 year olds clutching result papers while screaming and taking up the classic "about to hug" lesbo-erotic pose that excites so many old Torygraph-reading retired Colonels. Here's my favourite of all time: [IMG: alevels] Do you ...
Move along please, nothing to see here. Just a body of ideas that died a natural death some time in the 1990s. I have just read Gordon Lishman's Federal Executive paper on future party strategy. It is encouragingly clear and geared towards future action and it contains a number of interesting proposals. But is it undermined by its insistence on tying future party strategy to the ideology of community politics? Questioning the relevance of community politics in a Lib Dem forum feels a bit like trying to sell Richard Dawkins in a seminary but there are a number of reasons ...
The supporters of retaining First Past The Post all seem to be supporters of majority government - where only one party is in control of the government and makes all the decisions that face the country. One of their main arguments against changing away from FPTP is that it would increase the chance of coalition governments - where several parties work together, compromise and moderate each other in the national interest. I have a question for the Conservative and Labour politicians, members, activists and supporters who wish to retain majority government. Why do you want to guarantee that your main ...
The award is judged by a group of retired senior US military and intelligence personnel, and past winners. This year the award to Julian Assange was unanimous. Previous winners and ceremony locations: Coleen Rowley of the FBI; in Washington, D.C. Katharine Gun of British intelligence; in Copenhagen, Denmark Sibel Edmonds of the FBI; in Washington, D.C. Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan; in New York City Sam Provance, former sergeant, U.S. Army, truth-teller about Abu Ghraib; in Washington, D.C. Frank Grevil, major, Danish army intelligence, imprisoned for giving the Danish press documents showing that Denmark's prime minister disregarded warnings ...
Next month's Lib Dem conference and Delga's motion on Equal Marriage* has got most LGBT organisations talking about this issue. Indeed we know they are because PinkNews asked the leading ones to respond in 400 words. They got responses from LGBT Labour, LGBTory, Delga, OutRage!, the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, the Lesbian and Gay Foundation and from Scotland the Equality Network and the LGBT Network. There is one noticeable exception that is living up to its name once again in the wrong way STONEWALL. A Stonewall may to must people's mind be an immovable object, a barrier or a ...
James Graham, Lib Dem blogger and frequent contributor to the Guardian's Comment is Free website, has a must-read piece today, titled 'Not dead but...'. James co-founded the Lib Dems' Social Liberal Forum, and has in the past advocated closer relations between the party and Labour as a progressive force to take on the Conservatives, so he is by no means a natural cheerleader for the Lib/Con Coalition, as his blog-post makes clear. It's his take on Labour's misfiring oppositional tactics, though, which I think are well worth highlighting here: My fears that Labour would end up getting trapped into a ...
The Cheadle Area Committee heard a planning application from Kentucky Fried Chicken on Tuesday. They'd previously installed a change to the top section of the extraction duct and moved condensors, and they're looking for retrospective approval. There were several concerned residents (Warren Avenue and Dixon Court are most affected). The complaints were about the noise and the smell. The environmental issues are complicated by there being three takeaways on that parade, so it's not certain which are responsible (and it may be all three). In terms of this planning application, we could only talk about KFC and only about what ...
Labour really must be desperate for cash if they are flogging tickets for the announcement of the leadership election. For a party that claims to be socialist it does seem rather elitist to flog tickets for a raffle so a very small number of people can watch the crowning of their next leader. But I suppose when times are hard...
For those interested in reaction to the wheel clamping on private land ban that I announced on Monday – here is the only poll I could find.
If there is a quote to sum up solution focused practice it is this: We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them - Albert Einstein If there is a quote to sum up the attitude of solution focused practice it is this: Every wrong attempt discarded ...
We're in a deep fiscal ditch. We all know that. Last year we borrowed £155bn. And that wasn't money we spent on gold statues, a space programme or moving our capital to a new artificial island off the Lincolnshire coast; that money (nigh on half-a-billion pounds of extra borrowing every single day) was just to pay the bills and keep the lights on. The Coalition wants to eliminate the structural deficit (the bit that won't be wiped out as economic recovery naturally causes income from taxes to rise and costs to fall) within the lifetime of this Parliament. In an ...
I'm very pleased to see that the Catholic adoption charity Catholic Care has failed in its attempt to be granted an exemption from equality laws as the BBC reports. It wanted to be able to refuse to place a child with gay couples on the basis of its religious beliefs. I would have been pretty outraged if the ruling had gone the other way - it's not for organisations to pick and choose which laws apply to it. The state has no right to regulate religious belief - but when religious organisations are offering services, or acting as employers, then ...
A quick reminder about the on-line survey about Garston Park. This is organised by the Friends of Garston Park (more info at www.fogp.blogspot.com) The link to the survey is here
Ok, I am going to kick off today with the reports in the News about the Coalition Government looking at whether it is viable or even fair to dish out universal benefits such as child benefit and winter fuel payments. I have noticed the Daily Mail and The Daily Express went ballistic over the notion that middle class/ middle income families may not in future have a God given right to receive child benefit. Surely they are missing the point as middle income means that they do okay financially and are not desparate for money. Surely it makes more sense ...
We'd hoped by now to have the result of the Public Inquiry into the plans by private company Jack Allen Holdings to build a waste plant at Garston Dock (next to the Cressington Heath housing development) Frustratingly we are going to have to wait longer. The Inspector has written to the City Council and to the applicant asking for more information. The deadline for that to be received is not until the end of this month. It looks looks as if we may not hear until October. This is hard for everyone who cares about Garston but there is nothing ...
Feeling rather guilty looking at the date of my last post. Must be more organised about blogging in future!
The third element of the coalition agreement relates to the powers of the Welsh Assembly. At present we can only pass laws piecemeal. An order passing legislative competence in a specified area of policy is requested by the Assembly, scrutinised by us and by the Welsh Affairs Select Committee and then passed in Cardiff Bay and in both houses of Parliament before receiving royal assent. It is a long and expensive process not to mention frustrating. The Housing order for example took three years to be approved. The referendum, which is now scheduled to be held in the spring, will ...
HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL TEMPORARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT MEASURES ON VARIOUS ROADS IN ELSTREE, REDBOURN, SANDRIDGE, ST ALBANS, WHEATHAMPSTEAD, ALDENHAM, LONDON COLNEY AND HARPENDEN NOTICE is given that the Hertfordshire County Council intend to make an Order under Section 14[1] of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, the effect of which will be:- 1. To prohibit all traffic from using the following lengths of roads, except for access and to prohibit all vehicles from waiting at any time on both sides of these lengths of roads whilst works are in progress:- e) that length of Salisbury Avenue, St Albans from its northernmost junction with ...
Ian Swales MP is pictured with HRH Prince Charles on his visit to Redcar On Sunday Ian Swales MP for Redcar had been a Member of Parliament for 100 days, and to mark this occasion Ian took some time to reflect on everything that has happened since he was elected on the 6th May. Time seems to have flown by since that night and when Ian looked at everything that he has achieved so far it seems almost unbelievable. Ian said: "Time seems to have just disappeared and some days I still cannot believe that I am actually here doing ...
Each month the police come along to Cheadle Area Committee to let us know what's happening and give councillors and the public the opportunity to ask questions and raise issues. Here are the main points from Tuesday's meeting, from Inspector Steve Gilbertson, PC Jim Wilson and PCSO Adam Brown. Pubwatch is still going strongly in Cheadle and Cheadle Hulme. A "nightwatch" system is being considered - two way radios in each pub and the police control room so problems can quickly be reported. Gatley's pubwatch, we were told, has been less successful and isn't currently active. (Hopefully it can be ...
So it has been confirmed after some speculation that the Coalition Government is reviewing the benefits paid to the "middle classes" as some of the media put it. The apparent focus of attention is on winter fuel allowance and child benefits. Currently these are not means tested so you receive them irrespective of your income. Labour have already referred to this as a "Shocking betrayal" - not half as shocking the mess we find the nations finances in however. However, although this review may have been brought about by the empty coffers in the treasury, I for one would certainly ...
In my opinion, the Tax Credit Office is second only to the Home Office in the running for worst Government agency. Both organisations cause unnecessary misery to too many people. This morning I've seen that they've been up to their old tricks again. A friend of mine, who's a single parent, received a letter yesterday morning telling her that because she had failed to renew her tax credit claim by the deadline of 31st July, not only would the payments upon which she relies heavily immediately stop, but she would have to repay every penny she'd received since the start ...
I've heard a very sad tale today. Surrey Docks city farm has been broken into numerous times pushing it close to the edge of closing. No one could work out how they were getting in as high walls. It transpires that one of the those Royal Mail drop boxes - you know the grey ones where they leave more letters for posties to collect and deliver - was being used as a stepping stone to get in. In fact it looks like it had been used for this purpose for years. The farm manager Barry Mason had repeatedly asked Royal ...
Iain Dale tells on his blog that Councillor Alan Lamb has revealed that Leeds City Council is to spend £10,000 on four training days throughout the year for Councillors. The training sessions will include training on how to use Twitter and also how Councillors can cope with stress (including face massages). It seems now that Labour, along with the Greens, are back in power in Leeds it's time to spend, spend, spend again! The trouble this time is that there's no money there and the money that they are spending is ours. And let's get this straight, all councillors receive ...
Pah, who needs the Alternative Vote when you can go for the Venetian electoral system, as explained by The New Yorker: Whenever the time came to elect a new doge of Venice, an official went to pray in St. Mark's Basilica, grabbed the first boy he could find in the piazza, and took him back to the ducal palace. The boy's job was to draw lots to choose an electoral college from the members of Venice's grand families [aged 30 or over but with no more than one person per family], which was the first step in a performance that ...
ran a thread yesterday about the statment from Ed Miliband that he would demand Nick Clegg's resignation if he were the Labour leader seeking to negotiate a coalition deal with the Lib Dems. The is political postuing on a grand scale, but says more about Ed Miliband and Labour's very tribal, bearing grudges, style of politics andfails to address the realities of being a responsible politician. As is well known, the Lib Dems said Gordon Brown would have to go if the Lib Dems were ever to form a coalition with Labout after this year's General Election, and this ...
This years voter registration forms are being sent out. Please do ensure you register to vote and re register to vote. Don't lose your hard won vote! Simple to re register either by phone, internet or by post. Only takes 60 seconds.....and yes next may we do have elections or at least a referendum about whether to change or parliamentary voting system to be fairer via Alternative Voting system.
At last. In January Cllr Paul Kyriacou Lib Dem executive councillor responsible for the environment including recycling announced 100 new recycling bins would be placed at Southwark transport hubs and tourist attractions. It appears the election period purdah and the new Labour administration being elected have delayed their installation until now. Eitherway, well done Paul for making this happen. It should really boost recycling and our image to all types of visitors to Southwark.
One you may have missed from 27th June 2008 I'll let you into a little secret. I get all weak at the knees at the thought of newspapers. Particularly newspaper offices and printing presses. At an early age, I showed an interest in newspapers. I was particularly fascinated by the Plymouth Evening Herald arriving hot off the presses at 5pm and being chucked onto the hot pavement of the Strand, Bude in front of Tremeers newsagents. The "Stop Press" column used to fascinate me. How did they do it? What is in it today? Oh, it's the "Closing Prices". Never ...
Newcomen Ward Community Forum are holding their first ever Community Gala Day, for local residents and the wider area of West Redcar. The first ever Newcomen Ward Community Gala Day is being held in Locke Park, Corporation Road, Redcar on Saturday 21st August 2010 between 11am - 4pm. A number of Attractions have been booked for the day, including, Bouncy Castle and Slide, Fairground Ride, Climbing Wall, Face Painting, Balloon Modelling, Walk-a-bout Magician, Miniature Railway, Urban Kaos Street Dance Workshops and numerous other activities. A number of Craft Stalls will be in attendance, along with representatives from Redcar and Cleveland ...
I write as a former chair of Liberal Youth, currently studying at York University who was educated at an independent school. Yet with A-Level results out today, I am backing calls for universities to consider students from state schools who have achieved lower grades than their counterparts from private institutions. 'This is discrimination' the wealthy middle classes cry. 'They both sat the same exams', it is pointed out to me. Yet this faux fairness is exaggerated, a continued belief that seems to run through education that wishes children and young adults to develop in a different system to that which ...
The expenses paid to all county councillors over the past three years is now available on this website (see side bar to the left of this post). Chris White has never claimed expenses from the district council.
During a visit to the Corus plant in Redcar, last week, the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary unveiled a funding package worth £4.6m from the Tees Valley Industrial Programme for 14 projects in the region.
Donald Rumsfeld is a clever man. His actions have frequently been highly controversial. And he often came up with phrases that were both barmy and yet had some sense hidden inside them. Google boss Eric Schmidt increasingly reminds me of Rumsfeld. Also smart. Also controversial. And he says things such as: He predicts, apparently seriously, that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends' social media sites. (Wall Street Journal) Er... except that plenty of people will know your old ...
HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL TEMPORARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT MEASURES ON A1057 HATFIELD ROAD AND STATION WAY, ST ALBANS NOTICE is given that the Hertfordshire County Council intend to make an Order under Section 14[1] of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, the effect of which will be:- 1. To prohibit all vehicles travelling south eastwards on A1057 Hatfield Road from making a right turn manoeuvre into Station Way, St Albans whilst works are in progress. 2. To prohibit all vehicles travelling north westwards on A1057 Hatfield Road from making a left turn manoeuvre into Station Way, St Albans whilst works are in progress. 3. To ...
Dissatisfaction with the role of the local Government Ombudsman in censoring local Councillors is growing across all political parties. This morning's Western Mail has a report on the views of the former Labour Leader of Bridgend Council who wants the reforms in England, where the code of conduct is being overhauled and the Standards Board scrapped, replicated in Wales. He has a valid point. The example referred to in the article is that of Cardiff councillor, John Dixon who has been told that he is in breach of the code of conduct for tweeting that the Church of Scientology is ...
After the exciting start to the Premier League Season – and much more importantly the Lib Dem Fantasy Football League – I can reveal the answer to the question on everyone's lips... my team, Dynamo Chicken Kiev, are currently in 64th place out of 69! For those of you who missed the original post, Peter Taylor and I have started up an unofficial fantasy football league for readers of Lib Dem Voice (although all Lib Dems are welcome). Sixty-nine people have created teams in the hope of winning the prestige – and small prize – of being crowned the league ...
dates specified in canon 19th August 1572: The Doctor and Steven land in Paris; the Doctor goes off to consult the apothecary Charles Preslin while Steven falls in with Huguenots, and the Abbot of Amboise arrives in Paris; guess who he looks like? (as shown in The Massacre, 1966) 19th August 1983: birth of Ianto Jones, later to join Torchwood.
Another great political advert this time by Luis Fishman who was standing for President of Costa Rica H/T Mark Pack
Most of yesterday's comments on the first 100 Days of the coalition concentrated on the severity or the cuts and the chemistry between the coalition members. The mistake Liberal Democrats in government are making is that, in the interests of that chemistry, they are defending all that the coalition does. Whilst, as the junior partner, they cannot over-rule the mistaken policies undertaken by the majority, rather than giving acquiescence, which appears dishonest and damages Liberal Democrat credibly, they should concentrate on presenting to the public those achievements and aspirations for which they were elected. These are considerable. In the field ...
I popped into Fopp yesterday to get this: And ended up with these too... Mind you, it only came to £10 in total! Andrew
More than £22m has been wasted by the Welsh Assembly Government on training teachers who do not go on to teach in Wales. New figures which I have released today, have revealed that between 2004/05 and 2007/08, Wales trained an excess of almost 3000 teachers, at a cost of over £7500 per surplus teacher. Few steps are being taken to tackle this as only minor reductions in teacher training intake targets have been made for 2010/11. At a time when budgets are increasingly stretched, it is wasteful and irresponsible for the Labour/Plaid government in Wales to spend taxpayers' money on ...
Oops! Now this is embarrassing. The S4C Authority last night, gave its backing to the channel's interim chief executive Arwel Ellis Owen after he clarified in a radio interview that he had not been an "editor" of BBC programmes Panorama and Newsnight, despite stating so on his company's website. Full details of the interview are on the walesonline website. In short it seems that there was a difference of opinion over what constitutes the role of editor of Panorama and Newsnight, a matter which was later addressed by a statement from S4C: "The S4C Authority does not consider this an ...
Wales Office Ministers are wrong to dismiss out-of-hand the request to devolve power over alcohol licensing to Wales, the Welsh Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black has said. Referring to the intention of the Health Minister, Edwina Hart to seek legislative competence for the Assembly over the licensing and pricing of alcohol through the planned Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, Mr. Black said that the proposal deserved serious consideration by UK Ministers. "I was disappointed," he said, "at the way that Wales Office Minister, David Jones, rejected this bid so quickly. I understand that there is currently ...
I haven't updated this blog for over a month. For people used to my more loquacious periods, that may seem odd. The reason for not blogging much however is quite straightforward: I don't have anything to say. That isn't to say that I don't have opinions about stuff, in particular how our new coalition ...
I went to visit someone in hospital yesteday. On the way in I overheard someone on a mobile phone explaining how iatrogenic disease had affected the person they knew - they were complaining about problems caused by medical intervention. On the way out I heard someone else on a mobile phone who was upset because something had been left too long and now something else had to be done. I think you could soon write a book if you listened to conversations outside hospitals. Very soon after this I met someone I knew and they had tried to phone the ...
Thursday: Okay, confession time. Daddy Richard got a present for doing ten years with his company, and it was the CULTISTS' favourite, an Apple SadPad. Yes, I know. But once you've got over shaking you heads, perhaps you can help. No, we don't need an INTERVENTION and DEPROGRAMMING just yet, but we do have a question. You can choose a widget to turn your SadPad into an eReader, i.e: an electronic book-reader that lets you read books electronically, what with half a kilo of circuitry being so much more convenient than this newfangled paper stuff. The question is: which widget? ...
