All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, all work... This series of posts has become rather longer than the very short thing I was originally going to write, but we're heading into the home stretch now. (Parts one, two and three for ...
Today (it's till Monday here in Alberta) Larry Elliott uses the phrase in Economics on Monday. I think the first use in a British context, of the American phrase paying down, to mean reduce mortgage debt was in the first TV election debate when David Cameron used it. I suspect he picked it up from the American advisors he was consulting. Nick Clegg used it in his last email to Liberal Democrats. Now Larry Elliott. All the Building Society and Bank web sites that I've checked are still using reduce. It will be interesting to see how the phrase progresses. ...
A few months back I mentioned Via Michelin as a route planner with a cyclist option - I ran a few tests and it seemed to manage a fairly respectable job. Here's another one, and it claims to do a bit more. It's from Transport Direct and covers quite a few towns and cities including Greater Manchester. This one includes options for quietest and quickest routes, a gradient profile to spot those steep climbs (something that's caught me out a few times) and something called a GPX file (apparently for loading onto GPS devices).
As many of those who follow me on Twitter know, a friend of mine has been the victim of a harassment, both in their home and online. I'm not going to go into any details of my friend, for legal reasons, however I was listening to the today programme on Radio 4 last Saturday and ...
Caron's Musings (kind of) disagrees with Nick Clegg on paternity leave. In a powerful post, Anna Raccoon spares a thought for the plight of Crispin Blunt's wife: "There is no self determination for her. No expression of a hard won freedom to be the person she always thought she should be. There are no 'Rejection Pride' marches snaking through city centres in celebration of her new lifestyle, no Fireman will be threatened with the sack for not handing out leaflets admiring her 'choice' in life - for she did not make a choice." PogoWasRight.org says that US schools are grooming ...
(Following on from the introduction and the technical problems ) Now, the Singulatarian worldview can be summed up, roughly, as "Real Soon Now, we're going to enter a Golden Age which will last forever. This Golden Age will probably be brought about by companies like Google, (with the help of geeks like me, and other ...
Today I went to a fun day Launde Abbey in High Leicestershire. Launde is a residential retreat house and conference centre serving the dioceses of Leicester and Peterborough. As explained in this BBC News video, it is currently undergoing a major restoration following a major fund raising-drive. Launde was originally the site of a priory, founded early in the 12th century. Thomas Cromwell was so taken with the setting that he took it for himself when the monasteries were dissolved. However, he lost Henry VIII's favour over the king's unsuccessful marriage to Anne of Cleeves - a case of backing ...
Some samples of the beautiful display of produce from today's Swallowfield Horticultural Society show in Berkshire.
Unusually this weekend I've eaten out - not once, but twice. After 4 months in Bristol it was about time too, as up till now I've only been out just once! Last night I went out for Thali. Originating in roadside restaurants in India, the name Thali actually refers to the metal serving dish, rather than the meal itself. Indeed in India Thali's vary from region to region along with local palettes and cuisines. Served either in a dish with compartments, as pictured, or on a tray with a number of individual bowls, the main attraction - the curry - ...
As both sides on the British electoral reform debate gear up for eight months of intense campaigning for and against adopting the Australian-style Alternative Vote (AV) system for British general elections, one of the key figures on the Yes side is now in place: the new Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society, Katie Ghose. ...
Nine times out of ten I use this website to promote the shops and events that represent the best Camborne has to offer. On this one occasion, unfortunately, there is something rather more disturbing to report. This weekend I encountered a man making lewd comments and trying to expose himself in the lane between Boundervean Lane and Camborne Park. This lane is a popular shortcut for children going to school or to the park, for dog walkers, joggers and for anyone who lives around the area it's a handy shortcut up to the main town. Sadly despite reporting it within ...
As often is the case, this post has come about because of a conversation I got into earlier with Sunny Hundal on twitter. His argument was (I think) that there was no reason for Clegg to have talked to the ... Continue reading →
Back to introduction I have come to the conclusion that anyone who talks about how easy it's going to be to simulate a human brain in a computer either understands computers but doesn't understand biology, or doesn't understand computers but understands biology. I'm currently studying for a Master's in Bioinformatics, so I have an equal ...
Much has been said about the IFS report that suggests the Emergency Budget was not progressive, disputed by the treasury. I was curious so I got a copy of the report. As always there are a number of ways of looking at it, this is my way. Firstly the idea that you can look at the emergency budget in isolation is nonsense. The emergency budget was made with the measures already announced in the March budget in mind. It is only fair to look at the two together and see the overall impact. Secondly the IFS looks at the impact ...
According to the Portsmouth newspaper The News, Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock has: leapt to the defence of his parliamentary assistant following reports she is under investigation by MI5 over possible links with Russian intelligence.Verily, you could not make it up.
When I saw that "Winwood, Steve" came between "Winstanley, Gerrard" and "Witchfinder General" in the index, I knew that I was going to love this book. I am currently halfway through its 650 pages. As the blurb puts it: In this groundbreaking survey of more than a century of music making in the British Isles, Rob Young investigates how the idea of folk has been handed down and transformed by successive generations - song collectors, composers, Marxist revivalists, folk-rockers, psychedelic voyagers, free festival-goers, experimental pop stars and electronic innovators. In a sweeping panorama of Albion's soundscape that takes in the ...
There has been much kerfuffle by the Labour Party (via Lord Prescott) about the announcement this weekend about the proposed replacement of NHS Direct. The replacement will be the 111 number which is currently being trialled. It has been widely pointed that this was Labour Party policy, and was in their manifesto (p. 35 apparently). There have been some excellent blog posts on this: Caron Lindsay; Carl Minns; Sara Bedford; Stephen Tall, on Lib Dem Voice and Tom Harris to name but a few. Prescott is promoting the Save NHS Direct petition, and is counting down how many more signatures ...
A metaphor is a glorious thing, A diamond ring, The first day of summer A metaphor is a breath of fresh air, A turn-on, An aphrodisiac Chicks dig, dig, d-i-g, dig, dig metaphors, Sparks Metaphors are scraps of resemblance that tie us down. Ted Nelson Let's talk about the Singularity. The Singularity is the closest ...
[IMG: Baboon Metaphysics and other implausibly titled books - cover] The sequel to How to Avoid Huge Ships, Baboon Metaphysics and other implausibly titled books is another collection of amusing, unusual and just plain weird book titles found as part of the annual Diagram award. Run these days by the Bookseller magazine, the award goes each year to the most bizarre book title. As with its predecessor, the book is a slim volume, with full colour reproduction of the covers of the 50 books it mentions. Some of the titles cover highly niche specialisms (such as Thermal movements in the ...
What a great peaceful afternoon I have had with my family.
The news broke at the weekend that NHS Direct is to be scrapped by the Coalition Government, and replaced with a new service – 111 – a move anticipated in July's Health White Paper, in which it was promised to: Develop a coherent 24/7 urgent care service in every area of England that makes sense to patients when they have to make choices about their care. This will incorporate GP out-of-hours services and provide urgent medical care for people registered with a GP elsewhere. We will make care more accessible by introducing, informed by evaluation, a single telephone number for ...
As promised, I've now watched the hateful new Star Wars films so I can compare them to the originals while they're still fresh in my memory. - Rubbish: 1/5 The Phantom Menace isn't as bad as I remember, but it's still pretty goddamned awful. There is no acting in it whatsoever, there's irritating expository dialogue (delivered woodenly, of course), there's whole sections that could be cut out or at least severely curtailed. And all the CGI just makes me cross. There is a good film in there, wanting to get out, and it might have been able to get out ...
In retrospect that headline may be an exaggeration but nevertheless the extraordinary intervention of Lord Mandelson through his warning that Ed Miliband would take the party into an "electoral cul-de-sac"is noteworthy at the very least. According to Sky, the former Business Minister said the younger of the Miliband brothers would take Labour back to the past by only appealing to the party's "core" supporters: "If you shut the door on New Labour you're effectively slamming the door in the faces of millions of voters who voted for our party because we were New Labour." Lord Mandelson, one of the architects ...
The BBC reports that pregnant women in Wales are still waiting for access to a screening test two years after it was recommended. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) said in its revised guidelines in June 2008 that all pregnant women should be offered, on the NHS, a combined scan and blood tests for foetal chromosomal problems. But currently, women are only offered a different blood test after 15 weeks. The recommended test is a specialised ultrasound scan checking for raised levels of fluid at the back of the foetus' neck, which can indicate chromosomal abnormalities such as Down's ...
It's all been a bit quiet here at Planet Bureaucrat of late, with tumbleweed blowing across the blog. And given that some of you have been kind enough to nominate me for the BOTY for best blog by a Liberal Democrat holding public office, perhaps I should explain. Ros and I have been away on holiday to Canada, primarily to attend a family baptism. But we're back now, so I can catch up. So, what can you expect? Well, here are just three things I'll be writing about. Topless women in city centres, incredible, appearing salmon and bunny rabbits - ...
After a lovely week away in the North Yorkshire Moors with my family, it is back to the normal cycle of Council meetings this week. On Wednesday (1st Sept) the Acocks Green Ward Committee will be meeting at the Fox Hollies Forum in Greenwood Avenue. The meeting takes place at 7pm. It has another light agenda with an update on this year's Community Chest spend the only substantial item. Three items are put forward for approval for the Community Chest budget: £3,775 for Fox Hollies Christmas Lights £1,000 for the Acocks Green Nifty Fifties £6,000 for the Constituency Graffiti Removal ...
I'm sure I'll get accused by some of being an apologist for a cisgendered world view for this post so I should state the following, mostly for my own benefit and not because I think it will alter others opinions of this piece: I believe I'm far more of the "we won't put up with playing nice" world view of the stonewall rioters, rather than the more common trans mainstream "mustn't upset the community or politicians" view of the early half of the last decade. Following this post some may view me otherwise. To some extent I'm playing devils advocate ...
Development Control Committee Two applications in Wallington South were being considered at this meeting: an application for 2a-8 Brambledown Road to reduce the previously agreed s106 contribution towards affordable housing; and a change of use application for 43 Woodcote Road for a KFC hot food takeaway to replace an estate agents' in Wallington High Street. As ward councillors ...
The latest edition of Total Politics includes a feature piece about Sharon Bowles, Liberal Democrat MEP and chair of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee: The Lib Dem MEP is a hugely powerful and yet virtually unknown British politician. She has had far more impact on our legislation than your average Westminster politician... Although she claims to be "in favour of a healthy, vibrant City," Bowles uses uncompromising language for bankers. She does not have much time for complaints about traders moving their businesses to other, less tightly-regulated locations. "I don't actually believe there are only one or ...
The exhibition of the six shortlisted designs for the building that will house the V&A at Dundee will open at the University of Abertay Dundee Library on Wednesday 29th September. It will run until Thursday 4th November and will give all Dundonians the opportunity to give views on the six designs. The V&A at Dundee website is at www.VandAatDundee.com.
For those active in the trans community I'm coming into this debate late on with this blog post but I should explain the background to this for those coming in to this via Planet or LDV. There has long been an issue surrounding trans folk and toilets, usually along the lines of "OMGZ, men invading women's spaces!" Oddly, it's always about transwomen and never transmen. If anyone believes this is a purely theoretical debate, the Pride London "Toiletgate" scandal in 2008 demonstrates otherwise. (Synopsis: Pride London stewards refuse entry to transwoman to female toilets, police get the law wrong, another ...
Labour's rather bizarre obsession with "saving" NHS direct is a very timely reminder of their completely arse over tit approach to public services. Let's not lose sight of one basic fact here. NHS Direct is not a front line service. It is a helpdesk. Helpdesks exist to do one thing, to take cost out of an organisation. At the most basic level, they are there are a buffer between the customer and the service delivery function and that is true of all organisations from British Gas to QVC and especially the NHS. Think of it this way. The basic need ...
Contradictory news from Facebook about the state of Lembit Opik's campaign to become the Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor. The number of fans of his campaign page is now up to 178. However, although his campaign says the page is "the main point of contact for those involved in the campaign to win the nomination", the last update from the campaign team on the wall is now looking rather dated, having been posted on 18 July.
I've been doing a fair amount of driving over the past couple of weeks and have used the time to check out some new music. Really impressed by Lady Antebellum's new album 'Need You Down' even if it is a ... Continue reading →
Last night I sat down to watch an art film and rapidly got bored. So I ended up watching Coast, the documentary series from the BBC. Although I have Sky, I probably watch more BBC programmes than any other. I love the BBC! Coast, Life on Earth, Top Gear, Wallander, the list of quality programmes is endless. I have recently returned from the USA and what's the best thing on the TV there? BBC America obviously! So it's good to see the Director General of the BBC being robust about the corporation. See this report on Mark Thompson's MacTaggart lecture. ...
Most babies are cute, but they actually don't come much cuter than Florence Cameron, the Prime Minister's new baby daughter, as the first photos of her showed. I don't often link to the Fail, but there are rare occasions, when they print pictures of beautiful babies, that it's appropriate. She clearly has her daddy wrapped round her little finger, which is exactly how it should be. He looks completely knackered with great big bags under his eyes. He clearly hasn't had much in the way of sleep but he's utterly besotted! Very touching. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is now ...
I was interested to see a documentary recently which looked into the charges that leaseholders pay. The program seemed spot on in terms of the sort of issues that leaseholders have raised with me in the past. Leaseholders have to pay for work in advance – edict of Labour run Haringey Council – even though Haringey Council itself doesn't pay for the work it funds until after the work is done. Clearly sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander. Moreover – the bills come in very very high – and leaseholders feel that they somehow end up ...
Part 15 of blogging my way through my first reading of Atlas Shrugged. You can find the first part here. Chapter 15: Account Overdrawn All those dreadful things the Government has been doing in the previous chapters have led to the near-breakdown of society, as commerce falters and state action is unable to take its ...
Interesting figures from the Met Police: Tamil Ceasefire protests – estimated total policing cost of £12.8m G20 Summit – estimated total policing cost of £7.4m Notting Hill Carnival – estimated total policing cost of £6.6m Summer Climate Camp – estimated total policing cost of £2.3m Some of those seem pretty good value for money such as the Notting Hill Carnival, bearing in mind the enjoyment so many people get from the event. Looking at some of the other costs, perhaps in future the police should offer to fund TV advertisements in return for protest not happening: could save money and ...
It is a shame to see the sport which is synonymous with the British sense of fair play being dragged through the mud again. Cricket has had its share of scandals over the last few years from ball tampering, biased umpires and betting scandals. Today three Test players have been quizzed by the Police over allegations they bowled "No Balls" as part of a betting scam. This sort of thing is not new. In baseball the Chicago White Sox were involved in a betting scam during the 1919 World Series prompting, according to popular legend, a boy to ask Shoeless ...
I am happily settled into my new house and had hoped that the behaviours from someone that caused me to move in the first place would stop. However, it now appears that the person in question is stalking my twitter ... Continue reading →
So Tony Blair doesn't seem to be doing too badly out of his time as Prime Minister; not many of us can afford to buy a £1m town house for cash, after all. Meanwhile, the media are reporting huge donations to the Conservatives by hedge fund bosses. At personal and organisational level, there's clearly a lot of money to be found in some parts of the political sphere. In other news, I spent yesterday cooking for a barbecue to help raise a bit of cash for my local party here in North East Cambridgeshire. It was fun; the rain held ...
[IMG: funny pictures-When the dog looks cute, it's time to stop drinking.] see more Lolcats and funny pictures
On the Tuesday lunchtime of the Liberal Democrat autumn conference I'm chairing a discussion organised by Cancer Research UK and the Royal College of General Practitioners on the theme of "Time is of the essence: diagnosing cancer earlier". More details are over on the PubAffairs website here. As I blogged previously on the following day, Wednesday, I'm chairing one of the Lib Dem Voice fringe meetings, Lessons for future campaigning from the 2010 general election; more details of that meeting here.
Yesterday I wrote about Liberal Democrats and free schools, suggesting that the Conference motion which wants us all to "urge people not to take up this option" is misconceived. After writing that post I came across this news story from The Herts Advertiser: Support has flooded in for a couple trying to establish a new state-funded primary school in St Albans. More than 70 people have already signed a petition backing Fawzia Topan and Tim Hodgson's plans to open a school for four to 11-year-olds under the Montessori ethos, which they already use to run a popular private nursery in ...
Yesterday Danny Alexander told the Observer: "I think the tax burden is necessary as a significant contribution to getting the country's finances in order ... So it will have to stay at that level for quite some time."But is that too optimistic? For some time Michael Portillo has been saying on This Week that he believes if will be difficult politically for the Coalition to make spending cuts on the scale it is planning. If that is right, and cutting the deficit remains the priority, then not only will there be no tax cuts, tax rates will have to increase. ...
I must have read this over a decade ago - I seem to remember buying the first two books shortly before the third came out - and it's interesting to discover which bits have stuck in the mind and which seem new. Pullman's world-building is simply superb. It's not just the places - Lyra's Oxford, the Fens, the Arctic wastes - but also the rules of the world - the most memorable and horrifying moment of the book is that point near the end of Chapter 16 when it looks as if Pantalaimon and Lyra are going to be separated, ...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of a variety of key issues, and what you make of the Lib Dems' and Government's performance to date. Almost 600 party members have responded, and we're currently publishing the full results of our survey. The possibility of a non-aggression electoral pact between the Lib Dems and Conservatives has been proposed by some of the more credulous political journalists (for instance, Jim Pickard in the FT here) – so we thought we'd take the temperature of Lib Dem Voice-reading party members. There have been some ...
Last night Channel 4 showed a really great programme called Inside Incredible Athletes. As regular readers will know I've sometimes mentioned the 'differently enabled' athletes* I've come across in the fields of athletics and bowling. The show, which if you missed it is on 4OD here, is well worth a viewing and does show how differently enabled many of these athletes actually are. Highlighted brilliantly by England blind football captain David Clarke taking part in a five-a-side game between his current and former work places. Or dressage rider Lee Pearson who can control his horse without his hands due to ...
broadcast anniversaries 30th August 1975: broadcast of the first episode of Terror of the Zygons, launching Season 13. The Doctor, Harry and Sarah, responding to the Brigadier's appeal via space-time telegraph, land in the neighbourhood of Loch Ness . Oil rigs are being wrecked in the North Sea; while tending to a survivor, Harry is shot and injured by a servant of the enigmatic Duke of Forgill. As Sarah visits him in hospital, she is grabbed by... a Zygon!!!!! 30th August 1980: broadcast of the first episode of The Leisure Hive, launching Season 18. Poor K9 gets short-circuited on the ...
Note from the county council: This is just to make you aware that St Albans Central library will be closing for a day on Wed 15 Sept to have replacement security gates installed. Unfortunately this is not a job which can be done while open as the work will block the entrance. At this stage we don't know exactly how long it will take, but if it finishes early enough we may be able to open for the evening
I have been politically active for over thirty years and I remember two occasions which motivated me to increase my political activity. The first was in the 1980s when I was delivering leaflets on election day. I had been taught to always fully post leaflets but I had not told another activist who was working with me. Around 10am I was handed around 30 leaflets by a Labour supporter and given the story that he had picked them up as litter. I never managed to thank him but the loss of these leaflets motivated me for quite a few years. ...
