Former leader of UKIP Nigel Farage who failed earlier this year in yet another bid to become an MP has now decided he wants to be leader again. Former Conservative, Lord Pearson of Rannoch indicated just last month that he was planning to stand down as leader of UKIP concluding he neither enjoys, nor has an aptitude for, conducting party politics. Last month I predicted that Nigel Farage would throw his hat in the ring again, despite at the time saying; "I'm not going to say I'm absolutely not going to do the job again but I've got to decide, ...
There has been a lively debate at Liberal Democrat Voice on Niklas Smith's defence of free schools. This is in response to a motion due to be debated at the Lib Dem conference later this month effectively calling on Lib Dems to oppose at local level any attempts to set up free schools. Niklas is promoting an amendment to the motion, asking delegates to endorse a more positive view of free schools and I am happy to support this. While I have my reservations about the free school idea, particularly that they may undermine local education authorities (LEAs), my view ...
From the Guardian Michael Gove, the education secretary, will next week be forced to announce a dramatic scaling back of the Tories' landmark plans to create a new generation of schools run by parents and voluntary groups. Labour tonight accused the education secretary of presiding over a "chaotic shambles" after it emerged that as few as 20 free schools are on track to open in September 2011. In June Gove hinted that 700 could be established. That says it all. I have nothing against Free Schools. Indeed, I am all for them. But what I have a problem with is ...
For those of you who watched it in the old days, a full episode of Vision On in three different Youtube uploads: here here and here. This third part, with Sylvester McCoy as a fugitive from Kubrick's Clockwork Orange and then meeting multiple versions of himself and Pat Keysell, is strongly recommended.
Just a few of the things which we ward councillors discussed today. We have a small budget for such things to be spent in the ward and this month we need to make firm decisions on how to allocate the funds. Some things are easy - a dozen or more people have asked for a dog waste bin on one footpath so as long as we can establish a suitable location that's an obvious contender. Others have
The choir that silkyraven, asrana and I sing with has two concerts coming up to launch our CD - one at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 29th September as a fundraiser for us, and one at 7 pm on Wednesday 13th October for charity for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The programme for both of them is a series of short pieces chosen to represent the history of church choral music, including some plainsong, Byrd's Ave verum corpus, Tallis' If Ye Love Me, the Allegri Miserere, Purcell's Remember not, Stanford's Beati quorum via, Bruckner's Locus iste, Durufle's Tota pulchra es, Britten's Hymn ...
Apple released iTunes 10 this week and with it came a new icon that I personally don't like. So I decided to see if it was possible to change back to the old icon. It was and is surprisingly easy to do. If you've not upgraded iTunes yet open the applications folder in finder and ...
Further to the update on the waste water spillage concern on Riverside Drive I highlighted earlier this week, I have now received the following update from Scottish Water : "Subject: RE: Riverside Drive - waste water spillage concern Dear Fraser I am writing with an update regarding the flooding at Riverside Drive, Dundee. During heavy rainfall and high tides, we believe the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) in this area is unable to spill to the nearby watercourse and as a result backs up the system and discharges at Riverside Drive. A CSO is a relief point when it is raining ...
Those clever people at Vote Match have developed a questionnaire which will match your views on a range of subjects against those of the Labour leadership contenders. Having completed it, I'm apparently closest in views to Ed Milliband, followed by Diane Abbot, David Milliband and Ed Balls, in that order. (Andy Burnham is not included). I'm not quite sure what to make of that. While Milliband Junior was my favourite of the serious candidates to start with, in the course of the campaign he's blotted his copybook. In particular he and his team crassly encouraged the rumours that Charles Kennedy ...
Nick Thornsby has caught Labour MP Phil Woolas, already facing a court challenge to his victory at the last general election, faking a photograph of Liberal Democrat opponent. The death of Sir Cyril Smith is marked by Sandy Walkington: "Cyril's tragedy was that his weight made him a figure of fun when he was in fact a shrewd and insightful politician who never got the recognition he deserved." Disgruntled Radical says the Coalition "must ... be a launch pad for Liberalism, not a slippery slide into decline". Better than that, he suggests how we can ensure that it is. Tom ...
I was awfully sad to hear today about the death of Liberal Legend, Sir Cyril Smith, former MP for Rochdale. Cyril was a legend, who rekindled the Liberal tradition in the English northern towns. He held Rochdale with ease for 20 years - the party has succeeded in holding the seat only some of the time since then - and it was lost again in May. Cyril has a huge following and he was a highly effective MP for the people of Rochdale and a real TV personality to boot. There is some history between Cyril and a much younger ...
According to today's news reports alcohol consumption in 2009 dropped by 6%. These figures have been released by the British Beer and pub association. This represents the fourth annual drop in 5 years and means that as a nation the UK is drinking 13% less alcohol when compared to a historical high in 2004. The UK is now consuming less alcohol than the EU average with the Czech Republic, Austria, Lithuania, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, Denmark, Poland, Belgium and Luxembourg all consuming more alcohol per head of population than us. The data, which is taken from HM Revenue and ...
Stephen's tagged me in this meme from Facebook, Like him, I thought I'd cross post here, but with some additional notes. There are some who might think I should hang my head in shame at some of the choices here, and I'm taking my chances that my husband is suitably satisfied with my nursing skills over the past few days that he won't divorce me. I know that for some of you the inclusion of some complete and utter trash alongside some great stuff will physically cause you pain. But, do you know what, when I listen to this stuff, ...
173 Bath - Peasedown St John - Radstock - Midsomer Norton - WellsFirst BusStopping places amended - now serves all bus stops except Radstock, Bath New Road178 Bath - Peasedown St John - Radstock - Midsomer Norton - Paulton - High Littleton - Keynsham - BristolFirst BusTimetable has been amended to improve punctuality.
It's the easy bit in any televised candidates debate. You're given 30 seconds to say your piece. Great. Learn 30 seconds of carefully crafted words and rehearse them several times. A sinch. Especially when you are an established Governor of a large US state. You do this sort of thing all the time don't you? Except that poor old Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona, freezes several times during her pitch on local TV. She simpers like a debutante cheerleader. And she "delivers" some platitudes which are remarkable for their stunning asininity. For example: "We have changed everything!!!" she breathlessly proclaims. ...
As promised to nmg, fifteen albums that shook the burkesworks. The "fifteen minutes" bit went out the window early on, but hey, you know me; when I get going I'm unstoppable. The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what albums my friends choose. AMENDMENT TO THE RULES - DON'T SELF CENSOR, BE HONEST - WRITE ONE SENTENCE TO EXPLAIN WHY IT'S IN THERE - ...
Full marks to Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg for keeping his promise to hand back the profit he makes when he sells his MP's second home in Sheffield. When the expenses scandal broke last year, Nick came out with a very clear line - that he did not think it right for MPs to be in the property speculation business. He regarded the second home he bought with taxpayers' money as being on loan to him and he pledged to return any profit he made when he came to sell it to taxpayers. Now that expenses rules have changed, MPs ...
It's very sad to hear of the passing of Sir Cyril Smith, the former MP for Rochdale and one of the most memorable public figures of the 70s and 80s - even more famous than Lembit is today. I remember Cyril coming to the first Hemsworth by-election in Yorkshire in 1991. Our candidate, Val, owned a couple of fast food takeaways and we held a photo op with Val feeding pizza to Cyril. Not surprisingly, the cameras loved it. Cyril was never one to 'conform' - he opposed the traditional party stance on capital punishment, nuclear weapons and abortion - ...
From Political Wire: Levi Johnston may be attempting a run for public office but a new Public Policy Polling survey in Alaska suggests his political career might be short-lived. Just 6% of Alaskans have a favorable view of Sarah Palin's almost son-in-law while 72% have an unfavorable view. He is reviled pretty universally across the board but he's a little more popular with Democrats (15/61) than he is with Republicans (4/76) or independents (4/74). Key point: "It's hard to muster a favorability rating lower than 6% — that's about where the average person off the street we polled on a ...
The "this is Kent" website is reporting that councillor Ewen Cameron has stood down from the conservative group and will now act as an independent on Thanet council, this follows on apparently, after a second charge of drink driving. Simon Moore is quoted in the article and praises Mr Cameron's contribution to the council however he makes the point that these charges are serious and incompatible with membership of the conservative group a tough and uncompromising position. There is no doubt that drink-driving is indeed a serious matter as of course are other things such as speeding to which I ...
Photo from Rochdale-on-line I was very sad to hear of the death of Sir Cyril Smith. I extend my great sympathy to his family and friends, and to the community of Rochdale. We Liberals owe a great debt to Cyril. During the times when we only had a few MPs, and during the controversy of the LibLab pact, Cyril's role could be described in one word: stalwart. It really was inspiring and deeply reassuring to have Cyril as a leading figure, demonstrating rock-solid liberal principles with great character and charisma. I don't think it is an exagerration to say that ...
These photographs have clearly been altered. This is wrong. This man is clearly unfit to be a member of parliament. When you send out an election address it has to be right – his is not. So said Phil Woolas in 2005 when he accused the Lib Dem Tony Dawson of doctoring an election photo, an accusation Dawson strongly denied. Odd, then, that Mr Woolas should have put out a newspaper in the 2010 general election campaign which appears to use a clearly photoshopped picture to imply that his Lib Dem opponent Elwyn Watkins was having his collar felt by ...
Iain Dale has written a post about the new EU Referendum Campaign. Sorry to have to ask, but it is a joke, isn't it? There's no sane campaign organisation whose website front page splash includes a picture of the Prime Minister with a small dog and the words - 'Give us a referendum on Europe... or the puppy gets it' - see pic right.
With the England versus Bulgaria match tonight, and the possibility of more bad headlines for English football should England fail to win the game, it was slightly shocking to recently find out that the way players are selected as youths to be coached at local academies is not what you would expect. A friend of mine has a close friend whose son recently got in to the under 10s academy at an established Premier League club in the north of England. This sounds as if it is some great achievement, and of course, he must be proud. However, the methods ...
According to the vote-match website, if I were a Labour voter, they think I should vote for Diane Abbott. I guess it shows just how poor some of these online questionnaires are as I would rather eat my own trousers than vote for Diana Abbott.
It just gets worse for Phil Woolas, the Labour MP facing a court challenge to overturn his election due to claims about his Lib Dem opponents on his election leaflets. The full depths that Woolas's campaign sank to are now ... Continue reading →
I was overjoyed to hear the news that Prudhoe Community Partnership, of which I was a trustee until a year or so ago, has been successful in getting a £1.8 million investment from the government fund Communitybuilders to knock down the Prudhoe Library and build a modern new information centre for both the partnership, the library and Town and County Council services. This is a project which has attracted near unanimous cross party support, a rare thing in Prudhoe! A first class facility for a first class town. It is really good news and goes to show that the town ...
Like many other party members I was saddened to learn today of the sad passing of Sir Cyril Smith, a great liberal and a larger than life character in so many ways. While I did ot know Cyril as well as many longer serving members of the Party I had the pleasure and good fortune to get to know him during my time as North West Regional Chair (2003-2006) and he was a great source of advice and encouragement during that period to me personally. Read more about Cyril in a tribute on Lib Dem Voice
I was around at Mícheál's earlier in the week and just as I was heading off,, for what turned out to be a delayed train home, we stumbled upon this Huffington Post feature. The net result was to have us in stitches, awe and wonderment all at once. I thought I'd share a few of the best. You'd think these campanologists had gone Gaga. And if you ever need a good wing man. And finally for all my London-based friends who noticed strange goings on at King's Cross Station this Wednesday (and for the muggles amongst then that didn't).
I've been waiting eagerly for the "soft launch" of the new 111 service for non-emergency medical calls in the North East. It was planned for July of this year, and made it into the Northern Echo in August, but just how "soft" the launch has been may be indicated by whether you've even heard about the service. The idea is that if you've a medical problem which feels urgent, but not such an emergency that you feel you need a flashing blue light to turn up immediately at your door and so demands a 999 call, you dial 111 and ...
I'd pretty much forgotten about the Total Politics blog awards, so it came as a complete surprise to find this morning that this blog has been voted the 29th top blog by a councillor. Ninety percent of the stories on this blog are very local, mostly relating just to my ward, so I've no idea who might have voted for me, but a big thank you, whoever you are. Having been named Greater Manchester's second most influential political tweeter last month, it may be downhill from here, but I'll do my best to continue to improve communications with residents by ...
TGIF. It's been a short but busy week, anyways this weeks recommended tweeters are:- 1. @Parlez_me_nTory – This was his idea and also his views on blogging echo my own. 2. @caronmlindsay 3. @stephenpglenn – Both Caron and Stephen got into the Total Politics Top 50 Scottish Blogs 4. @Hypnotic – AKA the sausage man, ...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmood Abbas have arranged for fortnightly talks to move the peace process forward, against a background of renewed threats of violence by Hamas. The two men spoke one on one, in English, at the US State Department, the BBC reports. This is simply the only way for the any peace process to proceed. Talks are the only way to secure peace and security for Israeli citizens, who have lived under the shadow of terrorism for too long, and the only way that a stable, viable and prosperous state so ...
That's the summer over, then! I don't know about you, but whenever I come home from holiday (even after a few days) I'm half-surprised that nothing looks to have changed. That's the feeling I got again on returning to Consett, except that my front door wouldn't open. It was blocked by a mountain of (mainly) council post, junk-mail and free newspapers. Nothing much seemed to have changed there either, including the letters which annoy me most. The county council insists on sending me an individual first class letter to tell me of every single planning application in this electoral division ...
Black History Month is rapidly approaching. Great national umbrella website: http://www.black-history-month.co.uk/sitea/ Do look at the long list of Southwark located: I've found a great sounding talk I'm going to go to and have requested a ticket. Take a look and get involved.
Nick Clegg has confirmed that he is selling his constituency home, and will return any profit to the taxpayer – as promised earlier this year. From the Press Association: The Lib Dem leader, who has been the MP for the constituency since 2005, has referred to the house in Sheffield as "modest" and revealed he had bought it in a "complete state of disrepair". Defending his expenses claims in respect of the house, he told the BBC's Andrew Neil in April: "I think, unlike almost everybody else, I have said very clearly and very openly that my approach to this ...
I was lucky enough to get my face face again on the inside pages of the Bracknell Standard. For What Does Bracknell Think? This week's question was - With record A-level results recorded in Bracknell last week and record GCSE results predicted for tomorrow, are exams getting too easy? Also, with more pupils going after fewer university places, should more pupils be encouraged to leave school to pursue a career rather than doing A-levels. My Answer published in last weeks paper was; I doubt exams are any easier today, however I suspect teaching maybe targeted much more at passing exams ...
Despite falling on the 344th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, this week's crop of by-elections didn't set the world on fire; we had no candidates in either of the two principal by-elections, and three of the four elections out in the towns were unremarkable Tory holds. Both principals took place in West Lancashire, Labour held in Upholland on a 30% turnout and in Skelmersdale on 17%. The Conservative holds at Town Council level were in the West Ward of Camborne T.C. in Cornwall, the Castle ward on Oswestry T.C. in Shropshire, and the Town ward of Sevenoaks T.C. ...
I love reading and I love political biographies/autobiographies. There's certainly a real rush of them at the moment. Recently I have bought and read the Mandelson book - the Third Man and the Chris Mullin one - Decline and Fall. And how very different they are. The Mandelson one was, frankly, rather dull and self serving. I actually got bored and didn't really finish it. The Mullin on the other hand reads well, has lots of insights (some of them surprising) and is clearly by an author who is not trying to justify himself the whole time. Chris Mullin's earlier ...
If it's September, it must be party conference season. For me this generally means work, as I'm paid by my political party to administer the training courses the Liberal Democrats run for our members at conference. This year, in Liverpool, that's 118 courses - not as many as the 150+ that we ran last autumn, but still a sizeable amount of training. However, this year, for the first time in years, I'll also be registering to attend as a voting representative. I don't normally do this, as I have so little time to spend in the conference hall. But this ...
... We'd say a big thank you to the 47,689 'absolute unique visitors'* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in August. Though that's a touch down on our July figure of c.50,000, it's up some 143% on the equivalent figure for August '09 of c.20,000. This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 Sept 2009 - 31 August 2010) to 636,846, some 89% higher than the equivalent figure for 2008-09 of 336,902. The 5 top-read stories during the month were: Knowsley Council pays Labour over £250,000 for conference appearances (11) by Mark Pack Coalition puts ...
I've only just come across this Home Office Consultation on changes to the Licensing Act. There are only a few days left to respond but I am sure anyone who has felt frustrated by the current laws will want to have their say. What this consultation is testing out are opinions on giving communities and the police more powers in terms of the decisions that are made on, for example, off license applications. Anyone who has been through a hearing as an objector will know just how far the system seems weighted in favour of the applicant. One of the ...
Congratulations to Sue Bruce of Aberdeen Council who won the race to become Edinburgh City Council's first female Chief Executive yesterday. Sue comes very highly regarded with a strong track record in Aberdeen and East Dunbartonshire. She came through a very strong field of candidates. I am sure she will provide excellent leadership in the future. I am looking forward to working with her immensely.
I was sad to read of the death of Sir Cyril Smith. Cyril was MP for Rochdale for 20 years winning a famous by-election in 1972. A plain speaking man who was one of the party's most recognizable figures he was loved by the general public who often said that "he talked a lot of sense"! Looking back from the vantage point of holding power in Westminster and having had Minsiters in Edinburgh people like Cyril kep the Liberal Party going before there was a sizable organisation or big support. We owe him and his likes a debt of gratitude. ...
I'm intrigued that Samuel Brakespeare, veteran diarist at the Cambs Times, seems surprised that local Liberal Democrats aren't awash with cash. Our leaflets and newsletters wouldn't ask for donations if we didn't need them. Elections are expensive things to fight, and unlike the Conservatives we don't have wealthy backers or vast amounts of councillors' allowances to call on, or the might of the 'Con Clubs' or portfolios of investments. Next May's local elections really will be a David and Goliath affair. I'm hoping David manages to land at least a few hits!
"Conservative parties" (like the UK one of that name, or the Republicans in the other place) are a broad and strange church of contradictions. They are patriotic to the point of (and sometimes beyond) xenophobia, and yet bow at the alter of global free trade. They cast dubious moral judgements on how people should act, think and feel (I'm looking at you and your cricket cheering, Tebbit, your 'youth activists should be seen and not heard' Nazi slurs, Monckton) and yet preach personal economic freedom and low tax. Essentially, conservatives come in two types; Moral Conservatives and Libertarians. This is ...
I like a nice bit of beef. No, that's not a euphemism. I love a proper joint of beef, matured for a good few weeks. For a real treat I'd always order fillet steak, cooked just medium. But apparently the great British public likes nothing better than a good mince (and no, that's not a ...
Like many others, I'm sad to see that former Liberal MP Cyril Smith passed away today at the age of 82. He certainly didn't fit the beard and sandalled hippy liberal stereotype with his views in favour of the death penalty. He wasn't afraid to be himself and stand up for what he believed in. We don't have enough real characters like him in politics these days. I only met him properly once, at the Littleborough and Saddleworth by-election HQ in 1995. He turned up out of the blue one Saturday afternoon and went round every single person who was ...
Standing in the crypt of St Mary's Church Lewisham asking local Lib Dem members to select me as their parliamentary candidate last summer I did wonder if my very pregnant stomach would put them off. During the selection campaign only one had asked me how I was going to do it with a new baby. "With the help of my partner, several doting grandparents and how about you too?", was my reply. Having fought an election campaign while pregnant, then through the first eight months of my baby daughter's life, I want to let other women thinking of doing the ...
R. v. Jacob, 1996 CanLII 1119 (ON C.A.) is not, for those in the legal profession, one of those obviously seminal cases that leaps to mind. For the rest of us, this case, held in front of the Ontario Court of Appeal, was on behalf of a Canadian activist called Gwen Jacob. The prosecution was an unusual one, in that she was arrested for walking down a street in the town of Guelph topless. An indecent exposure charge, put simply. So, how did it end up before the Ontario Court of Appeal? Curiously, legislation then in existence specifically forbade women ...
Some men are larger than life through their personality, some are larger than life through their size. Sir Cyril Smith, former Liberal (then Liberal Democrat) MP for Rochdale was certainly both, the later until he lost weight under doctors advice. Today Lib Dem Voice have announced the sad news that one of the giants of the Liberal Party that kept it going through its darkest, loneliest hours has passed on aged 82. I think it only fitting, for the time being*, to look at this compilation of pictures of the man, but to the words about a different Cyril but ...
Originally posted on Vox, 2 Nov 2006 During the last four days I've been attending the IGF conference in Athens, Greece organised by the United Nations to discuss the future of the internet. Sadly, however, I wasn't there in person but was an on-line attendee. There are, however, benefits to this like not having to queue for lunch or coffee (I can retrieve it while 'in the room') or, indeed, having to get out of bed in order to be in the main conference room and get a question put to the panel! Instead of sitting on an uncomfortable chair ...
I was sad to hear this afternoon that former Liberal and Lib Dem MP for Rochdale, Sir Cyril Smith, has died. He was a larger than life character in many ways and will be sadly missed. More on Cyril at Lib Dem Voice.
Originally posted on Vox on 8 Oct 2006 Week after next I'm heading to Brussels and Frankfurt for meetings, and whilst the first will be on the Eurostar the second will be by plane from London City. But it got me checking the new requirements ^H^H^H^H demands on hand luggage, and I realised that they have become - effectively - sexist. As a very frequent flyer on business in years gone by, I used to do the 'get everything into the carry-on bag' so that I didn't have to wait anything up to an hour for someone to get the ...
According to the BBC, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage is to throw his hat into the ring and attempt to get his old job back. The position became vacant last month when Lord Pearson stood down, admitting with surprising honesty that he wasn't up to the job. Farage's decision may have been prompted by suspicions that none of the other likely candidates are up to the job either. Farage, an MEP, failed in his attempt to unseat the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, at the General Election, finishing a disappointing third. An election day aircrash had left him injured and that, ...
Fri 3rd
13:47
Growing a civil economy through a civil society - with Shirley Williams and David Heath
[IMG: Shirley Williams] Alongside the Lib Dem Voice fringe about lessons from the general election and the Cancer Research UK discussion, I'm also speaking at a ResPublica fringe meeting at the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool. Titled "Growing a civil economy through a civil society", it will see me speaking alongside David Heath MP and Baroness Shirley Williams. I still remember the first time I met Shirley Williams on the campaign trail, back in York in the 1992 general election. She was on her way between two different target seats and had about 30 minutes spare between trains at York ...
The closing.vox.com/Vox blogging service from SixApart is closing down at the end of this month. An attempted spin-off from its then Livejournal offering (later sold) nearly four years ago it never seemed to me that it achieved a substantial-enough market share to remain viable, indeed they are asking their customers to transfer to their TypePad service. It is always sad to see a service fold though. I used Vox briefly when it first launched so, in the hope of never losing anything I write, I might copy across a couple of the posts I made 'way back when'.
The publicity around Tony Blair's memoirs reminds us of just how alien he was from many of the Labour party's traditions and perhaps helps to explain why the Liberal Democrats have been so united and robust in responding to criticism from Labour supporters over the coalition. This week's New Statesman editorial praises his early achievements in office and believes he went off the rails towards the end of his first term. In fact, the key to the New Labour project, starting with the period of opposition before 1997, was moving political discourse several notches to the right, particularly on crime ...
Sefton Council approved a 5% cut in special responsibilities allowances for Councillors last night, it proposedat the meeting by my colleague Cllr Robertson. The motion had unanimous support. I notice that something similar has happened in Hull where the cabinet has had a cut of 5%. In Sefton many Councillors have 'responsibility allowances' -especially the Tory members who now have so few members that they almost all have them and Barry Griffiths has two! Two thoughts occur to me. Firstly this does not cover outside bodies where the likes of Labour Councillor Mark Dowd picks up an embarrassingly large 'wedge' ...
News has just reached the Voice that Sir Cyril Smith, for 20 years Liberal (then Liberal Democrat) MP for Rochdale, has just passed away. Just over two years agho, Lib Dem Voice published an appreciation of Cyril's life to mark his 80th birthday: You've got to come to Rochdale to understand properly Sir Cyril's popularity. He doesn't get out much these days, but when he does... Rochdale comes to a standstill. Many people remember the Cyril from the 1970s and early '80s. The Cyril who was Chief Whip during the Jeremy Thorpe scandal; the Cyril who appeared on national TV ...
[IMG: Nigel Farage.] Former UKIP Leader Nigel Farage has thrown his hat into the ring to hold the role once again. The most well known UKIP member, the MEP stood down as leader a year ago to challenge Speaker John Bercow in his seat in Buckingham. The campaign was widely considered a disaster, with Farage polling third in the seat. On polling day, Farage and a pilot suffered serious injuries when the plane they were in became entangled in the UKIP it was flying. Nigel Farage will run against current UKIP Deputy Leader David Campbell Bannerman to succeed Lord Pearson ...
David Grace has come up with a pictorial representation of the coalition agreement drawing on Shirley Williams response to the Guardian: The Guardian: "So what is it like to end up in bed with the Tories? Shirley Williams: "Not one bed, two beds." The article is well worth reading. I just hesitate whether in the aftermath of William Hague's troubles twin bedded rooms have taken on unfortunate connotations. Maybe that should be two rooms , not a double.
Well actually yes it is the blog post I published earlier today was my 2500th, just on this blog. That is an average of a little under 500 a year over the five year life of this blog, which doesn't even account for the fact I had almost a year long hiatus. I do know that if you take all my sizeable pieces of writting across the internet (ie not Tweets, comments or forum posts) I am over the 3000 mark as well. All in there are probably in excess of 25,000 indivual contributions of mine on line (and that ...
Brighton & Hove City Council webcasts many of its meetings and makes the footage available for people to watch again afterwards. Cllr Jason Kitcat (Green) extracted from the footage examples of himself asking questions, put the footage on YouTube and blogged about the questions on his own site. He only used footage the council has already made available, he didn't alter the footage and he had a good reason for using his own copy rather than the council's original (because at the time the council's way of presenting the footage made it hard for people to go direct to a ...
Congratulations to the folk in Alnwick who won their Town Council election this week making a gain from the Tories. At a time when newspapers keep reporting the alleged reduction in Lib Dem support in opinion polls since the General Election, it is surprising that they give relatively little coverage to the many scores of council by-elections there have been over the last 3 1/2 months. They show a rather different picture of success for the Lib Dems. My Birkdale Ward colleague Simon Shaw, our resident statistician, has done the psephological research, which covers the 57 "principal council" by-elections there ...
In looking at achieving collaboration between government and the public we have to look at who exactly will want to join leaderships in taking progressive initiatives for the public good? Vigoda identifies 3 types of people which can help in understanding this: Freeriders - Those who are consumers of public services yet let others do ...
Inglorious refers to media (both social and commercial) treatment of William Hague over the last few days. What has been done is not only inglorious but shameful and unhelpful. The story has concentrated on the salacious details of sexuality which has served to hide a more pertinent question. The more pertinent question is now being expressed but largely overlooked in the wave of reaction that follows his personal statement. There are three features to the story - sexuality, privacy and judgement. Homosexuality should not be news, but it is, largely because it sells millions of newspapers to the mentally challenged ...
[IMG: William Hague] I've not blogged about William Hague this week as others have already said what I think, expertly and eloquently. The dignity with which he's handled his personal life is matched by my feeling of distaste about the way it's been forced into the public's eye. Where he's not been so impressive is at handling the legitimate questions about whether he appointed someone properly qualified to a public sector job. In that respect, he's in the same situation as many MPs who have appointed relatives to work for them. Some have managed to defend that well because the ...
Here's the Art of Noise take on the Dragnet theme... is it really twenty-three years ago?
People in the Inverness area have a new radio station, Monster FM, for the next month, staffed by local young people who've spent many months learning how the world of radio operates. This has been made possible by the charity Moray Firth Media Trust, based at local station Moray Firth Radio. The video above, available here on You Tube, shows some of them at work. The main reason for me drawing this to your attention is that my lovely niece Laura O'Malley is part of this initiative. Her first show is tomorrow morning between 10.30 and 12 noon. She's funny, ...
This thread is for you to say what you think should be done about the deficit. How much do we need to cut the deficit by? When should we start cutting? Over how many years should we cut it? Let's leave the detail of what taxes to raise, what services to cut, and what the ratio should be between tax rises and spending cuts. There are other threads to discuss those issues. Let's also leave the partisan politics to one side. These are difficult questions, no one really knows the right answer. And the answers aren't necessarily leftwing or rightwing. ...
Earlier today I was reading an article in QUEST: The Journal of the Queen's English Society and thought I would share it with you. Please forgive any typographical errors resulting from the OCR scan. The next thing is the grammar of your own language. Without understanding this, you can never hope to become fit for any thing beyond mere trade or agriculture. It is true that we do (God knows!) but too often see men have great wealth, high titles, and boundless power heaped upon them, who can hardly write 10 lines together correctly; but remember, it is not merit ...
The last six months have seen an extraordinary change in the political direction of Belarus- sometimes known as the "last dictatorship in Europe". Alas, while "Transnistria", Azerbaijan, Armenia and even Russia are considered European, then Belarus' claim to fame is not as unique as all that. Nevertheless the eccentric rule of Oleksander Lukashenka has continued. His fairly brutal security police continues to be called the KGB, and the flag of the country remains essentially that of the Soviet Republic. Yet, despite the extremely close relationship with Russia, including participating in the "Russian-Belarusian State Union", the country has managed to maintain ...
The gremlins that attack our villages' broadband in peak hours got me last night and I'm posting this a little late. Although I'm aiming to highlight the lack of bus transport in the 9 villages making up the Hardwick Division, I'm sticking to bicycle for the first few days before experimenting with buses next week. Being brutally honest - it's hard work going from almost no exercise to cycling 14 miles a day and if I hop on a bus after the first few days I'll find it harder to get back on the bike next week. There's only so ...
This morning's Western Mail reports that laptop computers and mobile devices worth £21,000 have been lost or stolen from the Assembly Government in the past two years, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. A total of 24 laptops which cost £800 each and 30 mobile devices, mainly phones, went missing: Defending the Assembly Government's record, the spokesman said: "Of the 5,250 laptops and mobile phones in use across the Assembly Government, less than 1% have been stolen or misplaced over the past two years despite our highly mobile workforce. We take information security very seriously. "Equipment is password protected ...
Congratulations to Dundee's Cllr Fraser MacPherson on breaking into the Total Politics Top 10 Councillor Blogs with a 7 place rise to number 9. It's a great achievement and shows how popular his blog has come throughout the UK. Other Liberal Democrats in the top 30 include Cllr Iain Roberts (I just love his history of Stockport election results - fascinating), and A Lanson Boy Cllr Alex Folkes and Iain Sharpe's Eaten by Missionaries.
As ever, Matt has hits the nail on the head! [IMG: Matt in Tony Blair's drinking]
The UK Independence Party have descended on Torquay for the party's annual conference, without a leader. Former leader Jeffrey Titford has been elected UKIP Acting Leader, and will guide the party through the conference and election of a new leader. The leadership contest was called after Lord Pearson of Rannoch stood down after admitting he 'isn't much good at party politics'. Pearson's deputy David Campbell Bannerman has put his name forward to succeed him. Former Leader Nigel Farage posted on twitter that he will announce whether he will be a candidate for his old position in a speech that he ...
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. Today's is a piece I wrote in 2007 for Iain Dale's annual blogging guide. Three years and one general election on, my views on the matter are much the same – and in particular the ...
Well I thought I would take the opportunity whilst at work this morning before starting to work to catch up with Spidey's web as this time last week I was knee deep in boxes and unable to use the web. ... Continue reading →
Although most people only think of voting during a general election or (sadly) the rare moments they decide to during local or European elections, there are many by-elections going on as a result of death, incumbents stepping down or even scandal. One such by-election is for a new local councillor for Earls Court due 16th ...
Hull City Council's cabinet has agreed to reduce the pay to the Council Leader and Cabinet members.The cost saving plan will be implemented on the 1st January and will see a reduction of 5% across the Council's Cabinet. The Liberal Democrat-run Council has also voted to freeze the basic allowances for Councillors for the last four years. In light of Government cuts and the effects of the recession I feel it is only right that the Cabinet look to save money wherever we can without reducing front line services. Along with every other council in the country Hull City Council ...
The Guardian: "So what is it like to end up in bed with the Tories?Shirley Williams: "Not one bed, two beds."The coalition is a great experiment in grown-up government for Britain but it must also be a launch pad for Liberalism, not a slippery slide into decline. We must maintain our separate identity, develop, promote, deliver and proclaim Liberal Democrat policies or the media will scorn and
The last full Southwark council year hasa just been reported to me - delayed due to Valuation Office Agency (VOA) not issuing figures of how many homes in Southwark. The recycling rate (National Indicator 192) was 22.13%. Disappointing as the expected rate was 24%. Amount of rubbish per home (NI191) 696.13Kg which is slightly down from the previous years amount of 703.61kg. This has been delayed as Southwark has an extra 1,331 homes. NI193 is the percentage sent to landfill 45.70%.
The Guardian reports: IPC Media's Essentials will no longer feature models or celebrities on its front cover after a survey of readers suggested they preferred to see "real women". The October edition of the monthly is entirely model- and celebrity-free and is the climax of a social media campaign to find 10 real women to put on its front cover. The magazine claimed it was a "UK media first for women's glossies". Essentials' editor, Jules Barton-Breck, said: "So many of these women look, and are, amazing that we wanted to celebrate them. In our recent reader survey 70% told us ...
An emission from Paul Staines' French second home which sums up 'the cynical view': If Hague had kept an experienced press handler like William Littlejohn as his SpAd he wouldn't be in this situation would he? He wouldn't haven't released that stupid statement on Monday, which brought him more unwanted press attention. He wouldn't have released that cynical, Aitkenesque, "sword of fidelity" statement yesterday. All in all, he has only himself to blame for being ill-advised and has shown a staggering lack of judgement. There comes a time when we all have to be a little human. It really takes ...
Cllr Paul Kyriacou set in motion more recyclnig bins across Southwark in Juanry. They're still being installed.... 19 sites werhe commuter recycling bins have been converted to have new apertires and facia to take recyclnig - 42 bins hat can take cans, plsatic, paper and card. Another 58 location for co mingled bins at (starting with East Dulwich ward): Lordship Lane / Whatley Road Lordship Lane / Chesterfield Grove Lordship Lane / East Dulwich Grove East Dulwich Station, Grove Vale Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Rd Bankside Pier, Bankside Jetty Tate Modern, Hopton Street Southwark Tube, The Cut London Bridge, Duke ...
The Annual Energy Statementissued by Lib Dem Chris Huhne MP was a commitment to keep the nation briefed on all our energy futures. One huge step forward was the commitment to the Green Deal. This deal is where energy efficiency loans are made a against an energy meter. So any savings are made by the person paying the meter and when people move the loan repayments stay with the energy meter, whether that be electricity or gas, where a smaller bill from greater efficiency is generated. Great way for people to be able to make long term commitments to big ...
Well not him, exactly, his book. I was amused last night by this group on Facebook who has suggested that those of us who are no great fans of our ex PM should take his memoirs on a wee journey (see what I did there?) from the biography section to the crime section of bookshops. The creators' invitation is as follows: Subversively move Tony Blair's memoirs to the crime section in book shopsMake bookshops think twice about where they categorise our generations greatest war criminal.Go on....do it. NON VIOLENT DIRECT ACTIONPlease invite your friends to do it too!Those of you ...
I have written on here many times about what I see as the unfairness in the current system of Criminal Records Bureau checks, which I and lots of others feel unfairly discriminate on former offenders and sometimes even on those who have never committed an offence at all but who have had allegations made against them. A new campaign has been launched by Nacro, the crime reduction charity, called Change the Record: Giving reformed offenders the chance to work. It focuses on two areas - Reform of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, 1974 and the practice of criminal records checks. ...
Anybody reading the lead article in this morning's Western Mail, reporting that Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt has signalled his intention to allow ITV to ditch its commitment to regional news, could be forgiven for thinking that there has been a major government announcement. However, the second sentence in the article gives the game away. It reads: Mr Hunt confirmed he is to persevere with a policy of introducing a network of smaller, city-based local broadcasters, freeing ITV up from its obligation to provide a Wales-wide service. In other words the Culture Secretary is following precisely the same policy, unchanged from ...
Earlier this week this week I went to Afghanistan and Pakistan to see for myself the problems and challenges that those countries face. The coalition government is committed to playing our part to helping ensure that the region has a peaceful and prosperous future. It was my second visit to our armed forces in Afghanistan, where I saw again the bravery and professionalism of our troops. Whilst the situation in the country is still difficult, I believe that we are beginning to turn the corner. As the Prime Minister has made clear, British combat troops will leave Afghanistan by 2015 ...
I was having a little joust with James Mackenzie (aka Two Doctors) on Twitter last night, I mockingly said that I wasn't going to say the nice stuff I was planning to say about his, Jeff and Malc's new venture Better Nation. I jest of course because I have enough in common with all three of them to make our disagreements just that, a disagreement, a point of contention and not full blown out warfare. It'll be interesting to see how their group dynamic develops as co-editors having seen them together over the odd pints. It would be a shame ...
Object to Manchester City Council?s Plans to Dispose of Part of Heaton Park to Facilitate Sports Zone Although Manchester City Council?s Planning and Highways Committee have approved Goals Soccer planning application in Heaton Park. Manchester City Council still have to give notice that they intended to dispose of (by the way of a long term lease) land situated in Heaton Park. You can object to Manchester City Council plans to lease this area of Heaton Park for the purposes of a sports complex. Objections to the intended disposal of land must be made in writing quoting reference L/JGH/CVL2021/54 and sent ...
Council officers confirmed yesterday that the contractor will employ someone to assist with people crossing at this junction while Southern Gas Networks works continue. These works are confirmed as finishing on Tuesday 7 September and then the remainder of the week will be reinstating the road. The Police Safer Neighbourhood Team have said they'll be vigilant against poor driving through these works. The contractor will next week, starting on Monday, employ a lolly pop person to assist with the school runs and keeping our kids safer. I feel relieved that this junction will now be safer during school term. I ...
The pyramid shown here represents Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a psychological theory first published in 1943, expressing the foundations upon which a healthy, rounded personality is built. It does seem to have a degree of credibility, although the inclusion of sex at the physiological level is open to reasonable debate and argument. One of my more endearing/maddening habits, depending on who you talk to, is that of being easily distracted. So I was intrigued to find the distracted hierarchy of needs, as inspired by Abraham Maslow. It wouldn't be so bad, but for the fact that Ros then took great ...
Yesterday there was a by-election in Castle ward on Oswestry Town Council. The Conservatives held the seat, the result is below:
I have just heard UKIP's interim leader Jeremy Titford on the Radio 4′s Today programme, desperately trying to keep the party relevant. UKIP must be very disappointed with their performance in the General Election, as not only did they fail to take a seat, but there were no 'Jimmy Goldsmith' moments. So with UKIP's influence ...
I have the faintest of memories of the 1960s science fiction series Out of the Unknown. This episode, starring David Hemmings a year or so before Blow-Up, has recently turned up on Youtube in four parts. This is the first and Youtube will lead you to the rest.
It's Friday, so here's a fistful of lists that sum up the past week on Liberal Democrat Voice: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week 1. Half a defence of Paul Staines (aka @guidofawkes) (30 comments) by Stephen Tall 2. Paul Staines, William Hague and questions for bloggers (33 comments) by Iain Roberts 3. History doesn't repeat itself: why the Lib Dems won't split (83 comments) by Stephen Tall 4. LDV survey: 84% reject idea of any electoral arrangement with the Conservatives (42 comments) by Stephen Tall 5. Opinion: Why Lib Dems should support free schools (76 comments) by Niklas ...
Last night at about 11pm shock horror the screen on my laptop went totally blank and no amount of turning it on or off was sorting it out. Also I was unable to access the task manager or anything sensible. Of course the loss of my laptop now isn't the end of connectivity to the world, but it is my personal window on it. So I crawled into bed. Left it on beside me and cuddled up to Bagpuss (don't laugh, I happen to have a special connection to that cat). However, a fitful sleep in which I awoke several ...
At the meeting of Northumberland County Council on Wednesday, we reflected on the County Councils investment last year of £250,000 to help Northumbrian Foods in Amble get a management buy out. At the time councillors knew it was a risky decision and I know many of us thought there was more chance it would not go well than the chance it would be a successful investment. But we did it anyway, because 200 jobs in a vulnerable town were at stake. It may be that some of the money is reclaimed as the administrators are talking about selling the business ...
Andrew Reeves: Labour's Jack McConnell to quit as an MSP - http://bit.ly/agSqsl # @craigie_b (Boring response is that touches on an imp issue for environmentalists: do you judge overall impact on individual elements?) in reply to craigie_b # @craigie_b Cf health eating campaigners - who now often push for healthy overall diet, which includes occasional unhealthy treat # Google launches home for real-time with alerts for social media monitoring | The Wall Blog - http://bit.ly/bw44nL # Lessons from cities for your office layout: http://bit.ly/coW73w # The @markpack/engine-group Daily is out http://bit.ly/bvIopg - featuring @markpack @lergik @JonAkwue @ianpocock # Worth a ...
[IMG: Priory Park] Tomorrow is the Area Assembly for the Stroud Green, Crouch End and Hornsey area, which is being held in Priory Park from 12 noon. The focus will be on health and sport. There will be lots of opportunities to hear and ask questions about health provision in Haringey, how to register at a GP; penalty shoot outs with the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and the opportunity to find out about volunteering to help at the Olympics. Between 12 and 2pm there will be a 'health fair' with stalls to find out more about local services and participate in ...
i) births and deaths 3rd September 1940: birth of Pauline Collins, who memorably played companion-that-never-was Samantha Briggs in The Faceless Ones (1967) and Queen Victoria in Tooth and Claw (2006). ii) broadcast anniversaries 3rd September 1977: broadcast of first episode of Horror of Fang Rock, starting Season 15. The Doctor and Leela land at the lighthouse of Fang rock, where the two keepers, Reuben and Vince, are behaving oddly (indeed, Reuben so oddly that he is dead). And a ship is wrecked on the Rock... 3rd September 1993 - broadcast of second episode of The Paradise of Death. The Doctor ...
My mad experiment in CPAN mirrors has grown a couple of new tentacles. Previously it could be a perl-X.Y.Z-specific mirror, such as the CP5.6.2AN, or an OS-specific mirror such as the cpMSWin32an. Now it can combine the two such as in the CP5.8.8-irixAN and all of those can optionally be combined with a date/time to only include stuff that was already on the CPAN as at that time, such as at the CP2000AN.Why do this? Let's assume that you have a large complex application which uses lots of stuff from the CPAN, and depends on Elk version 1.009 and ListOfDogs ...
Nick Clegg warned that flood-hit Pakistan will need aid for years to come as he saw the devastation for himself. The Deputy Prime Minister said the disaster would have a "long tail", with threats from water-borne disease and opportunistic extremists. Speaking after being shown aid camps near the southern town of Sukkur - one of the worst affected regions - Mr Clegg said: "I think the sheer scale of this is really quite difficult to comprehend. The terrible thing is that it has got a long tail. It has got a lot of aftershocks that are going to last for ...
The most mutually satisfactory conclusion to an argument is for both parties to reach agreement by methods of persuasion and by each side learning new things. Another, less satisfactory, way of concluding in argument is to agree to disagree. In neither of these cases, though, can either person really say they have won. I mean, an old hippy like me might try to suggest that in the first scenario, everyone wins, but surely the true joy of winning is in grinding your opponent's shattered ego into the dirt, and then pointing and laughing at their paltry remains?How, then, does one ...
What constitutes freedom and constraints to liberty has occupied the minds of great philosophers over the centuries. We generally think that prison is a deprivation of liberty but prisoners have unrestrained use of their imagination. Is it possibly a state of mind that leads us to unrestrained freedom? Do you go to work because you have to pay the bills or do you go out to play and just happen to get paid for it? I remember being taught one aspect of psychology in the 1980s that we should not confirm things that were wrong. Someone isn't knocking on the ...
Very many thanks to those members of the Hastings Fishermen's Protection Society – particularly John Griffin and Ali – for their help in securing nearly 4,000 signatures for the petition to the Fisheries Minister asking for a fair share of quota for our under-10s. The petition was first started nearly a year ago at the ...
