The good news in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham in May was that the BNP got wiped out. They lost every single councillor they had and party leader, Nick Griffin MEP, failed miserably in his attempt to seize the parliamentary seat of Barking from Margaret Hodge. But the bad news was that the borough ...
Bloody hell. Thank you all so much to every single person who voted for my little blog in the Total Politics poll. Honestly, I was so chuffed last year to be voted in 19th place in the top 75 Lib Dem blogs, but this year you have voted me at 10th place! With three Scots in the top ten and nine in the top 75, Stephen Glenn leaves a great legacy in the Macblogosphere - and although only over the sea, we miss him loads. So, here are the nine Scots in order, with the 2009 position in brackets; Caron's ...
To anyone wondering why some positions have changed on the Top 75 Lib Dem Blogs 2010 list: I contacted Total Politics to state that I seemed to have been listed twice by mistake, and that I was perhaps denying a place on the list to another blogger. They kindly agreed and have removed my second entry to allow Liberal Democrats in Northern Ireland onto the top 75 list. The Top 75 list on the Total Politics website has now been revised and will only impact bloggers listed in position 53 or higher.
In July the Mail on Sunday reported allegations that Liberal Democrat MP Tessa Munt had falsely claimed a council tax discount. As the BBC now reports: Wells MP Tessa Munt has been cleared of allegations of falsely claiming a single occupier council tax discount. The Lib Dem has always denied any wrongdoing over newspaper allegations she had friends living with her. Hat-tip: Jonathan Calder
My impression of Tony Blair's grisly promotion of his auto biography, is somewhat blighted by his assertion that he couldn't foresee the Iraq blood bath the he and president Bush enabled by a halfassed military campaign that whilst it removed an evil bastard like Saddam Hussein hurrah! was swiftly follow by a predictable collapse of law and order resulting in the death of many thousands and American businesses accessing billions of unaccounted for re-construction dollars. Still since all that's a million miles away from us in these parts, we'll put that to the back of our minds, perhaps what really ...
Thank you to everyone who voted for this blog in the Total Politics blog poll, propelling it up from 36 last year to number 5 this year in the list of Liberal Democrat blogs. Thanks too for those who voted for Liberal Democrat Voice, which I co-edit and moved up from number 2 to number 1 this year. In at number 2 this year was Mark Thompson, which only reinforces the point about how sad it is that he's decided he doesn't have the time to continue blogging. The full list and some thoughts on the results from my Lib ...
In American baseball, the championship game between the nation's two leading teams is given the faintly ridiculous title of the "World Series." Well, anything America can do, Bury can do better (apart from, perhaps, sky scrapers, nuclear weapons manufacture and space exploration), as we will prove this Sunday when hosting the World Blackpudding Throwing Championships. The event, said (by nobody but me) to be bigger than the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup combined, is organised by Stubbins Community Trust, and will take place this Sunday on Bridge Street Ramsbottom outside The Royal Oak Pub. Rumour has it that ...
Part 17 of blogging my way through my first reading of Atlas Shrugged. You can find the first part here. Chapter 17: The Moratorium on Brains Rearden is going through a teenage existential crisis; the sort of thing one experiences when one is 18 and does something bad for the first time. He's attempting to ...
I have grumbled occasionally about writers (particularly Eric Saward) who thought that they could channel Douglas Adams, and were wrong. But Jonathan Morris's first novel is an excellent tribute to the Douglas Adams era of Doctor Who - set between Shada and The Leisure Hive, but clearly a story that escaped from Season 17 rather than Season 18. I really enjoyed this: the Doctor / Romana relationship is sheer crack, and yet the book survives the potentially gloomifying element of killing off (and then revivifying) various characters as part of a tourism attraction. There is even a spaced-out lizard who ...
It's a big weekend in Gorton and Abbey Hey. On Sunday there will be no less than three events happening. The Gorton Festival, which has been excellently organised by the young people of our area, which will for the first time be held on Annie Lees Playing Fields. Meanwhile, High Bank Bowling Club will behosting a family fun day (and BBQ). Finally (buy by no means least) Debdale Allotments will be holding their annual show at their new venue, on the Allotment Site itself. We've promised humorous veg (apparently they don't all look like that) and fruit and veg themed ...
The oil industry and the governments of Canada and Alberta, continue to respond to the growing international concern about the tar-sands ecocide as if it is nothing more than a public relations problem. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) have started running a series of ads in which photogenic tarsands employees state how much they love fluffy bunnies, or words to that effect. For example a full page ad today's Edmonton Journal shows biologist Megan Blampin looking soulful beside a lake with the quote: "We know what was here before, what's here now, and what we need to do ...
I'm awfully pleased with the outcome of this year's Total Politics top blogs poll! Now number 18 (last year = 31) in the Top Liberal Democrat Blogs category. I'm delighted at this rankings improvement! Congratulations to my Scottish LibDem colleagues Caron Lindsay (a hugely impressive 3rd place overall), Stephen Glenn and Andrew Reeves - who all saw good rankings improvements in the 2010 poll. Oh - and thanks Caron and Stephen for your generous mentions of www.dundeewestend.com! And great to see Scottish LibDem colleagues James Taylor, Cllr Paul Edie, Cllr David May, Cllr Ian Yuill, Liberal Youth Scotland and Sanjay ...
One of the most important pieces of work the government will be carrying out in the next few months will be the strategic defence and security review. It is an area where it can be difficult for governments to apply creative or radical thinking- after all, the country's security is at stake, not an area anyone is willing to take risks on. But in fact it could be argued that the least risky option is to carry out a fundamental re-assessment of some of the assumptions that underpin defence thinking (Paul Rogers has a good assessment here). This defence review ...
One of my passions, is Northern Ireland. As a political historian, I've always had a particular interest in the history of this troubled province - particularly since partition in 1921/1922. I've always followed with great interest, the slow, step-by-step developments of the peace progress during the 1990s. Indeed, when I decided on a long weekend break after the 2007 Welsh Assembly elections, there was only one place I was going. On May 8th 2007, I was going to be in Belfast for the event that no-one could ever have thought possible - the coming together of Ian Paisley's DUP and ...
After being named in the top councillors blogs, I've now also been named among the top 20 Lib Dem bloggers by Total Politics. I have risen from number 60 last year to number 16 this - the highest climber. And so there's another little award button on the right hand side. Many congratulations to Jeremy Rowe who entered the charts at number 19.
Thanks to everyone who voted me into the Total Politics Top 75 Lib Dem Blogs! I am very grateful to everyone who took the time to vote. I have been contacted by some people questioning why I appear on the list twice and I must confess I am also puzzled by this as I only maintain one political blog. I can only conclude that people have voted for me using 2 variants of my name (I am at number 53 as Garry Allanach and number 38 as Gary Allanach). Total Politics may have concluded I was in fact two different ...
It appears Bracknell Blog has made number 29 of the Total Politics Top 75 Liberal Democrat blogs. Thank you to anyone that voted for me. I only bother to do this because you read this blog. But it also appears I have made it into the top 100 The UK's 100 Worst Political Blogs. Oh well swings and roundabouts. Lets hope its because I annoyed someone!
The Pope is coming to Britain, which causes me two dilemmas. I doubt he cares. I don't figure on his radar. But he does figure on mine. I don't think he should have been invited. I don't think he should be invited to anywhere in the world until he has put the hierarchy of the Catholic Church completely to rights over the issue of sexual abuse. For the record, I don't the church has done anything more than it has been forced to do by publicity and the horror of the outside world. I don't think they have changed their ...
The Federal Party is currently holding elections for Federal Executive (FE) – 15 places Federal Policy Committee (FPC) – 15 places Federal Conference Committee (FCC) – 12 places The Welsh party has representatives on these committees (declaration, I'm one on FE) but there is also the option for members to stand for the directly elected places. To get hold of a nomination form email returning.officer@libdems.org.uk. They will also be able to give you a copy of the rules. Some handy information for people to note are 1. Members of the House of Commons are not eligible to stand for election ...
I've now been blogging since July last year and tracking my blogs (using Google Analytics) since mid-August. This means I can see what subjects are popular and which aren't, whcih generate hits from Google searches (for example, mention Jennifer Ennis and you find that people have searched for "Jennifer Ennis' Bottom"). So, in the first of an irregular feature, I'm going to pick some blogs from the past and link to them... but with the twist that I'm not going to tell you what they are! Some will be my favourites, some will be yours... These posts are from August ...
Along with two of my ward colleagues and the Public Health Minister, I had great pleasure this morning in attending the launch of the Brittle Bone Society's History Bones Project. The project, run in partnership with the University of Dundee's Archive Services, will catalogue the 40+ years history of the society - documents, photographs and historic memorabilia. It is excellent that this precious archive material will be protected and catalogued. The society has achieved much since it was created back in 1968, and continues to help and support people affected by the bone condition Osteogenesis Imperfecta. It is based in ...
Earlier this evening Total Politics announced the top 75 Liberal Democrat blogs from a poll of over 2,200 blog readers. There was some good news for the Scottish Blogosphere. First up the top woman is one of the Scots as Caron is at number 3. Little did I know when she first asked me 'How do I start a blog?' that she would climb to this height, only Lib Dem Voice and Mark Reckons. She is not alone in the top ten this year. As with Scottish list I take her number 7 and Andrew Reeves is number 10 a ...
As a follow-up to the discussions I had recently with National Express Dundee, along with ward colleague Cllr Donald Hay and members of the Community Spirit Action Group, I met this morning with Lawrence Davie, Director of the bus company, at which Lawrence outlined the finalised changes to services he intends to announce hopefully later this week. This follows approval of the changes by the Traffic Commissioner. For the West End, the changes are quite positive - and they address some of the issues that have been raised by constituents in various parts of the West End.
The official Lib Dem line on Andy Coulson, David Cameron's director of communications, could not have been clearer prior to the election: this Voice headline from July 2009 gives the flavour – Huhne on Coulson: "either complicit or incompetent". Yet the party leadership has been noticeably more reticent to comment on the most recent allegations, triggered by the New York Times's typically thorough investigation. (What does it say, by the way, about the quality of the British news media today that — with the honourable exception of The Guardian — it was left to a US newspaper to mount a ...
The official Lib Dem line on Andy Coulson, David Cameron's director of communications, could not have been clearer prior to the election: this Voice headline from July 2009 gives the flavour – Huhne on Coulson: "either complicit or incompetent". Yet the party leadership has been noticeably more reticent to comment on the most recent allegations, triggered by the New York Times's typically thorough investigation. (What does it say, by the way, about the quality of the British news media today that — with the honourable exception of The Guardian — it was left to a US newspaper to mount a ...
In 1839 the Chartists first petition was presented to Parliament. One of their demands was for equal constituencies, securing the same amount of representation for the same number of electors. Parliament refused to accept and hear the petition by a large majority. 171 years later Parliament debates a bill that includes this demand. The bill is supported by Tories & Liberals and opposed by 'radical & progressive' Labour. Sort of makes you think :-)
After only two years since it's inception Liberal Vision has been voted the 4th most popular Liberal Democrat Blog - up two places from last year. Much thanks to all who voted and read our blog.
First day back – Home Office orals (done) and Adjournment Debate after votes at 10pm (still to come). Two questions came my way: one on wheel clamping and the other on what resources we are putting into enforcing the law against female genital mutilation (fmg). The first on clamping – as in my blog posts really – just when would it happen and what about the clampers. Given how much I've written about this already – there was nothing new that came up. On seeing the question on female genital mutilation and seeing that it was the same question that ...
It's two months since Total Politics asked blog-readers to vote for their Top 10 favourite blogs in their annual survey promoted here on LDV, as well as at LabourList and Iain Dale's Diary. More than 2,200 people voted, and here is the full list of the Top 75 Lib Dem blogs according to the voters of Total Politics: 1 (2) Lib Dem Voice 2 (5) Mark Reckons 3 (7) Caron's Musings 4 (6) Liberal Vision 5 (36) Mark Pack 6 (8) Liberal England 7 (11) Stephen's Liberal Journal 8 (12) Jennie Rigg 9 (22) Always Win When You're Singing 10 ...
Well, after last month's discussions (here and here) I went out last week and bought a HTC Desire, running Android 2.2, for quite a lot of money. It is one of the worst investments I have ever made. My concern was to get a phone that would integrate reasonably well with my employers' Exchange server, and it simply doesn't - refuses to synchronize the calendar, probably because the free memory has all been eaten by my contacts which take up 100 MB and are still not completely synced. It contains a 4 GB card, but it seems impossible to transfer ...
So, I have always been afraid of certain organisations. The Democratic Republic of Korea. The People's Republic of China. Stoughton Working Mens Club. But seriously I've always been a little bit scared of unions, and political groups with "workers" or "peoples" in the title. It's something to do with the total lack of democracy in giving up your legal right to make your own employment decisions to some guy who might be really into class war, or the general "my way or highway" attitude of the British left (which is probably only a roomer.) But I've realised something. Unions aren't ...
I've just found out that this humble blog of mine, that started out as a place to just spew out my thoughts when politicians irritated me has done rather well in the Total Politics Top blogs poll. I never in ... Continue reading →
Many thanks to Sarah Harding for tipping me off about our ranking in the Total Politics Blog Awards for 2010. Birkdale Focus is up from 39th in 2009 to 23rd this year. thanks to all who voted. Southport Liberal Youth were in at 61st and Mike Booth and Kew Focus entered the listings at 40th1 (2) LibDem Voice 2 (5) Mark Reckons 3 (7) Caron's Musings 4 (6) Liberal Vision 5 (36) Mark Pack 6 (8) Liberal England 7 (11) Stephen's Liberal Journal 8 (12) Jennie Rigg 9 (22) Always Win When You're Singing 10 (19) Andrew Reeves 11 (13) ...
Total Politics has just released a list of the top 75 Liberal Democrat bloggers. I have never been on the list before but this year got in at number 67. Over 2,200 people voted. I am really chuffed to have got in and 67 isn't at all bad given I don't blog that often. I try and avoid being party political. This is largely due to the job I do, communicating to policy makers, but also because I prefer writing about ideas and trying to find ways to promote a liberal society in a cross-party way. That said, I am ...
Well, phase 2 of my chemo has been completed. A few aches and pains (of varying intenstity) have been the side effects, but hopefully my counts will start to go up and resolving themselves soon (please!) Losing my hair is one side effect. Its not something that I am over fussed about it, I know it will grow back. The point is that after 8 weeks of fairly intensive Chemo - I still have quite a lot of it (albeit thinning). It will fall out. The irony is that I'm using 'wash and go' shampoo ;)
After Birmingham and Portsmouth we reach the final Telly Savalas film. Aberdeen has survived the Luftwaffe and post-war planners better than the other two, but this is still not likely to make you want to visit. At one point the police appear to be combing the heather in search of the body of an abducted child.
"There is no other place in England quite like Clun," said Malcolm Saville in his foreword to The Secret of Grey Walls. This picture shows the little town's bowling green which you will find among the ruins of its castle. Those ruins have been hung with scaffolding for a couple of years now - I saw it going up in the summer of 2008. Local rumour has it that the money for restoration has run out, but English Heritage denies this.
This weekend I came under the grip of..er...greep! That's what the Russian word for flu and after noticing the initial signs of a dry throat on Friday evening by Sunday I made a desperate attempt at ordering some cough medicine from the local pharmacist. I had done very well up, managing to use my essential TEFL skills of gestures and miming to Elicit cough, sore throat, runny nose (although my
In a recent post, I suggested that a policy on honest or sound money would be one way to promote the concept of mutual liberalism. Another policy that would have to be addressed is taxation. Mutual liberalism is a combination of classical liberalism and voluntarism. Classical liberalism accepts the need for government and voluntarism would prefer that there was none. Mutual liberalism would see government giving up the space for voluntary activity while continuing to govern in some areas. If you have government then you need to levy tax for certain activities but the imperative of the mutualist is to ...
I'm taking part in the Lewes Cycle Challenge. Organisations take part, and the idea is for them to get their employees on to bikes, if only for ten minutes during the period of the challenge, which is 10th to 26th September. I was going to upload a picture of me holding a cupcake, but my image button has gone awol. Not sure what the cupcake has to do with it, but it tasted very nice. We're going to be making our major effort on Septenber 20th, which is the day after International Talk like A Pirate Day, so we're pirate ...
[IMG: #borisbikes] I feel bad criticising the Barclays Cycle Hire (aka 'Boris bikes') as I have been using it since Day 1 and like it a lot. The scheme has got me cycling after years of not cycling, and I have never before cycled in London. That's good for me (more exercise, cheaper, gets me around London faster, enjoyable) and for London itself (one less person squeezed onto public transport, meaning slightly more space for everyone else). I have noticed in recent weeks however that, increasingly, some docking stations are empty and others are full - meaning nowhere to dock your ...
Come and join the Social Market Foundation for a traditional Pub Quiz at Liberal Democrat Federal Conference. Monday 20th September 2010 20:00-22:00 Baby Blue Bar, Albert Dock, Liverpool Quizmaster: Bob Russell MP with contributions from Brigid Simmonds OBE RSVP to events@smf.org.uk
The BBC is reporting the jailing of five people, including two former councillors, for postal vote fraud in Bradford. ...the men plotted to get Conservative candidate Haroon Rashid elected in the Bradford West seat using fraudulent postal vote applications. One man admitted conspiring to defraud the city's electoral registration officer and was jailed for 11 months. The four other men had denied the charge but were found guilty and jailed for 21 months at Leeds Crown Court.
So warmonger former Prime Minister Tony Blair has cancelled his London book signing. He said: "I don't want the public to be inconvenienced by the inevitable hassle caused by protesters." On a cold February day seven years ago, I joined over a million people marching through London to protest against the possible invasion of Iraq. Blair ...
Mon 6th
16:00
Day 3536: For Labor Day... Your "Which Monster Are You" guide to the Labour Leadership Contenders, o...
Monday: The contest to be the next Labour loser is more and more seen to be less and less interesting, what with most commentators having it down to a grudge match between the two Millipede brothers: Mr Red and Mr Dead. Apparently it IS possible to tell them apart. Daddy Richard says that he despises Dead Millipede more for being the British Foreign Secretary who made us complicit in torture and rendition on behalf of the Americans. Daddy Alex disagrees. He thinks Dead Millipede was ONLY complicit because he is SPINELESS; whereas his younger brother actually LIKES being evil. Or ...
Councillor Chamberlain & I attended the local Policing meeting to discuss crime issues in the area. There were three key issues, although the full story is never black and white. The clear worry is the recent rise in thefts from cars. The frustration linked to this being that a prepetrator (probably the main one) has been arrested and charged three times in 14 days, but judges aren't locking him up, rather bailing him! The Courts must do more to take crime off the streets. There has been a rise in theft of petrol, by driving off without paying and also ...
In the North East we have two regional health offices that are increasingly concerning me. Fresh North East, the regional Smoke Free service and Balance North East, the regional alcohol office. Both do good work in terms of raising the risks of smoking and excessive drinking with the public. However, both of these agencies encourage you to lobby central government through your MP. Fresh have no current campaigns but Balance have a widget for you to send a pre-written email to your MP and MEPs campaigning for a minimum price on alcohol. Now I have no issue with these issues ...
The Welsh Assembly Government will be hosting an open day for the public at its new office in Llandudno Junction on Saturday, 25 September. You can pop in anytime between 10.00am and 4.00pm.
Over the next few days there's a chance to visit some places that are normally closed to the public, and to take a behind-the-scenes look at some more familiar buildings. Local buildings open include the Moda Hotel (originally the Bank of Chipping Sodbury), Rounceval House and Tudor House in Chipping Sodbury. A special treat is the chance to look inside Chipping Sodbury Police Station (they've promised to let you out again afterwards) In Yate you can visit St Mary's Church, and subject to weather conditions you will be able to climb the 92 ft high tower. The nearby Yate Heritage ...
If I had the money I would love to spend it on 'investigative journalism' and 'sting' operations into the private lives of the movers and shakers in our great & glorious media. Have none of them ever visited prostitutes or had extra marital affairs? Does any one remember the almost total absence of comment in the organs of News International when the great Rupert was getting his divorce? Does anybody actually care (except Mrs Rooney of course) what Wayne Rooney might have done with his sex life? Aforesaid movers & shakers might claim that they are not public figures & ...
One of the most challenging and fun aspects of writing a novel is developing your characters and creating an entire new life and history based on your imagination. How do you create your characters? Do you let them develop as you write the story or do you plan their personalities and intricacies in advance? Earlier today I came across a fantastic resource for character creation: The 100 Most Important Things To Know About Your Character. Take a look and print out a few copies!
The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that's fine, we're grateful for people taking the time to read the site. You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are three simple ways: 1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there's something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you're an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or ...
I was interested to hear about some side effects of the working time directive being applied to junior doctors. According to the British Medical Association, the limits of 48 hours have led to hospital shifts becoming more demanding and leaving less time for doctors to practice their basic skills. Earlier this year, I was admitted to my local ...
This week's disclosure that errors have been found in the PAYE records of up to six million taxpayers comes as no surprise to those of us with experience of the system. In my case, I was, many years ago, a PAYE group leader in a smallish North London office (Hendon, to be precise, covering Golders Green, Hendon and the surrounding areas). PAYE is a rather clever system. HMRC gathers information from you and your employer, works out what your allowances are, deducts benefits-in-kind and income from other sources as appropriate, and issues a tax code to you and your employer ...
Texas front-woman, and Must Be the Music judge, Sharleen Spiteri well and truly seemed to catch the live music bug back last night. Often stereotyped as a moody Scot, she blazed through the Texas hit 'Black Eyed' Boy, breaking out in a smile at numerous points during the performance. She then bounced back to the her fellow judges Jamie Cullum and Dizzee Rascal as well as presenter Fearne Cotton, fist pumping and exclaiming. Sharleen Spiterri goes on tour in support of her second solo album 'The Movie Songbook' after the Sky 1 programme finishes. A new Texas album is pencilled ...
[IMG: Airport departure board] On Monday 20 September I'm chairing a fringe meeting at the Liverpool Liberal Democrat conference titled "Can overseas holidays be a force for good?". Tourism employs 200 million people worldwide and is responsible for 11% of global GDP. In the Liberal Democrats there have often been a mix of views: concern about its environmental impact yet also support for efforts to attract more tourists to the UK and a welcoming of closer links across national boundaries. Confirmed to speak is David Norman, Director of Campaigns at WWF and Luke Pollard, ABTA's Head of Public Affairs. Having ...
Don't forget that tomorrow is the deadline to register to vote in Leeds. The Council points out in their press release why it is so important that people either reply to their letter or register some other way. It costs the council a lot of money to chase up people who don't reply and in the current climate this is increasingly important. Also you need to make sure that you don't miss out on your chance to vote in local elections and in the AV referendum in May.
Many of my friends as well as all of my work colleagues know that I have been busy beavering away these last few months learning British Sign Language. Thanks to an elongated and un planned time of absence from work, ... Continue reading →
The passing away of Sir Cyril on Friday morning marks the end of an era for Rochdale, the national party and particularly for us local Liberal Democrats. The word 'big' is not too big to describe Cyril and I don't refer to his physical size. By the time I met Cyril in 2005 he was by ...
There's a great scene in an episode of "The West Wing" where Sam Seaborne, the idealistic young speechwriter, tells a colleague that if the big issues of recent decades were human rights and the role of government, the big issues of the next couple of decades will be privacy. I think he has a point. Yesterday I wrote about how the government's Criminal Records Bureau is releasing health records to would-be employers. Last week, the Foreign Secretary William Hague was forced to publicly deny rumours about his sexuality. And today, the Prime Minister's Head of Communications is again facing questions ...
From BBC News:Wells MP Tessa Munt has been cleared of allegations of falsely claiming a single occupier council tax discount.The Lib Dem has always denied any wrongdoing over newspaper allegations she had friends living with her.She said friends stayed with her nine nights over 10 months and were only registered to vote at her home near Highbridge.Sedgemoor District Council confirmed there were no criminal actions was on-going or pending by investigators.
Dear Colleague, Crime Reduction = - 6.3% Crime Detection = 35.3% Overall Satisfaction = 85.6% You will be aware that a second man was arrested recently in relation to the murder of Melanie Hall. For operational reasons I cannot go into any detail, but I hope that it does reassure you of our ongoing commitment and determination to find Melanie's killer. This is a difficult and complex case and a number of detectives remain working on the case exploring every lead and opportunity. We have received good feedback from people for taking swift action to combat a recent increase in ...
An official response to my letter to Lynne Featherstone has, finally, been received. Dear Mr Kay, Thank you for your email of 4th July to Lynne Featherstone MP concerning equal marriage and civil partnerships. Your letter has been passed to the Government Equalities Office, and I have been asked to reply. The Civil Partnership Act 2004 expressly prohibited couples entering into a civil partnership on religious premises. Civil marriages are also entirely secular in nature and as such cannot be registered in religious premises or contain religious language or symbols. A back-bench amendment made to the Equality Act 2010 makes ...
Mon 6th
12:40
What I want to see from Tavish Scott and the Scottish Liberal Democrats in the year ahead
As MSPs return to Holyrood after what's effectively their last chance to get a decent break before the elections next May, I thought it might be a good time to flag up a few things I'd like to see from the Liberal Democrat team in the Scottish Parliament. I want to see us boldly championing what we believe in, topping the news agendas with our ideas and leading the debate on the key issues facing Scotland. In the 2 years since Tavish Scott was elected leader, he has had some major successes. When everybody wrote off the Lib Dems' chances ...
Mon 6th
12:24
Knowsley Council refuses to answer questions over its £250,000+ payments for Labour Conference
Knowsley Council has stonewalled questions as to why it is paying for an exhibition stall at this autumn's Labour Party conference despite not appearing at any other party conferences. Knowsley Council leader Ron Round has even hinted that it may continue to pay for stalls at future Labour Party conferences. This year's autumn Labour conference will be the thirteenth at which Knowsley Council has paid to appear, taking the total amount it has paid to Labour for these appearances to over £250,000. The thirteenth is also the most controversial because the payments are taking place despite Labour no longer being ...
A couple of weeks ago I was honoured to be asked to judge paintings that the children at the Parkwood Rising project had done. It took me a long time to decide who should win medals and the overall prize and I really enjoyed the task. On Saturday Gerald and I went as guests at the end of the scheme and I presented the art prizes, with certificates for all the children who had taken part. It was very nice to meet them all. The only sad thing about it is that the day marked the end of the scheme. ...
Today, the House of Commons will begin to debate proposals to give people a chance to reform the voting system, and to equalise our parliamentary constituencies. Our two Parties have different views on the future of our voting system. But we both recognise that there are genuine concerns about the current system. And we emphatically agree that the decision is not, in any case, for government alone. It should be taken by the people themselves.That is why both our parties support putting this question to a referendum next May, just one example of the power shift we are determined to ...
An interesting report in this week's Times Higher, Recession hits US private fundraising, but others do better, illustrates the expansion in charitable giving to universities in the UK: The Ross-CASE survey 2010, published by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education in Europe, suggests that British universities survived the downturn when it came to donor income. Donations to the higher education sector topped £500 million for the first time in 2008-09, with cash income also significantly increased. Over one year, the value of gifts grew from £430 million to £511 million, partly as a result of the government's popular ...
I have just signed up to the Unlock Democracy campaign to get Eric Pickles moving on implementing some of the proposals and ideas that hva come from Councils as part of the Sustainable Communities Act. Even though we are in a financial straightjacket it is important that Government reconnects and the process has several ideas from people and they must now be addressed. Joint letter to Eric Pickles that I have agreed to sign up to: Dear Mr Pickles, We are very pleased to see that some 200 proposals put forward under the Sustainable Communities Act have been shortlisted by ...
Cornwall Council has today published its bid for a Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) based on Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Whilst the document has the support some of the great and the good, I think it is deeply flawed in a number of key respects - particularly over who will lead it and who will be part of the decision making structure. First the good news. It's a coherent bid for an LEP that distinguishes Cornwall from Devon and 'the South West'. It has also attracted the support of the Council of the Isles of Scilly who clearly want ...
At 2.30pm today the House of Commons will resume business after its summer break. Tomorrow Prime Minister David Cameron will return from paternity leave. What though does the this parliamentary session mean for the coalition and the Labour party? The coming few months will see a new Labour leader elected, candidates for the London mayoral election declared, and the party conference season. In addition more details of government spending cuts will be revealed, and their will be movement on the electoral system referendum (possibly as early as today,) so it looks set to be an interesting one. The referendum to ...
I was a bit baffled by an article in the Independent this morning with the headline 'Liberal Democrats urged to side with Labour over voting reform proposals." I read through the article and could find nothing in it as to what position Labour were adopting on reform other than to vote against the Bill today in the Commons. If Labour really want to attract the support of Lib Dem MPs, their means
Old Holborn is rightly suspicious of the News of The World and in turn Andy Coulson. See Stop being so naive Iain... I think it is very wrong to not employ people because of their previous history when nothing has been proven. Problem is this is politics and its nasty and dirty. Perhaps it is better for politicians to not employ the services of controversial figures even if they are good at their job. I'm certainly no fan of Andy Coulson or the News of the World and I remain suspicious of his involvement in the phone hacking scandal. But ...
Every time I see the front cover of Tony Blair's book I cringe. What on earth possessed them to use that photo? I'm afraid that I don't know who the photographer is. (I haven't yet got close enough to actually pick up the tome and open it to find out). But the pic just gives me the shudders. I suppose that part of the cringe factor comes from who the subject of the photo is. But even setting that aside, I still hate it for three reasons: - it's off centre and I can't fathom why. Ok, it's not a ...
Andrew Gilligan has an extremely worrying piece in the Telegraph about the Labour Mayoral selection process in Tower Hamlets. Labour are expected to win the mayoral election so their selection procedure becomes almost more important than the actual election (much like primary elections in strong Democrat or Republican seats in the US). Lutfur Rahman, the gentleman talked about in the article, yesterday won the Labour nomination to be mayor. Now I can't really add much to Gilligan's allegations of links to extremist Islam so I won't try but it is fascinating the way that Gilligan dissects how he signed up ...
From Stockport Council: Irresponsible dog owners who fail to clean up after their pet were targeted in a recent campaign, "Operation Staffi," in Stockport. Although incidents of dog fouling in public places have fallen in the borough, the Council says that a minority of dog walkers still fail to clear up after their pet. During the Council's recent "Operation Staffi," Environmental Officers cracked down on irresponsible dog walkers in Reddish and Heatons areas. Anyone caught failing to clear up after their dog was issued with a £50 Fixed Penalty Notice. People failing to pay this will be prosecuted and could ...
I was gutted last night when I glanced down my blogroll and saw a post from J Arthur MacNumpty entitled Every start requires an end. Surely another star of the Scottish Political Blogosphere wasn't going to hang up his keyboard........? MacNumpty is more than a blog - it's an institution that's been with us since November 2005 on the 15th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's resignation when he came on to the scene proclaiming Ding Dong the witch is gone. When I met Will at the Florence and Precious Vigil in July, I asked him where he'd got the name from ...
Yesterday London Region chair Jonathan Fryer outlined the timetable for selecting the party's London Assembly and Mayor candidates. But who will be in the running to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London? As previously covered, Lembit Opik has publicly declared his intention to go for the selection. Regular readers of this site will have seen how controversial that is amongst many Liberal Democrat members (along with other commenters on this site). He has some keen fans along with many ardent critics. The number of fans of his Mayor selection bid page on Facebook has moved up only ...
The controversial Barnhill Quarry development proposal provoked a lot of discussion at a recent public meeting in the Town Hall. It appears that local opinion is split for and against the Waitrose store and the housing development. To gauge public opinion, Sodbury Town Council has circulated a voting slip to all households in the parish. they are asking for the papers to be returned to the Town Council by midday on Monday next week, 13 September. The question is "Do you approve of the proposals for a Waitrose Store and residential housing on the Barnhill Site in Chipping Sodbury as ...
As Community Safety Chair I was delighted to hear that the Gas Safety Trust has become one of the sponsors of The Risk Factory. The Risk Factory is Scotland's first purpose-built, interactive, experiential community safety centre. It has been designed and purposely built for Primary 7 children in Edinburgh and the Lothian's to visit. Inside the building there are realistic settings used as the background to highlight specific safety messages. The sets include a house, road, bus, railway line and a building site to name but a few. The children are shown around the centre in small groups by volunteers. ...
If the BBC Breakfast producers had a sleepless night worrying about how the new ITV morning show Daybreak might affect them, I'm sure they will be pleased now that their fears were completely unjustified. I watched the last hour or so of the show this morning, determined to give Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley a chance but their diet of the bland and the banal makes you wonder why ITV bosses decided to go to the trouble of getting rid of GMTV just to replace it with a new set hiding the same production values. Maybe I'm a bit biased ...
The summer publishing season for Labour memoirs proceeds apace with the revelations of Tony Blair and his dysfunctional Chancellor Gordon Brown grabbing the headlines. It is amazing how much Blair has become a figure of hate for so many. Understandably, his decision to invade Iraq causes the greatest anger. But that's with the general public. What about the way Labour members feel about him? I
[IMG: New River ward by-election - Hackney August 2010] On Sunday I was canvassing the Woodberry Down estate with Ben Mathis, the Liberal Democrat candidate for the New River ward council by-election due on September 16th. Going round with Ben and the team, I was really struck by the mix of past, present and future. When originally built, the estate's curving Art Deco style brickwork made it an attractive and distinctive piece of architecture, full of optimism about how good the future could be (though the construction was not without its controversies). The Daily Star in 1949 called it an ...
My third day in and I'm getting the hang of things. Although I haven't been a reguar exerciser in a while (quite a while!) I really do feel better for the 40 mins ride in and the 40 mins ride back. I did find it noticeable that the schools were back with a vengeance however. There was more traffic on the road and school buses are a new factor to take in to consideration. Whilst my motorcycle training has ingrained a suspicion of how well some van drivers check their mirrors and blindspots before they pull out, I'm now getting ...
United Utilities are reporting a problem with low water pressure in the SK8 area due to a burst water main at the junction of Delemere Road and Foxland Road in Gatley. Engineers are on their way. Update 2.30pm: United Utilities have just tweeted to say this should now be fixed. Please let me know if you're still experiencing problems.
Does he remind you of anyone?
The highlight of the day was a meeting in the afternoon with the Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association. They represent the owners of the shrimp processng factories and is made up almost entirely by shrimp industry. Unsurprisingly they have a very different view of the problems in the factories and the whether workers rights are ...
The Liverpool John Moore University Centre for Public Health published the latest Alcohol Profile for England - http://www.cph.org.uk/showPublication.aspx?pubid=661 The lead headlines are a 65% increase in English hospital admissions in the five years to 2008/09 - which equates to an EXTRA 825 people admitted to hospital a day. Around 15,500 people a year die as a consequence of alcohol. Across England 415,059 crimes were attributable to alcohol with 12.2 crime per 1,000 residents in London - roughly 10% of all crime. One of the drivers for all this is felt to be the price and the availability of alcohol. To ...
I gave up hosting the Britblog Roundup a while back because of differences over blogging direction. But I am happy to link to it when it is hosted by Redemption Blues.
There is a somewhat crude irony that the Tories, as highlighted by ConservativeHome and Iain Dale, are arguing for a threshold on the Alternative Vote (AV) referendum to keep the First Past the Post (FPTP) status quo. The reason being that as recently as May 6th the majority of people in the United Kingdom supported a party that advocating a replacement of FPTP. Both Labour and the Lib Dems advocated change along with many of the minor parties. There is another irony that on American Labor day the min supporter of AV at that election, the Labour Party are seemingly ...
This morning's Independent suggests that all the pressure around the News of the World mobile phone hacking case may have led to a u-turn by the Metropolitan Police. They say that Assistant Commissioner John Yates has asked the New York Times to provide any new material it had relating to the matter, including an interview with former reporter Sean Hoare, who has claimed that Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson knew about News of the World staff eavesdropping on private messages when he was editor of the paper. Meanwhile former Liberal Democrat MP, Lembit Őpik has stepped into the row ...
Mon 6th
07:10
Four hundred festival goers speak out against "disgusting neglect" over homophobic bullying
Liberal Youth Wales' anti-homophobia campaign "Homophobia is Still Gay" was swamped by festival goers at the Cardiff Mardi Gras over the weekend. The petition calling for action against homophobic bullying in Welsh schools was hugely popular and gained over 400 signatures in a single day. The youth and student wing of the Welsh Liberal Democrats have relaunched the campaign which they originally ran last year. In response to horrifying statistics released by gay rights charity Stonewall, they called on the Welsh Assembly Government to take action. They wanted specific guidance for Welsh secondary schools on how to deal with homophobic ...
Over the past few weeks in the UK we have seen several stories about mistakes being made in tax calculation. These are not just the possible small discrepancies of a few- but a fundamental miscalculation of what is due by the revenue itself 1.4 millions are said to be due to pay more. Yet this morning, it is reported that over 10 million may now qualify for refunds. Reduced to essentials, it is clear that the tax system is now so complicated that even the revenue themselves can not understand the system. It is a matter of urgency that the ...
broadcast anniversaries 6th September 1975: broadcast of second episode of Terror of the Zygons. The Zygons brag to captive Harry about their control of the Loch Ness Monster / Skarasen, and unleash it on the Doctor... 6th September 1980: broadcast of second episode of The Leisure Hive. The Doctor is forced to age by the Argolins. 6th September 1986: broadcast of fisrt episode of The Forbidden Planet (Trial of a Time Lord #1), starting the belated Season 23. The Doctor is captured and put on trial; flashback to the somewhat incomprehensible beginning of the adventure on Ravalox. 6th September 1989: ...
Many parents will recognise this scenario. A child asks why, you give an explanation and the child asks why again and continues to ask why to every answer. Science is a little like that. You make an observation, possibly through experimentation, repeat it and if it happens enough times you may predict that it will happen again. A hypothesis may be put forward to explain the observations. Scientific laws, like Newton's laws of motion are reserved for matters that are considered universal and invariable. Then you get people like Einstein who realise that these laws aren't really laws at all ...
It has been suggested to me - by my mother, of all people — that some of the tops I wear show 'a little too much cleavage' (in her words) so she would probably like this off-the-wall idea from the USA. Language used in the video is not work safe
