Karen Whitefield MSP - previously of email gaffe fame - is now embroiled in a major data protection row involving the names of primary school children each year for the last six years. The Information Commissioner is now involved and has started an investigation into how Labour MSP Karen Whitefield obtained the personal data from a number of local primary schools. Each year for the last six years Karen Whitefield, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts has sent personalised letters to around 1,000 children after obtaining the information which she wasn't legally entitle to ask for or receive. There is the ...
Just a quick one, we've all seen various local politicians posture re. plans to build affordable housing, the Tories have taken the high moral ground on this issue offering to support the development of the derelict Warren Court Hotel, currently a blooming eyesore and I suspect a health hazard to surrounding residents, and Clive Hart's "Local Labour" have decided that they are against affordable housing, favouring a few blades of grass rather than families in need of homes. Anyhow one issue which needs addressing is the gifting of the "green" by the council, the councils scrutiny committee have called it ...
It's not often that I am speechless, but I certainly was last night when friends Caron Lindsay and Helen Duffett contacted me to say that I'd made the Total Politics LibDem top ten. I'm still fairly surprised this morning, not just because I am always surprised that anyone reads what I have written, but because the last ...
Southern Gas Networks had plans to carry out major works in East Grinstead town centre for three months starting early December! This would have had a terrible effect on the retailers. The town council have now intervened and the works have been postponed until January 2011. Ther will be some minor, preparatory work taking place between 20th September and 4th October.
And so will we! Lib Dem Norman Baker, Under Secretary for Transport in the Coalition Government is to introduce an electronic transport card which will be national and eventually able to be used on local trains, boats, buses, trams, underground etc - a kind of super bus pass. Follow http://bit.ly/aN4UCF
A most interesting session today on this. It is so easy to criticise "social workers", but when we were given some examples of cases and asked what we would do, clear answers were not forthcoming. Plenty of questions, but making the decision on how and when to intervene is another matter altogether. Also it hit home how much different agencies working together was central to...
There is a certain cruel irony that the UK Border Agency (UKBA) has announced the cutting in funding of three officers at Stranraer harbour. The reason of course is that the exact number of officers who carried out the dubious stop and search on me and Mícheál upon our return the other Sunday. Apparently the total number of seconded officers at Stranraer was three, so it looks like we had draw the attention of the full force of the law, on a Sunday! In defence that his officers at the port where worth retaining, at what is a domestic port, ...
It is with some suprise but much delight that I hear the SNP are dropping their plans for an independence referendum during this Parliament. Regardless of what I think the merits of having an independence referendum are, I believe the ... Continue reading →
The European Parliament has debated the recent actions of the French government removing Roma from France and will tomorrow vote on a resolution sponsored by the liberal ALDE group condemning the discriminatory nature of the Sarkozy government's policies and rhetoric. Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman and London MEP Sarah Ludford, who has long campaigned on Roma issues, said: "Sarkozy is clearly playing the race card for electoral reasons in his 'voluntary expulsion' policy of bribes for Roma to leave. Targetting and stigmatising Roma people as an ethnic group and scapegoating them as criminals is totally against EU ...
I hope to attend this tomorrow and purchase some fresh produce and it's been pointed out to me that the date tomorrow is 8.9.10.
It seems that the government is toying with changing the tax system so that employers effectively pay the taxman and we get the rest. The Telegraph is reporting the following. Instead of employers deducting income tax then paying gross salaries to employees, the gross monthly payment would go to an HMRC-run tax "calculator", which would then pass the net salary to the worker. And Instead of a payslip detailing pay and deductions, workers would only find out how much income tax they had paid by asking HMRC. This is an odd article in so far as there does not seem ...
The combination of the tube strike necessitating a different route home and having seen a tweet about Britain's first cybercafe made me take a slight detour on the way home to give the venue a visit. Cyberia was opened in the West End in 1994 and was either the UK's first cybercafe or, depending on your definition, the world's first. San Franciso's pioneering efforts saw coffee houses with slot machines for internet access rather than a cafe with internet access from each table. Early in this century Cyberia changed ownership and more recently the venue has been vacated, leaving just ...
The City Council has advised me as follows : Dundee City Council proposes to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating carriageway resurfacing works. The Order is expected to be in force for ten days from 22 September 2010. Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months. The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all vehicular traffic in Perth Road from Ninewells Avenue to Clovis Duveau Drive. Access for residents will be maintained where possible. An alternative route will be available via Riverside Avenue, ...
I blogged a few days ago about Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's amazing freezing up during a TV debate. A small cottage industry in Jan Brewer debate parodies has now emerged on YouTube. There's Jan Brewer played by a child and a drag artiste here. There is Jan Brewer with added fart noises here. But my favourite – below – is "Jan Brewer's campaign manager" caught off-camera during her performance:
As reported in tonight's Evening Telegraph, I have made clear that it is about time the City Council's SNP administration took a report to committee outlining all the options it was considering to meet the Council's budget shortfall - and to also indicate which were the options the administration proposed to take forward, and which it was rejecting. This follows on from a meeting of opposition group leaders at the City Council yesterday. The so-called "Changing for the Future Board" is not an acceptable way forward as it is proposed it would meet in secret and would fail to include ...
Former Councillor Hilary Wines funeral was on Saturday. She died just over a month ago. Before moving to the south of Southwark 9 years ago I lived very close to Borough tube for just over ten 10 years and have worked in the area for 22. During that time I was fortunate to get to know Hilary. She had strong well held views. As the chair of Southwark Cyclists we clashed occasionally. I was a trustee of Bankside Open Spaces Trust and got to know her more. I campaigned for the road I lived on to be changed and for ...
Over on Left Foot Forward Mark Davies, a former special advisor to Jack Straw and now Director of Communications for Rethink, praises the coalition government's approach to mental health: Mental health is one of the defining issues of our times. Always present, rarely talked about, people affected by mental illness represent a massive group who continue to face a degree of discrimination which would trigger street protests in any other context. Nine out of ten people with mental health problems experience prejudice... Judging by his words, the health minister Paul Burstow recognises this. In an article published in Community Care ...
Earlier today Sally Bercow tweeted this It got me thinking what would have been the five cryptic clues that Ted Rogers would have read out on the show 3-2-1 for the five Labour Leadership contenders. For younger readers 3-2-1 was a Saturday evening entertainment/quiz show by Yorkshire Television which had sketches intermingled with cryptic clues for contestants to try and guess what prizes they were. One of the prizes was Dusty Bin for which the contestants actually got a new bin and a small souvenir version. So here are my set of clues can you tell who is who: I'm ...
There are big changes to the way refuse and recycling collection happen in Stockport, all kicking in on 1st November 2010. The councillors have been briefed and there'll be lots of information for everyone. I'll give a brief summary of the changes today and expand on them in posts over the next week or two. If you've got any questions, just drop Pam King or myself an email and we'll do our best to answer them for you. Here's the summary: At the moment in Stockport we have three wheelie bins: green for garden waste, blue for paper & card ...
Sorry to hear of the death of über-swinging sixties film director Clive Donner a few minutes ago; maybe the name may not be familiar to many of you, but if like me you're an enthusiast of groovy '60s Brit kino chances are you'll know his work, of which What's New Pussycat, starring Peter O' Toole, Peter Sellers, and the incredible Romy Schneider, and written by an almost unknown American called Woody Allen was possibly the best-known. For me, though, his crowning achievement will always be Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush, a film that managed the not inconsiderable feat ...
From The Independent who have followed this story; Five men, including two former Conservative councillors, were jailed today for their parts in a failed postal votes scam aimed at getting a Conservative Party candidate, Haroon Rashid elected in the 2005 general election. A judge heard at Leeds Crown Court that a newspaper investigation and police inquiry unearthed a plot to try to get Tory candidate Haroon Rashid elected in the marginal Bradford West seat using hundreds of fraudulent postal vote applications. The Court was told detectives examined about 900 suspicious forms - many from people who did not exist or ...
In its report to Conference[1] the Campaign for Gender Balance (CFGB) states that it knows what works. No, really, in the year that we actually reduced the number of women in parliament, it says that it knows what works! It is beyond my comprehension that the CFGB can suggest this when we have fewer female MPs than ever in Parliament. At some point the CFGB has to understand that it is the outcome not the activity that really counts. That we would have done better if things had been different is not a response worthy of the intelligent & sensible ...
As I discussed here, a local Town Councillor was suggesting changing the name of Gainsborough to be Gainsborough-Upon-Trent. It has sparked a large debate on facebook and in the wider community. Tonight was supposed to be the Town Council meeting at which the motion was to be discussed, however it was removed from the Agenda – rather belatedly – by the Council. My question would be as the motion had to be submitted 10 working days before the meeting, why have they waited for lots media coverage and a furore to develop before removing the motion? If it was not ...
So apparently The Clerk of The House has pointed out the flaw in fixed term parliaments. This makes me so angry! Why are we saddled with this ridiculous constitution? Having a pair of houses with 100% sovereign power has a smidgen of balance. But since the Parliament Act 1905 (and thus the beginning of democracy) we have left a single institution in this country with unadulterated, indisputable power, except over their own future. This ridiculous excuse for constitutional mechanics needs to be swept away, we need a written constitution that can be amended by a massive vote in both (elected) ...
NO END IN SIGHT FOR GLOBAL CHILD POVERTY! It is time to look at new models for international aid.
You've got information that someone's marriage is in trouble. Do you: (a) Think you should back off and give the couple some time, space and privacy or (b) Scream "HOLD THE FRONT PAGE!"? Looking at the recent front pages about Wayne Rooney, I think it's fair to say that (a) isn't the fashion in the British tabloids...
I noticed the choose well logo on this information leaflet. Choose Well The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is launching a campaign aimed at informing people about where to get the best treatment should they become unwell or are injured. The Choose Well Campaign will encourage patients to make the right decisions in order to receive the most appropriate and timely treatment. Not much Choice when you close a facility but is this a sign of the times?
The Gazette reports a very mean theft - a Yate pensioner's red sapphire mobility scooter was taken at around 5.50pm on Sunday after youths were seen around the scooter in Stanshaws Drive. The owner is 83, and the scooter is her only means of getting around. Have you seen it, or been offered it? Please call the police on 0845 456 7000.
[IMG: Saturday night at the Empire]
Eight blogs have recently joined my Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: Thomas Oliver – http://politunnel.blogspot.com/ Jamie McConkey – http://jamiemcconkey.wordpress.com/ Victoria Lubbock – http://lubbock1884.blogspot.com/ Olga Ivannikova – http://olgaivannikova.wordpress.com/ Fernando North – http://libdemferdy.blogspot.com/ Liberal Democrats in Northern Ireland – http://libdemsni.wordpress.com/ Danny Langley – http://charlatonia.wordpress.com/ Michael Carchrie Campbell – http://gyronny.wordpress.com/ Good luck to all the new bloggers, and why not take a moment to pop over to their blogs, take a read and post a comment? Do you know of a blog by a LibDem which isn't listed? Why not get them to add it as well? Whether you are one of these new ...
The next North Area Committee is scheduled for Thursday 30th September at Manor School, Arbury Road. As usual the meeting will start with planning at 6.30pm, and the Open Forum will start at 7.30pm, or after we complete the planning if we need more than an hour. The Open Forum is a chance to raise questions to local City and County Councillors on any topic you wish. I'll post about other agenda items when they are finalised.
A month ago, councillors from East Cornwall spent a day looking at alternative venues for planning meetings in the old North Cornwall area. This was because it had been proposed that the Police should move into the building at Camelford and this would mean the loss of the meeting room. For a full run down of the subject, see my previous blogpost. At the end of that day, we unanimously agreed that none of the venues we had seen were suitable and that meetings should continue to be held in Camelford until a decent alternative could be found. Today we ...
The dread news comes through- conveniently enough just at the beginning of the negotiations for the new year's University funding- the UK has fallen drastically in the number of graduates per capita that it is producing. We are now apparently supposed to be shocked that such countries as Slovakia and Slovenia are now above the UK in the OECD ranking. Well, could it be that this is because these countries have only just joined the OECD, so their statistics are only now being included for the first time? In which case, the UK can certainly expect to be behind Estonia, ...
Somewhat later than usual, but two planning applications have come in for King's Hedges in the last couple of weeks. One for the erection of a conservatory to the rear of 18 Crossfield Court (ref 10/0787/FUL) and one for a single storey front and side extension to 44 Amwell Road (ref 10/0837/FUL). As usual more information is available online from development control at the City Council, and in particular at the planning portal. You can also check plans in person, and in case of any difficulty contact the team.
In today's WSJ [IMG: food-shortages-in-the-horn-of-africa] development economist and Aid Watch blogger, William Easterly, reviews Peter Gill's new book on Ethiopia since Live Aid, "Famine and Foreigners". Well worth reading if only for Easterly's concise, but tragically accurate, summary of Ethiopia's perpetual trouble with food insecurity over the last few decades: "If it were possible to sum up in one sentence Ethiopia's struggles with famine over the past quarter-century, I'd suggest this: It's not the rains, it's the rulers. As Peter Gill makes clear in his well-turned account of the country's miseries since the 1984-85 famine and the Live Aid concert ...
Energy is precious - surely? The UK faces a decline in gas and oil output from the North Sea and for the first time in decades is importing the bulk of its fossil fuels. Despite long-term subsidy, renewable energy only satisfies a tiny part of the energy demands of the UK. So, you would think we would be using our precious energy stocks efficiently, would you not? Everyone knows that our buildings are draughty and expensive to heat - but did you know how inefficient our electricity supply system is? Do you know how much energy is thrown away before ...
England's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign continues in Basle against Switzerland this evening, but even their impressive 4-0 defeat of Bulgaria on Friday doesn't seem to have got people inspired. There is general apathy, and increasingly antipathy, towards the England football team. Not convinced? Just ask Tottenham fans what they think about losing their centre half, and often captain, to injury while he was playing for England. It is not just about an awful world cup showing. It is not just because the manager isn't English. It isn't just about about John Terry, Ashley Cole, Peter Crouch and Wayne Rooney's off ...
Deputy Leader Jim Currie told Cornwall councillors today that the administration submitted a plan for a Local Enterprise Partnership controlled by the private sector "because that is what the Government wanted us to do". As I blogged yesterday, the Council's LEP bid is flawed because it proposes that the new organisation should be chaired and run by the private sector and because it will seek to bid for contracts well away from Cornwall - presumably in a bid to make money. In my view, because the new LEP will control vast amounts of taxpayers' money, it should have democratic accountability ...
Warning: This post contains assumptions based on national polling that it is probably not advisable to apply to the Glasgow regional list vote next year. A poll by YouGov for the Scottish Mail on Sunday published at the weekend put the Scottish parties on the following percentage share for the regional list. Applying that national swing to the Glasgow region we get projected list vote shares of: National Glasgow Lab 36 47.4 SNP 26 22.8 Con 15 7.2 Lib 12 7.9 Gre 6 6.2 Assuming Labour win all 10 Glasgow constituency seats (sorry Nicola)... (I'm not sorry), that projection leaves ...
Cornwall Council today voted to continue its webcasting experiment for the next six months - but at the same time produced an unedifying spectacle for anyone who happened to be watching the current product. There was a report on the first few months of the project which showed that as many as 17,000 people had viewed the three webcast meetings to date - either live or in archive. The recommendation was to continue the experiment and to extend it to other meetings including Cabinet and big planning meetings. However there seemed to be a move afoot to limit the extension ...
The anti-Lib Dem meme of choice on the opinion polls has been of voters deserting the party. Our opinion poll ratings are down compared to 6th May and it must be a disaster for the party which would, if many Labour activists' fevered fantasies were to come true, disappear for good. Except that idea's looking more and more stretched. The Independent runs a ComRes poll today showing the party's poll rating up two percent to a very respectable 18%. If the poll is accurate, hundreds of thousands of voters have switched from the other parties to the Lib Dems in ...
Crikey, what the hell's that? One of the benefits of working outside, is the occasional interesting encounters with nature although I'm not to sure about this lunchtimes rare meeting, what I'm told is it's an Australian orb web wasp spider. A little more information than I need, since I generally scream like a girl and have to call Mrs Me to deal with wasps or spiders. Still don't have nightmares as the photo was taken north of the river, in Essex, however they are becoming more common I'm told.
It seems Cornwall is missing the chance to get clarification of the law on the rights of second home owners to vote in Cornish elections. Back on 2nd July, the Electoral Review Panel discussed the issue and was told that the law on voting entitlement is very unclear. Although the information provided by the Electoral Commission suggests that you cannot use a purely recreational second home to get entitlement to vote, it seems that the actual law is not so clear. And so the Panel agreed that the Council should write to the Deputy Prime Minister asking him to clarify ...
According to the Guardian Julia Gillard will lead Australia's first minority government in nearly 70 years after she won the support of two independent MPs today, making her the country's first elected female prime minister.
I think people have been missing the point when looking at the Phone Hacking issue.There is quite an important constitutional issue about MPs being bugged by someone privately and information collected. In a sense this has been swallowed up by the fact that the senior manager of the newspaper who was a) In place when this happened, butb) Who resigned because he took responsiblity for it
Channel hopping a week or so ago, I felt as though I had suddenly been transported back to undergraduate days as I heard the familiar tones of Dr Stuart Ball from Leicester University talking about the Churchill wartime coalition government. It turned out that this was part of a seminar held in Portcullis House, Westminster in June on Coalitions in British Politics, which was being broadcast by BBC Parliament. In addition to Dr Ball on the 1940-45 government it included presentations by Professor Martin Pugh on the Lloyd George Coalition and Professor David Dutton on the 1931-40 National Government. For ...
Tue 7th
13:25
The key difference between actual phone tapping and guessing someone's PIN on their voicemail
PARISH NOTICE – A very small enhancement. Over the last few months I have occasionally declared a comment to be "Comment of the week". This has been where I have been impressed by the maturity and knowledge displayed in a comment. I have now introduced a little box in my right hand sidebar which will display a "roll of honour" showing each current "Comment of the week". This week's "Comment of the week" is from "Fullabeanz" on my posting about the phone hacking affair, which was remarkably sensible. Here's an excerpt: Although words like "hacking" and "tapping" are being bandied ...
Paul Staines, who blogs as Guido Fawkes, seems very keen indeed to persuade his readers that the public's right behind him on his pursuit of William Hague over the allegation of improper activities with his former special advisor. Keen enough, it appears, to take a rather inventive approach when it comes to interpreting the opinion polls. When you ask a question in a poll and the result comes back as 46% yes, 12% no, most of us would take that as an indication that the public's in the "yes" camp. Not Staines. He's taken all the "don't knows" – many ...
Its been a bit of a depressing summer for many..all that talk of cuts, hacking and slashing - we might be forgiven for thinking that Freddy Krueger has hit town. But the really depressing thing for me has been lack of a philosophy behind the slicing and dicing. Yes I know our coalition partners will point us to "The Big Society". But, to be honest, I still don't understand it....the journalists and political commentators don't understand it... hell I don't think even David Cameron understands it. So it was a real hallelujah moment when I was handed a copy of ...
No, this isn't a post about the Miliband brothers' tussle in the Labour leadership race. That saga is far too boring to write about. What I'm interested in today is the news that WBA heavyweight champion David Haye will now be defending his ... Continue reading →
The Bill that will trigger the referendum on introducing the AV voting system for elections to the House of Commons cleared its first vote yesterday, marking a significant victory for the coalition government. The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bills has proved controversial, as it contains provisions to equalise the size of constituencies, and reduce the number of MPs. Labour claim that the Bill is gerrymandering and call it 'political skulduggery', while the coalition say they are making every vote equal. The piece of legislation is interesting example of 'new politics' in action. The provision to introduce the Alternative Vote ...
Tue 7th
12:54On being a suspected drug dealer - and all I wanted to do was make some horseradish sauce
Yes, I am probably, as usual, over-egging the title – just a bit. But, when you ask for a certain substance at a chemists, there is at least a split second when the person at the counter screens you as to whether or not you are a drug dealer. (Presumably they look sideways to see if you have a dodgy souped-up 12 year old BMW waiting outside). I didn't realise this until I asked, in all innocence, for said substance last Saturday. It all started when we visited the excellent Kingsley Village shopping centre near Fraddon in Cornwall, back in ...
... Thanks to everyone who voted for me in the Total Bollocks Willy-Waving Contest. This makes the top ten Lib Dem Willy-Wavers approach gender balance, as there are myself, Caron and Sara in the top ten, and the very top site, despite what Count Packula would have you believe, is pretty much run by Mummy Helen, with TechnoRyan for the technical stuff. It would be nice to see more bloggers of colour and LGBTers up there as well, but perhaps that's a campaign for next year. I shall be making proper badges for the mantelpiece when I get home from ...
There is a chance to introduce an imaginative new way of opening up the political process and public sector data to the public in the legislation currently going through Parliament to change the rules for Parliamentary boundary reviews. As under the old rules, submitting proposals to the Boundary Commission, or commenting on their own proposals, will require access to electoral register and geographic data except for the most minor of comments (or debates over constituency names, which can generate deep passions). The better access you have to such information and the more sophisticated the computer tools you posses to manipulate ...
There was a small click by the front door this morning while I was having breakfast and there was a note from the postman. It explained (as these things tend to) that he had tried to deliver a parcel but I was out. Odd really. I wasn't out. Why not just ring the doorbell? The answer is that this is a small symptom of the damage done by Blairite targets (which he declared himself still in favour of last week). The parcel vans are driven, not by the desire to serve customers, but to deliver more parcels in a set ...
Yesterday evening, Total Politics published its list of the top 75 Liberal Democrat blogs. I was pleased to see that Lib Dem Voice came at the top. I was delighted to see that contributor to this blog, Stephen Glenn was positioned at №7, but as I scrolled down I was completely flabbergasted to discover that ...
If someone had told me twenty years ago that in 2010 we would be looking at a red-haired, Welsh-born Labour prime minister of a coalition government elected by AV, I'd have assumed they would have been talking about Neil Kinnock, and I'd have also thought they'd have been incurably optimistic. As everyone knows, of course, *that* disastrous Sheffield rally finally put paid to any chances of the first part of that scenario, but it appears to have come true on the other side of the world at the moment, where thanks to some judicious horse trading Julia Gillard of the ...
An interesting quote from President Obama in Milwaukee on Labor (sic) Day. The full quote, from the Hill, is: Some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time and they're not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog. That's not in my prepared remarks, but it's true.
Readers will remember my disgust at the use of the term 'gypsy' in the online article of the Catholic Herald late last month concerning travellers who were encamped near Birmingham in preparation for the visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI during which His Holiness will beatify The Venerable John Henry, Cardinal Newman, Cong. Orat.. ...
[IMG: lab_leadership] I've been meaning for a week to post Denis MacShane's comments on the Labour leadership election. It's not often that one finds pearls of wisdom in the Evening Standard, but I thought MacShane made some vary adroit points: "[T]he Labour leadership election is curiously flat. All four main candidates are in denial about the deficit and the failure of Labour to stop the colonisation of the state by a Whitehall/town hall/quango bureaucracy: it persuaded politicians to increase taxes and borrowing to pay for an explosion of salaries, pensions and perks without parallel in the history of the public ...
Less reliance on search engines and a heavier reliance on links shared via social networks: that's how the future is panning out for finding information online. Already we are seeing traffic to search engines starting to fall sharply, down between 15% and 20% in the last year alone in the US depending on whose figures you look at. In its place, people are increasingly using links shared by their friends or acquaintances via social networks. However, although some social networks such as Facebook make efforts to prioritise the blizzard of links that can come your way, the interfaces generally do ...
First of all, a great big thank you to every person who took the time and trouble to vote for me in the Total Politics Blog Poll. It's not as if it's a particularly easy process - it's not just a question of ticking boxes, you actually have to send your own e-mail and work out which blogs you want to vote for. For me it's always something which takes me ages and a great deal of heartache to do because I want to vote for more than 10 blogs. I was amazed last year to make it into the ...
I was fortunate to be on a guided tour of the Christ Church Picture Gallery, where my good friend John Whitehead was on duty, yesterday afternoon. Although it was free, and there were plenty of tourists in the city as a result of St Giles' Fair, I was the only person on the tour. This ...
Over on the Royal Navy's website is a striking map, showing where all the navy's main vessels are currently deployed. It's striking for two reasons. First, it demonstrates how the current drive towards opening up government data and presenting it in visually illuminating ways is reaching all sorts of unlikely corners of the public sector. Second, twenty-five years ago that sort of openness would have been unthinkable. The security needs the navy has to meet now are very different from those of the Cold War. [IMG: HMS Chiddingfold] Though the map is not perfect, with the data feed being a ...
I was saddened to hear that Sir Cyril Smith passed away at the weekend. Big Cyril was an inspiration to many northern liberal activists for the way he managed to harness community politics and put (Rochdale) people first. His determination to stand up for Rochdale and to not compromise his beliefs often led him into conflict with the party leadership. But his straight talking and fundamental determination to stand up for the town of his birth and those he was elected to represent, made sure he will be forever remembered throughout Rochdale as a great constituency MP. I first met ...
Well, I made it to work eventually, despite the strike. And whilst my usual thirty minute journey took a semi-epic two and a half hours, it was at least in reasonable comfort. Normally, I would catch any bus from Wandsworth Road to Vauxhall, switch to the Victoria line as far as Warren Street before a brief skip and a jump to my office. But without the Victoria line south of Victoria, and with Warren Street station closed, I needed to be a little more thoughtful. My priority was to avoid having to stand so, from Vauxhall, I took route 360 ...
From Stockport Council: Job seekers in Stockport are invited to a Jobsfair on Thursday 16th September. The event will take place at Stockport Town Hall on Edward Street from 10am-4pm. Organised by Stockport Council in partnership with Jobcentre Plus and Connexions, the Jobsfair will offer the opportunity for jobseekers to meet national and local employers, as well as training and skills providers. Support, guidance and seminars will be on offer on topics such as CV preparation, apprenticeships, interview techniques, pre-recruitment training in the Armed Forces and online applications. For further information about the Jobsfair contact Stockport Jobcentre Plus Office on ...
Guardian Leeds has some photos of Hyde Park Unity Day.
Making his VN debut today is Bobby Dean. He runs his own blog as well as being a Lib Dem activist in London. ..Everyone knows that, its common knowledge. Of course we quite like to pretend that we don't really know that, it comforts us to live in a facade of idealism rather than accept that all those horrible cynics are right. Except this rule doesn't apply in August. No, no - in this month we openly accept that journalists make stuff up and affectionately dub it 'silly season', so we can all have an endearing chuckle at those funny-old ...
Part 18 of blogging my way through my first reading of Atlas Shrugged. You can find the first part here. Chapter 18: By Our Love Something of a filler chapter this one, so I won't spend too much time on it. Dagny has retreated to a country cottage following her resignation from Taggart Transcontinental. Of ...
On today's Dispatch Box blog, Peter Bingle muses about trust. He is spot on. Compare his approach to Paul Staines, aka Guido Fawkes, who dismissed the Coulson story. Guido's view is that there are no new allegations here, that Coulson resigned so that makes it fine for the Prime Minister to employ him and that the Observer was at it too so why complain? I can't remember the Observer being exposed but presumably they were if he says so. But surely they too should be under scrutiny instead of both papers and the people involved being let off? The argument ...
Yesterday I found out that Virtually Naked has been voted in at number 46 in the Total Politics Top Lib Dem Blogs. I am particularly proud of this achievement as no campaign was run, unlike on other blogs. I didn't even put the the vote button on! While I would not particularly consider this a 'Lib Dem Blog', my involvement in the party inevitably leads to it being categorised as such. If people see this blog as advocating the principles of liberalism, I am more than happy with that! Virtually Naked is expanding, and if you are interested in writing ...
In 2007 a Private Members' Bill was issued called the Citizens' Convention Bill 2006-07 which aimed to Establish a Citizens' Convention to facilitate the involvement of people from all sections of society in considering the way in which the United Kingdom is governed; to make provision relating to the implementation of recommendations made by the ...
Tue 7th
10:15
Guardian verdict on voting reform: "Mr Clegg spoke for progress; Mr Straw for reaction."
The Guardian has not always been kind to the Coalition since its formation; still less to the Lib Dems. But its stinging rebuke to Labour's "opposition for opposition's sake" — with its attempt last night cynically to torpedo the Lib/Con government's electoral reform measures — might perhaps give the new party leader pause for thought. In the topsy-turvy world of Coalition politics, two parties which do not support the alternative vote last night voted to endorse a referendum on it; while the party which pledged to introduce it in its manifesto decided to jettison that promise. It was an irony ...
Brinsham Fields, with its lake and the new play area, are currently run by South Gloucestershire Council. Yate Town Council has suggested that they could run it more effectively, and they are consulting Yate residents about it. Households in Yate should have a leaflet through their door shortly. If the takeover goes ahead, responsibility will be handed over in 2011. By that time South Glos will have finished the play area improvements, upgraded the paths, put in three notice boards, and installed a kissing gate in the north west corner. Your comments are welcomed until 30 September. The consultation page ...
Fair votes always have my vote. But the bill on having a referendum on the Alternative Vote system on May 5th is having a slightly rocky ride through the Commons. The first stage was passed yesterday evening by a substantial majority. And indeed a commitment to this bill was part of the coalition deal, so the Conservatives and Lib Dems will eventually all vote in favour. But there are rumblings from both the Conservatives and Labour MPs about it. The problem arises because the legislation has two elements, tied together as a package - one is for the referendum on ...
Last week the Yorkshire Post reported on an article in the British Medical Journal linking bisphosphonate (alendronic acid/Fosamax and other trade names) to cancer of the oesophagus. "The experts looked at the use of oral bisphosphonates and cancers of the oesophagus, stomach and bowel, taking into account factors such as smoking, alcohol and body mass index. The results showed that the chance of oesophageal cancer was 30 per cent higher in people with one or more previous prescriptions for oral bisphosphonates compared to people who had never taken the drugs. The risk was almost double for those who had 10 ...
Tue 7th
09:28Clegg on AV referendum bill: "We must make the system fair. We must put people back in charge."
The BBC reports: Plans to change the way MPs are elected have cleared the first Commons hurdle. A bill introducing a referendum on changing the voting system, changes to constituency boundaries and fewer MPs, was backed by 328 votes to 269. Labour says the changes would affect Labour-supporting areas and said the bill was "political skulduggery". Tory opponents of the referendum said it could cost £100m but deputy PM Nick Clegg said it would restore "people's faith in the way they elect their MPs". Despite criticism, the bill passed with a majority of 59 and a Labour bid to kill ...
Having had a day at home on Sunday and traveled nowhere at all, Monday sees me starting my week of trying to use the bus to get about. Needing to be at Shire Hall for 10:30 - the 07:06 Number 14 Service was no use. It would get me in to Shire Hall 2 ½ hours early - and mean that I'd have to leave 50 minutes before my two teenage sons leave for school. And as anyone who has teenagers knows - they have a tendancy to go back to bed! The Citi 4 got me in to work ...
One of the Independents giving Julia Gillard power by just two votes is Tony Windsor. How's this for an extraordinary explanation for backing Gillard from Windsor?: ...one of the reasons Mr Windsor gave for backing Labor is that Ms Gillard, reluctant to hold another quick election in case she lost, would be more desperate to try to make her fragile minority government work. Mr Windsor believes that if there had been another election, voters would have elected Mr Abbott as prime minster – but his vote has denied them that opportunity That really gives the whole Gillard enterprise enormous democratic ...
And of course I pounce on this ComRes poll like a cat pouncing on a mouse, having ignored all the other polls putting us at.....no, I can't even bring myself to mention it. And yes, to hell with the text inside the poll press release, I'll just quote the overall figure out of context, and be damned. And yes, I may be mixing up polls from different polling companies to extrapolate a trend, but I just don't care! <adopts foetal position in corner of room, gently rocking backwards and forwards> Nurse!
[IMG: Barking and Dagenham Liberal Democrats] I headed over to Barking yesterday to help out at the very successful 'launch' meeting for Barking & Dagenham Liberal Democrats who are getting a new local organisation up and running. There is a really impressive local team and it's good to see also the support the regional party has been giving to help them as they build up their activity. Jonathan Fryer (who has blogged about last night here), Pete Dollimore and Robin Meltzer were there from London Region last night, talking to the good showing of local party members about lessons from ...
....Just thought I'd mention it. A bit of fun on Political Betting. The odds are from Paddy Power.
Nobody expects the bill on electoral reform to pass through the House of Commons easily. Certainly, there are ingrained interests in both the Conservative and the Labour Party who are opposed to the Alternative Vote, whilst the Labour leadership seems determined to throw principle to one side in search of short term electoral advantage. I also recognise the concerns around the equalisation of constituencies and the impact that this will have on Wales, though if the Welsh Assembly gets full law-making powers that should matter less than it would otherwise. I am surprised though at two Welsh Tory MPs, who ...
Total Politics has now published the results in the section of this year's poll that interests us most. Here is the top 10. Most of the changes since last year are accounted for by the disappearance of Charlotte Gore and Himmelgarten Cafe, but note the well-deserved rise of Mark Pack: 1 (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 You've all done very well - ...
It seems that one demonstration in Dublin was the final straw for former Prime Minister, Tony Blair as he cancelled a high-profile signing session of his new memoir in central London amid concerns over planned protests. The Independent reports that Mr. Blair former prime minister was due to attend the flagship Waterstone's store in Piccadilly on Wednesday - where anti-war campaigners had promised a hostile reception. But he said he did not want to subject the public to the "inevitable hassle" protests would cause or use up police resources keeping order at the event. How considerate of him.
Gavin Henson, has completely stripped off for a special photo shoot for the October edition of Cosmopolitan magazine. It was for the Everyman campaign to raise awareness about prostate and testicular cancer and encourage men to get themselves regular checked. Everyman's mission is to stamp out testicular and prostate cancer. We can achieve this by making everyone recognise the tell-tale signs, and understand the importance of treating them. By increasing this awareness we also hope to raise money to fund our life-saving research. A survey conducted by Everyman in 2006 revealed that only 28% of men check their testicles regularly ...
I came across this you tube video from Greenpeace last night. I'm not sure if it is the message I have a problem with given that it is recorded in the style of a terrorist video with the subtext of do what I (we) say or we'll have you - "you have been warned." Or if its the use of Children in political campaigns. I know some will disagree with me here but I find the use of children in pushing political campaigns a sign of intellectual and political laziness (or on occasions cowardliness) Don't bother pushing logical well thought ...
broadcast anniversaries 7th September 1968: broadcast of episode 5 of The Dominators. The Doctor disposes of the invaders by planting their bomb on their own ship; but the Tardis is engulfed by lava... 7th September 1987: broadcast of first episode of Time and the Rani, starting Season 24. The Doctor unexpectedly falls off his exercise bike and regenerates; the Rani then captures him. Mel attempts to escape the bubble-traps but is caught.
Predictions that the coalition government would quickly fall apart have been two a penny since May, and one of the sticking points was alleged to be that Conservative MPs would rebel at the prospect of a referendum on a change to the voting system. Tonight was the first opportunity for such a scenario and, whilst some disquiet was expressed, coalition MPs backed the bill to introduce a referendum on the alternative vote method for electing MPs by a comfortable majority. The Alternative Vote system allows voters to list candidates in their order of preference, not just vote for single candidate ...
One person wrote anonymously about my blog yesterday and I think it is worth turning what they have written into today's blog. He or she wrote " But let's leave out the idea that because we can't (yet?) come up with the full explanation of its creation we can put it down to some supreme being. Balderdash". You will notice that nowhere in yesterday's blog entry did I state or even suggest that we could put the explanation for the creation of the universe down to some supreme being, though now that Anonymous has mentioned it, I have to say ...
