Alastair Campbell says there is no Alastair Campbell Golden Rule about the central character being toast if a story goes on for x days. "The rule is that there is no rule" he writes. The Andy Coulson phone hacking story started (again) on September 1st. So, we're now into Day Nine and the story has been given whole new legs today by a Guardian story with lurid details from a new witness. I'm sorry but Coulson just can't survive this. Just read the Guardian story and see what you think at the end of it. The other golden rule of ...
One of the growing trends in local government has been increased sharing of 'back office' functions between councils. It looks however as if Islington and Camden are about to take a big step beyond that as Richard Osley reports in the Camden New Journal: Camden and Islington are to share a chief executive for the first time, the New Journal has learned. In a unique agreement, the authorities are set to be bonded by one top official. The strategy is part of attempts to cut down on costs. You can read his full story here. As Richard points out on ...
I would like to take this opportunity to wish the Jewish community and in particular my jewish friends, neighbours, colleagues and associates very best wishes at this special time. Peace, health and happiness.
As someone left a comment saying they have enjoyed my posts on Clun, there is time for one more about this little town as I relive my recent holiday. The good news is that the Sun Inn is open again - to prove it, I had a drink there. (It's status has been rather, er, fluid of late.) And the White Horse Inn, for a while the town's only pub, still thrives too. The Buffalo will be familiar to readers of The Neglected Mountain, but it is no longer open as a pub. It was already closed when I first ...
Tonight despite, a high profile meeting to scrutinise the decision to give away the green in Dalby Square, access was blocked to this meeting (locked doors),by what i don't know I can take a guess and come up with these suggestions incompetence, negligence or a deliberate attempt to prevent public scrutiny,at the time of writing I'm sat in the council chamber having been let in by a cleaner who is not sure whether he's allowed to. As I look around I'm making the quick calculation of just how much the council officers seated in some comfort are earning per year ...
The 'Hague Plague' is catching on across media nationwide... Is he? Isn't he? But is it really any of our business as to what the sexual orientation of our foreign secretary is? Over the years, in politics, and indeed across society, it would seem attitudes regarding sexuality have become much more relaxed, almost to the extent that having gay MPs is practically mandatory within a party. Being homosexual or even bisexual should not be an issue at all, except perhaps for Hague's wife Ffion. Neither should it matter to the general public as to whether Hague has been disloyal to ...
Probably, like so many people who are outside this debate - looking in, so to speak, I struggle between the fundamentals and the practicalities. The laudable ideals of choice, diversity and local initiatives on the one hand and the practicalities of catchment areas, uniform standards and economies of scale on the other. Either way those that can will travel to get their children to the best rated school (at the time) whether by moving house or by liberal use of their proverbial 4x4's. The choice genie is out of the bottle and the neighbourhood comprehensive ideals undermined. What is and ...
I am lying on the couch listening to Petrie Hosken's show on LBC. For a Scottish girl, I spend plenty time catching shows on London radio! Tonight the Divine Ms Duffett was on with 2 MPs who were so bland and interchangeable that it was hard to tell them apart. Helen added her customary wit & originality to an hour which would otherwise have been very boring indeed. Two things she said made me laugh. Firstly, she told one of the MPs off for his misuse of Twitter. He had been moaning about how his staff made him join Twitter ...
Demolition at Pennywell A double celebration today! The source the City of Edinburgh Council Planning Committee. Two key applications were up impacting on my portfolio were granted. The first was the latest application in our 21st Century Housing proposals. Gracemount was approved a few months ago and we are almost ready to start the actual building. Today was the turn of Muirhouse/Pennywell. Here the proposed development secured some further funding from the Scottish Government back in July (see July 1st posting). Planning consent, as any developer will tell you, is never in the bag until it's in the bag! It ...
Loopy! I know, "but what about your Carbon footprint" I hear you say - well I think my carbon off-set is pretty good actually! For instance, I equipped my house with energy-saving lightbulbs in 1994; quite expensive then (over £150 in todays money). Flying and aerobatics is a wonderful freedom! And an aeroplane like the T-6 Texan (or Harvard in the UK), which so many RAF and Allied pilots trained upon in WWII, is an absolute privilege to fly. A time to remember 'the few' back when war was thrust upon us and ordinary men and women were required to ...
The Medway towns of Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham, Strood and Rainham have certainly punched above their size this year on the Total Politics Blog Poll. Labour's Tristan Osborne saw his blog (Medway Musings) move up from 98 to 59 on the Top 100 Labour bloggers chart. On the Top 100 Conservative blog list, Medway had an incredible 4 entries: Mark Reckless (43), Alan Collins (53), John Ward (66), and Tracey Crouch (81). With the Medway Greens and English Democrats maintaining very active blogs, we certainly have a full political spectrum represented in our area. Congratulations to all my fellow bloggers and ...
...whether you are the Prime Minister or not. So, my heart felt condolences go out to David Cameron and his family tonight. Last Thursday was the first anniversary since my Mum died, they say time is a great healer, well I need more time. I miss our chats, the laughs, the tears and most I just miss my Mum. The photo shows the oak tree we have had planted in Windsor Great park to remember my Mum, the two roses at the bottom are from my Sister, Jenny and I to remember Mum one year on. Mum's Oak Tree
John Leech MP's blog has been voted as the 10th best amongst MPs. Read more here. Incidentally, I am the 64th best LibDem for blogging. Less impressive in comparison, but I'm pleased.
During the world cup Wayne Rooney blasted English fans for booing the team after their dreadful performance against Algeria. He said 'That's loyal supporters'. But it seems our over-paid footballers are two-faced.Wayne is reported to have cheated on his wife. I am surprised that the press haven't plastered their front pages with headlines asking Wayne where is loyalty is?
Exciting news. In a couple of weeks' time I shall in New York blogging from the United Nations High-level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals - or MDG Summit. I shall be part of a party of a group of bloggers put together by Oxfam. The charity wanted to have one person from each major British party, but it did not quite work out like that. As far as I know, my fellow bloggers in New York will be: Rowan Davies - MumsnetLaurie Penny - Penny RedRosebell Kagumire - Rosebell's BlogGeetika Kumar Gupta - Feminist Approach to TechnologyNkunda Rwanda ...
I reported in May on the disastrous polling day for the Lib Dems in the London Borough of Waltham Forest.Well today there was a glimmer of hope for things to come when it was announced that there was in fact a counting error when the High Court announced that in fact the Lib Dems did win a seat in the High Street Ward, instead of Labour taking all three. The local guardian has a report here.Of
I'm a bit of a Coronation Street nut I must confess. Always have been, always with be. This week has seen the 39th birth on the Cobbles (figuratively speaking of course) -Jack Dobbs. A baby boy to proud parents Tyron and Molly Dobbs. Ahhhh, but hold on a moment. Is Tyrone the Daddy? Kevin Webster and Molly herself wouldn't necessarily think so. A Father's Right To Know? Tyrone is currently understandably over the moon at the deliverance. But then, he would be. He thinks he's the father. We don't know what the scripwriters have in store for us and how ...
Some of you might have been wondering where I've been recently. The announcements here might explain that... Firstly, I've been working on PEP! – The Magazine of Paleontology, Earth-Pigs and (intellectual) Property. Issue 2 has been delayed, as you will all know, and this is entirely my fault. I got very lucky editorially last time ...
Bereavement comes to all of us at some points in our lives. It's horrible and painful, and, whether sudden or expected feels too much to bear. However, most of us are able to hide away in private through it without having the world's media camped on our doorstep. You would have to be really mean not to feel for David Cameron tonight on the loss of his dad. I feel for the whole family, but probably most of all little Nancy. She is not far from the age I was when my Grandad, who had spent hours telling me stories ...
The death of David Cameron's father today has led Stephen Glenn, the writer of Stephen's Liberal Journal, to remember the death of his own father. Good news from Waltham Forest, where the Liberal Democrats have gained a seat from Labour. There has not been a recount: the seat changed hands because a Hugh Court judge ordered a recount of the result declared on 6 May in High Street Ward. Helen Duffett on Liberal Democrat Voice has the details. Eaten by Missionaries point us to a BBC Parliament programme on coalitions in British politics: "The best and most relevant advice for ...
I had a fascinating time today at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth looking at their digitisation project, which aims to put journals and newspapers from the nineteenth century on-line. It was a beautiful sunny day and the view of Aberystwyth from the Library front entrance was stunning. The Library itself is a remarkable asset and whilst I was there I deposited a fullish set of Welsh Liberal Democrat Group minutes going back to day one of the Assembly with the political archive. The Library gets about 100,000 visitors each year but is increasingly using the web to make ...
I did this quiz ages ago, but never posted my result. Here you go: I actually see myself as a fiscal centrist, but there I am leaning towards the Left (by the quiz writer's definition). I also did one a while back which matched my views to those of the European political parties. I'll post that tomorrow.
Returning home from school yesterday, I had received a letter with the post mark stamped 'House of Commons'. You name it, it went through my mind.I had been invited to the Commons, I had secretly been elected to fill a post or could it have been that long-awaited knighthood. Opening it, I noticed it was from Charles Kennedy. Disappointment set in as I thought it was another appeal letter for
Happy New Year to all Jewish readers, and I wish you all well over the fast. I hope everyone celebrating Rosh Hashanah locally has an enjoyable time and a peaceful and prosperous year ahead. Rick
I'm an atheist, so I could be expected to support the Protest the Pope's campaign. Actually, I don't. I neither object to the Pope's visit, or object to public money being spent on it, and I think the protests are a little ridiculous. Stating the bleeding obvious, there are more than a billion Roman Catholics in the world which makes the Pope a significant world leader whether we like it or not. Yes, the church's opposition to condoms is helping spread AIDS and it has dealt too slowly and very badly with sexual abuse of children by priests, but for ...
Another excellent crime novel from Rankin, set in late 1998, with the election campaign for the new Scottish Parliament just getting going, and old scores being settled - quite literally a skeleton in a cupboard, or at least a walled-up fireplace - from the failure of the March 1979 referendum (the first time I can remember that event being mentioned in the Rebus series). Rankin is deviating ever further from the standard narrative of solving a crime and bringing the miscrents to justice, and instead painting a gripping picture of a society where justice is not served - at least ...
Wishing all my Jewish friends and readers a Happy New Year! No related posts. No related posts.
It's always been fairly central to Liberal and then Liberal Democrat thinking, the notion of religious tolerance and religious freedom. But unfortunately these notions, it seems, are not always treated as inseparable. I am, of course referring to the planned burning of 200 copies of the Holy Koran by an Evangelical minister in Florida on 11th September to mark the anniversary of the destruction of the twin towers. The minister refers to Islam as a the Devil's religion. Again inflammatory statements that hide his own ignorance of the commonality of many of the stories withing the Koran, The Bible and ...
Vince Cable's speech today requires close analysis to see how any science cuts might be administered The blogosphere is abuzz with scientists complaining about the huge cuts that were said to be announced today. But the science community needs to look closely at what was actually said and urgently respond to ministers in those areas where the government appears to be getting it wrong. Scale of spending cutsVince Cable's speech today said very little about the size of spending cuts but he did say: "As a consequence [of the massive inherited budget deficit], we face the tightest spending round since ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice Due to the sad and sudden illness of David Cameron's father, Prime Minister's Questions had an unexpected, almost surreal, feel to them. Instead of Cameron v Harman it was back to where we were on 21st July: Clegg v Straw. Adding to the sombre mode, Nick Clegg read out a list of no less than a dozen servicemen who have been killed over the summer, plus a doctor and a policeman who have also perished in the war zone. The Speaker asked for "pithy" responses from the front bench. This surely could not have been ...
This is my fourth visit to this country. The first time I was here was in 2001. But this is my first visit since the Communist Party lost power. (Of course, you may find me on Google Latitude.)
Wed 8th
17:53
September Books 5) Unfinest Hour: Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia, by Brennan Simms
This book, written in 2000 and revised in 2001, is an excellent polemic against the awfulness of British policy on Bosnia for most of the duration of the 1992-95 war. Simms describes with vicious accuracy the unwillingness of the Major government to intervene in the conflict, and its success in blocking other international actors from doing so. He convincingly points the finger at three senior figures - Douglas Hurd, the Foreign Secretary for most of the war; David Owen, the EU's mediator; and General Sir Michael Rose, the UN commander in 1994-95 - as particularly culpable in fostering an intellectual ...
One of my favourite aspects of the anti-immigration argument goes as follows. Anti-immigration Advocate says: "It's not about race." Anti-immigration Advocate, 10 minutes later, says something like: "By 2050, half the UK's population will be foreigners." What they mean, of course, is that half the population will be either foreign or the children of foreigners. Or even the children of the children of foreigners. But if they're born here, these children of foreigners, then they're not foreign, right? Surely that makes them British. Well no, argues Anti-immigration Advocate, because they're still the children of foreigners and, well, you know... Yes, ...
Wed 8th
17:03
Labour's Priorities "All Wrong" - Council Criticised for £150,000 Spend on Acrobat Statues
Manchester Liberal Democrats have questioned the Labour Council's priorities in tough times after it was revealed that they spent £150,000 of public money on statues of acrobats outside the new temporary town hall. Around 1,500 staff and many Council services have transferred to a new building at "One First Street" near the Whitworth Street railway line. They will remain there for 3 years during Manchester's Town Hall revamp. But Mancunians were surprised to see 5 statues of "stick people" being installed outside the new temporary facility. Manchester Liberal Democrats have discovered that these statues cost £150,000 of public money. Deputy ...
September 11th 2001 08:46 am - 10:28 am New York time. The world changed. The way we view and experience one another has lots its charm and excitement. The smell, like memories still linger. A fear is now, all pervasive. So much has been written and even more has been said about 09/11 and also 07/07 in London and 11/03 in Madrid; those 4-digit word/symbol/icon that have come to symbolise that change in the way we see the world. I will not attempt to add to that mountain of pain, the lake of tears or the furnace of hatred and ...
I've penned an article for Lib Dem Voice on some disturbing news from India about research into electronic voting; have a look!
below is a copy of the letter Don recently sent to three of the leading parents in the campaign to save Culverhay. I have annonomised names. 7 September 2010 Dear Ms xxx, Thank you for coming to see me on Thursday with your colleagues Jo xx and Martin xx. As you know, I oppose the closure of Culverhay and will do all I...
Dine has reported the slow down sign near the cemetry is not working to get it repaired. Also the recently re-installed saety barrier from Marsden to Englishcombe Lane needs repairing again and this too has been reported. We will soon be getting a batch of accident reporting forms to build up a picture of near misses and small accidents to argue the case for road safety...
David Cameron with his father Ian and mother Mary on the campaign trail earlier this year. There is nothing quite like the phone call that comes telling you that a parent who is far away, at least a plane flight, has taken suddenly ill and may have only hours to live. For me that call came in February 2007 just like the one that the Prime Minister David Cameron received today. All other thoughts run out of your head, the only initial thought is get me there as quickly as I can. You drop everything, just like in a fire ...
[IMG: image1597631543.jpg] This was the view from front doorstep as I got in last night. A reminder of the natural beauty in the world. Shame today's weather hasn't lived up to that promise.
The Council is encouraging residents to take unwanted electrical items to their local recycling centre and as an added incentive, during September they will be given a scratch card offering them a chance to win a range of prizes, including an iPod Nano. The competition is sponsored by REPIC Ltd, the Council's recycling partner. It is estimated that individuals living in the UK...
Well done to the boys in Rosewarn Close for getting organised and raising funds to get some new goal posts for the Rosewarn field. It was great to see the first home match against Larkhall being played there last night. The improvements have taken place on Rosewarn Playing Fields after Whiteway residents, with the help of Re:Generate and HSBC Bank, decided to raise the money to...
When I was picked to stand as a candidate in the local elections, one of the most sobering realisations was the law and procedures in place to ensure the integrity of the ballot. The rules and regulations, safeguards and cross checks are strict and rightly so. A question remains on how compatible this safety is with electronic voting. The camps are very divided on this, but what is agreed is the principles of openness, accountability and challenge of the process we use to elect our representatives. A few months ago, news came out that serious security problems had been found ...
Whilst browsing through recent planning applications/decisions today (sad, I know), I was disappointed to come across an application from Lark Hill Primary School on Liverpool street. The headmaster of Lark Hill (Liam Fry) proposes to build a new extension to the school (presumably to cope with the extra pupils the school is due to receive thanks to the incompetence of Salford's Labour Council and their barmy decision to build a replacement school too small for the 2010/11 intake). Why am I disappointed? Well, one word: Consultation. Lark Hill have failed to consult it's neighbours on this building plan which directly ...
Today saw the launch of a news glossy magazine by Hertfordshire Police. It will be available in gyms, doctors' surgeries and other places across the county. Liberal Democrats have reacted with astonishment at this costly new publication. Chris White, Liberal Democrat Leader and former member of the police authority, said: 'These are times of austerity and we all have to county every penny. Why the police feel it is suitable to launch a glossy magazine that gives fashion advice is beyond me. If people want fashion advice they should buy a real magazine and I suggest that the police get ...
[IMG: Lights] Queen Edith's will have its own Switch-On this year, in the form of Christmas lights in the trees outside the Wulfstan Way shops, and the Mayor, Cllr Sheila Stuart, is coming to join us. There will be carols from the local school and church choirs and we are hoping to persuade the Queen Edith Pub to put on some mulled wine. Time: 6pm, Tuesday 14th December 2010.
Chris White has spoken to Herts Highways about why queues were forming last Sunday at the junction of Beaconsfield Road and Hatfield Road. Apparently the loops which detect the length of queues (and which then adjust the phasing so as to clear blockages) don't work on Sundays. Chris has been assured that in future the lights will be able to see cars 24/7.
This morning's news that Vince Cable will announce in a speech today how the cuts to his Business, Innovation and Skills department will impact on science attracted a vigorous reaction from commenters on the Voice today. Former Lib Dem MP Dr Evan Harris — whose Political Science blog for the Guardian has quickly established itself as essential reading — has contributed his throughts to the debate there. Evan, as Lib Dems will know well, is firmly on the social liberal 'wing' of the party (a staunch defender, for example, of higher taxes for the wealthiest), and has great credibility as ...
So, there's a meme going round Facebook, LiveJournal and various other places that for once doesn't seem to be a way to get you to answer questions that might give away the security information for your bank account. The Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you've heard that will always ...
It is a sign of the lack of attention being paid to the Superannuation Bill currently on its passage through the Commons that yesterday's rebellion by four Liberal Democrat MPs appears to have gone pretty much unnoticed. For those of you who may not be aware of this piece of legislation (and I guess that you're probably not a civil servant), Clause 1 of this Bill would cap compensation payable under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme at a maximum of 12 months' pay for compulsory redundancy and 15 months' for voluntary exits. Clause 2 provides for clause 1 to expire ...
Ian Swales MP for Redcar, supports Mrs Cave's campaign to have the 'Voodoo Knife Set,' which depicts a man being repeatedly stabbed, removed from shops around the country. Ian believes that the set's design promotes violent behaviour and sends worrying messages to impressionable youngsters. The set was first discovered by Mrs Cave on a recent visit to Whitby, where it was displayed openly in a shop window. Theresa was horrified to overhear a young boy shouting at his mother to 'buy me a stabbing man' and after reading this Ian felt compelled to publicly support Teresa in her campaign. The ...
Following his accident in June, our local MP, David Ruffley, has been recuperating, whilst the two neighbouring MPs have been taking surgeries for him. Now, the East Anglian Daily Times is reporting that he is expected to return, albeit gradually, to duty, starting from next month. I'm quite pleased to hear the news, as any constituency deserves to be properly represented in Parliament. However, I hope that David isn't rushing his return. Depression is not easily overcome, and the external pressures to return to work can be difficult to resist, especially by those with a sense of duty. One therefore ...
Due to the sad and sudden illness of David Cameron's father, Prime Minister's Questions had an unexpected, almost surreal, feel to them. Instead of Cameron v Harman it was back to where we were on 21st July: Clegg v Straw. Adding to the sombre mode, Nick Clegg read out a list of no less than a dozen servicemen who have been killed over the summer, plus a doctor and a policeman who have also perished in the war zone. The Speaker asked for "pithy" responses from the front bench. This surely could not have been a reference to the Deputy ...
At the recent meeting of Bury Councils External Scrutiny committee members received an NHS presentation about the Making it Better Review of Greater Manchester health services. Ostensibly the reason for the review was in response to a Coalition Government commitment to review the proposals to close/reconfigure maternity services across greater manchester. Which currently would mean Fairfield losing its maternity unit. However somewhere in translation the word "review" seems to have been lost on the NHS as what was presented to the scrutiny committee was not so much a review as an update. We were told wonderful things about how the ...
The Guardians editorial on Electoral Reform is worth a read - reprinted below
The Alzheimer's Society have organised a "Memory Walk" which will take place in Heaton Park on Sunday 19th September 2010, starting from the Orangery (next to the Hall) at 11.00am. The Memory Walk is part of a Fun Family Day, and there is a choice of either a 1 mile or a 7 mile sponsored walk. There will also be music, entertainment, face-painting and stalls. Would-be participants can register online at www.memorywalk.org.uk/manchester and receive a special Memory Walk t-shirt, sponsorship form and fundraising pack. Or call 01925 572250 Rick
I think we can safely say that the civil servants will be a lot happier with Nick Clegg's second attempt at PMQs than they were with his first. After that event, they had to cope with his declaration of the Iraq war as illegal (it was, but the Government doesn't like to say so) and clarify that only the children's wing of Yarls Wood Detention Centre would be closing. This time round, Nick coped admirably with a truly terrible Jack Straw. For someone who built his reputation on forensic questioning, Straw has been awful as a stand in for the ...
Last night was my monthiversary, a word I have coined to, unsurprisingly, come to represent the fact that it's exactly a month since I got married. Married life has been much the same as unmarried life so far, only with more new crockery. Sadly, last night was also a meeting of the Licensing Committee which I didn't have in my diary and thus missed. God knows why it wasn't in there, but it's entirely my fault and I feel like an idiot. So unfortunately I can't report back on it, because I wasn't there. This evening, by way of punishment, ...
Some time ago (OK, it was almost a year ago, for those of you who have been counting), I published this piece as the first an occasional series of guest posts. Today, I'm publishing the next guest post by History graduate, IT master and Internationalist, Lois Brown: The Moaning Moaners who Moan One of the fascinating things about British people is how much we moan. We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, we have free healthcare, free education and free speech (which we predictably use to moan about the government), and all we can see is ...
Next year there will be a national referendum on the way we elect our MPs. The proposal is to replace the current 'first-past-the-post' system with the 'alternative vote' whereby voters can list candidates in order of preference. I hope we can have a debate about this important subject. In my view, Alternative Vote (AV) is a superior method. Every candidate will have to win the support of the majority of their voters, and not just a fraction as is the case in many constituencies. AV encourages voting positively thus eliminating 'tactical' voting. Above all, AV reduces the number of wasted ...
A specially-constituted election court has announced that the Liberal Democrats have won a recount of the May 6 election result in High Street Ward, London Borough of Waltham Forest. The recount took place in private on July 30 before a judge at the High Court after a member of the public spotted a potential error at the original count on May 6. It was thought that 1,000 votes may have been mistakenly added to each of the Labour candidates' tallies. From the Waltham Forest Guardian: Lib Dem nominee Mahmood Hussain is now the new councillor for the ward, at the ...
Last night's Evening Telegraph gave a comprehensive report on house break-ins across Dundee. Police Beat 26 (the area of the West End Ward at the east of the ward - running from Pentland in the north to Riverside Drive in the south but excluding the Perth Road corridor) had the most break-ins during 2009-10 - 52 in total, with 41 going undetected. As I indicated in the Evening Telegraph : "It is concerning that parts of the area have seen high levels of break-ins over the past year, but I am pleased that the police locally have been putting in ...
This is a guest cross-post by Dominic Campbell - originally posted on the Political Innovation site: Well, you wouldn't still be reading had I called it the politics of procurement now would you? (no, stop – don't go!). No-one who engages with government procurement comes away impressed with it. It's a process that wastes £billions and rewards process over outcomes. Yet we all know that, deep down, it's a symptom of a political problem. It is a system set up to manage risk in retrospect and trace blame for failure, rather than create a partnership between supplier and customer that ...
This week's recommended reading for Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners covers a range of different subjects and ideas: Firstly, two contrasting stories on the Standards Board. One is from the Standards Board itself explaining what it will be doing in what will (hopefully) be its final year of existence. The other is the story of a Green Brighton & Hove City Councillor who has found himself reported for using internet footage of a council meeting - a story that exemplifies why so many councillors feel frustrated with the current standards regime. From the specialist press we have news of the ...
Cabinet Day at Shire Hall and some very important things on the agenda. It's always hard to go through serious case reviews in relation to the deaths of young people - distressing for both the families and the professionals involved. The pin dropping moment came right at the end with the usual Guided Bus item. Up until the last 24 hours we've been promised that an end was in sight with the completion of the Southern section in December. Now we're being told January. If there wasn't so much money at stake it would be laughable - but this has ...
I suspect that some people on Twitter must think I'm incredibly shallow. You, dear readers, already know that my tastes are a veritable cornucopia of trash, but there are limits. I made two short, entirely unrelated, tweets in quick succession, one that I was feeling sad about some news I'd heard, and secondly that my new iPhone had to go back for repair without realising that some people might understandably link them. The sad news isn't mine to share, so will stay private. The Saga of the iPhone, however, won't. I was contemplating leaving T-Mobile but the other day they ...
Reductions in science spending may be inevitable, but business secretary Vince Cable must protect research spending from the severest cuts to his department's budget On the Today programme at 0750 this morning the business secretary Vince Cable was asked about suggested spending cuts of 35% to science spending. In a rare - and perhaps unplanned - exception to the rule of ministers not commenting on specific quanta of cuts ahead of October's spending review announcement, Cable rejected that figure explicitly saying "No, that's not right, that is way in excess of what we are talking about." It is not clear ...
I had wondered if Nick Clegg would be doing PMQs at noon today as David Cameron continued his babymoon with new daughter Florence. Last night it seemed that this would not be the case as the Prime Minister had had his firs t day back at work. Unfortunately, Mr Cameron's father has taken ill while on holiday, and he's understandably gone off to be with him. It's sad that Nick is presiding over the event in such circumstances. I hope that Mr Cameron senior recovers well.
Mildly astonished not to have found these somewhere already. Here are some basic attempts at Twitter and Flickr social media map pins for Google Maps. [IMG: Flickr map pin] [IMG: Flickr map pin] [IMG: Flickr map pin] [IMG: Flickr map pin] [IMG: Twitter map pin] [IMG: Twitter map pin] And here are the political ones I did ages ago for Ming. [IMG: Google Maps marker for speeches made] [IMG: Google Maps marker for upcoming meetings] [IMG: Google Maps marker for MPs] [IMG: Google Maps marker for MEPs]
Wednesday: Frankly, I don't want to see Lord Blairimort interviewed unless it is UNDER CAUTION. But there he was anyway, with Mr Marrmite, all rictus grin and self-justifying twaddle, dismissing the worst recession ever as "prosperity interrupted" and, worse, implying that his Middle Eastern victims "would probably have been killed anyway". He was clearly worried that the flesh-toned make-up would run under the studio lights revealing the bone-white pallor, blood-red lips and shocking-green hair underneath. (Oh go on, admit it: he DOES look like The Joker. The more steeped in EVIL he gets, the more his true "Joker-face" shows through!) ...
One of the curious of political blogging in the UK is how male dominated it is. Although the Office of National Statistics's figures show that the majority of bloggers in the UK are female and the majority of voters are female too, take a look through lists of Conservative, Labour or Lib Dem bloggers and you see lists that are dominated by men. The same applies with other parties and independent blogs. Political blogging in the UK is male dominated. But why? One explanation is that UK politics overall is male dominated. Just look at the number of MPs or ...
Yesterday, Ceredigion County Council received the Boundary Commission's draft report on the future of the county's electoral divisions. The intention behind the report (and those occurring all over Wales at present) is to equalize as close as possible the ratio of electors to Councillors (similar to the task being supported nationally by the Coalition Government). Making each vote as close to being as equal to each other is the intention. Having witnessed what appeared to be the decimation in number of Councillors on Denbeighshire County Council after they failed to give their own internal recommendations to the Boundary Commission, Ceredigion ...
Yate Shopping Centre management has issued a leaflet detailing the timescales for the initial steps in the Tesco development. September: Creating works compound in car parkDemolishing the Swan and creating extra parking spacesClosing underpassCreating temporary access to current bus stationRelocating footpath/cycleway from Kennedy Way towards underpassOctober: Start of work on new bus station (12 weeks)Widening Link Road carriageway from Kennedy Way towards Station road (4 weeks)Work will start on the main Tesco Extra store in February next year.
The BBC reports: Business Secretary Vince Cable is expected to signal a squeeze on public funding for scientific research. He will urge universities to do "more for less" and say taxpayers should only back research that has a commercial use or was academically outstanding. Mr Cable's London audience will be told the government "values" UK science and research and spends £4.3bn a year. Lord Rees, president of the Royal Society, said cutting science funding would be a false economy. Mr Cable's speech comes ahead of next month's Comprehensive Spending Review, which is likely to squeeze resources. Well, these are the ...
Here is a selection of issues making headlines during the past few weeks: Local News Arrests after demo at atomic weapons base in Berkshire Work on £400m Reading railway station revamp shuts road - This will improve train services for the whole area. Fight to defend communities - I'm tempted to join them. Green light for green belt shops - I support a craft village as the buildings are already there. Cuts will fuel shortage of housing' alert Local Links The top local Blogger Mark Reckons is Bowing Out I blogged about this here Mark Reckons is bowing out. Who ...
We were blessed with sun as we strode (well saunetred) along the floating harbour for the next in our series of health walks. There were about 15 of us this time. It was good to pass through udnerfall yard and to see the matthew in it's glory. There's always something new to see of the buildings and architecture. Onwards....
[IMG: Disabled Parking or Disabled Rip Off?] Another Blue Badge user has contacted me to say she has been fined £60 for not realising she had to pay at the Excel car park in Keighley. To provide bays labelled "Disabled" and then fine the person for not walking all the way to the central noticeboard to see if they are expected to pay or not seems to me a cynical ploy to raise more revenue. I've had a chat with the car park attendant there and he told me he has asked the company to put notices warning disabled drivers ...
Despite the extreme weather, there has been a good range of butterflies in the garden this year including: Ringlet Comma Gatekeeper Brown Argus (Aricia agestis) Large Skipper (Ochlodes venatus) Peacock fritillary Speckled Wood (Click on photos for larger scale)
The City Council has written to affected householders and properties about the above matter as follows : West Marketgait - Carriageway Resurface I wish to notify you that road resurfacing works are programmed to commence at the above location, between West Port Roundabout and Nethergate Junction on Monday 20th September 2010 and will last for approximately 4 days. The works will be carried out between 7pm and 7am to limit inconvenience. The works are scheduled for South bound for first two nights and North bound over the following two nights. The Contractor for the works is Tayside Contracts. In the ...
It's remarkable when a pastor in a very small Florida church can cause an international outcry. But Rev Terry Jones (presumably not the Python star, although this episode has a Monty Python feel about it) has done that with his plan to burn 200 copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9-11. After condemnation, including a comment by Gen Petraeus warning that US troops lives in Afghanistan may be put at further risk by the burning, Rev Jones says he and his flock will pray about the plan. Perhaps he could also open his Bible and read a few ...
Gardening that won't cost the earth Each year households throw away waste that could be used to help give their gardens a makeover or to provide fruit and vegetables with protection from pests or much-needed nourishment. St Albans City and District Council and Hertfordshire Waste Partnership are appealing to residents to reuse items of household waste to help make their gardens evener greener. Wellington boots, broken teapots, parts of scaffolding and old bathtubs are hardly the first things that spring to mind when planning a garden renovation but they can all be used to good effect in your garden whilst ...
The bill to deliver a fairer voting system for parliamentary elections moved one step closer, leading to a referendum next May 5th. Nick Clegg said, ""We must make the system fair. We must put people back in charge." Despite criticism, the bill passed with a majority of 59 and a Labour bid to kill it off was defeated by 347 votes to 254. Rumours of a Tory rebellion at the Third Reading stage rumble on. On Monday, 10 Tory MPs voted against the bill. Most commentators think the bill will pass easily.
I have had complaints that at the traffic lights at Tullideph Road/City Road junction require to be attended to as there is no amber light working on the north side of City Road's lights. I have reported this to the City Council, requesting action.
Sitting in my late father's study while I work I'm reminded that both he and my mother taught Religious Education, my mother was actually head of department. One of the things that reminds me is the shelf of books on comparative religions that sits to the right of me as I work. There is one pile in the middle of that shelf that is all about Islam. Some of those books I have read myself and indeed there are other books in my own collection that are also about Islam including my own copy of the Koran. Therefore the fact ...
Wow. Just wow. Amazing imagination and skill.
It was the monthly Full Council meeting yesterday. The highlights included Mike Whitby's speech on the "State of the Council" and a couple of very interesting Scrutiny Reports. One was on Affordable Housing, the lack of which is probably the biggest cause of visits to our Advice Bureau each week and the other was on Functional Numeracy and Literacy. But for me the big moment of the meeting was seconding a motion to Council calling on the Council to develop a Green Energy Action Plan. The reason why we need such an Action Plan now is that the Coalition Government ...
LibDig This! ....but names will never hurt me! An old saying I remember my Mum sharing with us when we got into fights as kids over some silly remark aimed at either me or one of my brothers. Good advice which even later in life is worth remembering especially since the creation of the Lib-Con Coalition in May and the new heights of abuse we face regularly from bitter and angry Labour politicians who believe we have sold our soul to the devil. They have long memories here on Merseyside - albeit selective ones too when it comes to the ...
A few days ago I moaned about what I think is an awful photo on the front of the Tony Blair book (top image). I've just seen the cover of the US version (bottom image) - and it's so very different. The most obvious change is that the US version is half length rather than simply head and shoulders. I've got no problem with the UK version in that respect, but the close crop does emphasise the annoying slightly off centre nature of the image. There is the same half smile/half grimace in both photos, but the US version has ...
Dear Ukrainian TV, Hi there, my name is Chris Wilson and I'm a British person living in the Ukraine who speaks a bit of Russian and no Ukrainian. I happen to be living in Dnipro, a part of the Ukrainian where everyone speaks Russian all the time, as is common in the east of the country and considering 97% of the country actually do speak Russian as opposed to 87.8% who can speak Ukrainian. I do
The Western Mail says that First Minister Carwyn Jones has been accused of misleading the public, after claiming a £90m road was delivered "on budget " even though it cost double the original estimate. Opening the Church Village bypass in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Mr Jones said: "It has been completed on time and on budget." But Assembly documents released in 2001 show that £90m is double the estimated cost when the WAG began to fund the bypass scheme. They say that in January 2001, the Welsh Assembly Government unveiled a £300m five-year transport package. It listed the Church Village bypass ...
i) births and deaths 8th September 1938: birth of Louis Mahoney who played a newscaster in Frontier in Space (1973), Ponti in Planet of Evil (1975), and the older Billy Shipton in Blink (2007). ii) broadcast anniversaries 8th September 1979: broadcast of second episode of Destiny of the Daleks. The Doctor resurrects Romana; the Daleks resurrect Davros!
I spent yesterday morning in a very productive meeting of the Swansea Committee of the Community Health Council where a number of local residents had come to make their views known on plans to close the out-of-hours service at Singleton Hospital and transfer it to Morriston, and also on plans to close down Fairwood Hospital. The proposal to close Fairwood Hospital forms part of a restructuring of services and cutting back the health board's £10 million overspend. The moving of the out-of-hours service will leave the west of Swansea and Gower without a 24 hour walk-in centre for the first ...
The BBC report that the Welsh NHS faces making more than £380m worth of cutbacks by next April, with managers saying it is the biggest challenge they have faced in 20 years. They say that targets have been imposed on staff pay and changes made to hospital services to reduce costs this financial year. Some health boards predict fundamental changes to reduce costs. Some have already imposed "rigorous vacancy controls" and said there would be "fundamental service reconfiguration" in years to come. One health board document warns that "tension will increase" between what patients will expect and what the NHS ...
So, following their own almighty cock-up in allocating tax codes, HMRC are suggesting the outrageous: that perhaps they should be in charge of paying people and ensuring the "right tax" and other deductions are taken from a gross salary paid over to them by employers, and that whatever amount they see fit for you to keep of your hard earned salary will be credited to your bank account by the government. [IMG: Nottingham HMRC fortress, image courtesy of "veggiesosage" under Creative Commons licence at http://www.flickr.com/photos/veggiesosage/2967073638/] I can hardly begin to quantify the enormous problems with this idea, not just in ...
Following internal elections over the summer, the Social Liberal Forum are pleased to announce a new Council which will govern the work of the organisation over the next couple of years. The following people will serve as members of the Social Liberal Forum Council 2010-2012: Our governing council is as follows: Prateek Buch Theo Butt Philip Gareth Epps James Graham David Hall-Matthews Simon Hebditch Linda Jack Paula Keaveney Stephen Knight Peter Kunzmann Geoffrey Payne Geoffrey G J Payne Mary Reid Amy Rodger Naomi Smith (Yes, you did read that right and it isn't a typo: we do indeed have two ...
[cross-posted from museumsaregreat.tumblr.com with apologies to those unused to the tumblr format. Click the first link to see the original post.] museumsandstuff: Some of you might remember the blog entry/rant I had in response to an infuriating article in the Independant by Alexander Hamilton. Feel free to refresh you memory with the links above, as the rant continued in the comments section: "Your Majesty" replied to the 1st paragraph of the blog... "What museums should be" seems to be one of those subjects that everyone has an opinion about, and frequently the answer appears to be "empty except for me ...
I was talking to someone yesterday who had a disabled badge but they had placed it the wrong way and had been fined. I forget how much they had to pay but in a sense it doesn't matter. The people who designed the badge designed it so that it could be only used one way. Why didn't they make it usable whichever way it is placed? Did the designers deliberately choose to make the badge unusable if placed the wrong way, cause the owners to be liable to a fine and allow the use of the badge to be a ...
