A report back from Viva Volunteers was most heartening. A sub group of one of our partnership boards had been able to give a grant to kick start this very innovative project that matches up volunteers with places that need them, and involving the private sector too. You need to see the website for a better description, and they have a Facebook page too. I was very impressed to hear what...
For as long as I've been a member of Egglescliffe Parish Council (now known as Egglescliffe & Eaglescliffe council) people have asked from time to time if we could have some lighting on the black path from Lune Rd to Aislaby Rd. This year we are looking into using some of our Community Participation budget to provide that lighting. Engineers have looked at how many columns would be needed.
The not very well informed debate continues on how the North East can have a regional voice and a way of handling things at regional level that really are better done that way. The Tees Valley is developing quite a strong voice now, thanks to the various councils working together to make sure that those things which need to be done at that level are done really well, and to local MPs especially
This afternoon, I had a very useful and productive meeting at Harris Academy with the Depute Head Teacher, a representative from the City Council's Risk Management team and constituents about the parking issues around the school. I have now followed this up with an e-mail to the City Council's Chief Executive about ways to improve the parking situation in the area around this part of Perth Road and on West Park Road. This evening at West End Community Council, Liz Broumley of WestFest gave an informative resume of how well the event had run in June. The first-ever WestFest was ...
Readers may recall my posting after the Southport v Mansfield game which I squeezed in before nipping off to the Beer Festival. I failed to report at the time that Lib Dem Council Leader Tony Robertson was also at the game. He is pictured here with the Mansfield Manager. Tony has written round saying how much he enjoyed the game and the friendly atmosphere at the club. You can see the Clubs record of Tony's visit here Tony hails from Mansfield and I think he is sporting his Mansfield Town supporters Club tie.
Ofsted did their usual today, producing another report which seeks to slam the teaching profession rather than point out all the good work that is being done. As a teacher I know that getting a child with genuine Special Education Needs to be registered as SEN and get a statement is like trying to jump through flaming hoops, it requires much work and effort, and is not the easy option. However, Ofsted instead chose to simply blame teachers and claim a quarter (a gross distortion) or pupils are registered as SEN incorrectly. There are those that will jump on this ...
A first this week as I go outside of Camborne's boundaries for the first time for a business recommendation - only by a stones throw in to Connor Downs though. I work in St Ives and so pass through Connor regularly, often stopping at Dover Service Station. It's a real shame that Camborne itself hasn't had an independent petrol station for years now and so I always try to get my fuel here to try to help prevent another business going under to the big chains and supermarkets. It's no compromise though, the staff are friendly and the shop is ...
The second day of the Election Court hearing taking place in Oldham East and Saddleworth was dominated by a forensic cross-examination of Phil Woolas by Elwyn Watkins' junior counsel, James Laddie. Mr Laddie began his cross-examination yesterday afternoon, and concluded ... Continue reading →
The rain didn't stop visitors to last Saturday's Green Fayre in Hesketh Park, and it appears lots of Southport residents are keen to find out more about making their lives just a little bit more greener.. The Fayre was organised by Transition Southport and the Sefton Leisure and Tourism Department. I was volunteering at a stand, and was impressed with the amount of people wanting to make their homes more energy efficient and sustainable. Being free for both exhibitors and the visiting public was a great chance for businesses who may not be able to afford bigger exhibitions to market ...
I was chuffed to bits earlier when the BOTY (Lib Dem Voice Blog of the Year) shortlists were announced. It's not that I was hanging on and refreshing the page at the anointed hour of 12:30. In fact, at that time I was in the dentist's chair with skooshie things and suckie things in my mouth. I even got to be Mayor of my dental centre on Foursquare. However, when I got home at around 12:50, I did have a wee look - only to see on Twitter that the event had been delayed due to "technical reasons" until 1 ...
Far too many people who have been affected by the Equitable life scandal have been left to wait in limbo for years with no resolution from the government on the issue. Tonight the bill is getting its second reading. Over ... Continue reading →
Political conferences are all the same aren't they? A load of mindless political faithful fill some poor town or oblivious city, hide in a conference centre giving stale pre-prepared speeches and then disappear again not to return until the next local by-election, right? Well maybe, I don't know about the red and blue team conferences. I do know ldconf is different. There are loads of fringe debates and parties, just like the other conferences, and there are some speeches from front benchers too. But there is also the main purpose of conference for Lib Dems- policy debate. Lib Dems can ...
Having been offline lately there are a number of things that I have not had the chance to blog about but one thing caught my eye this evening whilst re-familiarizing myself with the BBC News website. It would seem that ... Continue reading →
Part 22 of blogging my way through my first reading of Atlas Shrugged. You can find the first part here. Chapter 22: The Utopia of Greed Dagny is having a lovely time in the valley of the lost industrialists, but her compulsion to build railways makes her decide to head back to the world in ...
You decide........... insensitive Dick Puddlecote
Please make sure you're sitting down before you read this. Giving councils clear legal freedom is the only way to ensure the Government's new General Power of Competence for local authorities will work successfully, according to the New Local Government Network. It is urging the abolition of the ultra vires principle, which exists to prevent councils going beyond their powers, and instead to allow councils to take actions unless they are expressly forbidden by law. The NLGN report has been produced as Parliament is about to consider a General Power of Competence for local authorities.The report details innovative activities councils ...
As regular readers will know I have been looking at the webcasting experiments that other local authorities have undertaken. At present Sefton has a little used video link between Bootle and Southport Town halls and we have just cut upgrading it from the capital programme. Personally I am very keen that we should be opening up our meetings to the public. I just don't think that allowing the public to attend in person is good enough- especially when most of the decision making meetings are held during the working day and the borough is so spread out. Wecasting may be ...
I got back to the UK last night after a week floating about the North Atlantic and it seems the TUC is still abroad at its holiday home in La La Land. Not only do the majority of union bosses claim no cuts at all are needed, I heard Brendan Bracken, the TUC's top fat cat, claiming to speak on behalf of the nation, alleging that the people of Britain will not accept any cuts. Quite what his
Tuesday: Why do middle-class teenage "rebels" and Union Barons (not to mention psychopaths like Uncl' Jo Stalin) all love Mr Marx (Karl, not Groucho; you know, the comedian not the philosopher)? I'll tell you: it's that GINORMOUS loophole "the dictatorship of the proletariat" where the "intellectual" elite get to patronise the "ignorant" workers into doing their old jobs but for their new masters. It's GREAT if you like lots of personal privilege and bunch of saps to enforce it for you. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, whyever would a Union leader like Mr Mark Swarovski be deceitful about cuts? ...
BBC4 is to show a new Michael Wood series entitled The Story of England. It was made by MayaVision International and the company's website describes it as follows: Michael tells the story of one community through the whole of English history. Using documents, landscape, buildings, science and archaeology, and with the help of the villagers themselves, he explores the lives of the ordinary people against the backdrop of national events across more than a thousand years.And the exciting thing, for me at least, is the identity of that community: it is Kibworth in Leicestershire, which I have written about here ...
I have posted several times about the suggestion I submitted to the Government's 'Spending Challenge' experiment in crowdsourcing. My suggestion? Abolish the severance payments to which outgoing Government Ministers are entitled. You can read those posts HERE, HERE and HERE. Well, I wrote to my local MP to try to hook him into my efforts to get the Coalition to adopt this idea. He's now replied and I was particularly pleased with his penultimate sentence: I shall write on your behalf to Cabinet Secretary, Francis Maude, to bring your thoughts to his attention. With 100,000 ideas generated by the website, ...
The Deputy Secretary-General of the International Union of Psychological Science is a lady called Merry Bullock.
I have a magazine rack at home (a bit like THIS, but not quite as fancy), and last night I worked through a few days' worth of newspapers that had built up, unread. One of the pieces I found that caught my attention was THIS one in the Guardian on party funding. Nick Clegg has really started to motor on political reform, with more and more ideas flowing out from his office. Good stuff! This is exactly the sort of thing I want the Lib Dems to achieve in government. The way we fund our political parties is broken. The need ...
The Derwentside meeting of the Police Community Consultative Group will take place at the Lamplight Arts Centre in Stanley on Monday September 20th at 7.00 p.m. Durham Police Authority seeks to involve the community in helping to inform and shape the direction, priorities and plans of policing in County Durham and Darlington. They want to know what you think about policing in your area and invite you to work with them in preventing and reducing crime. That's why you are invited to come and meet Police Authority members and local senior police officers at this Police Community Consultative Group. Mr ...
It has been suggested to me in the past that blogging is merely a means of saying "Look at me! Look at me!" in cyberspace, an attempt to find a place in the sun. And I suppose, in their way, they're right. I hold a minor public office, which is for the most part dealt with by my other blog, I hold an obscure bureaucratic position at the Regional level of a political party, my job is, for the most part, covered by the Official Secrets Act. Not obviously the basis for a riveting read, perhaps. To make matters worse, ...
One of the other by elections of the early 1970's was at Chester-le-Street the stomping ground of my old friend and sometime Durham County Councillor Derek Morse. He and I regularly used to go walking in the Lakes. We also used to go on longer expeditions completing long distance footpaths like Wainwright's Coast to Coast and the West Highland Way. On one of our longer expeditions we went way out west and stayed in the little hostels run by the Gatliff Trust in the Western Isles. I think our last visit must have been in the late 1990s. The picture ...
Labour's timid leadership election highlighted one significant point. The opposition is getting hostile and vicious to the coalition, especially to the Liberal Democrats. Instead of compromising and trying to remain neutral it is time for us to show some teeth. We need to fight back. Party activists and elected officials, in the Labour party, believe we despise the coalition and would rather be associated with them. The media are portraying this narrative too. But it is not true. Our special conference overwhelmingly voted in favour of being in government. Liberals have taken 800,000 people out of income tax, a pupil ...
David Howarth is one of those rare politicians who felt that one term in the House of Commons was quite enough. As LibDem MP for Cambridge from 2005-2010, he made a deep impression and was respected by Members of all parties, especially in his role as Justice spokesman. But commuting daily to London — where ...
Government doesn't create jobs, businesses create jobs. That was the slightly harsh answer I gave someone at a dinner party this week when they asked me how government and politicians were going to create jobs. My answer wasn't well received ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Cobden] If you haven't heard of the Cobden Centre then I strongly recommend you check them out. Named after Richard Coben, one of the most significant Liberal Party figures of the 19th Century, the Cobden Centre is a pressure group that lobbies for honest money and banking reform. The Cobden Centre is also enthusiastically dedicated to providing education and resources for those interested in Austrian Economics subsequently their website is a treasure trove for any inquiring mind. Founded by entrepreneur Toby Baxendale earlier this year, the centre has gone from strength to strength rapidly and is certainly a group ...
My dears! I simply must tell you about the most wonderful book I came across in my perambulations on the first day of last weekend. I had ventured into town for a conference about the effect on one's social life of the new technologies (more about anon) when, arriving un-naturally early for the assignation I decided to attend upon the delightful book emporium of Mr Dillon, or at least-ways the premises now owned by Mr Waterstone which used to be the aforementioned University Book Shop. [IMG: bornder] Intending to only pass the minutes, my eye was caught by a set ...
Right. Since this all went tits up with poorly doggies, and I am bad at administrating things anyway (why oh why can I not have Mummy Helen's skill with such matters?) we're going to get this over with by doing the last two categories together. Next year I'm going to simplify this A LOT LOL. [IMG: [personal profile] ] damned_colonial [IMG: [livejournal.com profile] ] davegodfrey Gavin Robinson Geeka Chicas James Masterton SV-POW And here is a list of all the eligible blogs which have been nominated for best Sex-Positve blog: Either/And FuckYeah! Ask a Bi! Male Submission Art Modern Poly ...
I was sad to read of the death of French filmmaker Claude Chabrol. Often regarded as France's Hitchcock he made the marvellous film Le boucher. Le boucher is a murder thriller par excellence which features a wedding scene I am sure was ripped off for The Deer Hunter. For an excellent appreciation see Gilbey on Film in the New Statesman
I know exactly what I was doing 18 years ago today. I was in Harrogate at Liberal Democrat Federal Conference, completely unaware of the events unfolding in Perth, where my sister was in hospital, giving birth 6 weeks early to my niece Laura. It was only when I was walking around the Conference Centre the next day in that typical early morning hungover Conference haze that I saw my name on one of the screens asking me to go to the Registration Desk. The message they had was that I should phone my mother. Anyway I soon learned the dramatic ...
Yesterday morning, before heading to London, I went to the funeral of Cyril Smith, the former Lib Dem MP for Rochdale, who died at the age of 82 whilst I was in Bangladesh. There were a number of moving tributes to Cyril and a couple of solos sung by Freda Farnworth, inlcuding "My Way" at the end of the service. ...
You are probably aware that Phil Woolas is currently in court over allegedly lying about his Lib Dem opponent Elwyn Watkins in election leaflets delivered in Oldham East and Saddleworth just before the general election. One of the dubious claims made by Woolas was that Watkins was "wooing" Muslim extremists. Phil Woolas specifically names the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPACUK) as these extremists in the "Saddleworth and Oldham - The Examiner" leaflet which triggered the historic legal proceedings against him. Sure enough, MPACUK were openly campaigning for a vote for Watkins to defeat Woolas. MPACUK have been praised for ...
My colleague David Tattersall has the full story over on the Meols blog-and it is his photo too
Many thanks to the kind people at Lib Dem Voice who have shortlisted this blog for their Best Blog by an elected Lib Dem category in the Blog of the Year awards (the BOTYs). The results are announced on Saturday. Unfortunately, as I am away working at a conference for the next five days, there are unlikely to be lots of insightful new posts between now and then. And well done too to Jeremy Rowe who has been shortlisted in the new blog category.
Just under a year ago, like everyone else, I was somewhat irritated by the blatent mickey taking that was going on by MP's fiddling their expenses on what seemed like a daily basis. I felt strongly compelled enough to start ... Continue reading →
Yesterday was Cyril's funeral held at Rochdale Town Hall. The BBC appropriately decided show a programme on Golden Age of Northern Civic architecture which featured the gothic glory of Rochdale. I got to thinking about the times I met Cyril. When I was a student there were a string of by elections. Cyril's victory in Rochdale was the first, it was followed by success at Sutton and Cheam-where I much of my spare time in the Autumn term delivering, Berwick upon Tweed, Lincoln ( I didn't go there) Ripon, Liverpool Edge Hill, and the Isle of Ely all of which ...
[IMG: Dilbert.com]
ALDCo is a Liberal Democrat pressure group whose aim is to promote discussion within the party on all aspects of co-operation. This concept includes the traditional co-operative movement founded in Rochdale in 1844, now known as The Co-operative, but it also includes social enterprises, mutual organisations, credit unions, co-operative housing schemes, and community and voluntary organisations all over the country that operate along co-operative lines, and provide local goods and services to people in the areas where they live. Our belief is simple: people working co-operatively together can achieve far more than people working on their own. In short, teamwork ...
The recent appointment of Bob Diamond as the new Chief Executive of Barclays raised some eyebrows to say the least. The epitome of casino capitalists and the man once described by former business secretary Peter Mandelson as "the unacceptable face of banking" has joined Barclays (again) and commands £1.35 million a year, could recoup over 3 million in bonuses and could even get a long term entitlement to over £6 million in shares. It seems as if bonuses for 'bankers' are returning to pre crash levels.But should we be worried? Questions have to be asked of the logic of blaming ...
I wrote to my Labour MP Meg Hillier today to ask whether she will be joining the YES campaign in the AV referendum. She was elected on a manifesto commitment to do so, after all. But statements by other local Labour politicians and activists suggest that Labour are preparing to break that commitment in a ...
Today's announcement of the shortlists for the Liberal Democrat Voice Blog of the Year Awards brings the rather surprising news that we at 'Liberal Bureaucracy' are in with a shout of the Tim Garden Award (see pretty picture). I admit to some guilt about this. My fellow nominees are a Member of Parliament, and some serious councillors. Me, I'm a humble parish councillor, not even elected to the position (co-options, aren't they great?). They do serious stuff, impacting on the lives of thousands. Me, I fret about bus stops and ten street lights. However, that said, parish councils are the ...
I've been nominated in the 2010 Liberal Democrat Voice Blog Of The Year Awards, which probably seems rather odd given how little blogging I've done in the last twelve months. And so it would be, if it was for blogging, but instead it's for the early morning Twitter conversation with Justin that turned into a ...
The Labour leadership race has highlighted the sheer hypocritical views that the five contenders have. They voted for the illegal war in Iraq to take place and for the billions of pounds to be wasted on that same war and yet now they want to be leader some of them have distanced themselves so far away from the decision you would think they voted with the Liberal Democrats at the time. More recently we have seen the blatant lies and sheer hypocrisy about the reorganisation of NHS24, being replaced by NHS111, despite this being a Labour Party manifesto pledge both ...
... And while there are some worthy nominees in the other categories (YAY for Penny Red and Lady Mark and Bridget in particular), inevitably focus is going to land on what might be referred to as The Big BOTY, for which I, thankfully, have escaped nomination. Why do I say thankfully? Well, because it's cursed. Or perhaps even curséd. Everyone who wins it stops blogging and disappears. The only person to escape from the curse is gravelly-voiced sexpot James Graham, and he's not telling how he did it. The poor benighted souls who have been nominated are as follows:Caron's Musings ...
Ahead of the Governments Spening Review announcement which is likely to herald billions of spending cuts, opposition is moving to condemn the cuts. I even heard a Union leader yesterday trying to suggest cuts are not necessary. Whilst that is utter nonsense there is still a massive challenge ahead for the Coalition Government and especially the Lib Dems. I tend to take the Charles Kennedy line that when taking decisions about spending "we must not throw the baby out with the bath water". It is imperative that within the coalition Lib Dems ensure that cuts are fair, responsibly undertaken and ...
Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says the UK government intends to reorientate its entire aid programme to put the lives of women in developing countries at its heart. He will address the United Nations next Monday.
The everyday lot of a councillor is to deal with casework. Today I have dealt with the removal of a dead tree in Liverpool Rd, the replacementof a 'box grid' in Guildford Rd and a planning concerns in Bolton Rd. I am delighted the report that the gardens at the front of Birkdale Library have been replanted. In truth my colleague Councillor Hands deserves the credit for this-the contractor 'botched' the job first time round in the Spring and so -without cost to the ratepayers-they have been back to do it again.
Last night, after my two surgeries at the Mitchell Street Centre and Harris Academy, but before the City Council meetings started, I had the pleasure of seeing round The Bus, a new mobile resource for young people across Dundee (see right). It is an excellent resource, managed by the council's Leisure & Communities Department. I had a useful discussion with staff about how the bus might take part in this year's West End Christmas Week. At the City Council last night, amongst others, I raised the following matters : I asked, in relation to a report on the Local Government ...
Liberal Democrat Voice has the shortlists for this year's awards. As a judge this time round I am not suffering from "Why is X on the list when I am not?" angst. Instead I have "why is Y on the list when I voted for Z?" angst. Well done to everybody who appears on the shortlists - and to some strong candidates who did not quite make it.
Nominations for the Liberal Democrats' Blog of the Year Awards 2010 closed on 27 August. Since then, the judges Prateek Buch, Jonathan Calder, Lee Chalmers, Ryan Cullen, Helen Duffett (that's me), Costigan Quist, Mary Reid, Jo Swinson and Andy Williamson have been poring over the entries for the six categories. It's been a big task, and a fun one, to distil so many excellent examples of Lib Dem blogging and e-campaigning into lists of the five best. Congratulations if you've been shortlisted, but if you haven't: remember that the shortlists are based on the judges' subjective opinions. The awards are ...
A tad more subtle than Bob Russell-altho I realise that is not setting the bar very high.......The BBC has the story
Monday: Seriously, there are TWO ways this can go. The Unions can represent their members' INTERESTS by working WITH the Government to pilot through the cuts that EVEN LABOUR said were unavoidable, with the maximum amount of attention paid to minimising the harm done to the most vulnerable, keeping the job losses to natural wastage where possible, freezing pay, showing restraint and keeping more workers IN work... ...or they can throw a tantrum, cause fuss and bother to the public whose jobs and taxes actually go to PAY public sector wages and we'll end up sacking a quarter of them. ...
A quick update on the roadworks in Robin Hood Lane. The road is now open again, but subject to traffic lights. I am told the delay in getting it open was due to the piling proving more difficult than was originally anticipated, and to the fact that the water supply for some of the houses near Dinton Pastures had to be rerouted - Thames Water records did not show that there were pipes under the embankment, so the council was not expecting to find any. The traffic lights are planned to be in place until 15th October, and are supposed ...
Very clever graphic to illustrate a pretty clever film. (I only say pretty clever because, whilst the plot is very fresh and original compared to usual big budget Hollywood movies, it's not quite so fresh or original compared with science fiction novels where authors such as Philip K Dick have been playing with multiple layers of apparent reality for decades).
I really enjoyed Heritage Day in Keighley and learnt quite a lot more about the town from talks by Ian Dewhirst and Keith Dredge. I went along with a Lib Dem couple I know and the wife told Ian Dewhirst that her father, John Brownbridge, had been mayor of the old Keighley Borough in 1969. Ian immediately said, "Oh yes, I knew him; he was put in prison by the Nazis!" In 1937 the 19 year old John Brownbridge had been sent to Germany to improve his German by the Keighley firm of Cloughs'. In a letter home he'd called ...
1. Potholes reported today in Townsend Avenue and Avenue Road. 2. Light on during the day reported for Upper Lattimore Road. 3. Asked Herts Highways to accelerate their repairs for Hall Place Gardens which is falling seriously into disrepair near the school and elsewhere.
One of the country's most senior experts on Cannabis has called for the drug to be made available on a licensed basis - both for the seller and the purchaser. Professor Roger Pertwee, is the professor of Neuropharmacology at Aberdeen University so there's not much about the effects of the drug on the human body that he doesn't know. While he acknowledges that there are issues with Cannabis, he argues that the current approach of decriminalisation does more harm than good and has suggested a way forward. Today's Independent quotes him as saying: "You'd need to have a minimum age ...
Tue 14th
12:00
The Independent View: Political Innovation No.3 - assertion-flagging: for less partisan, prejudiced ...
This is a guest cross-post by Andrew Regan – originally posted on the Political Innovation site here. Most political bloggers are motivated to fight what they see as bigotry, prejudice, and ill-informed, unjustifiable assertion. [IMG: Close up of an eye; click for photo credit] This is a fine and noble cause, because the spreading of false beliefs – without the evidence to support them - is bad for all of us, as is the displacement of informed argument by mere rhetoric. All the more so when the perpetrator is powerful or influential. However, bloggers - regular journalists too, and political ...
I was at Bestival this weekend, and had one of the most incredible and intense weekends of my life. The genre-defying sonics of Flying Lotus blew my mind, the heart-melting soulful reggae Fat Freddy's Drop left me in tears, and the bouncy blissful glitches of Four Tet had me captivated. And that's just the acts beginning with 'F'. But my moment of the weekend was with Mary Anne Hobbs. Despite leaving her Radio 1 show last week, she is still the undisputed Queen of All Things Electronic and Experimental. She proved her acumen atop the most spellbinding stages I've seen ...
For the next hour if you sit anywhere near a Lib Dem blogger be nice to them. Why? Well the lovely Auntie Helen had earlier this morning gone and ruined all our mornings by telling us that the BOTY (that is Lib Dem Voice Blog of The Year) shortlists will be announced at 12:30 I'll give my opinion later on who is in, who is cruelly omitted and where I think the little golden men will be heading home to after Saturday night's award. In the mean time, too many hooks remained tentered. Too many bottoms remain squeaky and in ...
[IMG: [community profile] ] doctorwho has a friending meme going on, and via it I discovered a couple of LJ refugees who I am familiar with from doing the Daily, one of whom ( [IMG: [personal profile] ] darthcorrie) posted THIS: (link here) SQUEE! Sarah-Jane hugging Jo, and Eleven running about like an ostrich with hair, and big evil robots, and ClydeySplodey and... and... Goddamn, doesn't that look AWESOME? ♥ SJA. Anyway, if you fancy making more Whoey buddies, that [IMG: [community profile] ] doctorwho friending meme is a good place to start. Later today there will be a restart ...
Beth Noveck is director of Obama's open government initiative. In March 2009 the government held a session with various different agencies to see what they could offer the government and she said the following we invite you to talk about how your organizations can contribute to fostering civic engagement in connection with crafting the recommendations ...
If you remember my blog on 25th July where a number of local activists sent letters to Chris Hughes who is the Energy and Climate Change Secretary re DAB Radio Energy and Cost. Well we all received the same reply from the Department of Energy & Climate Change, well for what's its worth, here it is; Thank you for your letter dated 9 July to Chris Huhne and your comments on DAB Radios and climate change. I have been asked to reply and apologise for the lengthy delay in doing so. This government is committed to making the urgent decisions ...
From Stockport Council: Three dog owners in Stockport have been separately issued with £50 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) for not clearing up after their dogs fouled on designated public land. The FPNs were issued by Stockport Council Dog Wardens who witnessed the offences taking place. On each occasion, the owners walked away after their pet fouled. The offences took place on: · August 26th, a 21-year-old man was issued with a FPN after allowing his dog to foul on a pavement on Reddish Vale Road in Reddish. · August 27th, a woman allowed her dog, which was on a lead, ...
Last week Malcolm Jack, the Clerk of the House of Commons, got a little flurry of media coverage for his evidence before a Parliamentary committee considering the proposed legislation for fixed-term Parliaments. "Parts of the government's plans to bring in fixed-term parliaments are vulnerable to legal challenge" was how the BBC reported it. It is understandable why that got the headlines, but lurking in the detail are important questions about how Parliament operates and whether its administration is competent. Jack's evidence, and concerns about the legislation, really fall into three parts. First, as might be expected from an official whose ...
John Amaechi, a tall, handsome former NBA player, has been refused entry to the Crunch Bar on Manchester's Canal Street because he was "big, black and could be trouble". Racist and discriminatory? Yes. As someone who is about the same height as Amaechi (6'9", 6'10") but white I too have had similar issues at gay bars. Either I've been denied entry as they thought I might be a straight troublemaker (only ever solved when one of my more "acceptably gay" mates would come out and rescue me), or given conspiratorial whispers by the door staff who'd ask me things like ...
The link is to this article on Civil Service Live. This refers to an interview here with Lord Turnbull the previous Cabinet Secretary.He agrees with Tony Blair Turnbull said that that excessive borrowing started to be a problem from 2005. "It kind of crept up on us in 2005, 2006, 2007, and we were still expanding public spending at 4.5 percent a year," he said, arguing that the Treasury should
An update on the party's most active local online campaigns... Five most active local constituencies with online petitions: Chippenham Solihull Bedford North East Bedfordshire Meriden Five most active online campaigns Save Shirley's Historic Signal Box - http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/shirleysignalbox Save Melksham Library - Save Bedfordshire Police - http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/savebedspolice Stop The Incinerator - http://www.campaigns.libdems.org.uk/incinerator Save our ticket offices - http://www.ourcampaign.org.uk/saveourticketoffices
A recent report from the South East England Development Agency shows that, while the global and national recovery continues, the area of Swale, which includes Sittingbourne, Faversham and the Isle of Sheppey, will see a much slower pace taking up to 15 more years! Some parts of Kent will reach a full recovery over the next year or two. For Swale, however, output is estimated to return to pre-recession levels (2007) in 2015, while the level of employment to recover is expected to take until 2025! These are, of course, estimates but what is clear is that the area is ...
Just a short, teaser post to let you know that the shortlists for the Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year awards 2010 will be published this afternoon at 1pm. Nine judges – Prateek Buch, Jonathan Calder, Lee Chalmers, Ryan Cullen, Helen Duffett (that's me), Costigan Quist, Mary Reid, Jo Swinson and Andy Williamson – have been poring over the entries for the following six categories: Best new Liberal Democrat blog (started since 1st September 2009) Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office (The Tim Garden Award) Best use of blogging / social networking / e-campaigning by a Liberal ...
Lots of press about Police numbers being cut. Life is never that simple. Police officers are warranted and you can't hire and fire them. Effectively they're protected and a recruitment freeze would take place and other costs would be slashed. This is likely to hit Police Community Support Officers - they could be wiped out as they can be hired & fired. Fundamentally the problem is how complicated it is for Police officers to make an arrest. On a good day it will involve five hours from start to finish. In other countries the system is designed to trust police ...
An article in this morning's Western Mail reveals that medicine worth £50m is returned unused to pharmacies and GP surgeries, and much more may be binned each year with the household waste. In one case a single patient was found to have returned medicine worth £2,000. Health Minister Edwina Hart was adamant that more effective use of medicines must be made. She said: "Millions of poundsworth of waste medicines are being burnt every year. This is money that could be better spent elsewhere in the NHS. "Not only is there a significant cost associated with wasted medicines, if people have ...
Looking out of the window this morning I saw that it was pouring down. Luckily, nothing starts the day off in a sunnier way than a press release about constitutional reform. Apparently, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has pledged the introduction of a five year fixed term parliaments will have a "profound effect" and lead to greater stability in the political system. The Fixed term Parliaments Bill is currently going through the Commons where votes will decide if it becomes law. "Establishing parliaments of fixed-terms is a straightforward, but fundamental, change in our politics. It is a simple constitutional innovation, ...
There is an interesting little spat in the Western Mail this morning in which Plaid Cymru's economic adviser, Eurfyl ap Gwilym, claims that senior Assembly Government figures, including First Minister Carwyn Jones, have outlined spending cuts significantly higher than those necessitated by the UK Government's Office of Budget Responsibility: Dr ap Gwilym said that Mr Jones implied the cumulative effect of the cuts over three years amounted to 16.5%, or an average of 5.8% per year. That compares to his estimate, based on the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast, of 9.3% and 3.2%, respectively Dr ap Gwilym said: "It ...
I spent some time at Arts Fresco on Sunday. There was nothing to compare with Ant Orkezdra or Musical Ruth from last year, but I was attracted by this act - Octopus Ocean from Circo Rum Ba Ba. The photograph shows someone from another of the day's best acts. This was a large group of performers in high-visibility jackets who, in a clever parody of our modern obsession with safety, attached themselves to any act that, however slowly, moved through the crowds.
Lord Bannside, who until recently was just plain old the Right Honourable, Rev. Dr. Ian K. Paisley P.C., M.L.A., as well as former M.P. and M.E.P. has announced he is visiting Edinburgh this week. Far be it for me to point out that the Festival has finished for another year he has another reason for visiting the city I've worked in for the past nine years. Yeah, anyone who know the history of Paisley and the Popes (video link) will hardly be surprised that he is heading the protest against the Pope in Edinburgh. Regular readers will know that I ...
There are some who might argue that being in opposition has given Peter Hain a fresh start. He has thrown off the shackles of office and can now be as critical of the government as he likes. He also now has time to do the things he wants to do, such as write a biography of Nelson Mandela for example. Mr. Hain has certainly rediscovered his constituency if this article in the South Wales Evening Post is any guide. The Neath MP has taken on board the concerns of some of his constituents and convened a meeting of officials from ...
Liberal Youth Wales today claimed that their campaign for anti homophobic bullying guidance has taken a huge step forward after three Liberal Democrat Assembly Members announced their full support for the campaign. Jenny Randerson, Veronica German and Eleanor Burnham have publicly announced their support for the campaign. Campaigners are asking Education Minister, Leighton Andrews to introduce specific guidance for schools on how to deal with homophobic bullying. Sian Cliff, Communications Officer for Liberal Youth Wales, has welcomed the news. "We're ecstatic that our Assembly Members are supporting us. We hope that they will be able to put pressure on the ...
i) births and deaths 14th September 2006: death of Peter Ling, who wrote The Mind Robber (though not the first episode; see below). ii) broadcast anniversaries 14th September 1968: broadcast of first episode of The Mind Robber, one of the best single episodes of all time, written at short notice by script editor Derrick Sherwin when it became apparent that Peter Ling's script would not fill the time made available by cutting The Dominators. The Dorctor escapes the lava flow by taking the Tardis outside space and time, to a mysterious white void, where it explodes, leaving Zoe memorably clinging ...
Who will be the Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor? Liberal Democrat Voice had an inconclusive discussion, and applications for the nomination are currently open. In other news, Nick Boles proposed a pact between the two Coalition partners at the next general election. But why wait 'til 2015? Maybe Boris could be our Coalition candidate ...
Some readers will remember the problems of#operationevacuate that resulted in a letter to the Chief Constable of Dumfries and Galloway last month when I repatriated fellow LibDem Stephen Glenn from Bathgate to Bangor, County Down. This morning when I returned from my trip to Gilwell Park and Oxbridge, there was a letter from the Dumfries ...
I heard this story yesterday. A couple of pensioners were in the local park picking up litter in front of the people who had dropped it. I don't know if I could do this but it was a brave attempt to . I don't drop litter and I really don't have a problem taking my litter to a bin and I get a sense of satisfaction when my waste is recycled. There is an addition to the story from the park. A child dropped some litter and their mother shouted for them to pick it up. Then they were told ...
