This is the first of my Conference videos and probably the one of most interest to fellow Lib Dem bloggers - the Lib Dem Blogger of the Year Awards. Alas, everyone somehow forgot to nominate me for anything! Undeterred, I still turned up with the camera to film the event.
Each week Lib Dem Voice publishes a list of its "Golden Dozen". This week, Northern Ireland takes a quarter of that dozen. Congratulations to Stephen for being at numbers 1 and 5, I'm amazed to have come in at number 3 this week. Thanks very much to Stephen Tall. Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and ...
I don't know about you but one of my reactions to the election of Ed Miliband as leader of the Labour party was a slight tut and a shake of head... we'll have a foetus leading a political party soon, I thought. Because every party leader seems to be getting younger and younger. So, being an evidence-based sort of chap, I decided to crunch the numbers. And I found that I was wrong. Party leaders aren't getting younger. Let's look at the current crop. On the day they were elected leader David Cameron was 39, Nick Clegg was 40 and ...
I am a big fan of the BBC. Yes, it is hopelessly biased politically with the two years before the general election consisting of any story involving David Cameron instantly being the number one story of the day, but in general terms, the BBC raises the standard of TV programming and sets a benchmark by which we compare others. However, it is clear in the current climate that the BBC needs to cut its cloth according to the difficult economic times, and I have an idea where they can save a small fortune. Trailers. Take a look at these two ...
You don't have to have been alive in the 1970's to know unions holding governments to ransom does no one any favours, including-in the long run and rather ironically-the unions themselves.
Amey, who have the contract to maintain Birmingham's highways, have appointed 6 consitituency stewards to be the first point of contact for community groups and councillors. The steward covering Acocks Green is Jason Bickley. He can be contacted on 0787 187 9059 or by email on jason.bickley@amey.co.uk. My experience of contacting Amey so far has been positive. Its early early days but so far they have responded quickly, and where they can, flexibly, which makes a huge difference in resolving problems. I'd be very interested in hearing other peoples' experience of working with them so if you have had either ...
Commenting on the election of the new Labour Leader, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Simon Hughes said: "I want warmly to congratulate Ed Miliband on becoming the new Labour leader. "It is good to hear that he intends to practice a new politics of working across party boundaries in the national interest. "The country has a tough time ahead and it will be vital that he wakes up to the challenge that Britain faces. As leader he must recognise that his party can no longer remain head-in-the sand deficit deniers. "Much has to be done. We have to restore Britain's reputation ...
Every week Liberal Democrat Voice produces a Golden Dozen of the top Lib Dem blogs of the week. The Golden Dozen features the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator, together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. This week a little ...
The Sack of Rome.
Eric Avebury has a piece on Liberal Democrat Voice looking at the Coalition government's policy on overseas development. He writes as joint chair of the all-party parliamentary group for global action against childhood pneumonia: My view is that if the Coalition Government continues to support countries such as Bangladesh then dramatic reductions in key disease such as pneumonia will continue. The Government have made a good start, but they need to ensure that in this climate of cuts, international development remains protected for the full five years to give the best possible chance for the MDGs to be met.
The recently-formed Tower Hamlets Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats hosted a successful Eid event at the Spifford Centre in Stepney Green this afternoon to help John Griffiths' campaign to become the borough's first directly-elected Mayor. The guest speaker was the Liberal Democrats' Deputy Leader, Simon Hughes MP, who has often crossed the Thames from his home base ...
I was over in East Putney earlier today to hear Anthony Barnett talk at a Liberal Democrat event on constitutional reform (and to win a raffle prize, woo!). We had a fun little exchange over how radical or not the 1832 Great Reform Act was - a subject which I'll be returning to in January for a talk at the National Liberal Club as part of the Liberal Democrat History Group's AGM. (My own view in brief - it was in many ways a modest step forward for democracy if you look at the rules and public participation, but it ...
As regular readers of this blog (if such people exist) will know, I am a big fan of the Government's Spending Challenge initiative - asking people to suggest cuts in public spending. It's a massive exercise in crowdsourcing ideas that may have been missed by group-thinking officials in Whitehall. My own suggestion was that the five-figure severance pay to which Ministers are entitled on leaving ministerial office should be abolished; when Labour Ministers were booted out en masse back in May when Labour lost the election, they collectively pocketed over £1m. You can read a post with the latest on my ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 188th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (19th – 25th September, 2010), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. David ...
Today: cycled 50k, went *shiver* and "ow". Had second breakfast. Cycled 50k back to Cambridge, via many bus stops to shelter from the rain. Beer, hot bath, nap. On my way back to London now on an NXEA train stopping everywhere in the world but terminating at Stratford, hurrah for less Tube. Want food, sleep and cuddles. *flop*
Conference are all very well with there set piece speeches in the main hall but it is on the fringe that the real debate and exchange of idea usually happens. There are a couple of fringe meetings from Liverpool that I want to reflect on, firstly the Adam Smith Institute/IEA and secondly in a separate posting the Social Liberal forum. The Institute of Economic Affairs has 'history' with the Liberal Party. In the 40s and 50s the party had been racked by attempts of a small group to capture the party. William Wallace reflected on those times in a letter ...
I am shamelessly plugging the open weekend for the Wasps Artists open studios weekend next weekend. 200 artists are throwing their studios open on the 2nd and 3rd of October. When Patriot Hall one of the Wasp's studios in Edinburgh needed assistance a few years back I was invited down to see the studios and was blown away. I had seen many of the artists works in various galleries over the years and hadn't realized that they were based in the Stockbridge studio and Gallery. The standard was fantastic and the mix of artists was extraordinary. I recall visiting a ...
I was having a pint of Nutty Slack with Michael Braham at the Beer Festival on Saturday, well actually it was a half, when talk turned to elections in Birkdale in the time before it merged with Southport. (You may wish to check out the context in more detail than this posting will allow so please consult the online version of Michael's History of Southport Liberals which can be found on the Birkdale Lib Dem website.) Michael maintains that these may be the oldest council election leaflets in existence from this constituency. They come from the second set of County ...
I've been going through Labour's detailed voting numbers from their leadership election. It is absolutely correct to say that it were the Brothers in the Unions wot won it for Brother Ed. Just look at the summary: % David Ed Ed's margin MPs/MEPs 17.8 15.5 -2.3 Labour members 18.1 15.2 -2.9 Affiliate members 13.4 19.9 6.5 Total 49.3 50.6 1.3 A stonking win by Ed in the Union vote cancelled out modest leads for David amongst Labour MPs/MEPs and members. (And, by the way, it's been calculated that about 7 more MPs voting for David would have won it for ...
I have to admit to being angry with twitter lately. Ever since the coalition Labourites have name called. Some of it is generic eg ConDem, ConDemNation. However some of it is leveled squarely at Lib Dems and has been used against me personally on occasions. For example "Yellow Tory", "Lib Dim" "Lib Dum" "Limp Dem". ...
Concerns are growing that the proposed Whitehill-Bordon Eco Town will end up being anything but. Whilst not saying it directly, East Hampshire District Council consultation documents are insinuating that the town will effectively be a satellite town to supply workers to neighbouring towns. This in a town that has poor public transport links and is ...
Sometimes, the life of a bureaucrat is complicated by people wanting to do things. The reasoning behind their desire might be entirely well-meaning, occasionally not. As a bureaucrat, one lives with that. Well, usually... One thing that makes me nervous, however, is proposed constitutional change. Something that someone doesn't like has happened, and something must be done. You've all heard it before, generally from the Daily Mail, and you know what the standard response is. This weekend, I have been made aware of concerns about the powers assigned to our Regional Conference Committee. It is required to rule on whether ...
Congratulations to Ed Miliband on becoming leader of the Labour party. It took Labour four months to elect their leader, but many are already questioning whether the party has chosen an electable leader. Here are some thoughts on what Ed Miliband's wafer-thin election victory in the leadership contest might mean and 10 difficulties he will face as leader of the Labour party... 1. Red Ed No-one truly knows how far to the left (or centre) Ed Miliband will take the Labour party, but one thing is clear, the media have already written the script for his leadership. Whenever Labour supports ...
Taken earlier this afternoon.
From the Press Association: A senior Liberal Democrat MP is being investigated by police following allegations he tried to seduce a vulnerable female constituent, it has been disclosed. Mike Hancock, MP for Portsmouth South, was reportedly approached by the 36-year-old single mother with problems about noisy neighbours and inadequacies in her healthcare. Over a number of months, the married politician took the woman to dinner, bought her gifts, including perfume, clothes and a teddy bear, and sent her intimate text messages, the Sunday Times said. In a number of letters Mr Hancock wrote on behalf of his constituent, her mental ...
I had thought I would try and get into the habit of posting about each new Doctor Who audio play as I finished them, but the hectic events of the last couple of weeks meant that this was one intention that fell by the wayside. Three new Big Finish audios to write up, then, and the new Fourth Doctor play from the BBC. As usual I'm doing them in internal continuity order. In timely fashion, just as I had finished watching her original televised stories (and just as she is about to return ass a guest in Sarah Jane), Jo ...
Dear Labour Party If you are going to object to the 'Red Ed' tag for your new leader, perhaps you ought to think about your imagery a bit more carefully. Yours Alex
I have recently been elected Governor at The Walton Centre, Liverpool. This is an honour for me as I will be representing the people of North Wales. The Walton Centre is now a Foundation Trust. Achieving foundation trust status means that the centre has greater freedom to decide locally how to tailor its services for the benefit of its patients. It is also more accountable to the communities it serves and this is where the role of governor comes in. Basically a governor is a critical friend to the trust. The Walton Centre is committed to being an international centre ...
Commenting on the election of the new Labour Leader, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Simon Hughes said: "I want warmly to congratulate Ed Miliband on becoming the new Labour leader. "It is good to hear that he intends to practice a new politics of working across party boundaries in the national interest. "The country has a ...
Anyone who lives in Woking will know that the council agreed some years ago to build a canopy outside the town side of the train station in the centre of town. It was supposed to be a landmark structure for the town and an environmental wonder. Sadly it hasnt turned out that way despite Liberal Democrat ...
It was certainly bigger and had more of a buzz than previous Lib Dem Conferences . ..tighter security, 40% more delegates and over 60% more media (including our Bush blogger).
[IMG: cones] We are in the middle of the latest phase of construction on the busy Hills Road Bridge in Cambridge — a route used by thousands of cyclists every day as well as thousands of pedestrians and motorists. Several people have asked me what is going on, particularly as there often does not appear to be any work going on. It is scheduled to go on till Christmas! The County Council Highways Department is creating new on-road cycle lanes as part of a project to provide a link to the station from Hills Road for people on bikes, walking, ...
Tuesday at Stockton central library between 12 and 2 is an opportunity to buy Frank Medhurst's book, "A quiet catastrophe, The Teesside Job". There may well be some controversy about it, but if we do not properly recall the scandals of the past, we cannot properly move on. From reading the flyer it is a story to be told, and I cannot wait to start reading it! The flyer says :
I am saving some of these for later days, so here I just want to briefly salute the hilariously disastrous dinner party which takes place half way through Lois McMaster Bujold's A Civil Campaign. Really, explaining it takes too long; it's the high point of a very entertaining book. "Pym!" The Countess spotted a new victim, and her voice went a little dangerous. "I seconded you to look after Miles. Would you care to explain this scene?" There was a thoughtful pause. In a voice of simple honesty, Pym replied, "No, Milady." Day 01 - Your favourite series of books ...
When Gordon Brown took the stage yesterday to deliver his final speech to the gathered masses at the Labour Party Leadership conference in Manchester, something far more important was stirring. Something far more powerful that many didnt think would happen. New Labour was in its death throes. Gordon Brown gave, grantedly, a more human and ...
Whilst looking through the Lib Dem blogs aggregator today, I came across THIS rather unusual blog. I am totally confused how a blog that is run by someone who voted for and canvassed for Ed Miliband can qualify as a Lib Dem blogger. I note in particular the comment on one story which said "I will still remain, for now, with Labour until it seems clear that there is another party that is more firmly rooted in the labour movement. I see it as the continuing story of enfranchisement of the dispossessed. Will there ever be a time when I ...
For those interested in how local Labour members voted in the leadership election this webpage is fascinating. You can see some areas with pretty poor turnouts and others which very clearly preferred one of the losers. This is obviously first preferences only but it is still quite illuminating.
The City Council has just kicked off a consultation about changing the way the social housing choice system works. At the moment people can register on Property Pool and then apply for housing opportunities in different parts of Liverpool. The idea now is to extend this so that people in Liverpool can apply for vacancies in Wirral, Knowsley etc and vice versa. The Council is running a consultation on this. If you want to take part, a form and the documents are available here.
On the Labour website you can read a complete breakdown of the first preference votes by Constituency Labour Parties. It shows that Ed Miliband beat his brother for first preference votes in only 54 out of the 650 constituencies. Now these are the votes cast in the party members section of the electoral college. Their votes only counted for one third of the total, with the MP/MEP and affilated organisations sections each being weighted at one third as well. In fact, 44% of all the first preferences of Labour party members were given to David Miliband, and only 30% to ...
Cecil Ramage fought Southport in the Yellow Book General Election of 1929. By all accounts he was an excellent candidate and galvanised the constituency. We have previously feature Ramage on the blog and his song book can be found here. He has also featured on Liberal England as their Man of the Day. This obituary, from the Daily Telegraph, reached me via the usual route having originated with Mr Ascott Snr of Birkdale whose grandson and great grandson I spied at the Sandgrounder beer festival recently. One has to admire the Telegraph's use of euphemism. To describe Ramage in later ...
From Stockport Council: Stockport Council is encouraging parents/carers to attend consultation sessions about the future of Offerton School. The Council is consulting interested parties on a proposal to close Offerton School following a decision by the Council's Executive in June. A series of consultation sessions are being held at Offerton School to give interested parties, especially current and future parents as well as members of the community, the chance to give their views on the proposal. The consultation sessions are being held on the following dates: • Tuesday 28th September, 8.15am-10.15am • Thursday 30th September, 5pm-8pm • Monday 4th October, ...
A week ago in a sunny Lincoln Plaza I promised the saxophone player from Mamarazzi (who turns out to be Tacuma Bradley) that I would put the band on my blog. So here they are as this week's Sunday music video, posted in a chilly Market Harborough.
We have had a lovely weekend visiting a few smaller places this weekend, which I thought I'd share with you. The first one, we visited yesterday was the Traditional Heritage Museum on Ecclesall Road, Sheffield. I have wanted to visit this for some time, and so we decided to take the opportunity as we had spotted it was open. It is a real aladdin's cave of life from 1850s to 1960s ish all laid out as shops through the ages. It was lovely to explain to the kids what shops looked like and point out what things were. Its well ...
So Ed Milliband has been elected Labour leader, winning the unions big, and losing the members and MPs. Are the system and result wrong in some way? Does it matter that not all votes are equal? I don't think so. There's nothing inherently unreasonable about having a ballot just of MPs or just of members, or just of some wider constituency, like an open primary. So what can be wrong with a heterogenous compromise between these homogenous ballots? And yes, there is something wrong with representing the interests of unionised workers over and above everybody else - lower paid non-unionised ...
Allotments are great. I love them - they get people out in the open, working with their hands, growing and eating their own food, as local as you can get. They are great news for wildlife, and they add to the physical attractiveness and greenery of the city. And all this for quite a modest cost: a little over £47,000 in 2009/10, which comes in at just under 19p per city resident per year. What's not to love? There has been a big jump in the number of people on the waiting list for an allotment in Plymouth. It rose ...
Stephen Colbert sometimes has some truly inspired ideas for example why is the ground at ground level? why can't it be at waist hight! where is the funding?
I'm sure there are lots of blog posts about the Labour leadership election today, so I'm not going to add to the crystal ball-gazing about just what Ed Miliband might or might not do now he's leader of the opposition, or even about the structure of the result, but there is one curious part of ...
Here is my keynote speech from Conference - "Breaking New Ground" Liberal Democrats. I look around and I see the faces of so many friends, colleagues, Cabinet Members. Yes – I did just say that – Liberal Democrat members of the Cabinet. Now conference, I was pretty clear at the time as to just what I thought of having an all male all pale team sent to negotiate on our behalves in May Often for some of us women we get frustrated when we see mediocrity promoted above us But in this case, they weren't mediocre – our negotiating team ...
Saying thank you properly after an election is so important. There is nothing worse when you finish the count-whether you have won or lost -for nobody to have thought about a party for everyone to wind down and talk over the election. This is particularly true in a General Election when so many folk have put their lives on hold, desserted their families and taken annual leave to help with campaign. Michael Braham's book -available online at our website has some excellent examples. On this blog we have written a lot about the first 1910 election when Baron de Forest ...
From PoliticsHome: Hancock investigated after...claims Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock is being investigated over claims he tried to seduce a mentally ill female constituent. More behind the paywall in the Sunday Times.
I found out about this event recently via Lib Dem Voice and thought I would give it a go in Russian...However it has quickly become apparent that my level of Russian still has a very long way to go and so what I actually do end up posting in Russian will be very basic (and not including this pre-amble that has used such words as "pre-amble" that I simple do not know. I Could cheat and use babel
Will somebody please tell me how, when, and why involvement in the trade union movement has suddenly become as socially acceptable as farting in a lift? To read many ostensibly Liberal(!) blogs today - and shame on them for doing so - one would get the impression that "Red Ed", as nobody was calling him until the nickname appeared in Friday's Daily Mail, is the long-lost son of Arthur Scargill out to wreak the Red Terror upon Middle England from his super-secret base in South Yorkshire. It matters not that that oft-repeated canard about "union block voting" has not applied ...
...for a couple of barely composed, let alone completed posts in the past couple of days. I shall complete these and re-post in due course. Andrew
From 30th October until 7th November, there will be an art exhibition at the University of Dundee Botanic Garden Gallery. It will be open from 10am to 4pm daily. Further details are available by clicking on the headline above or by going to http://tinyurl.com/botanicart.
Ed Miliband's first interview as Labour leader has seen him describe the label "Red Ed" as "tiresome." In the 15 hours since I first heard it, I have to say I agree with him. I'm tired of it, and it's pretty juvenile as well, I reckon. So let me be the first Lib Dem to reach out the hand of friendship to Mr Miliband, with an offer for him and for Bury Labour - I won't use the phrase "Red Ed" if you won't use the equally tiresome "ConDem Coalition," which you've been gleefully repeating for the last 5 months, ...
As announced by the Scottish Liberal Democrats yesterday, Nicol Stephen MSP is standing down next May, 28 years after first being elected a councillor, then an MP and latterly an MSP. Nicol has served the people of Aberdeen with great distinction over three decades and he has done much to build up the Scottish Liberal Democrats, particularly during his period as party leader between 2005 and 2008. Nicol has always been very supportive of our local party in Dundee, visiting the city often and campaigning with us. See photo (right) of some of the Dundee LibDem team with Nicol when ...
It's getting very close to the deadline, and I still don't have enough noms. If any of you lot know any voting reps who might be willing to put pen to paper, please please please will you ask them for me? You can download the form from the member's area of the party website (registration required), or if you're not registered for the member's area on the party website it's on my campaign team google group (registration required), or you can contact [IMG: [personal profile] ] matgb and he'll send one out to you (given that I am working 12-8 ...
As we previously reported, Sodbury Town Council circulated a voting slip to all their households to gauge opinion on the proposal. The question was: "Do you approve of the proposals for a Waitrose Store and residential housing on the Barnhill Site in Chipping Sodbury as per Planning Application PK10/1675/O?" The results were as follows: Yes: 393No: 435Unsure: 57That's 885 households responding out of 2286 - a 38% response, which is very good for this sort of consultation. So well done Sodbury Town Council, even if the overall town result seems to be "Don't know". There was then a Town Council ...
Sun 26th
10:58
Bloggers interview with Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne MP
The Liberal Democrat Conference in Liverpool last week was different from previous Lib Dem congresses on so many grounds - the stricter security, the media attention - mostly welcome - the Northern accents... But perhaps the most notable difference between this Conference and earlier incarnations was the thrilling fact that so many familiar faces had recently take on new roles in government -
I was delighted recently to learn that two of the Community Support & Traffic Officers for our area have recently received the "WOW Award" for customer service. The officers were nominated for the award by a resident of Hornby Road in recognition of the help given to reduce damage to property and for restoring quality of life. PCSO's Chris Ward and Trevor Vearncombe with their awards presented by ACC Gallan at Police Headquarters. More details on the award and on policing in our area can be found at Cambridge Ward page of the Merseyside Police Website.
We've reached 1998 in my review of Stockport's local election results from 1974 onwards. The Lib Dems took a second seat in Cheadle ward and the Conservatives won back Bramhall East, beating Brian Millard. Current councillors Shan Alexander and Margaret McLay won in 1998. Sue Derbyshire, who currently holds the finance portfolio on Stockport's Executive, came second in Manor. Dave Goddard and Patsy Calton comfortably held their seats in South Reddish and West Bramhall. 07/05/98 1998 Stockport Bredbury (11692) @ 1 vote share Humphries D. Ms.* ld 2311 74.1 Brown D. lab 493 15.8 Hirst I. con 314 10.1 ffff ...
People found guilty of crimes spent a total of 280,750 hours doing community service work to pay back for their crimes on Merseyside, according to the latest just-published annual police report. Instead of fines or other measures, courts sentence offenders to do community work, such as removing graffiti, picking up litter and other worthwhile neighbourhood clean-up and improvement projects. In Sefton, the Community Pay Back team visit Southport on a regular basis - if you know of anywhere around you that has litter or graffiti or that could do with a tidy up please let your Lib Dem Team know ...
[IMG: Telegraph Steet car park] All, The developer of the building at the back of the Telegraph Street car park applied to the District Council to use 5 spaces for storage for 12 weeks. Town Councillors and traders were concerned that this would mean that these spaces would be out of use over the busy holiday period. I spoke to officers at the Council, and it has been agreed that the spaces will come back into use a couple of weeks before Christmas. If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch. Philip
Hands up all those who recall Labour Deputy Leader, Harriet Harman claiming last month that 32,000 people have joined Labour since the General Election, one third of them ex-Liberal Democrats? At the time I asked how she could know? After all the Labour membership form does not ask you to provide information about previous political affiliations. In addition, the Liberal Democrats have not lost anything like 1,000 members in that period, never mind 10,000. In fact we have had a net membership increase of around 4,000. Well the bright light of the Labour leadership contest has put her claims into ...
This morning's Wales on Sunday reports that expensive new ambulances are sitting idle because they have not yet been fitted with their flashing blue lights. They say that 4×4 vehicles were bought after last year's bitter winter saw traditional ambulances struggle to make it through snow to patients needing emergency treatment: But, despite being paid for and delivered, the 12 Land Rover Discoveries have yet to be brought to "blue light specification" - meaning they have not been fitted with blue lights, radios or emergency equipment. Ambulance chiefs promised improvements to the service after last winter's cold weather led to ...
The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is upon us. The leaves are turning here especially in the graveyard my little flat overlooks. I look down on a canopy of mature deciduous trees and the colours get quite spectacular in the autumn. There is also that coolness in the air. To that end I have updated my recipe page with a Scottish Favourite - Scotch Broth - just the thing for this time of year. The political scene has now shifted to the Labour Party conference. Ed Miliband has just been elected Labour Leader under their fearfully complex electoral college ...
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost Lord, in today's Gospel, what power you manifest! If you heal the body, you first, by a greater miracle, heal the soul. You begin by what for us is the most important: peace of mind. Our hearts desire peace and happiness, which none but you can give. Purify our souls of ...
Like a lot of other people, I was saddened and disgusted by Elizabeth Moon's recent comments on Islam. (For those who don't know about this: Moon, a fairly prominent writer of what is generally termed 'military sf', who also won a Nebula award for a novel about autism, wrote a rambling and offensive screed about the duties of Muslims in the US to be more sensitive to people like her if they want to be worthy of citizenship, let alone building places of worship in downtown New York, because of what a small number of their co-religionists from outside the ...
births and deaths 26 September 1909: birth of Leonard Sachs, who played Admiral de Coligny in The Massacre (1966) and President Borusa in Arc of Infinity (1983)
Wishful thinking in medical education: My experience using social bookmarking with medical students: #fail? (tags: internet) Lib Dem conference: 10 things I've learned (tags: libdems)
A few days ago a list of quangos set to be abolished by the Coalition was leaked to the BBC. You can read the leaked document HERE. As I looked through the long list and the sentence handed down on each, it did strike me that there are some that surely should have gone years, if not decades, ago - e.g. the "Advisory Committee on Conscientious Objectors", the status of which is surprisingly "still to be decided" or the 16 "Agricultural Dwelling House Committees" (to be abolished). Then there is the strange use of language. We have an "Advisory Committee ...
What was the news yesterday? What am I going to write about in this blog? Is it the Labour leadership or is it the progress of the facilities for the Commonwealth Games? Well I am going to tell you about a conversation I had with someone who had travelled from London to Preston this week with his wife. They told me they saw people running to catch the train in order to get a seat. The train was full but fortunately they did get a seat. At one stage on their journey one young lady lay down under their table. ...
Monday: The BIG controversy of the week - at least according to the meeja - was the policy motion saying: "We think Free Schools stink". I paraphrase. A bit. Having made ONE speech (collecting MY Blogger of the Year Prize) and then gotten his face on the telly asking Captain Clegg a question ("do you agree with Vince"; pitch him a HARD one why don't you) my normally shy Daddy Richard seems to have gone a bit CRAZED for the limelight and submitted a speaker's card. To make matters even WORSE, he thought he have a go a speaking AGAINST! ...
