There was a pre application consultation for replacing a mobile phone mast in our ward on Darlington Lane. As soon as I recieved the documents in June I e-mailed the agents with a list of errors in the application, including the fact that they had called in "Darlington Back Lane". I now find that there is a re-consultation as the application was put in as "Darlington Back Lane"...
I've received responses to my FoI requests to the BIS and also the Treasury, who forwarded it on to the Government Equalities Office. The overall tone of the responses is best summarised by this line from the GEO response: There have been no studies or impact assessments on the cost of implementing "full marriage equality". We pretty much knew this already, following Brian Paddick's revelations in the Pink News last week. But let's just quickly remind ourselves of the contents of Stonewall's "clarification" from last week. Ben pointed out, factually, that there was a cost to including provision of civil ...
La República Peru Support Group aclara relación con Villarán y rechaza vínculos terroristas Mar, 28/09/2010 - 16:38 En respuesta a los comentarios de la candidata Lourdes Flores, durante el debate municipal, el Peru Support Group (PSG) emitió un comunicado donde esclarece sus actividades y conexiones con Susana Villarán. En un comunicado, el PSG aseguró ser un grupo de sociedad civil sin cualquier vínculo pasado o actual con Sendero Luminoso. En tal sentido, manifestó que ya rebatió exitosamente este tipo de acusación anteriormente. En lo que respecta a s relación con la aspirante al sillón municipal, Susana Villarán, el comunicado aclara ...
David Miliband writes: Gosh chiz this is miliband 2 my bro he is uterly wet and a weed it panes me to think I am of the same blud. He is always eating and cheeks everybode. You know when burnham sa there are fairies at the bottom of his garden miliband 2 sa there is a dirty old rubbish heap at the bottom of his then zoom away dive bombing sparows worms the skool dog and other poor dumb creatures. I diskard him.
It's that Facebook meme time again, but it's easier to report here. The rules are simple. A quick list of 15 albums that you've heard that will always stick with you. Don't take too long trying to be clever, just list the first fifteen you can recall. One Step Beyond – Madness Probably my first love. ...
In my comments thread for my entry for "B" last week, there was a teaser that I'd be playing to type for "C"... so what did you guess? The following were suggested amongst the comments: The Carpenters, Chicago and Chas 'n' Dave to start with... The only one of those I may have had would have been Chicago but that would, if I had it, be filed separately with Soundtracks and Original Cast Recordings. The next suggestions were Cher and a certain Ms Madonna Ciccone. I own nothing by either of these artists (Oh, OK, I did have Madonna's American ...
This morning on Twitter my friend @CllAnnMarie alerted me on twitter to a water outage in the Woking area. Having already left the house for work, I wasn't sure if I was affected until I got home this evening. Putting the kettle under the tap in order to have a warming cup of coffee I was greeted ...
Conservative Home are carrying a story on a perceived Ed Miliband's £1,373 tax bombshell. It states; 'Tonight Matt Hancock has returned to the attack, accusing the new Labour leader of needing £35bn of tax rises to meet his plans. * £35bn of tax rises means £1,373 per household... * Equivalent to 7p on Income tax or VAT of 25% or £1.59 on every litre of petrol.' This is based on what Ed Miliband stated while running for the Labour leadership using both the governments deficit reducing measures that he opposes and the spending promises he made. But to be honest ...
Whilst in New York I naturally consulted the website of the South Shropshire Journal. I was pleased to read that the buildings and brewing plant at the Three Tuns Brewery in Bishop's Castle has been secured with the completion of a long programme of renovation and re-equipment. The newspaper says: To mark the achievement there will be a celebration at the brewery next Friday, October 1, at 2pm. Everyone who loves beer is invited. South Shropshire MP Philip Dunne will unveil a plaque on the brewery wall at 5pm. There will be bands and a great deal of beer, which ...
The news that Jennie Rigg has failed to gain enough nominations to be accepted as a validly nominated candidate has come as a bit of a disappointment to me. Don't get me wrong, as a very publicly declared neutral, I announced that I would not, and could not, nominate a candidate. After all, there are too many out there who believe that I am some sort of unspoken frontman for Ros (and you wouldn't say that if I had been the President and she had been my consort, would you?). However, a contest for the Presidency, with three distinctive voices, ...
One of the (many) disappointing moments from the general election was the defeat of Willie Rennie, the Lib Dem by-election victor in the famous 2006 Dunfermline contest. He was subsequently appointed a government special advisor in the Scottish Office. Well now he's back in the saddle of elected politics again. Here's how the Dunfermline Press reports it: Local members put Mr Rennie in prime position to win one of seven places as a list MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, which covers all of Fife and parts of Clackmannanshire, Perthshire and Stirling. He secured first place ahead of Fife councillor ...
Confession: I've never been to Spain. It's never really appealed, perhaps because I don't like the heat, because I'm not really a beach holiday kind of person, and also because I prefer places a bit more off the beaten track. None of those things really preclude a trip to Spain, so basically I need to accept I have had a bit of a Spain prejudice. Tomorrow, all that changes. In search of another capital, we're off to Spain, on the train. Now, given it takes us nearly four hours to get to London by train (and I've already done that ...
Reading that David Miliband had announced his intention to not submit himself for consideration in the shadow cabinet elections was not a real surprise after his loss to his brother in the labour leadership campaign. What was surprising was the other admission in his statement that jumped out at me that has gone largely unnoticed in the melee. The letter sent to ...
Several residents have contacted me about groups of youths congregating in South Street and outside ASDA. In fact its not just ASDA, I have had similar comments about the same problems outside Tesco in the High Street and other shops in town. This in itself is not anti-social behaviour, but large crowds can be intimidating especially to older residents. Its no surpise then that the police are looking for additional powers to disperse these crowds. But this doesn't solve the problem it just moves it elsewhere and alienates the young in the process. While I fully support the police attempts ...
I have never been able to get too excited about the Miliband brothers. Not until this evening did I grasp how much more impressive David than Ed - which probably explains why most Labour members and most Labour MPs voted for David rather than Ed. This evening's coverage has also made it clear that David's resignation from the Labour front bench was inevitable. The media fixation on the brothers' relationship would have made life insufferable for both of them and dominated the coverage of Ed's leadership if he had tried to stay there. That said, there is a lot to ...
Back in July, I mentioned that at the south end of Seymour Street, there is an area of grass on the south side down which water constantly flows, and then across the pavement of Perth Road. At the time, I met with a local resident on-site and we agreed that, given there's a street drain to the immediate west, simply providing a channel to let the water flow into the drain, rather than across the pavement, would be the obvious solution - something I wrote to the City Engineer about. He has now responded positively as follows : "Scottish Water ...
Wednesday: It's the BIG story of the day and it could well end in the end of a career in frontline politics... so obviously the meeja have completely ignored the highly damaging leak of a confidential letter from the Defence Secretary to the Prime Monster in favour of camping about outside Dead Millipede's Caravan of Sulk™. (Seriously, if he WANTED to go quietly could he not have just said so rather than drawing all the attention by refusing to make a statement until after the moment when it was OBVIOUS what he'd done? No, no, no, now I'M doing it!) ...
Last night, Babergh District Council voted in favour of a full merger between itself and Mid Suffolk District Council, with the expectation that £1.3 million could be saved with no effect on services. Good news then, for the council tax payers of Mid Suffolk, one presumes. To be honest, I've developed the view that District Councils in Suffolk are too small to be efficient, unable to recruit and retain staff at a sufficient level, providing services that cost more than they should at a lower quality than they should. Indeed, I was of the view that, with proper standards of ...
In amongst fratricidal leadership trauma and bashing the Coalition Government (which I suppose you'd expect of a Party in opposition - we were hardly complimentary about Labour when they were in power), Labour have been trumpeting this wonderful new policy of a Living Wage. They've decided that they weren't paying public sector workers enough when they were in power and now they're in opposition they should be paid a minimum of £7 per hour. Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favour of the lower paid having more money, but aren't we already doing pretty much everything Labour plans to ...
Following my update last week about concerns over building safety at Queen Victoria Works, I have been in continuing touch with council officers about this matter. The matter is with legal officers but it is intended, subject to any necessary legal steps, that council buildings standards officers and engineers will inspect the building in the very near future. Over a period of some time, I have had continuing concerns about the state of the building and the recent roof collapse only serves to highlight the building safety issue. Clearly a vacant building like this will deteriorate over time and it ...
So, in the end, it seems that just two weeks is not enough time to organise a grassroots campaign for the Party Presidency, though Jennie gave it a damn good go. Still, there's two years until the next contest, which is a lot more notice... As it stands, it looks as though the contest is ...
Part 24 of blogging my way through my first reading of Atlas Shrugged. You can find the first part here. Chapter 24: Anti-Life James Taggart is growing bored of parties; at least parties in which he doesn't impress people. He celebrates the news that d'Anconia copper is to be nationalised by going home and lashing ...
Wed 29th
18:38
No greater love hath no man than this, than to lay down his brother for his own advancement
If I were David Miliband, I'd have made the same decision he has today. Not from any sense of pride, but for other reasons. The way David was knifed in the back by his brother, particularly in the way Iraq was dredged up over and over by the Ed Miliband team to attack his brother David was a low tactic. Anyone who believes Ed miliband would have acted any differently from David had Ed been in parliament in 2003 is surely living on a different planet. For Ed Miliband too to decry the last government, a government he was a ...
We've often covered the issue of press standards on Lib Dem Voice, including posts such as those from myself calling for the Press Complaints Commission to be reformed – which was also the subject of a speech I gave at party conference. So it is only fair to give credit where some is due – as it is in the case of the PCC ruling against the Daily Star: The Press Complaints Commission has upheld a complaint against the Daily Star about an article titled "Muslim-only public loos", ruling that it was inaccurate and misleading in breach of Clause 1 ...
So, David Miliband has taken the long walk from the limelight to the back benches apparently in the hope that his little brother Ed can be left to lead the Labour Party in piece. I can see that he's already spent three years as the smoking gun in one cabinet, with the tiniest suggestion of rebellion leading to the entire political press pack camping on his doorstep. More of the same on that front, especially given the family angle, would be pretty agonising. We saw what happened when he snapped at Harriet Harman for clapping Ed yesterday. He knows every ...
Here is the full list of the 49 Labour MPs who want to be in the shadow cabinet. Labour's MPs will vote to elect 19 of them, and then, the new leader Ed Miliband will choose the jobs they get. Some of them I have never heard of and then there are some of the old school such as Alan Johnson, who I thought was taking a back seat. There is in fact 50, but Harriet Harman is automatically on the list so, don't panic. 1. Diane Abbott 2. Douglas Alexander 3. Ed Balls 4. Hilary Benn 5. Roberta Blackman-Woods ...
A century ago, Baku was one of the greatest cities on earth, the old walled settlement on the banks of the Caspian Sea swelled by the ornate mansions of men who made fortunes from oil and the related economic boom. Communism largely put a halt to the city's growth, as Moscow was wary of giving ...
[IMG: Venn diagram of Lib Dem/Tory influence on Coalition policies] How much respective influence have the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives had on the Coalition Government's policies? Lib Dem blogger Duncan Stott has crunched the data from the Guardian's Datablog: "The most objective way of assessing the coalition at this early stage is the coalition agreement. An analysis of this text and the roots behind each policy would give the best description of how this government is formed. Happily the Guardian have done exactly this analysis and provided it as a spreadsheet. It list each commitment and gives the party ...
Since Jennie, alas, seems not to have got sufficient nominations for the post of President of the Liberal Democrats, I can declare that I'm pretty sure I'll be voting for Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale. I knew Tim back when we were both student Lib Dem politicos and he (utterly against the odds) got elected to the NUS National Executive in a straw poll of NUS Conference (the runner-up in that vote, Lorna Fitzsimons, has been and gone as a Labour MP in the years since). Tim was eloquent and fiery then, and as far as I can ...
Perhaps the best forecasting of the Ed Milliband speech came from Conservative commentator Dizzy who suggested that the new Leader might follow the lead of Krushchev in 1956 who famously denounced Stalin and Lenin. And so it came to pass that Blairism and Brownism were set aside and the new ideology of youth was adopted. Would it be too much to suggest that Red Ed has been reading his Cambodian history books? Certainly the intellectuals are fleeing for the borders, led by David Milliband. Whilst the majority of the party applauded the new orthodoxy, at least DM had the guts ...
David Miliband has done the smart thing for himself, his brother and his party and, although much will be made of it in the news over the coming days, the discomfort of such scrutiny will be nothing compared to the long-term dysfunctionality which would surely have been unleashed had he stayed within Ed's shiny new tent.
Next May, voters across Scotland will be heading to the polls to elect their constituency and regional MSPs. The Conservatives, like all other parties are already campaigning, but one of their candidates is already claiming she is the MSP, seven months before a vote has actually been cast. Perhaps she is a medium, or has at least consulted Mystic Meg or the like? Gill Dykes has sent out a campaign postcard to residents ahead of next May's polling day which is headed: "Gill Dykes MSP for Dumfriesshire." However, Gill Dykes is not an MSP, for Dumfriesshire or anywhere else for ...
I listened to Ed Miliband's speech yesterday with a mixture of disbelief and annoyance. He made it sound as though the party he leads had been out of power for years rather than weeks; as though the "new generation" at its head were different from the people who lost the election weeks ago. You would never have guessed that he wrote the Labour Party's election manifesto. You would never have guessed how consistently he voted against an investigation into the Iraq War, how consistently he voted to curtail indidual freedoms, or how vigorously he pursued the closure of post offices. ...
Via Guido comes audio footage of Hazel Blears being full and frank about the last thirteen years. A quick piece of advice to anyone who speaks in public these days. Don't gob off at public events if your not prepared to stand by your comments afterwards!
At the weekend I blogged BBC, aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!, about the BBC's decision to cutaway to a voice-over from Nick Robinson during the middle of the reading out of the Labour leadership election results. I've now had a reply: Complaints on this issue were forwarded to senior figures within the BBC Newsroom and BBC's political team and they agree that on this occasion it was inappropriate to continue with the commentary and analysis whilst results were being read out. We would like to apologise for the interruption during the announcement. Well done the BBC for acknowledging the mistake. Fingers crossed for next ...
If this is the 'new generation,' I'll stick with what we've got thanks very much.
There is a new scheme"Simple cycling for all" sums up the aim of this innovative approach to outdoor exercise and active travel. Our programme of led cycle rides has now started and rides are currently scheduled on: Thursdays: 13.00 Fridays: 13.00 Please arrive 15 minutes before the scheduled ride start time. What is it? Based at Green Park Station, Bath linking to the start of the
If you're like me your head is spinning with spin. Labour are bellowing that this is a Tory government propped up by sell-out Lib Dems; the Lib Dems are insisting that this is a true coalition government with two parties coming together, comprimising and acting in the national interest. Which is true? The most objective way of assessing the coalition at this early stage is the coalition agreement. An analysis of this text and the roots behind each policy would give the best description of how this government is formed. Happily the Guardian have done exactly this analysis and provided ...
The interesting thing here is that there are recordings of her first saying one thing than saying another.My transcript of what she says one day is "nobody knows what Ed Milliband stands for. Actually if you are a bit of a blank sheet of the paper to the public you have a chance of doing something new and for goodness sake. I feel this personally so much. Don't we need something new. After 13
Secretary of State for Defence, Liam Fox's "robust" letter arguing against savage cuts to the Armed forces is a good example of the scale of the problem facing Government in trying to agree Government departmental spending that will balance the books, cut the spending deficit and yet maintain appropriate service levels. It is right that we periodically review Government spending anyway, and it should be pointed out that this was something that the last Government ducked, because they new the scale of the problem and weren't prepared to face the political consequences. It the case of our armed forces we ...
I listened earnestly yesterday as Ed Miliband made his leadership speech to the Labour conference in Manchester. It was an optimistic speech, lacking in substantive content but I look forward to hearing more. It contained elements of interest but wasn't quite the 'Love letter to Liberal Democrats' the @newstatesman made it out to be. He said "I won't let the Liberals take the British tradition of Liberty". Ed's desire to reclaim the mantle of Civil Liberties from the Liberal Democrats was met with only lukewarm noise in the conference hall and the party of ID Cards, Contactpoint, 28 Days detention, ...
So what are we as Lib Dems going to say on the doorsteps to voters during the next General Election campaign to justify ourselves in reply to the 'I voted Lib Dem to keep the Tories out' challenge? I can imagine it will be a common enough question, especially in close Lib Dem/Conservative constituencies where we appealed to Labour voters to 'lend us their vote'. To me the answer seems quite simple. We reply to the voters "We asked you to vote Lib Dem to help keep the Tories out, and it worked. Thank you and well done." We don't ...
The right wing of the Tory Party will bring down this coalition & cut David Cameron's throat without blinking as soon as they think it might provoke a general election which they can win & only they can afford. The leaked [how convenient] letter from Liam Fox could be viewed as a first opportunity & skirmish in this process. In truth the country does not need any form of Trident replacement. Since we can't fire the missiles without approval from Washington it was arguably a nonsense when it was first built all those years ago.[I had some minor personal involvement ...
BT Openreach have contacted me to talk about their superfast broadband - initially 40Mbs downstream and 10Mbs upstream. The Dulwich exchange will have super fast broadband from March 2011. I've done a little investigation and all exchanges serving Southwark will have been upgraded to superfast broadband by end of 2011 - back end loaded Sept-Dec 2011. www.superfast-openreach.co.uk (Bermondsey Sep'11, Beulah Hill Mar'11, Brixton Sep'11, Forst Hill Mar'11, Gipsy Hill Sep'11, New Cross Dec'10, Southwark/Borugh dec'11, Vauxhall/Kennington Oct'10, Walworth Dec'11). Not clear about Southbank but suspect it doesn't serve homes. To make this work they are talking about Fibre To The ...
Following the announcement of David Mundell's election expenses mistake - Police probe David Mundell election expenses complaint - and then the news - David Mundell MP set to appear in court over election expenses probe - well, it appears now that the Police have in fact finally got around to this case. David Mundell MP was apparently questioned by the Police two days ago on Monday. I still don't think this will come to anything more than a fine, although the fine can be as much as £5,000. Scotland's only Conservative MP entered a newspaper bill on the long campaign ...
Just like Cllr Andrew Wallis, I've been sent a copy of an overview of the consultant's report on the siting for a Stadium for Cornwall. As with Andy, it's marked confidential. I have asked why this is so as it does not appear to contain any commercially confidential details or discuss personnel matters (the two usual reasons for confidentiality). What it does do, however, is make it very clear that - despite what Cllr Carolyn Rule is saying now - the Cabinet were gung-ho in favour of a council funded stadium and have spent far more than the £78,000 spent ...
Tuesday (again): And so the party assembly has anointed the younger son of the aging communist to be the next leader. But enough about the Labour Party, let's talk North Korea... No, no, no, let's talk about Mr Ed Millipede, the Ed Boy, the Big Ed, Ed and Shoulders, Ed's you Lose Tails we Win [that's enough "Ed's", er, Ed] He says he wants a NEW politics, a GROWN-UP politics, and he doesn't like being called names [oops!]. Well here's your FIRST challenge, Mr Ed. If you don't like name-calling, then tell your chums to stop with the "Con-Dem-Nation", okay? ...
A lot of column inches in the mainstream media and the blogosphere is being taken up by the leaked letter from Liam Fox to David Cameron about potential defence cuts. Tory Blogger Iain Dale thinks it had to be a non political person whilst Guido implies (and hints) that he thinks the good Mr. Fox himself is responsible. For me, tracking down a leak is like a good Columbo movie just look at who has the means, motive and opportunity. Means According to the Telegraph this was a document that came direct from Liam Fox and was marked "for the ...
I haven't had a chance to write about it but I was up in Sheffield this weekend. The main purpose of the visit was to see my friend Anders.
A leaked letter from Defence Secretary Dr. Liam Fox to David Cameron is causing chaos in Whitehall, as MOD police search cupboards and computers to try and work out how it became public in the Daily Telegraph. The letter, marked 'For the Prime Minister's eyes only', detailed Dr Fox's fears that "this process [the strategic defence spending review,] is looking less and less defensible as a proper SDSR and more like a "super CSR" (comprehensive spending review)." Many were hoping that the much respected former marine, and former Lib Dem Leader, Lord Ashdown would have some formal role to play ...
On Monday, Conservative led West Lindsey District Council released that it was going to reintroduce car parking charges in Gainsborough. They state that the reason for this is to reduce the impact of the spending review in October. The council estimated it would cost around £14,000 per month to carry out the second part of the original proposal and offer free parking for the first 2 hours until 31st December 2010. Instead of the pre-Christmas boost to our Town Centre stores, car parking charges are being reintroduced on Saturday afternoons. Why they didn't leave this interim arrangement in place as ...
'Red Ed'? Congratulations! To all the newspapers that preferred easy rhyme over rigorous analysis. Because anyone who watched or read Milliband Minor's Conference speech can see where he is aiming to position Labour: "This new generation that leads our party... will fight for the centre ground...". And it's this aim that shows why we must disagree with Nick. At conference Nick Clegg quite rightly rejected creating "some synthetic differences" that would trade short term headline wins for long term damage to the Coalition. But that 'synthetic' misses the point. When the two other parties are leaping into the centre ground, ...
Dear David Davis, You have me confused. In your speech today you warn against "the destruction of a 200-year-old constitution" and give this as a reason to oppose AV. But aside from our voting system, there is another part of that 200 year old constitution that is also currently up for change before Parliament. 200 years ago the size of Parliamentary constituencies varied hugely. Much more than 5% or 10% and not simply on islands or in the Highlands. Massive variations were built into the system, specially to protect particular vested interests. So if you are wanting to protect our ...
The local Homewatch networks have issued a warning about a survey which is being delivered by TNT Doorstep Media Ltd. In exchange for the offer of free Thornton's chocolates, it is asking lots of intimate details such as date of birth, income levels, who people bank with, loans etc. Then it's asking people to leave it on the doorstep in a plastic bag for collection. Now as far as the chocs go, you might think you're worth it, but in the wrong hands this information can easily lead to identity theft. Far safer to miss out on the chocs than ...
I was listening to Libera's recording of I vow to thee my country, sung to the tune written by Gustav Holst known as Thaxted which I had recently purchased on iTunes. Wanting to know more about the lyrics, having sung them many times before – but never having actually looked before I turned to Wikipedia ...
[IMG: fairer-votes.jpg] Victor Chamberlain and I attended a rally with Billy Bragg campaigning for Fairer Votes. The referendum will be on May 5th 2011, when you will also get a chance to vote on whether to keep me as your Councillor or not. It is good news that Labour will finally back the referendum Yes vote, as there had been a lot of doubt about that. I will be trying to drum up people to get involved in the fight for fairer votes soon, but in the mean time send me an email.
Claire Young has been given the following dates for the resurfacing work on Badminton Road and Station Road in Yate: Station Road, Yate: From its junction with Westerleigh Close to North Road 20:00hrs on Friday 29th October - 06:00hrs on Monday 1st November 2010 Station Road, Yate: At its junction with Cranleigh Court Road 20:00hrs on Wednesday 3rd November 2010 - 06:00hrs on Thursday 4th November 2010 20:00hrs on Thursday 4th November 2010 - 06:00hrs on Friday 5th November 2010 Badminton Road, Yate: From the new joint at North Road down to the roundabout outside the new offices (inc. remaining ...
Jonathan Calder at Liberal England is puzzled as to why John Leech MP for Manchester Withington declared at a Labour conference fringe that he abstained from the vote on the coalition agreement. In a moment of blogger fail I missed a chance to break some exclusive news. I can reveal that John Leech did tell me and LibDemKitty at the Liberal Democrat conference that he did abstain from this vote. I suspect John Leech was happy for this news to be gently discovered, after all the Lib Dem MP's already know who abstained. Now bearing in mind that I had ...
Recommended reading for Liberal Democrat councillors and local campaigners in the last week. Political news this week has been dominated by the Labour Party conference, and in particular the election of their new Leader. The media made much of the fact that Ed Milliband didn't receive the support of either Labour Party members or MPs. Take a look here on how your local Labour Party voted (also interestingly tells you their membership figures!!!) and here for how Labour MPs voted. Three interesting bits of media on Ed Miliband's election and his speech. Guardian Columnists reaction on Ed Milliband's Leaders Speech ...
One of the fringe meetings I spoke at during the Liverpool conference was ResPublica's on the topic of "Growing a civil economy through a civil society". Accompanying ResPublica's fringe program is a pamphlet with pieces accompanying the talks we all gave and here is my piece from it. Both a successful market economy and a healthy democracy require individuals from all walks of life to feel they have the power to change the future. The belief that you can make a success of your own business, that your firm can innovate and that existing suppliers are not locked in to ...
That's the title of a pamphlet we've put together at Mandate Communications (where I work), with an introduction from Anthony King and sections looking at all the main areas of government. The Coalition Government and Its Progress to Date
I am get a little tired of the lady on Radio Four who keeps on saying that Ed Miliband only won the Labour leadership by a hair's breadth. He actually got 28,299 more votes than his brother. Is that normally described as a "hair's breadth"? It's only a "hair's breadth" if you go along with Labour's complex electoral college system which gives MPs the same power as 762 trade union members. I think we have moved to a position in this country where we accept that MPs should not elect their party leader and that there should a "one person ...
I thought I'd play along with this meme. It is totally non-optimal; it's missing The Cinematic Orchestra for a start. I also think there are too many entries from too recently; ten of the albums were released in the last ten years. But I tried to ensure it covers the range of soulful/rhythmic/electronicky sounds that I love. THE RULES: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. The Avalanches - Since I Left You Mr Scruff - ...
Showing Lauren the new sign (we had to wait until a speeding car went past) I know I have posted before about variable speed sign but I'm absolutely over the moon that the two signs I recently campaigned for have now finally been installed on Marshside Road and Fylde Road. And I'm delighted to say they are both working well flashing away like billy-oh at drivers going over 30mph on these roads. I especially like the one on Marshide Road since, as there are no street lights where it is located, it flashes like this great beacon in the darkness ...
We reported recently that Hawkshead Street will soon be getting new lighting columns to replace the old fashioned cast iron columns. A number of residents responded to ask why the original columns cannot be retained and renovated, many commenting that this may be a more cost effective option. I passed the question on to the Highway Team and received the following response: Unfortunately, the short answer is they are beyond repair for the following reasons: 1) They are structurally unstable due to dissimilar metals being used in the upper section of the column.2) Electrically, this equipment does not meet current ...
[IMG: Photo of UK government minister David Miliband...] Image via Wikipedia David Miliband will have woken up in London (not Manchester,) this morning and wondered where on Earth it all went wrong. Blair, Brown, David. That was the Labour line of succession. But no, like something out of a Disney movie the chipper younger brother has stepped up to steal the crown. Of course it could all have been different. He could have shown the same courage his brother has by removing Brown and becoming Labour leader. He could possibly even be the Prime Minister now. He thought he was ...
Let's leave to one side, at least for the purposes of this post, David Miliband's record as foreign secretary in the last Labour government. It would take a heart of stone not to feel sympathy for him over the events of the last week. To lose the Labour leadership for which he fought long and hard is a tough thing. To lose it by a wafer-thin majority having won over, pretty convincingly, majorities of the party's membership and his parliamentary colleagues is a tough thing. To lose it to his younger brother is a tough thing. To lose it and ...
Plaid Cymru last night joined with Labour to vote once again in favour of a huge taxpayers' subsidy for the controversial 'Ieuan Air' internal air link. Despite previous statements that they were against the subsidy, the Conservatives failed to back the motion, leaving the Liberal Democrats the only party to vote against. The Welsh Liberal Democrats had tabled an amendment in the debate on the Sustainable Development Annual Report stating that "the Welsh Assembly Government's subsidy for the north-south airlink does not match the ambitions of the Government's Sustainable Development Scheme". Plaid Cymru activists recently voted against the North-South Wales ...
From Stockport Council: Stockport Council's Dog Warden Service and Civil Resilience Unit both won Gold 'Stray Dog Footprint' awards from the RSPCA. The award is part of the national charity's Community Animal Welfare Footprint scheme which encourages local councils to consider animal welfare in providing services. It is the first time that the Council had entered the scheme which is supported by the Trading Standards Institute and Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. The Dog Warden Service, which has two dog wardens, complied with all the criteria set by the RSPCA. Evidence was submitted to show that the service recognises the ...
Just finished my regular circuit of the park and was delighted to bump into one of this wards Community Support and Traffic Officers. It was a great opportunity to catch up and share information on any issues that have come up. In particular, I was able to ask about the "Have Your Say" meeting which took place recently. These meetings are designed to give local residents the opportunity to meet up with the police teams for their area to talk about any things of concern. The meetings are also used to decide those things the police will be targeting for ...
The other night I was watching the documentary feature For the Bible Tells Me So (2007). It is a very moving and powerful film following the lives and consequences of a number of American Christian families dealing with a relative who realises that they are gay. It also looks at the actual content and context of homosexuality within the Bible, i.e. those verses used by individuals and groups to end their love or seek to cure what they have failed to understand or investigate. The families include that of Gene Robinson the openly gay Episcopal Bishop in New Hampshire and ...
Ed Miliband was not an MP in 2003, when Labour and Conservative MPs voted en masse to approve the British invasion of Iraq: so we do not know how he would have voted if he had had the opportunity. The Ed-supporting New Statesman has been keen to promote his anti-Iraq war credentials — see for example their third-hand hearsay evidence here — but there appears to be nothing on the public record to back up his claim. We are left, therefore, with Ed Miliband's voting record in the one full Parliament in which he has served. Take a look at ...
I am told that this article in the Bucks Free Press opposing the badger cull was written by Colin Baker, the sixth Dr. Who. All we need now are the Daleks on our side and we cannot lose.
Liberal Democrat Councillor John Dixon, from Cardiff, has been cleared of any wrondoing by the council's Standards and Ethics Committee after calling Scientology "stupid" in a post on Twitter in 2009. From Wales Online: Members disagreed with the report of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Peter Tyndall, who said there was likely to have been a breach of the code because the Adamsdown ward member signed off his comments on the website as CllrJohnDixon when he criticised the church. They concluded he was acting in a private capacity. Coun Dixon, also executive member for health and social services, said: ...
It appears that the welsh Government they still have a long way to go to achieve their target of making all schools fit for purpose by 2010. With just three months left, the BBC have revealed details of a survey of local Councils, that places the bill for the necessary work at around £1 billion. Funding for future work will come through Local authorities bidding to Welsh Government's 21st Century Schools Programme, with the first stage of the process beginning in December. The BBC estimate that Councils are likely to seek around £3bn in total on future school building projects: ...
The new Labour Leader's first speech to his party's conference in that role was upstaged yesterday by yet another 'live microphone' incident. This time the culprit was his brother, who allowed his frustration to get the better of him. The New Statesman say that during the leader's speech, ITV news cameras picked up the elder Miliband, with a look of pure murder on his face, leaning towards Harriet Harman as she happily applauded his brother's condemnation of the Iraq war. According to the station's lipreaders, he said: "Why are you clapping? You voted for it." To which Harman is said ...
As regular readers will have noted I have not been on here much in the last ten days. Imagine my surprise when I resurface on here to find that this is my number one viewed posting in the last week. Happy new year Any explanation will be greatfully recieved!
Wales on-line reports that Cardiff Liberal Democrat Councillor and Welsh Assembly-hopeful, John Dixon has been cleared of accusations that he breached the code of conduct by calling the Church of Scientology "stupid" in a post on Twitter. Cardiff Council's Standards and Ethics Committee decided by seven votes to one that the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Peter Tyndall, was wrong to suggest that Mr. Dixon may have breached the code because he signed off his comments as CllrJohnDixon. They concluded he was acting in a private capacity.
Ed Miliband has made an interesting start as Leader of the Labour Party distancing himself from the decision to illegally invade Iraq, and in committing himself to a yes vote in the AV referendum next...
It is hard to believe that the Labour Party would already start on the "change, change, change" bandwagon with the above slogan.We know that they have already reversed position on the necessity of imposing a change to the civil service pension scheme.It appears that they are moving away gradually from supporting cuts in public spending.Otherwise from a policy perspective changes are substantially
It was good to hear Ed Milliband admit that three of his political heroes, Lloyd George,Keynes, and Beveridge, "were not members of our party," (though he couldn't quite bring himself to admit that they were Liberals) and that he is going to vote for AV. But the main burden of his speech was to dissociate himself and the "New Generation" Labour Party from all the errors of New Labour. On the previous day Brother David had given an enumeration of Tory foreign policy failures from 1979 to 1997: halving the aid budget,standing to one side while tens of thousands were ...
broadcast anniversaries 29 September 1979: broadcast of first episode of City of Death. The Doctor and Romana are in Paris, and get mixed up with Duggan the detective and Count and Countess Scarlioni. But the Count is more than he seems... 29 September 2007: broadcast of both episodes of The Last Sontaran, starting Season 2 of the Sarah Jane Adventures. A surviving Sontaran from The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky tries to destroy human life on Earth, but is thwarted by Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde and Maria. But (sob!) Maria is moving to America and we won't see much more of ...
Mark Steel: That's right, it was all a Muslim plot - Mark Steel - Independent.co.uk Except it wasn't. There was no planned Islamist assassination attempt against the Pope. (tags: islam waronterror pope) UN plan for 'alien ambassador' a case of science fiction? Alas, story I linked to yesterday turns out not to be true after all. (tags: space)
The London Mayor has REFUSED to act on the unsafe King's Cross one-way system, which has some of Camden's most dangerous roads. This week the Mayor has refused point blank to act to make our roads safe. He told the London Assembly Lib Dems that he has "no proposals" to improve safety on these roads. ...
St Michael, Archangel St Michael is mentioned three times in Holy Scripture. In the book of Daniel (chapters 10, 12) he is the protector and liberator of God's people: Michael, that high lord who is guardian of thy race. 1 In tempore autem illo consurget Michaël princeps magnus, qui stat pro filiis populi tui : ...
The main item on the news yesterday was Ed Miliband's speech and more importantly David's reaction to it, in particular how David rejected Ed's condemnation of the Iraq war. It probably means that David will not take part in the shadow cabinet which is sad because the rhetoric led us to believe that the brothers loved each other. I suspect that David knew that he would be seen not clapping enthusiastically when Ed was speaking. It was a definite snub. There is an alternative. David may not have known that he would be seen to snub his brother. Either way ...
Here we go again: Don't let the fact culling badgers doesn't work get in the way of placating rural voters...
