Hundreds of thousands of people, especially many children, are relying on us to do what is just and right.
This test I had yesterday, and I have an appointment with the consultant on November 24. The objective is to determine the cause of my shortness of breath on exercise, which may be due to narrowed coronary arteries. Considering that its 15 years since I had the bypass operation it wouldn't be surprising.
I don't know who designated this as Special Education Week and it doesn't really matter. What matters is that Special Education is given the resources needed to ensure that those who learn differently, perhaps struggle to learn because they and their teachers have yet to find the right learning style for them, or maybe struggle because of a condition such as Down's Syndrome can achieve their
Another superb performance by Gamu Nhengu on X Factor tonight ...
I'm a fan of the BBC. There, I've said it. In fact, I support the BBC License Fee. There, I've said that too. I always have been a fan of the BBC and I'm happy to pay my license fee on an annual basis. Why? Well, I'm rather proud of this rather unique institution that we have which strives to provide us with good quality programming. A service which strives to deliver impartial, cutting edge political discourse. You don't like paying the fee? You want to scrap it? Then that's fine. But just you remember that the alternative is a ...
Well Nads has been at it again. Now picking on disabled people. I have commented on mshumphreycushion's website how I feel about this. Essentially, to quickly summarise the situation, Dorries said that someone who is registered disabled shouldn't be tweeting every day. If they can do that they can get a job. This was then picked up by Guido Fawkes on his blog (not linking). As you can probably tell, as someone who has recently been registered disabled (and frankly even if I hadn't) I am really angry about this comment. There is now a facebook campaign: Dorries is a ...
Some of these reviews can also be found on Amazon.In September 2010 I read the following books: 1. The Fuller Memorandum, by Charles Stross - Excellent: 5/5 I was expecting this to be good. Not just because it's Stross, although he does generally deliver the goods (some of my recent reviews notwithstanding), but also because I had it recommended to me by so many people. And they were all right. I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that this is one of the best things I've read this year. It's a good mixture of action, investigation, plain old Lovecraftian weirdness ...
There are plenty of books that I've read for a second time; there are rather fewer that I've read more often. Apart from the inevitable Tolkien, here are half a dozen which I have returned to in the last two years: A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller The Big Time by Fritz Leiber Catch-22 by Joseph Heller This Immortal by Roger Zelazny Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Why yes, five of those six are SF classics. Are you surprised? Day 01 - Your favourite series of books (with ...
For the moment Tyler Clementi (18) is the most infamous teen suicide victim, but in time he will become a statistic. Just like Raymond Chase (19), Seth Walsh (13), Asher Brown (15), and Billy Lucas (13), five other young gay American teens who have taken their life in recent weeks however over time he may well turn into just another statistic. They were all bullied at school. Now they were a mix of races, mix of locations, the one common denominator is that they were all gay and they had all in some way been bullied because of it. As ...
Most unfortunately, a US-aided project in the CHT focussing on the environment and forest conservation has come to an abrupt end because Santu Larma, Chairman of the CHT Regional Council, objected to the NGO chosen to implement the project, see chtvoice.blogspot.com/2010/10/goodbye-ipac-goodbye-cht.html. It seems likely that Mr Larma's obstruction may cause the US to withdraw from other projects in the CHT.
I received news today that fifteen out of more than two hundred and fifty detainees were allowed visits from their families. Prior to the visits, secret service officers sat with the families and directed them on visitation rules. They were not forbidden to ask about torture, charges, proceedings or anything relevant to the cases of the detainees. They were not to speak about what was happening on the outside, or give the detainees any news. The families were also directed not to look at any parts of the detainees' bodies under their clothing. During each visit, there were four to ...
Bad news for waist-bands ward-wide today with the opening of the new Greggs in Prestwich Village. Whilst the temptation to purchase a pasty might sometimes be too great, it's good news to see another Radius retail unit let. And they do make very tasty Belgian buns. Welcome to Prestwich, and if you're reading this and feeling generous, I like your vegetable pasties, chicken tikka baguettes and lemon muffins. I noticed the new bakers when I popped into town this morning to see the manager of Prestwich Pharmacy. He has taken a "Stop the Parking Charge" petition which local Councillors have ...
I got a message from East Coast Trains through the week telling me that their free wi-fi service is no longer to be free. Had the service they inherited from National Express been any good, the decision to charge would have been understandable. The problem was, the wi-fi was at best intermittent. The rest of the time it was just plain frustrating. I often tried to use it and ended up plugging in
Shortly after the election in May Philip Hammond, the new Secretary for Transport proudly announced that 'the war on motorists would be over under the new government'. He was being interviewed this morning on the Today programme with 'Lord' Prescot also in the studio. I am no fan of the old bruiser Prescot, but he remains a powerful advocate of ...
Michael Tomasky didn't set a Friday quiz this week, so I searched for another quiz to do and found my way to the Pew Research Centre's quiz on religious belief, via Richard Adams blog. I scored 100%, which apparently makes me more knowledgeable about religion than 89% of Americans, and that's despite my shameful ignorance about Cardinal Newman.
I note that in this week's Crosby Herald Bill Esterson (Labour Sefton Central) comes out with something which implies that one (at least) of the following four must be lying: Margaret Carney Tony Robertson Bill Esterson Sadiq Khan The Esterson quote is this: "One of my first tasks upon arrival in Manchester was to speak directly to former Labour Transport Minister Sadiq Khan about the Thornton Relief Road. Despite there being much confusion on this issue in Sefton, he confirmed personally that he approved the long-needed road before the election. Consclusive proof that the road was one of the first ...
[IMG: Rooftop Trieste] Trieste, Italy [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: cloudsoup Danke Deutschland! Germany pays the last installment of its reparations (debt) for the First World War tomorrow. Great. I remember blogging in December 2006 about the UK finally paying off its Second World War (Marshall Plan) debt. It is salutory that the First World War debt has taken Germany longer to pay off – after several renegotiations and pauses in repayment. It has been said that the punitive terms of the Treaty of Versailles, requiring Germany to hand over several fleets – let alone boatloads – of gold, ...
On the spur of the moment we have decided to watch an episode from each Doctor's era until we decide it is bedtime. F has stipulated that it should be first episodes, apart from The Keys of Marinus #3 which is next in his personal sequence. I in turn will specify The Mind Robber #1 for Troughton. But I am agnostic about good first episodes for later Doctors to show an eleven-year-old who is a keen reader of Doctor Who Magazine but hasn't seen that much Old Who. So, what do you think?
Jonathan Wallace does a good analysis of Ed Balls' assertions about the historical financial paths taken in the UK (in the 1930s and also in 1945). That is on the link.
This time next week, the Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference in Dunfermline will be drawing to a close. It looks as if it's going to be one of the busiest and most exciting events for years. I have never known there to be three separate fringe sessions, with choices of events,most of which are offering "refreshments and buffet" at an Autumn Conference in all the 10 years I've been back in Scotland. The agenda is busting full of interesting debates: our pre manifesto, setting out the themes of our Holyrood election campaign next year, creating jobs, public service reform and excellence ...
The City Council has advised of the following roadworks on Sunday 17th October in the part of Logie Street immediately north of the West End Ward boundary with Lochee, but as this road is well-used by West End residents, I felt it useful to update residents : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984, SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of Scottish Water Ironwork repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in a southbound direction in Logie Street (between Ancrum Road ...
This week saw yet more of Labour's neverending soap opera, which is even more boring now that the party is no longer in power. The soap opera shows a party refusing to challenge either of the oppositional truths of Old and New Labour and unaware of why Labour lost the last general election so emphatically – and what it needs to do to regain power. The conference demonstrated that Ed Miliband was right when he called Labour party members "slightly strange", for they seem to be excited and optimistic about the future of the party under a man whose qualities ...
Yesterday evening while I was at the Peace Centres Ireland and Changing Attitude Ireland event in Belfast it was mentioned that in 2007 that my church, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI), had come up with Pastoral Guidelines. I thought I'd better read them, especially as I also felt compelled to write a letter to my minister following last Sunday's sermon which was on 1 Thessalonians 4. The first thing that strikes me is the first paragraph of the preamble: While a person's sexuality is a very important part of their lives, it does not define who they are. Biblically ...
I blogged last night about going to see a play called Ghost Stories. Well, I went, I enjoyed and I saw it through to the end. And yes it was scarey. But, for me, it wasn't quite scarey enough. I can't tell you what happens at the end however. We are all sworn to secrecy. But if you get the chance, go and see it. And be prepared to jump out of your seat.....---Sent via BlackBerry
Although it must be hoped the Coalition is successful in reducing the nation's deficit through savings and is able to increase economic activity to provide increased tax income, the unexpectedly high borrowing last month does not stimulate confidence. There is no doubt the Coalition is creating an environment more conducive to business activity and small businesses, which require little finance, will find niches in the market to be able to flourish. However, with the banks still reluctant to lend and the giant corporations having grabbed so many of the business opportunities – it will be only the most inventive and ...
I was speaking to an elderly lady who was visiting Southport last week. She had come with a party from Birmingham and was staying for a week. She was full of praise for the town-it is good sometimes to see us they way others see us. We met in a bookshop. She was trying to buy a large print book without much success. She told me the Library was shut. Well of course we have an excellent temporary library. I directed her and on my way looked at the signage. I had raised the matter very early on with the ...
Iwent to a meeting at the Whittington on Thursday night – held to begin the discussion about future health services with key stakeholders. We were all sat at tables and the facilitator got each table to do the usual note taker plus rapporteur on the conversation had at the table. The question posed – was pretty broad – in that it asked what was important to us in taking forward the Whittington. The threat to the A &E and maternity has gone for now. However, we need to not only be vigilant as the future shape of services at the ...
This is an extraordinary chapter in its portrayal of gender roles. We start off with Gibbon railing at length against the eunuchs, who he seems to have a particular problem with; then we have the unfeminine behaviour of two generations of imperial women mixing it up with religion and leadership, first Eudoxia's successful attacks on Chrysostom (where Gibbon comes down on Chrysostom's side; he may not like bishops but he likes women less), then the zealotry of Pulcheria and her sisters Arcadia and Marina, vowed to virginity but ostentatious in their devotion. This is all the fault of Arcadius, who ...
[IMG: Support independent publishing: Buy this calendar on Lulu.] Each month features my favourite photos from the last five years in the garden, click on button above for more information.
To prove that I actually did attend the Liberal Democrat's conference in Liverpool here is a video of my talking about 'the three most important issues facing the government'. The video was taken by the people from Winkball who were hanging about the conference filming the views of attendees. I don't think the video makes me look terribly attractive, but I was suffering from the effects of the night before and squinting into the sun as it was filmed.
The last few weeks, for various reasons, have been rather disrupted and unsettled. There has been a lot going on but, somewhat unusually, I have not been very certain about what I think about it all. As a result there hasn't been much blogging going on here. Keeping a regular blog going I find, aside from the issue of time available, requires a level of certainty and confidence in oneself and ones opinions which when lacking creates a serious block on writing. In fact I have been questioning whether it is really worth the effort for me to keep this ...
PR Week has the story: 'We are setting out clear rules banning councils using taxpayers' cash to lobby government and this includes publicity stalls at conferences,' [Local Government Minister Grant] Shapps said. He also called for councils to disclose how much taxpayers' money is being spent on overall comms. [IMG: Gordon Brown at Labour Party conference. Photo credit: ChodHound on Flickr] Although I have been very critical of Knowsley Council for its spending on Labour conference (and only Labour, even now in opposition), I am not won over by the first part of this policy, which smacks rather too much ...
Sat 2nd
12:23
DEATH OF THE OFFICE JOKE - so says the Daily Mail in its most thunderous example of front page equin...
I've just been looking for a sensible summary of the measures in the new Equality Act. After wading through some rather inaccessible or biased summaries, I found a good one. ACAS, the arbitration service, have produced an excellent Quick Start Guide for Employers here. Just skim through that and it makes perfect sense. It has some good examples of lawful/unlawful situations. What you shouldn't do, if you want a fair summary of the Act, is read today's Daily Mail which is headlined "DEATH OF THE OFFICE JOKE"..."Starting today, equality laws mean staff offended by banter at work can sue their ...
Come and join about 30 local environment organisations at this major event. There will be all sorts of stalls, children's activities and a talk by BBC Weatherman Richard Angwin! Come and find out how you can get involved in looking after our local environment and help safeguard our world for future generations. 10 am - 1 pm Exhibition (Sports Hall) 10 am - 1 pm Produce market and outside events (West Walk) 10 am - 1 pm Children's trail and activities (Sports Hall) 11 am Schools Poster Prize Presentation (Sports Hall) by Richard Angwin (The BBC Points West Weather Man!) ...
Anyone see the speech by Ed Balls to the Labour Conference? It strikes me that if anyone wants to delve into history to lecture us about historical precedents and the "lessons of history", they should at least get their historical facts right.Mr Balls claimed:And the previous Prime Minister to say 'there is no alternative,' was a Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, in 1931, two years after
[IMG: RSA logo] There is a proposal going to the next RSA AGM to remove the RSA's elected trustees and instead have a wholly appointed set of trustees. The AGM already looked to have run into a bit of trouble, having to be delayed because it appeared that the rules about giving notice to all Fellows of the RSA had not been strictly followed. Now an email is doing the rounds to put a motion to the AGM calling not only for the retention of the elected trustees but for a shift to all-elected trustees. I'm a Fellow of the ...
The appointments of various LibDem MPs to be PPS to ministers have been rather low-profile, so in case you have missed any here is the complete list: Gordon Birtwistle – PPS to Danny Alexander Mike Crockart – PPS to Michael Moore Duncan Hames – PPS to Sarah Teather Jo Swinson – PPS to Vince Cable Jenny Willott – PPS to Chris Huhne and in addition Norman Lamb as Chief Parliamentary and Political Adviser to Nick Clegg is also his PPS.
With my hand helpfully positioned to give some idea of scale...At the moment I can't bring myself to eat it – I am simply admiring its sheer size.
At last, I've got round to sorting all the photos from Conference. A selection is now on Flickr. You can see them at www.flickr.com/photos/jonathanwallace. I sent out the link to 700 people on my email list yesterday with the result that there were 500 visits to the site yesterday. The photos can be used in Lib Dem literature.I've included a few of my favourites below.The Cabinet Q&A on the last
I got very excited yesterday morning - a tweet from the Stockport Express said house prices in the borough were up 47% in just a year. When I thought about it for a moment, that did seem a little unlikely, and the Express later corrected the story (so good for them) to say that house sales are up 47%. That's still very good news, even if my visions of an early retirement living the high life will have to go on hold for a while longer. The Halifax study [pdf] reveals good news for the whole country. Across England and ...
So, Chris Huhne announced this week that the Department of the Environment is not going to retrospectively apply the new rates for the Feed In Tariffs (FIT) payments. As a domestic producer of green energy, I am a little bit gutted! We installed a small (4kw) Wind Turbine 2 years' ago, I also installed Solar thermal panels, which heat our hot water for 7 months of the year. It was a big outlay, and whilst I was lucky enough to take advantage of a grand for the solar panel, there was nothing for the turbine. In actual fact, I spent ...
When did the age of piracy shift over to the age of the financial buccaneers, the moment of lost economic innocence when the financial services industry first began the slow shift into the corruption that now engulfs it? I did a short lecture on Thursday night saying that this was the moment of destruction, by earthquake, of the pirate port of Port Royal, Jamaica. The evening was partly to publicise my book Eminent Corporations, together with my co-authors at the National Maritime Museum, which is an attempt to inject a bit of history into the business of corporate brands. But ...
Wednesday 6th October 12.30 - 2pm (Buffet Lunch - 12.30pm) For people who manage volunteers to networkand share good practice Topics include volunteers' performance,training opportunities and volunteering news. For futher information/book a place contact Leanne at B3SDA on 797 196/ leanne@b3sda.org.uk
Congratulations to Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset & North Poole, for winning MP of the Year in the Dods & Scottish Widows Women in Public Life Awards. The accolade was awarded by a panel of judges which included Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, Dame Suzi Leather, Chair of The Charity Commission and Dame Barbara Stocking, Chief Executive of Oxfam. [IMG: Annette Brooke] The judges said that Annette Brooke deserved to win thanks to her record of "tirelessly lending her wisdom, position and huge skill to help hundreds of children's organisations, and by association, many thousands of children. ...
The Independent reports on the outcome of a ComRes Survey which shows that the overwhelming majority of voters believe that Ed Miliband, the new Labour leader, should be more explicit over where he would cut public spending. Although I do not take any notice of single opinion polls, especially this far out from an election, in this case the snapshot that this poll provides is worth recording because it sets out the starting point for the Miliband leadership, and the task ahead of him. It shows that Ed has failed to achieve the opinion poll bounce often enjoyed by parties ...
I love Europe. I love Golf. I adore the Ryder Cup. It was a great shame to see the torrential rain ruin the opening day of a long-awaited contest here in Wales. We were warned that the weather for this weekend would be poor and indeed it's likely that Sunday's play may suffer the same fate as yesterday. In fact, I'd say it's probably odds-on that for the first time in Ryder Cup history, this bi-annual get together could roll into 4th day. It's certainly making Celtic Manor stand out. But, for all the golf and for all the competitive ...
The Stonewall debacle has done one good thing. It's finally propelled the marriage equality debate into the consciousness of a larger group of people than previously. Suddenly I'm seeing disinterested parties sitting up and asking, "Why the hell haven't we got marriage equality and why is Stonewall not supporting it?". However, as with all things, I'm still slightly perplexed by the media coverage of marriage equality in the United Kingdom. Be it in Attitude's latest edition or today's article in the Independent, the stories seem to lack actual facts and any real journalistic critic of press releases and interviews from ...
So the war on Health and Safety is hotting up. The report by Lord Young will be revealed after the Tory Party conference (interesting timing!) I have mixed feelings about this. Part of me thinks it is fantastic. I think that there should be a more common sense approach to Health and Safety. Part of my job included responsibility for Health and Safety albeit it in a fairly small, office environment and therefore not too logistically challenging. All to often H&S has been picked up in the media as an example of the Nanny state gone mad, and there are ...
Amol Rajan, in an essay in the Independent yesterday, argued that Edmund Burke is: a thinker who personifies the spirit and philosophy of the present government, and the fusion of these two leaders, who share more than the members of their parties care to admit or are comfortable with. In his embodiment of the common ground between liberals and conservatives, his understanding that the Big Society is really just an agglomeration of small societies, and his rewriting of Rousseau's contract within society as a contract between the generations, Edmund Burke is the authentic voice of the coalition agreement - a ...
As we move into autumn, cakes need to become heavier and more strongly flavoured. This rich chocolate gingerbread cake is inpired by Nigella Lawson and is featured in her book 'Feast'. It is a very popular cake with children and adults. Nigella ices hers and serves as a pudding, but I find it is lovely left ...
Sat 2nd
08:45
The Saturday Debate: Local government is to the Lib Dems what the unions are to Labour and big busin...
Here's your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate... I was struck by this recent article by the Economist's political columnist Bagehot, headlined When progressive actually means misanthropic, reflecting on the Lib Dem conference, and specifically the debate on free schools. Highlighting that, while the party may have lacked power at Westminster, the Lib Dems have for decades now been a major player in local government, it observes that: ... local government occupies much of the mental space taken up by national politics in the Labour and Conservative parties. ... ...
i) births and deaths 2 October 1932: birth of Gabriel Woolf, who played Sutekh in Pyramids of Mars (1975) and voiced the Beast in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit (2006). He also voiced Rossiter in the Big Finish Sixth Doctor audios Arrangements for War (2004) and Thicker Than Water (2005). ii) broadcast anniversaries 2 October 1965: broadcast of "The Exploding Planet", fourth episode of the story we now call Galaxy 4. The Doctor and friends manage to repair the Rills' spaceship and escape the Drahvins, who are left behind on the planet as it explodes. 2 October 1976: ...
This time I have it in writing (not just on good authority) that the clerk to the inspector of the Public Inquiry into Town/Village Green status for Belle Vue has told the County Council that his report will "definitely" be with the county council on Monday. I hope that also means that I will "definitely" be getting to hear its recommendation and therefore be able to pass it on to you. Maybe.
The coalition government has postponed the revaluation of council tax bands on the totally false grounds that it would "penalise the poorest". Eric Pickles is reported to have claimed that, coming out of a recession, the government would not want to impose "an extra £1 600 of taxation on ordinary families." This is nonsense and the government and Pickles must know it. There is no relationship between the total council tax a local authority raises and the banding values of the properties within its area. What the banding values do is determine how the payment of the tax is to ...
In his leadership speech to the Labour conference in Manchester, Ed Miliband tried to rewrite history by putting distance between himself and New Labour and presenting himself as part of a new generation of Labour politicians. The truth is Ed Miliband spent the last 13 years at the heart of the New Labour project. He was an adviser in Gordon Brown's Treasury from 1997 and went on to chair the Council of Economic Advisers, responsible for long-term economic planning, in 2004. He was then parachuted into a safe seat and quickly appointed as a minister in Brown's cabinet before writing ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJrlEXNEEBo
I'm not a huge fan of the 10:10 campaign at the best of times, a green movement to get individuals and organisations to commit to cutting their carbon emissions by 10% by the end of 2010, smacking as it does of a sort of naive optimism about the power of targets, coupled with an undertone of collectivised bullying. Their latest, now withdrawn, campaign "No Pressure", written by Richard Curtis, however goes beyond parody. The content involves four mini-skits of authority figures discussing their commitment, or lack of, to the goals of the campaign, concluding with those not participating, including children, ...
StarShipSofa Talks To Fred Pohl and Jack Vance | StarShipSofa Glorious - conversation between three of this year's Hugo winners, two of whom are over 90 years old. (tags: sf) Turkey, the flotilla and Israel: UN report deserves calm reading - International Crisis Group (tags: icg) The Decline and Fall of the UUP | Lee Reynolds | Critical Reaction Excellent analysis by the defeated leadership candidate of 1995 (tags: uup northernireland) Al Qaeda- Affiliated and Homegrown Jihadism in the UK: 1999-2010 : Institute for Strategic Dialogue London is no longer the epicentre of global Jihadist terrorism... The report however challenges ...
I was just saying the other day that more adverts should contain elements of threat. "Buy this or else" has been a relatively underused marketing technique. Franny Armstrong, Richard Curtis, and the 10:10 campaign team then immediately provided an object lesson in how to spectacularly fail to make this work. The failure is ironic, because ...
Cross posted on Stephen's Liberal Journal There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 Tonight a number of Northern Irish Liberal Democrats were in a backed room in Grosvenor House, Belfast for a meeting ...
ADHT or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has been in the news recently. There has been much talk about the environmental causes to this disorder but Cardiff University are telling us that it is now down to genetic factors. This is important because of the criticism that it is caused by bad parenting. Previously environmental factors have included such things as pre-natal smoking or pre-term stress for the mother. Professor Anita Thapar leading the present research wrote "Too often, people dismiss ADHD as being down to bad parenting or poor diet... Now we can say with confidence that ADHD is a ...
Cross posted on Liberal Democrats in Northern Ireland There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 Tonight I was in a backed room in Grosvenor House, Belfast for a meeting organised by Irish Peace Centres in association with Changing Attitude Ireland and the Methodist Church in Ireland. Of course I realised I had no paper to make notes, but did have my iPhone. The key speaker was David Walton, a lay Methodist preacher from Eccles, who was a past ...
