Meeting about nature reserve, trying out a school meal, ending child poverty, Friends of the Earth, and re-use of urine. Interspersed with taking Focus to deliverers and topped off with the brilliant news that "Daylight Robbery" is ending. What a day, where to I start - has to be the Housing News ! Delighted that at last the Tenant Tax, or Daylight Robbery as I have been calling...
A large part of today seemed to be taken up with consideration of poverty in one form or another. A conversation this morning with someone whose reaction to the statement on future child benefit changes was to feel it was hugely unfair on those poor single parents earning over £42K who were being unfairly targeted. My response that my sympathies were with the women for whom child benefit is
For a political party that eventually had a very sad, lonely, exit in the early 1990′s, the SDP (Social Democratic Party) has had a major impact on modern British politics and, I would argue, has won the argument in terms of how we should run our country. Each major party, even the Tories-though they may ...
I was utterly against the marriage tax break when it was first lauded by the Conservatives during the General Election campaign. David Cameron himself dropped it like a hot potato when he realised how unpopular it was. It did however make its way into the coalition document which annoyed me but I was prepared to ...
Congratulations to Professor Andre Geim and Dr Konstantin Novoselov who were awarded the Nobel Prize today for work done at Manchester University. Particular congratulations to the former who has the rare distinction of having won both the Nobel Prize and the Ig Nobel Prize (the latter for levitating a frog, his pet hamster and a sumo wrestler in a magnetic field). Manchester University has been at the cutting edge of science research for over a Century and hopefully will remain at the forefront.
Today did not get off to a particularly great start. Listening to David Cameron on the news trying to justify the Child Benefit cuts was probably never going to make a happy Spidey at that ungodly hour but it did not rankle me as much as the attitude of some elements of Twitter. By the ...
I left London this morning to return to Gateshead. On arriving back home I caught the weather forecast. Not good news tomorrow. Rain, rain and more rain. I had planned to go to local woodland to pick wild hazel in the morning. The wild food foragers amongst you will know that hazel is something of a wonder food - high in protein, essential oils and vitamins. Picking them in heavy rain however is
Tonight I went to the Imperial War Museum (of which I am a Friend) to attend a debate amongst three historians 'what was the greatest battle of the second world war?' Stalingrad, I hear you cry. No, Kursk, says someone else. What about Midway, says another? OK, say the organisers, there's a word missing. Which was the greatest BRITISH battle of the second world war? And the choice is Battle of Britain, El Alamein or the D-Day landings. Controversy straight away. Is D-Day a 'British' battle? There were a lot of Americans and Canadians there. And if you could ask ...
Friends of Wighton, Wighton Heritage Centre, Dundee Central Library, Wellgate Lunchtime concerts (Admission free - retiring collection) Wednesday 6th October 2010, 1.15-1.45pm Sheena Wellington Scots song Wednesday 27th October 2010, 1.15-1.45pm Aileen Carr, acclaimed Scots singer Wednesday 3rd November 2010, 1.15-1.45pm NO EVENT Wednesday 1st December 2010, 1.15-1.45pm The Wighton Singers Cappuccino Concerts (Admission £5, includes coffee) Saturday 16th October 2010, 10.30 for 11am £5.00 Henry Lebedinsky harpsichord Saturday 20th November 2010, 10.30 for 11am £5.00 The Ideal Band, Scotland's most exciting new trio
In recent months, LDV has been bringing its readers copies of our new MPs' and Peers' first words in Parliament, so that we can read what is being said and respond. You can find all of the speeches in this category with this link. Today, Baroness Benjamin, of Beckenham in the County of Kent, made her maiden speech in the House of Lords, during a debate on the role of the charitable sector in strengthening civil society. Her words are reproduced below. My Lords, it is an honour and a privilege to address this House for the first time, in ...
In July, I updated residents on my actions in trying to move forward the City Council's support for the people of Gaza - see http://tinyurl.com/dundee-gaza. As reported in yesterday's Courier, there has been some progress and I paste below the content of a letter to the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign Dundee from the Lord Provost. Having spoken with the City Council's Legal Manager last week about the legal aspects surrounding a boycott of Israeli goods, I am continuing to pursue this matter. Petition to Lord Provost and Meeting of 27 July 2010 I refer to the meet we held on ...
Extraordinary stuff from Andrew Alexander: The problem about Fox is that he has no judgment whatever about strategic affairs. He was, of all the Tory frontbench, the most hawkish, gung-ho enthusiast for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.As one does not allow children to play with matches, Fox is not the right man to be allowed substantial Forces. He is the sort of person — so desperate to please Washington — who would try to get us involved in another expedition, perhaps in Yemen or Somalia.And then there is Trident, about which ministers are allowed some latitude under the Coalition agreement. ...
The fourth AGM of Dundee Fair Trade Forum takes place on Monday 25th October 2010 at 7pm in the Baxter Suite at the University of Dundee. It will take the form of a Malawian (90kg) Rice Evening with a presentation on this Just Trading project followed by a Malawian Rice supper, washed down with Fair Trade wine. The Malawian Rice project aims to encourage groups to buy and sell 90kg rice. This realises the sum required to send a child to school for one year. There will also be a Marketplace of Fair Trade stalls - Traidcraft, Palcraft and Jute ...
As I understand it, the left's alternative to ending child benefit payments to higher rate taxpayers is to continue paying the benefit to them but claw it back by increasing income tax. The argument for this - and it is one I have used myself in the past - is that in order for the welfare state to be politically sustainable we must give wealthier people a stake in it. Yet I wonder how valid this argument is. Surely the wealthy are able to see that they would be better off personally with no benefit and a lower rather of ...
Edmonton is carrying out its annual count of the homeless, that is of rough sleepers or people in temporary shelters - a much narrower definition of homelessness than in the UK. The last time the count was done was in 2008 when there were 3078. It is expected that the figure will be higher this time. Edmonton has a total population of less than 1,000,000. Those homeless figures will be repeated in every city in Canada. By way of comparison, that compares with around 500 people sleeping rough in the whole of England and between 90,000 and 100,000 households in ...
Well if Mícheál keeps doing these so must I. Once upon a time we had British Rail and Northern Irish Railways. Then I never had a problem booking a through ticket from Larne/Belfast to Surbiton incorporating the ferry across the Irish Sea. In fact I was so adept at it that often the ticket office in Surbiton's Art Deco station were taught how to book it by me booking my end of term ticket. There were also times that I could book it at my fully manned local station, a terminus on the Northern Irish rail network*. Well yesterday I ...
I am absolutely appalled by some of the things that have come out of the Conservative Party Conference this week. I'm focusing on two. First up Child Benefit Reform. Not two weeks after the Liberal Democrat Conference where the motion "Ensuring Fairness in a Time of Austerity" stated:- "Conference calls for Liberal Democrats in government ...
The BBC website has an archive of interviews with British novelists from Virginia Woolf to Zadie Smith. Among them is an interview with my literary hero T.H. White, recorded at his home Alderney by Robert Robinson. He comes over very much as the schoolmaster he was before he became a writer. Mention of Alderney recalls White's friendship with John Arlott. As Tim Arlott recorded it in his memoir of his father: The first time they met, my father and Tim were so captivated by each other's company that they went out for a drink and did not return until late ...
I was saddened to see a letter in The Bristol Evening Post 17th Sept., by Mrs Margaret Short, chairman of Friends of Stockwood Open Spaces, (FoSOS) criticising my published letter of 10th Sept & calling me "precious" Somehow I don't think Mrs Short meant it as a compliment! As a Stockwood resident who stood for the Lib Dems at the last council election, I truly appreciate the green space we have here. It must be sensibly defended, but with options looked at. I have made my own submissions to the council in order to get some of the plans changed. ...
It's the fifth of the month, which means it's time for Stephen's 5 on the 5th. This month the theme was "Round" - here's my contribution: Fridge-Freezer Red Nose Decorative water feature. N.B. Water channel is continuous from middle to left of picture it's not a maze. Basketball Hoop Gates of Bristol General Hospital at Bristol's Planetarium Andrew
I don't think there will be many people reading this post who will not be aware of the fuss around the 10:10 short film that was written by Richard Curtis. My considered opinion is that I can't get wound up either way. What I am finding amusing is some of the reaction which ranges from the predictable ( the obligatory Downfall parody) to the OMG you can't be serious! For the latter I present for your viewing pleasure this clip from Fox News. I have been assured this is not satire :-)
Dear Sainsbury's, I'm upset, and I think you know why. Please don't play the innocent. Daily, I hope that it's not working. Daily, I hope you will spare me. Daily, I hope that some sort of electromagnetic attack has disabled all circuitry in the City of London, so that just once I'm not subjected to ...
A Liberal Democrat councillor is demanding access to swimming through Surestart for families in the Marske, New Marske and Redcar areas.Councillor Margaret Wilson, who represents St Germains ward in Marske, raised the issue at last Thursday's meeting of Redcar & Cleveland Council. She feels that children from Marske, New Marske and Redcar are not getting a fair deal.Local children in these areas qualify for free swimming sessions via Surestart, but cannot get them because of the booking system at Saltburn baths. This gives priority to families from Saltburn and other eastern parts of the borough.Margaret Wilson said:"Above all this highlights ...
So, there we have it. One of the least surprising revelations of recent times: staff at Conservative party headquarters were involved in the smear stories published about Nick Clegg in the days following the first leaders' debate. It was perfectly ... Continue reading →
Over the weekend, I was particularly touched by two very moving posts that I would urge you to read: First of all, Rachel describes her feelings as she approaches her bone marrow transplant. I'm sure that every single reader of this blog wishes her well. If you want to translate those good wishes into action, you can donate to her Just Giving page here - she is raising money for the hospital where she is being treated. Stephen talks about how homophobic bullying affected him - a powerful piece which shows why every school should take action to stop it. ...
[IMG: Stephen Hawking @ Birzeit] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: myahya Channel 4 are currently showing an excellent programme called "Master of the Universe" narrated by Professor Stephen Hawking. I found the last show remarkably easy to understand and not without humour. Professor Hawking outlined how our Universe is relatively young, at 13 billion years old. He estimated that our Universe will end in about 30 billion years. He mentioned that when he went on a lecture tour of Japan, he was asked not to mention the end of the Universe, in case it caused a run on the ...
I keep hearing about how Liberal Democrats want a graduate tax. This came up again on today's BBC Breakfast during the interview with David Cameron. I feel I must correct the BBC on this. Liberal Democrats still want to scrap tuition fees and do not want a graduate tax. It is not Liberal Democrat policy. But it is a proposal Lib Dems would be willing to support. The graduate tax is a coalition proposal put forward by Vince Cable as a progressive form of tax. It's an idea to help fund higher education when austerity measures are required. It is ...
In an exciting technological breakthrough, I'm embedding the agenda for next Tuesday's Cheadle Area Committee into this webpage so you don't even have to go to the extreme of clicking on a link. Agenda items include: Planning for Christmas displays in Gatley, Cheadle and Heald Green Planning permission sought to open a Bistro at 2A-2B Chapel Street, Cheadle (DC045091) Planning permission sought to change 8 offices into 1-bed flats above the retail units on Dickens Court, Cheadle (DC/045256) Consideration of the proposed lease of land behind 10 Priest Avenue, Gatley (we asked for a public consultation, with the result that ...
Sir, I am surprised that Boris Johnson believes a strike ballot with less than 50 per cent turnout does not have enough legitimacy to count. After all, his own election was also based on a turnout of less than 50 per cent and he did not decline taking office or waive exercising any of his powers because of that. Yours sincerely, Mark Pack
Southport Liberal Lauren Keith has an optimistic posting on Lib Dem Voice today.
I've blogged a couple of times about Christine O'Donnell, Republican candidate for the US Senate in Delaware, who has a long history of making rather outrageous statements on US TV. Her back catalogue is coming back to haunt her. In one remarkable old clip she said that she "dabbled in witchcraft". A relatively inexperienced candidate or agent would tell you that, when you respond to an accusation (if at all), you should never repeat the accusation even in negative terms. Otherwise, people tend to just remember you repeating the accusation rather than your denial. So Christine O'Donnell has broken that ...
I honestly don't understand the argument being put forward in Labour circles that the curtailment of child benefit at the upper tax band will cause the welfare state itself to fall into disregard amongst the middle classes. It's not a universal benefit. You only get it if you have kids. In the same way, you ...
I am not a Liberal Democrat who is going to apologise on the doorstep for the Coalition. I think it was the best situation that could have transpired. The Conservatives are not the party they were in the 1980s; they have a leader who is clearly much more in the centre-ground of politics, and his and Nick's personal chemistry certainly attest to a political dovetailing as well. You need look no further than the disquiet about Cameron and the coalition coming from the traditional right-wing elements of the party, and the brewing arguments over defence spending to see that Cameron's ...
Has anyone actually seen Chris Grayling in, well, months really. No, didn't think so. Since his ridiculous comments about gay couples not sharing rooms in B&B's prior to the election he has done a disappearing act that Oliver Letwin would be proud of. This has become particularly noticeable in the last few days, when the discussion has been about child benefit, but as the Under Secretary of State for Work and Pensions he has hardly appeared. In fact they even go David Davis on the Daily Politics to discuss changes to child benefit not Grayling: So if you do see ...
This was a first! To celebrate the inaugural Attestation of Haringey Police Constables. I've been before to passing out parades at Hendon – when new recruits complete their initial eighteen week training. But after that – they are allocated boroughs – and after two years probation become fully fledged Police Constables. This was a ceremony to celebrate the completion of their probation. Thirty-eight young (and some not so young) men and women (and there were a lot of young women) recited the Attestation itself and then came up to receive their certificates. Congratulations to all of them. I spent an ...
Today I chaired the Health Social Care and Housing Committee. One item discussed was the approval of the installation of carbon monoxide alarms in every one of our 18 000 council homes in the city. This is being carried out in tandem with a very comprehensive gas servicing regime and will make our council homes that much safer.
Back in April, in those heady days after the first televised leaders debate, as news of the remarkable Liberal Democrat poll surge began to come through, Nick Clegg spoke to the members of his campaign team on the phone. None of them could quite believe what was happening, but they agreed on one thing: 'They're going to come for us.' As everyone will recall, 'they' did - with a string of lurid newspaper stories, reaching a peak on 22 April, the morning of the second leaders' debate. Most Lib Dem Voice readers will remember: 'Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem donors ...
The centrepiece of Social Liberal Forum's Conference programme was the debate on Motion F34: Ensuring Fairness in a time of Austerity. Below are the highlights from the excellent discussion that the Motion inspired – full versions of the speeches can be found on our Conference Speeches page, including my own speech that I was unable to deliver given how over-subscribed the debate was – Chairman Geoff Payne had to apologise to the 25 people he was unable to call on! Following Martin Tod's excellent speech outlining the Motion's key policy objectives, three Amendments were tabled; the first addressed the acute ...
Ken Clarke is a long-time political operator, and as such has attracted many labels. The one currently doing the rounds is Liberal Tory, and this is the one being chucked about in the press as a reason why Lib Dems are/ought to be supporting him in his role as Justice Minister, and his proposed reforms to the justice system. With all due respect to our journalistic cousins, I submit that this is the wrong reason to be supporting him. The reason we ought to be supporting him is not his political convictions and background. The reason we ought to be ...
Courtesy of Andrew Godfrey at "Why The Silence Stonewall?", we now seem to have a copy of the mysterious Stonewall consultation, which he's also raised some good points about. But don't get too excited, as it looks like it's just been a surveymonkey.com link mailed around to current donors some time yesterday. The second page of the survey contains a list of objectives for people to rate in terms of importance. "Civil Partnerships" (I don't know why it's called that and not Marriage Equality) is one of twelve choices, amongst usual Stonewall items such as tackling Homophobic bullying and working ...
"where does it hurt?" "here and here" *points* "does it hurt if I apply pressure here?" "YES OW" tl;dr version of today: "please can I have a wheelchair to make getting about easier?" "no, you can walk just fine with crutches" "well, I can, but it hurts to stand up, the painkillers aren't working*, please do something to help me?" "no, here, codeine will fix it!" (and it did, for a couple of hours, but now it hurts again.) * naproxen can apparently can take up to two weeks to take full effect, which is fine for if this turns ...
As I was writing my last post, BBC News reported on rumours at the Conservative conference that some sort of marriage tax break was going to be introduced in this Parliament. This, unfortunately, is actually in the Coalition Agreement, tucked away on page 30, where it says: We will also ensure that provision is made for Liberal Democrat MPs to abstain on budget resolutions to introduce transferable tax allowances for married couples without prejudice to the coalition agreement I hoped we'd got rid of that idea when nothing was done in Osborne's emergency budget. That is an idea that is ...
Durham is part of a national pilot scheme to allow those who care for young people to find out if a person has a record for child sexual offences. From 1st October 2010 a new scheme will be implemented by Durham Constabulary that helps keep children safe. Under the scheme anyone - parent, grandparent, friend, neighbour, guardian, or other interested party - can make an application to the police about a person who has contact with a child or children and who could pose a risk of harm to that child or children. If Police checks show that the individual ...
As I've already posted, I accept the arguments for removing Child Benefit from higher earners. Indeed, by the time this measure comes in, it's likely that our's will be one of those affected and although I will by then be £120 a month down (if you include loss of tax credits), I can live with that. I will be able to have a decent standard of living without it. I won't have to choose between heating my house and putting food on the table, something which is a reality for many families on low incomes. I'd rather see the tax ...
Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there's new stories of interest. Some people like subscribing to its news feed (RSS) and checking that way. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day's posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want to take a read. Just go to our email sign up page to start getting these emails. You can also sign up for a special once-a-week email, bringing ...
I've heard a rumour that someone attempted to abduct a Kingsway pupil near Lum Head Primary School. This is untrue, and the story appears to have got garbled. The real story is that someone reported a "suspicious male" in a car in that area and the police are making enquiries. And, of course, whilst it's entirely right to report suspicions to the police, just because you or I think someone is looking or acting suspiciously doesn't mean they're actually up to no good. Police patrols have been increased in the area, and the police are keen to identify the man ...
As you'll have gathered from my silence, yesterday's news on the Village Green Inquiry was that there was no news. Today's news from the office of the inspector is that the report, "should be with the council in the next day or so." As for me, I promise not to promise you anything else on this subject. I know that people are really keen to hear the result - they email me, call me and stop me on the street - but it seems that we have no choice but to sit tight and wait. There's plenty of that going ...
Haydn Preece has kindly sent me some more photos from the meal at Dolce Vita last week. I rather liked this one of some Southport favourites. I've put more on the website
I think I must have entered some sort of parallel universe last night whilst watching Newsnight. There I was, merrily watching Paxman doing what he does best, when up popped Conservative MP Phil Hammond arguing the case for the removal of child benefit. Then in response to a challenge by Polly Tonybee, Hammond moved swiftly onto the steps the government had already or planned to take to help the low paid and children in deprived areas. Then, like one of those slow motion delays, as I began to open my mouth to shout at the telly that these were Lib ...
This from the man who gave us 'Amstrad', commonly acknowledged as the Coventry City of the computing world ;-)
Cannabis stance is wrong, says Lib Dem drug campaigner This was the surprising headline that greeted me on the guardian website just a few short hours after I'd made my maiden speech to conference. I wasn't planning to give a speech from the conference floor when I arrived in Liverpool. Having seen the latest motion I had drafted on drugs policy again be rejected by the Federal Conference Committee, I was instead concentrating on encouraging as many people as possible (without being too pushy) to attend the fringe event "It's Time We Talked About Drug Policy" at which I was ...
There are many things the Coalition Government could have chose to do with Child Benefit:
The Department for Communities and Local Government are consulting on new proposals to tighten up on rules for council newspapers. At the end of September, the Secretary of State Eric Pickles MP announced new proposals to "stop taxpayers' money being squandered on town hall newspapers." These measures will include stopping the production of newspapers more than four times a year, and ensuring that papers will neither be in competition with the local press nor allowed to cover any issues other than promoting council services. See the CLG announcement here and the related Guardian report, here: ALDC is asking our members ...
I understand some of the anxiety as a result of the Governments announcements yesterday about beneft reforms, but would ask that people wait to see the full picture of reforms and consider them against the backdrop of the wider spending review which aims to deal with Labour's appalling budget deficit. In ideal times I suspect the much needed reforms would have been phased in over a longer period but the deficit needs to be tackled now, the country's finances need to be brought under control now. I was a little surprised by the number of people upset about limiting child ...
Tory Press HQ and their official twitter account have entered into an online row with Guido Fawkes. Now once again it looks like Guido is causing trouble because he didn't feel he was getting enough attention this conference season, but it shows a staggering lack of judgement from the Conservative Press Office to take him on in public. The row centres around previous Guido target William Hague's decision to pull out of an on-stage interview with Telegraph journalist Peter Oborne. He will be replaced by Education Secretary Michael Gove. Both Guido and the press office seem to be talking about ...
I am delighted to share this press release that has gone out this morning. I was informed of my selection late yesterday. My family as ever are very supportive of my decision to stand and I would like to place on record at this very early stage my sincere gratitude. MEDIA NOTICE Aberconwy Lib Dems Having polled more votes than Plaid Cymru in the recent General Election, Aberconwy Libdems are targeting the Plaid held Aberconwy seat for the Welsh Assembly. The result of their candidate poll was announced late on Monday with local Councillor Mike Priestley of Llandudno Junction selected ...
The reaction to the Tory announcement that Child Benefits will be cut in families with a person earning over £44,000 is both interesting and worrying. It's interesting from a political point of view, because I think Labour have chosen naked popularism over common sense. Yvette Cooper, Labour spokesperson, has called it an "unfair attack on Child Benefit." Not only has she performed the usual Labour trick of criticising without offering an alternative, I think she's got her judgement all wrong. Ed Miliband's promise of supporting sensible cuts seems to have lasted less than a week. The cut might seem unpleasant ...
Although situated in the opposite part of the country from where I type, I was distressed to read this morning that Hastings Pier has gone up in flames overnight and has caused some 95% damage to the upper structure. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-11473688 For some unfathonable reason, I've got a rather geeky love of British Piers. Ok, well it probably is fathonable and like with many things in my life, I can lay the blame with the Liberal Democrats. Over the past 8 years, I have travelled the length and breadth of Britain's seaside towns on my annual visit to the autumn 'seaside' ...
Kirsty Williams has responded to the decision by the First Minster that his health minister had not breached the Ministerial code by denying the existence of the McKinsey report into the Welsh Health service and refusing to publish it. The text of her letter is below: Dear Carwyn, Thank you for your letter dated 29 September which states that you are completely satisfied that the Minister has not misled the Assembly without stating whether you have actually conducted an investigation or the form that the investigation took. Firstly, I am disappointed that once again you have fallen back on semantics ...
On October 19th there will be a special consultation event in the White Hart Hotel in the town centre about Cornwall Council's new plans for charging for social care support. Anyone who cares about the issue (or just wants to find out more) is welcome to come along to chat with officers about the proposals. Over the last two months, there has been a major consultation with service users, care providers and the public on a range of options, from keeping the existing way of charging, to not charging at all. People have been encouraged to rank five choices, by ...
I have just heard, in the last 20 minutes, that the Planning Inspector has decided that Jack Allen holdings WILL be allowed to build a waste plant at Garston Dock (next to the Cressington Heath housing development). This is a bad decision for our area. We had hoped, after the Council's planning committee turned this down, that Jack Allen would look elsewhere. But they fought back with an appeal and expensive legal and PR representation. Those of us fighting the scheme went to the Public Inquiry and spoke against the scheme. But sadly the decision has gone against us, and ...
The Elephant&Castle southern roundabout will be closed this Friday 8pm 8 October until 5am monday 11 October. Expect chaos. Buses will be diverted: Route 12 will be diverted by Kennington Park Road, Brixton Road and Camberwell New Road. Routes 35, 40, 45, 68, 148, 171, 176, 468, P5, N35, N68, N89, N171, 343 and N343 will be diverted by New Kent Road, Rodney Place and Heygate Street. I do think it very strange the removal of the roundabout can't be achieved without its total closure for a weekend. Eitherway, I'll be avoiding the area this weekend.
Alongside the widely publicised lopping of child benefits for higher-rate taxpayers, George Osborne has also announced plans for a cap on how much any one non-working family can get from the State. The maximum will be set at £26,000 and starts in 2013. It's likely to affect larger families, particularly those put into private rented accomodation by their local authority. This capping seems to be pretty much impossible to do with the system as it is right now. There's a host of different benefits and credits, all administered by different people and, in some cases, totally different tiers of government. ...
Whilst the nation celebrated Europe's triumph and the champagne flowed at Celtic Manor, few people will have realised that the Ryder Cup was introduced by a Liberal politician. Sam Ryder was an entrepreneur and golfing enthusiast, who built his fortune by selling garden seeds in small 'penny packets' to ordinary households. A keen amateur golfer, ...
Image from the BBC Since I've been back in Northern Ireland I've spent one or two (ok maybe more) nights enjoying the night live in Belfast. I think I've already spent more nights out in Belfast this year than I did during my five years back here, one advantage of a more reasonably timed last train (or possibly a wider variety of places to crash in Belfast). There is even from those days a decade ago a lot of change to the city. Even more architecture beauty has sprung up giving the City a modern face. Even more brand names ...
Liberal Democrat ministers have today announced a major change to the way that the Government treats rents paid by people who live in council houses - including many thousands of residents in North Cornwall. Lib Dems have long campaigned to reform the Housing Revenue Account subsidy and replace it with a fairer system. We've now been able to deliver on that pledge in government. The unpopular 'Tenant Tax' will be scrapped, with local authorities being allowed to keep all council house rents and sales receipts they collect to reinvest in social housing, under plans announced today by the coalition government. ...
To all ALDC members, all Lib Dem Councillors and 2011 target candidates Seven months from today is a vital set of elections. Not only are half of all Liberal Democrat councillors up for election in district, unitary and metropolitan councils across most of England, but its also the first big national electoral test that the party will have faced as a party of Government at a UK level. But it is up to all of us, on the ground, to make 5th May 2011 a success. Three things that will help you win Training - ALDC's flagship volunteer campaigners weekend ...
The current perception is that this government is all about cutting the deficit. David Cameron has gone out of his way to state that this is not the case and that it is also about a change in power relationship between the citizen and the state. I would love to see this happen but there ...
The unpopular "Tenant Tax" will be scrapped, with local authorities being allowed to keep all council house rents and sales receipts they collect to reinvest in social housing, under plans announced today by the coalition government. The proposal, which sees the coalition delivering on a major Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment, will result in the Housing Revenue Account subsidy being scrapped in favour of greater financial freedom for councils. Under the previous system, all council tenant rent was paid into a local housing pot, from which the government was allowed to make deductions to fund subsidies for other local authorities. The ...
One of the few performers who can genuinely be remembered as great, and one with strong connections to Kent most notably Deal. I saw him at the Margate Winter Gardens, in the eighties, a great performance, a gifted musician, actor, brilliant at comedy but also more than capable as a straight actor. In an age which celebrates cretinous footballers, vacant models, and talentless reality stars, the passing of a truly gifted hard working entertainer puts some perspective, on the trivial icons that populate our superficial media. I remember seeing Norman Wisdom a couple of times in Cliftonville admittedly only briefly, ...
Cornwall Council is talking about nothing but cuts at the moment. The rhetoric coming from the 4th floor at County Hall is that we will have to make £110 million of cuts over the next four years. The last message to members from Leader Alec Robertson is that they have identified £100 million of cuts which, they claim, will not have an adverse impact on front-line services. It is only the last £10 million which will affect John and Jane Taxpayer. And so the Leader is inviting ideas from councillors across the spectrum for how to save that final £10 ...
For 5 years Nick Clegg and Roger Helmer represented the East Midlands region as Euro-MPs. On the one hand was Clegg, an utterly pro-European Liberal Democrat who despite his years as a Commission insider is a pragmatist who condemns the absurdities of some EU practices. On the other hand was Helmer, a frothing-at-the-mouth Conservative Europhobe who wants Britain out of the EU immediately if not sooner. Their different views were reflected in the debates they had in the letters' columns of local newspapers. Helmer has had his triumphs. He has seen his party grown to be dominated by people of ...
A new-look Museum of St Albans is opening its doors to visitors again from 6 October following the refurbishment of its exhibition space. The museum has been closed for a month, while it has been remodelled and redecorated to accommodate the University of Hertfordshire's Margaret Harvey Gallery, currently housed in a neighbouring building on Hatfield Road. It will move into the ground floor of the museum in December. The Margaret Harvey Gallery is one of the only dedicated modern art galleries in the region and its exhibitions will enable the museum to cater for a wider audience. The two organisations ...
Remember this chart? This was from an IFS report from six weeks ago on the distributional effect of the Treasury's deficit reduction programme. It shows that the Government's claim that the impact of the Budget is progressive. With the exception of the households with the 10% biggest incomes, it appears the less you have coming in, the more you will feel the pinch of the austerity measures. However, take a look at the timescale that this chart: it includes measures announced in the April and June Budgets running all the way until 2014. Later on into this time frame, there ...
Whilst the nation celebrated Europe's triumph and the champagne flowed at Celtic Manor, few people will have realised that the Ryder Cup was introduced by a Liberal politician. Sam Ryder was an entrepreneur and golfing enthusiast, who built his fortune by selling garden seeds in small 'penny packets' to ordinary households. A keen amateur golfer, with a single figure handicap, Ryder proposed a tournament between British and American golfers, with a trophy manufactured by the jewellers Mappin and Webb at a cost of 250 guineas. The first official match for the Ryder Cup took place at Worcester Country Club in ...
This website received over 60,000 hits in the month of September - a new record and a massive increase on previous months.
The news that there has been a bomb in Londonderry comes just as I was turning in for the night. The Police Service of Northern Ireland is warning that there will be traffic disruption on Tuesday morning. This is the second bomb near the area of Strand Road / Culmore Road in two months. The ...
Spend time talking to Liberal Democrat members about how the party should or shouldn't go about selecting its Westminster Parliamentary candidates and pretty soon you'll hear someone say, usually in the context of whether or not we have too many male white candidates, "But it should be about selecting the best person for the job". Even people who argue for either positive action or positive discrimination frequently accept the underlying assumption - but argue that to get the best person for the job requires a broader vision, taking into account wider discrimination in society and so on. Yet selecting a ...
Before and after pictures: [IMG: no ticket machine] [IMG: yes ticket machine] Hooray! It only took a year (and more than one letter to South West Trains.... see the reply I am holding up in the photo taken last March?) but Winnersh station finally has a ticket machine again.
Surely, in this day and age, even the simplest database is capable of linking two National Insurance numbers together, doing a wee sum to work out whether the amount of tax they pay means they earn a salary greater than or equal to a particular sum, say £44k, but it could be more, and telling them whether they are eligible for Child Benefit or not? Then all you do is send that information to the Child Benefit people who feed it into their database which is also based on NI numbers. The reason for the Government leaving a massively unfair ...
I was going to going to have a rant this morning on the Chief Medical Officer's latest outpourings on the minimum pricing of alcohol but note that I already did so not so long ago. Dr Tony Jewell is all over the Welsh media today backing Health Minister Edwina Hart's call for the assembly government to have powers over alcohol licensing. He says too many people in Wales still drank too much and he is right. However, his assertion that one of the most effective things we can do to control alcohol abuse is to increase pricing is not backed ...
[IMG: Malcolm Gladwell] Malcolm Gladwell's piece for The New Yorker, Small Change - why the revolution will not be tweeted, has set people debating over his dismissal of social networking's ability to bring about change. As ever with Gladwell, the piece is an enjoyable read studded with interesting stories. But the argument does not stack up as Gladwell's own core example in his article show. Gladwell rightly praises the enormous courage of American civil rights campaigners such as the four black college students who sat down at a white's only lunch table in Greensboro, North Carolina on 1 February 1960 ...
Excellent novel of the Vietnam War, with gruelling descriptions of the violence and despair of the ordinary soldiers put in harm's way by their officers and their government (especially if they were not white). Not much about the Vietnamese though. Posted via LjBeetle
Following a meeting of the Executive yesterday, Stockport Council has announced that the Avondale and Peel Moat leisure centres - both threatened with closure - will remain open until at least May 2011. At that time, the Council and the Sports Trust will bring forward a new strategy for leisure provision across Stockport. This is a welcome reconsideration. The Council has put its hands up, admitted it acted too hastily and has been busy listening to the views and concerns of those worried about the closure. The result of that listening: real action. (Note: I have had to moderate some ...
The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that's fine, we're grateful for people taking the time to read the site. You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are three simple ways: 1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there's something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you're an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or ...
I've just finished reading a book by Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh called 'The Miracle of Mindfulness' and his idea about being able to use pretty much any activity as meditation practice got me thinking. Today I had ... Continue reading →
Albania's favourite filmstar has died. Did you know he was popular in France too ? At a meeting in Rouen a few years ago I noticed the puzzled faces of British civil servants. Charged with negotiating with the French, they of course only spoke English and were listening on headphones to the English interpreter as the Prefect of Upper Normandy reminded us of the need for la sagesse Normande.
Observers of the Conservative Party Conference comment that so far it seems strangely subdued. I am not at the conference so I am not a good judge. When I am at a Lib Dem conference I often find that what happens there and what is reported in the media doesn't sound as if it is the ...
George Osborne has announced that the Coalition Government plans to scrap child benefit payments for families where one or both parents is a higher rate taxpayer. Child benefit is currently paid to families (normally to the mother) where any children are under 18. It isn't a means tested benefit: you have to apply and show you've got children, but there are no long, complicated forms to fill out where you give details of your financial situation. So is the change a good idea? From my staw polling, most – but certainly not all – Lib Dems seem to think this ...
Would I be breaking some sort of coalition rule by calling Eric Pickles an idiot? I'm just wondering, because I'm sure that being the Cabinet minister responsible for a Localism Bill, yet only speaking about things in bizarrely anti-localist terms are the actions of either a satirical genius or an idiot. And as I don't ...
Very sad to wake up to the news about Norman Wisdom. He is famous for his role as Norman Pitkin in various films produced in the 1950s and 60s. In fact in Albania, where he is a big star, he is simply known as Pitkin. Generations of people have grown up with his fantastic slapstick humour and although he is gone his work will continue to be shown for a long time to come.
Fresh back from our Conference in Liverpool, Assembly Members are straight back into the Chamber after the summer recess. Many people have referred to this being the first Conference of the Liberal Democrats in power, but of course this is not completely true. Welsh Liberal Democrats have held many Conferences whilst being in Government here in Wales and this time next year we hope to be yet again a party of government in Wales. This was a really positive Conference and then I'm sure that you will appreciate I have a good frame of reference. Unfortunately being a party Leader ...
i) births and deaths 5 October 1916: birth of of Ronald Leigh-Hunt, who played Commander Julian Radnor in The Seeds of Death (1969) and Commander Stevenson in Revenge of the Cybermen (1975). ii) broadcast anniversaries 5 October 1968: broadcast of fourth episode of [Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<b:>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.] <lj-cut text ="Ronald Leigh-Hunt"><b>i) births and deaths</b> 5 October 1916: birth of of Ronald Leigh-Hunt, who played Commander Julian Radnor in The Seeds of Death (1969) and Commander Stevenson in Revenge of the Cybermen (1975).</lj-cut> <lj-cut text="The Mind Robber #4, Paradise Towers #1, ...
Welsh firms are missing out on multi million pound Olympic contracts as the Scottish and Northern Irish governments leave Wales trailing. Wales won just £570,000 worth of Tier One Olympic Contracts, compared to £17 million for Northern Ireland and £22 million for Scotland. New Freedom of Information requests placed by the Welsh Liberal Democrats have revealed that there has been no written correspondence between the Welsh Ministers and the Olympic Delivery Authority in the last three years. The Minister for Economy and Transport, Plaid's Ieuan Wyn Jones, has replied to his Northern Ireland counterpart bemoaning Wales' lack of success, stating ...
There was a great deal of huffing and puffing on the news programmes last night about the coalition government's proposal to withdraw child benefit from those who pay the higher (40%) income tax rate. Apparently (I say "apparently" because to me and the overwhelming majority of the UK population the level of income necessary to pay this level tax is a purely theoretical matter way beyond our everyday experience) this band kicks in at an annual income, allowing for personal and other allowances, of around £44 000 a year, and astonishingly, the median (that's the lot in the middle, there ...
Emptying out my Things To Link To folder again:More ammunition in the war against sexist evopsych idiots, and more reasons to stand up and fight misogyny instead of ignoring it. Coalition is not all wine and roses, but sometimes it invokes a late blooming of a lovely Tory flower that's been strangled in the past by the headbanging loon wing of the party. ♥ Ken Clarke. Speaking of sensible people with legal training (yeah, ok, tenuous Ken Clarke link there), John Dixon has been cleared of wrongdoing after calling scientologists stupid. Thank Cthulhu for that. How death spirals work in ...
The news that there has been a bomb in Londonderry comes just as I was turning in for the night. The Police Service of Northern Ireland is warning that there will be traffic disruption on Tuesday morning. This is the second bomb near the area of Strand Road / Culmore Road in two months. The ...
The forgotten state | openDemocracy (tags: westernsahara)
There are so many items in the news that I would like to write about but one blog per day is probably enough, and it is not difficult to find one subject to feel strongly about. Today I'll support Michael Gove with his abolition of the "no touch" rule in schools. You don't abolish crime by legislation (in fact you create crime by legislation) but you can use the law to stop a child who has been bullied from being comforted. You can stop pupils from comforting each other too but it doesn't make life better by creating these laws. ...
Monday: I'm afraid that my CYNICAL response to the news that Master Gideon is cutting Universal Child Benefit from Higher Rate taxpayers was to anticipate that Hard Labour would issue a press release about half an hour later decrying it as "an attack on the very poorest in society". I was WRONG. It took them a bit more than half an hour. Yes, apparently it's "an attack on already hard pressed families" and yes apparently it's "an attack on women". Sigh. What happened to the OPTIMISM, Mr Potato Ed? Is there ANY measure that you wouldn't attack as "an attack"? ...
