This afternoon's planning committee was a real disappointment to a number of residents who felt that we should be stopping developments that will affect them. Stockton 6th form college, disappointed last year by the ineptitude of the Learning & Skills Council which first allocated them money for a new building then realised they didn't have enough money and withdrew the offer, has managed to
Those few of you who are long-term readers of this blog may well remember that in 2006 and 2009 I attempted – and completed – National Novel Writing Month (aka Nanowrimo, though I don't know why a contest that requires you to be prolix needs a shortened version of its name). I hadn't really thought ...
Tonight I attended an excellent meeting of "Community Spirit" - the community group for the "north" part of West End Ward, covering Tullideph, Ancrum, Pentland and the Cleghorn area. Inspector Dave Scott, our local police inspector, gave an excellent presentation on policing in the area and the tackling of the break-ins problem in particular. It was reassuring to hear that the West End will soon benefit from the additional police resources from the community engagement team. There was also a useful and productive discussion on a number of other local issues including road safety.
Chorlton Library Thursday 14th October 5.30pm - 6.30pm (at latest) The line up for this years festival includes 20 events over the fortnight (8-21 November), with author talks, family events, a teen poetry slam, pub quiz, poetry and creative writing workshops. I'm very pleased that we've such a range of events this year and also that we have some very big name authors taking part such as Charlotte Keatley and Jackie Kay.
There were a number of candidates for the latest entry in this strand but only ever 2 really serious contenders: Deacon Blue, whom I've featured before on this blog, and Del Amitri. Both are acts that I was a big fan of in the eighties and nineties. In the end, I've opted to feature Del Amitri who were the first band (other than various Christian rock/praise bands) that I saw in concert. Indeed, the date of that is etched on my memory: December 21st 1992 at the legendary Glasgow Barrowlands. This is a live version of "Driving with the Brakes ...
Emptying my pockets, I've just rediscovered a job listing that the Jobcentre system recommended for me this afternoon, and felt I had to go look it up and print it after I noticed that it was listed along with "local government admin" jobs. EARTHQUAKE EXPERT Vacancy from Jobcentre Plus Job No: IKC/22694 Wage: £30,000 TO £50,000 PER ANNUM Hours: 35 HOURS OVER 5 DAYS Location: LONDON, DEVONSHIRE SQUARE EC2M 4PL Duration: Permanent Date posted: 24 September 2010 Closing date: 19 October 2010 Pension details: No details held Description Aon Benfield are seeking an Earthquake Expert to join their Impact Forecasting ...
Well, the net of prayer has been cast far and wide... As one friend wrote, As the net of prayer extends wider and yet wider, I look forward in confident hope to hearing positive news from you soon. This morning, Duncan's GP saw him, but little has been done. Of course, we are now waiting ...
For reasons best known to itself, the Guardian now lets Zoe Williams write on politics. In this morning's paper, writing in praise of demonstrations, she said: a person like Nick Clegg would probably never discuss axing Trident were it not for CND marches.This is the exact reverse of the truth. A smooth Eurocrat like our Nick has no emotional attachment to an independent British nuclear deterrent and would save all those billions by getting rid of it if he could. But, as the televised leaders' debates showed, it is very hard to make this case without identifying yourself with the ...
The criminal justice and welfare systems, it is fair to say, have been seen in the past as the poisoned chalices of Government. While we all ultimately want roughly the same ends from these areas of public policy, they are ... Continue reading →
John Hemming watched last night's Panorma on Children in Care: "What this does is demonstrate the perspective of some of the children which is that they are being effectively punished by the state rather than protected." Samuel Ryder, after whom the Ryder Cup was named, was a Liberal councillor in St Albans and then the city's mayor. Sara Bedford has the details on Liberal Democrat Voice. On LabourList, Jim Sweetman dissects the contradictions of Michael Gove's education policies: "At one moment, he wants teachers to have the freedom and flexibility to work within a very simple statement of curriculum aims ...
From Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service: With the Bonfire and Firework season fast approaching, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) is determined to continue the successful incident reductions of 2009. The successes included criminal damage reduced by 22.7 % and call outs to small fires reduced by an amazing 40.5 %. There was also an 8.9 % reduction in anti-social behavior and arson was 4.4 % lower than the previous year. This reduction in crime, antisocial behaviour and deliberate fires, equated to a saving of more than £1.3M over the 2009 Halloween and Bonfire Night period. Cllr Paul ...
Part 26 of blogging my way through my first reading of Atlas Shrugged. You can find the first part here. Chapter 26: The Concerto of Deliverance Hank Rearden has no problems, even though his workers are demanding a pay rise, his family are screaming at him to help them, and the Government wants his support ...
Edmonton's civic election, which is held every 3 years, takes place next Monday. Edmontonians vote for a mayor and 12 councillors, one per ward. I'm fairly certain that the election is FPTP. Elected councillors receive a salary, currently $79,787; the mayor gets $144,061. These salaries are augmented by health care, a vehicle allowance, and partial tax exemption. The small size of the council is admirably lean and efficient, and the salaries, while good enough to attract able candidates, are not excessive. For some reason that I don't understand, the political parties have no involvement in civic politics. All candidates are ...
Before, The path from Marl Drive to Glyn Y Marl Road After, Residents can now access St Michael's Church and the Doctors on Glyn Y Marl Road, without the detour up The Hill on Conwy Road A very busy day today, we filled around 5 skips, we cleared this path above and also some land at the rear of 8-2 Victoria Drive. We gave out around 2 tonne of soil conditioner (Compost to me!!). All in all very successful and some great feedback from residents.
Ironically immediately after the bad news about plans for a waste plant in Garston, we hear that Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority is about to start a consultation about plans for waste disposal over the next several years. Here's a link to the website about the consultation.
One thing I was told yesterday is that the pain getting worse over the last few days could be a symptom: arthritis flare-ups can be triggered by stress, and I have a lot of stuff going on from various sources at the moment (including "I really hope this is not arthritis", helpfully). *sigh* Hopefully a weekend up north will be enough to give me a break for a few days.
The decent in to winter is well and truly under way. Although I did report a few weeks back that the temperature had dropped this was a temporary measure with their recovery back to wonderful highs of mid 20's Celsius. However a quick check of recent weather reports shows that the current highs are in the tropical low teens (if that). At first I had been wary of donning my scarf to hold of the
So reports Paul Waugh in the Evening Standard: Ed Miliband's campaign chief breached House of Commons rules by sending a Parliamentary letter to voters during the general election campaign, anti-sleaze watchdogs have found... Mr Khan was reported to the watchdog after it emerged that he had sent a mailshot using Commons notepaper and pre-paid envelopes to inform voters that he could no longer deal with constituency cases during the dissolution of Parliament... [Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards] Mr Lyon said that although it was clear Mr Khan had tried to keep constituents informed, one effect of the letter was to appear ...
David Cameron's 2009 conference speech as a Wordle: David Cameron's 2010 conference speech as a Wordle: The same words stand out - 'people', 'country', 'government', 'just', 'big', 'society'.
A quick update on my previous posts about the proposals to abolition member-elected trustees at the RSA. An email pings into my inbox from the RSA bringing the news: The Trustee Board has now withdrawn the proposal to move to a fully appointed Board of Trustees ... It is clear that this proposal does not have the support of the wider Fellowship and in the light of this the Trustee Board has decided to withdraw the proposal. As a result, we will now begin the process leading to direct elections from the Fellowship to the four vacancies on the Trustee ...
I had a question to the Rural Affairs Minister today in which I challenged her as to why she was not consulting on the vaccination of badgers in the Intensive Control Area in North Pembrokeshire and also on the format of the on-line consultation. I will publish here the record of that exchange when it become available tomorrow. Following my question Rhodri Glyn Thomas stood up and referred to the position of the Liberal Democrats on this issue in the UK Government. However, judging by this article by Andrew George, who leads for the party in the House of Commons ...
Less about generations than Ed Miliband, more about people. Not much of a showing for tax or cuts, plenty of showing for collective terms such as country, government, society and together. [IMG: David Cameron speech Wordle] Click on graphic for larger version Image generated courtesy of Wordle
Made on behalf of the Claimants Lord Eric Avebury Statement number: 1st Exhibit referred to herein: Dated: IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE Ref. No. CO/ QUEENS BENCH DIVISION ADMINISTRATIVE COURT LIST Claimants' Ref. No. : CJ/EJW/8198/2 IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW BY WALTER BALL AND SALLY BOWERS B E T W E E N : THE QUEEN ON THE APPLICATION OF WALTER BALL AND SALLY BOWERS Claimants -v- THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT Defendant _______________________________________ WITNESS STATEMENT OF LORD ERIC AVEBURY _______________________________________ Full Name of Witness: Lord Eric Avebury Address: House ...
Your Lib Dem Team, are delighted to say that last nights Fish & Chip supper at Fylde Fish Bar was again a huge success. So many people came that the chippy ran out of chairs but I'm happy to say not of fish or chips. Lord Ronnie Fearn gives a helping hand with chef Banico and staff The evening was a great opportunity for our new members to meet and chat to some of our councillors from the ward but also from across Sefton with diners including John Pugh MP, Tony Roberston, Leader of Sefton Council and the one and ...
I intended to spend this morning observing the county council cabinet "in action"; in truth it was rather less than a morning as it took just 38 minutes to despatch the 16 items on the agenda. The press was even quicker. It took only 12 minutes to decide that it had heard enough. This was ironic because the cabinet managed to contain it's obligatory attack on the coalition government until 20 minutes into the meeting. With the press gone, they were simply talking to themselves. That's not to say that there was nothing important on the agenda - there was ...
Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs and Justice Parliamentary Committee Tom Brake has welcomed Justice Secretary Ken Clarke's plan to introduce a work culture into the prison system. Mr Clarke told the Conservative party conference today that inmates will be expected to work a 40 hour working week and will be offered training with the prospect of a job on release. Some of the money generated would be used to finance crime victims' funds. Commenting on the Justice Secretary's speech Mr Brake said "The announcement made today by Ken Clarke is very welcome for victims, prisoners and society. As ...
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 yesterday 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 ...
Its with mixed feelings that I watch the Apprentice. For its entertainment value, its a fantastic watch and personally I always loved watching Nick and Margaret with their ever increasing exasperation at the contestants. I'll watch with interest how Karren Brady gets on this series. However, the way that its produced and by the very nature of its concept, I do get uncomfortable watching it. It doesn't stop me from watching it, by the way! The contestants are placed in very stressful situations, and that's what makes compulsive viewing, but sometimes their reactions can verge on bullying. It can veer ...
Now that Ed Miliband has apparently embraced the Liberal Democrat agenda (voting reform, civil liberties, fairer taxation, condemnation of the Iraq war, cleaning up 'the city', the need for 'fiscal credibility' etc.,) he raises an intriguing question. Could Labour form a coalition government before the term of the present one expires? The maths is intriguing. Labour currently hold 258 seats. Since Sinn Fein refuse to take up their five seats in Parliament the 'magic number' for a majority is an attainable 323. Were Labour to win three by-elections by taking seats from the Scottish Nationalists or Plaid Cymru, and were ...
I've finally acquired a wheelchair to help me get to Manchester this weekend. Unfortunately, the physical and mental energy of getting the damned thing home has resulted in even more pain. It's like a schizophrenic shopping trolley: it won't go in a straight line and definitely won't do right turns, the wheels spin at the slightest incline and it has a dog-like fondness of lampposts and trees. The effort of trying to control it has completely exhausted me. It's now sitting under a tarp in the back garden and it will probably stay there until I'm due to return it ...
Wed 6th
14:25
Go forth and multiply Torygraph! Hands off our Nick! He's a liberal - don't you understand that? No ...
The Torygraph ranks- and I can hardly bring myself to write this – Nick Clegg as the third most influential right winger in the country: 3. (NEW) NICK CLEGG Deputy Prime Minister Some may question the inclusion of the leader of the Liberal Democrats in a list of influential people on the right. But Clegg has proved in the last six months that he really does belong on this list. His recognition of the need to cut the deficit and do it quickly is one reason. His clear influence over David Cameron is the other. He is an 'Orange Book' ...
Some recommended reading for Liberal Democrat councillors and local campaigners from the last week. This week it's been the Conservatives in the news, with their conference at the ICC in Birmingham. Here's the Guardian on Cameron's speech in David Cameron Fairness People Deserve Here's the BBC on the discussion at Conservative Party Conference on Why did the Tories not win? Looking back at the Labour Party conference the week before: The Observer's piece on How Labour's Family Saga has Changed the Party In local government and related news: Local Authorities to Retain Council House Rent (MJ) Sandwell Seeks Legal Fight ...
Remember I wrote the other day about how I'd complained to Tesco about the appalling gender stereotyping in their latest advertising campaign? It featured baby dolls as being "for girls" and transformers being "for boys". Well, I've had a reply which, if anything, has made me feel more angry than I did before. It was offensive and insulting to compare the marketing of toys to the marketing of clothes - and there's certainly a lot to be said about clothes marketing and the premature sexualisation of girls, but we'll leave that for the moment. I'm sure that my avoiding buying ...
The unpopular "Tenant Tax" is to 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 yesterday 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. ...
Quiz Night/Hotpot Supper - This Friday 8th October 8pm Our popular Quiz Night will include a fully licensed Bar, Raffle and excellent food available (including vegetarian option). The Quiz night commences at 8pm 8th October at the Longfords Suite (adjacent to the Longford Park Athletics stadium). The address is Ryebank Road, Chorlton Cum Hardy, MANCHESTER, M21 9TA Tickets £7 each including supper (£2.50 admission only). Advance tickets from Bob 286 6979 The Quiz Master has promised there will be some easy questions this time!
When it comes to party conferences, all parties complain that the media get it wrong. If you're in the Green Party, UKIP, Plaid, the SNP or another smaller party you'll be frustrated about the way the national media ignore you. All those great policies and speeches to the party faithful, but you end up with a small paragraph in the Times. If you're lucky. The Lib Dems were finding out this year what it's like not to be ignored. Tabloid hacks arriving for the first time from the Sun , Express, Mirror and Mail may have been as bemused by ...
And you're a comics fan, The Mindless Ones have put out their own 'zine, Prism, featuring a lot of the same contributors. I wrote a piece for it, but frankly my piece is pretty pathetic (it was towards the fag end of last year when I was going through writer's block), but it also has ...
As the evenings draw in, now is the time to report faulty streetlights to the Council. Most are fixed within a few days of being reported. Some take longer (especially if the problem is with the electricity supply and United Utilities have to get involved). Most light columns have a number on them. Just contact Streetscene (email streetscene@stockport.gov.uk or phone 0161 217 6111. Give them the number of the column and the location, and they'll take it from there. If there's no number on the column, or it's too worn to read, describe the location from a house (e.g. the ...
So, if the Tories get their own way, they Ed Miliband will not be entitled to a certain tax break. Well, I say if its probably when, but at least the Lib Dems have an option in the coalition agreement not to vote for the Marriage Tax break. When David Cameron offered the tax break as an offset to the Child Benefit Allowance changes for me, he made matters worse, not better. I broadly support the changes to CB. I'd much rather people on the highest tax bracket didn't have the benefit, than changes that affect those who are paid ...
Steve Richards of The Independent tweets that we should not be surprised if George Osborne performs a u-turn over the controversial Child Benefit cut for high earners announced at the Tory Party Conference this week. The point Richards makes is that, while in Opposition, Cameron and Osborne quite frequently 'flip-flopped', to use the dreadful American ...
A couple more videos from Lib Dem conference are now ready and on YouTube. These were shot at the pro-AV rally. The first is of actor Art Malik, the 2nd of Nick Clegg.
They say a week is a long time in politics, however, for Ivor Tiefenbrun three days is enough. On Monday he was the Conservative candidate for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn. On Tuesday, he insulted Scots while at the same time defending Margaret Thatcher in an interview published in The Scotsman. Also on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Scottish Tories denied Mr Tiefenbrun had made the comments, stating: "The candidate denies using these words and does not hold these views."On Wednesday, he has to resign as the Conservative candidate for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn. However, in a statement published today [Wednesday], ...
At the Conservative party conference we saw two major announcements on benefit reforms to help cut the welfare bill in preparation for the new benefit reforms which will bring in a new universal credit but which will probably prove more expensive. On the one hand we had a cap on benefits at £26,000 (except for disability grants) and the other issue is that we have a stop on child benefits for people paying the higher rate of tax. The first restriction could have an effect on benefit claimants in many expensive areas, such as central London. The second affects the ...
Frank Little writes: I wish to correct a story, published on this party website in good faith, that Derek Vaughan claimed money to which he was not entitled. In fact, the South Wales Police Authority allowance was paid automatically, not claimed, and Mr Vaughan has returned the sums involved. In our defence, it should be noted that we merely relayed, without addition, a "news item" in the Evening Post.
Do you think women in Britain have equal job opportunities with men, or not? Men: Yes 51%, No 43% – net +8% Women: Yes 25%, No 63% – net -38% Net scores by political preference: Conservative: 0% Lib Dem: -22% Labour: -25% Source: YouGov, fieldwork 30 Septemeber – 1 October
One thing noticeably missing from the Tory conference has been any mention of bankers bonuses. When it comes to getting rid of unfairness, I think a good place to start would be with them. I've no problem with bankers earning big money when they create lots of wealth and when the country they work in isn't in an almighty financial mess that their institutions helped create. At the moment, at least one of those two things isn't happening, and so it's right I think that we look to ask those bankers earning massive bonuses to pay more at a reasonable ...
The Conservative conference clunks to an end today. David Cameron will close it by speaking in the main room at the International Conference Centre in Birmingham. In that very room in 2002 I had my Birmingham University Graduate Ball, at which I found £20 on the floor. If only the government could find free money lying about the place, we'd be in a lot less trouble... In previous years, when the Tories weren't in power so it mattered less, and when the Lib Dems weren't sharing that power, I would probably have chuckled watching them squabble as they have done ...
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, not content with the publicity from his huge donation announced on Oprah, has appeared as a character in the Simpsons in America. Picture from Radio 1/Newsbeat Of course this appearance is just a mere coincidence, given that the film based on his story, 'The Social Network,' is coming out this week... Mark Zuckerberg doesn't even like the film...uhum. UK audiences' will have to wait to see the episode, but his appearance only lasted a minute, and involved him meeting Lisa and Nelson at an entrepreneurial fair. When Lisa asks him to explain how staying ...
Having blogged yesterday on proposals by the Chief Medical Officer to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol, I was not really surprised to see him carry on the theme today with a proposal to extend the smoking ban to the home and private cars so as to protect children from second-hand smoke. Clearly, the intentions are laudable but the practicalities of such a ban must be insurmountable, whilst the philosophy behind it is unacceptable. There has to be limits on the amount of influence the state has on one's private life. Otherwise we will all be under surveillance 24 hours a ...
"As part of a package of measures, we will introduce a carefully managed and science-led policy of badger control in areas with high and persistent levels of Bovine Tuberculosis" - The Coalition: Our programme for Government (page 18) The Government is now consulting on its proposal to introduce badger culling as part of its approach to tackle Bovine TB. This part of the Government's policy is bound to generate both controversy and impassioned debate. Last year the Government slaughtered over 25,000 cattle because of TB. The control programme costs £63 million. Yet the situation is getting worse. There is little ...
The following article appeared in the Autumn 2010 edition of the Journal of Liberal History as part of an edition marking the centenary of the 1910 general elections. [IMG: 1910 election leaflet] Despite the Liberal government's double victory in 1910, in reality the electoral results were rather more ambiguous. The Liberals went into the January 1910 election with a majority of 130 (and, in practice, a working majority of more like 350 on most issues, given the small number of Conservative MPs, who comprised the main opposition party). Yet they came out of the January election without any majority, and ...
Popular though child benefit is, maybe now is a good time to look more closely at it what it's intended for and whether it works. The plus point is that it's the one benefit with a near 100% take-up rate, but it does have serious flaws. When it came in, the situation in many households was that the highest earner (usually the father) was getting a tax break for each of the children, but although most households were cooperative with their money in a minority of homes this extra was not being passed on leaving the other parent to bring ...
Early morning keynote speech yesterday at the first ever awards by Workingmums – Top Employer Awards 2010. After the speech came the awards and then a Q & A panel. Congratulations to Gillian Nissim who set up Workingmums. As often happens – experience is a great teacher. And when Gillian became a mum – having worked in many different corporations – she saw the need for better work practises so that companies didn't just lose their talented women because of babies. And women didn't lose their jobs – just because at certain times of their lives – they couldn't work ...
The Tory faithful gave one of its few spontaneous rounds of applause during Liam Fox's speech to the news that there will be a Trident replacement. Yet in his shopping list of all the threats & theaters of conflict in which we might find ourselves and with which he opened his speech [setting aside ritualistic Labour bashing] there was not a single one for which Trident would have been of any conceivable use whatsoever. This is an issue where Liberal Democrat MP's and activists must march with their feet into lobbies and polling booths and say NO. Any such action ...
I like the new Fisheries Commissioner, and after her presentation to the European Parliament's Environment Committee a week ago (28 September) I guess I am not alone. Maria Damanaki is Greek, has been a socialist Member of Parliament in her country for many years, and arrived in Brussels knowing next to nothing about fisheries policy. But she is no fool. Nor is she without courage; as a student she was a radio voice of liberation who was tortured for her views by the dictatorship of the time. I had asked that she speak to the committee about her plans for ...
A Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman has called for a new tax on bonuses to be placed on banks. Lord Oakeshott's call came after the Royal Bank of Scotland's chairman claimed that regulation was the only way to restrain the annual bonus bonanza in the financial services industry. Sir Philip Hampton admitted that the bank was "paying a lot of people who aren't worth it" and concluded that, whilst RBS had made changes to the structure of bonus deals to avoid rewards for failure, "My own view is it can probably only be decisively solved through regulation". After industry commentators estimated ...
... but diamonds are a girl's best friend. The news this morning that Greggs are to start selling croissants as part of its breakfast range, despite a challenging market conditions, got this song going in my head. Of course as a former employee of Gerald Ratner I'm musing the fact that if M&S sandwiches lasted longer than some of the Ratner's products, will Greggs next start branching out into the jewellery business. The lose of the local H. Samuel branch here in Bangor indicates that this too is currently a challenging market. So today as David Cameron makes his closing ...
I must admit when I read the headline in yesterday's Scotsman, I did a double take and thought "Really?" Would anyone be so stupid as to say that? Has The Scotsman got this out of context? Apparently not. The Conservative candidate Ivor Tiefenbrun has defended Margaret Thatcher's policies and in doing so said "It's only because Scots are so thick that this was swallowed."Now, I have to be honest, Ivor isn't the only man to defend Margaret Thatcher's policies. A fairly well known Scot within the world of politics has also done this, not yesterday but during the Glenrothes by-election ...
And out it comes again... ideology masquerading as evidence based policy. I try to run a positive blog focusing on strengths using the solution focused approach as a way of understanding how to learn from what works. However, it is equally important to understand the opposite – problem focused thinking – and there is no ...
Last night, I spent an intensive but enjoyable hour-and-a-half on a live TV programme on the Bengali Channel S moderated by Ajmal Masroor debating the future of the Labour Party with Camden Council leader Nasim (Nash) Ali and two East London Labour activists. Interestingly, all three had backed Ed Miliband for national party leader, but a ...
Rail user, Chris Willmore, has slammed First Great Western's decision to leave Yate commuters with no shelter from the rain whilst they wait for their train. At the best of times it is a scramble for the hundreds of commuters waiting for morning trains from Yate to Filton and Bristol to find space in the tiny shelter. But now, even the shelter will not protect them from the rain. All but one panel of the shelter is broken, and rail users were horrified when First refused point blank to repair them. Chris Willmore, who was the person who reported the ...
One of the major achievements in the Coalition Agreement is the commitment of the Conservatives to support not merely a "wholly or mainly" elected Upper House but also one elected by proportional representation no less. The timetable has started to slip, from the original agreement's decision to "come forward with a draft motions by December 2010" to talk about draft legislation in January and then, slipped in near the end of Nick Clegg's conference speech, the intention that the first elections will not be held until the latest possible moment while still keeping the commitment to act in this Parliament ...
'And then there is Trident, about which ministers are allowed some latitude under the Coalition agreement. We must hope that the Lib Dems put up a resistance to paying for this unusable and expensive piece of hardware, designated a weapon but, in fact, little more than a diplomatic masculinity symbol.'My thanks to Lord Bonkers for drawing my attention to this extraordinary article -the rest is well worth reading
You couldn't make it up, could you? This, according to my irate husband who phoned me a few minutes ago, was First Scotrail's excuse for the cancellation of his train to work. Apparently they will be running an express from Bathgate which will bypass all the people standing on the platform in Livingston and they'll just have to wait for half an hour. I'd love to know more details, but that has to win points for originality. The mind boggles.
Today is an Environmental clean up day on my Ward and I will be spending the day assisting with picking up litter with the pupils from Ysgol Maelgwn and hopefully clearing a footpath with probation services. I do enjoy these days as you can physically see the difference that has been made at the end of the day. Will post some photos later.
A YouGov poll in The Sun this morning has 83% supporting the plans to scrap child benefit for high-rate taxpayers, with only 15% opposing the idea and an astonishingly small 2% who don't have an opinion. Whether that will calm Cameron's nerves when faced with the full fury of the Daily Mail remains to be seen.
The link is to Panorama's story on children in care in Coventry where they looked at the situation for children in Coventry by following them for 6 months.Much that at times children do need to be taken into care, at other times they are kept from their families for no good reason.The young Connor in the programme who has already had a disrupted (aka failed) adoption is a good example of a child
Yesterday I called for a review of the policing of the Ministerial Code as the current system lacks democratic accountability and impartiality. Recent requests to bring Ministers to account have resulted in the First Minister conducting investigations into his own colleagues, without any reference to independent and impartial opinion. As the National Assembly prepares to gain primary law-making powers in the forth-coming referendum, the Executive of the National Assembly needs to be more democratic and accountable. The Assembly's Standards Committee and the Commissioner for Standards have previously raised concerns about the impartiality of Ministerial scrutiny. Whilst allegations of misconduct of ...
anti-telemarketing EGBG counterscript Dealing with marketing phone calls (tags: funny) Women and the Clarke « Torque Control The declining number of women in (UK) sf. (tags: sf) james_nicoll: A depressing bit from Torque Control Further discussion of women in sf (tags: sf) democracyarsenal.org: Our Ongoing Civil-Military Crisis - The Milburn Edition Rogue superpower? (tags: war usa) A Jihadist census: 'Al Qaeda-Affiliated and 'Homegrown' Jihadism in the UK: 1999-2010' | openDemocracy Article summarising the launch of the report I linked the other day. (tags: waronterror)
Further to my post about the rescue of my brother, Duncan, from Slieve Donard, I am asking for prayers for him. This evening the emergency doctor was out to him because his GP was sufficiently worried about him. Unfortunately, the emergency doctor said that he didn't feel able to section Duncan tonight as he didn't ...
So child benefit will not be universal from 2013. There are arguments to support keeping the benefit universal. There are extra costs to a means-tested benefit. Even in a household with a high income one parent may not receive enough money. However these are not strong arguments. In a similar fashion it is often difficult for me to feel sorry for holidaymakers who lose their holiday. There are so many people who can't afford a holiday in the first place. On the other hand it is a really strong argument that says those who are very rich don't need child ...
Norwich South MP Simon Wright has welcomed government plans to end the reverse subsidy of council housing accounts, which has seen millions of pounds of Norwich tenants' rents flow into the Treasury's national coffers.
