... But will the electorate get fooled again? You'd think with several news outlets trumpeting the dubious and tenuous Yorkshire links of several of the new shadow cabinet, I'd be at least a bit pleased, wouldn't you? You lot should know better by now. Here's ( a detailed and very long person by person rundown of what I think: ) So, as you can see, the new generation of Labour politicians appears to be the same old same old with a few fig leaves (John Healey prominent among them, and I shall be watching him with interest) to cover the ...
It appears to be National Coming Out Day, and as a result, many people on Twitter are quoting/retweeting the words of one @swingsetlife: "Retweet if you have a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered friend in your life that you love & accept unconditionally."</a> This is one bandwagon on which I'm not jumping. Several people have pointed out the missing people: asexuals, other trans folk who aren't specifically transgendered, kinky people, polysexuals... but other people have been there, and besides, I know LGBT to be an umbrella term which can't possibly encompass all identities without running through the alphabet a couple ...
I have condemned the city centre stabbing in Belfast's Royal Avenue here I condemn the stabbing in Belfast city centre's Royal Avenue earlier this evening. I trust that the people of Belfast who may have been in the area around 1815 will assist the Police Service of Northern Ireland by giving witness statements if required. ...
Next Monday (18th October), Cambridgeshire County Council will start on improvements to the shared use path on Cherry Hinton Road. Most of the work should be finished in six weeks. It has actually been waiting on the Mill Road work, to avoid too much disruption at one time. Some finishing off work will be done in the New Year but the intention is not to have any traffic management work during December. I am sure everyone will appreciate that. The works will be on the part of Cherry Hinton Road between Perne Road and Queen Edith's Way — see map. ...
Roy Greenslade seems to have hit on something in his blog on the Guardian's website. Northern Ireland is seeing a resurgence in Republican violence. There is need for decent reporting of events here in Northern Ireland in the mainstream British press. Arrest of nine men by Gardaí Nine men were arrested by Irish police – ...
The report to Cabinet for this coming Thursday makes sober reading. Not a single replacement building for a secondary school in the last 30 years means that Stockton's secondary school estate is showing distinct signs of age. Some are rapidly nearing the end of their useful life and most could do with a bit of an update. It's a great pity that the BSF process was so bureaucratic. If Labour
Lib Dem Presidential candidates Tim Farron and Susan Kramer were both at the Scottish party's conference in Dunfermline on Saturday. So was Caron's Musings. "A lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting," said Andrew Marr at the Cheltenham Literary Festvial. On Liberal Democrat Voice Stephen Tall shows he is "a little bit of a hypocrite". ffranc says has his own take on the subject: "I may be inadequate, but I am no longer pimply." Writing on the Prospect site, Angus Kennedy defends study of ...
Philip Green is very good at two things: minimising his personal tax bills and minimising his firm's costs. Hence my comment for PR Week: Pack said: 'It seems his appointment and the work of the team have produced some good advice. 'But his own aggressive approach to minimizing the tax he pays himself sends out a slightly discordant message. 'People may say the way to save the Government money is to get people like Mr Green to pay more tax.' You can read the full PR Week story here.
The Hastings Observer is not always right about everything as far as I am concerned, but it has certainly captured the mood in the town with its front page last week following the awful events of early Tuesday morning. I learnt of the fire whilst away on holiday. It was a total shock and one of the ...
The Liberal Democrat wish to scrap tuition fees for university students never did fit comfortably with Labour'a ideal of expanding participation. Certainly, it is hard to see how this policy could be afforded if we reached the target of having 50 per cent of young people attending university. I, for one, was happy to support Liberal Democrat policy precisely because I was sceptical about the expansion of the university sector. Labour would defend this expansion on the grounds that it is making university education to working-class youngsters who have not been able to benefit from it in the past. My ...
This is very nicely done.
My beloved Regional Party is concerned. We've had a minor clutch of complaints of late and, to be honest, they've not been handled terribly well (and I hold up my hand at this point). The answer is to create a complaints handling process, which can be published so that, in the event of a future complaint, everyone involved will know what will happen, who will be responsible and for what, and who is managing the process. What it has uncovered, as best I can tell, is that nobody on my Regional Executive has actually read any of this stuff, including ...
Sometimes a mobile advert is just so bad that you wonder what drugs the people who commissioned were on. Easy A is new film aimed squarely a the youth market. Perfect fodder for mobile advertising. [IMG: Easy A Advert] Cute little advert, doesn't say what it will link to, but other than that, not bad. So let's click through and see what happens. [IMG: Mobile YouTube] Sweet! YouTube has an excellent mobile optimised site. The ability to share the video on Facebook and Twitter is sure to make this baby go viral. Right? Right? [IMG: Sorry, this video cannot be ...
Lambeth Council have allocated £12,000 per ward in a Community Action Fund, for spending on projects in the area, as part of a scheme that was formerly known as the "Ward Purse". The funding is available for 'capital' projects (for example, construction/repair, purchase of equipment), but can not be used for items such as rent and staff costs. Up to three projects can be funded in the ward. If you have any suggestions of a suitable project, then please get in touch with Oval Lib Dem Councillor Ishbel Brown, at CllrIshbelBrown@LambethLibDems.org.uk - the deadline for this is Friday 22nd October. ...
Mon 11th
20:15
Ed Miliband's home affairs appointments: can we really take him seriously on civil liberties?
One of the more cheering bits of Ed Miliband's speech to the Labour party conference was his pledge that the party under his leadership would once again take seriously the issue of civil liberties, of individual rights My generation recognises too that government can itself become a vested interest when it comes to civil liberties. I believe in a society where individual freedom and liberty matter and should never be given away lightly. ... we must always remember that British liberties were hard fought and hard won over hundreds of years. We should always take the greatest care in protecting ...
Oval Lib Dem Councillor Ishbel Brown has spoken out against one of Thames Water's proposed "super sewer" construction sites in Vauxhall, which form part of the larger project to significantly reduce the amount of the raw sewage dumped into the River Thames. A site in Vauxhall is needed for the construction of a junction between the existing sewers and the new "super sewer"- four possible locations are under consideration. One of these possible locations is located in the middle of the Ashmole Estate, close to hundreds of people's homes. Ishbel has demanded that this location is immediately removed as a ...
Arise bloggers. We have been insulted by Andrew Marr. See He says: "A lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting. They are very angry people." I am single but that's about it. What's wrong with having pimples and being bald anyway? The real issue I object to is that he says 'citizen journalism has nothing to do with journalism at all'. He misses the crucial point of blogging which is that it allows ordinary people and children to participate in issues that affect ...
The winner is Anna Kessel of the Guardian for this effort in her piece about Ashley Young: After coming on as a half-time substitute in the friendly against Hungary at Wembley two months ago, Fabio Capello praised Young's contribution.
More to follow - but thought I'd get these photos from Linden Homes' exhibition visible. Sorry for the poor quality - my phone's strongest suit clearly isn't its camera!
I'm intrigued by Andrew Marr's recent attack on blogging. For those who've missed his comments, here's what he told an audience at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, as reported in the Telegraph: "Most citizen journalism strikes me as nothing to do with journalism at all. A lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting. They are very angry people. ... Most of the blogging is too angry and too abusive. It is vituperative. Terrible things are said on line because they are anonymous. People say things ...
It seems that its not just trains that are subject to delays on our railways. In West Hampstead its the station itself which is being delayed. Planning permission was given to a new Thameslink station some time ago - and considerable works were done on the new bridge which will allow disabled access. However, a revised planning application was submitted by Network Rail over the summer - and this has now been approved and the councillors have now been invited to talk through the implications. Watch this space!
It's quite something when a front bench spokesman goes a fair bit off message in public and no journalist covers it. Although to be fair, it found its way onto Twitter (not by me or any other Lib Dem) and Nicola Sturgeon retweeted it. If you google for the Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference in Dunfermline on Saturday, you will find pretty slim pickings. It's not that journalists weren't there. I have proof. Look at this photo of me being interviewed for STV News. Maybe the reason there is so little in the papers is that, apart from that one, very ...
So, the Labour Party have "extended a hand" to disgruntled Lib Dem voters over the broken promise of not voting to increase tuition fees? Don't make me laugh. Ed Miliband has hardly been leader of his party two weeks and this is just another indicator that he is not fit to be a Prime Minister. First of all, the Browne Review of Higher Education HAS STILL NOT BEEN RELEASED. There is a lot of press speculation over it, but that's all it is. Press speculation. Some reports have said fees will go up to £5,000, others £7,000, others £10,000 or ...
You might remember that a week ago last Thursday I had a bit of a strop about the forthcoming party presidential election and posed 4 questions I wanted answering by the Presidential candidates. Although at the time I did tell you that he had replied by e-mail 3 hours and 23 minutes later, I haven't yet got round to publishing his answers. I never did hear anything from the Kramer camp, but I can't really hold it against them that they don't read my trashy little blog. This morning I've e-mailed that post to them to see if they want ...
Over the past few months, my colleague Jeremy Rowe has made a habit of questioning Cornwall's Cabinet Member for Localism, Lance Kennedy, about his reports to Council. You see, although Lance is in charge of localism (as well as community safety), he limits his reports to just a single topic. For at least the last four meetings, the only issue mentioned has been Newquay Safe - an excellent project, but far from being the only subject under the localism agenda. Where is the discussion of the community networks, the powers being devolved to town and parish councils or active partnering ...
As I mentioned before the weekend I was off in Donestk this last weekend at the 25th International House Ukrainian workshop. It was a great time with some amazing speakers and great teachers there. I certainly enjoyed the many different experiences from that weekend (including releasing a Chinese lantern from the centre circle of the Dombass stadium, watching a couple of ballet performances,
The agenda for next week's full council meeting has just been published and there is to be yet another debate on the subject of councillors' allowances. This is all because the Conservative led administration refused to accept the Lib Dem motion to freeze allowances for the four year duration of our term of office. Instead, they commissioned a £10,000 report which they rejected and promised to consider the issue again in a year's time. Now the Council needs to decide whether or not it wants to commission a new independent report. I really cannot see how, with cuts due to ...
Yesterday's Sunday Times [paywall] reported that Patrick Streeter, one of the hopefuls for the Liberal Democrat London Mayoral candidacy, was not approved as a candidate and is now taking his case to the High Court. ...a potential candidate has taken the party to court after being dropped from the shortlist of five — and it's not Opik. Patrick Streeter, an Old Harrovian, red sock-wearing accountant, applied to the High Court last week for a stay of execution after being dropped at the interview stage last weekend. He now expects the matter to be settled, but says: "The Labour vote is ...
It should, of course, come as no surprise that Sir Michael Parkinson swept the floor with useless Radio 5 host Richard Bacon this afternoon, but it was a masterclass in contempt which deserves to be heard again and again. (Listen again is available here for then next 7 days.) As a magazine slot interviewer Bacon is truly terrible. Last week the Nobel Prize for Physics was won by two scientists who invented the two-dimensional material graphene. Nothing so exemplifies Richard Bacon so much as that material. He never seems to get more than a single molecule of depth from his ...
A bit late today shazbot!
From the Kingston Guardian today: The chances of a repeat of this year's bitter election battle between Zac Goldsmith and Susan Kramer receded this week as the former MP indicated she was unlikely to contest the seat at the next election. Mrs Kramer officially remains Liberal Democrat candidate for Richmond Park until six months after the election, but when asked whether she would seek the nomination again she said it was not on her agenda. She said: "I think you move on and you don't constantly try to replay the past. I would have liked the chance to do another ...
Eh? Let's talk about unconferences first. These have been around for a couple of years, sometimes under the BarCamp banner, although this was actually the first one I had attended. An unconference is an antidote to all those conferences where you pay good money to sit passively and be lectured at by a series of worthy people. I speak at enough conferences myself to know that the best part is always the lunch break, when you can actually network and exchange ideas with other attendees. Instead, someone had the bright idea of inviting all the movers and shakers in a ...
How difficult can it be to remember to pick up the blue bag of litter when one of your own colleagues has put it there for collection? Not difficult you would think yet every week Enterprise Liverpool, the company with responsibility for street cleansing in Liverpool, fail to do this. So what we have in effect is leglised fly tipping. If I took my domestic rubbish in a bag and left it next to a street light for days and nights on end I feel sure I would soon be in trouble. And yet for some reason this failure to ...
The senior Conservative peer Lord Fowler has written this commendable article in today's Guardian, about News Corp's bid for full control of BSkyB. This bid really matters, which is why I am pleased that it will cross the desk of a Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, Vince Cable. It's only because of the Coalition Agreement that a Liberal Democrat like Vince Cable is the Cabinet Minister handling matters such as this, and that's another reason for my supporting the coalition. The coalition is not just about long-term policy; it's also about ministers' decisions on the papers that they find in their ...
Two very positive Liberal Democrat stories today in the Herald Scotland: The first: Flourishing LibDems cast Scottish politics in a good light reports that Liberal Democrat membership in Scotland is up 18% this year and sees it as a sign that of public acceptance of the party's role in the Coalition government. The Herald also has an interview with Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, which charts his progress from childhood to the Cabinet, revealing his family's deep Liberal roots: "My mother tells the story of how she caught my grandad rocking me in the pram when I was ...
Proper blog post tonight. I've not really been reading any blogs for the last month or so, other than skimming the politics-news ones and Rilstone's excellent series on Joseph Campbell, because my day job, PEP! and my new book on the Beatles have all taken priority. I've just hit 'mark as read' on 4000+ items ...
In late November 2008 I used uSwitch to see if I could get my energy supplied any more cheaply. My major concern was the vast changes that Scottish Power were making quarter to quarter based on my fuel bills despite what they called graduated charging to smooth out the curve and the pain. As I result I shifted to N-Power. Now with the general election and other stuff since then the ability of me to be when the meter reader called round was non-existent. Also the little reminder card to ask me to send off my own readings got neglected ...
I was at a meeting of Cornwall Council's Tourism Panel this morning where the Head of Visit Cornwall, Malcolm Bell, gave a presentation on future directions for the tourism service. Although Malcolm was keen to point out that there were no definitive proposals as yet, two significant items came out of the meeting: The first is that, with huge budget cuts all around, the tourism service is intensely vulnerable to cuts. In Cornwall, the income from tourism is the equivalent to £3000 for every man woman and child who lives here. We have 88% repeat visitors (ie people who come ...
I know exactly what I was doing at this moment ten years ago. Sitting in my car in a car park in Burntisland in Fife crying my eyes out. I'd driven over there to hand in to my solicitors the money to pay for this house which we moved into the following week. It was the first time I'd ever driven over the Forth Road Bridge on my own. That wasn't why I was crying though. The reason for my tears was that it had just been announced on the radio that Scotland's first First Minister Donald Dewar had died ...
Elections like this one should carry a health warning about the rash promises that are made often but rarely kept. So I've thought carefully about what we need from our President at this unique time for the Liberal Democrats. I've also asked others what they think. I reflected carefully on my strengths and what I can do to help build our Party's profile, engage new supporters and develop our strength. So here are my 6 clear commitments to you and the Party. As Ros Scott rightly said we need our President to fulfill a different role to the normal one. ...
Saturday: I've said this before and I'll say it again: the British economy skates across the thin ice between TWO great dangers. On the one fluffy foot: DEflationary recession caused by insufficient demand (i.e. the economy losing oomph because there's not enough money being spent). On the other fluffy foot: collapse in market confidence leading to spiralling interest rates leading to INflationary recession (i.e. the economy losing oomph because the money is spent on higher costs and interest instead of growth). ONE solution needs MORE Government SPENDING funded by borrowing; the OTHER needs LESS Government BORROWING achieved by less spending. ...
When the GLC was abolished all those years ago the Lea Valley Regional Park was set-up and all London Council Tax payers are charged a supplement to pay for it. Works out around £3 per household every year. The park is more than half in Essex and Hertfordshire with the remainder north east London. The idea is Lea Valley Park is so important for all London's residents that we should all pay for it. Don't get me wrong. It looks from the web a lovely park for those that live near it. Trouble is I've yet to meet anyone in ...
Huge congratulations to Dave Gordon and everyone who was involved in organising the re-birth of the Launceston Carnival on Saturday. A number of people queried whether, given the choice, a dark evening in October was the right time for a carnival, but, with the rain holding off, it most certainly was. The streets of town were packed and there were a good number of floats and walking paraders. Well done to the Rugby Club's under 16s who pulled a van the whole way, including up St Thomas' Road. I hope that the pubs picked up a decent amount of trade ...
Prateek Buch describes a good-humoured but vociferous rally in support of science funding at the Treasury on Saturday What began as just another blog post culminated in an estimated 2,000 scientists, engineers, students and various allies of science gathering outside the Treasury yesterday, to send a clear and simple message to Chancellor George Osborne - Science is Vital. Of course it wasn't "just another blog post" that led an eclectic mix of biologists, chemists, physicists - even the odd histopathologist - to come to Whitehall in a show of support for UK science. It was a rallying call that succinctly ...
At the weekend, I received an email from the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Dr Vince Cable about student funding. I stood at the General Election, as did Vince, I certainly signed the NUS pledge to oppose any increase in Tuition Fees and think Vince did too.
Prestwich Liberal Democrats are angry at the Council's decision to start charging for parking at Fairfax Road. Charges are scheduled to start today, Monday 11th October, meaning that local people will now need to pay to use local shops, the library and NHS facilities if they park close by. We think the charges are bad for lots of reasons. It will mean that people needing to go to the doctors or the Walk-in Centre will have to pay, and it will mean added congestion on local streets. It will also make it even more difficult for local business to attract ...
You never really know what you're going to get when it comes to resolutions from the various member parties of ELDR, although there are some telltale hints as to what might emerge. Some of the parties from candidate nations are, to put not too fine a point on it, keen to address issues related to their neighbourhood, others tend towards economic issues and LYMEC, the youth wing, tend towards the libertarian fringe (perhaps it's just that I'm getting old, but it wasn't like that in my day...). Anyway, here are the resolutions to be considered, gathered into headings for somebody's ...
Sometimes the people say and do on Twitter make you laugh. None more so that the rather amusing, but tragic nonetheless incident i came across today of a young woman who seems incapable of moving on from the past with hilarious results. Some two years who at her fathers 60th birthday party, her other, elder ...
You may remember that I was none too pleased about Yvette Cooper not getting the Shadow Chancellorship last week. Now my anger is increased tenfold when I discover that new leader for a new generation Ed Miliband considers the equalities portfolio so irrelevant that he just dumps it on the top girl in the Shadow Cabinet elections. It's appalling tokenism. And words fail me about the return of Phil Woolas to the ministerial team at the Home Office. This is the guy who refused to let the Gurkhas live here and was famously shown up by Joanna Lumley following a ...
I am still somewhat riled by the lack of critical acclaim flowing towards last week's cuts poem, but I am willing to put it behind me for the national interest. My country needs me, according to my Prime Minister, and I'm up for that challenge even if the last time that phrase was used 9,000,000 people then lost their lives in the First World War. My weekend was a strange mix of choral music and rollercoasters. On Friday I went to see a concert by "The Sixteen" at the Bridgwater Hall. They're a choir who sang some staggeringly beautiful music, ...
Andrew Marr has dropped down in my estimation with his daft comments towards the blogosphere which i read here on the Guardian website and on Andrew Reeves' blog today. Now unfortunately for Marr, his comments haven't turned me into the 'angry blogger' with which he tarnishes us all with the same brush. A lot of ...
The publication of the Browne Review into university funding has been brought into even sharper focus for Lib Dems by Vince Cable's email to party members over the weekend ruling out a 'pure' graduate tax to replace tuition fees. This has sparked vigorous debate, both here on Lib Dem Voice, and beyond, with Lib Dem MPs coming under pressure to stick by their pre-election pledge to oppose any increase in tuition fees. Some of this sound and fury has been overdone. None of us has yet seen the detail of the funding proposals being brought forward by Vince Cable, which ...
[IMG: Sanjay Samani visiting flooding site in Brechin]
On Saturday I took the opportunity of attending Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference in Dunfermline. There were a number of people there that I had not seen for some time, as well as new people to meet. During one lunchtime fringe event organised by LTCAS the Long Term Conditions Association Scotland, the subject of the conflicts ...
Moving to collaborative services is ongoing and many would say an inevitability. Creating collaboration and partnership between citizens and government agencies is not however the easiest thing to do. It is important therefore to recognize when and where this is taking place so that we are able to learn from it. MyPolice is an idea ...
Courtesy of the Blur group, here is a link to a crowdsourced electronic paper.
Before the election, you signed a pledge, that if elected, you would oppose any rise in tuition fees. I know the coalition agreement allows for you to abstain, however with this you will be breaking a pledge made independently of your manifesto if you abstain (and let the Tories win on this) and you will ...
St Albans City and District Council is drawing attention to the importance of fire protection in Homes in Multiple Occupation (HMO). These houses are defined as being occupied by more than two unrelated people. Such houses are more at risk of fire and should have in place, amongst other fire protection measures, mains wired smoke detectors to warn residents in the event of a fire. Councillor Poor, Portfolio Holder for Housing Services said: "It is important that residents who live in HMOs are protected from the dangers of fire and I would urge residents to let the Council know if ...
In response to my post The forgotten liberal hero: Earl Grey, I've had quite a few suggestions for other people deserving of this description. The names mentioned include: Henry Campbell-Bannerman Charles Stewart Parnell Nancy Sear Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax That is enough to make me start thinking about doing an intermittent series, especially given my desire to write more history posts. So over to you: any suggestions for adding people to the list and would you find posts of about 500 words on these people interesting?
On Saturday I attended Scottish Liberal Democrats Conference at the Vine Venue, Dunfermline with fellow NI Lib Dem Stephen Glenn where we found Stephen McFarland also from the NI local party there as well. Both candidates for President of the Liberal Democrats were also at the conference, so we all took our opportunities to speak ...
Mon 11th
11:06
Tim Farron and Susan Kramer woo Scottish Conference & set for Glasgow hustings tonight
Party Presidential candidates Tim Farron and Susan Kramer were at Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference in Dunfermline last Saturday and both made a good impression on everybody. They were each given a chance to speak in a debate of their choice during the day and made very different choices. Susan chose to speak in the pre-manifesto debate, but acknowledged that our policy in Scotland was our business and focused on how she saw the role of President and the contribution she could make. A safe and solid choice, you could say, one which gave the representatives the chance to hear her ...
Every single member of Ed Miliband's new shadow cabinet served in Gordon Brown's government. Of the 19 members of the new shadow cabinet, 11 served as cabinet ministers under Brown, while the other eight held ministerial posts. Every member of the new shadow cabinet voted for ID cards. Of the 14 who were MPs at the time, 12 voted for the invasion of Iraq. Miliband himself was a key adviser to Brown in the Treasury, including chairing his Council of Economic Advisers, responsible for long-term economic planning. He was then parachuted into a safe seat and fast-tracked into the cabinet ...
The appointment of the Shadow Ministerial team has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous as Phil Woolas has returns, as a Shadow Minister for the Home Office. Yes, the same Phil Woolas who has just stood in the dock of a special election court on account of his racist campaign literature will continue to be involved in a portfolio that deals directly with immigration and hate-crime law. The decision is so poor it is actually funny. Woolas' infamous elcetion leaflet This appointment of Woolas to the Shadow Home Department team shows a staggering lack of judgement by new Labour ...
The BBC report that Ceredigion MP, Mark Williams says that it would be "dishonest" if he voted with the coalition government to scrap the upper limit on university tuition fees in England. "This is an issue of huge principle to Liberal Democrats," he said. "I've fought four elections in the Ceredigion constituency with two excellent universities – in Lampeter and Aberystwyth – and I've made commitments over those four elections and specifically at the last general election and on that basis I'm sticking by that pledge. "I think it would be dishonest for me personally to do anything other than ...
Late last month, Martin Robbins wrote a fantastic spoof of science journalism for the Guardian's website – This is a news website article about a scientific paper. In his subsequent commentary on the reaction to that spoof he wrote, Science is all about process, context and community, but reporting concentrates on single people, projects and events ... Hundreds of interesting things happen in science every week, and yet journalists from all over the media seem driven by a herd mentality that ensures only a handful of stories are covered. And they're not even the most interesting stories in many cases. ...
The crime record for the Consett Town Centre beat in September is: Rowdy Nuisance 40 Street Drinking 0 Vehicle Nuisance 1 Theft 3 Burglary 0 Vehicle crime 1 Criminal Damage 2 vehicle damage 2 other For more information on these incidents, or to raise any concerns you may have, the ideal forum is the PACT (Partners and Community Together) meeting led by the police, which takes place this Wednesday, October 13th, at 5.30 p.m. at the Empire Theatre on Front Street. PACT meetings are to become monthly, fixed on the 2nd Wednesday of the month. The time in future will ...
So, the path to the cure was never going to be smooth, and I find that a slight detour is in order. The bone marrow donor that was lined up for me for the process to kick off next week turns out to be not quite as suitable as anticipated. Luckily for me, I had two other possible matches on the books, and after a lot of hard work by the Transplant team, they have discovered that one of them is a good match. So now they need to find out whether this person is going to be available in ...
Two High Court judges will announce on November 5 whether to debar Labour MP Phil Woolas and force a by-election in the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency. A specially convened election court - the first of its kind to be held in nearly 100 years -heard four days of evidence last month. Liberal Democrat candidate Elwyn Watkins challenged the result of last May's election on the grounds that Woolas has secured his majority of just 103 votes by making false statements about his opponent. Most commentators who followed the hearing say that the case was proven to be strong and ...
Critical indeed fanatical opponents of the coalition implicitly compare it with their imagined ideal of government, usually some mythical version of Labour government which never existed. In the real world the choice was between the coalition and a Tory minority government followed by a general election and a majority Tory government. I put this to choice to a Labour supporter and virulent
Now, I am not Andrew Marr's biggest fan, I personally think he is one of the group of journalists who think that they are are more important than many of their guests and who treat politicians with no respect whatsoever and just constantly talk over them instead of asking a question and then letting the guest answer it. However, I do think his rant against bloggers is somewhat over the top. Andrew Marr, speaking at a Cheltenham Literature Festival audience, said: "Most citizen journalism strikes me as nothing to do with journalism at all,"He then, once warmed up, went on; ...
Interesting article in this morning's Daily Telegraph in which Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson claims that money is being wasted fighting speculative law suits by civilians alleging brutality or wrongful arrest. He has also urged the Home Secretary to load higher costs onto officers and other staff suing police forces at employment tribunals over claims of discrimination or unfair treatment. In addition, the Commissioner wants members of the public to be charged a fee for making Freedom of Information requests, which he says are burdening police forces with unmanageable levels of paperwork. Quite why the Police should be exempt ...
From Stockport Council: Stockport's extraordinary people are to be recognised again in the borough's popular Proud of Stockport awards. Do you know someone who helps to make Stockport special? Is there an individual, a group, a volunteer, or perhaps a local personality, or someone else who deserves recognition for good and community spirit? The list of award categories are: · Ambassador for Stockport - Rewarding someone who has helped put Stockport on the map · Best Street - Rewarding the residents who help make their street a better place to live. · Champion for Young People - Rewarding a person ...
Putting aside for a moment, the arguments for and against the various forms, hybrids & systems that are currently being thrown about the Tuition Fees debate, how will the maths of the issue actually break down in Parliament should a ... Continue reading →
As reported in today's "Courier", I have expressed concern that the City Council may be "kicking into the long grass" improvements to residents' parking in parts of the West End - work on which was originally supposed to have started this summer and is now likely to be seriously delayed. The parking situation in the affected area - roughly east of Windsor Street and Tait's Lane and south of Blackness Road - is difficult for residents given its closeness to the City Centre metered parking zone and the University of Dundee campus and the situation is getting more and more ...
Paul Walter has spotted an under-reported point in the child benefit coverage of the past few days: that payments for children aged 16 to 18 were originally intended to be stopped, but that this plan was dropped after Nick Clegg intervened. Paul spotted this in a "deep trawl" of the Telegraph: The controversial decision to "pre-announce" the child benefit decision was made 10 days ago by the key Conservative power-broking trio of David Cameron, Mr Osborne and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, it is understood. A couple of days later they informed Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, and his ...
The Today programme discussed the Equality and Human Rights Commission's report How fair is Britain ? Humphries asked Trevor Philips what fairness means and Philips demonstrated the vagueness of the idea. Such discussion often ignores two issues.Firstly, outcomes are often measured in monetary terms which take no account of personal life choices. Some people seek other things than
The Western Mail reports on claims by transport campaigners that the Welsh Government has failed to implement its own sustainable travel policies at three new offices. The Government wants employers to encourage staff to use public transport and has also ordered councils to promote car-sharing, walking and cycling. But despite calling on others to adopt such policies, the vast majority of staff commuting to the Welsh Government's new offices in Merthyr Tydfil, Llandudno Junction and Aberystwyth still travel by car. Campaigners have now accused ministers of failing to turn rhetoric into action. Car use has been fuelled by the fact ...
The West End is dead expensive in relative terms There's no parking in the west end The Northern Line is pretty grim In contrast fans and officianado's of Hampstead Theatre will tell you about the great value, the ease of access and the Met and Jubilee Lines... and that's before you have seen any performance. Enlightenment has had great reviews and being directed by Edward Hall that's not really a huge surprise. I for one will be there tonight, a good and trusted friend was there last week and raved on the phone about it over the weekend - it's ...
Tuesday, September 28th... Alright, I admit, I've gone away, to Cyprus for a family wedding, to be exact. And you know how it is, you don't exactly want to advertise the fact that the house is empty because, whilst we don't have much in the way of crime in Creeting St Peter as a rule, you don't want to take any chances. It is unseasonably warm in north-west Cyprus, with the thermometer peaking in the mid-eighties Fahrenheit, and the sun beating down relentlessly out of a perfectly blue sky. There's nothing to drink except gin and tonic, but at least ...
i) births and deaths 11 October 1962: birth of Nicola Bryant, who played Peri (Perpugilliam Brown) from 1984 to 1986 and continues to appear in (and also direct) Big Finish audios. ii) broadcast anniversaries 11 October 1975: broadcast of episode 3 of Planet of Evil. The Morestran ship cannot escape from Zeta Minor; Salamar prepares to eject the Doctor and Sarah into space... 11 October 1980: broadcast of episode 3 of Meglos. Much confusion of identity, and the Doctor is prepared for sacrifice to the Dodecahedron... 11 October 1986: broadcast of episode 2 of Mindwarp (ToaTL 6). Confusing stuff about ...
A few weeks ago I had the honour to moderate a discussion session between President Tomas Hendrik Ilves and an international group of wealthy and successful people who have become, for various reasons "Estophiles". I too count myself a full paid up "Estophile", since I have been interested and indeed involved in the idea of a free Estonia almost all my adult life. The President asked a question: "After we have achieved so many things: freedom, independence, a democratic society, growing prosperity, membership of NATO, membership of the European Union, membership of the OECD, joining the Euro in January 2011, ...
There have been no posts for the past few days as I have been walking in the Forest of Dean. The occasion was the valedictory ramble of Anglo-French Walks, a group formed by John Winter, then an "early retired" teacher of French, nearly 30 years ago, to enable English speakers wishing to improve their French and French speakers who largely seem to have no need to improve their English but are willing to put up with us, to walk together, practise our languages and generally enjoy each other's company. There have in the past been some 15 or so walks ...
Novelist Hoffman apologizes for blasting a book reviewer on Twitter - CSMonitor.com Rather more serious than the Paul Magrs incident I blogged about - she printed the reviewer's email address and phone number and asked fans to tell the reviwer what they think of 'snarky critics'. (tags: blogging books crazypeople) Burial law is threatening archaeological research, say experts Bizarre law that human bones - whatever the provenance - must be reburied after two years is apparently being enforced. (tags: archaeology ukpolitics) Cross-party group of peers plot to wreck Coalition plans for an elected Lords - thetorydiary Good luck to them. ...
The "Right Honourable" Alan Johnson, MP, Labour's new Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, confessed he knew nothing of economics and would need to get a book. Thanks to he miracle of the interwebs, you can now send him with just a few clicks on your computer. Maybe start with something from this little list. Make sure you set the delivery address though to: Rt Hon Alan Johnson, MP House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA Amazon.co.uk Widgets Advertisement: read more
Sunday 10.10.10 was an auspicious date for the closing ceremony of the 2nd China Image Film Festival at BAFTA, which was a gala occasion with a black-tie dinner before a screening of Han Sanping and Huang Jianxin's modern historical epic 'The Founding of a Republic'. In between were the awards for the week and I was honoured ...
If you are following the television programme The Lost Land of the Tiger, you will have seen that Professor George McGavin became quite emotional after seeing photos of tigers that have been killed for the Chinese medicine market. Shortly after this we saw the remains of a yak which had been killed by a tiger. Two thirds of the yak had been devoured and a puncture hole the size of your fist was seen in the beast's neck. There was no word as to how the yak herder felt and I don't suppose the yak was too happy about it. ...
