Hooray, hooray, Stockton Council Cabinet - having agreed to spend tens of thousands of pounds on investigating whether Preston Park (and its allotments !) were suitable to have a new school built on it, has now agreed what we all already knew, Preston Park will not have a school built on it. I am proud of how my ward councillors, John, Maureen Rigg and Alan Lewis have worked so hard on this, and...
The long running saga of the Stadium for Cornwall has take a couple of new twists. The first is that I have been given permission to publish the first report of the external consultants which gives an idea of where the site for the stadium should be. Of course this isn't the full report and it was initially marked as confidential but I have asked for clearance to publish it and this has now been given. The report is attached at the bottom of this post. While this report says that Truro or Threemilestone is the favoured venue we have ...
There has been much discussion about university fees and the recent Browne report proposing that the present cap should be removed (and, by-the-by, once they increase by a particular amount then a substantial proportion would be paid to the government as tax). I have been a full-time student twice. The first time around, at Imperial College, was so long ago that the tuition component was fully covered and a maintenance grant was available to all. In my case the maintenance part was reduced because of my parent's earnings but, thankfully, they gave me the difference. In order to have some ...
The following is a list of every PPC that signed the pledge against raising tuition fees. If your MP is listed in this candidates list, hold them to account and make sure that they dont simply abstain, make sure they vote AGAINST. VOTE-FOR-STUDENTS-MPs Filed under: Coalition Government, Labour, LibDem, Spidey Says, Tory
So, 13 hours after it began, my day as guest editor comes to an end. I've loved it but I am so, so tired. I think it's going to take me a week to recover. I've always admired the Voice Team but am now even more convinced than ever that whenever you see Alex Foster, Sara Bedford, Helen Duffett, Mark Pack, Stephen Tall and Iain Roberts, not forgetting Ryan Cullen for his technical wizardry, you should offer them food, alcohol, cuddles or all three. They do this every day. Blimey! I want to say a huge thank you to lots ...
Tonight Stockton Council's cabinet has set the council back on the right track after wasting resources for 6 months on looking at an option for building Egglescliffe School in Preston Park. Following the demise of the BSF programme the council is now looking at what the Labour government should have let it do in the first place - looking at all the school buildings we have and their fitness for
Cllr Peter Barrett is Perth and Kinross Council's Housing and Health Convenor. He was once described in the local newspaper as the "Saviour of Tay Street" after defeating a previous administration's car parking plans. Here he describes how he has transformed the housing service for the better. I've always thought that housing is one of the most important issues to sort. In fact, I'd say that there's little point in the Pupil Premium if the kids it's there to support don't have warm, dry, comfortable homes to live in and enough food to eat. It's hard to learn if you're ...
I have refrained from much discussion on student loans. It does seem to me to be a complex matter where misguided policies of the past have clouded the issues today. I was pleased to read Kiron Read's take on these issues and grateful to Liberal England for pointing me to it: 'The genuinely talented or higher education inclined should be able to go and not be put off by fees. Hopefully ideas of how to achieve that will come out from the debate - I don't have an easy answer and would love if other people did. Cutting student numbers ...
Currently, my university teaching centres on terrorism, and seeing as it is a very topical issue at the moment, I thought it might be worth a few comments here. So far this semester, we've been thinking about what we mean by 'terrorism'. There are several questions that are really interesting to discuss when we talk about what we mean when we say terrorism. For example: Do we only use the word to refer to actions or actors we approve of? Once an actor has achieved their objectives, are we then less likely to refer to them as terrorists (after all, ...
Thu 14th
21:35
Helping children with allergies and Nigeria with Climate Change - all in a year's work! Interview wi...
Welcome to the third and final part of my interview with Jo Swinson MP. I hope you don't mind the fact that it's so long. I just sometimes think that blog interviews are quite short and sometimes it's nice to have a more in depth chat. I've written it pretty much exactly as she said it so it's real conversation. Think of this as the Hello multi page spread without the photographs. The plain text is my bit and the italics are her's. Not that I'm stalking Jo or anything, but I do have a They Work for You alert ...
When the coalition was formed back in May, I initially viewed the whole affair with a large amount of suspicion. A coalition with the Conservatives is something that I have never entertained before and one which made me feel incredibly uncomfortable. But for the good of the country and the fact that I was keen ...
As reported in tonight's Evening Telegraph, following my request that a safety survey at Queen Victoria Works on Brook Street be carried out by the City Council, this has now taken place. It indicates that the external walls pose no immediate danger to the public passing by. Although it is reassuring that the external walls pose no immediate danger to the public, I have concerns about the internal fabric of the building as it is in very poor shape - there was a recent roof fall - and I have asked the Legal Manager and the Director of City Development ...
As mum of an 11 year old daughter, I'm really worried about the pressures on her to look a certain way, so Jo's and Lynne Featherstone's Campaign for Body Confidence is very close to my heart. I asked Jo – what's happening with it? Jo: It's really exciting about this. Lynne and I had always planned to continue it after the election but we hadn't reckoned on her being Minister for Equalities which is a great boost. We've had a steering group meeting and we've got Mumsnet, BEAT, the eating disorders charity, Girl Guiding UK, the YMCA who do all ...
I spent the morning at Charles Darwin House in central London attending a conference meeting at work. It was one of a regular series of meetings that we have as a directorate at RNID and a chance to sit and converse with people we might not necessarily have a chance to work with and talk to. We usually have ...
Hurry over to the Shropshire Star site for the full details.
Monday Press conference on the deteriorating human rights situation in Bahrain, evidenced by reports from the Bar Human Rights Committee, the Islamic Human Rights Council, Human Rights Watch, and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (www.bahrainrights.org/en). Speakers included my colleague in the Lords, Baroness Falkner, who had chaired the August 5 seminar after which participants returning to Bahrain were arrested as they got off the plane. In the afternoon, joined in a discussion in the House on detention of children. The LibDems had the ending of this practice in our manifesto, but in spite of repeated undertakings by our Leader ...
I came back from a wonderful morning at a work conference to the news that the list of quango's to be cut by the Government had been released. I was very dismayed to see some exceptionally worthwhile groups on the list to be abolished and it only adds to my sense of disillusionment in the coalition and its policy ...
Kiron Reid gives his initial thoughts on the Browne report into student finance and the funding of higher education. Today's cull of quangos is welcomed by Wera's Blog, but she wishes that more thought had been given to explaining its rationale. While Gemma Hampson, writing on Social Enterprise, looks at the prospects of that sector taking over many of the functions that those quangos currently fulfil. David Boyle, writing on the for nef (the New Economics Foundation) looks at the conventional wisdom that supermarkets act as "anchors" for new developments: "Previous experience suggests that, while stores like Waitrose can be ...
Tuition fees are this weeks political hot topic. The argument goes like this. The road worker, shop assistant and care worker would argue, why should they pay for others to take advantage of opportunities they never had. Students argue they will use their knowledge to earn more money and therefore pay higher taxes, why should they pay twice. Students will say the road worker will be pleased they trained as a surgeon when he needs an operation. The road worker will say they only get to work because he does the job he does. The Government says it can't afford ...
This afternoon, I had a chat with Jo Swinson, MP for East Dunbartonshire, new Deputy Leader of the Scottish Party. Now that I'm going all high tech, I actually recorded it. Or, at least, my 11 year old daughter set up the voice recorder on the laptop and showed me how to work it. This is a great way to interview someone because you can have a proper chat and don't have to worry about taking notes. I'd asked Jo for a five minute chat and we actually talked for 21 minutes, covering everything from the vibe on the doorsteps ...
Like all other Liberal Democrats, I today, received an email from Nick Clegg over his decision to reverse our fundamental policy on pledging to abolish tuition fees. I strongly disagree with this decision and have shared my response to Mr Clegg's email below: Dear Mr Clegg, I received today, your email outlining your reasons for abandoning our party's policy on the ...
Elaine Bagshaw a former President of Liberal Youth posted her response to Nick Clegg's email on Facebook. I felt it deserved a wider audience and therefore with her permission I am publishing that response below. My response to Nick's tuition fee email Dear Cowley Street staffer/poor intern that's been given this job, Thanks for your email. I note it's the exact same one you sent to MPs last night, that many had already seen and reacted to. The fact that you haven't acknowledged a single point about debt and trust and the hundreds of others that have been made by ...
Below is the content of an email I just sent to Nick Clegg over university tuition fees: Dear Nick, Firstly, I hugely appreciate the time you and your team take to keep us, the grassroots as it were, informed as to not only decisions being taken by senior Liberal Democrats in government but also about the decision-making process you are working through. It is a mark of the strength of our party that although many of us find the decisions being taken distasteful, bitter pills to swallow, the process and determination to keep us fully informed has not diminished. I ...
Last week, I blogged about the Colchester Capsule and the poem by Martin Newell that's going to be put within it. The poem has now been put up on the firstsite website (pdf file) with a story about it here, if you feel the need to see a picture of me and others with Martin ...
I have just read Nick Clegg's email to Lib Dem members and voters trying to explain the reason why we 'must' now accept Lord Browne's recommendation, including the removal of the cap on tuition fees.Nick says: "The overriding principle for Liberal Democrats is that any system of higher education funding is fair. It should increase the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds; it should
From Political Wire: "What I believe is irrelevant." – Delaware U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell (R), in a debate last night, on whether she believes evolution is a myth.
There's a remarkable blame game going on about tuition fees at the moment, totally at variance with any facts. Tuition fees are something which most Liberal Democrats (including myself) are opposed. In coalition in Scotland, we managed to get them abolished for 95% of students. For myself, I know for a fact that my own Father would never have been able to study as a mature student had fees been in place. Labour of course brought them in, in direct opposition to their manifesto pledge not to introduce them, then they set up the Browne enquiry with terms of reference ...
Cautiously promising news from China: Communist party elders are defying China's censors by pressing ahead with a bold demand for freedom of expression, after authorities erased their attack on the "invisible black hand" of central propaganda officials. Twenty-three former senior officials known for their reformist views, including Mao Zedong's secretary Li Rui and a former editor of the People's Daily, Hu Jiwei, signed the open letter. Analysts expressed scepticism about the prospects for change in the near future, and stressed that the signatories no longer had power, but said their action might help people within the leadership to push for ...
Dear Nick, I realise that coalition government is not the same as a party governing on its own. I realise that when one signs up to a coalition agreement, one has to make compromises. But when one has signed a pledge giving a cast iron guarantee one ought to stick to it. When you signed the pledge to vote against tuition fee increases, lets be honest, you could not have known the circumstances you would be asked to do so in. But that does not alter the fact that you signed the pledge. Perhaps by doing this you have learned ...
George Lyon MEP is Chair of the Scottish Liberal Democrats' Election Group. He was elected in 2009 and details of his campaigns on subjects such as fair deal for rural drivers, disabilities, food labelling and can be found on his website www.georgelyon.org.uk. Here he writes about the Party's prospects and priorities in next year's election. What a year it has been for Liberal Democrats. This time last year, I don't think anyone in their heart of hearts believed that Liberals would form part of the government for the first time since 1945. But this time last year we did have ...
I am giving a short talk on my views on the future of the coalition government this Friday the 15th of October at the University of Manchester for Liberal Youth. The talk will be followed by a Q&A with the students so please do not hesitate to use this opportunity to discuss issues you find ...
Today Nick Clegg sent Lib Dem members an email Dear Christopher, I am painfully aware of the pledge my colleagues and I made to you and to voters on tuition fees ahead of the General Election. Departing from that pledge will be one of the most difficult decisions of my political career. It means doing ...
Dear Nick, I believe that tertiary education should be available to everyone in the UK, rich or poor, especially poor, who can benefit from it. But I have never supported scrapping tuition fees. That would involve using State taxation powers to compel the lower-paid, who are less likely to have benefited from tertiary education, to subsidise the higher-paid who are more likely. I don't think John Stuart Mill would have approved. People with degrees get paid more. It is only fair that a person who gets the benefit and is able without hardship to contribute to the cost, should do ...
Katy Gordon fought Glasgow North in the General Election in May and is now the top candidate on the Glasgow Regional list for the Holyrood elections in May. In this inspiring article, she shows how her team's "yes we can" attitude paid dividends, increasing membership by 150%. When I started campaigning in June 2007 as PPC for the target seat of Glasgow North, I had very little idea of how to go about it. All I knew was I was fed up with Labour taking the people of Glasgow for granted, that the Lib Dems had real potential to grow ...
Along with other top Liberal Democrat blogs, Liberal Vision will be interviewing both candidates for Party President, after which we will make an endorsement. This week Tim Farron. Some of the highlights from this interview include: How we can be distinctive, spikey, and achievement-centred to avoid being the Oxford United of British politics What Liberal Democrat ministers are doing behind the scenes Compulsory insurance for social care to replace the free personal care for the elderly? What Paddy Ashdown got wrong on Labour and Menzies Campbell on the Michael Brown money Why Chris Fox is like Kenny Dalgish and Tim's ...
That's right Tim. Spread that Cheese all over that thing. Is this the worst advert ever? If you're allergic to *shudder*, look away now.
For many years now I have attended Scottish Liberal Democrat conference as a Northern Irish person. I'm not alone as there are many familiar accents scattered across the Scottish parties of other Northern Irish born members. However, last weekend was the first time I attended as a Northern Irish local party member, but again I was not alone. I'd travelled over with the local party chair Michael Carchrie Campbell and one of our youth members Stephen McFarland had travelled down with the rest of the Aberdeen University crew. It was a good conference for us all to get to, even ...
Following a public consultation, the request by a resident to lease a small pond that's part of Scholes' Field, Gatley and to keep it fenced in was rejected. We'd asked people what they thought and had 45 against with 2 (including the resident concerned) in favour. The point was made by Cllr Jones - and I agree - that although the resident was wrong to put up the fence, it was done with good intentions to care for a piece of land that has been neglected of late. Councillors felt that there should be a better way, and residents who ...
When you live in a place you tend to notice the things which when visitors arrive they marvel at-in Southport the autumn invasion of pink footed geese fall into that category. They begin to arrive in early September. Every morning around 8.00am they fly over my house, a great raucous mass of them. Vera Marsden, who lives close by, has written a posting on the local RSPB blog : From about 8am. for the next 2 hours, the Pink-Feet must have flown over Birkdale in anything from batches of 1,000's to the solitary 1 playing 'catch up' at 10'ish. Wonderful, ...
192 quangos are to be abolished. It could be argued that it doesn't quite match expectations of a big bonfire but considering that there are some 900 'Quasi Autonomous Non Governmental Organisations' it seems a reasonable start. Official statements stress that the list is not complete and the review is a work in progress. The list of organisations to ...
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the costs to councils generated by the Taxpayers Alliance. I just looked at the time spent by press officers dealing with the queries caused by their stories, but now PoliticalHackUK has gone a bit further and looked at the cost of the various Freedom of Information ...
Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.
This week has seen Vince Cable and Nick Clegg adopt a position on tuition fees which is at odds with long held and much loved Party Policy. It remains to be seen how many of our MPs will go along with any recommendations to increase tuition fees. Already, MPs like Greg Mulholland, Julian Huppert, Tim Farron, Ming Campbell and Charles Kennedy have already stated that they will honour the pledge they signed during the Election campaign to oppose any increase. In Scotland last weekend the positions were almost reversed, with the Holyrood Front Bench anxious to support our policy of ...
Twenty years ago, I attended a Liberal International congress in Helsinki, and fled our delegation meeting in despair. My problem was the delegation's inability to understand the theory that, if you have nothing material to add, you should stay in your seat rather than take up valuable speaking time. The first session of the working group on the theme resolution indicated, slightly depressingly, that we still haven't entirely absorbed the message, with multiple similar interventions, an obsession with minor drafting amendments and a lack of agreed strategy. Apart from that, it went quite well, I thought. Gordon Lishman, a familiar ...
Some have suggested the opening of a new shop in the old Dixon's store on Folkestone High Street is a much needed boost to the local jobs market and the struggling High Street. Sadly, I think this might be far too optimistic an assessment because that new store is Bright House, a company that most certainly giveth but also, even more certainly, taketh away. Bright House sells various household items (be they white goods, furniture or computer game consoles) and was opened with loud music and costumed mascots who welcomed crowds of people through the doors. Excitable people were sat ...
The first time I walked into the hall at Scottish Conference on Saturday, I saw an unfamiliar face making a passionate, articulate heartfelt speech about how your brains and not your background should be reason you get on in education. An astonished looking friend whispered to me "she's only 13." Actually, she's 14, but she got the first standing ovation of the day and a name check in Tavish Scott's leader's speech later. [IMG: Alex White] I caught up with Alex for a chat and this Audioboo is the result. I should warn you that this was my first ever ...
Thursday, October 7th. The Prime Minister met, we had some time to kill before our next meeting, so it was an opportunity to visit a sixteenth century caravanserai in the heart of the old city, within the Venetian walls. The building now hosts outlets for local artists, and is in remarkably good condition. We were introduced to a woman who makes ceramic flowers, and I purchased two simple pendants for Ros (I'm still a romantic at heart. However, we had more business to carry out, and it was off to the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture for our second ...
I agree with some elements of Lord Brownes report into the future cost of tuition fees and university funding. For example I am pleased with the recommendations like scrapping upfront fees for part time students, protecting fees from certain medical and science and other important courses. I also agree with 30% of the poorest graduates paying less and could even go so far to say I like the idea that some of those Mickey Mouse degrees would not be taken up. I can even understand the reasons why the coalition will increase fees but what I don't understand is going ...
This week's recommended reading for Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners. This week's political news is of course dominated by the Browne report in to student funding. It's worth having a look at the report itself if you have the time as there is a lot more to it than the parts mentioned in the news headlines. Also worth reading is Vince Cable's statement to the House of Commons which outlines his reasons for proposing changes to higher education funding. One early reaction that we particularly liked (and it's worth noting that this is just the start and further announcements are ...
And I made it, courtesy of a painfully early start and a fast taxi through the unexpectedly empty Helsinki streets. The delegation meeting itself was uneventful for the most part, which our acting delegation leader, Robert Woodthorpe-Browne, led with his usual flair. Discussion of the election of three Honorary Vice Presidents - there are seven candidates, one of whom is our own Graham Watson - and agreement of our approach towards the theme and congress resolutions. There was one unexpected surprise. I am to be a scrutineer for the elections, and hope, eventually, to find out what this involves...
Commenting on the report on mental health services in England released today by MIND for the We Need To Talk coalition, Liberal Democrat Minister of State for Care Services, Paul Burstow said: "The We Need to Talk Coalition is right to set out the state of mental health services that the Coalition Government has inherited. There is much still to be done. "I am determined that in future mental health is treated with the same importance as physical health. "We have already signalled our commitment to mental health by committing £70 million this year to roll psychological therapies out to ...
The Federal Policy Committee of the Liberal Democrats held their regular meeting last night, which unfortunately I couldn't be at because I was washing my hair (and also, more importantly, because I am not on the FPC). During the meeting they held a special session to discuss the "latest announcements following the Browne Review" which is a nice way of saying that they talked about how the Browne Reivew, which the coalition supports, advocates a policy which is completely opposite to the party's own. In a statement following the meeting, the committee spokesperson said: "FPC confirms the Liberal Democrat party ...
I expected Labour to 'go negative' against the Lib Dems – we are, after all, on a par with Beelzebub as far as Labour are now concerned. You see, working together is only acceptable if you do it with Labour; ... Continue reading →
Yesterday morning I caught most of the Radio 4's programme 'The Long View' . In 1919 the Government was led by Lloyd George and those of his supporters who had been given 'the coupon' in the post WW1 election. Most of the cabinet were Tories as were the overwhelming majority of backbenchers. The Asquithian (Official) Liberals were in opposition. As the BBC explains: 'In the early 1920s, in the face of mounting economic and political pressure, Prime Minister David Lloyd George committed the government to massive public spending cuts. Then as now it was a coalition government faced with the ...
The Bill seeks to make a requirement for any private or public sector landlord to ensure there is a working mains wired smoke alarm at the start of a new tenancy. From there-on responsibility transfe...
Last night I attended the annual grant awards ceremony for Prestwich Carnival as organised by The Sunshine Team. I suspect even after all these years many people in Prestwich will still not be aware that part of the surplus the Cranival makes each year is handed out to local organisations and charities that operate in the Prestwich area. So that collection on the gate on Carnival day not only pays for a great day out for all the family but also ends up supporting local groups, local people. Groups such as local Junior football teams, the local RSPCA, Mediquip, V-involve, ...
Just received an email from The Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, about the tuition fees debacle. In it, he says Most of you will agree that the existing system of the funding of higher education is unsustainable I do agree with him that the existing system of funding ...
Two planning applications for Cheadle village came to our Area Committee on Tuesday. DC045091 was for a bistro at 2a/2b Chapel Street, Cheadle. Planning officers recommended that we grant the application, and we did. This is not a take-away, but a small restaurant in a village centre location with ample parking on the doorstep and we hope it will be a welcome addition to the village. DC045256 was for a change of use from shops to flats for 14-20 Old Rectory Gardens (the parade above KFC, near to Cheadle Post Office). That one was more problematic. I was happy that ...
"I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left", wrote the outgoing Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury in May this year. Reel back three years to the May 2007 Scottish local elections. The Liberal Democrats had become the largest party in the City of Edinburgh Council after 23 years of Labour control. A new Lib Dem led coalition with the SNP was beginning to look eagerly at how to change the city. We didn't get a note. Instead, we got a stark warning from the Director of Finance that reserves were perilously low and the Council was heading for ...
I've just received an email from Nick Clegg, one which I am rather disappointed to have received. It is one to general members and not to the various PPCs like myself who signed the NUS pledge on tuition fees. Therefore it is addressing me as an ordinary member not someone who with the confidence of our funded manifesto, was confident we could honour our pledge not to increase the student cap no matter how bad the economy was. Who stood before various meetings, on numerous doorsteps and wrote many emails telling people we would and we could honour this pledge ...
Thu 14th
12:39
Welsh Government should take advantage of English housing reform to repatriate £86 million bac...
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Housing, Peter Black has called on the Welsh Government to take advantage of changes to the English housing subsidy system to end the scandal of nearly £90 million being paid from Councils' housing accounts to the Treasury each year. A recent Freedom of Information request revealed that Wales has lost £1 billion since 1999 in payments to the Treasury under a rule that allows the Government to claw back surpluses on Council housing revenue accounts. Although changes were negotiated in 2004 that separated the Welsh housing subsidy system from England's, the Treasury insisted ...
I thought things with Stonewall had settled down some. With just over two weeks to go until the Stonewall Awards Protests (Outside the V&A Musuem on the 4th November) it appeared as if there might be a whole week in which they did not manage to screw something up. But no, it was not to be – on Tuesday, Stonewall announced the nominees for their 2010 awards. And one of the people nominated for Journalist of the Year is someone who Stonewall have themselves pointed out as an example of transphobic reporting. It seems that back in 2007 a subsidiary ...
...And ITV2 screw them up...I wasn't allowed to watch ITV as a kid. More out of a desire to keep me from pestering my parents for He-Man action figures than a commentary on their shows. But my old biases have stayed with me. I rarely venture on to ITV – except for nature documentaries. The Only Way Is EssexI've no idea what "The Only Way Is Essex" is. Frankly, I've no desire. It confirms all my worst prejudices about ITV. Cheap and tawdry trash. What does interest me, it their use of QR codes. [IMG: The Only Way Is Essex ...
Stockport's famous landmarks will be switching off their lights on 10th October 2010 in support of the global '10:10' carbon reduction campaign and Stockport Council's CarbON-CarbOFF initiative. Stockport Town Hall, the Viaduct and the Co-operative Pyramid building will all be joining in to pledge their commitment to reducing their carbon footprint. As part of the CarbON-CarbOFF campaign, Stockport Council has committed to reduce its carbon footprint by 10% and is encouraging local businesses and residents to do the same. Schools in Stockport will also be taking part in Walk to School Month in October, encouraging pupils to get involved and ...
(This follows on a bit from this post about a traffic junction) One of the fun things about being a councillor, is that it's entirely legitimate to ask people to explain things to you. It's very helpful to develop a specialism and to work on your knowledge in that area. By and large, officers of the Council are very happy to meet with councillors and explain how things work. There are, of course, limits: people need to do their job, and can't respond to every whim. And it would be completely inappropriate, for example, to job-shadow a social worker into ...
Labour MP for Rotherham Dennis Macshane has been reported to the police by the Standards and Privileges Committee . Not many details are known yet, but the Committee have issued the following statement: "At its meeting on 12 October, the Committee agreed that the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards should report to the Metropolitan Police Service the conduct of the Rt hon Member for Rotherham, Mr Denis MacShane. In accordance with procedures agreed in 2008[1] between the Committee on Standards and Privileges, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and the Metropolitan Police, the Commissioner's inquiry into a complaint against Mr MacShane will ...
Party President candidate Tim Farron was asked what his election would do for Scotland: Much has changed in politics in the last few months, but the political process didn't stop with the formation of the Westminster Government. In Scotland, it's time to get those shoes re-soled and dig out that delivery bag and those clip boards - we've just a few months until elections to Holyrood and the fairer votes referendum, and then just one year until Scotland-wide council elections. It will be my job, if elected your party president, to inspire members and activists to go out and fight ...
Party President candidate Susan Kramer was asked what her election would do for Scotland: Nick Clegg and others have argued effectively that the benefits of coalition will be evident in time for the General Election in 2015. But Scotland has elections in seven months. We have to move rapidly to the front foot to argue that the coalition is putting key Liberal Democrat policies in place and to do that we need the ammunition. Communication is absolutely key. This is why I will criss-cross the country not just to join local campaigns but to listen and make sure that grassroots ...
The role of the Party Presidency is not normally a diplomatic one. That is, there is plenty of diplomacy involved in dealing with the various elements of the Party but, in general, dealing with foreign governments is not part of the role. So, a meeting with the Prime Minister of a sovereign, if generally unrecognised, state is not to be taken lightly. There are issues regarding the implication of recognition, especially when you are, as Ros is, a member of a governing Party. The Prime Minister, Irsen Kucuk, was our first appointment, and we were welcomed into his office, where ...
Good to see that the all-Ireland political entity known as Sinn Féin is using joined up campaigning. On one side of the border that they now recognise (cf Belfast Agreement) people are being encouraged to join with Gerry Adams and protest the cuts – see poster... Whilst in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin is saying that ...
Cornwall Council Chief Executive Kevin Lavery has today announced that he is going to take an effective 5% pay cut from January 1st. Other corporate directors - including Communities Director Gill Steward - will also not be drawing down their full salary. The technical language - "not drawing down their full salary" - is crucial here. It means that the pay cut is entirely voluntary and the officer can choose at any time to move back to their full salary. It is also not yet clear which other officers will be following suit, but I am told that the matter ...
During the 2010 General Election, I campaigned to scrap unfair, 'lifetime' bonuses within NHS Tayside. I welcome the widening of the campaign to end the bonus culture within the NHS. The Merit and Distinction awards are only available to the highest paid NHS staff, consultants, as part of their standard contract. Shockingly, these are not one-off bonuses, but are added to consultants' salaries, year after year, until they retire. The NHS even increases their pension contributions accordingly. It is expected that between 1/3 and 1/2 consultants will receive one of these bonuses during their career, worth up to £70,000 per ...
The Big Society is here and people are trying to understand what it is and what it means. In the Tory Party they are yet to decide for themselves despite being the inventors and implementers of the policy. At first there was the easycouncil in Barnet which is about as far from the Big Society ...
Thursday: The news that all the miners (AND their rescuers!) have been gotten out of the hole in the ground where they were trapped for the last two and a half months is very good and very welcome. Though to correct Mr Paxo on the Newsnight Show last night, it's NOT a "rare good news story" it is actually a rare good story that you and your ilk decide to be news. And, sorry to have to say it 'cos it sounds grudging, it wasn't a "miracle" either. This rescue was a triumph of human endurance and ingenuity and engineering. ...
Thu 14th
11:00
Simon Wright MP and Peter Aldous MP ask Government to prove Green heat promise is not just hot air
Norwich South Lib Dem MP Simon Wright joined fellow East Anglian MP Peter Aldous (Lowerstoft) and green campaigners with a solar-powered hot air balloon outside Parliament to show their support for clean, green heat for businesses and homes.
Liberal Youth Scotland has made a huge impact in the last few years. They have fought for equalities, demonstrated against the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church when they threatened to come to Edinburgh, produced many excellent motions to our Conference where their Quiz/Debate evenings have become the place to be. Their VP-Communications tells us what LYS has been up to and how it feels about the Browne Report. Liberal Youth Scotland is one of the fastest growing movements in the Liberal Democrats today. Since April, our membership has gone up by over 60%. Over the past two years, we have succeeded ...
[IMG: Downfield Windmill, outside Fordham, Cambridgeshire] In the last few days I've been visiting some of the country's surviving windmills around East Anglia and along the way have discovered (or rather, rediscovered as I first took a look at the history of windmills around a decade ago) that the windmill as we know it is an English invention. Or more precisely, the horizontal axis / vertical sail windmill is an English invention, dating from the 12th century with vertical axis windmills and the Persian "wind tunnel" having come first. These English roots, with windmills having previously spread widely across our ...
By now we should be well down the road for reorganisation of the local district councils in Northern Ireland from the 26 current district councils to the 11 council model. Sadly for some, though better for actual local democracy and relation of councillor to constituent, this has not happened. According to the BBC, Northern Ireland's ...
[IMG: hayek] Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty: An Account of its Argument, by Eugene F. Miller Institute of Economic Affairs (www.iea.org.uk), 2010 Get your copy HERE. Eugene Miller, who sadly died earlier this year, wrote a summary and commentary on Hayek's book of 1960 where he explained a modern version of classical liberalism in relation to political theory, public policy, law, and history, as well as economic principles. Together with Law, Legislation and Liberty (1979), The Constitution of Liberty is Hayekʼs fullest presentation of his version of classical liberalism. It is probably more widely read than the later text, and ...
By now we should be well down the road for reorganisation of the local district councils in Northern Ireland from the 26 current district councils to the 11 council model. Sadly for some, though better for actual local democracy and relation of councillor to constituent, this has not happened. According to the BBC, Northern Ireland's ...
No sooner had Cornwall Council Cabinet member Carolyn Rule sent me a statement saying definitively that residential access to Next Generation Broadband will be dependent on business take-up do I get an email from an officer stating the exact opposite. Nigel Ashcroft, the Director of NGB for Cornwall (and therefore the person who should know) tells me: "Households will be upgraded at the same time as businesses and are not dependant (sic) on business take up" I'm very grateful that in this case that it appears Cllr Rule doesn't know what she is talking about.
Saturday's Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference was the first conference I'd been to, and aside from a local hustings at the general election, the very first political event I'd ever been to. I was very much a newbie and a little bit nervous and uncertain about what to expect from the day. I even had to ask what it was best to wear, although that was really to stop my wife insisting I go in a suit. I wouldn't have looked out of place in a suit, but if I'd turned up in a pair of green wellies I wouldn't have ...
Here in Sutton we have just announced that every household can collect 10kg of grit from the council for free to help them cope with what is expected to be another very cold and possibly snowy winter. People who can't get out easily can have their grit collected for them by a friend or neighbour - on production of that person's proof of address, or the council will deliver it to people who are on the assisted wheelie bin collections scheme. There are a number of places around the borough to collect grit from and these will be listed on ...
Sorry I haven't posted for quite some time. First, I haven't really found much to inspire me to write about politically – most of what this Coalition Government is doing I approve of given the economic circumstances. Second, I went away on holiday to China and I didn't have time to do any blogging although ...
Two former leaders of the Liberal Democrats have come out in opposition to the Browne Reports call to raise the cap on tuition fees and have said they will vote against it. Charles Kennedy Rector of Glasgow University and Sir Menzies Campbell chancellor of St. Andrews University. "The Browne report is big and important and there is a lot in it that needs to be studied and still a lot to be discussed and debated. "But as rector of Glasgow University, I will be standing by the NUS pledge I made on tuition fees before the general election." The proposals ...
The Lib Dems have for a long time fought for a political narrative to be understood by the people. Strangely it seems the Daily Mail understands this narrative and sees a change in conservative ranks – a libdemification of the Tories? I can only assume this is a good thing if this is happening but ...
When I wrote about the Browne Report, asking Liberal Democrat MPs to honour their pledges to vote against any rise in tuition fees, I did so looking at the long term effect of lumbering our brightest young people with almost insurmountable debt at the start of their working lives. I also touched on the fact that we as a society benefit from education and it's only right that we should, therefore, pay for it. Yesterday there were two superlative blog posts taking that theme further. One from new blog Angularities asking for the MPs' tuition fee rebellion from the Party's ...
Former First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, has just said on Radio Wales that the Welsh Government were offered responsibility for S4C by the previous Labour Government but turned it down because they did not want to pit its funding against their other responsibilities for health and education. I am not sure whether this has been publicly admitted before, perhaps others can enlighten me. However, what Rhodri's admission does do is put the current row over the funding of S4C into stark perspective. Plaid Cymru have been making a lot of fuss in the chamber and in the media over what they ...
I was chuffed to find out that the Southwark Council Stock Condition report, which has been in the offing for 18months, has finally announced its results. It transpires that instead of 53% of Southwark's council homes meeting or exceeding the Decent Homes standards, in fact 65.3% meet or exceed these standards and with the budget the Lib Dems set in place for this year it will should be close to 70% by financial year end. The progress is slow as we consulted all housing forums to ask whether we should fix lots of properties with small problems first or fix ...
Thu 14th
08:55Presidential prospects, passionate debate and poll confidence - a day of inspiration, optimism and h...
Mark Valladares, who was the first guest editor to be let loose on this hallowed site, was sober at the time he agreed to it. I can't say the same, but if Dr Pack will insist on asking for volunteers very late on a Friday night, then he probably deserves everything he gets. When Mark offered me a day this week, its proximity to our first Scottish Conference was too opportune to turn down. Normally Autumn Scottish Conference is an earnest but modest gathering. This year's was keenly anticipated, though. How would we adjust to being part of a Westminster ...
Maintaining support for the permanent occupation of Afghanistan on the extraordinary grounds that it protects us from terrorism at home is difficult enough, but made harder by the absence of any credible Islamic terrorist incidents in the West in recent years. The 2,000 Islamic extremists in the UK of whom Jonathan Evans warned us in 2007 that they posed "a grave threat to national security" have in the ensuing three years managed to kill a grand total of, umm, nobody. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/nov/06/alqaida.politics Now if I were a vicious extremist suicide bomber, careless of my own life, indeed anxious to die in ...
Two full Council meetings for the price of one last night, as we had to follow the main meeting with a special meeting to decide whether we should stay with our current system of election, where one-third of the Council is up for election every year, or switch to an 'all-up' system, where there'd be ...
Below is a motion on Tuition Fees I am submitting to the West Midland Liberal Democrat Conference. If you would like to support it (and are a West Midland Liberal Democrat) please email me your local party and membership number to colin@colin-ross.org.uk
[IMG: robertnozick1] Wittgenstein, Elizabeth Taylor, Bertrand Russell, Thomas Merton, Yogi Berra, Allen Ginsberg, Harry Wolfson, Thoreau, Casey Stengel, The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Picasso, Moses, Einstein, Hugh Hefner, Socrates, Henry Ford, Lenny Bruce, Baba Ram Dass, Gandhi, Sir Edmund Hillary, Raymond Lubitz, Buddha, Frank Sinatra, Columbus, Freud, Norman Mailer, Ayn Rand, Baron Rothschild, Ted Williams, Thomas Edison, H.L. Mencken, Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Ellison, Bobby Fischer, Emma Goldman, Peter Kropotkin, you, and your parents. Is there really one kind of life which is best for each of these people? The idea that there is one best composite... one best society for everyone to ...
A couple of years back I read Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island and wasn't hugely impressed. This, on the other hand, is a wonderful book about the North of England, prefaced by the Ninth Doctor quote, "Lots of planets have a north", written with affection and humour, and occasional rage against Southern and/or London prejudices. As a non-English person myself, I don't have a particular stake other than cheering for the underdog; as someone who has a fascination for micro-cultures, I loved Maconie's exploration of the great cities of Northern England through pop music and football, even though ...
What I believe to be the true condition of the British Economy was aptly summed up by a Professor Kushmer in a letter to the Guardian on 11th October. He wrote: "There is no formal opposition to the flawed political narrative - that we are in economic crisis and in need of deep fiscal surgery...Forget that economists from Martin Wolf to David Blanchflower, from Will Hutton to Jospeph Stigliz oppose it - and that "the markets" are not calling for it. Forget that our debt- to- GDP level is historically low, that our tax is among the lowest of the ...
Andrew Marr, former political correspondent for the BBC, has made some pretty hard-hitting comments about bloggers. I couldn't resist quoting them here: 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. OK - the country is full of very angry people. Many of us are angry people at times. Some of us are angry and drunk. But the so-called citizen journalism is the spewings and rantings of ...
Just to let those of you in Colchester know, the next meeting of the Castle Neighbourhood Action Panel will be on Thursday 21st October, starting at 5.15pm in the Town Hall. Any residents can come along and raise issues that they want the NAP to deal with, or if you can't make it to the ...
update: 5.50p.m., Guest Editor of Lib Dem Voice today, Caron Lindsay, says: I specifically asked both candidates to write 500 words on what they could do for Scotland so it's not surprising that her article is specific to Scotland. Therefore it should be noted that this post was originally posted at 11.14 a.m., prior to ...
Thu 14th
05:35
Whoniversaries 14 October: Shaun Sutton, Katy Manning, Abominable Snowmen #3, Pirate Planet #3
i) births and deaths 14 October 1919: birth of Shaun Sutton, BBC executive who had a key role in casting Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. 14 October 1949: birth of Katy Manning, who played Jo Grant from 1971 to 1973, does both Jo and Iris Wildthyme for Big Finish, and will apparently be in SJA as Jo again very very soon. ii) broadcast anniversaries 14 October 1967: broadcast of third episode of The Abominable Snowmen. Khrisong decides to trust the Doctor, but the dormant Yeti is animated by the mising sphere... 14 October 1978: broadcast of third episode ...
When I got home from work this evening, worn out after an evening's serving of customers, I went to the bathroom and found a note on the cabinet. It read as follows:Dear Tooth Fairy, my tooth came out tonight and I tried to wash it for you, but I dropped it down the drain. Can I still have my coin? love from HollyHow cute is that? How sweet was it of her to try to clean the tooth? Bless her. So, obviously I wrote a reply saying it was very considerate of her to try and wash the tooth and ...
Doctor Who is now immortal, reveals the BBC Guardian is reporting this as news, but if I remember correctly RTD was always clear that the 12-regeneration limit no longer applies. (tags: doctorwho) Reading sex-ed books for kids: newyorker.com (tags: sexandsexualityandgender funny)
It's great news for the Chilean miners. At the time of writing 15 miners have been rescued and I presume the good news will continue. One person did tell me that they could not be enclosed in the capsule that is returning them to ground level. My reply was that their work involved being in enclosed spaces so it should not be an ordeal for them. Some people have hobbies like potholing. They may not like the term "extreme sport" but this pastime is dangerous and you do hear that cavers die. So danger is not just quantifiable, it is ...
Lib Dem Voice is polling party members signed up to our members' forum on the very live issue of the Lib Dems' response to the Browne Report. Individual links to all signed-up party members should by now have been emailed to the 1,200+ members of the Forum. At the time of typing, almost 200 responses have so far been received. If you have not received your email please do contact Ryan Cullen at ryan - ryan.hat.libdemvoice.org.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one) and if you have yet to ...
