It is a point of faith among many Liberal Democrat members (54% of them, according to the Lib Dem Voice survey) that university tuition should be funded out of general taxation. A report from the Liberal think-tank CentreForum, Time's up: why the Lib Dems should end their opposition to tuition fees ought to be required ...
Hello to whoever is reading this As a Lib Dem member, and someone who joined the party many years ago because of tuition fees, amongst other issues, which made the Liberal Democrats a truly distinctive choice in British politics, I thought I'd respond to your e-mail. I fully supported the Lib Dems in 2010 as truly the only genuine alternative ...
We had our usual "looking forward" at the Bishopsgarth Association of Residents meeting tonight, as we plan the Play Area for young people. Waiting for news of grants now. However a big change in that we had a most interesting talk from Dave Parkin, a local resident who has been making some amazing historical finds in the area. Just by walking fields within 100 yards or so of Bishopsgarth...
Sometimes serendipity happens. I was trying to think of a way to link together a couple of sections of the Hyperpost book, when I found this old post from Scott Aaronson's blog Shtetl-Optimised. In it, Aaronson talks about how he'd noticed that there was a lot of overlap between Libertarians and proponents of the Many-Worlds ...
Today is the UK's first Anti Slavery Day. On Saturday I went to the Body Shop in Cabot Circus, Bristol to support their petition on sex trafficking – a 21st century form of slavery. Back in 2007 I spoke at many events in Bristol and London when we marked the bicentenary of the abolition of ...
Some months ago I was pushed into signing up to do a 10k run around the grounds of Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, to raise money for Cancer research UK, given the charity it didn't take me long to say yes. Well, yesterday it had finally arrived, the day to do the 10k run. Now for those who know me, I do not have a runners body nor a gym bunny body, despite me having a personal trainer now, Richard Kerrigan at the Newhaven David Lloyd gym, if anyone else wants to sign up for some decent (but evil) workouts. So, ...
Chris Huhne has today published a written ministerial statement on the UK's future energy provision. New power generation capacity equal to three-quarters of current capacity will be needed between now and 2025. It must and will be a low-carbon mix, with renewables will be over half of this new power capacity. Of the remainder new nuclear without public subsidy is free to contribute, and today the Coalition is taking two regulatory steps to enable this. The Government will not pursue a Severn tidal scheme at this time as there is currently not an economic or environmental case for the Severn ...
Would like for my body to stop fucking up now, please. Hip is doing mostly okay, though I have now lost a tooth (well, a crown) biting into a jacket potato. Yes, really. From what I could salvage of the broken bits, it looks like a clean break but feels very sharp when I run my tongue over the bits in my mouth. Slightly worried that I took away some of the peg left of my original tooth and they won't be able to attach another crown but nothing I can do until emergency dental appointment tomorrow afternoon. Not too ...
I had intended writing this up on Sunday but IT problems at home frustrated my intentions...so this is a note on some highlights of last week. Monday was actually my 44th birthday. Being an MP means your birthday appears in the quality papers but Parliament is not like any other workplace so there were no ...
Ten years ago, whilst working for the Electoral Reform Society, I founded the Votes at 16 Campaign. This involved bringing together more than 30 different organisations ranging from childrens' charities to political parties and we had many thousands of individual supporters signed up. Regrettably, the Labour Government stalled on the issue. Whilst there were a large number of individual Labour MPs who backed us (among the Labour supporters was David Milliband) as well as Lib Dems, nationalists and a couple of Tories, they were never enough of a force to make this any sort of priority within the Government. Tony ...
I've just spent the last hour and a half holding on for various parts of AOL's call centre, which really must be one of the most useless in the UK - except of course it isn't actually in the UK at all. Having finally got through to the first level, I was then left for another 45 minutes hanging on for the next level of support. Perhaps the most extraordinary thing is that I continue to send them money every month. But I was at least entertained by their musical tape, which went round and round, and included a song ...
Can you spot the schoolboy error in Spooks tonight ? Where on earth is Stanstead ?
It seems that every time the Cornish All Blacks think they are on the up, they get knocked back down again. Saturday saw the great news that they had at last wiped out the points penalty that they started the season with. Today came the news that wing Ben Turner will be out for at least eight weeks with a ruptured spleen. Ben left the field at half time on Saturday having taken a heavy collision and today came the news of the extent of his injury.
If you're a voting rep to the Lib Dem conference, you should have ballot papers and manifesto booklets for six panels and committees, with a total of over 200 candidates. The task is to rank the candidate in each election, with between 20 and 45 candidates in each. That's a pretty daunting task, and promises to be quite time consuming.I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, but here are some
Sunday afternoon at the Arbury Community Centre we had a "Thank You" party for local activists who worked alongside your local Councillors to help get Julian Huppert elected to parliament and Simon Brierley elected to the City Council at the last elections. It was good to be able to talk to and thank some of the people who haven't just helped with the last election but have helped us to deliver on our promise to be working for the people of King's Hedges "not just at elections, but all year round". Julian Huppert MP recorded this message; If you'd like ...
On a report on the BBC East "Inside Out" programme tonight they featured the number of councils locally who own high value number plates, some estimated to be worth several hundred thousand pounds. The presumption of the article was that in these difficult times, councils ought to be selling these private plates, in order to cover the deficits councils are now facing. I am no lover of council frivolities, and would certainly back the idea of councils selling off high value number plates. However, the "Inside Out" story also highlighted the poor value for money that council's sometimes get when ...
Chris Davies, MEP for the North-West of England, has blogged his views on Lord Browne's proposals for the funding of higher education. Chris broadly welcomes the proposals, and thinks they are fairer and more progressive than his favoured graduate tax. ... Continue reading →
Mon 18th
19:45
"Loathe this government if you will..." - 4 points following on from Julian Glover's must-read Guard...
Julian Glover, writing for The Guardian's Comment Is Free, puts forward a trenchantly pro-Coalition, pro-Clegg line — one that's guaranteed to attract the ire both of Guardianistas, and of some Voice readers, too. This excerpt offers the substnance of his argument: Loathe this government if you will, but at least acknowledge that neither side in it got all it wanted at the election and that neither has sold out all of its principles. The strangeness of co-operation exposes its component parts to the easiest of attacks: of promising one thing before an election and doing another after it. But as ...
I am not a happy bunny tonight. Anna's phone has stopped working - when we try to charge it nothing happens. It's insured so we took it into T-Mobile today as it told us to do on the insurance papers. They hummed and hawed and poked about a bit and then told me that they couldn't do anything and I'd have to go home and call the insurers, Fonesafe. And they weren't mighty polite about it either. This I duly did, only to be told that they couldn't do anything about it as it wasn't stolen, lost or damaged and ...
Over at the Financial Times today, former Lib Dem cabinet minister David Laws and CentreForum's director Julian Astle write about the potential of the 'pupil premium' to transform the life chances of pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds — but argue that schools must be held accountable for using the money directly for this purpose. Here's an excerpt: The pupil premium, which for the first time will see a universal service underpinned by an explicitly pro-poor funding system, sits front-and-centre in this [social mobility] agenda. At present there is additional school funding for young people from deprived backgrounds, but it ...
Nick Clegg met the Chilean President Sebastian Pinera today, presumably to ask him how to get out of the deep hole Vince Cable has buried the party in.
The first (of many) cuts by Cornwall Council has leaked out. Staff at Camelford Leisure Centre have been told that the facility is to be closed by Cornwall Council as part of efforts to save money. This is bad news for three reasons: It deprives the community of Camelford of a significant local facility;It comes at a time when the whole future of Cornwall's leisure service is under review because of the amalgamation of the six former district council leisure services into one. Surely the right time to decide whether (or not) to close a centre would be when this ...
Party members have been receiving emails today from Tim Farron and Susan Kramer setting out their pitches for party president. Of course, the emails can only go to party members for whom the party has an accurate email address. So I've reproduced the emails below – and if you've missed out but would like to get future party emails, get in touch with Membership Services on timforpresident@timfarron.co.uk - timforpresident.hat.timfarron.co.uk.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one)
Julian Glover has what I can only describe as a fantastic piece about the coalition in today's Guardian. (Yes, I did just say that there is a fantastic piece about the coalition in The Guardian.) Along with a piece by ... Continue reading →
From my twitter feed over the last hour..... EveningGazette EveningGazette No plans for announcement on future of Gordon Strachan, say Boro: http://bit.ly/aF0sX5 53 minutes ago untypicalboro anthony vickers Strachan's departure has been confirmed. 18 minutes ago MFCFacebook Middlesbrough FC Gordon Strachan Makes Middlesbrough Exit. http://fb.me/FVC91eFf 14 minutes ago
An article by Tony Langham, MD of Lansons Communications, in Marketing got me thinking about the way we do communications and how it is changing. Langham argues that marketing and public relations will melt into each other as companies realise that the two are interdependent. While there are differences between these functions, I have always seen them as disciplines that communication professionals can take from their toolkit along with public affairs, issues management, crisis communications and digital media. Part of the changing nature of communications work is the way that public relations professionals can now create content without having to ...
'Sunflower Seeds' is an installation by Ai Weiwei, and is the next in the series of Unilver commissions that has brought Tate goers the Black Box, amongst many other things. This latest piece sees the Chinese artist present millions of porcelain sunflower seeds. Each seed was hand painted by helpers that ranged from an elderly lady in her family home, to a young girl who was paid to help out. Much of this information, such as the significance of sunflowers in the propaganda photos of Chairman Mao, and the tradition of working together in a family home, is detailed in ...
Couldn't resist doing this. I know its the new generation, but it reminded me so much of one of my fave programmes! Feel free to guess why I chose the character to the cabinet member! Its not the most refined finished product and the credits finish at 1m49s, but the idea tickled me, so I hope you like it. I downloaded the music from here and the copyright belongs to Jerry Goldsmith & Ron jones, I think.
I have previously been a big supporter of the coalition government. During the negotiations back in May I wrote that we should take the Tory deal for the good of the country and that it was effectively the only game in town. I was also supportive of many of the actions taken in the early days of the government including the decision to focus more heavily on reducing the deficit. I broadly accepted the arguments that the government as a whole have used to justify this. I have not blogged myself since the start of August but have found myself ...
If so, please contact Chris through this website.
Today Hull City Council's Cabinet decided to transfer the contract previously held by collapsed building firm Connaught over to the company's new owner Lovell, a social housing provider.The Cabinet decision was required after Connaught went into administration in early September, which meant it had broken its contract with the Council. Cllr Mike Ross, portfolio holder with responsibility for Customer and Neighbourhood Services commented, "The decision has been taken to transfer the work to Lovell. We have always stated that we wanted to ensure council tenants received the best level of service possible. We also believe this option allows for some ...
All, Startford District Council are sending out reminder electoral registration forms to people who've not completed them yet. If you're already on the electoral roll, you can ring up or use the internet to register (the information you need will be on the form). For more information or enquiries about the Register of Electors form please contact the Electoral Services Helpline on 01789 260208 Regards, Philip
This Wednesday the two candidates for Liberal Democrat President will take part in the official Federal online hustings at party headquarters in Cowley Street, London. Susan Kramer and Tim Farron will answer questions which have been submitted online, and a video of the event will be posted afterwards on YouTube for all party members to refer to. I'll be chairing the hustings, so please submit your questions via email to johnnylvg - johnnylvg.hat.gmail.com.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one) to register. Otherwise keep an eye on Lib Dem ...
[IMG: notwhatyouexpect] One of my co-workers from a job a while back, Anil Bali, a machine driver, has contacted me with good news, that he has now published his first book," Gods Mail To Mankind", which I assume expands on some of the theological discussions had on site, it would be an easy mistake, to think that all trackmen (rail workers) have to talk about is the next job, football, drinking, women and "going up the cafe break time". Anyway making assumptions about religion, are wrong as is the view, that God is somehow exclusive, to particular groups, myself I ...
After months of just shouting "No!" repeatedly from the sidelines, Labour have dipped a toe into the economic debate today with a speech from Alan Johnson outlining their growth strategy. And I welcome it, in exactly the same way as I'd welcome someone standing by a raging inferno with a watering can. Mr Johnson suggests additional levies on banks, which sound like a fine idea. In our election manifesto (a document which I have to lend Mr Clegg, if he's misplaced his) we promised similar things such as a Robin Hood tax on bank transactions, and there is a review ...
Monday Before we get Scary Jane Smith (thank you, Mr Will), let's give a little hearty congratulation to ITV for their new Posh Soap "Downton Abbey" turning out to be a surprise Sunday-night hit. The BBC must be grinding their teeth in delight at this rip-off of their "Upstairs Downstairs" revival being so popular. After all, with "Sherlock" storming the summer ratings, who could've EXPECTED a quality drama for Sunday evenings with turn-of-the-19th/20th-Century-leanings to be a success? But well done ITV. You put the money in so you deserved the rewards. Now just don't go learning all the wrong lessons. ...
Although the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, which completed the UK's political union with the EU, is a change which significantly disenfranchised the electorate [in as far as political parties can no longer promise to introduce measures in a considerable number of areas without the consent of the Council of Europe] our surrender to the global free market and all that it entails occurred far less obviously and has had a much greater obvious impact. The promise of this free market is that the whole of the world's population can share in the affluence which has been, until now, the ...
You might have noticed that I wasn't around here much on Thursday because I'd been invited to spend the day at the opulent Liberal Democrat Voice Towers as guest editor. Thankfully the kitchen is the preserve of Sara Bedford, so there's always fresh baking around, Alex Foster provides welcome feelgood bellringing, Mummy Helen has a real techie treasure trove and (whispers), I found the key to Dr Pack's chocolate stash. Pink Dog has her own very plush parlour where you can sink into plump, welcoming cushions when you're tired. I still can't quite believe that they let me loose on ...
Parking is difficult in Cambridge - even if you are on a bike. The City Council has improved provision recently; my own favourite place to park now is the Grand Arcade cycle park, next to the car park. As well as a few hundred Sheffield racks, the cycle park has a bike repair shop and secure area. This is owned by Grand Arcade and was part of their planning application. The only problem with the cycle park is that after a slow start, it is now often full, leading to calls for even more provision. This is a 'good problem' ...
[IMG: Sanjay visiting Montrose Harbour with Alison McInnes MSP]
Nick Carthew posed the provocative question on Twitter earlier today: If cyberwarfare is the biggest threat in the 21st century why do we need to renew our nuclear deterrent? http://bit.ly/bNkBXn There are of course a range of nuances to that question which can't be squeezed into one tweet, but at its heart is a spot-on observation. On the one hand, we're now often told how internet hacking poses one of the biggest threats to our country's future security and how illegal activities such as the hijacking of computers via bots are widespread and an extremely profitable form of crime. On ...
On friday night I went along to the formal opening of the ROC cafe for young people, at the Phoenix Centre in St.Mary's Park, Prestwich. It was a great occasion to be able to attend the formal opening of this important facility for local people. But what is most remarkable about the ROC cafe is that it has come about by people from different organisations with similar goals coming together for a common purpose, committing to achieve something special for local young people. ROC stands for "redeeming Our Communities". If you would like to find out more about ROC you ...
An email arrives from the Cartoon Museum: "It's time for the Young Cartoonist of the Year competition. There is an under-18 and under-30 category so do please enter or tell any other budding cartoonists you know." Sadly I am neither young nor a cartoonist, but if you are, then take a look at their website, ...
Today is Anti Slavery Day in the United Kingdom and EU Anti-Trafficking Day. Northern Ireland's Justice Minister, David Ford MLA, launched a new campaign last week called Visitor or Victim. The campaign is run in conjunction with the Police Service of Northern Ireland through the Organised Crime Task Force. Below is the front cover of ...
Earlier this morning a car went out of control in Ross Parade and crashed through bollards on the pavement and then the window of the Shanghai Chinese Restaurant ending up facing the road on the pavement. The police are on site now, but Ross Parade is currently closed to vehicles (midday 18 October).
RNID Chief Executive Jackie Ballard recently took part in an online Q&A sessions taking questions about the organisations forthcoming rebrand. The full transcript of the interview is below. Interviewer: Welcome to Jackie's question and answer live video chat. The first question is about the cost of the rebrand – this has been asked by a ...
BillBloggs sent the following email to tuition@libdems.org.uk where he gives a different opinion to the one I expressed in A pledge is a pledge end of . Dear Nick, Under these dire financial circumstances, and following receipt of your very well put explanation and arguments for abandoning the LD election pledge to abolish Tuition Fees, you do have my full support. Free education to degree level is a great idea - IFour country (i.e. us taxpayers - not government )can truly afford it. Please don't let this coalition government offer anything else for free that we taxpayers cannot afford! Anything ...
I just read an article where a man claiming benefit was furious about benefit cuts and proclaimed that he did not see why he should lose his benefits just because he was lumped into the same bracket as depressives and alcoholics who should be at work, so he said. It is such a shame when ...
If we want to change Coalition policy, we have to understand why Tories are so keen on high variable fees. It isn't about the deficit. As usual, that is a smokescreen. It's about the Tory philosophy of creating a marketplace in education. It is very important to the Tories that they should saddle the student with debt, hung around his or her individual neck. A graduate tax, which feels less threatening, is not good enough for just that reason. If it isn't hurting, it isn't working. The market achieves two key Tory goals. It forces weak universities to improve or ...
Collaborative Governance is a term which has been gaining more popularity in recent years although remains on the periphery of national debate. So why is Harvard University looking at preparing students for a change to collaborative governance? The benefits of collaborative governance are potentially huge as I have written about recently such as reducing costs, ...
Most teams probably wouldn't be cheering if they were sitting on nil points and at the bottom of the league after seven games. But for the Cornish All Blacks that is reason for a swift half. We started the season on -20 points having been penalised for going into administration during the off-season. After three wins, a draw and three losses, that deficit has been wiped off and the season proper can begin. Full marks go to the players for their efforts in achieving this. With the prospect of promotion all but extinguished before the season began, it would have ...
From Stockport Council: The School Catering team from Solutions SK, Stockport's wholly owned company, has been awarded the RoSPA silver award following extensive work to reduce accidents in school kitchens. The RoSPA Awards scheme is not only about reducing the number of accidents and cases of ill-health at work; it also encourages organisations to develop robust health and safety management systems. The School Catering team worked closely with Solutions SK's Health & Safety team to improve the health and safety management system. They introduced the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) approved method for floor cleaning. The team also risk assessed ...
In Saturday's Independent D.J. Taylor wrote of the latest Go Compare commercial: the ad is a spirited homage to Wilson, Keppel and Betty, an inter-war variety act featuring Jack Wilson and Joe Keppel, along with nearly a dozen different "Bettys" - who were criticised by Goebbels, who thought their bare legs "bad for the morals of the Nazi youth". They retired from the stage as late as 1963. All of which confirms my long-held belief that, even now in the hi-tech 21st century, most of the roots of British entertainment curl up from the old-style variety hall.So the next time ...
Published last week, Lord Young's report for the government into health and safety regulations has gone largely unreported, even though "it's health and safety gone mad" is such a common refrain in the media. The reason? Mostly, I suspect, because the report leads on health and safety for employees at work whilst the stories the media most love talking about are usually about health and safety more widely, such as for visitors to museums. Reading through the report, it comes across as one from a Conservative rather than a Liberal Democrat: hence the frequent references to the problems of over-zealous ...
Video also available on YouTube here. I spent a gloriously geeky afternoon last week, helping Geoff Marshall (former world record holder for travelling around the entire London Underground system in the fastest time possible) make the above film about psychologist and designer Max Roberts. Dr Roberts' exhibition of alternative London Underground maps is on until the end of this week (Friday 22 October 2010). It's free and is a must for tube and map fans, as well as anyone interested in usability. Underground Maps Unravelled: Explorations in Information Design explores the use of Beck's basic design rules: replacing chaotic, twisting ...
Well it looks like Chris Huhne is to announce the end of the project for the Severn Tidal Barrage. The BBC have covered the story this morning. Peter Black AM has blogged about his anticipation of Peter Hain's response. I realise that the scheme would have been too expensive and not cost-effective enough to merit public funding, and think that this particular scheme would have caused more problems that it solved. The Friends of the Earth have an interesting report on this. What we need is a billionaire, who is passionate about the environment who is willing to invest into ...
Further to my article from Saturday about the one day road closure in Strawberrybank on 29th October, I have had the following clarification this morning from the City Council about residents' access by car that day : "Yes, residents will get access from either end. The point of closure is at number 23."
Saturday morning saw a small group from Friends of Garston Park out on a litter pick on the Park (thanks for arranging the good weather Alan!) Earlier the same week another group met to look at sites for some new benches we have fund raised for. And we still have the new noticeboard to put up and the wildflower meadow to sort out. All in all quite a bit's been achieved for the Park. I would add in some photos at this point, although my camera was either lost or stolen on Friday so I am visually challenged right now. ...
For those who missed LibDemVoice.org's coverage over the weekend, here's a catch-up: EXCLUSIVE: What Lib Dem members think about Browne and tuition fees... looking at 'How would you prefer higher education is funded?' and 'Are there any changes to the plans announced to date which would make you more likely to support recommendations based on The Browne Report?' Tuition fees - what party members believe Lib Dem MPs should do... looking at whether Lib Dem MPs stick by their manifesto and NUS pledges, how you expect them to vote in the Commons, and which way you personally would vote. LDV ...
In his speech over the weekend at a school in Chesterfield on a Fairness Premium, Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: "The Liberal Democrat purpose in Government is to make Britain a better, fairer nation. And ahead of next week's comprehensive spending review, today we set out our plans for a four-year, £7 billion investment in improving opportunities for the most disadvantaged kids in this country. "Every disadvantaged two year-old will be entitled to 15 hours free early education - in addition to the existing entitlements at the ages of three and four. Every poor school ...
Today's the deadline for comments on how the Pupil Premium should work. The Pupil Premium is a scheme which means extra money will go to schools with pupils who are from deprived backgrounds. The money will come from outside the schools budget so it is effectivly extra cash to help address some of the inequalities in the education system. I'm really pleased this is going ahead. It was one of the four main themes in the General Election Manifesto. One of the interesting points is that the money follows the Pupil rather than it being assumed that everyone in a ...
The Western Mail reports on the speech to Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference by the party's Federal Deputy Leader, Simon Hughes: Looking towards Wednesday's Comprehensive Spending Review and the announcement of multi-billion-pound cuts, he sought to assure the party that its representatives had influenced the decisions. He said: "Wales is still one of the poorest parts of the UK. That has been registered by Government and Government will reflect that in its response on Wednesday." Messages about the importance of the electrification of the rail-line from Paddington to Swansea had "got through", he insisted, as had the need for a "continued ...
I wanted to highlight a link from Liberal Democrat MEP Diana Wallis' website: Diana sounds note of caution on Arctic in debate on Oil Drilling. Keep up the good work Diana! I believe that its important that this issue is addressed, after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, consideration needs to be given as to the safety of deep sea drilling. Research shows that the Arctic has a delicate and potentially already declining eco-system, and I would hope that no deep sea drilling takes place there. Greenpeace have a 'go beyond oil' campaign, and you can get more information here. ...
Talking about propaganda techniques, there is an intriguing letter in this morning's Western Mail from somebody called John Owen from Caerphilly. He claims that the argument that Labour left a terrible financial legacy is being propagated on the basis of Heinrich Himmler's doctine that 'the larger the lie you told, the more likely people were to believe it.' In fact this expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf. he wrote about a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously." According ...
The Dutch VVD are supposed to be a Liberal party (and sit in the ELDR) but they have done a deal with the anti-Islam PVV Freedom party, to form a Government.
I've been thinking for a while that a lot of debate about the Liberal Democrats – especially in the media – seems to assume or apply a dichotomy that members of the party are either socially liberal or economically liberal. A lot of the time the biggest debate doesn't seem to be on whether these ...
A couple of months ago I was contacted by a resident and asked if I could help her son who had been issued with a fixed penalty for discarding his cigarette in the street. I told the lady that I could not help her son as I felt he deserved the fine, she asked me if I was a smoker, I replied no but I used to be. She said that ex smokers were the worst and hung up. I was in Colwyn Bay on Thursday and noticed this pile of "cigarette ends". I personally believe that such premises must ...
Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Wales is not a man who goes in for half measures when he is on the attack. So we should not be surprised when he tells every media outlet who will listen to him that scrapping the Severn barrage plan would be "equally disastrous" for the economy and the environment. And yet he does not appear to be tapping into a consensus on this matter. Indeed most environmental groups think that he is wrong in arguing that this is a beneficial development, Gordon James from Friends of the Earth for example tells the BBC: ...
Oh well, here goes my credibility as a serious writer, but, come on, we've had weeks and weeks of things that have been quite difficult to deal with, from Child Benefit to the Browne Report. In fact, being in Government is quite stressful. I said in May that I'd have five years of watching the news from behind a pillow and so far it has been a bit like that. I remain, despite everything, a supporter of the Coalition, but the "through gritted teeth" comment made by one of Liberal Democrat Voice's survey contributors is not a million miles away ...
The issue of tuition fees has raised a more general challenge the party needs to get its head round. This one's been bubbling away quietly since the Lib Dems entered the Coalition and we seem no closer to an answer now than we were then. Are our Government ministers bound by party policy? When one of our ministers is formulating what the UK Government should do on a specific issue, or setting out the Lib Dem bargaining position to get the best final deal, how far should that minister be reaching for a party policy document rather than using their ...
I don't think i'll have much to laugh about this week but I'll start it on the right foot
For years I have cringed when British Politicians have claimed that this that or the other British institution is "The best in the world and the envy of he world" when it patently isn't. Paradoxically, the one institution that actually is the best in the world and the envy of the world is the BBC, and yet it its constantly under attack from the Tories. Rumour has it that the World Service is to receive a cut of 25%. If this is true it is incredibly stupid. In the over-all scheme of things expenditure on the World Service is a ...
Another little reading project of mine: as well as reading the best-selling novels of 100 year ago, as I have done this year and last year, I decided to try the best-selling novel of 50 years ago, a political tale by a long-serving Washington journalist, which soon after (1962) became a film starring Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton (the latter's last role before he died). The plot concerns the nomination of a new Secretary of State by an ailing President whose party controls both Senate and House; the nomination runs into difficulties because of the nominee's alleged Communist past. But ...
production and broadcast anniversaries 18 October 1963: Studio recording for "An Unearthly Child" (the version that was broadcast). 18 October 1975: broadcast of fourth episode of Planet of Evil. The Doctor clears the antimatter from the ship and restores Sorenson (who doesn't really deserve it in my view) to his normal self. 18 October 1980: broadcast of fourth episode of Meglos. The Doctor frustrates the evil cactus's plans, Brotadac accidentally destroys Zolfa-Thura, and the Deons and Savants agree to get along better in future. 18 October 1986: broadcast of third episode of Mindwarp (ToaTL #7). Brain transplants and battles; Peri ...
You couldn't parody these clowns, and anyway they make it unnecessary to do so.
On Thursday 7th October we had a by-election for the Lancaster City Council. The turnout was awful and we didn't get one in eight voters interested enough to participate in our democracy. I wrote about the result on Saturday 9th October and that should have been an end to it. However I read the letters page in the local paper last Friday (15th) and the victor, who happened to be from the Morecambe Bay Independent Party has thanked a few people including the electorate. There is nothing wrong with that. If one person votes then there is nothing wrong with ...
