I've spent the weekend so far filling in ballot papers, the presidential, the Federal committees and the English ones too. It hasn't been easy, indeed, it has been quite depressing at times. With candidates tending to run for multiple positions with identical manifestos, others who fail to mention the work of the committee they wish to run for, or provide any clue as to why they are running, it has at least been easy to work out who I won't be voting for. There are also some candidates who perhaps might be better off working out what the committee they ...
[IMG: tornado-4web.JPG] If you can spare anytime at all this weekend get along to East Lancashire Railways Steam Weekend. I went along to see the star of the show - the Tornado - the first steam loco to be built in Britain for 50 years. I don't know whether it's man thing (or a boys toys thing), but its quite an awesome sight and a marvellous feat of engineering. So I recommend it and while you're at it you could take a trip on the Tornado or one of the other steam attractions and visit Ramsbottom as well.
I was recommended this fantasy novel, the second in a four-part series, some time ago as a fictional treatment of peace processes. Unfortunately it is the kind of immersive fantasy that doesn't really grab me, so I've given up after 130 pages.
The shocking reality of child prostitution in Cambodia today was the focus of a fringe meeting at the recent ELDR Congress in Helsinki, at which the country's Leader of the Opposition, Sam Rainsy, was a guest of honour. A mortifying film was shown, which included interviews with current and former child prostitutes — mostly girls, but ...
Well, I have just been sitting watching Mel Brooks's film The Producers (2005) with my friend Andrew. The Producers is a film about a musical called Springtime for Hitler which has been shown in Israel, Germany, and Broadway (amongst other places). At least, that is what I thought until the end of the film. All ...
Labour brought Britain to its knees, leaving the country at the edge of a financial crash. We spend more money servicing the debt they left us than we do on the NHS. Labour based their economic policy on predicted tax return that never capitalised after the crash. The Coalition Government has got straight to work, ...
Last night an Raidío Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) the announcement of the viewers poll to find Ireland's Greatest went to a very worthy recipient, John Hume the Nobel Peace laureate who is formerly MP, MEP and leader of the SDLP. At a time when the buzz across Ireland is to look for a shared future living ...
I'd already sent my ballot paper for Lib Dem President back before I saw this. But Tim's campaign video is absolutely spot on.
A friend of mine recently learned that one of the things he loves is now something he will not be able to carry on doing; the reason is for his own health. There were tears in his eyes as he was telling me about it, just as there were tears in mine as I was listening to him, because I knew how much that particular activity meant to him. The activity in question is not seen as risky to the overwhelming majority of the public, but to him it could be severely damaging or even a killer. It got me ...
"Will transsexuals destroy women's sport?" is the second largest headline on the front of today's Spectator Magazine – the largest, predictably, being in relation to the Comprehensive Spending Review. It's not exactly a positive headline, for a start using "Transsexual" as a noun. For those unfamiliar with the territory don't do it as it implies it is very othering – man, woman or transsexual? It also contributes to the erasure of trans-male identities in this case as the implication in the headline is that only Trans women exist. Still, "Sure, if all the women athletes transition to become male, that ...
Well here we are. Week - whatever it is. I feel the grind of x factor already. Thank goodness I ahd the ironing this evening. And some web research. But now I am drawn back. X factor is a bit like a blancmange. No matter how you push it - it wobbles and bounces back. Like that bit of darning you never get around to. Or the bit of weeding you always leave. It seems it will always still be there. It's already been on an hour and I think there must be hours' left.
Longstanding readers of this blog will know that I return, in thought and in person, to the Stiperstones - a range of hills in south Shropshire. When I wrote a much mourned (at least by me) column for the New Statesman website I pretended to live there. Why do these hills mean so much to me? First, I have been going there for over 20 years: I first visited them on 3 June 1989. I can date my first visit so exactly because I recall carrying a radio in my backpack and hearing, rather unexpectedly, England play well and beat ...
As reported in the Evening Telegraph and the Courier, I am concerned at proposals by the City Council's SNP administration to consider a 5% rents hike. The SNP administration - for the second year in a row - is proposing to force council tenants to find increased rent levels that are not acceptable at a time of significant financial challenge for tenants. When the 2010/11 increase was discussed last year, I moved that the increase be restricted to 3% - but the SNP pushed through a 4% inflation-busting increase. It appears that, again, the SNP is determined to increase council ...
Further to my recent article expressing concern about deterimental changes to the CityJet flights to London City Airport from Dundee, the airport manager has responded to my e-mail to him raising the issue and asking that we discuss the matter further at the next meeting of Dundee Airport Consultative Committee, taking place on 5th November : "... we are starting to getting concerns voiced over the new timetable by Cityjet. We have been and still are in on going discussions with them on this. You have copied Ian Dolderer* in on it which is the best thing to do. We ...
43) Meister Eckhart, Deutsche Predigten: Eine Auswahl (German Sermons: A Selection; Stuttgart: Reclam, 2001, ISBN 9783150181171). This is a parallel edition in Middle High German and modern German. Eckhart was a 13th/14th century mystic and high-ranking Dominican who was accused of heresy, but died of natural causes before his trial could be completed. He probably annoyed the church hierarchy as much by his willingness to teach and write in German as by the content of his writings. The observation is often made that at times he sounds almost Buddhist to a modern reader; based on this volume, I think that ...
As usual I did numerous interviews today for international media but was invited to none at all for the British media. Sky News have just farcically had a spokesman for the ultra-right Henry Jackson Foundation and a US army Colonel "debating" the Wikileaks release and both condemning it. Anyway here is a piece I did for Russia Today. As you can probably tell, my earpiece was giving problems and I didn't actually hear the first few questions!
I was concerned the other week about what was happening with Luton councillor Morel Benard. While I still have had no official communication about any change in her status from council officers, it seems that she has left the Labour group and joined the Conservative one. Evidence of this comes in a further change on the council's website. Although rumours are circulating around the Town Hall, I have no knowledge of the reason for her move. Maybe she's been impressed by the coalition government? Although I can't imagine it is much fun being a member of Luton's Labour group – ...
Writing on 18th October, Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies called for the European Union to cut its spending, just as national governments across Europe are having to do. While George Osborne is proposing his cuts package to the House of Commons, Euro-MPs are likely to be voting on the first round of the annual EU budget debate. It seems certain that the European Parliament will end up supporting an increase above the rate of inflation, with our own institution seeking 5.5% more spending "to meet the additional costs of implementing the Lisbon Treaty." It is bound to prompt the question ...
We have all seen Emu beating up Michael Parkinson many times, but I have never come across this before. It has just been mentioned on Loose Ends on Radio 4.
I've no idea what he is saying about us, but I like the pictures. He'd better not be laughing at our morris dancers though.
I had the great pleasure today to present the Sam Adams Award for Integrity to Julian Assange at the big Wikileaks press conference in London. I fear I did not do this very well. In fact I was merely trying to pass the award to Dan Ellsberg to present at the end of his talk, when he introduced me to make the presentation. I felt pretty shy at holding up a press conference being seen around the world, so I virtually threw the award candlestick at Julian and got off. The consequence of my lack of composure was that few ...
All, Yep, I know - not the most promising of headlines for one of these articles, but bear with me, I'll try and make it not too dull. The Government announced its spending review this week, and to be honest, for a Liberal Democrat like me its a bit of a mixed bag. There are a good bunch of Liberal Democrat policies in there: The pupil premium Universal welfare payments The Green Investment Bank Regional Growth Funds Protection of funding to schools, international development and the NHS (although how effective the last will be with the Coalition's ill thought out ...
Within the last 24 hours, my hosting company, BigWetFish have migrated my site onto a new, high specified, UK-based, server. This should improve the performance of the site for all users – and especially the majority who are UK-based themselves. In addition, anyone accessing the site from mobile devices (roughly 20% of users) will now get a mobile-optimised theme.
Cambridge City Councillors are seeking assurances that county Conservatives will not close libraries. Liberal Democrat city councillors put down a motion at a meeting of Cambridge City Council on Thursday (Thursday, October 21) demanding that Cambridgeshire County Council rule out closures in the libraries review. Now city council Leader Sian Reid will write to Cambridgeshire County Council Leader, Jill Tuck urging her to give assurances that libraries are safe. The motion was proposed by Cllr Mike Pitt and seconded by Labour Cllr Lucy Walker: This Council applauds the role the Library Network plays in the social cohesion, educational development, life-long ...
What has already become the best-known anecdote in Jonathan Powell's The New Machiavelli is a snippet of conversation he had with his then master, Tony Blair. Powell asked him how he could put up with having a three-hour conversation with Gordon Brown, to which Blair responded by asking him whether he had ever been in love. '"Not with a man", I replied' — and we know he was lying. This book is testimony to his devotion to Blair. It is, for sure, a curious billet doux -- less like a bunch of roses than a handful of thorns. Comparing, however ...
First up, apologies for the lack of posts: I have not gone into hibernation nor given up campaigning! The simple fact is I have just had possibly the busiest five months of my political career, managing one of the most challenging portfolios on Reading Borough Council, and on top of that, I've started a new job. My top priority first and foremost is to discharge my responsibilities to the people of Reading as a Lead Member, and to my constituents in my ward as a ward councillor. I really enjoy blogging, however, so I will do my best to post ...
There is a telling exchange in Stuart Jeffries' interview with Armando Iannucci in this morning's Guardian. When Iannucci says: "The cuts aren't about economics any longer - they're about ideology. And the ideology is that a big state is bad and state interference is bad."Jefferies invites him to agree with the proposition: "So the US Tea Party agenda has been smuggled into British politics?" And Iannucci readily does: "Absolutely, and nobody so far is fighting against it. Take quangos. The ones they're keeping are the ones that benefit business, while cutting the arty-farty ones that cost very little and arguably ...
broadcast anniversaries 23 October 1965: broadcast of "Small Prophet, Quick Return", the second episode of the story we now call The Myth Makers. Odysseus demands that the Doctor use his abilities to destroy Troy; Vicki is renamed Cressida by Priam; Steven is captured by the Trojans. 23 October 1976: broadcast of fourth episode of The Hand of Fear. Eldrad discovers that the planet Kastria is dead, and the Doctor manages to dispose of him. Then comes the mysterious 'call from Gallifrey', and - sob! - Sarah Jane Smith leaves after almost three years. Will they ever bring her back, do ...
Today we had a very good ward surgery at the Hexham road community centre, which is a vibrant hub for the local community. At the Centre you can now recycle your used batteries in the special recycling bin. This is something I have been calling for for several years - So it was a very welcome sight! After talking to residents and helping them with their problems, we had a ward walk-about. Every weekend we have a walk-about in a different part of the ward. This time we picked up and reported several cases of flytipping, building repair and asked ...
So this week came the Comprehensive Spending Review and the strategic defence review. Others have blogged their feelings on the Comprehensive Spending Review, and I'll say that mine are aligned with those on the left. I'm going to concentrate on the Strategic Defence Review and in particular on the "cyber terrorism" side. As part of the intelligence gathering, ISPs are likely to be required to install equipment that record details (who spoke to who and what with) of any internet conversation through their servers. This will apply to skype calls, instant messaging, email, and social networking. Quite frankly I am ...
I've just had a message from Merseyside Police about a free service which helps people register their property and which means police find it easier to trace stolen items. It's also meant to act as a bit of a deterrent I understand. The service is called Immobilise and there is a link to its website here.
From Stockport Council: As part of Stockport Council's Boost campaign, funding for local voluntary and community groups is being increased. The Council has awarded a new three year contract to Synergy Stockport to providesupport services for local voluntary and community groups across the borough. Synergy Stockport is a charitable company and social enterprise made up of a growing number of voluntary and community groups in Stockport. They provide a consortium approach to the delivery of activities to benefit Stockport residents. The announcement follows independent research, commissioned by the Council, involving 150 voluntary and community groups outlining what support they need ...
Votes at Westminster are painfully slow, as MPs are summoned from far and wide to file past into the voting lobbies. Not so the European Parliament, which was considering over a thousand amendments to the 2011 budget proposals. Amendments are voting on within six seconds, to the extent that one MEP complains she can't keep up with all the voting six minutes in. I've not got the faintest idea what any of the amendments were – I can only hope the MEPs themselves had some clue. I also don't know why some votes are by hand (and they seem to ...
Tory Bear aka Harry Cole aka Guido's ghost writer decided to take a rather low and scummy shot at bloger Tim Ireland this afternoon after appearing on BBC News 24 over the Nadine Dorries episode (yes another one) where she has admitted that 70% of her blog is fiction. I refuse point blank to link to Tory Bears blog on the grounds that it, like Guido Fawke's blog is the worst kind of gutter blogging but felt compelled to comment on a couple of his quotes below. TB swung by BBC Breakfast this morning to discuss the fact that despite ...
From This is Cornwall: A Liberal Democrat councillor and former constituency organiser for a West Cornwall MP has been arrested on suspicion of fraud. Joe Taylor, of Pendeen Road, Truro, was last week arrested and bailed by police investigating a complaint of cheque fraud. The enquiry is believed to centre around the charity Freedom Surf, a project which helps disabled people to go surfing and of which Mr Taylor, 34, was a director until July this year. The current director, Mark Hills, has claimed that Mr Taylor billed the charity for more than £1,000 in administration fees after he stepped ...
Here's the speech I made proposing the motion 'Fairness in a time of austerity' at the recent Liverpoool Conference: [IMG: media] [See post to watch Flash video] There wasn't too much disagreement (or indeed any disagreement) that I recall, and the motion was carried overwhelmingly. Fellow Liberal Democrats, We have been, to put it mildly, living in interesting political times. And one of the things that is most interesting about those times, is the size of the opportunity that we have - as members of a democratic party of government - to influence those times. It's exciting. It's challenging. It's ...
Sat 23rd
12:57
New Statesman's advice to Lib Dem-baiters: "Don't count those pesky Lib Dems out just yet"
The latest YouGov poll showing the Lib Dems at 10%, one of the party's worst ratings in years, has excited comment, especially and not surprisingly among those who are pleased to see the Lib Dems struggling. Less surprisingly still, YouGov's fndings attract more publicity among our critics than ICM's polls, which show the party consistently at or around the 18% mark. Credit, therefore, to the New Statesman's Sholto Byrnes for bringing a quality on scarce display in political commentary: a sense of perspective: Ever since I entered journalism I have noticed how quick many, if not most, commentators and political ...
Off to take on Bromley with the Warlingham 4ths for a hastily rearranged fixture. Apparently Kingston, our scheduled opposition in the Surrey Foundation League, cried off once they saw our team sheet, bursting with players, subs and ringers. The problem with re-arranged fixtures is that they are more than likely to be miss-matches - and when you are in the bottom league in the county miss matches are rarely in your favour. However, our 2nd team has cancelled its fixture mid week so with luck we may have even more ringers in our midst. Technically that makes us the third ...
The other day I was the victim of homophobic, verbal abuse, me being me there is a blog post mentioning the incident*. Next month as part of the Outburst Queers Arts Festival here is Belfast there will be part of the Pansy Project. It is being sponsored by Unite Against Hate, the Rainbow Project and Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The idea started by artist Paul Harfleet is to plant self-seeding pansies in the nearest available soil source to act as living micro-memorials to this abuse and operate as an antidote to it. After an individual planting, the pansy's ...
Tim Farron and Susan Kramer took part in an online hustings this week, taking questions from a live and online audience. Play the video below to watch the two candidates explain why they want to be Party President and discuss what they would do in the role. Video also available on YouTube here. Susan and Tim also answered questions on retaining a distinct Liberal Democrat indentity, on youth and diversity matters, as well as current issues facing the party. You can watch the rest of the clips on YouTube here. Ballot papers were despatched by second class post on Monday ...
I read a post this morning on Rob Sticklands blog about his take on the spending review and the reactions of some grass roots activists who are unhappy with Nick Clegg and some of the other Orange Book members of the party. As I have come under increasing fire for my views against this small element of the party, I felt inclined to reply. My reply was rather better than I hoped for at this realitive early hour (for a Saturday) so I decided to post it here. It should go some way to explaining why I feel the way ...
In the wider debate around BAME issues in Liverpool, one aspect of the Diversity Motion seems to have slipped through largely unnoticed. The motion, as amended, called for the Federal Executive to commission a review into "structural" barriers to participation in politics faced by under-represented groups. As the drafter of this part of the motion, my thinking was simple. With Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of political reform, Liberal Democrats have a once in a generation opportunity to change the way we do politics- and widen the political talent pool. Because the case for diversity is not ...
Sat 23rd
10:45
Why Ken Livingstone's support for non-Labour candidate could actually have been for the good of the ...
In Thursday's mayoral election in Tower Hamlets, Labour managed to lose to the former (Labour) leader of the Council who had been de-selected as their own candidate. The on-going row surrounds Ken Livingstone and the fact that he appeared on the campaign for the victorious independent candidate, apparently against party rules. I would suggest that, far from being against the wishes of the Labour HQ, Livingstone's appearance could actually have been designed to build bridges between Labour and their renegade former candidate. Given the pickle that Labour had managed to get themselves into, there is no doubt that the party ...
International Aid: A massive increase in funding for the Department for International Development, up from £7.9 billion to £11.4 billion over four years, an increase of 44 per cent in cash terms Green Investment Bank: £1 billion in cash plus the proceeds of future asset sales to fund investment in offshore wind farms and other projects Carbon Capture Storage: A £1 billion investment in a 'carbon capture' scheme, to take the carbon emissions from a power station and store them deep underground Child Tax Credits: Available to families earning under £41,329 from April and under £23,275 from 2012, will go ...
And that's the reason that he has secured my vote when the returning officer resends me my ballot papers next week after my originals went to my old address. Tim is incredibly busy at the minute and is currently on his way to the South East Liberal Democrat Conference in Eastbourne. I should be there myself but a classic case of double booking and my one chance to see Level 42 this year got in the way. In the midst of all this and taking the time out of schedule, Tim has kindly answered five questions I put to him ...
Of course the Tories are just using this as cover for their idealogical (sic) agenda: those on the right of the party are keeping very quiet. ...says my good friend Andrew on the comments of an earlier post. First of all, they're not keeping quiet. OK, they cheered Osborne in the Commons, but had they really considered the whole CSR by then? Of course not. Secondly, "idealogical (sic) agenda". One of those agenda items is "rolling back the state". You could argue that this is happening in some areas, but not in others, of benefits in the CSR. But the ...
The Daily Mail's website has listed lots of Lib Dem achievements in the CSR, in a column by Edward Heathcoat Amory. Who am I to argue with the Daily Mail? According to Mr Heathcoat Amory, we can thank the Lib Dems for the following CSR measures: International Aid: A massive increase in funding for the Department for International Development, up from £7.9 billion to £11.4 billion over four years, an increase of 44 per cent in cash termsGreen Investment Bank: £1 billion in cash plus the proceeds of future asset sales to fund investment in offshore wind farms and other ...
And lo, the Eastern Daily Press has also picked up on my story about the Ministry of Justice's love for over-the-top paperwork.
BT is offering fibre optic upgrades to the five local exchanges where the highest proportion of premises show an interest. Up until the end of 2010, BT is conducting a survey of the UK to help assess community needs and guide future fibre-optic broadband rollouts. You can lobby for our local exchanges to be brought forward in BT's plans by completing the form at http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/ At the moment only 41 local people have voted for the Chipping Sodbury exchange out of a total of 15,416, so we're not exactly top of the list!
With the launch of the shortlist of candidates for the London Assembly top up list, every good (London) Lib Dem's thoughts should be turning to the Mayoral election - and who can we get to stand. While there are probably excellent reasons why we've postponed the process for up to a year (leaving the three shortlisted candidates feeling - well, bruised at best), our two main rivals have their candidates in place and are already slugging it out. So I'm feeling a little left in the cold. And with the party polling 4% (!!!) in the latest Mayoral polling we ...
The so-called "Tony Blair Demon eyes" Conservative billboard poster from the 1990s has a well-established place in the history of British political advertising - high profile, criticised by many leading Church figures, ruled unacceptable by the Advertising Standards Authority, often derided as ineffective yet given an ad-industry award (for more on all of which, see this Guardian report and the image here.) That poster was only one part of a wider "New Labour, New Danger" publicity campaign, which also included this party political broadcast from late 1996: Also available on YouTube here. (For my other posts on party political broadcasts, ...
From the Evening Standard: Two social workers sacked over the Baby P tragedy have lost their claim for unfair dismissal, it emerged today. Gillie Christou and Maria Ward claimed they were unjustly fired by Haringey council in response to the public outcry about the toddler's horrific death. But an employment tribunal panel ruled that the local authority acted reasonably in dismissing them because of serious failings in their care of the child. You can read the full report here.
[IMG: Co-op illuminated sign] The Co-op at the junction of Church Road and Oakwood Avenue, Gatley has applied for a fixed advertising sign that would be illuminated overnight and, I assume, replace the current smaller sign they put out every day. Above is the drawing of how they see it looking. You can see the application in more detail, and comment on it here.
The Spending Review has set some ambitious challenges for cutting spending on welfare. I welcome the goal of reducing long term dependency on welfare but it is essential that we ensure no one who needs and deserves benefits is deprived of support. At the same time we must dramatically reform our benefits system to reduce costs, reduce error and reduce dependency. I, and all my Lib Dem colleagues, will continue to work with the DWP to ensure that each and every change is made on the basis of supporting vulnerable people, older people and the disabled and that no one ...
I have to confess I misread this article the first time around and convinced myself that Nadine Dorries, the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshore was a fictional character. I now find that most of what she told her electorate on her blog was made up, which is a relief. After all no mere mortal could live a life so mind-numbling dull, whilst holding the sort of beliefs she professes to espouse. In fact it transpires that Nadine's blog was one giant subterfuge (presumably inspired by Spooks or some similar TV programme) to throw her political opponents off the scent: But ...
Halloween Night Fly & BBQ Simister Village Sunday 31 October 6.30pm Fancy Dress Optional Family, Friends and Members Of Other Clubs Welcome Directions: Drive slowly and courteously up Simister Lane, past the Farmer's Arms. After Lady Wilton Hall turn right onto a farm track and over the M62. For more information visit www.bmmfc.com
The Hobbit Cast Announced, Martin Freeman Is Bilbo No word on Gollum or Gandalf yet, (tags: sf)
Following on from yesterday's blog, we rely on our scientists to give us information. Sometimes this information is contested and we believe the scientist that we want to believe. In the case of Dr David Kelly this information was cloaked in secrecy. It was like the government was wanting us to believe scientific evidence but not give us the evidence. Recently Stephen Hawking, Britain's most famous physicist told us that there was no place for God in the creation of the universe. This was countered, among others. by another physicist Professor Brian Foster from Oxford Univesity. Our academic experts become ...
