Sometimes when I need to get out of the doldrums I write. Sometimes I am writing when I am actually in a pretty deep and dark place. Not all the time I write something either here, or on Facebook or on Twitter am I actually capable of functioning in any other way. Some of that stuff gets posted online as I indicate above, some of it is too dark for that and very few people have ever seen the really dark stuff. Writing is how I cope. I write when I'm happy too. I write more when I'm happy, but ...
No not a description of the Coaltion ! it was the play put on tonight by North Country Theatre in Yarm Fellowship Hall. Brilliantly done with real creative flair. Just 5 actors managed to be a number of people and animals; the set was very quickly and imaginatively changed; it was hilarious and poignant too. All in a lovely friendly community setting. Currently supported by the Arts Council,...
I began the week with a post about how rewarding being a trustee of a charity can be. Equally, or even more, rewarding can be standing and being elected as a local councillor. So I thought I would highlight the current "Be a Councillor" campaign for the East of England. You can find the campaign's website at: beacouncillor.org.uk/east I noticed that they are holding a meeting for those interested in being a councillor in Bedfordshire at the Corn Exchange in Bedford on the 17th November. You can book a place at this event here. On that note, Luton Liberal Democrats ...
My elderly (but luckily savvy) aunt just had a call from an Indian on a bad line claiming to be from Microsoft telling her that her firewall wasn't working and that he could fix it. He asked her if she was near her computer. Luckily she wasn't. She asked him what she should do but she didn't catch all the details. She then rang me to check whether it was a scam. A quick google shows this is quite common. I can see how a non-tech savvy person may fall for this. Warn your elderly relatives!
I was delighted to take part in the celebrations in Oxgangs yesterday marking the latest phase of the redevelopment of that area. Three tower blocks were blown down a few years back - too expensive to bring up to the new housing quality standard. Dunedin Canmore Housing Association were given the land plus some £15 million of Housing Grant from the Council and have build a terrific mixed development which includes housing, some retail units, office space and some business space for voluntary organisations. The project itself was the result of very close partnership working between the council, Dunedin Canmore ...
Defra packaging recycling targets details HERE The new packaging recycling targets for 2011 and 2012 published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs today (Tuesday 26 October 2010) are a real missed opportunity for the coalition government. They could so easily have put in place a real difference in approach from the lackidasical approach of the last Government. Recycling creates new jobs and means less waste of the Earth's resources. The Government has missed the chance to drive forward innovation in plastic packaging design - higher targets would have forced companies to recycle more. For instance why do ...
Andy Crick wishes Boris Johnson would go away. While Rachel Olgeirsson has had enough emails from Cowley Street and Lib Dem Presidential candidates already. David Maclean wonders what is going on within Leicester Labour Party: "When Vaz's man can't get the outright blessing of his own party members, something is up." By banning a mildly satirical advertisement for ice cream, the Advertising Standards Authority is reintroducing a blasphemy law to Britain, argues the National Secular Society. Tim Worstall complains we have "this crazed system whereby if at one point in your life you need a housing subsidy then you get ...
There is a large demand for more social and affordable housing. In Southdown there is in particular a need for 4 bedroom houses. Liberal Democrat Communities Minister Andrew Stunell has announced that Liberal Democrats in Government will deliver the biggest net increase in social housing for 30 years. Plans have been outlined to provide 150,000 affordable homes over the...
As the dust settles on the spending review, debate is getting on to the detail. Over the past week or more housing benefits and the supply of social housing is getting scrutinised. Although the two topics are related, I will separate them. I'll blog later about Social Housing. Firstly I support the cap introduced by the coalition. The cost of housing benefit to the tax payer has grown to
On Tuesday this week (26th October) the government announced its intentions for the funding of transport infrastructure schemes including the Bath Transport Package and the BRT. The Bath Transport Package was not included in the list of 'green light' projects which will receive immediate funding; instead it was included in a list of 'development' schemes that could be funded in the future. The government has allocated £600 million as a pool of funding for these development schemes. The Council will now have the opportunity to make a case for funding the Package but the minister announced that when councils re-submit ...
Last Tuesday, I was delighted to get on a bus to Windsor with friends and family for what was a pretty special day out. In a twist on the Dick Whittington story, we all went to see the formal debut of our family horse Dyfed Celt as a member of the Queen's Household Cavalry. As a family, Shire Horses are in the blood. My grandfather John Rees Lewis (or J.R as he was known) worked the land at Carnhuan, Eglwyswrw, with the Shires and latterly showed them with help up until his death in 1991. Our family, not wanting to ...
Some heartening news I've seen over the past week from Sheffield: Firstly, the Sheffield Lib Dems have submitted a motion to oppose the rise in tuition fees and calling for them to be scrapped. Additionally, they have put forward a motion to oppose the ending of lifetime tenure of local tenancies. The motion being: "(d) believes that lifetime tenure for local tenants is an important principle that must be upheld; (e) therefore welcomes the following comments from Andrew Stunell MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government) regarding the policy of making flexible tenancies available; ...
Thursday, October 7th (continued)... I'm not normally a big fan of long lunches, mostly because they make me want to spend the afternoon asleep. However, given that the Chamber of Commerce were going to so much trouble, I was pleased to join Ros and a small group of Turkish Cypriot business people for a very good lunch indeed. With the increasing confidence that Turkish support brings, business is beginning to pick up in Northern Cyprus and we returned to the Trade Agreement with the European Union, admittedly not much of a surprise. I wanted to explore the possibilities for trade ...
Is it the weekend again? It's flown by this week. 1. @jason_manc This youngin is 20 today (Happy Birthday Jason!) 2. @tweet10k This guy deserves your support. He's tweeting 10,000 times in 100 days to raise money for a charity that is very close to my heart after losing too many friends and relatives to cancer. Please visit his justgiving page and donate to Cancer Research UK by supporting him. 3. @viewsacrosspond Emma is a lovely person who has a fascinating blog. 4. @TheFifthDriver I'm a big F1 fan and just as big a McLaren fan. No-one shows more team ...
No, I'm not misquoting the title of George Dangerfield's classic work. This is the title of a new book examining the US experience by the Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author Chris Hedges to be published in the UK on 18th November 2010 (H/T the Information Clearing House). He outlines his thesis in this video lecture (45 ...
The next meeting of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership (LAP) takes place on Thursday 11th November, 6.30pm Longfield Suite 6.15pm Meet councillors, Police and other LAP members The agenda includes: Sedgley Ball Zone proposal Future of partnership working Pharmaceutical services for Prestwich Updates from Police and Fire Service Public Question Time - 7.30pm where any issue or concern can be raised Everyone welcome Prestwich LAP is made up of community groups, elected local councillors and service providers. It deals with local issues and services. It meets 6 times a year and all meetings are public. Prestwich LAP is made up ...
Fri 29th
18:08
Chris Huhne writes... Myth-busting: what the Coalition's plans for nuclear energy really mean
Which of these headlines is right? 'Lib Dem U-turn on nuclear energy sees Huhne announce eight new power stations' (Independent) 'Taxpayer to underwrite expansion of nuclear power' (The Times) 'Subsidy for eight nuclear reactors rejected' (Financial Times) All appeared in the papers on Tuesday 19 October, the day after I announced the latest steps in the government's approach to nuclear energy. They're a good example of how confused journalists can get - only the FT's got it right. So let me make it plain: there has been no change whatsoever in the coalition's policy of allowing new nuclear stations to ...
The market economy is a funny thing. It is a mechanism that is intended to distribute scarce resources. And yet, especially at this time of year (season of autumn mists and mellow fruitfulness and all that) why is an abundance of fruit left rotting on our trees whilst we happily pay a few pounds for some nicely wrapped apples from Morrisons? [IMG: free-fruit-day-small.jpg] Inspired by this thought, a few of us from Sustainable Redhill gathered spare fruit from local allotments, collected donations from local residents and gave it all away on the Free Fruit Stall outside the Old Town Hall ...
It has been an interesting journey so far, from the suspense of the negotiations (and you may never know just how much suspense there was...), to the realisation that we weren't in opposition any more, through the depression of having to work with the Evil Tories towards a realisation that there was enough common ground, at least nationally, to make the relationship work. Personally, I have to deal with work colleagues asking me what will happen next, as if I'd know any more than is already public. People refer to 'your Government', which is an interesting twist, and assume that ...
Seeing as a blogger had used my link to Political Compass to do their blog see ' Stuck in the corner with...', I thought I should post mine. Here it is. I'm going to do this every year just to see if it changes. Political compass is a very interesting web site, it is of course not perfect but its measure of how parties have moved from the left to the right over the years to get to the so called centre ground is revealing. I guess they have just moved with the voters while leaving some left leaning voters ...
More than 386 vulnerable people died in Somerset last winter from causes directly attributable to the cold and poor living conditions - far more than the norm and the tip of an "at risk" iceberg. The vast majority affected are over 75 years old. The Surviving Winter Appeal is a wonderful initiative which calls on all those who can afford it to forego all or part of the Winter Fuel Payment (WFP) paid to the over 60's by donating the money to the charity who then redistribute it locally to those who are most in need. Indeed, if just one ...
Yes, as the end nears, this weekend brings the show to Kirkby-in-Ashfield and Huntingdon, and I'm on an East Midlands Train to Nottingham, fortified by a glass of white wine as we dash through Northamptonshire. And apart from a mini falling out with my Regional Chair (she does pick her moments), I'm feeling pretty good. The next Stowupland Focus is now off the drawing board and with my printer, with delivery expected to begin next weekend, our first Action Day is scheduled, my delivery team has expanded (the joys of family!), and I've got a better grip on what I'd ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week 1. New Statesman's advice to Lib Dem-baiters: "Don't count those pesky Lib Dems out just yet" (117 comments) by Stephen Tall 2. Any treasures in Nick Clegg's Desert Island Discs? (43 comments) by Helen Duffett 3. Are the unions a bigger threat to the Lib Dems than Ashcroft was? (99 comments) by Stephen Tall 4. Opinion: cuts in welfare are the hallmark of a selfish society (44 comments) by Tom King 5. Danny Alexander on the Spending ...
Another Luton related story I have been slow to blog about is the news that the next Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police is to be the wonderfully named Alf Hitchcock. Mr Hitchcock will take over when the current Chief Constable, Gillian Parker, retires at the end of the year. More here. Bedfordshire Police, as the smallest force in the UK, seems to have been struggling to find a clear strategic direction over the last few years. What appeared to have been the current Chief Constable's plan to merge with the Hertfordshire force has recently fallen through. So Mr Hitchcock has ...
Just in case you haven't seen this already:
Camden LBC, Kentish Town Lab 1411 (53.0; +17.7) LD Nick Russell 715 (26.9; -3.6) Green 349 (13.1; -4.7) Con 186 (7.0; -5.1) [Other (0.0; -1.7)] [BNP (0.0; -2.7)] Majority 696 Turnout 26.02% Lab HOLD Percentage change is since May 2010 South Lanarkshire UA, East Kilbride West Lab 847 (41.4; +0.8) SNP 571 (27.9; -2.4) Con 403 (19.7; +5.7) Green 82 (4.0; +0.2) East Kilbride Alliance 71 (3.5; -0.7) LD Gordon Smith 70 (3.4; -3.7) Turnout 17.44% Labour HOLD Percentage change is since May 2007 See here for the breakdown of votes for each stage of the count. Cheltenham BC, Springbank ...
As my wife will tell you I hate shopping with a passion. Years of being dragged around clothes shops with my mother ensured that high street shopping fills me with dread. The only exception are bookstores. Yes ladies and gentelman, I am a Bibliomaniac and proud of it. I get no kicks from cocaine, champagne, ...
Here's an example of one of the many thousands of cigarette lighters – all pretty similar in shape and colour – which have washed up on Cornish beaches for several years. Perhaps a container of them was washed over board from a ship several years ago... It reminds me of the 29,000 yellow plastic ducks, blue turtles and green frogs that have spent 15 years travelling 17,000 miles around the world's oceans.
There were three principal council by-elections this week, and one reported contest out in the towns. Labour held both of the seats they were defending; putting 17% on their previous tally in the Kentish Town ward in Camden, and a marginal increase in East Kilbride West in South Lanarkshire. In both seats, the Liberal Democrat vote held up better than current polling would indicate and we continue to track around 5% above our national opinion poll average when it comes to real elections. Our featured story this week is the successful defence of the Springbank ward on Cheltenham Borough Council, ...
The Southport Visiter carries sthe story of the Thornton Relief Rd today. John Pugh said: "Make no mistake, this is big, big news. "It should make a huge difference plugging Southport into the motorway network and bringing business and tourism to the town. "The scheme scores impressively in terms of its effect on economic growth which is why its get the go ahead in these tough times. "The government hasn't made the mistake of cutting back on this important capital scheme." Previous schemes for the Thornton bypass had been flatly rejected under previous administrations but was resurrected in 2006 by ...
It's good to see that there is a way that malicious trolls can be brought to book.
Tomorrow we've got our fourth guest editor running the site for a day, Newbury blogger Paul Walter. He follows Caron Lindsay, Mark Valladares and Linda Jack. Paul's got a great set of guest posts lined up already, so do pop back tomorrow to take a read. This is the last of our little run of experiments with guest editors so if you've got any views on how it has gone and whether we should do something similar in future, please comment below.
The Tories in Bristol have made a U-turn in their support for the Green Space plans. At the full council meeting on 16th November the Conservative group will submit a motion calling for the plans supported by all 3 main party's in Bristol to be scrapped! This is Bristol link here- http://t.co/nFGBTKV This may seem like a remarkable U-turn for a party whose formidable leader once urged "U-turn if you want to the lady's not for turning." Or it would be if it wasn't for the fact that us Stockwood residents already knew that our two Tory councillors Jethwa & ...
Yesterday I had the following letter printed in the Camden New Journal on Labour's education failure in Camden: The blame game and our schools IT'S a bit rich for the Labour candidate in Kentish Town to attack the coalition government for the lack ... Continue reading →
The outcry from the airline operators about the coming rise in air passenger duty (APD) comes as no surprise. I wouldn't expect anything else. Any sector of the economy will always argue against paying more tax. Yet their complaints overlook the huge tax advantages they currently enjoy.Air travel is free of VAT. That is a huge advantage in the retail market. Whilst most other goods and services
I wonder what factors influenced the decision to put the Olympic beach volleyball tournament right slap bang in the middle of Whitehall, between the Cabinet Office and Number 10? [IMG: del_mar_beach_volleyball2]
Thursday: As Mr Potato Ed's gang continues to splinter in the aftermath of their election defeat, some of them have been calling for mayoral candidate Mr Ken LivingstoneIpresume to be kicked out over allegations that he urged people to vote for ANOTHER Hard Labour exile who ran for mayor after being expelled, Mr Lutfur* Rahman, our new mayor here in Tower Hamlets. But never fear! Should the newt-loving one find himself on extended gardening leave courtesy of the Party regulations, here comes Mayor Bojo the Clown, taking up the Red Flag and accusing the Coalition of urban cleansing "Kosovo style". ...
On the topic of the not-Interception Modernisation Programme, which I shall geekily call the Pling-Imp from now on, Dr. Julian Huppert MP asked a question in Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday on this topic: Can the Prime Minister reassure the House that the Government have no plans to revive Labour's intercept modernisation programme, whether in name or in function, and that he remains fully committed to the pledge in the coalition agreement to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties and to roll back state intrusion? The response from the Prime Minister was somewhat more equivocal than I would have ...
Welcome to the first and quite possibly last in a new and therefore also probably soon to be axed series: the worst political soundbite of the week. (Not to be confused with the worst political phrase ever.) Paris is a city generally held in high esteem in Britain: it's a popular holiday destination, it's got great food, it's got the Eiffel Tower, a Doctor Who story was filmed there, it has public transport that seems cheap and spacious compared with our own capital's underground and so on. All in all, helped of course by the usual grass is greener on ...
Earlier this week, Carwyn Jones issued a statement (see below) calling on the opposition parties in the Assembly to 'work constructively' during the passing of the Welsh Assembly Government's budget, and to avoid the 'ritualistic opposition-for-opposition's sake type of politics which usually comes into play at this time of year.' Wow. Where to start? Firstly, how about the insincerity of it. If you genuinely wanted to work with opposition parties, surely your approach should be co-operative and welcoming; combat is hardly a good negotiating tool. Referring to the actions of the Westminster coalition as a 'hammerblow to Wales' isn't likely ...
I took a great interest in the Bosnian war of 1992-1995. I had just finished a Degree in International Relations so my attention to matters global was perhaps as focused as it ever has been. Seeing Europeans once more killing, raping and torturing each other for a few scraps of earth was pretty shocking and the attitude of our government and the EU was even more surprising as they simply stood back and tutted. The Bosnian war and wider Balkan debacles were horrific and remain so. So, for Boris Johnson to compare the atrocities which took place there with proposed ...
The more that comes out about how Tony Blair and Gordon Brown behaved (or perhaps more accurately, how Gordon Brown behaved towards Tony Blair) the more you wonder quite what world they were living in. Here, courtesy of The Guardian's Nicholas Watt, is one of the latest revelations of the sort of behaviour that would get most people the sack but didn't stop Gordon Brown getting the Premiership: During tense negotiations over Britain's EU budget rebate in 2005, the former prime minister became so exasperated with the Treasury that he kidnapped its man in Brussels. Jonathan Powell, Blair's former chief ...
[IMG: Mark Pack's letter on voting reform in The Independent] Steve Richards (Opinion, 28 October), writing about the forthcoming AV referendum, remarks that "voters are self-interested" but omits the most powerful point of self-interest - which is that it is in all our interests if the voting system requires candidates to work hard and to face the fear of defeat. The current electoral system performs abysmally on that score, with nearly half the seats never having changed hands between political parties even once in the past 40 years. Changing the voting system to AV will reduce the number of such ...
Mike Booth over at Kew blog has the full story but the headline news is that in the NW in Bloom awards Birkdale managed to get 3 level 4 (Thriving) certificates for: Birkdale Village, Birkdale Railway Station and Bedford Park. That is a great result and I'm sure the whole community is delighted by the efforts put in by so many people including the Friends of Bedford park, Birkdale Civic Society and the Village Traders. The blog did send its own special correspondent to the awards ceremony and when he gets round to filing his posting we will bring you ...
updated: Friday, 29 October, 2010 Many politicians are now using the medium of blogs to keep in touch with their constituents and the wider world. For many this is a great way of sharing news. However, there are pitfalls for some. One North Down Borough Councillor's blog today has had a post which is dated ...
[IMG: Manda Rigby surveying on Pulteney Bridge] B&NES Conservatives have delayed making a final decision on the closure of Pulteney Bridge for six months. This is a tacit admission that they failed to do enough research before re-routing the bus services. This delay is the worst possible results for residents as there will be no work to improve Pulteney Bridge, yet locals are still deprived of their bus services. Bathwick's Liberal Democrat councillor has written to the leader of the council asking that the buses are returned while they wait to make their decision. A hundred residents attended a public ...
Different parties, different priorities, different results: [IMG: Income growth rates under US Presidents] The graph is from Slate Magazine's article The Great Divergence in Pictures which contains a whole set of other illuminating graphics (including one about the relatively limited role that tax changes plays in the story of income distribution changes in the US).
Last week I was pleased to attend one of the 2 North West in Bloom awards evenings at the Conference and Exhibition Centre (The Floral Hall still to most of us). On the Wednesday Evening we received the following: level 3 - 'developing' - Deyes Lane, Maghull - Church Ward, Seaforth - Leeds Liverpool Canal, Maghull level 4 - 'thriving' - Peel Road residents, Bootle - Tree View Court, Maghull - Central Square, Maghull - Maghull Gateway - Churchtown Village - Birkdale Village - Birkdale Station - Bedford Park - Welsey St Traders level 5 - 'outstanding' - Maghull Station ...
Regular readers will know that VN endorsed Tim Farron quite early on in the Lib Dem Party President protest. Nothing so far in the campaigns has done anything to change that opinion, least of all the campaign videos that each candidate has released. VN is aware of who put together Tim Farron's videos. This particular individual seems to have an obsession with having their subject 'walk and talk,' (note the video that started the 'Yes' to AV rally'. VN is just thankful there is no take-away coffee cup this time.) There are also a couple of dodgy cuts, but this ...
I received an email from Nick concerning a subject that I regard as a crucial driver towards reducing inequality: localism. Let me make it clear – the driving force for this blog is to make propaganda for a federal system of Government. Although I don't think the Coalition are even a tenth of the way ...
I am coming a bit late to this story but for completeness I thought I ought to record here the latest in saga of the expenses misdemeanours of former Luton South MP Margaret Moran. Earlier this month the Telegraph reported that Moran was likely to face criminal charges over false expense claims; "MPs' expenses: Margaret Moran may be fifth MP to face court". The list of allegations makes for depressing reading.
The county council's spin machine has been at it again. An almost laughably misleading press release has been issued which pretends that there is nothing wrong with the county council's accounts - just days from when the District Auditor is expected to be issuing a Section 11 notice. Leader of the Opposition Chris White said: 'This is a serious misuse of public resources - which are not supposed to be spent on Tory Party propaganda. I have complained formally to the council's Chief Monitoring officer and to the Audit Commission. 'The council must withdraw this press release without delay.' ENDS ...
Earlier this year, I highlighted that, following the opening of Tesco Express at the east end of Hawkhill, numerous residents have expressed concern about parking right outside the store on the busy by-pass. I raised the matter with the City Council pointing out a suggestion from the police - extension to the barriers across the store entrance - was the obvious solution. I have now had positive feedback from the City Council as follows : "A site visit was carried out on 4 October with representatives of the contractor and developer with regard to remedial works associated with the road ...
i) births and deaths 29 October 1935: birth of Michael Jayston, who played the Valeyard in 1986. ii) broadcast anniversaries 29 October 1966: broadcast of fourth episode of The Tenth Planet. The Cybermen are defeated, but when Ben and Polly return to the Tardis, the Doctor collapses and his face shimmers and changes. Will Doctor Who ever be the same again??? 29 October 1977: broadcast of first episode of Image of the Fendahl. The Doctor and Leela are drawn to Fetch Priory, where scientists are performing experiments on the skull whose nickname is Eustace. 29 October 2006: broadcast of Ghost ...
First Jonathan Calder goes off courtesy of Oxfam to New York blog from the UN and report on the progress of the Millennium Development Goals and now news reaches me that Peter Rainford is also in the USA courtesy of a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to report on Recovery and Recovery Advocacy. I've added Peter's blog to the list on the right so you can follow his progress.
Dear presidential candidates, As far as I am concerned the number one priority for the next party president is to sort out the widening gulf between the grass roots of the party and the leadership. As always, this boils down to communication, which at the moment is not happening, at least not to the degree we as party members have come to expect. A sterling example of this is the email I got today from Our Glorious Leader. It is typical of the emails I have been getting about daily from the party, mostly claiming to be from Nick, but ...
The return of caravans at the Riverside Business Park a couple of days ago has resulted in many constituents' concerns and also from the nearby Dundee Airport. I was immediately in touch with the City Council's Chief Executive who advises that all necessary steps are being taken to resolve this situation.
[IMG: Obama 020] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: Neon Tommy We keep hearing that Obama's approval ratings have decreased. However, YouGov have done some fascinating polling that shows that his likely rivals for the Presidency in 2012 have lost popularity just as much – if not more. So Obama is still well ahead of all the 2012 contenders: Obama still wins in contests between all three of the Republicans we asked about – Romney, Palin, and Gingrich. Against Romney, Obama's loss in vote share from 2009 is seven points, from 48 to 41 percent — so yes, Obama has ...
The best birthday present Precious Mhango could get today would be if Home Secretary Theresa May gave her and her mother Florence permission to remain in the UK and removed the threat of imminent deportation to Malawi. This is the only honourable course of action for the Government. The alternatives, of deporting them to an uncertain and possibly separate future would be cruel and inhumane. Let's face it, none of this is Precious' fault, but the fact is that she's lived most of her life in this country, she speaks only English and she is effectively Scottish. You can't blame ...
Fri 29th
10:55
The Berners Street Hoax, featuring a dozen chimney sweeps, 2,500 raspberry tarts, numerous pianos an...
[IMG: Sanderson Hotel, 54 Berners Street, London - scene of the Berners Street Hoax] 54 Berners Street London has long since been demolished with the site built over as part of the Sanderson Hotel development that spans the old number 54 and adjoining properties. Lost under this five star hotel is the scene of one of London's most audacious hoaxes, though now largley forgotten. In 1810 author Theodore Hook bet his friend, writer and architect Samuel Beazley, that he could make 54 Berners Street the most talked about address anywhere in London. His method was one that may sound rather ...
Last night, after my weekly surgery at Blackness Primary School, I attended the Board Meeting of Dundee Contemporary Arts at DCA in Nethergate. It was a very useful and productive meeting, including a discussion about DCA's strategic review and Board objectives for the next five years.
Attentive readers may have noticed I am not a fan of the alternative vote. I don't think it is proportional - because it isn't. However, it is not a bad system for selecting a candidate for a single vacancy. On this basis the Lib Dems use it extensively for internal elections when there is only one vacancy. However it is, to my mind, not the fairest such system. No single vacancy system can be proportional. That is why the Lib Dems rightly push for Single Transferable Vote in every election they can. However, there will always be single vacancy elections: ...
Yesterday, I had 3 e-mails from the libdems about the Presidential candidates, and another one this morning. Over the past few weeks, we are averaging nearly one-a-day from one of our MPs telling us why they made the decisions they have made. Have a look at Lib Dem voice as most of them are on there. I have hit information overload, and can't take in any more information. E-mail is, admittedly, an effective form of communication, however I am getting fed up with the amount hitting the inbox. If you send too many it dilutes the messages. I realise that ...
I am very pleased to see the headline in the Standard 'Tories rebel over housing numbers'. Not least because I worry that the Conservatives have such a large majority that they can do whatever they want without significant opposition. So I'm pleased some councillors from the same party have stood up against them. The rebels are Bracknell Forest Mayor Jim Leake and Bracknell Town Mayor Chas Baily, Councillors Tony Virgo, Robert McLean. Well done to all for asking questions of the majority Conservative group. This is because of the planned housing in Binfield and the TRL site Crowthorne. I personally ...
This year, this blog has often transmogrified into "Things I have picked". Hot on the heels of my mushroom bonanza harvest, I was part of a mussel picking party on Sunday. Here below is one of the bags of our catch. I hasten to add that we made sure we only picked one large mussel out of any square foot patch, to ensure we didn't wipe out the population on any particular rock. I ought to also add that I can't eat the things due to an allergy. But for some perverse reason, it was still great fun picking them ...
I read this morning that Iain Dale is feeling cold about a Sinn Féin member of the UK Youth Parliament preparing to speak in the chamber of the House of Commons. I disagree I feel a little warm buzz on hearing the news. Connor Morgan is apparently is about to make history in being the first Sinn Féin speaker in the chamber. That is one small step towards a normalisation of politics. If his senior representatives can find a way to similarly to take a full role in their elected representatives of the people by voting and speaking in the ...
(click on photos for larger image) Autumn arrives with a blanket of dew and flurry of activity from birds and squirrels as the boundary between nearby woodland and the garden blur. Misty mornings leave the cobwebs bejewelled, illuminated like garden chandeliers as the sun slowly rises over the trees. The spiders and their cobwebs now replace the industrious activity of the summer bees in the lavender. Autumn is when a lot of the larger woodland birds are more visible in the garden; jays, magpies, wood pigeons, collared doves, green and great spotted woodpeckers. In the last high blue skies of ...
I returned home from Brussels to find that Paddy has gone and is presumed dead. In his prime he was a chocolate box cat (so handsome he could have been pictured on a chocolate box), but as he turned 17 the weight fell off him and his bones protruded. He was last seen 2 days ago, very unwell. Named after a Liberal Democrat leader, he came - like his predecessor and uncle, Gladstone - from the farm in North Norfolk where I worked as a student. He was a much beloved companion. I had asked him to stay alive long ...
Nothing has changed. Under the Lib/Con coalition, MI6 continue to receive intelligence obtained through torture abroad, and Lib Dem ministers will be seeing intelligence obtained from hellish torture chambers in Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and numerous other capitals. That was plain from yesterday's speech by MI6 head John Sawers - despite the near unanimous complicity of the mainstream media in forwarding the smokescreen of anti-torture spin. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11642568 But it is a thin smokescreen indeed. These are Sawers' key words: "Suppose we received credible intelligence that might save lives, here or abroad. We have a professional and moral duty to ...
'Daily Mail on Lib Dem achievements in the CSR' http://bit.ly/aZoSnn > via Matthew Harris, so don't worry you don't have to read the Mail. # @rfenwick all in preparation for an #scd and #xfactor double-bill I presume? in reply to rfenwick # First good #xfactor performance of night. Paige/John: meh. Rebecca: yay! # Talking of #xfactor guilty secrets, Cher is amaaazing. # @Grabcocque #justtellinitlikeitis in reply to Grabcocque # Fab song choicr for Aiden. Diamonds Are Forever with added adolescent angst. Love it. #xfactor # @mssusieday Hmm, Manilow. Think you're projecting guilty pleasures here. in reply to mssusieday # My ...
Writing for the Guardian earlier this week Liberal Democrat peer Matthew Oakeshott said, It's time to put a time limit on non-dom status, the widest tax loophole of them all. Did you know you can inherit non-dom status? Just like a hereditary peerage, it passes down the male line. You are born a non-dom and stay one - unless you disclaim it. Hereditary peers and hereditary non-doms must both go... Cheating tax is a deep-seated, pervasive, pernicious disease that infects our body politic. Tax cheats are the Bad Society, not the "big society". Of course it has always gone on ...
So Happy Birthday to me!
Having time for Simon Wright MP to have received the letter, I can now publish the letter in full regarding the petition I set up 'Lib Dems Against Tuition Fees'.Dear Mr Wright,I am writing to you enclosing a petition signed by 156 Liberal Democrat members and voters against raising the cap on tuition fees.We are angry that the party's leadership has so warmly welcomed the Browne Report into
UCL scientist Dr. Jenny Rohn, instigator of the whirlwind Science is Vital campaign that successfully lobbied to protect UK science funding, began the battle to save Britain's scientific excellence with a call to arms on her Nature Networks blog. I say this in order to preface the following comments with a disclaimer - I don't expect the remarks below to be anywhere near as effective (not least
Thousands of illegal fireworks have been seized following a major joint operation between Greater Manchester and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services, the Police and Trading Standards. The haul, thought to originate from Spain, was removed from premises in Bury New Road, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, because they were being stored inappropriately and were a danger to local people. The fireworks, largely 'bangers', were recovered following intelligence received by Merseyside Fire and Rescue's Firework Incident Research Safety Team (FIRST). First was set up in 2004 to tackle the misuse of fireworks. The team co-ordinated yesterday's operation to source the supply of illegal ...
During my weekly cull of junk mail and freesheets that have come through the letterbox, I discovered this morning a copy of barnetfirst, a 16-page magazine distributed to homes by London Borough of Barnet. "Budget special. Give us your bright ideas," it naively proclaims on the cover, and inside there's news of a new website where residents can submit their money-saving suggestions. Ignoring the rather obvious riposte that the magazine itself seems ripe for the chop, my first step would be to tighten up control on its distribution. You see, I don't live in Barnet. I'm two streets away, in ...
Rain or shine, the hard work never stops here in Redlands, and it certainly does not stop when the elections are over. Today once again our local efforts paid off when we heard that two empty houses in the ward were recently brought back into use following a local campaign which I led. I have been campaigning since 2006 to bring empty homes in the ward and across Reading back into use. My campaign resulted in the then Labour-run Council adopting a much more effective policy and prioritising the problem after years of inaction. My campaign did not end there: as Chair of Scrutiny (2008-10) I requested regular updates ...
I heard two stories recently about the way that offenders are treated. The first was about a young offenders' unit (not in Lancaster) that had naughty boys continuously kicking expensive doors that then had to be replaced. This person, who worked there from time to time, also told me that it looked like they could do anything they wanted. I have actually been told by a prison officer many years ago that prisoners had to have television in their rooms and all sorts of recreational activities. The second story was about the Manchester Police Museum. I haven't been there but ...
