It appears that, in their haste to reduce the number of quangos that exist, the Coalition or, to be precise, Francis Maude, has rather overstepped the mark. In a savage attack, the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution asserts that the Bill "strikes at the very heart of our constitutional system", and "hits directly at the role of the House of Lords as a revising chamber.". So, what does the Bill do? It grants extensive powers to Ministers to abolish, to merge, to modify the constitutional arrangements of, to modify the funding arrangements of, to modify or transfer ...
As reported in this morning's "Courier", I have expressed concern on behalf of residents about delays to the completion of works on Thomson Street that have resulted in the road's closure since August. The work has been undertaken by Scottish Water (a new water main - this work was undertaken first - starting 23rd August and was scheduled to take until around 19th September) and now Scotland Gas Networks (a gas renewal scheme, to start immediately Scottish Water complete their work. SGN's gas renewal scheme was scheduled to take until 14th November). Following residents expressing concern to me that work ...
A second day with Rutland's most celebrated fictional peer. Last week, in my capacity as under-secretary at the Department for Outer Space, I travelled to a top secret location on the border between Shropshire and Montgomeryshire. There, amongst the spoil heaps of the Victorian lead-mining, a strange erection hoved into view. Like all ministers in the Coalition government, I have had to wield my surgeon's scalpel in order to comply with the dictates of the Comprehensive Spending Review. Many of these cuts have been achieved by doing away with the sort of Labour nonsense we all familiar with: missions to ...
Back in June, I reported on a useful site visit held then with City Council road safety officers, West End Community Council and Blackness Primary School Parent Council representatives about road safety at the Sinderins junction. The time length of the noise signal to advise pedestrians that it is safe to cross east-west at the bottom of Blackness Avenue was doubled in time length and we also discussed possible safety barriers at Hawkhill. Today, we had a follow-up site visit (a very wet one in pouring rain!) at which the City Council representatives brought forward their proposals relative to the ...
Kicking off a new series in The Ecologist, earlier today the magazine wrote: Redoubtable Huhne But actually, from a purely environmental perspective, it's hard to stay too depressed because (whisper it) there are some signs that this government may really be serious about its green agenda. The simple presence of the redoubtable Chris Huhne at DECC is cheering for a start: this is a serious and intelligent politician who is showing encouraging signs of knowing how to maneuvre and fight to get what his department wants. DECC didn't do nearly as badly in the cuts as some had expected; he ...
In the wake of the Browne report, I felt that Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and Lib Dem ministers should have stuck to the coalition agreement and, at the very least, abstained on the issue of tuition fees. I wrote a personal letter to Nick Clegg on the issue and in it, I wrote: For me, the overriding theme of this year's election was public distrust of politicians. If we go back on our pledge to vote against any rise in tuition fees, we risk convincing everyone that we are no better than other politicians. Fundamentally it is an issue of ...
One of the things that I find makes teaching easier is having relevant, topical case studies to use. So far this year there has been plenty of material to draw on. A few weeks ago, we were discussing the subject of when, if ever, it is legitimate to disobey the state at the same time as the issue of student fees first became prominent. Unsurprisingly, we quickly got onto a discussion of whether civil disobedience is acceptable when protesting against student fees (I'm hoping I didn't put too many ideas into students' heads!). The following week, we were discussing non-violent ...
Channel 4 has just screened a fascinating documentary on how wrong the green movement has been over the past 40 years, with its Manichaean approach to the environment. The documentary discussed heresies such as as the idea that nuclear power might act as a 'stopgap' to reduce carbon emissions from coal powered energy while cleaner technology is developed. It also raised the thorny issue of organisations like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace stopping GM foods from feeding starving people for ideological reasons. That's a 'bad' by any measure. Now, I have tended towards the green side of the debate ...
[IMG: City Hall] I've now received emails from nearly all the candidates to be on the Lib Dem GLA list and also letters from a good handful. And it's a rather depressing experience. Not because of the choice of candidates (it's actually one of the strongest and most diverse set of candidates I've ever had to pick between) but because of the method of campaigning. Ignoring salutations on the literature, nearly all the items have read as if they are a blanket message with the same text being sent to all members across London. One email has genuinely been localised ...
Yesterday I helped launch our new antisocial behaviour strategy. The Edinburgh Community Safety Partnership of which I am convener has made a major impact in handling antisocial behaviour. Incidence of vandalism are down by 14% in the last year and reports of anti social behaviour down by 27% over the last five years. The new strategy involves even closer working with the Police through our Safer Neighborhood Teams and also allows antisocial behaviour to be reported on line at the Council website. The event was based around an informal bonfire which had gone too high to be safe. The community ...
We are being told that we must increase tuition fees because otherwise there won't be enough money for higher education. But even if the increased fees are introduced next year, students starting then won't graduate for three years. So the income from the increased tuition fees won't start to appear until September 2014 – and ...
The Ministry of Justice today released figures that show that 74% of offenders commit a further crime within nine years of release from prison or start a community order. The figures suggest that community punishments are as ineffective at rehabilitating offenders as prisons.The argument has gone that more emphasis should be put onto community punishments for minor offences because prisoners can become hardened criminals following a spell inside. This evidence suggests that this is not the case. The figures do show that 14 prisons have a one-year re-offending rate of 70%, meaning that more emphasis needs to be put into ...
Oops. You didnt wanna say that did ya bubba? The Washington Post revealed tonight that George W Bush admits that he sanctioned the use of waterboarding torture techniques which we all know are illegal. Anyone legal out there want to instigate proceedings against the ex. President Bush? In his book, titled "Decision Points," Bush recounts being asked by the CIA whether it could proceed with waterboarding Mohammed, who Bush said was suspected of knowing about still-pending terrorist plots against the United States. Bush writes that his reply was "Damn right" and states that he would make the same decision again ...
The future of Cornwall's libraries and One Stop Shops is no clearer after today's scrutiny meeting which was meant to look into the Conservative plans for the two services. The scrutiny committee asked a range of questions about what services would change, which would move and which might face closure. To all of these we received the response that plans were at an early stage and there were no details available as yet. We were also told that there are two groups looking at libraries. There is a members group which is looking at the bigger picture future of the ...
This morning Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg gave a speech at the Government Leaders' Forum Europe 2010 in London. He called for a united response to "a financial crisis that has changed the world" and proposed "four levers for durable, lasting prosperity": Openness in trade; more flexible labour markets; greater investment in infrastructure; and a workforce equipped to thrive in the green, digital economy of the future. Towards the end, he touched on UK university tuition fees and outlined the proposed reforms: The UK is already blessed with a world-class university sector. But we need to secure it for the ...
We have been sent this meeting noticeI would like to raise to your attention a forth coming public meeting being chaired by Don Foster MP on Bath's over-flying aircrafts. A number of residents have been in contact with Don to raise concerns about this issue. As a result, a public meeting has been organised with Cllr Peter Edwards (who is a member of the Airport's Consultative Committee) and
Residents and passers by alike will have noticed that the manhole outside St Peter's Church is making a dreadful noise. I have passed this on to Herts Highways who have scheduled it for attention.
Our reference: 10/04038/LAPRE Premises: Sainsbury's Frome Road Odd Down Bath BA2 5RE Details of application: New Premises Licence Date received: 4 November 2010 Last date for representations: 2 December 2010 (29 days from date received) Activities: Sale of Alcohol
This is the reason for the applicationIt is proposed that the additional antenna on the existing mast will be utilised to expand the existing regional Real Time Passenger Information system for public transport buses, into the Bath area. This will allow the position of buses and their relative arrival times at the various stops to be displayed. It will also allow the efficiency of the bus network
Sainsburys at Cheadle Royal is looking to expand and they're consulting local residents before putting in a planning application sometime in the next few months. [IMG: Sainsburys expansion] The main changes are bigger store (darker orange section in the diagram is the new area). store selling wider range of products. They also want to make all the aisles wider and have more space around the cash tills. new entrance on the west side of the store and new roundabout near the petrol station, both to get more people using the side car park that's always under-used because it's a long ...
She is bright, rich, good-looking – had a history as a CEO of big firms and is an expert on Machiavelli. All the ingredients for a successful political career, you might think. But sadly, despite spending millions of her own money and despite the landslide of votes for her Republican Party, Carly Fiorina still ended up nearly ten points behind the long-term Californian Senator Barbara Boxer in the recent elections. Why? Well the reason why can be summed up with this final video (below) from the Boxer campaign. Fiorina's past came back to haunt her. For more thoughts on this ...
From a MoneyMarketing leader by Paul McMillan: Pensions minister Steve Webb must be congratulated for persuading the Government that the huge benefits of a higher state pension are worth the huge costs involved. When Webb was appointed, we were quick to jump on strong statements he made in opposition suggesting the need for a higher and simpler state pension as the bedrock to all other reforms. Many in the industry, including myself, were cynical that Webb had any chance of getting the coalition to support a citizens' pension and believed the best he could hope for was to have the ...
I have just come back from a drink with fellow tweeter @libdemkitty (which I very much enjoyed) and she is going to the Lib Dem doo tonight in Sheffield. I wish I were going, but as I had been scheduled to be in hospital at this time, it would have been a waste of a ticket, and now as I'm so close to the going in date, I don't want to risk being in places with lots of people at this moment in time (yesterday's Council meeting was brave enough for me!) Its with a further tinge of sadness, because ...
WE now have more details about the new flat fare bus tickets. The Hopper ticket will cost just £1 single or £1.50 return, and Chipping Sodbury will be included as well as Yate. The Hopper tickets will be valid in a zone extending from St Johns Way, Chipping Sodbury in the East to the Badminton Road Council offices in the West. The following services will be covered by the Hopper ticket: X27 Yate to Bristol via Brimsham Park84 Yate to Wotton-Under-Edge via Chipping Sodbury85 Yate to Emersons Green86 Wotton-Under-Edge to Kingswood (South Gloucestershire) via Chipping Sodbury and Yate87 Chipping Sodbury ...
Monday: Before we get to Scary Jane Smith (yes, it's a running joke now) I thought it was worth a mention of the return of the Eleventh Hour Podcast, with our favourite crazy-people-called-Joe-and-Chris, Joe and Chris, and special-guest-starring Auntie Jennie. As a ten-year-old baby elephant [R: nine, obviously] the PROFANITY FILTER renders most of it as UNINTELLIGIBLE MORSE CODE, but Daddy tells me it's very good really. And we promise that Daddy wrote at least HALF his review BEFORE listening to what they had to say! So there you are then, "The End of Time" could have been even longer ...
One of the lasting legacies of the Liberal Democrats in power will be the efforts to push through what has been named the 'Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill'. A somewhat younger looking Nick Clegg made this the subject of his party conference speech back in 2006 when he was shadow home secretary. Returning to conference as Deputy Prime Minister in 2010, Clegg triumphantly declared that "In November, we will publish a Freedom Bill to roll back a generation of illiberal and intrusive legislation." The Liberal Democrat draft [pdf] addresses some of the most obvious anti-campaigning laws. For example it proposes to ...
We have reported the latest litter flytip at the entrance to Rosewarn Field from Haycombe Drive and asked for it to be removed. We have also asked the Council to replace the missing pane from the bus shelter at the roundabout in Haycombe Drive.
Had a very good radio interview from the boys running Lazer FM at Culverhay. They asked some good questions and even had questions coming in from listeners. It is a very professional radio station and a great credit to the school.
There are two organised firework displays around Stockport on Friday 5th (Woodford and Heaton Norris Park) and one (in Marple Bridge) on Saturday 6th. The Stockport Council website has the details. Additionally, though not on the Council website, I'm told (see comments) that there's a fireworks display at the Cheadle Sports Club on Kingsway on the evening of Saturday 6th November. Gates open 6-30pm fire about 7-30pm and fireworks about 7-45 ish. Adults £4 children £1 under 14 ish
A letter sent to Prime Minister David Cameron from BAE Systems CEO Ian King has been made public. Not leaked, but published by the Treasury. In the letter Mr King points out the consequences to the sector cancelling that The Prince of Wales would have caused. Most interestingly the letter points out what a mess the contract that the Government inherited. It would have cost £4.8bn to cancel the Prince of Wales, but £5.25bn to have both new Air Craft Carriers. Letter from Bae to the Government
Online booking is now open for London Liberal Democrats Regional Conference on 4 December: Click here to register; it's £25 for the day, or £12 for concessions. The conference is open to all members - you don't have to be a conference rep. The day will feature valuable training for your local party plus guest speakers, an update on the campaign for Fairer Votes and the announcement of our candidates for the London Assembly List See the LibDems4London website for more information on Conference and Lib Dem campaigns around London. Come to Haverstock School, Haverstock Hill, London NW3 2BQ on ...
You know, if the NUS pledge was that much of a priority for you, the time to mobilise yourselves, campaign and demonstrate was six months ago when the programme for government was being drawn up. As I recall, you were all more interested in dressing in purple and shouting for fair votes. Right now, the Lib Dems are in no position to vote against the government on this issue. Would that they were. The coalition agreement and ensuing programme for government are effectively a contract, and supercede our own policies and promises because to break the agreement is to bring ...
Today, the Institute of Economic Affairs has released a new research paper "Fair Trade without the Froth: A Dispassionate Economic Analysis of "Fair Trade" by Sushil Mohan. It concludes that claims by the Fair Trade movement are seriously exaggerated. The IEA says that ".. It is likely that producers end up with only a small fraction of the extra margin consumers pay" , that "Fair Trade doesn't benefit the poorest producers due to heavy administration requirements and fees involved" and that "Fair Trade does not focus on the poorest countries". We agree with all those sentiments. Buying Fair Trade eases ...
Southwark Labour party have decided to sell the boroughs silver - the three town halls. Lovely old seats of local democracy. Apparently officers have told them it will cost £25M to modernise them. My experience of Southwark Town Hall is that its an ok office that I've happily worked from. I don't get the need for £25M. Officers told Lib Dems three years ago this sum and for the last three years they've been used without a problem. The Lib Dems were clear that the Tooley Street back office centre was exactly that. Labour seem rather keen on basing everything ...
Many Ribble Valley Residents will have been horrified when they saw this story in the Lancashire Telegraph. The story tells how residents objecting to planning applications using the council's website, claim that their objections have not been received by the council. Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.
First of all my congratulations are in order to my friend and colleague who many of you will know has been appointed Campaigns Manager for Northern Ireland in the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign. As you may have guessed, this is the job that both he and I were interviewed for on Monday. On Monday ...
[IMG: Hourglass] The deadline for voting in the election for Liberal Democrat President is fast approaching (and I think members have got a real choice as to the sort of President we want), as is the one for the ballot of conference representatives to elect the party's federal committees along with a new batch of people to the interim peers panel (for which, hint). Replacement ballot papers (e.g. if they were lost in the post) will stop being issued on Friday 5 November. Contact David.Allworthy ASAP if you believe you need a replacement paper to be issued to you. Ballot ...
Tonight is a meeting of the Council's Internal Scrutiny Committee, which everyone is welcome to come to if they want to see us scrutinise the internal workings of Bury Council. It's an unusual meeting tonight, with a two-item agenda focusing on two decisions ade by members of the Council's Cabinet which have been "called in" for further scrutiny by us. One relates to the Council's Homelessness Strategy, and the other to the Council's plans to potentially change the way that home to school transport is funded. I hope that we have a constructive meeting tonight, asking the challenging questions without ...
It's Scrutiny later (see above), and the thought of the inevitable contribution to global warming made by the hot air generated by that meeting has made me think about the environment. The coalition has announced the "Green Deal," a new and radical way of making energy efficiency improvements available to all, whether people own or rent their properties. Through the Green Deal everyone will have a chance to save energy, cut their bills and tackle climate change, as the Lib Dems promised in our manifesto (just before the bit about tuition fees, but the leadership obviously got bored and didn't ...
Ever wondered how similar animals and plants get to be found on opposite sides of the ocean? Had brain filled with nonsense about continental drift and plate tectonics? Wonder no more. When the flood destroyed the world's forests, it must ... Continue reading →
Two awesome opportunities for a crushing blow to the dictatorial and oppressive policies set in place by the previous Labour government are approaching. The question remains, however, whether our present Conservative-led Government will rise to the challenge, and this makes the historic influence of the Liberal Democrats vital in the next few months. The two opportunities are thus: the completion of the review into counter-terrorism measures; and the publication of the Freedom Bill, an important Liberal Democrat gain in the Coalition Agreement. The Freedom Bill is due to be published in draft form any day now, and it is, as ...
The announcement in yesterdays Manchester Evening News that the National Clinical Advisory Team (NCAT) would like to see Hospital Accident and Emergency services merged across the connurbation to provide a super centre (possibly at Oldham) is as daft as it gets. The very thought that people suffering trauma from accidents or other health emergencies in Bury could expect to be carted off to Oldham is wholly unacceptable and needs to be stopped now. A&E surely by definition requires a more localised facility than planned surgery or treatment. I do hope that the article turns out to be nothing more than ...
Immigration was one of the issues on which Nick Clegg and David Cameron repeatedly clashed during the general election, so it is no surprise that it has continued to be a source of tension in the coalition. More surprisingly, the fault line in the coalition has not been a simple Lib Dem versus Conservative because many Conservatives are persuaded by the pleas from universities (that they need high fee paying foreign students else the funding higher education would be an even bigger political problem) and from business (that many firms in the UK cannot get the right skilled staff except ...
The publication of a letter in the Western Mail calling on the Labour-Plaid government to honour their pledge for Welsh to be declared an official language is highly significant. The Welsh Liberal Democrats have consistently argued that this legislation does not go far enough to protect and promote the Welsh language but our protests have fallen on deaf ears. It is staggering that so many distinguished champions of Welsh language and culture have now been driven to this extraordinary step to highlight the Labour-Plaid government's lack of ambition for the Welsh language. After all, the Labour-Plaid government promised to give ...
From the Manchester Evening News: Town hall bosses have been cleared of misconduct following a row over a new mosque. Council leader Howard Sykes was among seven Lib Dem councillors accused of 'fast-tracking' the planning application for a mosque on Waterloo Street, Glodwick. But an investigation has now ruled they did not bring the council or their office into disrepute. Councillors Jackie Stanton, Mark Alcock, Roger Hindle, Lynne Thompson, Mohammed Masud and former councillor Mohammed Mohib Uddin have also been cleared. Labour MPs Phil Woolas and Michael Meacher sparked the investigation after accusing the Lib Dems of rushing the plans ...
I'm actually disgusted that David Cameron is employing his filmmaker who produced the 'WebCameron' videos and his personal photographer in government. During a time when hundred's of thousand's will lose their jobs in government, Cameron finds a role for them, totally disgusting. Frankly the explanation that they could replace many departments individual photographers and save money is total rubbish. Why not redeploy those in government already instead. To me it is simple, it looks like they could have been promised a roll in government and received one. Do we know how much they are being paid for these rolls? Are ...
Camelford Leisure Centre has been saved from the chop - at least for the short term. This stay of execution was announced at today's scrutiny meeting at County Hall attended by a delegation of Camelford LC residents and staff. As virtually every resident in Cornwall cannot have helped but notice, the Conservatives at County Hall had proposed to withdraw the subsidy to Camelford Leisure Centre and, with nobody willing to step forward, the centre would close. The details of this deal are still sketchy. Cabinet Member Joan Symons told the committee that she had only been given notice of the ...
The BBC report that the four-year campaign to secure a ".cym" internet address for Wales has been lost to the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. There are still plans though to bid for a Welsh version of the .com or .co.uk domain possibly looking at .cymru instead: The Cayman Islands already has its own internet domain, .ky, but it is also registered to use .cym. DotCYM was set up in 2006 to campaign for a Welsh internet address name and claims the support of businesses, local authorities and public bodies. The group has the support of the Welsh Assembly Government, ...
The first law in writing a leaflet is to remember that you have 5 seconds to get your message across before the leaflet goes in the bin. This leaflet from Hull has a very clear message!
[IMG: Mark Pack letter in The Guardian] The latest strike on the underground has disrupted my journeys far less than the regularly over-running engineering work has done in recent days. Surely the future for trade union action is not threatening to strike, but threatening to do more engineering work?
On the plane out to Dubai last night I was able to catch the film that made waves at the Dubai International Film Festival last December, Ali F Mostafa's City of Life. The core subject is Dubai itself, the multi-cultural, multi-faceted, hectically developing Arabian Gulf hub, which I have been coming to regularly for more ...
Ok folks I dropped the teaser last night. Promising to keep you informed I am doing so now. Regular readers will know that was in for a job interview at the start of this week. Last night just after 6pm I was offered the position and took no hesitation in accepting it. The role is as the Northern Ireland Campaign Manager for the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign. Yes if you told me at 3:30 on the morning of May 7th as my votes were being read out that I would be doing this and doing it here I would ...
The last few months has seen a curious coalition emerge, uniting media foes of right and left and non-aligned, ranging from the Daily Mail to the Guardian, Trinity Mirror to the Telegraph, the BBC and Channel 4. What has brought them together? Opposition to the bid by News Corporation, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, for full control of BSkyB (the company currently owns a minority 38% stake). Well, today Vince Cable offered them some cheer — he has referred News Corp's bid to the media regulator, Ofcom. The BBC reports: The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has ordered Ofcom to investigate News ...
My psephologically-inclined Birkdale Ward colleague Simon Shaw has continued his by-election research, which he has now updated to the end of October. Previous reports to the end of August and September showed a picture that was a lot better than some national opinion pollsters would have you believe. Simon has updated his research to last Thursday, and it shows that there have been 146 principal council by-elections held in the 6 months to the end of October. Lib Dems made net gains of 2 seats in that period. October saw 34 principal council by-elections. "Principal councils" cover everything above parish ...
Protesting at Parliament Square has always been an integral part of British democracy. In recent years and months it has become the scene of a so called 'peace camp', in protest at the invasion in Iraq, and Britain's on going military presence in Afghanistan. Or so it's inhabitants claim. [IMG: Enhanced by Zemanta]
George Osborne is this morning in front of the Treasury Select Committee to give evidence on the recent Comprehensive Spending Review. The committee is made up of MPs from across the House, and all get to have their chance to grill the Chancellor. Labour newbie Chuka Ummunna sits on the committee, and chose to question the Chancellor about the proposed changes to child benefit. This is a perfectly legitimate, if slightly misguided, line of questioning. Or at least it was until Mr Umunna decided to get personal with with Chancellor, asking 'how will this change effect your life Mr Chancellor?' ...
Thu 4th
10:55
Opinion: Martians report humans are mad (particularly Brits) - they are cutting their own economy
Some time ago a TV ad reported the bemusement amongst Martians at human behaviour with mashed potato. They fell over themselves laughing at how we humans grow potatoes in the ground, collect them, peel them, boil them in water, cut them up and then smash them to pieces before eating them. Very bizarre behaviour! Martians began to worry whether humans were sane or not. Now the Martian press is equally dumbfounded at reports coming from planet Earth that humans are cutting their own production economies because they say they don't have enough money. Martians always thought that humans made this ...
So here's the deal. I want to be able to talk to my friends on Twitter and I don't want to be driven away by pendants with nothing better to do than troll my line and attack me for having an opinion. So things are gonna change big time. I have a new twitter feed at @SpiderplantBlog – its the last time i delete an account to get away from insensitive, rude and offensive comments from people who quite frankly need to grow up if they are going to be involved in political debate or debate of any kind. Rulez ...
I don't like long flights (can't sleep, keep wriggling), and the thought of flying to China for a 2-day conference held no attractions, but I was talked into it by Lord Deben (who I know as John Gummer, the former Conservative Environment Secretary) who is now President of Globe International. Actually, I spoke to him on my mobile phone while I was walking in horizontal rain on a Scottish island. The phone died before the end of the conversation and hasn't worked since. "It's really important. You CAN make a difference. We CAN help shape China's agenda on climate change ...
Commenting on the publication of a letter in the Western Mail calling on the Labour-Plaid government to honour their pledge for Welsh to be declared an official language, Eleanor Burnham AM, Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Heritage Minister said: "The Welsh Liberal Democrats have consistently argued that this legislation does not go far enough to protect and promote the Welsh language but our protests have fallen on deaf ears. "It is staggering that so many distinguished champions of Welsh language and culture have now been driven to this extraordinary step to highlight the Labour-Plaid government's lack of ambition for the Welsh ...
The Guardian's Julian Glover is one of the very few commentators to emerge as a True Believer in the Coalition, and a champion of the Lib Dems' role within it... much to the undisguised fury of regular inhabitants of the paper's Comment is Free website. He's popped up again to offer the party 10 tips to prove the Coalition-sceptics wrong, preserve our identity, and try to establish a distinctive message. It's well worth reading in full, but here's three... 1) Don't panic. There is no crisis. Don't believe people who tell you that there is. The polls are poor, not ...
There's nothing like having the living daylights scared out of you before dawn and I have Ellen Arnison to thank for the fact that I was a gibbering wreck before I was properly awake this morning. She tweeted the link to this blog post highlighting a new campaign by St John Ambulance. They reckon that as many as 150,000 lives could be saved every year if first aid was properly carried out and they want to raise awareness of what to do in various life threatening situations to buy some time until professional help arises. 150,000 is more than twice ...
Local transport campaigners are celebrating the news that you will soon be able to travel anywhere in Yate for £1. The flat rate will apply on all buses within Yate run by Wessex Connect and Severnside Transport buses. Yate Town Councillor Chris Willmore said, "This is something we've been fighting for for over three years. It makes taking a bus within the town cheaper and simpler. People will be able to get on the bus knowing exactly how much it will cost them and knowing it won't be an arm and a leg." Cllr Sue Walker (Lib Dem, Yate Central ...
(An edited version of the letter below has been sent to the magazine, Total Politics). One aspect of the Liberal Democrats in recent months which deserves a mention is how the party membership has transformed to be better able to face its future challenges. It is out with the old and in with the new. Some Lib Dem members became deserters. They lacked the stomach for power, responsibility and unpopularity and, instead of fighting for the party's values locally and nationally, decided it was easier to head for the hills. Some Lib Dem members became defectors, mostly to Labour. Obviously ...
Last week I talked about the role reversal facing the Liberal Democrats, with the party's traditional stronger record at political tactics than strategy having been flipped around. In that, and the subsequent post Part 2 of the Nick Clegg reshuffle, I highlighted some tactical communication needs the party must get better at. Given my own habit of pointing out that people should not just criticise but should also offer solutions, here are my own suggestions. Middle-ranking ministers need to communicate more The large majority of Liberal Democrat ministers are not in the Cabinet. However, the departmental communication structures are set-up ...
Details are now confirmed, with the day starting at 10 a.m., meeting at Belmont Cottage, The Lane, Creeting St Peter, Suffolk IP6 8QR, where our Campaign Manager will be organising teams to do some resident surveying. There will be some delivering available if you prefer though. The distances are small, the locals are friendly, and most of the dogs are harmlessly enthusiastic labradors. A hearty lunch will be served between 12.30 and 1.30, before we head back out until darkness falls at around about 4 p.m. If you can't join us for the day, why not join us for the ...
****RANT AHEAD. Always take my rants with a little pinch of salt**** There's no denying it. My personal political compass has shifted significantly since this years general election. My beliefs in individualism, a reduced Government and political reform have strengthened. My admiration (if not acceptance) of socialist ideals, my belief that Government can be a force for good and my tolerance for "the game of politics" have all been crushed. Mostly the last few things have been destroyed by the reaction of the Labour party to the Coalition. Suddenly, as if by magic, the Labour MPs have converted to worrying ...
Well – I'm going to Sheffield tonight as guest speaker at Nick Clegg's local party's Annual Dinner. Befor the dinner, I will be doing a tour of Sheffield Domestic Abuse Partnership and meeting Community Justice Panels volunteers. Having inherited the Violence Against Women and Girls portfolio a few weeks ago – I am very keen to hear how different parts of the country deal with Domestic Violence. These types of visits to the front line are always instructive as it is rare to go anywhere where you don't pick up new thoughts and ideas and best practise. Likewise – Community ...
Last NaBloPoMo, I wrote up my review of a Mitch Benn gig I'd seen. I know I'm not going to leave it ten years before I next see him. Indeed, I didn't even leave it a full calendar year. Mitch is back and better than ever – he even has a new single out. [IMG: Mitch Benn's "I'm Proud of the BBC"] Buy the single for 79p at Amazon It's rare for Brits to get passionate without being cynical. Watching Mitch Benn sing "Proud of the BBC" is a joyous experience – especially with a packed theatre screaming the hideously ...
I set out a comprehensive attack on the withdrawal of public funding from university teaching (for it is no less than that) here: Now the actual figures have been released - £6,000 fees and up to £9,000 if you can prove you condescended to admit a few plebs - I do hope some Lib Dem Ministers will be shamed into rediscovering their integrity. But I doubt it. If the object of this "reform" is to ensure that the Camerons, Cleggs and Osbornes of this world can go through life without ever meeting a member of the hoipolloi who is ...
This wracked body is battling to keep going, with problems still arising from whatever it was that nearly killed me in Tahskent in 2003 (if that sounds mysterious, it is - read Murder in Samarkand). I have spent most of the last week acting as a pincushion for the local hospital. All of which thoughts of mortality remind me that I need to travel to Afghanistan in January to finish my research for my biography of Alexander Burnes. This is fair notice to anyone in Afghanistan who might want to kill me - which is a pretty broad range.
... We'd say a big thank you to the 62,745 'absolute unique visitors'* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in October. That's a notch up on our September figure of c.61,000, and double the equivalent figure for October '09 of c.30,000. This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 Nov 2009 - 31 Oct 2010) to 651,902, getting on for double the equivalent figure for 2008-09 of 353,311. The 5 top-read stories during the month were: Nick Clegg writes to Lib Dem MPs over tuition fees (180) by The Voice Vince Cable's statement on tuition ...
i) births and deaths 4 November 1971: birth of Robyn Moore who plays Jorjie's mother June Turner in K9 (2009-2010). 4 November 1998: birth of Bear McCausland, who played Jack's ill-fated grandson Steven in Torchwood: Children of Earth (2009). I doubt if I will note any more recent birth than his. ii) broadcast anniversaries 4 November 1967: broadcast of sixth episode of The Abominable Snowmen. The Doctor and friends destroy the Yeti controls, and Padmasambhava dies cutting the Intelligence's link to earth. Travers spots a real Yeti. 4 November 1978: broadcast of second episode of The Stones of Blood. The ...
Kirsty Williams has once again criticised the Welsh Assembly Government's flawed flagship agricultural policy Glastir during an Assembly debate on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) yesterday. She said: "CAP reform will absolutely crucial in supporting agriculture in Wales in the future. Single Farm Payments make up between 80 and 90 per cent of many farm incomes, and moving to area based payments will cause great upheaval, especially in areas such as my own Brecon and Radnorshire who have traditionally benefitted from the historical based payments. I am therefore very pleased that the Rural Development Sub Committee has ...
Last night I took part in my first telephone conference, or actually telephone briefing, since there was no opportunity to contribute. This was held by the "Yes to Fair Votes" campaign. After all the fuss and palaver of getting "selected" to take part (applying by Email, being given a telephone number to ring and a password) it was a bit of a damp squib. Maybe my mood was not as positive as it should have been as the event coincided with The Archers, so I was forced to miss my daily "fix" of vicarious rural life. The conference or briefing ...
Two things happened on this blog today: Someone has left their entire life story in comments. A government left a comment. Admittedly it's only the government of Alberta, population one third the size of Greater London, but it's still a government. Beat that.
Following my request to Roads Service regarding the lack of 30mph signs near Queen's University and Union Theological College, they have informed me that they are going to be carrying out a review of speed limit signing in the are. read the rest here Filed under: Blogging, Regional Development Tagged: Botanic Avenue, mycouncillor, QUB, Queen's ...
I got into a heated debate tonight with a few friends about TfL's poster on using unbooked minicabs, which shows a woman screaming and crying, with the text "Stop, no. Stop please, no, please. Please stop taking unbooked minicabs.". It makes my skin crawl to look at it; view with your own discretion. It's a kind of creepy poster, and there has been some debate ever since it started being used about whether or not it is victim blaming. On one hand, people need to be educated that although licensed, booked taxis may not necessarily be safer1, at least the ...
Yesterday's Press Release about Consett Academy contained startling new information. Whilst we were being told throughout the spring of 2010 that the then Labour Government had agreed to fund Durham's new schools, including the £26 million Academy in Consett, we now find the following: March 30, 2010 - previous Secretary of State enters in to formal funding agreement for Consett Academy, with University as lead sponsor alongside the council. This agreement covers set up and revenue costs not capital for new build. (my bold) So whatever we had been led to believe, the money to build the new Academy had ...
- Meh: 2/5 The Brighton Early Music Festival (BREMF) runs for two weeks in October and November. Most of the programme is at least interesting, if not a must-see worth travelling from Civilisation to the south coast for. The one stand-out event for me in the programme was a performance of Tomás Luis de Victoria's Requiem Mass, written for the empress Maria of Spain, who died in 1603.This is a beautiful work, to have been performed along with other works by Victoria and Cristóbal Morales.And it was a let-down.The choir appeared to be rather under-rehearsed. This manifested in at least ...
Former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich: 'Obama Failed to Connect the Dots' -SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International 1) We have got an unprecedented degree of concentrated income and wealth at the very top of our society. The top one-tenth of one percent of Americans now makes more than the bottom 120 million. 2) Courtesy of a grotesque opinion by the Supreme Court of the United States, we now have virtually unlimited money flowing from the rich and from corporations through secret devices that make it impossible to know who is contributing what to various campaigns and to advertising ...
The article in the news that took my attention concerned the conviction of the woman who was jailed for life for trying to murder Labour MP Stephen Timms. She is not mentally ill but did make a list of all MPs who had voted for the war in Iraq and she is certainly a danger to all of these MPs. There were two things that really struck me. Firstly the meaning of the words life sentence. How can it be that a life sentence actually means a minimum of 15 years? This just doesn't make sense. I can't think of ...
