After seeing and sharing a post about the NUS President closing registrations for a Black students' event in London, I looked further at what Student Broad Left are about. I found the following sentence. Justice for Ireland: for equality, civil rights and a just peace. For the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. Support ...
Having had a revolting conference in September..... Hows about Nick sorts out a conference rally that looks something like this? That would set our coalition partners teeth on edge....and I doubt that even the glorious red brethren could deliver..... Go on Nick. Give it a go ..Afterall these are just footie supporters ... Just think what a co-ordinated , cohesive party could do !
Magna Carta, signed in 1215, has been called the most influential secular document in the history of the world. It contains the famous passage: "No free man shall be seized or imprisoned or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way nor will we proceed with force aginst him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land." In just five years time we shall be celebrating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. How timely that the ...
This week I received a letter telling me that "The Student Loans Company can advise you that the outstanding balance on your Income Contingent Loan(s) should now be repaid in full." Recently I have been paying over £100 a month back towards my student loan, and it's great to have it finally paid off, but ...
[IMG: logo-shipston-town-crest-colour-21.jpg] All, I was at a meeting of Shipston Town Council tonight where we agreed to cut the amount we ask in Council Tax. Residents should see a decrease of about 9% in the amount the Town Council takes off them. This is on top of no increases in the past two years. I think we've got it about right this year - we have actually managed to increase the amount we give back to the local community in grants. To do this we have had to look very carefully at savings that can be made in administration costs, ...
Last Friday night I was frightened, very frightened. I couldn't stand light. It got so bad that I couldn't even have the 'light' from the led on the BT Broadband home hub was too much when I was hiding under the duvet in the spare room of my friend Andrew with a very sore head... ...
From Blaenau Ffestiniog I took the railway to Conwy, a perfect walled town with a huge Medieval castle: The first time that visitors catch sight of the castle, commanding a rock above the Conwy Estuary and demanding as much attention as the dramatic Snowdonia skyline behind it, they know they are in the presence of a historic site which still casts a powerful spell. Conwy, constructed by the English monarch Edward I between 1283 and 1289 as one of the key fortresses in his 'iron ring' of castles to contain the Welsh, was built to prompt such a humbling reaction.It ...
Following my surgeries at the Mitchell Street Centre and Harris Academy this afternoon, I attended tonight's City Council committee meetings. At Education Committee, I welcomed the report proposing the establishment of a project board for the Harris Academy refurbishment. Having called for this earlier this year, I am pleased it will meet for the first time early in the New Year and that it will be chaired by the City Council's Chief Executive, underlining the importance of the project. I asked questions about progress the City Council is making with Historic Scotland over the refurbishment project and the proposed frequency ...
According to the lead article in today's London Evening Standard, we are facing weekend tube chaos until 2012 right up until 21 July, 2012. This will mean that Londoners have not had a full weekend tube service for 46 months. In fact, the only time London Underground has been able to run a full weekend ...
I didn't know Stanley Crossick well, but like a lot of us in the Brussels beltway I was very sad to hear of his death at the age of 75 at the weekend. When I first moved here in 1999 he was particularly visible as the founder of the European Policy Centre, which has published a decent tribute to him today. But what particularly impressed over the last few years was his adoption of new media: this septuagenarian grandee of the Brussels policy community took to the internet like a duck to water, despite his increasing physical infirmity. It is ...
It makes no mention of his role as Nick Clegg's adviser on youth affairs, but the New Scientist has a positively gushing piece about Brian Eno: Eno's own work on music technology dates back to the start of his career. Though he began with glam rock and Roxy Music in the early 1970s, he quickly began experimenting with new styles: pioneering ambient music, flirting with "generative music" and commissioning the development of software that would allow him to process sounds in strange and interesting ways.
Duncan Bannatyne seems to have stuck his foot in it again this evening in what appears to be an unprovoked and rather stupid disgusting attack on another tweeter. Bannatyne decided, for reasons best known to himself, to unleash a comment ... Continue reading →
This Saturday I will be going with Stephen Glenn, and the others in the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign team to the seat of the closest result in this year's Parliamentary Election. Hopefully we will be able to highlight how the Alternative Vote system would have ensured that, while the MP elected may not have ...
Anyone who has seen my Facebook or Twitter posts in recent weeks will know that I've not been afraid to say openly that I've been voting for Wagner in the X-Factor this season. The response has unsurprisingly been a split of defiant support for my sentiments, and annoyed outrage from those who see Wagner's continued presence on our ITV1 screens as sacrilegious to modern music. Today I heard from the self-styled saviour of Radio 1 Chris Moyles, that he had said the same. My Run-ins with Mr Moyles This tickled me it must be said because I've had a few ...
Last month we caught Stuart Jeffries and Armando Iannucci committing polytoynbeeism. Between them they argued that anyone who wished to see public spending cuts must be a supporter of the Tea Party agenda. In today's Guardian the children's writer Philip Pullman did much the same thing. In an article on cuts to the library service he is quoted as saying: "Those who think that every expert can be replaced by a cheerful volunteer who can step in and do a complex task for nothing but a cup of tea are those who fundamentally want to see every single public service ...
The GetSurrey website today reported that the 2nd Knaphill Brownies could be under threat of closure as the need a new helper in the New Year. One of their adult leaders is leaving and they don't have a replacement. If ... Continue reading →
I have been emailed with details of the possible Orchard Park to Riverside Cycle Scheme. This involves changes to the cycle route on Arbury Road from King's Hedges Road. The changes would be on the stretch outside St Laurence's school, and on the stretch outside the front of The Manor. The County are consulting on the proposals and would like comments by post, email or phone before Friday 10 December 2010. The results will go to the transport Area Joint Committee on 24 January 2011. More details and a PDF of the leaflet and explanatory notes are available from the ...
On the whole I welcome the social housing policy that Grant Shapps laid out in detail today but there are a couple of things with the policy which concern me. In my opinion, no one should have the right to ... Continue reading →
As a child I learnt to paint by numbers, the Electoral Reform Society appears to have bodged by numbers. As some of you may know that I have been helping with the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign in Northern Ireland. We have an event this Saturday in Enniskillen where we are planning to have a ...
Northern Neil reports from the front line in Oldham East and Saddleworth: "The seat is a fascinating mix people with rich and poor, rural and inner city and a wide ethnic mix in the area. You probably couldn't get a more representative seat for Britain." The Lib Dems need to get more emotional to win over voters, argues Solution Focused Politics. Keynesian Liberal writes on the fall of Lord Young (for telling the truth or something close to it) and the perils of wearing short trousers in winter. "There was a time in New York, in the 1920s when scientists ...
If you wanted to know how the council decides what is gritted and what has a grit bin, here is set
Liberal Democrats on Cornwall Council are proposing alternatives to the Conservative led administration's plans to close libraries and swimming pools and cut adult care budgets. The proposals will be debated at the Council's Budget meeting next Tuesday 30th November. Just like everyone else in the country, Cornwall Council is having to make cuts. But the council is in a much stronger position to save front line services because of the unitary process which is saving tens of millions of pounds by reducing unnecessary bureacracy and red tape. Regrettably, the Conservative led administration is proposing to cut vital front line services ...
It is not looking likely, but the Conservative cabinet has one more chance to make the right decision, Don Foster MP
Cornwall Council and BT have today announced that eight areas are in line for the first stage of the next generation superfast broadband for Cornwall. The eight will see the service upgraded by March next year. That's great news but it's a real shame that none of the first tranche is in East Cornwall despite a pledge by the Cabinet to start the roll out in the East. The eight areas are: Leedstown, the Chiverton Cross area, St Agnes, Portreath, St Day, Devoran, Stenalees Par In her press release comment, Cabinet member Carolyn Rule refers to these as 'pilot areas' ...
Remember how gutted we all felt when Cheryl didn't take Gamu through to the final live shows on X Factor? Well, we have a chance to get her to the Christmas number 1 by buying this charity single she's made with the Aberlour choir. It's available to download from 13th December and all funds raised will go the Aberlour Child Care Trust. Their website showcases some of the fantastic work they do with our most vulnerable children. This isn't the last time I'll remind you about this, but for the moment, just sit and think about what this song means. ...
This will only take about 20 minutes: Ingredients needed: rice, peas, sweetcorn soy sauce and chicken. Put some peas and sweetcorn (frozen for preference) into a saucepan along with rice (just under half a beaker per person) and put on a medium to high heatPut about two teaspoons of oil into a frying pan (I prefer walnut oil but any cooking oil will do)Put the frying pan on a medium to low heatChop up some chicken (about 200g per person) and throw it into the frying pan.Use a spatula or spoon to regularly push the chicken around so it cooks ...
The Liberal Democrats are not the only party faced with the uncomfortable consequences of a bad pre-election promise. The Conservatives are coming under increasing pressure to abandon their growth-destroying immigration cap, and David Cameron has promised that the new immigration regime would be "business friendly" by ensuring that intra-company transfers were exempted. Unsurprisingly, the representatives of the Blue Chips and Multinationals are cock-a-hoop. Neil Carberry, CBI Head of Employment policy, said, described the report as "a thoughtful contribution to the debate about how a cap on migration might work." For him, what was "important [is] that companies with an international ...
Liberal Democrat Communities Minister, Andrew Stunell today launches "Local Decisions: A Fairer Future for Social Housing", the Coalition Government's consultation document on reforms to social housing. The proposals will give councils more flexibility to maximise the use of their social housing stock and drive down waiting lists. The plans will also allow for more flexibility to tackle the twin problems of under-occupation and overcrowding. Housing Associations will be given the option of introducing fixed term tenure for new tenants. Lifetime security of tenure will be protected for existing tenants and will still be available as an option for new tenants. ...
I have been told that the Gladeside play area which has been closed off since it was built more than a year ago should be open at the start of next month. City Council officers and representatives of Miller Homes (the developers) met last week and hope to have sorted out all the issues to allow the park to be transfered to the City and finally opened. Unfortunately Miller are unable to open the site before the handover, but both the council staff and Miller are hopeful of a quick completion.
It has been a long time between postings; I have been very busy. Most surreal story and one which seems to have slipped most peoples eye has been the erosion of the Scottish Parliaments hard won tax varying powers as described in the BBC report below... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11792876 This is a Parliament led by the Nationalists who have hissy fits about which way up you hang the flag but when it comes down to real issues of autonomy the Nats have let their subs lapse as if it were a membership of a golf club. Come on guys you're supposed to ...
Since the election, two interrelated phenomena have been simultaneously rising and falling. They're two sides of the same coin, if it were possible to forge a coin out of undistilled rage and loathing. They're the relative levels of anger on both the left and the right at the course the country is taking. The anger ...
[IMG: Petition clipboard] The news this morning is that the official No.10 petitions website, mothballed during the general election as part of the political purdah period, is going to be killed off rather than restored. When it was first launched, the petitions website was an impressive initiative that was well ahead of what many other countries and other parts of the British public sector were willing to do. However, it is a site that has not moved with the times. The static nature of the site - you signed a petition and possibly months later you got an email response ...
One of the things that has made me absolutely furious this past week is the disgraceful disregard and lack of understanding that Glasgow City Council and the UK Border Agency seem to have for the vulnerable asylum seekers who are housed in Glasgow. These two organisations are arguing about money and over 1300 vulnerable people in almost 600 households are caught in the crossfire. The Council has had a contract until now to provide temporary accommodation to asylum seekers. This expires in February. It hasn't been renewed because the Council wants more money. Last week, the affected families received letters ...
Southwark Council has made an attempt to get people involved. At each of the 8 Community Councils within Southwark an hour has been dedicated to people with post its giving ideas for increases and decreases in expenditure. Good start. What is letting this down hugely is the lack of any real online way of doing this. One great online budget consultation is Redbridge Boroufg Council www.redbridge.gov.uk/conversation. This has been offered free to every local council. Sadly this has not been adopted by Sotuhwark. The best Southwark can do is an email generated form with two cells in it.
An article about the power of diagrams on the BBC News website today had me fascinated during my lunch break but although the main image was of Leonardo DaVinci's 'Vitruvian Man' no mention of it was made in the actual ... Continue reading →
VN understands that no final legal decision will not be made in time for the election re-run to be held before Christmas. Woolas' determination to explore every possible legal avenue, after being found guilty in a special election court, means his former constituents could remain without an MP for months. It is this arrogant, selfish attitude that made Woolas so unpopular in the first place...ok that and the poor immigration policy. And being taken to the cleaners by Joanna Lummley. And the Gurkhas. On the ground though the campaign is really heating up, as the Liberal Democrats try and win ...
Mon 22nd
13:29
And finally I get around to writing about #picamp - the Political Innovation Edinburgh event
A week ago on Saturday, I attended a fantastic event in Edinburgh at which political bloggers, campaigners, activists, elected representatives and people who work in public affairs got together to discuss, basically, better ways of doing politics. The Political Innovation event was the brainchild of Paul Evans and Slugger O'Toole's Mick Fealty. It was great to meet people in the flesh who I'd only known online. It's just a pity Andrew Marr wasn't there to see that bloggers actually are very pleasant, friendly, real and genuine people, so he could then stop spouting nonsense about us. We all had to ...
[IMG: Bus Tops logo] Bus Tops is a lovely little art project which is going to put small works of art on the top of bus shelters, as a special treat to those riding the bus on the top floor. There is more about the project here, and it is now getting people to vote to select the bus stops to receive these little touches of fun and enjoyment. So if enough people vote for one or more of our local bus stops... Not all of the bus stops are available for selection, but you can see the three I've ...
Matthew Gibson makes a good case that the Lib Dems need to get more emotional. There will always be those, particularly in the Lib Dems, who focus entirely on policy. There will always be wiser-than-thou comments about the intelligence of the electorate. But in doing so they risk ignoring an important fact: emotion and cognitive bias are unavoidable flaws of policy making, too. Any sophisticated voter is going to take the candidates themselves and the parties' biases into account. Manifestos and policies will be inherently flawed by that party's own emotional makeup. Voters are going to make judgements on the ...
I caught an interesting snippet over the weekend. With the latest Top 500 Super Computer list published, there has been lots of talk about whether Linpack is the best way to measure how powerful computers really are. This prompted Steve Wallach to say... "we could get 100,000 [Android phones], hooked up together, and we would have the world's fastest Linpack that no one could exceed for a long time." What a thought! Would it be possible to organise a flashmob – albeit a humongous one – to create the world's first Android powered super-computer? My mind started spinning. With the ...
[IMG: houses.jpg] A new planning application has been received which is within Holyrood Ward of Prestwich as detailed below:- Application number: 53302 Type of application: Full Date Registered: 17/11/2010 Applicant: Caesar Property Ltd Location: 357 Bury Old Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1PY Proposal: Change of use from shop (Class A1) to hot food takeaway (Class A5) Plans are now available to view on the Council's website. Should you require further details please contact the case officer: Tom Beirne on: 0161 253 5361. If you have issue you would like to raise with your councillors, or would like to discuss making ...
A friend has recently had cause to apply for Housing Benefit in Northern Ireland. This is not something that he or anyone should worry about. Just for clarification, this is not to Belfast City Council in whose area he lives as in Northern Ireland the housing function is carried out by the Northern Ireland Housing ...
What could be more perfect timing that just after Lord Young's recent gaffe for Warren Buffet to say that the rich "have it better than they've ever had it"? He then goes on to say, The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we'll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on. Buffet is actually only the world's third richest man these days, and he's ...
Mon 22nd
12:11
Irish Green Party leader says people feel 'betrayed and misled' and calls for general election
Certainly puts the ups and downs of the UK coalition into perspective....
Council meeting junkies of the world rejoice, for tonight there is an unscheduled fix of the drug you love, in the shape of an emergency meeting of the Council. It will discuss two things. The first is the future of Radcliffe Civic Hall, and the second a motion calling for the Cabinet Member for HR to resign for alleged poor behaviour. The Radcliffe Civic Hall issue is one that's been around for a while now. The Council have been undertaking a review of Civic Halls in the borough since, it appears, about 1978, and have come up with no conclusions ...
Chris Mason of the BBC tweets: The High Court says there will be no verdict in the Phil #Woolas case this week – so no by election before Christmas, regardless. Laura Keunssberg also tweets: No verdict in the Phil Woolas case this week now, which means a by election before Christmas is pretty much impossible Arif Ansari, the BBC's North West political editor tweets: There will be no by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth before Christmas because no verdict from High Court this week.
When people find out that our favored politician may be dishonest? Do we take the trouble to really find out what they are supposed to have done, and so possibly have to change our opinions (and our vote), or do we experience that nasty 'cognitive dissonance' and so seek to keep our minds comfortable at ...
... it seems that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which was set up after the scandal in the last couple of years, has said that it won't, after all, publish all the details of MPs' expenses in the future. This is an extraordinary about-turn. After all, IPSA was set up precisely to correct all the faults with the old system. Remember how MPs were able to claim for all kinds of inappropriate second home expenses, and these had been kept secret until the story blew up in their faces? We were promised that all the expenses would be published in ...
Following weekend speculation about the future of RAF Leuchars in Fife local MP Sir Menzies Campbell has written to the Defence Secretary Liam Fox setting out the strategic case for the base. A copy of Sir Menzies Campbell's letter is below. "Dear Liam, You will be aware of speculation over the weekend about the future of RAF Leuchars which I have written to you about recently. I am taking this opportunity to do so again and to bring to your attention once more the essential contribution RAF Leuchars makes to our defence and its unique advantages as a result of ...
Mon 22nd
11:03
If you're over 60, on Friday morning you, along with your borough Council were robbed. Don't call th...
Ok...it wasn't actually robbery but it really feels like it. I am talking about the County Council decision on the free travel scheme. I've blogged on the topic here Basiucally all the money the borough spent on subsidising travel is now going to the County Council (£2.3m). It appears the County will offer everyone of retirement age a bus pass for off peak travel, that's it. A few tokens if
Congratulations are in order for one of our neighbouring councillors, Monroe Palmer, is being made a Life Peer. Monroe represents the Child's Hill ward of Barnet. The Ham and High have the story here. Monroe is a popular, hard working councillor who has achieved a lot for his area over the years, despite the political wind on the council rarely being behind his back. In understand he is looking forward to contributing to debates in the Lords, but also voting to make the second chamber democratic under Nick Clegg's plans to bring democracy to the mother of parliaments! Very many ...
In a weekend packed with goals, the unpredictable start to the campaign continued in superb style with a weekend of stunning goals, comebacks and sendings off. In the first game of the weekend, Tottenham produced a sensational comeback at The Emirates to take all three points, and the bragging rights, against their North London arch rivals, as they won at Arsenal for the first time in seventeen years. The Gunners raced into a two goal lead and looked to be in cruise control. Much had been made before the game of Samir Nasri stating he would not shake the hand ...
Under the past Labour government local councils could only access extra funding to bring their homes up to the Decent Homes standard was if they transferred all their council homes into a Housing Association or an Arms Length Management Organisation such as Lambeth Living which all Lambeth Council homes were transferred to. It was clear that nationally Labour didn't trust local councils to deliver Decent Homes or had developed an aversion to council housing being provided. Very weird. The new coalition has no such aversion. It's in the process of changing the rules so councils can also apply for extra ...
My girl friend is due to have my baby very soon. This means that I will be away from the blog for a while. I will let you know if it's a boy or a girl and how it goes. So enjoy the rest of the blogosphere and I hope to be back as soon as time permits. Yours Dazmando
A report on the BBC website noted that the leader of Oxfordshire County Council - his picture rather appropriately resembling a painting by Munch - has said that the government's plans for Councils to publish all their expenditure will cost money. I read on, interested, then discovered that there was actually no story here. I discovered simply that Conservatives at Oxfordshire's County Hall simply revert to type when pushed and insist that the patrician approach to politics is always best, i.e. people don't need to know too much, they should be cared for, patted on the head and given a ...
Mon 22nd
10:13A tale of two letters on tax, an apology - and some questions on the SNP's missing three years
I wrote last Friday of my anger that the SNP had allowed the Scottish Parliament's power to vary the rate of Income Tax, voted for by almost two thirds of the Scottish People in the 1997 referendum, to be rendered useless for the next 4 years. I made a mistake in that article by saying that the Scottish Liberal Democrats were the only party to seriously suggest using it. I hadn't realised that the Greens had suggested it earlier this month, The fact that they will now have to re-write their manifesto goes some way to explain why they are, ...
The 70 new parking spaces on the site of the former Swan pub have now been opened, just in time for the very busy Christmas shopping period. Work is carrying on to realign Link Road, which has now been reopened to single file traffic in both directions. The mains electricity works are taking a little longer than expected, but Link Road should reopen fully on December 13th. Work will start to install new traffic lights in Link Road on January 13th, and the new improved bus station will open on Monday, January 31st. (More in the Gazette) Meanwhile the car ...
Congratulations to all those who've contributed to improving Hall Street Green - behind St. Marys Church in Cheadle. Until a few decades ago, the green was two streets of victorian terraces - a lot of work's already gone in, and continuing, to make it a green space to be proud of. Here are a couple of photos. A cold November afternoon might not be quite the time to catch it at its best, but you get the idea. [IMG: Hall Street Green] [IMG: Hall Street Green 2]
The "I'm a celebrity" house shrink must be busy this time. First, there was Nigel Havers to keep an eye on, with his strange stare. (He's now left the show.) Then, most especially, there's Gillian McKeith. She found operating a few levers on a digger too much yesterday. I felt for her. When you are at the end of your tether, in need of a break, some might say on the verge of a nervous breakdown, simple manual co-ordination gets difficult. It does your head in. Come off it chaps, it's time to give her some rest. And making fun ...
Those nice people at Weber Shandwick, who run the Scotland Votes site are doing a survey both of blog readers and blog writers so that they can compile a report on the state of the Scottish Blogosphere early next year. The Blog Readers' Survey is here. The Blog Writers' Survey is here. They really don't take long, and the more people who complete it the more accurate it will be. And if you felt moved to mention this humble blog in dispatches, you would make me very happy. And if you are a woman blogger, please most especially fill this ...
The BBC report that up in Scotland a scheme to bring some of Scotland's 50,000 empty homes back into use has been launched. They say that the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership has been created to help local authorities make use of vacated properties from the private sector. The two-year project isfunded by the Scottish government and relies on the public to report the address of a suspected empty home. So far, 14 of Scotland's 32 local authorities have signed up. Here is Wales Shelter is spearheading an initiative to identify the 26,000 private sector homes but there is no Welsh ...
The announcement last week on the Welsh Assembly Government draft budget has been one of the most widely discussed and debated to date. After much speculation it seems that the Labour-Plaid Government has protected funding on frontline health services. I think they've missed a golden opportunity to drive efficiencies in the NHS. So, with this in mind, I have some figures of my own to present: £505 million: Last year, the repairs backlog in NHS buildings of £505 million jumped £37 million in just one year. We are putting patient and staff safety at risk on a daily basis when ...
You probably aren't aware - I wasn't - that there are NHS Health Trainers out there willing and able to help you become healthier. Health trainers work in this area and are trained to offer information and support to help people make changes which will improve their health and wellbeing in the following areas: Stopping smoking Healthier Eating Becoming more physically active If you think that this FREE and confidential service could be useful to you, 01207 523666 is the number to call.
i) births and deaths 22 November 1920: birth of Paul Erickson, author of The Ark (1966). 22 November 2007: death of Verity Lambert, the very first producer of Doctor Who (1963-65). ii) broadcast and webcast anniversaries 22 November 1975: broadcast of first episode of The Android Invasion. The Doctor and Sarah arrive at the village of Devesham, to find peculiar behaviour from the villagers, a lost astronaut and sinister guards in white suits. 22 November 1980: broadcast of first episode of State of Decay. The Doctor and Romana explore a very low-tech village, and are attacked by bats. 22 November ...
Blogging has been even thinner than usual: despite much to write about, I have found so little time. Fittingly, perhaps, I choose to break my silence by focussing on time, or rather time zones. Since daylight saving was first adopted in the UK in 1917 (interestingly, one year after Germany had already done so), there have been various attempts to get the best use out of daylight. During the Second World War there was even "Double Summer time", while in the late 1960s I can remember that clocks stayed on GMT+1 all year for several years. In short there is ...
Once again Jewish communities up and down the land are again doing mitzvahs. A mitzvah is an act of human kindness and on this day Jewish members of the community do a good deed. In Muswell Hill the local synagogue put on a number of special activities on the day (Sunday) to encourage people across the local community to think of others less fortunate than themselves. Two years ago their 'mitzvah' was standing outside M & S and Sainabury's and as people went in to do their shopping – asking them to buy one thing to donate on their way ...
There are forecasts that the proposed cap on immigration is likely to reduce vastly the number of foreign student in our universities. This seems to me to be totally dotty. Higher education is one of the few "products" that we offer which is "World Class": why on earth stop people buying it? As anyone studying "A" level economics will tell you, a foreign student coming here to buy one of our courses is the equivalent of an export (that's without taking into account the additional money they will spend in living expenses and entertainment while they are here.) Stopping then ...
Following on from my talk at the Libertarian Alliance Conference the other week, I want to do a short series of articles on the "Four Monopolies" that the Individualist Anarchists and Mutualists identified as being the core mechanisms through which the state and corporatocracy colludes to keep the mass of humanity in penury and dependence and unable to attain their full potential. Most people I know regard monopoly as a problem of some kind. Most of them, judging by discussions on Lib Dem oriented websites, feel that monopolies are primarily a problem when they are private sector monopolies, and that ...
At Cancun, Canada will be playing its usual role of trying to obstruct any meaningful progress. Canada's own target of a 17% emissions reduction from 2005 levels by 2020 is both totally inadequate and totally unreachable on current policies. Stephen Harper's Conservative government's aims are quite clear. Harper was a climate change denier when he came into office in '06, and has only changed his line since to keep in step with the USA. Under Harper, Canada is betting its economic shirt on the tarsands industry, the emissions from which are so high that arguably the industry's success depends on ...
It's surprising where you can get your political inspiration. A couple of years ago I was painting the front of my house making it look nice not for me but for people who look at the house. I came to realise the importance of having a seafront in Morecambe that was not spoiled by bad planning. There are still people who sail past the prom even if there are only specific times of day when they can do this. Yesterday I was clearing leaves and rubbish in the garden and I realised what David Cameron meant by the big society. ...
