A few weeks ago I blogged about housing and the Coalition government's plans. Since then a couple of things have happened: firstly, a consultation paper was published on social housing, secondly the government has decided to review some of its proposals re housing benefit. As someone who is deeply interested and committed to housing issues it has been positive that people have been discussing housing and housing policy but frustrating that a number of Labour politicians, both locally and nationally have sought to inflame the debate rather than help to find solutions to the massive shortage of affordable housing we ...
A long arranged but well timed seminar for councillors tonight on "snow plans". I must say that so far, not only have our Council worked very hard, as they did in last winter, but the communications have been so much better. I had asked for this last year, and now there is a front page on the website with good links. We also heard about another website that may be of help, but I want to...
It is November. If you have your Christmas decorations up yet - if you've even considered thinking about maybe putting them up - you are in a state of sin and are an Abomination in the Sight of the Lord, Cursèd for all time.Christmas decorations are not permitted to be displayed in homes and offices until one week before Christmas day, and are not permitted to be displayed in shops until two weeks before Christmas day.Thankyou for your attention.
Bit of a car crash in slow motion isn't it? I've banned all TV and radio but like the snow outside - even though I've closed the curtains, I know it's still going on. I clasped my hands to my head and had to wince when I heard Vince talk of abstaining from his newly fashioned policy. Thinking what witty retort Gordon might inflict upon him when next in the commons to get him back for the 'Mr Bean' jib. Poor Vince - he did look close to tears. It's easy to criticise from my sofa and I have done ...
Where should we draw the boundaries of the state? When should Government take responsibility for providing or funding services? And what should it be left to the market to sort out? One characteristic of the current government is that it has destabilised well-established understandings of where the boundaries lie. Most prominently we have the debate ...
Today has been a historic day, Michael Moore MP communicates with Lib Dem members in Scotland. Dear Andrew, Today the Government published its Scotland Bill. When this becomes law, a second and exciting phase in Scottish devolution will begin. We are strengthening Scotland's future based on three principles: empowerment, accountability and stability. This Bill starts its parliamentary process with the support of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Each of our parties - plus business and civil society - contributed to the Calman Commission, which drew up the blueprint for it. It is right that change of this sort ...
I have received the following email (sent to all County Councillors) from the Acting Head of Libraries, Archives and Information relating to Christmas opening hours of Libraries across Cambridgeshire; "Dear Councillor, This is to inform you of the arrangements for Libraries and Archives over the Christmas period. Libraries with the exception of Central Library, will be closed from 1pm on Friday 24th December through to Tuesday 4th January 2011, when normal service will resume. This was originally a staff suggestion for saving money, and the vast majority of staff have agreed to take their leave on these days in order ...
I have long been concerned about the state of public health in Reading. However, the more interested I was the more frustrated I became about the lack of influence local people, and local councillors have over local health matters. I first got interested in the issue several years ago when I started reading public health profiles, published annually and distributed to all councillors. I was shocked by what I read about the extent of local health inequalities. I have blogged plenty of times about this over the last couple of years so I won't rehearse all the points here but ...
Its been a little while since I did one of these and quite honestly its nice not to be tied into the whole #ff thing on Twitter giving me the freedom to do this when I want ;-) So here ... Continue reading →
Reading a fascinating article about work undertaken at Cambridge University adding bio-luminescence to trees. Apparently just converting 0.02% of the energy absorbed from photosynthesis would be sufficient for a tree to produce bio light in enough quantity to compete with a regular street light. By 2050 we need to reduce our CO2 use by 80%. Is bio light one way of achieving this? Which would you prefer - a genetically modified tree producing light or global warming?
For those of you who aren't avid readers of the Histon Impington Courier the following article has been published; "We have received three independent reports .........that FULL SPEED tests on the guided busway have been planned for early December without public notice. Parish councils have asked to be informed of the dates so people can be notified, however, it is uncertain if this will happen. They were told that anyone who uses the guided busway track is technically trespassing. The implication is clear - any injuries are solely the responsibility of the trespasser. As we all know, the unused busway ...
As you may have heard, the Government has decided that Playbuilder schemes (for new children's play equipment) will go ahead, with the aim of having them completed by the end of March 2011. Here's the planned design for Scholes Field - I imagine it may change slightly, but you can get the general idea. I have to say, it looks good. Scholes Field Playbuilder scheme
Dear Fraser Today the Government published its Scotland Bill. When this becomes law, a second and exciting phase in Scottish devolution will begin. We are strengthening Scotland's future based on three principles: empowerment, accountability and stability. This Bill starts its parliamentary process with the support of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Each of our parties - plus business and civil society - contributed to the Calman Commission, which drew up the blueprint for it. It is right that change of this sort should be built on a broad consensus. But now it is this government that is turning ...
A snap of the Christmas Tree outside Newbury Town Hall. Tomorrow's is "Not Ashamed Day". At the behest of a friend, I have signed the "Not Ashamed" declaration, which reads: WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ is good news for our nation. He is the only true hope and solid foundation for our society. WE CALL on government, employers and other leaders in our country to protect the freedom of Christians to participate in public life without compromising biblical teaching and to promote in our society the values that are revealed through Jesus Christ and that have so shaped our nation, ...
Is it, just me, who is sickened by the constant claim, now plastered on Kent's KCC website, suggesting the local authority is somehow excellent. The recent news that KCC, has left children at grave risk, underlines the danger of KCC's mind set, the notion that both Cllr Paul Carter has promoted, along with senior officers in the past, of Kent council being excellent, does nothing to deter the sort of complacency that resulted in Ofsted's damning report. Currently KCC website, is promoting itself with this very questionable claim "A council that performs excellently" when clearly it doesn't. Obviously this is ...
Watching proceedings from the House of Commons this evening, I find myself cheering on the Members of Parliament from the Labour benches. They certainly are giving Vince Cable a hard time on tuition fees as Vince tries to defend the undefendable.As one Labour MP pointed out, the Liberal Democrats fought the election with a clear plan to abolish tuition fees. Yes, the Lib Dems did not win an
Nick Clegg has today called on students to reflect on the "true picture" of the tuition fee rises proposed by the Coalition. In particular he focused on the fact that there would be no upfront fees and repayments would start at a higher earnings level. The trouble is he is missing the point, the crucial point that's upsetting students and parents alike is the overall level of debt which is set to multiply beyond all reasonableness and will undoubtedly put some off going to university altogether. Whilst I do welcome the central benefits as highlighted by Nick Clegg it is ...
...........is that they have a habit of coming back to bite you in the bottom! The car crash that is happening before our eyes is exactly what happens when you dispense with integrity for the sake of expediency. And please less of the "putting the country first" - actually - that is why we are Lib Dems isn't it? That is why we have Lib Dem policies surely? If we thought Tory or Labour policies were better for the country we'd adopt them. Please, give me a break........or do I mean brake? Mind you, it's maybe too late for the ...
In my experience there seems to be 3 ways to get a post on one's blog read the most. The first do extremely well in an election. The second to threaten to leave the party. And finally, criticise the leadership.Well last week I managed to again appear in Lib Dem Voice's Golden Dozen, the forth time in as many weeks. This time I was concerned that the voice of the ordinary members of the Lib
Yesterday, I blogged my initial reaction to the Wikileaks publication of the US diplomatic cables: And the big news from the Wikileaks revelations is... ... that it turns out the world as told through secret US diplomacy is, er..., pretty much the same as the one we always thought. That's a view that looks to be holding up even as more details come to light. Many are fascinating, many fill out details of stories, but – so far at least – what they are doing is filling out stories we already knew rather than containing major revelations or over-turning what ...
Tue 30th
20:25
Underpinning Scotland's Future with Liberal Democrat values - Moore publishes new Bill
I set the scene this morning for Liberal Democrat Secretary of State Mike Moore's St Andrew's Day pressie to Scotland - the publication of the Scotland Bill which will give what he called "the greatest transfer of fiscal power from London since the creation of the UK" where Scotland's tax rate will drop by 10% and the Scottish Parliament will then have control on how Scotland raises its own money and will be directly accountable to the people for the decisions it makes with that. It's combining power with responsibility and will be delivered over the next 5 years. It's ...
Joe Scarborough, MSNBC host and former conservative congressman from Florida, has really laid into Sarah Palin. He's written a remarkably withering attack in a column for Politico. What has particularly riled Scarborough are Palin's recent swipes on Ronald Reagan and George H.W.Bush. Scarborough says that Republicans should "man up" and tell the truth about Palin. The article is a wonderful read. It is an excorciating assessment of the Wasilla Whirlwind, using a good degree of sarcasm: After Palin mocked Reagan's credentials, the TLC reality show star took aim at the 41st president and his wife. Borrowing again from old left-wing ...
I went to the Post Office on Liverpool Rd the other day to post a parcel for which I required proof of posting. I was gratified that when the postmaster handed me the receipt it showed that i had posted the parcel on Southport, Lancashire. One of the most economically damaging bits of legislation for our town came back in the early '70's when a county boundary was introduced divorcing us from our natural hinterland. Over the last 40 yrs the communications through the narrow corridor to the South have been maintained and enhanced whilst those to the North and ...
I have just had a Police officer at the door, which alarmed me at first as I thought I'd been rumbled in the fall-out from Cable-gate. Thankfully it was nothing of the sort and was in fact a half-frozen PCSO with the unfortunate job of calling door to door in the area handing out burglary-reducing time switches for lights. The theory goes that burglars are less likely to target houses if there are lights on inside, and since it gets dark before a lot of people are home from work in winter, early evening is prime nicking time for the ...
All day the sounds of raised voices, overturning furniture and muffled gunshots have been heard coming from the room where the judges for our Trivial Fact of the Day award meet. As there appears to be no one left standing, I hereby declare the contest a tie between the following two facts. The actor Leslie Nielsen, who died yesterday, had a brother who was the deputy prime minister of Canada. Erik Nielsen, who died in 2008, served in that capacity between 1984 and 1986. The CBC website has an engaging audio of the two of them being interviewed together. The ...
The tuition fees debate has been one that I been heavily involved in. I have written many blog posts about it here, here, here ,here and finally here. I do not believe that those Liberal Democrat PPC's that signed the ... Continue reading →
The current office block is too large it dominates the skyline, we don't want to make the same mistake. We will be visiting th planning officer to find out more.
p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } Ward: Odd Down App Ref: 10/04572/OUT Parish: N/A Registered: 24th November 2010 Expiry Date: 23rd February 2011 Location: Crescent Office Park Clarks Way Odd Down Bath Bath And North East Somerset Grid Ref: (E)373178 - (N)162650 LB Grade: N/A Proposal: Erection of a 60 bed residential care home (Use Class C2) with associated car parking and servicing.
Earlier today a party member happily tweeted a link to an article on the Brentwood and Ongar Liberal Democrats website. Under the headline: Shock at lack of safety checks for "Lighting Up Brentwood"it complains that the local council has allowed people to act as volunteers at a public event without having Criminal Record Bureau checks. The arguments deployed range from the toe curling: "I express my concern over this matter in the strongest of terms, both as an elected councillor representing hundreds of Brentwood families and as the auntie of a three year old boy.to the spurious: "CRB checks are ...
Just when you thought the Liberal Democrat Leadership couldn't mess up any more on Tuition Fees, Vince Cable who supports the Government's plan says he is willing to abstain if those that oppose them will do too - so the worst of all worlds!
Those of you who have been following me for a while will have seen this coming, I suspect. I don't do Christmas. I detest it. Holly goes to her dad's so she can do it without Scrooge McMummy ruining it for her, and Mat and I generally stay in bed and avoid the whole boiling, only emerging for the Doctor Who Christmas Special ( [IMG: [personal profile] ] magister likes Christmas, but he is going to his mum's). I don't buy Christmas cards or presents (even if I did, I couldn't afford to this year), and I don't expect to ...
Britain is now the most obese nation in Europe. We have among the worst rates of sexually transmitted infections on record. Rising levels of harm from alcohol, and over 80,000 lives lost every year because of smoking. These are the public health challenges the Coalition Government faces. And what of Labour's public health legacy? Under Labour inequalities in health and life expectancy between rich and poor got worse. As a result people in the poorest areas can expect to live up to 7 years less than people in richer areas. Under Labour huge amounts of money was spent on public ...
The most ambitious voter contact programme in British political history will be getting off the ground this weekend. The first wave of a total of 50 phonebanks will be open in cities across the United Kingdom. The cause ? The campaign for Yes to Fairer Votes for the Referendum on May 5th on the voting system ...
Welsh Liberal Democrats Shadow Education Minister, Jenny Randerson AM, today broadly welcomed the tuition fees proposal but warned the test of the scheme will be its long term sustainability. Jenny Randerson said: "The Welsh Liberal Democrats have always said that we should seek to mitigate the impact of tuition fees on Welsh students. That remains the right approach even in a challenging financial environment. "But this must be a plan for the long term not a short term electoral fix for the Labour-Plaid government. I am concerned that the Minister was vague on the Government's ability to fund future years. ...
I am extremely perturbed by reports that Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable may abstain in the Commons vote on tuition fees. Not because he doesn't believe in the scheme, but in some misguided attempt to preserve party unity. Apparently, them higher ups in the party are a bit concerned that our MPs might split 3 different ways. I actually despair if they think that's the greatest thing we have to worry about at the moment. Frankly, whatever we do in this vote, we are going to take some serious pelters for it. I actually think all of us abstaining ...
The Derwent Valley Partnership Forum event planned for tonight has been cancelled due to the wintry weather.
It is worth reminding oneself, in the aftermath of the Wikileaks dump, that the Arabs being quoted in those cables are ambassadors and princes. American policy in the region is increasingly not defined by those people, and their anti-Iranian and pro-Israeli outlook, while surprising, is ultimately not terribly revealing. Fundamentally, the US abstains from invading Iran not because it's worried about what the bin Sauds might think, but because they don't want to incite a wave of violence and rebellion in the region. This is fundamentally a very sensible policy and those wishing otherwise should resist the urge to get ...
[IMG: coat-of-arms.jpg] Anyone who would like to win a copy of my more famous namesake's "Passing Through" album (see The Other Owen Temple link on the left hand side) should email me by the end of November to let me know whose coat of arms this is. As a tie-break please also name the figure standing in the centre of it. And if more than one of you gets both right I'll draw lots.
I am pleased that the government has made two changes that I asked for to the Housing Benefit proposals.The first was to allow local authorities more discretion to pay Housing Benefit directly to Landlords. This will enable Landlords who charge a reasonable rent to be more certain that they get paid.The second is to defer the percentile shifts for existing claimants. This will allow some market
I am starting to hear about schools that have already decided to close tomorrow, Tuesday 1 December. More information will be posted on the Sutton Council website www.sutton.gov.uk as it becomes available, but for now: Westbourne Primary have posted a closure notice for tomorrow Bandon Hill School and nursery will be closed tomorrow Foresters Primary will be closed tomorrow STARS (Sutton Tuition and Reintegration Service) will be tomorrow and expects to re-open on Thursday.
What on earth are they so afraid I am going to say? Today Channel 4 News contacted me to ask me on to discuss wikileaks. I was not over keen to venture out in the snow, so a very nice lady called Leona said they would send a car to Ramsgate as they were "extremely anxious" to have my views as an ex senior diplomat who supported wikileaks. She has just called back to say they have cancelled as "the running order has changed". In fact I had made no preparations to go as I knew it would happen. This ...
If you have an issue you'd like to raise or would like to know more about the Council's Street Care services, come along to Shireway Community Association at 7pm on Thursday 2nd December for the Frome Vale Area Forum.
Today is the first real day of snow and ice for us here in Liverpool. Worryingly there've been quite a few reports of people slipping and falling in the City Centre (not the Liverpool One bit). This is odd as we were assured that the new product the Council was using could clear away dangerous ice from pavements and the weather forecast did flag up snow and ice overnight. Along with a number of phone calls, I received this e mail today which (having taken off the gentleman's name) I am pasting below. (It is possible that the high pressure ...
The BBC reports that Cardiff Central MP, Jenny Willott has denied that she told a journalist that she would vote against tuition fee proposals being put forward by the UK Government: Jenny Willott, the Lib Dem MP for Cardiff Central, was quoted as saying in the South Wales Echo that she would vote against any rises in tuition fees. The Guardian also said she had said she would vote against a rise. Miss Willott told the BBC she had been misquoted and had not said she would definitely vote against the plans. She said her position was that she would ...
Today has been extremely bloody in the markets. In short the collapse in confidence is pushing the Euro towards meltdown. Either a de facto central Treasury is established in the Eurozone or there will be a series of Sovereign defaults, starting with Ireland, but including Greece, Portugal, Spain, and probably Belgium and Italy as well. If the German constitutional court vetoes German participation in the Treasury, then the Euro will implode and the currency will fail with drastic but at this point unknowable consequences. The spreading of contagion into the corporate credit market is now pulling emergency measures ever closer. ...
The Guardian reports that Vince Cable, who is the cabinet minister in charge of tuition fees, has said that he is prepared to abstain in a key vote on the government's policy if that is what fellow Liberal Democrat MPs decide to do as a group. That is of course allowed under the coalition agreement but whether it is enough to head off a revolt by Liberal Democrat MPs, who are threatening to vote against the proposals is yet to be seen. The paper says that the party's 57 MPs are in talks this morning in a bid to find ...
As Martin Shipton reports in today's Western Mail, Labour's Pontypridd Assembly candidate Mick Antoniw and his fellow Directors at Thompson's solicitors have been "severely reprimanded" by their regulatory body and fined £88,000 for irregularities involving miners' compensation claims, many referred to them by the unions. As reported in the Law Gazette (21st October 2010) the Solicitors Regulation Authority found that Thompsons did not act in the best interests of its miner clients by failing until February 2005 to advise them that they were free to instruct solicitors of their own choice; by failing to advise them on the merits of ...
I thought it would be useful to provide another update as the snow continues to fall. Day Care centres - closed after lunch today Registry Office - will close at 15.30 today SCOLA - I understand that they will be closing the Sutton, Wallington, Carshalton Girls and Greenshaw centres from 17:00. Sutton Housing Partnership - the office is closing at 17.00 today Libraries - Carshalton Library and the library at the Life Centre will both close at 17.00. The Phoenix Centre Library will continue self issue at 17.00 and the Mobile Library will return to base at 17.00
Labour Leader Ed Miliband has gone down the 'Cameron Direct' route and got involved in a Q&A event, this one hosted by the Kent on Sunday newspaper. Kent is an interesting choice, as it is just the kind of people New Labour could win, and Miliband risks losing. Not a very inspiring performance, but it was nice to see him advocating his support for AV and for a living wage. However, Miliband better hope that the coalition does last five years, as it is quite apparent that Labour are a long way away from being fit to mount a bid ...
The news that Northern Ireland's Environment Minister, Edwin Poots, is set to abolish the Planning Service and devolve planning to local councils is a shock to many. The shock is made worse as he is basing this on the 'eleven council' model that should by now be being implemented under the Review of Public Administation. ...
A sorry scene in a legislature Yesterday, we witnessed a sorry scene. A government minister getting up, answering questions, but answering them in a way so as to mislead the House. The government minister in question did so during First Minister's Questions when answering a question from Dr Stephen Farry of the Alliance Party on ...
Despite the poor weather the council is mostly operating business as usual today. The street cleaning and parks teams are all working to clear snow to make the borough safer. Gritting teams have been out throughout the night and continue to grit the roads but transport by road is now very problematic across the borough and refuse collection has stopped for the rest of the day. There have been reports that several buses have been returned to their depot, diverted or halted. And Epsom and St Helier hospitals are on alert for more visits from people who have had falls ...
Dear Nick You cannot campaign on the promise of 'New Politics' and then change your mind when you get elected. You will simply look as bad as all those that have gone before you. Keep your promise, restore public faith ... Continue reading →
Tuesday: The Coalition proposes that new graduates pay an amount every month proportional to their ability to pay, with additional help for the lowest earners, repayments to be capped at either thirty years or a maximum total payment ("paying off the loan"). The NUS proposes that graduates pay an amount every month proportional to their ability to pay, with additional help for the lowest earners, repayments to be capped at either twenty-five years or a maximum total payment ("for fairness"). So can ANYONE explain to me why the NUS' proposals are fair and reasonable but the Coalition's are wickedness incarnate? ...
I think I first discovered Callooh Callay via the "I Know A Great Little Place..." blog, whose review was essentially "packed to the rafters with City suits, unless you go upstairs to the JubJub*, an excellent members bar, entrance only if you can prove your dedication to cocktails". I got in touch by email, managed to prove my dedication and acquire a key. I visited with a new friend, Dan, one Saturday a few weeks ago, and on arrival he recognised one of the bartenders who said, when I revealed we had a reservation upstairs, "ooh, you're in for a ...
In his Hugo Young lecture last week Nick Clegg clearly signalled the imminent end to control orders. Now over the last couple of days the shape of the likely conclusions from the anti-terrorism review are starting to emerge, with the current 28-day limit on detention without charge coming back down to 14 days. A new set of tighter than usual bail conditions could then be imposed for a further 14 days. The police's stop and search powers are also likely to be curtailed, particularly following the news that in the last year over 100,000 stop and searches were conducted under ...
In an ideal world I don't think I'd have much to do with the Alternative Vote method of electing MPs, the option which will be put forward in next year's referendum on Electoral Reform. I'm a long-standing believer in Proportional Representation and, whatever the merits of AV, it is certainly not proportional. Having said that, ...
The shortlist for the BBC's annual Sport's Personality of the Year Award has been announced. The people competing to succeed last year's winner Ryan Giggs are: Mark Cavendish Tom Daley Jessica Ennis David Haye AP McCoy Graeme McDowell Graeme Swann Phil Taylor Lee Westwood Amy Williams Not a list that is going to raise the roof, but VN is backing Graeme Swann to win, particularly if England are doing well in the Ashes. David Haye should also do well as a reigning world champion. The award ceremony will take place on the 19th of December, broadcast live on BBC1, Radio ...
Secretary of State, Michael Gove, came to Woodside High yesterday morning to officially open the new block. Interestingly, when I was there a few months ago answering children's questions about life and politics – the Head (Joan McVitie) told me that Michael had actually come and spent a whole day there a couple of years ago – before his current role. He had wanted to spend time in a school that had the sort of challenges Woodside had – huge diversity, challenging home backgrounds, poor results and so on. So today was a real celebration of the huge achievements that ...
Is it me or are Labour in disarray, on a national level Labour's new union appointee, Ed Milliband, has as yet to impact on any level, OK he nipped off, on, er paternity, and this time got his name on the birth certificate, but you'd think anyone with a bit of ambition or any idea, would have put some sort of stamp on his party as to its direction. As leader of the opposition, Ed's making some of the Conservative failed opposition leaders, look damned good including Ian Duncan Smith, William Hague, and perhaps the worst even making Labour's most ...
I feel another letter to a minister coming on. People are probably aware of the Sonia/Nina case, which I've blogged about previously but to summarise, a Trans woman was inexplicably put in a male prison. Following that incident, I submitted a Freedom of Information request asking about Prison Service Policy on the matter. This isn't the first time the issue of Trans prisoners in the UK has come up. Work by Press for Change on the issue with the Prison Service dates back at least fourteen years. More recently, it came up in September 2009, when a Trans woman won ...
Last week saw the second by-election in Blaby District Council in Leicestershire in as many months. Once again, they managed a strong defence, which bodes well for both the party in Blaby and in other places around the country where we are fighting the Conservatives. The by-election was caused by the retirement of a long-standing and well known local councillor, which was always going to be a challenge. However, with a key issue in the area being the proposed development of land in the area by the Conservative county council, our candidate Antony Moseley was finally victorious. The Plaistow ward ...
Scottish Secretary Michael Moore has appropriately enough chosen St Andrew's Day to launch the Government's Bill which will implement the recommendations of the Report of the Calman Commission. To truly appreciate how big a Liberal Democrat win this is, you have to go back just over a year, to 25th November 2009, when the then Labour Government published it response to Calman. They could have decided to bring in the legislation then - it would certainly have been a better use of Parliamentary time than trying to get dreadful measures like the Digital Economy Act through, and they certainly had ...
[IMG: FarmVille screenshot] Even if you're not a Farmville player yourself, chances are you've come across the extremely popular Facebook farming game courtesy of updates from your friends about cows, fields and farm buildings appearing in your Facebook newsfeed. However, for all Farmville's impressive popularity, with nearly 58 million active users each month, it is a minnow in the online farming stakes. The big player is Happy Farm with around 23 million users each and every day. But unlike Farmville, Happy Farm is big in Asia and in particular China, where the bulk of its users come from. That makes ...
After enjoying football at it's best in the shape of Barcelona, VN then witnessed sporting TV at its worst in the form of Panorama. The programme was meant to be a groundbreaking insight into corruption into FIFA, football's governing body, instead it was cheap journalism that will do nothing but jeopardise England's fantastic 2018 World Cup bid. It was quite apparent from very early on that the reporter Andrew Jennings has a longstanding personal vendetta against FIFA. The programme was laden with innuendo, hearsay, and decade old accusations. Documents miraculously appeared, high ranking FIFA delegates were doorstepped, no answers were ...
The end of our road was repaired yesterday. This is a good thing, is it not? Well, not exactly. The road is two miles long and connects my village with the outside world. It is the main road which is gritted - or not if you go back to last January - and, for our humble community, it is important. The problem is that the county council has deemed it sensible to repair the damage from the last freeze in the middle of a new freeze. This is despite their pronouncements in January that it would be madness to repair ...
It's nought special but sign of a time long gone. This one is from Hampstead High Street and is the entrance to a shop long changed - but I've noticed these down West End Lane, Finchley Road, Kilburn Lane and along the Kilburn High Road . This one refers to Stamp the Chemist - frequent advertiser in old newspapers - but now gone... I wondered when these ceased to be installed and when fashion for the mosaic style kicked in... Any views, leads or tips out there?
Maybe my green credentials have been blown to pieces. I have just voted in the European Parliament's environment committee against calls to take action to combat 'speculation' that may lead to extreme price volatility in food prices, against the insistence that environmentally-friendly farming practices will increase the income of the agricultural sector and improve food security, and against demands that EU agricultural policy should focus on providing support for small-scale and organic farming systems. On the agenda was a non-legislative report about food security. Italian and French colleagues within my group had sided with Green, GUE (far left) and some ...
The eerie snowy scene above is not in some remote rural spot. It's literally just down the road from our house. Very few cars went anywhere yesterday - in fact the street was even featured on the STV news last night - more because of its proximity to the railway station than for being uniquely badly affected, I suspect. However, those who take the train to work have been, so far, lucky: Whether they will get back, of course, is anyone's guess, as Twitter tells me that the usual Winter problem of frozen points has come to pass. The schools ...
As residents are aware, I have been highlighting the need to see the real time bus timetable information at bus shelters where it is currently out of action repaired and the service back working as soon as possible. I recently had a request as to progress getting the information on the shelters in Pentland Avenue repaired and the City Council has advised as follows : "Unfortunately, it is not possible to provide an exact date for the repair of the shelters on Pentland Avenue. As previously indicated, the contractors have been instructed to concentrate their efforts on shelters with advertising ...
I am told that an amusing suggestion has been made that I will tutoring Cllr Mrs Brenda Porter on which way to vote during the cabinet meeting last week. This is a gratuitous insult to both of us. The likely outcome of me asking Mrs Porter to vote a particular way is that she would do the exact opposite! As we saw over the vote on closer links with Lancashire County Council the fact that I proposed it led the Tories to vote against it (they later sought to change their vote). This suggestion is particularly nonsensical in relation to ...
Rather fitting that this was filmed in St Andrews!
The party's new President, Tim Farron, is committed to changing the rules for how our elections are conducted, as he revealed in answer to a question I posed during the contest: Do you believe the party's rules for elections for federal committees and the Interim Peers have the right level of restrictions on what campaigning can be done by or on behalf of candidates, and if not what would you alter? Far too restrictive - there should be very tight expenditure limits to make sure that the well off don't have any kind of advantage but apart from that it ...
I was saddened to hear about the death of Jim Duncan, former Depute Lord Provost of Dundee, long-standing councillor and assessor to the rector of the University of Dundee. Having served as the Chair of Dundee City Labour Party and Election Agent for George Thomson when he was MP for Dundee East, Jim joined the SDP at its formation and thereafter the Liberal Democrats in 1988. Jim was a formidable negotiator during the formation of the Liberal/SDP Alliance. He played a huge role in civic life in the city - on Dundee Corporation, then the District Council - but also ...
I'm sorry to read of the death of Stephen J. Solarz, a former US Congressman who I got to know when he was on the board of the International Crisis Group. He didn't always get it right - his political career ended with well-publicised financial problems and he was part of the now-forgotten consensus in favour of the Iraq war. But he had done some excellent work earlier in his career on bringing peace to Cambodia and eroding the credibility of President Marcos of the Philippines, and was also one of the more important back-channels between Turkey and the US ...
The problem with the wikileaks method of releasing the documents through mainstream media outlets, is that they are then interpreted for the public by a lazy and incompetent group of "Journalists" whose arses have grown plump on the rewards of retailing spoonfed propaganda. So the mainstream missed the underlying stories and context, simply because they are too lazy and stupid to know the facts. The Prince Andrew story is a typical example. The Guardian reports that the US Ambassador disapprovingly notes his jolly (and stupid) remarks about corruption: "In an astonishing display of candour in a public hotel where the ...
The forecasts that were published for the British economy by the newly constituted Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) yesterday were troubling for two reasons. The first is that the numbers show that the UK is a very long way from having a fiscal structure that can be sustained for the long term. The second, though, is more to do with the existence of the OBR itself. The OBR was created because the Conservatives in opposition had lost trust in the official Treasury forecasts which seemed to pander to the political agenda of the then Labour government. What this represents is ...
I've just read the Telegraph article giving full details of Prince Andrew's brunch in some where I'll have to Google to check the spelling and location - Kyrgyzstan. It's in between Uzbekistan and China. I can't say I am in the slightest bit surprised or alarmed by the Prince's reported remarks. First of all, it seems that the US ambassador, who reported the remarks, is labouring under the misapprehension that the Royals have some direct power in the UK. They don't. So they can make remarks at private brunches as much as they like, it won't mean that the government ...
I recently spent a couple of days visiting some of England's surviving windmills with a couple of friends. Though it was a holiday rather than a deliberate exercise in political education, two political points came out clearly. One, which I've blogged about previously, is how the windmill not only used to be a key part of the English landscape but also, in its horizontal axis / vertical sail form, is an English invention. Windmills not only are a British (or perhaps more accurately English) tradition, they are also an example of technical inventiveness of which we can be proud. And ...
A planning application's come in from a company wanting to build a Garden Centre and some other stuff on Speke Boulevard. For people who know the road, they are talking about the corner with the big airport sign and not a lot else. There was originally a plan to put a multiplex cinema, restaurants etc on this corner but despite that going through back in 2004, nothing much happened apart from the hotel being built. Information about the plans are available at You might need to scroll down a bit. The Planning Committee meets to make its decision on ...
In David Laws book he notes that he was the first Liberal minister at the Treasury since Sir John Simon. Some may consider that a not altogether happy precedent. Simon was after all one of the 'guilty men' over the appeasement of Hitler and he stayed in the National Government long after Archibald Sinclair led the Liberal party out. Simon's role as leader of the National Liberal which ended in his wish to join the Tories (which Churchill did not approve) was a key cause of the decline of the Liberal Party. As David Dutton his biographer write on the ...
[IMG: NaBloPoMo Logo] This has been a really tough NaBloPoMo for me. Work has been frantic – meaning that my lunchtime blogging has been restricted to a quick bit of copy editing. I've also had some wonderful new toys to play with – which has distracted my attention. But the biggest problem? My Android phone. Don't get me wrong, I love Android – but for typing, it's nowhere nearly as good as my BlackBerry was. I spend a lot of my time on trains, so I'm used to being able to bash out a fairly lengthy post or email. That's ...
Last night's cabinet featured a savaged by a dead sheep attack on me from the former lead Councillor for the Environment, Paul Gittings. He might have had a point if he hadn't left me with a complete shambles to sort out. Because of the way the council works, changes to fees and charges had to come before last night's Cabinet otherwise they couldn't be implemented on January 1st when VAT increases. I was actually asked to move the increases forward by businesses who use council services who didn't want to put up their fees once for the VAT increase and ...
Nick Clegg, has written to Aaron Porter, President of the National Union of Students, in response to the NUS' 'Right to Recall' campaign. His letter in full: Dear Aaron, Thank you for writing to me about your 'Right to Recall' campaign. The idea of a right to recall was something I proposed when I first became leader of the Liberal Democrats and I am proud that it is now part of the Coalition Agreement. However my proposal was for it to apply to MPs who were found guilty of serious wrongdoing by the parliamentary authorities. My intention has always been ...
As a Scot living in England I normally avoid parochialism but as today is St. Andrew's Day I'm going to make an exception. Today's blog entry is from a postcard written and published by T. Anderson Cairns in 1979. Wha's Like Us? by T. Anderson CairnsThe average Englishman in the home he call his castle slips into his national costume, a shabby raincoat, patented by Chemist Charles Macintosh from Glasgow, Scotland. En-route to his office he strides along the English lane, surfaced by John Macadam of Ayr, Scotland. He drives an English car fitted with tyres invented by John Boyd ...
In a comment on an earlier post Chris Wales confesses that he's not too keen on the state trying to preserve a measure of equality in society. Rather,if I've understood him correctively, he is in favour of unfettered (and not necessarily equal?) opportunity. This is an interesting question and deserves a full post (and perhaps several) rather than an additional comment. Most modern states, as Chris acknowledges, accept that there should be some sort of welfare safety net to prevent too severe destitution, and we have had such as system, with varying degrees of generosity, in this country since the ...
Tue 30th
06:22
Whoniversaries 30 November: Unearthly Child #2, Invasion #5, Dragonfire #2, Silver Nemesis #2
broadcast anniversaries 30 November 1963: repeat of "An Unearthly Child" and first broadcast of "The Cave of Skulls", the first and second episodes of the story we now call An Unearthly Child. The Tardis has landed on a primitive world where the travellers are taken captive by cavemen. 30 November 1968: broadcast of fifth episode of The Invasion. Isobel, Jamie and Zoe enter the sewers and are confronted by a deranged Cyberman. 30 November 1987: broadcast of second episode of Dragonfire. Mel and Ace are pursued by the dragon; the Doctor and Glitz work out where the treasure is. 30 ...
... is that they are always bringing you "presents". Thanks Matilda!
Norwich South MP Simon Wright has backed a campaign to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of lung cancer. National Lung Cancer Awareness Month this November celebrities like Ricky Gervais have been raising awareness and making the case for a better outcome for patients.
At a time when tax revenues have collapsed and the Government is having to make very tough choices about spending, is feathering the nests of rich university graduates really a priority? These students are selfishly arguing that money should be redistributed to them, even though they aren't a needy group. A Guardian editorial in 2009 ...
Please vote for this story on LibDig There's no denying that the Lib Dems are getting extremely negative press, and coming under a lot of attack, over upcoming proposals for University funding and how our MPs might vote. The actuality of the proposals isn't as bad as is being portrayed, and most of the quotes ...
The Irish Economy » Blog Archive » Migration, the limits of internal devaluation, and the bailout Me old friend Kevin has his analysis (tags: ireland economics) kate_nepveu: warping the minds of the very young "Goodnight Moon", but not as we know it. (tags: funny books children) Wikileaks (#cablegate) - Crikey, what a story | Carne Ross 1) this will damage US diplomacy, for sure; 2) it will damage several governments mentioned in the cables, especially Yemen (see this devastating telegram); 3) it will take a while and a lot of promises by US diplomats that their comms are really really ...
David Beckham hopes that the behind-the-scenes allegations of FIFA corruption will not harm England's bid for the World Cup, and I hope so too. If there is any foundation to the claims then FIFA corruption is significant. In one sense it doesn't matter whether their officials have been bribed with £1 or with £1000 (or even £6m) the principle is the same. They are corrupt. Avid readers will know that I am not a great fan of football. The game itself isn't too bad but the managament and politics of the game leave a lot to be desired. Some would ...
[IMG: the-saltire] It is incumbent upon me as the sole Scottish contributor to this blog to wish all readers a very happy St. Andrew's Day! And with the recent rejection of some of the more absurd elements of the SNP Government's minimum alcohol pricing proposals, I'm sure many of my fellow countrymen and women will particularly enjoy raising a glass or three to our patron saint this evening. Whilst our national day may not have quite the same appeal as St. Patrick's Day - thanks for that, Guinness - I'm sure many readers are well aware of the contribution made ...
