On Monday, David Davis took the bold step of announcing he would defy the party whip and vote against a rise in fees. He has been swiftly followed by Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) who told Total Politics that he would be "voting very strongly against the government's proposals". Meanwhile, Lee Scott (Ilford North) announced today his intention to abstain and Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) stated this morning that he cannot back the plans, although he has yet to decide whether he should abstain or vote against. There are rumours of more Tory rebels to follow, with the ...
Every time environmental groups report that a big company is pledging to boycott tarsands oil, it seems to be quickly followed by a denial from the company concerned. Not so with Lush whose campaign manager had a very good letter in The Edmonton Journal today which states "The oilsands represent the biggest environmental disaster of our time." Expect smelly bath-bombs for Christmas.
In March 2009 I asked the then Labour-run Council in Reading three questions about illegal subletting in properties managed by the Council - something which at that point had been identified as a big issue nationally. I have copied the questions I posed then, below: Experts estimate that 5% of social housing properties in inner city areas could be being unlawfully sub-let. a) How many Council properties is the Lead Member aware are currently unlawfully occupied within the Borough? b) What investigations have been carried out by the Council into the extent of the problem of illegal sub-letting of Council ...
In advance of the public launch of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust appeal, taking place on 28th December at McManus Galleries, here's a couple of updates : * A new website for the group is now available at www.thetaymemorial.com - with grateful thanks to Rose Marie for all her work putting the new site together. * A superb fundraising event - Gael's Fire - an evening in the 14th Century - is taking place. See poster below.
The Liberal Democrats have had a lot of flack just recently over student loans, according to tonight's news Lib Dem ministers will vote in favour of the governments proposals. The proposition put forward by students, led I suspect by militant Labour supporters, that Liberals have cheated on a promise, to me seems somewhat flawed since Nick Clegg's party did not win a majority in Parliament, so therefore has never had the opportunity to renege, as they have not been in the position to go with manifesto policy. This whole attack, is almost as sensible as suggesting that students have let ...
I have this evening written a letter to Ivan Lewis MP, in response to the one he sent me earlier on about tuition fees. Ivan's letter and my reply to that letter is below in another post, and I direct him to it in what I've written him this evening. This evening's letter says as follows: Dear Ivan, Thank you for your letter. Since a copy of that letter was sent to the Bury Times it is only right that my reply is also public. You can read my reply on my website by visiting I have been honest ...
A rather interesting article came up in the analysis section of the BBC website today that I haven't read before talking about the differing 'factions'in the Liberal Democrat party. It made for interesting reading, not least because they might as ... Continue reading →
It was a great shock to learn of the sudden death in the early hours of Saturday morning of Zulifqar (Kev) Ahmed of the Newsflash newsagents in Perth Road. He was only 33 and the youngest of his three children is only a few weeks old. He and his family are next door neighbours but one of us and the whole street is in shock at his untimely death at such a young age. Our thoughts are with Nusrat, the children, and the rest of the family.
Although I'm a fan of both Pratchett and Gaiman, I don't quite get Good Omens, which seems to me to have the two writers not so much reinforcing each others' talents as toning them down. I did laugh out loud at the footnotes about firelighters and decimal currency, but I have to say that the book itself is rather a footnote in its authors' careers as far as I'm concerned.
I picked up thus book in a foul mood the other day and it cheered me up almost instantly. McCarthy looks at Hergé's adventures of Tintin and finds all kinds of hidden material - tracking recurrent themes through the entire œuvre, including such issues as sepulchres, mirrors, castration, and the true and incredible meaning of the Castafiore Emerald. I was particularly impressed, as I always am in books like this, by the relation made by McCarthy between Hergé's work and his life. Remi (to use his real name) shifted uneasily from his pre-war racism and anti-Semitism to a more liberal ...
West Lothian Council has reached a baffling decision that is the worst of all worlds as regards schools opening tomorrow. I'll post the ten announcements made on the Council's excellent Twitter feed While the Council has in general done very well in horrific circumstances, I think they've mucked up here, especially as regards primary schools. I have the info on schools that you are waiting for, it will take quite a few posts to share. Please read the info for parents.Given current road conditions it is not possible for the council to guarantee school transport.as it is the responsibility of ...
My Calder on Air column from last week's Liberal Democrat News. The real Mandy? Mandelson: The Real PM? (BBC4) promised the viewer glimpsed of the Demon King in his underwear, taking off all that make up with cold cream, but never delivered it. Yes, much of the action took place behind the scenes, with the other big beasts in the next room or on the other end of the phone, which gave this profile the feel of a downbeat episode of The Thick of It, but Lord Mandelson was never caught out of character for a moment. His bullying answer ...
There is a lovely parallel between the #ukuncut phenomena and the #wikileaks ideologies in current affairs in the UK. #UKUNCUTWhile I will diplomatically abstain on commenting about #ukuncut's approach to student fees, I admired and vicariously supported their demonstration on Saturday against Top Shop boss and Government Advisor Philip Green. For those who are new to the subject, students
I see no reason why I should stop digging just because I am in a hole.
A Seventh Doctor / Ace novel set before Survival, thus outside the New Adventures continuity which I am used to. Despite the fact that Keith Topping is a co-author, I thought it was rather good, a sort-of sequel to The Awakening and to a lesser extent The Dæmons, with occult practices in a remote English village connecting both to ancient aliens and the highest levels of today's government; lots of good moments for Ace and her Doctor, and managing to engage with the genre of The Wicker Man while still being more or less a Doctor Who story. Two things ...
One of the few arguments that Lib Dems members, who are accepting the rise in tuition fees, are making is that this decision is acceptable because we are a (minor) player in a coalition government and not all our policies can be made into law; it's about give and take. Well looking back at the coalition agreement it does not mention anything about increase in tuition fees.The agreement states:
Manchester LibDems delighted by tough measures to help older, poor and disabled fight rising fuel bills New mandatory scheme worth up to £1.1bn over four years to replace voluntary agreement Manchester LibDems welcomed a tougher mandatory scheme that will help millions, especially in Manchester. The Warm Home Discount, confirmed as part of the recent Spending Review, will require energy companies by law to give a discount on energy bills to more of their most vulnerable customers. The plan is for older, poorer pensioners to receive up to £130 off their electricity bills. Other groups such as low income families and ...
Much of the trouble the Liberal Democrats face over tuition fees comes not because the party is voting against the policies on which it fought the last election, but because many Lib Dem candidates signed personal pledges saying they would not support a rise in fees. Whatever your view on the tuition fees issue, there are good reasons why candidates should not get involved with such pledges. Because they are often signed out of fear. A campaign group asks candidates from all parties to sign a pledge and they sign it, often regardless of the importance of the issue or ...
As football fans this bill makes common sense, pleased that Don Foster is moving
Equality and diversity at tertiary education level are a tangled set of important and emotive issues. Needless to say, David Lammy has made a complete dog whistling breakfast of the whole thing. (Note: all the following figures not taken from his article are from table 5 in this summary, and relate to home students who ...
In what seems to have become a regular double-act, both George Pascoe-Watson and myself are quoted in a story today from PR Week: On the eve of the crucial Commons vote on whether to raise tuition fees by up to £9,000 a year at top universities, official data has shown that over 20 Oxbridge colleges made no offers to black candidates for undergraduate courses last year and one Oxford college has not admitted a single black student in five years... [Mark Pack] said: 'These figures do highlight how important the issue is, and I think it has some relevance, but ...
Tue 7th
18:42
Labour Letter Watch 3 - This time it's personal (about tuition fees, from Ivan Lewis MP)
Welcome to the latest of my occasional posts about letters from local Labour politicians. Usually it's about revealing the truth behind the lies in their letters to the press, but today I have received a personal letter from Ivan Lewis MP (the man who I haven't accused of using Bury South as a stepping stone to becoming Shadow Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport whilst his activists have accused me of using Prestwich as a stepping stone to a parliamentary career). The letter was hand delivered in a pre-paid Parliamentary envelope. The wasted postage is a shame, but ...
I am back to blogging, and the first thing to do is post a music video. Market Harborough is full of posters for a Roy Wood concert which is a good reason to pay tribute to Wizzard. I had the misfortune to get interested in the charts in 1973. It was the height of glam rock and things got worse after that. Still Wizzard have lasted better than most (to be honest, any) bands of that era. Ballpark Incident was the first of a succession of great singles that relied upon a pastiche of earlier rock styles. Despite what the ...
One cannot help but have a feeling of deja vu over the resignation of the Chair of S4C. With more twists and turns than a Pobol y Cwm storyline, Welsh language broadcasting lurches from one disaster to another. It is clear that S4C is in chaos. This resignation is probably inevitable in the circumstances but it will not, by itself deliver the fresh start that S4C needs. The Welsh Liberal Democrats continue to support a full review of the management, governance and funding structure of S4C so that Welsh Language broadcasting can be put on a sustainable footing and quality ...
Well what a bloody mess this is! I stop blogging for a few months and in my absence the party almost tears itself apart over tuition fees. I just felt that I had to write something about this. It feels like it could be a crisis which it takes the party many years to recover from and which could damage it electorally for years to come too. Firstly, the party leadership should never have encouraged candidates to sign the NUS pledge against increasing tuition fees before the election. From what I have been able to glean, some PPCs/MPs who were ...
There were four principal council by-elections in the week leading up to December 2nd, one of which was a rare Tuesday election out in Wales. The trend toward good news for incumbents continued unabated with three out of four contests resulting in holds, none of which were particularly close. Tuesday's match-up in the Ciliau Aeron ward of Ceredigion Council was the second Tuesday by-election of the year, after the famous Lib Dem defence of Whyteleafe in Tandridge on February 2nd (not that you needed to ask, of course). Out in the valleys, it was Plaid who held on despite a ...
It was announced today that the Area Green Space Plans will not now include the sell off of the open space off Craydon Road Stockwood, after I lobbied hard against it being sold off. I am personally very pleased that Stockwood residents will continue to have full use of this area, with it remaining as it is. Although the plans were draft plans and consultation documents a lot of ill feeling has been stirred up, particularly by Stockwood Tory councillor Jay Jethwa, which I feel is unfortunate. I have always felt it more appropriate to make representations in a calm ...
The email I received from County Hall today was quite specific about the procedure for those of us who live in Derwentside: Alternate weekly collections (Derwentside area): please leave your waste out on your normal collection day. If it's not collected on that day, please leave your bin out and it will be collected as soon as possible.
Have a watch of this poignant official video for the charity single from the Aberlour Child Care Trust, Where will you sleep this Christmas, featuring Gamu Nhengu. It was going to be released next Monday, 13th December but it will now be available from Sunday 12th. I wrote last week about how Simon Cowell is refusing to allow Gamu to do any promotional work for the single because it is in competition with the X Factor Winner's single. Here's a reminder of what you can do if you disagree with him: Firstly, write to your MP - and if you ...
My email to Nicholas Soames MP "Dear Mr Soames, Lee Scott MP and David Davis MP have already indicated that they will oppose the increase in tution fees. I am asking you to do the same. Why? Because the proposed changes to further education funding are hasty, badly thought out and have the potential to leave a terrible legacy. Is it right or fair that students graduating in a few years time will have as much debt as if they had bought a luxury car? There are better ways to fund further education. It is reasonable that students should make ...
The decision to put Julian Assange in a cell over ludicrous sexual offence allegations is a politically motivated act that must be resisted. Assange has never been in hiding from the police, and there is no reason at all to believe he would abscond if granted bail. This is kompromat - the use of sexual allegations to denigrate a person perceived as a threat to the state. They did it to Charles Parnell and Roger Casement and, a lowlier case, to me. This is an article I wrote on August 25: The Russians call it Kompromat - the use by ...
I was disappointed when I read the comments of Alliance Party MLA for South Belfast, Anna Lo, following the story in Fermanagh's Impartial Reporter about calls from SDLP Councillor John O'Kane for more co-operation between the SDLP, UUP, and Alliance. Cllr O'Kane, said: To be credible with the public we [SDLP] need to have some ...
It may or may not have been foolish for any MP to sign the pledge on tuition fees. Most did it fully believing in it. Our party had debated the issue and refused to downgrade our opposition to tuition fees to a mere "aspiration". I am not so sure about the motives of at least two of our coalition negotiators, David Laws and Danny Alexander. David never liked the pledge and signed it very
Parliament has reacted to yesterday's news that the government plans to remove the legal requirement that the ACMD (Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs) contains scientists and experts Yesterday I described my concern and that of others like the Campaign for Science and Engineering about the government's plan to remove the statutory minimum of scientists on the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). The political reaction has begun. One MP raised the matter in the 20-minute segment of Home Office questions that is devoted to topical questions (which do not need three days' notice to submit). From ...
Saturday was fun down on Lordship Lane. We even had reindeer to go with a Father Christmas. My youngest was quite confused having met a Father Christmas at a school xmas fair earlier that day. Below is me being used to hide two reindeer's. [IMG: lordship-lane-reindeers.jpg] This event was funded by £950 from the East Dulwich part of the local Community Fund which my ward colleagues and I allocated to this even. Worth every penny seeing so many happy people involved. Well done to Monica for making it happen for a second year.
Until the 1970's London Bridge had 3 more terminating platforms. You can see where they were in this photo taken recently. The station roof is still present. [IMG: london-bridge-platforms-17-to-19.jpg] At the local history unit you can see old plans showing 9 terminating platforms. Under the Thameslink changes at London Bridge 6 through platforms become 9 and 9 terminating platforms become 6. As a result the South London Line is planned to be CLOSED in 2012. Its clear from the above picture that actually enough space exists to keep 9 terminating platforms - by reopening the three closed in 1970's. Hopefully, ...
The clear winner this week is Meols Ward Lib Dems with this article on the micro car rally held in Southport
Better Bankside are running an event today called 'Lorries for Savvy Cyclists' just of off Winchester Walk near Southwark Cathedral in SE1. Great event for my bike as it received a free health check, had its brakes fixed, tyres fully inflated and property marked. All good stuff for the bike. But the main aim was to create opportunities for cyclists to site in massive lorry cab in the drivers seats, while Police cyclists positioned themselves and bikes around the lorry. Much of the time you couldn't see them - even with the zillions of mirrors and them being rather tall ...
[IMG: houses.jpg] A new planning application has been received which is within Holyrood Ward of Prestwich as detailed below:- Application number: 53368 Type of application: Full Date Registered: 03/12/2010 Applicant: Kids Planet Day Nurseries Location: Land between 69 & 71 Bury Old Road, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6TB Proposal: Construction of 120 place day nursery with landscaping and external works to existing junction Plans are available to view on the Council's website . Should you require further details please contact the case officer: Dave Marno on: 0161 253 5291 or myself or fellow ward councillor, Tim Pickstone. We would be happy ...
My belly has gone all sorts of interesting colours. I have lost my belly button piercing because one of the keyholes has gone right through where the fistula was. Having a bath is AMAZING, even though it's difficult to get in and out. In fact, movement of any kind is difficult. You don't realise how much you take your capabilities for granted until you don't have them any more. Anyway: task for today is to obtain sick note from doctor and take it in to work so that I can have SSP, which is a MASSIVE £79.15 a week. My ...
I managed to squeeze 20 minutes in at the official opening of the new London offices of the European Commission and European Parliament at 32 Smith Square last night, before having to rush off to chair the Executive of London Liberal Democrats at Cowley Street just a short walk away. Jose Manuel Barroso, President of ...
I wish that Shirley Williams had stood for the Lib Dems' Federal Policy Committee this year. I believe that she would have been elected by acclamation (in contrast to my own failure to get on to the Federal Conference Committee in the same set of elections, but that's another story). Here she is to great effect on today's World At One (about 18 minutes, 55 seconds in - well worth a listen) talking about tuition fees and the Coalition Government. I agree with every word that she says and strongly urge everyone in my party to heed her wise words. ...
We're into the last 24 hours of voting in this year's Pink Paper Readers Awards. Earlier in the autumn as the awards nominations opened, it was impossible to log that you came from Northern Ireland in the awards. As one of the people that pushed Tris Reid-Smith, Editor of Gay Times and the Pink Paper ...
Just for the sake of completeness, apart from reforming tenancy types and rent types, the government are also suggesting: 1 Right to Buy will continue for the new flexible tenancies (I give that one the thumbs down, unless the proceeds can all be kept locally and used to provide more social housing; at the moment the money goes off to the Treasury, and RTB is removing houses from the social rented sector, which is stupid when there is such a shortage of social housing) 2 incentives to help local authorities bring some of the country's empty homes back into use ...
Yes: we're 'on it'. Local residents and the police are complaining that the crossing is now dangerous because the white zig zags have not been replaced after resurfacing - which means that people are parking close to the crossing and so obscuring it. Herts Highways assure us that it is top priority - but we have bene waiting rather a long time.
With the vote in the House of Commons on Tuition Fees approaching later this week, it is clear that most of the Liberal Democrats MPs are not going to stick to the pledges that they made TO VOTE AGAINST ANY INCREASE IN FEES in the next parliament and to pressure the government to introduce A ...
Cornwall Council's Chief Executive Kevin Lavery is in the press today saying that the authority may have to make 700 redundancies. Yet as recently as last Friday (at the Full Council budget setting meeting), we were being told that the figure was up to 2000. Of course it is good news that the council is not going to make so many people redundant. But surely councillors should be given the most up to date details when they are considering a budget? During the meeting, my colleague George Edwards raised the issue of job losses and asked about the 2000 figure. ...
The Big Arts Give is doubling the value of donations made to the Folkestone Triennial from 6th - 10th December 2010. The scheme enables individuals and organisations who would like to support the Folkestone Triennial's wider education, learning and outreach work in the community to take part without committing large contributions.
[IMG: Daniel Yates] Police are asking for help in locating a man in connection with a violent assault. Daniel Yates (born 03/01/1978) of Brookfield Road, Cheadle, Stockport, is wanted by police following an incident in Cheadle on Thursday 25 November 2010 in which a woman was injured. It is believed he is still visiting the area. Anyone who knows of his whereabouts is asked to call Greater Manchester Police on 0161 872 5050 or the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Visit the Police website for more information.
She is appearing in Harrods...as part of the window decorations:
There will be a bike crushing session on Sunday afternoon at Tesco Car Park, where illegal quad and off-road bikes which have been confiscated will be crushed. As Belle Vue House is being refurbished, the advice session on Saturday, 11 - 12 will be at the Market.
I am extremely happy to read that there is another protest against the soul-destroying X-Factor this year, with a group of artists releasing a recording of John Cage's 4′ 33" as a charity single. To me, the X-Factor is to music what modern finance is to working. Yes, there's a lot of effort put into it, there are some genuinely talented people involved, there's nothing actually wrong with much of it. But really it's just another soulless corporate machine that is destroying what it means to be a real human being, on the grounds that it isn't actually illegal. Music ...
Last night saw the great tram crash in Coronation Street. An explosion at The Joinery set the scene for a dramatic tram crash into both the Corner Shop and the Kabin. A week long of drama will culminate with the soap celebrating its 50th birthday this Thursday, 9th December with a live 1 hour episode. To pay tribute to the world's longest current runnning soap, I'm blogging a quote a day from Corrie's past up until the big day. Today, it's the turn of Corner Shop grocer Alf Roberts. This quote from his wife-to-be at the time, Audrey Potter, summed ...
Splits weaken parties, and sometimes destroy them. The reputation of the Liberal Democrat brand is being undermined with each passing hour as the impression grows stronger that on the issue of tuition fees we are not only divided but clueless. The case for supporting the recommendations of the Browne inquiry is strong, and if I were in the Commons I would be voting with Nick. The real damage to the party comes not from our adjusting course to take account of changed conditions, nor from rebellion by backbenchers on grounds of individual conscience, but from the impression we are now ...
Conservative MP, and former Leadership contender, David Davis is to vote against an increase in Tuition Fees. Mr Davis said he believed the Government's plan to allow universities to charge up to £9,000 a year in fees "is going to hurt the aspirant working classes" and added "I have always voted against tuition fees and my views have not changed."
I'm spending a fair bit of time thinking about all the implications of The Vote on Thursday night, trying to work out what's the worst that can happen, that kind of thing. I doubt the Government would fall if it were defeated, but I think our position within it would be weakened. The worst for me, though, would be if, as has been speculated about all over the place, Lynne Featherstone resigned as Equalities Minister. Every woman and girl in the UK, whether they go to university or not, will benefit from the work she is doing, whether it's on ...
[IMG: "] The former Prime Minister said: (1) that Britain should stop kow-towing to the Americans; (2) that before the next election the coalition should formalise an electoral pact to protect the most vulnerable Lib Dem seats: ie, campaign for a renewed, post-election coalition; and (3) that Britain's independent nuclear deterrent is hard to justify in the 21st century and the money could better be spent elsewhere on defence. [IMG: "] All of which is interesting. Parris was praising Clegg again later in the week and asserted that Clegg had in essence accept the Conservative economic position. Most of us ...
... was April 11, 1954 it would appear. Or at least so says a group of computer experts who have been crunching the data: According to the results of the search machine, called True Knowledge, on that day a general election was held in Belgium, a Turkish academic was born and an Oldham Athletic footballer called Jack Shufflebotham died. Apart from that nothing much happened. Developed by Cambridge University technologist William Tunstall-Pedoe, the Internet search engine reached its lofty decision after analysing some 300 million facts about "people, places, business and events" that made the news... "Nobody significant died that ...
Regional media report today that Southport MP Joh Pugh will vote against the rise in tuition fees; the Daily Post reports: MERSEYSIDE'S only Liberal Democrat MP has vowed to oppose the raising of student tuition fees in a crunch Commons vote this week. Southport's John Pugh told the Daily Post: "However you cut it, this still means adding to the indebtedness of future generations already burdened by our failures on pensions and the economy." He has told party whips he will vote "No" on Thursday to the bill to raise the cap on tuition fees from £3,350 to up to ...
The Department of Work and Pensions has published a public consultation on Disability Living Allowance reform, seeking views on the Government's proposals to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a new benefit - Personal Independence Payment.
Our local police send out a very useful monthly news letter on police issues. Latest is attached. Also the Police have now interviewed and selected an independent panel of residents from the community to liaise with the police over police issues. The first Chair will be Henry Brown who takes over this role after stepping down from the Better Bath Forum. This community panel is a welcome initiative from the police. My only concern is that the panel truly represents all residents and so I am checking up, along with other colleagues, on how the initial adverts were placed. Dear ...
The Coalition correctly scrapped the former RSS process of top down centrally dictated development criteria for local communities and replaced it with a Local Develpment Framework. B&NES is now about to consult on its draft proposal. The new system is a lot quicker than the previous one but will still take time. The initial consultation period lasts until early February. The document contains nearly all the demands and suggestions from the extensive Liberal Democrat submission. However the ruling Conservative group of the Council still insist on putting in paragraphs that push agendas which are unnacceptable to residents in Bath. Their ...
While Orwell thought of himself as a socialist, he deserves to enter the liberal hall of fame for standing up to authoritarianism, warning of the Statist tendencies in the Labour party (at around the same time as Hayek) and, perhaps most importantly of all, for his profound disgust for those on the Left who thought they knew what was best for the working classes. In The Road to Wigan Pier he makes it clear that as far as he is concerned telling people how to live their lives is as bad as the poverty he is chronicling.
The Sustainable communities act is still progressing. The submission from Bath and NE Somerset is still in the frame for implementation. From: Tony Maguire Sent: 03 December 2010 12:37 Dear Cllr. Crossley, Thank you for your recent letter dated the 29th November 2010 to Greg Clark MP about the Sustainable Communities Act. I hope you understand the Minister receives many letters and emails every day and is unfortunately unable to answer all of them personally. His office has asked me to reply. The Government is totally committed to devolving power to local councils, local communities and local citizens. It believes ...
As a Lib Dem I'm perfectly happy with Members of parties not voting with the whips. The rebel in me likes it when MP's don't vote with their own party on principal. So I don't have a problem with Lib Dem MP's voting many different ways on tuition fees. However this is in no doubt a Lib Dem PR disaster, Lib Dems have never been good at PR and our MP's have not been able to put the case across that this system is similar to a graduate tax. Labour Blogger Scarlet called it a mess and I agree it ...
One of the best examples of people working together in our communities to improve things is with local Tenants and Residents associations. Across Bury there are dozens of such groups working to improve local services and quality of life on estates. Last night I attended a meeting of Polefield TRA. The meetings are attended by housing officers (Six Town Housing), Council officers, Police, Tenants and Councillors. Polefield TRA has been in existence for several years now, continually battling away to improve things on that estate. ST.JOSEPHS PLAY EQUIPMENT Last night we received an update on progress towards establishing play facilities ...
"Woeful political handling lead to turmoil in Lib Dem ranks over tuition fee hike" writes the Guardian with no Lib Dem being able to go anywhere without someone having an opinion on how the Lib Dems are split, with poor leadership, and having betrayed people. Opinion polls have plummeted and Labour seem to have benefited. ...
"We're all in it together" is the mantra of the coalition government. Well unless you are super rich with an aggresive accountant, or a large corporation based off shore. For these wealthy entities, little has changed. It must be especially galling for potential students to be looking at epic debts for a large portion of their working lives, whilst the super rich and large businesses sucessfully avoid tax. Hence the following announcement from Liberal Democrat Voice is very welcome: "Though the timing is rather politically convenient, bringing welcome news for Liberal Democrats just ahead of the tuition fees vote, the ...
The long-drawn out saga of the Government's Welsh Language Measure reaches its climax today with a four hour plus debate and 71 individual amendments, many of which have come from the Government itself. The measure is being trailed as the most complex yet, but I suspect the reason for that is because the Government has made such a hash of it rather than anything in the legislation itself. The key outstanding issue is the status of the Welsh Language and I was fascinated to see in this morning's Western Mail that one Plaid Cymru AM has broken ranks and tabled ...
Nick Perry, the Lib Dem parliamentary spokesperson for Hastings & Rye, has joined over one hundred other Lib Dem candidates for the 2010 General Election, to petition the party's leadership to keep the pledge to students that all Lib Dem candidates made prior to the General Election. Nick says, "I met with Vince Cable ...
Within days of each other Argentina and Brazil have each recognized Palestine as a free and independent state within the borders defined in 1967. Good for them. Israel is said to have reacted with "sadness and disappointment" to the declaration. I bet it has. Will the Europeans follow the South American's example in due course? Many of them have suggested that they will, but when push comes to shove they won't rock the US-Israel consensus. The US will block any attempt to secure UN ratification. From Britain, from our/my Coalition Government, and from the rest of the EU, there will ...
Taking inspiration from Simon Cutmore, I've produced a Wordle of this coming Sunday's text from which I shall be preaching: [IMG: Wordle: Matthew 11.2-11 (TNIV)] Wordle: Matthew 11.2-11 Some initial thoughts that may point the way: There are two main themes in the interaction between Jesus and John's disciples. On the one hand, John has heard about Messiah-activities happening in and around his cousin, Jesus. The trouble is that Jesus doesn't seem to be connecting these Messiah-activities with the sort of movement people – probably including John, banged up in prison – were expecting. That is to say, Jesus wasn't ...
As well as the lengthy discussion about winter maintenance issues at the City Council last night, there were committee meetings and I highlight some issues below : * It was good to see Blackness Primary School being one of four schools getting new synethetic multi-use games areas - this will be a boon in terms of the PE provided at the school. * I supported a Labour motion to defer the move of 5 cultural and arts staff (and resultant £29 574 capital expenditure) from the Education Development Service base at Rockwell to the council's Music Centre. I spoke in ...
I'm about to start doing some telephoning - but it seems that a certain organisation for whom I will be telephoning does not seem to understand that telephone numbers in Northern Ireland are eight digits long with a three-digit STD number. Therefore they should be displayed as (028) 1234 5678 not (281) 234-5678 It's not ...
I have unsurprisingly received a further deluge of residents' concerns about the roads and footpaths condition in many areas of the West End over the past 24 hours - Millbay Terrace, Menzieshill Road, the Logie Estate sheltered housing, Ancrum Drive, Saggar Street, Glamis Terrace, Dunmore Gardens, Dunmore Drive, Almond Place - to name just a few, but it gives a measure of the importance of getting residential streets now tackled in addition to the 'priority' (mainly bus) routes. There was an hour and a quarter's discussion at City Council last night about the weather and winter maintenance situation and the ...
Click here to read it on his excellent blog.
Life isn't fair is probably one of the earliest lessons we learn in life. Things don't always work out the way we want or indeed deserve. Yet one of the touchstones for Democracy is that the brightest should at least get a chance to compete with the merely privileged. If there can not be equality of outcome, then at least there should be equality of opportunity. What happens though, when it becomes increasingly obvious that no matter what your skills, there is and will never be even the pretence of fairness? In the UK now there is a crisis of ...
An edited version of this post is cross-posted at The Vibe Online, an excellent political internet magazine. I also have a letter published in The Guardian along the same lines. The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley MP has been a busy man since taking office. Not content with driving through radical reforms to the NHS - including controversial plans for healthcare budgets to be handed over to consortia of GPS - he recently unveiled the Department of Health's White Paper on Public Health - Healthy lives, healthy people. Whilst this White paper sets out a compelling case for the need to ...
Grauniad has odd choice of picture to illustrate rebellion by Lib Dem MPs.
Tue 7th
06:57
Whoniversaries 7 December: Padbury, Craze, Child #3, Invasion #6, Dragonfire #3, Nemesis #3
i) births and deaths 7 December 1947: birth of Wendy Padbury, who played Second Doctor companion Zoe Heriot in 1968-69. 7 December 1998: death of Michael Craze, who played Ben Jackson, companion of the First and Second Doctors, in 1966-67. ii) broadcast anniversaries 7 December 1963: broadcast of "The Forest of Fear", third episode of the story we now call An Unearthly Child. The time travellers escape from the Cave of Skulls, but are recaptured just as they reach the Tardis. 7 December 1968: broadcast of sixth episode of The Invasion. UNIT rescues Watkins: the Cybermen and Vaughn broadcast their ...
1. Over the weekend a Liberal Democrat spokesman on Radio 4 invoked the "parlous state of the country's finances" as a justification for some of his colleagues' possible U-turn on fees (though he himself, bless him, was going to vote against.) But the fact remains that students will not be required to pay these fees "up front." so who will? The state, presumably. So if fees are increased the state will have to pay more than it does at the moment. So if the country's public finances really are parlous, these increases will make them even more parlous. There's the ...
TES Cymru have revealed that the Labour-Plaid Government is set for a 'disastrous' set of results under the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), with an expected drop of up to five places in the world rankings in some subjects. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide evaluation of 15-year-old school pupils' educational performance. It is coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with a view to improving educational policies and outcomes. Back in November, the First Minister said that he was looking to see an improvement in these internationally renowned education statistics. It ...
Jackie Ashley in today's Guardian rolls out the old chestnut about the deep seated fear of debt in working class households. At least, I think it is an old chestnut. Is there any evidence for it? My gut feeling is that it is more myth than substance, and if it was once true, it is of historical interest now. If not, why haven't we still got a substantial stock of social housing, since uptake of the right-to-buy was such a failure? Why are levels of household debt so high? It seems to me that the British public of all classes ...
I may write about local, national or international subjects for these blogs and I used a couple of local blog entries as the basis for a recent Focus leaflet. I received a message on the answerphone yesterday from someone who wanted to make a few comment about the points I had made and to make a few of his own. I won't tell you where he lived, as his first concern was about the effect on his and neighbouring houses caused by the building of a new road. Their houses were built on a flood plain and water is dangerously ...
