Yes Means Yes say everything that needs to be said about the Assange case. Meanwhile, the poor bloke accused of actually leaking the documents to wikileaks – the real 'hero' insofar as there is one - is being tortured and there are calls for his execution. Julian Andsandy will get a public, fair trial in ...
Listening to the news this morning, it sounded like Bob Ainsworth had suggested all drugs should be legalised. Listening to his actual words this evening, he's only asking for a debate on the subject, for which he's been roundly denounced. It's strange that it is fine to have proper debates on a whole range of subjects from genetic engineering to Government spending, but any call for a debate on drugs is shouted down. The illegal drugs trade causes a terrible blight in many areas, including Gorton where I live. I would seriously welcome a debate on which drugs should or ...
Twenty five EU capitals down, two (Sofia and Bucharest) to go, after last weekend's trip to Prague. I've been working in London since I got back, so tonight's my first chance to post properly. But with six months still to go before my 30th, I think I'm on track to complete the challenge I set myself years ago. Like Spain, I'd put off making a trip to Prague purely from personal prejudice. My preconceived view of Prague was a city full of rowdy Brits on stag dos, downing Staropramen before they staggered off to a strip joint, probably in a ...
Most of our local charity shops collect used stamps - foreign, UK commemorative or just plain "ordinary" stamps - and sell them on to dealers. Please keep all those stamps you get at Xmas or indeed any time of year and take them in. Alternatively you can drop them off to Paul Hulbert at 35 Blaisdon (he's collecting them for Cancer Research) or leave them at Dodington Parish Council for him to collect.
Last winter there were reports in the media that people were put off clearing snow and ice for fear of being sued if someone later fell. The Government has tried to reassure the public - you can find their advice online.
If you're looking for something to entertain the children this Christmas, take a look at what's going on in our local libraries.
I just couldn't resist a quick blogpost when I saw the news that the UK parliament is creating an LGBT group for MPs, Lords and staff with the not-so-catchy title "Parliout". There's going to be a party at the speakers house and everything! Being a self-professed LGB and T group, they will of course be inviting all the high profile Trans parliamentarians... except we don't have any. How about anyone who is Trans who works in Parliament itself? Or even some senior Trans civil servants from other departments? Nope, none I'm aware of. In fact, I would hazard a guess ...
before reading this please note these are my personal views and may contain error and also I 'm bloody fuming that Thanet council has no provision for allowing members of the public to exit the council offices DESPITE HAVE WRITTEN TO RICHARD SAMUEL BEFORE ON THE SAME SUBJECT Stupidly I've always held the view that we the public ought to support democracy by a) voting in local elections and b) getting involved. I do both to some extent, however tonight forget the involved bit, tonight's council meeting was, the part i witnessed a complete and utter farce. At the opening ...
There has been another issue that has made it tempting for me to stay hidden under the duvet over the last few days. That would have been an attempt to avoid the "Luton and extremism" headlines that have been all across the media since the discovery that the suicide bomber who died in the attack in Stockholm in Sweden on Saturday had spent the last ten years living in the town. (BBC news report here.) From the reports it seems there is little doubt that the bomber, Taimour Al Abdally, who was born in Iraq, grew up in Sweden, and ...
Blogging: the new mainstream Jon on the future of blogging. I broadly agree with him about how blogging has, and likely will, develop, group blogs always had an advantage over individuals, if done well. Now that UK blogging has matured, it's unsurprising that group and media financed blogs dominate most rankings. But that doesn't mean they're taking over, or driving smaller bloggers out. They're amplifying an audience, the audience for small personal blogs is probably bigger now than it was a few years ago, and I'd say it's likely even easier for a good individual to break in to the ...
Five former Kent County Council Members - 3 Conservative, one Liberal Democrat and one Labour - have been given the title of Honorary Alderman in recognition of their service to the County Council and the people of Kent.
[IMG: bruce lee] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: Thomas Duchnicki ...Just delivered my offspring to her Martial Arts' club Christmas dinner. It was at a Chinese restaurant. As we went in, I said the name of the group to the owner and he said "Ah, the kick boxers – are you a kick boxer?" he asked me. I suppose at 6'1" I look like a potential kick boxer, albeit one slightly over the hill. "No – but she is" I replied – gesturing to the 5'1" pretty girl beside me. A shiver of paternal pride went through me.
Some jest there with the title - I couldn't resist! But with the festive season of 'goodwill to all men' upon us, it's been good to see a little less of the partisan politics in the County Council Chamber this week. A Plaid Cymru/Welsh Lib Dem Join Motion Today, I was very pleased to formally second a motion on behalf of the Welsh Liberal Democrats (our Council Group photo to the right), put forward by the leader of the opposition Plaid Cymru group on the Council, Cllr Ellen ap Gwynne, in support of the extra powers referendum to the Welsh ...
I am attending the event "Future of news and current affairs: BBC, Fox or third way?" at the Institute for Government this evening (hopefully I can get home) and will be live tweeting under the hashtag #futureofnews. I also plan to ... Continue reading →
Today I watched a DVD by Spike Lee. It was the first disk of two. All about what happened when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. It was far more balanced than some of the books and web pages that I have seen. There were interviews with all sorts of people - residents, policy makes and even sean penn (does he live there??). I digress. It was good to see more shots of the convention centre and the superdome. There was a lot of hype but the fact remained. Once the evacuation plan was hatched there was very little federal backup. ...
Last night's Apprentice semi-final was compulsive viewing. For ten weeks, we have veered between annoyance, horror and disbelief at the antics of 21 year old Isle Of Man contestant Stuart Baggs, who styled himself "The Brand". Lord Sugar seemed to have gone soft and was completely taken in by scatology more related to bovine creatures than to the "field of ponies" Baggs famously swore he could deliver for him. I had been particularly furious when Lord Sugar fired the highly competent Liz last week. The only saving grace from that is that he knew what was coming to Stuart - ...
Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne have made two important announcements on behalf of the Coalition Government. Seven months in, the novelty of having Liberal Democrat Cabinet Ministers has not worn off for me. For years, we've banged on in opposition about the things that we would like to do in government, now we are finally doing some of them - at last! Around about the time I first joined the Liberal Party aged fifteen in 1986, our leader, David Steel, told the annual Assembly: "I am not interested in power without principles. But equally, I am only faintly attracted to ...
It's taken a little long than I would've liked (a year by the time it's completed) BUT finally the Coalition have overturned Labour's policy of imprisoning children. It's something that it has been very important, for me, to see implemented and I am glad we can finally see an end to this disgusting abuse of minors. Now we must hope that control orders are axed by the Government in the New Year. Write to your MPs! If you feel benevolent and particularly generous, this writer always appreciates things bought for him from his wishlist
[IMG: margate exhibit] Since this brief article provoked some questions I contacted Thanet councils press supremo for some further information to see what was actually occurring, the councils press supremo seemed to know nothing about the report, bemused I decided to contact the local paper, I understand from the reporter a group of people are hoping to do something with the old museum, which when more is known will be detailed in the Gazette, I look forward to something positive. As you know it's my opinion that Margate Museum or lack of it is one of those issues that needs ...
Leading Liberal Democrat Councillor Robin Lawrence has called on Labour to continue the Liberal Democrats good work now that they have taken control Wolverhampton City Council.
This just in from Southeastern: "Southeastern has been advised by Network Rail, who has responsibility for keeping the track clear of ice and snow, that we can run our normal timetable service for Friday 17 December.
The myth-busting about snow was going so well this year (government giving good advice, councils giving good advice, lawyers saying sensible things and media reporting the issue accurately), and then along comes the Belfast Telegraph's Lindy McDowell: Of course we should be able to sort it. But the authorities won't take responsibility for gritting because they're scared of being sued. And we can't self-grit because, again, someone might sue us. Capitalising on all this? The legal profession who just love a compensation case. Well, no.
From PoliticsHome: The war of words in Oldham East and Saddleworth is heating up the bitter cold Lancastrian back-alleys this winter, only seven months since the first election battle ended. And the early summer days of the Coalition's 'new politics' could well be forgotten in the cold. A Lib Dem election leaflet points to the Tories trailing "in a distant third place at every election since the 1995 by-election," casting off David Cameron's party as "set to finish in third place yet again". Is it appropriate to flag-up the failure of your new-found colleagues? Er....yes, in an election campaign – ...
Thu 16th
17:20
Jeremy Purvis puts fair access to higher education at heart of Liberal Democrat thinking
Today Cabinet Secretary for Education Mike Russell outlined the proposals in his long awaited Green Paper for Higher Education. He outlined a number of various options with the aim of maintaining Scotland's reputation for world class academic excellence. The six options under consideration are: the state retaining primary responsibility for fundingthe state retaining primary responsibility for funding but with a graduate contributioncharging more for students who come to study from other parts of the UKincreased donations and philanthropic givingmore money from businessefficiency savingsBasically what will happen now is that everybody will study the paper, get some magic numbers about future ...
E4 have just revealed the characters for series five of teen drama Skins. After two lots of pretty interesting characters VN is a bit disappointed by our first glance. There is the cross dressing presumably lesbian character after the success of Naomi/Emily. There is the Sid-esque waster, and the pretty girl. Not that it will deter us from watching, and it will be interesting to see how they use these characters.
On Tuesday my second cousin and his bride who had minutes before stolen the name of one of his triplet sisters walked down the aisle as man and wife to a live rendition of Mariah Carey's All I want for Christmas is You. My friend, and fellow blogger, Andrew Reeves and I are both big ice hockey fans indeed he writes up match reports on the Edinburgh Capitals games. Every day getting to work I pass the Odyssey Arena home of the Belfast Giants. They are a sports team that has done a lot to reach across the divides in ...
In amongst all the excitement of the Assange hearing, the (very welcome and much-awaited) statement by Clegg on ending child detention, and the comments by Bob Ainsworth on drugs policy (where was he when his party were in government though, ... Continue reading →
[IMG: The outside of the WACA] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: Tamsin Slater The WACA You know – Gabba (Brisbane), WACA (Perth), SACA (Adelaide)... But there it stops, my research tells me. The answer to the question above is "no". Melborne Cricket Ground at Yarra Park is nicknamed "The G". Sydney Cricket Ground is called...er...."SCG". Unless you can add to this gleaned information? By the way, well done to the boys. I was listening to events in Perth as I came to work this morning. Good old "Test Match Special". Swann's catch off Haddin sounded fantastic.
As you can imagine, had anything earth shattering occurred at yesterday's cabinet question and answer session with the people of Consett (such as a Damascus Road experience where the cabinet agreed that it would be sensible to reopen the debate on where the Academy should be sited if the money comes through) I would have told you, however busy I was. In truth we re-trod old ground with passionately put questions, skilfully defused by Councillor Henig - the leader of the council - who answered each one in very even tones before handing the question on. The first two questions ...
My namesake, Christopher Davies, was killed in Afghanistan last month, The 22 year old from St Helens served in the 1st Battalion Irish Guards; he was hit by small arms fire while taking part in a security patrol in Helmand province. By all accounts, and there are many of them, he was a model professional soldier and a very popular man with all who knew him. The European Parliament has just expressed its views on the need for a new strategy in Afghanistan. It says nothing that can't be found from other sources but is still worth citing. It says ...
Thu 16th
16:00
Day 3637: Before we have Plan B, Shouldn't we see if Plan A works? Plus... a Christmas Panto!
Thursday: Master Gideon has suffered a series of disappointing economic statistics this week, just in time to spoil Christmas: inflation has increased from 3.2% to 3.3%; unemployment has increased by 35,000 to a rate of 7.9%; and November's High Street sales are up by just 0.3% on last year. On top of this, it's been leaked that the Cabinet Secretary, Mr Gust O'Doomladen, has asked the Treasury to prepare contingency plans in case of further recession. This has led to many calls for the Coalition to U-Turn and return to the Hard Labour model of, er, what was that again? ...
It's been a rocky few weeks for the Liberal Democrats as the tuition fees debate has given us our first real test since going into Government. But today as members, we can be justly proud to be Liberal Democrats in goverment because Nick Clegg has announced, as promised, that the barbaric system of detaining children will end by the by next May. As reported on Freedom Central, no child is currently in an immigration detention centre and no child will spend this Christmas in an immigration detention centre. The Coalition Government has also announced the reform of our immigration system ...
It was the middle of last week and I finally got the call I had been waiting for. The 4th team fixture had been cancelled. Egham had cried off. More importantly, I was one of an elite group of 4s players invited to make the step up to the 3rd team. After weeks of snow and frozen pitches it was still touch and go whether we would find a pitch fit to play on. Our hosts were wealthy Cobham, in one of the leafier corners of Surrey and with money no object, they had presumably had the patio heaters out ...
Please note that the ALDC offices will be closed from 3.00pm on Friday 24 December 2010, and re-open on Tuesday 4 January 2011 at 9.30am. Any messages left on our answerphone will not be checked until the new year. If you require any urgent help, please get in touch via our website (here) and we can get back to you if required. If there are any problems with our website, or with the MyCouncillor system please let us know in this way so that we know straight away and can resolve the problems. Can we take the opportunity to wish ...
Thu 16th
14:51
Stemming the tide of cell therapy stories, or, Where are the Methods and Materials in this journal?
Thanks and hat-tip to the outstanding blogger @gimpyblog, who Tweeted the story in the Sun on which this post is based; thanks also to the brilliant @stephenemoss for encouraging me to write this post; and apologies for the headline...Time after time bloggers criticise newspapers - mostly but not exclusively the red-top tabloids - for their coverage of science stories. Ranging from the baseless scaremongering around MMR to the PR fluff of wacky equations and bogus (careful...) 'trials' of dietary supplements, the media's inability to report on scientific material accurately or fairly is not news in itself - just take a ...
Thu 16th
14:40
Installment 2 in the "Letters about Trans..." series: A letter to the Secretary of State for Justice
I shall take a quick break from quaffing Blessed Potions of Healing +1 (Brand Name: Lemsip) and wondering what do with spam sent by a customer in August 2007 that's just been reported to me to write a quick note to the Secretary of State for Justice about the upcoming guidelines for Trans prisoners. But first, I shall point out that the last letter I wrote to a government minister was 15 working days ago. Coincidentally, that is apparently the time limit within which that department aims to respond to letters. Hopefully I shall be able to blog tomorrow about ...
Today Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced that the coalition will end the detention of children for immigration purposes. The Yarls Wood detention centre family unit will be closed immediate effect. This was an important Liberal Democrat policy that would never have happened without their presence in government. It shows what a difference an injection of liberalism in government can do, and will hopefully begin to clean up the damage after the fiasco around tuition fees. The Daily Express are not happy, so it probably means that it is the right thing to do! The next big split for the ...
I'm rather pleased to share my birthday with Jane Austen and Beethoven - er 16th December, not the actual years.
ALDC has commissioned this set of FOCUS templates for use by Liberal Democrat campaigners. These are exclusively available to members of ALDC. The templates include: A3, A4, and A3 booklet style FOCUS - all of which have been produced in black and white, two colour (for RISOs) and in full colour (Colour RISO or commercial printer). All the FOCUS leaflets have variations to allow for single and for two and three member wards and election campaigns, and different bar charts for fighting the Tories and Labour. These are accompanied by some other resources useful all year round - two letterhead ...
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced an end to child detention for immigration purposes. He has confirmed that the family wing of Yarls Wood detention centre will close immediately, and that no child will be held in detention for immigration reasons over Christmas. The incarceration of children who had done no wrong was an appalling act by the last Labour government, and one of the many reasons I am truly glad to have seen Labour defeated at the last General Election. Tidings of comfort and joy indeed, and something for liberals to be truly proud of today.
Last night Labour moved and won a motion of no confidence in the administration of Wolverhampton City Council.
Bob Ainsworth, who was the Home Office minister under Blair's government said "successive governments approaches had failed, leaving criminal gangs in control". I suspect that Bob Ainsworth has not u-turned but always believed that legalising drugs was the only way to control it. Now he is out of office he feels that he can put the case publicly (a public u-turn maybe). This to after Professor David Nutt lost his job as a scientific adviser to the government. I suspect no government will actually legailise any drugs (even cannabis) because of the high political risk. It would be brave of ...
There is neither sanity or fairness in an asylum system that allows a failed asylum seeker,who has somehow escaped deportation and who kills a girl with a car that he has no business to be driving in the first place, to stay in Britain. Especially when desperate people with young families who have done nothing wrong, can work, want to work and want to integrate are deported. I feel deeply ashamed as well as very angry. It is high time that the insanity and injustice of our system was dealt with.
Nick Clegg today, made the long awaited announcement that by the first anniversary of the Coalition Agreement, not a single child will be detained. No child is currently in an immigration detention centre and no child will spend this Christmas in an immigration detention centre. The Coalition Government has also announced the reform of our immigration system to make it more family friendly - creating a system that is humane, fair and effective. In Labour's last 5 years in office alone the Government locked up 7,075 kids for an average of just under 2 weeks each (12.74 days). That works ...
God, who creates and maintains all things by his Word, provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities. And furthermore, wishing to open up the way to heavenly salvation, he manifested himself to our first parents from the very beginning. After the fall, he buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by ...
Firstly, apologies for the tardiness of this week's post - yesterday was a long day and I didn't have the time or energy for posting in the evening. Besides, The Apprentice was on!! The choice for N was a simple one - I only had one option! I've featured this artist previously but he is so good, I'm more than happy to feature him again. So here's Paolo Nutini with Simple Things - a song about being grounded in life. The official videos have had embedding disabled, but you can find more here, starting with Coming Up Easy... Next week, ...
......on this one! I am absolutely delighted that at last we have an end to the pernicious practice of locking up asylum seeker children. Children, many of whom will have already suffered terribly in their own countries and now find themselves in a "place of safety" where they are anything but safe. Having been involved with the campaign against arbitrary detention with the awesome Emma Ginn, I am only too aware of the impact keeping anyone locked up at Yarlswood, let alone children, has on their mental health and well being. So today reminds me of all that is still ...
With this 1970s TV favourite returning to our screens, it is time to recall another 1970s TV favourite's take on it. Rose and Mrs Hudson are my favourites.
There is an interesting and thought-provoking article in Public Finance magazine this week on the tactics of the government in relation to public service cuts. They point out that at every stage Ministers have lowered expectations in the hope of lessening the impact of their decisions. Their conclusion though is very telling: A number of councils, seeing that their cuts are frontloaded, have begun publicising the kind of service reductions that could take place once next April's budgets are set. Housing repairs might be halted, street lights switched off, entitlement to care curtailed and bins emptied less frequently. Charges might ...
At the meeting of Full Council last night I continued the campaign against Fairfax Road car park charges, by asking a direct question to the Leader of the Council about them. I asked two things - first, what feedback on the charges is being considered by the Council, and second, given that all the feedback I have had has been negative whether or not the Council would consider scrapping the charges. I was told that at present there has been little in the way of feedback from residents and businesses. I find this surprising given that thousands have signed a ...
The ongoing review of Sheltered Housing in Bury is something that I know causes a lot of local people anxiety, especially those who live in the housing concerned or have family members there. Last night at the meeting of Full Council I asked the Leader of the Council to guarantee that the review will really listen to the views of residents, and take these views into account. I was pleased to have that confirmed, and we will carry on making the voices of local people heard in this process so that our vulnerable residents get the housing they want and ...
The Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election has now been formally called for January 13th. I'm planning on driving up from Berkshire to Oldham East and Saddleworth on Saturday January 1st in the morning. I'll be coming back on Monday January 3rd leaving about 11am. At the moment I have three spare places in my car. If you're a Liberal Democrat member and want a completely free lift (I'll pay fuel) (plus free accomodation is available via the HQ), please me know in the comments here or on paulwalteruk@yahoo.co.uk I'm happy to divert my journey to pick up anyone living along ...
Last night was the final Full Council meeting of the year. When we stumbled out of the chamber blinking into the light after well over three uninterrupted hours I wondered whether Christmas had been and gone, but happily it hasn't. There was plenty on the agenda last night, in what was an unusually good-mannered meeting on the whole. We began with a talk from Lord Smith, the Chair of AGMA, the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities. He told us of developments at city-region level, as many of us sat wondering whether decisions taken at that level are really democratic at ...
With the decision reached in the European Court of Human Rights in the A, B, and C case of three Irish women who challenged the constitutional protection for children before birth, there is a grave danger that the Houses of the Oireachtas will feel that they must change the law in Éire. John Smeaton of ...
It's been about 10 years since I was last moved to write to the letters page of the Sunderland Echo. That letter was about tuition fees, so I guess it's fitting that my latest one – published on Friday – is on the same subject. My views haven't changed. For context, see the article about Sunderland Lib Dem Councillor Paul Dixon's views on fees. Scrap the fees I WAS pleased to see that local Lib Dem councillor Paul Dixon is sticking to his guns and calling for his party's MPs to honour the pledges they made on tuition fees before ...
Here is the speech on Green Energy that I made last night at Council, proposing our motion which was unanimoualy passed... We're all aware of the budget challenges ahead. Whoever's to blame, the facts are that this Council will have less money in the future than it's got now. It's not the excuse for everything, but it's certainly the reason for lots of unpleasant things we'll have to do. And it means we'll end up doing less or doing things differently, probably both. But it also means thinking differently, and finding ways to generate the money that the government can't ...
Regular readers will have noticed that I gave the blog a new swanky look a week or so ago, which I hope you like. Today, I've taken a further step in developing the blog by adding a number of pages - you can see the links at the top of the sidebar. Each of these contains a summary of my main blog strands and a link to all the posts relating to, say, poetry or architecture. My hope is that each of these will make browsing my blog easier for regular and new visitors alike as well as letting those ...
It's fair to say that we Liberal Democrats have had some tough times over the past few weeks, but today's announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg that child detention for immigration purposes will end shows that we are doing good in government. Richard Grayson wrote in the Guardian this week about how the party should be pursuing a policy agenda with the Labour Party because for some reason they're better than the Tories. So much better that they detained 1000 innocent children in horrible places like the notorious Yarls Wood in Bedfordshire. Look what the Labour Government did to ...
The BBC report that the Welsh Government have finally retracted a claim made in an official leaflet sent to 26,000 homes in the proposed badger cull area. The leaflet said previous trials had shown such culls could reduce TB in cattle by as much as 50% in six months. However, the Government say that it should have said culls could start to show a benefit after six months, which in itself is challengeable. This sort of misleading infornmation has been prevalent throughout the Welsh Government's attempt to put a cull in place. It would be interesting to know whetner the ...
The Liberal Democrats have served the writ which will bring about the by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth. This will decide who will replace disgraced former Labour MP Phil Woolas. Polling day has been confirmed for January 13th. Having it on this date breaks the convention of not having a by-election over Christmas, but the delivering of the writ had to be delayed while Phil Woolas continued his legal battle. The people of Oldham East & Saddleworth will now have an MP in place by the middle of January. In May, Liberal Democrat Elwyn Watkins was only 103 votes behind ...
Four days in London. Too much to eat and drink. Cold and sometimes damp. More languages heard than in four years in Chard. Marvellous, but gout continues. Criticism and mistrust of Liberal Democrats in all quarters. Do our great leaders understand the damage they have done ? The Independent describes Danny Alexander as an intellectual !!!!! On Monday night he won the coveted David
Witness this little tale: We were trying to observe Saturn's moon Titan to see if we could take images of hurricane-sized storms moving across its surface. We were stymied as much by horrendously bad weather (on Haleakala, not on Titan), as we were by cultural differences between astronomers and the Air Force. (My favorite: our observations of Titan were temporarily classified, because "Titan" is the same word as "titan" which is a missle. The people doing the classifying thoroughly understood that we were observing the moon of Saturn but, by the rules, any observations of "[T]itan" were to be classified.) ...
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Just come back from a meeting with Lib Dem transport minister Norman Baker, who was here to announce that Reading would be receiving the funding (just under £10m) from the Government for the proposed updates to the Station, This will include two new station concourses. I think everyone who uses the station will find this very welcome news, and it was the result of alot of hard work on the part of councillors, officers and the MPs. It is a real sign that coalition government both locally and natonally is delivering for Reading Wearing my planning hat, I will be ...
Michael Gradwell ponders on the meaning of matriculation. Chekov has some 'breaking news' from Kosovo Angela Harbutt's thoughts on how times have changed. [not that much says an ex steward.-Ed.] John Whitehead highlights the Friday Fast. Iain Dale hangs closes the diary and concentrates on publishing. Millennium Dome explains why it's good the Lib Dems ...
Readers may remember the ongoing saga of my battles with Belgacom over my office phone line. I finally took the step of signing up with Toledo Telecom, both for the office landline and for my mobile phone (which I switched to the infamous HTC Desire about the same time). At first I quite liked Toledo; unlike Belgacom, where I could never get through to a human being if there was a problem, at least there was always a real person on the end of the line to help, and minor technical issues would get sorted on the day, often within ...
Southport Magistrates and County Courts are set to close as a result of recent review which looked at court usage and costs. This is despite John Pugh MP and Cllr Sue McGuire, together with local lawyers, submitting arguments against the proposed closure which cited inaccurate facts given about the status of the Courts and the distance people would have to travel for justice. "I am disappointed that the final decision has been taken to close the court here in Southport. I worry that this will have an impact on the number of cases going trial since it may well be ...
I really do shudder at linking to a Daily Fail story, but for once it's for a good reason. I was really proud of our Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone for speaking out against the X Factor's decision to show some fairly sexually explicit performances from Rihanna and Christina Aguilera when they knew perfectly well that young children would be watching. Her remarks were quite balanced: 'It was a bit much because so many young kids - seven and eight-year-olds - watch it.'She's not saying that nobody should watch it, just that it should not be on a family show. I ...
Shop of the Week this week is Arkwrights, on the corner of Park Road and North Roskear. Anyone who lives in the Wimpey, Rosemellin or North Roskear area will be familiar with Arkwrights - it's one of those shops that never fails to have an array of bargains on sale! This week they are selling fresh winter veg - carrots, cauli and cabbage - at 50p a bag. Given that Camborne's last greengrocer has now closed, as I reported in a previous post, it's good to have somewhere that you can still buy fresh. The staff are friendly and helpful ...
I am hopeful that it will happen sooner or later. Yes, the day will come when MPs finally "get it" and join the rest of us in the real world. You know, that real world where you have to present receipts for all your expenses. That real world where you have to kow-tow to annoying expense rules laid down by HMRC. That real world where you don't get any free perks. Before the election Cameron was letting old Tory MPs go left right and centre for duck moats etc. He has now changed his tune and, to keep his backbenchers ...
A quick note to any of my readers qualifying for Educational Maintenance Allowance: although it's being replaced next year, you can still apply for EMA for 2011. Today and tomorrow (17th December) are the last days you can request an application, so get in quick. Your application must be received by 31 December 2010. Request an ...
I was ushering at the Rose Theatre last night and found myself looking after a party of 140 children from one school who were enjoying the action in the Three Musketeers. Icecream sales in the interval were fast and furious! Before my evening stint, all the volunteers had been invited to a pre-Christmas get-together when, amongst other things, we learnt that during 2010 over 200 volunteers had, between them, contributed 16,000 hours to the theatre. That's a huge amount of commitment from the community. There was a rather strange, and inaccurate, article on the front page of the Comet last ...
FT.com / UK / Politics & policy - Ainsworth calls for drugs policy rethink Former Labour minister for drugs talks sense. Is everybody counting the hours till some scandal emerges about him and he's forced to resign in disgrace? (tags: politics drugs labour thought) This just in from The Ministry Of Truth What's the difference between freedom and terrorism? Click to find out... (tags: freedom terrorism irony notfunny) Bing explains white male priveledge with handy links I love you, Princess Bing. Probly not as much as Debi does, but I do. (tags: feminism sexism priviledge) This tuition fees thing won't ...
Garden Shop High Street Hornsey This is this month's column in the Highgate Handbook and Muswell Hill Flyer: You may have read in the last edition of the 'flyer' about when I visited Muswell Hill police station for CSV volunteering day. I met with volunteers who keep the front counter open and went on the beat with special constables - volunteering police officers who give up their free time to patrol our streets. That was the first of many activities that I have done with my Liberal Democrat colleagues this November and December to 'Be Local'. Our 'Be Local' campaign ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice There was all the seasonal fun of the pantomime thrown in to Prime Minister's Questions yesterday: "Broad brush", "Air brush", "Basil Brush" (Cameron's description of Miliband) - the coalition leadership depicted as the pantomime horse and, of course, "Look behind you". It was all there. Ed Miliband in special sotto voce mode, asked about the unemployment increase of 35,000 saying that, with this, Cameron's claims of being "out of the danger zone" seem "very hollow". Cameron went on about something called the Work Programme and said claimants were down and vacancies were up. Miliband (reverting ...
Gosh, the last time I did a roundup of Big Finish audios was September. My travels in October and November, and then catching up afterwards, mean that once again my intention of writing them up individually is breached rather than observed. Anyway, this is what I've been listening to lately, in continuity order rather than release order; juts finished in time for this month's releases, I hope. I read the Moris Fahi's scripts for the unbroadcast stories Farewell Great Macedon and The Yellow Arc of Fragrance when they came out a year ago, and really liked them; Big Finish, faced ...
This story about the 100% Labour-run Newham Council is a reminder of the very real "spend! spend! spend!" trait in much of the party. Bear in mind that Newham, in the east end of London, is the sixth most deprived borough in the UK. There are people there that need help. So, what does a bunch of comfortable Labour politicians choose to do with their money? A £111m office block. A £547,000 per year newsletter. The UK's most expensive town festival, after the major Sir Robin Wales (born and bred Glasgow Labour boy) doubled its budget and named it after ...
Today I heard music to my ears. I have jumped for joy and screamed with pleasure since I heard that children being held in Immigration removal centres are being released. The best present I could have asked for Christmas. No more will Government punish young children for the possible offences of their parents. Under the Labour government hundreds children were held behind bars for anything up to 91 days. The ideal time period children were held was 4 weeks but on a visit to the facility back in January 2008 they admitted the longest they had held a child for ...
The former Labour defence minister, Bob Ainsworth, has called for the decriminalisation of all drugs, in a move that is likely to incur the wrath of the Labour leadership. When I studied in Coventry from 1994-97, I lived for a short time in Bob Ainsworth's seat, and he was called by political types I knew as "bloody useless Bob". He never impressed as Defence Minister, and it appears a short spell back in opposition has done nothing to improve matters.
Last night, I was 'minute taker' at the latest meeting of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust. It was an excellent and productive meeting at which we finalised arrangements for the Launch of the Public Appeal on the 131st anniversary of the disaster - 28th December. It will take place at McManus Galleries. We are delighted that the event will be hosted by the Lord Provost of Dundee, John Letford, and Provost Ruth Leslie Melville of Angus and Depute Provost Lizz Mogg of Fife will be in attendance, along with other dignatories.
i) births and deaths 16 December 1929: birth of Nicholas Courtney, who played Bret Vyon in The Daleks' Master Plan (1965) and Colonel, later Brigadier, Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart from The Web Of Fear (1968) to Enemy of the Bane (SJA, 2008), the longest-running character on TV apart from the Doctor himself. 16 December 1940: birth of Ronald Allen, who played Rago in The Dominators (1968) and Ralph Cornish in The Ambassadors of Death (1970). 16 December 1971: birth of Ashley Way, director of Torchwood episodes Captain Jack Harkness (2007), End of Days (2007), Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2008), Reset (2008), Something ...
Thanks to a combination of having teh lurgy, being stuck on an emotional rollercoaster and an apparent return of my insomnia (oh, hey 3.30am, so good to see you again!) ... right now, I'm about a month behind with my Open University module, and I've carried ten hours over at work after not being given enough to do during the first fortnight, and I need to catch up with studying before the new year and either work the ten hours or turn them into holiday before Christmas Eve. My body seems to want to be nocturnal at the moment, which ...
We ( [IMG: [personal profile] ] magister and I) are watching the film of Goldeneye, having been playing the Wii game all week. So far impressed at how much they have got the detail of the sets right in the game, still loving Boris like crazy, and wishing that they hadn't inserted Daniel Craig Bond into the game, because Brosnan is awesome. Not quite as awesome as Judi Dench M, but nearly. The difference between the two men is that Brosnan is clearly dangerous and not afraid to do nasty things, with a big glossy coat of smooth over the ...
Sure Start centres were built all over England in "deprived" areas. In my own town of Prudhoe there is one in the East End of the town and where I work, in East Durham, there are Sure Starts in most villages and towns. Labour in Government rightly recognised that a child's early development was critical and that helping young mothers have support to get into the job market. So it set off building a network of over 2,000 centres to provide such support at a massive cost, both in construction and running costs, in wards that on average contain the ...
The next time you see a report on a failing school or a failing educational system that needs reform just compare it to the reports that we receive whenever the A level or GCSE results come out. Our schools are getting better and better despite what you may hear. They have to be otherwise we cannot believe the year on year improvement in results. The results are so good that academic degrees have become necessary for many jobs, not just the professional posts. If the goal is to get half our students gaining a degree then half the candidates for ...
