Only in the Shropshire Star. Only in Oakengates, to be precise.
The last day before the Christmas recess. I had the topical question, for which there is a ballot. The question was on the Government's reaction to the National Institute for Economic and Social Research report on caste discrimination in he UK. Under the previous Government, it was clearly understood that if the research found that caste discrimination does exist in the UK, they would activate Section 9(5) of the Equality Act, in effect treating caste as a 'protected characteristic along with age, race, religion, disability, marriage and civil partnership, gender and sexual orientation. The Minister who replied, Baroness Verma, was ...
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Wed 22nd
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So should elected representatives now assume that all conversations with members of the public may b...
Vince Cable was foolish to speak to a relative stranger about a sensitive and quasi-judicial matter - the Murdoch/BskyB/Ofcom business. It's hard to believe that he was so foolish - but then I am used to local government under Labour's Standards Board reign of terror, where planning committee members had to guard against expressing views on planning applications. Former Lib Dem MP David Howarth has speculated on whether the Telegraph sting might have been illegal. There has been some hand-wringing in the media about the use of underhand methods, but media outlets have cheerfully recycled the Telegraph's story. Clearly elected ...
Monday Syed T H came to see me for a discussion over a cup of tea. I was delighted to hear that he had sold a painting - he is a foremost expert on Islamic calligraphy, and some of the major auction houses have been staging auctions of Islamic art. Later, I had a meeting with Peter Low, who has succeeded Gaby Drinkwater as Coordinator of the Peru Support Group. With the Foreign Office taking greater interest in Latin America, we should be able to expand the membership. Tuesday, I had a visit from some Bahraini teenagers, and was delighted ...
I'm writing because when you are first diagnosed as living with HIV, many people think that life is over; that there is no future. When I was first diagnosed I was one of those. So many people told me that HIV is not a death sentence Life is for living You must remain positive. And ...
This was not just an attack on Vince Cable. Not just an attack on the Liberal Democrats. But, an attack on liberal democracy. When the first one hit, we thought OK the target is Vince and perhaps it's motivated by a crazed individual or someone with a real axe to grind against him - the bank bosses or Murdoch wanting to bring the great man down. Then came the second wave of revelations against 3 Lib Dem ministers and at once the queasy feeling of realisation that the attack is one upon civilisation itself - what we call liberal democracy. ...
1. ID cards were officially scrapped last night 2. No child will be held in detention this Christmas 3. The end of "Don't ask, Don't tell" today in the US 4. Ian Dury. Why don't you get back into bed?
The first Coalition Home Office bill to receive Royal Assent sees the cancelation of Labour's national identity card scheme. Lynne Featherstone rejoices. Blunt & Disorderly has advice for all three parties: "The Tories need to see that some of their policies are half-baked ideas (they don't seem to have thought much about the Big Society, for example); Labour need to be constructive, not petty; and the Lib Dems need to stop being a punch bag and develop a vision of their role in government." "A high self-regard, lack of even a short historical perspective, and fetishisation of their consumer electronics ...
The Planning Application I reported on 19 April 2010, for 80 houses on part of the site of the Eaton Electrical factory off Reddings Lane, has been decided. Planning permission for the development has been given. This does not mean work will start immediately, or indeed necessarily happen at all, but as the application was made after the financial crisis hit (unlike many other developments that have stalled since) I'd guess it may well happen next year.
I contested and won the Littleborough & Saddleworth by-election in July 1995. The weather during the weeks of campaigning was glorious. The summer sun beat down, cracking the pavements. What a contrast with the record low temperatures being experienced by campaign workers helping now in the Oldham East & Saddleworth by-election. If the pavements are cracking it can only be because the ice is breaking them up. Not that we would know as the pavements are covered in snow, although for the moment it is at least nice and crisp. On the basis of my experience I can offer the ...
This month's main sequence Big Finish release, a set of four Fifth Doctor / Nyssa single-episode stories, each of which is independent (the last has very vague links to the first). They are all basically good single-shot tales, the second ("The Entropy Composition" by Rick Briggs) having been pulled from hundreds of submissions to an open request frm Big Finish;' the standout is certainly the fourth, "Special Features" by John Dorney, which is set in a recording booth where the Doctor and other former cast members are recording a DVD commentary for a 1970s horror film, which will certainly appeal ...
Unemployment remained broadly flat last month, though the different measures moved in different directions. Nationally the seasonally adjusted claimant level fell by 1,200 to 1,462,700. In Birmingham the seasonally adjusted level rose from 45,967 to 46,240 or 11.4% (compared to 12.6% a year ago). The unadjusted figure fell by 45 to remain at 11.3%. The seasonally adjusted figure is more meaningful as it strips out temporary factors such as Christmas jobs which reduce the rate at this time of year. In Acocks Green the Unadjusted figure (we don't have adjusted figures at ward level) fell by 2 to 1,182 (down ...
Scale of Universe - Interactive Scale of the Universe Tool Incredibly good use of Flash to show how big things are relatively, I've seen similar before, but not this well done. (tags: science astronomy) Charlie Brown asks What Christmas Is All About And, in the comments, someone actually dates the birth of Jesus using actual bibilical evidence.September. Can we have our secular/pagan holiday back please? (tags: christmas) 10 Holiday Gifts that will Cause Your Child Lasting Psychological Damage? Um, this article appears to actually be serious. At times reading it I thought it might be tongue in cheek, but I'm ...
My Calder on Air column from last Friday's Liberal Democrat News. I don't know if it was inverse sexism or a desire to find something positive to say about someone, but I was too kind to Sarah Montague. She has an annoying strangulated voice and tends to approach interviews with a fixed, tendentiouss line of questioning in mind and to keep to it even when the first answer shows that she has got hold of the wrong end of the stick. Background Today One morning last month I drifted out of sleep to find that Radio 4 had changed. There ...
I watched in amazement this evening as John Sopel on the BBC news channel almost lost his cool when interviewing Jo Phillips about Vince Cable losing some of his responsibilities from his role as Business Secretary. Jo Phillips was head of media ... Continue reading →
In the gaps between Doctor Who audios for the last couple of months, I've been listening to "This Sceptred Isle - Empire", a series of 90 short radio programmes about the history of the British Empire, narrated by Juliet Stevenson with additional voice work by Christopher Ecclestone, Anna Massey, Jack Davenport, and others, a sequel to the earlier This Sceptred Isle which dealt with the history of Britain in the same way. I was a bit underwhelmed, to be honest. I suspect that the subject is too big to treat in this way; I had picked it up in the ...
[IMG: Identity card] Liberal Democrats have consistently campaigned against ID cards, a scheme introduced by the previous Labour Government. The abolition of identity cards was confirmed yesterday, when the Identity Documents Bill was granted Royal Assent. Liberal Democrats have consistently campaigned against ID cards, a scheme introduced by the previous Labour Government. All existing ID cards will be cancelled within one month, and the National Identity Register, the database which contains the biographic and biometric fingerprint data of card holders, will be destroyed within two months. The Identity Card Scheme and other biometrics work has already cost the taxpayer £292 ...
I am sending this to the Electoral Commission after reading their Case Review regarding Zac Goldsmith's Election Expenses: Dear Electoral Commission, re. Case review concerning campaign expenditure return in respect of Zac Goldsmith MP I have just read your Case Review regarding the expenses of Zac Goldsmith and am, frankly, very surprised by your decision not to refer the case for prosecution. As someone who has been an election agent on numerous occasions, including at the General Election in 2010, it has always been clear to me that it was my duty to make sure I understood the rules, read ...
As reported in yesterday's "Evening Telegraph" and today's "Courier", I have expressed concern about increases in bus fares by National Express Dundee that will see increases of as much as 38%. Taking into account feedback I have had from West End residents, I have written to Simon Mathieson, the new Acting Director of National Express Dundee, as follows : "I have had constituents already express concern at the proposed fare increases and in particular : a) The 55p rise in 4 stages or more seems very hefty in relation to inflation b) The Adult Monthly Direct Debit Travelcard rise again ...
Last night I travelled from Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil) to Asunción (Paraguay) in the front roadside seat on the top deck of a double-decker coach. Hardly had we left the graceless Ciudad del Este (one giant shopping emporiumn) than we ran into the brightest and most extensive electric storm I have ever encountered. Sheet lightning ...
As you will see below, Ivan Lewis MP has written back in our ongoing debate about tuition fees (which his latest letter broadended out somewhat). Here is my response, which I have emailed to him tonight. It is quite lengthy, but he raised some important points and I want to address them all: Dear Ivan, Thanks for replying to my letter. Let me address the points you raise. I appreciate that the government has cut public funding for universities, and trebled tuition fees, and that many Lib Dems broke the pledge that they and I campaigned on. Although I think ...
Further to my item about this matter at the end of October, I asked for an update from the City Council's Sustainable Transport Team Leader and have been advised as follows : "Unfortunately, work on the shelters has ground to a standstill during the snowy weather. The contractors will not be working on the shelters until 5 January 2011 (when they return to work after their Christmas break). I am advised that weather permitting, they could have four (two man) squads working on the shelters each week. I e-mailed the contractors on 29 October 2010 and asked them to give ...
Earlier today I wrote explaining how it had been two weeks since I wrote to Ivan Lewis MP over tuition fees, and that I had yet to receive a reply. The letter I wrote to him on 7th December can be viewed here. His original letter to me (and other Lib Dems, leaked to the papers) can be read here. I spoke too soon. I returned home to find a letter from Mr Lewis, and I reproduce it below. So apologies Ivan for jumping the gun. And, to be fair, the Christmas post has meant the letter took four days ...
I love a good protest. I adore a march. I even think that there is a time to riot, and I strongly suspect that if Labour had been re-elected in May I'd have been ready to smash stuff up at some point during the Parliament over some particularly offensive foreign war/ mad authoritarian policy/ national ...
The 32 posts on this journal since my last tally which got more than 15 comments (I've lowered the bar - last time, 42 posts had more than 20 comments, this time it was only 14, which no doubt reflects the general migration to Twitter and Facebook and perhaps my own less obsessive blogging this year). Top 17 in bold, top 8 and top 4 in larger fonts. 20 December 2009: ርሑስ በዓል ልደትን ሓድሽ ዓመትን - seasonal greetings in Tigrinya (23 comments) 22 December: Email scam - fake message from my cousin seeking £2000 immediately (21 comments) 30 December: ...
Icy weather in Spokane and no gritting leads to a little local difficulty
Nibley Lane has been closed both ways except for access between Westerleigh Rd and Badminton Rd due to ice.
Perhaps it comes naturally to someone born a Liverpudlian but — without donning a shell suit (a la Harry Enfield) to cry "Calm Down, Calm Down" — the media village, so anxious for a scrap and the possible downfall of the Coalition, need to do just that. The remarks of Vince Cable and other Lib Dem ministers (whether public or private), the rumblings of back-benchers, the cracks in cabinet unity - they all come with the territory. There are those in the Whips' offices of all parties who dream of colleagues meandering contentedly like a flock of docile sheep through ...
A persons sexuality has no bearing on their ability to serve a country in the military. The real question that needs answering is why states are so military.
At this festive time, when the true spirit of commercialism is often lost in wave of sentimentality around the best excuse ever given for getting knocked up and the brutalism of Judean state maternity services, it is good to be reminded of what it means to be Business Secretary. Were Vince Cable a Conservative Minister in a Conservative administration, he would have been sacked for prejudicing an ongoing inquiry. That he has instead been put on the naughty step and banned from watching TV, makes him very lucky. It remains the case that the Coalition is still better off with ...
I stumbled onto the Labour website today – always a mistake – and was intrigued by the link to their 'fresh ideas' site. Now, don't get confused – this isn't a range of supermarket ready meals, or even a soft furnishing firm in the midlands – it's red Ed's personal invitation to you to submit your fresh ideas (this all sounds remarkably like William Hague c.1998...) Red Ed has already involved some people I like and respect in this process, and some I don't, so I thought it would be interesting to use the google map to see what Labour ...
Today due to the weather conditions NO collections of Refuse or Recycling were made, refuse collectors will try and catch up over the next couple of days and the advice is please leave your Bin/Box out. Any problems please phone 01492 575337
This is another of the blocky Pizza Expresses, with a rather conventional size and shape. One tip though if you don't know it well - there are more seats at the ground floor level round to the right of the staff area. It's easy to miss this extra space but it often provides a bit more elbow room and some quiet even at times when the main frontage of the restaurant is busy. This branch is at the Houses of Parliament end of Victoria Street - in other words at the other end from 'Little Ben', the mini-clock tower near ...
David Howarth, the former Lib Dem MP for Cambridge, has an article on the Guardian website asking whether Daily Telegraph journalists broke the criminal law in order to obtain their stories about Vince Cable and his colleagues: Did the journalists and their editors intend through dishonest false statements to put ministers at risk of losing their jobs? Did they intend to make money for their paper? If either is true, a criminal offence has taken place. There is no free-standing public interest defence. Perhaps the journalists involved should now be preparing their answers to those questions.
1. Nick Clegg -No longer in Saint Vincent's shadow. The Cable has been defrocked. 2. LibDem grassroots members -Buoyed by the news that the party's ministers have not "gone native" and that the party has a distinctive voice in government. 3. Rupert Murdoch Pass the spitoon.
Durham County Council have issued the following statement: We can confirm that we have now received a funding offer of £20.7m for Consett Academy. This is, however, significantly less than the previously approved figure of just over £32m contained in our Building Schools for the Future Outline Business Case. We therefore have to consider all possible options and no further statement will be made until we have had a chance to consult with our partners and speak to Partnership for Schools. This will not be possible until the New Year, due to the availability of Partnership for Schools. Cllr Claire ...
Whilst Ed Milliband and others criticise Vince Cable they should first consider the Labour record on Iraq. First they conducted a boycott which victimised the children of Iraq and then they launched an illegal and immoral war on the people of Iraq which has resulted in over 500,000 blameless casualties. The real question is not Vince Cable's loose words but whether Ed Miliband and the rest of the Labour leadership should be in the Hague facing the court on war crimes charges. Most of us support Vince in his views on ownership of media.
It may be a little early for Valentine's Day but here is one young woman's serenade to the philosopher, economist and liberal F.A. Hayek. No wonder the theories of the Austrian School are experiencing something of a renaissance.
The BBC is trying hard to publicise a Panorama special about supermarkets. This is one of those issues on which politicians love throwing around half-baked opinions without regard to the statistical evidence. There is a mass of complicated, conflicting evidence about the impact of supermarkets on smaller retailers. I have always thought that when you go to a decaying high street in one of the grottier parts of London, what are the three things that you cannot find? One is a free cashpoint. A second is a shop that will sell you a newspaper. And a third is a supermarket. ...
As you will have seen, in my pothole obsessed world, I reported five potholes for Herts County Council to fix about 10 days ago. The first they could not find, reported it again and they found it (although I did threaten to take a picture of it) and it was repaired yesterday. Although two more have sprung up beside it - they ignored those! We really do need that 'Find and Fix Pothole Mole' service I included in the 2009 County Council manifesto! The second they have found today, seen it but are not repairing it due to adverse weather ...
From the BBC: A Lib Dem MP will not face charges over claims of "inappropriate behaviour" towards a female constituent. Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock, 64, was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault in October and bailed. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the allegations centred on a series of visits the MP made to the woman's home between March and June. A spokesperson said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute. The MP has always denied any wrongdoing. The CPS said it received a file of evidence from police on 8 December.
After yesterday's link to Google's Ngram Viewer, here's another way to while away some time. This really cool graphic allows you to compare the size of various things, from the universe (which is about six and a half times larger than we can actually see) down to something so small that any smaller length makes "no physical sense". Prepare to feel very small (or large). Hat tip to Russ Roberts at Cafe Hayek. [IMG: Not so big after all] Not so big after all
A number of Launceston residents have been in touch to ask about missed rubbish collections. Due to the recent ice and snow, lots of homes haven't had their bins emptied over the past week. They are concerned because the next scheduled collection - on Tuesday - is being missed due to the Christmas holidays. I have been in touch with the Council who confirm that the missed collections are due to many streets being inaccessible to bin lorries. They are aware of the missed collections and will be trying their best to get round as many missed areas as possible ...
One of the great strengths of Christian Woolmar's highly readable account of Gordon Brown's drive to part-privatise the London Underground, Down The Tube, is that although he is very hostile to the policy he explains why so many transport managers were really keen to see it introduced. They may have had many second thoughts since, but at the time involving private firms in long-running legal contracts seemed to many the solution to the regular problem of short-term decision making over transport infrastructure. Cutting investment in transport was often a popular option at times of cutbacks and the swings from grand ...
It's Christmas time (nearly), so blog posts might be a bit less frequent over the holiday period. I hope everyone has a happy and peaceful Christmas. It's a joyful time of year and I hope everyone has a lovely time. Best wishes for the festive season. Rick
Here's some information on Council office opening hours for the Christmas period which I hope you find useful. Normal opening times are 8.45 am until 5 pm, Monday to Friday. Over the Christmas and New Year period the majority of council offices and the Customer Contact Team helpline will be closed from Friday 24 December to Tuesday 28 December (inclusive) and on Monday 3 January. You can contact the Customer Contact Team as follows. Online: www.bury.gov.uk/reportaproblem Phone: 0161 253 5353 Email: customercontactteam@bury.gov.uk The Emergency Service telephone number is 0161 253 6606 If you require a Councillor's assistance, you can email ...
It's now been two weeks since I wrote to Ivan Lewis MP about his opposition to the government's plans for university funding. As I've previously explained, he wrote to me asking for my views on the matter, and copied the letter to the local press. I told him in reply that I opposed the government and thought that funding should come from general taxation. I asked him what his solution to higher education funding is, since Labour don't have one. He was using the issue to have a go at the Lib Dems (and their representatives, e.g. me), which I ...
Good journalism is about holding the powerful to account, in public open debate; not in secretly trying to get any tittle-tattle going to try and embarrass one certain political party, to further your own-or your owners-agenda.
This year the most un-green thing I will be doing is having conger eel for xmas dinner. Carbon footprint from the channel to here - 200 miles? I hope my family do not read this. My partner and I have made a bug box from spare wood and bean canes. One for my mum. I have done flu stockings for other family : old hockey socks with tissues, honey, anti-bac gel, soup sachet and paracetamol. Recycled tags abd string. I will be in work xmas day so that will save on power consumption at home. Who says xmas need not ...
I have always secretly wished that the singer Gareth Gates would get involved in politics and become Housing Minister. That way, there is a possibility (admittedly a small one) that he could get embroiled in a dodgy deal to supply Council house gates nationwide with a company owned by a man called Gareth. The resultant scandal would have to be called Gareth Gates Gareth's Gates Gate, and that would amuse me greatly. Sadly, it's not happened yet. What we have instead is Cable-gate, the odd scandal which has erupted in the wake of a Lib Dem being recorded disagreeing with ...
With grateful thanks to Angela Mehlert, Chair of Friends of Magdalen Green, for these photos of Windsor Street and the Green in the current snowy conditions!
As a political geek one of my secret passions, though I guess not now, is to sit down at 8:30 to watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on More4. It's on late enough that if I am in on the evening I will have caught my daily news fix, or if I've done a little campaigning I can often fit in in just after I've finished, then do the news junkie bit. Rumours that all Americans don't get sarcasm and satire are quickly dispensed by watching this show. The fact it is on Daily means that it covers a ...
It's hard to believe that the Regional Conference took place more than seven weeks ago, but we've finally concluded our business with the announcement of our Executive Committee election results for 2011. Admittedly, the Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Candidates Chair were all elected unopposed, but we did need a new Vice Chair, and there were slightly fewer Executive member vacancies than there were candidates. And so it gives me great pleasure to announce that that the results are as follows; Chair: Julie Smith Vice Chair: Baroness (Ros) Scott Chair of Candidates Committee: Catherine Smart Secretary: Mark Valladares Treasurer: Ian Radford ...
I understand that the Torygraph don't like us Lib Dems. Thats ok, they can join the back of the increasing queue. But why are they going after the Lib Dems in order to destroy the coalition. Do they really want a minority Tory government with no power or another general election that could result in a Labour win or even worse for them a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition. It's also interesting that papers are increasingly using entrapment and the Telegraph claimed to of published the full details but held the Murdoch story for their own gain as they still wanted Cable ...
Excellent news from the Liberal Democrats: "The abolition of identity cards was confirmed yesterday, when the Identity Documents Bill was granted Royal Assent. Liberal Democrats have consistently campaigned against ID cards, a scheme introduced by the previous Labour Government. All existing ID cards will be cancelled within one month, and the National Identity Register, the database which contains the biographic and biometric fingerprint data of card holders, will be destroyed within two months. The Identity Card Scheme and other biometrics work has already cost the taxpayer £292 million. The Act has saved £835 million in planned future investment."
It was an extraordinary day. In front of two total strangers, Vince Cable, still the nation's Business Secretary, had declared he'd gone to war – and was going to win – against Rupert Murdoch. He also pontificated about how he might use the "nuclear option" against his own cabinet colleagues. To be sure, such extreme militaristic hubris is deeply odd behaviour from a Liberal Democrat. But in the fog of a curious day at Westminster, liberals must not lose sight of the serious policy implications facing British broadcasting. Rupert Murdoch is an easy hate figure for the centre-left. He is ...
Sorry to be slightly less than festive but thought it important that you had a bit of an update on swine flu, with a reminder about precautions. Everyone I seem to meet at the moment seems to coughing and spluttering so something is definitely doing the rounds. You may have heard in the local media a number of warnings and details about an increase in the number of deaths associated with Swine Flu. Several of these deaths have occurred in the Greater Manchester area. I understand there have been about 40 deaths to date across Britain from Swine flu this ...
I can see the newspaper comment article now: "Why are politicians all so obsessed with soundbites?" It will point out that politicians have become a breed who all follow the same line, don't say anything that they have not been schooled to say by spin doctors and do not have an original thought between them. It will go on to bemoan the lack of characters in an anodyne House of Commons. They will refer to the great leaders of the past: Churchill, Lloyd George, Gladstone - "say what you like about their personal peccadillos they were at least not afraid ...
I was going to write a post about the Cable / Telegraph / other Lib Dem ministers story, but reading Robert Peston's post I see he's said what I was going to say – but said it first and said it better. So over to him: What I still feel bemused about is why the Telegraph, for which I used to work, did not publish the one story that would have unquestionably legitimised its under-cover exercise to elicit the private views of Lib Dem ministers. Pretty much everything these Lib Dems have been caught saying about their Tory colleagues is ...
Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service want to make sure families in St Albans and Dacorum have a safe and happy Christmas, free from fire. Last December twelve families in St Albans and Dacorum and 64 families in Hertfordshire had their Christmases ruined by an accidental fire in their homes. Don't let your family become another statistic this year. A fire can be devastating at any time of year, but Christmas can mean that there are extra fire hazards to consider. Defective fairy lights or candles, and flammable items such as Christmas cards, wrapping paper, crackers, decorations and even the Christmas ...
Liberal Democrats at Hertfordshire County Council have been left astounded by the county council's admissions over salt and grit levels. Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst (Central Watford and Oxhey), Opposition Highways Spokesperson, started pushing for updates on the situation on the roads on Saturday. The county council heaped glowing praise on itself for its response to the earlier than normal snow fall. But the council's report contained a glaring omission: the actual levels of salt stockpiled and the date of the next delivery. Stephen Giles-Medhurst commented: 'They admitted on Monday they had enough salt to carry out 13 heavy gritting runs. When ...
So Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore has fallen victim to the Telegraph sting operation where they send wired up young women posing as constituents to record private conversations with ministers during their surgeries. This is a right wing newspaper's underhand attempt to split the coalition up. Don't be in any doubt about that. They don't like the fact that the Tories aren't governing alone and would much rather see the crazier Tory policies on scrapping the Human Rights Act, marriage tax breaks and helping the rich at the expense of the poor being put into action. The Lib ...
Wednesday: We all know that Mr Dr Vince "the power" Cable (currently slightly shorted) is a fan of the humble BEE. In fact, Mr Dr Vince is a BIT like a Honey Bee himself, isn't he: a big golden thing that bumbles around making nice things and pollinating British industry. Not to mention the special dance. And, like the honey bee, plagued by irritating mites that are spitting poison. Yes, it's the Tell-lies-o-graph continuing its vendetta against the Liberal Democrats with SHOCK REVELATIONS that Mr Vince is AGAINST A MASSIVE VESTED INTEREST and that other Lib Dems OPPOSE SCRAPPING BENEFITS. ...
Over the festive season we're running a series of posts on the main Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011. You can find all the posts as they appear here. Getting economic policy right may be at the heart of the government's long-term fate, and crucial for the country, but even if everything goes right the benefits are long-term ones - so to keep the coalition working well over the next year will require a steady supply of other good news and much work on internal communications. Ask Liberal Democrat activists why they are active in politics and why for the Liberal ...
Press release hosted here due to website maintenance. Liberal Democrats at Hertfordshire County Council have been left astounded by the county council's admissions over salt and grit levels. Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst (Central Watford and Oxhey), Opposition Highways Spokesperson, started pushing for updates on the situation on the roads on Saturday. The county council heaped glowing praise on itself for its response to the earlier than normal snow fall. But the council's report contained a glaring omission: the actual levels of salt stockpiled and the date of the next delivery. Stephen Giles-Medhurst commented: 'They admitted on Monday they had enough salt ...
Last week the Cabinet and Council approved the Core Strategy, the planning blueprint for South Gloucestershire until 2026, with a number of changes. These have now been published. There will not be a formal consultation but there will be an opportunity to make comments up until Friday 18 February, only on the changes. The following documents can be accessed on the South Glos website: Schedule Summary Report, December 2010 - the main issues raised in representations to the Pre-Submission Consultation Draft Core Strategy and the Council's response; Schedule of Proposed Changes to the Core Strategy, December 2010; The proposed changes ...
VN was thoroughly enjoying the house band Ronnie and the Rex last night at downstairs at the Kings Head in North London when a rather familiar face showed up: But Lenny Henry wasn't there to do some stand up, that was left to the rather dull and predictable Glenn Wool, instead he was belting out numbers with the band. Lenny sang three songs including a rendition of the classic 'Soul Man' that got everyone to their feet. Good Christmassy fun!
One thing I meant to blog about last week was the announcement by the Liberal Democrats of their team of candidates for the London Assembly top-up list in 2012. The detailed figures for the results can be found here. I am delighted with the outcome for two reasons. Not only do we now have very strong team of candidates but the top three are all people I know, like and respect. Top of the list is Caroline Pidgeon, the current leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the London Assembly, who through her hard work and professionalism has consolidated her ...
I don't usually have much to say about First Group in a positive light, however today is different.I'm off to The Orocco Pier to go through our civil partnership plans with their wedding organiser.The only way to get there is via a First Bus, the number 43 to be precise.When I boarded, I received two tickets, one an ordinary bus ticket. The second, as you can see from the picture contains a very useful pointer about where to obtain information on their service disruption during the bad weather.A nice little helpful hint - perhaps Lothian Buses could follow their lead? ...
In 1918 Conservative and Liberal electoral candidates were given a signed letter from Lloyd George and Bonar Law stating that they were supported by both leaders. Asquith famously called the letter a coupon and the campaign has been known as the 'coupon election' ever since. The UK's next general election isn't scheduled until 2015. Despite that, there has been talk of some sort of informal pact between the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats already. At yesterday's PM and DPM press conference, David Cameron said that it was likely that the coalition partners would fight the campaign separately. Likely is ...
The Lib Dems (in England) have been out of government for a long time and always the third party, never the official opposition, so the whole experience of being pragmatic and consistent is new. By contrast, in Wales, Scotland and councils around the country, the Lib Dems had to take responsibility and run cities and countries. They made mistakes, had impractical and expensive policies. They got
Yes, Vince was naive to say what he said and there was really only ever one consequence. I know as an ex-Cllr how important it was to `keep schtum` on quasi-judicial and other matters and if in doubt don't say anything. That didn't stop me blogging or saying things of a political nature that were ...
Of course it was foolish of Vince to talk about Murdoch to people he didn't know, but generally the Telegraph's exposures will have served the cause of grown-up politics. Tim Farron handled it beautifully on the Today programme this morning. It's about time Nick Clegg stopped pretending that the coalition is a love match. We want people to know that the Liberal Democrats are different from the
While the Westminster Village is fixated by the Telegraph-hyped furore that Lib Dem ministers don't always agree with every aspect of Coalition policy (shock, horror etc), the rest of the country is focused on a British obsession bigger even than the media's predeliction for attaching the suffix '-gate' to a noun: the weather. Newspaper and TV pictures have been dominated by images of those hoping for a holiday getaway having their hopes dashed and their tempers frayed by the endless queues and chaos at Heathrow and for the Eurostar. Hundreds of thousands of people who had hoped for family reunions ...
The link is to a facebook page with 1,813 members of families who are unhappy with the way in which the public family law system works in England.They plan to light chinese lanterns across England on Xmas eve.I spoke about the wider issue yesterday in the House as follows:John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD): May I wish you a merry Christmas, Mr Deputy Speaker?I rise on an issue that continues
If Simon Hughes is the comfort food, the custard, or mashed potato, for the Liberal Democrat soul, President Elect Tim Farron is the gutsy, spicy chilli that warms, reinvigorates and motivates us. To people who aren't political activists, he's a down to earth guy who talks a lot of common sense. He's just been on BBC Breakfast talking about all the shenanigans of the last 24 hours. Now, he could have been bogged down in the minutiae of what Vince and other Lib Dem ministers said but he used the occasion to give a very effective and common sense look ...
Ed Miliband has invited Lib Dems to make suggestions for his 2015 manifesto. Though I'm suspicious of his motives, and I'm a supporter of Nick Clegg and the coalition, I think we should respond to this invitation with a public discussion of what Liberal Democrat policies should be from 2015. If he takes up the suggestions, so much the better. If not, public discussion of Liberal Democrat ideas is always a good idea. In part 1, I've already made suggestions on the economy, the deficit, and on local government finance. Part 2 covers other policy areas. Reducing the poverty trap ...
The Identity Documents Bill received Royal Assent yesterday. All ID cards will be cancelled within one month of Royal Assent and the National Identity Register, the database which contains the biographic information and biometric fingerprint data of card holders, will be physically destroyed within two months. The Identity Card Scheme represented the worst of government. It was intrusive, bullying, ineffective and expensive. The coalition Government is committed to scaling back the power of the state and restoring civil liberties. This is just the first step in the process of restoring and maintaining our freedoms. The Identity Documents Bill invalidates the ...
I am the last person to be preaching about speaking in haste and repenting in leisure and I do not intend to start here. However, there is no doubt that Vince Cable was surprisingly naive in allowing himself to be drawn into giving an opinion, even privately, on his quasi-judicial role as arbiter on the future of Sky and the Murdoch media empire. Cameron and Clegg were absolutely right to take that responsibility off him. They had no choice. The role of the Daily Telegraph in this was far from honourable however. They went out of their way to entrap ...
broadcast anniversaries 22 December 1973: broadcast of second episode of The Time Warrior. Sarah is rescued by Hal, while the Doctor is captured by Irongron and Linx. 22 December 1979: broadcast of first episode of The Horns of Nimon. The Tardis collides with a ship full of sacrifices from the planet Skonnos.
Wed 22nd
09:01
Vince to leave cabinet? Well, that's what a completely apolitical non-blogger called Iain Dale says
Iain Dale has asked "Is Cable's goose cooked" in what looks for all the world like a "blog post", published on the very unusual (for him) medium of the Total Politics blog (as a "Guest blogger"), and then cross-posted on Iain Dale's Diary. What a really weird contorted way of doing things! The post is saying that Vince should go from the cabinet. – Fascinating coming from someone who only last week said "The time has come to stop blogging (and Party Politics)" And he's on Radio 4′s Today saying much the same thing here. He appears to invest quite ...
Day of protest planned against library closures | Books | guardian.co.uk Will be going to the read-in at my local library if it ends up on the list. We've saved Brighouse Library once, we can do it again. (tags: libraries protest) BBC News - Vince Cable to stay on as Business Secretary Oh dear. On the one hand: YAY we still have a Vince. On the other... That means the future of the BBC is in the hands of the Hulture secretary. Time to start lobbying methinks. (tags: news vince) Julian Asshat and the Rape Accusations of DOOOOOM Surely in ...
Michael Crick has the scoop about the ending of plans to fund open primaries: A very senior Cabinet minister has told me that the Coalition has now scrapped its radical plans to pay for primary elections to choose party candidates in 200 safe seats. The full Coalition Agreement last May said: "We will fund 200 all-postal primaries over this Parliament, targetted at seats which have not changed hands for many years." The money would have been allocated to parties which now have seats in Parliament, according to their shares of the vote in May 2010. Primaries have been very controversial, ...
This morning's Western Mail contains a report that senior civil servants working for the Welsh Government have criticised a £40m computer project as "a total waste of money". They say that the project, which is being implemented over a number of years, is known as the IDEAS programme. Its aim is to assist the development of policy and its delivery, but sources who have spoken to the paper claim that it is actually slowing the process down. One senior source told us: "What this programme does is enable people who are not specialists in a particular policy field to chip ...
I will not sit back and see the Daily Telegraph attack our MPs for being honest and having integrity when the newspaper has stooped to yet another new low, taping them in constituency surgeries when pretending to be constituents, depriving real constituents having time with their local MP. The media are desperate for the coalition to collapse, to find splits in the coalition and probably hoping that it will fail. The British media are strange, they left Labour alone for many things during their tenure - the illegal war in Iraq, the measly 75p rise for pensioners, the introduction of ...
It is always a worry when you get power, Ministers can get enveloped in the process of Government, they can go native. Liberal Democrat members have voiced these concerns, worried over our Ministers being too enthusiastic about Tory policies. But the reports in today's papers just remind us that our ministers are still sticking by their principles in their minds and compromising where they have to. If you were just to read the press you would hear: Labour crowing that we have no power, no influence. Tories being remarkably silent. Where as the reality is we are just the scapegoat. ...
Alright, you knew that someone was going to start to take an interest in the Fantasy Football eventually, and those of you who hate these things might want to look away now, as they used to say on a Saturday evening before Match of the Day was on. This week saw the first round of the Fantasy Cup, and with ninety-seven of the Liberal Democrat League's participants surviving Week 17's qualifying round, there were the prospects for a decent number of survivors, especially given the form shown by some of our leading exponents of the beautiful game thus far. And ...
The Daily Telegraph, as a right wing Conservative newspaper, has shown no loyalty to the coalition. Their columnists, from Simon Heffer, to the increasingly foam flecked Ambrose Evans Pritchard preach a gospel of right wing cant that is definitely at odds with the more forgiving ethos of Coalition politics. The fact is that as much as in the Labour Party, there are many Conservatives who are bitterly opposed to the idea of political partnership- so it is no surprise that the Telegraph launched a sting against Vince Cable. He fell into the trap- foolishly- and has paid the severe political ...
I will be contactable over the Christmas period, but you might not get as quick as response as you would normally. You can contact me by phone (07958 570202) or email (cllr.iain.roberts@stockport.gov.uk) but it may take up to a day for me to pick up the messaege and get back to you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
In my somewhat eclectic higher education I studied some statistics and came across the Poisson Distribution, which predicts, if I remember rightly, that disasters come in clusters. With one of our MPs harbouring an alleged Russian spy, the student fees debacle and, now, embarrassing revelations of Vince Cable and his partial emasculation, all in the space of a fortnight, we Liberal Democrats must hope that our cluster of damaging events is now complete. Maybe even that the New Year and a victory in Oldham and Saddleworth will herald the turn of the tide. Actually I think the disclosures of the ...
Announcing the Twelve Doctors of Christmas! | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts I'm in good company! (tags: doctorwho) The EU - What's in it for me? The UK, as most of us know, is a net contributor to the EU budget. Therefore it's understandable that people in this country want to learn more about how we benefit from our collective contribution. On this website you can find out how the EU helps with: * Moving around Europe freely and safely* Giving UK consumers a fair deal* Making our food and environment safer* Fighting crime and policing ...
I write two blogs pre day and today I thought I would share the photography blog with you to reach a wider audience so here it is... I had promised photos of London from my trip last week but normal service is temporarily suspended, like most of the transport network since my return, in order to give you the latest photography news. There are some great photo on page 96 of the January edition of Lancashire life with the headline "Lancaster Medical Book Club dinner in Morecambe". Alright they are my photos and what is more they have given me ...
