New Year Resolutions. We all love to make them but how many of us have gone off track by the end of January? I've been making New Year Resolutions and setting yearly goals since I was twelve. Some years I managed to hit them all while on others I only achieve one or two. 2010 ...
Firstly, lets see how I did with my predictions and resolutions: Ten Resolutions:Didn't happenSort of happened: if I had kept to the same level of earnings, we would have been fine.Would have happened, if not for GideonHappened a bit, but not as much as it should haveHappened only because I had fewer to miss, but those that I did have and missed were important ones... would have happened if not for GideonI got my old one freshened up, so that's another sort of. Would have had a new one if the design was sorted and, inevitably, were it not for ...
[IMG: England retain the Ashes] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: Ben Sutherland Well done to the England Cricket Team for retaining the Ashes. I stayed up late to listen to the commentary from Melborne. It was a very proud moment. The next day, I found myself trying, perhaps inadequately, to explain what "retaining the Ashes" means. It was a longish task (and was followed by a, frankly gratuitous, challenge for me to recite the football offside rule). It reminded me of this explanation of the rules of cricket, which I first saw printed on a tea cloth: You have ...
The Guardian lowered itself to the depths of blatant haymaking today in a profile piece on the landlord of Joanna Yeates. Now there is nothing wrong with a paper writing a piece on a suspect in a murder case but ... Continue reading →
What is the Social Liberal Forum? David Hall-Matthews writes: The Social Liberal Forum is a group within the Liberal Democrats run by members and activists. Its aim is simple. It is to make sure that party policy and direction develops and retails a Social Liberal approach. This may sound rather esoteric. But it is quite ...
Dig out your beer mats, a stamp and a jiffy bag. Pronto!
I today made the decision to move away from GoDaddy hosting as quite frankly they were terrible. I have had complaints that people have been banned from the site before (not by me) and have had moments where I have ... Continue reading →
I spent today culling my collections and taking books and DVDs to the the charity shops in town. One of those I went to is the new Oxfam bookshop in Market Harborough, which opened in the autumn. It is a good shop, but you have to feel sorry for those trying to make a living from the book trade - there is also an Age Concern bookshop nearby. At one time, maybe 10 years ago, Harborough had three secondhand bookshops and a junk shop with a good selection of bookshops too. Now there is only Christine's Book Cabin. Still, if ...
Throughout the festive season, LDV is offering our readers another chance to read the 12 most popular opinion articles which have appeared on the blog since 1st January, 20109. The seventh most-read LDV op-ed of 2010 was by Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Nick Perry, and originally appeared on 7th July ... Opinion: I admit it, I am shocked by Labour's hatred Call me naive, but I have been genuinely shocked by the bilious and unbridled hatred that has been pouring out from every Labour orifice you could care to mention. Not just from the Labour leadership contenders. Not just in ...
Part 1 was posted yesterday. July I pointed out that, contrary to what many believe, Keynesian economics do not mean a permanent deficit and marked Little Bowden Rec's role in the history of Liberal philosophy. The Decorated west end of the south aisle at St Luke's Gaddesby, says Simon Jenkins, "appears to have been designed at the end of a riotous 14th-century party". Elsewhere in Leicestershire, I found a newsreel about the kidnapping of an Earl Shilton boy in 1959. And elsewhere on film, I discovered where the video for Paper Sun was filmed. August On holiday in Oxford, I ...
The season of Giving has seen the Government release a Green or consultation paper on the same subject. A more giving culture will involve "individuals and communities" giving more "money, assets, time, skills, knowledge, and energy" to "charities, community groups, and social enterprises". With suggested solutions themed around 'great opportunities (for giving), information, visibility, exchange (mutual benefit), and support (for successful social enterprises)'. The most headline grabbing proposition, borrowed from Colombia, has been the idea that the Government will work with banks to encourage donation options at the point of cash withdrawal. Many of the other suggestions in the paper ...
Just to say, I have had the word that the lights at Christchurch Rd and Redlands Rd have been fixed. It was a power supply problem, which is serious amounts of work, requiring rapid and focussed effort to get them fixed before the long weekend. Thanks to all involved!
Poor Ed Miliband. In his first speech to the Labour party conference he tried his valiant best to show that Labour had changed, that it was a party which could re-claim the progressive liberalism it so happily junked in the Blair/Brown years. No more ID cards, detention without trial, control orders etc — so said Ed. And yes to electoral reform in the shape of the alternative vote — so said Ed. Unfortunately for Ed, not many of his MPs are listening to him. Today, the No2AV campaign proudly announced that over 100 of Labour's 257 MPs would be opposing ...
The Slough Borough Council website reports the sad news: Councillor Jenkins, 72, died yesterday (29 December 2010) following a fall at her home. She had been a Liberal Democrat councillor for Foxborough ward since being elected in 2004. Councillor Robert Plimmer, fellow Liberal Democrat councillor for Foxborough, said: "Sonja was a much loved and hardworking member of the local community in Langley. She was known by everyone in Foxborough and was regularly stopped in the street by people looking for help. As well as being a councillor she served with distinction on the Langley Carnival Committee for many years. She ...
The Manchester Evening News has been investigating Labour's ID Card trial in Greater Manchester last November. Only 13,200 signed up from a population of over two million. The MEN reveals how: * Senior Whitehall officials were urged to email friends and relatives encouraging them to buy cards because of fears about the level of demand * UK and overseas border guards refused to recognise the cards - with one traveller chased through an Italian airport after trying to use one as ID * The Home Office discovered the cards could stop some credit cards from working properly
Thanks to Simon McGrath, Lib Dem member and the man behind the 'Vote Clegg, Get Clegg' Facebook page who has today awarded me 'Grassroots Campaigner Of The Year' in his Lib Dem Awards 2010. He writes: 'The winner here is someone I have mentioned before Daisy Benson. She was the candidate in Reading West at the election where she increase the vote by 4.3%. Reading West was one of the constituencies the papers were saying we might take at the height of Cleggmania and if you are candidate however much you know it won't happen you always have a bit ...
I'm still objecting to the term 'big society', but some of the ideas coming out under its rubric are good. The Independent is reporting on the government's ideas to encourage more people to give to charity. Some of these ideas seem good (eg being able to round up transactions on debit cards and give the change to charity; allowing charities to use government buildings), even though some seem a little pointless (eg setting up a new charity shopping search engine- you can search the web and give to charity already), but the principle of trying to make it more convenient ...
Since I started this blog in October 2009, more than 5,000 people have taken the trouble to visit it, with more than a thousand people visiting more than once - thank you. Whether these count as high readership figures, I don't know, but I've enjoyed it and found it a useful way to maintain a shop window as a Parliamentary candidate. I was selected to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Hendon for the General Election just gone, which means that I remain the de facto candidate until tomorrow - when the calendar year ends. So I'm going to take ...
The snow has finally left our streets and most of our pavements and parks. It seems much longer but we only had snow for just over a week. Many comments have been made and written but the one thing that we must all acknowledge is that this was the worse snowfall in living memory and the lowest temperatures since records began. Crosby recorded the lowest temperatures in the country for 3 successive nights. Temperatures in parts of our borough didn't rise above freezing for 10 days. The above is not included as an excuse for the poor state of our ...
...if a councillor works as a freelance consultant he or she doesn't have to declare his or her client list to the council. To be honest I've been pretty disappointed by the local awkward squad. They seem to prefer picking at scabs like Shinfield Road rather than attempting to pour salt on a big festering sore that has been oozing pus across Reading for the last 23 years.
I have been looking to get some climbing gear for a while and with my 'christmas money', and a little self-funding I have found what I need. I started off yesterday trying to shop at Dick's climbing on old market but alas he was closed. This is a shame as he is great, knowledgeable and with a brilliant selection. So off I trot today tho Ellis -Brigham - Clifton. What a rubbish range of harnesses - with one of the ladies' harnesses being lilac (yuk!). The guy was trying to convince me that I needed to wear it partially on ...
Doing the end of year clear up you always come across some of the old leaflets and flyers delivered by the various parties. Amongst them I found one from the Reading Labour Party delivered in April 2008 in two versions, Urdu and English, but strangely enough only to Muslim voters. In it they value the support of the Muslin community and that Labour and they have acheived "much together", including: Labour provided premises for the Pakistani Community CentreLabour enlarging Park Hall for the Pakistan community"Your Labour MP and councillors hold special advice sessions at the PCC."Labour "helped with planning permission ...
[IMG: interchange.jpg] Over the holiday period, Clitheroe Interchange is closed and won't reopen until Tuesday 4th January 2011. This obviously has left many potential travellers perplexed as to what services are running over the holidays, not only on the the train routes, but also on the bus routes whose timetables have all changed differently due to a variety of different bus operators serving our area. Luckily there is a leaflet which gives details about the changes to services - it can be found here.
I admit that blogging has been a bit light of late, with ill health, Christmas and my campaign in Stowupland either getting in the way, or taking priority. Both Ros and I went down with flu-like symptoms, although whilst Ros was relatively stoic about it, I ended up out of action for three days. Christmas was fun though, and I rather enjoyed the whole presents, food and general socialising stuff. Since Christmas, we've been concentrating on getting calendars delivered across Stowupland ward. Neither of us is 100% by any means, but we've plodded on and, with a day to spare, ...
[Originally posted on Liberal Democrat Voice, 30/12/10] In yesterday's post I set out key policy developments affecting housing. So what can we discern about the current government's approach to housing? For a start there is a continuing emphasis upon choice. This is particularly clear when discussing how to encourage underoccupying social renters to move. The ...
Funny looking thing, isn't it? But what is it? The answer is, a sugarbeet, or what's left after an enormous piece of farming equipment has gone through a field of beet, digging them up for transfer to the nearest sugar factory - in our case, at Bury St Edmunds. The 'campaign' has been somewhat delayed by the frozen ground, although it was fairly late in our parts last year in any event. However, for part of a day, the main road out of our village to the north, towards Stowupland, was blocked by large lorries being loaded up with newly ...
"It's been shocking to see the nursery for Labour wannabes, the National Union of Students, try to write off the hopes of a generation by implying that no poor person will be able to afford to go to university, when actually graduates on the lowest incomes will pay less under this scheme than they will under the NUS proposals." Caron's Musings welcomes the appointment of Simon Hughes as advocate for access to higher education, but asks why it is only for six months. While A Liberal Helping argues that this appointment makes the role of Tim Farron as Lib Dem ...
Or this may as well be the headline of this Guardian article here on Chris Jefferies who has been arrested but not charged with the murder of Joanna Yeates. The article is covered in Lib Dems references and quotes because among other things Chris Jefferies was a Lib Dem Activist. H/T to @kiramadeira for her tweet 'Still really confused by the Lib Dem focus here? Vile RT @guardiannews: Joanna Yeates landlord Chris Jefferies'
Happy new year to everyone in St Mary's and everyone else reading this. 2010 is at an end. A momentous year politically in this country, and an unforgettable one for me personally. My wedding and my candidature in the general election combined to make it one of the most exciting yet. And certainly the most expensive. I hope 2010 was a good year for you, and more importantly that 2011 brings you health and happiness. It might be a tough year for lots of people and for lots of reasons, but I hope we can look back in twelve months ...
Eagle-eyed readers will notice that I have updated the look of the site. I doubt it will entice new followers in their millions, but after more than three years looking at the same colour scheme I fancied a change. The exciting buttons and my Twitter feed seem to have disappeared during the transfer, but I suspect they'll turn up in the fullness of time, rather like lost baggage making its way to my hotel a few days after I arrive at the end of a multi-flight journey somewhere. I have also updated the photo that adorns the site. The old ...
Shortly before I started bookblogging I read and greatly enjoyed McWhorter's Power of Babel, a great book about the history of languages. Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue is a much shorter follow-on book (less than 200 pages), looking at grammar rather than etymology. McWhorter makes five main points, one of which was completely new and intriguing to me. 1) That the '-ing' present progressive and 'do' constructions in English come from Celtic languages. I had twigged to the former while dabbling in Irish last year; but it seems that both Welsh and Cornish also use the verb 'do' in the equivalent ...
The corporate cowboys have again submitted a planning application - just before Christmas - for a Cow Factory Farm in Lincolnshire. This inhumane method of farming is BAD for cows, farmers, climate and society. It needs to be stopped again and every time an application is submitted. The cows are kept indoors all year and are not allowed to eat grass. Everything about this method of farming is wrong. The easiest way to do this is join the petition at 38 Degrees LINK The petition: To: Tony McArdle, Chief Executive of Lincolnshire County Council, all councillors in Lincolnshire and North ...
I have just signed the Avaaz petition aimed at ensuring the Murdoch takeover of BSkyB is referred to the monopolies commission. It cannot be good for the country that one organisation can control 50% of the UK tv and newspaper output. Jeremy Hunt is no more impartial than Vince Cable on this subject. Direct web link at THIS LINK To: David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt : If Vince Cable isn't impartial to make decisions about the BSkyB takeover, neither is Jeremy Hunt. Jeremy Hunt is an outspoken supporter of Rupert Murdoch. We demand that Jeremy Hunt passes Ofcom's report straight ...
Central Bedfordshire Council is inviting residents and businesses to help shape a new Housing Strategy that will guide provision for the five years between 2011-2016. The strategy, which sets out the vision and aims for housing in Central Bedfordshire, places housing matters in context with other social affairs such as crime reduction, bringing communities together, enhancing neighbourhoods and improving health. It is an over-arching document that encompasses plans such as the Homelessness Strategy, housing for older people and the new Empty Homes Strategy, which was published in November. The strategy also explains how the council works, and will work, in ...
With Hughes largely tied up with his news responsibilities for at least the first-half of 2011, Tim Farron becomes an even more important Lib Dem Voice, in lobbying the party leadership, in connecting members/activists with Government ministers, in making our cause loud and clear in the media.
I could write a blog post about all the wretched things that have happened over this last year but they have been well documented enough by others less connected to the facts so instead i want concentrate on the things ... Continue reading →
It seems that BBC Northern ireland has been noticing the Northern Irish blogosphere. Well done. We've been around for some time... Gareth Gordon writes... I think it only attracts a certain type of people. I don't necessarily think its a broad representative cross-section of opinion or even punditry and it can at times attract extremist ...
Last month, the new traffic lights at the City Road/Tullideph Road became operational. However, since then I have received a number of residents' concerns about the way the crossing is operating for pedestrians. This is well summarised by one resident's comments : "Regarding the Traffic Lights at Tullideph/City Road they are working although the time for crossing is very short as they change from Green to Red before one is half way across the road and there is no beeping sound which is not very convenient for a person who has impaired sight." The City Council has advised me : ...
In the last couple of years I've been tremendously helped by the start-of-year poll asking which books from my unread shelf you all have read. I guess my logic for this is that I basically trust the literary judgement of my friends and other readers, and am interested to know what in particular from my sagging shelves I might look at next. (I also have been using two other mechanisms for choosing in each of the three categories below, popularity among LibraryThing users and longevity on my shelves). So I will once again be grateful to any and all who ...
Further to Tuesday's excellent launch of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Appeal, here's a video (with thanks to Rose) promoting the upcoming Gael's Fire fundraising event for the appeal.
Last Year I made my predictions for 2010. Later I will be making my predictions for 2011. So how did I do; 1. Both the Greens and UKIP will have there first MP's after the election in Caroline Lucas and Nigel Farage. < Really two predictions, one of which was right. I was surprised at how badly Nigel Farage did. I really thought he was a more popular politician. Nigel Farage came 3rd (17.4%) in the end behind John Stevens who ran for Campaign for Democracy (21.4%), No mean feat for Stevens. John Bercow won with 47.3% of the vote. ...
In my earlier article, I looked at the new proposals for dealing with school exclusions set out in The Importance of Teaching schools White Paper, published by the government last month. Two other areas of concern in Paper, which otherwise contains some good ideas, relates to the curriculum changes and the measurement of schools' performance. Curriculum - the broad academic core The White Paper gives some welcome attention to the breadth of the curriculum students study. Although the freedoms proposed for schools elsewhere in the paper allow them to adopt their own route, it is proposed to encourage the uptake ...
Tomorrow is the last day of existence of the QUANGO the National Women's Commission. It was founded in 1969 by Harold Wilson to, "ensure by all possible means that the informed opinion of women is given its due weight in the deliberation of government". All rather patronising stuff from the 1960s mindset. It mainly represents women's groups and of course the views of it's commissioners. In 2007, Harriet Harmann reshaped it to be a body that would give her the views of women. Unfortunately, the commission appears to be dominated by middle class women from very privileged backgrounds. Of the ...
Longevity is the main theme of today's posting. The news that one in five of current UK residents will live to be 100 years old is staggering. We have massive demographic challenges ahead of us because while that one in five may have longevity on their (our hopefully) side the chances are that these 10 million people will be frail and that presents a public policy headache. How do we provide services to help maintain the quality of life for so many frail people with dwindling resources? This has been a recurring theme of my time in administration - making ...
In yesterday's post I set out key policy developments affecting housing. So what can we discern about the current government's approach to housing? For a start there is a continuing emphasis upon choice. This is particularly clear when discussing how to encourage underoccupying social renters to move. The CLG rhetoric is of increasing choice and making choices easier to realise. They neglect to cross-refer to the DWP proposals to cut the housing benefit of any social renter deemed to be seriously underoccupying. The approach isn't all "carrot". The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) proposals more generally are framed in terms of ...
Given some of the recent exchanges between Richard Grayson and others, I found this comment from Richard in a book published in 2009 (and which I'm writing a review of over the holidays) interesting: As for so-called economic liberals, look at the material in the Orange Book from David Laws, often characterised by the media and some Liberal Democrats as a high-priest of economic liberalism. One finds there a clear recognition of the effects on freedom of 'poverty, poor housing, poor schooling and second-rate public services'. Within the Liberal Democrats, in internal discussions on manifesto and other policy statements, he ...
With the ongoing shortage on water in Northern Ireland, and lack of information that is correct being distributed, it is important that people can contact NI Water. Therefore I am publishing alternative numbers to contact them on. According to Say No to 0870 campaign, it is possible to contact Northern Ireland Water on numbers instead of ...
With the ongoing shortage on water in Northern Ireland, and lack of information that is correct being distributed, it is important that people can contact NI Water. Therefore I am publishing alternative numbers to contact them on. According to Say No to 0870 campaign, it is possible to contact Northern Ireland Water on numbers instead of ...
I'm really pleased to see that Simon Hughes has been given the job of making sure that young people aren't being put off from going into higher education after the tuition fees decision. It's been shocking to see the nursery for Labour wannabes, the National Union of Students, try to write off the hopes of a generation by implying that no poor person will be able to afford to go to university, when actually graduates on the lowest incomes will pay less under this scheme than they will under the NUS proposals. Linda Jack, who has been one of fiercest ...
These aren't New Year resolutions – look at the date, this post is on December 30th – but I've decided that I need to post more here and also to get back in the habit of reading more books, as I've got out of the habit of reading regularly and need to rectify that. So, ...
Here are my predictions from this time last year about 2010 and how I did: 1) Gordon Brown will push the General Election very late to May or June.DING! 2) There will be a hung parliament after the General Election with the Conservatives as the largest single party.DING! 3) The Lib Dems will lose seats despite the vote share being very similar to last time.DING! 4) David Miliband will become Labour leader after the election.Got this one wrong but it was bloody close! 5) England will go out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals (sorry to sound unpatriotic but ...
United Utilities have published advice for anyone suffering from burst pipes due to the thaw. Take a look here. I've not been told about significant burst pipe issues in our area, so I'm hoping we've got off lightly, but do let me know if you know otherwise.
Whenever I have been canvassing, I have always seen signs on doors saying "We do not buy or sell at this door", or "No canvassers". These people require special thought and some local knowledge before I decide whether to knock or not. If I do, I stress that "I'm not selling", which is a statement of fact whilst also being a little bit untrue, as I am in fact trying to sell the idea of voting for me, or a colleague. The main thing is that I believe in the thing I am selling. I think that is key to ...
Lib Dem Manifesto p.34 "We will increase the funding of the most disadvantaged pupils, around one million children. We will invest £2.5bn in this 'Pupil Premium' to boost education opportunities for every child." The government has delivered on the key Liberal Democrat pledge of a £2.5bn pupil premium to bring extra funding to the most vulnerable students. Each child on Free School Meals in Haringey will start with an extra £430 which will go directly to their school to be spent how the school thinks best. This is additional funding on top of the normal formula settlement. Lib Dem Manifesto ...
Nick Clegg has recorded his first New Year Message with the Liberal Democrats in Government. He concentrates on the four points on which we fought the election in May: fair taxes, a fair start for every child, building a sustainable, green economy and cleaning up politics. I guess it's fairly predictable. Two points. The last time Nick You Tubed his New Year message was in 2009, and there were subtitles on it. Why not this time? Also, I thought I'd take a wee look back at the last couple of years' New Year Messages just to see what our priorities ...
Lionel Zetter's book, Lobbying: The Art of Political Persuasion, has become the default British guide to how lobbying works. A detailed publication of over 450 pages, it is a 'how to' guide for the profession that also acts as an introduction to lobbying for people whose encounter with the subject has previously been mainly through the medium of newspaper headlines about scandals. It is an insider's account - Zetter was voted Public Affairs Personality of the Year in 2008 by readers of Public Affairs News – and unashamedly argues about the benefits of lobbying in a democracy. As Zetter's book ...
The Liberal Democrats have published a list of 67 manifesto commitments delivered or on their way to be delivered in eight months of government. Below and in subsequent posts we reproduce that list: Lib Dem Manifesto p.22 "We will break up the banks, to ensure taxpayers are never again expected to underwrite high-risk banking. We will introduce a Banking Levy, so that banks pay for their tax-payer guarantee, until the break-up is complete." We have set up an independent commission on separating investment and retail banking, reporting by September 2011, and introduced a banking levy that will raise £2.5bn a ...
Thu 30th
06:58
Whoniversaries 30 December: a wedding, Enemy of the World #2, Three Doctors #1, Power of Kroll #2
i) marriage 30 December 1980: wedding of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward ii) broadcast anniversaries 30 December 1967: broadcast of second episode of The Enemy of the World. Giles Kent asks the Doctor to help him against Salamander. Jamie and Victoria manage to infiltrate Salamander's headquarters. 30 December 1972: broadcast of first episode of The Three Doctors, starting Season 10 and bringing back Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell. The Time Lords are losing energy; UNIT is besieged by strange special effects and the First and Second Doctors return. 30 December 1978: broadcast of second episode of The Power of Kroll. ...
According to the Guardian 114 Labour MPs have come out against the alternative vote system of elections and will be campaigning for a 'No' vote in the referendum next May. This is despite the fact that the Labour leader, Ed Miliband will be campaigning for a positive outcome and that support for AV was a Labour manifesto commitment which all 114 of these MPs stood on and supported in the General Election. There was an outcry when the Liberal Democrats failed to get a majority and as a result were forced to abandon their manifesto pledge to abolish tuition fees ...
Born to be an Alien Another in the series of Tor posts about Who, this time about the Fourth Doctor, by an occasional correspondent. (tags: doctorwho) tansyrr.com» Blog Archive » A Modern Woman's Guide to Classic Who: THE FOURTH DOCTOR YEARS: 1975-1981 Tansy's take on the Fourth Doctor (tags: doctorwho) Ooku: The Inner Chambers—Volume 1 | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts Brit Mandelo reviews the Tiptree-winning manga (tags: comics sf)
I was listening to local radio yesterday and there was an interview with a council worker who put up and took down Christmas trees. It seems that all the trees for the Fylde come from Scotland. they are cut down months before Christmas and they are now being taken down. It takes months to put them up because there are so many of them. If struck me that the trees were nothing to do with Christmas. We have some references to the actual 12 days in the Christmas song but "Christmas" for this person and for many others was totally ...
