To a farm in the Surrey Hills for a fourth birthday treat for the wee one. Highlight of the day the pig racing, I backed the pig in green - needless to say it trailed in second last (an omen perhaps?) Overheard dad saying to son - bedecked in brand new Manchester United togs - in finest sarf London, 'who are you backing?'. Son replied 'who ever is in the lead at the end'. Sort of sums up all those football glory hunters... Happy new year!
For this blog's 800th published post, and reflecting on Nick Clegg's five-day old New Year message to supporters, the concluding slogan, particularly two words have been bugging me. "We will continue to build the liberal, fairer, greener Britain that we all believe in." There's nothing particularly noxious or exciting about it. It's a fairly typical party triptych. I don't even have a particular issue with the sentiments expressed. Who doesn't want a fairer society? Who is actively in favour of an unpleasant environment? Who still thinks over 20 years on from merger that the party's philosophy needs more explanation than ...
The sun peeped through, so time for the first outing of the year, and we went to Preston Park, in Eaglescliffe. For new readers this is a great park, Council owned near to where we live. There were proposals to build a school on it at this time last year, and I am proud to say that my 3 Lib Dem Councillors put up a magnificent campaign, amidst the ice and snow, working with many others, to succesfully stop that development. I still find it difficult to believe that such a ridiculous propsal was ever even thought of, and the ...
Last year, the Automobile Association criticised the over-use of variable message signs across Scotland - the signs - the type of sign like the one pictured (right). The AA President Edmund King said that many of the messages on these signs are "patronising and simplistic" and the over-use of these signs with such non-messages meant that drivers tended to ignore them - so ensuring that when important messages - for example, regarding road closures or tailbacks - were displayed, many drivers simply did not notice them. Since the AA's criticism was raised back in October, there has been further criticism ...
Last week we reported how my Birkdale Ward colleague Simon Shaw was due to lead a team of councillors to meet with senior Council officers to discuss widespread concerns over gritting and the clearance of snow. This is the link: Councillors to meet with Highways officers over gritting mayhem The meeting took place, as planned, last Wednesday, the first day back at work after the Christmas bank holiday break. Simon and six other councillor colleagues from across Southport and Maghull travelled to Bootle and were able to have a frank exchange of views with three senior Council officers. The team ...
A few days before Christmas, Transport Minister Phillip Hammond announced the coalition government's plans for HS2. Despite promises to re-think the Labour government's proposals the new route is almost identical to the old one. (Click here for maps). There now follows a consultation period of six months. In the months ahead opponents of HS2 will, no doubt, be dismissed as "nimbies", standing in the way of progress and a greener future. I could wax lyrical about the beauty of the Misbourne Valley, the woodland that will be lost, the houses that must be knocked down. But I believe that the ...
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Here are some pictures of the new year themed cake we made The Chocolate cake with butter icing in the filling and melted chocolate over the to said 'New Year' Middle layer was a fruit cake with marzipan and icing and decorated in the style of my friend julia's t shirt , with feathers, roses and skulls - not very new year themed as it happens And on the top fairy cakes decorated as clocks and watches all set at five to midnight, If you want some it's too late, we ate it!
It's a cliché, god knows but entertainment seemed thin on the ground this Christmas, I sought comfort in film, rather than confront the cold hearted misery of our TV soap opera's, few harsher this year, than Corrie in which a baby is discarded and dumped with a reluctant father and worse East Enders (but then it always is) who ruthlessly and without heart, allow one baby to die and another stolen, all in the name of ratings. Avoid these I did by falling asleep or watching some classics of film, and insisting on Mrs Me Skyplusing the soaps for later ...
Manchester Schools are set to receive up to £430 per pupil a year for each poorer pupil they teach under details announced by the Coalition Government. It means that Manchester stands to gain up to £9.5m extra cash in the coming year to help towards improving teaching and learning in schools and boosting achievement. The extra cash will be given according to the number of pupils on free school meals and whose families earn less than £16,000 per year. It means that Manchester gains an estimated £9.5m. The imapct for Chorlton primary schools is set to be a funding boost ...
britishrailways.tv The new Woodhead tunnel was closed with the rest of the line in 1981. For a year or two before that, Sunday services between Manchester and Sheffield were regularly diverted through it, and I travelled that way more than once. Whitemoor Yard is now largely occupied by a prison. So much for progress. Still, enjoy the footage of these and several other post-war modernisation projects.
Over at Lib Dem Voice, I've defended David Cameron's inclusion in our annual Liberal Voice of the Year poll — which, for the avoidance of all doubt, has always purposely excluded Lib Dems in order to recognise the liberal diaspora that extends across party divides. Anyway, for the record I voted for Naomi Long, deputy leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and MP for Belfast East, for becoming the first liberal to be elected to Westminster from her part of the UK since 1914. Hers has been a heck of an achievement, both in campaigning and political terms. ...
Mon 3rd
19:19
New LDV members survey now live: your views on political reform, tuition fees, and the Coalition
The new LDV members' survey is now live. So if you are one of the 1,000+ registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum - and any paid-up party member is welcome to join - then you now have the opportunity to make your views known. Questions we're asking this month include: what you think of proposals for an elected House of Lords and directly-elected mayors; whether you think the Lib Dems and Conservatives should agree to any form of electoral pact; asking if you agree or disagree that much of the Lib Dem manifesto is being implemented; your views ...
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, 2010. The third most-read LDV op-ed of 2010 was by LDV contributing editor Iain Roberts, and originally appeared on 13th May ... Confusion reigns over 55% – the reality is rather different Labour activists are up in arms – apparently the Lib Dems and Conservatives are going to change the law so the government can only be brought down if 55% of MPs vote against it. They've got a point – if ...
This week the 'Book of the week' on R4 is The Winter of our discontent By Susan Maushart: How one mother imposed techno-silence on three angry teenagers for six months - and lived to tell the tale..For anyone who's ever taken their phone to bed or sneaked a look at their Blackberry mid-conversation and any parent who has ever texted their child to the dinner table - or yanked the modem from its socket in a show of primal parental rage - this account of a family's six-month, self-imposed exile from the Information Age will leave you ROFLing (Roll on ...
I've had three reports of one or more groups of youths breaking windows in the centre of Gatley (Gatley Road and Oakwood Avenue. The police have done an excellent job of tackling this sort of anti-social behaviour in the past and I'm talking to them to make sure we deal with this latest issue and get it sorted. Please can you let Pam and me know if you've had problems so we can get the best picture of what's happening and help the police to resolve it.
The Tories (and let's not forget the Lib Dems) are the government of the day, but have learnt nothing from the swine flu pandemic of last year and have allowed flu to become a problem again this year when it could so easily have been dealt with. I blogged last year that I thought the Tories were showing some good common sense on flu, asking important questions. The problem is, now they are in power, they have shown that this was all flannel, intended to garner coverage in the press, and that they meant none of it. The level of ...
During October a public consultation was undertaken about whether to expand this market from 20 to 30 pitches, add Sundays or keep it as it is now. At the time I asked whether we could increase the Saturday market from 20 to 40 pitches which would have required closing Northcross Road between lordship Lane and Nutfield Road. The administration and officers decided they only wanted to ask about increasing to 40 stalls. I had imagined that Sunday opening would be strongly opposed by residents affected - certainly nearby residents have brought up the disturbance when I've visited them. But of ...
In the absence of any report back from Richard Grayson, it appears that the Labour denials continue. Yes, by all means oppose what the Coalition is doing if you've got an alternative, but until you've got one to offer, you might well choose to keep your heads down. At every stage, Labour have decried the cuts as too fast, too soon, without ever suggesting what they might cut and when. And it really is becoming tiresome. During the election campaign, Labour talked about £44 billion of cuts. They weren't alone, although none of the three major parties were entirely clear ...
The new issue of Liberator is with subscribers, so it is time to spend another week at Bonkers Hall. Monday Finding myself passing the kitchens, I call upon Cook to thank her for a delicious luncheon (and ask if there might be any of that magnificent spotted dick left). I find her in her sitting room watching her new portable moving television. As I study the screen, I see men eating a kangaroo's penis while being showered with maggots. Something about him is familiar... "By Gladstone!" I cry. "It's Lembit Öpik." I am about to observe that the restaurants in ...
Well 2010 is in the books so it is time for me to write my review of the year. Usually I do this in the standard Meme form but not this year. This year it'll be more of a blog post. So let's play darts get on with the blog. 2010 will not go down ...
A lot of people return to work tomorrow after the Christmas break, so if you're one of them (like I am) do take care in the early morning and try not to get too disheartened either by the inevitable traffic or the grimness of a return to work. In these tricky times I am secretly glad of both, despite moaning about having to set my alarm for the first time in a while. And if you're one of the many people who've been working over the holiday period, I hope you get a well deserved break at some point soon. ...
A new and irregular feature for this blog, as part of my drive for more content here, featuring things I've found interesting elsewhere. Or, shamelessly copying other people's linkblogging idea, you decide. Ten years of the 'War on Terror' - Jack of Kent on just how much 'anti-terror' has come to dominate our lives. Reasons ...
It's been a while since LDO has been up to much, but I think it's time we got going again. Lib Dems Online was set up in mid-1999 following previous activity on CIX and an article in Lib Dem News (that still stands up pretty well). We set it up for two reasons: To promote the use of the Internet, information systems and communications technology by Liberal Democrats at all levels, both for internal party organisation and for external campaigning, in pursuance of the aims and objectives of the Liberal Democrats, To initiate and recommend Liberal Democrat policies about the ...
Lib Dem Voice is currently running our fourth annual Liberal Voice of the Year poll. The purpose of this award since we launched it in 2006 has been to find a liberal from beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems — a Good Thing for a party committed to pluralism. Equally traditionally, this has attracted some flak. Last year, it was Peter Tatchell's inclusion which sparked strong views from those irate that the Voice should have recognised one of the Green Party's leading lights. This year it's the inclusion of two Tories — Ken Clarke and David Cameron — which ...
This essay appears in my forthcoming book Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!. Some of this material may be familiar to people who've read my blog before, but I wanted to do a comprehensive post. "But there was war, even there. There was a war in Heaven. And the wrong side won. The Dark Side won." Seven Soldiers: ...
For all my mealy mouthed moaning about the worst excesses of 'nanny state' command and control from the Brown government I am becoming more and more interested in nudging. I recently heard a short interview with Richard Thaler (Faculty page at University of Chicago) a co-author of Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness (amazon link) which increased my interest further. I've not read it yet, but will shortly order my copy and will probably post a review of it when I am done. Nudge theory (if we call it that) is drawn from behavioural economics, a furrow more ...
Here are two pictures, one being a long-tailed weasel, the other Guy McGregor, the portfolio holder for Transport on Suffolk County Council. One of them is cute, furry and has a basic honesty of purpose, the other is a Conservative. This week, it has been announced that the Safecam Partnership, which funds speed cameras across Suffolk, is in jeopardy because of budget cuts. If the funding is axed, the County will save £1.2 million but, and this is a big but, there won't be any speed cameras in the county. Now, as a non-driver, I don't have an axe to ...
I was reading a blog the other day when I stumbled across this brilliant post by Hannah Nicklin. It very neatly summed up the kind of thing I'd like to see our education system become but had been unable to put into words. I suggest you go and read the whole thing but here's an extract: If you believe uni should be for the most able (one hopes a reasonable assumption), then money should be taken out of the equation all together. Anything else privileges the better off, paying it back afterwards or via tax can sound as reasonable as ...
Today on my trawl through the papers I came across this. I know another Daily Mail article, but actually a lot of it rings so true. It is one of the reasons I am a keen supporter of Jo Swinson's Body Image campaign. For those who have not known me for over 10 years, you will not have known that I have a serious weight problem. Those who look at me now rarely believe that I used to be 16st 7lb at my heaviest and filled size 22 clothes easily. As a teenager I was never skinny, but I was ...
I have contributed a short post on the first day's play in the fifth Ashes test to The Corridor: During Australia's long ascendancy in the Ashes, English fans were often left with a faint sense of injustice. In test after test, individual England players performed bravely, even brilliantly, yet somehow their efforts were not reflected by the cold objectivity of the scoreboard. Australia will be feeling much like that today.
Well its a new year, the coalition hasn't collapsed and Liberal Democrats are still uncomfortable if still predominantly hopeful about the prospects for the coalition. The Telegraph took one ministerial scalp but missed another. The blog reached high numbers of hits with a humorous piece on name calling and the posts dried up as work took its toll on free time. This year the blog will endeavour to produce more fruits, which are riper and more juicy if perhaps a little smaller in size. Hopes for 2011Ed Miliband finally gets to grips with the fact he is Labour party leader ...
The last six months as the new Lib Dem MP for Eastbourne have been more of a rollercoaster than I could ever have imagined they would be! I've been pretty much just as flat out, albeit in a different way, as an MP as I was during the 6 months frenetic run up to the General Election. Much has gone on as you'll all be aware but the two things I'd like to write about today show the upside of being in Government and the upside of having the privilege of influence all MPs enjoy. The first lies around the ...
As a party, the Lib Dems are supposed to want to make Britain a fairer place. Perhaps 2011 is the year the party could start this by addressing the discriminatory way in which the English are taxed and charged in comparison to those living in parts of the countries with devolved governments. If you live in Wales, you children won't pay for University tuition fees like English students will, similarly you won't pay for prescriptions and I, as an English license fee payer will see certain services that I enjoy on the BBC cut in order to fund your Welsh ...
Pete Postlethwaite is one of those British actors who you'll know the face of, even if you don't know his name. He's been in lots of very good films: Amistad, The Usual Suspects, In the Name of the Father. He passed away today after battling with cancer for a long while. The reason he means a lot to me, personally, though, is his performance in the film Brassed Off. Brassed Off was initially marketed as a RomCom. And, to be fair to the marketers, it probably starts out that way. But it's so much more than that. If you've ever ...
Twenty years or so ago, I may have been a little surprised to read in Kitty Kelley's biography of Nancy Reagan that then White House Chief of Staff James Baker had apparently used some fairly serious swear words at the first lady in response to one of her excesses, but I was young then. It was probably more of a shock because of the more obvious piety of the US politician and was an early lesson that things may not always be as they seem. Like most of the rest of us, politicians swear. So what? Nothing to see here. ...
Lib Dem Manifesto, p.76 "We will end the detention of children in immigration detention centres" On 16th December, Nick Clegg announced the ending of child detention for immigration purposes. Lib Dem Manifesto, p.83 "Through our policy on Capital Gains Tax, ensure that those who use second homes as speculative investments will pay tax on enhanced capital value at the same rate as on earned income, not at 18% as at present" In June's emergency budget we increased the rate of Capital Gains Tax to 28% for higher rate taxpayers while keeping it at 18% for basic rate taxpayers. Lib Dem ...
[IMG: Richard Cheney's newly installed solar panels] All, Shipston Liberal Democrat Councillor (and local farmer) Richard Cheney has covered one of his barns with solar panels. As well as providing green energy, Richard receives about £3,500 a year from 'feed-in tariffs' – a Government backed scheme that pays people who install solar panels for their unused energy. The panels, which cost £34,000 to install, will pay for themselves in 10 years, but have a lifespan of about 25 – making green energy economic sense. The panels were installed by a local company – you can see their details here. If ...
Mon 3rd
11:25
Spotswood: Anthony Howard, efficiency savings, slot car racing and a very young Russell Crowe
[IMG: Spotswood staring Anthony Hopkins - DVD cover] Staring Anthony Howard as an efficiency expert brought into a well-meaning but bumbling moccasin factory, Spotswood is an amiable early-90s Australian comedy. It won a clutch of film festival awards but never really broke the film markets outside Australian, though the presence of a very young Russell Crowe alongside Howard has no doubt helped it to continue to be available on DVD. The comedy is affable and the serious messages about what efficiency really means (putting people out of their jobs) and how both managers and workers have responsibility to each other ...
Happy New Year. I am looking forward to 2011 and all it has to bring. 2010 was an extraordinary year with the events the General election followed by the coalition discussions marking a sea change in British politics. The excitement of Liberals being in government for the first time since WWII and then the slings and arrows of being in power. The most heart warming story of 2010 took place deep underground in a mine in Chile. For me the tale of survival was the most extraordinary and optimistic of 2010 not least when just a few weeks later another ...
I was immensely proud of both Edinburgh teams who took the field of play for the New Year Edinburgh Derby. Both Hibs and Hearts were sporting white ribbons in support of Lothian and Borders Polices campaign against domestic abuse. Stats show that this time of year sees an increase in domestic abuse hence the timing of the campaign. We have made massive inroads in Edinburgh in tackling all sorts of crime but domestic abuse is the one area where these levels have remained static. It was terrific to see both clubs to get right behind L&B's efforts in this area. ...
Well this year has been a bit of a crazy political ride hasn't it? From Clegg who? to Cleggmania to the burning of Clegg effigies... I've had a great time and my liberal beliefs have become stronger, more sure and definitely more robust. Yet I've seen that politically this country is still far too immature. People put belief before evidence, ideology before reality and we are all guilty of this. I am just as guilty as others, and I'm finding myself disagreeing with Tories and Labourites just because they are Tories and Labourites. That's not sensible and it's not fair. ...
There's still time to listen to BBC Radio Sheffield's documentary about Nick Clegg, which features an exclusive interview with Nick, as well as comments from Paul Scriven (Leader of Sheffield City Council), Allan Wisbey (Nick's election agent in Sheffield Hallam for the 2010 General Election) and Joe Otten (Lib Dem blogger and Chair of Sheffield Liberal Democrats). From the accompanying blurb on the BBC Sheffield and South Yorkshire website: "It's been a real rollercoaster year." Nick Clegg's own assessment of the last few months could be seen as something of an understatement. Go back to December 2009, and the Sheffield ...
Fans of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien should check out their guest appearance in Jonathan Morris's comic strip story in the latest Doctor Who Magazine (dated 12 January, cover featuring Matt Smith in a Santa hat with Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins). Very pleasing. edited to add: Today is Tolkien's birthday! (3 January 1892)
It seems that Fianna Fáil have suddenly discovered the virtues of abolishing the upper house of the Irish parliament (see today's Irish Times, here and here). Obviously, given my previous post on the subject, I think this is a good idea. However, I also have to agree with the opposition spokespeople quoted in the Irish Times who see the latest initiative as an attempt by the government to put off the general election for a couple more months. Abolishing the Seanad is not quite as straightforward as deleting Articles 18-19 of the constitution, which deal with the composition of the ...
Someone's always at it. This time it's another Sky peddler. The forum message reproduced here come from the excellent SatCure forum, actually named notonyourtelly.co.uk. The SatCure Review, a newsletter, is one of the best on the net, I reckon, and the main SatCure web site is a goldmine of information and digital TV hardware. The scan goes like this: "International" calls by people claiming to be from Sky saying you'll shortly receive a new viewing card. Don't be taken in. It's a cold call using a list. When asked, they cannot say what Sky equipment or service "they" had supplied, ...
I have written before about the habit of the Police of keeping on their databases details of people who have been charged with offences and then found not guilty. However, it seems that the forces of law and order have taken their obsession with the retention of data even further. According to this morning's Western Mail millions of innocent people have had their details stored on police databases after reporting a crime. The paper says that forces across England and Wales have amassed data about people who dial 999 or non-emergency numbers to report their concerns or pass on information: ...
New Statesman - Simon Hughes and the cartel of British politics I wish I didn't agree with this as much as I do. (tags: politics pennyred) Police demand new powers to stop and search terror suspects | Law | The Guardian *facepalm* Hopefully the government will tell them where to go. (tags: police politics) The Daily (Maybe): Religious strikes rocks Pakistan JimJay, despite his hatred of LibDems, continues to be a must-read blog. Here he highlights a Pakistani female human rights campaigner and Liberaliser (tags: greens politics international pakistan) NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year? David ...
Rachel Smith first came into my life last year, through the medium of Twitter, where she tweeted as @rachelolgeirsso. Witty and intelligent, Rachel readily engaged others in conversations about politics, life and popular culture. Although we were both active Lib Dems, we'd be as likely to exchange comments about The Apprentice or Strictly Come Dancing as about the coalition or political policies. Rachel had been an active tweeter through the general election and the formation of the coalition, strong about the Lib Dems place in government and scathing as to what she saw as Labour's opportunism and hypocrisy, especially where ...
Paul Moorcraft's account of his several decades touring the world's violent trouble-spots as a journalist and some-time government representative entertains as well as informs. From Rhodesia in the 1970s through to his contemplation of pioneering a niche market in blind observers for African elections in 2010, Moorcraft's account reflects plenty of the swagger of many war correspondents but with enough self-mockery to make the account illuminating and interesting rather than a macho display. Even the clichés about drinking and womanising journalists, which he seems to have often fulfilled to the maximum, are full of his own failings. The result is ...
i) births and deaths 3 January 1920: birth of Peter Stephens, who played Cyril, the Kitchen Boy, and the Knave of Hearts in The Celestial Toymaker (1966), and Lolem the high priest in The Underwater Menace (1967). ii) broadcast anniversaries 3 January 1970: broadcast of first episode of Spearhead from Space; first episode of Season 7, first appearance of Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, first appearance of Caroline John as Liz Shaw. The regenerated Doctor arrives in England in the middle of a meteorite storm, is hospitalised, and then shot by UNIT as he attempts to return to the ...
The turning of the year, and indeed the decade, was more than usually symbolic here in Tallinn. 2011 marks Tallinn's turn, together with the Finnish city of Turku, as the European Capital of Culture. Given the relatively small size of the city- just 450,000- even in normal times Tallinn is a very culturally rich place to be: several international film festivals, a large amount of theatre, a wide variety of music, street performance, open air concerts and so on. This, coupled with a number of high quality museums ensures that there is always something to see and do. Tallinn may ...
Epiphany today, remembering the story of the wise men bringing gifts. Makes me think of the gifts we have and how we use them. I am still in holiday and not political mode, but how do politicians use gifts they have ? How much is it to do what they can to make better communities, a better country, even a better world ? How much to preserve self ? How much to condemn and attack what others do ? Just some thoughts. On a lighter note, we are gifted with some lovely friends and neighbours and this afternoon and evening ...
It's never easy to see what's actually coming in the future – which is why most of the articles about what's going to happen in the coming year could just be replaced with 'I will be proven right about everything' – but one way of picking up on future political trends is to see what ...
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.23 - "If you choose micro-generation, you will be able to sell the energy back to the National Grid at a profit, with a more attractive feed-in tariff than under current government plans." Feed-in tariffs were protected under the spending review. Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne has announced that the Renewable Heat Incentive, which pays for every kilowatt hour ...
I was on my way home from Murrayfield ice rink where my team, the Edinburgh Capitals had just been on the receiving end of an eight - nil thrashing when I read Fraser Nelson's tweet; "Is the coalition becoming a merger? My take in tomorrow's Daily Telegraph"So, given Chelsea FC could only manage a three - three draw against Aston Villa, then the Edinburgh Capitals got thrashed eight - nil, I was in a foul mood and responded as below to Fraser Nelson; "No it bloody well isn't, they are two different registered political parties, why oh why are journalists ...
I bought a tabloid Sunday newspaper yesterday. I like contentious political remarks and I also like political comments with which I can strongly agree. I have read the political pages in this paper and my one strong resolution is not to buy this paper again. I may break this rule if they give away a DVD that I want to watch but it certainly won't be for the paper. There were three political stories. I'll just mention one. It started with a conditional sentence and then gave no evidence that the first set of circustances could ever occur. It was ...
New Year ruminations on Twitter « Francesca Elston "I think Twitter encourages us to coarsen our points of view, and I don't think that's good for conversation." (tags: twitter internet) His Humanity Proven | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts Steve on Eight (tags: doctorwho) tansyrr.com» Blog Archive » A Modern Woman's Guide to Classic Who: THE EIGHTH DOCTOR YEARS 1996- Tansy on the Eighth Doctor (tags: doctorwho)
