Oops. Bit of, err..., over exuberance over on Labour List who ran the story: Deficit caused by economic crisis, says Channel 4... The Tories have spent most of the past year trying to establish a media narrative that says Labour are to blame for the deficit. Once they had acheived that, it was just a small step to argue that "austerity" was needed to fix problems "caused by Labour". So it's pleasing that Miliband's defence of Labour's economic record has been so swiftly vindicated by the respected Channel 4 factcheck. There was one slight problem, as the update to the ...
It's been so many years since there was a government which improved on Civil Liberties in this country that I have to pinch myself when I think of what's happening now. It's early days, and some promises are yet to be fully implemented but we have no more threat of ID cards, detention of child asylum seekers being ended, the awful DNA database being reduced, sentencing of criminals taking
I note that 38 Degrees have started a campaign to encourage the Government to close the tax gap. So far, so good. Unfortunately, that's as good as it gets... Starting with an implied accusation that the Chancellor is evading tax, unwise unless you've got evidence that he is - don't get me wrong, he's avoiding tax (legal, if a poor example), but he's using the tax regime perfectly legitimately. However, using as your headline figure for the tax gap a figure roundly condemned as a serious exaggeration by most credible sources is not what I expect from a credible campaigning ...
Ancient Jamaican bird used wings to go clubbing This is weird. They fought each other by beating each other with their wings. (tags: science nature)
This was topical satire a few weeks ago, you know. Friday I spend the day phoning up to vote for Lembit to be buried alive with deadly scorpions, but they put some ghastly woman who keeps fainting on the screen instead. Previously at Bonkers Hall... Monday: Lembit in the jungle Tuesday: Not Terribly Bright middle-class children Wednesday: Oh, those Russians! Thursday: Desert Island Discs
I haven't done one of these in ages, although I keep shoving stuff in a folder to link to later and never getting round to it so some of this stuff has been waiting for a while. I liked Stephen Fry's letter to his 2 millionth Twitter follower. On St Andrew's Day, the Burd reminded us of Scotland's other patron saint, St Margaret. How come the boy with the tenuous link to Scotland took priority over the girl who lived here? More recently, the Burd turned her attention to the current baby swap plot in EastEnders. She was spot on ...
David Boyle was taught by Christopher Jefferies, whom the tabloids originally made chief suspect in the murder of Joanna Yeates. On The Real Blog he writes: "As the days wore on, and he remained in custody, and the column inches grew, I came believe that those civilised values were under attack, maybe not so much by the police - I don't know what was going on in their investigation - but by the rest of society, and by my own profession." Caron's Musings feels quite envious of Nick Clegg today. Britain-Votes looks at the polarisation and regionalisation of British politics: ...
[IMG: Lloyd on bike] In December I attended several meetings, overview of the emerging budget, a meeting of Highfield Community Association, a meeting with Cllr Tindall about the highways in Highfield a development control (planning) meeting and finally a councillor development session on council finance. November saw a full council meeting, a development control meeting and a scrutiny meeting where the future of the town centre redevelopment was discussed following the collapse of the previous scheme. At the full council meeting I pressed the ruling Tories not to delay the rebuilding of the Pavilion theatre and expand plastic recycling.October -I ...
Kensey Foods, one of the biggest businesses in Launceston has been caught up in the scare over eggs from Germany, some of which have been contaminated with dioxins. The affected eggs were mixed with uncontaminated eggs in Belgium before being brought into the UK. Kensey Foods makes a range of products for some of the major supermarkets in the UK but the advice is that that there is no danger to health. Dioxins are poisonous to humans, but only when a large quantity builds up in the body over time. If you have eaten any of the products which may ...
Not a day to feel proud of this government. Today the government announced plans to privatise and sell off vast tracts of the country by selling off Forestry Commission land. In addition to that, the Public Accounts Committee announced that the "culling" of the QUANGOs had no value for money criteria in the decision making meaning that closing many of these QUANGOs will cost us more, and in some cases duties and money previously in the hand of QUANGOs that were at least accountable to parliament, are now in the hands of private organisations that are unaccountable to the electorate. ...
Fri 7th
18:57
David Chayter - Go to Jail. Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect £20,000 in Exp...
A month ago I wrote here of my anger at those former Members of Parliament who had disgraced themselves but even worse than that, the political process, with their expenses scandals. Well today, the British public and the political process has had some retribution - some comeback for what was a disgraceful period in recent history. David Chayter, a former Labour MP, had pleaded guilty for fraudulently claiming more than £20,000 in expenses and was today given a custodial sentence of 18 months. Like Johnathan Aitken before him, he will go to jail. A Custodial Sentence His lawyer said he ...
Resident Wardens have been removed from rented Sheltered Housing and this has left vulnerable, elderly residents to suffer serious consequencesIn reading this please bear in mind that approximately 70% of the residents of rented Sheltered Housing are in receipt of Housing Benefit. The remaining 30% are what is termed "self funding". Problems are arising in the Housing Benefit group and they
In between doing a bit of clerical work for the Oldham East & Saddleworth by-election (in anticipation of tomorrow's trip up with a bunch of London LibDems), Jack Holroyde and I have put together a motion on kettling which we're ... Continue reading →
5) Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (New York: HarperCollins, 2000, ISBN 9780060838676). Novel about a black woman trying to pursue her ideals of love and freedom (often represented in the book by the notion of travelling to the horizon) in the American South of the late 19th century. A good part of the story is set in Eatonville, which was Hurston's home town and one of the first black-run towns to be formed in the US. I found this hard to get into at first, largely because the viewpoint character is infuriatingly passive for the first several ...
Campaigners for libel reform were buoyed today by Nick Clegg's commitment to overhaul the law, but the deputy leader's speech left many questions unanswered The campaign for libel reform received a major boost today as deputy prime minister Nick Clegg delivered a keynote address at the Institute for Government on protecting civil liberties. In a speech detailing the coalition's plans to reform counter-terrorism law and to make government more accountable to citizens, Clegg made the following important comments on reforming our illiberal libel laws: [The government] are taking other big steps to enhance freedom of expression. In opposition my party ...
Fraud – blatant and wholesale fraud – on the part of some of the world's biggest banks has clearly been a major cause of the global financial crisis. Unfortunately, banking is so opaque and so difficult to understand that bad practice, even criminal practice, is invisible to the average citizen. Now however, the (Republican) Attorney General of ...
Inspired by Ellen, who asked what our Daily Essentials were, I very tastefully arranged the photo above. That'll do for today's Photo A Day. I'm determined to stick to posting one photo every day this year so I have a complete record of 2011. The photo is not exhaustive so we'd probably best start with what's missing. I have a policy of not posting photos of Anna on my blog, so she isn't in it. Closely related to her, are cuddles. My absolute favourite moment of Christmas Day was when she happily and unexpectedly came and gave me a cuddle ...
From Stockport Council: The consultation on admission arrangements and school terms and holidays for 2012/13 has now commenced. The consultation is a statutory process and will run from 4th January to 1st March 2011. Comments have been invited from schools and their Governing Bodies in the area, parents, neighbouring Local Authorities and relevant Diocesan Authorities. The document can be viewed on the Council website at www.stockport.gov.uk/schooladmissions.
From Stockport Council: From 8.30am Monday 10 January 2011, the Council's Stockport Direct Centre will relocate from Stopford House on Piccadilly, to Fred Perry House on Edward Street. The existing Stockport Direct Centre in Stopford House will close to the public on Friday 7 January at 1pm and from Monday 10 January all existing services will be delivered from the new Centre located on the ground floor of Fred Perry House. The first point of contact for customers to any council service based in either Stopford House or Fred Perry House will be the Stockport Direct Centre. Stockport Advice, Welfare ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year? (34 comments) by Stephen Tall Why Cameron's a credible candidate for 2010′s Liberal Voice award (62 comments) by Stephen Tall The VAT rise: a refresher course for Labour (89 comments) by Stephen Tall Why I support the Coalition: in praise of compromise (54 comments) by Iain Roberts The Independent. It isn't. (41 comments) by Stephen Tall 5 sample LDV Members' Forum threads Times endorses Lib Dems in ...
Today at lunchtime I was getting on with my day when I got a text from my eldest monster on his lunch break. Nothing unusual there, often hear from the older monsters at lunchtime. However the text today read 'Can I go to a revision session on Sunday for my exam on Thursday?'. I am never one to stand in the way of my children's education. I rarely take them out of school, I try to arrange appointments around their school day and I try to make sure they are there on time and well rested (I say try, I ...
The Council is carrying out a consultation about a proposal to change the current home to school and home to college transport policies. The effect of the changes will be to remove the discretionary provision of free transport to pupils of secondary school age attending a particular school on the grounds of their or their parents' religion or belief, where there is a nearer qualifying school. It is not proposed to make any changes in respect of primary school aged pupils. This will not affect those families who receive free travel because they are in receipt of the maximum level ...
Freedom of Information laws are to be extended as part of a push by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg to make public bodies more accountable. The Deputy Prime Minister also wants to cut the length of time Government records are kept secret from 30 years to 20. Current FOI legislation covers councils and Government departments, but Mr Clegg wants it to include potentially hundreds more bodies such as the Association of Chief Police Officers, Financial Services Ombudsman and Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. In a speech to the Institute for Government today, Mr Clegg said that the reforms are "part ...
Picture via The Telegraph Former Labour MP for Bury North David Chaytor has been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for False Accounting. Cheating Chaytor claimed thousands of pounds of taxpayers money for IT consultancy he was never charged for, and rent on homes he and his mother owned. Far from a being a stupid mistake with the paperwork, as the defense claimed, these seem fairly quite deliberate abuses of the system. Chaytor may consider himself lucky, as he could have face up to 7 years in prison. Labour have not been having a good time in the court recently, having ...
I feel quite envious of Nick Clegg today. Not, of course, of the appalling abuse he's taken recently from the sort of political neanderthal who thinks hanging effigies of someone passes for legitimate political debate, or of the hours he has to work, nor of the undeniable tensions in his current role, nor of the fact that for the next 6 months, his age will be one year older than mine. No, the source of my jealousy, and, to be fair, a good old dollop of pride, is that he gets to spend his birthday telling us how he and ...
[IMG: ashes-win.jpg] Congratulations to the England Cricket team for their demolition of the Aussies in the Ashes test series, ending 24 years of pain. Now I can start sleeping normally!
In light of the budget announcement there have been many queries with regards to the Council working with Hull KR to develop new facilities in East Hull. The first thing to say is that the Council has not gifted £4.2 million to Hull KR to build a stand. The Council is working in partnership with the club to provide adult education, training and to build a new employment and enterprise centre. As part of the plans KR will be alble to build a stand. Far from costing the Council money the plans will enable the Council to close many old ...
I don't read The Guardian because quite frankly it's for people whose idea of politics involves discussing child poverty over canapés but it's equally hard to avoid people posting or emailing links with "you've got to read this" quoting some self-important truth from a journalist. I refuse to read anything by Polly Toynbee, as she is to journalism what Gary Glitter is to seventies nostalgia parties, but I gave it a go with yet another piece [Labour & Lib Dems need each other] about why Labour and Lib Dems need to align themselves to advance the Guardian's beloved "progressive" agenda. ...
I was hauled over by the police about 18 months ago under anti-terrorism legislation, largely because I was looking a little unusual. I was wearing shorts with a briefcase, one of the privileges for those of us who are self-employed on a hot day. It only took 20 minutes or so and they were perfectly nice about it, but it reminded me of the vulnerability of people who can be portrayed as being very slightly peculiar, or even mildly different - especially when things get serious, as they did in the Joanna Yeates investigation in Bristol over the New Year. ...
Disgraced former MP David Chaytor was today jailed for 18 months, after admitting to three charges of false accounting on his expenses, totalling over £20,000. He had faced a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment, but his guilty plea was taken into account. The former Labour MP for Bury North had made claims for renting two properties which were owned by him and his mother, and for IT consultancy for which he was never charged. According to the Daily Telegraph, Chaytor had spread more than £91,100 of expenses claims across five different properties in five years, 'flipping' the designation of ...
While we still do not know exactly what form the revised control orders will take, Nick Clegg has made it clear that civil liberties will be restored, protected and strengthened by the coalition. For civil libertarians, how well this is done is what the coalition should be judged on. The problem with control orders isn't so much the restrictions as the lack of hearing what you are accused of and being able to defend yourself. When you are charged you do not always get bail and are thus deprived of your liberty. If the coalition can restore Habeas Corpus while ...
Fri 7th
14:28
The Yes! to Fairer Votes campaign asks: Where does your MP stand on the Alternative Vote?
Earlier this week, Lib Dem Voice highlighted the No2AV campaign's embarrassing failure to check whether all the Labour MPs they said were opposed to reforming the UK's unfair electoral system actually are opposed. It turns out that five of the 114 named were listed wrongly. As a result of the No camp's confusion, the Yes! to Fairer Votes campaign is asking the public to help make sure all MPs come clean about which side of the debate they support: What really matters in this referendum is what the people want, not politicians. But since they are meant to represent us, ...
Just had a chance to listen to Ed Miliband on Jeremy Vine yesterday. What comes across again and again is that Ed is taking the old `third party` route to power. Saying nothing controversial, opposing anything that he guesses the majority of people don't like and not detailing the 44bn of cuts he would have ...
Nick Clegg today set out the principles which will drive the Coalition's plans to uphold civil liberties while protecting national security, and outlined reforms to Freedom of Information laws and English libel laws. You can read the full speech below — here's the conclusion: So, to sum up: the restoration of every day liberties; counterterrorism measures that uphold liberty while protecting security; free citizens able to see into, and speak out about, the organisations that affect their lives. It is a liberal approach to freedom; a British approach to freedom. It forms an important part of our programme to rebalance ...
(Yes, the title is link bait.) [IMG: Broken X10] Sony Ericsson have announced that their Xperia X10 range of Android handset won't be updated to the latest version of Android. They'll be stuck on Android 2.1 with no hope for any bug fixes. As I discussed last year in "The Future of Android – And How To Stop It" there is a fundamental tension between users, manufacturers, Mobile Networks, and Google when it comes to the Android Operating System. First up, a common misconception... Some Android Phones Are Too Slow For UpdatesBull. Shit. The HTC Magic – the second Android ...
According to This is Derbyshire, Conservative MP Heather Wheeler wants police to be able to access raw Streetview footage without needing a court order because proper checks on what the police are up to are "a waste of public money". This is despite the fact that the UK already tops the Google snoopers chart when measured as a number of requests per person in the country. South Derbyshire MP Heather Wheeler said: "I am disappointed that Google's initial reaction is to refuse. It would be sensible for them to enter into a protocol with British police forces to receive and ...
A Happy New Year to you all - and it promises to be a good year indeed. We have a year of Liberal Democrats in government - and, hopefully, many of our policies to look forward to. Much of our manifesto is in the government's programme - it is a refreshing change to use it as a reference for our role in government instead of throwing it away as we usually do after each general election. The argument about forming the coalition still goes on - so let's all go to a parallel universe. Let us imagine that we did ...
Party President Tim Farron had hit the ground running in his new role before he even took office and his first official week in the job has been busy. He spent the first day of the year in Oldham East and Saddleworth. The last time I was there, the Labour campaign was one of the nastiest I'd come across so you need a robust figure to deal with the flack they're flinging. It's fair to say that our Tim isn't best impressed with new Labour Leader Ed Miliband's first 100 days in office. "Ed Miliband has spent his first 100 ...
Can be read here
Fri 7th
12:41
Der, Foreign Ministers travel a lot - latest Ursidae Sylvan lavatory habits revelation from the Tele...
[IMG: Take Off] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: bensonkua The Telegraph reveals that Baroness Ashton travels a lot. That is possibly not unconnected to the fact that she is the EU's Foreign representative. She therefore does not attend a lot of meetings in Brussels. The Italians don't like it. And the awful woman insists on seeing her family at weekends, for goodness sake. On Wednesday, she again missed an entire Brussels meeting, her 17th since January, 2010, because of a trip to the Middle East. Ah. The Middle East. That quiet, untroubled area that requires absolutely no attention whatsoever ...
My friend Helen Butler posted this super article from the Analytical Armadillo website on Facebook and I wanted to share it with you. It cuts through all the myths about how crying is good for babies' lungs (how on earth were we ever taken in by that one in the first place?) and that babies are manipulative creatures who are just at it. It's a good introduction to the rationale behind attachment parenting and it shows, funnily enough, that babies whose cries are responded to quickly grow up to be more emotionally balanced and secure. It's quite obvious, really. I ...
My original blog was hurried as I have also been enjoying the delights of the Bavarian winter! But since Jeremy has given me permission to reproduce his email to colleagues, I thought it was important to include this. I honestly believe that if our leadership do not listen to him and others, like Richard Huzzey, we are facing a bleak future. The sad thing is that people like Jeremy become so much part of our furniture that we take them for granted - can you imagine a conference without him? For me he has always been an encouraging smile or ...
What will inevitably get lost in the debate around the Councils budget for next year is the good news that is contained within the pages of the document ( yes there is some!) this includes protection and expansion of some services, & new way's of working that will benefit the public and save the taxpayer money. Here is one example..... In common with many Councils Hull City Council has operated services very much on a silo basis. As such the Council holds a large property and building portfolio. In a number of areas of the city this has lead to ...
Tomorrow sees the return of our Saturday Surgeries for the new year. You can come down to the Longfield Centre on Saturday morning between 10.45ish and 11.45ish with any issues you've got, or to sign our petitions and join our campaigns. We have a number running at the moment, including the 2,300 strong petition to scrap parking charges at Fairfax Road, and our new petition to keep Prestwich Library open on Sundays. We are also continuing to ask about local priorities ahead of the Council budget in February (where we will present the petitions and hopefully get the charges scrapped ...
[IMG: BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM - AUGUST 02: Andre...] Image by Getty Images via @daylife VN could go on with a a whole load of superlatives about how brilliant the England team were, and how historic the victory was. However, we will just end with this thought: What do you call a great Australian cricketer? Retired. [IMG: Enhanced by Zemanta]
Back in February, during the General Election campaign I raised concerns about a Conservative Party manifesto commitment to scrap powers councils have to take over privately owned homes that have been empty for six months or more. I was concerned that scrapping these powers would reduce councils' ability to tackle empty homes. Empty Property Management Orders (to give them their full title) were introduced in 2006 as part of the Housing Act (2004) to help local authorities do more to reduce the number of empty homes in their area. Today I read that the Conservative Secretary of State for Communities ...
Supporters of the Laurencekirk flyover campaign are delighted that a new minster has replaced the heavily criticised Stewart Stevenson MSP. Angus and Mearns Lib Dem campaigner, Sanjay Samani commented: "Laurencekirk junction has been the scene of several fatalities and many serious accidents in recent years, but has been ignored by the previous SNP minister." "This is a great opportunity to restore credibility to Transport Scotland's road safety reputation. The previous SNP minister claimed flyover decisions were made on the basis of safety, but when forced to reveal accident figures by Laurencekirk campaigners, it was clear that congestion was of higher ...
Remember when this happened see here. I can remember wondering how I would react. The answer to which is, I honestly don't know. But Prescott was the Deputy Prime Minister at the time and even called his autobiography, 'Prezza, My Story: Pulling no Punches'. So I suspect he was quite proud of his reaction after being provoked. I can remember my friends who were not Labour supporters agreeing with his reaction. However I wonder what the reaction would be if our current deputy PM reacted in the same way? I suspect it would be a whole lot worse. Here is ...
The Southport Visiter reports today on the Area Committee meeting which reviewed the Council's response to the snow. Joe Thomas reported: SEFTON Council was slammed after it emerged its emergency planning squad waited 72 hours before attempting to deal with the heavy snow....... As the inquest into the gritting saga continued at Wednesday night's area committee meeting, planning chiefs once again admitted they had failed to deal with the crisis. After chief executive Margaret Carney apologised for the shortcomings of the response, councillors offered their own opinions on the matter. Cllr Iain Brodie-Browne said: "The problem was the lack of ...
Today saw the penultimate meeting of the Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee (a new Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority is taking its place). As part of the report from the Chief Fisheries Officer, we discussed the decision by the Government to get rid of the four MCA deep water tugs which patrol our coasts. One of the tugs covers the Western Approaches and is based in Falmouth Bay and Newlyn. Coincidentally, at the same time as the Government was making its decision, the local tug went to the aid of the Athena, the massive factory fishing vessel which caught fire and ...
Yesterday I spent a very enjoyable afternoon at the West Didsbury Synogogue on Queenston Road with senior citizens from the Jewish Community. I did a short speech and then took questions from the floor on a very wide range of subjects ... Continue reading →
In an article in yesterday's Daily Mail Norman Tebbit inadvertently lets slip a fundamental truth about next week's Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election. 'A Lib Dem win would tilt the Coalition even farther Left and away from Conservative policies.' Sounds like another sound reason to back Elywn Watkins.
Over the years I've had many people tell me off for continuing to dismiss civil partnerships as an unnecessary and cruel compromise. They tell me they are a good move forward, a compromise between equal rights and... bigots (lovely compromising there, thanks Labour), and a "stepping stone" to marriage equality". I've never really been wholly convinced by these arguments. I'm a bit of an idealist (not very useful or constructive in a democracy I know!) who believes things are inherently right or wrong and I dislike compromise between the right and wrong to get "middling" outcomes. But somewhere in my ...
Here's to England's cricketers who stuffed the Aussies in the Ashes. Our cricketers played with style and passion and smashed Australia with three innings defeats. What do you call an Australian with a bottle of Champagne? A waiter.
Two anniversaries of note this week: it's six years since I started blogging, and our two kittens become one year old... thus making them proper grown-up cats. And if there's one thing I've learned in my six years blogging, it is this: readers would much rather look at CUTE PICTURES OF KITTENS than read a navel-gazing article about My Writing Muse. (I know because I wrote that article a year ago here.) So let me introduce you to the cat clan... Here's Leo (born 6th January, 2010) Here's Mia (born 11th January, 2010) And here they both are, together: To ...
The City Council advises that you can arrange a special collection of your real Christmas tree by calling 432776 or 432770. Alternatively, please cut up your tree and put it in your brown kerbside bin (if you have one) for collection, add it to your garden compost bin should have have one, or take it to your local recycling centre, such as the Riverside Civic Amenity Site.
I was interviewed yesterday on the Wave 102 news about my concerns regarding the SNP government's proposals for a single police force in Scotland :
A residents' parking scheme for Chadwick Street at the back of Swinton Shopping Centre has been proposed. A link to the full details is below. It's good news for the residents, but I can imagine that if you're a resident it's very frustrating indeed to see approval granted to such a scheme in July 2008 ...
The announcement by Nick Clegg that the UK Coalition Government plan to overhaul the libel laws is very welcome. The idea is to give academics, scientists and journalists greater protection from potentially ruinous legal action from people or companies who disagree with them. The Government also intend to put an end to "libel tourism," where wealthy foreigners use English courts to sue over publications in their home country. A Government Bill will be published in March which will set out new protections against libel actions, and making it harder to launch such actions: Sources said that under the Bill, existing ...
I'm currently listening to the Bananarama / Fun Boy Three version of the song "It Ain't What You Do It's The Way That You Do It" and I can't help but think that Nick Clegg should have this playing on repeat in his office. Remember how well he performed in the debates? Remember how, even on difficult issues like immigration he found the example of a special care baby unit that had the equipment but didn't have the staff to look after babies due to immigration restrictions? It was masterful explanation of policy that brought to life something about which ...
Today's Independent reports on the tough and uncomfortable time endured by Ed Miliband on Radio Two's phone-in programme yesterday lunchtime. They say that the Labour leader faced a barrage of tough questions from presenter Jeremy Vine and callers for "shafting" his brother David, whom he defeated for the Labour leadership: One Labour supporter said he was too "laid back" and lacked the "passion and fire in the belly" to land blows on the Government. Another caller criticised him for not marrying his partner, Justine, and registering as the father after the birth of their first child. This is the second ...
In the Western Mail's business section this morning, Geraint Talfan Davies supports the view that a 'No' vote on 3rd March will leave Wales at a disadvantage within the UK and bereft of influence: Like many of my contemporaries I can recall vividly the way in which the 1979 "No" vote in the first devolution referendum destroyed Welsh influence for two decades. In the game of political poker we revealed that we had no cards, and pushed our chips back towards the Whitehall dealer. I doubt that Wales will want to do that again. He argues that the issue is ...
My rewatching of Old Who has now brought me to Season 15, the first season with no native earthlings on the Tardis. Horror of Fang Rock is a strong start to Season 15, with Terrance Dicks proving once again that he can actually write. Sure, it's a base-under-siege story; but it's one of the better ones, with everyone being killed off except our crew in the end. It is a particularly good story for Leela, who is utterly exasperated by the screamy Adelaide (she does a brilliant eye-roll when Adelaide faints) and stuns the other Edwardians with her relaxed attitude ...
RT @Kevin_Maguire Who is going to tell Nick Clegg? Bloke arrested in Bristol murder case is a Lib Dem << Plumbing new depths here. # RT @stephenpglenn My NY Honours for services to blogging CSGs to @twodoctors @jeffbres @MalcH @stephentall @helenduffett < I'm honoured, thx # #aidenmade2010 << Yes. This. For *that* Thriller re-interpretation. Which. I. Loved. (Tho really I'm a Cher Lloyd fanboy.) # @CllrDaisyBenson Fair 'nuff. Rebecca has great voice. Just not my pash. Have a great #nye Look out 4 hon. LDV mentch tmrw [IMG: :)] in reply to CllrDaisyBenson # @helenduffett @stephenpglenn "Illustrious" – aw shucks. ...
The 17 Bus service is being change slightly on it Sunday and bank holiday timetable to improve punctuality, starting 6th February
Another day, another nail in the coffin of liberalism in the Labour Party. Sadiq Khan, the party's shadow justice secretary, today amped-up the debate on votes for prisoners by condemnIng the Coalition's proposals as — POPULIST CLICHE ALERT — "a slap in the face for victims of crime". But his pandering to the forces of authoritarian conservatism hasn't gone down well with all Labour members. Over at LabourList, Kevin Peel has an excellent post criticising Mr Khan's outburst, pointing out that no matter what you think of the decision the UK was under a legal obligation following a ruling by ...
I believe that encouraging volunteerism, social entrepreneurship, social activism, etc, is key to making this country the fair and decent place we surely all want it to be.
Apologies for the short notice, but I've just realised that I haven't blogged yet about the fact there's a Colchester meeting for the Yes To Fairer Votes campaign on Saturday afternoon. It starts at 2pm at Magdalen Hall on Wimpole Road. More details here. (Yes, Magdalen Hall is where the local Liberal Democrat offices are located but this is a cross-party campaign and meeting to which all are invited)
Brilliant video presentation of world viday statistics. (hat-tip to rfmcdpei.)
Fri 7th
06:19
Whoniversaries 7 January: Francis De Wolff, Geoffrey Bayldon, Highlanders #4, Underworld #1
i) births and deaths 7 January 1913: birth of Francis De Wolff, who played Vasor in The Keys of Marinus (1964) and Agamemnon in The Myth Makers (1965). 7 January 1924: birth of Geoffrey Bayldon, who played Organon in The Creature from the Pit (1979) and the alternate timeline Doctor-who-never-left-Gallifrey in Big Finish audios Auld Mortality (2003) and A Storm of Angels (2005). Also Catweazle. ii) broadcast anniversaries 7 January 1967: broadcast of fourth episode of The Highlanders. The Doctor rescues everyone, Grey is led off to jail, and Jamie leaves with the Tardis crew. 7 January 1978: broadcast of ...
A couple of years ago I studied a couple of courses on Political Philosophy and one of the authors I enjoyed reading was Niccolo Machiavelli and his book The Prince. Machiavelli's style of writing is sharp, direct and seems modern to a reader in the 21st Century. The Prince has been called the longest job ...
The Sydney Morning Herald today hasn't pulled its punches. In its opinion, the current Baggy Greens are the Australian Worst XI in Ashes history. That's a pretty big statement but clearly it shows how deeply distressed the local media are at the plight of what not that long ago, were the unstoppable Number 1 team in the World. Australian Misery Australian Worst XI in the Sydney Morning Herald's Opinion The facts in raw terms would add up to their claim. For this is the first Australian team in history to have lost 3 tests by an innings in the ...
I know that many voters are influenced by the good or bad looks of our politicians. I sat next to a female with the Guardian in hand on the day that Paddy Ashdown was elected leader. She told me that he was good-looking and she might vote for him. You know my views on image from yesterday's blog but if you took the view that attractive politicians gain more votes then tomorrow's MPs should be working out in the gym rather than learning how to control an economy. If this is the case then women have the advantage over men ...
Were champagne glasses modeled on the breasts of Madame de Pompadour? Looking at the question objectively, I think we'd have to agree that the female breast, however interesting in situ, would make for a singularly misshapen champagne glass. But you know how it is with these male fantasies. (tags: history genderandsexandsexuality) The Twelfth Doctors | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts Speculation on past and future other Doctors, including Rowan Atkinson (who turns 55 on 7 January). (tags: doctorwho)
