The next meeting of the Acocks Green Ward Committee will take place in the Scout Hut at 254 Spring Road (behind Scanlon's) at 7pm this Wednesday (12th January). The main items on the agenda are Community Chest and receiving the annual reports of the Ward's three Neighbourhood Forums and granting them funds to help them meet their running costs, as follows: Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum £800 Greenfields Neighbourhood Forum £300 Fox Hollies Green Neighbourhood Forum £1,200 Unfortunately I am unable to attend (I'm having minor, but sleep inducing, visit to the new QE Hospital that day), but Councillors Bowen and ...
After my surgeries at Harris Academy and the Mitchell Street Centre this afternoon, I attended tonight's City Council meetings at which : * I asked a question at Leisure, Arts and Communities Committee about the criteria that community groups will require to fulfill to obtain funding via the Dundee Festival Trust. Revitalising the Trust with new trustees is to be welcomed. There is around £40 000 of funds available arising out of Dundee 800 in 1991 and it makes sense to make this available to festivals across Dundee in the future. * At the Housing and Environment Services Committee, I ...
Concern was caused over the weekend that some of the mature trees along the Yardley Road might be about to be cut down. In fact all that was planned, and carried out, was routine pruning of the trees. However the notices, warning that the work was to be carried out, only went up on Friday evening, with the work to be carried out on Sunday. Not only did this fail to meet the standard 2 weeks notice but it meant that Amey (who carry out the work as part of the Highways Maintenance PFI) could not be contacted to check ...
Further to my recent blog update, unfortunately, due to the weather, Wednesday's proposed event has been postponed, but hopefully it will be rescheduled soon.
Mon 10th
21:04
Southport Area Committee endorses Simon's Report on "Gritting Mayhem" and agrees to fund new snow pl...
My blog on yesterday's Southport area committee referred to the work done by my Birkdale Ward colleague Simon Shaw. As I have reported before, Simon really did seize the initiative over Southport's snow and gritting problems. Immediately after Christmas Simon led a team of councillors from across Southport to meet with senior Council officers to discuss widespread concerns over gritting and the clearance of snow. Subsequent to that meeting Simon has been busy preparing a report saying where he and the other councillors consider that the Council went wrong, and how it could do better in the future. Simon's report ...
This is the autobiography of an English orthopaedic surgeon, but presented as an evangelical testimony; we received it via a family connection with the church where Porter worshipped until his death in 2005. Porter seems to have made some genuinely important steps forward in the treatment of lower back pain, and clearly found great strength in his faith and in his own success at bringing other people into it. I was a bit dismayed, though, by his animus against liberal Methodists (practically the only group of people for whom he has a bad word) and even more so by his ...
Depressing I know for some of us but perhaps there are a few highlights between now and next summer, in Margate, we have in April the opening of Turner Contemporary Gallery, not necessarily every ones' cup of tea, but if the experts are to be believed the opening will prompt a new golden age of prosperity in Margate or maybe prove a bit of a disappointment. So something else which might lighten the mood or if not compliment it, takes place is Broadstairs Blues Bash 19th-21st February, a weekend celebration of the blues which I've been asked to plug please ...
"On the face of it, it looks as though Labour have it in the bag," says Anthony Wells on UK Polling Report. But he goes on two enter some caveats: Firstly this poll itself has the potential to change the result. By demonstrating to supporters of the coalition that the Liberal Democrats the best placed to beat Labour, it could encourage Conservative tactical voting for the Liberal Democrats. Against that is that the Populus data suggests there is already a substantial amount of Conservative tactical voting for the Lib Dems, and there would need to be truly massive tactical voting ...
Mon 10th
20:27
Clegg points to "clear liberal direction" of government, as Lib Dems highlight Labour's economic woe...
Nick Clegg used a prime-time slot on this morning's Today Programme to make clear his view that the public will take a "more rounded view" of the Lib Dems' achievements in government by the next election. As BBC News reports: [Mr Clegg] said the effect of the spending cuts would be "difficult", adding: "But I think at the same time there are signs that the repair job we are doing on the government finances and the general creation of greater confidence in the economy might also start showing itself as well. "I think it will be a crucial year – ...
Faisal Islam, Channel 4 News' economics editor, has written a slightly puzzling piece on the government's plans to raise the income tax threshold. This, you may remember, was a key Liberal Democrat policy during the election campaign, and was one ... Continue reading →
It's not often that Conservative London Assembly Member Brian Coleman comes over as a shy, quiet, introverted man who likes to shun the public spotlight. But I'm sure that's why he is proposing to ban members of the London Fire Authority from asking him questions at future meetings. Nothing to do with wanting to avoid scrutiny for his actions, I'm sure. Just as it was his shrinking violet nature that previously made him ban both questions and TV cameras from a meeting. But a little unfortunate given the national Conservative Party's frequent message about how important transparency and accountability is, ...
The Arizona shootings have been a tragedy for America. Not only have 6 innocent civilians been killed and a Congresswomen who was apparently the initial target of the attack been left in a critical condition in hospital, but one of those killed, 9 year old Christina Taylor Green was actually born on September 11th 2001. She had been featured in a book 'Fifty Faces of Hope' about some of the children born on that horrific day. Political Extremism The question exorcising many commentators around the world at the moment is 'why did this happen?'. Peter Black in hig blog here, ...
Lord Bonkers comments exclusively for Liberal England: I had my doubts when I saw him carrying a placard saying:"NAH THEN, NAH THEN, WE DON'T WANT NASTY EMISSIONS IN THE ATMOSPHERE NOW DO WE?"
Last week, Stephen highlighted the rather gaffe-prone No2AV campaign's list of Labour MPs planning to vote No in May's referendum on changing the voting system from first past the post to the alternative vote. It's since turned out that five MPs were wrongly included in the list, with one – Barry Sherman – going as far as to say he was actually planning to go out and campaign for a Yes vote. Today a second one of the supposed No supporters has turned out to also be campaigning for a Yes vote. This time it's Albert Owen, MP for Ynys ...
Via a Lib Dem Councillor on the South bank (@stevebeasant on twitter) comes a press release from Humberside Fire and rescue. The press release notes that 10 people who died as a result of house fires last year. Looking at the authority's annual performance report this looks like its up from 5 from the year before. What piqued curiosity was the linking of this to smoking. "The stark reality is that fire can devastate your life if you fail to take a few simple steps to protect yourself and your family. In the past five years we have seen a ...
Charter Trustee budget of City of Bath precept reduced by 4 pence to £6.58 on a band D property, got to be good in this economic climate, would add the majority of councillors on this committee = Lib Dem, unlike the main council, which is majority Conservative.
Cornwall Council's plans to save around a million pounds from the library and one stop shops budget were passed in December despite the opposition of the Liberal Democrats and many thousands of local library users. We are concerned because the only plan that has so far been agreed by the Tory led council would see the closure of all but 9 of Cornwall's libraries. Although the authority claims that it wants to make the savings by other means, they have so far said that they have no idea how this will be achieved. Today councillors were told that we will ...
I have dillied and dallied on whether or not I was going to write this blog but it looks like I am going to go through with it. The murder of Jo Yeates is without a doubt a horrific crime and needs to be treated as such. However the way the media are going on ...
Nickers was on the radio this morning and he's finding his stride more and more. What is encouraging is that the media has reduced its bleating ('Politician "unpopular" shock') and is increasingly listening to his measured comments about where we are. Headlines included the very pertinent point that we came third in the last election so of course we can't call the shots but we can achieve a lot in coalition. On tuition fees, Nickers made the once again excellent points that Labour introduced them and Labour commissioned the Browne Report which recommended unlimited fees. I haven't heard the Labour ...
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Radio 4 news has just reported on a protest in Oxfordshire against needless library closures. The report spoke to protesters and then heard from Conservative culture minister, Ed Vaizey, representative of Wantage constituency in, er, Oxfordshire, who said that he felt that library closures were unnecessary and that other savings could be made. Perhaps what Oxfordshire needs is a good dose of Lib Dem common sense to make the dictatorial Tory cabal running the county council that they can cut a Hell of a lot more before they have to threaten much loved local ...
Thirty-Six Days of Me: What you ate today, in great detail. Where 'today' actually = yesterday, Sunday 19 January. Here's an annoying thing about New York – how difficult food shopping is. It's such a first-world problem I'm frankly embarrassed about it, but there it is. In the UK, I could make a grocery order at Tesco.com, including fresh foods, processed foods, household and personal items and it'd be delivered to me door for a (in my opinion) reasonable price. In New York – and bear in mind this is a stupid thing to find an obstacle – there is ...
[IMG: Yes To Fairer Votes logo] The "Yes" campaign for spring's referendum on electoral reform nicely illustrates some of the questions involved in getting messaging and online presence to match up. First is the messaging question: what to call the campaign? It's gone for - rightly in my view - "Yes to Fairer Votes" rather than a form of words that uses "AV" or "alternative vote" as these are technical details describing the process whilst "fairer votes" is the benefit to be delivered. However, what that leaves then is a host of different search terms that the public might use ...
I know, I know, this should now be a dead issue what with the government abolishing them but Big Brother Watch has uncovered a new angle via a new independent report - this will give you a flavour The key elements of the ID scheme's feasibility were still being clarified, nearly four years after it was approved by an Act of Parliament. Foremost among them were inadequate data security precautions and the threat posed by the systems' complexity. ID system specifications had not been completed, said the report; doubts remained about what benefit the government aimed to get from ID ...
Rumours reach me that Cornwall Council's ruling Conservative led administration have been forced to delay or abandon two of the key decisions set to be taken on Wednesday. At the Cabinet meeting there was due to be a decision taken on the issue of waste. This may come as news to most people because the agenda item is listed as confidential under the title of 'service delivery'. No details of the proposals can be revealed, but Cornwall Council has recently consulted on moving to fortnightly waste collections. The full results of the consultation have not yet been prepared but it ...
Astonishing. Six days ago I wrote to the council requesting information about the reason for their hike in allotment rents. I've still had no answer - though they continue to keep the press updated. I've just been informed, by the press and not by the council, that Salford Council have just in the last half ...
An odd little story from Watford here (found via Sara Bedford on Twitter) where a Conservative councillor has had his membership of various committees removed from him because of his habit of writing letters to the paper. Now, I don't know what those letters said (unlike the Gazette in Colchester, the Watford Observer doesn't appear to publish its letters online) but I was struck by this passage: Since the beginning of December, Councillor Meerabux has had three letters published in the Watford Observer, with others published before that date. They were entitled "Must look at the bigger picture" about the ...
With the holiday period over we are starting the year as we mean to go on in Redlands working hard to represent the views of local residents to the Council. This morning I went to visit Cintra Avenue in the morning rush hour to get a flavour of the traffic and parking problems residents have to put up with week in week out and that I have previously blogged about. This road is a popular drop-off point for The Abbey School as well as visitors to Cintra Park. This is despite the fact a perfectly good free public car park ...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 660 party members have responded, and we're publishing the full results over the next few days. Overwhelming 'No!' to Lib Dem-Tory electoral arrangement LDV askd: There have been some suggestions that, if the Coalition holds until 2015, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats should consider some form of electoral arrangement: perhaps the Conservatives might not stand against all Lib Dems and vice versa, or there could even be joint 'Coalition candidates'. What ...
Mon 10th
13:55Control orders, tax exiles and extraordinary rendition: political vocabulary as messaging
"Control orders" could be called "secret detention directives". "Tax exiles" could be called "tax fugitives". "Extraordinary rendition" could be called "government-sponsored kidnapping". In all three cases a fairly benign phrase has been adopted by both sides of the debate, despite the phrase very much favouring one. Having a bit of order doesn't instinctively sound too bad. Exile even has a whiff of the honourably martyr about it. And "extraordinary"? Well, that's usually a good thing, isn't it? Especially if we're talking about "rendition", i.e. a word that is well outside common usage. Does it matter? Not if an issue is ...
Earlier today I met tenants representatives at a meeting of the Reading Federation of Tenants and Residents Association to discuss my response (as Lead Member for Housing) to the Government's consultation on the future of social housing. At that meeting I was able to reassure tenants that the Government is not proposing scrapping lifetime tenancies for existing tenants, and that following careful consideration the Coalition Administration of the Council has no plans to introduce 'fixed term' tenancies to new Council tenants in Reading. This is because we feel the negative impacts could outweigh the benefits for residents and communities. That ...
And when you look into the internet, the internet looks also into you: Tunisia: The uprising has a hashtag – Did you know there's an uprising against the government of Tunisia underway? Neither did I, but this article's a helpful introduction to the issues. Eliminationist rhetoric and the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords – The much-linked-to Sarah Palin 'bullseye' graphic is just the tip of the iceberg. There's been a scary undertone to a lot of political discourse in America in recent years, especially since 2008. On the politics of blame – Jennie Rigg writes something very similar to a blog ...
I'd like to touch on a subtlety in Nick Clegg's speech last Friday which doesn't seem to have been picked up elsewhere. "It is part of our wider project to resettle the relationship between people and government. Our political reforms, decentralisation, changes to public services, rebalancing growth, our focus on social mobility - these are ...
On friday former Bury North MP, David Chaytor was sentenced to 18 months in prison for fraudulently claiming expenses. His sentence reflected the fact that he had changed his plea to guilty. These cases are naturally still met with anger by the public and rightly so, but one can't help recognising the personal tragedy at the heart of the matter. Whatever the ultimate motivation, greed or otherwise, a once proud MP is now in prison and was described by his lawyer on friday as "a broken man". I have met David Chaytor on numerous occasions - twice debating issues during ...
Former Labour MP Sion Simon may be looking for a new job, but he shouldn't be applying for any as a film critic. Mr. Simon gave the most ridiculous review of 'The Kings Speech" in Labour Uncut on Sunday that VN has ever had the misfortune to read. His reasons for disliking the widely acclaimed film? Lead actor Colin Firth supported the Lib Dems pre-election, and the audience didn't dislike royalty. He also calls Robert De Niro "a luvvy". This from a man who use to be the minister responsible for the UKs film industry! Mr Simon seems to think ...
Julian Glover in today's Guardian writes about the realities of government and gives some indication that the mainstream media are starting to get coalition politics. As he says: In opposition it is easy to be absolute, excluded as you are from complexity. The convictions of shadow office - or of a newspaper columnist - are harder to maintain in power. He is right though when he says that some of the rhetoric adopted by the Liberal Democrats in opposition is coming back to haunt us. He says that this is not the case on control orders where the manifesto was ...
Christmas is now, sadly, a distant memory. All that remains in our house are two mince pies, which I will devour this evening. Like all things natural, the tree is back in the loft. The tinsel is in the bin-sel, and the cards are in the recycling bin. Along with the decorations, seasonal goodwill seems to have been dispensed with as well, as political sniping and the general business of Councilloring gets back into full swing. This week is a busy one. Having been unable to schedule any meetings for a fortnight over Christmas, the people who do such things ...
Sefton has had an all party administration since the '80's . Other have tried to follow our example and most have ignominiously collapsed. There are many pluses in the option but it would be folly to suggest that there are no downsides. I am always interested to see how others cope. In Belfast there sits a devolved administration that by its constitution has to command cross party support. We only have unbinding conventions. I was therefore interested in how they cope with one of the downsides-the issue of accountability I have been watching the debacle over Northern Ireland water. The ...
Congratulations to Aung San Suu Kyi, who has won Liberal Democrat Voice's fourth annual Liberal Voice of the Year award - an award which publicly acknowledges the campaigning work of non-Liberal Democrats in promoting liberal values. She gained a plurality of votes, with 22%; the runner-up was Prime Minister David Cameron (assisted by some right-wing push-tweets), with 20%, followed by fellow Tory Ken Clarke, with 12%. 22% (238 votes): Aung San Suu Kyi – for her courageous stand against political abuse in Burma 20% (216): David Cameron – for his commitment to forming the Liberal-Conservative Coalition Government 12% (128): Ken ...
The full details of the ICM Oldham East and Saddleworth poll, published yesterday in the Mail on Sunday are here. The don't knows and refused to syas make up 32% of the sample. It is also worth noting that the callers did not mention the names of the candidates, just the party names.
You can see the full details of Lord Ashcroft's Oldham East and Saddleworth poll, published in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday, on his website here. It is interesting to see that of the 1503 people polled, 358 said they would vote Labour and 211 said they would vote LibDem. That's 24% and 14% respectively. A 10% point gap, rather than the 17% gap when you exclude "won't votes". But that is quibbling. More significant is the 323 who didn't know how they'd vote and the 178 who refused to say - together making up 33% of the total sample. That's quite ...
Under a headline "Polls predict big Labour win in Oldham election" today's Guardian reports that "(a)n ICM poll in the Mail on Sunday put Labour on 44%, Lib Dems on 27% and Conservatives on 18%" However an Email from Liberal Democrat party president Tim Farron cites the very same poll as predicting a narrow Liberal Democrat lead! Mr Farron quotes the raw data on which the poll is based as follows: The raw, unweighted responses were as follows for the 549 calls Unweighted response Refused to state intention 256 46.6% Elwyn Watkins 89 16.2% Debbie Abrahams 85 15.5% Undecided 68 ...
So, David Cameron is going to sit down with major employers today, like the supermarkets and John Lewis, and try and persuade them to create more jobs. I have to say I'm slightly concerned that the jobs those companies are likely to offer are less skilled than the public sector ones which will be lost. He surely needs to talking to innovative environmental and technological companies who can help to provide the much needed infrastructure for a sustainable, greener future. Let's see a bit of ambition, for goodness' sake. No doubt those big companies will use the chance of having ...
Picture via GreenFeeds As if Monday mornings arn't hard enough, Ed Miliband decided to kick this week off with his first press conference of 2011. The yawnfest of a performance from him and his Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson will do nothing to inspire comrades and enemies alike. Here are some particularly of the best quotes: "My mother taught me never to call people liars. So I won't. They are practising a deceit" "David will be successful in anything he does" "Let me bring Alan in on the detail" Cue laughter from surrounding journalists Ed tried to 'do a Clegg" by ...
The cacophony from Facebook, the blogosphere and all the rest of the Twitterati sometimes drives out what is most significant. But every so often someone writes something that you know is important for the future. Neal Lawson is an indefinable character. His Compass campaign group is a fountain of new ideas designed to revitalise the Labour Party. He is no friend of the Liberal Democrats, but neither is an enemy or party to the destructive game of name-calling and innuendo that characterises the Labour campaign in Oldham East and Saddleworth. I also believe his article in the Guardian, with a ...
I saw the King's Speech yesterday. I really enjoyed it – but the point of this post is that a while back I commented on the fact that 'Made in Dagenham' should have had a 12A certificate (like the King's Speech) – and not the 15 rating it got. I based this on the hearsay knowledge that the 'f ' word was used in the King's Speech and was thought to be an integral part of the film – and the film's overall worthiness meant that it should be seen by 12A (ie accompanied by an adult). Having now actually ...
David Beckham is this morning finally at Spurs' training ground. However, he is only meeting the medical staff, and some reports yesterday have suggested he may only ever train with the team, and not register as a player. IT would not be surprising if this moe simple arrangement was made. The Galaxy are not that keen on Beckham gallivanting off every few months, and he had a similar arrangement with Arsenal a couple of seasons back. Except VN is not convinced. It has come to VN's attention that Beckham has not only moved back to his old pad in Hertfordshire, ...
Mon 10th
10:03
People don't vote for what you do, they vote for why you do it (lessons for the Lib Dems)
Many in the Lib Dems have talked about the crowded centre ground of British politics and this makes it a more difficult place to be distinctive. But tradition still clearly plays a big part in people's voting habits. The traditional voter base of the Conservative and Labour Parties are much larger than that of the ...
My mother, Ida Price, died last week. She had Alzheimer's, and she gradually faded away, very peacefully. I have praised the work of Amy Woodgate House, where she had been for the last two and a half years, many times before. I know that it is entirely thanks to the care she was given there that she survived so much longer than expected, and enjoyed her last months comfortably and contently. We are holding the funeral in Kingston on Wednesday and a Service of Thanksgiving in Penarth on Friday. Please get in touch if you would like more details.
I was very glad to see a report in yesterday's Scotland on Sunday which said that Scotland was bidding to hold the first stage of the Tour de France, possibly in 2017. I've become a big fan of the event in the last couple of years and the thought of such a major international sporting event taking over the country for a week is very pleasing to me. This is just one of the competitions EventsScotland is trying to lure here - apparently moves are afoot to make good use of new arena and facilities being built for the Glasgow ...
Sir Menzies Campbell MP and Iain Smith MSP write : Sir Menzies Campbell MP You may be aware that there have been a number of rumours about the future of RAF Leuchars. We have launched a petition opposing any threat to the base and would like you to lend your support to the campaign. You can read about the launch here: You can sign the petition at www.SaveRafLeuchars.org.uk. The defence case for the retention of RAF Leuchars is overwhelming. It is in the right place ant the right time doing the right job. It has been demonstrated time and ...
U.S. Passport Application Undergoes Change To Accomodate Same-Sex Parents Can haz this in UK please? (tags: huzzah!) Alien: A Film Franchise Based Entirely on Rape Somewhat flippant language, but interesting discussion of how the Alien franchise is all about making men feel the terror of rape. (tags: rape feminism film) On arbitrariness | The Reinvigorated Programmer How arbitrary stuff thrown in just because it sounds/looks cool ruins stories (tags: writing) How the US let al-Qaida get its hands on an Iraqi weapons factory | World news | The Guardian God, this is depressing. (tags: terrorism)
Mon 10th
08:45What Lib Dem members think about an elected House of Lords and directly-elected mayors
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 660 party members have responded, and we're publishing the full results over the next few days. An 80% elected House of Lords LDV asked: The Coalition Agreement committed the Government to "a wholly or mainly elected upper chamber on the basis of proportional representation". It is reported that Nick Clegg will present plans for 80% of the new house to be elected under the Single Transferable Vote. Would you be happy ...
This furry little fellow is a water vole and, I discover, we have some here in Creeting St Peter. As you can imagine, I'm pretty excited by the prospect. However, there is a catch. The water vole apparently live in our Local Nature Reserve (and the capital letters are deliberate). Unfortunately, the Reserve is one of the many things that the county council no longer wish to be responsible for, and they're trying to get parish councils to take up the reins. That would be fine if we were a bigger parish, or maybe even a town. However, as a ...
Mon 10th
07:51
Whoniversaries 10 January: Spearhead from Space #2, Brain of Morbius #2, Warrior's Gate #2
broadcast anniversaries 10 January 1970: broadcast of second episode of Spearhead from Space. The Doctor steals some clothes and joins up with the Brigadier and Liz. Meanwhile there are sinister goings-on at the plastics factory. 10 January 1976: broadcast of second episode of The Brain of Morbius. The Sisters threaten the Doctor, and blind Sarah; Solon wants the Doctor's head very badly, and we see the disembodied brain. 10 January 1981: broadcast of second episode of Warrior's Gate. Romana is forced into the navigator's chair, and the Doctor forced to repair the Gundan robots until he falls through a mirror. ...
Following my posts last week about Jeremy's resignation he has written more about his reasons for leaving the party - concerned that we seem to be obsessed with tactics rather than policy issues - Firstly thanks Linda for featuring my decision to leave the party on your 'Lindylooz Muze' blog. I do appreciate the kind things that you have written about my contribution to the party over the last 30-years! I have just cancelled my accommodation booked for the March Sheffield conference. And I will miss the Lib Dem Conference particularly for two main reasons: the excellent level of debate ...
I made the mistake, today, of agreeing with Stephen Glenn on Twitter about the stupidity of a particularly repellent piece of racist campaign literature by Racist UKIP. I say it was a mistake, because I then spent most of the day being bombarded with messages from members of Racist UKIP, trying to claim that their ...
But now with the new year it's time to crack back on with the blog and with so much going on with the history and the culture and pride of the local area there's no shortage of things to talk about on here... Sorry for the delay in service Ed
Jack Straw says, in the wake of the conviction of two men of Asian background for multiple rapes and sexual assaults, that "there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men... who target vulnerable young white girls" and predictably two camps form, one rejecting his claim while the other backs it fully and wonders why he didn't speak up earlier. The problem is that the facts are in danger of becoming lost, at least among the supporting faction. The judge himself had said he did not believe that the crimes were racially aggravated, so what is it that makes ...
For jubilant voters in S.Sudan, new country nears | Minnesota Public Radio News More from Maggie (and a colleague) (tags: sudan) Sheer joy as South Sudanese vote for independence My friend Maggie Fick reports. (tags: sudan)
