[IMG: warm-homes-logo.jpg] The Durham County Council "Warm Homes" campaign is committed to providing help, advice and support to enable County Durham Residents to stay warm despite rising fuel prices and difficult financial circumstances. For some people this means insulation and improved heating equipment at no cost - but that is of course means tested and will not apply to many readers. And yet there are potential savings for ALL residents, as there's a scheme to provide discounted home loft and cavity wall insulation for just £99, significantly less than you would pay a private contractor you approached direct. And for ...
The coalition government is putting an extra £162M into a nationwide health funding package. This means an extra £500,000 to be spent on front line health and care services in Bath and Northeast Somerset. This extra funding should help Bath's residents leave hospital more quickly, get settled back at home with the support they need or prevent unnecessary hospital admissions.
I see from the latest Pravda communique (no, I'm not linking to it; you know my policy on sites with messagespace ads) that Mummy Helen has been appointed Minister of Truth in our glorious new world order. She is now in charge of Internal Communications for the Liberal Democrats. One assumes that this refers to internal as in within the party, not as in voices in one's head... Anyway, now we know who to complain at about those godawful party emails that treat us all like idiots to be preached at and told what to do, don't we, children? * ...
The coalition government plans to introduce minimum prices for the sale of alcohol is "a small step in the right direction". The selling of alcohol at subsidised prices by supermarkets is fueling a binge drink culture. It is also in my view a key part of the problem that is driving pubs out of business as they cannot compete with supermarkets selling alcohol at a loss. Pubs are an important part of the social fabric but alcohol generates problems for communities and individuals. As I see it watching people it is clear that often they have 'charged up' at home ...
Yes, I've been to another Parish Council meeting, and the big news was that Rosemary, our Parish Clerk, had our new grit bin... in the back of her car. And so it was agreed that Steve, our Chair, and I would put it in its designated spot, next to the postbox in The Lane after the meeting. Luckily, it's made of plastic, so it wasn't heavy, as Steve proved by carrying it himself down the street and placing it, still wrapped in plastic, on the ground. My job was then to remove the wrapping, and put the grit already next ...
On Saturday I bought a copy of Boatbuilders of Market Harborough by Bob Hakewill and Michael Beech. How could you resist a title like that? It mentions that Little Bowden Joinery in Queen Street used to fit boats out - and I can remember seeing hulls in their yard. But what is really interesting is that the authors say the company's premises, which it still occupies today, "used to be the Village Institute". Something else to investigate.
Word reaches me from the Oldham East & Saddleworth by-election that new Lib Dem Federal President, Tim Farron, used the phrase The Negative Narrative in a speech to party activists shortly before polling day. I'm not going to claim to have coined the phrase, or that it's a direct influence, but it seems that my ...
Helen Duffett — Lib Dem blogger, tweeter, and much-loved member of Lib Dem Voice's editorial collective — started today as the party's new Internal Communications Manager. All of us at the Voice wish her the very best in this vital role. We are delighted that Helen has agreed to continue to fulfil the role of contributing editor, and look forward to her remaining a full member of the team here at LDV Towers.
The ruling Conservatives in Suffolk didn't even have the decency to share first with staff the news that 29 libraries are at risk of closure - let alone opposition councillors. The first we knew of the consultation details was in the East Anglian Daily Times today: Suffolk's library service cost around £9m to deliver. It is one of the cheapest in the country, yet it must make £3m savings over the next 3 years. And this from the council which, it is estimated will be £100m overspent on its contract with BT, has seen its pay bill for senior ...
I'm just giving the new book, Sci-Ence! Justice Leak! one final read-through before sending it to my volunteer proofreaders. Depending on how quickly they can read through it, and how many suggestions they make, the plan should still be for it to come out on Sunday. Here's the back cover blurb: What do Batman, Doctor ...
A lot of worry about a fence with no planning permission that is making visibility for cars backing out of parking places, and people crossing the road difficult. However a new dimension as I realise that people in wheelchairs or mobility scooters can see even less because of the height of the fence, for which planning permission has now been applied for. Armed with a borrowed wheelchair and willing to help constituent, we went along. Taking it in turns to sit in the wheelchair and be pushed over the road and back it was quite frightening. We were a third ...
The blog row of the day has been the one between Guido Fawkes and the ubiquitous Laurie Penny. Guido has discovered Penny, who writes the Penny Red blog, advertising for an intern and offering less than the national minimum wage. There is a big problem over the rise of the intern, because offering these unpaid posts tends to restrict entry to attractive professions to young people from wealthy families. I am less concerned about a short-term, personal assistant post like the one Penny is offering, though how she squares the set up with her very public radical conscience would be ...
I suppose not every one in Thanet has the opportunity to wonder at the artificial lightshow provided by Thanet Earth, however the thought occurred this morning as I drove out of town near Acol, given the amount of light leaking from the greenhouses and projected onto the clouds, should we be concerned. Obviously any amateur astronomer might be miffed by increased artificial light in the night sky, however I'm thinking, that if UV lighting is used by growers, whether this has any implications that have hitherto not been considered. Still at least three other commuters escaping Thanet around 5 this ...
I was delighted to attend the ground breaking ceremony for the new Drum Brae Library and Day Centre this afternoon. It was a very well attended event with a Minister, Councillors for the area and our new Chief Executive making her debut. (Clockwise from the left Margaret Smith MSP, Paul Edie, Cllr Phil Wheeler, Cllr Jenny Dawe and Cllr Robert Aldridge) More info can be found about the project on the official press statement: The site was in my council ward for 13 years and along with my Lib Dem colleagues we campaigned for the library for many more ...
It's never to late to restart a quarrel, or rather engage in constructive debate. I have only just noticed that back in November the Contrasting Sounds blog took me to task for defending the use of the term 'Progressive' ("Progressive": Orwell himself thinks it's Orwellian.) Orwell is supposed to have said that some things are true even if they do appear in the Daily Telegraph, and equally some views be wrong even if they were held by George Orwell. The author of Contrasting Sounds objects to my definition of 'Progressive' as meaning 'those who, regardless of party, see their political ...
It's a bit late for post-mortems on Oldham East & Saddleworth, but this one comes from Chris Davies MEP who used to be MP for the old Littleborough & Saddleworth seat: "On a number of occasions I delivered pieces of literature that I thought would not persuade a single extra person to vote for us, and sometimes I feared that they might do us actual harm. Voters complained that they were assaulted by the sheer number of leaflets, but a criticism of greater concern is that too much of the paper we distributed said nothing worth saying." But What Does ...
The BBC's Nick Robinson reports: David Davis and Jack Straw have got their way. The Commons will get the chance to vote – probably in the middle of February – for a motion to defy the European Court of Human Rights on prisoner voting... The prime minister welcomes the plan for the Commons to hold a debate on whether prisoners should be given the vote as demanded by the European Court of Human Rights and believes that it "could be helpful", I'm told. David Cameron is said to want as few prisoners as possible to be given the vote and ...
#4: Winston's War - Michael Dobbs A fictionalised account of Churchill's rise to power and his interactions with Guy Burgess. It's a fairly interesting "inspired by real events" tale, but the historical inaccuracies annoyed me too much for me to really enjoy this. The Churchill isn't as annoyingly inaccurate as Ian McNeice's in Victory of the Daleks, but there are still bits of the character that rankle. When a person is so well known from his own words and proper historical document, discrepancies tend to stick out like a sore thumb, and such is the case with Dobbs' characterisation of ...
It has surely been a mind boggling 24 hours for Members of the House of Lords. Their mamouth all-night sitting came to an end earlier today after almost 21 hours. This isn't the longest sitting in its history but it certainly gave the Prevention of Terrorism Bill debate that ran from 11am until 7.31pm between 10-11 March 2005, a run for its money. It is also likely to be the first of a number of all-night sitting over the coming days and weeks so that record may go yet. Why? Well, Labour are adament that they will destroy the Coaltion ...
I have blogged about the fact that alcohol consumption is falling. (and here) And I have blogged my views regarding minimum pricing. Given my views on this you will probably guess that I am dischuffed about the governments plan on price fixing alcohol at both an ideological and a practical level. I am not going to go through the detail again so read away if you dare! It does not matter you may think this is not aimed at me this is aimed at those nasty binge drinkers. Just remember the definition of a binge drinker includes 1. Two - ...
North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell, Iain Smith MSP and Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Tavish Scott met with the Minister for the Armed Forces Nick Harvey at the Ministry of Defence this afternoon to put forward the strong case for the retention of RAF Leuchars as the home of northern Britain's Quick Reaction Alert Eurofighters. Speaking after the meeting Sir Menzies Campbell said: "This was a free and frank exchange. We emphasised the strategic case for Leuchars as we have done throughout the debate on the future of RAF bases in Scotland. The Minister and his officials emphasised that ...
I will have the pleasure of speaking at the above event this Saturday (22nd January) at 1pm - full details are given in the poster below and at dundee@scottishpsc.org.uk.
During my four years on Lewisham Council, I must have asked a couple of hundred council questions, and a good number of these were addressed to Heidi Alexander – then the Deputy Mayor responsible for Regeneration, and now the MP for Lewisham East. Heidi was one of the more effective – and combative – cabinet members at the time, and usually gave as good as she got. There were certainly easier targets for opposition members. I was amused, therefore, to see this exchange at DCLG questions yesterday in the Commons, where Heidi was questioning Lib Dem minister Andrew Stunell MP: ...
Dundee City Council advises that Blackness Library will be closed on Thursday (20th January) due to essential repairs to the water supply at the building.
I'm going to show off a bit here, but I wrote, at length, three years ago about how the Monetary Policy Committee were totally wrong to keep raising interest rates before we went in to recession, in a fruitless and bizarre attempt to bring down inflation. As I wrote in June 2008 "Inflation has today risen to 3.3% from 3% last month. This is 1.3% above the government's target and is 1.2% up on last year. However, in the Monetary Policy Committee's own report they state that 1.1% of the 1.2% inflation rise in the last 12 months is down ...
You can't marry a St Andrews boy like I did and not be aware of the enormous significance of RAF Leuchars which sits just a few miles outside the town. He tells me that when he was a little boy, his nights were disturbed by the roar of the engine testing and he was excited with all the planes flying back and forth. The first links with military aviation in that area are 100 years old, and the RAF base we know today was opened in 1920. Most people will know it for its spectacular annual air show, but it ...
Some time ago I blogged about Liverpool Direct Limited recording of citizens' phone calls. I was concerned about the controls that did, or didn't exist, around when the calls were played back and to who. I sent in an FOI and got an answer which actually contradicted the experience of one of my constituents. So I sent in a follow up. I did say in an earlier blog that I would update on this so, although the second answer came a little while ago, here it is.
[IMG: Barack Obama] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: tEdits Nate Silver, on the New York times website, has some excellent comparative data of historical Presidential popularity. Taegan Goddard summarises as follows: ...it's interesting to note that at this point in Ronald Reagan's first term, the unemployment rate was 10.4% and his approval rate was 37%. In contrast, the unemployment rate today is 9.4% and President Obama's approval rate is either 53% or 54% according to two polls released today.
In advance of City Council meetings we get the chance to ask questions of the various Cabinet members in written form. The questions and answers are published on the City Council website. I asked two this time - both about costs of various activities. Here is a link to the first question which is about City Magazine. I have no idea whether this will stay or whether it will go but Labour were keen ahead of the election to get rid of it if it couldn't cover its costs through external advertising.
I read with great interest earlier, this BBC News article about the Coalition Government's plans to bring in a minimum price for alcohol in England and Wales. In the Coalition Agreement, it was stated that: "We will ban the sale of alcohol below cost price". Ministers are now fleshing out their proposals to make this a reality. It will work by banning shops and bars from selling drinks for less than the tax paid on them. It is hoped that this will send a signal that the Government is clamping down on the sale of extortionately cheap alcohol. As the ...
Members of the House of Lords are still awake (at least as awake as they ever are,) and still debating the Parliamentary Voting and Constituencies Bill, which includes both the Lib Dem demand for a change to the voting system, and the Conservative demands for an equalising of constituency sizes and less MPs. While Labour say they do not oppose holding a referendum on AV, and Leader Ed Miliband will even campaign for the 'Yes' camp, they say the reduction of MPs is nothing more than gerrymandering for Tory advantage. They are sort of right. The change in boundaries and ...
Labour MP Kerry McCarthy recently called for all men in Bristol to have their DNA screened in the hope of discovering the murderer of Jo Yeates. Fortunately, it seems that the police have more sense than McCarthy does, and her proposal will not be implemented. Given the costs and practical difficulties of testing thousands of people for the purpose of solving just one criminal case, such a suggestion is clearly unrealistic in practical terms. However, some argue that if a compulsory national DNA database of every UK citizen was established, far more cases where DNA evidence is left at the ...
There are two applications on the weekly list this time. One is for the "Installation of Poster Board on land adjacent to roundabout on Buchan Street and car park", on the land bordering King's Hedges Road. It is application 10/1239/ADV. The other is for the "Erection of 2-bed dwelling" to the rear of 229 Milton Road. This has reference number 10/1310/FUL. As usual more details can be found at the City Council's development control team, in particular the public access section. In case of difficulty contact the team.
Like a true alarm clock, this one won't be silenced easily. Yes, last week's relentless pounding by just about everyone on the nonsense of 'Alarm Clock Britain' only seems to have engaged the snooze button, as the irritating beep of nonsense is back to disturb us from our happy places again. I don't have high expectations of posts on Lib Dem Voice, but when an article there starts by praising last week's content-free marketing-speak brown-nosing nonsense as 'excellent' and 'really interesting', it's a good indication that my low expectations are probably not going to be met. And indeed, it's more ...
Last month, Ed Miliband banned his MPs from using the word "coalition" to describe the government, hoping that the phrase "Conservative-led government" would diminish the role of the Liberal Democrats within the coalition and help to tease away Lib Dem voters. Now it seems Labour would like to see journalists whipped into line. According to Joe Murphy at the Evening Standard, Miliband's newly-appointed Director of Strategy and Communications Tom Baldwin instructed the BBC, ITV and Sky that they should stop using the word "coalition" and use the phrase "Tory-led government" instead. One senior broadcaster said it had "a bullying tone" ...
Whilst we rarely comment on the minutiae of blog wars, the latest Guido Fawkes (libertarian) versus Laurie Penny (socialist) bust up over whether she's breached her own principles by advertising an intern job marginally under the minimum wage, and well below the 'living wage' she supports imposing on businesses, has yielded the following unintentional insight "PennyRed Laurie Penny @OllyDeed because I don't make much more than minimum wage myself. If I could pay the living wage without bankrupting myself, I would." Well yes... that's the point isn't it... the problem with the Living Wage... is that if applied coercively to ...
Last night I attended a meeting of the Council's Overview Management Panel, to discuss how well the scrutiny process is working in Bury. I am chair of the Council's Internal Scrutiny Committee, which looks at decisions made by Cabinet members, and as I said yesterday, the system of council governance is not great at helping my committee do that. What I didn't realise until yesterday though was that the situation is far worse for the External Scrutiny Committee, which looks at decisions made involving other public bodies in the borough. It is having real problems, thanks in no small part ...
Stockport Council have bought the Grand Central leisure complex in the town centre. The Council's borrowed the money to make the purchase, taking out a £15 million mortgage. It's a really good idea, and here's why. The Lib Dems have a plan for the site, which is slap bang next to Stockport Station (1h 50 mins to London, 10 mins to Manchester, several trains an hour) and to the A6. We believe that, instead of some of the relatively unsuccessful businesses that have been there up to now, it needs facilities that will attract people from further away: a hotel ...
No doubt this is at least in part coincidence, but compare my comments on what party emails should be more like with the latest from Tim Farron and you'd think someone has been reading this site... As you read this email Labour peers are using every trick in the book to try and block a referendum on fairer votes. In the Liberal Democrats we believe that the New Politics should be embraced by all parties. That is why I'm asking you to join me today in bringing pressure to bear on Ed Milliband and his Labour peers to live up ...
Of all the articles to appear in the Daily Telegraph, this was one I did not expect. Mary Riddell suggests that a Liberal Democrat-Labour pact is starting to emerge and that this is a direct threat to David Cameron. She starts by noting that the Liberal Democrats' creditable second place in the Oldham by-election has reinvigorated Mr Clegg, while Mr Miliband's party registered 43 per cent, six points above the Tories, in a weekend poll. She then points out that Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrats' deputy leader, is talking to Labour about blocking the abolition of the Educational Allowance (EMA): ...
It's been a very productive morning in Ceredigion County Council's Cabinet. The Council's ruling executive has supported officer's recommendations to discuss the terms and conditions for a lease on the Feidrhenffordd Allotments site with the recently constituted and enthusiastic Feidrhenffordd Allotments Association. A Historial Saga This brings us near to the conclusion of a saga that has gone back almost 40 years. The allotments have a long history in Cardigan, going back to the mid-19th century, back to the days of the old Cardigan Common. When a large part of this land was sold early in the 20th century to ...
I recently asked for the views of my local Conservative MP Dr Phillip Lee regarding the potential change to the AV system. I was hoping for some measured and nuanced views on this from someone who is undoubtedly an intelligent and thoughtful man. Instead I got a list of recycled canards which look like they have been cribbed directly from the No2AV campaign literature. You can judge for yourselves as I have scanned the letter in and included it below. You can click on the image to enlarge it.
Tue 18th
12:57
Cookie Cutters, Wagging Fingers and praise for Harriet Harman - all in a Nick Clegg speech
There appears to be some sort of unwritten rule at the BBC that they aren't allowed to say anything positive about Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg at the moment. The other week, when he made a major speech on civil liberties, the BBC hardly covered it at all, instead giving time to predicting electoral meltdown for us in Oldham East and Saddleworth. Well, that didn't happen. Yesterday, his major speech on allowing parents to share parental leave when they have kids was presented in terms of business being critical. I've never known business ever to support any extension of rights ...
I have a modest proposal. In future all regulation and legislation should be subject to a minimum impact threshold. Where either does precisely nothing of any value to anyone beyond generating mindless bureaucracy to service it, it should be quietly binned, and the minister or civil servant responsible along with it. This surely is the only way we can tackle the blight of legischolism, a cruel disease unhappily prevalent amongst politicians of all stripes, that sees sufferers reach for the easy comfort of activity it the hope it will relieve the cravings of interest groups. The temporary respite it affords ...
This is the last post I shall be making in my blog for the foreseeable future. I have NOT fallen out with the Liberal Democrat Party. Life is quite difficult for me at the moment. Our business, Reids Bookshop, Keighley, has gone into receivership. Thanks to all my readers and God bless!
I think most people that read this probably also follow me on Twitter, but for those that don't I've been asked by one of the Judges – David Allen Green – to put in a mention for The Orwell Prize. In particular, he's asked me to encourage anyone with a Trans-related blog to enter. So if you have one and you're based in the UK, why not enter? It's self-nominating only and the deadline is tomorrow. The only hard part is selecting which ten posts to put forward. As David himself puts it, political blogs include any "by those on ...
Flick, Nancy and Russell monitoring the demolition of 1 Mill Lane last year The site of the now-demolished house at 1 Mill Lane (next to the railway bridge) has been the subject of multiple planning applications in recent times. Taylor Wimpey have now applied to vary the existing planning permission again. There is outstanding permission to build 39 units on the site. If granted, the new application would mean the changes below: A slight reduction in the size of the building.A larger reduction in the size of the basement.The replacement of the car lift with a ramp.The two houses would ...
I have yet to met a Libertarian that believes in climate change. The very subject can make some very angry indeed. Libertarians have a natural distrust of control by government. Combating climate change could lead to more government control over our life's or that's the fear. As a consequence on face value it would appear that Greens and Libertarians have little in common. But this is not the case as Green Libertarianism has shown. This is based on the environmental values of the Green party and the civil liberties platform of the Libertarian Party in the United States. Its a ...
Unfortunately, pointless and wasteful nannying is back. The tendency for governments to intefere through pointlessly legislating was epitomised by the 13 years of Blair/Brown and I was hopeful that the coalition might end their legislative diarrhoea. So I was saddened to read that the coalition is going to introduce a new law to ban the sale of alcohol below the cost of the tax and duty on it. The Royal College of Physicians, told the BBC, it will have 'no effect at all on the health of the nation' and the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, admitted the amount of ...
For the past 30+ years I have been in and out of Parliament - for the last ten years quite intensively - certainly as much as some members of parliament! I have never been impressed. The so called 'Mother of ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Westminster Council planning page] Last week I had this guest post over on the Local Government Information Unit blog: Take a look at the list of planning applications on your local council website, and what will you find? Chances are, you will find them all listed, including detailed background information. You probably will also find out how people can submit their views and when planning committee meetings are held. So you may well take a look and think "That's a pretty good use of the internet to let people know what's happening". Unless you're me, that is. Because think ...
The more observant amongst you will recall a very similar headline to the one above, under which was an excellent article by Johnny LeVan Gilroy discussing Nick Clegg's appeal to 'Alarm Clock Britain.' Although I found Johnny's post really interesting, I must admit to feeling a twinge of disappointment - not at the vital discussion of the party's positioning, but that the word 'capabilities' in Johnny's title referred to those of our party, and not to those of the residents (constituents? stakeholders? members?) of Nick's new target demographic. My lament isn't meant as a criticism of Johnny's article, nor am ...
I had a nice surprise when I fired up Tweetdeck this morning - Mark Cole had tweeted me to tell me that F1 commentator Martin Brundle has taken to the Twitterverse. I have since had a look at his blog, A Life Inside and Outside of Politics and apart from differing opinions on David Coulthard, we seem to be twins separated at birth (he wrote about Dancing on Ice, for goodness' sake) so he's now on my blogroll. I hope Mark forgives me for being initially sceptical, as there have been imposters before. There was one who started tweeting during ...
North East Fife's Member of Parliament Sir Menzies Campbell has voiced his strong opposition to the proposal to close Fife Ness Coastguard station to the UK Transport Secretary. Fife Ness covers the eastern coastline of Scotland from the border up towards Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire and provides 24 hour a day, 7 day a week response and search and rescue coordination to all emergencies on the coastline and at sea. In his letter to Phillip Hammond, Sir Menzies highlighted the "extremely busy waterway" of the Firth of Forth which is likely to increase as the offshore renewable energy installations, to be ...
MONDRAGON Corporation Innovation Gene - EFQM Bilbao 2010 from MONDRAGON Corporation on Vimeo. Yesterday I suggested that Lib Dems ought to begin talking out how they would act differently in Government if they were not sharing power with Conservatives. Clearly the whole area of economics give real concern to Liberals and the impression that very important policy initiatives have had to be shelved. Of even more concern if the impression given by some that in exchange for some real gains in other areas they have swallowed the Conservative analysis as well as their prescription in economic areas. I was recently ...
The following statement has been issued this morning. "Hull City Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Waste Recycling Group Ltd (WRG) have mutually agreed a managed termination of their joint waste management contract. The current services will be provided until the end of March 2013 to enable residents to continue to improve on their excellent recycling and composting achievements. An energy-from-waste facility will not be built within this contract. The Councils will put in place new contractual arrangements for the treatment and disposal of waste. A spokesman for the Councils said: "This is a good outcome for all concerned. ...
The campaign for the retention of RAF Leuchars heads to London today as Sir Menzies Campbell MP, North East Fife MSP Iain Smith and Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Tavish Scott MSP meet with Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey at the Ministry of Defence. Speaking ahead of the meeting this afternoon Sir Menzies said: "The object of this meeting with the Armed Forces Minister is two-fold. Firstly to emphasise the strategic case for Leuchars and to point out that the factors which determined that Leuchars should have the responsibility for the air defence of northern Britain remain exactly the same today ...
The BBC is reporting that the Scottish Government has issued some new advice to pregnant mothers, that they should take Vitamin D supplements. Much as I'm not keen on synthetic vitamins, I can't really argue with this one. We used to spend so much time outside in sunlight, but with modern busy lives, children often spend their early years being driven to nursery, spending all day there and then going straight home. There's not so much of the spending all day outside in the pram, either in the garden, or going for long walks, soaking up the sun's rays, and ...
Tue 18th
10:25
Capitalism as if the world matters: Jonathan Porritt's prescription for sustaintability
First published in 2005 and issued in a revised edition in 2007, Jonathan Porritt's Capitalism as if the world matters has played an important part in arguing the case that not only can capitalism and sustainability go together, but that a reformed version of capitalism is essential to achieving sustainability. This view sets Porritt apart from many of his former colleagues of his from his six years as chair of the UK Ecology Party (now the Green Party) and another six heading up Friends of the Earth. It made - and makes - his book controversial in many green circles ...
I am very pleased to hear this morning that the Govt are going ahead with minimum pricing on alcohol. This will stop some of the frighteningly cheap (per unit) alcohol which is available widely. I don't think it is high enough though. Friends who come to my house are often astonished that there are men walking down my road as early as 8 am drinking high strength lager. Later in the day this leads do intimidating behavior and sometimes violence. The announcement today will mean there will be no more loss leaders, that is no sales below cost . but ...
The scaling question is one of the more famous solution focused techniques, although most will not identify it as such, as shown in the Guardian recently: Back then, when I asked a dozen or so activists to mark their morale out of 10, I was greeted by plenty of sevens, eights and nines - but ...
Now some may call it pillow talk as a result of the all night sitting of the House of Lords. But it does appear as if some of them weren't half talking some nonsense through the night. While I was sleeping one of my friends posted on Facebook that some Labour Peer has said: "[Labour] now claiming that no present or future seat crosses county/local government boundaries." This echoes something that was written yesterday for the Guardian by Lewis Baston: "The new boundary rules, as I have written at length elsewhere, are likely to produce a complicated and flawed new ...
Next week is Area Committee week in Stockport. Cheadle Area Committee is on Tuesday 25th January 2011 at the Ladybridge Park Residents Club, Edenbridge Road, Cheadle Hulme. Members of the public can ask questions of councillors, but they have to be raised in advance (of course, you can ask Pam and I questions any time - just email, phone or write!). In addition to the usual opportunity for councillors and members of the public to hear updates from the police and environmental people, and to ask questions and raise issues, here are the main issues being discussed: Planning application DC045897 ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice Consulting my calendar recently, I was astonished to see that I visited the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election for the first time on 17th and 18th November. A long time ago. I don't mention this to boast (oh, all right I do!) but to highlight that the Liberal Democrat campaign started in earnest very early. I remember wistfully that "GUILTY" tabloid - that word in red dominating the front page in size 94 font (I think). A classic of understatement. My return for a couple of days at the beginning of last week confirmed that ...
South Gloucestershire Council is offering free travel for one weekend to Youth Unltd card holders to raise awareness of the youth discount fares scheme. The card, which your local Focus Team campaigned for, was introduced in April last year and usually offers tickets for half the adult price on local bus services after 6pm weekdays and all day on weekends and school holidays. But for one weekend only, the 29 and 30 January, Youth Unltd card holders can travel for free on all local bus services (excluding Stagecoach) for any journey which starts and/or finishes in South Gloucestershire. You can ...
An alarm company is ringing householders saying that crime levels are high in the area (which is increasing fear of crime and isn't actually true - crime in our area has been falling sharply in recent years). They infer that they are working with police/council to improve security by offering "free" security equipment such as a burglar alarm (or charge nominal £1). They try to book an appointment and then do the hard sell trying to get the householder to sign up to very costly and long monitoring costs, quoting prices ranging from £4,000 - £6.000. Vulnerable older people are ...
Oh dear. Justin Webb has those bags under the eyes to look forward to, perhaps.
Things I would rather do than accept Ed Miliband's invitation to join Labour Another masterful rebuff to the siren calls of the millibland (tags: libdemmery) About Oracle's Chair Any wheelchair users have any views on this? (tags: comics) Suffragette Jujitsu Does exactly what it says on the link. (tags: awesome feminism) Mark Thompson: MPs against AV were on average worse expenses offenders Mark points out another interesting correlation (tags: correlation)
Tue 18th
08:55Opinion: Sharing maternity leave - our most popular policy since the coalition was formed?
Yesterday Nick Clegg has announced that couples will be able to share maternity leave. This is a rare example of a policy which is principled, popular and incredibly talkable. Parents and grandparents, that is most of the population who are over 35 years old, have extremely strong views on childcare and maternity leave. After all it has a huge impact on us, our careers and our relationships with our families. This is a superb policy for several reasons. Firstly, it recognises that modern fathers want to spend more time with their children, and are constrained by an incredibly outdated legal ...
Hull Playwright and all round good guy Dave Windass asked me to shamelessly promote his new gig (If I don't he will beat me iron rods!) Its on at Hull Truck tomorrow so if you have a free night its well worth a bash.
Cllr John Adams-Lewis, a Cardigan County Councillor and the Deputy Chairman of Ceredigion County Council, has been found to be in breach of the councillors' Code of Conduct on two counts has been given a partial suspension after a tribunal hearing. Complaints were made to the Public Services Ombudsman that Cllr Adams-Lewis failed to declare an interest and withdraw from a meeting of Ceredigion County Council's development control committee when it considered a planning application relating to land at Bath-house Farm, Cardigan, in August 2008 and again in September that year. The Adjudication Panel for Wales tribunal hearing into the ...
Tue 18th
08:07
January Books 11) AHistory: An Unauthorized History of the Doctor Who Universe, by Lance Parkin
This is a truly fantastic effort to locate every single Doctor Who story (shown/published/released up to January 2008) on the historical timeline, from before the Big Bang to the very End of Time. Although the cover claims it is the second edition, Parkin states that it is actually the fourth, and I hope it won't be the last; quite apart from the TV episodes of Who, Sarah Jane and Torchwood (and K9?) shown since then, perhaps he might also go back and think of including the various short story collections and annuals and the Big Finish spinoff audios and books ...
Links! Links! Click 'em while they're hot! Arab regimes on edge – Foreign Policy looks at the fallout from the events in Tunisia Ike was right all along: The danger of the military-industrial complex – Looking back at that speech, fifty years on. Proof: Nadine Dorries lies about police investigations – Revenge is a dish best served by Time Ireland of Bloggerheads What's Behind the Right Wing's Bizarre Obsession with the Gold Standard? – AlterNet investigates Blue Monday is bullshit churnalism. Beware any journalist who promotes it. – Going back to a point made in his book Bad Science, Ben ...
The idea os a fire on this scale here in Kilburn is pretty hard to imagine - but that's exactly what happened on January 13th 1910. This Postcard made and published by the Watford Engraving Company captures the scale of the fire of Evans's Department store. What is more fascinating is the back has a lovely edwardian handwriting and it reads: "This is the photo of B.B.Evans fire, it was like this half an hour after it started. Caught the shop on the corner opposite and cracked all the plate glass down the row. This is the same shop we ...
When I was young, futuristic visions of the world were focused on the year 2000. I'm convinced we were promised that we would be living in a version of the world not dissimilar to that in The Jetsons. I am still bitter about being misled. I've come across this article from the American publication "Popular Science Monthly" which dates from 1925 and pictures the world of 1950. Predicting that our cities would get more and more crowded, the article outlines some potential solutions. Neither the solutions proposed in the article nor the jet cars we were promised would be in ...
Tue 18th
06:05Whoniversaries 18 January: Daleks #5, Krotons #4, Robot #4, Four to Doomsday #1, Snakedance #1
18 January 1964: broadcast of "The Expedition", fifth episode of the story we now call The Daleks. The Thals agree to attack the Dalek city. Ian and Barbara accompany one group through the jungle and the Lake of Mutations. 18 January 1969: broadcast of fourth episode of The Krotons. The Doctor makes up some sulphuric acid; Zoe uses it to poison off the Krotons, and Jamie uses it to destroy the Dynotrope. 18 January 1975: broadcast of fourth episode of Robot, which is the first I remember watching all the way through. The robot starts disintegrating people, but the Doctor ...
It seems it was the American journalist Michael Kinsley who first observed that a gaffe takes place when a politician inadvertently tells the truth. There is no clearer illustration of this than David Cameron's interview for the Today programme yesterday in which he said or implied or was thought to have implied that parts of the NHS offer a second-rate service. Of course parts of the NHS offer a second-rate service. If you doubt this, have a look at the front page of yesterday's Leicester Mercury: Two elderly women were let down by the NHS in the care they received ...
If you're looking for a detailed and insightful post, then on this occasion you're probably going to be disappointed. On this occasion, I just want to get my views on record. Labour peers are trying to upset the timetable for the AV referendum. Why? It's hard to tell. I've heard the usual stuff about the House of Lords as a valuable reviewing Chamber, but I hardly think that can be it. There aren't normally all-night sittings! Labour have criticised in the past the boundary review portion of the bill. They seem to think that mandating the Boundary Commission to draw ...
Tonight was the not the first time LibDem London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon has spoken to a Lewisham party dinner, though in the old days these extremely convivial evnings were known as the Blackheath Supper Club and did indeed migrate around the many good and exotic restaurants of the northern part of the borough. But ...
If I didn't get the right change I would complain. If someone stole a fiver from my wallet I might feel brave enough to chase after them. As far as I am concerned property isn't theft but you can steal property and some of it is mine. You see I can get fairly emotional about relatively small matters. That's why I feel strongly about MPs, or anyone for that matter, who steal thousands of pounds. That's why I feel really strongly when white collar crime takes much more money from its correct owner. That is why it is really important ...
Apology Accepted - Grasping for the Wind This is a slightly peculiar exchange but one feels that both interlocutors are doing their best to be decent human beings. (tags: sf) The LinkedIn Blog » Did you use one of these 10 most overused buzzwords in your LinkedIn profile this year? « Top 10 overused buzzwords in LinkedIn Profiles in the USA, 2010: "Extensive experience"; "Innovative"; "Motivated"; "Results-oriented"; "Dynamic"; "Proven track record"; "Team player"; "Fast-paced"; "Problem solver"; "Entrepreneurial". (tags: work) Daily Nation: - Africa |South Sudan's lost white tribe: the Juba Greeks "The Greeks of south Sudan are a tribe. We ...
Tue 18th
00:00
Day 3668: Economic Credibility Means Knowing the Difference Between DEFICIT and DEBT - A Brief Histo...
Sunday: "On this central question of why do we have or why did we end up with a deficit of more than 10% of our national income, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats I think are pedalling a very dangerous myth because they want to tell people that it was somehow all because of a decade of overspending under Labour. It wasn't. It was because of a financial crash; a financial crash that happened all round the world." Ignore the bit about "peddling a very dangerous myth" and this statement is SUBSTANTIVELY TRUE. But also MASSIVELY MISLEADING. Let me explain: ...
