For about 18 months now, I have been wanting a hat. This might sound like an easy quest, but I have a weird-shaped head, and it's very difficult to find a hat that I don't look a total pillock in. On Monday, I found it. The friend that I was with at the time made a contribution to the purchase, knowing my financial situation, otherwise I would not have been able to justify buying it. It's the perfect hat. It's exactly what I wanted. ( ...and my seven year old daughter looks way cooler in it than I ever will. ...
All, Many people will have heard about the threatened cuts to youth services by Conservatives on Warwickshire County Council. The cuts could lead to the closure of the Outhouse Youth Club based at the High School. Services like this give kids something to do. Although we have a wide range of sports activities in Shipston, these do not suit everyone, and clubs like the Outhouse can provide a valuable resource. We all know the poor level of services for young people in the surrounding area (compounded by cuts the Conservatives have already made to organisations such as DASH) – so ...
Seems that whatever the personal reason of Alan Johnson's departure it might have been one of Ed Balls's henchmen who had a hand in it. Oh dear, same old same old. I wonder what those people who aren't happy with the coalition yet can't face voting Labour will think of it? `Same old, same old`. ...
The announcement of Alan Johnson's resignation came just as I was leaving work. Guido Fawkes suggests there will be a scandal in the Sunday papers and implicates Ed Balls in its leaking. (Later: Tomorrow's Daily Mail suggests a different story is behind his resignation.) Whatever the truth of that, Johnson never looked comfortable as shadow chancellor. His appointment has to count as a bad error by Ed Miliband, ranking alongside his naming of Phil Woolas as shadow immigration - though at least the latter showed a wicked sense of humour. When Ed Balls was passed over as shadow chancellor I ...
With thanks to Sheena Wellington, here's the latest update from Friends of Wighton : Saturday 22nd January 2011, 10.30am for 11am £5 : Karen Hannah (fiddle) with Bob Turner (keyboard) George Smith's chamber quartet are unable to present the Earl of Kelly's music on Saturday, due to family reasons, so we'd like to announce that Karen Hannah and Bob Turner will perform the Cappuccino Concert instead. Karen had been due to perform in December but was snowed off! Karen is a regular performer for Friends of Wighton and is also the tutor for the weekly Saturday fiddle class. For this ...
Veteran Labour politician Alan Johnson MP has resigned today as the Shadow Chancellor for personal reasons after just three and a half months. In a statement, Alan Johnson MP said: "I have decided to resign from the shadow cabinet for personal reasons to do with my family."Today's announcement follows several recent gaffes by Alan Johnson when discussing tax and economic matters, including a recent in an interview when didn't know the rate of National Insurance paid by employers! Rumours are rife in Westminster about why Johnson has gone. Guido has more details. So, Ed Miliband is forced into reshuffling his ...
Alan Johnson's exit while a surprise in its alacrity isn't exactly unexpected in that he was clearly only ever an interim solution (or the anyone but Balls candidate). One assumes the timing is driven by a forthcoming Sunday newspaper expose about his private life. No doubt his resignation will be soon forgotten - unless the revelations are of a particularly lurid or criminal nature. But given rumours about Johnson usually consist of the particularly stereotypical late middle aged politician playing while away from home, they probably would have proved to have been 'ride outable' if the will was there. But ...
It's long been a Liberal Democrat demand, and it was in the party's 2010 manifesto, so good news that detention without charge is set to fall back to 14-days. The current 28-days limit expires on Monday and today the government has confirmed that it will not be trying to renew the limit. The 28-day increase was brought in by the then Labour government in 2006. The BBC adds: Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake, who campaigned to reinstate the 14-day limit, said the move would speed up the justice system. "If the time frame is longer I'm afraid that there is ...
In reality Ed Balls being Shadow Chancellor is not just a test of economic competence or policy – rather of whether `blinding by science` by `aggressively winning an argument` wins the day against pragmatic policies that make sense for the long-term.
Proper posts resume this weekend. In the meantime, some links: Power Pop Criminals has a compilation of 21 different versions of the Move song Do Ya, including versions by Parthenon Huxley, Matthew Sweet, Linus Of Hollywood, Jason Falkner and more. Look out baby there's a plane a comin'! Scientists Grow Human Liver Tissue For Use ...
I see Thanet council website mentions a fire incident which occurred yesterday, it makes me think and frankly worry about safety of the public. In September I wrote to Mr Samuel the Chief Exec of the council to point out that doors to the council offices were locked and unattended when the public were attending meetings. At the time the chief exec replied including this assurance " I'd like to assure those people who were not able to access the building initially, and indeed the wider public, that the security procedure has been reviewed as a matter of urgency to ...
For the first time since 17 April 1986* Northern Ireland have both the Steward of the Manor of Northstead (see above) and Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. Iris Robinson is the holder of the latter title since she stepped down from Westminster on the 13 January last year. However, with the announcement today of the General Election in Éire for 11 March and the intention of the long time Belfast West MP to seek election to the Dáil Éireann for Louth, we have (or will shortly) have a new Maor an Mhainéir na Northstead (Steward of the Manor of Northstead). ...
Wow! A Liberal Democrat MP asked the first question at Prime Minister's Questions this week. Andrew George spoke in English, rather than Cornish - which he has been known to speak in the Commons chamber. (Well, all right then, it was only for his maiden speech, I grant you). Anyway, Andrew's question implied some scepticism about the government's NHS reform plans, saying it involved a "gamble" which might give "private companies the easy pickings". Ed Miliband picked up the PM on the disappointing unemployment figures, especially those for youths. He said they were caused by the government "cutting too far ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice [IMG: Clegg Q and A 25] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: Liberal Democrats The LDV Collective have asked me to add the monthly Deputy Prime Minister's Questions to my radar screen. When these sessions started they seemed rather manufactured and unnecessary. However, they have evolved into an important part of the Commons' calendar, covering a wide range of key issues. They are of interest especially for those of us in the Liberal Democrats who are interested in hearing what Nick Clegg has to say in his official capacity, under scrutiny from MPs, in a ...
Today's First Minister's Questions was mostly boring. I frankly can't be bothered with listening to Labour and the SNP fighting like ferrets in a sack over the details of the Great Scotland Bill Stramash. Just as an aside, Wendy Alexander, it's possible to question people closely without being rude. A useful skill to learn if you're a committee convener. If Iain Gray and Alex Salmond want to have the sort of uninspiring exchange interspersed with scripted jokes (this time on Salmond's appearance on Desert Island Discs), can they not just do it in private? The highlight of the half hour ...
Of all the proposed cuts in the budget affecting Prestwich, the possible closure of the Longfield Suite is perhaps the most shocking. We already knew about the library, and about the refusal of the Council to consider scrapping parking charges, despite clear evidence that both of these things do the opposite of what the Council ...
There's been much gnashing of teeth (especially since the Oldham by-election) about the merits or otherwise of an electoral pact, or even merger, between the Lib Dems and Conservatives. For the record, I've read Nick Boles' Which Way's Up? and I'm still one of the 86% of Lib Dems who oppose such an arrangement. I've written before of some lessons from Canada on wielding power in coalition (or accord). Canadian politics fascinate me – the Canadians are probably the nation that have least adapted the Westminster model. Unlike Australia and New Zealand, they haven't adopted a preferential or proportional voting ...
Gladstone spoke in Southport on at least three occasions. Michael Braham points out in his History of Southport Liberals that the town was (relatively) close to his home at Harwarden and closer still to his family home in Seaforth which is now part of Sefton Borough. It was on the first of those speaking occasions (19th December 1867) that he encountered Benjamin Clarke Vicar of Christ Church. I'm not quite sure what it was that upset the Lord St cleric. The Southport Visiter says the meeting was: 'densely crowded by a most respectable assembly. Gladstone's speech dealt chiefly with the ...
Yesterday, I attended the first meeting of the project board that will oversee the Harris Academy rebuilding project. The board includes Parent Council representatives, a trades union representative, a Harris Academy FP Association representative and the Head Teacher, as well as councillors and officers. It was a constructive and productive first meeting to oversee a project that will be some years in its delivery. I asked questions about the role of Historic Scotland, transportation for pupils during the decant period, capital funding and other matters. Later yesterday, I also attended meetings of the WestFest committee and the Tay Bridge Disaster ...
The Lib Dem response to Ed Balls' appointment as Labour's shadow chancellor, replacing Alan Johnson, has been swift. Stephen Williams, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Treasury Committee, commented: "I wish Alan Johnson good luck for the future. "The decision to appoint Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor shows that the Labour Party is now determined to carry on with the Gordon Brown economic plan that caused so much trouble for this country. "Ed Balls isn't just a deficit denier, he's a deficit enthusiast." Alan Johnson resigned earlier today, citing "personal reasons to do with my family". He had been under ...
Labour has surely made itself unelectable for at least a generation.
The cuts being made by the coalition are, according to Labour, the 'wrong cuts at the wrong time'. What we hear less of (in fact, nothing of) is what the right cuts would be, and when the right time would ... Continue reading →
Thursday: Mr Alan Johnson & Johnson, Mr Potato Ed's appointment to the role of Shadow Chancer has resigned. I've been meaning to write a piece about Mr Johnson & Johnson for a little while now. Let's not dwell overmuch on his showing himself up by not knowing the Employer's National Insurance rate . (Although it's worth reading Mr Mark Reckons on why this is important.) But instead we should go back to Mr Evan Davis' forensic interview on the The Today Programme for teasing an actual statement of policy out of him. That COULD have given us something worth talking ...
The long and short of Ed Miliband's reshuffle is that the Labour party are now represented at the top table by a group wedded to tax and spending as the solution to all ills. This is a very good opportunity for Nick Clegg to ditch his 'progressive' baggage and position the Liberal Democrats firmly in the liberal centre ground. Left-wingers who have used the Liberal Democrats as a dumping ground for all the mad ideas they could never get past New Labour concessions to electability and balance sheets now have a very familiar place to call home. Ed Balls meanwhile ...
One suspects C. P. Scott would be annoyed with the sub editor who wrote this headline: Liberal Democrats to fight next election as totally independent party What's next from the supposed bastion of liberal journalism? Pope confirms Catholicism? Bear faeces found in woodland? Hazel Blears is short? Note to journalists: In Australia, the Coalition parties have maintained separate identities and run independently despite governing together for the best part of the last century. In the UK, the last Liberal National / Conservative coalition effectively started in 1931, they agreed an electoral pact in 1947, and the Nationals eventually gave up ...
This week I have abandoned my decade-long membership of a trade union, after a growing feeling for many years that the union were less interested in protecting my rights than posturing like a petulant child in a way even the leader of the Labour Party (today's slogan: Balls Up) has criticised. Below is the message I have sent: "I have been a member of your Westminster branch for some 12 years, and am writing to resign my membership. I am far from the only person who is a committed Liberal Democrat and a trade unionist. The moronic pronouncements of your ...
I mean, who would have thought – Darren Bent at Aston Villa? Apparently the Shadow Chancellor's also quit. Once again, Red Ed's ignored my advice and failed to give Andy Burnham the job. I have, at least, been proved right when I wrote that : I think it's quite possible that Alan Johnson will go down in history as a Shadow Chancellor whose term in the job is a mere footnote to a previous ministerial career - just like [Peter] Lilley. But once again, I think Red Ed's missed a trick with his reshuffle. He's at least rectified the error ...
Yesterday morning I posted on the report by Graham Allen MP on early years intervention. It is clear that a cross party agreement is being reached as to how to take these matters forward. Iain Duncan Smith collaborated with Graham Allen in a publication last year which covered much of the same ground. Yesterday Nick Clegg spoke at the launch of the report: It is absolutely clear, as the report confirms, that investment in the early years of life leads to huge economic, social and emotional benefits later on, both for individuals and for society as a whole. The report ...
Today I signed up to the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign's petition that is challenging the No campaign to a debate about First Past The Post's (FPTP) merits. The point is that, while they are urging people to vote 'no' in the referendum on the Alternative Vote (AV), the No campaign aren't able to make a coherent argument about why we should keep the system. Indeed they seem to want to avoid defending FPTP. So the Yes campaign are asking people to; "Join our call to Margaret Beckett, president of the No campaign, for an honest debate about the merits ...
[IMG: Yes! to Fairer Votes] Over 20 people braved freezing weather last night to meet Stephen Robinson, the East of England Yes! to Fairer Votes Campaign Organiser at a preliminary meeting in the Rose & Crown, St Michaels Street, St Albans intended to start things off. While many attendees were local Liberal Democrats, both the Labour Party (after all, Ed Miliband is in favour of fairer votes) and the Conservative Party were represented - together with half a dozen people with no party allegience. Everyone present agreed that the current "first past the post" voting system is outdated, out moded ...
Well, well, well. I heard the news about the resignation of Alan Johnson as Shadow Chancellor whilst I was stuck in a traffic jam after today's Gateshead Council meeting. One kilometre down the road I got the best news of the day: Ed Balls is to be his replacement. If the Conservatives had John Redwood, the Vulcan, Labour's very own alien from outer space is Ed Balls. Alan Johnson served a useful
This one will be un-Cole-like brief post but it really is interesting times for the Labour Party. Goodbye Alan I've always rather like Alan Johnson and thought that he was one of Labour's best electoral bets to take over from Gordon Brown. But he didn't stand so we'll never know. What we do know is that Ed Miliband's surprise decision to make him Shadow Chancellor barely 3 months ago was a mistake. Gaffe after economic gaffe left him floundering and didn't give Ed the kind of media coverage that he wanted as he tried to stamp his newly found authority ...
The link is to videos of Tuesday's TEQs launch event.
I cannot believe the SSRB has said that MPs should have a pay increase. That is clearly nonsense. MPs are public sector workers and have to be covered by the pay freeze.
Thu 20th
17:08
Strictly's Karen Hardy to judge Barclays Live Dance Competition in Glasgow this weekend
Former Strictly professional Karen Hardy, who won with Mark Ramprakash in 2006 and who has one of Strictly's most fondly regarded partnerships with Bill Turnbull to her credit, will be in Glasgow this Saturday, 22 January. She's going to be one of the panel for the Barclays Live Dance Competition at the St Enoch Centre. She'll be leading a dance masterclass too - I wonder if it will be the same routine as featured in the BBC ident and the Strictly Roadshows. Karen is one of the most talented and creative choregraphers I know and all my friends who've had ...
I have been feeling a little old this week. The rugby related aches and pains seem to be taking longer to clear and my teenage son is studying things in history that I watched happen on the news. So it didn't help when I was overlooked in the pre-match warm up drills in favour of a sprightly and keen John Glover (103) before the Warlingham 3rd XV fixture against Old Paulines. With hooker Ciaran Byrne captaining the side, my preferred position in the middle of the front row was unlikely to become available. Once again I was running up and ...
Today US Surgeon General's long-awaited Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding was published and welcomed by health advocates all over the world. The statement sets out very clearly why breastfeeding is important for the health of mothers and babies and calls on policy makers to support compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes which calls for an end to the promotion of all breastmilk substitutes. Patti Rundall, OBE, Policy Director of Baby Milk Action, "Its remarkable and very welcome to see that the US taking this step to endorse this vital international health recommendation. We know that ...
Today's East Anglian Daily Times has called on Andrea Hill to take a pay cut from her £218,000 salary. The average pay in Suffolk is around £23,000 a year. Ms Hill earns nearly 10 times that amount. It is no wonder that both the local paper and the local radio stations are constantly getting complaints from the public about her salary level. Whilst Chief Executives in neighbouring authorities are taking pay cuts, Andrea Hill remains resolute. When the council is slashing services to the most vulnerable people in the County, it is surely time to show some solidarity? The pay ...
An issue of much discussion within the Coalition government seems to have found a reasonable compromise as the BBC News website reports here. Detention without Charge Home Office Minister Damian Green announced in the House of Commons this morning that the Government is not intending to maintain the 28-day limit to detain terror suspects without charge when its 6 month extension lapses next Tuesday. Instead, it will revert back to 14 days. Home Secretary Theresa May is to report fully on anti-terror measures in Parliament next Wednesday. The Liberal Democrats campaigned to reduce the limit after Labour in Government ...
So it has been (around) 100 days since Labour put together its Shadow Cabinet. That to me is a fair amount of time to look back on to see how they are doing. There was a big press review of 100 Days of the coalition and 100 days of Barack Obama's Presidency but I've heard ...
Into the ongoing debate over whether Labour's actions in Government contributed to the huge national debt and record deficit weighs Sir Nicholas Macpherson, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury. As Sky News reports, Sir Nicholas identifies three departments – Defence, Health and Education, which struggled to keep control of their finances. [Sir Nicholas Macpherson] said spending at the Ministry of Defence under the last government was "lost control", adding it had been put into "special measures" and ordered to report on a month-by-month basis on spending. Sir Nicholas admitted the Department of Health and Department of Education had problems with their ...
Last year I went to a brilliant awards night in South Liverpool called Celebrating Success. We were celebrating achievement by children and young people across our area. This March will see another ceremony and the organisers are looking for nominations. The deadline is 28th January so its a bit tight but there is still time to nominate a person or a group. I've posted below a copy of the letter with the various categories in it. If you want a form or more information please e mail me and I'll pass your details on to one of the organisers. My ...
Over the last few weeks I was ask a few questions by the Bracknell Standard as part of the papers 'What does Bracknell think' weekly panel. First up VAT rise; VAT has risen from 17,5 per cent to 20 per cent, is this a fair way for the government to try to reduce the national deficit or will it put people off buying consumer goods? And my answer Surely it depends on what you buy and how much you spend. Children's cloths and Food do not have VAT added to them yet they still seem expensive. At least if someone ...
The LDV Collective have asked me to add the monthly Deputy Prime Minister's Questions to my radar screen. When these sessions started they seemed rather manufactured and unnecessary. However, they have evolved into an important part of the Commons' calendar, covering a wide range of key issues. They are of interest especially for those of us in the Liberal Democrats who are interested in hearing what Nick Clegg has to say in his official capacity, under scrutiny from MPs, in a mercifully Flashman-free environment. But this will never be like Prime Minister's Question Time. The chamber is only about a ...
Bury Council has announced further proposed budget cuts. Unsworth Library, threatened with closure from April, is saved, but Prestwich has borne the brunt of some really big cuts. The Longfield Suite is threatened with closure. Proposals are still in place for the library to close on Sundays. The Elderly Persons Home in Prestwich may close, and as with ...
Just to let you all know that the 4th Colchester Winter Ale Festival is happening for the next few days. It's running every day from noon through to 11pm at Colchester Arts Centre with a wide variety of beers available. I'm also informed that it will be the venue for a Colhester tweetup – a gathering of Colchester Twitter users, if you don't know what that means – on Saturday afternoon from 3pm. Hopefully I'll be there for that, so come along and say hello.
[IMG: longfield-suite-1.jpg] Bury Council have just announced further budget cuts proposals and the latest list includes proposals to close the Longfield Suite in Prestwich village. That is despite a massive local campaign recently to stop previous closure proposals. Despite public meetings that I chaired at the Longfield Suite that saw hundreds of concerned residents turn up to make their views known to the leader of the Council. And it is despite a business plan put in place by Council officers with the specific aim of cutting costs, increasing revenue and making this community facility even more successful. And, as if ...
Thu 20th
13:47
Everything you ever wanted to know about... Policy and the Parliamentary Party (part 1) - at the beg...
A fortnight ago, the question was put to me, "How do you influence the Parliamentary Party?" At the time, I indicated that this was a very complex question – normally shorthand for "You don't think that I'm going to touch that with a bargepole, do you?". But not this time... So, how do Liberal Democrats make policy? The sovereign policy-making body of the Party is the Federal Conference, and policy motions can be submitted by State Parties (England, Scotland and Wales), the regional parties in England, local parties, Specified Associated Organisations (e.g. Liberal Youth), any ten conference representatives or the ...
What do the New Economics Foundation and noted libertarian MP Douglas Carswell have in common? They both want to end the system of fractional reserve banking we use to ensure there's enough liquidity in the economy to slosh into any investment opportunities that open up. "...we simply require that banks keep safe the money which ...
The National Liberal Federation meeting in Birmingham in 1919 resolved: ..the national income is far too unevenly distributed, and that a nearer approach to economic equality must be the foundation of all social progress, and it therefore advocates that both income tax and supper tax should be steeply graduated and more fairly adjusted; that death duties should be materially increased................... Twenty years on in the Yellow Book Liberals noted: ............the fact has to be faced is that the discrepancies now in this country are so glaring, and consciousness of them so acute, that the resulting discontent endangers the continuance of ...
Via the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors (ALDC) comes the news: Elections have taken place to elect the principal councillor representative on two Federal Party Committees for 2011-2012: On the Federal Executive Committee the following have been elected: Cllr Stan Collins (South Lakeland DC and Cumbria CC) Cllr Keith House (Eastleigh BC and Hampshire CC) On the Federal Policy Committee the following have been elected: Cllr Louise Bloom (Eastleigh BC) Cllr Stan Collins (South Lakeland DC and Cumbria CC) Cllr Chris White (St Albans CC and Hertfordshire CC)
One bit of good news this morning - the BBC reports that the power to hold terrorism suspects for 28 days without charge is to lapse, reverting to 14 days. It's still at least 10 days too long but it's a long way from the 90 days Labour tried to introduce. Imagine being held for 3 months without even being charged! This is just part of the much needed rebalancing between liberty and security that Nick Clegg talked about the other week and a very welcome development. The full review of terrorism powers, including the future of control orders, will ...
Crime was down again in the year to September 2010. Recorded crime shows falls across the board, with the exception of sexual offences which are up slightly. As ever, changes in recorded crime can be affected by changes in definitions, by the way the police do the recording or by the willingness of victims to come forward, but there are no major shift in any of those which would lead us to think it isn't a real change. (In some previous years there have been quite significant changes, some of which have made crime look higher than it really was). ...
Stepping away from Politics for two blog posts in a row but this is a special one for all that know him... All Hail Dr Professor Conboy of the University of Sheffield! Yes that is right folks. The man who was far too intelligent for the likes of me at the little old Surrey Institute ...
I'm not saying I'm a better blogger than Richard Herring. That's for other people to say... - Terence Eden Is Richard Herring the son of a god he doesn't believe in? He may not be the Messiah, but he is a very funny boy. For this long time apathist, none of His arguments were very new – the Bible is inconsistent, God is petty, etc. – but the sheer enthusiasm and obvious joy He brings drew huge laughs from the audience. The show is unremittingly funny – weaving skilfully between observational comedy and pure scatological filth. Something for everyone, then. ...
I apologise for returning to the subject of Eric Pickles once again, but the man just keeps generating material. This time, it's because he believes Council spending is responsible for the deficit: In comments that will further inflame council leaders from all parties, Pickles told Society Guardian: "Local government is a massive part of public expenditure. It has lived for years on unsustained growth, unsustainable public finance. People blame the bankers [for the country's economic woes] but I think big government is just as much to blame as the big banks." So, let's see what Mr Pickles' own department has ...
It has just been announced by Home Office Minister Damian Green that the Coalition government will allow the provision for terrorism suspects to be held for 28 days without limit to lapse. It will be replaced with a 14 day limit when the lapse occurs at midnight on Monday. The is another significant move in the civil liberties agenda of this government, which has been driven to the forefront by the Liberal Democrats. The row over control orders is still ongoing, as is the debate on prisoner votes, but this move will go someway to reassuring the civil libertarians in ...
Recommended reading for Lib Dem councillors and local campaigners in the last week: Obviously the big news at the end of last week was Labour holding on to its Oldham East and Saddleworth parliamentary seat. Chris Riddell in the Observer asks if this was: A pleasant surprise for Nick Clegg? Lib Dem News' Stephen Tall asks: After Oldham: what does the result mean for the party's targeting strategy? As some unelected peers attempt to derail making voting fairer, the Independent reports: Night of the long-winded: peers waffle to sabotage voting reform legislation Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove urges ...
In Wales, Assembly Members have agreed to have their pay frozen for the next four years. In Westminster, according to the Independent, they are only just getting around to asking MPs to give up the 1% pay rise ordered by the Senior Salaries Review Body. The paper says that the Leader of the House Sir George Young will be putting a resolution before the Commons to block the increase in light of the pay freeze imposed on public sector workers. They suggest that this will frustrate many MPs who argue they are already underpaid on £65,738 a year, and fuel ...
As you can see from this photo of the corner of Porter Square and Hornsey Road, there's a rough patch of land left over from when the wall was rebuilt along a slightly different alignment: [IMG: Porter Square / Hornsey Road junction] This rough patch regularly acts as a litter trap, and being off the pavement itself it also is often missed out by the street sweepers. There is a simple solution - smooth over the patch so that it doesn't trap litter and is quicker and easier for the street sweepers to clear. The good news it that having ...
Brooklyn Crescent in Cheadle has new, smooth pavements! Pam in particular has been working on this for a while as sections of the pavement were badly rutted and frankly dangerous, especially as the route is well-used by elderly people. The problem - as usual - was finding the money. Pam and I were able to put in £11,000 from the ward budget we get for road improvements and get the work done.
A new leaflet is currently in the process of being delivered across the ward. If you'd like to read the leaflet on-line it's available via the Election Leaflets Website (click here). Of course delivery is a lot easier the more people do it. If you'd like to get involved and help the local team please get in touch. Alternatively if you'd like to come and talk to us face to face our next King's Hedges surgery (at the Arbury Community Centre) will be on Saturday 12th February from 10 to 12.
The issue of MPs' pay has always been a thorny one. Some MPs have consistently argued that MPs don't get paid enough and claimed that people are put off going into politics because of the salary levels. I've always disagreed ... Continue reading →
I think this deserves some more attention – I've not seen it on Twitter, so I suspect few people know about it. Blogger Debbie Davies was considering reporting Roger Helmer to the police over his Tweet and also wrote to him requesting a meeting. I don't know Debbie as I found this via Google but she appears far from clueless when it comes to the police as she is involved in and gives speeches at police advisory groups. But rather than let the law do it's thing, Roger chose to reply accusing her of having a "hostile attitude" (Really Roger? ...
The controversial American Pastor Terry Jones, who wanted to burn copies of the Koran to commemorate the 9/11 attacks, has been banned from entering the UK by the Home Secretary. He was due to deliver a speech to the delightfully named right-wing group "England is Ours", and has a daughter living in the UK. Pastor Jones' expulsion is hardly a great loss to the country, and there are probably no VN readers who would have any time for the bile that he spews, but does this mean that he shouldn't be allowed here, and be made to face the full ...
Consider the following statement: This is the most destructive administration since Pol Pot. It isn't killing professionals and the middle classes, but it is so damaging their lives and the chances of their children that it's the British equivalent to wholesale slaughter.What's remarkable is that this is not the nocturnal internet rantings of an unbalanced mind, but it appears in a bona fide article on the Labour uncut website, written by a former political editor at the Mirror Group. To compare the Coalition to a brutal regime, one of the worst ever, which murdered professionals, banned religion and technology and ...
The greatest enemy of truth is not the lie but the myth. This could have been written with our health proposals in mind. Let me start with the myth that our plans are 'revolutionary'. The 'revolutionary' label embodies neatly what many people wrongly envisage to be untried and untested changes to the NHS. Swamped by all the myth, misunderstanding and mistruths, the facts have struggled to get heard. So let me give you a few of the facts. Under the previous Labour Government healthcare spending increased significantly. But where Britain spent big, other countries spent better. That is why Britain ...
Labour attempts to blame the UK Coalition for everything and anything are getting a bit shrill and far-fetched. Only yesterday one of their AMs alleged in the chamber that the Government were responsible for the World-wide recession that he keeps quoting as the excuse for the mess we are in now. Funny how they never mention the failure of Gordon Brown to properly regulate the banks or the fact the Britain ran a deficit budget every year since 2001. However, nobody has quite got to the same level of hysteria as the author of this article, who has clearly lost ...
Part 1: Hypocrite You all heard it on the Today programme earlier; we have Libertarian Gove ("you can teach whatever you want") and then we have Stalinist Gove ("but you must teach Churchill on Tuesday mornings")... Once again this government hasn't worked out how Localism is supposed to work. In the first place you need to give people freedom to run a local service however they like (within a minimalist regulatory framework). You need to give them enough money to make that a real freedom, with choices about what to provide, not what to save in the avalanche of cuts. ...
Earlier this week, much to my shock and surprise, I was told I'd been shortlisted for Online councillor of the year. I get to find out if I've won 8 February. Sorry to say this isn't in recognition of my scintillating blogging, witty twittering or beautiful Facebook work. Apparently my efforts to engage residents as an East Dulwich ward councillor via the East Dulwich Forum and take my lead from them and listening and then responding trying to help solve problems is considered unique. The Network Neighbourhood people have produced a report that suggests large positive increase in East Dulwich ...
I don't lose too much sleep over the sordid and trashy life of Katie Price. I do think she is an appalling example to youngsters who may wish to ape her expensive "glamorous" lifestyle. Yet now, I am utterly sick of seeing endless stories from "friends of" and "sources close to" on the subject of the latest car crash in her life- in this case the end of yet another of her marriages, just a few months after the vulgar wedding- recorded, naturally, in the gossip sheets and scandal rags after payment of a large fee for the pictures. However ...
i) births and deaths 20 January 1934: birth of Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor from 1974 to 1981 and has reprised the role on occasion since (most recently in the BBC audio "Demon Quest" series). For me he remains the definitive Doctor. Happy birthday, Tom! 20 January 1990: death of John Maxim/John Wills, who played the Frankenstein monster in The Chase (1965) and a Cyberman in The Moonbase (1967). ii) broadcast anniversaries 20 January 1968: broadcast of fifth episode of The Enemy of the World. Bruce has switched sides and starts to help the opposition to salamander. Meanwhile ...
If you want to see the agenda, follow this link: http://stalbans.moderngov.co.uk/ieAgenda.aspx?A=6514
I am 36 years old now. Not mega young but equally not ancient. Yet I attempted to roll over in bed this morning and it didn't happen. I was stiff as anything. I had been out for a walk yesterday - up and over the mendips. To be fair it was quite hilly. I was creeking this morning! So on went the deep heat and I ahve a wheetie behind me now resting on my lower back. I dont think its anything more than posture and creekiness. What else is showing my age? I am reluctant to go to a ...
Oh good grief. Michael Gove has popped up again. He was on Today this morning harping on about needing to get "facts and knowledge" into the curriculum documents. As usual, he is obsessed with history and geography – Only once mentioning maths and never mentioning science or English. The history curriculum for Key Stage 3/4 is here. Have a look at it. It is actually very prescriptive already. It is quite clear to parents what needs to be taught (another of Gove's silly gripes). But of course, it is not a list of "facts and knowledge". That is not what ...
We've heard a lot in recent weeks about how keen the Labour Party is to have sensible debate, careful consideration and proper analysis of the government's proposals to change the way Parliamentary boundaries are drawn up. So if you were to take a look at an article just written for a Labour pressure group by a current MP (i.e. one who has been in Parliament whilst the legislation has had all its House of Commons stages) and member of the Labour Party, and published by a Labour pressure group, you'd expect it perhaps to contribute to that serious debate. Or ...
From yesterday's Hansard: Michael Gove: ... In Liberal Democrat-controlled Hull, any student in receipt of education maintenance allowance also receives a travel grant to cope with the full cost— Mr David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab): They won't now. Michael Gove: I suspect they won't if a Labour council takes power, but if people are wise enough to vote Liberal Democrat at the next local election in Hull—[Hon. Members: "Oh."]—or for the Conservatives in any seat where we are well placed to defeat Labour, they will have a council that is fulfilling its statutory duty.
Listening to some interviews with Old & Sad voters following the recent by-election I was struck by some comments from one woman who was very annoyed about the tuition fees issue. She explained how for various reasons she could not vote for Labour but that also she could not bring herself to vote for the Lib Dems because of the fact that the party had helped triple tuition fees. And instead she voted Conservative. Yes, you might just need me to repeat that. She voted Conservative. I think what this demonstrates is that voters do not always vote rationally. If ...
I regularly meet up with some residents of the dales at the county council cabinet meeting. Originally they attended cabinet about a particular issue with wind farms, but one of them told me today that they now just come because they're really "into it". Consett may be getting its own "cabinet groupies", if my colleagues from the Green Spaces group don't mind me referring to them as such. They were at the last meeting in Consett, and again today they were seeking clarification on what's happening on the Academy front. They got the usual stone-wall treatment from the leader of ...
Thanks for your comment yesterday Sea. The spirit in accepting EMA is really important because it relates to the motivation of the pupil. I had a couple of conversations yesteday which were also related to yesterday's EMA blog. I was talking with someone who had worked in human resources and he told me that school or university leavers who have worked part-time are generally better organised and more mature. They are better at time management and better equiped for life. I think that was roughly what they said. I would imagine that all these factors are greatly magnified if there ...
HOW TO: Force Apps to SD (Without Rooting) On Froyo One possible stop-gap solution while I consider my options (tags: phone) Europe not EU A vicious take on Catherine Ashton by Bruno Waterfield of the Daily Telegraph; not exactly an neutral source, but in this case he is much closer than usual to the Brussels consensus! (tags: eu)
Tuesday: Well, judging by the comments on Sunday's diary, SOMEONE got out of bed on the wrong side that (2am in the) morning! Dear Mr "economist" You've created a blank blogger profile and a blank blog so we can't tell anything about you. Let's assume that you are NOT the magazine of the same name. Partisan? I'm responding to a comment from the Labour Leader: agree with him or disagree with him, it's difficult NOT to be partisan. And simplistic? You don't say where I've oversimplified; you just assert that I'm wrong. Perhaps you are referring to your own reply? ...
