This morning, I attended a meeting of the Best Value Review Group on child protection at which there was positive news about the HMIe follow through report on child protection in Dundee and the group, amongst other matters, discussed the Child Protection Action Plan. I asked various questions including about the joint planning of risk assessing children where there are concerns about harm, abuse or neglect. After lunch at Dundee University Students' Association with LibDem students, I took part in a site visit at a derelict area at the corner of Smellies Lane and Ash Street (see above right) where ...
Big Society. I am not going to try to explain what it means, but I am pretty sure I know what it isn't. It isn't people having everything done for them, and it isn't anyone doing anything in the community being told exactly how to do it. The big problem I have is how is it going to work when so many voluntary and community organsations, that will be essential for being part of the delivery of it, are on the point of going under, or making big cuts to greatly reduce capacity. To say nothing of the reduction in ...
Tue 8th
22:32
Monbiot's tax take and the embedding of plutocracy: an urgent concern for Liberal Democrats
We are, it would appear, reaching a political watershed. There is perhaps a small window of opportunity to step back and consider where we think the country is heading. Then it could be too late. I was planning to post in response to George Monbiot's article in today's Guardian. But his post, coupled with other ...
I don't mind admitting I'm a little bit obsessed about tackling empty homes. But sometimes in politics you need to be a bit obsessed to change things and get things done. Last March when I was chair of the then Housing, Health & Community Care Panel I went on a tour of some of Reading's empty homes and I was struck by the diversity of properties I saw - right across the Borough. Yesterday I hit the streets again joining Reading Borough Council's officer responsible for coordinating empty homes activity, because as Lead Member for Housing I believe in leading ...
I am in Bolzano for the Winter School of EURAC. Beautiful sunny flight from Gatwick to Venice - the hedgebound fields of England, the widening Thames estuary, the open French countryside, the broken landscape of the Alps topped with cream down to the Italian coast, peaks shining like islands as the valleys filled with mist. Venice itself was fogbound like Somerset when I left this morning.
Quite a lot of people ask me why doesn't the government take more money off the banks? Well today the coalition government did just that, imposing an extra £800 million levy on them this year, on top of the £1.7 billion already announced. The government will now set a bank levy of £2.5 billion every ...
I am planning, over the next few weeks, to review the whole of Cerebus on here, roughly one post per 'phonebook' (some of the more interesting ones may take two posts, and I may do supplementary posts on subjects like the Marx Brothers, Oscar Wilde, Rick Veitch's dream comics, Eddie Campbell's Alec stories and other ...
Durham University announced tonight that it has withdrawn as lead sponsor for Consett Academy. We have all been waiting to hear what was going to happen with the plans after the government offered £20.7 million of capital funding rather than the £32 million originally sought, and all those involved have been as silent as the grave in response to all enquiries so we still don't know what was in the letter the government sent them with the funding offer. According to the University the decision results from a shift in policy and public funding for both Higher Education and the ...
The Bath Boxing Club now trains at St Martin's Garden school. I went up this evening to talk to the coaches and find out how they are getting on. The 30 juniors there were really enjoying the training. The club used to meet at the Southside centre but had to find new premises when the rebuilding work started. What with that and a few other issues they may not now be able to return to Southside. Luckily the new government has said all the MyPlace projects must be returned to the Community to run and operate which I think will ...
I had a call this evening from a woman who introduced herself and said she was calling from "Crime Prevention UK". She said she was doing a survey in the KT9 area, in the light of rising crime. I asked her whether she was cold calling, as I subscribe to Telephone Preference Service. She replied that it was OK for her to call as she was 'not selling anything'. So I asked her who she was calling from, and she told me that they were a commercial company specialising in security products, and they were working in the area. And ...
[IMG: team-photo-library.jpg] Many of you will have followed stories about the Council's cuts, which go to the Executive committee next Wednesday. There is some good news for Chorlton. Both the Leisure Centre and the Library stay open. In the past I have fought for Sunday opening (library) and improved facilities (Leisure Centre) and it is good to see local services protected. I lobbied City treasurer Richard Paver on these, arguing how good these facilities were and how needed they were. However, we are likely to see the toilets at the Bus Station close and possibly lose the extra parking attendant ...
The Localism Bill is currently making fairly stately progress through Commons Committee Stage. The debate's mostly pretty predictable – Labour are against a lot of the provisions, or the rolling back of legislation they themselves passed, and in response Coalition ministers and backbenchers throw back barbed lines about the last 13 years and comment on sharp u-turns. So far, so predictable. The one man who's enlivened the proceedings (and frankly talked a lot of sense) is David Ward MP (or Mr. Bradford as he was described at one point in the proceedings by the Chair, David Amess). Ward describes himself ...
Good news today that the Banking levy will hit bankers bonuses by an extra £1BN per year. The previous Labour government introduced a one off levy of £2.3Bn in 2009, but this has been trumped by the £2.5Bn revunue per year under the coalition government. What was announced?The Chancellor George Osborne announced today that the banking levy rate for the first year is being increased. This will mean that the bank levy raises £2.5bn in 2011 - an increase of £800m. The levy will raise £10bn over the course of the Parliament What has changed since the last announcement in ...
Good news! The shortlist from which the English town to be twinned with Merekovo will be selected has been published. And Meerkat Harborough is on it! That list in full: Meerkat HarboroughWindemeerMeerkat DraytonWestern Super Meer Downham MeerkatIt's neck and neck! Every vote will count! So please vote for Meerkat Harborough now.
If you've travelled into Yate on the bus recently, you will know what a mess the new bus station is. Your Focus Team is fighting to get it sorted. Lib Dem Councillors have called a meeting tonight of everyone involved in the fiasco. Yate Town Councillor Chris Willmore explained the aim was to get a commitment from all the key parties to put a solution in place as soon as possible. "As residents, as soon as we saw it, we knew someone had dropped a serious clanger. It is completely useless, it will not shelter anyone, is not lit, has ...
Yesterday I was pleased to meet several apprentices to mark national apprenticeship week. An apprenticeship is a great way to learn the skills for a job and to gain a respected qualification. I'm grateful to the City Council and On-Site Bristol (http://onsitebristol.co.uk/apprenticeships.php ) for arranging my visits. I remember supporting the creation of On Site ...
When I visited Parliament for PMQ's the other week, there was a buzz of excitement in the air that was more akin to the visit of a Hollywood movie star and not just about the impending battle between Cameron and ... Continue reading →
Gus O'Donnell's review, published yesterday, made it clear that the last Labour government at Westminster was very keen to see Abdelbaset al-Megrahi returned to Libya. But journalists trying to find ministers who had openly lied about that face were struggling to find one with a hand in the cookie jar. Until they remembered that in September 2009 Ed Balls had told Radio 4's Today programme: ""None of us wanted to see the release of al-Megrahi." I would not be too concerned - there are, after all, good reason to suspect that al-Megrahi had nothing to do with the bombing of ...
In a speech marking National Marriage Week, he said couples should get extra financial help to demonstrate society's belief in the value of marriage. Reports the BBC website. Why should people get extra financial help for getting married? There are ... Continue reading →
I have this growing feeling that the "The Big Society" is such a misunderstood and ill defined idea that in a year from now it will be have been quietly buried. But scepticism about Conservative ideas should not obscure the magnificent work done every day by caring people on a volunteer basis. If you get into trouble in Britain's coastal waters, it will be a volunteer crewed RNLI lifeboat that comes to your aid. Likewise, if you need help when walking in the mountains, volunteer mountain rescue teams will bring you to safety. Mountain rescue teams received a real boost ...
Working in the charity sector for a charity that has care homes for service users with a range of deafness associated/linked conditions, I am not at all pleased with the removal of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) mobility component. Many ... Continue reading →
The No campaign have started listing their twitter followers as official No campaign supporters on their website – including Yes campaign staff, volunteers and other people with Yes campaign twibbons on their profile pictures.
This morning I went with local residents to view the hedges along Dutson Road where there is clear evidence that the hedges are being destroyed by cars and lorries. As regular readers will know, more than one in four drivers using this road exceeds the speed limit and the road is often too narrow for two large vehicles to safely pass. As a result, it seems that a lot of them are hitting the hedges. The photos show some of the damage caused with the earth ripped away and some of the stonework also dislodged. Apart from the damage to ...
Lots of people need more room for their stuff whilst living in temporary accommodation, it can also assist when selling a house - cutting down on the clutter!self storage can help.Self Storage at cheap rates, including free collection. It's really very simple. You can hire your own secure, self-contained storage room or container for as long a period as required, and lock it with your own padlock. Our warehouses are dry and secure, fully alarmed with fire and burglar alarms, and have cctv and motion-detecting security lighting. There is no minimum term, no additional access charge, almost no limit on ...
A while back I noticed that the power cable for my computer was not working properly. It's a relatively new Macbook and I use it for everything. So I went to Stormfront in Truro where I had bought it and they confirmed that the lead was faulty. But they couldn't offer to change it or to order me a new one without sending the old one to Exeter for 'further testing'. They told me that I would be without it for around two weeks. Given that the lead would work intermittently and that I can't afford to be without it ...
NO2AV campaign makes simple social network error on its website. A simple lesson to be learned is your twitter follower may not be your friend.
Thanet Council are hoping to introduce a controversial new license scheme for landlords in Margate and Cliftonville. Briefly the idea as I understand it, is this, Thanet Council are suggesting that landlords are responsible for the conduct of tenants, and it seems they are suggesting ,Margate residents who live in rental accommodation are, I guess unruly antisocial blighters and council officers and their Conservative masters are to punish local landlords accordingly with a hefty £500+ license fee. This will pay for council officers to presumably do what the do best and act like busy bodies doing god knows what. Now ...
So, it turns out that the Labour administration knew an awful lot more about the release of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi than they had let on. Indeed, it looks as though they lied to Parliament, to the victims of Lockerbie, to the British people and to our ally, the United States. Poor old Robin Cook must be spinning in his grave by now. An illegal war in Iraq, a lack of genuine commitment to Europe, and now putting trade above justice and lying about doing so. This shabby deceit reminds you exactly why Labour went from 1997 hero to 2010 ...
And today is one of those day. I woke at 3am with a migraine which is only starting to go now some 13 hours later. Coloured lights dancing round the edges of my eyes, blurred vision and nausea all meant ... Continue reading →
Whilst reading various articles on The Independent website this afternoon I noticed a link with the words, 'Porn film shot in London hospital' and I had clicked on that link in lightning speed. The article itself is a rather short one but in brief Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt claims that in her previous position ...
By now, all voters in Aberavon and Neath constituencies should have received their polling cards for the referendum which takes place on March 3rd and a booklet which explains what the vote is about. Welsh Liberal Democrats support a "Yes" vote and have issued their own guide including the answers to Frequently Asked Questions: On the 3rd of March the people of Wales will have a referendum on the powers that the National Assembly for Wales holds. Whilst the referendum will not widen the areas in which Wales can make laws, it will make it possible for Wales to make ...
The big banks are apparently "livid" with Osborne about the additional bank levy he announced this morning; the ensuing row has dominated the headlines. But, hidden by the row, he is reported to be planning changes to obscure parts of the tax code that amount to a massive subsidy for the banks. George Monbiot describes how it works ...
A new website allows you to type in your postcode, and discover how much street crime and anti-social behaviour has taken place in your area in the most recent month for which records are available. So, your intrepid researcher had a look, entering IP6 8QR, i.e. the heart of Paradise-sur-Gipping, and here are the results; burglary - zero anti-social behaviour - five robbery - zero vehicle crime - zero violent crime - zero other crime - zero So, where's all of this anti-social behaviour then? Closer examination indicates that the figures are for an area covered by a circle with ...
Every six months the Council delivers a roll of 26 refuse sacks to homes in Birmingham. You should receive the next roll by 9 March 2011 if you live in south Birmingham (some people may already have received one because distribution started at the beginning of this month).Since someone recently asked me when they would be receiving the next one, I thought that I would share the answer with
I can promise that the fact this video is in Dutch does not diminish from the magnitude of jaw-drop and general OMGness of the whole thing. Yes, I'm fairly sure you can work out what's going on.
Channel Four is making a programme about railways and the horrible journeys that commuters regularly suffer. You can help the producers by going to this link:
Now the draft budget proposals are out. Firstly, it is interesting when digging through the charts just how many of the cuts were already planned. However there are some very skewed priorities in there. The cost of the Manchester Day Parade (justified last year by including every person in Manchester City Centre shopping as having visited purely to attend the parade) is the cost of Levenshulme Baths, used year round, day in, day out. Meanwhile, Manchester still isn't reclaiming the £420,000 which they accidentally gave away to the other Greater Manchester Authorities. This isn't the first time that Labour have ...
This morning's news that teh Chancellor of the Excchequer is to increase the levy on bank profits to £2.5bn this year, raising an extra £800m, and will be making it permanent is very welcome. It shows that the Government have recognised that bankers had a role in creating this crisis and should be contributing towards putting it right. George Osborne said that the move will show lenders that he was acting in "good faith" in slow-moving negotiations aimed at forcing banks to curb bonuses and increase loans to small businesses: "We want more lending, [banks] to pay more tax, make ...
Shopping in Northampton is never dull. If it's not gentlemen's outfitters making Daleks, it's old ladies foiling jewel thieves with their handbags...
A little bird has directed me towards a new page on the NO2AV campaign's website. It's called Busting the Myths of AV - an amusing title given that the Yes campaign has done nothing but tell the truth so far while the No campaign has done little other than spread lies and misinformation. So, I've decided to post a list of all their Mythbusters and then explain why each one of them is false. MYTH - MPs would need to secure at least 50% of the vote under AV THEIR REALITY - The AV system being offered in May makes ...
It looks like the Ministry of Justice has a big problem on it's hands. It doesn't know why nearly a thousand inmates are even in prison. Livejournal comments on my last post about sex ventured into the territory of prisoners and how reproductive rights work when there's nobody about to reproduce with. I looked up prisoner numbers (PDF link to justice.gov.uk) to see how many of them served sentences long enough for this to be a problem and found a wonderful table detailing types of offence. The data is repeated in several places, but the best table is on page ...
Having just seen the actual motion from the back-benchers on prisoner voting for the debate on Thursday – it's negative. Basically it calls for the status quo – ie prisoners to continue to be denied the vote. So I won't be able to vote for prisoners to have the vote on Thursday as that is not on offer – and will abstain. However, my opinion remains as per my previous post – and I will have to wait a further opportunity to vote for a lawful outcome.
Now here's a co-incidence. All councillors have been sent unsolicited emails which start off with exactly the same first line: I am extremely disappointed and shocked by the decision made by Reading Borough Council to cut the funding of the RCRE. [N Razak] I am extremely disappointed and shocked by the decision made by Reading Borough Council to cut the funding of the RCRE. [S Khan] You would be forgiven for thinking perhaps that someone at RCRE was sending out a standard response asking people to be 'extremely disappointed and shocked'. Very sloppy. Maybe I can be forgiven for thinking ...
As part of the proposed Southwark Labour budget cuts they've chosen to close all eight local council housing offices. All housing management will take place from Tooley Street in the very north of the borough and new offices to be found and rented in the Peckham area in the centre of the borough. Any contact with council housing officers will be via another telephone call centre, via the internet or face to face at one of these two new housing locations or a pre arranged visit for those less able bodied tenants. It probably spells the end of Area Housing ...
Middle-aged spread had turned into the Michelin-man. 96.8kg - 15st 3lbs - 213lbs is not a good weight when you are 173cm - 5'8''. So, in the late Summer of 2010 a regime was undertaken and a challenge adopted (thanks John O'Brien). I agreed to do RAID Alpine, a 750km cycling challenge from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean, over 31 Cols with 16300m of ascent over 6 days - averaging 125km and close to 3,000m of climbing a day. I need/needed to do several things a) get the body I need to complete the challenge b) get the kit I need to ...
I recently asked the Acting Director of National Express Dundee for clarification of the proposed changes to the 5 and 26 bus services as part of the changes being introduced on 6th March. He has advised : "The changes in more detail are: Service 26: Most departures are now 15 minutes later than currently e.g. the 10.40 from City Centre will now leave at 10.55. This is because the 17 and 26 were timed together in the Whitfield area and this was not good for passengers. The last bus from City Centre will become 18.05. We have also extended a ...
Slightly out of our ward but... Councillors in Cambridge have received an invitation to a public meeting hosted by National Grid about substantial work in the City Centre starting in April 2011 and anticipated to continue until February 2012. To quote from the email: National Grid will be starting work in April 2011 to replace 1.3kilometres of old metal gas mains with new hard-wearing plastic pipe, which is more durable and will last for 80 years if left undisturbed once underground. The roads affected are Corn Exchange Street, Tennis Court Road, Wheeler Street, Emmanuel Street, St Andrews Street, Emmanuel Road, ...
East Dunbartonshire Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson is running the London Marathon in April to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. You can sponsor her here. Please help her to meet her target of £2620, £100 for each mile on the day. Many of us are missing Rachel Smith, a mum and Liberal Democrat activist who passed away from this awful disease last month. We miss her kindness, thoughtfulness, positivity and sense of fun. Jo wrote on Facebook about her 18 mile training run on Sunday. That's about the same distance as it is from here to the other ...
Labour peer Lord Falconer's warning that the Conservatives may turn out to be "false friends" to the Liberal Democrat over Parliamentary reform applies, alas, all too well to the Labour Party. Over the last two decades many in Labour have talked a good talk about introducing elections for the Lords and changing the electoral system for the Commons but whenever it has come to the crunch, it has always been a case of the Labour Party backing away saying it was not quite the right time or not quite the right proposals or not quite such a good idea after ...
The amendment to the AV referendum requiring a turnout of 40% essentially means that the Lords have just voted to ignore the voters. In years where there is no general election the turnout is highly unlikely to be hit this arbitrary target. Setting an almost impossible bar can even be a self-fulfilling prophecy: informed members of the electorate could reasonably conclude they would be wasting their time. In short, the Lords are telling the willing voter to bugger off and stop bothering their betters. A few facts may be in order. I do concede I've made an assumption that turnout ...
It's all right - no actual major crisis. It's just that I have to go this morning and record a "short video blog" for a website that I am going to keep very secret, at least until I can be sure that it's not a complete disaster. This is scary because: a) I have what is known in the trade as a face for radio. And the camera puts 10lb on, apparently. Oh gawd! b) The pathway from my brain to fingers to keyboard is much more efficient than the pathway from my brain to my gob, with the added ...
I'll start with a confession - I don't know an awful lot about education policy. I've not produced and raised children, I've never been a local councillor, or a school governor, in fact, it would be fair to say that I've had no contact with schools since I left Kingsbury High School in 1983, before some of you were born. So, why take a stance, you might ask? Perhaps the place where I live might be a clue. I live in a small village, population about 200, without a school of any kind. The children of the village ride buses, ...
Wandle Valley Regional Park Development Board This is a joint board comprising the local authorities through which the Wandle river flows. Representatives attend from Wandsworth, Croydon, Merton and Sutton, and also from the Greater London Authority (GLA). Wandsworth currently held the chair so the meeting was held at Wandsworth Town Hall. The purpose is to progress ...
The whole wide world in just five links Twenty reasons why it's kicking off everywhere – Newsnight's Paul Mason looks at some of the reasons for the sudden wave of protests around the world Novels I will not write: Jesus wants his kidney back – Charles Stross comes up with some wonderful ideas for books that won't happen: "wouldn't it be fun to have a vampire yarn revolving around a hapless journalist who is in demand because he pisses holy water?" We Have Always Been At War With Sir Winston Churchill – Stable and Principled on the latest banging of ...
Members of both parties in the coalition claim to the point of tedium that they are being forced to take difficult decisions with respect to the economy. In fact, there are hardly any difficult economic decisions to be made. The governments of two thirds of the world would love to have the luxury of the wealth that is Britain's in order to solve their very real economic problems. Our economic decisions are only difficult because we, the comfortably off, (and not just the bankers,) are too mean to share a little bit more of our wealth so as to to ...
broadcast anniversaries 8 February 1964: broadcast of "The Edge of Destruction", first episode of the story we now also call The Edge of Destruction. The Tardis behaves strangely after an explosion; so does Susan who attacks Ian with scissors. 8 February 1969: broadcast of third episode of The Seeds of Death. The Doctor is captured by the Ice Warriors; Jamie and Zoe turn up the heating in the Moonbase. 8 February 1973: broadcast of third episode of The Ark in Space. The Doctor helps the humans to fight back against the Wirrn, but is confronted by the completely transformed Noah. ...
At last night's Area Action Group (formerly Area Forum) there was a presentation about the proposed cuts in Camden's services -( more to follow) and we discussed the consultation on the future for Camden's libraries. Some of us think it has flaws, but at present that's the only way of expressing your views. Survey forms should be available in the local library, but they seem to be somewhat hidden away. But you can read all about it and fill in the survey online : Please do fill it in and watch out for news on the revival of the ...
The Independent has the story: Labour peers are having another shot at stopping AV. Their latest wheeze is to write in a 40% turnout threshold clause, similar to the one Labour MPs opposed in the Commons. This one has a twist though: the government can ignore it if it wants. So, in fact, it's nothing more than a transparent attempt to split the coalition a bit more on AV and perhaps give the No lobby an excuse to claim its introduction would be somehow undemocratic even if voters overwhelmingly backed AV. In other words, it's a stupid amendment. The fact ...
Well, here's a rum one. During today's Full Council, Cllr Collins answered a question from the Tories about whether Nottingham City Council would respond to the pressure coming from central government to join "Google Government" and automatically publish details of all spending over £500. The response wasn't quite "over my dead body" but it wasn't far away. According to the Leader of the Council, Nottingham City will only publish the data if it becomes a legal duty. In justifying that, he said that about half of all councils had decided to publish the data, about half were yet to do ...
It seems only last week that I wrote a post comparing Conservative Communities Secretary Eric Pickles unfavourably to his fellow Conservative Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Health. In fact, it was the week before, but only just. However, I must now return, albeit briefly, to the theme in response to an item in the Guardian. Apparently Eric Pickles has blocked Big Society measures. I will avoid a detailed analysis of the rights and wrongs of the matter since I have only partial information on that. Suffice to say that I remain to be convinced by Mr Pickles on the ...
In all the fuss about the 'big society' - whatever it means - the absurdity of the 'professional' voluntary sector has got lost. This morning we had the sight of Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, outgoing director of the council for voluntary service, complaining to BBC breakfast, that spending cuts made the big society impossible. One of her reasons was that they needed government money so that they could get their volunteers' criminal records checked. That simple juxtaposition shows just how the state under Labour got too mighty and overweaning and ought to show to forward looking leaders in the voluntary sector ...
Sudanese president issues Republican Decree accepting referendum result It's official! (tags: sudan) 500 - It's 10:15 in Germany. Do You Know Where Your Isoglosses Are? | Strange Maps | Big Think I've always loved isoglosses. But am more used to the standard east-west ones in Germany. (tags: languages)
Is it ever morally right to do such and such is a question for philosophers rather than politicians or historians but it was a question on this week's Any Questions. If you take the stance that it is absolutely right to do such and such then you dig yourself into a hole. Social science questions just don't lend themselves to yes or no answers and even at GCSE level a balanced argument will give better results. The question on Any Questions was about when is it morally justified to prop up a dictator to preserve the status quo. It was ...
