Well, the plaudits keep coming. King Colin 'The King's Speech' has followed up its Golden Globes success by winning 7 BAFTAs - the British Oscars. The British film phenomenon swept the board by winning the Best Film and Best Picture awards as well as those for Best Actor for Colin Firth, Best Supporting Actor for Geoffrey Rush and Best Supporting Actress for Helena Bonham Carter. It also won awards for Original Screenplay by David Seidler, Outstanding British Film and Best Score by French film composer Alexandre Desplat. Next up is the main event, the Academy Awards on Sunday February 27th ...
[IMG: Lynne Featherstone with local councillors and residents campaigning for better GP access] This weekend Katherine Reece and I were out surveying local residents about access to health services. A lack of GPs willing to take on residents who live near the Stroud Green Road has been a big issue for many years. The problem is that most of the local GPs are on the Islington side of the Borough boundary (which runs along the Stroud Green Road) and don't allow Haringey residents on their lists. In fact, one Islington surgery has recently purged all its Haringey residents, sending out ...
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council. 1. TypoThere's a lot to get through this week, but I do need to begin by apologising for the rather unfortunate typo in item 4 last week. May I especially thank the two dozen readers who emailed within minutes last Sunday to point out the error. The range of witticism's shows that we have a group of local residents with cracking senses of humour. 2. Beeston Town CentreThe excellent news from the end of this week is that ...
A visit from friends brought full circle. It was lovely to see Trish and Edward Fortune again after many years. It was Edward, in February 1974 that spoke at a meeting in Billericay as the Liberal Candidate for Parliament, that first got me involved in the Liberal Party. I was both interested and inspired, and the rest, as they say, is history. We had moved to Billericay for John's job, could see there were lots of problems in the world to tackle, and the way Edward spoke I could see hope for the future. Life has never been the same ...
I hear, via Yes2AV, that the Conservatives for AV group have been banned from their own spring conference. The article on ConservativeHome from their leader is here. As always with ConservativeHome, it is the comments which are more fascinating and telling than the article. These are mostly concerned with any party advantage that can be gained from any voting system instead of any principles but my favorite comment is this from "neocon": "Keeping FPTP is no guarantee of anything .It just produced a Coalition and produced Minority and Coalition Govts in the first half of the 20th Century. If as ...
I'm catching up on various bits of unfinished business. One of which is to look back at a little incident from the campaign in Luton South during last year's general election. Just before polling day for I asked on this blog the question "Is someone using Twitter for dirty tricks in Luton South?". This referred to the use of a Twitter account named 'lutonliberal', by someone we in the local party had never heard of, for what appeared to be a, rather amateurish, attempt to boost the campaign of independent candidate Esther Rantzen. What I didn't mention back then was ...
Let's hope we don't run out of raw materials. I've been reading a little of the 1965 book by Graeme Clark and Stuart Piggott, "Prehistoric Societies". In this book they mention the Ubaid culture of early Iraq - we are talking about 6000 years ago: "The newcomers in the delta of the Two Rivers had to contend with many difficulties, not least with a shortage or non-existence of the material
Its been a little while since I did a Spidey's web what with campaigning and everything and I figured that it was about time I did one to thank some of my helpers from the last few weeks! Top ten ... Continue reading →
Sun 13th
21:21
Tories criticise Clegg for not supporting the Big Society (BS) - but how can you support a meaningle...
The Mail reports: There is increasing resentment among senior Tories at Mr Clegg's refusal to give a clear public endorsement of Mr Cameron's plan. 'Nick could have said he is fully behind it but has signally failed to do so,' said one insider. 'It is not what the Coalition is supposed to be about.' Hurrah for the Cleggster, say I! The Big Society is a slogan, used by Cameron to attempt to protect his image from any suggestion of Thatcherism. It is a label to pull together a rag-bag of things that would be happening anyway. It is fittingly initialisable ...
There's a lot of debate at the moment over the controversial closure of five of Lewisham's libraries, including Crofton Park and Sydenham, but times are busily continuing at Forest Hill Library with an event to celebrate World Book Night. It's going to be held on Saturday 5th March between 4:30 and 8pm and you'll need ...
Some bloggers are so wrong, so much of the time, that others can nearly make a living out of refuting them regularly and still have enough material left to make a hobby of it. But sometimes you come across a post by someone who normally writes quite interesting stuff that is so egregiously wrong on almost every level that it requires a special fisking. Such is "The Failure of the State" on Joe Jordan's "Politicomaniac" blog. It starts from a misunderstanding of the origins of states, applies faulty reasoning about possible alternatives and concludes with one of the most illiberal ...
Well that's how my afternoon was for three hours today as I was out and about in Woking delivering the latest LibDem Focus to residents. For me, along with canvassing, its one of the best things about being a LibDem. ... Continue reading →
[Originally posted on Bristol Running Resource, 13/02/11] I don't know many runners who like the treadmill. Most people who have experienced the joys of running outside, either on- or off-road, tend to find the treadmill a little bit tedious. And if you're training involves long runs it can be worse than that. I've a friend ...
Author: Barry Stocker Immanuel Kant spent his whole life in the east Baltic city of Königsberg. Königsberg is now the Russian city of Kaliningrad, in the Russian enclave of that name between Poland and Lithuania. In Kant's time, the city was the major centre of East Prussia, that is the most eastern lands of the Germanic Kingdom of Prussia which was ruled from Berlin. Kant was a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Königsberg, and is usually considered one of the greatest philosophers, even the greatest, ever. His work covers all branches of philosophy over many volumes. His political ...
The second WestFest will take place from Monday 13th to Sunday 19th June 2011 and already has a new logo - see left. The team of local volunteers organising the 2011 events would welcome your support - contact them at westendfestival@rocketmail.com - many thanks!
Last week saw a real shock with Jennifer Metcalfe's departure from the competition. Tonight was therefore always going to be a fascinating programme as a result to see how the remaining 9 coped with the unpredictable nature of the people's vote that that result had served as a reminder. Tonight we saw the final 9 contestants perform and the theme was the 'West End' with the skills steps sequence continuing this week to notch up the pressure on those remaining. The required skill this week being a 'jump'. But first of all before we start, as I've done over previous ...
One of my favourite music programmes is Radio Three's Late Junction - "A laid-back, eclectic mix of music, ranging from the ancient to the contemporary." I first heard Vampire Weekend and posted Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa here without realising how popular they were. But I am confident that this song, which also comes from Late Junction, is more obscure. The Mississippi Sheiks, according to Wikipedia, were "a popular and influential guitar and fiddle group of the 1930s. They were notable mostly for playing country blues but were adept at many styles of United States popular music of the time, and ...
I see that the Communities Secretary, former communist-supporting now Conservative MP Eric Pickles, is brandishing draconian rules on local authorities as his bizarre contribution to the localism ideology. He is insisting that communication from Town Halls to the community that they serve be restricted to four newspapers a year otherwise, (big stick time by Mr Pickles), they run the risk of being reported to the auditor on the grounds of misuse of public funds. So, let's get this right.....Central government says power to the people and Pickles adds....as long as you don't tell them about anything you do? Pickles, whose ...
Further to my meeting with Royal Mail last November, I have now called on the organistaion to postpone its planned closure of its Crichton Street Collection Office pending a proper consultation with customers and the general public. This follows Royal Mail admitting that there would be "no consultation on this move as it is a business necessity change", something that contradicts assurances given to me when I met Royal Mail in November to express my concerns about the closure. Proper consultation is absolutely vital as it will show how vital the facility in Crichton Street is and that the public ...
Following concern over the proposed increases to emission levels at the Prenergy biomass station in Port Talbot, South Wales West Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Peter Black has challenged the First Minister in the Chamber to outline how we will ensure the environment is protected. The Environment Agency believe that the proposed increase in nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide and hydrogen chloride levels will not pose a risk to local people or air quality but Mr Black is concerned about monitoring at the plant. "The increase in emissions, in one case to over 8 times the previous limit is bound to have ...
Earlier this month, I mentioned that I had responded to residents' concerns about flooding on Perth Road at the entrance to Pinegrove (see right). I am pleased to advise that the City Council has responded as follows : "Following receipt of your email ... the area inspector for Perth Road arranged for the jetting and clearing of the drainage channels at Pinegrove and this has now been done."
Greenock MSP Duncan MacNeil has spoken out against Finance Secretary John Swinney's Budget, claiming that it will devastate Inverclyde. The SNP government's Budget - passed after useful deals were made with the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives - actually proposed a reversal of cutbacks on funding for urban regeneration companies. This means that Riverside Inverclyde, which initially had its funding slashed by 70%, will now face a lesser budget reduction. Scotland's four urban regeneration companies were originally advised their funding would be cut by £12million - that figure is now only £6millon, although it's too early to say with certainty how ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson, Peter Black, has called on the Welsh Government to rationalise the pay of Housing Association Chief Executives, following the publication of salary data that shows that monies received bear no relation to responsibility. Research from Social Housing magazine show that the amount paid to Chief Executives per unit of social housing stock varies from £11.41 per unit to £61.71. Welsh 'traditional' chief executives also receive the highest rate of pay per unit compared to their Scottish, English and Northern Irish counterparts at £26.54 per unit. "I was surprised to read that the amount of ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 208th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (6th-12th February, 2011), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Labour and me....sitting ...
My Mum in Egypt sent me this news : A disaster happened in Luxor yesterday and due to all the other coverage in Egypt it didn't get reported anywhere. Nearly one hundred people were killed when a block of flats collapsed. 10 people from just one family and many children were amongst the dead. Even passers by in the street and all the passengers in a micro bus were killed by falling concrete. The owner of the block was looking to rent out the ground floor to a company. They complained that they didn't like the concrete pillars in the ...
Today's Independent contained a surprising article, which referred to a survey giving the "Yes" campaign a ten point lead over the "No" camp. This is very positive, and shows how successfully the "Yes" team has been able to distance the arguments for voting reform from too close an identity with those political parties that support it. As the campaign gathers momentum, it is likely that the issue will feature far more in people's minds and that the arguments for change will become more positively received. But it's already evident, in spite of the economy and cuts to public services featuring ...
Again, it's been too long since I've done one of these. I must get into the habit of doing it more regularly. First up, Lib Dem Councillor Richard Kemp finds he's on the receiving end of unjustified stirring from the Tories and the right wing press, perhaps a sign of the times. Cicero on how our political establishment is closing ranks, and how the Liberal Democrats could open it up. And here's Kelvin's beautiful tribute to his faithful companion, Tilly. Julian Huppert writes for Lib Dem Voice about the dialogue on the Digital Economy Act - there may be hope ...
[IMG: Cllr Nicholas Coombes at the Darlington Place steps] Cllr Nicholas Coombes is planning to use his devolved funding to buy a handrail for the Darlington Place steps. The path, which continues from the National Trust fields to the canal, is tricky for the elderly on its decent to Sydney Buildings. During the icy winter it was impassible for everyone. Lib Dem councillor Nicholas Coombes is working to procure a suitable handrail, recognising that a standard galvanised steel rail would not fit this part of Bath.
Vince Cable first came to national prominence with his attack on the banks, his call for early nationalisation of them and his accurate prediction about the crash. Consistently he has called for a break up of the banks and a separation of retail and investment banking. He has also been an advocate of remutualising Northern Rock. He was at it again this morning on the Andrew Marr programme provoking this response from the Telegraph (it is well worth reading the comments): It's no secret that Mr Cable doesn't think much of the behaviour of our biggest banks and wants to ...
I was pleased that Sian Massey was running the line at Bloomfield Road yesterday. You may recollect that Massey was the official at the centre of Andy Gray's and Richard Key's sexist "jokes" the other week. As I stated at the time (Sexism is society's problem, not football's), I didn't really find the commentators' humour very funny. I was also dismayed that a perfectly good assistant referee was relieved of her duties for the next few games as a result of the controversy. She was back last week though, officiating in a League Two match at Chesterfield. Yesterday she was ...
The cracks were beginning to show at Surrey County Council this week. Literally. The Council Chamber was deemed unsafe due to cracks spotted in the ceiling leaving it prone to collapse. Instead Members and Officers were packed into one of the smaller meeting rooms with the public left to view proceedings via video link. A Council Tax freeze and £34 million extra for road maintenance were two major budget headlines. But dig a little deeper and it is soon apparent that there is not much good news that the Council can take credit for, and plenty of bad news hidden ...
There was a goodly turn for Simon Hughes in Southport on Friday night-especially when you consider he was up against Maureen Fearn's Mayor's Ball.. He asked my daughter after what she thought about the evening and she expressed the view that she had 'sat through a lot worse'-as indeed she has! Simon was on good form and carefully rehearsed the choices we took to arrive at the place we are now. Each option was appraised and judged to be the right choice. We are in uncharted territory, each time the road diverges we take the one less travelled by. Just ...
The fourth part of the Paul Magrs/BBC Fourth Doctor Demon Quest series of audios, Starfall, is set in 1970s New York and I think one of the better instalments in the series: it features good guest turns by Trevor White, whose character Buddy narrates most of the action, and Laurel Lefkow as his girlfriend Alice who slightly accidentally acquires super powers as part of the ongoing storyline. There is a very bizarre bit with a cult of people who dress up like the Doctor, which is obviously a wink at organised fandom but isn't well resolved in the plot. But ...
There was a great event at Gorton Monastery today, all about Loving Gorton. There were great acts on, lots of nice stalls, plenty of activities and a good time had by all. It was rather disconcerting at one point to be marched into the middle of it by local residents (and the local police) for a laughter workshop, but I know when to obey. Well done to the organisers, particularly the folks at Gorton People Stronger Together who did so much towards ensuring that it was an event that young and old alike enjoyed thoroughly.
Despite his effusive article in today's Observer, Henry Porter notes, from Nick Clegg, that the Protection of Freedoms Bill is an "imperceptible" signal of a shift in the view of government. A good word that, "imperceptible" and a pretty good description of the Bill in my opinion. Here's how Herbert Spencer describes the great rash of repeals carried out during William Gladstone's first term of office (from "The Sins of the Legislators" in "The Man Versus the State"): the number of public Acts repealed wholly or in part, or amended, during the three years 1870-71-72 had been 3,532, of which ...
I must admit it. I'm a musical snob. For those who know me, this revelation won't come as a surprise. For those who have merely seen my blog posts here that have been dedicated to musical heroes of mine such as Queen, Sam Cooke, John Lennon, Pulp, Elvis, The Shadows, Billy Joel, Beethoven or the music from the 50s and 60s or from Christmas time you have only scratched at the surface. I'm a very middle of the road, easy going kinda guy but when it comes to music, I am an obsessive. Obsessed with the music that I adore ...
In a speech given during the week, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg strongly defended introducing a diversity of suppliers to public services, saying that, The questions that confronted me, when I came into government, were these: How can we reinvent and strengthen our public services at a time of anxiety and stretched resources? And how can we preserve the public sector ethos as we move to a more plural, diverse and personalised way of running our public services?... We have to modernise our public services. And we can make them better if we do. Clegg went on to emphasise that ...
On Friday – the Protection of Freedoms Bill was introduced to Parliament. Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for this piece of legislation. A "Freedom Bill" had its first incarnation four years ago when the Liberal Democrats proposed it while Nick Clegg was the party's Home Affairs Spokesman. The Bill will protect millions of people from unwarranted state intrusion in their private lives and marks a return to common sense government. It steps up our commitment to restore hard-won British liberties, lost under Labour, with an array of sweeping reforms that will put an end to the unnecessary scrutiny of law-abiding ...
What is happening in Lebanon? There has been so much focus on Egypt, that nobody has said anything about Lebanon's current crisis since a brief spurt of reportage at the end of January. Has the crisis magically ended of its own accord?What has happened in Burma since the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the recent 'elections' there, and why does this not matter any more?When did anyone last hear any news from Tibet?Has the killing stopped in Darfur?What has happened to international efforts to get the President of Ivory Coast to stand down following that country's recent disuputed ...
So we skip from the Beach Boys' sixth album to their ninth. This is something that should be borne in mind when you read these essays, because from time to time I've been harsh on some of the songs. The fact is that in the first four years the band were together they recorded and ...
So, after a 30 year reign and weeks of anti-government protests, Hosni Mubarak has finally stepped down as President and handed power to the military prompting scenes of joy across Egypt and especially in Cairo but where does all this now leave Egypt? Well, a military council has been appointed to run the country in the interim which effectively means that this a miltary coup (but not as we know it) as although it would appear that the military have been working behind the scenes, waiting for their opportunity to force Mr Mubarak from office, the protestors have effectively done ...
Journalists, eh! We've all had a moan at the media. We love them, we hate them, we love to hate them. I'm the same, and I am a journalist. As a result of our love-hate relationship with the fourth estate, I've become moderately relaxed about things that get written in the papers, but something published the day after the Commons debate on whether prisoners should get the vote really got my blood pressure up. It was the lead story in the Daily Express. Under the headline 'Britain in the EU: this must be the end', the paper launched into a ...
JMIC is a centre in Yardley Constituency. They have for many years worked with all faiths in the area and interfaith meetings have been held at the centre. They also work closely with the local police.Channel 4 have contracted with Hard Cash productions to place secret cameras and bugging devices in the mosque and an attached school (called Darul Uloom). In 6 months of recording they picked up
Just a quick blog about on my hobbies in the summer – fantasy baseball. I am already locked into four leagues for this season and with Yahoo allowing eight per Yahoo ID this year then the possibility of me playing more is high. I'm in one dynasty, one keeper, one re-draft h2h and one re-draft ...
Four years ago Stagecoach co-founder Brian Souter gave £625,000 to the SNP. This year, he's offering half a million in match funding to the SNP again. Mr Souter is not on the same page when it comes to gay rights as I am. He's not even in the same library. 11 years ago, he spent a fortune campaigning against the repeal of Section 2A (the Scottish equivalent of Section 28). I won't travel on his buses if I can help it and I wouldn't want any of his money coming to the Liberal Democrats' way. Labour and the SNP are ...
Whereas the previous chapter had Belisarius' military campaigns to the West, here we are looking East: first to the Danube plain (Lombards, Bulgarians, Sclavonians), then to Persia in general and the Colchis war in particular, and finally to East Africa and what we now call the Gulf of Aden.
An occasional correspondent has asked me about transfers in STV elections, and why plumpers' votes don't get taken into account when surpluses are dealt with. It's an important point, if a little technical, so I expand on this below. If the quota is 10, and I get 16 first preference votes, but only 8 of those votes have lower preferences for other candidates in the race, then each of those transferring votes goes on at a value of 0.75 (6, being the surplus, divided by 8, being the number of votes being transferred). Some people find it odd that the ...
Picked this one up shortly after first publication and have only now got round to reading it. The central character is a boy brought up by trolls, à la Tarzan or Mowgli, who then seeks his destiny among his own kind; he wanders into a human war between subsistence pastoralists and settled agriculturalists (Native Americans vs European feudal settlers seeming to be the paradigm) and eventually, in an ending that came rather abruptly though did at least fit with what we had seen before, chooses his own way. I was a bit dubious about the sexual politics of the book. ...
This is Gloucestershire reports: WHEN teenager Joe Harris was viciously mugged by a hooded gang he elected to take on the establishment. The 17-year-old was battered to the ground and threatened with death in a Cirencester alley. So he personally challenged Cotswold District Council to accept there was a problem with "random violent attacks" in the town. As a follow up he's decide to run for both the district council and the local town council, saying: I was able to pose a question to the full council but I felt they didn't really answer it. It was almost as if ...
I have been out today planting Walnuts and other nut trees in Widcombe as part of Transition Bathhttp://www.transitionbath.org/welcomeAs they say on the web siteTransition Bath is a local environmental organisation whose aim is to build a sustainable future by harnessing the power of community in the face of declining natural resources and increasing fuel and food costs. We support moving to a
Progress is being made, we have received this information"These have now been marked out and the water is now installed, all I am waiting for is our admin team to allocate them to tenants on the waiting list, so I will chase them up and hopefully letters will be out next week."
[IMG: Chunilal Hirani leaflet - Kenton ward, Brent Council] I went over this morning to help Chunilal Hirani and the team in Kenton (London Borough of Brent) where there's a by-election coming up on Thursday. (Regular readers may recall Brent is the council where Labour is taking an usual approach to saving money: How do you plan cuts? With an overnight trip to a luxury hotel of course). Polling day is Thursday so there's still time to go and give some help to the campaign. Details are on Flock Together. Meanwhile, it's good to see that Dominic Carman has been ...
The future of Prestwich's Household Waste Recycling Centre ("Prestwich tip") is hanging in the balance after the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority revealed plans for its closure. We believe the Clifton Road facility is a vital part of allowing people in Prestwich, Whitefield and other areas to recycle waste in a responsible way. Lib Dems in Prestwich are demanding that it stays open. If this is about saving money then its the wrong way to do it. It'll be counterproductive. It won't increase recycling rates, and it'll make it a lot more difficult for local people to do their recycling ...
It has been a busy and interesting week. Unlike many councillors I still work full time and have a young family. Monday The day starts with a meeting at Stansted Parish Council offices. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss with Uttlesford officers Stansted Day Centre and the Crafton Green car park. Following a scrutiny review it has been established that the Parish Council owns the Day Centre. This gives us control of the whole of the Crafton Green site but also makes us liable for some of the running costs of the Day Centre. The car park is ...
After the Bangladesh award ceremony Lindsay picked me up and we went to the Minet Library, round the corner from where we live, for a poetry reading linked to an appeal not to close the library as the local authority proposes, as part of the cuts. I read T S Eliot's The Boston Evening Transcript; Christian Morgenstern Das Grosse Lalula, and John Donne's Aire and Angels. However many signatories they get on the appeal I'm afraid the Library will be closed, and the local archives will be moved somewhere else. Equally I'm sure that if there was the political will, ...
The past 19 days in Egypt have been truly incredible. I think from a democrats point of view there can be fewer greater sights than that of a dictator losing power as a result of a rising up of the people. And as we watched the power gradually drift from Mubarak towards a democratic settlement one can only be inspired by the determination and sheer bloddy mindedness of the protesters – who despite a number of enticing promises of reforms coupked with intimidation and violence, stuck to the tack and their core demands. Coming as it does only weeks after ...
Book tickets now for our next event and come to: "Have I Got News for You" supper club with Sue Mott, national journalist (ex-Telegraph) and sports writer and Jason Barlow, editor-at-large for BBC's "Top Gear" and regular writer in the Sunday Times. This promises to be an entertaining evening. Two course supper. Bar. Raffle. £12 per head. Discount for children £6. Date: Friday 25th March at 7.30pm Venue: Crafton Rooms, Day Centre, Crafton Green, Chapel Hill, Stansted, Essex, CM24 8AG Contact for bookings: Catherine Dean, 01279 813579, 07803 299683, cllrcmdean@uttlesford.gov.uk
Town Centre Partnership Executive This is a meeting of council members and officers, Sutton Town Centre business partners, Sutton Police representatives and voluntary sector reps, chaired by Deputy Borough Commander Chas Bailey. Superintendent Phil Willis and new Town Centre Inspector Richard Hall provided feedback on town centre safety over the Christmas and new year period. ...
Please do report problems in your area to us if you don't have any joy when you report them yourself. As an example, a resident wrote to us about a problem with the road surface on the new layout to the Junction of Northfield Avenue and King's Hedges Road. The surface was not properly laid and floods when it rains. The resident had tried to report it to the County Council but heard nothing back. I have chased up the County and have been assured that the surface will be properly relaid. Watch this site for any more updates.
I hope you never change I hope you never go I hope you always keep Our little secrets though But how'd we get here At this height And what's this talk of Dead weight I know we always drink But we don't always fight The landing lights are on But we're just out of sight Cos this thing's mobile There's still wheels And I'm not done yet So hang on You came along to change the grade To raise the bar I'd made of late You came along to raise the stakes To tend to me and my mistakes I ...
The Roman Way Forums have become regular events over the past year and some of the main areas of debate have always been traffic and highway repairs. At the last meeting it was agreed to hold a special meeting just ot discuss these two items. This meeting has now been agreed for Monday 21st February at 6:30pm. A representative of Test Valley Borough Council will be available to explain changes to local roads and traffic maangement in the light of the Augusta Park MDA. Also present will be a representative of Hampshire Highways to answer questions on highway repairs and ...
As previously mentioned we returned from a 3 week holiday in New Zealand last week. The timing of the holiday was to celebrate Claire's 50th birthday. We explored the North Island in a rented campervan. I have heard reports of the beauty of New Zealand before I arrived but everything we say surpassed my expectations. I am also told that South Island beats North Island so I must start saving for a return trip. Apart from the beauty and sense of space provided by a low population of 4 million compared to our 60 million, what impressed me most was ...
For a while now, I have been saying that Nick Clegg is developing a modern liberal story. Part of that story, in my view, is that modern liberalism must be underpinned by classical liberalism. Today in an interview with Henry Porter in the Observer, Clegg is quoted saying that people should not trust governments. This view, that we should be wary of authority and government, is a classical position of liberalism or one might say Whiggism. Hattip to Liberal Future.
I like my 'vintage' TV adverts and I mentioned in this previous blog post some 2 years ago that there was one from my childhood that I couldn't find. But today I've finally come across it and it's brought back good memories of my 1990s childhood. So here it is... It's that Yellow Pages ad that introduced me to that Ramones hit, 'Baby I Love You'.
The Freedom Bill is clear evidence of the Liberal Democrats setting the political agenda and making a positive difference to how we live in Britain. It's our robust answer to unwelcome and unwarranted intrusions into our everyday lives. It starts the dismantling of an overbearing surveillance state and restores British civil liberties that we used to be able to take for granted. At the heart of the Bill is a commitment to safeguarding and protecting individuals and national security. What has felt to many like an obsession of the state to monitor our every waking moment is broken down by ...
Fred Karger, 61, has announced an presidential exploratory committee for the Republican nomination for the 2012 President election. If he, as expected, announces his declaration to run, Mr Karger will be the first openly gay candidate (from both parties) to ... Continue reading →
The Policy Network arranged an impressive line-up at a seminar on the Future of Europe at Bloomberg's headquarters in the City on Friday, including Lords Mandelson and Liddle, Vince Cable, Sharon Bowles MEP and EU Commissioner Laszlo Andor. Their definition of 'Europe' was narrow, in the sense that the discussion was all about the European ...
I recently met Dr Phillip Lee Bracknell MP at one of the bars in the houses of parliament. He told me that he does not fully support the coalition on the reform of the NHS using the proposed model for GP consortiums. His concern is the size and split of services through the consortiums. Too smaller split could be less efficient. This is quite significant as he is the only (I believe) still practicing doctor who is also an MP. Dr Phillip Lee while agreeing that most of the reforms are good and that changes are required (although he has ...
This morning's Sunday Telegraph reports that Coalition Ministers are proposing to change the law to allow homosexual couples to "marry" in traditional religious ceremonies, including in church. They say that Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat equalities minister, is expected shortly to outline firm plans to lift the current ban on civil partnerships being conducted in places of worship: In a political "win" for Nick Clegg and his party, the Coalition will also say that such ceremonies should for the first time be allowed to have a religious element, such as hymn-singing and readings from the Bible. They could, it is ...
The political advertising put out by people who disdain negative ads is often too self-consciously worthy to be effective. John Hickenlooper's advert as part of his successful run for Governor of Colorado however was rather different – and was rated as being very effective by those watching the race: It is, of course, not a patch on the Luis Fishman advert which has to be seen to be believed. Fishman lost, perhaps not surprisingly.
So, my votes for the BSFA award for Best Novel this year: 5) Lightborn, by Tricia Sullivan, a story of cyber-warfare and devastation in a near-future California. Really failed to grab me. I note also that it has much the fewest owners on Librarything (10, to 35 for MacLeod, 65 for Beukes, 189 for McDonald and 1205 for Bacigalupi). I very much like all the other four, and while I have special reasons for my first choice, would be delighted if any of the below wins. 4) The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi. Another near-future story about catastrophes, this time ...
The Guardian today shows some positivity towards Nick Clegg and the Freedom Bill which is worth highlighting for his consistency on some issues and that they are still important to many people: He hasn't changed his views since we met five years ago when he was home affairs spokesman for his party and I was ...
Henry Porter interviews Nick Clegg about the Protection of Freedom Bill in the Observer today. The Bill is a small but important step in repealing powers the government does not need. A welcome achievement for liberals within the coalition. What caught my eye however was the following quote. "I need to say this - you shouldn't trust any government, actually including this one. You should not trust government - full stop. The natural inclination of government is to hoard power and information; to accrue power to itself in the name of the public good." It's an extraordinarily libertarian comment for ...
This is the last of this year's shortlisted novels for the BSFA award for me to read. It's a remarkable story which picks up the urban fantasy sub-genre and takes it to a completely new place - specifically, Johannesburg, in a world very similar to ours except that in the last few years criminals have mysteriously acquired animal familiars similar to Philip Pullman's dæmons (Pullman is in fact referenced, with the suggestion that it's all his fault since the phenomenon only startedafter his books were published). The actual plot has our narrator, Zinzi December, involved with a missing persons enquiry ...
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I apologise for my absence. My other half has been very ill of late and I've been quite focussed on looking after him, rather than political commentary. However there's one subject that will always draw me back; marriage equality in the United Kingdom. The Telegraph has got a set article on marriage equality that they fiddle about with every few weeks and rerelease. Last night they did it again under the title "Gay 'marriages' to be allowed in church" This is their favourite "scare the Christians" stuff, but of course it's not even half as dramatic as they state. This ...
Shocking news emerged this week with Sussex Police announcing the loss of 1 in 6 front-line police officers over "the next few years". Whilst the claim is these will all be through natural wastage, the fact of the matter is that this county will be in the top 4 who are chopping the most roles - behind massive forces such as Greater Manchester Police and West Midlands. Whilst our area is indeed a low crime one, let's hope that the loss of officers will not impact on this status. As usual local, Conservative, MP Nicholas Soames was suitably vague in ...
It's incredibly easy to miss Emmanuel Church if you walk down Fortune Green Road today... Everyone knows it is there, lots of people as a result of the school have heard of it, but the mansions lfats next and around mean that the attractive Victorian build just melds into the local scenescape... But this postcard, posted in 1906 (when the church is just 9 years old), shows the building off as being much more imposing as there are no surrounding buildings in the way there are today. But, bar that overshadow of the buildings, little has changed outwardly today. The ...
i) births and deaths 13 February 1933: birth of Patrick Godfrey, who played Tor in The Savages (1966) and Major Cosworth in The Mind of Evil (1971). 13 February 1943: birth of Donald Sumpter, who played Enrico Casali in The Wheel in Space (1968), Commander Ridgeway in The Sea Devils (1972) and Erasmus Darkening in The Eternity Trap (SJA, 2009). ii) broadcast anniversaries 13 February 1965: broadcast of "The Web Planet", first episode of the story we now call The Web Planet. The Tardis is pulled off course to the planet of Vortis; Ian and the Doctor explore, and a ...
Local Tories have had to withdraw a number of false statements about Chiltern Lib Dems from their website. The article, claiming that local Lib Dems were doing nothing to campaign against HS2, was based on a series of statements that were just untrue. The claims that local Lib Dems had not written to Lib Dems MPs, had not tabled any motions on the subject for Lib Dem conference, and that I personally had done nothing, were all utterly wrong. In fact, myself and other local Lib Dems have had a number of face to face meetings with Lib Dem MPs, ...
On Friday evening I was fortunate enough to be part of a sell-out crowd watching Fairport Convention at The Platform in Morecambe. Simon Nicol introduced the song Matty Groves by mentioning the story. He never told us the title but I am sure the majority of the audience knew which song would be sung when Simon spoke about a time before lawyers when a husband killed his wife and her lover. In fact he enthused about such a time when there were no lawyers. Of course lawyers have been around for some time and they have been around much longer ...
