I have just finished prosecuting a trial in which a pastor was found guilty of trafficking children from Nigeria, using them as domestic slaves and beating them. I am not able to discuss the details of the case, but you can read the Evening Standard coverage here. The point I want to make is that this is not an isolated incident. The work of Anti-Slavery International shows that slavery – in different forms – is widespread in today's world. Nor is this problem confined to the poorer parts of the globe. In London, right now, there are young women forced ...
Following my post on 22 January this year, the planning application for the proposed demolition of 23 to 33 Tyseley Lane and the building of 53 homes between Knights Road and Tyseley Lane has now been submitted. The planning application is reference 2011/00666/PA and can be viewed online at www.birmingham.gov.uk/planningonline or at Acocks Green Library. Comments need to be submitted to the Council by 2 March 2011.
Last Thursday's public meeting of the Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum was well attended as usual. Issues covered included a presentation on the Birmingham Core Strategy 2026 and how it may impact on Acocks Green – for more information on this see http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/corestrategy There was also a policing update from Sgt Dave Mirams, who confirmed that despite the current cuts all the current 9 PCSOs in Acocks Green will be retained. The other good news he had was that while crime in the West Midlands is currently up 1% on a annual basis, in Acocks Green it is still falling. Concern's ...
To the Conservatives and Independents on Cornwall Council who seemed happy (smug in some cases) about the prospect of cutting support for homeless people by 40% whilst paying someone £2,000 per day to write a report which you binned and paying £5,000 to send the Chief Exec to New York... just watch tonight's Eastenders. It may be a soap, but the issues it is covering with Heather's story are real for people up and down the country, including here in Cornwall.
Ward surgery tonight was unusually busy with a number of people worried about the possibility of 1000 dwellings going up on the old MOD site, Allen's West. As always, it's not so much the fact that more building would happen as the effect on traffic. Local people know that the traffic on Durham Lane can be horrendous, but when we say to council officers that there's a problem we always seem to
Hurry over to Comment is Free to read my take on the story of the day: Tories are natural dog owners. They are drawn to a pack animal that can be trained to do exactly what you tell it. Thinking about it, it might be more accurate to say that dogs are natural Tories. It would be too tame to call cats Liberals. They are naturally individualists or anarchists - a dog would probably accuse them of being nihilists. But one thing is certain: they are not Conservatives.
I can normally measure how tough a game of rugby has been by seeing how long it takes to put on my socks on the following Sunday morning. After the last 4th team game it took until about Tuesday lunchtime and ever since my back has been an absolute nightmare. I've been waddling around like and incontinent 90 year old for nearly two weeks but it was worth it to be part of the 11 try massacre Warlingham's mighty 4s inflicted on Croydon at Hamsey Green back on the 5th Feb. Getting a place in Danny Gillespie's starting line up ...
This evening I have been to see Count Arthur Strong at the Little Theatre - the rather superior amateur theatre in Leicester where both Sir Richard Harrison and Joe Orton began their careers. The show was part of the Leicester Comedy Festival. Count Arthur Strong is a character played by Steve Delaney . He resembles dreadful old comedians like Ted Ray and Tommy Trinder who were still around in my childhood. There is a strong Liverpudlian flavour to the humour, with many punch lines delivered in a style that reminds you of Alexei Sayle or even Bobby Chariot. Anyway, here ...
This afternoon I was invited to speak at a conference organised by South East England Councils on the subject of housing and migration. The conference was called 'Housing the SoutEast: Opportunities & challenges.' Below are excerpts from my presentation. One of the things I love about living in Reading is its diversity. I am not from Reading,. I moved here to take up a job in the town - and I am not alone in this. Reading has enjoyed record migration from many parts of the world - this has enriched the town and provided many businesses and sectors with ...
With the Local Elections due to be held on May 5th, Bournemouth Liberal Democrats are launching their manifesto. "DELIVERING FOR BOURNEMOUTH" Gill Pardy, Chair of the local Party says "We believe in these difficult economic times that we are presenting a viable and effective alternative to the Conservatives and this document has been well thought out and agreed by many following wide consultation within and outside the Party." The manifesto is available on line at www.bournemouth-libdems.org Open publication - Free publishing - More winton
(Sorry if this is drivel – I'm not very well and having a great deal of difficulty writing coherent sentences. Pretty much every sentence here started out as "it's like that thing, oh you know, the one with the thing"). Obligatory disclaimer-cum-explanation as to why I've bought this book. I've vaguely known Lawrence Burton as ...
A, hopefully, humorous, post on the 'Nanny State' can be read by clicking this link.
The question of what sort of nannying Alain De Botton would like, got me thinking about those who desire nannying and the people would rather run their own lives. This led me to wander if it is possible to reconcile that liberal aspiration with a 'Nanny State'? It seems that many people believe nannying is a good thing. According to de Botton people need help with what to eat, smoke and drink. For those who would rather control their own lives this is all a bit annoying as they get dragged into the nannying. Perhaps one could describe this as ...
This afternoon, I had the pleasure of attending the AGM of the Sinderins and Pennycook Courts tenants' association. This took place in Pennycook Court (see right) and was very well attended by residents. Guest speaker was Iain Flett, Dundee City Archivist, who gave a really entertaining and informative talk on the West End of old - looking at a map of the West End from just after the Great War, and also taking residents on a walk up the Hawkhill of 1950, using the Dundee Directory of 1950-51. Later this afternoon, I attended a meeting at the Vine on Magdalen ...
I regularly read the articles posted on the Lib Dem voice, normally a day behind (thanks to the useful email function). I agree with the vast majority of articles (at least the thrust of their sentiment) but even those I don't I find myself empathising with, however one posted yesterday I found totally ludicrous. This was a post on climate change (can be found here). The author's main points to combat climate change are: Everyone should become a vegetarianGive up air travelStop overseas tourism and trade.Now I am not worried about global warming/climate change, I for one have great faith ...
I couldn't help notice the similarity between the Flaig family fat cat Mr Puss and Larry the new Downing Street Cat, admittedly Mr Puss once had drive and ambition, but an addiction to tuna and sleeping has ruined a once promising career. Spot the Difference MR PUSS ON DUTY, ready for action at a moments notice [IMG: Mr Puss on duty] LARRY THE DOWNING STREET CAT [IMG: larry]
As mentioned in an earlier posting Thanet council recently replied, to an enquiry from local film maker Christine Tongue, that figures quoted suggesting a big fat pay off for the current Chief Executive, in local blogs had been wildly inaccurate. Assuming this was true, you would think, Thanet District councils PR department could simply give the facts, so why don't they? Well life is not simple and as I understand from conversations I've had, its clear that, pensions costs will be "sorted", which as I understand will allow pensions to be paid early. Leading to additional cost, as I understand ...
I've just sent the following complaint off to the BBC. Earlier this evening during the main national evening news there was coverage of the No to AV's claim that the AV referendum would cost £250m of tax payers money. There was no counter argument to this figure so many watching could have taken it as factual reporting. Through the day the Yes to Fairer Votes spokespeople had pointed out that £130m of this was supposedly for counting machines which the Electoral Commission say will not be used here. £82 million was based on the cost of running the General Election, ...
Just to get this clear from the start, I'm fully in favor of free higher education and I'm totally opposed to Tuition Fees. It's one of the reasons I joined the Lib Dems in the first place. This blog post ... Continue reading →
Today's shocking report by the Health ombudsman, Ann Abraham, confirms a view long held by many. Now we have the evidence. NHS hospitals do not know how to care for vulnerable elderly patients. What is worse, they don't seem to think it is their job to provide basic care for them. The problem is not just that of a few badly run hospitals, but of a culture that runs through the whole service. Patients are seen by in terms of their medical conditions, which need to be treated by professionals. All the other aspects of a patient's life are supposedly ...
Some good digging by London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon has revealed that in the first five months of the London bike hire scheme 2,771 have been wrongly charged, with a total of £23,895 taken from them in error. As the Evening Standard reports: Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat group leader on the London Assembly, who unearthed the figures, said: "Far too many people are being overcharged and TfL need to sort this issue out so Londoners remain confident in using it." You can read the full story here.
I have been contacted by numerous residents of the Lowther Road / Sandy Lane area concerned about a proposal for a mobile phone mast which is planned for the area of land at the back of the Butterstile Lane / Sandy Lane shops, at the back of Lowther Court. The mast is planned to be ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice Compass have published a document written by Dr Mathew Sowemimo called "The next hung parliament - how Labour can prepare". Dr Sowemimo is co-founder of The Social Liberal Forum network, established in 2008 to promote progressive policies within the Liberal Democrat party. He joined the Labour party in September 2010. This document is generally very encouraging and forward-looking. Dr Sowemimo identifies a list of areas which were important in the May 2010 post-election period, and from which Labour should learn. These include: Tone - as in Cameron's inclusive tone towards Clegg, compared with Brown's dismissive ...
Cornwall Council Leader Alec Robertson effectively signed a blank cheque for Sir John Banham, the would be Chair of the Cornwall Local Enterprise Partnership who is being paid £2000 a day despite his proposals being consigned to the bin. At full council today, Cllr Robertson made it clear that the appointment of Sir John was made by the private sector without any council involvement. He also explained that he had not been involved in determining the payment that Sir John would receive but nevertheless signed off the final amount - a staggering £2000 per day. His only defence was that ...
Labour councils are cutting far more jobs than their Conservative and Liberal Democrat neighbours – on average 50% more than Tory councils, according to figures revealed by the Guardian: Labour authorities have issued on average 745 job "at-risk" notifications, compared with 498 and 414 respectively from Tory and Lib Dem councils. The figures are the first to confirm that Labour councils are making bigger cuts and appear to bolster claims by David Cameron and Nick Clegg that Labour councils are cutting and then blaming the coalition for "politically motivated" reasons. However, the Guardian's analysis also reveals that Labour authorities are ...
One other issue to come out of the debate on Supporting People today came from the Cabinet Member in response to my question about the future of Launceston Foyer. The foyer network across Cornwall provides supported housing to young people who would otherwise be homeless. The benefits are clear - the young people stay clear of drugs and excessive alcohol and they are helped into education, training and work. There is also an advice service for young people who are vulnerably housed. The foyers are also at risk of closing because of the 40% cuts. I asked for some reassurance ...
This was a depressing Council meeting. The major item on the agenda was the budget and that debate focussed on one particular service - supporting people. We had the emergency budget back in December and myself and my Lib Dem colleagues made clear our opposition to a number of proposals then. We proposed a range of amendments which were all defeated by the Conservative/Independent coalition. Our concerns over these areas - libraries, adult care and leisure services in particular - remain, but we knew there was no point in trying to resurrect the issues only to be defeated again. And ...
With nearly 5 million people on council house waiting lists throughout the UK there is a clear need for more social housing. But "affordable homes" are only part of the story. Besides, this somewhat technical description boils down just to meaning that some form of subsidy has been brought to bear on the building cost. This might be by land being provided free to a Registered Social Landlord by a local authority, or by what is virtually a levy on new private houses to generate extra cash to bring down the costs of the "affordable" element. This is often a ...
If you have a local issue you'd like to discuss with one of your Councillors, or just want to drop by for a chat, then we are currently holding monthly Drop-In Sessions on the Second Saturday of every month at the Arbury Community Centre (on Campkin Road). If you have a local issue but can't make one of these sessions we have a Local Survey setup on our website which you can use to let us know. As always you can contact any member of your local team directly using the information on the left. The dates for the next ...
Compass have published a document written by Dr Mathew Sowemimo called "The next hung parliament - how Labour can prepare". Dr Sowemimo is co-founder of The Social Liberal Forum network, established in 2008 to promote progressive policies within the Liberal Democrat party. He joined the Labour party in September 2010. This document is generally very encouraging and forward-looking. Dr Sowemimo identifies a list of areas which were important in the May 2010 post-election period, and from which Labour should learn. These include: Tone - as in Cameron's inclusive tone towards Clegg, compared with Brown's dismissive attitude to Clegg. Don't destroy ...
Larry the cat, the new member of the coalition is apparently news worthy... In other news; Iranians are fighting for freedom, Italian Prime Minister is facing a trial for sexual relations with an underage girl and 200 people were massacred ... Continue reading →
Last night those of us in Northern Ireland were treated to a trip down memory lane. Now of course a lot of trips down memory lane here are full of darkness as where the starting points of last night trips. The travellers were Kate Adie, Peter Taylor, Bill Neely and (newly announced Yes to Fairer Votes vice-Chair) Martin Bell. The starting point on their journey was when they were all sent (apart from Bill who was born here) to Northern Ireland to report on what was going on here from the 60s through the the start of this millennium. They ...
The advent of 24 hour news channels has led to the media creating a fresh conventional wisdom with every new day. They started by highlighting the dangers of a double dip recession because the government would cut too fast and too deep. Now, that's something which Ed Milliband doesn't even believe if you give credence to his recent appearance on the Andrew Marr Programme. When the media were airing the cuts too fast argument, I indicated that the danger facing the economy over the medium term would come from inflation. When the media turned its fire on the danger of ...
It's simple, post something that's sensible, thoughtful and nuanced, and watch the tubleweed roll. It appears to engage your readers you need emotive hyperbole, partonisingly simplistic knee-jerk arguments, anger and aggression. Either that or some popular bloggers are operating some elaborate in-joke on a level I just don't get. Unfortunately, I don't do knee-jerk or aggressive. I just do ...
Saturday: Well, obviously it's the wrong idea at the wrong time and it's got a silly name. The SAD thing is that with a bit more THINKING, and a bit more PATIENCE, Mr Balloon's big idea might be quite a GOOD THING. This Parliament HAS to be about fixing the economy. That means CUTS and PAIN and lots of UNHAPPINESS. But those cuts, you see, are a result of - and done by! - BIG GOVERNMENT. THAT is the message we should be putting over: BIG GOVERNMENT BAD! NONE of it should have ANYTHING to do with the "Big Society". ...
I've got a nice big pink Valentine card on my desk. It's been signed by no less than 18 secret people. Sadly, I think they're after my vote rather than my body. The card comes from the Bristol branch of Oxfam. They want me to ask my friend and colleague Chris Huhne, the Energy and ...
I doubt if too many of my readers are in the right age-group, but if you know someone who is please pass this on. It's been funded by our AAP for the young people in our area.
This is a chance for us progressives to unite in opposition to the 'No' campaign, which is mostly made up of conservatives (though, of course, there are a few Tories who do support AV-but not many.)
The Channel 4 documentary has now been broadcast. It and many of the press reports confuse the Darul Uloom in Birmingham and the Mosque in Keighley. Just in case there is any uncertainty I condemn the treatment of children in the Keighley Mosque and support the Police's action in making an arrest in Yorkshire. (For the avoidance of doubt: This was not happening in the Birmingham School -
And so, the case for world federalism part 2, an interlude on the nature of the National Interest. If you've been dozing at the back, here's a reminder. Blair and Mubarak There is a fine example of what I want to talk about happening at the moment. Shortly after the protests in Egypt began, Tony Blair was arguing that Mubarak needed to stay in power in order to maintain the "Cold Peace" between Egypt and Israel. Similarly, the argument that Autocrats are better than Islamic Republics for western interests (like Oil, Tax Havens like Dubai, or temporary and unsustainable peace ...
The Guardian reports, Europe's climate chief [Connie Hedegaard] insisted on Monday that tougher greenhouse gas targets would improve the EU's economic performance, rather than push businesses overseas, as companies and green campaigners tussled over whether current emissions goals were too weak... Her words came as a row flared between Chris Huhne, the UK's climate change secretary, and Günther Oettinger, the EU's energy commissioner, over whether to toughen the European climate target from a cut of 20% in emissions by 2020 to a 30% cut. Last week, Oettinger warned: "If we go alone to 30%, you will only have a faster ...
We all have guilty pleasures in life. Whether they be chocolate and ice cream, long bubble baths, Jimmy Choo shoes or trashy TV. Everyone that knows me will know that trashy TV is something that I'll watch. You can't get trashier than Take Me Out on ITV1. For me it is easy Saturday night TV ...
Over on the MayorWatch website, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member, Mike Tuffrey, gives his take on Boris Johnson's first budget under the coalition government. Mike believes that the Mayor's budget "fails to grasp the opportunities offered by the coalition's localism agenda and continues to rely on financial reserves to defer difficult, but necessary, decisions". Here's an excerpt: Three years into his mayoralty, this is Boris Johnson's first budget since the change of government. Regrettably it fails to rise to the challenge of the new national reality. In so doing, it exposes the direction that Boris Johnson intends to travel up ...
John Humphreys was apoplectic when interviewing Ann Abraham on the Today programme. She has produced a report detailing several cases of appalling treatment of elderly patients in the NHS. How on earth can these wonderful dedicated NHS staff we keep hearing about allow such abuse? Ms Abraham did not try to give us any insight into how such things happened, merely echoing Mr Humphreys's anger. Not long after the interview there was a rather interesting counterpoint in the sports report. Garry Richardson was interviewing the trainer of one of the horses killed at Newbury over the weekend, asking him about ...
Every time I hear a Labour party talking about the Lib Dems (including Dave Anderson MP during the election campaign), I hear us being split into the good Liberals, who are slightly deluded but well intentioned, and the Bad Thatcherite Economic "Orange Book" Liberals. The Orange Book liberals believe in a small state and want vicious cuts. They are virtual Tories except they are maybe a bit more in favour of civil liberties. This Orange Book must be a very powerful book, I hear people say. Well not really. I bought a copy when it was launched in 2004. It's ...
This is an article that I was asked to contribute for Liberal Democrat Voice and which was published on the site here yesterday. It's the first time that I've been asked to write specifically for LDV and I'll be following it up with a second post on this referendum in a few weeks time. I'm pleased to do so to highlight the Welsh liberal context on LDV to my fellow liberal cousins across the UK and beyond! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ...
That's the question considered by a piece in Research Magazine, which includes my comment on the impact of the very quick post-TV debate polls in the last general election: Mark Pack, co-editor of the Liberal Democrat Voice website, was influential in drawing attention to media reporting of polls during the 2010 campaign. He says the instant polls "boxed in the scope for newspapers to write up the event as their editorial line wished".| You can read the full piece here.
A huge thank you to everyone who has visited the blog , RT'd a tweet, sent an e mail and most of all everyone who has clicked the link and sent an e mail to Richard Stengal, the Managing Editor of Time Magazine, asking him to make Muhammad Al Bouazizi their 'Person of the Year 2011'. For those who don't know Muhammad's amazing story, do click here For everyone who has not yet been to the site do visit and then send a note to Time. I know its only Feb but this will be a year long campaign. I ...
In the late 90s, Tony Blair's New Deal deliberately adopted the name of US President Franklin Roosevelt's 1930s programme to increase public spending, create jobs, and escape the Great Depression. Thirteen years later, one assumes that David Cameron's Big Society (that Jeremy Browne praised yesterday) at least partially invokes another significant American liberal reform era: the Great Society of President Johnson in the 60s. I fear that substituting "big" for "great" represents a lesser moral ambition. The Kennedy-Johnson years in America were self consciously "a call to greatness". Politicians talked of "new frontiers", putting an end to war, conquering disease ...
The RCRE email mystery gets even stranger. I received this email.late on Sunday. Dear Sir/Madam. I am writing to support the Racial Equality Council of Reading. In 2009 I suffered race religious discrimination and harassment at my work place. I seeked help from many places like the citizens advice, police and my community centre. Each time I went to these places they did not help me. As a last resort I met a worker at the readings racial equality council who helped write letters and advised how to follow grievance procedures through the whole process. Because of his help and ...
I fully subscribe to the notion that it is not possible to have too much Stephen Fry or Colin Firth in your life. I have been successful in passing this philosophy onto my daughter who has long adored the former and is now getting quite into the latter. I'm pleased to see that Stephen and Colin head up a list of celebs who are backing the Yes to Fairer Votes Campaign. Martin Bell, Joanna Lumley, Firth's King's Speech co-star Helena Bonham-Carter, Art Malik, Eddie Izzard, Billy Bragg, John Cleese and Tony Robinson. Colin Firth said: "The referendum is a once ...
So the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill (always fun to type that, so I shall all it PVSC) returns to the Commons today. MPs will debate the amendments made in the House of Lords. These include a 40% turnout threshold so that if less than 4 in 10 people vote, the result will not ...
The words of the US Speaker of the House of Congress. House Speaker John Boehner ushered those words after hearing President Obama's plan for $7.2 trillion deficit spending over the next decades – that is four times the national debt ... Continue reading →
Shortly after the Conservative Party won its fourth general election in a row in 1992, a symposium met to consider the question of whether Britain - formerly a country with regularly rotating government between the two main parties - was turning into a political version of Japan, where the same party had been in power for nearly forty years. Even between the event occurring and the publication of a book based on it, Turning Japanese? Britain with a Permanent Party of Government (eds. Helen Margretts and Gareth Smyth), political events in both countries had taken a dramatic turn. In Japan ...
Remember last Tuesday I wrote about how scared I was, going off to make a video blog. Well, there's nowhere to hide any more. It's up. And I could just ignore it, but I thought it would be best if you were exposed to it alongside my plea in mitigation. As some of you know, I write for the Steamie blog on the Scotsman website. We Steamie bloggers were invited to do a video blog to kick off the coverage of the Scottish elections for the Scotland Votes website. I was mildly petrified at this, not just because of the ...
It is a paradox to save a life and then give that person shoddy aftercare. Why on earth are we so sentimental about the NHS? How does a Twitter craze like "I love the NHS" become so prolific, when the reality for many remains the experiences described in the Health Ombudsman's report today. How did my late father-in-law -- a kind man, who had never spoken an angry word to his children all his life and revered his GPs -- reach a point of total fury with the care in a hospital ward while in recovery from a serious condition, ...
The Council budget last week was all about priorities in difficult times. It was widely consulted on. More people out there were involved than ever before. When the opposition cry foul you have to ask why didn't they do better when they were in power? In 2007 when I took over as Chair of Health and Social Care the biggest headache I had was "unbudgeted pressures" - accountant speak for a massive demand for care that the previous lot hadn't made any contingency for in their budget. It was a nightmare. Care was rationed and we had to work out ...
Tedward? Being brought up in a strict Catholic household so many priest and seminarians visited the house when I was young that when Father Ted was first broadcast it could easily be mistaken for reality TV. I am sure that I have met the dancing priest and the Graham Norton over excited preacher was also a caricature I was familiar with. Brothers Grimes I recall an episode where Ireland were desperate not to win the Eurovision song contest. Having won so many times recently they couldn't bear the costs of hosting the contest again - a perk (??) of ...
Given all the recent television footage of bomb outrages and flood damage in Pakistan, this might not seem the best country in the world to invest. But at a seminar at Lancaster House in London, hosted by UK Trade and Industry (UKTI), the myth of a nation rapidly disappearing down the plughole was dispelled. There were strong presentations ...
We wrote a few days ago about the problems caused by the new recycling arrangements, with lots of cardboard blowing around the streets before the collection lorry arrives. It sounds like South Glos may be taking notice - they've said they are considering introducing free recycling bags for cardboard for residents who are having problems.
Things are getting fairly intense in the Welsh Assembly as the election approaches. So much so that political rivalries are degenerating into the removal of partisan posters and pictures from the office doors of rival party AMs. This is an e-mail that was circulated yesterday from the office of Conservative AM, Andrew R.T. Davies: It may be slightly naïve of me, so I apologise in advance if I overestimated my expectations of behavioural standards in the workplace... It seems to me that there is a healthy culture of decorating political offices with pictures. (We work in a tribal environment, and ...
Our lovely little rabbit Benjamin is not well. Normally he and his brother Patches come bounding out whenever we go to see them, even at 6 in the morning when Bob gives them their carrots for breakfast. They were a bit quiet at the end of last week and there was food left over, which was unheard of. On Sunday Benjamin developed a head tilt. I googled and was very scared by what I saw and hoped that it was the one thing that was relatively simple to sort rather than the many conditions which forecast doom. I actually didn't ...
Free Monty Python Videos on Youtube Lead to 23,000% DVD Sale Increase | /Film More empirical proof that the music and movie industries have their marketing strategies arse about face. (tags: advertising copyright) Caron's Musings: Tory spokesman Bill Aitken should resign for implying rape victim was prostitute Caron has shocking news of Tory attitudes to victims of crime. (tags: rape sexism)
A slightly shorter version of this piece appeared on OurKingdom last week: The unprecedented filibustering by Labour peers (or rather more accurately, given the splits between hardliners and moderates about Labour's ranks in the Lords, some Labour peers) of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill is having two unintended side-effects which will be important for the future of political reform. The most obvious is the way in which Labour's chosen style of opposition has driven Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers closer together. A more subtle form of opposition might have looked to divide the coalition partners, but repeated late ...
As I've talked about before, Essex County Council are now holding a consultation on library opening hours, now they've announced how much certain libraries' opening hours are being cut. You can go here and have your say, and it won't take you very long as you'll only be asked two questions. One about which library you want to comment on – for Colchester Borough, that's Colchester central library, Prettygate, Greenstead and Stanway – and then another about which proposed set of opening hours you prefer. No chance to make any other comments, suggest alternatives or even any attempt to get ...
Downing Street needs a cat againsaid this blog last month. This morning, reports BBC News, comes news that: A new resident is to move into No 10 with David Cameron set to welcome a cat into his official residence. The four-year old tabby cat, believed to be called Larry, is to join the prime minister and his family from the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. The arrival, due on Tuesday, follows weeks of speculation about potential pest control measures after a rat was seen outside No 10.I flatter myself that this blog is not without influence.
broadcast anniversaries 15 February 1964: broadcast of "The Brink of Disaster", second episode of the story we now call The Edge of Destruction. The Doctor works out that the Tardis was trying to warn them that it was heading for destruction, fixes the problem and apologises all round. 15 February 1969: broadcast of third episode of The Seeds of Death. The Doctor is captured by the Ice Warriors, who start transmitting their deadly seeds to Earth. 15 February 1975: broadcast of fourth epsiode of The Ark in Space. The Doctor manages to save the beacon by tricking the Wirrn onto ...
On Sunday, fellow blogger and tweeter Andrew Reeves tweeted a link to this blipfoto of the Water of Leith, which flows through Edinburgh, succeeding in making me a bit homesick. He also jogged my memory about a couple of photos I took when I was home in November, featuring the work of Antony Gormley. Part funded by the proceeds of the Gulbenkian Prize (which the Scottish National Gallery for Modern Art won for the Charles Jencks landscaping project, Landform), 6 times features 6 sculptures positioned along (with the exception of the first one) the course of the aforementioned river. Time ...
Teaching Hacking to Teach STEM?
Linda Jack is a high profile Lib Dem blogger and former PPC. She is one of eight quislings led by former think tank chief Richard Grayson who have agreed to help Labour write their new policies (the party having junked everything it stood for last May). The policy review is being run by the egregious Liam Byrne - the man who sarcastically left a note to his successor as Chief Secretary to the Treasury saying 'sorry, there is no more money.' Linda has a background in teaching and youth work and proudly proclaims on her blog that she is 'motivated ...
I like to think I understood the basic idea and the potential of "Big Society" early on; in fact before the brand name even reached the airwaves, when we heard mutterings about free schools, I wondered if that idea was going to be cast wider to encompass other policy areas. I have an advantage in this: I am an admirer of Albert Jay Nock, and in particular of his short book, "Our Enemy the State (pdf)" (of which there is also an audio book recording, by me, here and here). Nock was one of the first libertarian thinkers I ever ...
I am part of a team who put out leaflets and I recently received a very nice reply from a 92-year-old who took the trouble to tell me how her father had told her that a vote for the Liberals was a wasted vote. Well a vote for Liberal Democrats is not a wasted vote now. There is a Liberal Democrat councillor in my part of Morecambe. The leader of the City council is a Liberal Democrat, and I have also heard something about coalition in government! This story leads nicely into the referendum on AV. If the vote is ...