I am the Economic Development spokesman for the Lib Dem group on Mid Sussex District Council and this is an update on the economy in Mid Sussex. At the Performance and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 09/02/2011, Steve Tilbury, the Economic Development officer, presented the Economic Development Annual Report 2010/11. This is a comprehensive report on the economic development activity undertaken during 2010/11. The report is excellent and was widely praised at the meeting. It is well worth reading on the MSDC website at page 30 onwards. The Gatwick Diamond was discussed and the district is getting tangible benefits from ...
Last November the Government launched a consultation on plans to reward councils for building new homes and bringing empty homes back into use. Today the New Homes Bonus was formally launched.: "Through the New Homes Bonus the Government will match the council tax raised from new homes for the first six years. The bonus available for an affordable home will be up to 36 per cent more than for a similar market home, equivalent to an extra £350 per house premium every year. Empty properties brought back into use will also receive the cash bonus for six years. This works ...
I've never had much time for the Taxpayers' Alliance feeling that their purpose is not to protect taxpayers but simply to bash the public sector even if they contradict themselves in the process. Here they are criticising a council for having too many recycling bins, even though the council argues that by getting residents to sort recyclables in this way, it saves the public purse £500,000 The logical implication is that the TPA would rather Newcastle-under-Lyme council ran a more expensive refuse service and put up council tax.
When the government announced its plans to reform housing benefit last year there were two strands to that policy. The first was a cap on benefit of about £400 a week for a house rented in the private sector. There was outrage at this. There were wholly false stories about London councils block-booking bed and breakfast accommodation and Polly Toynbee described it as "social cleansing on an epic scale". This opposition always struck me as nonsense. Everyone knows that housing benefit is a bit of a racket, with private landlords being the major beneficiaries. With the economy in a depressed ...
Today saw the introduction of the Welfare Reform bill to the House of Commons. Initial Impact Assessments were also published. This piece of legislation has been trailed for many months, but it will nonetheless take quite a while to fathom the detail of what is being proposed across the wide range of areas it touches ...
More evidence today of Liberal Democrat influence in Government with the news that Nick Clegg blocked plans to cut Housing Benefit for people who have been unemployed for more than one year. This is a really welcome development and I am certain it would not have been brought about had it not been for Liberal Democrat MPs in the Coalition. The original plan was unduly punitive and I was concerned about the impact it could have on people living in Reading already struggling to find a job. Last year I blogged my thoughts about housing and planned reforms to benefits. ...
An article in the New York Times by Jeré Longman echoes an argument that I have long made on this blog: there is no reason to expect that the London Olympics next year will persuade more people to become physically active. Longman writes: Research on the Olympic Games stimulating mass participation in sports has not produced encouraging results. In 2007, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the British House of Commons concluded that "no host country has yet been able to demonstrate a direct benefit from the Olympic Games in the form of a lasting increase in participation." A ...
The Yes to Fairer Votes campaign have released this new video called the People Say Yes. It's a nice message, if slightly too long and repetitive: No to AV seems to be relying on old-school politio types, while there is no doubt the Yes campaign are generating a groundswell of public support. Interestingly UKIP will ...
As a change of pace from recent posts, and to show that there is more to life than politics, here is a match report from the England Italy game on Saturday: Memories of the World Cup winning team of 2003 may seem a distant memory to most England fans. To reach the long envied heights of your sport playing 'total rugby', only to plunge so far and so fast, was a difficult adjustment for the Twickenham faithful to bear. The stilted progression of both players and coaching staff through this lean period has attracted much criticism, none more so than ...
Sorry for the lack of proper updates this week, but I've been ill. Scientific method, Cerebus, Beach Boys and the first chapter of my novel, all this weekend if possible. If you were wondering if my low-pricing experiment was a success...: But I'm not (yet) selling enough more to justify keeping prices that low. We'll ...
Am I the only one I wonder thinking that the "NO to AV" campaign is running into trouble ? First they bully persuade the BBC that they should not refer to this as "electoral reform" (too positive a word). Then they discover that "media-darling-of-the-moment" Colin Firth is backing the "YES" campaign. Then they run quite simply ludicrous ads on Liberal Vision telling our readers why they should vote NO. Occassionally across the top of the LV site you will see an ad featuring a rather tasty soldier – with the line .. " He needs bulletproof vests" Hover your cursor ...
IS IT ME? Watching BBC's South East tonight programme a brief mention was made of KCC's budget even a quick comment from Kent Conservative leader Paul Carter but as always it seems no view from any other political party, admittedly out of 84 councillors only 11 are not Tories but come on. Whether by laziness, bias, stupidity, lack of interest or whatever the BBC which you and I fund with our money fails in my opinion to represent fairly political opinion. From the poor coverage, given to this topic its my view BBC in the south east could not give ...
"The ground may be subsiding under part of the town, but the citizens of Swadlincote have unshaken faith in the future," says the rather Soviet commentary on this newsreel from 1954 (Click on the picture to view it on the British Pathe site.) Unfortunately, that faith may not have been well founded. A report from BBC East Midlands this week showed that subsidence caused by the coal industry remains a huge problem in Swadlincote. Swadlincote was the birthplace of the British heavyweight Jack Bodell - follow that link for a favourite anecdote.
Over at PoliticsHome, Paul Waugh has a very positive piece, highlighting the recent series of announcements which bear a distinctive Liberal Democrat stamp: Today, Nick Clegg can bask in last night's AV Bill victory, delivering an historic referendum that could possibly see his party in power for a long time. But the DPM can also celebrate having played a key role in a string of other areas being discussed today. On each issue, you can judge his success by the irritated reaction of the average Tory backbencher. Paul helpfully lists welfare reform, gay marriage, green policy, growth, the AV referendum ...
I simply don't understand why the Conservatives allowed the two policies that were dropped today to have even been floated. I could tell they were absolutely hopeless months ago. I think the problem lies in the fact that we are passing from a period of `social democracy by stealth` to one of `liberal conservatism` yet ...
This morning's Sefton cabinet dealt with some pretty weighty and difficult issues to which I shall return. They are important matters and deserve careful reflection. In the meantime let me leave you with a couple of anecdotes. Firstly on the pink footed goose, these can be found in their hundreds on our coast line at this time of year. The Marshside RSPB reverve is an excellent place to go and see them. We were discussing the requirement to identify building land. This is a sensitive issue and we are due to go out to consultation on the matter later this ...
Lib Dem Equalities Minister, Lynne Featherstone announced today that the Government is to open a consultation which will consider the following: 1. Making marriage available to couples regardless of gender or sexuality and 2. Making civil partnership similarly available to all Continuing their strong support of the LGBT community, the Lib Dems are the first party of Government to promote this policy which, if successfully incorporated into law, will finally allow any couple that wishes to cement their union, by marriage in church, the capacity to do so.....although some organisations, such as the Church of England, have already said that ...
Thu 17th
20:31
Oxford University Labour Club disaffiliates from national Labour Students organisation
LabourList carries news that one of the biggest groups of Labour students, Oxford University Labour Club, has voted to disaffiliate from the party's national student organisation Labour Students. In an open letter to Labour Students, the Oxford group criticises its lack of internal democracy and appeals for reform, while suggesting that under current structures such reform is "near-impossible". The whole of that letter can be found on LabourList:This year's elections ... which saw every single position on the Labour Students Exec elected unopposed, showed that the problems that had initially concerned us had become worse not better. One of Labour ...
Today has been a really good day. One of those 'this is why I do this job' kind of days. There are days when it feels as if I'm banging my head against a brick wall - any elected representative will tell you that they all have them. If they don't, they're lying! Well today has been one of those that re-inforces in me, the reason why I stood for Council 7 years ago, stood for re-election 3 years and will stand again for re-election again next year. Yes for Wales I'd planned to spend today delivering my quota of ...
According to the Health Service Journal, the Government has performed a significant volte face regarding its reform to the National Health Service - it appears healthcare providers will not be able to compete with NHS services on price. Under the original proposals, outlined in the Equity and Excellence White Paper, independent sector providers would have been permitted to compete for business with NHS Trusts on the basis of price (they are currently restricted to competing on quality). According to the HSJ, the reforms have been watered down to prevent price competition. The following is from the HSJ article: The government ...
British politics is a strange old thing. It is completely based on opposition and adversarial sparring. Opponents wait for a waver or a slip up, and then go on full attack. Bizarrely a change of opinion is considered a sign of weakness, not strength or good leadership. This has been shown perfectly with the government changing their policy on ...
[IMG: Clegg Q and A 30] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: Liberal Democrats I think if Nick Clegg took this article along to his local Co-op this weekend, he could get free credit on the basis of it. It is an astonishingly positive piece for the Cleggster and the LibDems from the ever-active Paul Waugh, formerly at the Evening Standard and now Editor of PoliticsHome.com: In any marriage, or even civil partnership, there will always be times when one party seems to be wearing the (non-gender specific) trousers. Today, Nick Clegg can bask in last night's AV Bill victory, ...
Okay, stick with me. This is bizzare. Today at work, I found myself reading about public service reform in New Zealand. I kind of stumbled onto it after reading lots of references to Sir Roger Douglas in Reform's 2011 Scorecard. Google 'New Zealand Reform' and one of the first things that comes up is a speech by Don Brash when he was Governor of the NZ Reserve Bank (he later went on to become leader of the NZ Nationals, but that's not important right now). So I'm reading through Brash's speech. Lots of stuff about growth rates, etc. And then ...
I ask this question because I don't really know. Previous Prime Ministers had their buzzwords too: Thatcher had her "property-owning democracy", Major his "classless society" and his desire to get "back to basics", Blair his "stakeholder economy", "Cool Britannia" or "the third way" and Brown his "British jobs for British people". What did all these mean? To the general public, very little indeed. The "big society" is another of these political cliches that flatters to deceive. Intended as a bold statement of the government's will to empower individuals and communities, the "big society" has become something of a joke. David ...
Yesterday my friend Spidey had a debate about the right of people to apply for removal of their name from the sex offenders register. That debate got heated and some names were called. I didn't get involved and indeed wasn't ... Continue reading →
As part of Sefton council's savings programme, a 5 per cent cut in the basic flat rate annual sum paid to all councillors was agreed by the Cabinet meeting today (Thursday 17 Feb). It will be formally approved by the full Council next month. The revised amount is £8,520 which includes a fixed yearly allowance for all travel expenses within the borough. From September last year certain councillors (e.g. committee chairs, Cabinet members) who get Special Responsibility Allowances on top of the basic sum took a 5 per cent pay cut. Sefton council, like others throughout the country, is having ...
"Rooney har skickats iväg igen, han är en huligan från Liverpool!" It sounded urgent but I had no idea whether it was good news or not. It turned out the Swedish commentator was lamenting a red card for our old ... Continue reading →
The Merseyside Police Authority's Budget meeting was today where they set their budget for 2011/2012. Due to reductions in their budget, Merseyside Police will see a drop in police officers from the current 4,348.8 full-time equivalent officers at the end of this financial year to 4,178.8 full-time equivalent at the end of 2011/2012. There is ...
I ask this question due to many members of the Lib Dem party not holding core liberal values. They do you believe that everyone is equal and they do not believe in human rights. I know several Lib Dem members who are raging feminists and believe that women are the superior gender and should be ...
Earlier today, the Fabian's Sunder Katwala posed a question about how to appeal to "tribal Labour" to vote Yes in the alternative vote referendum. Here's a quick thought that might appeal to more tribal minds [IMG: :-)] These people want you to vote NO [IMG: Bullingdon Club]
What's that big purple sign on the right for mister!!! The referendum on Fairer votes which has been "ping ponging" between the House of Lords and the Commons, was passed last night. This means that a rare chance to vote in a referendum will take place on the same day as the local elections May 5th. Stockwood residents will be going to the polls to vote for a new councillor, me a local resident, or someone who doesn't live in Stockwood to represent them for the next 4 years, assuming of course our present Tory Cllr Jethwa stands for re-election, ...
Great article from Paul Waugh at Politics Home, pointing out the Lib Dem influence on the U Turns. Makes you glow with pride
Earlier, while on the briefest of brief lunch breaks, I posted to welcome Lynne Featherstone's announcement which allows for same-sex ceremonies to be held in religious buildings. This is a positive step towards equality. Even more encouraging is her obvious determination to give gay people full legal rights, ending the distinction between civil partnerships and marriage which in my view is discriminatory and unnecessary. As I mentioned in a previous post, unfortunately this change in the law only applies to England and Wales. Caron has argued that this means "Scotland lags behind on marriage equality", observing that "nobody seems to ...
Re-read my similarly titled posting of 2nd of February, good people. I've just discovered another wrinkle about the new cloud computing. It encompasses such things as Kindle. We might have guessed this is the case for devices such as iPhones, Blackberry or just about any mobile phone-type device – but we might have overlooked Kindle. Well, I did anyway, until I came across a piece in the Guardian by Bobbie Johnson back in July 2009. Due to a copyright dispute Amazon suddenly realised that it had inadvertently sold books from a supplier who didn't have the rights to books by ...
In a move which even those who oppose the Alternative Vote have found bizarre, the NO to AV campaign has decided that its key message with which it hopes to dissuade voters from voting YES is going to be the apparent cost of changing from First Past The Post to AV. This is a strange strategic decision in itself, but it becomes even more curious now the 'factual' basis for the outlandish claims has been demolished at the slightest scrutiny. The YES campaign wasted no time in putting the NO side's claims under the spotlight, and they found that: There ...
I am slightly confused by the workings of government at times. A couple of months ago, the government announced plans to reform the Benefits system, introduce a universal credit, make working pay more than benefits etc etc and there was a loud debate from every side of the argument. Today, the Welfare Reform Bill was ...
Another week of silence from Ivan Lewis and Labour on tuition fees. You can read the history of this ongoing debate which Ivan started here. He criticised the government about tuition fees (rightly, in my view) but when I asked him for his and his party's solution, he had nothing. 9 weeks on, there's still ...
Ok readers I've thought long and hard about this and have uploaded some youtubes. Now it's Eurovision season it's time for a journey down memory lane or some such cliche that used to advertise Jim Reeves revival shows back in the 70s. My 100th favourite song of the noughties is Vesna Pesarovic's `Everything I want`. ...
Following Royal Assent to the Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies Act earlier today, we now have the referendum to make the change to a fairer voting system set for May 5th. The Yes campaign needs as much help as possible to ensure that the real messages are put out to all of us in the ...
I am looking forward immensely to the AV contest on 22nd March. No, not the referendum clash between Margaret Beckett and Lord Prescott (for the "No" campaign) and Helena Bonham-Carter and Colin Firth (for "Yes") on 5th May. Instead I have in mind the by-election for a Hereditary Peer to replace the veteran Labour Lord Strabolgi, who died just before Christmas. As Lady Murphy explained here on 11th February, this election has to use the Alternative Vote process. This will not only be identical to the AV system which has been debated exhaustively for well over 100 hours in the ...
Today's announcement, that religious settings are able to hold civil partnerships, is a huge step toward achieving the Liberal Democrat policy of full equal civil marriage and partnerships for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the UK. I've always believed that equality is a black and white issue. You're either equal or you are not, there's no grey area and no room for ambiguity. And, despite the real achievements over the last decade, the LGBT community is still not fully equal in the eyes of the law. This wouldn't be considered acceptable if we were talking about ethnic ...
Say what you like about Caroline Spelman – and I'm not her biggest fan – but her statement to the House of Commons today, announcing the government's change of heart over the selling-off of some publicly owned forests, was a ... Continue reading →
Another day, another government U turn, this time on Forests. Andrew Sparrow has a list of them to date which you can see here. And he hasn't even included the decision to get a Downing Street cat, having said they wouldn't. And the general tenor of media comment is that they add up to reflect a government in turmoil. I really don't agree. Of course, it would be better if policy was fully thought through before it was announced, only a fool would say otherwise. But looking at the U-turns, I'm generally far more in approval of the revised policy ...
Well, at least he's honest about it! Prescott on Newsnight was destroyed by Paddy Ashdown where he dedicated his No2AV airtime on explaining why the new electoral system is bad for the Labour Party. He didn't do it very well, of course, because here's the truth; AV is worse for all three of the big westminster parties under one measure (proportion of first preference votes), and the same under the other (the number of seats parties will actually win.) For a start, Prescott's arguments were aimed at the Electoral Reform Bill itself, not the proposed new electoral system; he is ...
After a most convivial early supper on Tuesday (I don't eat out much, so the excuse for a fillet steak - blue - is too much to resist!) I attended a lecture by Dr Anthony Evans arranged by the Oxford Libertarian Society on how the current economic situation is creating a renewed interest in Austrian Economics and on how important it is that the insights of the Austrian school are understood in the uncertain future that faces us in which, Austrians contend, the old orthodoxy (Keynsian & monetarist macroeconomics etc) no longer has meaningful answers. Three years ago, when I ...
So, today we got the announcement that we'd all been expecting. Religious civil partnerships will be allowed to go ahead following last year's consultation. And another consultation was announced regarding the future of marriage and civil partnership equality. Nothing to get excited about there then. I know, people are gushing about how great this is. But seriously... we're limping towards the finishing line here. However, to keep us amused I assume, we have had a few "hilarious" moments this week. In position three... we have Ed Miliband calling for further progress on marriage equality. Not only is he from the ...
Sad, really, but I stayed up last night to see the resolution of the dispute between the Houses of Lords and Commons about the Alternative Vote. The debate had gone into 'ping-pong' mode with amendments being passed backwards and forwards between the two chambers. In the end, most of the Lords accepted that the House of Commons is the place where laws are made and that their job is to scrutinise, not to block, proposals. Yesterday was the deadline in order to meet the timetable for a referendum on 5th May, when local elections are being held in most parts ...
Today in LGBT History Month, we have another good news story resulting from the Liberal Democrats forming the coalition government with the Tories in Westminster. Liberal Democrat Minister for Equalities, Lynne Featherstone MP has launched consultation on reforming the marriage and civil partnership laws in the United Kingdom sorry England & Wales in line with ...
As I blogged last week, speeding on Dutson Road is a considerable problem and is a significant danger to pedestrians using the road. The proper solution is going to take a while to come about. It will probably require a by-pass or the introduction of a one way system to massively cut the amount of traffic using the road. However, I have been keen to come up with a solution to provide some relief in the short-term. The answer that council engineers and myself have come up with, having talked to local residents, is a set of rumble strips on ...
Only a little over two decades after the struggles of Lech Walesa and his Solidarity colleagues led to the downfall of Communism in Poland, the country is making preparations for holding the rotating presidency of the European Union. Although the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty has meant that there is now a 'permanent' President of ...
Over on the Guardian's Comment is Free site, Liberal Democrat blogger-in-chief, Jonathan Calder, turns his attention to one of this week's most important political stories: the arrival of Larry, Downing Street's newest resident (who also happens to be a cat). It was, of course, Downing Street's rodent problem (no, actual rats, thank you Harriet) that necessitated Larry's presence, and Jonathan even has time for a brief history of Westminster's rodential (yes, that really is a word) residents, as well as its feline ones. Here's an extract: You could argue that his arrival marks a much-needed victory for Nick Clegg. True, ...
The Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams, is urging postal voters to vote Yes for Wales. With the deadline for registering for a postal vote now closed, postal ballots are issued to those that have requested them across Wales. They are expected to hit doormats in the next few days. Kirsty Williams said: "A 'yes' vote will make our law-making more efficient, it will save money and it will make it crystal clear where responsibility for decision making lies. "Of course not everyone agrees with every policy pursued by the current Government, least of all me. The Welsh ...
The latest Police Tasking meeting for the Yarnfield Estate took place on Monday. PCSO Ludford gave a short presentation on Current Crime levels since the beginning of the year. For the Yarnfield Estates there have been: 60 Recorded Crimes: 15 of these are "Non-Crimes", 8 relate to Bilkings (drive-offs at Service Stations). There had been 37 incidents of actual recorded crime in the area (equating to 0.83 crimes a day). This level of crime remained relatively low. Even Anti-Social Behaviour was relatively low and there were no Hotspots identified. Three new initiatives all running till 31st March 2011 have been ...
This post on Wartime Housewife prompted me to visit Digital UK again to find out what is happening in our area. I was dimly aware something was up. I have spoken to Digital UK at Lib Dem conference in the past, and know that they are rolling out the digital switchover, and the end of free-to-air analogue television, in stages, across the UK. The first few regions have already completed the change. I know that the East Mids was soon. I've also had something pink and scary through the post that explains very briefly what is going on. But I ...
Over recent weeks a large number of potholes have opened up in town. Thankfully, the Council has been quick to fill them in, but if you know of any that haven't been dealt with, please get in touch. The heavily potholed road outside Tesco has been treated temporarily and is on the schedule for proper re-surfacing in the near future. The potholes on Western Road as you approach the Pennygillam roundabout are scheduled to be permanently treated tomorrow (Friday).
It's great to see that Lynne Featherstone, Liberal Democrat minister for Equalities in the UK Government is bringing in measures to allow religious organisations to conduct civil partnerships. For Daily Mail journalists, that's allow, not compel, ok? This means that England and Wales will be way ahead of Scotland where nobody seems to be showing enough will to advance the cause of equal marriage. I think that true equality is good for the whole of society, not just the groups of people it benefits. What can be better than tolerance and mutual respect? Having one system of legalised partnerships for ...
I open the envelope and unfold the letter, smoothing out the pages in front of me on the desk. Outside, the early evening mist is sinking low over the hedges. The house is quiet save for the muffled double-whoop of a wood pigeon echoing down the chimney. The pages are written in crisp black ink, beautiful handwriting, a joy to read, equal margins and proper paragraphs. What was the word for this... calligraphy, no... copperplate. I start to read. 'My Dearest One,' Immediately I stop, how beautiful, to be someone's dearest one. I glance briefly, ruefully at the envelope and ...
David Cameron is "appalled". The Supreme Court has ruled that those that get put on the Sex Offenders Register for life should have a legal right of appeal to be taken off it, if they no longer present a threat to the public. Or "Paedophiles win right of appeal against offenders' register" as I thought I heard BBC Radio 4 News say this morning. At least the BBC don't seem to be repeating their provocative headline in their online news coverage. What are we to make of this? There are more difficult issues for liberals. We can accept the need ...
Thursday: GOOD NEWS: the AXIS of DINOSAURS in the House of Lords have been defeated and REAL people will now decide how THEIR representatives are elected. Responding to the news, Mr William Vague, Folliclely Challenged Foreign Secretary of "Save the Pound" fame*, has rushed out a statement to supporters of the No2AV campaign saying: "AV doesn't work. Rather than the candidate with the most votes winning, the person who finishes third could be declared the winner." Um, you do realise YOU weren't the candidate with most votes when you won the Conservatory Leadership Contest in 1997, don't you Mr Vague? ...
Changes to Cornwall library opening hours have been presented to the Communities Scrutiny Committee. The final decision will be made by Communities Director Gill Steward later today and will be published on Monday. I'm not able to write about the details because they need to be sent to staff first, but what I can say is that I believe the Council has listened to local concerns about prescriptive opening hours, timings and closed days and has modified the original proposals accordingly. I'll blog with the full details on Monday. The level of local consultation - whilst not perfect due to ...
Steve comments about the Bill and its proposals to radically alter our welfare system.
As a Lib Dem Minister at the Department for Work and Pensions, I thought it would be helpful to comment on the Welfare Reform Bill published today. I wrote in November that there is much in the Bill that we as a party should welcome. The Universal Credit sits comfortably with our own policy to introduce a single working-age benefit to replace the current nightmarishly complex system. Today's Bill lays a framework for a radical improvement in the way welfare works in this country. It will be simpler, clearer, and will target resources at those who need it most – ...
This is one of those moments you couldn't make up. The No2AV campaign have put a video up on YouTube that highlights their extremely dubious claim that changing voting systems would cost £250m. After all, the most important factor about democracy is how much it costs. Of course, as YouTube is an open medium where people can rate and comment on videos, these points have all been... oh, wait, no they haven't. Turns out our fearless campaigners for traditional British democracy have decided they don't want anyone pointing out their errors: [IMG: Screenshot of No2AV YouTube video with rating and ...
The instalment you've all been waiting for. Somewhere within these links lies the final secret of the Illuminati. Probably. The "Twitter Can't Topple Dictators" Article – Jay Rosen notes a trend in the press Conservative coffers boosted in "sale of opportunities" to kids of the super rich – Not really the image you want to present to the public, is it? Egypt And (No) Democracy – Zelo Street on how various US right-wingers are pushing the whole 'democracy should only be given to people who agree with us' argument. Britain gets comfy as Melanie Phillips explains 'Biblical sexuality' – The ...
Today sees the latest announcement moving the Lib Dems civil rights agenda. It is Lib Dem policy to open both marriage and civil Partnerships to both mixed and same sex couples. Today effectively announced the process to achieve this. Another Lib Dem manifesto pledge on the way to being implemented.
Photo by Pat Cotterell As local people will know, the BBC TV series Casualty frequently film on the Road to Nowhere, the piece of dual carriageway that was half-built in the 1970s and then abandoned. In fact it's probably been the site of more "major accidents" than any other road in South Glos. Casualty filmed there this winter, drove large waggons over the slope at the end of the Road to Nowhere, then complained about the muddy conditions. Not surprising! It's also made a mess of this popular walking and cycling route. South Glos Council has however said that they ...
Over the hills from my house is the excellent Chopwell Woods, a Forestry Commission property. It has a great range of walks and is well used. The Christmas fayres there are great and raise money for the active friends group. Further north, in the constituency I live in, is Kielder forest. It's a massive expanse of managed woodland and is a great place for a break. One of my friends regularly gives talks at the excellent observatory there (it is remote and a great place to watch the stars) and there is a great ferry service around the lake with ...
Thu 17th
12:54
It's official at last (11.50pm last night): for the first time in 36 years the PEOPLE of the UK will...
It's official at last (11.50pm last night): for the first time in 36 years the PEOPLE of the UK will get to decide an aspect of how the country is run. On 5 May we can change to a fairer voting sytem. A YES vote will make MPs work harder - reach out beyond their core vote; help end "jobs for life" in safe seats; they won't be able to take people for granted. YES Campaign Make Trafalgar Square Purple - 17.02.11 www.youtube.com Today at sunrise the YES campaign made Trafalgar Square purple. We've got our referendum, we say YES! ...
Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone has outlined new changes in the law which I referred to in my recent post, Gay marriage equality set to become reality. In an e-mail to Lib Dem members, the minister wrote: I'm so pleased to be announcing today the next step on the road to full marriage equality for same-sex and mixed-sex couples. As many of you will know, this is an issue close to my heart, and so I am delighted that this government is taking action. Firstly, today we have announced that civil partnership registrations will be able to take place in religious ...
Mark Pack recently wrote an article in Liberal Democrat Voice about how badly awry political predictions went in 1992. Politics, an interaction between adaptive and opportunistic parties is inherently unpredictable. What about the economy? The big trends ("megatrends" I will call them, to contrast with "microtrends" in fashion a couple of years back) of the 1990s were technology (internet and mobile phones) and globalisation, especially the rise of China and India. I may be mis-remembering, but these unfolded more or less as predicted if you discard the excitable froth. But these trends have played out. What does the future hold ...
This blog is closed until further notice.
I am pleased that the government have decided to have a rethink about the policy in respect of the Forests.I did not support the government (ie was a rebel) when the policy was voted on in the House. I do think think that there are some good ideas in the middle of this. For example the RSPB do a good job of managing public space. There can be merit in extending this approach.However, there
Last night the bill to enable the AV referendum to take place on the 5th of May was passed and given Royal Assent. What is now the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act provides for the referendum to take place on the 5th of May without a minimum turnout requirement. Furthermore, the result of the referendum will be binding. If we win the referendum AV is automatically implemented, no more delays, no more arguments, no more filibusters. This morning some Yes campaigners celebrated the legislation passing - by turning Trafalgar Square purple:
Honestly, I turn my back for five minutes, and loads of good things happen. First of all, the ridiculous plans to sell off forests in England are being shelved, according to the BBC after attracting vocal opposition from rural campaigner and MPs like the Liberal Democrat President Tim Farron. This reminds me of how similar plans were scrapped in Scotland after opposition from Scottish Liberal Democrats including leader Tavish Scott. Secondly, it seems that Housing Benefit will not be cut for people who have been unemployed for a year. I know that Liberal Democrat Ministers have been fighting hard within ...
I've just spent most of the morning visiting local businesses to deliver our Cressington ward business survey. I started early so in some cases it was a case of putting the forms through the door (or in the mail) . Later though I was able to speak to some of the (mainly) shopkeepers. As local Councillors we often ask residents for their views. I don't think we're always quite as good though when it comes to local businesses. Obviously we are not about to publish the details of what individual businesses say. But hopefully we'll be able to give a ...
200 people killed, and did you hear a single word about it on TV or radio news? Because I didn't. I know that the broadcasters cannot cover everything simultaneously. But why do some conflicts supposedly matter more than than others, when those others are quite often precisely those in which the most people are being killed? What kind of a species are we, that we don't rate conflicts on the basis of how many people are dying, but instead rate conflicts on the basis of our own obscure set of strategic priorities? How many dead Sudanese does it take to ...
Planning Advisory Group Under minutes of the previous meeting a revised draft policy DM30 on back garden land was circulated and a request for comments made, to be submitted by email within a week. The Five Year Housing Land Assessment item was taken first. Dean James advised that the council is required to assess and demonstrate ...
I was stunned into inaction this morning during the normal rush to deposit two children at school (i) dressed (ii) fed and watered (iii) provisioned for the exertions of the coming day with bags, lunch, coats etc. Stunned because of the return of perhaps the most oleaginous and disreputable politician of the late 20th century*, David Mellor. And if you think about the competition, that's saying something This duplicitous wretch was on the Today programme (how many people had they rung before they settled on him, I wonder) defending - yep, defending - the King of Bahrain as a good ...
This is just the sort of action I was calling for in my blog post last week. Well done British athletics!
Sketches of the proposed Stadium for Cornwall have been published by the West Briton. The drawings show a possible 10,000 seater facility near Truro. Apparently the drawings have been made by The Miller Partnership, the company engaged by Cornwall Council to investigate the feasibility of the stadium project. A spokesman for The Miller Partnership said that the Council has had this study since December but is not planning to publish it for a number of weeks. This is curious as we were told that it would be ready for public inspection (and debate) by now. Apart from the drawings themselves ...
The Deputy Prime Minister's intervention has ensured the scrapping of plans to cut housing benefit from those unemployed for more than a year. Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative Work and Pensions Minister, this morning said he'd been looking at the issue for a while, but added: "I'm fully at one with Nick and others on this. It's a very good idea that we don't have it in."
Filling out a form the other day the options were single, married, divorced, civil partnerships - so I didn't complete that question. No other, no long-term relationship - so it clearly didn't apply to me... I tried explaining this to the person at the desk and they were positively un-interested. But yet again it irritated me. Surely I'm not the only person who because I can't marry (and therefore can't divorce!), who hasn't had a civil partnership, but considers themselves to be in a long term relationship? Cue Equality Minister, Lynne Featherstone and the influence of the Liberal Democrats in ...
The NUS have circulated a memo which is on their website here.That includes the following:"the vastly increased numbers of graduates that will never pay the loan off are in fact what makes the system relatively progressive"and"Much has been made of the Government's 80% cuts to teaching budgets; of course, whilst thats true, there has not been an 80% cut to the overall Universities budget- in fact
I'm surprised that I even need to say this, but global warming is a bad thing that we don't want to happen. This simple message appears to have been lost as a consequence of the rise of climate scepticism. And so, when we get further confirmation that a bad thing looks almost certain to happen, ...
Sometimes politics throws up some real surprises. One of these is that over half a million people chose not NHS reform or housing benefit reform or government cuts as the big issue for them. This was not enough to spark a petition of half a million people, It was the forests which really got the public up in arms. Perhaps this is why governments don't like to take on middle Britain? It also produced a real moment during prime ministers question time when Ed Miliband asked if the PM was happy with the plans for the forests, Cameron replied, "no". ...
After last month's trip down memory lane looking at how internet campaigning worked in Brent East in the 2003 by-election, here is the piece I wrote for the Hansard Society after the 2001 general election (when I ran the Liberal Democrat online campaign). As with the Brent piece, it shows how many principles have stayed the same even as different internet phases have come and gone. And no, the power to draw up sensible imprint rules for the online world mentioned below still hasn't been used. Introduction Perhaps the most notable Internet innovation during the 2001 general election was the ...
Today the Government announced, as part of our commitment to advancing equality for lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) people – that religious buildings will be allowed to host civil partnership registrations. The change, which will be entirely voluntary and will not force any religious group to host civil partnership registrations if they do not wish to do so, is being introduced as part of the Equality Act. It will give same-sex couples who are currently prevented from registering their civil partnership in a religious setting – the chance to do so. As the Home Secretary says: 'This Government is ...
After Labour's filibustering and complete lack of respect for democracy, including the functioning of government, the AV bill received Royal Assent last night. Labour tried everything. "Lord" Prescott rewrote the constitution countless times by advocating the Queen should not be ... Continue reading →
While Anna & I are away, it's been up to Bob to dose poorly Benjamin Bunny with his parasite zapping medicine. Having seen our battle scars, he decided to try something different to the towel wrapping & syringing. Benj loves Brussels Sprouts so Bob carefully separated the leaves of some for him, and put the medicine in them & gave them to him for his breakfast. He wolfed them down. The medicine is quite runny so Bob then wiped up the excess with broccoli florets & hand fed them to him. This worked for today. It may not work tomorrow ...
Following residents' concerns about the state of the paintwork at the Roseangle Play Park, I raised the matter with the Leisure & Communities Department of Dundee City Council. I have now received the following positive reply : "An order has been submitted to Dundee Contract Services and I understand they will deal with this as a priority as weather permits."
This is the video I have been working on recently which will be emailed to constituents shortly asking gthem to vote "Yes" in the referendum on 5th May on changing the voting system.
The days of fat pay cheques for local authority Chiefs may well be over thanks to local government minister Eric Pickles. In future councils will have to approve salaries over £100,000 with a vote by full council. So hopefully no longer will councillors be having ludicrous conversations with taxpayers in which he or she claims, we have no choice, we have have to pay this sort of money as they try to justify some fat pay packet given to an officer with even less ability than themselves. Even better perhaps we will see the end of mind boggling deals as ...
Details are still a bit scarce as it's not been "officially" announced yet but there's a consultation on Marriage Equality in the works – most likely being announced by Lynne Featherstone MP this morning. (Possibly even right now) I don't know exact timetables, but the Guardian hints at the consultation starting in May which would point towards something hitting parliament in 2012, in line with what I've heard elsewhere. Amusingly and hypocritically, it seems this is "painfully slow" for Stonewall's Ben Summerskill, whose organisation was largely against marriage equality until just a few months ago. Timetables aside, I do have ...
Inspired by:
Knowsley Council's ruling Labour Cabinet tabled its plans to balance its books for 2011/12 yesterday without the media hysteria surrounding other council's plans. While over the road in Liverpool and at the other end of the East Lancs in Manchester, Labour run councils are milking the opportunity to score cheap political points, to their credit Knowsley have gone about the business of addressing the problem in a more professional and pragmatic way. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting - as some foolishly have done - that any council is cutting jobs just to make a political point against the ...
The Government's Welfare Reform Bill is being published today and its measures are mostly as previously trailed. The big policy in it is the Universal Credit – a major simplification to a horrendously complicated benefits system – and a very Liberal Democrat policy. Because of the heavy previous trailing of the Welfare Reform Bill's measures there are no major surprises in what it proposes but there are three respects in which it shows the outcome of the at times very lively debate within government – mostly, though not always, Liberal Democrat versus Conservative – about its contents. In that respect, ...
A quick follow-up from the emergency meeting Lib Dem councillors called last Tuesday. There is yet another major flaw in the bus station design. Yate Town Councillor Chris Willmore commented "It is bad enough that the technical design teams involved have designed something that is useless as a bus shelter, but now we are being told the bus station is too small. It has no scope to take extra buses!" "As residents and local councillors we demanded a meeting with reps from First Bus, South Glos, Dominion and Tesco. Rather than focus on which of them was responsible for this ...
We are currently preparing our local campaign to promote the Yes vote in the upcoming Alternative Vote (AV) referendum and hoping to counter the apathy and negatively that the No side are attempting to foster. There is no doubt that our electoral system is woefully out of date. It was designed for a two party system - and there has never been any change because the two parties have both done very well of it. But in last year's general election, over a third of the vote went to other parties. There are now ten political parties represented in parliament, ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice Individual cases of unfortunate citizens are often brought up at Prime Minister's Questions. A very powerful example of this was the subject of the first question today from John Mann (Labour). He cited the case of Gladys Hunt, whose care home fees have recently gone up by the staggering amount of £400 a week. Cameron replied that an extra £2 billion is going into adult care and that he'll look into Mrs Hunt's case. Unusually, a Conservative MP raised the next question about a constituent in dire straits. This was Millie d'Cruz, who suffers from ...
You know you've made it as a blogger (and it only took eight years!) when you write a post about a film, and said film's director comments on your post. But then, if someone was mistaking me for Michael Bay, I'd probably feel the need to comment too. Atlanta Nights – the film in question – is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, a noted literary hoax played upon a vanity publisher by the Science Fiction Writers of America. Rachael Saltzman – now to be forever immortalised as 'did I tell you that a film director commented ...
A new report has been produced by Dutch economists CE DElft analysing the benefits and disbenefits of night flights arriving into Heathrow between 11pm and 6am. The current regime allowing night flights runs out October 2012. Overall the report finds that the disbenefits out weight the benefits. Pretty obvious result really with millions of people having disturbed sleep under the flights paths contrasting with a few hundred people arriving in London in the middle of night. I suspect those passengers don't feel that much 'benefit' arriving at that time in the middle of the night! Other research shows that sleep ...
Why is evidence so hard for politicians? - Bad Science Oh Cthulhu. Burstow's one of ours. I wonder if we can get Huppmeister J to give him a slap upside the head...? (tags: health government science) SurveyFail redux Wanna cause some problems for some psuedoscientist? Go on, you know you do. Click this and follow the instructions. (tags: evpsychbollocks mischief) Disability benefit reforms: Minister undeterred by campaigners' anger | Society | The Guardian This woman needs a good beating with the clue bat. (tags: disability) Ten O'Clock Live: Three Men and a Little Lady? Sums up my issues with the ...
The Electoral Commission has published the results of its third survey of reports of electoral fraud and other malpractice, this time covering the 2010 general and local elections and for the first time including data for every police force. Commenting on the findings, Electoral Commission Chair, Jenny Watson, said: There was some high profile reporting of alleged electoral malpractice around the elections and perceptions of fraud continue to be a concern to voters. Yet these figures do not support the more pessimistic perceptions: there's no evidence of widespread attempts to commit electoral fraud, or of election results being called into ...
The second of the History of Middle Earth series edited by Christopher Tolkien. Here we are looking at two of the core stories of The Silmarillion, and several other narratives which were largely or completely set aside as Tolkien's work developed. I found the very first story, "The Tale of Tinúviel", particularly interesting. For the first time I was struck that it is a tale if love between one character with a short name starting with B and another with a longer name starting with T, whose father opposes the romance just as Tolkien's own guardian opposed his relationship with ...
This morning's Guardian reports that Nick Clegg has blocked some of the worst aspects of housing benefit reform, specifically he has intervened to ensure that plans to impose a 10% cut in housing benefit on anyone unemployed for more than a year have been dropped. Plans for a universal benefit will go forward with Government sources saying that 2.7 million households will be better off as a result. More than 1 million will see an increase of over £25 a week, with 85% of the increase going to households with the lowest 40% of income. Transitional protection will ensure that ...
The most worrying thing for me about the AV referendum isn't so much the possibility the nation will vote "No", and I'll be long retired before another chance at electoral reform comes along. It's the thought that the nation collectively decides it wants the kind of personality driving the no2AV campaign. Look at this: Isn't this the most desperate, dregs-of-the-barrel advertisement? Here is a bunch of people who most likely think of themselves as proud representatives of a great nation, willing to send troops to fight on foreign fields for freedom and democracy. Their message back home? "Insist on the ...
Yesterday afternoon, the following tweet was put out on the Treasury's official twitter feed: As you can see, it included a link to the Treasury's flikcr page, and the group of photos mentioned included a photo of chief secretary to ... Continue reading →
As a result of public pressure the coalition has apparently decided to abandon its plans to sell off publicly owned forests. Thanks to any readers who signed the Woodlands Trust petition. We've done our bit. Unfortunately this sensible decision will be mocked by the media and Labour opposition as a sign of weakness, a "U" turn, an example of the government's incompetence and unfitness to govern. I prefer to see it as, if not quite a sign of strength, at least evidence of a more "grown up" attitude towards politics. As far as I know the term "U" turn did ...
Thu 17th
07:44
Stockport councillors to do more for young domestic violence victims and children in care
Last night Stockport councillors across parties were in agreement that we should look for more and better ways to help children who are suffering from domestic violence or who are in care. At the Children and Young People's Scrutiny Committee, councillors including Ann Smith, Wendy Orrell and Maureen Rowles spoke passionately of the need to help young people suffering because they're personally victims of domestic violence, or they're witnesses to it going on in their households. Cllr Rowles wanted us all to be more willing to stand up and report concerns about neighbours. Stockport doesn't do badly for our children ...
The fee for Test Valley's rat-catching service has has been increased by 50%. At the same time the number of people in the Test Valley area able to access the free Council rat-catching service has been drastically cut. The decision was taken at a secret session of the Council's Conservative Cabinet. At present, Test Valley Borough Council, which employs three full-time pest control officers, offers a free of charge service for families with small children, residents who live adjacent to rodent invested open land not in their ownership, residents with a disability and residents in receipt of means tested benefits. ...
It's only a couple of days since we started our online petition to Save Prestwich Tip, but already the people of Prestwich and Whitefield are telling us what you think LOUD and CLEAR! Here's the full story. Sign the petition here. Here are some of the comments on the petition so far: S. D. from M25 wrote: The recycling area is essential to help keep Prestwich free of fly tipping quite apart from encouraging recycling, contributing to a cleaner environment and ASSISTING the Council in clearing waste to avoid environmental health issues. Germany,Scandinavia and many other European countries are at ...
This is a slightly truncated article, which I wrote for the Lib Dem magazine Liberator: Personally, I blame Harold Wilson. Until he decided to hold a post-legislative referendum on membership of the European Union in 1975 referendums were not part of the British tradition. The exception was of course Wales, which following the repeal of Gladstone's 1881 Sunday Closing (Wales) Act in 1961 saw a number of plebiscites on a County by County basis over the controversial issue of Sunday drinking. It took 35 years of going to the polls before all areas of Wales allowed their public houses to ...
i) births and deaths 17 February 1916: birth of David Blake Kelly, who played the captain of the Mary Celeste in The Chase (1965) and Jacob Kewper in The Smugglers (1966). ii) broadcast anniversaries 17 February 1968: broadcast of third episode of The Web of Fear, introducing Nicholas Courtney as Colonel (later Brigadier) Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart. The Doctor reappears with a mysterious colonel; the Yeti attack the base to retrieve the model. 17 February 1973: broadcast of fourth episode of Carnival of Monsters. Kalik and Orum release the Drashigs, but Vorg is able to destroy them, and the Miniscope is deactivated. ...
A particularly good novel in the Rebus series, and the only Rankin book to have won the Edgar Award. Rebus is put onto a training course as punishment for throwing a cup of tea at his boss, and the dead case resurrected for him and his fellow retrainees turns out to be intimately connected both with the case he has just been taken off, and with the real reason for his throwing the tea. A very intricate plot which actually made sense at the end (which is violent and shocking), with a detailed backdrop which includes many flawed human beings ...
This evening I spent a rare night off from my Council duties to attend a networking event organised by the fantastic Lib Dem Women's Network. This network was set up by my good friend Jo Shaw who stood for Parliament as the Lib Dem candidate for Holborn & St Pancras last year and who is a member of the Party's Federal Executive. Although the Liberal Democrats have more formal structures in place to support women, and increase the number of women MPs in Parliament, Jo and I agree that it is important to encourage informal networking between women in the ...
On Tuesday I wrote how we would be hearing so much more about AV. Little did I know at the time that Newsnight would be debating the subject on last night's programme. We had Michael Crick telling us the basic details of how AV works. It isn't difficult to understand but this was a concern for one member of the audience later in the show. We had a lively interview with Paddy Ashdown and John Prescott and there was a debate between two teams of three politicians. I forecast on Tuesday that we would hear much more about AV and, ...
There's been a good deal of unhappiness about the cancellation of the AAP Board Meeting scheduled for tonight. So much unhappiness that it's back on again – but minus any participation from the Education and Leisure departments at County Hall. As a result we'll be something of a self-help group, and that's where I thought my readers might come in – and help me with my failing memory. I know that some of you were at the Derwent Valley Board Meeting where Morris Muter of the Genesis Trust laid down a challenge to Durham County Council to explore with the ...
