This weekend will see the first of my 'Have your say' events in Knaphill. It's your chance to come and talk to me and your local councillors and let us know about any local issues you might have. We will ... Continue reading →
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] Can't post videos any more [IMG: :(]
Congratulations to Rahm Emanuel who has secured 55% of the vote in the Chicago Mayoral race circumventing the need for a further runoff election. Today has been all about volunteering. I was at an NHS Board Development day and the topic was how we can work better with the volunteers we have and also how we can develop volunteering. There is terrific scope for using volunteering to help with people's health outcomes. One of the most positive things you can do for someone's mental well being is to have a useful occupation. It doesn't need to be paid to give ...
Tonight the Council voted on its budget, and the Liberal Democrats secured enough votes to achieve lots for Prestwich. We managed to convince the Council to revise their plans on many of the big threats facing us. This means that many of the things we argued for will happen, and there are some great things for ...
Lib Dems in Prestwich have secured the future of the Longfield Suite and Prestwich Library, and managed to scrap shoppers' parking charges at Fairfax Road after the vote on the Council's budget. So, the Council has set its budget at last. Lib Dems proposed an amendment to the much-publicised original proposal, and after a long debate we secured enough ...
Hours of mindless fun...
The Liberal Democrat request for a 'call-in' of the decision made by Cornwall's Cabinet last week on huge parking increases has been accepted by the Council. This means that, for the first time, the Environment and Economy scrutiny committee will get to discuss one of the biggest and most controversial decisions made by Cornwall Council to date. The meeting will be held next Thursday at 2.30pm and, if necessary, Cabinet will meet the next day to consider any recommendations from the scrutiny committee.
National seasonally adjusted unemployment rose slightly in January after a similarly small fall in December. The national level now stands at 5.1%. Birmingham's seasonally adjusted rate remained at the December level of 11.4% (a year ago it was 12.5%). The unadjusted rate in Birmingham increased by 1,270 to 46,793 and now stands at 11.5%. Unadjusted unemployment usually rises in January, as temporary Christmas jobs come to an end. True to form, unadjusted unemployment rose in all major UK cities. Birmingham continued the gradual relative improvement compared to other UK cities that I noted last month. Our unemployment level is now ...
Road deaths in County Durham and Darlington last year reached their lowest level since local government and police boundaries were changed 36 years ago. A total of 16 people died in road crashes during 2010, two down on the previous low of 18 recorded just 12 months previously. The main causes of fatal and serious crashes are still excessive speed, failing to wear a seat belt, driving under the influence of drink or drugs and lapses in driver concentration.
Having had a couple of things to attend to today, I haven't seen the News. Or read the News. Or heard it. Not in that formal sense, anyway. A friend texted to tell me that a favourite actor had died, but, that apart, I have no idea what has happened today. Has David Cameron decided that he doesn't like politics and given it all up to become a florist? Has there been a coup in Lichtenstein? Has David Miliband ruled himself out of being a judge on the next series of The X Factor? It's no good asking me. It's ...
Here's a photo taken a couple of days ago on Widemouth Bay beach in Cornwall. Except for a modicum of assemblage by yours truly, all these bottletops were within one metre of each other on a random piece of the tideline. There were a similar number of bottle tops along the rest of the tideline. Presumably the pattern is repeated right along the Atlantic seaboard of the British Isles. So the Atlantic ocean must be infested with plastic bottletops. Millions of them. I noticed that by far the majority are those see-through plastic tops you get on top of the ...
I'm filled with admiration, every time I take a gander at Cllr Clive Harts (local Labour leader) twitter stream, if only I had such an eventful life, certainly rarely anything as exciting as todays "Morning in office - TDC budget. Also helped Salmestone councillors with their ward newsletter. Afternoon meeting with UNITE representatives." or yesterdays which included this phrase "Pulled myself together " So hopefully coming soon to the world of micro blogging will be Cllr Clive Hart saying something like this on twitter " Having pulled self together, met Northwood councillors, apologised, resigned, went for a swim. I'm not ...
Over at Virtually Naked they are reporting comments by Eric Pickles : "Many councils are internet-savvy and stream meetings online, but some don't seem to have caught up with the times and are refusing to let bloggers or hyper-local news sites in. With local authorities in the process of setting next year's budget this is more important than ever." as the Virtually Naked comments: This all seems a rather good idea. The coalition's localism agenda means that more and more decisions that affect people's everyday lives are going to be made in town halls, not Whitehall, and the more access ...
At the Full Council meeting held on the 15th February the Conservative-Controlled County Council approved, despite Liberal Democrat objections, a new budget for road maintenance that is an effective cut of £1.4M a year. Commenting on this proposal, the cabinet member for Highways, Councillor Mac McGuire (CON: Norman Cross), publicly stated that he expects Cambridgeshire's roads to ".. continue to deterioriate in future". Given the current, very poor, state of the roads in Cambridge (especially Milton and King's Hedges) it's disappointing news that the level of spending is set to decrease even further. By contrast the Lib Dems' alternative budget ...
Last summer, despite a public outcry, the Conservative-run Harborough District Council closed the public lavatories in St Mary's Place, Market Harborough to save £15,000. Today the Leicester Mercury reports that the council is paying contractors £53,000 a year to clean the town's other public conveniences on the Commons car park. That does not include the cost of labour. This was discovered by Lib Dem councillor Barbara Johnson, who told the Mercury she was "staggered" by the amount: "The Focsa charge for the Commons toilets is an eye-watering amount which does not include routine maintenance. "I would clean the lavatories myself ...
Last week, I attended a highly interesting and enjoyable lunchtime workshop at the University of Abertay Dundee about the possibility of Dundee establishing a city-wide car sharing scheme. The session was chaired by Chas Ball, Director of Carplus, who promote responsible car use through car sharing clubs. I see real potential for this in Dundee - particularly in the parts of the West End where parking is a real problem. The Courier published a good background report on the workshop.
Another day with Rutland's most celebrated fictional peer. The telephone is brought to me and at the other end of the line I find one of my friends from Liberals Against Choice. "It's this Big Society thing," he says. "We don't like it at all." "What you should do then," I reply, "is all join together to oppose it." He goes away happy, but calls again later in the day: "We've talked about it and we've decided that we want someone to oppose the Big Society for us." Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South-West 1906-10. Previously in Lord ...
I have been speaking recently with Ann Prescott, until recently Minutes Secretary and webmaster for West End Community Council. Ann is keen to promote health and stability classes for elderly folk in the West End and has been speaking with Murray McDowell of Good Health and Fitness about this. Murray is happy to promote such a class for local people and told me, "We would look at opening up the gym to the elderly for group training sessions working on core stability and balance. The gym is free at 12 noon every day, we would need a minimum of 8 ...
Virtually Naked hails an improbable liberal hero. Eric Pickles today said: ""Many councils are internet-savvy and stream meetings online, but some don't seem to have caught up with the times and are refusing to let bloggers or hyper-local news sites in. With local authorities in the process of setting next year's budget this is more important than ever." When I began writing, the four-volume Penguin edition of George Orwell's journalism was my bible. The Worcester Libertarian reviews a new selection of his articles for the Observer. "The collapse of the Gadhaffi regime is a blow to Putin's influence strategy, a ...
Was good to see Reg Tait of the RT Burns Club speaking recently on Celtic Music Radio about the trust and the forthcoming Gael's Fire fundraising event. The clip below also has footage from the launch of the public appeal just after last Christmas.
The good news is Market Harborough has won the internet poll to decide which town will be twinned with Aleksandr Orlov's home village of Meerkovo for a day. The result was announced earlier today in The Meerkovian: Whilst competition was fierce, Market Harborough emerged as the clear winner, receiving over 60% of the thousands of votes cast.The bad news is that, incredibly, that day will be tomorrow, Thursday 24 February. Meerkovo is part of the most popular advertising campaign in the country, and associating Market Harborough with that campaign would surely be a good way of promoting the town. But ...
Tomorrow evening the council will set its budget for the next financial year. The Council will I believe ratify the decision of the Finance and Administration Committee to a council tax freeze. This means that the level of council tax for the next financial year is unchanged. At Band D this amounts to £147.42. Multiplied by the taxbase, this would produce a Council Tax yield of £4,921,027. There is a forecasted 2010/11 underspend of £584,000 though may well be more. There has been a trend of significant underspends. The Administration has adopted an ultra cautious approach to the finances. The ...
Below is the speech I planned to make on the Budget last night. In the end I gave a much edited version due to the large number of poorly thought out, ill-conceived and politically-motivated amendments to the Coalition's proposed Budget tabled by the Labour Group at full Council last night which meant that the meeting to agree next year's Budget did not finish until about 12am. "The need to set a fair, balanced budget for this Council, has never been more urgent or more important:Over 900 members of the public have had their say via the Council's first ever 'Have ...
The BBC News website has an interview with John Thurso, the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness and Sutherland. In it he recalls his grandfather, Sir Archibald Sinclair, who led the Liberal Party between 1935 and 1945 and served in Churchill's wartime cabinet: Sir Archibald suffered a stroke in 1952, the year before Mr Thurso was born. "I remember him getting me to stand on a chair and make a speech after a lunch when I was six or seven. He would sit there in his big armchair and shout 'hear, hear'. "Then, in '59, he had his second stroke and ...
A four minute information overload on the health and wealth of nations over the last two-hundred years. In the closing seconds, we're told this easily accessible information involves over 120,000 numbers. Impressive, certainly. I shall have to see if I can dig out the Joy of Stats off the iPlayer. And then see if I can find an hour when I can actually concentrate on it.
Well that wasn't worth the wait was it boys and girls?12 months ago Labour laid into the Tories for asking the Chief Executive to go away and find some imaginary savings. A year later that's exactly what they did.Now to be fair, so did I - lay into the Tories that is! The difference is that last year there was a Lib Dem budget signed off by the S151 Officer. I couldn't do zero percent because I didn't have full access to the books. What this year has taught me is that either Labour were lying when announcing their "lowest ...
All, The Shipston/Stour Community Forum planned for next Tuesday (1st March) has had to change venue. Unfortunately the Village Hall at Pillerton Priors has been the victim of a fire. The Forum will now be held at the Shipston High School's Community Lounge, and I hope as many local people as possible can make it. See you there! Regards, Philip Posted from my iPhone
The BBC is carrying a story about political co operation in Liverpool. We yearn for Bootle Labour Party to be as constructive and sensible. Instead they have chosen to be opportunistic and to play to the gallery of each and every protester. The BBC story begins: The two main political parties in Liverpool are to unite to tackle the £100m government funding cut the city faces over the next two years.Ruling Labour and the recently usurped Liberal Democrats are planning to devise a joint budget and "put aside" any politics. "We are facing the biggest challenge in our history, it's ...
Traveline South West has announced that an arrangement has been negotiated to deliver scheduled data free of charge to mobile phones. The cost was previously 25p plus your normal network charge - it's not clear whether the network charge still applies. All of First's Bristol urban network of services are real-time enabled - based on the actual position of the bus - plus those operating from Bristol to Thornbury and Chipping Sodbury. As part of the Greater Bristol Bus Network programme, further services will be real-time enabled including the X27. So what you do is follow the instructions on the ...
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles' attempts at local government revolution have continued today, with his declaration that local news bloggers should be allowed into public council meetings to report on them, and that there should also be access for people that want to film them.He said: "Many councils are internet-savvy and stream meetings online, but some don't ...
On 1 January, Estonia became the 17th member of the Eurozone and the first of the former Soviet republics to join the single currency. This was a remarkable achievement but one the young nation was determined to pull off, as was explained at a seminar on Estonia and the Euro put on by the London chapter ...
Cambridge First reports: The MP for Cambridge was handed the accolade by the magazine Asian Voice after its readers cast their votes in the publication's annual political and public life awards. Asian Voice – which launched 35 years ago to forge links between British and Asian communities – reported: "Julian Huppert has quickly established himself as one of the most refreshing and exciting MPs to have been elected in the last General Election." Dr Huppert said: "I am delighted to receive this highly prized award from such a prestigious magazine. I thank the readers of Asian Voice for their encouragement." ...
A flashback to my childhood, but this time not a reference to the seatbelt. Magazine into my pistol, click... Magazine into my rifle, click... We've already looked over the daily threat brief, discussed actions in the event of an incident, ... Continue reading →
Chris Davies MEP is not known for holding back when he has something to say. His piece today, Britain's non-voters insult freedom fighters in Libya, is no exception. I strongly recommend it. People in Tunisia, people in Egypt, people in Libya have taken to the streets and laid down their lives for the sake of having what the complacent non-voters in our country appear to despise so much - the chance to influence the way they are governed through the ballot box.Whatever the outcome of the tide of revolution sweeping the Arab world - and I truly hope that it ...
Apparently the Metropolitan Police have got some good intelligence that Al Qaeda are in London and HUNGRY FOR OUR BRITISH SNACKS. I can't see why else a Police officer would stop a photographer taking this picture of JUST CAKES, demand to see the photographs, and try to take down the photographer's name, address, phone number, ...
(Observer Books, £8.99) Students of the English language, and for that matter politics, will be well aware of George Orwell's published books. Orwell was, after all, kind enough to leave us some essays which outlined his thoughts on the literary process, and sets for us some rules on good composition. A wise man once told me that Orwell's 'Politics and the English Language' and 'Why I Write', should be part of all aspiring non-fiction writers' essential collections and memorised to heart before their pen has ever been set to paper. Those who have read Orwell's books may be less familiar ...
Below is my profile form my official launch as Liberal Democrat candidate in Chells Ward, Stevenage for the local elections on May 5th 20111. I do not like the first photo. But then again I rarely like formal photos of myself. Tim Neale's parents were among the first to move out to Stevenage New Town. He was born here in 1961 and was brought up in Collenswood Road, where his parents still live. He says he, "Grew up with town." [IMG: Tim Neale] Tim Neale He attended Ashtree and Nobel Schools and apart from time away at London and Cranfield ...
Picture via Mashable Not only does a representation of him star in a film that is up for seven Academy Awards this weekend, but Mark Zuckerberg now has a comic book based on him. According to Mashable it has been produced by Canadian firm Bluewater Productions, is 48 pages in length, and is out today. The Winklevoss ...
In 2004, the last government merged the prison and probation services into one gigantic super-agency: the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The changes exacted by NOMS have led to the systematic fragmentation and demoralisation of probation, whose purpose has been altered beyond all recognition. Unrepresented at the highest management structure of NOMS, neglected and misrepresented, the probation service has for years plodded along in the shadows, only to be thrust into the limelight when the spotlight fell on individual tragedies amid media frenzies. The creation of NOMS bought with it the mantra of 'managerialism.' Staff at all levels experienced a ...
The Executive The main report for this meeting was to recommend the 2011/12 budget to Full Council on 7th March. Councillor Drage highlighted the key impacts of the new government's reform package on Sutton's funding and proposed expenditure. It was explained that thanks to early planning using the Smarter Services Sutton review programme the council was ...
Anyone who has ever knocked on doors seeking support for their party has heard the words: "I'm not interested in politics or in voting; I never vote; you politicians are all the same, you're just out for yourselves." I have ... Continue reading →
I've been waiting for the promised consultation on local bus services for some time now. It would appear that, like an 87A bus on a Sunday, it will never come, as the announcement of what survives the 53% cut in subsidy has been made via the Suffolk Onboard website. From a personal perspective, the announcement falls into two parts, the effect on my own village, and that on the village next door. In Creeting St Peter, we've lost our market day bus, route 453, which connected the Creetings with Stowmarket on a Thursday. To be honest, very few people even ...
The Swedish newspaper Expressen has interviewed Libya's former Justice Minister, who claims that Colonel Gaddafi ordered Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi to carry out the Lockerbie bombing. Expressen's reporter Kassem Hamadé is one of the first foreign journalists to have entered Libya ... Continue reading →
What's the best thing to do when you're being pelted with lies, inaccuracies and emotionally charged nonsense? Disarming with humour is usually quite an effective tactic and a genius has come up with the perfect antidote to the No2AV Campaign's latest advertising campaign. The No2AV ad features a series of heart rending images of babies or soldiers, for example, with a caption saying "he needs a maternity unit/bulletproof vest/ etc not an alternative voting system. The thing is that No2AV are talking complete bollocks about the cost of introducing AV which they put at £250 million because they say that ...
Last night Cllr Tom Steele asked me a couple of questions about funding for social care in Reading and growth pressures we are experiencing. I have attached them in full below:- Social Care Funding Councillor Steele to ask the Lead Councillor for Community Care, Housing and Health: What level of funding is proposed to be spent on social care 2011/12 and how does this compare with previous years? Answer: "In 2009/10 Adult Social care overspent its budget by £1million. In this financial year (2010/11) the Directorate has managed growth pressures of around £2.3 million and is predicted to break even ...
BBC Politics yesterday profiled the life of John Archibald Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso – better known as John Thurso, the MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross: John Thurso has spent a decade as an MP, but still regards himself as "an entirely accidental politician". Living in the "ruins" of his family castle in the northernmost part of Scotland, he might appear a gentleman amateur in the careerist world of Westminster. Yet politics is in the blood of this grandson of former Liberal leader Sir Archibald Sinclair. Mr Thurso, the 57-year-old Lib Dem MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, ...
Wed 23rd
13:52
Commemorating 100 million missing women - Garterstitch 100's International Women's Day Project
The world isn't really separated into those who can knit and those who can blog, but I certainly can't do the former, so instead I'm going to publicise an imaginative project taking place in Glasgow for International Women's Day. It's estimated that 100 million women are missing from the world today for various entirely preventable reasons, ranging from sex trafficking to gender motivated infanticide to complications in childbirth which would be fixable easily with the correct medical help. In order to commemorate these missing women, a blanket, made up of six inch squares, representing a stitch for each woman, is ...
Yesterday evening the Leader and Deputy Leader of Reading Borough Council's Coalition administration in Reading tabled the following motion. I drafted the motion. It reads: "In line with the Coalition Agreement agreed by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Groups in May 2010, this Council is committed to conducting its business with greater openness and transparency to increase public confidence in the activities of the Council.This Council is also committed to ensuring every penny of Council Tax payers money is spent wisely and for the benefit of residents.This Council rejects those policies and practices adopted by the previous Labour administration which ...
From the Shropshire Star: Shropshire dentist 'broke wind' in front of patients
Yesterday, I attended an event ran by the Centre for Sustainable Energy, an organisation intended to expand the use of renewable energy technology. Ostensibly, they're on the same side as me, that side being Windmills Now! or similar. However, I left the day with something of a bitter and resentful attitude – even more so ...
Graham Watson MEP is supporting a European Parliament move to eliminate truck blind spots, which are responsible for 400 deaths on our roads every year. As part of Brake's national 'See Me, Save Me' campaign MEPs have signed the petition calling for safety rules to be enforced. New technology will allow drivers to fit reversing aids and new radar sensors to detect pedestrians and cyclists. The campaign was started by the family of Eilidh Cairns who was killed cycling home from work. It is estimated that 2000 cyclists are killed on EU roads every year and many of these deaths ...
Yesterday evening at full Council Cllr Tom Steele (Conservative, Kentwood) tabled a written question to me asking what support is planned in Reading to support unpaid carers. Below is the response I gave: "Carers in Reading make a hugely valuable and important contribution to caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our community. As an administration we are committed to placing support for carers at the heart of all our policies and at the top of our local agenda for transforming community care. The Coalition Government's Agreement sets out that the Government will look to provide increased support ...
Take the increasing importance attached to social networking and its ability to influence the political world. Add in a tradition of wanting to influence the public and other governments. Turn down your ethics meter. Shake together and what do you get? This: The US government is offering private intelligence companies contracts to create software to manage "fake people" on social media sites and create the illusion of consensus on controversial issues. The contract calls for the development of "Persona Management Software" which would help the user create and manage a variety of distinct fake profiles online. The job listing was ...
Or so said Vincent Van Gogh. Since its publication in 2004, and especially since the formulation of the Liberal-Conservative Coalition, there has been an astonishing amount of guff written about The Orange Book. Barely a day goes by without someone decrying the influence of those supposedly unsavoury rightist 'Orange Bookers'. However, Edward Stourton's recent Analysis programme on Radio 4 was an intelligent and more measured approach to assessing its political impact. In short, it questioned whether yellow + blue = orange. Personally, I've discovered that those most vehemently against The Orange Book are those most likely never to have read ...
Wednesday: Somewhere, somewhen, there is a TARDIS by a graveside, and the inscription on the headstone just reads: "He saved the world." I met Nicholas Courtney in late 2005 in the BBC shop off Regent Street. I was buying a Dalek. I addressed him as "Brigadier" and said the new series wouldn't be complete until he was in it, a sentiment he approved. And now he won't be. And that is sad. To fans of Doctor Who, Nicholas Courtney was the Brigadier: Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart KBE, originally a Colonel, latterly a General, but always, forever, just "the Brigadier". ...
It's never nice to see a life disintegrate, however much the problems are of that person's own making. So I feel sad to read that Jim Devine, the former MP for Livingston recently found guilty of MP's expenses fraud has now been made bankrupt. His former office manager took the bankruptcy action after he failed to pay £35,000 awarded to her in compensation for the appalling way he treated her. I'm sure that no amount of money can truly make up for the bizarre ordeal she underwent and in the end of the day, it would have been much better ...
Herts Liberal Democrats have generally welcomed the extra £100m from the Coalition Government to fix potholes but warn residents that this really is a drop in the ocean and won't solve the problem. Chris White, Leader of the Opposition, said: 'This money is a help, but really it is just like cold tar filling a pothole. Underinvestment over the last few years, coupled with badly managed and costly contracts and 3 bad winters, means huge numbers of Hertfordshire's roads are falling to pieces . 'The money is the equivalent to £2 per person – so while welcome it won't solve ...
Here's the final version of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 as passed by Parliament: Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has praised UK Chancellor George Osborne saying he was "very impressed, as just one man looking from a distance, at the basic strategy that he's adopted," and that Osborne had "locked his government and the coalition into a set or reforms that are very good". The quotes come from an ...
Yesterday we received Stockport Council's report on its use of RIPA – the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 – for the period July-September 2010. This is the Act that gives Councils (and other public bodies) the power to carry out covert surveillance – spy – on people in certain specific situations. It should only be used when really needed and all other avenues for collecting evidence against someone have failed. In those three months, Stockport used RIPA twice. Both were in September and both were to deal with anti-social behaviour. One was from the Community Safety Unit and the ...
Wed 23rd
12:12
Kishwer Falkner writes... Libya: our common humanity crosses frontiers to protect those we do not kn...
As tyrannical regimes go, Libya is right there at the top and ranks alongside North Korea for the unpredictability of its ruler, the self-styled Colonel Muammar Gaddafy, who used to be referred to by Ronald Reagan as the Middle East's 'mad dog'. Having given up nuclear weapons he is admittedly slightly better than Kim Jong-il, but we cannot know for sure that he has also given up chemical and biological weapons. In a country where tribal loyalties prevail and where the four main tribes occupy the main positions, Gaddafi's own tribe occupies the top posts and much of his internal ...
Recommended reading for Lib Dem councillors and local campaigners over the last seven days: Following the decision that we do get to vote on Fairer Votes on 5th Mays, The Telegraph reports the Deputy Prime Minister: AV referendum: it's a 'once in a generation' opportunity, says Nick Clegg 18% - opinion poll good news for Lib Dems buried on page 5 of the Guardian: (LD 18, Lab 38, Con 35), and also very close on Fairer Votes: Alternative vote campaigns running neck and neck Newspaper editorials support Fairer Votes: Andrew Rawnsley in the Observer says: The cynical enemies of electoral ...
I thought I should just clarify a few facts on the Chief Executive appointment to Suffolk County Council in early 2008. I did not support Andrea Hill's appointment at any stage. I wanted to make this clear, as a number of people clearly believe that I did. I was not involved in the shortlisting in February 2008 as I was away on holiday. Three candidates were shortlisted. There were five councillors on the appointment panel which made the final decision. The three Conservatives were Jeremy Pembroke, Graham Newman and Jane Storey. The other two were the then leader of the ...
I was deeply disturbed, and at times horrified, by Muammar Gaddafi's defiant speech yesterday. My ten years' experience in working in mental health further reinforced my fears that this unstable despot is not bound by moral boundaries and may well do anything to cling on to power. Stephen Fry tweeted that "Gaddafi appears to have separated himself from any semblance of reality, which would be funny if it didn't mean slaughter, pain and horror". SNP Blogger Lallands Peat Worrier also reflected that "this is an object lesson in fucknuttery. A technical term..." Not a term I would generally have used ...
I stopped for a kebab on my way home from Becky Tinsley's passionate and horrifying account of life and death in Sudan. I disturbed a black cat in the road which retreated to a wall and yelled at me. I could do nothing to help it. I guess I used up my luck just by being born in Britain and not Sudan.If you want to know more, go to Becky's campaign, Waging Peace.
Wed 23rd
11:28Campaign to get a Tunisian Street Vendor named as Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year 2011'
I'd like to enlist your help. Time Magazine gives the title 'Person of the Year' to the individual who 'for better or for worse...has done the most to influence the events of the year'. They are clear that the title should not in itself be a prize, but an acknowledgement of influence on world events. Recent winners include Mark Zuckerberg, Ben Bernanke and Barack Obama. I think – and I know it's only February – but in 2011 that title should be given to a Tunisian street vendor called Muhammad Al Bouazizi. It would be a fitting tribute to one ...
Work on the Wallington Integrated Transport Project is progressing well. The first phase to install new paving and realign the curb from Ross Parade round the Post Office and into Woodcote Road is in and being levelled. As work progresses up Woodcote Road the pavement will be widened too. The traffic lights in Woodcote Road at the junction with Beddington Gardens are being removed this morning - so please take care when crossing. Over the last few years many people have told us that these lights are not needed. A new pedestrian crossing will be in place within four weeks ...
David Cameron has become the first world leader to visit Egypt since the fall of Hosni Mubarek, and he was right to make this so. However, the moment has been rather tarnished by having big players from eight large arms firms in tow. The debate about the arms trade itself is a difficult one, and ...
After William Hague's announcement (2:20:40 in) on the Today programme that Britain does not sell arms for use in internal repression or regional or international conflicts, I asked if they were for killing rabbits. In an excellent article in the Guardian today,"Britain can push democracy or weapons - but not both" Simon Jenkins wonders if it's for killing moles.
Well - I'm back! For those who have wondered what I have been doing, I have been getting my energy (and bank balance!) back in order by working hard at my life outside of politics. I work part-time for a privately owned college in London which has brought me into contact with International students and their difficulties with the UK Border Agency. Genuine students are really suffering as knee jerk reaction at Westminster makes their life difficult. This country has had a proud tradition of offering first class education to young people from all over the world. This shouldn't be ...
The results of my Kindle sale have been mixed – per-day sales tripled during the last week. Unfortunately, I'd need to sell ten times as many books to make the same amount I was making previously. So at 5PM UK time I'm going to return my books to the original, still-pretty-cheap, $5 price. If you ...
Liberal Democrat membership has fallen over the years to be now less than 100 members per Parliamentary constituency. While this is not desirable, there are some things which can be done to use this to the advantage of the local party and its members. Dunbar's number is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of ...
Rod Stewart famously sang "Tonight's the night, it's gonna be alright, cos I love ya babe, ain't nobody gonna stop us now." Tonight is certainly the night, budget-wise, but I don't intend to try and get the Mayor's attention at tonight's Council meeting by addressing him with the rest of that quote. It would be highly inappropriate. ...
The 2011 national census starts shortly and has been run every 10 years since 1801. Censuses are used to decide how much money is handed to public bodies based on how many people and the demographics of those people living in an area. Forms will start being sent out 7 March and the answers are meant to be about where people are on Sunday 27 March. The 2001 Census run by Labour in Southwark was a disaster for Southwark in that many many thousands of people went unrecorded. Consequently Southwark Council has been receiving many tens of millions every year ...
'Little by little, and like a virus, the Big Society idea has lodged itself insidiously in my mind; so that now, everywhere I go, I start to see small things that actually could be done closer to the ground, by and for the people who know about them and need them'. So wrote Matthew Parris in the Spectator last August, a passage approvingly quoted by Jesse Norman, the Big Society philosopher-in-chief in his book of the same name. Parris's summary tells us that the concept has gained a grip - and not only on the Right. Some Liberal Democrats are ...
On Monday I was at the Scottish Local TV Forum in Perth which was also attended by Murdo Fraser MSP, Blair Jenkins and Dougie MacLean. The event was aimed at those interested in getting involved in shaping new TV services in Scotland. The UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport are currently consulting on a ...
Following pressure for a range of different types of cycle storage at Yate Station, not simply lockable pods, draft proposals have been designed for new cycle parking facilities to meet the demand for cycle parking. There's a need for a mix of types, secure lock-ups for regular users with keys, and parking accessible for occasional cyclists. There will now be a consultation which will include the Friends of Yate station, local members, the Town Council, and First Great Western. Hopefully once the proposal are agreed funding will be made available in the new financial year. Cllr Sue Walker (Lib Dem, ...
As part of my occasional series on reports that we now have Whigs in government, here is a link to a piece on the BBC's website by Edward Stourton.
I was a bit bemused to see this report on the BBC website for a number of reasons. The report contrasts the alleged £2 million cost of policing the 3 day Liberal Democrat Federal Conference in Sheffield in 2 weeks' time with the £15 million of cuts the Police Force has been told to make next year. For a start, the phrase next year is critical to that sentence - the conference policing cost is coming out of the tail end of this year's budget. First in my long list of issues with this report is the simple inaccuracy of ...
The BBC have revealed today that more than £5m was paid out in in consultancy fees over the now-shleved Severn Estuary barrage. Shadow Welsh Secretary, Peter Hain is quick to jump in, arguing that the scheme would have created thousand of jobs and accused the coaltion government of "frittering away millions" on consultants. But hang on a minute, wasn't all this money on consultants spent by the last Labour Government, of which Peter Hain was a prominent part, before his fall from grace and rejection by Labour MPs in the Shadow Cabinet elections? Any project that is going to committ ...
Yesterday evening I presented a review of the way Stockport Council does marketing and communications. It's been approved by the CRMG Scrutiny committee, which looks at the back-office functions at the Council, and next goes to the Executive. The review, as with all scrutiny reviews, is a cross-party one and councillors O'Neill, Scott, Wyatt and Stuart Corris were also on the panel, taking evidence from a range of sources both inside and outside the council. We aim to do two things. Firstly, to reduce the amount the Council spends on communications, and secondly to improve those communications. How can we ...
Previously I've dug out a City of London Alderman election leaflet from the 1930s which showed how many of the message in election leaflets have stayed the same over the decades, even if the presentation has changed massively. This time I've dug out a single-sided leaflet from Doncaster in 1950, for Labour MP Ray Gunter who was moving seat from Essex to northern England following the redrawing of boundaries. It is typical of a style of leaflet that last for many years after women were first given* the right to vote in Parliamentary elections – from the wife of a ...
Discussing the crisis in Libya with diplomat Sir Jeremy Greenstock on Radio Four this morning, the ever gung ho 'Lord' Owen was calling for foreign air strikes on Libya and foreign intervention in that country. Libya is apparently 'ringed with NATO airfields'. Owen was always a Tory, wasn't he... I know he reads my blog so the thing is, David, the amazing and inspiring revolutions and uprisings which have taken place across the region have been led by the educated young people of these countries taking control of their destinies. These revolutions have been blissfully free of the religious nutters ...
Congratulations to Charles Kennedy MP, the first person since Disraeli (1871-1877) to serve two consecutive terms as the rector of Glasgow University. From STV.tv: Mr Kennedy won convincingly after securing 2601 votes out of a possible 3166. The writer received 565 of the votes from students. The contest to become Glasgow University's 121st rector came as the institution faces protests over course cuts. And both candidates attempted to win the hearts and minds of the student body by issuing a warning to university bosses. Mr Kennedy told the Herald before his win: "My job, if re-elected, is to get all ...
We are now days away from the general election in the Republic of Ireland. New Fianna Fáil Leader Michael Martin As I blogged here last month, the ruling Fianna Fáil government are set to make big losses as it reaps the backlash of an angry Irish populace after the European Union and IMF economic bailout and the austerity measures that have been imposed on the nation by the government. It is likely to be Fianna Fáil's worst election result in their long and distinguished history having been the largest party in every Irish parliamentary election since 1932. Fianna Fáil ...
My Delicious cross-posting isn't working reliably, so I'm on the lookout for alternatives which will aggregate links and post them here on a daily basis. What should have appeared last night: YouTube - Australian broadcaster Belinda Heggen Mocks TV Co-Host "Belinda, I just can't understand how something so small can be so impressive." "Well, Mark, *you* would know about that." Analyzing The Beach Boys's lyrical content Classification of young American females according to Brian Wilson. (The Beach Boy, not the North Down politician.) Libya's regime at 40: a state of kleptocracy | openDemocracy Analysis of Libya from September 2009 by ...
A sad day yesterday, with the passing of Nicholas Courtney. On to today's anniversaries: i) births and deaths 23 February 1918: birth of Bill Strutton, writer of The Web Planet (1965) and the novelisation Doctor Who and the Zarbi. 23 February 1928: birth of Bernard Kay, who played Tyler in The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964), Saladin in The Crusade (1965), Crossland in The Faceless Ones (1967) and Caldwell in Colony in Space (1971). 23 February 1935: birth of Gerry Davis, script editor of Doctor Who from The Celestial Toymaker (1966) to part 3 of The Evil of the Daleks ...
At the Council's Budget meeting I was due to respond to a petition from Green Party Candidate Melanie Eastwood (Save Our Services) on Social Care. Sadly due to the large number of public questions and other petitions the time allotted ran out so I was unable to give the response verbally. Below is the response I would have given (and which was circulated in the meeting): 'I would like to thank everyone who signed this petition - it is clear that social care is an issue that matters to many people in Reading. As an administration we believe that the ...
Yesterday evening Reading's Liberal Democrat and Conservative Groups agreed a budget to protect the most vulnerable in our town and deliver a Council Tax freeze - the first in many years. I was particularly pleased my detailed plans to protect vulnerable adults won support from members across the Council including from Cllr Mike Orton, former Labour Council Leader and my predecessor as Lead Member for Community Care. Labour's opposition group voted against and failed to come up with an alternative budget despite 23 years previous experience of running the Council. In doing so Labour councillors voted decisively: against an increase ...
Yes, Mr Pickles, I am looking at you. I have expressed my concern several times (Lansley, Pickles and a Liberal Society, In a Pickles on Localism) before that Eric Pickles is not doing a particularly good job at the Department for Communities and Local Government. I've pointed out that many of his instincts appear to be centralist and that he has apparently lost the confidence of local government, including Tory councils. This latest set of revelations is not particularly devastating - at worst it's mild incompetence - but he can't afford this sort of story any more. Once again, I ...
This morning's Independent reports that the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police dined privately with senior executives from the News of the World seven times over a four-year period during which the force turned down calls for its investigation into phone hacking to be reopened. The paper also quotes Dee Doocey, a Lib Dem member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, as saying: "Imagine the outcry there would be if the Commissioner was seen dining with a member of the public who was the subject of a police investigation."Dee says she will raise the matter at today's meeting of the Authority.
Here's a few awesome links from the Yes campaign to celebrate my first work in the Guildford phonebank yesterday: First up there's the wonderful ARGHtoAV-o-matic which comes up with adverts for the No campaign. My personal favourite is: There's also a brand new A to Z of rubbish arguments from the No campaign... And there's also this: And finally a diagram about the "miserable little compromise" quote which has been doing the rounds: And since when did people believe anything Clegg said anyway? P.S. In case anyone thinks this is negative campaigning, this is what negative campaigning really looks like: ...
I liked one of the answers on Any Questions last week about how we deal with a lack of jobs in a jobs market dominated by science and technology. It seemed obvious to Susan Greenfield, a scientist,that we need a workforce that is trained in science and technology and she told us that only 17% of students are taking one or more science A levels. Her answer was that we need to encourage our students in this direction. However she also said that we have 70 graduates for every job. It strikes me that we have enough trained scientists already. ...
