So he says on tonight's Question Time So if this was the case it would be unlikely there would be any evidence of a UK Labour politician warmly embracing said brutal dictator or indeed selling him lots of weapons.
Another week with Rutland's most celebrated fictional peer draws to a close. You are no doubt wondering how I am getting on as Minister for Outer Space in the Coalition Government. I flatter myself that I am doing Rather Well. For instance, I found that if you give them a free hand those civil servant wallahs will simply weigh you down with reports, memoranda and other beastly paperwork. I have put a stop to that by giving the firm instruction that my Red Boxes are to be closed at 10 a.m. sharp. One has to show who is that master, ...
I wish The National Archives had put this page up before I wrote my article on Larry for Comment is Free, because it seems there is quite a history of cats in Whitehall: The original Peter the Home Office cat was 'Chief Mouser' in residence until 1946 when he passed away. There are letters from Austria, Italy and the USA mourning the death of Peter, including one letter from the 'Peter Remembrance Society' ...Cats appointed to other government offices as 'Chief Mouser' include 'Jumbo' at the Cabinet War Rooms and 'Smokey' at the Treasury.There was also a story in the ...
I am inclined to add "Pacifist" to my tag line. Yet, if you had asked me before this week, I would have been inclined to say I had no opinion. Watching Civil WarThe "domino effect" we have seen this year, a running commentary making 24hr news more like a dystopic thriller, has become both hyper real and surreal. However, my refining of my own opinion has been shaped by this occurrence. It is an
...wasn't really a debate. There's been a spat between the Yes and No camps. Basically, the No campaign are hosting "debates" across the country. I say "debates" because they weren't really. See: This is what the No Campaign call a debate. (16 February) Setting the record straight on our Sheffield debate. (21 February) After reading the first story, I decided to register interest in the debates. But, true to Wilkie's story, I had to go through the No2AV website to ask to attend the Leeds debate at Leeds Town Hall. Strike one. Surprisingly, I was invited to the debate, which ...
Thu 24th
22:23
Where do US Presidential candidates make a bee line for less than a year before the primaries? Iowa?...
New Delhi?
Last night was the annual "Budget Council" for Bury MBC. This is normally a long night and last night was no exception. Given the financial situation the country finds itself in this was probably the most difficult budget the Council has ever had to set. Over £14 million of money had to be taken out of what the Council spends on local services - a tough ask for any council, but especially tough for somewhere like Bury which has a long history of being poorly funded by central Government. For the first time in history, the budget proposed by the ...
After a visit to Ancrum Drive to discuss impending works that the City Council will undertake to ensure the flooding problem from Lochee Park into residents' gardens is tackled, I attended a very interesting briefing on the private sector house condition survey in Dundee, undertaken by David Adamson and Partners. This contained very interesting information about the city's private sector housing stock - owner occupied, former local authority sold housing and private rented housing. Of concern is the extent of investment needed to bring those houses requiring repair up to an acceptable standard (£24.82 million to achieve tolerable standard/visible repairs ...
It's been a few days since my last post which I think is due to the fact I'm busy at work, but at the same time I think it also has a lot to do with there not being a lot about the Lib Dems in the news, particularly there hasn't really been anything bad. The main recent news has obviously been about the demonstrations in Libya/Bahrain/Yemen following on from Egypt and Tunisia, obviously these are total disasters and I hope that the international community collects together to stop the suffering of these people from the hands of their rulers. ...
Peter Hain is an established and experienced campaigner, politician, and leading figure in the Labour movement. In particular he has a proud record of fighting racism, as a key figure in the anti-apartheid movement. However, VN gets the sense that his powers are waining somewhat, and that he might just be coming to the end ...
PLEASE NOTE THESE ARE ROUGH AND UNREILABLE NOTES TAKEN FROM MY IPHONE TYPED WITH FAT FINGURES MARK NOTTINGHAM TURNS UP SITS ON LABOUR GROUP HURRAH! CLIVE HART DOESN'T RESIGN BOO! Finance department clapped as reward for their efforts hurrah! LEADERS REPORT Pfizer mentioned reference to government response and formation of task force p carter We will see government upgrading of rail and parkway railstation, Laura sandys mentioned Labour interruption not happy with reference to government Clive Hart wants updates can't see how parkway, will help with travel time to Ramsgate, iris dragged in marks and sparks, Harrison anti parkway went ...
I was saddened to learn that former Fife councillor Edith McFee has passed away, at the age of 85. Edith represented Newport on Tay, Tayport and Wormit on Fife Regional Council and then Fife Council for 21 years. A rather younger Fraser Macpherson helped Edith in her first election campaign back in 1982. Edith represented all that local councillors should be - caring, hard-working and always putting constituents first.
After seven drafts (one more than I usually reckon on needing for an essay) and far, far too long procrastinating over its contents (after all, I said it was taking too long to do on 5th January!), TMA01 is now all ready to submit. I feel like I've been going round in ever-decreasing circles with this particular essay and I'm glad to see the back of it. It was certainly an interesting one to write, but I'm confidently expecting my lowest ever TMA mark for this one as in places it's turned into an inelegant mess. One point I really ...
Sir Peter Wakefield's sudden death last November brought a premature end to a distinguished career of public service, not only as a British diplomat but also to a wide range of voluntary organisations, including the Richmond Theatre and London's Asia House — all of which was evoked at his packed Memorial Service at All Souls Church, ...
The BBC News site has mini-manifestos from eight of the nine candidates standing in the Barnsley Central by-election on 3 March. The full nine are: Dominic Carman (Lib Dem)Jane Collins (UKIP)Enis Dalton (BNP)Michael Davies (Independent)Tony Devoy (Independent)James Hockney (Conservative)Alan "Howling Laud" Hope (Monster Raving Loony)Dan Jarvis (Labour)Kevin Riddiough (English Democrats)More about Dominic Carman on the Guardian site.
[Originally posted on Liberal Democrat Voice, 24/02/11] David Cameron's article on public service reform in the Telegraph was the opening shot in what could be a significant battle both within the Coalition and across the House. The case presented raises at least three important ethical issues. First, the way in which evidence is being used ...
Thu 24th
18:31
Only in Thanet can democracy be thwarted by one security guard and a Building Services Assistant
The last three occasions I've attended public meetings at Thanet District council the doors to the council offices have been locked either preventing the public entering or leaving. Richard Samuel back in September gave every impression that he was on the case! (it made no difference on next visit) Feeling that such incompetence ( in my opinion) is a little more than coincidence I thought I'd contact Richard Samuel Chief Exec to seek assurance that I could indeed visit a public meeting with what on passports used to say was "Without let or hindrance". No surprise Mr Samuel was "in ...
I've waited a while before writing this in order to reflect on it a bit. The first obvious thing, and it must be said, is that there is no motion on Higher Education. I actually think this is a good thing, but I will discuss this in more detail later. I'll now go through the Main Hall agenda item by item. Most things I won't have a lot to say about, fortunately! The number below correspond to the numbers in the agenda. Federal Conference Committee Report. While interesting in its own way, it's not one of the major political events ...
David Cameron's article on public service reform in the Telegraph was the opening shot in what could be a significant battle both within the Coalition and across the House. The case presented raises at least three important ethical issues. First, the way in which evidence is being used to justify these proposals is deeply suspect. Mr Cameron states that publicly providing bureaucratic and target-driven services might be worth supporting if they delivered quality services: "but the evidence shows otherwise. Whether it's cancer survival rate, school results or crime, for too long we've been slipping against comparable countries". These are very ...
I am sorry about this, but the judges were adamant. So the Shropshire Star wins Headline of the Day for the second day in a row with: Whitchurch dentist was 'begged to stop breaking wind' Yesterday's winner is here.
I can count on one hand the number of books that I've read which have fundamentally changed the way I think about the world. I'm excited that in Born to Run by Christoper McDougall, not only have I just read another, but that this one quite probably tops the list. The book takes you through this amazing journey where in a quest to work out why he gets so many injuries (like most runners!), he
Guido Fawkes has written a post about the links between the Yes campaign in the referendum on a fairer voting system and the Electoral Reform Society. He makes great play about the Society's supposed stance in favour of e-voting in public elections. As evidence, Guido quotes from a report which I helped to write when I worked for ERS. He quotes the view of the Society at that point that e-voting and other new technologies could help to increase turnout. That was indeed the Society's view before pilots took place in a variety of local elections across the UK. However ...
We have received this about St. Gregory's h1 { margin-top: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; }h1.western { font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; }h1.cjk { font-family: "DejaVu Sans"; font-size: 12pt; }h1.ctl { font-family: "DejaVu Sans"; font-size: 12pt; }p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } St Gregory's re-submits plans for sixth form development Capital allocation
One of the first campaigns I launched in Launceston was to get the poor state of the advertising hoardings on Western Road sorted. Now the site is a mess once again and I am trying to get the company responsible to take action. The original hoardings were made of wood which had become rotten and was threatening to collapse and posed a risk to motorists. Eventually these were pulled down and replaced with new frames. Unfortunately, although the frames themselves are still in good condition, the advertising posters on one of the boards are a complete mess and peeling off ...
The link is to the story on French TV about the Family Courts in England.
This week the Reading Evening Post published a 'First Person' article written by me on the tough choices we face in social care in Reading. Read it here.
For some reason I suspect the suggestion of Denis Shane that Parliament stop serving beer for a week in March will not be too popular amongst his colleagues. Epolitix says that the Rotherham MP tweeted this afternoon: "Would a way of celebrating alcohol-free week 9-15 March be to shut down Commons drinking holes?" And why not? Perhaps this is one way MPs can take a lead by showing that they can do without a drop of the hard stuff for a limited period of time. Given the health issues associated with the misuse of alcohol, as well as the alcohol-related ...
"The same case as in Britain (where) for 57 years the Queen has been ruling. I have been in the same situation. "I am not in the same position to be able to impose rule on the people. I have ... Continue reading →
I can't imagine why it feels so appropriate to be writing up this story today -but what the heck? It relates to our candidate in Birkdale West Jack Smith Hughes and his conduct at the count and comes with an excellent provenance. When it appeared that he had won - there were several recounts, the Tories in disbelief started looking under the table where the votes had been piled in the hope that a bundle or a few odd votes might have fallen to the ground. At this election the counting was being done in the local polling station. Birkdale ...
VN rather thinks that EyeSpyMP veer from the insignificant to the immature and rude most of the time, however, this tweet from the stalkers did make us chuckle: Nobody expects Woolas to have the decency to keep his head down of his own accord, but it seems amazing that nobody in Labour high-command demanded he keep away for ...
Good for Ken Clarke for avoiding to take the populist stance. Instead he focussed rightly on how to make the European Court of Human Rights work properly. This doesn't mean pandering to the worst sentiments of the population. My grudge with MPs is that they don't understand that their populist rhetoric (see last post) harms us all, even them. When governments lack popularity, they blame somebody
The world is becoming increasingly 'globalised' and interdependent, driven by technological innovation and the now virtually unlimited movement of people and capital. This has opened up extraordinary opportunities for businesses and individuals all around the world, but it also poses many problems for national policy makers and governments. Perhaps the most important and publicised change brought about thus far by the global age is the rise of China and India as economic powerhouses. China is now the second largest economy in the world and will overtake the United States to be the biggest in a couple of decades. India is ...
The coalition minister Grant Shapps has allocated £76.9M to Southwark to do up its council housing. That's £76.9m more than 13 years of the past Labour government. Fab news. Lambeth has been allocated £100.5M and Lewisham £94.5M. The grant allocation come in 2012/13 & 2013/14 after the local councils have proved they can spend the money wisely. Southwark had applied for £129M but clearly its application wasn't as convincing as we'd all have all liked.
First they came for the squirrels now it's granny's free bus pass... Or that is the hope of the Institute of Economic Affairs... in respect of the whether the baby boomer generation most responsible for the national debt, should fairly share the responsibility for paying it off. The economics of the IEA case are quite sensible; broadly state pension reform, and removing a series of universal benefits and age-related tax exemptions. Over £15bn per year could be saved. More if we include public sector pension reform. Where poverty is an issue benefits should be simple and targeted. The politics of ...
Thu 24th
14:55
Want to know about what's going on with the Lib Dems? Sign up for March edition of newsletter
[IMG: Newsletter screenshot] Issue number 3 of my now not quite so new monthly email newsletter about the Liberal Democrats is being put together by me at the moment. It will be hitting people's inboxes shortly. So if you want to be sure to receive it, sign up here now or use the form below. Not sure? Take a look at the February edition (featuring added Lembit Opik) to see the sort of thing you'll be getting (and here is my post explaining the thinking behind having this newsletter). You can unsubscribe whenever you want using the link on the ...
Paul Burstow MP, the Liberal Democrat Minister of State for Care Services, is offering to brief members who are attending the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in Sheffield on the Health and Social Care Bill. The time and venue will depend on the number of people interested, and so if you are interested please contact Hilary Morbey in his office at morbeyh@parliament.uk with details of when you will be available at conference. Paul will also be speaking at an ALDC fringe meeting at conference.
Thanks to Mark Pack for drawing my attention to this announcement by the Department for Communities and Local Government:- 'Councils should open up their public meetings to local news 'bloggers' and routinely allow online filming of public discussions as part of increasing their transparency, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said today.To ensure all parts of the modern-day media are able to scrutinise Local Government, Mr Pickles believes councils should also open up public meetings to the 'citizen journalist' as well as the mainstream media, especially as important budget decisions are being made.Local Government Minister Bob Neill has written to all ...
Ceredigion County Council has a budget. It's a rather dry statement but behind the words there's a story. I've been a County Councillor now for 7 years and our full council budget setting meeting yesterday morning was the first in my recollection in all of that time where the budget was agreed unanimously by the entire council. This really is quite something. I wrote here in my blog back in December of co-operation between the ruling Independent-Welsh Liberal Democrat-Labour group with the Plaid Cymru opposition at that seasonal Christmas period. It doesn't happen often. As with any Council across the ...
Yesterday the Times published my letter in response to a feature they carried in Saturday's edition looking at possible billboard adverts on either side of the debate on the fairer votes referendum. One of the 'No' campaign adverts suggested that Hitler would be in favour of changing the voting system. There are good arguments against a change in the way we vote (although I think the benefits outweigh these), but linking the change to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis is definitely not one of them. My letter read: Sir Far from being an argument against electoral reform, Hitler's rise to ...
Dear Guido, Really, I'm disappointed. Is that the best you can do? It's actually easy to see how (a) we can have AV and (b) still have overnight election counts. There's no contradiction or problem with me being on the record as supporting both. Not only is it easy, it's ridiculously easy. Take a look at the evidence: the Mayoral elections run all round Britain on a similar scale, i.e. across a handful of constituencies. Count up the number of hours their counts take. Start at 10pm, run the clock for those number of hours and bingo - it's all ...
Interesting news in The Guardian today that the Coalition government is making progress on reviewing local government finances with an announcement expected within the next two weeks. This is something the government pledged to do in the Coalition Agreement: "The government is planning to cut many richer local councils loose from Whitehall control in one of the biggest shakeups of local government funding since the 1980s. Between a quarter and a third of local authorities will become "free councils" entirely independent of central government grant by the end of the parliament in 2015, under plans to be unveiled by the ...
Last week the Managing Directors and senior staff from First Bus and Wessex Connect attended the South Glos Transport Select Committee, chaired by CllrPat Hockey. This enabled councillors, members of the public and transport action groups to ask questions and raise problems. Cllr Claire Young asked First to reconsider their axing of two X42 services, which leaves Coalpit Heath pensioners with no express bus service on which they can use their diamond cards to get into Bristol. She also said passengers had been caught out by the changes due to a lack of publicity. Simon Curzio of First Bus apologised ...
I blogged the other day about the loss of jobs in the hospitals at St. Georges, Tooting and Kingston, wondering if this was the Tory's 'tuition fees' moment? After all - David Cameron personally pledged not to do this. And the lead on all the NHS reforms is a Tory, Andrew Lansley. So this is going to be hung around their necks, isn't it...isn't it? Guess which photo the Guardian ran to accompany the follow up story This one. Underneath they ran the words 'Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, talks to nurses in the maternity unit at Kingston Hospital. ...
The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a Conservative think tank, founded by Margaret Thatcher and Keith Joseph in 1974. In November last year, it published an article by David Martin entitled Abolish NICs - towards a more honest, fairer and simpler system [PDF]. In the forward, Jill Kirby (at the time Director of the CPS), said: "National Insurance (NI) has become income tax by another name. Yet... it is riddled with inconsistencies" Do the arguments presented in David Martin's paper indicate the beginning of the end for National Insurance Contributions? Certainly, the arguments are pretty compelling. The paper summarises ...
The next service being decimated in Glastonbury by cuts from the County Council has been announced. Now we're losing our buses. First have announced on their website that the following changes will be happening. There has been no notification from SCC (where you'd expect to learn about funding changes). Somerset County Council have withdrawn it's support for journeys on Sundays, Public Holidays and Evenings. This will take effect from April 17th. Fancy a trip to Bristol for a night out or a weekend shopping trip? Forget it if you don't have a car or wish to be environmentally responsible and ...
The budget for 2001-12 has been passed at Full Council. It has been a difficult budget which councillors from all political parties together with officers had worked on for more than 18 months knowing that the Council had to make ten of millions of savings in future years. Therefore it was appropriate that we all ...
[IMG: Roy Jenkins] Whilst reaching for something else on my bookshelf, I came across my copy of Learning the Lessons of History, a pamphlet that records a speech by former reforming Home Secretary and SDP leader Roy Jenkins from 1991. At the end there is also a record of the question and answer session which followed the speech, including this: Question: It always seemed to me that the lesson of 1924, which really smashed the Liberal Party for the next however many years, was that it was a terribly dangerous thing to support a minority government and yet not participate ...
As we've previously reported, there's some confusion over the mobile breast screening service at Massie Street car park. Stockport Council have said it's still welcome, but the NHS Trust aren't bringing it along and are telling people that the Council won't let them put it on the car park any more. Pam and I are working with Mark Hunter to get this sorted – whether it's simple confusion or whether something else is going on, I don't know, but this does need to be resolved. However, on a purely practical level I was concerned that one resident had cancelled a ...
Cornwall Council wasted £50,000 of taxpayers' money backing the bid to bring the World Cup to Plymouth, it has been revealed. The decision to spend the money was taken by Council Leader Alec Robertson and was not subject to scrutiny. It was revealed after a freedom of information request by the West Briton. I'm horrified that anyone could have thought that spending such a large amount of money on this project was worthwhile. Of course it would have been good to have the World Cup in England and to have some matches played in Plymouth. But, even if the bid ...
The Metro have been on quite a QR splurge recently – this is their latest effort encouraging people to write in to the paper. [IMG: Metro Talk To Us QR] On the surface, it's quite a simple idea – yet Metro have needlessly complicated it. The ProcessThe simplest process would be Scan CodeSend EmailThat's not what Metro have done. By using Scanlife as an intermediary, they change the process to Scan CodeConnect to webGet redirectedGet redirected againLoad web pageClick on link [IMG: Scanlife email] Advantages and DisadvantagesNow, there are advantages to this approach. Metrics on how many people have scanned ...
Much action locally on the AV referendum campaign. The YES campaign's ranks have been boosted by the declaration of Peppard ward Conservative councillor and blogger Richard Willis, who has penned an erudite summary of his thinking on his blog. Contrast this with the sudden appearance of the No campaign in Reading (which seems to comprise the Reading East MP and a couple of Conservative students). In their first statement, the MP has misleadingly played the race card by claiming a YES vote would help the BNP (of course the reverse is true, as preferential voting systems make it much harder ...
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 ...
Nick Clegg often talks about social mobility, but is it the right focus for the party's social efforts? The day after he was elected Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg set up a commission to look at social mobility in the UK. In the two years since then, he has regularly returned to the topic, and it has become a priority of his for party and then government policy-making, alongside making frequent appearances in speeches, slogans and soundbites from leading party figures. Yet it is a phrase that risks becoming over-used, for it fails to communicate effectively what makes us Liberal ...
In signs of growing unrest, a bomb exploded during a protest in the south, killing one person and wounding two, a local official said. The explosion occurred in the town of Lawdar, where secessionist sentiment is rife, in the southern ... Continue reading →
I spent about 20 minutes yesterday talking to a BBC journalist giving her background opinions about the state of the Party before the Party Conference in Sheffield. Unsurprisingly I was upbeat. The cynical would tell me that that is what ... Continue reading →
I have to agree with Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander that the government was slow off the mark to send planes to pick up Brits from Libya. In light of the quick responses from many other European countries. The government now appear to be much more up to speed today after several delays. With a plane on standby in Malta. There is also now a SAS contingent on standby and a special forces support group. I hope they can be used to get the foreign nationals out of the desert camps, where they are currently stranded. Many of these camps ...
Not quite what Liberal Democrats always says about Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles, but his pronouncement this week about access to local government meetings was spot on. His department's press release says, Councils should open up their public meetings to local news 'bloggers' and routinely allow online filming of public discussions as part of increasing their transparency, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said today. To ensure all parts of the modern-day media are able to scrutinise Local Government, Mr Pickles believes councils should also open up public meetings to the 'citizen journalist' as well as the mainstream media, especially as ...
Having been elected by Trade Union votes it seems that Ed Miliband continues to benefit from their largesse. This morning's Daily Telegraph reveals that almost 90 per cent of the £2.5 million of Labour party funding was provided by the unions during the final three months of 2010. This compares to 36 per cent during the same period in 2009. The paper says that several of Labour's biggest private backers, who began donating to the party under Tony Blair, are understood to have decided not to bankroll Mr Miliband. In contrast, the Tories receieved the majority of their funding from City ...
I've had a warning from a resident of someone looking official (logo on jacket and car) asking to come into their house and check the safety of their gas meter. They checked afterwards and the companies that might have had a legitimate interest in checking their supply said it was nothing to do with them, so it may have been a scam, or another company trying to get business dishonestly. If anyone else knows more about this, please let Pam and myself know.
It is getting on for twenty years since I read Paul Johnson's History of the Modern World from 1917 to the 1990s, a masterpiece of conservative history, which deserves to be read by every liberal, whose prejudices it magnificently challenges - and we all need our prejudices challenged wholesale at least once or twice in a lifetime. It is to that book that I owe the realisation that, in the 1970s and 80s, Colonel Gaddafi tried to subdue "all of Chad by fire and sword, or rather by napalm and helicopter". Apart from Johnson, nobody has ever told me anything ...
The BBC reports: A rival who falsely claimed a Liberal Democrat MP was a paedophile has been convicted of attempting to affect a result in the general election. Les Cummings, 66, made the false statement about Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock. Mr Hancock had strenuously denied the allegations made in an election leaflet pamphlet. Cummings, who stood for the Justice and Anti-Corruption Party, was fined £500 at Southampton Magistrates' Court. He had falsely written on the flyer: "Mike Hancock is a paedophile." It then showed a picture of Mr Hancock with children and the words: "Would you let him get ...
The Independent today reveals the depths to which the 'No' campaign is prepared to sink in trying to prevent a fairer voting system for Britain. A series of advertisements has been launched by the 'No' campaign, suggesting that if the move to fairer votes is defeated, there will be more kit for soldiers serving overseas, more equipment for babies in hospital, and all sorts of other extra public spending. The trouble is, it's completely untrue. The 'No' campaign claims that moving to a fairer voting system will cost£250 million. But of that £250 million, £82 million is the cost of ...
Paul Waugh's article 'He Who Libs wins' takes a look at the difference LibDems are making in government. Yes – it is a nice article about LibDems. Given the amount of flack we take for being in government – it is good to see some recognition of the benefits of having us there. For those interested you can see Paul Waugh's article here.
I am posting this not just because it is a victory for Chelsea but also because of the formations. Much to Kenneth Wolstenholme's bemusement, both teams employ a sweeper - Tony Book for Man City and Marvin Hinton for Chelsea. Not what you expect to see in an English game from this era.
I've started to work my way through the complete Sherlock Holmes, inspired by last year's rather glorious TV adaptation, and of course this is the place to start. I read most (possibly all) of Holmes as a teenager so it's a return to former pastures. Inevitably I started by comparing with the Moffat "A Study in Pink". Common elements obviously include Watson's time in Afghanistan and the cab driver, and I had forgotten about the bit with the pills being also in the original. The TV version is less satisfying as a mystery; in the original, Holmes works out who ...
Tony Greaves is one of the founding fathers of the community politics which are the source of the strength of Liberals and Liberal Democrats in local government, and on which foundation the parliamentary party stands. Political opponents depict him as the epitome of the bearded sandal-wearing Liberal, friends as the guru of social liberalism. Liberal Democrat News has been dull since he stopped writing his regular column. Our leaders in government will do well to take note of his letter in yesterday's Guardian regarding the maketisation of social services. Tony writes: "..Liberal Democrat policies are for decentralisation and democratisation of ...
[IMG: Lynne visiting the luncheon club at Abyssinia Court in Stroud Green] This evening's Council meeting will take the decision on whether to cut youth services by 75% and close clubs and centres aimed at vulnerable older people, such as the luncheon club at Abyssinia Court on Weston Park in Stroud Green ward. At tonight's meeting to set the Council's budget for 2011/12, I will be helping to set out the case for alternative cuts to save front line services. Obviously, this is a really tough and horrible year for local government spending, as central government cuts grants to deal ...
broadcast anniversaries 24 February 1968: broadcast of fourth episode of The Web of Fear. Lethbridge-Stewart (*sigh*) leads a sortie to the surface but returns battered to the base as the only survivor; and the Yeti break in, with the possessed Travers. 24 February 1973: broadcast of first episode of Frontier in Space. The Doctor and Jo land on a space freighter and are accused of being Draconian spies; the freighter is attacked by Ogrons but the crew think they are Draconians. 24 February 1979: broadcast of sixth part of The Armageddon Factor, ending Season 15; last regular appearance of Mary ...
Last night was the annual "Budget Council" for Bury MBC. This is normally a long night and last night was no exception. Given the financial situation the country finds itself in this was probably the most difficult budget the Council has ever had to set. Over £14 million of money had to be taken out of what the Council spends on local services – a tough ask for any council, but especially tough for somewhere like Bury which has a long history of being poorly funded by central Government. For the first time in history, the budget proposed by the ...
I'm taking some cues of my friend over at Legal Fiction by doing a short blog on human rights, the bête noire of all of our so beloved right-wing newspapers. I'm going to not cover the minutae of things such as judicial review, because he's done it already. And he knows it better than me. It's been a disastrous month for the European Court of Human Rights in British opinion. Not only did they have to deal with prisoner voting, but now there's news about an impending case before the ECHR about prisoners in psychiatric units being given "pocket money" ...
I think that this was the first anthology of short stories featuring the first eight Doctors produced by the BBC, back in 1998. I had heard a couple of them previously from the audio release narrated by the late Nicholas Courtney and Sophie Aldred, but it's nice to have the hard copy. The audio version memorably included the first Iris story, "Old Flames"; the book also has a very good First Doctor historical story, "The Last Days", set during the siege of Masada, by one Evan Pritchard who is apparently really Rebecca Levene. A couple of others worth mentioning: "Freedom" ...
On the 13th January I wrote about Jack Straw's racist remarks which happened to coincide with a byelection in Oldham. On Tuesday Jack spoke about his comments. He regrets using the words "easy meat" when he said that some Pakistani men saw white girls in that light. In fact he was sorry for "the offence people feel I have caused". It sounds like he regrets the fact that others are foolish. I didn't write anything about his sexist comments but if he is highlighting that some people have sexist views then I am not sure why he has any regrets. ...
