After a 500 year absence from Lancashire, in 2007 two European beavers, a male and a female called Twiggy and Woody, became residents at Martin Mere. Their nocturnal activities captured on night vision cameras made them the undisputed stars of Autumnwatch and you can now watch the nightly antics of the beavers through this webcam. The beavers are most active after 9pm. If you can't wait here s a little information film
Fri 25th
22:53
Yikes - the chances of me being overcharged with Oyster are rather too high for comfort
[IMG: Caroline Pidgeon, Lynne Featherstone, Martin Newton and Oyster cards] The two tube stations I use most frequently both feature in the list of stations where the most money has wrongly been taken from people using Oyster cards. The figures have been dug out by Liberal Democrat London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon and show that £862,000 was wrongly taken off passengers at Oxford Circus in the last year and £248,000 at Finsbury Park. Both are very busy stations, so their presence in the list of worst offenders may be partly caused by the number of passengers passing through, but even ...
I was chuffed to hear that the Herne Hill Velodrome access from Burbage Road has been given a 15 year lease by the Dulwich Estate. Well done to the Save Herne Hill Velodrome for coming up with a sensible proposition that the Dulwich Estate felt they could back with a 15 year lease. Clearly not out of the woods yet but a good step forward. As part of this campagin, led by Hilary Peachey, architects Hopkins Architects have produced some plans and model which will be on display at Dulwich College great hall 7.30-m to 9.30pm 22 March. Unfortunately I'll ...
The Royal Commonwealth Club in London's Northumberland Avenue this evening launched an impressive exhibition of black-and-white images from Bangladesh by award-winning photographer Ian Spratt, in the presence of guest of honour, my local MP (and former political opponent) Jim Fitzpatrick. Ian Spratt first established links with the country back in 1985. The following year, he ...
This review appears in today's edition of Liberal Democrat News. You can buy Tales from the Tap End on Amazon UK. Tales from the Tap End: The Memoirs of Judy Steel Judy Steel Birlinn, 2010, £16.99 The best book about the last years of the Liberal Party is the tribute to David Penhaligon that his wife Annette published a couple of years after his death. If Judy Steel's memoirs do not reach those heights, they still offer valuable insights into a little-documented era. She was moved to write by the parliamentary expenses scandal, and in many ways her book is ...
My Calder on Air column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Against my principles I have not gained much wisdom, but there are two principles I try to live by. The first is to enjoy things while you have them, because these are the times you will look back on with nostalgia one day. The second is never to watch Question Time (BBC1). You know what it's like at Liberal Democrat Conference: if you wander into the hall and sit down at random, you always find yourself directly in front of someone who applauds, very loudly, all the points made from ...
As featured on tonight's STV News and on local radio, North East Scotland MSP Alison McInnes, together with myself and Dundee Liberal Democrat colleagues, today launched a petition outside Tayside Police's Headquarters that invites the public to support the campaign to stop Scotland's emergency services being centralised into Scotland-wide force. Alison then visited the Broughty Ferry and West End shopping areas to meet local people and explain why she and the Liberal Democrats oppose the abolition of Tayside Police and Tayside Fire and Rescue and believe that centralised police and fire services would be to the detriment of areas of ...
Peter Black, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, has accused the Labour and Plaid Cymru Government of failing the Welsh economy, as new figures show the country's performance falling back, despite the investment of millions of pounds of European money. Mr. Black was responding to news that in 2008 Wales had a GDP of just 85% of the EU average, down from 86.9% in 2007. The performance in West Wales and the Valleys had slipped from 73.4% to just 71%, and East Wales had gone down from 110.3% to 108%. Wales was the only UK region ...
Charles Kennedy sent an e-mail to party members today in which he complained that "[in] recent days No2AV have published a series of ads in local papers that can be described as distasteful at best, shocking and outrageous at worst." He's right. No2AV are becoming more desperate and their tactics are reflecting this. Never having expected that a string of opinion polls would show support for the "no" camp steadily falling, No2AV has indulged in the kind of dishonesty more associated with Jeffrey Archer than a respectable campaign group. It was excruciating enough that Margaret Beckett (surely a strange choice ...
Local resident Melanie Horridge has set up a Friends of Ainsdale Library inaugural meeting tonight(Wednesday) 6 30pm. Melanie is asking for residents to bring ideas and proposals to establish the groups aims and objectives.Cllr Haydn Preece said "I am delighted to be invited, libraries are essential to our social learning and leisure fabric. Libraries have so much to offer in this ever changing technological world. What is vital is that we retain them."
No to AV needs to keep the fight for voters clean.Not my words, but those of the Channel 4 FactCheck blog when dissecting the ridiculous claims by the No 2 AV campaign that the introduction of AV would require the purchase of costly voting machines. Central to Channel 4's evidence was that of an Australian who confirmed that Australia manages perfectly well without e-counting. Presumably the no campaign are putting their mud out early in the hope that some of it sticks in people's minds, or are repeated as fact by lazy journalists for the duration of the campaign. The ...
This years Crocus Walk for Breakthrough Breast Cancer will be taking place at 11am on Saturday 26th March at Hesketh Park. The walk now in its ninth year is open to everyone and we are encouraging as many people as possible to take part. As local activist Lauren Keith, explained "Everybody is welcome! It can be a nice relaxing stroll around the park to admire the Spring flowers, a healthy jog or, for those more energetic, a sprint! Over the years its raised thousands of pounds for a great cause. Statistics out earlier this year indicate that the chances of ...
I post this because the debate about the questions and whether they are an infringement on peoples' civil liberties rages on. I disagree that the census in anyway causes an affront to peoples private lives and contest the view that ... Continue reading →
Two significant changes of staff are happening at the CentreForum think tank, with current director Julian Astle leaving in April after three years as director and with Tim Leunig joining as Chief Economist. Tim will be familiar to many of our readers as a regular commenter and occasional contributor on this site.
Another small hiatus from blogging, the result of a fairly intensive travel schedule. This week, it was five different European countries, and as I write I am in the Swiss commercial capital of Zürich. It has been some time since I was last here, but I note the renewed infrastructure investment: the spiffy new trams and the general air of prosperity that seems to be the birthright of the Swiss. Alas that can not be said of London. From touchdown at the grubby and disorganized terminal 3 at Heathrow, until departure via the cramped London City airport, the sense is ...
But it appears the latest version of WordPress which installed the other day disabled all commenting features on the site! This has now been recitified and people can now comment again as before! Sorry for the disruption. Spidey
Recently on state television, Gaddafi unleashed a new verbal assault which will frighten the international community; 'people who do not love me, do not deserve to live" Designed to turn the capital into a giant bloodbath and bring the country ... Continue reading →
This is the pretty poor video attempt by the official Labour Yes campaign. Production quality (or lack there of,) aside, it is very disappointing that they have chosen to be so tribal on an issue that is meant to cross party lines. VN is backing the fairer votes campaign precisely because a yes vote will ...
Here is the webcast of yesterday's Council meeting. I'm at 1.02 and 2.48Here are the texts for both my speeches.Corporate Plan 2011The corporate plan is the vision of this Council, a framework for five years. I believe it should not be too specific but flexible. It is a work in progress.I'd like to think at the bigger picture for a moment.One of the reasons why I find difficult to speak in this
Mr Cameron's been a bit down lately. What with the economic problems, bungled evacuations and all. But he needn't worry because I have some good news for him. Are you ready? Wait for it... The Big Society has been found alive and well in Libya! The sharper eyed amongst you might have noticed how Mr Cameron has spent most of the past year looking for the Big Society which, despite being a key Cameron policy, no one has been able to find. Part of the problem may have been the inability of Mr Cameron to give a clear description of ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week Opinion: Economic liberalism and public service reform (58 comments) by Alex Marsh Clegg shows Sheffield he's up for the fight (31 comments) by Helen Duffett Clegg and Miliband both campaign for a Yes vote in referendum (60 comments) by Mark Pack Conservative Councillor: Those opposing AV should stop their "misleading statements" (27 comments) by Nick Thornsby Opinion: Taxing stuff - what George Monbiot got wrong (41 comments) by Max Teuerman 5 sample LDV Members' Forum threads Radio ...
The school is trying to fight back - please come alongThere is a meeting on Tuesday 1 March at Culverhay from 7-9pm to inform and answer questions on the proposal for a free school to replace Culverhay. It is also a means of gauging interest in the concept as the current level of support will be evidence backing the proposal when it goes to the DfE.
The Conservative Cabinet have announced the Closure of Culverhay, the wrong decision for Bath and the Community it serves.The Culverhay closure decision has been listed in this weeks weekly list as having been taken. Please see here for the decision register: NB: Call-in deadline date: 04/03/2011 Please see here for the details:
Well, Council Tax set – no increase. No riots at Wokingham either, unlike many places. But I thought you might like a bit more information than that about what's happening. I can't tell you everything, because there is just too much. And also some of it I don't know, because the budget papers are put together in a way that is very hard to understand. But over the next few days I am going to post some of what I said at the budget meeting, which will give you a flavour of the things I am worried about in the ...
During my travels for my employment, I have visited lots of businesses over the past 2 months. Overall most of the businesses have let me know that they have had the best January for years. Countless times the story has been the same – a poor December – this was always attributed to the weather, so was there any wonder the economy contracted? January has seen good order books and healthy outlook for my customers at least. However, on the doorstep and in the shopping precincts in my area, there is a different tune. With the budget around the corner ...
I'm not normally one to post stuff like this, but I have to say I always thought that Julian Assange reminded me of someone. Now I know who! Did Assange used to work in a certain well-known department store, where his sexual proclivities were also under question? I think we should be told! So: which ...
First Nick Clegg said you shouldn't trust governments. Next he forgets he is in charge. His opponents were quick to criticise the latter comment, particularly as British citizens are struggling to leave Libya. Of course, there have been many politicians who are very clear about being in charge and still fail to deliver what the public, or they, want. If we sidestep the day-to-day political arguments and look at what the deputy prime minister has been saying for quite a while now, it would seem that he would rather trust people than institutions, prefer individuals to control their lives and ...
Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains. Nowhere has this been more true than in Mubarak's Egypt, Ben Ali's Tunisia or Gaddafi's Libya. For too long, these respective dictatorships have been tolerated or even supported by Western democracies, anxious to preserve "stability" and fearing "Islamism". The threat of militant Islam was always an exaggerated one and was cynically manipulated by the likes of Mubarak especially to strengthen his position. The alternative to dictatorship is instability and Islamism, so the argument went. And as the United States and other powers bought into this argument, the North African dictators' ...
I received the following from the left leaning blog political scrapbook earlier Dear Cllr Minns, I edit the website Political Scrapbook. I am emailing to request a statement from you on comments by Cllr John Fareham, referring to anti-cuts protesters as a "collection of retards": In a statement to us, the leading disability charity Mencap called the comments "completely unacceptable": If that term was used by an elected representative, it is completely unacceptable. It is a difficult and unsettling time for many people with a learning disability at the moment due to local councils cutting services, so this language ...
I am a massive fan of census returns. I can pour over them for hours reading the details of lives gone by getting a valuable insight into the way that people lived and their circumstances at that particular point in ... Continue reading →
One of the good things about election campaigning is you get to see some beautiful parts of the country. When I was out on the streets of Fife the other day with my Lib Dem colleagues I had to stop and take a picture of this lovely scene in Crail. My grandfather was a lifeboatman ...
He's doing it again. That Ed Miliband. He's got a strategy: get the Lib Dems. He's got a creative expression of that strategy: I don't agree with Nick And it seems it's a strategy he's sticking with, according to this in The Guardian That seems to me to be putting party communications strategy above a constitutional change he's meant to be in favour of. Not very statesmanlike Not a great strategy and wouldn't he be better off attacking the 'No to AV' campaign for things like this disgraceful advertising campaign or these distortions of the facts rather than attacking his ...
A hip-hop musical based on Nick Clegg's role in forming the Coalition government is to be staged later this year. The show (working title: "Nicked") also features David Cameron in a "rap-off" with his backbenchers as well as the student demonstrations and the run-up to the AV referendum. From BBC News: Steven Atkinson, artistic director of the HighTide Festival in Suffolk, said "They are all in there, Cameron, Clegg, Brown and the Milibands." He added that as Mr Clegg acted as a student, he might see the funny side. The play is due to be staged from 30 April – ...
The problems in Libya have been brewing for several weeks, so what has happened in the last few days should be no surprise, yet our government, has shown itself to be utterly useless in its response. The UK government decided to hire a plane, that was broken, then their utter failure was compounded by the fact that a UK oil company beat the UK government in getting a flight out to Libya. Meanwhile, whilst all this is happening we have a Prime Minister peddling arms dealers around the Middle East, and a Deputy Prime Minister (where are you Mr Clegg) ...
So, in the last couple of posts we looked at the philosophical justification for a world state and the broken notion of the National Interest that blinds our diplomats to their real mission. The problem with idealism But the central problem with a world state is the possibility of disaster- what happens if someone like Gaddafi or Kim Jong-il were to get their hands on it's apparatus? Would we have saved them trouble of starting world war three, and handed them world domination on a plate? Our imperative is thus to design something which has the attributes of a world ...
This morning I went to Virginia Way in Southcote to help launch the new 'outdoor gym' which has been built paid for out of the Council's unique Decent Neighbourhoods Fund. This was created following a request from residents in the area. Southcote has an older population than most of Reading so it is important that the Council provides activities for the many older people who live in the area so they can stay active and healthy for as long as possible. Residents were involved in selecting the equipment and road-testing it first. Talking to older residents who came along for ...
I am now on my way back to Gateshead on the train. I came down to London a few days ago to film two episodes for the Horticultural Channel. I am one of the five presenters. I do the cookery section. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would end up as a tv chef! We filmed the two programmes in my kitchen in my London home on Tuesday. The original plan was to film in Gateshead but we decided
[IMG: Independent letter from Mark Pack] Here's the full version of the letter from me on electoral reform that The Independent published today (they edited down the middle paragraph slightly): The biggest problem with the claim that introducing AV will require expensive voting machines (report, 24 February) is that it is simply not true. Though the No campaign have been making the claim repeatedly, both the government and the Electoral Commission have confirmed that there are no such plans. Elections using preferential vote transfers have been regularly carried out in Britain without counting machines, including for many mayors around the ...
Why did the Government drop its proposals for the Forestry Commission (FC) and the forests and woodlands it manages? I thought it would happen but I was astonished by the speed of it. It comes down to three things. An ill-considered and foolish policy. Incompetent presentation. And a stupendously successful and largely under the radar campaign which burst through with stunning effect. The Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) included a target of £100million from selling around 15% of the national forestry estate in England. This is the most that can be sold under existing legislation. But over the summer DEFRA Ministers ...
....Somewhat on the extreme side. From Political Wire: Georgia State Rep. Bobby Franklin (R) — who previously sought to eliminate drivers licenses — "has introduced a 10-page bill that would criminalize miscarriages and make abortion in Georgia completely illegal," Mother Jones reports. "Both miscarriages and abortions would be potentially punishable by death: any 'prenatal murder' in the words of the bill, including 'human involvement' in a miscarriage, would be a felony and carry a penalty of life in prison or death."
You Gov published a poll the other week about where the public see the political parties on the left right spectrum. They had us bang slap in the middle. Which (interestingly) You Gov interpreted as being in the worst possible place, as left leaning voters put us right of centre, and vice versa, so we end up in a kind of averaged out no man's land. (As an aside I'm not sure if they are right about this. I wonder if in fact people have for some time seen us as left leaning, we go into coalition with the Tories ...
Our beloved Prime Minister, surprisingly, made public (sort of) his views on the BBC's attitude to covering government cuts. Or bias, as Cameron seems to be hinting at. The Prime Minister dubbed the BBC, "BBCC" or "British Broadcasting Cuts Corporation." ... Continue reading →
Fri 25th
12:57
My BBC iPlayer Appearance on S4C's CF99 (the Welsh equivalent to Andrew Neil's 'This Week')
I'm heading back west to Cardigan after a brief trip to Cardiff. I was contacted by S4C a month or so ago and was asked whether I'd be free to appear on their weekly political discussion programme CF99 - our equivalent to Andrew Neil's 'This Week'. For the 4th time my answer was yes and it can be seen here on BBC's iPlayer. I've been doing media work for the Welsh Liberal Democrats for almost 8 years now. I'd barely been a conference go-er for 12 months before I was asked to take part in my first media interview ...
Oh wait, hang on. That's a a 32 year low for divorces in the latest figures for England and Wales: [IMG: Divorce rate: England and Wales] The Office for National Statistics says, In 2009 the divorce rate in England and Wales fell to 10.5 divorcing people per thousand married population compared with the 2008 figure of 11.2, a fall of 6.3 per cent. The divorce rate is at its lowest level since 1977 when there were 10.3 divorcing people per thousand married population. The figures were published this month by ONS and cover 2009.
Charles Kennedy has taken up the fight against the destorted advertising by the NO campaign. He has sent an email urging action Here's what Charles said in his email this morning: Over recent days No2AV have published a series of ads in local papers that can be described as distasteful at best, shocking and outrageous at worst. The premise behind the ads is that the country can't afford the alternative voting system. That by saying Yes to AV, voters will be taking £250 million away from sick babies in need of care, or soldiers in need of armour. I say ...
I very rarely speak in the Council Chamber. It is not the place for honest exchange of views. Last night I spoke in the two debates: the Corporate Plan (the plan for the city) and the Budget. It was difficult to condense my thoughts in 2-3 minutes, which is what might have caused the consternation, confusion and support from across the benches. On the other hand, it might have been quoting
My local travel agent is offering two for the price of one on flights to Tunisia and 50% off flights to Egypt. I wonder why?
It seemed a great idea at the time. Independent central bankers managing our economy on a strictly technical basis, preventing politicians from mis-managing it for short-term ends. Alas, even if this was not an illusion then, it surely is now. Central bankers across the world are becoming politically controversial. Meanwhile their policy decisions, be they changes to the interest rates under their control or buying bonds ("quantitative easing" - QE), either have no effect on the real economy or do not have the effect intended. But the recent coverage of the Bank of England's latest interest rate decision shows than ...
[IMG: USS North Carolina] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: tombothetominator ...Now our Prime Minister simply says: What on earth do you think you are doing? Stop it.
The letter below was sent to all Lib Dem members by Charles Kennedy MP. He draws attention to the tactics being used by the No to AV campaign. I think you should see it. "Dear Christopher Over recent days No2AV have published a series of ads in local papers that can be described as distasteful at best, shocking and outrageous at worst. The premise behind the ads is that the country can't afford the alternative voting system. That by saying Yes to AV, voters will be taking £250 million away from sick babies in need of care, or soldiers in ...
This is based on no more than casual scrutiny of the analysis on PoliticalReform.ie, Slugger O'Toole and my own gut instincts. Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Labour Sinn Féin Green Others Carlow-Kilkenny 1 3 1 - - - Cavan-Monaghan 1 2 - 2 - - Clare - 3 - - - 1 Cork East - 2 2 - - - Cork North Central - 2 1 - - 1 Cork North West 1 2 - - - - Cork South Central 1 3 1 - - - Cork South West - 2 1 - - - Donegal North East 1 1 ...
I suspect most people haven't noticed the lack of blogging this week, in fact I suspect no-one has. Still I thought I'd write a blog about being ill now that I'm on the verge of victory with a late-round knock-out. Last Friday I had a bit of a scratch throat but nothing to be overly ...
As you may have noticed, I've got a bit of a thing about silly or over-prescriptive legal clauses buried in contracts and terms and conditions statements. So I did rather chuckle at this Dilbert strip: [IMG: Dilbert.com]
Fri 25th
11:50
Chaos at Haringey Council's budget setting meeting as protesters storm the civic centre
Last night's meeting of Full Council was unlike any other I have been to in nine years as a councillor. First, the final result of the night: the council's budget - including massive cuts to older people services, parks and youth services, to name just a few - was approved. I voted for three of the five Lib Dem amendments, which would have prevented some of the cuts taking place, but none of those amendments passed. On the overall budget, I voted to reject the entire package. The meeting itself was webcast live as usual and you will be able ...
Charles Kennedy MP has urged Liberal Democrat members and supporters to take action by registering their disappointment and disgust at the advertising tactics of the No2AV campaign. The No campaign recently took out a two-page advertisement in the Birmingham Mail claiming that a sick baby "needs a new cardiac facility NOT an alternative voting system". The ad misleadingly implies that the public must choose between an alternative voting system and frontline services. Here's what Charles said in his email this morning: Over recent days No2AV have published a series of ads in local papers that can be described as distasteful ...
A quiet week for blogging, but I have been sent one item of interest by a reader that I think people may find interesting as it concerns prisons and trans people. In this case, the prison service get it right, but facing are a bit of a backlash via the Scottish Sun in this story, titled "Sex-swap fella in women's nick". In short, The Sun claims there is a pre-op transwoman in prison up in HMP Cornton Vale, Stirling and it's causing a "storm". Exactly what sort of storm isn't clear, because there are just a couple of comments from ...
The choir that silkyraven, battlekitty and I sing in is performing Handel's Messiah on Wednesday 25th May, 7.30pm at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate on Holborn Viaduct. Rehearsals are going really well, so I think it's going to be good. Tickets are £15, including programme and a glass of wine, and are likely to sell out. I will be getting some on Monday, so shout if you want one! This entry was cross-posted from Dreamwidth, where there are currently [IMG: comment count unavailable] comment(s). View DW comment(s).
Charles Kennedy sent an email this morning with his response to the disgusting tactics of the No2AV camp in using images of sick children in its campaign advertisements. I've been quiet on the AV front to be honest. I've been ... Continue reading →
Ths morning's Guardian highlights growing concerns about the growing strength and influence of lobbyists at Westminster. The paper says that corporations and interest groups have channelled more than £1.6m to MPs and lords in the past year through sponsorship of parliamentary groups: Westminster has more than 450 all-party political groups, semi-official entities around particular subjects or countries, ranging from groups on asthma and autism, to the parliamentary choir and rowing team. The Guardian has found 283 of these groups receive financial support from outside interests, including: • £60,000 support for the parliamentary choir from BT • £52,000 from drink and ...
New figures show that Wales' economic performance is falling back despite the investment of millions of pounds of European money. In 2008 Wales had a GDP of just 85% of the EU average, down from 86.9% in 2007. The performance in West Wales and the Valleys had slipped from 73.4% to just 71%, and East Wales had gone down from 110.3% to 108%. Wales was the only UK region to see an area fall below 75% of the average GDP. In contrast, the UK average stood at 116.7%, up from 115% in 2007. Under Labour and latterly Plaid Cymru, Wales' ...
Some things just never change. In an interview with Progress magazine, Ed Balls has said that he would advocate the 50p rate of tax being brought in at £100,000, not £150,000. He says "if we were making choices on the economy between VAT and the top rate of tax, I'd rather have stuck with a top rate ...
Oh RBS! Is there anything you touch that doesn't turn to shit? You take our money, lose it, then pay it out to yourself. Still, at least your latest advert contains a QR code. Bet you haven't managed to screw that up. Oh... On the back page of the 25 February 2011 edition of the City AM newspaper, is this lovely specimen. Thankfully, City AM have placed their paper under CC BY NC. Let's take a zoom in on the code and the instructions that accompany it. [IMG: RBS QR Instructions] [IMG: RBS QR Detail] You Know What's Coming Next, ...
With the referendum on introducing fairer votes now confirmed for May, you would have expected some debate to have started. But surprisingly nothing has come from the No campaign. Rather than find a good reason to keep our broken politics and the voting system that protects it, they have spend lots of money on offensive adverts such as this Now clearly there is a cost to running a referendum*
Like everyone else I have watched with sadness the terrible events in New Zealand as Christchurch seeks to recover from the earthquake which devastated it earlier this week. It reminded me of a blog post called 'The living that sleep ... Continue reading →
Fri 25th
10:20
The Lib Dems are falling into an identity crisis created by others - and we are allowing it
There was a time not long ago that the Liberal Democrats sounded different to the other parties as they said that right/left politics is no longer relevant and people's political views were more complex than that. They argued that left/right thinking did not fit modern life and modern politics. They had policies which people didn't ...
After voting in elections, I doubt there is any civic duty more important than responding to the decennial census. The information it provides to governments for policy making is vital, and often very revealing. It simply is not mentioned enough, but the last time a census was taken, back in 2001, it was found that the population was over a million people smaller than predicted in 2000, and that estimates of the population growth rate, which fueled national hysteria about immigration in the late 1990s were twice what they should have been. It therefore makes me very sad that the ...
Do you think this is what he meant to say?
Have a look at this video in which the Duchess of Hamilton tells of her husband's distressing experiences in hospital which have led her to spearhead a 3 year fundraising campaign to provide hospital staff with greater awareness of the needs of patients with dementia and to provide specialist nurses. Like they say, often the things that are needed aren't rocket science, but if people don't understand the condition, basic needs of Dementia sufferers in hospital can be left unmet, or preventable medical intervention becomes necessary. That's just one aspect of the work of Alzheimer Scotland. Dementia is really hard ...
Yesterday we (the Government) launched new guidelines to help front line professionals – nurses, doctors, teachers and social workers – know how to recognise and prevent Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The guidelines are being sent to chairs of Local Safeguarding Children's Boards, Directors of Children's Services and Regional Directors of Public Health, will help professionals: * identify and prevent further incidents; * ensure that victims and potential victims receive the response and support they need; and * provide a step-by-step practical guide to sensitively handling cases of FGM The guidelines have been developed across government departments in partnership with the ...
Good video. There is an amazing moment of revelation just after 2:00 minutes in where you see his foot strike change mid-stride from a heel strike to a mid-foot strike. Fascinating and practical stuff. Learn to Run Barefoot with Lee Saxby and Terra Plana from GTB Goodtruebeautiful GmbH on Vimeo.
Courtesy of a written answer in Parliament, we have a top-level comparison of how the previous Labour Government's spending plans for the end of this Parliament compare with what the Coalition Government is now planning. Against the benchmark of what public spending would have been if welfare rules and the like had been left unchanged and other public expenditure increased in line with inflation (i.e. DEL spending increased in line with inflation, AME spending based on no rule changes), Labour was planning to cut spending by £56 billion. By contrast, the Coalition Government is planning to cut spending by £81 ...
The Riverside Animal Centre in Beddington Park has a new resident - a fox callled Romeo. His previous home was at the top of the 288 metre tall Shard building that is being built at London Bridge station! Apparently the fox had climbed to the top of the building searching for food and became accustomed to living the high life on the builders food scraps for a couple of weeks. He was eventually rescued by Southwark Council when he became trapped on the 72nd floor. He is now being looked after by the team at the Riverside Animal Centre part ...
14 top tips for successful email marketing http://bit.ly/fJpJjj < some surprising findings here. (thoughts? @markpack @helenduffett) # Economist's UK circ tops 200k http://bit.ly/hM89rT < good to see investment in proper int'l journalism pay off. # @heyjames Aren't we both meant to be working? [IMG: :)] in reply to heyjames # Bah, ubertwitter suspended. Back to Twitter's own rubbish mobile app I guess [IMG: :(] # Birth of the New Kitchen, Day 8: cupboards + oven in place. Almos there [IMG: :)] # @sarabedford Annoying is the word! Yuck to Twitter for Blackberry, clunkiest app in t'world. in reply to sarabedford ...
The Friends of Wighton's monthly Wednesday Lunchtime concert in Dundee will be on Wednesday 2nd March 2011, at 1.15pm. The venue is the Wighton Heritage Centre, upstairs in Dundee Central Library. Admission is free. The programme has a local theme, with Mark Spalding playing keyboard music both ancient and modern. He will perform 17th century harpsichord music from the Panmure manuscripts, unique collections of Scottish music preserved for generations at Panmure House, near Carnoustie, Angus. The manuscripts are a rare survival of Scottish art music of this early date, and include music by the Scottish composer, William Kinloch. Mark will ...
"We've (Britain) taken all sorts of nutters and bandits and criminals in the past." Kim Howells, former Foreign Office Minister speculating on Radio Wales as to where Colonel Gaddaffi will go when he is finally toppled from power. Mr. Howells also pointed out that Gaddafi has burned most of his bridges and that there were very few countries left that would have him, even the UK!
I support the Yes To AV campaign because I believe that adopting the Alternative Vote will be a fairer voting system. There is also a No campaign. Because they don't have any good arguments (how can you argue against greater fairness) they are resorting to disinformation to get people to vote no. One of their statements is that new voting machines would cost millions of pounds that could be better spent on the NHS. WRONG! AV does not require voting machines. Australia has used AV for 80 years and they have no voting machines. So AV is fairer and the ...
Cambridge City Council is leading the county and the UK in installing state-of-the art rubbish bins powered by the sun. The Big Belly Bins use solar power to compact rubbish and therefore need to be collected up to five times less than normal bins. This has the potential to cut the fuel consumption and carbon emissions associated with rubbish collection up to 80 per cent. The first of the new bins has been put in East Chesterton on Green End Road Rec and a second will follow next month on the river frontage public open space in front of the ...
Here are 37 of north west London's finest cyclist. Based on the costumes and the pictures I reckon is is taken in the very early part of the 20th century - c. 1910 - and is a photograph postcard of Kensal Rose Cycling Club. I think the cycling club didn't last much longer as in 1926 there was the formation of Willesden Cycling Club (WCC) which still operates today. http://www.willesdencyclingclub.co.uk/ But as a pictorial and indeed sartorial insight into Edwardian Britain this is pretty good... There used to be a cycling track at Kensal Green and indeed this saw the ...
Stockport yesterday passed it's budget for the next financial year – 2011/12. The budget sees us making just over £16 million of savings. Unlike some other councils, we've worked hard to smooth out the impact of the cuts so they're spread more evenly and not hitting us in the first year. That gives us time to find other ways to save money. We've known big cuts were coming since October 2009 – well before the General Election. I can remember, just a few weeks after being elected, coming to a meeting where we were given best and worst case projections ...
One thing that surprised me about The Sign of Four is its brevity - only 76 pages in my Complete Sherlock Holmes. But I think this shows a somewhat more disciplined approach by Doyle, and also perhaps a growing awareness that "less is more" which leads to the success of the short stories. It's still not as tight as it could be - once again the actual mystery, which is literally a locked-room murder, gets rather sidelined in the tale of dangerous foreigners coming to disrupt London to gain an ancient revenge, though this time they are thieves from the ...
broadcast anniversaries 25 February 1967: broadcast of third episode of The Moonbase. The Cybermen take over the base, but Polly works out a way of killing them with nail varnish remover. 25 February 1978: broadcast of fourth episode of The Invasion of Time. Leela and the Shobogans combine with the Doctor to destroy the Vardans; but the Sontarans have landed.
I've been really struggling with my sleep lately, or more specifically getting up in the morning, and then staying awake through the day as well. I fall asleep at the drop of a hat any time of day, and when I wake up I feel like I've been on the go for days with no rest at all. I think it's been building up over three or four weeks and it was starting to make me feel quite down — 4 out of 7 days last week I felt like I was on the edge of tears for most of ...
I paid a visit to Manchester's People's Museum on Sunday. One exhibit asked me to lift the headstone to find out whose inscription I was reading. I did know some of the answers like spike Milligan's "I told you I was ill" but I had forgotten it was in Gaelic. Another inscription belonged to Karl Marx: "workers of all lands unite. The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it". By coincidence I watched Angels and Demons on the previous day. The Vatican has just been saved by the heroics of Ewan McGregor ...
Nicholas Courtney by Tom Baker | Doctor Who TV Tom Baker's tribute to Nicholas Courtney (tags: doctorwho)
