Remember the good old days, back in the 1980's when Looney profligate councils were those run by Labour zealots in London and grim cities up north. Well some time ago things changed, and now here in Kent, I have the suspicion that somehow things have gone completely bonkers, in Kent governance, I wont bore you with a catalogue of past eccentricities, but suggest you take a gander at this story of typical KCC excess (my opinion) in which KM reports on Kent's latest top management appointment of " Shake up Manager " £165 PA Its worth reminding ourselves that A) ...
Its been a while again and I really should make more effort to do this regularly. I guess life gets in the way sometimes and I have been in bed all week ill so excuse my tardiness. This weeks top ... Continue reading →
No one can fail to admit that it is a pretty weird time to be a LibDem right now. With all the hullabaloo over Barnsley and the press going overboard on it, you really would think that things couldn't get ... Continue reading →
In Phillip Blond's Red Tory, sub post offices assume an almost theological importance. As Blond said in Prospect in 2009, in an article that owes much to his book and was reprinted on the ResPublica site: Cameron should announce a reconfiguration of the Post Office to extend its currently limited retail banking function, and reverse Peter Mandelson's privatisation plan. The Post Office is universally popular, national, tied to the local community and, crucially, entirely free of bad debt secured on declining assets. Other banks would lend to it but, more importantly with interest rates approaching zero, the Bank of England ...
Hooray. this week's (and week's before) preparations came together at lunch time with our Fairtrade event in Stockton High Street. The events team from the Council had kindly helped with putting up the yards and yards of Fairtrade cotton bunting done by a variety of people. It included (this is not an exhaustive list) young people from schools and Churches in Yarm, St Cuthbert's RC Primary School, St John's Ragworth young people, Westbury Street library group, friends, relatives, and even one done from a visitor from Australia. A real community effort. We got the stall set up, with dispalys of ...
A little reported fact from last night's election in Barnsley is that the Labour are even more unpopular than they were last May. Convicted fraudster Eric Illsley - currently serving a year at her maj's pleasure for stealing £14,000 of his constituents cash managed to pursuade 17,487 people to vote for him - even though it was widely known he was under investigation at the time. On Thursday Labour's 'clean' replacement polled 14,724. Who'd have thunk a known crook would be more popular than Miliband minor's supposedly unstoppable Labour juggernaut?
If you read the day's blog posts, whenever a political event takes place it turns out to have been good for everyone. Let me try to prove the opposite: that the result of the Barnsley Central by-election was bad for all three parties. Why it was bad for the Liberal Democrats Sixth place in a Westminster by-election is not unprecedented for the Liberal Democrats. Discussing the Barnsley result on Twitter this morning, I was reminded by Ruaraidh Dobson that we finished sixth as recently as November 2009 in the Glasgow North East by-election. Of course, sixth place in a seat ...
Things that would inspire me to protest "student style" (minus the spade): Human Rights of Refugees, The Digital Economy Bill, Gurkhas and Rupert Murdoch. There are a range of theories regarding the reasoning for Murdoch's "success" in appropriating, taking over, conquering, overwhelming, transcending and thrusting victory in British Media. And I happen to agree with the majority of them.
I have just watched the last episode of Marchlands, which unusually I managed to see the whole series of without forgetting to record it or letting so much time elapse that it was no longer available ITV's equivalent of iPlayer. If one makes allowances for it being a ghost story, it avoided annoyingly implausible endings. Yet I hate loose ends in plots. So who drowned the cat in the garden pond in episode 2 (or was it episode 1)? Amy, the daughter of the household was suspected, but she blamed it on her imaginary friend Alice. As a result, Amy ...
Report here
Census time is almost upon us again. It does seem that every ten years, someone pops up with what they think is a wonderfully subversive idea to put something in the box that asks "religion". In the past we've had "Jedi", and this time around there is a move (encouraged by the likes of Amy ...
This morning the Sefton Council cabinet met at Southport Town Hall to recommend a budget to put to the full council this evening. The Lib Dem group having been working hard to come up with a budget that will produce a 0% council tax rise and sensibly handle the reductions in expenditure that are being demanded of us as part of the overall deficit reduction plan. Labour so far have not produced an alternative budget proposal . They have voted against most of the reductions in expenditure but to date they have not made a serious attempt to produce a ...
Having failed to produced a budget last night at the Sefton Council meeting and having spoken and voted against around £39m of the £44m budget reductions required the Labour Leader Peter Dowd could not resist playing up to the protesters in the public gallery and declared 'call me Derek'. And so it is that the spectre of Derek Hatton and the Militant Tendency approach to politics hangs over Merseyside once more.At no time throughout the months of budget preparation did Labour put forward a budget. They had every opportunity to tell us how they would divide up the cake differently. ...
The Electoral Commission has outlined rough plans on where the reduction of MPs from 650 to 600. As expected, traditional Labour strongholds will lose seats. But is it "gerrymandering", as Labour have alleged? Not exactly. It's an undeniable fact that the current system, as is, is horribly skewed towards Labour. The 2005 election, for example, gave Labour 90 more seats than the Tories in England, despite losing by 0.3%. Labour also enjoy their concentrated support in inner-city areas, which allows them to win a lot of urban seats (and the reverse for the Conservatives, in business districts and rural areas). ...
The Queen's visit to Dublin later this year is going to be an interesting one for reporters as the history will make their job challenging. The BBC slips up in the first round of this.
I am very concerned that a council bedsit in Polepark Road has been lying empty for well over two years (since September 2008 to be exact). I raised this with the Director of Housing and was advised : "This property was extensively damaged - provisional estimated cost £20 K.+ - when recovered as an abandonment in August 2008. At that time an operational decision was taken to not commit this level of resources on a property with little or no demand (ground floor bedsit). What should have happened is what we are now doing and an options appraisal exercise is ...
I'm a keen Oyster card user – it saves having a pocket full of change and a crumpled travelcard after a day's tripping around town. It's also cheaper to use on buses, and as their site says, "Oyster automatically works out the cheapest fare for all your journeys in one day so you'll never pay ...
If we're serious about holding our elected representatives to account, further reform of commons select committees like science and technology is vital. Guest post by Christopher Tyler Select committees are not glamorous, but in terms of holding the government to account, they are more respectable than the media and more constructive than Her Majesty's opposition. These cross-party, backbench MPs, are not part of the executive, and therefore cut through much of the political nonsense - party or otherwise - and conduct honest, diligent scrutiny of each government department. The system works well and has been largely unchanged for decades. Recent ...
Another issue we had debated at conference was the centralisation of Policing. The case against was superbly put by Robert Brown MSP (see picture). Robert pointed out that the centralisation had serious governance issues. Would we have a super Chief Constable like the Met? Who would they be accountable to? The Justice Minister? A Board? He also pointed out that such reorganisations usually led to increased costs. I also spoke in the debate raising my concerns that in order to sort out a relatively short term financial problem we were in danger of setting up a centralised police force which ...
Yesterday was one of those days where three annoying things happened in the space of about 20 minutes. One was work related; a second was personal and the third was OU related. The OU related incident was the last of the three. Late afternoon I picked up an email telling me that my DD307 TMA01 had been marked and was ready for collection. I was stunned – it's the fastest I've ever had a TMA returned in four-plus years of study with the OU – and by some margin too. It had been marked and was ready for collection around ...
As the council prepares for swingeing cuts to buses, lollipop patrols, libraries, household waste sites, etc. Suffolk County's Chief Executive is in the news again, this time for employing a coach costing around £12,500 of council tax payers' money. The public may well ask why Andrea Hill isn't paying for this herself out of that £218,000 a year salary? It seems that council leader Jeremy Pembroke has also received coaching, presumably at the same rate of £525 per session. The story is in the Daily Mail and the Evening Star today. One should also ask what sort of coaching is ...
There is a meme on Facebook called the 30 day song challenge which will tease out your favorite songs in different situations over 30 days. The running order is below. As well as bugging my FB friends with this I thought I would spead this to my blog. Day 1 is your favorite song. Enjoy :-) day 01 - your favorite song day 02 - your least favorite song day 03 - a song that makes you happy day 04 - a song that makes you sad day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone day 06 - ...
Fri 4th
18:27
How might the 2010 General Election have looked had the UK been a Republic and not a Monarchy?
Well I've written two blog posts today why not make it a third before I go off to the Indian to grab a curry? There are many people across all political parties who want to remove the Monarchy and become a Republic. If we were to do that then for arguments sake lets adopt the ...
Today, I noticed something as we walked up to St John's Church, Mortimer for the inspiring Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Keith Lock. Just outside the church, there was a man wearing a hi-vis jacket and carrying a can of spray. He sprayed a white line around a collapsed storm drain just outside the church. Keith spent nigh-on 40 years of his life getting such things fixed around Mortimer. It seemed very appropriate that hi-vis man was there just before Keith's service. I think Keith would have appreciated it.
I have been up in Perth for the Lib Dem Party Conference. The troops were in good fettle in spite of a by election last night where we trailed in sixth. We, in Scotland, have been in government before and we had a similar experience during our first term. Our then Scottish Party chair got beaten into sixth place by the Hamilton Accies Supporters club. In spite of that we still ended up with an increased vote at the next diet of elections. Today started with a Q&A to Chief Secretary for the Treasury Danny Alexander. Unlike any other large ...
The BBC and the Today programme could barely conceal their delight about the Barnsley Central by election result, gloating over the drop in the Lib Dem vote from 2nd to 6th place. On this their coverage did not differ much from the rest of the media. Indeed this was spectacular. But it wasn't the only spectacular thing about the result. For the first time ever in a parliamentary election UKIP claimed second place, as the Tory vote plummeted. This should give us pause. It means that the Tories are leaking votes to the right, with UKIP, not the Greens, standing ...
Chris will be in Strasbourg next week, to attend the plenary session. Some votes include the 2012 budget guidelines, reducing health inequalities, the management of the H1N1 influenza and the EU protein deficit The fish for the future campaign group ... Continue reading →
The BBC reports: Wales has said a resounding Yes in the referendum on direct law-making powers for the assembly. When the last result was declared, all 22 counties except one – Monmouthshire – backed change. Turnout is provisionally put at 35%. The final result saw 517,132 vote Yes, and 297,380 say No – a 63.5% to 36.5% winning margin. The vote will give the assembly direct law-making power in 20 devolved areas, such as health and education. Kirsty Williams AM, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats said: I am delighted that there has been a 'yes' vote. It will make ...
Last weekend Reading Borough Council's consultation on the future of adult social care came to an end. We received over 1,000 responses from residents - I am delighted that we managed to get feedback from so many carers, service users and interested parties.As I have commented here before residents in Reading care deeply about social care. I am very grateful to everyone who took part as it helps me and my Cabinet colleagues make an informed decision on 14 March. I will be attending the scrutiny event on 10 March where issues identified in the consultation will be discussed in ...
A diverse group of people interested in issues relating to Palestine gathered at the Mayfair home of Mona Bauwens last night, to meet and hear from young leaders from OneVoice — a grassroots, civil society movement which works in parallel in both Israel an Palestine and aims to 'amplify the voice of the silent, moderate ...
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: Why Nick Clegg is probably right not to meet Gary McKinnon's mother (49 comments) by Caron Lindsay Economic statistic of the week: how the cuts compare (29 comments) by Mark Pack Opinion: Baroness Williams shows how to disagree with coalition policy with grace (10 comments) by Lisa Harding Charles Kennedy MP: No2AV ads "shocking and outrageous" (17 comments) by Helen Duffett Opinion: Why I will be making trouble for the census (8 comments) by Simon Beard ...
Counting is now over and the referendum in Wales has been won and about time too. Now Welsh politicians can be held to account. If they have promised to do something, they can no longer blame Westminster for holding up the delivery of the project.Now as a proud Englishman I feel the previous Labour government and current coalition governement are discriminating against me. On key areas of policy,
A couple of bad results in the past two days, one in the world of politics, one in the world of sport. Firstly England cricket team's dismal defeat by Ireland on Wednesday - at one point in the game I saw odds of 100-1 (apparently they were up to 200-1 at some point) on an Irish victory, I was tempted to put a fiver on it but thought even England couldn't throw that away. Secondly there was the by-election result in Barnsley where the Lib Dems ended up in a disappointing sixth place. The message on both of these fronts ...
I've been looking for a way to manage my backups. Burning DVDs and then leaving them around the house doesn't strike me as a sensible way to preserve my data any more. I just want a simple way to thrust my files onto the cloud with the minimum of fuss. The two big contenders I could find are Ubuntu One and Dropbox. Both allow me to map a drive and seamlessly sync my files just by copying them in there. I don't need to worry about regularly running a "sync" command. Just drag, drop, done. Quick ComparisonUbuntu OneDropbox Price per ...
I've just read this brief post by George Mason University economist Don Boudreaux and enjoyed it so much I thought I might reproduce it in full. (Fingers crossed Mr. Bourdreaux is one of those libertarians that doesn't believe in intellectual property!) A friend asked me earlier today a Wal-Mart question. I remembered this letter to the editor of The Economist that I wrote in 2006; I post it here at the Cafe for the first time: In "Opening up the big box" (Feb. 25) you overlook a significant benefit of Wal-Mart - namely, by relieving Main Street's retail spaces of ...
Yesterday evening, at an event to celebrate the "ennoblement" of Lord Qurban Hussain I was reminded of the heady days of the leader's debates when Nick Clegg totally caught the imagination of the country. The Chiltern Hotel in Luton was packed and there was a palpable sense of excitement and genuine warmth towards Nick. Those from minority communities in this country understand the integrity of Nick's position when he talks about multiculturalism- no fancy words – just a history of putting his money where his mouth is. Earlier in the day Nick had chosen Luton as the place to make ...
Fri 4th
15:48
Inspector McGregor swoops again - 5 drug related arrests above the North Star pub after a cannabis f...
The Wirral Globe has good news for the local police (and local community) they've found a cannabis farm above the North Star pub on Laird Street. Perhaps this explains the reason why Inspector McGregor didn't make it to the Oxton/Prenton Area Forum that evening if he was involved with this raid? Although someone else did ...
Fri 4th
15:39Barnsley Central and 6th place for the Lib Dems. Ugly but it was only a one-night stand type of ugly...
So in one of the biggest stunners in recent political history, Labour managed to defy all the odds and re-gain Barnsley Central from an Independent last night. Oh I'm just hearing through the voices in my head that I may have over-egged that opening sentence a wee bit. Labour winning (oh Charlie Sheen - whenever ...
Consett's new "Customer Access Point", otherwise known as "Half of Woolies" will cost council tax payers an eye-watering million pound plus over 10 years. That's the astonishing figure I've just extracted from the county council. I couldn't believe it when I was told that the cost of moving in was £827,000 and so went back to check. Surely that must have included the £206,000 the ten year lease is costing? No. That was just for the refurbishment and fittings, so the total cost for the ten year period is over a million pounds, and presumably at the end of that ...
When I got up this morning the first thing I saw was the Barnsley by election result. 'Deep breath, Richard' I told myself. 'No knee jerk reactions'. Then I got a whole series of tweets which all, in one way shape or form, tried to tell me that ' it wasn't as bad as it first looked' or 'don't worry, we've been here before'. And that sort of laissez-faire approach does rather trouble me... So I thought, sod it. Ten things I think about that result last night. 1. It was a terrible result and we would do ourselves a ...
Many of you will have read this Press release about the new Academy sponsors. I apologise for being slow to post it but I've been suffering web woes. Mind you, I'm still posting it before the county council ntify me as the local councillor. Apparently I am supposed either to keep scouring their press releases or wait for the press tolet me know. That's all the respect they have for the voters of Consett who elected me to represent them. Durham County Council is delighted to announce, that subject to its Cabinet's agreement, the new lead sponsor for Consett Academy ...
Fri 4th
15:20Arriva and the tale of the new bus stop at which Arriva buses won't stop (for 5 months!) - Hoylake R...
As regular readers of the Bidston & St. James Focus know, Merseytravel recently responded to a campaign we ran (on behalf of local residents of Beechwood) for extra bus stops on Hoylake Road near the Wirral Tennis & Sports Centre. The one on the North side of Hoylake Road (opposite Compton Road) is fine and ...
The first two months of 2011 have witnessed an eruption of discontent throughout the Middle East. Instead of radical Islamists dousing Israeli and American flags in petrol and setting them ablaze, we have seen discontented citizens take to the streets demanding the economic stability and political freedoms that they have been denied for so long. The nature of the protests has given rise to the hope that the people across the Middle East can, at long last, choose who governs them and kick them into touch if they fail to deliver. There are a number of observations that can be ...
Max Teuerman took to this blog last month to criticise George Monbiot's attack on the government over corporation tax plans. Now the BBC's Robert Peston has blogged his own long-promised take on the story, saying: The government seems to be trying to do precisely the opposite of what Mr Monbiot accuses it of doing: it is trying to stem the exodus of companies and their assets abroad. As Peston explains, George Monbiot warns that if dividends from overseas branches of multinationals become exempt from tax, that will create an incentive for multinationals to relocate more of their operations to these ...
Now before anyone thinks that this is going to turn into a Nick Clegg bashing session, it isn't. What it is though is a sombre reflection on a night which 'could' have ramifications for us as a party if we ... Continue reading →
Sefton's Labour leadership chose to bury their heads in the sand at last night's important budget setting full council meeting. The important meeting started at 6.30pm in Bootle Town Hall. An orchestrated crowd gathered outside and spilled into the entrance. Lots of shouting, whistles and some offensive remarks. This was an important night when we had to produce a balanced budget. A budget that contained cuts of £44 million for the next financial year. A budget that would create hardship for families and difficult decisions for officers trying to provide services on much reduced budgets. What was needed was for ...
I blogged a couple of weeks ago about the poor state of the advertising hoardings on Western Road. I have now heard back from the owners, Primesight. They have apologised for the lack of care given to the boards and have now promised to check them every two weeks whether or not the posters are being changed. They have also cleaned them up.
TRIBUTES have been paid to veteran Runcorn politician, magistrate and historian, Bill Leathwood who has died, aged 92. writes the Runcorn and Widnes World Mr Leathwood was a member of the Liberal party since the 1930s and became a Cheshire County Councillor when he was 68. He served in the Merchant Navy during the war and founded Runcorn Historical Society with Bert Starkey. He was an organist and lay preacher at Vista Road Methodist Church. Heath Lib Dem Clr Mike Hodgkinson, said: "Bill was in his element talking to people. "He brought the same energy and enthusiasm to the job ...
Nick Clegg's speech on 'muscular liberalism' has been described as foreshadowing an argument within the Coalition on anti-terrorism policy. Foreshadowed by Cameron's speech earlier in February, it calls for liberals to argue, challenge, and ultimately defeat the specious arguments espoused by violent extremists – a stark contrast to Cameron's determination to 'No Platform' extremist groups. ...
Following concern from residents who contacted Pam, myself and Cllr Burns in Heald Green, councillors had an emergency discussion on Tuesday about the parking problems on St Ann's Road North (see Google map). As I wrote a few days ago, this is a problem that's only emerged in the last six or seven weeks. For a decade prior to that, the traffic for Cheadle Business Park has stayed on the park and on Kingsway – and it was always clearly understood that St Ann's Road North should not get any of that traffic. So we're all agreed this should not ...
There will be no increase in Sefton's council tax this year. This positive news for residents was part of the Budget financial package agreed at a full council meeting last night (3 March 2011) The Liberal Democrat finance team of councillors, which includes a qualified accountant, company directors and owner managers of private businesses, has helped drive detailed research into the council's finances and developed the final budget for the financial year 2011/12. The budget was voted through by Liberal Democrats and Conservatives but opposed by Labour councillors and a former Formby Conservative and Parliamentary Candidate who has recently switched ...
One of the roles of Frome Vale Area Forum is to award grants to local groups, often funding projects that would be impossible without this sort of help. Cllr Alan Lawrance said "Requests always exceed the money available, but it was great to see the grants provided by the Frome Vale Forum supporting local groups which work so hard in the community" "£3000 was granted to the youngsters working with the new Youth Café to develop training. The Willow Tree Centre, based in Abbotswood, also received good support. The Forum didn't forget Youth Athletics, Southwold Swimming Club and Shopmobility. It ...
There was some good news for local government yesterday with the announcement that the capitalisation budget is being increased from £200m to £300m for 2011-12. Since the £200m figure was set in autumn spending settlement, Liberal Democrats in local government and also ministers such as Danny Alexander and Andrew Stunell have been pushing hard for an increase – with the result being yesterday's news. Capitalisation is a technical financial measure but in brief it allows councils more flexibility in their financial decisions. It is the process of letting revenue costs be treated as capital expenditure in limited circumstances, the primary ...
Fri 4th
13:08David Starkey on Question Time sounded like a paranoid art student on a pretty nasty LSD trip
I really do like long headlines don't I? Last night I switched up the laptop at around 10ish as I had a giant energy gap and went to bed. I had no plans to watch BBC Question Time but turns out I was still awake for it (and subsequently still awake til gone 2) so ...
The Sun has led with the story of the Ministry of Defence's £22 light bulbs. They carry quotes from a soldier who says he cannot stand buy whilst the MoD spends so much on a bulb which costs 65p in the shops. So far, so much the tale we expect. Government waste and bloated bill padding by private contractors. Then the Defence Secretary wades in to seek to shift the blame to Labour saying: "This is classic evidence of how Labour wasted taxpayers' money and shows a complete lack of common sense. No wonder the last government left the MoD ...
Some years ago, when I lived on Clifton Road (before I moved to Butterstile Close) I was woken in the middle of the night by the sound of glass breaking. I naturally assumed that my then girlfriend (now wife) had decided that she'd had enough of me and was destroying all of our property before ...
The London Assembly has called for changes in the law ahead of the 2012 London Mayor and Assembly elections, following a review of the lessons from last year's council and general election in London. Two issues are likely to meet widespread support, namely the problems of voters being intimidated and people being left still queuing when polls closed at 10pm. Both issues were significant problems in specific parts of London last year. The report says: The difficulties identified include most significantly a number of instances where there were queues at polling stations and people were unable to vote. Our report ...
[IMG: Minority Verdict by Michael Ashcroft - book cover] Michael Ashcroft's book, Minority verdict: The Conservative Party, the voters and the 2010 election, should be on the reading list of anyone wanting to run an election campaign whether at local or national level in the next few years. The bulk of Lord Ashcroft's book falls into three parts. First, there is an account of years running up to the general election through the eyes of political opinion poll findings. This section acts as a useful reference work even if it is a little plodding at times. Second, there are Ashcroft's ...
I am very busy today, so this is the type of brief and not very exciting blog post that such busy-ness results in. So sorry about that... This weekend I'll be out and about in the ward, delivering leaflets and letters to local people about the Budget and various other things that we've been doing ...
Congratulations to Labour's Dan Jarvis, who has beaten the nationalists into second place, to be coronated the next Labour MP in Barnsley Central. The Liberal Democrats came sixth. Were this a small town in Scotland it would not be an entirely unusual result, albeit still bad for the Liberal Democrats. The low turnout (37% versus 57% at the general election) was a factor. The 2nd place at the general election was only 17%, some 6 votes higher than the Conservatives. The headline though is what matters, with echos of the SDP's 7th place performance in Bootle 1990. The result that ...
@DuncanStott of Split Horizons blog, tweeted this today 'During the Oldham East + Saddleworth by-election, I got 13 emails from Lib Dem HQ asking for help. For Barnsley Central I got 0.' I know we didn't have a cat in hells chance of winning this safe Labour seat, but why didn't we try a bit harder. The turnout was low (36.5%, compared with 56.4% at the last general election) so if we could of got a few more of our voters out and persuaded others to vote for us then perhaps we would of had 500 extra votes. That 500 ...
An attractive lie is still a lie! The shocker isn't really that Labour held their seat in Barnsley but rather that the Coalition only managed little more than 12% combined. Sixth place is without doubt an awful result for us, from second place just 10 months ago. The Coalition message on why we have to face up to the deficit is obviously failing as is the Lib Dem adjunct - introducing some of the most egalitarian policies seen for generations to reduce inequalities and decentralise power - is going unheard. It's ironic that only a week after the Irish dumped ...
A few weeks ago I did an interview with Jason Cobb of Colchester 101 magazine about some of my work at the Council. I mentioned it here back then, and you can still listen to the recording of our chat there too. The magazine is not hitting the streets, and can be found in many locations in and around Colchester and Wivenhoe, and the interview is now an article on page 14. You can also read it online, should you so wish, and the rest of the magazine's worth looking at too.
Blogging will be light this weekend as I'm off to Cardiff for the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference. We're currently waiting for the Welsh Referendum powers result which we should know by the early afternoon. A comfortable 'Yes' result is to be expected but the big question mark is turnout. Will we get a good % voting or an apathetic figure of below 50%? We will soon find out. Welsh Liberal Democrat conference this year is set to be the biggest and best ever. We've got more pre-registrations than ever before and we have Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg addressing our ...
We did crap in Barnsley, there's no denying it. But were we really expecting to do well? The last by-election we had in a Labour safe seat was Glasgow North East in 2009, where we came sixth, behind the BNP, and polled a measly 2.3%. I think that bears reiterating as the media conveniently ignore the Conservative meltdown in favour of ours.
Garston Library and One Stop Shop has had to close today because of a maintenance problem (to do with boiler flue gasses and damage). The building may not be able to re open tomorrow (Saturday) If this happens, we won't be able to run our Councillors' surgery there tomorrow at 10 am. If you were planning to attend, please call the Library in the morning to check the situation before making the journey. You can always contact the Cressington Councillors by phoning the Lib Dem office at the Municipal Buildings on 0151 225 2354 or by e mailing one of ...
A Good Kicking for whom? I woke up again this morning to the headline that the Liberal Democrats got a good kicking, this time in yesterday's Barnsley by- election. Since Lib Dem bashing has become a national sport, journalists didn't have to think long to come up with that headline. Had they been a little ...
I was chuffed to see Camberwell Baths finally open on Monday. Despite years of council officers telling us we should close Camberwell baths when the Lib Dems led Southwark Council we didn't. It's such an important hub for Camberwell being Camberwell. The specious argument was Camberwellites could go to the Peckham Pulse for a swim or to use a gym. So we made it a manifesto pledge in 2006 as part of our Lib Dem promise to modernise all Southwark's leisure centres. We won and allocated over £12M for this. It took longer to make happen than we ever expected ...
100 years ago people died on average 23 years before the official retirement age. Now, people die on average 15 years after the official retirement age.
As news emerges of more waste at the MOD (this time over the price of a light bulb) I will head off all of the FOI requests at the pass by letting you all know that the Council does not have a contract for bulbs, and instead have a few recognised suppliers who charge 30-40p for a standard 100w bulb. these procurement contracts for the MOD will have been signed years ago, the question is why were they ever signed in the first place?
Fri 4th
09:59
A political grassroots movement which will take us to a new era of politics: Where do the Lib Dems s...
This is an article I wrote which was originally published in The Liberator January 2011 Edition and I am posting it here for those who may be interested: If you look closely enough you will see the beginnings of a significant shift taking place in the way public services and, ultimately, government is run. It ...
Yesterday in a debate centred around International Women's Day Lord Alan Sugar called for a change in the law to allow women to be questioned about their thoughts on childcare and having a family. I was astounded as I listened to his justification as to how he believed in women and did not discriminate against them. He even used the example of one of his senior managers (female) who had three children - she even gave birth to one of them in his employment (shock horror). Another who is currently on maternity leave whose job will be there for her ...
Car's with only one headlight working, that is - not 2012 mascots or anything else! I cannot recall a time when I have seen so many cars with just a single headlight. Maybe it's indicative of the hard economic times and the vastly increased costs of motoring because of the fuel price that is resulting in people skipping maintenance on their vehicles. I can't believe people don't know they are one headlight short of a full set! The effect is not just reduced visibility at night for the driver but also a likelihood that high beam will be used inappropriately, ...
Steve Webb says: I am keen to draw the attention of local residents to a special scheme, part of which runs out in a few weeks' time. This is designed to enable certain people who have retired in the last few years (or who will retire over the next few years) to boost their state pension on favourable terms. In brief, it applies to those who reached state pension age after April 2008 and who are not drawing a full state pension. If this applies to you and you already have at least twenty years of contributions or credits (for ...
My old campaign manager (old as in former), Mark Pack, now writes a really good newsletter which I think merits going far and wide. In pursuit of which – you can see what you think – and promote it further on your social media networks if you agree. See what Mark says here.
For some months Pam and I have been working with residents on a residents' parking scheme for Hall Street, Ernest Street and Crescent Road in Cheadle (behind St Marys Church). Residents asked for the scheme some time ago. The area is all terraced Victorian houses and, because it's close to the village centre, people often have real problems parking near to their own houses. This is the situation residents' parking is there to resolve. In Stockport's residents' parking scheme, people can pay £20 a year for a permit for a car (or £1 a day for a visitor's permit). That ...
Yesterday I had the honour of sitting in the House of Lords and listening to Sal's maiden speech. The opposition day debate in The House of Lords was centre on the centenary of International Women's Day. Sal, who has long been a champion of women, spoke eloquently on the plight of women in Tanzania who can suffer disabilities after developing obstetric fistula. Developing this condition in labour leaves most women without their baby and with disabilities that will hinder them for the rest of their lives. The saddening thing is that this condition can be reversed, and many women miss ...
Heaven help us, it's another education initiative from Michael Gove. This time he wants schools to open ten hours a day and on Saturday mornings. I can't see how that's going to produce anything other than exhausted pupils, exhausted teachers, an end to after-school activities, and a further erosion of family life. Why is it that politicians think that if something fails, we have to keep doing the same thing only harder? A lot of children, particularly from poorer backgrounds, are ill served by the present education system. But it seems to me that the most significant changes that would ...
As I write counting has just got underway in the Assembly powers referendum and the final touches are being put to preparations for the Welsh Liberal Democrats Conference and the Welsh Conservatives Conference, both in Cardiff, as well as an anti-cuts rally in the same City. I will not be at any of them. Faced with the prospect of another nine weeks of intense campaigning in the lead up to the Welsh Assembly elections and the AV referendum, I am postponing the resumption of the fight for hearts and minds and instead taking my wife away for her birthday. Blogging ...
The result in the Cambridgeshire County Council by-election in March North yesterday was:Con 616 Lab 282 Lib Dem 277 The Lib Dem share of the vote was well above the national average, the Conservative vote share was down, and the increase in the Labour vote was very much smaller than elsewhere recently. Clearly it's not an easy time to be contesting local by-elections. The last Labour government made a mess of the economy, and whoever helps clear it up is going to be unpopular for a little while. But it was a real pleasure to work with Will McAdam - ...
Last night the Lib Dems dropped to sixth place in the Barnsley Central. As Nick Clegg has said, it was 'a kicking' for the party, but can we afford the complacency of saying that this was just a single result in a safe Labour seat. According to some, this is not a result to take much notice of. It was a low turnout in a seat that we had little chance of winning. It has, correctly, been pointed out that other parties have lost deposits in by-elections yet have bounced back to perform well in subsequent local and general elections. ...
Local Liberal Democrat Councillor Lynn Drake has been asking Salford Council officers if they can shed any light on the future of Seedley Primary School. So far the school, which closed last summer, has not been earmarked for any future use and local residents are worried that the building will be allowed by the council, to fall into unsafe disrepair, just like the adjacent council owned shops on Liverpool Street. Councillor Drake who lives behind the school said "The shops on Liverpool Street partially collapsed in June last year and I'm worried this will happen to the school building if ...
The Yes to Fairer Votes Campaign is highlighting seven particular flaws of First Past the Post (FPTP) and is encouraging supporters to pick a favourite, as it were, and tell others about it. The one that most resonates with me is the argument that First Past the Post makes it easier for unrepresentative extremists to get elected with a minority of the vote. As the Campaign argues: Most of us have MPs most of us didn't vote for. Because First Past the Post enables candidates to win with the votes of 1-in-3 people in a constituency, extremist parties such as ...
Fri 4th
08:59
Why Nick Clegg is right on multiculturalism (or how the Deputy Prime Minister came to Luton to agree...
When, last month, David Cameron made his speech in Munich that was critical of 'state multiculturalism' on the same day that the EDL were marching in Luton I was upset. Not only because I shared the feeling with many others that the timing and the nature of that speech was something of an added insult to a community struggling with a very difficult set of circumstances, but also because the speech itself was so wrongheaded and unintelligent. I wrote my critique of that speech here in this post; 'Cameron is wrong: multiculturalism has worked'. What I didn't say at the ...
Reading this story I was reminded of the scene in Independence Day when the President of the United States enters Area 51 for the first time and the question is asked how the costs for it were hidden away in the budget. The answer is something along the lines of "you don't think it really costs £22 to change a light bulb or £103 for inch long screws or that military dog kennels cost more than five-star hotel rooms do you?" The money is hidden away in other budget lines. I rather wish that this was the real explanation for ...
Fri 4th
08:55
Office of Tax Simplification quotes Star Trek and recommends ending relief for a tax rule that no lo...
At the time the Conservatives announced their plans for an Office of Tax Simplification it looked to me like a good exception to the general policy of cutting quangoes. Its major report into tax reliefs looks to have justified that belief – because the Office of Tax Simplification has discovered that far more tax reliefs exist than it was expecting. Yup, you read that right – that tax system is so complicated it turned out to be even more complicated than people who already thought it was complicated expected. Or in its language: We found 1,042 reliefs,allowances and exemptions; far ...
Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, has today welcomed the news that the UK Government will consult the Welsh Assembly over giving them the power to decide whether or not to move the Early May Bank holiday to coincide with St David's Day on 1st March. Welsh Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for St David's Day to be a bank holiday so that the people of Wales can celebrate their culture and heritage. Mark Williams, Welsh Liberal Democrat MP, held a debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday arguing that the Welsh Assembly should be given the ...
Sixth place in the Barnsley by-election is not a good look, no denying it. It is upsetting to come behind hate-fuelled racists like the BNP. But for that sort of seat, in a Labour heartland, last night's result was pretty much par for the course. For the sake of completeness, thanks to the BBC, here is the full result: Dan Jarvis (Lab) 14,724Jane Collins (UKIP) 2,953James Hockney (C) 1,999Enis Dalton (BNP) 1,463Tony Devoy (Ind) 1,266Dominic Carman (LD) 1,012Kevin Riddiough (Eng Dem) 544Howling Laud Hope (Loony) 198Michael Val Davies (Ind) 60Lab maj 11,771: Turnout 36.5%If this was a seat where we ...
Pete Ruhemann is suddenly a sensitive soul. It is a fact that he used the word "Quisling" personally against the Lib Dem group leader pointing his finger whilst he said it. All pretty unambiguous you would have thought. Except he seems to be wriggling like a worm on a hook. His defence seems to be "but sir, he called us names first". Well sort of, when I made a comment I directed it against the Labour Party as a whole, not individuals. And more crucially in my own time, not whilst on council business. The findings of the courts in ...
Labour lost deposits too but this is what our party needs to learn from last night's by-election. Ouch Barnsley! If you have ever been to Lib Dem conference and spent the final night at the Glee Club you will recognise the song "losing deposits", sung to the tune of Waltzing Matilda. For some of us there is no need to dust down the Liberator Song Book, that ditty is etched indelibly in our minds. The kicking in Barnsley will be well analysed over the next 24-hours. It will be deemed to be about the unpopularity of the Coalition, which will ...
Great quote by Peter Wrigley, Keynesian Liberal, commenting on Jeremy Hunt's decision on Murdoch. Peter doesn't call for the coalition to end but for Liberal Democrats to stand up for their beliefs.
Birth of the New Kitchen, Day 12: almost done. Finishing touches on Sat/Tue. Here's the light. http://plixi.com/p/81233171 # Share this on Facebook Email this via Gmail Email this via Hotmail Email this to a friend? Send this page to Print Friendly Tweet This! Email this via Yahoo! Mail
The dreadful Barnsley bye-election result must hammer home the need for the Liberal Democrats to have their own message and to express it clearly. As long as we are seen as little Sir Echo to the Tories, why would anybody vote for us ?
Kent Council TV rides againSome people get the impression that Kent is run for the benefit of hunting and shooting toffs, however Kent is run by a progressive Conservative administration committed to an egalitarian society. To prove that privilege and social exclusion has no place in our community, Kent County Council have recycled your hard earned money into a short film, to illustrate the life style of ordinary Kent folk.
Dan Jarvis (Lab) 14,724 Jane Collins (UKIP) 2,953 James Hockney (C) 1,999 Enis Dalton (BNP) 1,463 Tony Devoy (Ind) 1,266 Dominic Carman (LD) 1,012 Kevin Riddiough (Eng Dem) 544 Howling Laud Hope (Loony) 198 Michael Val Davies (Ind) 60 Turnout 36.5% Party president Tim Farron said: "It was a poor result for us. It was a poor result for the Tories. The coalition parties didn't do very well here. Surprise, surprise."
Working with destination Colchester, the Council is running an online consultation to find out what people's views are about applying for city status. So, whatever your opinion, why not click here and let us know what you think?
Arrogance, effrontery, nerve, chutzpah,audacity, brussenness; it is hard to find a word to describe the Tory mindset in the Murdoch/Competition Commission issue. Perhaps "Shameless" has the best connotations. The sequence of events: the transfer of the decision from the declaredly partial Vince Cable to the equally declaredly partial but in the other direction Jeremy Hunt, the Camerons at a dinner over Christmas with the News International chief executive,the promise that isn't worth tuppence of the editorial independence for Sky News, and now the shameless assurance that all correct procedures have been followed and all is well in the best of ...
broadcast anniversaries 4 March 1967: broadcast of fourth episode of The Moonbase. The Doctor defeats the Cybermen by using the gravitron to make them float away into space. 4 March 1972: broadcast of second episode of The Sea Devils. The Doctor and Jo escape the the nearby sea base and discover that the Master is stealing equipment. 4 March 1978: broadcast of fifth episode of The Invasion of Time. The Doctor and friends escape, and the Doctor persuades Borusa to let him have the Great Key.
This is a follow-up on the post "The Rise and Fall of Unionism" at Legal Fiction. The last part goes on about the hubristic attitude of unions as of late; I admit that I did have some input on the creation of the post, including a rant about how some of the planned marches, such as the planned March 26th protests, were run by "wannabe socialists wanting to play Libyan revolutionaries". I want to cover a few things missed out in the LF post regarding RMT. As far as strike action goes, I think RMT are really damaging the labour ...
I am really disappointed. Wilson Chowdhry, local Green Party activist and former Westminster and local election Candidate recently posted an article, which I am sure is completely out of kilter with the Green Party's policy on equality and in particular LGBT issues. Unfortunately soon after I tweeted about the blog post it was removed. That speaks volumes to me - you knew it was going to create a stink Wilson. I don't really have an issue with the Green Party apart from certain obvious political disagreements, but then I have those will all parties at some point, including my own, ...
I received a polite and helpful reply from a local government department today. I had waited a couple of days but I had been prepared for this as I received an automatic reply that my email would be dealt with this week. Well done Lancaster City Council. I have also sent an email to my MP (take a look at my blog entry for the 20th February). I received another automatic reply but this one told me that I would just have to wait in turn. I don't think I have ever kept anyone waiting 48 hours for an email ...
Nick Perry, the Lib Dem parliamentary spokesperson for Hastings & Rye, brought his colleague Euro MP Sharon Bowles to town last week to sign her support for the Hastings Observer's own fish fight campaign. Sharon, who has been working with Paul Joy and colleagues for Common Fisheries Policy reform at Brussels over the past six ...
