Last November I blogged about the review I led into the Council's community warden service which sought to deliver better value and better services to residents. This review began under Labour - something local Labour councillors forget to mention when Yvette Cooper put her foot in it during her visit to Reading last week. The review focussed on identifying ways of delivering a more cost-effective service which could respond effectively to residents concerns. The review identified waste and duplication of resources under the previous scheme operated by Labour.The new warden service which we are launching is an excellent example of ...
The Independent reports: Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland who became a focal point for anger over the financial crisis, has obtained a super-injunction banning the media from identifying him as a banker. The existence of the super-injunction was revealed today by John Hemming, a back-bench Liberal Democrat MP who tabled a question in Parliament about the gagging order. Normally the media is forbidden from even reporting that a super-injunction exists but Parliamentary privilege allows MPs to speak on the floor of the House of Commons without risk of prosecution.
John William and his friend Ed, with their exhibit on the plight of trafficked human beings designed by Ed, at the Russian Embassy this evening
Over the years a number of residents have contacted us about the lack of action to tackle drivers parking on pavements and on verges when Labour ran the Council. This is an offence and yet Labour did nothing about it. In response to concerns raised by residents and councillors, the Liberal Democrat-Conservative controlled Council has today announced details of plans to tackle illegal parking on pavements and verges in Reading - something many residents have been calling for for years. Damage to verges across Redlands has cost Council Tax payers dear and damaged the local environment. The Council's new approach which is due to be ...
I've managed to get my head around the Admin sections of this blog, and have made some updates, to take advantage of some of the new features that have recently become available. So, apart from a new look, there is also a link to my (sometimes random!) Twitter feed, and a new "Get Involved" section, to the right, where you can access links such as Registering to Vote, Offering to help (go on!), and letting us know your views. I hope you like it!
I have been away the past couple of days with the "day job", running a conference in Crieff - a slightly snowy Crieff (see below) - great event and back in Dundee in time for my weekly surgery at Blackness Primary School this evening.
The observant reader of this blog will have noticed that quite a few of the links to other bloggers have now gone. This isn't because I have gone off their writing. It is because they have stopped posting. I decided that anyone who hasn't written anything since December 2010 should go. If they start posting again I will reinstate them. There is one exception. One blogger has been removed who continues to post. That blogger asked me to link to his blog and in return he would link to mine. Many months later he still hasn't. While he writes well ...
Women of the World Festival Conference 11 - 13 March If you are free this weekend then get yourself down to the Southbank. Women of the World launches its first year with speakers from across five continents. It brings together amazing stories of triumph, action, challenge and enterprise from girls of 14 to women of 80. Musicians, lawyers, scientists, members of the clergy, journalists, politicians, community activists, gardeners, school girls and cocoa growers share ideas for change. Women's organisations of every persuasion are represented in a great weekend of fierce debate and fantastic fun. Plus market activities, speed mentoring and ...
The Liberal Democrats are to be condemned for not overturning my policy more thoroughly.
The best 0-0 draw in Spurs' history without a doubt. I wish I'd been there; the crowd were awesome, and Tottenham's maturity as a football team was evident for all to see. It's very nice to see today how matches like that bring out the best in commentators. Prose that is a pleasure just to read, almost lyrical in places. From the Guardian, 10th March 2011. Phil McNulty on the BBC: "The demolition of holders Inter Milan on a thunderous night was a demonstration of Tottenham's threat but Redknapp may take even more satisfaction from the way Inter's neighbours were ...
Tomorrow I am leaving to go to my first Lib Dem conference. I am exicted because there are so many people going to be there that I know. There are lots of nice people there but I am a bit nervous as I am quite shy. I think going to conference will help build my confidence. My Grandma, Grandpa and Mum will be there with their friends. They will all help me out in my role as a steward. My job is to help anyone when they are lost, have forgotten where they are supposed to be and be as ...
This Wednesday's Ward Committee ended up with three main agenda items. The quickest to be dealt with was the approval of the first of the coming year's Community Chest bids (as listed in my note on the meeting on Monday). More time was spent in discussion with Kerry Jukes, from National Express West Midlands who attended to respond to questions about the ongoing problem of busses queuing in Summer Road in the early evening, as they wait to park up for the night in the Bus Garage. Rather surprisingly, as the new local manager, Kerry seemed to be unaware of ...
From the early days of the coalition I have said there is something of the Whigs about them. Karl Popper, one of the leading liberal lights of the last century, believed you should always attempt to disprove your hypothesis. If you can't disprove it, then you might be right. So how Whiggish is the coalition? The announcement that the government may ban displaying tobacco in shops would tend to disprove the theory. In the Whig corner we have the Freedom Bill and the halting of the identity card scheme. Of course, the coalition was never going to be completely Whiggish. ...
Who will be the Labour candidate in the Leicester South by-election and thus the bookies' favourite to be the constituency's next MP? Labour's internal politics in the city are notoriously faction ridden and a post on LabourList says: With such a short selection period there is a real sense of unease within the constituency. Local party members, activists and likely candidates are already talking about the race as a foregone conclusion with real concern over the likelihood of a candidate being parachuted into the constituency. There is particular concern as to whether the NEC will shortlist prominent local candidates. Labour ...
Thu 10th
19:38
Questions from Social Liberal Forum Members to The Rt. Hon Dr Vince Cable, January 2011
Jon asks: The last serious survey on the subject, about 10 years ago, showed that graduates earn on average some £600,000 more than non-graduates over their working career. I don't think there can be any debate about the fairness of ... Continue reading →
Beware of an email saying: Dear client, Your package has been returned to the Post Express office. The reason of the return is "Error in the delivery address" Attached to the letter mailing label contains the details of the package delivery. You have to print mailing label, and come in the Post Express office in order to receive the packages. Thank you. Post Express Support Downloading the "label" actually installs a rather nasty virus on your PC. This version of the message has just been received locally, but there are others about claiming to be from different companies. Beware!
Vodafone has been under the spotlight nationally recently over whether or not it pays enough tax. Certainly there is a real feeling that the company ought to pay a whole lot more and that its behaving irresponsibly by not doing so. I am not a particular expert about this but anyone who reads the newspapers will know that Vodafone's reputation has been taking a trashing and that the protests don't show any signs of going away (as you can see here) When big companies are not socially responsible, this often shows itself in small actions as well as big ones. ...
Debate on my motion today calling attention to the situation in Zimbabwe www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=7755 Question on rights of gay asylum seekers, on Monday:
Well done to BBC News for: New Gloucestershire cheese rolling plans announced I am also pleased to see that the report below quotes a member of the organising committee called Richard Jefferies.
This weekend in Sheffield, Liberal Democrats will be debating important internal steps to ensure that by 2015 our parliamentary party in the House of Commons better reflects the diversity of modern Britain. In the coming months, with the Draft Bill on House of Lords reform, Liberal Democrats will also have a key external opportunity to kickstart culture change at Westminster. Here's why we need to grasp that opportunity: § Diversity is part of the solution to our broken politics. Diversity is good not just for under-represented groups and parties who want their votes, but, far more importantly, for constituents, politics ...
As one or two people may know...I have no life. Therefore Saturday's are 'Take Me Out' time whilst the showing is going on. This series has been fantastic and there are a handful of girls we've got to know and love over the past 12 or so weeks. From Mint JoJo to lovely Kate, divine ...
[IMG: Paul Burstow MP] The debate on the future of the NHS is shaping up to be the defining event at the Liberal Democrat conference this weekend in Sheffield There are other significant items on the agenda, but their outcome is almost certain - Nick Clegg will give a speech that gets a standing ovation, the strategy debate will see plenty of people talk about the need for the party to be independent and no support for pre-election deals, and so on. But the outcome of the health debate is far less certain. For those more familiar with the way ...
On Tuesday a Guardian leader discussed the present predicament of the Liberal Democrats and I am pleased that today they have published the letter I wrote in response. Perfectly reasonably, and without altering the sense, my letter was edited down, so here is the full version, with the cut (less than savage in this case) in bold. Dear Editor, Oh that it were true that "Lib Dems stare silently at their feet whenever the coalition does something particularly egregious..." (Call for a lost voice, 8 March) Unfortunately, as a Liberal/Liberal Democrat activist for almost 50 years I am haunted by ...
I rather like how Storify works for pulling together online content about a news story. Selecting and sorting the following list took only a few minutes, and the end result makes for (I think - but let me know if you think otherwise!) a rather handy summary of the story:
Long before the Barnsley Chop was felt by the unfortunate Dominic Carman, an increasing number of Liberal Democrats have been murmuring about the longer-term effects of the coalition on our electoral chances in 2015. That murmur is now a whisper among those who focus four years ahead and feel queasy about our longer-term survival. Putting the Party First does not mean opposing the coalition. Quite the contrary. We should trust those in government to get on with it, while keeping to the agreement and other pledges. The 2013 Review will be the proper time to voice concerns and make corrections. ...
It looks like the Government is to force cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging. QR codes on packets of coffin nails have appeared before as concept advertising. I thought it would be interesting to see if QR codes could be used for good. Here's my attempt (I'm not a graphics designer!) [IMG: QR Code on Unbranded Cigarette Pack] [IMG: Quit Smoking unbranded pack] Original image via WeMadeThis. The first QR code goes to Direct.gov.uk's mobile friendly Smoking Calculator. The second goes to a site which lets your enter your postcode to find help near you. The resultant page has ...
One of my least favourite of Labour's former ministers, the ex-Barrow and Furness MP John (now Lord) Hutton, has today revealed the contents of his report into public sector pension reform. The findings of the Hutton Report (not to be confused with the investigation into death of Dr David Kelly of the same name) include recommending linking pensions to average career earnings rather than the final salary in the case of the most generous schemes, ensuring public servants pay higher pension contributions and that the normal pension age should be linked to the state pension age. None of these seems ...
When is localism not localism? When it comes to London apparently! As the Localism Bill makes its way through its committee stages in the House of Commons the clauses that have an impact on London were rushed and hardly discussed on Tuesday afternoon. This is unfortunate because this is the one part of the bill where the idea of localism is stopped dead in its tracks. In contrast to the localist approach applied across England in the rest of the bill, when it comes to London it seems that devolution stops at a regional level. There are three specific proposals ...
A couple of weeks ago Layla and me went on a bit of a road trip around the South-West. Given that Layla had never actually been there and I grew up there I knew there was a lot to see and do in the short time we had to give her a proper view of ...Read the Rest
Their are all sort of sorts of rumours flying around about what anti-cuts and student protestors are going to do to us awful sellout Lib Dems at our spring conference in Sheffield this weekend. The best one I've heard so far is that student protestors are going to kidnap Nick Clegg as he addresses the ...
What a coincidence. It is the eve of the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in Sheffield and the Independent carries a piece about David Laws returning to Government. This has long been the subject of speculation, but now it seems that a way has been found to do it that will avoid a reshuffle: Nick Clegg and David Cameron have had private discussions about appointing Mr Laws to work alongside Oliver Letwin and Francis Maude in the Cabinet Office, The Independent understands. The new position, which would almost certainly come with the right to attend Cabinet, would increase Liberal Democrat representation ...
Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of this online journal. Spiked represents a different sort of liberalism to the type that I associate with. It stands up for freedom all right; in the words of its editor Brendan O'Neill in his 10th anniversary piece Spiked exists to: ...to fight the good fight for freedom, progress, growth, tolerance and a bit of Enlightened spirit. But it sets itself against pretty much any attempt by the established political leadership to uphold liberal values. It finds itself against the idea that climate change is a threat worth doing anything about; it was against the ...
There's a post up on LibCon today by Rupert Read, which claims that since the Libyan rebels he's in touch with want a no-fly zone, why not give it to them? This seems reasonable, but I'm always slightly suspicious of anything written by Rupert Read. He's a lecturer in philosophy, and as someone with a ...
I have been contacted about my comments in parliament today. My response is: "It is a legally complex situation and I am not saying anything outside parliamentary proceedings".On the wider question, however. I would say:"I am concerned about two things. Firstly the development of a law of privacy without the proper statutory underpinning or public support. Secondly, the lack of accountability
This is the first spring conference since we entered Government. In all the years I've been a Liberal Democrat I've never known of such a potentially explosive spring conference. Or at least that's what the media would have you believe. Debating policy is part of our DNA. And it shouldn't change now that we're in Government. This spring conference we'll be debating the coalition's proposals to update the NHS. And unlike in the media, it won't be a case of who shouts loudest wins. I understand why people are so concerned. Every time I meet party members I'm reminded of ...
America was once a great utopia for liberty, equality and fraternity. Thomas Paine fell in love with this new nation and believed its foundation was an inspiration for humanity and a birth of a great new civilisation. One wonders what ... Continue reading →
As the English & Welsh Criminal Records Bureau procedures are being revised, so Northern Ireland catches up - let's hope they can get them to being along the same lines.
This is a short post about the next North Area Committee. It is on Thursday 24th March at Manor School, Arbury Road. Planning will be at 6.30pm (with one item on the draft agenda, an application in East Chesterton). The main meeting starts at 7.30pm. The meeting has a new format, with a "Community Forum" session after the usual Open Forum. The final agenda will confirm the details, but we hope to have sessions on Libraries and the Localism Bill. The formal session at the end looks likely to cover grants, the new format of the meeting, and licensing of ...
[IMG: Paula writes the diary] It's no secret that I'm an advocate of self-publishing. Naturally, I'm not averse to the traditional route of seeking professional literary representation through a conventional publishing house, but I believe self-publishing has a number of benefits and advantages which just aren't available through traditional routes. If you're thinking of self-publishing your own novel, I've put together five good reasons to do so. 1. You can write what you want, when you want One of the biggest constraints that writers face when tied to publishing houses is that many publishers will tell you that they want ...
The UK Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander — who has self-assuredly accepted his mocking nickname of the Ginger Rodent — was guest of honour at a gala dinner last night put on by Islington Liberal Democrats at Fredericks Restaurant in Camden Passage. He set out some of the achievements of LibDems in government, including the forthcoming ...
For about six weeks from Monday there will be work to replace and repoint brickwork and install a new trash screen on the culvert through Bruntwood Lane in Cheadle. This is an important piece of work – you might remember that Pam and I have been doing a lot of work to get flooding issues sorting out around Schools Hill and Broadway. This work, especially the trash screen, is an essential part of getting that sorted. During the work there will be a controlled stop/go board on the lane so driving up and down to the houses or to Bruntwood ...
A trio of local council news: Andrew Reeves reports on the sacking of a Scottish Labour councillor William O'Rourke over his comments about rape (and credit to Labour, they looked to have moved much more quickly and firmly than the Conservatives did in the recent similar case of Bill Aitken) Horsham Conservative councillor Keith Shepherd has switched to the Liberal Democrats Eastleigh councillor Keith Day has quit the Liberal Democrats and is now sitting as an independent
Wallington Integrated Transport Package Steering Group As Cllr Hall had a last minute emergency I stepped in to chair this meeting with key stakeholders about the Wallington High Street works. The stakeholders included representatives of local residents' associations, Scola & Orchard Hill, local businesses, the Farmers' Market & Friends of the Wallington Library and Gardens as ...
Today is my day for really preparing for our weekend trip to Sheffield to attend Lib Dem conference. Preparations this year are very different to any other conference I have attended. In the past I have gone to various venues and met up with my parents at conference. Then, after I moved to Watford my parents stopped coming and started looking after my children instead. This year, however, I am packing not just for me, but also for my two teenagers who are attending their first ever conference. I am not sure if I am exited or nervous about them ...
With any luck, that will be the most cryptic headline I ever find myself writing. Ahead of the Lib Dem Sheffield conference, I was looking at the whole Alternative Vote issue in some detail. There are many excellent reasons to vote Yes to AV. The main one is MPs working harder for their constituents support, as listed at No 1. on the Yes To Fairer Votes campaign site. That's a good, solid, pragmatic reason for me. My other two I don't hear that often: Preferential systems are always better than FPTP in a multi-party election It's a more honest, straightforward ...
As I've noted before, I don't always praise Cornwall Council, but their proposal for the A30 between Temple and Higher Carblake is exactly the right approach. This stretch of road is a notorious bottleneck in the summer which creates huge problems for all areas from Bodmin westwards and can be a turn off to businesses and tourists alike. Cornwall has been asking for the road (which is managed by the Highways Agency) to be dualled for many years. The scheme is currently listed by the Government as 'for consideration at some point after 2019' - in other words it has ...
[IMG: UberSocial icon] An update for my previous UberTwitter shortcuts list now that UberTwitter has become UberSocial: U - post a tweet (update) R - reply to tweet / person you are viewing K - reply to all D - send direct message to author of tweet you are viewing (unlike R, this doesn't work when viewing a person) L- retweet F - follow the sender of tweet / person who you are viewing Z - email the tweet you are viewing V - favourite a tweet S - go to search screen A - go to accounts screen P ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice Ed Miliband boot the put in at Prime Minister's Questions this week, regarding the string of cock-ups on the Libyan front, presided over by one William Hague, Foreign Secretary of this parish. He said: "We have had the flights fiasco, talk of Colonel Gaddafi heading to Venezuela when he was not, overblown briefing about potential military action, and the setback last weekend." All in all, Libya is starting to rank alongside baseball caps in the list of things William Hague should leave well off his CV. "We have an excellent Foreign Secretary" was finally squeezed ...
British people's attitude to fundamental rights is deteriorating alarmingly. Liberal Democrats in government have a key opportunity to reverse the trend. When the incoming Labour Government issued 'Bringing Rights Home', in the wake of the UK having the worst human rights record in terms of adverse judgments except Turkey, we all applauded. But the weasel words of the Human Rights act, which explicitly ruled out judicial review of legislation (as happens in Canada under the Charter, and has happeed in the USA since Marbury -v- Madison) has created a climate where the majority of the British people now think that ...
I can't say I agree with David Cameron on this. A member of Muslims Against Crusades burned two plastic poppies during last November's Armistice Day ceremony. Yesterday he was fined £50. In my view he should not have been. The act was outrageous to some; indeed it was intended to be. But outrage at such acts is the price we pay for freedom of expression, which is still one of the key characteristics that distinguishes this society from many others. In this particular instance we actually lag behind the United States where flag burning, despite Americans' veneration for their flag, ...
There has been some talk in recent days of what the Government should do with it's stake in the banks. One suggestion by Stephen Williams (Liberal Democrat MP) is that the Government should give the shares to the people and allow them to sell them. The caveat would be that they couldn't be sold below the price the Government paid (the floor price) and when the shares are sold the Government receives their initial investment. This therefore allows the general population to make money from the sale of the banks, either profit on disposal or by dividends. There are some ...
I have just come back from a meeting of the Council's community safety scrutiny committee. I was invited to get a ticking off for not complying with their request to write to the LGA saying the Council does not support magistrates having a sign off for any Council investigations using RIPA. For info, The Council's Cabinet also agreed to implement the McDonald recommendations in advance of any legislation wherever possible. My reasons for not accepting this request were three fold. 1. Too many councils have used RIPA powers for trivial and disproportionate reasons and although I think Hull CC has ...
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This is the chapter I contributed during the last Parliament to ALDC's Community Politics Today publication. The John Pardoe quote applies all the more now the party is in coalition government and the general advice to local campaigners is in my view even more important now than it was then: It's a common complaint - that modern Liberal Democrat election campaigns have lost the original campaigning and ideological spirit of community politics. Instead, so the critics say, campaigns have become a dumbed-down recitation of techniques, campaigning by numbers, where the only objective is votes and only the ballot box matters. ...
One of the stock story types for local papers is "resident takes a stand over unreasonable planning demands from Council". There's an example from Stockport last week over a front door. The tone of the stories is normally bureaucrat-bashing – the planning officers have over-reacted and should just let it go. In this case, it's cost the householder a few hundred pounds to get a new door. In some cases it costs a lot more. There was a case – again in Stockport – where someone had built their £500,000 house too high and was faced with knocking it down. ...
Here are plots of the top 3 party vote share for most of the English seats from the general election plotted. Seats in the red zone were won by Labour, blue zone by Conservatives, and yellow zone by Lib Dems. The lighter triangle in the centre represents seats won with less than 50% of the vote, so shows the seats that will be affected by AV at a 3 party level. I've shown English seats only, as results in Scotland and Wales distort the picture due to the additional presence of the Nationalist vote, which would require 3D to show ...
I need to lose weight.  There's no getting around this fact and I'm now starting the fightback. I've done it before so I know I can do it again but that doesn't mean it'll be easy. The 2004 Model Looking Svelte (I look pretty good too!) I now weigh more than I ever have and it shows. I've known this to be the case for a while but it struck me particularly earlier when I happened to fall upon (ok, I admit, I was deliberatly looking for) this S4C BBC iPlayer footage from the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference in ...
Free Security Checks Handyvan South Gloucestershire Council operate a free home safety and security check for all owner occupiers and private tenants in the South Gloucestershire area. Improving the security of your home, will help reduce the risk of burglary and unlawful entry, making you feel safer. All work is carried out free of charge, to British Standards and insurance Industry requirements. The service is funded by South Gloucestershire Council and supported by the Avon and Somerset Police and Avon Fire and Rescue Service provides a free security service including crime prevention advice and home security products for: Properties at ...
Think before you tick: A comment on the UK Census Please *insert deity here* lets not have the bloody church banging on at us the seventy odd per cent of us are christian for another ten years. Please? Personally, I shall be putting "Devotee of Great Cthulhu" on my form, because that's cooler than being a Jedi anyway (this may or may not be a joke). (tags: census) Antioxidants and Other Phytochemicals A nice myth-buster for you. (tags: health myths antioxidants)
Motion F9 Improving the diversity of our MPs is up for debate late on Saturday afternoon at the Liberal Democrat Sheffield conference. It attempts to be a successful, and not toothless, compromise between the strongly held conflicting views in the party on what should be done in response to not only the continuing dominance of the (Commons) Parliamentary Party by white men but also the significant slippage of the party's diversity record compared to that of both Labour and Conservatives over the last few general elections. As it is a motion explicitly about MPs, I can appreciate why it does ...
Back in 1844 those who founded the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers would probably be surprised at how wide their ideas have spread. Within ten years of the opening of that first Co-operative shop which sold a very meagre selection of butter, sugar, flour, oatmeal and a few candles and later tea and tobacco there ...
Liberal Democrat Conference Sheffield Press Briefing from the LGA Liberal Democrats Highlights of the local government activity at the Lib Dem Spring Conference in Sheffield this weekend include: Friday 11th March Council Group of the Year Awards 20.00 – 21.30 ... Continue reading →
Following a comment on the previous post, I thought I would demonstrate how easy (or otherwise) it is to get this information and whether it's as easy as Councillor Chris Blakeley claims because it is on the website. Let's start with Merseytravel. So like most people you do a search on Merseytravel's website. The first ...
In yesterday's Prime Minister's Questions Labour's Brian Donohue had a rare moment of agreement with David Cameron. The exchange went as follows: Q14. [45200] Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab): May I take the Prime Minister back to the question on AV, and ask him to look at early-day motion 1550 tabled yesterday, which challenges the funding from the Electoral Reform Society? As, like me, he is a firm supporter of first past the post, will he look at that and write to me afterwards to tell me that there will be an investigation? The Prime Minister: I have ...
I worked through my reasons for joining the Lib Dems yesterday. For a truly big picture view of where we are all headed, watch this Big Think clip from Michio Kaku, Professor of Theoretical Physic at the City University of New York. He is talking in centuries, in scales ranging from global to galactic. The idea of central control – as compared to a range from localisation to European Union and upwards – becomes clearly unsuitable as a lasting system of governance.
I guess there's a good reason for this, but what is it...? [IMG: Census 2011 question]
The murderous regime of the sinister and highly irrational Muammar Gaddafi has turned the full force of its military upon its own people. The horrific attacks on civilians have escalated the death toll into the tens of thousands. Indiscriminate brutality is the order of the day from the despot. This is a regime that has not one shred of legitimacy- it has forfited any right to govern. Yet the Libyan people apparently lack the strength to removed the hated and reviled regime. Now Gaddafi is bombing his own oil installations, and the impact on the future of his own country ...
i) births and deaths 10 March 1956: birth of Lesley Dunlop, who played Norna (with her very '80s haircut) in Frontios (1984) and Susan Q in The Happiness Patrol (1988). 10 March 1975: birth of Yee Jee Tso, who played Chang Lee in Doctor Who: The TV Movie (1996) ii) broadcast anniversary 10 March 1973: broadcast of third episode of Frontier in Space. The Master appears in the guise of a Commissioner from Sirius IV; meanwhile the Doctor is imprisoned on the Moon. iii) date specified in canon 10 March 1942: setting of Sub-species, Eleventh Doctor/Amy/Rory comic strip in Doctor ...
A: when it's mimicking a Car Alarm, Camera or Chainsaw. This clip of David Attenborough narrating footage of the Superb Lyrebird was voted the nation's favourite Attenborough moment in 2006: Andrew
LinkedIn Labs | InMaps - Nicholas Whyte's professional network My map of LinkedIn contacts. I love this sort of thing. (tags: internet) 024_LG.jpg (4400×2364) The history of science fiction, depicted as a whale. Really. (tags: sf) 505 - United Diagrams of Europe | Strange Maps | Big Think The maps of Europe. (tags: eu)
And now we reach the end of going through Vote Match. 25 questions this time. The Union has a role to play in international politics: Open minded; see the similarly worded 4:1. The Union should sell all products at the lowest possible price: No: the Union needs to sell above wholesale to cover its expenses. Selling at purely wholesale price would most likely bankrupt the Union. The Union should have a President: Yes, as a ceremonial position, and public face. The Union should be free to advertise any company without restrictions: Yes, see 4:3. Militant activists should be invited by ...
I know I said this would be later "Wednesday", but I've been a little busy today. Anyway, let's go! The Union's sole function should be to represent students: No; the Union should provide services to students too. The Union Trustees must have the final say on policy: Yes; see, 1:3. Militant activists should be invited by the Union to debate their policies on campus: Yes, see 2:3. Speakers accused of supporting terrorism should be allowed to debate their views campus: Yes, see 3:4. Anyone, regardless of their opinions, should be allowed to speak publicly on campus: Yes. This is pretty ...
Glasgow's two principle football teams - Celtic and Rangers - have been known as the 'old firm' since 1911. And with good reason. In the 100 years since they jointly adopted the nomenclature they have won the Scottish League 87 times between them and dominated Scottish football and a significant part of its society. They are the most successful twins in world football - at least on their domestic stage. And they have done this prinicipally by appealing to base instinct, prejudice and the lowest common morality. Every old firm clash (and I use the word advisedly) results in huge ...
Get ready to break out the champagne. The Independent reports in today's paper that David Laws looks set to return to the heart of the Coalition Government. We at Liberal Vision can only pray the report is true. His presence has been truly missed. According to the Inde, Nick Clegg and David Cameron have had private discussions about appointing Mr Laws to work alongside Oliver Letwin and Francis Maude in the Cabinet Office. Amusingly the Daily Mail describes the role as "..Mr Clegg's 'consigliere' in Whitehall." . Oh I wish. The Inde reports, more soberly, that David will be taking ...
... both to ridicule for pettifogging jobsworthyness and lack of irony. The BBC sub headline in the article refers to a 'stormy' council meeting agreeing £109 million of cuts. One assumes redacting football supporters' car stickers will cease to be a priority...
I don't have a good word for cigarettes. I know some people do (usually smokers) and they will say things like it helps them control their weight or it helps them to relax. My advice would be to find something else to help. So I don't particularly mind reading that tobacco displays are going to be banned and maybe cigarettes will have to come in plain packages. I don't mind but I don't know how useful this will be. The real problem is why we start to smoke. Advertising may play a part and that is the hope of the ...
Thu 10th
00:04
What do we want? Libel reform! When do we want it? Now! (or, as soon as the applicable Parliamentary...
Later today, scientists, authors, comedians and journalists will gather in Parliament to lend their support to the Libel Reform Coalition's blueprint for the protection of free speech, setting out their priorities for libel laws that no longer stifle debate. I set out below a summary of how we've reached this stage. The campaign to reform our unjust and illiberal libel laws has achieved a great deal to date; in just under two years, we've gone from raising awareness of cases such as Simon Singh's, which demonstrate all to clearly the need to defend fair comment, to seeing manifesto commitments on ...
