Tanel & Dave were unlikely winners and were not the fans favourites (the action starts at o:57). Even though I hated the song then I've actually got to like it's retro 70s funky trash feel. If you want to know more about my top 100 songs of the noughties click the link and go on ...
Foreign Secretary William Hague is facing increasing pressure, after it emerged that he had not been chairing the COBR meetings to deal with the disaster in Japan. Hague led the initial meeting after the Earthquake struck, but the sessions were then chaired by the Far East Minister, Liberal Democrat Jeremy Browne. Sophy Ridge from the Boulton ...
Aww. This is a bit of football history, quite apart from this very early television appearance by the future Derby County manager. Because Brian Clough, Nigel's father, managed Brighton after he left Derby and before he joined Leeds United. As Wikipedia puts it: Such was the loyalty to Clough that along with himself and Taylor, scouts and backroom staff completed the walk out, following the pair for their brief spell with Brighton and Hove Albion. He proved less successful on the South Coast than with his previous club, winning only 12 of his 32 games in charge of the Division ...
The conference went pretty well for the rebels. The NHS radical overhaul was discussed, rejected and sent back to the Coalition, too late to save our NHS (about 10 years too late possibly) but not too late to start a fight. The party agonised over its new direction in the face of unpopularity and Nick Clegg was made to look stupid and ministerial in equal measure. He spoke about his new country 'alarm clock Britain' and rejected Thatcherism and Blairism, linking the Liberals instead with Mill, Lloyd George, Keynes, Beveridge, all people who must be sleeping uneasily with the present ...
As Alex Foster pointed out on Twitter, Europe is rather complicated – even when itemised in this helpful diagram. Sometimes a blog post that is nearly all just a long list of village names can be extremely effective, as Paul Walter demonstrated. Gary Hunt has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of Leicester... ... and former Liberal Democrat candidate Vincent McKee, who has been at the centre of allegations of fraud, has been required to repay £1,000 according to the Coventry Telegraph.
On Saturday an "independent press day" will be held at the Clephan Building, De Montfort University, Oxford Street, Leicester. The States of Independence website promises: Stalls from dozens of independent publishers. Workshops, readings and book launches. Independent presses from across the region (and some from around the country) will be on site, together with many regional writers whose work is published by large and small independent publishers.It goes on to say: Sixty writers, mostly from the East Midlands, will be reading from their work at an events programme to accompany an equal number of independent publishers and writers' organisations staffing ...
As reported in today's "Courier", I have expressed my concerns and those of West End constituents about the weekend fight near Sinderins in which around 30 people were involved and which left a 51-year-old man needing hospital treatment for a head wound. This is a matter of concern to residents, particularly as it took place in an area where such behaviour is extremely unusual. I have been in touch with Tayside Police regarding the matter.
As a Liberal Democrat and CAMRA member, I welcomed the passing at First Reading of the Ten Minute Rule Bill sponsored by Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood. It had unanimous support and no opposition across six political parties. The Bill sought to urge the coalition to introduce a code of practice to force Pubcos with 50 or more sites to offer licensees a free of tie option accompanied by an open market rent review. It also called for Pubcos to offer tied licensees a guest beer option. I am absolutely delighted by this Bill. The appeal to publicans – entrepreneurs ...
[IMG: image] I'll fess up at the start of this blog, I'm not the greatest fan of BBC local radio, in fact I have gone on a bit in the past and will continue to comment on lopsided reporting of Kent politics, but with that out of the way, it seems that BBC's regional output may well be about to be swamped by BBC's Five live. Its suggested that BBC local radio will only be maintained with maybe a morning news offering and a programme in the drive time period, now although I rarely get a chance to listen into ...
The utterly ridiculous and frenetic screeching from some quarters about the LibDems being 'Tories in disguise' and 'Sell outs' has reach an enormous crescendo in the last few days and is about to get even louder thanks to the LibDem ... Continue reading →
Jonathan King currently lives in Italy and is writing a dissertation on the Liberal parties of the UK and Norway. People don't really like the nitty-gritty of politics. People like football. They like teams and generalisations. "Oh, your team won but they didn't deserve it." "Yeah but two years ago your team did such-and-such." Or, more commonly where I live in Italy, "Your team are all fascists, we're all communists". This dogmatic and blunt approach to parties is intensifying and I can't stand it. It's also one of the reasons why I can't stand football, but that's another matter. The ...
Earlier today, the government published its draft Libel Reform Bill. It's an issue that Liberal Democrats, along with many others, have been campaigning on for a few years now and one on which Lib Dem minister at the Ministry of Justice Tom McNally has said his reputation should be judged on. So it is good news for both our freedoms and Tom's reputation that the Bill published today proposes major reforms and has met with a warm response, including: Major changes to Britain's antiquated defamation laws will be outlined by ministers today with the publication of a bill to provide ...
In my most recent post I made clear my dislike, abhorrence even, of the English Defense League. As any long term reader will know one of my little "ticks" is my deep, near irrational, hatred for nationalism. Even just having the word "English" in the title is likely to put me off. There's little in their views or beliefs that I can find even remotely of interest. And as most of you will know, I'm no fan of the religious especially those of a fundamentalist bent. If you base your beliefs on the irrational mutterings of just the one book ...
Leicester Liberal Democrats chose their candidate in Leicester first Mayoral election at the weekend. He is Gary Hunt, a councillor for Knighton ward on Leicester City Council. Gary told the Leicester Mercury: "I believe my 24 years as a councillor, time on the regional development agency and running a business gives me a unique insight into Leicester."He is the third candidate to be selected by a major party. Ross Grant will stand for the Conservatives and Sir Peter Soulsby for Labour. A number of independents, including David Bowley, have also announced their intention to stand.
I am delighted that Gordon Lishman, former Director of Age Concern England, has agreed to deliver the Edinburgh Social Work Lecture this year. Gordon has a wealth of experience in the voluntary sector and is an expert on Older Peoples issues. He will be speaking about the "The Future of Services for Older people". The lecture is free and takes place at 6.15pm on Thursday March the 31st in the City Chambers, High Street, Edinburgh. We already have healthy interest in this event so if you do want to come along it would be useful if you could contact socialworklecture@edinburgh.gov.uk ...
Wycombe District Councillor Paul Lambourne has today joined the Liberal Democrats. Cllr Paul Lambourne with Group Leader Cllr Steve Guy Councillor Lambourne sits on Wycombe District Council representing the Sands ward. Wycombe District Council Liberal Democrat Group Leader Steve Guy said: "I am delighted to welcome Councillor Lambourne to the Liberal Democrat team in Wycombe. He has an outstanding record of service to the local community. Paul is a local man born and bred in High Wycombe so we feel honoured that he has chosen to join the Liberal Democrats. I believe he will be a great asset to our ...
Co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee on Business, Innovations and Skills, Lorely Burt, together with her parliamentary colleagues MP for Cheadle, Mark Hunter and MP for Bradford East, David Ward has been leading a campaign to prevent the phasing out of cheques. Commenting ahead of the delivery of a 'save the cheque' petition to No 10 today, Lorely Burt said: "Last year alone there were over one billion cheque transactions which shows just how widely used this form of payment still is. For tradesmen and small business, cheques are an essential method of payment as other methods can be ...
From Stalin to Mr Bean; and now the Keystone Kops. William Hague may or may not have lost his mojo as some think, but he's certainly lost the plot when it comes to Libya. He has choices. He could be utterly cynical and set out to do a deal with a dictator who, in return ...
I am always a bit wary when folk who aren't our friends start giving us advice. Jackie Ashley was at it in yesterday's Guardian. The Lib Dems are not a centre party. Their centre of gravity is a bit to the left. They are less statist, less pro-union and more civil libertarian than Labour, but their instincts fall on the same side of the divide. They want to change the world; and you can't do that by sitting in the centre. Like all Liberals of my generation I have always considered our party to be of the Left. Many of ...
Why start paving at the bottom of a hill? A couple of people have asked me why the paving contractors started at Ross Parade - at the bottom of the hill - and worked uphill towards Boots and Sainsburys? It is good practice to pave 'uphill' to ensure a tight, even bond between the paving slabs. When paving downhill the slabs can slip slightly and that can result in uneven transverse joints. By working uphill the slabs lean on the ones that have already been placed and bond back into them avoiding gaps. So as each section of work is ...
Twelve teenagers will be given the chance to take part in a six month apprenticeship scheme thanks to an innovative Cambridge City Council partnership approved at today's Environment Scrutiny Committee. The Lib Dem-run council is teaming up with cutting edge training company, Nordic Pioneer to give the young people aged between 16 and 18 training in cleaning up the environment. The scheme will be partly funded with £10,000 raised from Fixed Penalty Notices issued for environmental crime such as dropping littler, graffiti and fly-tipping. Apprentices will work cleaning up nature reserves, commons and cemeteries and remove fly tipping, graffiti and ...
Crossing to reopen on Thursday The signals outside HSBC were removed on 23 February - just under 3 weeks ago to allow Transport for London (TfL) to remove the island in the middle of Woodcote Road and dismantle the lights that are no longer needed for Beddington Gardens. TfL are installing the new puffin crossing equipment now and this should be completed by Thursday. TfL and Sutton Council staff will monitor performance of the new crossing and make adjustments to it if necessary.
There is nothing more amusing than the latent anxieties of a declining organised religion. Once again the Catholic Church is shamelessly preaching from the moral high ground and launching execrable criticism of British foreign policy. We are, according to their ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Pro-Labor Rally - Madison - March 12] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: Lost Albatross Protestors outside the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison In the aftermath of the disgraceful removal of collective bargaining rights by the State of Wisconsin, 56,000 signatures have been collected to recall eight Republican state senators involved. Raw Story reports on an interesting twist: Protesters who marched at the home of Wisconsin state senator Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) were met with something of a surprise on Saturday. Mrs. Hopper appeared at the door and informed them that Sen. Hopper was no longer in residence ...
Joining up paving with Railway Approach Paving work under the bridge will start tomorrow on the north west side of Woodcote Road. Access to the station from each side of the bridge will remain open. As I have mentioned before the contractors will need to close the west pavement under the bridge for a short spell to repave it. This is because the pavement is very narrow.
Good News - Beddington Gardens will not close for drainage works The drainage contractor installing the new soakaway in Beddington Gardens has been able to make a connection to the sewer without closing the road. This is excellent news and Beddington Gardens will not now close on 18 March although it will be one-way as planned. In preparation for the closure warning signs have been installed on each side of the railway bridge to tell people to avoid Beddington Gardens. These will be removed as quickly as possible. Radio Jackie may also mention the closure on their traffic bulletins.
Stephen Tall has posted an excellent piece on Liberal Democrat Voice entitled "Can politicians ever aspire to a real work/life balance?". It revolves around the case of Nick Radford ,who has said he will not stand again as a PPC in Salisbury. He quotes Nick as saying: ... it was never the "cut and thrust" of the politics that stimulated me, in fact I really didn't like that side of it. ... In all the 5 years that I was in politics, I never met a single person involved who came across as content, peaceful and happy in life. Everyone ...
There were two principal local council by-elections that took place on Thursday 11th March 2011. Labour held one seat and took one off the Lib Dems. There were no parish or town council results reported to ALDC. In the Rosegrove with Lowerhouse Ward of Burnley council, we lost a seat to Labour. This is a ward within Gordon Birtwhistle's parliamentary seat (which is co-terminous with the Borough) and was already a split ward. We had two councillors to Labours one. Labours' existing councillor won in 2007 on the drawing of lots after a dead heat between him and the BNP ...
I only ask because today she wrote: ...for 14 years the programme has used an all-white cast to portray an all-white English village. Anyone who has actually watched the programme for more than just one episode will tell you that it is certainly not based on one village. The "Midsomer" refers to an area or county and the murders are portrayed in a whole selection of towns and villages in that area. Indeed, here is the full list of the towns and villages which have featured in the series over the years: Aspern Tallow Badger's Drift Bow Clayton Broughton Burwood ...
Tue 15th
16:29
Isles of Scilly Link set to cost Cornwall another £5m. So why isn't the Duchy paying anything?
Tomorrow morning, Cornwall Council's Cabinet will be asked to agree spending another £5 million on the renewed Isles of Scilly link project - the upgrading of the harbours at both Penzance and St Marys and the new boat. As a consequence, there is unlikely to be any boat replacement fund built up so, once the new boat reaches the end of its life in 20 years or more, the councils will have to go cap in hand to the Government once again for a handout. There has been a lot of controversy about whether this is the right way of ...
Apart from the obviously important local government elections in May there is also a referendum. This is the first time since 1975 that the country as a whole has had a say on how it views a policy. The referendum is on the subject of the voting system in the whole of the UK. There is a campaign being fought to sway voters to vote "No" and on to vote "Yes". Why vote yes to an alternative voting system? Simple, first past the post (fptp) does not work in a democracy. Democracy is majority rule, but the first past the ...
I read with interest, this BBC News article a few days ago about the future of Aberystwyth University's Welsh language Hall of Residence, Pantycelyn. As I mentioned in a previous blog post here about my formative experiences in Aberystwyth University, Pantycelyn Hall and the time that I spent there is one that I look back on with great fondness. Be it the cleaners, the students or the staff, there was always a great community spirit in Pantycelyn in the 2 years that I lived there (2000-2002) and for me, it had an atmosphere and an identity that could not be ...
There were significant protests outside the recent party conferences at Perth and Sheffield. I actually welcome protest. It's what our democracy is built on, which is why I was so opposed to Labour's shameful actions in making protest illegal within a specified radius of Westminster through the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act. I also have a rather interesting history of protest myself, having been a director of a national pressure group and organised several sizeable demonstrations. The freedom to protest is the sign of a healthy democracy, which is why I was actually very pleased to see protesters at ...
Last night, Nick Radford — who stood for the Lib Dems in Salisbury at the 2010 general election — announced on his blog he would not be standing again, that he 'finally felt comfortable describing myself as a "ex-politician"'. Before the media gets in too much of a lather (I can already see the headlines: "Top Lib Dem quits", "Fresh blow to Clegg", etc, yawn), Nick's reasons are personal and varied — and as it happens, disagreements with the Coalition are the least of his issues: 'this isn't because of the disastrous press that the party has received since May. ...
I'm currently reading The Sublime Object of Ideology by left-wing darling Zizek. I'm not particularly impressed thus far – it appears to be largely the sort of intellectual dandyism beloved by the continentals; relatively simplistic concepts with minor variations hidden behind a veneer of excessive nomenclature. However, he has reminded me of an interesting philosophical ...
The first in a series of posts of interesting things I've seen in the last week that I haven't got time to blog about. Today's 5 items are: 1. ComRes polling data from politicalbetting.com (via @OllyGrender) Apparently lots of people are in denial that they voted Lib Dem at the last General Election, to the extent they won't even own up to it to a pollster. Crumbs. (Rob Blackie has pointed out that Political betting interpret the data in a different way to me; I hope they're right and I'm wrong!) (Olly Grender says I've got it wrong too). (I'm ...
Cambridge City Council has been named Green Council of the Year for its efforts to tackle climate change. Cambridge City Council Leader, Sian Reid receives the Green Council of the Year award with (from left) Cllr Tim Ward, Cambridge MP, Julian Huppert and Cllr Colin Rosenstiel. The Lib Dem-run council received the accolade at the party's Spring Conference for its track record on improving energy efficiency, cutting its carbon footprint and improving recycling. City Council Leader, Sian Reid said: "I am delighted that our efforts have been recognised nationally. This award is testament to the hard work that has taken ...
All, Last night was the monthly Shipston Town Council meeting, and here are a few of the more interesting and important decisions. Georgina Beaumont, the Town Clerk, was congratulated on passing her final exam and is now a qualified Town Clerk. She's put a lot of hard work into this, particularly coming into post at a difficult time for the Council, so I'd like to repeat my congratulations here. The Council is taking legal action against the person who vandalised the flagpole on the 'gyratory.' The Town Clerk has promised an update on this next month. Concerns were raised about ...
Oh, I forgot why....
The news that the producer of 'Midsomer Murders' has been suspended for suggesting that ethnic minority characters in the long-running television drama would detract from the imagery of a rural community does, unusually, raise the issue of diversity in the countryside. To be honest, the issues relating to racism always seem to be argued from an urban perspective, as though it is accepted that ethnic minorities do not live in villages or market towns. And yes, to some extent, that's true. Or at least, it was. As a London suburban kid, I watched as my community grew more and more ...
In case you didn't get to Heron's exhibition at YOSC or Yate Library, it was a pretty good briefing about the issues for the site, and it was good to see them making an early engagement with local people. Some visitors were surprised by the scale of the development and how much has to go in the area. There will no doubt be pressure for the land least suitable for building to be designated as the Public Open Space allowance for the development, but local councillors are determined that the wettest areas should not be counted as part of this ...
For some time now your ward councillors have been working to encourage the owners of Wallington Square to develop the area, so we are very pleased to see that work has started converting the derelict office space at the front of the square into residential units. Also planned is work to improve the shop fronts ...
Gosh, it's quiet here... For those of you who've been wondering what happened to me (some of you saw me at Federal Conference in Sheffield, so you know that I'm alive), it's been a bit crazy of late. What with having builders, electricians, carpet fitters and dampcourse operatives in, the house has been in chaos, and our lives with it, for the past fortnight. But now it's time to get on with things again. I'll tell you about the house as we go...
Here's a good video explaining why we need to switch from our current voting system. It's unfair and it leads to an inevitable two party system: My personal favourite alternative is STV,but in the referendum on May the 5th we only get the choice of first past the post (FPTP) or alternative vote (AV). Very simply, under AV, instead of putting an 'X' next to your preferred (or, more likely, least disliked) candidate, you rank the candidates in order of preference: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. You can rank as many or as few preferences as you wish. Here's an example ...
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley's proposed NHS reforms have taken another serious blow. After Liberal Democrats rejected the proposals at the party's conference last weekend, delegates at the first emergency meeting of the BMA for 20 years have today voted to call on him to withdraw the health bill. The BMA believe the proposals could "have ...
It's another Police And Community Together (PACT) meeting tomorrow in St Mary's, for those local people interested in the latest news on crime and what's being done about it. If you want to know, or have any issues that the Police need to know about, then the place to be is the Church Lane Community ...
It seems as if a lot always happens when I head off to my law school exams. Last year, I started two days before the General Election, a period in which a few little things came to pass. This year's exams began in earnest in the last week of January, just as North Africa discovered the delights of democratic revolution. I guess it's easy to get nostalgic about it all, particularly for me as someone whose earliest political memories are of 1989. Indeed, as events unfolded in Libya I found myself wondering whether Gaddafi would be the Arab Ceauşescu, the ...
Many Westminister hacks are really struggling with the concpet of localism - for why I am not really sure because it is a very simple concept. Its actually as easy as 1-2-3 1. Remove unneccessary red tape and regulation from Whitehall that tells democratically elected Councils what to do within their sphere of influence. 2. Ensure Councils have the general powers they need to deliver the local services that local people feel they need. 3. Ensure there are regular elections to hold Councillors to account for decisions. Many Labour MPs and London based journalists don't like this. They seem to ...
This morning's Guardian reports that Conservative hopes of pulling out of the European convention on human rights in response to its perceived interference in issues such as UK prisoners' votes, have been dashed by Liberal Democrat objections. They say that Nick Clegg has won a battle to prevent the inclusion of total withdrawal from the convention in the terms of reference of an expected seven-strong commission of inquiry in UK human rights law: The decision will infuriate Tory rightwingers angered at the way in which they believe the Strasbourg judges have interfered with UK rights. Some Tory backbenchers have argued ...
Last night was the launch of Trans Media Watch's Memorandum of Understanding with Channel 4, which for anyone used to Trans events would have seemed a little unusual, hosted as it was at Channel 4's HQ in their James-Bond-esque underground bar and cinema. I do feel a little inadequate trying to explain the mood of the room and significance of the event as it really would need the eloquence of someone such as Laurie Penny to do it justice. This was a novel event to be at because in recent years, when it comes to big LGBT events, I'm more ...
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg addressed Liberal Democrat conference on Sunday 13th March in Sheffield. This video contains the full version of the speech.
If someone else posts something about me, should I have a right to delete it? Virtually all of us would agree that this raises difficult issues of conflict between freedom of expression and privacy. Traditional law has mechanisms, like defamation and libel law .. But a privacy claim is not based on untruth. I cannot see how such a right could be introduced without severely infringing on freedom of speech. In a joyful coincidence of timing, here is a senior Google employee chipping in on Who Controls The Internet. This is not official Google policy – just that of their ...
Tim Farron was omnipresent at the Spring Conference. His speech at the rally has been well reported so we thought that we would bring you a snippet of his contribution to the Social Liberal Forum. Tim tells us that he has checked the DNA of Tories and they are human. The Social Liberal Forum has quickly filled a gap filled in the past by the likes of Radical Bulletin, the Radical Reform Group and the Liberal Movement. Interestingly one of the questions that came up at the meeting was the scope for extremist parties to grow if Liberal Democrats were ...
What really scared you when you were a kid? For me, it was cybermen, and daleks, those chilling killing machines. Particularly when they had Sarah Jane Smith cornered. I still remember having an official hiding behind cushion to deal with the stomach churning, spine chilling, trembly moments. I was also, believe it or not, petrified of David Steel. From being a small child, I knew that one day I wanted to be a mum. That and being a Lib Dem have pretty much been part of my DNA. My devout Catholic grandad told me that our David didn't want babies ...
We reported back in December how UNISON was facing a fine for breaking election law. The trade union had completely failed to submit details of their general election expenditure within the legal deadline. UNISON has now submitted its spending declaration several months late, but in a quirky twist of the law has not yet been fined by the Electoral Commission – because its return is still missing the signature of the 'responsible person'. Assuming UNISON manage to get the piece of paper finally signed before 5 May (six months after the 5 November deadline), the fine required by law if ...
We have recieved via eCops a warning about a large funeral procession on Friday of this week (18 March): The procession will be led by a hearse, followed by a horse-drawn carriage and anywhere from 500 - 800 mourners walking behind. It is due to leave the Blackwell Site on Kings Hedges Drive at approximately 10am, going down Kings Hedges Road to St. Andrew's Church, Church Street, East Chesterton, with the service due to start at 12pm. At approximately 2pm the procession will walk up Milton Road, through Milton village to Milton Cemetery on Landbeach Road, Milton. All timings and ...
"Oi!" shouted Whatleydude, "Get Dabr to show images from foursquare checkins!" "Righty-ho sir!" I said. I started coding furiously. Of course, things are never quite as simple as I first thought.... So, how do we go from http://4sq.com/fgIWov to [IMG: James' Foursquare Checkin Image] ? 1 Expand the URLGet your Bit.ly API Key. http://api.bitly.com/v3/expand ?shortUrl=http://4sq.com/fgIWov &login=YOUR_BIT_LY_USERNAME &apiKey=YOUR_BIT_LY_API_KEY &format=txt You can, if you prefer, get the info back in JSON or XML. See the Bit.ly API Expand Documentation. 2 The Foursquare URLBit.ly gives us the URL which includes a checkin ID and a signature. http://foursquare.com/edent/checkin/4d7e5b4f9df3f04d7400c394 ?s=afH3jJg3L9HpLqVIwiqp-YpNL5k 3 The Foursquare API CallFrom ...
I'm pretty sure that he is the most disliked football around and tat is quite an accomplishment. Many footballers are disliked by fans of rival teams but the general public couldn't care less. Ashley Cole has managed to transcend sport and is just disliked by everyone. I'm not even sure that Chelsea fans like him ...
Any Liberal Democrat activist will have been nearly buried by comments from people saying that they will never vote for the party again. Mostly these are genuine, and polling shows that the party has lost half its support. But I have long had a feeling that many of these complainants never voted for the party in the first place. Nice to get some evidence of this from this post in politicalbetting.com . It seems that in at least one poll, more people said they voted Lib Dem at the last election than voted Labour! So many people want to join ...
[IMG: Posted by Picasa] The Scythia, on which I was evacuated to Canada in 1940
Fascinating piece over in Wired, pulling together some of the common threads in behavioural economics and similar fields. In particular, it presents evidence about how the harder a decision appears to be to make, the more important we think it is: In one test, they gave people a selection of airline flight options. One group was given these options in a small, low-contrast font (high-difficulty condition) while a second group was given the same options in a larger, high contrast font (low-difficulty condition). Not surprisingly, the hard-to-read font led to increased deliberation time, as people were forced to decipher their ...
Pirates, Luddites and Creationists, oh my! Why I'm no longer interested in being in politics – Nick Radford explains how he's moved on from the political world A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables – Scientific American has a study that claims it could be possible by 2030 You are being lied to about pirates – Johann Hari on the Somali perspective on piracy Free to teach creationism? – New Humanist's James Gray on how creationists might be able to establish schools under the free schools legislation – and why Sweden changed it's laws on them ...
I was at the Liberal Democrat conference in Sheffield last weekend. The most striking thing about it was how upbeat it was. Disagreements were downplayed; discussion was civilised; people didn't seem to be spooked by the polls, still less the demonstrators outside the conference hall. And yet the party has lost half its popular support, performed atrociously at the Barnsley by-election, and comes under daily attack for supporting what are seen as vicious Tory policies. "You're shafted," a (perfectly friendly) local member of the public told me when I was walking between venues. What's all this about? The obvious explanations ...
Ed Miliband has reportedly refused to share a Yes2AV platform with Nick Clegg, declaring the Liberal Democrat leader a 'vote loser'. A planned Yes2Av rally yesterday was cancelled after Nick Clegg rightly insisted on being on the platform, in place of former leader Charles Kennedy. Clegg should not have to sit embarrassed on the sidelines in a ...
Can I take this opportunity to wish all residents in south Manchester a 'Happy St Patrick's Day'. I know many residents here are Irish or have Irish connections. Whatever your connection – have a great time. This year, the festival ... Continue reading →
In 1984 a young aeronautical engineer called Al-Sadek Hamed Al-Shuwehdy,an opponent of Muammar Gaddafi, was hanged in a basketball stadium in Benghazi. As he hung from the rope dying, he was grabbed round his legs and dragged down until he stopped moving by a brutal young woman called Huda Ben Amer. Ben Amer was appointed Mayor of Benghazi, and went on to terrorise the people Benghazi for the decades since. She escaped the Benghazi uprising, and is waiting to return if the Libyan army retake control in the next few days. Al-Sadek's story matters, not just because of the horror ...
The Friends of Rock Road Library originally came together in 2009 to co-ordinate the creation of a new library garden. Two years on, the garden is blooming, but the library itself, like others in Cambridgeshire is under threat of virtual abandonment by the County Council. They plan to turn libraries over to a Trust, with some to be run by volunteers. The Friends of Rock Road Library have risen to the challenge by joining with people from other libraries to launch a petition to Cambridgeshire County Council. You can sign it at http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43867.html. There is also a Facebook page for ...
Tue 15th
10:54
"Midsomer Murders chief suspended over claims show is a hit because there are no black characters"
Oh dear me. It's no surprise to learn that there have been no ethnic minority actors on Midsomer Murders. But it is quite a shock to hear Brian True-May, who seems to have been the driving force behind the whole series, saying: We just don't have ethnic minorities involved. Because it wouldn't be the English village with them. It wouldn't work. Suddenly we might be in Slough. They (fans) love the perceived English genteel eccentricity. It's not British, it's very English. We're the last bastion of Englishness and I want to keep it that way. But it is basically based ...
As a councillor I quite often get people coming to me as a last resort when things have gone wrong within a council department. It's always frustrating, and there's some sense of impropriety about the speed with which things are done once a councillor is involved compared with the experience that went before. That remains in this case, but – no names, no pack-drill - I can only applaud the three other public servants who were involved in this case each of whom reacted with speed and concern for the individual which was a credit to our community. The first ...
The other night someone threw an egg at my house, and then ran off. The window it hit didn't smash and cleaning everything up the next day only took 20 minutes or so, so no big deal. Hubris obviously makes me want to think that someone was making a political point about my being a Lib Dem activist. Realism makes me think that it was kids drinking on the Common having a laugh and we were randomly targeted. Who Knows? Anyway, it did make me ponder the nasty side of politics. The side that, as Caron points out on her ...
Continuing my occasional series on how election leaflets used to look, this one is a Labour freepost election address from the 1955 general election in Clapham constituency. The front of the leaflet is a design unlikely to be used today: [IMG: Labour election leaflet, Clapham, 1955 (front)] Dated too is the right-hand side of the inside, with its appeal from the candidate's wife to female voters - a common tactic at the time. Despite the old-fashioned typography, the layout is clear and easy to read thanks to the good use of white space and strong headings – a lesson that ...
A growing volume of evidence suggests that neonicotinoid insecticides are a major factor behind the decline in the number of honeybees and other pollinators, yet the European Commission sidesteps demands to suspend their use. Its failure to pay heed to ... Continue reading →
The political discourse of Britain has become gloomy of late. Rational assessments of the position of the country are being drowned in a flood of negativity and invective. Perhaps it is particularly bad at the moment, as we see the bad news from Japan and Libya filling our screens, but I don't really think so. The fact is that the Brits seem to have become more than a little Eeyore-ish in recent years. For example, despite the clear success of the construction work on the Olympic park, were are encouraged to complain that the games will crowd out London, that ...
Tue 15th
10:05
Authors for Japan auction now live - 150 literary lots up for grabs to help those devastated by the ...
How would you fancy having a character in the next novel of a best selling writer named after you? In fact, how about having your pet appear in a book? How about a choice of signed copies of all different sorts of books, from children's to fantasy to non fiction to chick lit? Are you struggling to write a sex scene? Fancy having it critiqued by an expert? And if you've written your novel already, how about some advice about submitting it to publishers? As I wrote yesterday, author Keris Stainton has set up a novel (it doesn't get any ...
...by referring to Tony Blair's role in rehabilitating the mass murderer Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. So just for you 'anonymous' I won't reproduce that picture. Instead I'd thought people might like to see how Gordon Brown swept away the old regime and re-established Labour's ethical foreign policy...
Last week the local newspaper carried the story that drivers would no longer have to enter their registration nuumbers in MSDC long stay parking machines. This is a victory for people who use these car parks, but fundamental problems with the system remain. Yesterday I was talking to a local businesswoman. She was irate that she had received another parking ticket. She had parked, paid and gone to a meeting at her accountant. The meeting over ran and she returned to the car three minutes late to find it had been ticketed. She told me that this had happened so ...
Tue 15th
09:47
There now follows a press release prepared but not published by Reading Borough Council
[Please note the Note to Editors below] NEWS RELEASE from Cllr Gareth Epps, acting Chair of CCEA Scrutiny Panel Get Involved in Your Local Community Future platforms for local people to have a direct input in improving their local communities will be the subject of discussion at a meeting of the Council's Corporate, Community and External Affairs Panel (CCEA) on Wednesday (March 16th). This week is the launch of 'Get Involved - Reading' - a new Council initiative aimed at showing local people just how many opportunities there are available to become more involved in their neighbourhood. And The 'Get ...
Cllr Alan Lawrance at Rodford School At a recent South Glos committee Lib Dem Councillors demanded the public should be involved in decisions that affect their communities. Lib Dem members asked for a concept statement to be drawn up before the Rodford Way School siteis disposed of. They said this would lead to consultation with the public but also provide a win-win situation as the Council might achieve a higher price if the land was sold with outline planning permission. Cllr Alan Lawrance said, "We are in general agreement with the decision to raise valuable funds for the Council from ...
BBC - Being Human Blog: BEING HUMAN FOURTH SERIES ANNOUNCED FOR BBC THREE HUZZAH!!! (tags: telly) The 5,000 Labour Voters Who Secured This Tory - Lib Dem Coalition Brilliant, brilliant post. (tags: libdemmery) Thoughts from Lib Dem Conference Andy's reflections on conference (tags: libdemmery) It's not the unpopularity; its the 'fingers-in-the-ears-la-la-la-not-listening' that's getting to me. Interesting post on how to engage with protestors from a Lib Dem standpoint (tags: thought) PODCAST: Who controls the internet? I don't normally link to LDV (bloody messagespace ads) but this fringe event at conference was really very good. And has a bit of me ...
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson Some books become almost compulsory to read — that said, I'm a sucker for page-turning crime novels, so it was hardly a chore to start the late Larsson's trilogy. After all, I loved The Da Vinci Code, devoured it in a day. But TGWADT was a disappointment. There are ('tis true) pacy, gripping, spine-tingling moments — especially when Lisbeth Salander confronts her predatory guardian, humiliating and literally branding him a rapist. But the prose is blandly pedestrian, including some bizarrely clunky Apple fetishism ("she set her sights on ... the new Apple ...
Understandably the question of diversity amongst Parliamentarians gets a lot of attention in political parties, with it being the subject of another conference debate at Sheffield, but it's by no means the only the area subject to such debate. Diversity in Britain's boardrooms may not have moved very far up the political agenda yet, but it is the subject of regular debate in business circles – with the Financial Times and Evening Standard in particular both regularly running pieces from contributors concerned about the topic. It's a subject the Evening Standard columnist Chris Blackhurst turned to this week. Here's what ...
Just to let you all know that the next meeting for Colchester Carnival will be happening on Wednesday 30th March, starting at 7.30pm at Slack Space on Queen Street.
Not many things make me smile or chuckle first thing in the morning until I have had at least three cups of coffee in the morning, but this typo in the iPad edition of The Times did just that. Can ... Continue reading →
It gets right to the heart of what this country is supposed to be about .. There's a lot of people out there who's jobs are disappearing. I don't know if they'd feel this song is true anymore. And I'm not sure that is, but I know that it ought to be. I'd like to do this for you reminding you that with countries, just like with people, it's easy to let the best of yourself slip away. I do seem to be righting very long posts lately. Another quick one, however. I forget how it went, but one of ...
If it does nothing else the present performance of the coalition disproves the idea that when a parliament is more representative and power is shared the minor party tail wags the major party dog. As it happens some Conservatives take the view that this is what is actually happening, as was ably put by Chris in a comment to an earlier post: .... many Conservative activists have had to tolerate the loss of many cherished goals: the abolition of the Human Rights Act, the putting on the backburner of repatriation of powers from the EU, greater use of custodial terms ...
It knows how much money you have in the bank, who you last slept with and when, and even who you were thinking of at the time. Sound ridiculous? Yet the first two are already true for some people, some of the time - and it's not so ridiculous to predict therapy over the internet. I wasn't at the Lib Dem conference session on "Who Controls The Internet?", but it is entirely fitting that I could catch up with a podcast. An excellent session, well worth listening to. It didn't cover the fully story, though. Something bothered me, like a ...
Police Numbers Go UP Not Down despite scare stories Frontline Police Officer numbers will go UP in South Manchester. Numbers will increase by 10, with a total gain in Greater Manchester of 27. Local Councillor Paul Ankers is delighted. "Even I fell for the scare stories and expected numbers to fall. We need frontline officers to tackle crime." Scare stories quoting falling police numbers circulating in Chorlton refer to people who never pound the beat. Local MP John Leech said, "Many backline staff do valuable service, but I want visible Policing driving down crime above all." Police Numbers Go UP ...
i) births and deaths 15 March 1928: birth of Mervyn Haisman, who co-wrote The Abominable Snowmen (1967), The Web of Fear (1968) and The Dominators (1968). 15 March 1947: birth of Tony Osoba, who played Lan in Destiny of the Daleks (1979) and Kracauer in Dragonfire (1987). ii) broadcast anniversaries 15 March 1969: broadcast of second episode of The Space Pirates. With the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe trapped on on eof the fragments of the beacon, Milo Clancey is arrested as a suspected pirate. 15 March 1975: broadcast of second episode of Genesis of the Daleks. The Doctor and Harry ...
Mark Evans's answer to Borders Books: Why is Barnes and Noble performing well as a business while Borders has filed for bankruptcy? - Quora :Why is Barnes and Noble performing well as a business while Borders has filed for bankruptcy? What is so different about how they are run? This is a question that many of us at Borders asked ourselves frequently and I think the answer is not a simple one. As someone who has given this a tremendous amount of thought and was Director of Merchandise Planning & Analysis for many years, I've outlined my assessment below..." (tags: ...
Probably, if you are honest, the answer to that question is yes. That is a weeks worth of your favourite coffees, or newspapers, okay if you earn very little then maybe that would take a while to pull together, but it is still affordable. However, for what I'm about to tell you about it would take these people perhaps years to save this money up especially as the daily wage is only around £4 and then they have to eat. I never thought I would find myself listening seriously to something Kate Garraway had to say, I've never been a ...
Stealing [IMG: [personal profile] ] jack's format for the great Census Meme that's going around, in which you write a bit about what you were up to at each point in your life when a census has been held. In the UK, they're decennial, so I've seen one every ten years since 1991 (so, er, two so far). Right now, I'm living in Charlton, south east London. I've been living here for a little over a year, with [IMG: [personal profile] ] alextiefling and [IMG: [personal profile] ] nanaya, who own the house. I work 25hrs/week for Coffee, Cake & ...
I was pleased that yesterday evening the proposals I have been leading in recent months to put social care in Reading on a more sustainable footing were agreed by Cabinet and won support in principle from Labour councillors. I have been working day and night to develop these proposals and taking these decisions is never easy. I believe they form part of a planned transition from an outdated, unsustainable way of doing things towards a better future for services to our most vulnerable residents. I pointed out to Cllr Orton and other public detractors who have criticsed me as heartless ...
This time, not the ship – but a Scottish Country Dance that was being danced at the St Patrick's dance and ceilidh in St John's Church Hall on the Castlereagh Road, Belfast this evening. The dance was taxing even those of us who have been dancing quite some time. We were put over it by ...
Whilst I'm still on my conference high, a quick flashback to last year: The lyrics aren't accurate all the way through anymore; Brown is well and truly gone, Simon's replaced Vince as deputy leader and we didn't exactly chase Cameron away. But, as [IMG: [personal profile] ] miss_s_b said earlier "We're not a party of superficiality, we're a party of substance, and if you keep bashing away at the surface, all you are going to do is reveal that substance more clearly." This weekend has done a lot for my faith in the party. I will still be watching the ...
Mark Pack's article on postal voting whilst excellent only applies in Great Britain. Anyone wanting a postal vote in Northern Ireland still needs a reason - and the deadline is 11 April.
I was speaking with an Irish man yesterday who felt that the referee was wrong on Saturday when Wales scored their try against Ireland. His words were fairly mild when compared with those of some of the players. Brian O'Driscoll called the decision "unforgivable". Keith Earls described the Welsh victory as "sickening" The referee must have had an inkling that the wrong ball was used as he asked the linesman if this were the case. The linesman said it was. If you have seen the news then you will know that the linesman was wrong and the television match official ...
