A number of residents have contacted us today concerned about a leaflet circulated this week by the Labour Party. The leaflet claims that the Council is supposedly going to introduce blanket parking meters across large areas of Redlands Ward, without consulting residents. We are pleased to reassure constituents that the Council has no plans to do this. As local ward councillors we have always been totally committed to consulting residents about Council matters and have an excellent track record of making sure that the Council listens to local people in Redlands. Regular readers of this blog and residents will know that the Redlands area does face challenges in relation ...
Writing for Liberal Democrat Voice, Mark Pack looks at the party's influence on today's Budget: "George Osborne's previous strange absence from the debate was put to rest when he announced a series of pieces of good news on the Green Investment Bank: starting a year earlier, £2 billion more in funds and, crucially, it can borrow." Caron's Musings asks if anyone likes Nick Clegg's concept of "alarm clock Britain". Judging by the Lib Dem twittersphere and blogosphere, the answer is no. Again on Liberal Democrat Voice, Dominic Carman explains why he wants to be our candidate as Mayor of London. ...
This afternoon I bumped into the BBC's Michael Crick in Portcullis House. He can often be spotted there, fishing for the next good story. He asked me what I thought of the Budget and he looked a little glum so I asked him ... Continue reading →
Discussions with other bloggers, and general observations, have made me reconsider the name of my blog. While I am a prolific word-geek as some may have observed, and therefore fully embrace the name "disconcerted discursives", it is not, perhaps, the most memorable name for blogging under. Therefore, I am considering a new blog, with a new name. Same verbose, analytical debate and random
Following my previous post on London Midland's proposals to cut the opening hours at Acocks Green and Spring Road Stations (as part of a comprehensive reduction of hours across the network in the West Midlands), here is the official response to Passenger Focus by Cllr Timothy Huxtable (Cabinet Member for Transportation, Environment and Regeneration) on behalf of Birmingham City Council: London Midland BCC response 21March11 I hope all the representations that have been made will have an impact and make London Midland rethink their plans.
More positive housing news today when it was confirmed that the Homes and Communities Agency would contribute £120,000 towards the construction of new affordable homes for disabled people in Reading. Reading Borough Council will be putting in £150,000 towards the development of three new purpose built bungalows on a disused former mobile home site in Hastings Close, Southcote by Ability Housing. Labour comprehensively failed o deliver the affordable housing that is needed in Reading and locally I have led the campaign to increase the supply of housing. Bungalows suitable for people with physical disabilities are in short supply in our ...
Last summer I blogged about the Wheatsheaf Works - the vast former Co-operative Wholesale Society boot and shoe factory in Knighton Fields Road East, Leicester. Today comes news that the buildings are to be redeveloped by by Urban Rhythm - the Market Harborough based regeneration arm of the Leicestershire housebuilders The Hazelton Group. Insider Media Limited quotes Richard Hazelton, the commercial director of the parent company, as saying: "We're sure our refurbishment of the grade-II listed buildings, which have been left derelict for the past ten years, and development of the surrounding site will act as a catalyst to draw ...
This blog entry is specifically aimed at Tilt, Burkesworks and Chris Browning, though it may appeal to Andrew Rilstone and Colin Smith (and the rest of you) too. I was looking through the Wikipedia entry for Terry Jones a couple of hours ago, and discovered something I'd never known before, that he and Michael Palin ...
Seriously, how has Clegg not realised the nobody likes the term "Alarm Clock Britain"! I am yet to hear anyone say anything positive about the term yet he is persisting. Lib Dems ignoring it trying to make it die whilst opponents are using it at any chance to ridicule him. He's actually talking about the sector of society that are massively effected by everything that is going on and needs the government's help, yet any serious point he makes is undermined by the use of this stupid term. Nick is a much better politician when he is engaging with people ...
Responding to the UK budget, Kirsty Williams, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats said: "The tax cuts for Welsh workers announced today, taken directly from the Liberal Democrat's election manifesto will reduce income tax by £326 for over 1.1 million Welsh workers, taking 51, 000 of the poorest workers out of income tax altogether. "Fuel duty is now a real issue for so many families, particularly in rural Wales. Labour's proposals to increase fuel duty have rightly been scrapped and I am pleased at the further cuts announced. "It is clear that the UK government today has set out ...
The Minister for Health and Social Services Edwina Hart AM, today admitted that the Health "system does fail people" that it does not meet cancer treatment times and that she would urge those people who are affected to ask for help. The Minister was responding to a question from South Wales West Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Peter Black, who was alerted to a constituent having to wait 26 weeks to see a clinical specialist despite being told he was on the urgent cancer treatment list. "I was shocked at Mrs Hart's admission," said Mr Black. "It is unacceptable that patients, ...
It was Budget day today, the day that the manufacturers of red briefcases nationwide gear up for their annual rush as people race out to emulate that well known setter of fashion trends, George Osborne. Thankfully the Budget itself was concerned with more weighty things, like the coalition government's plans to return the UK to sustainable ...
I've just had the budget email from Nick Clegg headed Helping Alarm Clock Britain. That phrase was not one of his better inspirations. I thought he'd quietly drop it, but no such luck. I loathe all the euphemisms: hard working families, the squeezed middle, the middle class (as used inaccurately to describe anyone who has ...
Earlier today the Liberal Democrat Press Office's Phil Reilly tweeted, "Income Tax cut – from the front page of the @libdems manifesto to the pockets of 25m taxpayers". Certainly better to pick from the front page than the back page, as announcing a barcode would have been lacking a little in interest (except, perhaps, to one of my former economics lecturers, who once tried to persuade us that the checksums on barcodes matched up with a warning from the Bible and predicted an imminent Second Coming). That however wasn't the only major policy was a distinct Liberal Democrat flavour to ...
For some superb photographs of Dundee in the 1950s at http://www.normanmoore.com/dundee/. Here's Balgay Road - below :
George Obsorne should be declared the patron saint of the Orange Bookers. He is responsible for introducing liberal style taxation by reducing the tax burden of the poorest and hitting oil companies and banks; resulting in a much fairer system. ... Continue reading →
Dear Fraser, Today the coalition government has announced a budget that will return the UK to sustainable and balanced economic growth and which puts helping Alarm Clock Britain at its heart. We are increasing the income tax threshold by £630 to £8105; lifting hundreds of thousands of low income earners out of paying income tax and putting £126 back in the pockets of low and middle income earners. This is in addition to the last budget that took nearly a million of the lowest income earners out of tax and made millions of hard working individuals £200 better off. We ...
Just received an e-mail from Nick Clegg about the budget. It highlights some of the good things about the budget - increases in personal allowances, green investment, clamping down on er non-doms etc. But it continues with the utterly excreable use of 'alarm clock Britain'. This is a phrase of stunning uselessness. It is so poorly devised it comes across as insulting, aloof and out of touch - the sort of desperate clever-dicked attempt that the minders of Gordon Brown tried but which spectacularly backfired and made him see even more removed from reality than he actually was. It is ...
It is an open secret that all is not sweetness and light in Leicester Labour Party, particularly following the blatant way in which Jonathan Ashworth was parachuted in to fight the forthcoming by-election in Leicester South. Even so, an account of the latest meeting of the Labour group on the city council, published on the blog of the Leicester Mercury's political correspondent David MacLean, makes remarkable reading: A row between a local councillor and a political figure came close to the pair landing blows on each other because of the intense fury, a cabinet member claimed. Meanwhile a different cabinet ...
Today a report Through our eyes: experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in the workplace was published by The Rainbow Project having been commissioned by the Department for Social Development. Interpreting statistics is always a difficult task, and it always depends upon how you look at things what you end up saying. In this [...]
Gotta love this, combines Warcraft with Abbott and Costello.
Please could you look into this and run the correct paragraph? That would be Terribly Kind. B. The names of Elizabeth Taylor and Fred Titmus, whose passing we mourn today, remind one of many an August day at the Home of Cricket. After John Price had given the openers one up the snoot, the Middlesex captain would turn to Taylor and Titmus in the secure knowledge that no other county possessed spinners better able to exploit the dusty late-season wickets. The dread legend "c Parfitt b Titmus" or "st Murray b Taylor" appeared next to the name of many a ...
I've said many times in this blog how the poorest people in this Country are those who are just above the thresholds for certain benefits or tax credits - the pensioner, for example, whose occupational pension puts her something like 28p above the minimum income guarantee so she can't get Pension Credit or the family whose income is just and no more above the threshold at which they get working tax credit - and so find themselves having to pay full Council Tax, prescriptions, rent and the like. It was to Labour's absolute shame that they left behind a situation ...
The Scottish Parliament dissolved yesterday (following an interesting, amusing and admittedly tribal interchange between Iain Gray and Alex Salmond) and now campaigning begins in earnest. Already I have noticed various individuals predicting the outcome of the May elections, as if the six weeks of campaigning are something of an irrelevance. Obviously, as a Liberal Democrat, I will be wishing for a good result for my party. I would also welcome a more representative parliament and would probably think it to be a good thing if the Greens were to make some gains. But aside from a favourable final verdict from ...
A constituent in Launceston has been in touch because of problems he has had with recycling cardboard. No recycling bags are provided for cardboard and most residents put theirs out in supermarket carrier bags. But what if, like this resident, you have re-usable shopping bags? The official advice from the Council is that you can use any of the council-provided recycling bags - such as those provided for paper or cans, but cardboard has to be kept separate. If, for any reason, your recycling is not taken by the collectors they should leave an orange sticker on the bag to ...
Poor old Duncy-Wunky. Crying into his Mummy's apron because a nasty person said horrid things about him.Tell you what. If you don't like being accused of being an accessory to the illegal murder of 250,000 civilians, resign from the Labour Party and I won't mention it again.
Today's budget puts the needs of 'alarm clock Britain' first and foremost according to an email I received from Nick Clegg this afternoon. I'm not sure that flogging the dead horse of that particular phrase will do much good, but the budget itself contained some really good news (and some more wishful stuff). The great news - the move towards raising the income tax threshold to £10,000 is still happening. This week, the tax threshold - the level at which people start to pay income tax - will rise to £7,475 taking 880,000 people out of the tax system altogether. ...
Congratulations to Professor Stephen Salter who has won the Scottish Governments inaugural Saltire Medal for his work on wave energy. Professor Salter developed his"duck" at Edinburgh University in the 1970's and has been a hero of the renewables movement ever since. I am a humble chemist by background so won't begin to explain how it all works but I have put a link below which explains it all! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Salter Well done and well deserved!
Over on the website of the Financial Times, director of the liberal Centre Forum think-tank, Julian Astle, argues in his response to the budget that the route to medium- to long-term sustainable economic growth will be the "patient application of liberal economic principles", not only by the Chancellor but also by the business secretary, Vince Cable. What does this mean? Julian explains: This means clearing the way for growth through labour market flexibility, liberalising our overly restrictive planning laws and protecting businesses (particularly small businesses) from unnecessary and burdensome regulation. The chancellor has sought to do exactly this today. A ...
Hat tip to Taxation Declaration of interest, my employer publishes Taxation
I could discuss the positives and negatives from the budget, but I'm sure all y readers have already looked at the budget details and made their own minds up. I just wish that we didn't know so many details about the budget or any other government announcement before the speech itself. I'm happy for leaks to be made for the right reason, which is to highlight issues with policy or bad government. but I really dislike the spin of releasing drops of information by government. Please can we go back to the good old days of not knowing what is ...
Ed Miliband's pre-prepared attack on the budget was very keen to stress that it was 'giving with one hand and taking away with the other'. He claimed 'It's the classic Tory con.' Ed Balls has been touring the TV studios saying similar. Yet isn't this simply a definition of a revenue neutral budget? And given the budgets his party produced over the last 13 years were giving to the current generation with one hand and taking it from future generations with the other - a few revenue neutral budgets along the way would have been a good thing.
The bad news is that I have a killer migraine. The good news is that migraines usually come for me when my body is relaxing after a period of stress, so that means once it's over the writer's block I've been wrestling with for weeks might be gone. Fingers crossed. Have some links: The Hooded ...
Wed 23rd
15:23
Dominic Carman writes... Why I want to be the Liberal Democrat London mayoral candidate for 2012
The Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor faces enormous challenges: an uphill task on many fronts. It will be very tough. But I'm used to tough fights, having contested the Barking seat at the general election last year and the Barnsley Central by-election earlier this month. To borrow a phrase, London needs someone with muscular liberalism. I believe I have the right combination of political commitment, intellectual vigour, business acumen and international experience, which would serve the party and the city well. Some may see me as a usurper, an upstart, an underdog, but I recognise the obvious requirements for ...
Five wonderful short pieces I enjoyed reading this week, love them or hate them. With a bonus blast from the past as No 6. 1. 'A Tsunami in the Bristol Channel' by Lord Bonkers (Jonathan Calder at Liberal England). The Japanese disaster couldn't happen to nuclear power stations here, could it...? Well - history would suggest it can. Plus here's a link to Chris Huhn's thoughts on nuclear after the disaster - I hope he's read Jonathan's piece before he makes up his mind. 2. 'Why Fukushima made me stop worrying and love nuclear power' by George Monbiot in The ...
After our consultation with South Park Road residents via this blog, Pam and I have progress to report. I had a conversation with Inspector Steve Gilbertson on Monday about enforcement and I'm very happy to say that Steve has now publically promised that police will be on the Kingsway Service Road next week handing out fines to motorists, and that this will not just be a one-off but part of more regular enforcement. We look forward to seeing the results. We also asked for feedback on a Council plan to make the estate a 20mph zone and put in speedhumps. ...
For those of you who may have missed it, a version of my earlier post about religion, the census and lesbians was published on The Guardian website today. You can read it and my contributor profile by CLICKING HERE.
A few cheers and jeers in today's budget. The airwaves are full of detail so we will focus briefly on a selection of issues. This is not a comprehensive analysis. Cheers Raising tax allowances is essential to increase the incentives between work and benefits. It is not a redistributive anti-poverty measure, it is one that makes exiting poverty far easier for those who are prepared to work. Reviewing the 50% tax rate is probably the only way, politically, it can be ditched, and likely then only when the economy is better recovered. Cutting fuel duty and suspending the escalator is ...
As The Sun Politics on Twitter said today: "No wonder Nick Clegg's smiling. Lifting 1.1 million low-paid out of tax in a massive Lib Dem win."
George Osborne is still catching his breath after delivering his second budget, but the Labour Press Office seems to have done some spinning for him: Nice to know that the Labour Press Office team can admit the deficit, even if their Treasury team can't.
RT @GuidoFawkes: Labour Press office sent out @EdMilibandMP response speech to #Budget at 1.37pm. written before he heard speech. (source: The Sun)
Every year at work I am set a target, if I meet this target I get a bonus, if I fail to meet it I don't. I would love to...
Referendum Day approaches and the polls are tightening. The public at large has yet to show much interest, but the referendum on the Alternative Vote (AV) is an important event in our political history. Yet nobody can be surprised that the quality of public debate is abysmal. If the arguments put forward by the Yes campaign, desperate not to lose people in technical detail, look a little weak, those of the No campaign seem like a calculated assault on our intelligence. The campaign is being fought on emotions: natural British conservatism pitted against the feeling that our current system is ...
My book-reading pace has slowed down a lot over the last few weeks for various reasons, and are likely to remain sluggish for the next few weeks with the growing pressure of elections. Still, I have been able to finish off the next part of my attempts to widen my knowledge of world history by completing Roberts' short History of China. For someone like me who knows very little of Chinese history, especially before the twentieth century, it's a useful introduction. Obviously, given the size of the book (about 300 pages) and the scale of Chinese history, it's only a ...
Yesterday I was musing on what 'Big Society' actually means with Phil Redmond of Brookside and patio slaughter fame! Phil and I were in the same place about Big Society which might surprise people as he was at the heart ... Continue reading →
Recommended reading for Liberal Democrat councillors and local campaigners over the last seven days: Firstly, for some good news from Three Rivers as popular Labour councillor and current chairman of the council Ron Spellen defects to the Liberal Democrats. But now for the big news of the week - the budget. Prior to the budget Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander MP explained on Lib Dem Voice the government's priorities and the BBC have a useful guide to the main points in the budget. The big news for Lib Dems is a further increase in the personal tax allowance ...
Earlier this month the Council announced that a funding package had been agreed with the NHS to continue offering Birmingham residents free swimming, group exercise classes and gym sessions (the Be Active Scheme).The agreed Be Active hours for the leisure facilities in the Selly Oak Constituency (including Tiverton Pool & Gym) from 1st April 2011 are set out below.Gym Monday to Sunday - 1.00pm -
According to a press release from Notts Fire and Rescue this week, it looks like they do: NOTES TO NEWS DESKS Last year (2010) Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service carried out 70 animal rescues, 51 of which were small animals (consisting of 40 domestic pets, and 11 'others', mainly birds), and 19 were large animals (which applies to farm animals). It's part of a news release talking about how the specialist rescue team have undertaken training in rescuing animals – dealing with stressful situations such as farm fires and flooding, corralling animals safely. Notts FRS also have obtained a "three-quarter ...
The new community toilets are a very positive development, allowing Stockport to have more toilets for public use than ever before, but councillors from all sides have been concerned that we need to do more to publicise their locations. It didn't help, of course, that the Stockport Times ran stories giving the impression that we had no toilets any more, but never mind. Pam and I, amongst others, have been suggesting ways to get the locations better known since last year, but to be fair I'm not sure my early suggestions were that great. In January I proposed new finger-post ...
So, yeah, today's Osbourne's budget. Woo. I'll be trying to listen to the thing in full and I'll be writing my initial thoughts down for you to peruse. Mind you, the devil will, as always, be in the detail. I'm hoping for a few decent things in there though. Incidentally, I can make one guarantee. The budget will be unpopular. This is because every budget is unpopular. Polls have found that, even among people who don't disagree with any part of a budget, the majority will still dislike it. Go figure. *** So, I've just got in from a round ...
Liberal Democrat candidate for the forthcoming Leicester South by-election, Parmjit Singh Gill, has announced he is to stand down. He will be replaced by Zuffar Haq. Commenting, Parmjit Singh Gill said: Given much reflection and after talking with my family, it is with regret that I have decided to stand down as a candidate for the by-election. I remain committed to the people of Leicester and am proud to represent the Liberal Democrats, but I have a very young family and I fear the toll that fighting the by-election with all the commitment and dedication it deserves would be too ...
It was announced this morning that Parmjit Singh Gill has stood down at Lib Dem candidate in Leicester South and that the by-election will instead be fought by Zuffar Haq. Zuffar, who fought Harborough at the last general election and has family roots in Leicestershire that go back for almost a century, will make a very strong candidate.
Women are the routers and amplifiers of the social web. And they are the rocket fuel of ecommerce. The ongoing debate about women in tech has been missing a key insight. If you figure out how to harness the power of female customers, you can rock the world. Excellent article on TechCrunch on how patterns of conversation and commerce are being driven by the good womenfolk of our little blue-green marble in space. Yes, my fellow men, we have invented the technology to let them take over. Oh dear. Looking on the bright side, this might mean eating out more: ...
There's unease in some portions of the Trans community at the moment over how committed Channel 4 really are to their new Memorandum of Understanding. There's a much longer post by Adam Smith over at Wrestling Emily Dickinson about this, but this excerpt sums it up nicely: So in a similar way, as angry as I am with Peter Kay I find myself angrier at Channel 4 when I read that said channel – which, just last week, to general acclaim from the trans community, signed the Trans Media Watch Memorandum of Understanding – is planning to repeat the very ...
Discuss away...
Wed 23rd
11:47
Which Liberal Democrats used to distribute material at conference praising a Conservative Prime Mini...
Passing a pub at the weekend on my way between helping with the Winning Teams training in Sutton and being part of the Greater Islington team in the Team London quiz night in Camden (and thank you Ashley Lumsden for the tip on travelling via Balham), I was reminded of one of my favourite historical quirks about the history of Britain's political parties. Until a few years ago there was a group of Liberal Democrat who use to distribute material at every Liberal Democrat conference praising a Conservative Prime Minister. Being rather commercially minded, they didn't even give it away ...
In the 2010 election the Lib Dems campaigned for an increase in the personal allowance to £10,000, to lift the lowest paid out of income tax, to help thousands more on low incomes through a tax cut and (whisper it) to make work pay. It was such a simple idea, the alternative pursued under Labour was to tax the low paid and then give it back through benefits, doing nothing to help the move from welfare to work. There were four key pledges on the front of the Lib Dem manifesto. Each being delivered. I have to admit while out ...
Looking back across the decades since WW1 one dominant feature of Liberal Party Budget proposals seems to have disappeared today. Throughout those long years from Asquith to Ashdown one common feature of Liberal plans was always to enhance Employee Ownership. Manifestos and Inquiries throughout the whole period contain studies of co-ownership firms like Scott Bader. Even the great Liberal manifesto of 1929 contains a whole chapter on 'The Diffusion of Ownership'. The one real policy triumph of the Lib Lab pact was Richard Wainwright's success of getting employee profit sharing in legislation. This idea has never been more relevant. As ...
Listen to Liberal Democrats make speeches and there are frequent references to historical figures, but drawn from a small cast. Just the quartet of John Stuart Mill, William Gladstone, David Lloyd George, David Penhaligon corner almost all of the market, especially since Bob Maclennan stopped making speeches to party conference. Some of the forgotten figures deserve their obscurity but others do not. Charles James Fox's defence of civil liberties against a dominating government during wartime or Earl Grey's leading of the party back into power and major constitutional reform are good examples of mostly forgotten figures who could just as ...
I quote from the linked post.First, I will take the elements of the rule of law as sketched by the late Law Lord, Tom Bingham, in his final book The Rule of Law (Allen Lane, 2010):The law must be accessible, and so far as possible intelligible, clear and predictable (p37Questions of legal right and liability should ordinarily be resolved by application of the law and not by the exercise of
One of the more exotic consequences of Lembit Opik's failing to retain Montgomery at last year's general election was that the Baha'i Community in the United Kingdom lost an entertaining compere for their annual Naw Ruz ('New Day', i.e. Spring) reception on the House of Commons terrace. Lembit was an active champion of the cause of ...
Wed 23rd
10:12
Improving campaigning: What the research says about what works in political campaigning
What works in political campaigning? How many leaflets have been delivered, letters sent, doors knocked on? Remember the prerecorded message from Nick Clegg to 250,000 voters? Is this a reflection that the Lib Dems don't know what works? Randomised experiments producing reliable evidence in politics are rare and so it is difficult to get the ...
I was a little surprised to be invited to be guest speaker at the Liberal Democrat spring conference last week. But the surprise was not because I'm supporting the AV Yes Vote. After all, I am vice-chair of the campaign. It was rather because party bosses are well aware of my criticism after the main conference last September. My beef with them, expressed in the Guardian and other places, was a result of the party's failure to do something positive about its lack of BME political representation. Of course, I wasn't there to talk about representation. But I did anyway. ...
I blogged yesterday about the 'quiet' Lib Dem wins that our making our party's presence in government worthwhile. Today, though, the Chancellor is going to stand up in the House of Commons and announce a further big move towards the ... Continue reading →
Way back in June, the night before the Budget, Nick Clegg sent out one of those anodyne e-mails setting out the context of the mess we were in. That signalled to Liberal Democrat members that there were be changes we weren't going to like - as there were, to Housing Benefit (some of which, like the cut after a year's claiming have been stopped because of Lib Dem action within Government) and DLA, for example. Well, we haven't had an e-mail this time and I hope that's because with last year's Budget and Spending Review, we've had the bulk of ...
Living (dlc), the disabled living centre, are holding their next drop in day on Wednesday 23rd March 2011 from 10:00am - 3:00pm in the Vassall Centre, Gill Avenue, Fishponds. Admission (and refreshments) are free, occupational therapists will be available and there will be a range of equipment designed to make your life easier.
On Thursday we have a full council meeting (papers here) and my ward colleague has submitted a motion: Notice of Motion by Councillor Shaw To consider the following motion submitted by Councillor Shaw: "This Council notes: 1. That the Labour Party is the second largest party on Sefton Council and holds 40% of the places in the Cabinet, including the crucially important portfolio of Children's Services, where much of the public concern over potential spending cuts has been centred; 2. That over the last 6 months the Labour Party has voted against (and is recorded in the Council Minutes as ...
It has been announced that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued new guidelines on the uptake of testing for HIV. Unfortunately, this is really only advice for England due to the devolved nature of the governance of the United Kingdom nowadays. My quick question to the Northern Ireland Minister for [...]
Cllr Ron Spellen and his wife Nena with their Liberal Democrat membership cards Long-time Labour member and councillor Ron Spellen, currently Chairman of Three Rivers District Council, has left the Labour Party and joined the Liberal Democrats. Ron will defend his seat at May's local elections as a Liberal Democrat. The former Labour group leader and representative for Northwick ward, South Oxhey for many years, said "Today's Labour Party is not the party I joined fifty years ago. It is now the Liberal Democrats who represent what I came into local politics to achieve - a determined effort to protect ...
BBC News - Protein found in brain cells may be key to autism Interesting news to watch (tags: science) Peace News Log « How to Fill In Your Census Form without Lockheed Martin Profiting (long version) I am so tempted to do this... (tags: census) Open Thread: Obligatory Smiling GAH! I hate it when people do this. (tags: feminism) From the "how did this get past the lawyers?" files | Geek Feminism Blog Duke Nukem Forever does the whole humourless feminazi thing in gaming form. Shame. (tags: games) The "Women and Comics" Survey(s) call to action! Do you identify as ...
Video also available on YouTube. According to Danny, the Government's priorities are: To build on the decisions taken in the emergency Budget last June, and in the Spending Review To take steps that will help support the economy as it moves back to health again To promote fairness during difficult economic times, e.g. increasing the personal tax allowance There'll be an open thread on Lib Dem Voice later this morning, where you can discuss Budget 2011.
Paul Waugh on Politics Home yesterday highlights two more of the quiet successes of the Liberal Democrats in Government. The first of these are on student visas, where he says that Nick Clegg and Vince Cable have won a significant battle to overturn Tory plans for a cap on numbers: The Lib Dem case was bolstered by universities - and businesses - arguing forcefully that it was economically bonkers to curb the £5bn/year income from international students. As is now commonplace, this battle was largely fought out behind closed doors in Cabinet Sub-Committees, with some wins for Theresa May some ...
A document has come into my hands purporting to be Labour's response to this afternoon's budget. And here is what it says Mili minor is planning to say: "Too fast, too deep. It's just like buying a house. You don't pay it back in five years. Hard working families. Borrow to create jobs. Growth strategy. Jobs strategy. Idealogically driven cuts. Worse than Thatcher. Oh did I mention hard working families?" I have to say although it's Miliband's job to respond the content has a reek of Balls about it.
The Coalition government has well and truly disrupted the trajectory of social housing policy in England. That is partly a product of austerity, but also a product of seeking to implement different ideas on tenure and funding that have been brewing for some while. Current initiatives will no doubt open up new opportunities, but they ...
Here are some points raised by the police report to yesterday's Cheadle Area Committee. The report focussed more on Gatley this time as Gatley PC Bob Gallagher came along with Steve Gilbertson. Operation Harpoon is targetting burglaries in the area There have been recent issues with fruit and stones being thrown at properties around Oakwood Avenue, Beech Road and some shops on Gatley Road and Church Road. Investigation by the police has found the young people involved were taking fruit from the rear of the Co-op (this is now fixed) and they are known to the police, coming over from ...
Full Council - Budget The main function of this Council meeting was to debate and approve the budget for 2011/12. There was a small contingent of protestors from the GMB outside one of the entrances to Civic Offices as budget setting was proving controversial across all local authorities in the light of cuts making headline ...
I happened to bump into this blog post by Nick Radford recently which explained his decision to leave front-line politics. I don't know Nick personally but his name is familiar to me within the Liberal Democrat Party and as he states he is a former Parliamentary candidate for the party in Wiltshire. He explains the many different reasons why he's leaving front-line politics after 5 years. I thought that his deliberations were very honest and thought-provoking and I'm sure he speaks for many people involved in politics for differing parties and at varying levels when he said in conclusion... ...
So, the separate run of Big Finish audios featuring the Eighth Doctor comes to an end after four years of fun with Paul McGann and (mostly) the fantastic Susan Sheridan. Eight gets reincorporated inot the main Big Finish run from now on. To The Death is a moderately satisfying end to the fourth season - taken on its own terms, rather good, though not quite as good as I was hoping for. (Then again, most Who finales leave me feeling that way.) It wraps up the story of the second Dalek invasion of Earth started in Lucie Miller, with much ...
I thought this was a really silly book. Watson presents us with standard aliens out of UFO lore, combined with Jung's theory of UFO's (thus having his cake and eating it) and an Egyptian order of followers of Rūmī, and seems to take it all quite seriously and uncritically. None of the characters does anything remotely interesting, and there is a tremendously poor scene with an American cop. Really one to avoid.
i) births and deaths 23 March 1909: birth of Charles Morgan, who played Songsten in The Abominable Snowmen (1967) and the Gold Usher in The Invasion of Time (1978). 23 March 1928: birth of Louis Marks, who wrote Planet of Giants (1964), Day of the Daleks (1972), Planet of Evil (1975) and The Masque of Mandragora (1976). ii) births and deaths 23 March 1968: broadcast of second episode of Fury from the Deep. Maggie Harris is overpowered by Oak and Quill, and the mysterious noises intensify. 23 March 1974: broadcast of first episode of The Monster of Peladon. The Doctor ...
Top Ten Ways that Libya 2011 is Not Iraq 2003 | Informed Comment (tags: war libya iraq)
As I drove to work yesterday I was listening to Ted Robbins on Radio Lancashire talking about what makes us protest. If you get motivated to protest then there is a good chance that others will protest for exactly the opposite reasons. I often sign petitions especially online as it is so convenient. I am not sure if it is a claim to fame but my name was on the front page of the Independent a couple of years ago as I signed their online petition about electoral reform. It isn't a protest but our last political leaflet was an ...
According to the Watford Observer Labour now have a lone councillor in Three Rivers.
