Today was not a typical Monday for me (usually I spend Mondays running around campaigning, doing casework and working on Council matters. Today we were lucky enough to get a visit from Andrew Stunell MP - Lib Dem Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Communities and Local Government Department. Andrew came to see some of the great work Lib Dems on Reading Borough Council have been doing for the people of Reading - the word has clearly got out to Government!. Andrew is responsible for housing, regeneration and community cohesion among other things so there were plenty of things ...
I have been gadding about recently. I was watching Mike Harding on Sunday and last week I saw The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There was a quote in the programme from the author Douglas Adams who said 'A learning experience is one of those things that say "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that" '. Do you call a spade a spade? It sounds like a good idea because you often hear politicians answer a question which has not been asked. They make up their own answers if they don't like the question. No spades there, ...
I spent part of Friday at the Creative Garden event at Phoenix Square in Leicester. I met some old friends, made some useful new contacts and listened to some of the formal presentations. One woman - I walked in halfway through her talk - seemed to be telling us exactly which boxes a work of art should tick. (Says who?) It is strange to invoke "diversity" to justify trying to make everyone work in the same way. And Ross Grant, leader of the city council's Conservative Group and the party's mayoral candidate, spoke on arts policy. His talk was meant ...
The 2011 census is important. The amount of money that Birmingham City Council and other public bodies will receive to spend on services over the next ten years is directly influenced by how many people are counted in the city and the information the government gets on the needs of Birmingham's residents and communities.For lost or missing forms, or for extra help and advice, you can call 0300
The last Western Area Partnership meeting tonight before the election, and very poorly attended it was too. A shame because there were some very interesting things on the agenda. The vision for Stockton Town Centre was first up, and provoked lots of questions and comment from people representing an area which has "become cynical about Stockton High Street" in the words of one. If you want to
A long day, starting with a 'day job' meeting at Scottish Government at Victoria Quay, Edinburgh (absolutely beautiful morning - see right!) Thereafter, on return to Dundee, I held two surgeries at the Mitchell Street Centre and at Harris Academy and met with constituents in Pentland. Please note that, after my forthcoming Thursday evening surgery at 6.15pm at Blackness Primary School, I do not have surgeries during the school holidays, but I can be contacted at any time at home on Dundee 459378 or contact surgeries@frasermacpherson.org.uk. Tonight, I attended City Council meetings at which I supported the administration to undertake ...
Early last week I met with John Widdowson CBE, Principal of New College, Durham, the newly designated sponsors of the Consett Academy following Durham University's withdrawal from the project. We met in New College's impressive modern building, a project which John led from drawing board to completion, and everything I saw led me to believe that Consett's Academy has found an excellent sponsor. New College is well used to providing education for a full range of students, and is committed to the principle of every young person achieving the most they can within their field, whether that's traditional academic education ...
Nick Clegg has been telling the Financial Times how he would like to see taxes introduced for the most expensive properties as part of any removal of the temporary 50p top rate of income tax. Son of Mansion Tax here we come... Jonathan Calder reports on the latest goings on in the lively world of Leicester politics, including Conservative Councillor Nigel Porter resigning from his party and deciding to fight his ward for the Liberal Democrats in May's elections. The Yes to Fairer Votes campaign has published details of its donors and challenged the No campaign to show the same ...
My writer's block has gone into remission, so I'm working on the next Cerebus piece (finally!), the next How We Know What We Know, and a piece on Batman, Inc. I may also review Richard Herring's show on Wednesday. But today, I'm busy typesetting vol. 1 of my Beach Boys book (sample index entry: Love, ...
It seems that I am not the only one who believes that the worse the polls get for the Lib Dems the more likely they are to stay in government with the Conservatives. Julian Astle of CentreForum makes the same argument on the Telegraph's website.
Mon 28th
20:43
Labour Letter watch 8 - it must be election time, so here are three things about the police to ask L...
Welcome to another in the series of posts exposing the mischief, half-truth and worse that Labour activists spew forth into public view. Normally such offerings are made on the letters page of the local press, but since it's nearly election time there are now Labour leaflets doing the rounds, and they are, in parts, fictional. ...
One of this week's planning applications has an interesting story behind it. Application 46586 is to change 2 Old Hall Road, Gatley from a Hairdressing salon into a two bedroom flat. The salon (the one above the Tatton Salon) is closing down, with one of the hairdressers moving into the Tatton Salon, with a separate section at the back. But just in case you thought Gatley couldn't support more hairdressers, application 46631 is to convert 78 Church Road, Gatley from a launderette into a hair and beauty salon! Daylesford Road residents might like to take a look at application 46734 ...
So, apparently the Lib Dems are going to be moving from their Cowley Street headquarters. Depending on who you ask this is either because Cowley Street is now too small or too expensive. Either way, the party is looking for new premises. Pictured: A lovely old building Now Cowley Street is a lovely old place and I think it'd be a shame for us to end up moving from a place like that to some monotonous office block like Millbank. Pictured: A monotonous office block So, I think I've found the perfect solution. The Old London Underground Company is planning ...
The Republican Party is having a tough time finding a presidential contender who has a chance of beating Barack Obama in 2012. But they should remember that President George H.W. Bush was "unbeatable" this far out from the 1992 general election. One of the Republicans who looks set to run is the former Minnesota governor, Tom Pawlenty. He has an outside chance of becoming the nominee. I doubt that I'd ever vote for Mr Pawlenty, or any of the other Republicans. He may sink without trace. But this early campaign video shows that he gets what political marketing and political ...
This is a simple, Google style explanation of the Alternative Vote (AV) system. We really need to change the system to stop extremism and allow a more representative society. This video was published at: Yes to AV and Fairer Votes explanation. I believe that on 5th May, the country has the opportunity to show the political elite that we want a more representative society where the MPs really need the support of the majority of the electorate. Gone will be the unfair minority rule which we currently see. Gone too will be the need for tactical voting as your vote ...
Numbers, numbers, numbers. Lots of them were banded about Saturday's march – 250,000 being the most important one, at least if you agreed with the march's aims. However, it's quite clear that those who agreed were united by more than their opposition to cuts – they were united by a peculiar aversion to expressing the ...
Mon 28th
18:59
HLF Approve £4.7m grant to restore Cardigan Castle - Birthplace of the Welsh Eisteddfod
Today is a bloody good day for Cardigan, Wales and for anyone who values Welsh culture. Cardigan Castle in 2014? For today it was officially announced that the Heritage Lottery Fund have given their approval to a £4.7m grant application submitted by Cadwgan Building Preservation Trust on behalf of Cardigan Castle. This is absolutely brilliant news for the castle and for us all here in the town. It is the moment when a great campaign to bring our historic castle back into full, open, public use, crossed the rubicon from being one of hope to one of expectancy. A ...
The local Labour party put thought their leaflet recently for the local elections. Thing is there is not by mention of what they intend to do locally. I do wish parties who put up local candidates would fight on local issues. Sure attack the Liberals and Tories for national policy. But remember this is a local election. Surely if your representing the local community you need to say what you intend to do at a local level. Councils deserve better.
Jane Hunt, who fought the Leicester East constituency at the last general election, has been chosen as the Tory candidate for the Leicester South by-election, reports Conservative Home. She was chosen from a shortlist of three which also featured Peter Bedford and Dr Teck Khong.
Former Liberal Democrats MSP Hugh O'Donnell has today quit the party and announced he will instead be standing as an independent candidate on the Central Scotland regional list. Mr O'Donnell expressed predictable concerns about the performance of the Westminster coalition, claiming that "the alliance formed in London between the Lib Dems and the Tories" is "the greatest betrayal of all". However, he also savagely turned on Scottish Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott who he describes as "neither liberal nor democratic" and accuses of never having uttered "a word of criticism...even though the [coalition's] contempt shown for Scotland and, indeed, the ...
Chris Davies's notes on dealing with the debt Did you hear the soundbites from Ed Balls at the TUC rally last Saturday? "The Government is going too far and too fast," he said. "Labour would halve the size of the deficit during this Parliament." I got so annoyed when I heard that arrogant, superficial nonsense that I put pen to paper. Feel free to quote from these NOTES if you need help in challenging critics of what the Coalition is doing. Chris Davies MEP 27 March 2011 **Not Too Far. Not Too Fast.** A close friend of mine and former ...
Facebook seems to be filling our NewsFeeds' with normally inane 'Facebook Questions'. VN hasn't answered any yet, but this one did raise a chuckle: For the record we're stuck between Chris Bryant and Ed Balls. Also, Kerry McCarthy must be worth a place on the list too?
[IMG: Nicholas Coombes and Armand Edwards win election] Today I've submitted my nomination papers to seek re-election as one of Bathwick's councillors. Armand Edwards and I were first elected to B&NES Council in 2007; in doing so we became the first ever Liberal Democrats to represent Bathwick ward. After four years of service to the community, Armand has decided to stand down at this election. He will shortly be completing his Masters degree, then moving on for employment elsewhere. Dr David Martin is the other Liberal Democrat candidate for Bathwick ward. I'm pleased to be standing with him; I think ...
Here's something interesting I've discovered today – initial figures suggest that people from the Colchester area (CO postcodes) were more likely to complete the 2011 Census online than people anywhere else in the country. (via) It's also interesting that the article refers to Colchester as the 'top city' for completing the census online. Nice to see that people are already taking notice of the campaign for city status, less than a week after the Council approved it.
Just a quick reminder that you can subscribe to Lib Dem Voice using Amazon's Kindle service – either on their Kindle device or using their apps for iPhone, Android, Mac or PC. The link to Lib Dem Voice on Amazon is here. It will set you back a modest £1.99 a month. Of course, if you think the content we produce here is worth £2 a month, and you don't have a Kindle, you are more than welcome to cut out the middle-person and donate it to us directly by standing order. You can also donate money to us indirectly ...
On BBC Radio 4 this morning, Commander Bob Broadhurst, the Metropolitan Police officer in charge of policing the march at the weekend stated "Unless you want to turn this into a police state, I think the powers we've got are probably adequate". (Quote at 2:03.37 on the Today Programme) Yet according to the BBC News web site, just over an hour ago, Theresa May said "I am willing to consider powers which would ban known hooligans from attending rallies and marches, and I will look into the powers the police already have to force the removal of face coverings and ...
Mon 28th
16:31
Of course we should be thinking about our future. Why is the Telegraph pretending that it's news?
Let's take it as read that the Telegraph report that we are rebranding, including a root and branch look at the party's name, identity and positioning is wide of the mark. In an age of austerity when we can't afford to fund the Barnsley Central election campaign, it's unlikely the very sensible Chris Fox will be throwing cash at that particular issue. (Thanks to all the trade mags and friends who've called me to ask if I'm doing it. I'm not. Though with due deference to my business partner Franco who designed the original logo when he was at Fitch ...
There were two principal council elections held on 24th March. Labour held one seat and took a seat off Independents. There were no parish or town council by-election results reported to ALDC. In the Bellingham ward of the London Borough of Lewisham we stood a good local candidate. Last time it was fought, in 2010, turnout was boosted to 54.8% on the same day as the general election but in the last un-combined election in 2006 the turnout was reputed to be the lowest in London at 22.6%. In this by-election the turnout returned to 22%. We consciously went into ...
The Mail on Sunday reported, yesterday, about another secret court proceeding. It is probably not a hyper injunction. This one is a criminal proceeding.Let us make reference to ECHR:In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal
It's predictable, isn't it? A major election looms and the Scottish Tories implode. It's actually a great shame because however much I disagree with their politics they do actually have some interesting things to say on some key issues. I'd much rather be criticising the Scottish Conservatives for their views on education, health, public services and the like than their inability to deal with internal difficulties. But such is the state of Annabel Goldie's party that there isn't much chance of the electorate even being aware of their manifesto pledges, let alone having the chance to consider the Tories' positions ...
Mon 28th
16:06
Liberal Democrats in urgent meeting with Power Company over unacceptable Hornsey black-outs
[IMG: Cllrs Jim Jenks, Robert Gorrie and Lyn Weber, and UK Power Network bosses Lyndsey Guy (Stakeholder Engagement) Matt Ruddlin (Head of Customer Service) and Geoff Pierson (Area Manager - Network Operations)] Liberal Democrats and Hornsey residents, on Friday, met with UK Power Network bosses to demand immediate action to put a stop to the numerous unacceptable power cuts affecting Hornsey residents and traders. Residents in Rosebery Gardens and the surrounding area of Hornsey have experienced up to nine power cuts in the past year, some of them lasting more than 18 hours. Following yet another long black-out last week, ...
What happens once the Arab Spring turns into Summer, Autumn or Winter? I've just returned from Krygyzstan, which had its own democratic uprising last April, before they became quite so fashionable. This former Soviet Republic may have some lessons for new and old democracies around the world. For a small unfamiliar country, landlocked in the middle of Asia, there seems to be an awful lot of international interest in Kyrgyzstan at the moment. I was surprised to see US military air transport planes parked up in the airport, as I arrived on a visit organised by the Westminster Foundation for ...
Report in the Telegraph (quoting Research Weekly - who don't seem to have it on their website - that AVERAGE tuition fee charges per University will be £8600. And here's the clincher: MORE THAN HALF are going to charge the maximum £9000. Except truly, they can't, can they? As then charging the maximum would be the norm, not the exception - by definition. I hope Simon Hughes is hot on the tail of this in his role as 'Access Czar' for higher education - as presumably he's going to be instigating some fairly strict criteria for all this, in the ...
First past the post works fine for a boat race, but not for electing our MPs to parliament. On the weekend one of the most diverse groups of people I...
The link is to a post about UK Constitutional law.If you are interested in these issues it is really worth reading. And yes Lord Denning was a very good judge.
Housing Advisory Group The meeting started with a demonstration of the Enhanced Housing Options Module which is software that can be accessed via the internet and allows anyone to explore their housing options within Sutton and obtain a personal action plan. By offering this means of access to people looking for housing solutions who might ...
Lib Dems are wisely taking a detailed look at whether website blocking would lead to excessive legal claims and censorship of legitimate material, or if it could be employed to reduce copyright infringement. Ofcom, too, has been asked to look at whether the policy is "practical". We at Open Rights Group met them to say: no it isn't. And the collateral damage to people's rights is likely to be very high. As it stands, copyright holders can already go to Court to ask for websites to be blocked, as the result of previous lobbying. But they don't use this legal ...
Cornwall Council has been given £4.7 million by the Government as part of the new fund to help repair our roads. As anyone driving around Cornwall cannot help but notice, we have a huge number of potholes which cause damage to cars and potentially lead to serious accidents. Here in Launceston, some of the worst affected roads are Tavistock Road, St Johns Road and Cross Lanes - all of which are on the Council's list of streets which need re-surfacing. However, under the old budgets, it would have been as much as 12 months before anything other than emergency works ...
The Government has today made two key announcements on the future of the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA), the payment of up to £30 per week paid to young people aged 16-18 to help them stay in education. The cutting of EMA was one of the decisions that I vehemently disagreed with. I have seen just how valuable it is in encouraging young people in my area to stay in education. With poor access to FE courses, Launceston has to lowest level of post 16 education in Cornwall and taking away funding from poorer students would have dented this further. The ...
My post last month about the similar sounding 'Crime Prevention UK' has attracted more comments than any other in the last five years. Someone today has left a link to this article in the Mirror. I hope this means the end to the saga, which has so far netted £18 million for SAS Fire and Security, but somehow I don't think so, as they seem to be carrying out their unscrupulous activities under a different name. I'd be interested to hear from you if you do get a phone call from them after today's news. Do read the comments in ...
Liberal Democrat Councillors in Prestwich have announced plans for a new Local Area Forum for Prestwich - building on the success of Bury's six Local Area Partnerships. We have long been champions of taking decisions at a local level. Our amendment at Budget Council created new Community Development Workers for our local areas, and also set ...
With lots of holidays coming up in April, now is the time to start planning how to occupy the children. The clocks have gone forward and the days are lighter, Gainsborough Town Council are holding lots of events at Richmond Park and other places in the town. Have a look at them below and I hope to see you there! [IMG: Deanos pro soccer academy @ Roses jpeg] [IMG: Easter 2011 Poster jpeg] [IMG: easter eggstravaganza poster jpeg]
[IMG: Forth Railway Bridge] Welcome to my weekly round-up of two blogging highlights from the past week: the post that I found most interesting or enjoyable to write and the post from someone else that I found most interesting or entertaining. A post from me...How do you steal a bridge?It may be a small niche, but it's one I'm pretty sure I'm now dominating it, namely blog posts that itemise bridge thefts: There's one item in today's list of items stolen from the Ministry of Defence that has really caught my eye: a bridge. Not the easiest of things to ...
A political party's brand is more than a logo, it is its heart and soul. The part-fiction, part-fun story in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph about the Lib Dems generated a bit of speculation about whether the party will change its name, logo or leader. It was the usual display of people who comment on politics but don't understand branding and is nicely rebutted here. When it comes to the issue of branding, I should declare an interest: my whole family is in the business. My Dad was involved in briefing Rodney Fitch the designer of the current Lib Dem logo. As ...
I've got a question in to the Regeneration Committee (this Thursday) about the new hospital/health centre in Garston. It's to do with the outside, which appears to be doing a good job of reflecting sunlight directly back into drivers' eyes. A poll (admittedly unscientific as it involved me raising the hospital with taxi drivers as we went past) has shown that some drivers believe there'll be accidents. I did raise this back in the darker months, but at the time the reflecting effect wasn't as obvious as it is now. Pasted below is the question "The South Liverpool (Garston) health ...
Vince Cable couldn't quite resist. Having somehow survived declaring war on Rupert Murdoch, he chose the weekend after the budget to relaunch his Mansion Tax pet project, on FiveLive's Pienaar's Politics programme. There are groups who put forward coherent arguments for taxing land like, or instead, of wealth. Agree with it or not, the idea ...
I've got a question in to the Council's environment committee later this week (Wednesday 30th) about a release of gas from a plant run by Veolia in Garston under the bridge. It happened last week and the gas was obvious to people living along St Mary's/Aigburth Road. It sounds like Veolia did the right thing when it happened, by shutting things down. But I am worried that there may not be a process for warning local people when there are incidents like this. It was a local resident who passed on the information and who obtained some informatioin from Veolia ...
How U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan murdered innocent civilians and mutilated their corpses - and how their officers failed to stop them. Anyone seeking to understand why the world's trouble spots don't fall over themselves in admiration for the West should find plenty of reasons in this distressing article in Rolling Stone magazine. Truly sickening stuff. In defence of honourable soldiers – this will be partly due to what happens when the warhawks overstretch their forces and end up recruiting people incapable of fighting for hearts and minds as well as kills. Since the Iraq war, the US has significantly lowered ...
We, Lib Dem activists, candidates, and councillors need to be supporting Jenny Willott and other senior Lib Dems, in their call for a re-think on this issue by the Government.
Well, he was mine actually! My cousin dug this up!
The budget that George Osbourne presented last week was not particular brave, considering the electoral cycle. Far from being the orgy of cuts that Ed "Edward" Miliband suggested, the fact is that the UK deficit will continue to rise, and the total level of indebtedness is unlikely to fall much, if at all for several years. The gap between the spending programme proposed by Labour last May and the Coalition this March is really pretty small. However this has not prevented Labour -rather foolishly- from hitching itself to a "No cuts" band wagon. The resulting juxtaposition of Ed "Edward" Miliband's ...
Not Too Far. Not Too Fast. A close friend of mine and former Liberal Democrat member said recently that she couldn't vote for the party again "given what we were doing." It hurt to hear that. And the pain was ... Continue reading →
A news release from the party brings the news of the following three appointments: Martin Horwood, co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee for International Affairs (replacing Tim Farron, who has stood down on becoming President) Julian Huppert, co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee for Transport Annette Brooke, co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee for Communities and Local Government (covering for Simon Hughes for six months during his tenure as the Government's Advocate for Access to Education The full list of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee co-chairs is: Business, Innovation & Science Lorely Burt ...
I was very disappointed to read that Hugh O'Donnell has decided to quit as a candidate for the Holyrood elections and indeed the Lib Dems. Hugh has been a tireless worker for people with disabilities during his four years as an MSP but also before hand when he worked for eight years as Donald Gorrie's Assistant. Hugh cites his reasons for going as disillusion with what the Westminster Government is doing relating the vulnerable people. I have to say I disagree with Hugh on this. There are things being mooted that I don't like; some of the Housing Benefit changes ...
With a track record of a quarter century of bureaucracy behind me, you would think that the process of getting my nomination papers filed would be pretty straightforward, wouldn't you? But of course, the whole process is predicated on the view of the Electoral Services team, and their word is law. So I've spent part of my weekend getting the nomination forms just right, asking friends and neighbours to sign and print in the right boxes in the approved manner. In fairness, everyone has been very kind, with only one person refusing to sign - she doesn't do politics, she ...
Cllr Green said that child safety was paramount and that the safeguarding procedures were not weakening. He said it made sense to share expertise. At the opening of Raby Hall he had asked the Chief Executive if Wirral Autistic Society was charging above the personal budget. She had said "absolutely not" and that there was ...
Cllr Foulkes said he wasn't going to sit here and say he was happy and that they took a different view of transformational change. He referred to the CQC report and asked if adults with learning disabilities having a choice was enough? Howard Cooper answered no. Cllr Foulkes pointed out that some choices cost more ...
Of all the silly stories that have been published about the Liberal Democrats recently, this from over the weekend has a higher bollocks per square inch (bsi) ratio than most. Apparently, we are thinking about abandoning Libby, our "7 winged flying worm" as Ben Elton called it when it was first introduced, and even re-naming the Party. Maybe adding in "social" to our title. Well, of course we are. That worked so well for us when we were the Social and Liberal Democrats, or"salads" and were coming within the margin of error of nothing in the polls. I'm proud to ...
It's been rather a self-inflicted wound by the Coalition Government to leave such a long gap between announcing that it would abolish the Education Maintenance Allowance and publishing details of what will be introduced in its stead. I'm happy to wait until we know what the replacement will be like before judging whether the EMA abolition is a good move or not, but it's not exactly a surprise that many people have made up their minds knowing only part of the story given that huge gap. That said, the substance of the issue is an important one and the noises ...
After the other reports and minutes were agreed most of the meeting was about the changes to Adult Social Services after the critical Care Quality Commission Report last year. Howard Cooper (Interim Director of Adult Social Services) explained to those present that Social Services needed extra capacity in relation to safeguarding for vulnerable adults. He ...
I'M PLEASED at what came out of the Lib Dem conference in Sheffield. While I am pleased that the health reforms will give us the more democratic NHS that I've campaigned for, I was not happy with allowing private hospitals ... Continue reading →
So there I was on Friday night, relaxing with my daughter, watching Glee. It was the Christmas episode where Sue Sylvester turns into the Grinch. It was utterly and absolutely hilarious. Anna thinks the line "I'm just taking these science books to the exorcist" is one of the funniest things she's ever heard. Straight after that journey into surreal fantasy, we watched Alex Salmond give the SNP's response to the Budget in which he made the claim that in an independent Scotland, oil revenues would enable the Government to take 50p off fuel duty. Nobody's arguing that fuel prices are ...
I really do not understand the Daily Telegraph. Seriously, I've lost count of the numerous obituaries of Liberal Democrat ministers and the party itself. You'd honestly think the paper had nothing better to write about. The critiques seems to relate ... Continue reading →
Mon 28th
09:13
The golden rule of governing: How the Lib Dems have repeatedly broken it and what they need to do to...
Politics is littered with lessons and the Lib Dems are finding that what made them successful in opposition is not what will make them successful in government. They need to start learning some lessons fast. So what lessons can they learn from 3 Labour leaders in 3 different countries about the golden rule of governing? ...
not_panicking | 64 Things Sherlock Holmes is no Longer Allowed to do now that he lives with John Watson Absolutely hilarious fic. (tags: sherlock) tajasel | Something To Cry For has a funny idea of "bad guys" #Mar26 The only post you need to read about Saturday's protests. (tags: protest)
I rather suspect that for both these categories, the demographic is so vanishingly small that it will disappear into the noise, but having filled in the Census last night I was interested in how some of the data is processed, so I fired off a Freedom of Information request. Firstly, poly households: 1a) If a household consists of a polygamous relationship, will the data be accepted by the Census system? For example, if P1 and P2 are married or in a civil partnership and P3 indicates they are a partner of both P1 and P2, is this considered a valid ...
I have, I must admit, a weakness for Franz Schubert, and in particular for his chamber and solo piano works. And yes, it isn't what one might expect from a bureaucrat, but then again, I prefer lyric romanticism to completion in triplicate. And so Ros and I found ourselves en route to Snape Maltings yesterday for a piano recital by Christian Blackshaw. The programme, Six Moments Musicaux (D780), the Sonata in A minor (D784) and the Sonata in B flat major (D960), was familiar but not wholly so, and we took our seats with some anticipation. The Moments Musicaux are ...
[IMG: Ed Miliband with banner] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: net_efekt It is just unbelievable to read through Ed Miliband's speech from Saturday. These are cuts which would be a bit less under Labour. And yet, with breathtaking hypocrisy, he attempts to compare the protests against them with the Sufragette movement, the US Civil Rights movement and the anti-Apartheid movement. He quotes from Martin Luther-King. He even compares the situation to the struggle by this country in the Second World War. The hyperbole is skin-crawlingly opportunistic and totally inappropriate. To choose such rhetoric is a remarkable misjudgment. For such ...
Mon 28th
08:45
Would an infinite number of monkeys be able to write an accurate story for the Telegraph?
To be honest, I'm starting to feel sorry for the Telegraph's political journalists. It must get quite tricky week after week coming up with new half-truths to try and stretch into a story that even their Coalition-hating editors won't spike for being too thin. This weekend brought new 'revelations' from the reliably inaccurate Melissa Kite and Patrick Hennessy that the Lib Dems are (in any order you like) about to: change our name; no-con Nick Clegg; install Chris Huhne as leader; trigger a general election; insist Col Gadaffi is brought into the cabinet. Okay, I made that last one up... ...
I've spent a few days digesting the Budget. Reading comments and the actual Budget document – see: http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/2011budget_complete.pdf It makes fairer taxation a priority so that in April, 23 million basic rate payers will get a £200 tax cut. The Budget goes further announcing that 25 million will benefit by another £126 tax cut next April. That by 2012-13 we will have lifted over 1.1 million people on low incomes out of paying tax completely. This is straight from the front page of our Lib Dem manifesto and into the pockets of millions of taxpayers. It eases pressure on the ...
After various meetings there seems to be agreement that Yate's bus station needs a radical redesign. The Gazette reports that Tesco is keen to have a permanent indoor shelter, just across from where its new megastore is under construction. The problem is that this would cost £40,000 to £60,000. Town councillor Chris Willmore, who has been leading calls to have it rebuilt, said: "As soon as it opened we held an emergency meeting with representatives from First Bus, the council, shopping centre owners Dominion and Tesco" "Rather than focus on which of them was responsible for this mess, we urged ...
With a referendum due to be held on 5th May as well as Welsh Assembly elections the problem facing the UK Government is how to maintain cordial relations when passions run so high on both sides of the argument within that coalition. This morning's Independent highlights the problem perfectly with reports of a spat between Energy Secretary, Chris Huhne and his government allies over the language and claims of the No to AV side. Mr Huhne has challenged Baroness Warsi, as the Tory chairman and a patron of the "no" campaign, to pull the plug on its "scaremongering and misleading" ...
Dominic Carman has withdrawn from the race to be London mayor. Commenting on this blog he says: "Given other commitments, I have reached the conclusion that I cannot financially afford to run an effective campaign as the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor. Regrettably, I will therefore not be putting my name forward when the selection procedure formally restarts in May. Having spoken to Mike Tuffrey and others yesterday, I am convinced that he will make an excellent candidate and I will be giving him my support in whatever way I can, should he decide to run, which I sincerely hope ...
This link is to Swiss TV in french. There was a programme last night (27th March) which included a piece about the system in England. This appears at about 24 minutes in the programme.
Over the weekend I started up a 'draft Mike Tuffrey' page on Facebook to encourage Mike Tuffrey, one of our London Assembly members, to put his name forward as our candidate for the 2012 Mayor elections. Imagining your fantasy perfect candidate is always fun (a cross between Paddy Ashdown and Shirley Williams perhaps?) but as the actual selection is nearing for its second attempt, I'm not won over by the likely choices on offer – and I think Mike has an awful lot to contribute. Why Mike Tuffrey As a long-standing member of the London Assembly, and the leader of ...
After the march through London on Saturday against public sector cuts this morning's Daily Telegraph reports some encouraging news when it says that thirty nine of the country's leading venture capitalists written to the papeer to welcome new investment rules introduced by the Chancellor as a "shot in the arm" for enterprise, allowing them to pour more funds into start-up projects. The paper say that the businessmen reserve particular praise for Mr Osborne's decision to increase tax relief on investment in new businesses from 20 to 30 per cent, which they say will provide a "massive boost" to entrepreneurs. Whether ...
In a comment on Lib Dem Voice this morning, Dominic Carman has said that he no longer intends to put his name forward as Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor. Carman, who last week expressed an interest in standing, now plans to back Mike Tuffrey instead, whom members are lobbying to stand. Dominic's comment in fulll: Given other commitments, I have reached the conclusion that I cannot financially afford to run an effective campaign as the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor. Regrettably, I will therefore not be putting my name forward when the selection procedure formally restarts in May. Having ...
Mon 28th
06:53
"You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done wi...
Last week's council meeting produced some interesting and revealing moments. There were three motions on the order paper and we shall return to the first two later but for now let us look at the one moved by my fellow Birkdale Councillor Simon Shaw. We trailed this motion earlier in the week. It charted Labour's abdication of responsibility over the budget in Sefton. They have voted against almost all the proposal for reductions and championed every aggrieved lobby group without moving any coherent alternative. The question that is inevitably raised by such conduct in the context of Sefton's all party ...
i) births and deaths 28 March 1924: birth of Robert James, who played Lesterson in The Power of the Daleks (1966) and the High Priest in The Masque of Mandragora (1976). 28 March 1983: birth of Gareth David-Lloyd, who played Ianto Jones in the first three series of Torchwood (2006-09). 28 March 1987: death of Patrick Troughton, three days after his 67th birthday, while attending a convention in Georgia. ii) broadcast anniversaries 28 March 1964: broadcast of "Mighty Kublai Khan", sixth episode of the story we now call Marco Polo. Ping-Cho flees, but the Doctor and the Khan bond. 28 ...
No battle plan: what I know about difficult conversations « Francesca Elston (tags: life soundadvice) Our discussion Is this a discussion? (tags: blogging bigotry crazypeople freespeech funny life livejournal religion) How to avoid a gendered conference « Feminist Philosophers (tags: genderandsexandsexuality) http://jeyradan.com/dw-autism.html Researcher writing book about Doctor Who and autism. (tags: autism doctorwho) Note To Publishers: DRM Costs You Money « Sci-Ence! Justice Leak! "I recently bought a cheap e-reader from Waterstone's, and am very happy with it so far. I've been using it to read books from Project Gutenberg, papers from the Arxiv, ebooks from Baen, books by Charles ...
Well at least Census Date has come and gone, so now I can work out what I am going to do to answer the Census Form. It seems that there are many questions to which I want to put more than one answer. So, I'm going to fill in about two questions per day and [...]
