I was invited to this but couldn't attend - sorry I missed it. You can sign up to say yes at http://www.yestofairervotes.org/final-push
Heysham is a village next to Morecambe. If you have not heard of it then you may have a problem with the pronunciation. The locals say the first syllable like the pronoun he, not the dried grass hay. One of the groups to feel the recent cuts from the Arts Council (see yesterday's blog) was the dance company The Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs (usually pronounced The Chumleys and Fanshaws). There are a few rules of pronunciation in English but the first rule must be that there you have to bow to local knowledge when it comes to proper nouns. In the ...
I had the pleasure of attending the Reigate and Banstead Volunteer Service 2011 Fair earlier this month. It was a great opportunity to meet volunteers and find out first hand how the work of local charities and voluntary organisations in East Surrey is improving the lives of so many residents. Cuts in council grants are likely to hit many of these organisations hard, but I am pleased to report that our individual local allocations will increase slightly in 2011/12 from the current level of £8250. There is a further £35,000 available for capital projects which is pooled between the 9 ...
This web page is doing the rounds of Lib Dem blogs. And not bad it is too. But I'm using it as an excuse to link to the Python original which always bears repetition.
Members of the Selly Oak Neighbourhood Policing Team will are holding regular meet and greet sessions every Saturday in April. This is an opportunity for local residents to meet the Policing Team and discuss issues of local concern.The sessions will take place between 1pm and 3pm on Saturdays at the Bournbrook Community Safety Project, 33 Dartmouth Road, Bournbrook B29 6DR.
Once upon a time, when Ros was the portfolio holder for tourism (amongst other things) on Suffolk County Council, the idea of opening up some of the rather special, but private, properties strewn across the county was mooted. It proved to be an attractive proposition, and so 'An Invitation to View' was born, whereby for a fee, a limited number of guests could be shown around the property on a strictly limited number of days by the owner. The package might include coffee and cake, or a light lunch. Indeed, it proved to be so successful that, when the county ...
Still working on two comics posts I hope to have up over the next couple of days – one on Batman and one on High Society. I think I'll try to make the Cerebus posts monthly – that way there might be some vague possibility of me doing them on schedule. Meanwhile, have a few ...
My new project – QRpedia – gets its first official outing at Derby Museum's Backstage Pass this Saturday. Do come along if you're in the area. Before then, I thought I'd give you a sneak-peek at what's happening. [IMG: Don't Tell The British Museum ] In February, there was a discussion on this blog about using QR codes in museums to link to Wikipedia pages. Things have rather snow-balled from there. Working with Roger Bamkin, we've created a working prototype which is ready to take over THE WORLD! What's It All About (Alfie)?The basic idea is this... Museums have lots ...
The BBC's Andrew Harding reports from Ivory Coast: I'm walking down the street here in Duekoue and there are bodies all around me. They're being brought out by Red Cross workers, pulling them out of the bushes, they're being wrapped in plastic. I've seen 30-40 already, and that's just a fraction of what they've collected over the past few days. They're taking the bodies to a mass grave that they're just digging now nearby. The situation in the town remains very unstable. It's held now by Alassane Ouattara's forces – we've been talking to a lot of them. They deny ...
In recent weeks, the No to AV campaign has launched a series of extrordianry attacks on AV that smack somewhat of desperation. One is forced to wonder why they are going to such extremes (eg, if we adopt AV specialist baby units will have to close - something the Government seems perfectly capable of doing without AV) to defend an outmoded electoral system. I do not want here to rehearse all the arguments in favour of ditching first past the post - the current system that allows a small minority of voters in a small minority of seats to decide ...
To say the last couple of days have been odd would be an understatement. Up until now, my book, Too Close For Comfort, had been selling at a rather average yet pleasing rate. On Friday morning, all hell broke loose. At half-past eight on Friday, I logged on to the Amazon Kindle publishing platform, as I do each morning, to see how many books had been sold the previous day. Occasionally, there have already been a couple of sales during the current day, so I had a look at that, too. I was rather surprised to see that I had ...
The sharper eyed of you may have noticed something new at the bottom of my blog, it reads: Promoted &published by S. Doughty on behalf of G. Potter (Liberal Democrats) all at The Hall, 53A Woking Rd, Guildford, GU1 1QDThis has appeared because my nomination papers are now in and I'm officially (or will be in a couple of days) one of the two Lib Dem council candidates for Christchurch ward. The other candidate is the excellent Lizzie Griffiiths Being a candidate is very exciting - not least because I'm going to have my first leaflet going out in a ...
This is the collected Fifth Doctor comic strips from Doctor Who Monthly #61-87, all written by Steve Parkhouse and with the best art done by Dave Gibbons (Mick Austin and Steve Dillon also contributing). It's a very impressive effort - Big Finish fans will have heard Peter Davison a year or so ago admit that he had had no idea these existed, and then more recently saying how much he had enjoyed them once he finally got hold of them. What DWM and Parkhouse managed to do here was to establish a completely different Fifth Doctor continuity, where he has ...
Despite both the City and County Council's performing various works on the Lane over recent years (largely in recognition of the important part it plays as a local cycle route) the Lane itself has never been designated as a public highway. The background to this change is that in November 2010 the Rights of Way and Access Team (on Cambridgeshire County Council) was approached by Cambridge City Council's Cycling Team regarding dedication of part of Downham's Lane, Cambridge in order that that Team might undertake improvements to the route for the benefit of pedestrians and cyclists. As you may know, ...
Today's choice takes us back to the 1980s and the era when a quiz machine was an exciting new feature for a pub to have. In those days, when I was up to date with the charts and soap operas, I derived a useful second income from those machines. There was one walking holiday in the West Country when, every evening, I would go out and have a pub meal and a couple of pints and return to my B&B with more money than I had set off with. "I could live like this," I thought, and there were stories ...
Taking part in Chelmsford launch of YES campaign
I'm delighted to have been selected as a Liberal Democrat candidate to represent the White Lea ward of Mytholmroyd on Hebden Royd town council. The local Calder Valley branch of the Liberal Democrats were what first attracted me to any sort of party politics. Until then I had mostly only been involved in single-issue campaigns. The White Lea ward of Mytholmroyd comprises mostly of the area north of the river, the Calder Valley High school is included in this area. It lies within the Luddenfoot ward of Calderdale Metropolitan Council. The last time this seat was contested the Liberal Democrats ...
I really can't take any credit for this: http://www.whatthehellhavethelibdemsdone.com ...but I'm more than happy to promote it! And a reminder: What has the coalition ever done for us?
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 215th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (27 March -2 April, 2011), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. The ...
Mothering Sunday today (not Mothers' Day which takes place in the USA and various other countries around the world later in the year) was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how lucky Denis and I are. We could share the celebration at church together, take time to have coffee and sell Fairtrade goodies afterwards and then go out for lunch with both our mothers. Not a lot of people our age can
Sun 3rd
17:27
Federal Executive recommends changes to allow more campaigning in party election contests
During the week the Federal Executive agreed to support a series of proposals from the party's Acting Returning Officer, David Allworthy, to relax the restrictions on campaign in party internal elections. To quote the paper put to the FE: These can be summed up in the following five areas: - the introduction of Acting Returning Officer (ARO) electronic communications as per Leadership and Presidential elections - the introduction of an ARO published e-mail and telephone contact for each candidate to encourage voter candidate contact - the removal of the no endorsements rule for the Interim Peers Election and bringing into ...
29) E.A.Burtt (ed.), The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha: Early Discourses, The Dhammapada, and Later Basic Writings (New York: Mentor, 1955, no ISBN). A friend from church was clearing out her ex-husband's house (long story) and had a lot of books on theology and religion to get rid of, mostly in German, so she invited me round to have a look. This was one of the handful of English books I picked up on that visit, along with a large bag of German biblical studies classics which will feature in future posts, you lucky people ;-) Anyway, this is a ...
Best take a look at this.
Liberal Democrat MP (and former Haringey councillor) Stephen Gilbert has been doing some good digging into the way Labour wasted money with over-generous and badly worded contracts between the health service and private health providers. The shocking figures for London are that although private firms were paid £63.4 million they only provided £41.5 million worth of services. In other words, for every £3 they were paid, the private health firms only delivered £2 f services. Across the UK, £1.7 billion was paid out but only £1.4 billion of services supplied. As Stephen said to the Evening Standard, [IMG: Stephen Gilbert] ...
I saw this telly ad (below) the other night. It is a fantastically good one to promote talking about mental health. In it, a man passes an office colleague who he knows has been off for some time with mental illness. He asks him how he's feeling and then imagines a whole series of crazy responses, which are played out in the ad. In the event, the man's answer is perfectly normal. The idea behind the ad is to encourage people to talk about mental health. There is nothing to fear. You can see the advert below on YouTube. It' ...
Soon after becoming Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg promised "the most significant programmes of reform by a British government since the 19th century.... the biggest shake-up of our democracy since 1832." But how do the Coalition government's constitutional changes actually compare to the changes brought in by the Great Reform Bill of 1832? That question was addressed by a meeting organised by the Liberal Democrat History Group earlier this year, with speakers our own Dr Mark Pack (who studied nineteenth century elections and electoral reform for his PhD) and the History of Parliament Trust's Dr Philip Salmon. Here now for ...
Yesterday saw India crowned champions of the world by beating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final of the Cricket World Cup. I have to say, it was well deserved, they have the most intimidating batting line up in the cricketing world. I did tip them at the start (and put my money where my mouth was - even had a small bet on it being an India vs Sri Lanka final!) so I am feeling quite smug today! It has been really great to see the drama and excitement that this competition has generated which shows that the ...
The annual Crocus Walk for Charity Breakthrough Breastcancer was a great success. It was a good turnout despite the fact that the weather wasn't quite as glorious as it had been the rest of last week. Since it began nine years ago the event has raised more than £16,000. We are in the process of collecting the final bits of sponsorship money, and will let you know the final amount raised soon. I do need to apologise to the people who lost their balloons due to my inability to tie string to things. Its one skill I really need to ...
So No to AV have accused Yes to AV of air brushing out a black celebrity from their leaflets see here. This is because black poet Benjamin Zephaniah was not on some pro AV leaflets in some parts of country. The "Yes to AV" campaign used his picture on literature used in London but featured the actor and time team presenter Tony Robinson in the West country. I'm informed by AV supporter Andrew Emmerson that 'The leaflets were changed to put more local celebrities to local areas, hence why Tony robinson went on West country leaflets'. Yes to AV also ...
The Yes to fairer votes campaign launched yesterday with over a hundred events around the country. Many of the arguments for and against electoral reform are well understood by our readers. The current first past the post system tends towards majority for the largest minority. AV tends towards more representative results. FPTP is fair where there are only two parties. AV and other preference systems reflect pluralism. It is easier to elect extremists and re-elect the corrupt under FPTP. AV cannot elect people detested by over 50% of the electorate. And so on. The change is small, but important. The ...
The gremlins have unleashed a destructive force; currently being plagued with IT related issues – reason for the lack of blogging.
I was slightly taken aback when I read this week's Cambrian News (a few days later than normal I must admit) and found myself being name checked in the letters page. As the final paragraph of the letter written by E.A.Jones from Ciliau Aeron stated: "I challenge all councillors and other decision-makers to join me in my journey on a bus to see what we non-drivers have to endure when wanting to tour around this county. They'd soon change their tune if they had to put up with what we have to put up with, apart from Cllr Mark Cole ...
This is an article I submitted to the Edinburgh Evening News. It was trimmed a little on publication due to space. Today is World Autism Awareness Day. Around 67 million people worldwide (500,000 in the UK) are affected by autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). Perceptions of autism and Asperger Syndrome are often formed from popular films like 'Rain Man' and books such as 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time'. While these are valid depictions, one has to remember that they are caricatures. While all people with autism share certain difficulties, their condition will affect them differently. Autism affects ...
The 'Yes' campaign launched (again) yesterday, with a hole host of high profile endorsers. Comedian and activist Eddie Izzard also appeared on the Andrew Marr show this morning, advocating in his own inimitable, charismatic manner the case for a 'Yes' vote. Yet there is one high profile, charismatic, Yes supporter that has managed to find himself ...
I noticed that Conservative blogger Iain Dale has drawn attention to a piece in today's Independent on Sunday which reports on the role BNP leader Nick Griffin is now inadvertently playing in the "Yes to AV" campaign's advertising. Dale considers this "dirty tactics" and labels those behind the Yes campaign "hypocrites". I'll come onto hypocrites in a minute, but first let's deal with the "dirty campaigning" accusation. What has happened here is that the "Yes" camp have been eager to counter the false arguments being circulated bu the "No" campaign that the introduction of AV would be good news for ...
Mark Pack reviewed Francis Beckett's new counterfactual collection, The Prime Ministers Who Never Were, on the Voice earlier this week — 14 'Big Beasts' who, had the chips fallen differently, might have become premiers. The list is mostly inevitable with a couple of intriguing outsiders: Austen Chamberlain, J R Clynes, Lord Halifax, Oswald Mosley, Herbert Morrison, Hugh Gaitskell, Rab Butler, George Brown, Norman Tebbit, Michael Foot, Denis Healey, Neil Kinnock, John Smith and David Miliband. Voice readers will notice one evident fact: there's not a single Liberal (or SDP) name among them. In some ways it's not that surprising. After ...
What have the LibDems Been Up to in government?
On the way home from visiting the tin tabernacle (and much else that I shall share with you presently) I picked up a discarded leaflet at Leicester station. It turned out to come from the Labour candidate in the by-election on 5 May. The first thing to note is that he is standing as Jon Ashworth not Jonathan Ashworth. There is a pledge to fight the "unfair Tory cuts". He does not say what fair cuts Labour would make instead or explain why the Labour-run council decided to freeze the city's council tax this year. He also says he and ...
... and all I have the energy to think at the moment is "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh". I keep thinking if I can just get through the next month, the next week, the next day, the next hour, the next minute... Sometimes I can't. And what happens then is what is affectionately referred to in this house as Jennie having a mental. This is when I am frozen and incoherent and screamy and can't bear to be touched or spoken to, and it usually happens when there is something urgent to do. There are lots of urgent things to do at the moment, ...
I wrote the other day about the plight of Eman Al-Obaidi, the woman bundled off by Libyan Government thugs after alleging she'd been gang raped by 15 of Gadaffi's militia. She hasn't been seen in over a week and has been dismissed by the Libyan Government as a mentally ill, alcoholic prostitute. Remember this is the same regime that said that the protesters in Benghazi were a few drug addicts. Amnesty International is asking that people write to the Libyan Government asking for Eman to be released and for there to be an independent investigation into the allegations she made ...
Nick Clegg's article in the Indy today is a spare, evidential piece, as neatly sliced and lacking in rhetoric as an appointment diary. But what a diary. Flip back a year, and Gordon was driving to the Palace to call the General Election, as the Liberal Democrats prepared to launch their manifesto. Now, Nick writes, ...something is happening that, for the Liberal Democrats, is a new experience: the policies we championed during the election are becoming reality. I don't mean that consultations are being announced, votes held, or papers published. Over the next few days, lives will be changed for ...
I would like to thank everybody involved in the recent Beech Rd area Clean up, Council officers, members of the Beaumont Rd area residents group, like Ian 'Boz' Walker and also resident for putting their unwanted items out. 7 tonnes of waste is a massive haul. Last week three clean ups in the city netted 6 tonnes between them. Chorlton Park Councillors have been organising them for years and their recent clean up resulted in 18 tonnes of waste collected. NB: I was hoping to get my hands dirty myself, but the 'purdah' rule that stops Council officers, Councillors & ...
Under what seems to me a slightly unusual choice of headline, the Kilmarnock Standard has a profile of Robbie Simpson, who will fight the Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley seat in the upcoming Scottish Parliamentary elections for the Liberal Democrats. Here's an extract: Mr Simpson attended New Farm and Darvel Primary Schools and Loudoun Academy before going on to study computing science at Glasgow University. His political track record includes campaigning with Liberal Youth Scotland on such issues as equal marriage, a better deal for students and more powers for the Scottish Parliament. He is also an active supporter of Yes ...
The Family Justice review has now reported. I am not surprised that it has basically come out with a "business as usual" report. The review panel consisted substantially of people who run the service rather than people who have experience of how it does things. Hence they are likely to endorse much of the current processes.The concept of bringing everything into a "Family Justice Service" is
There are a large number of potholes in Georgian View, it re-inforces our view that it would save time and money if the whole of Kingsway was re-surfaced. In next years plan for road works the area again has been missed out, if this had been the centre of Bath where the tourists are would it have been different ?
In the run-up to this year's 2011 Snooker World Championships, I've been looking back at the history of a sport of which I am a big fan and have chosen my personal top 3 snooker matches of all-time. I blogged here a few weeks ago of my 3rd choice, so here now is the match which for me comes in at No.2. The Hurricane Vs the Whirlwind It was 1982 and it was the World Snooker Championship Semi-Finals. Competing was the hot-headed, tormented magician of the baize that was Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins. His opponent was the up-and-coming natural talent ...
Progress is being made for the store to open, yesterday was a taster day. You can read more herehttp://www.sainsburys-odddown.co.uk/They have chosen as their charity Freewheelers http://www.freewheelers.org.uk/ as it says on the web siteFreewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service is a registered charity and winner of the Queen's Award For Voluntary Service, which provides an out-of-hours emergency
On Wednesday lunchtime, singer Chloe Matharu will perform a concert in Dundee Central Library's Wighton Centre. Chloe is a nineteen year old folk singer from Edinburgh with cultural roots in Scotland, Wales and India. She has recently recorded her debut album, Next Market Day, which will be released later this year. At the moment Chloe is studying Molecular Biology at the University of St Andrews. The Friends of Wighton is delighted to welcome Chloe to Dundee, and are sure that the beautiful ambience of the Wighton Centre, upstairs in Dundee Central Library, will perfectly complement Chloe's superb voice. For more ...
Following my invitation to help out Mr.Ed, I have found this nearly mea culpa on their fresh ideas website. In the economy section, it says "But we didn't get everything right - and we know the challenges of the future will be different. There are big lessons to be learned from our time in government." I'd love to hear from them what they think they got wrong and what big lessons they need to learn.
As you will no doubt be aware the local elections will soon be upon us. This year it's my turn as I endeavour to gain re-election to Sefton's council. I can't believe that 4 years have passed since I joined the council back in 2007. A lot of water has passed under the bridge and I have witnessed a lot of changes. On a personal note I lost both of my parents and my father-in-law in 2007, my father dying a month before I was elected. We moved house from a 3 bed terraced to a 1 bed cottage. My ...
The link is to a story about criminal proceedings which includes the following:Finney will now stand trial in June, along with another man who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Must be something in the air at the moment for, in addition to the news from Hinckley & Bosworth Council about a Conservative switching to the Liberal Democrats, two more in East Hampshire have also switched. East Hampshire councillors Maureen Comber and Eve Hope have joined the Liberal Democrats and will be standing for the party this May. Cllr Comber said, "There is a nasty atmosphere. Elected councillors are being excluded or browbeaten into following the party whip as dictated by the leader and his inner circle". Earlier this year Ian Dowdle also switched from the Conservatives to the Liberal ...
I have written a lot recently about why I think that SNP, Labour and Tory plans for a single national police force are a very bad idea. To summarise: it would cost more than it would save initially as these public sector re-organisations always dothe chances of resources and jobs being taken from small, rural communities to big cities are very highall the power for law enforcement in the country would be in the hands of the Justice Secretary and one Chief ConstablePolicing priorities in different communities are very different - just think of Thurso, Campbeltown and Livingston all coming ...
According to Matthew D'Ancona in yesterday's Daily Telegraph the formal launch of the Government's Social Mobility Strategy on Tuesday will prove once more the profound influence being exercised by the Liberal Democrats on the UK Coalition Government. A number of elements of this strategy are already in the public domain including the £430-per-head "pupil premium" given to schools which educate the poorest children and the new "access agreements" for universities which propose to charge tuition fees of more than £6,000 per annum. However, the launch on Tuesday is likely to put all that into context and show what determined action ...
It's a great shame that the referendum on the voting system this May doesn't include an option for STV. The electoral system designed in Britain, for Britain. An electoral system whose constituency boundary changes have already been worked out (see here). An electoral system which reflects the support of political parties proportionally in the national result (the last election under-represented the Lib Dems by over 90 seats - think what a difference that would have made). And an electoral system whose larger constituencies would reflect the localities (the sub-regional areas) where we live, work, shop, play and socialise. Gone are ...
Like many local residents I have been concerned about litter near the Campkin Road shops. I have been in contact with the Enforcement Team and with our litter pickers. The enforcement team have started to patrol and will be visiting at lunchtimes to monitor the situation and issue fixed penalties to anyone dropping litter. Our litter teams pick the area every day and are looking at the routines they follow. There is also a continuing effort to work with CRC to try and educate students about the issues around littering and the risk of a fine. The college have tried ...
Yesterday I launched my campaign for re-election to the Liverpool City council with a leaflet that is fundamentally different to any that I have helped deliver in any of the 45 local election campaigns in May that I have now ... Continue reading →
Over the last few days, Anna's made it clear to me that she really doesn't want to bother with Mother's Day this year. She said she just basically thought it was a waste of time. She said that it wasn't fair that there was no Daughter's Day and my protestations that there were 365 of them a year fell on deaf ears. She said it with such a straight face, backed up by her father, that she pretty much had me convinced. So, fast forward to this morning, and she's up at 7:30, champing at the bit to get downstairs. ...
Henry Porter in The Observer has also come out in support of the campaign against hyper injunctions."MPs are rightly alarmed by the encroachment on parliamentary privilege but they should now take the hint that this is a matter for them. We need a commission to investigate the interests of privacy and freedom of speech and a commitment from the government to act on its findings in a way that
Here's the Keeping in Touch leaflet we're delivering at the moment, launching our local election campaign in Cheadle & Gatley. C&G April 2011 a3
The Daily Telegraph interviews Lord Tebbitt today who comments on Nick Clegg, which is interesting as he considers Clegg to have some strengths which are worth highlighting: By contrast, when he wrote to Nick Clegg before the election — to tell him he how much he agreed with the necessity to raise the threshold of ...
Yesterday, Northern Ireland lost a brave 25 year old officer of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, when the criminals and terrorists of the past came back to haunt us. Immediately our thoughts and remembrances were of the awful bomb which came after the Belfast Agreement in 1998. Ronan Kerr would have been about 12 [...]
There seems to be a curious co-incidence about the recent flurry of complaints to the local Standards Committee about me... Richard McKenzie - Labour Park ward candidate and all round bad egg. Duncan Bruce - Labour Thames ward candidate and sensitive soul who doesn't like being reminded that Labour Party members are complicit in the unecessary deaths of 250,000 Iraqi civilians and according to a pre-invasion warning from MI6 culpable for the increased threat to the UK from islamic terrorism. Jo Lovelock - Labour leader for the next five weeks who continues removing specks from the eyes of opponents, yet ...
Below is a prayer for all mothers everywhere. I chose this because it covers mothers in all situations. If you aren't a Christian and you are reading this then please stop and just think about mothers everywhere today. What is said in this prayer can also be a wish from people who don't believe in God. A Mother's Day Prayer God our Creator, we pray: for new mothers, coming to terms with new responsibility; for expectant mothers, wondering and waiting; for those who are tired, stressed or depressed; for those who struggle to balance the tasks of work and family; ...
Each time the "mycouncillor" website gets a makeover, it also gets a new way of counting "hits". And each time the result is less flattering than the former. For instance, back in April 2010 the original "hits counter" registered 44,147 whereas "Hits Mark 2" stood at 7,651. A significant difference. Now the site has "Google Analytics" which contains some fascinating insights. The top readership of the site is is Newcastle. I have more readers in London than Consett, and readers in the US read for longer than anywhere else. And continuing the trend for each new hits counter to produce ...
To coincide with the start of the delivery of its educational booklets, the Electoral Commission has also launched a TV advertising campaign to inform people about the referendum and elections being held in May. This is the first of two planned TV adverts: There is still time to register to vote in the referendum. See my Electoral Registration page for more details on who can register to vote and how to register to vote.
My column from the Ham & High this week: Miss - what's a structural deficit? That's a question that I was asked recently – and am asked quite often – when I go to schools or meet young people. I tend to simply explain it by saying that we're all used to the idea that we may spend a bit more than we have some months and make up for it in other months, e.g. saving a bit in the run up to Christmas and then spending rather more than our pay check in December. That's fine if the ups ...
i) births and deaths 3 April 1924: birth of Peter Hawkins, the original voice of the Daleks and Cybermen. 3 April 1929: birth of Michael Hayes, who directed The Androids of Tara (1978), The Armageddon Factor (1979), and City of Death (1979). 3 April 2008: death of Johnny Byrne, who wrote The Keeper of Traken (1981), Arc of Infinity (1983), and Warriors of the Deep (1984). ii) broadcast anniversaries 3 April 1965: broadcast of "The Knight of Jaffa", second episode of the story we now call The Crusade. King Richard asks the Doctor and Vicki to join his court, and ...
As a councillor with a ward where there is a high proportion of tenements, I must applaud Ann Laird of Friends of Glasgow West for an excellent letter in the Herald yesterday : New MSPs must make an upgrade of our tenement law the priority Published on 2 Apr 2011 Why do flat owners in older tenement properties in Edinburgh so often end up handing over the common repairs on their combined property asset worth upwards of £1.2 million to a local authority department? In 19th-century Scotland, a typical tenement building was owned by a single individual or trust, who ...
The deadline for applying for a postal vote for this year's council elections is April 14th. We all lead busy lives and not everyone finds it easy to make time to vote in local elections. Many people tell us they didn't manage to vote last time because something cropped up that meant they couldn't make it to the polling station on time. It's possible for everybody to vote by post if they want to. You don't need a specific reason like being ill or away on holiday. You can download the form here.
