Much has been said in the local press (and elsewhere) about plans for housing development south of Ormskirk Town Centre. I am appalled at the misleading information that is being given about this issue. • The option the Conservatives are ... Continue reading →
I am delighted to hear that Edinburgh's oldest statue that of Charles II has been returned to its plinth behind St Giles Cathedral. Believed to be 325 years old the statue was removed for renovation recently. I often lunch in the Crypt at St Giles and have missed the sight of the impressive sculpture in Parliament Square. With the old Scottish Parliament (pre 1707) and the Court of Session just next to it the old horse has witnessed some of the most dramatic scenes of Scottish History.
The postal ballot papers began to arrive in Stockton homes today. Here in Eaglescliffe there are 2 or 3 papers - one which is common across the country, one for our ward and one for Egglescliffe parish which forms part of the ward. Those who live in Preston, Aislaby and Newsham won't have a parish ballot paper. The referendum one is the one with the greatest long term effect - will we have a
I don't write much about myself, but sometimes the air needs to be cleared. Events in my workaday world are impacting on my ability and motivation to do, well, anything really. All my internal compasses spinning, my gyroscopes failing. To put it in the worst case scenario within the next six weeks I face the prospect of no job and no home. That *is* a worst case scenario, and not really any sort of expected outcome, but one can never be certain and one's mind, as so often seems the case, gravitates towards one's worst fears. And it's scary. Both, ...
John Hemming knows. Maybe when Parliament returns from its Easter break he can put it on the record.
There are just a few more days to fill in the Online Libraries consultation. Follow the link here So if you want to make sure that Mildenhall Library stays open. Please fill in Suffolk County Council's online consultation here. Remember the questions tend to lead to answers they want. My colleague Jason Alecock should be out and about collecting petitions in Mildenhall Market square on Thursday 21st.
This afternoon I was glad to welcome a group of ten visitors from Turkey to Launceston. The visitors are all involved in local government in Ankara and were on a fact finding mission to understand more about councils and how they work in the UK. So whilst discussing the various responsibilities of parish and town councils, Cornwall Council and central government, we went on a walk around the town. The visitors enjoyed looking at St Mary Magdalene Church and the Castle and were welcomed to the library by manager Anne-Marie. At the end of the tour, the visitors presented me ...
On Wednesday 4 May, the day before the local elections and AV referendum, I shall be appearing on CIPR TV and PR Week's joint webcast. I am appearing alongside John Lehal of Insight Public Affairs and Iain Anderson of Cicero Consulting. Iain is also chairman of the CIPR's public affairs group. The panel will be commenting on the elections and the implications for communication professionals. You can watch it live at 5pm via CIPR TV. If you have any questions you would like to put to the panel please send them to Phil Morgan at the CIPR. You can also ...
Why the party shouldn't panic if it loses the vote.
Members of the Liberal Democrat party have electoral reform in their DNA. No doubt, for some their first words were not mummy or daddy but single transferable vote (STV) in multi-member constituencies. So winning the AV referendum matters. Fellow Liberal Vision blogger, Andy Mayer set out clearly why he thinks people should vote yes. I have speculated in another place about the alternative vote and whether it will lead to a more liberal society. Right now the polls don't look that encouraging for the supporters of change. Polls can be wrong and there is still time to make the case ...
Chris Slowe is an activist with Fairer Votes Leicester and Leicestershire. I got involved in the campaign for the Alternative Vote a few months ago because there were two main things that didn't seem to make sense about our democracy: The government has to represent the will of the people not that of the politicians. No matter the size of the protest they seemed to ultimately do what they wanted, dismissing us with "They can express it at the ballot box."People should be able to vote for who they want, not tactically. I grew up in a safe seat and ...
Just a quick note to wish all the Jewish residents of St Mary's ward a happy Passover. I hope everyone taking part in the special occasions associated with Passover enjoys doing so. Rick
The campaign leading up to the AV referendum has been dull. Really dull. However come May 6th, it might not actually be over. Some Conservative MPs have made public their threat to sabotage the boundary review, which is the other part of the electoral reform that includes the referendum on, and the possible implementation of, the Alternative ...
Tue 19th
21:00
Welsh referendum on the Westminster Coalition ( also known as the 2011 Welsh Assembly Election)
It appears to the Welsh Labour Party that this isn't a Welsh Assembly election but referendum on the current Westminster Coalition. One of the debilitating aspects of modern politics is to use elections as referendum on the current central government. ... Continue reading →
...what is in a name? It can be read here.
TweetThe bloggosphere is currently going mad with the news that in the case of the Yes campaign winning, the tories would seek to overturn and destroy the result, and ensure that FPTP stayed. An article by Conservative Andrew Lilico , is doing the rounds and can be found at ConservativeHome. The thought of both conservative and Conservative MPs overturning the decision of the public has actually made me apoplectic with rage. How dare they even consider it. Once the referendum campaign is won by one side, MPs must accept it and move on. Lilico goes onto say the Editor suggests ...
LaLast week, Anna and I went to the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh to see a talk on "The Science of Doctor Who" given by Mark Brake and Jon Chase as part of the annual Edinburgh Science Festival.I thought they would talk about whether cybermen or daleks could be created, or whether a TARDIS was possible, but it was more to get children interested in what science fiction was all about. The hour long session was very interactive, with the kids being asked for their ideas on things like who would win in a battle between the cybermen and the ...
Over at the Adam Smith Institute blog, Sam Bowman has launched a competition to find an alternative name for libertarianism. I have to confess that I played a small role in this re-branding exercise. Sam tweeted that he was looking for a new way to describe classical liberalism and I replied by suggesting he holds a competition. There have been many responses and I believe Sam may announce a winner soon. One of the challenges that liberals face in making their case is that people have different views on what liberal, liberalism and libertarianism mean. I suspect that whatever word ...
The Evening Standard reports that Boris has appointed an 'alpha female' as his new Deputy Mayor with a remit to get tough on tube modernisation. Interestingly, Kulveer Ranger is moving to the environmental brief...is this a demotion or...? Without doubt, users of London Underground have endured weekend closures for too long – what does this ...
"Football like boxing or rowing is a game where the team that is leading at the first stage isn't always the winner at the end. As Kris Akabushi said when he appeared at a Yes2AV event even in the 100m at the Olympics there are the first and second round and semi-finals. It is rare that the eventual champion will have won every round of that race. What is important is that they win on the final round." Stephen's Liberal Journal has little time for the sporting analogies being deployed by the No2AV campaign. Eric Avebury visits Rolls Royce in ...
Met a very nice lady on Saturday morning whilst out canvassing. Ellie Thompsopn told me all about her campaign to deliver affordable Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) treatment to the UK. SDR is a technique designed to improve walking and/or increase the range of motion and improve body positioning for cerebral palsy sufferers.Ellie's charity, HUGS, concentrates some of its efforts on raising funds to cover the substantial cost of putting a child through treatment. Even so, sadly, the success rate in the UK is significantly lower than over in America where pioneer Dr T S Parks, using less invasive surgery, is ...
Tue 19th
19:36
The Blairites might be trying to rise again, but The Purple Book is definitely not Orange
It will come as no surprise to many that months of under-performance from Red Ed have made the modernising, Blairite, wing of the Labour party somewhat twitchy. It seems they can only dine out on Ed's righteous rage for so long. Rachel Sylvester, in an article originally published in the Times but freed from behind the paywall ...
Tue 19th
19:25
Save our Police: Tavish takes the campaign to the Scottish Police Federation Conference. #sp11
With just 16 days to go until the Holyrood poll, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott, accompanied by Aviemore MP Danny Alexander and Highland candidates Christine Jardine and Alan MacRae, took our campaign against a single national police force to the Scottish Police Federation Conference in Aviemore. Tavish told the Conference that the idea was wrong for Scotland: "The Scottish Liberal Democrats oppose the creation of a single Scottish police force. "This proposal is wrong for Scotland. "Our single chief constable wouldn't be out in the country helping communities. "He or she would be in Edinburgh, standing on the other ...
Political Scrapbook are reporting about some of the stupid pictures being used by the no campaign to discredit the AV voting system. A picture of some tribeswomen from a country that uses AV to demostrate the horror that could occure if Britian was to adopt this electoral reform. Of course under AV this is what the UK would be like! Seeing as it now seems pictures from countries that have AV are fair game I have created my own mock pro-AV poster! Share this: [IMG: Share this page via Email] [IMG: Share this page via Stumble Upon] [IMG: Share this ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats launched their manifesto for farmers on the day that Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Wyn Williams, Montgomeryshire Candidate and farmer, visited Sennybridge livestock market. In their Manifesto for Farming, the Welsh Liberal Democrats promise to: · provide sustainable finances for farmers · reduce the burden on farmers · help create a diverse and rural economy Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats said: "Welsh agriculture has faced challenges and often turbulent times over the last decade, with outbreaks of devastating diseases, low farm gate prices, increasing input costs and never-ending forms ...
New technologies are almost ready to prevent faulty mitochondrial genes being passed from parents to children. The government must urgently initiate a public consultation on the ethics of the procedures and draft regulations Over a hundred babies a year are born with serious, in fact usually fatal, mitochondrial DNA disease. These conditions are caused by mutations in the very small number of genes contained in the tiny "batteries", called mitochondria, found in every cell. The mitochondria are derived from the egg of the mother, and therefore these mutations are carried down the female line in perpetuity. A woman whose eggs ...
The Greens, who launched their manifesto today, have spent the campaign so far telling us all that if they were in power, there just wouldn't be any cuts. Any cuts in services are a great wickedness that would never happen if they ruled the world. Given that even Patrick Harvie can't make money grow on trees, there is only one other possible way this can happen. To raise more in tax. The first part of their plans is to raise income tax for us all by half a percent. How are they going to do that when we aren't going ...
I'm fairly new to this commuting malarky, and it has passed me by that The Evening Standard has an insert called 'Fashion, Style and Sex'. That's right. Not content with debasing the female gender enough by representing clothing choice in the growing perjorative term 'fashion', it now seems that such vaccuous definitions also encompass reproductive pass times. One may ask why I see this as
Newsletter number three from the Boundary Commission for England is out, and as expected it confirms the Commission's plans to use the Euro-region boundaries as a way of dividing up England during the review. For more about the reviews in general, including in other parts of the UK, see my post Parliamentary boundary reviews: details of how they will be run. Boundary Commission for England Newsletter 3
The TotalPolitics blog has an interview this week with Jo Swinson MP, in which she gets down to some mythbusting about the referendum on the voting system for the UK Parliament. Here's an excerpt: The only voting machines that I've been aware of were for counting the local council elections. I mean you just don't need voting machines for AV. Have they [No to AV] ever managed to answer that question as to why they think it would? I'll give you an example right, in my constituency, in the last two years we've had two by-elections in the council. Now ...
Yesterday I paid a visit to my former employers, Rolls Royce aero engine division, which I joined 60 years ago after leaving the army. As was to be expected, the products and the technology have changed out of all recognition, not least in the way the technical and management capacity of the company has enabled it to expand into related fields such as marine engineering, power generation and oilfield technology, which now account for a substantial proportion of total revenue. RR also has a thriving apprentice school and is taking on more youngsters including a growing proportion of girls. The ...
A North West Euro-MP has helped to protect the Weightwatchers points system from a new law. Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies pushed through an amendment to a new EU law on food labelling to ensure that the Weightwatchers points values ... Continue reading →
The tragic farce of Reading Borough Council's destruction of integrated transport around Reading Station has continued today – with a protest by taxi drivers. There have never been remotely enough taxi ranks or facilities for private hire vehicles in Reading – a problem acknowledged by the use of the old bus station. So in its wisdom, the implementation of the Labour/Tory scheme has included the removal of several ranks around the station and their replacement by bus stops. This, so my source in a black cab tells me, is the main reason for the protest. This morning on my way ...
Tue 19th
16:30
Assembly of the Trent 700 engines, used in the current wide bodied jets such as the Airbus A330
North West grocery shoppers are being given a helping hand by Euro-MPs to buy British. Food producers are likely to be required to indicate the country of origin of meat and dairy products as well as fresh fruit and vegetables following a series ... Continue reading →
With only a few weeks to go before the nation gets to decide on whether it wants to adopt a new voting system everything is to play for. Recent polls show the NO campaign might be edging into a lead . This makes it all the more important that we get out now in the last couple of weeks to ensure that we can fix the current broken voting system. We have a host of events coming up that I hope people will be able to join in with. Yes to Fairer Votes is a cross-party campaign and we welcome ...
A quick comparison of the Alternative Vote and First Past the Post: Under AV, a candidate is elected once they have 50+% of active votes. At each stage the last-placed candidate is eliminated and their votes transferred according to lower preferences until this happens. Under FPTP, only one preference is counted and whoever is in first place after that count is declared the winner. The proportion/number of votes required to win is in no way fixed. If I separated those descriptions from the names and asked someone who knew nothing about voting systems which one was called "First Past the ...
Back in the internet boom at the turn of the century, one of the popular debates was whether the internet would provide exciting new access to a diverse range of information or whether the internet's ability to give you far more power over what information you see or read would result in a narrowing of horizons as people just go for what they already know and what they already agree with. Cass Sunstein in particular made the case for that latter pessimistic view very forcefully in his Republic.com book and it's a pattern you see often in, for example, choices ...
Tue 19th
15:24
No word from ivan Lewis on tuition fees - week 17 (but now Ed Miliband wants to copy the coalition)
Local people may have received a glossy leaflet from the Labour party yesterday. I know I did. Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that it didn't mention Bury, Prestwich or St Mary's once, nor did it talk about the Labour candidate or how he intends to help Prestwich despite not living in it. It did though talk ...
Nick Clegg has kept his promise made a year ago, to return any profit from the sale of his constituency home to the taxpayer. Clegg told his local newspaper, the Sheffield Star, that he has now written a cheque to the House of Commons authorities for £38,750. The Star reports: Although he could have been allowed to keep the money under current rules, the Hallam MP and Lib Dem leader said he wanted to "lead by example" and that he hoped other MPs follow suit as they are forced to sell second homes and rent properties instead. The new regulations ...
Statue on Vauxhall Bridge, a photo by kwisstan on Flickr.
I hate to bring up the Tuition fees debate again, irrespective of whether or not it's a good policy the Liberal Democrats don't come off well in the eyes of the voters with regards to this. However I've just seen a snippet of a speech by Mr Miliband. He makes a couple of claims, firstly: "...David Cameron looks set to break his (promise) that £9,000 fees will be the exception. And what's more this incompetence blows a hole in the claimed savings from the tuition fees policy. Last year they claim that cutting University budgets would save the tax payer ...
This Saturday (April 23rd) Yate Heritage Centre is hosting its St George's Day event, with lots of activies for everybody: 10.15 St George Procession 10.45 Grand Opening 11.00 Acro Gymnastics 11.20 Folk Singers 11.45 Street Dancing 11.55 Folk Singing and Storytelling 12.00 Punch & Judy 12.20 Acro-Gymnastics 12.40 Folk Singing 13.00 Punch and Judy 13.05 Street Dancing 13.15 Folk and Storytelling 13.40 Thornbury Town Band 14.05 Rag Morris 14.30 Folk Singing 14.50 St George Award Ceremony 15.00 St George Pop Band (White Lion) 15.15 Thornbury Town Band 15.35 St George Pop Band (White Lion) 15.50 Rag Morris 16.10-18.00 St George ...
Some of us might be quite nonchalant on the America debt situation – many probably think it does not effect them or this nation. But the S&P warning on the US failure to deal with a $14 trillion (yes, with ... Continue reading →
You may have noticed that the title for this post is rather ambitious. After all, there's no way that's possible right? There's no way that we can get enough energy from renewables to power all of Europe, and it's certainly not possible within, say, the next ten years, right? Wrong. As it happens, for the past few years, engineers, climate scientists and higher ups in governments across the EU have been talking about a scheme capable of doing just that. That my friends is the single European energy grid. I can tell you, as an engineer, just looking at it ...
The traffic light problems which caused to much chaos today seem to have been down to a failure of telemetry units at the Mount Road junction, not a new scheme of timings. Still working on the cycle lane fiasco. At the moment, the Council wants them to remain advisory (though how cars are supposed to get out of the way in two lane solid traffic is beyond me). The best solution would be to remove these new lanes, as was originally promised. I have asked again that this be done.
There's an interesting article in the news today about the disconnect between Councillors and the people they represent. Apparently fewer than half of people can name any of their local Councillors. It's disappointing that that's the case, and I hope that if the question was asked in St Mary's the figure would be a lot higher. ...
An interesting post from Chris Dillow on Cameron's 'gut feelings' around the AV referendum. Interesting indeed, because towards the end of the post he appears to be moving towards a similar 'gut feeling' about the lack of justice inherent in the power structures Cameron is seeking to defend. He is right to do so; one ...
The Conservative run County Council's attempts to save money by doing work cheaply and inadequately is illustrated in the picture of Northfield Avenue below: The resurfacing work on King's Hedges Road, despite the disruption, is much more welcome. After years of the Focus team requesting the repairs the County have finally agreed the road was one of the worst surfaces in the County. It will be interesting to see whether the repairs on Northfield Avenue survive the winter, and to compare the costs of repairs to it, with the costs on King's Hedges Road. The state of Cambridge's roads is ...
Cornwall Council has revealed that the massive litter pick along the main routes into the Duchy retrieved 500 bags of rubbish and cost around £20,000. The Council is absolutely right to have done this work as the A30 and A38 are the main routes used by visitors coming into Cornwall and, as the saying goes, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. The Council is also right to point out that dropping litter is an offence and this money would not have had to be spent if drivers didn't throw litter out of their cars in ...
Nick Clegg has today fulfilled a promise made before the general election to give the profit from the sale of his taxpayer funded second home back to the taxpayer. As an MP, Nick Clegg was allowed to buy a second home and to have the mortgage and other bills met by the taxpayer. However the rules changed last year and MPs from outside London are now only allowed to rent a second home. The rules allow any profits made from selling property to be kept by the MP, but Nick thought this was unfair on taxpayers who have funded the ...
I've had a short but revealing chat on twitter with Stephen Noon, a post-graduate student who works for the SNP "on its message and manifesto". In response to his tweet anouncing that The Sun in Scotland is supporting the SNP, I suggested this this is hardly a surprise. This is a paper owned by Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire generally supports the Tories in elections. It's a well-known tactic that The Sun supports the SNP in Scotland in order to damage Labour. Whether that is right or wrong is irrelevant - I just don't think even the SNP can feign ...
From Bracknell Liberal Democrat Press Release; 'The Bracknell Liberal Democrats believe the election manifesto leaflet published on behalf of Bracknell Conservative Association breaches election regulations. It by giving the impression that Bracknell Forest Borough Council is supporting the Conservative Party in the forthcoming local elections on 5 May 2011. Not only is the leaflet entitled 'Bracknell Forest Borough Council' but it also contains a letter from Paul Bettison as Leader of the Council. During this period of 'purdah' councils are expected to distance themselves from the elections taking place in their areas and to maintain an even-handed and impartial approach ...
Here's a Pathe News clip from the 1950 general election featuring Liberal Party leader Clement Davies: [IMG: Clement Davies] Click on image to play Hat-tip: Thanks to Geoff Payne from Hackney for pointing this out.
This past week or so we Lib Dems have seen plenty of reasons to remember why we fell in love with Dr Cable/Uncle Vince in the first place. He seems to have come back to life after his public humiliation ... Continue reading →
BBC News – Vince Cable: Lib Dems 'restrain' Tories. Business Secretary Vince Cable has said the Liberal Democrats are "restraining" the Conservatives in government. In a BBC interview, the Lib Dem MP claimed his party had stopped their coalition partners pursuing many Thatcherite policies, which he said had caused "revulsion" in the 1980s. Mr Cable was in Scotland to address the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce.
From fusion physicist to open source farmer, Marcin Jakubowski is on an incredible journey through life. His Open Source Ecology site is the kind of thing that "it blows my mind" is meant for. You absolutely must watch his five minute TED talk: Distributing the means of production is at the heart of what I might call genuinely progressive thinking i.e. the non-socialist variety that doesn't demand a backwards move to the state ownership of the means of production. As with all great ideas, this isn't entirely new. The 3D printer and the 50kW Wind Turbine are well known examples ...
Yesterday's Sunday Herald carried a profile of the Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale constituency where the brains behind the Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto, Jeremy Purvis, faces a challenging battle to hold his seat against the SNP's Edinburgh based candidate. The thing is, every battle Jeremy's had to fight this seat has been challenging and he's been written off on every occasion so far, and has so far held on. I think that people in the Borders will be very concerned about things like the SNP plans to centralise the Police and fire service. They will also be dissatisfied with the ...
Tue 19th
10:35The prize for the worst election broadcast goes to....the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
It's hasn't been a great year for exciting party election broadcasts, and the Yes and No campaigns haven't fared much better. However, the bottom of the barrel has well and truly been scrapped by the Scottish Conservatives: Annabel Goldie is hardly the most dynamic on screen presence, and the whole things is uninspiring, policy light, and spectacularly dull. Not even ...
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 ...
Yes to AV - Alternative Vote Vince Cable: if the Conservatives had used First Past the Post to elect their leader "I would now be conducting my amicable, businesslike coalition discussions on immigration with Mr David Davis." (tags: funny)
Skins: Summer Holiday, Jess Brittain Perhaps it qualifies for a confession, but I'm not at all embarrassed by it: I love E4′s Skins. Actually let me qualify that: I loved the first two series (fresh 'n' funny), was disappointed by the following two (far-fetched 'n' farcical), and am now back fully on-board for series five, with creators Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain remembering to ensure the characters are warm, likeable, believable, flawed and... cool. This is not a novelisation of the latest series, but a self-contained prequel, offering bite-sized chapters that take us further into the back-history of the seven ...
Tue 19th
09:42
New LDV members survey now live: your views on the NHS, immigration, AV and the Coalition
The new LDV members' survey is now live. So if you are one of the 1,500+ registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum - and any paid-up party member is welcome to join - then you now have the opportunity to make your views known. Questions we're asking this month include: what you think of the Coalition's proposals for the NHS, and the Government's policies on Libya and nuclear energy; your views on immigration policy and the Alternative Vote; how you describe your political identity; how satisfied you are with Nick Clegg as party leader, and leading figures within ...
I recently hosted a poll asking who was the most effective Scottish political leader. The results are as follows: Tavish Scott 50%, Alex Salmond 39%, Iain Gray 5%, Patrick Harvie 4%, Annabel Goldie 2%, Colin Fox 0%. Given that this is a Lib Dem blog and that many of my visitors are likely to be Lib Dems it shouldn't be surprising that Tavish Scott topped the poll. The regard much of the public has for Alex Salmond also seems to have been reflected in the result. Most surprisingly, however, was the low rating for Iain Gray - particularly as I ...
Tue 19th
09:24
Yate Bus Station - why is South Glos taking so long? Tesco sent them new proposals 4 weeks ago!
We have been digging around. We've just found out from Tesco that they put proposals for a solution to South Glos officers on 22 March, but they are still waiting for a reply. Chris Willmore has got Yate Town Council chasing to find out what the South Glos officers are up to....... We haven't seen Tesco's plan yet, but anything is probably better than the current mess. Why hasn't South Glos at least talked to the local councillors about the Tesco proposal? We will let people know as soon as we do get either the plans, or some answers from ...
There have been various discussions at the Community Spirit Action Group, the residents' group for the north of the West End Ward including Tullideph, Ancrum, Cleghorn and the Pentland area, about the operation of Puffin Crossings. This has been particularly focussed on the City Road/Tullideph Road lights, where I have met on-site with the Community Spirit Secretary and council road safety officers to discuss the operation of the junction. The Community Spirit Secretary and I agree that the way the newer-style Puffin Crossings operate needs to be better publicised and a useful handout was available at the group's last meeting ...
And so it begins... The closure of Station Hill to through buses is another sad and sorry legacy the town has inherited from the miserable excuse of an administration that was Labour. Let's be clear about this. The decision was made by Labour without any regard to the impact this would have on bus services or public transport. They didn't even have the decency to take into account the bus company's opinion before making the decision. Sure it was cloaked in "consulation" but the option to reverse the closure was never on the table. It was a fait accompli. In ...
I've loved F1 since I was about 9 years old. Watching Mansell Vs Senna in Grand Prix's throughout 1991 and 1992 alongside my father has made me a fan for life. I've always loved karting. I guess the two are linked. Ever since I began watching the former, I enjoyed when possible, the latter. Be it on the little go-karts in Oakwood or the slightly larger ones in Heatherton or the real thrill of donning overalls and gloves at the indoor race track in Haverfordwest, the want to be the next Damon Hill, the next Mansell, was always something I ...
Tue 19th
08:57
Can it be true that my blog is read by The Prime Minister AND Mark Pack? Surely not...
My last blog post before I disappeared away for a week was on the DISGRACEFUL lack of resource allocated to the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) in ensuring that Universities who are charging over £6000 in tuition fees improve their access performance to all sectors of society. For those who can't be bothered to read it, here's an arresting fact: If each of the Oxford Colleges who take undergraduates (I understand that's 35) are allocated an 'equal' share of the University of Oxfords' allocation of time (each English university would get 150 minutes of examination on a pro rata basis), ...
A sister title to Shane Greer's So you want to be a politician?, Sheila Gunn's So you want to be a political journalist? is a collection of thrity-two lively short chapters giving an insight into the life of a political journalist. With an impressive cast of contributors, including Peter Riddell, Carolyn Quinn and Michael White, the book has plenty of insider information, presented usually in the style of lively anecdotal chats. This is not a tedious career advice book nor a studious academic tone but rather something that gives a flavour of what it is like to be a political ...
Tue 19th
08:54Tavish Scott to Scottish Police Federation - we will oppose a single national police force
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott is in Aviemore today at the Scottish Police Federation Conference. He had always planned to be at this event to tell delegates of his instinctive opposition to Labour, SNP and Conservative plans to centralise policing services. We know that Labour salivate at the prospect of one national force, with one Chief Constable answerable to the Justice Secretary, concentrating all the power for law enforcement from Annan to Lerwick, from Lochboisdale to Fraserburgh in the hands of two people. Who knows what the SNP plans are - they were planning on a single force, but ...
Following complaints from residents about road surface defects in Morven Terrace, I raised this with the City Council and am advised that a number of potholes will be repaired within the next 28 days.
There you are. One short, simple sentence to explain AV. And, as we have have come to expect from NotoAV, it is completely accurate. The total truth. Well done NotoAV! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (WTF?!)
It's been a while huh? A year and ten months, you say? Blimey. So there must be a pressing and important reason for me to make my Big Blog Comeback? Well, maybe there's some of one (pressing) and not so much of the other (important), as Tim Ireland (blogger, thinker, lover) has given me my ...
Tue 19th
08:31
Cabinet 14th April 2011 - Department of Adult Social Services - Report of the Independent Investigat...
Although the covering report about the independent investigator's report into Social Services (despite multiple requests by myself) was not circulated to those present at the meeting, it has since been published on on Wirral Council's website. It makes interesting reading. A few quotes about how Wirral Council treated its former employee Martin Morton:- "Mr Smith ...
A few weeks ago, the British Labour Party appeared to be advancing on all fronts. They appeared to be way ahead in Scotland, on the brink of deposing the minority Nationalist government at Holyrood. They were poised to take over 1300 council seats, they were likely to win the referendum on AV- a voting system that they originally proposed, in order to gain support from the Liberal Democrats, who support a fully proportional system. Now the situation looks somewhat less bright, the expectations of major council gains remains, but AV may well fail, and the SNP have moved ahead in ...
I chaired the last Environment Committee meeting of this council yesterday afternoon but it certainly wasn't an easy or gentle end to the committee's year. The new committee will be appointed by the full council at its annual meeting on May 25th but to avoid a long hiatus in the process of looking for best value for money out of council services this meeting prepared the ground for the new
Everything really kicked off yesterday as Plaid Cymru and Labour traded blows over things said and unsaid. As I spent most of the day in hustings or en-route to and from Machynlleth I missed most of the controversy. I am not sure that I missed much. According to the Western Mail, Plaid Cymru made the claim that district general hospitals including one in Llandudno would be at risk under a Labour majority Assembly Government simply because the Labour manifesto did not contain an explicit promise to keep them open. On that basis Labour must be planning to demolish Cardiff and ...
I'm vehemently against 'Sarah's Law' as it is called in the UK. The premise is that parents can look up sex offenders and paedophiles in their neighbourhood to protect their children. As the News of the World demonstrated very clearly in the beginning of the century, the data can be wrong. People suffer horrendously as a result. Even when they are convicted sex offenders, many are tracked down
This film is the follow up video to yesterday's post. Link to it here
Just to let those of you in Colchester know, the next meeting of the Castle Neighbourhood Action Panel will be on Tuesday 26th April, starting at 2pm in the Town Hall. Any residents can come along and raise issues that they want the NAP to deal with, or if you can't make it to the meeting, then please leave a comment or email me with your problem and I'll raise it for you. For more information see the Colchester Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership website.
I suspect that these pictures say quite a lot and reveal a huge amount about the hum drum of tube travel in London. But I quite like the slightly surreptitious nature of taking the picture - that is unwitting subjects, but not intrusive pictures (I hope). It also reveals to the sharp observer which tube lines I frequent the most... But crucially I notice now just how quickly observational photographs of the world today date - many of the pictures I have taken over the last 6 years of shops and people in Hampstead, West Hampstead and Kilburn have already ...
I was re-introduced to cycling in my two years of Voluntary Service Overseas in Malaŵi. There we were each issued with a bike as a means of getting about. The bikes were of "sit up and beg" design with rod brakes and no gears, and prompted condescending remarks from our Peace Corps contemporaries, whose bikes were VTT with 234 or so gears and fancy tyres, on the lines of: "Gee, do they still make those things! " Fortunately the college where I worked was downhill from where I lived so I arrived each morning without a great sweat, and the ...
broadcast anniversaries 19 April 1969: broadcast of first episode of The War Games. The Tardis lands in what appears to be a first world war battlefield, and the Doctor is sentenced to death by firing squad. 19 April 1975: broadcast of first episode of Revenge of the Cybermen. The Doctor, Harry and Sarah arrive at Space Beacon Nerva to find many dead crew members, a mysterious golden asteroid and Cybermats. 19 April 2002: webcast of "Death Comes to Time, Part 1", which is, confusingly, the eleventh episode of Death Comes to Time. 19 April 2008: broadcast of Planet of the ...
Some early Tolkien memories Encountering JRRT, but in a different way. 10 best tricks of fooling myself to work « How to get organized, how to be productive, GTD, Swift To-Do List tips and tricks - Dextronet Blog Curing procrastination. (tags: life work)
David Owen (former Foreign Secretary and SDP leader) has thankfully spoken out and called for Misrata to be declared a 'Safe Haven' - with 'boots' on the ground. In his Times article, he states that a further UN resolution should be called for and although I believe that whilst it would indeed be desirable, it is not actually necessary in order to save the civilians of this town. Dr Owen calls for a 25 mile exclusion zone around Misrata, however, I had suggested 50 miles to afford more protection to a UN mandated Arab League peace-keeping force to separate Pro ...
At the end of March the Yes to AV campaign published its list of major donors. It challenged the No campaign to do the same. The no campaign refused to do so at the time. And to this date it still refuses to do so. Is this because Nick Griffin's racist party has donated cash to their campaign? Or is there another reason?
I have completed three sides of A4 of what will hopefully be our last leaflet before the election. It is all good positive stuff saying what dependable hard-working people we are in the Liberal Democrats. The last page is yet to be written but we had a meeting yesterday evening and we discussed the major points to go on that page. We will mention that Focus leaflets go out regularly, not just at election times. We will mention that we are hard-working. It may well be that candidates from other parties work just as hard but the evidence in terms ...
