Seriously earlier this evening this was how we found out which Government departments were being chosen by which party in the Northern Ireland Executive. Though the Official NI Assembly Twitter feed came a number of Tweets. So there we have it. Via Twitter we were informed that: DUP will informally take Department of Finance and PersonelSinn Féin Department of EducationDUP Department of Enterprise Trade and InvestmentUUP Department of Regional DevelopmentSinn Féin Departmenf of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentSDLP Department of the EnvironmentDUP Department of Social DevelopmentSinn Féin Department of Culture, Arts and LeisureDUP Department of Health, Social Services and Public SafetyAlliance ...
Alanis Morrisette earned herself a fortune with her 1995 hit 'Ironic' a catchy pop song famous for its lack of irony. It also made the name of comedian Ed Byrne who must also have earned a fortune from his routine ribbing its lack of irony. Anyway I came across this earlier today and it proves that Americans can really do irony (Morrisette is Canadian by the way)...
After weeks of feverish speculation (OK, I may be adding unwarranted emphasis), the Leader of Cornwall Council has finally announced his reshuffle. There are a couple of new faces (Ray Tovey and Chris Ridgers) and two current members (Lance Kennedy and Joan Symons) have been relegated to the status of 'Cabinet Support Members' – posts ...
[IMG: NI Executive Logo] The leaders of the five main parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly met today to indicate which departments they will choose when the d'Hondt process is formally triggered on Monday. The result was a bit of a surprise as Sinn Féin were expected to take on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment but instead chose the Department of Education. The method of announcement was also a bit of a shock – it was announced using the NI Executive's twitter account! The Parties will announce which of their MLA's will be nominated as ministers on Monday ...
As many residents will know there is an application currently with Stockton Council for a 24 hour a day licence to sell alcohol for consumption off the premises for the former MPG garage at 502 Yarm Rd. 62 representations have been received from concerned residents, none of them in support of the application. The grounds for objection centre on the lack of need for such sales in a quiet
New Statesman - The Laws and coming out Jacqui Smith rented a room from her sister, and designated it her "main home". That wasn't a desire to prevent her sororal habitation habit from being known: it was a desire to maximise her cash take. For that she was censored by, but not suspended from, the Commons.
A while back the Council rejected planning application DC/046154, to convert 7 Church Road, Gatley (formerly a charity shop next to the Co-op) to a hot food take-away. We've now received notification that the applicant is appealing to the Secretary of State. The Council will of course defend its decision and hopefully that will be upheld, but the final ruling will be made by the independent planning inspector.
TweetI may be just a little late to the ball game on this one, but I thought I'd write about the local politics situation in Winchester. There's an interesting dynamic threatening to emerge on the council Pre-election the council stood at 28 Liberal Democrats, 27 Tories, 2Independents. Post election it became 27 Lib Dems, 27 Tories, 1 Labour, 2 Independents. In a post-election interview in the local rag the Hampshire Chronicle, council leader George Beckett said he was hopeful of tying up the two independents into coalition. (source: here) Except that doesn't necessarily tell you the full story of the ...
We all know that Albert Einstein said: "God does not play dice with the universe." What is not so widely known is that he said it in a letter to his fellow physicist Max Born and that Born was Olivia Newton-John's grandfather. There is another piece of Olivia Newton-John trivia all over the net: this is the claim that her father Brinley took Rudolf Hess into custody after his landing in Scotland. I cannot find an authoritative source to confirm this, but it may well be true. Brinley Newton-John was an MI5 officer and a Royal Society paper about Max ...
I've been in Belfast the last couple of days with the 'day job' - the photo (right) was taken at the George Best City Airport this afternoon. A really enjoyable visit and coming after the Institute I work for having its International Conference earlier this week in Dublin. So, with a dodgy link, it seems appropriate to highlight the fact that it is Eurovision 2011 tomorrow with a revisit to one of the best-ever Eurovision winners - Niamh Kavanagh of Ireland, back in 1993!
The County Council Music Service which runs the county's Youth Orchestra, four music academies and music lessons for thousands of children has been saved after a campaign run by the Lib Dems with parents and music teachers.The County Council had planned to siphon the government music grant of £670,000 but the money will now be kept for music provision for local children.Cambridgeshire Lib Dem Deputy Leader, Peter Downes, is a past chair of the Cambridgeshire Youth Orchestra. He said: "There is clear evidence for the beneficial effect of music-making on children's general development as well as their specific musical skills. ...
The County Council Music Service which runs the county's Youth Orchestra, four music academies and music lessons for thousands of children has been saved after a campaign run by the Lib Dems with parents and music teachers.The County Council had planned to siphon the government music grant of £670,000 but the money will now be kept for music provision for local children.Cambridgeshire Lib Dem Deputy Leader, Peter Downes, is a past chair of the Cambridgeshire Youth Orchestra. He said: "There is clear evidence for the beneficial effect of music-making on children's general development as well as their specific musical skills. ...
Blogger was down for a whole day. I can, as you will no doubt be aware, post here again, but some posts are still missing. Blogger Buzz says these "should" be restored soon. I would find it more reassuring if it said that "will" be restored. And when I finally got home from work Twitter was down too. All of which brings home to me how little power the individual citizen on the net. I have no idea where my posts are held or what to do if they suddenly stop appearing. I am reminded of an article John Harris ...
Last Friday my dear friends and fellow Northern Ireland Liberal Democrat Members Michael and Andrew got were civil partnered. Today there is a rather special occaion. There have been husband and wife teams in the House of Commons before but I don't think any of them have got married while both were members, for example only Yvette Cooper was an MP when she and Ed Balls got married in 1998. (I'm prepared to be proven wrong). So congratulations to Jo Swinson and Duncan Hames. However, it seems fitting that at Michael and Andrew's Ceremony of Commitment last Saturday at All ...
Republished as Blogger lost it during their recent issues... Sure, that title is rather presumptuous given the hatred poured out on me after that time a post of mine was quoted in the Guardian insulting Simon Hughes. That was not a fun time. But I suspect, among my fellow Lib Dems, this post will be met with hostility, defensiveness and censure. Let me get the "Don't hate me too much" stuff out of the way first. I do not hate David Laws. I do not, in fact, have strong feelings in either direction regarding him. Despite my reading of his ...
As time passes it is clear that the UK's economic crisis is amongst the worst of the major developed economies, though Japan may beat it on some measures. It's not in the league of some smaller economies, like Ireland or Greece, although a comparison with Portugal may be more nuanced. Some people (notably Labour politicians) struggle to accept just how bad things are; others don't get much beyond railing deficits and the National Debt. It's worth pausing to consider what went wrong, and to try and attribute responsibility. What happened? Until 2007, the UK had an astonishingly consistent record of ...
After three days of consultations with staff and discussions with people such as Regional Chairs I am now able to update you regarding the way we hope to take our campaigning forward. Some of you will have seen or heard rumours about major changes in the way we support campaigning - some accurate and a lot less so. It is my responsibility as Chief Executive to ensure that our professional organisation remains as effective as possible and makes best use of the resources available to us. The changes we have made at Cowley Street since the last General Election are ...
Early today Andy May National Manager of the Regional Staff for the Yes Campaign, and therefore my direct line manager posted on Liberal Conspiracy a detailed account of the failings within the yes campaign. Due to the issues on Blogger earlier today this was something I wanted to have posted earlier. I'm glad that somebody at his level has said this. Often the regional organisers did feel we were coming up against a brick wall. There was a lot that we knew that we didn't share the full details of with our volunteerss, because we had to give them confidence ...
Fri 13th
19:30
Day 3783: Police Action! aka Correcting Conservative Contradictions on Constitutional Change
Wednesday*: Doesn't it seem EXTRAORDINARY that sections of the Conservatory Party are crowing about last week's rejection of AV while AT THE SAME TIME trying to implement a HUGELY BIGGER change to the way we elect our public servants than ANYTHING the Alliterative Vote might have done: namely replacing APPOINTED police authorities with ELECTED Wild West Marshalls, er, I mean Police Commissioners! I mean, our coalition partners couldn't be MONSTROUS HYPOCRITES could they. So they must mean that the "No2AV" vote is ONLY a rejection of a not-very-good electoral system and are keen as mustard for MORE FAR REACHING REFORM. ...
I wrote about this yesterday but it appears to have disappeared... One of my most fundamental beliefs is that a person should be presumed innocent until they have been proven guilty in a court of law. As such I was very pleased to read this, The Sun and The Daily Mirror are facing contempt of court proceedings for their coverage of the hunt for Joanna Yeates' killer. I remember reading the story at the time (though admittedly not in either of these papers) and thinking that the coverage was terrible. The gist of the story was Christopher Jefferies (her landlord) ...
It's that time of year again. The Eurovision Song Contest is here to bring us its annual dose of hillarity, incredulity and sheer randomness that manages to infuriate and illuminate us all at the same time. I don't watch it as much as I used too as the shine has been taken off the contest in recent years in my mind. Is it because the UK have fallen back to regular also-rans since the turn of the millennium? Quite probably yes. Also, the loss of the talismanic (and indeed manic) commentating style of Terry Wogan has meant that to me ...
I did have my weekend fun all planned earlier but blogger as we all know wouldn't let us play. However to get us going here is what the Royal Wedding would have been like if the couple had gone South to Scotland's oldest University from the Granite City of Aberdeen. On that note all the best to my friend Kristian Chapman who is standing in the by election for the Dyce, Bucksburn and Danestone by election in Aberdeen. Of course if it were in Aberdeen we made not have got a long enough look at Princess Beatrice's hat and then ...
Yesterday evening I went on the BBC News Channel to discuss the David Laws ruling (my views on which are at greater length here): (Also on YouTube here.)
I was delighted to sign Willie's nomination forms for the leadership of the Scottish Liberal Democrats the other day. Within about an hour or so of Tavish Scott's resignation, I had posted on Facebook saying that Willie should stand. I've worked pretty closely with Willie over the last 5 years or so; three of them as a Councillor for an area covered by his constituency. There's two things about Willie which really stand out - his energy, and his ability to connect with the man on the street. Sometimes, Willie can seem almost like a hyperactive child - certainly, during ...
First off many apologies if all this seems terribly familiar. I posted this yesterday but of course the Blogger outage for the last 24 hours has lost the post... My best reads this week. Or possibly not as I forgot to make any notes as I went along but all this has stuck somewhere... 1. 'Ian Tomlinson verdict: the people defer no more' Great stuff. Show's how much - and inded how little - Britain has changed in 30 years. 2. 'What the Liberal Democrats should do next'by David Allen Green in The New Statesman. Thought provoking, and unlike the ...
At a time when David Laws is starting a week's suspension for irregularities with his expense claims and following on having a number of MPs prosecuted for even worse offences, it seems a bit strange for MPs to be still talking about abolishing the independent watchdog that oversees their claims. The Daily Telegraph says that MPs have ordered a "root and branch" review of the expenses system in the culmination of a year-long campaign against the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa). They say that Ipsa has infuriated many MPs by forcing them to abide by rigorous rules, and limiting their ...
Last night and tonight we witness a piece of Coronation Street history as the cobbles welcomes home the return of Dennis Tanner after a 43 year absence. This really is something a little special. As I blogged here back in January when the announcement was made, Philip Lowrie will return as the son of Corrie legend Elsie Tanner - a full 43 years after leaving the Cobbles to live in Bristol with his new wife Jenny Sutton in 1968. Philip Lowe played Dennis 'The Menace' Tanner back in the first ever episode on December 9th 1960, alongside Ken Barlow who ...
If / when there is a referendum on independence (I'm not convinced that Salmond is actually serious about having one) one of the key debating points will be the income from taxation and general points on the economy. This will be vital in many ways to both sides of the argument - to the pro-independence supporters to prove that independence if viable, and to the pro-Union supporters to prove the opposite. In my opinion, it's vital that these are released early by the Treasury, and they will have to both be and be seen to be independently verified (though since ...
I've recently mentioned a Libertarian who is quite liberal with his insults. I haven't mentioned that his blog is called a brief encounter and his name is Gregg Beaman , but I now think I need to publish both sides of the story, unlike this Libertarian who has his expurgated version. I told one of my brothers about the abuse I was receiving and on his own initiative he chose to write a response. You can see the comments that the Libertarian chose to publish at but don't look for my brother's reply there because you won't find it. ...
I've just spotted that the brilliant blogger Caron has added me to her blog roll. Thanks so much, really appreciate it. So long as Blogger stays up (it's just come back on line but I see has lost all our posts from yesterday - grrrr) , I will continue to try and live up to the honour!
The past week has been a very painful one for the Scottish Liberal Democrats. The loss of excellent, long standing and hard working MSPs is a sobering experience. The Scottish electorate may have finally broken with Labour, but they appear to have chosen as their vehicle of protest a party that is based on a marriage of shrewd political populism with dishonest economics: the SNP. The Scottish Liberal Democrats were punished for a coalition with a party that continues to drift into oblivion north of the border, the Conservatives. While tuition fees do not generally apply in Scotland, there is ...
Note from the county council HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL TEMPORARY CLOSING OF A5183 VERULAM ROAD AND HILL STREET, ST ALBANS NOTICE is given that the Hertfordshire County Council intend to make an Order under Section 14[1] of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, to prohibit all traffic from using the following lengths of roads, except for access:- 1. that length of A5183 Verulam Road, St Albans from a point 20 metres north west of its junction with Hill Street south eastwards for a distance of approximately 45 metres. 2. that length of Hill Street, St Albans from its junction with A5183 Verulam Road ...
The latest edition of the Guardian Focus podcast features myself and ConservativeHome's Harry Phibbs talking about the coalition, one year on, with Martin Wainwright and Hugh Muir. You can listen here.
I blogged earlier on how atrocious it was that Cameron has commanded the Met to run an inquiry into the ubiquitous Maddie McCann when there are millions of cases not getting a third of investment. The Standard identifies the furore caused by Cameron's decision, and I was struck by the poignance in comparision of Mrs Blanco's case. Mrs Blanco's son fell to his death at a party after an
I'm a right-winger, and proud of it. I stand for small government, low taxes and a free market economy. This is not because it produces the best growth statistics or the best living conditions (although it helps), but because it offers the most freedom to succeed or fail to all individuals. Having said that, I do not stand for a society where people are left to fend for themselves if they're not able to find employment, or they're disabled, or they're really struggling despite trying. [IMG: Hardest Hit March] It is completely understandable that many people presume that the Rally ...
Im not sure what to make of the Guido Fawkes' blog today with Harry Cole's latest missive dumping yet more garbage at the door of the Liberal Democrats in the aftermath of the local election defeats. Talk about the alleged ... Continue reading →
I've been working from home on Friday's since i moved into my new place to enable to me attend my counselling session. Since those appointments have finished now, and I am on the mental straight and narrow (as much as ... Continue reading →
Just a quick reminder that several bloggers from LV (myself included) will be going along tomorrow to support The Rally Again st Debt . It will be held at Old Palace Yard in Westminster, central London, at 11am on Saturday 14th May.Old Palace Yard is situated in between Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, a short distance from Victoria train station and walking distance from both Westminster and St James's Park tube stations. The organisers are not only promising to complete all proceedings in time for the FA cup final but a truly splendid line up of speakers including ...
I learn a lot as a local councillor, some of it useful, and the latest piece of knowledge that I've picked up is that there is a registered charity (and company limited by guarantee) devoted to recruiting new school governors. It's called the School Governor's One-Stop Shop and you can find out about it here. From time to time I find myself asked to recommend or approve people for school governorships, and I'm aware that there are always some vacancies within the area. I've wondered about raising the issue on this website - and wondered whether such an untargeted approach ...
The Independent on Sunday featured an article by Chris Huhne, the energy secretary, arguing that, while the AV referendum result was clearly a setback for electoral reformers, the pressures that still exist within the system will at some point make change inevitable. Now that such a change has been delayed, Chris argues, when the time for reform does come again, it will be on a much bigger scale than the relatively modest reform that AV would have been. Here's a sample: The problems to which electoral reformers are responding have not gone away and will continue to demand an answer. ...
Please help us learn and improve from the 2011 local election results by taking our short online survey. We know how much everyone hates long surveys, so its deliberately short, but if you want to write more then there is space to do so. The survey has TWO aims: to assess how the support and help provided by ALDC and the rest of the Party was helpful to candidates and campaigners, and to see how this can be improved. to ask you what you think worked or did not work in the election campaign We will use the aggregated information ...
If a bullet should enter my brain, let it destroy every closet door. I ask for the movement to continue because it's not about personal gain, and it's not about ego and it's not about power. It's about the "us's" out there. Not just the gays but the blacks and the Asians and the seniors and the disabled. The "us's." Without hope, the "us's" give up. And I know you can't live on hope alone. But without hope, life is not worth living. So you, and you, and you, you got to give them hope. You got to give them ...
TweetMany paragraphs have been devoted to David Laws, and the predicament that he found himself in, many filled with sympathy, many with anger. However, there is an element of the story I'd like to take and magnify. That being the reason that David Laws came to such trouble, his unwillingness to come out. Many people have question Law's unwillingness to come out, said that the real shame is that he didn't. Some of have said that he should have been leading the gay rights revolution his party protests for. Others have even said that he had absolutely no reason not ...
Just over a week ago I failed to be re-elected to Luton Borough Council. Since then I've handed in my Town Hall pass, done a substantial amount of tidying and throwing things away, got drunk, caught up on my sleep, and had time to reflect on my new situation. I now am ready to write up the experience, starting with how it felt like I had become a poster boy for "Lib Dem misery". In common with activists and candidates across the country the election result was, shall we say, a difficult one for the Liberal Democrats in Luton and ...
It appears that the Office for National Statistics, when reporting on census data, will simply get their computer try to guess at what people intended. If you're a gay man and ticked the married box then the Office for National Statistics will ensure the "mismatch is... resolved using a probabilistic statistical system [to] alter one or more variables to make the response consistent". And yes, they specifically state this could result in the system "changing the sex of one individual". This completely ignores the fact that married – not just Civil Partnered – couples of the same sex are entirely ...
Yesterday the report into the expenses claims that cost David Laws his cabinet job was officially made public. He apologised to the House, and next week MPs will vote on on suspending him from Parliament for 7 days. The punishment certainly seems severe, particularly as the report made clear that "if he had been ...
The SNP is working on a major shift in its concept of independence which would see the ditching of many aspects of the party's historic drive for a separate Scottish state. The radical rethink of the Nationalists' long-time fundamental aim has emerged in a study by James Mitchell, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, based on interviews with 80 senior figures in the party. The new concept, while it retains the fundamental characteristics of independence, will also contain many compromises which are intended by party strategists to kill off Opposition charges of separatism. Party leaders believe that while current polls ...
Now just in case you are yet to hear what nudge theory is, allow me to briefly explain. Nudge theory is a not very original idea that governments can manipulate situations in order that people act in a certain way which is judged as being desirable. What makes the idea 'sellable' is the linguistics of manipulation have been altered so as to make them more palatable. For example: "Decision makers do not make choices in a vacuum. They make them in an environment where many features, noticed and unnoticed, can influence their decisions. The person who creates that environment is, ...
Due to a week off for the elections, this is recommended reading for Lib Dem councillors and local campaigns from the last 14 days: Election Results and their Aftermath - a selection Coalition: Mr Clegg must reassert his core values (Observer comment) Labour's Council Gains: Where is as important as How Many (All That's Left Blog) David Hennigan (Manchester) opinion: Surveying the Wreckage Caron Lindsay (Livingston) on Tavish Scott resigns as Leader Welsh Labour to go it alone (BBC Wales) Dave Hodgson returned as Mayor of Bedford (Bedford Today) James King (Camden) opinion: 5 reasons the AV Referendum lost (Lib ...
One thing the disastrous election results should do is convince Lib Dems that we cannot rely on the coalition to miraculously bring us victory at the next election. However successful the government may be in its raison d'être of reducing the deficit, little of the credit will accrue to Liberal Democrats. That's why the party must begin to devise and develop policies that will demonstrate we really are a truly progressive Liberal Democrat party, and not just "a bunch of bloody second-hand Tories" as one voter suggested on his doorstep last week. We must start to be selfish, and put ...
We all know what a powerful tool websites are becoming in politics these days, they are often the first things somebody discovers about a party or a candidate. So you would think that in opposition the Labour Party would use the front page of their site to highlight the positives of their leader, Ed Miliband, ...
Labour.org.uk have announced the party's resignation as the Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Instead, the party will be focusing on student politics and ridiculous home pages. Truthfully, I honestly had to check the URL; believed I was on a protest website ... Continue reading →
Here is my take on the five main reasons why the UK gave such a comprehensive thumbs down to AV, with one important lesson for the future: Tuition fees and trust - This is not the place to rehearse all the arguments on tuition fees. But there can be no denying that it was a significant turning point in public perceptions of Nick Clegg. Even though over 300 Tory MPs voted for higher fees, the Conservative-dominated No campaign ruthlessly exploited this as an argument against coalitions in general and Clegg in particular. While I believe the policy itself can be ...
Both of them have a slightly sweary contribution from me. On the Pod Delusion I am only slightly sweary; it's an adaptation and expansion of this blog post from the other day. The Pod Delusion is one of my very favourite podcasts, and I always get squeeful when I'm on it. On the Eleventh Hour I am very sweary indeed, partly because they asked for contributions from female listeners about swearing in the show, and the use of one particular word. So if you don't like that word, and I think you can guess what word it is, don't listen. ...
That is according to a poll by Ipsos-Mori that will hit your newsstands in the morning. The research company asked people from 23 countries about their support for enforcing a No-Fly Zone over the north African country and the people of Great Britain were less behind the move than most other nations. This will not be good news for the coalition government where it is clear that people are still wary after the War in Iraq and the military action in Afghanistan. The people of the USA are rather similar to those of the UK with 61% in support and ...
What makes a person successful? Do the rules by which we live by, and accept often without question, matter in the end to a person's chances of becoming successful? What if there were some simple things we could do to make the rules fairer so every child has the chance of being as successful as ...
A few days ago I said we must define policy in our own liberal terms. One areas where I think we can do this to great effect is energy. It is widely understood that we support "Green" energy proposals, but what I think has been missed is that by defining energy policy in liberal terms makes our energy policy truly distinctive and provides a solid justification for why it must be green. Underlying many green proposals lie implicit life-style compromises, often expressed as a dislike for air travel and personal transport (cars). Most green advocates want increased use of public ...
Unsung Heroes: Helen Taussig Awesome lady scientists are awesome (tags: science) Super+Heroes.jpg Needs a Lobo, a Hellboy and Dredd. Pretty good selection of Batvillains, though, and loaads of Marvels. (tags: comics) Mainstreaming Women's History in Law (tags: feminism) David Laws: Foolish? Yes. Greedy? Immoral? Definitely not. | Nick Thornsby's Blog I share Nick's views on this matter. (tags: libdemmery) 'In any other job you'd call the police...' Female comics detail the abuse they suffer on stage and off (tags: feminism comedy) 13 Lords Rebelling - or muscle flexing in Ermine Another post in the "but what are the Lib Dems ...
Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Willie Rennie has now confirmed he'll be standing for the Scottish Lib Dem leadership. The 43-year-old says he expects to be the only candidate - meaning he'll be officially installed on Tuesday. But he admits he'll face a tough challenge turning around the party's fortunes. Fife News Centre - Kingdom FM.
@Andrew_ComRes Don't your polls ask how folk will vote in general election tho? in reply to Andrew_ComRes # @charlotteahenry Totally agree. A year is a long time in politics :~ in reply to charlotteahenry # RT @NickThornsby My post-Thursday ruminations: there is no such thing as the 'progressive majority' http://bit.ly/j9XYVK < great post. # @MASieghart Because Tory voters don't hate Tories, but Lib Dem voters do? # RT @jamesgraham Crawling from the wreckage http://bit.ly/jqCIpB < good to have you back n blogging, James! # @helenduffett Lol, but mine's not a patch on your version [IMG: :)] in reply to helenduffett ...
[IMG: Get Set for Digitial] If you live in Lincoln you should have recently received the pamphlet from digitaluk explaining the TV digital switchover. However if you haven't or have questions here is further information: Most houses in Lincoln will receive their TV via the Belmont (Look North) or Waltham (Look East) transmitters. If you have Sky, Freesat or Virgin there isn't anything you need to do with your main TVs, however if you have other TVs in the house which are still using the TV aerial on the roof you will need to ensure they are ready, or expect ...
I adore feminism as a philosophy and as a campaign. My understanding of how my life has been marred and controlled as a woman was an epiphany.Therefore I seek to educate people in this area to understand that women are not defined by the roles they have and that equality should be the central goal for the sexes.However, I find others in the field often champion the cause and surreptitiously
I know the tech sector loves Google, automated curation, and algorithm-driven content aggregation. But essentially, the message to artists is: screw you. This is said in rather more appealing terms, of course. Witness Google's launch of its music service: We are open to discussion, as long as those discussions are aimed at creating a product and service for end-users that is on a sustainable set of business terms which represents a good value for users - Jamie Rosenberg, director of digital content for Android My uncharitable translation would be this: Our business is the automated aggregation of huge volumes of ...
Fri 13th
08:58
Learning the lessons from last week #5: You can't be distinctive with someone else's vocabulary
A favourite pastime of cynical journalists with space to fill is to take select phrases from the speeches of different party leaders, remove the names of the authors, jumble up the order and then ask the reader to guess which leader said which. Even with the wondrous variety of the English language, it's no surprise that words and phrases often overlap, even between politicians with radically different views of the world. There is, even so, sometimes a deeper truth in this parlour game for cynics. It's a truth that the words of Liberal Democrats in the run up to last ...
David Willets MP is in further trouble this morning for opening his mouth again.It seems he is providing press with badly briefed rhetoric from within Westminster which is providing fantastic u-turns.First there was the Conservative ideal that rich students could continue to buy into the education system.Now we have proposals of competitive sales in Uni education completely turned on it's head.
It appears we still need to demonise the legacy of bin Laden, with American reports of his obsession with 9/11.How lucky, then, that the day after this story was leaked, Al Queda bombed a military base in Pakistan.However, this will do little to mitigate growing tensions between the US and Pakistan.The story came after yesterday's papers went to bed, but the news papers still have the sensational
Want to ensure police take the disappearance of your daughter seriously?Employ a PR officer.Yesterday's Standard revealed the McCanns were appealing to Cameron to get Scotland Yard on board.While I appreciate it must be a distressing situation for any family to go through, one wonders why Cameron does not invest the Met in any other of the millions of missing persons enquiries.However, it clearly
i) births and deaths 13 May 1938: birth of Milton Johns, who played Benik in The Enemy of the World (1967-68), Guy Crayford in The Android Invasion (1975), and Kelner in The Invasion of Time (1978). 13 May 1946: birth of Tim Piggot-Smith, who played Captain Harker in The Claws of Axos (1971) and Marco in The Masque of Mandragora (1976). 13 May 1949: birth of Zoe Wanamaker, who played Lady Cassandra in The End of the World (2005) and New Earth (2006). broadcast anniversaries 13 May 1967: sixth episode of The Faceless Ones; last appearance of Michael Craze as ...
At the first sitting of this mandate of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mr Speaker Hay had his work cut out keeping Jim Allister MLA in check - here's Wordle's take on what the TUV leader said...
