TweetThe following quote appeared today on ConservativeHome straight out of the meeting of the 1922 backbench committee, home of those oh so wonderful headbanging tories: to "get those bloody bastards... the Liberal Democrats who are now playing this political game. They are demanding all these changes forgetting that they voted for the bill at second reading." Paul Goodman tells me that Watt's report is incomplete in one respect. Tory MPs didn't say they wanted to get the "bloody bastards" but the "yellow bastards"! So now the Lib Dems have been relegated to Yellow Bastards rather than actual Lib Dems, i ...
So let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood Gingrich will soon be retiring to write his next memoir entitled "How to completely cock up a Presidential campaign in just one week".
The second biggest news story of the day - after the unfortunate comments from Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke - is the announcement of the route of the Olympic torch. This entirely fictitious tradition will wind its tortuous way to that symbol of commercial agrandisement and drain on the public purse - the Olympic stadium - over what seems like an interminable number of weeks next summer. The smug satisfaction that it will somehow bring the provinces into the Olympic dream as some sort of justification for their transfer payment to the capital is as bogus as it is insulting. I ...
This afternoon I was one of a number of councillors to meet with Assistant Chief Constable Sharon Taylor for a briefing on the cuts to our Police Force. During the meeting I asked ACC Taylor to reconsider the decision to make redundant the civilian crime investigators. As I blogged before, the crime investigators are a highly efficient group of back office staff who take statements and investigate crimes. They have a success rate roughly double that of uniformed officers, they cost less and they free up uniformed officers to do the front line jobs that most members of the public ...
If an organisation claimed to be able to help you expand your business and attract new firms to the area, what would you think if its turnover had shrunk in the past year and it was actually making a loss? Meet Cornwall Development Company, the wholly owned business arm of Cornwall Council. The business plan of CDC was in front of the Council's Cabinet for approval today, along with a range of the (very highly paid) chief officers of CDC. Strangely, for a business organisation, the plan only covers a single year. The Cabinet said that CDC is free to ...
Monday evening I attended the strings concert for Corstorphine Primary schools. Students from three schools were performing a range of works. The kids were P5 and 6 and the standards were very high. I have to admit to some serious envy of the students. I was simply not good enough to take violin lessons. The violin is such a tricky instrument to learn. It has no frets to assist in finding notes like the guitar and you need a fair bit of strength in your fingers to hold the very tight strings down to get a clear note.Then there is ...
Many residents were disappointed when Witham House closed after being transferred to Erimus from Stockton Council. At the time that the transfer was decided on the hope we cherished was that it would be rebuilt to give Eaglescliffe much needed affordable housing for older people who need a bit more support than they have in their house but don't want to move away from friends and family. Sadly,
In full here. I think Victoria Derbyshire is to be congratulated for winkling out this controversy. It is a painful interview. You can see what Clarke was trying to say. He was just getting himself into an Almighty pickle trying to say it...badly.
As I reported recently, there was an excellent fundraising event in February - Gael's Fire - at Balgonie Castle and in aid of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust. At tonight's Trust meeting, I was pleased to take this photograph of Stuart Morris of Balgonie, Trust Chair, with a cheque for £1700, to add to the Trust's Memorial Appeal :
Since I blogged earlier about the draft House of Lord Reform Bill I've decided to look further into it. First of all is what was said in the programme for government: "We will establish a committee to bring forward proposals for a wholly or mainly elected upper chamber on the basis of proportional representation. The committee will come forward with a draft motion by December 2010. It is likely that this will advocate single long terms of office. It is also likely there will be a grandfathering system for current Peers." The committee met 7 times from June to December, ...
VN had never heard of him before either, butafter this rather hilarious PMQs gaffe, it wouldn't be surprising if Ian Lavery doesn't ask another question for a while in PMQS. VN can only imagine the conversation Mr Lavery had with his researcher upon leaving the chamber...
Cabinet is to consider the response to the consultation on school transport next Wednesday. I know that from the Agenda which is the only hard evidence about the meeting I can find. The link provided for councillors to access the papers doesn't seem to be working, and the details of the meetinghave not yet been posted on the Councils website. They should be available here, and indeed they may be by the time you read this. It's a serious matter if local people, many with a passionate interest in the subject, are unable to get information soon enough to frame ...
Way back in February, Scottish Tory Justice Spokesman Bill Aitken asked a reporter if a Glasgow rape victim had been a prostitute and made some other really awful victim blaming comments that showed that he really didn't have a clue about the issues surrounding this awful crime. At that time I said Aitken should resign and I think I was right to. Ultimately, he did resign as Convener of the Holyrood Justice Committee but remained a Tory frontbench spokesman. If I'm going to be consistent, I have to say that Ken Clarke should resign for the comments he made today, ...
* I am pleased to note that some of the dropped kerbing around the Corso Street area that I requested last year on behalf of residents is now being installed - see example at the junction of Corso Street and Peddie Street (right). * Last night, I attended the Harris Academy Parent Council meeting and, following this, have been in touch with the Head of Secondary Education regarding issues raised. * I was pleased to be advised by the City Engineer recently that the weeds spraying programme at road edges etc commenced last week. This year, the programme will start ...
I miss the April weather.
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/10499/
Last time I blogged about the plans for a waste plant at Stalbridge Dock in Garston (next to Cressington Heath) the Labour Council had decided that this should be the location for the "sub regional" waste site in Liverpool. We had opposed this, as had many, many residents. But Labour persisted. However it is not entirely over. Because the "sub regional" site is part of a broader Merseyside waste plan, there is now a "public consultation" on the whole thing. We were promised that there would be media publicity about this. I haven't spotted any yet. The deadline for responding ...
Anyone suggesting that Nick Clegg could recapture the excitement that he generated after the leaders' debate in 2010 in April 2015 would be thought of as being out of touch with the current political atmosphere. The reality is that if Nick Clegg wishes to lead the Liberal Democrats into the next general election campaign then he, and his strategists, should be thinking about how to re-engage voters and build a new electoral base. As I remarked in a recent CIPR webcast, one shouldn't write-off Nick Clegg just yet. That doesn't mean things will automatically work out. What it does mean ...
Today I wrote a blog post describing the MP for Harlow as a moron. I also commented and linked to the blog post in the comment threads under the piece that prompted me to describe Mr Halfon as a moron. He was very kind enough to reply (kudos to him for doing so incidentally as most MPs tend to ignore talking to members of the public other than in scripted encounters):Dear Mr Potter, thank you for your comments and your blogposting. I am sure you will have read yesterday's Hansard. Mr Clegg says he is open to a proportional list ...
Edward Hardwicke, who died on Monday, will be best remembered for playing Dr Watson to Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes. But I remember him better from the BBC series Colditz which was made in the early 1970s. Here is a glimpse of him from that series. Remarkably, the other actor turns out to be a young, pre-Taggart Mark McManus.
It's not often I get a reply from a Baroness, so I was initially pleased it popped up in my inbox. Well, strictly speaking, a robot somewhere forwarded on Baroness Murphy's reply on Lords of the Blog. The content was disappointing however; it is a cliché of lazy right wing thinking to imply that those who object are socialists. The House of Lords should be a place for serious reflection, not knee jerk characterisation, so my response (below) was fairly blunt. But it's true: legislators should avoid getting caught up in us-vs-them debates, and take their duty seriously. Details matter. ...
Before the Ireland vs England rugby union international at Croke Park, Dublin, in 2007 there was widespread trepidation. How would God Save the Queen be received in a ground that was very much part of the Irish struggle for Independence? In the event it was received with perfect courtesy - so much so that all that worry seemed rather foolish after the event. Ireland is a modern European nation: why should we have expected there to be any trouble? The Queen's visit to Ireland is passing off in much the same spirit. Though historic, it is essentially ordinary and a ...
Has Alok been reading my blog? I've still not seen a copy of the report despite being present at the meeting that called for it and publicly calling for it to be published. I can only conclude that it's being deliberately kept from me. Is there something to hide? I've got more questions that Alok could have asked: 1) Was Labour using the Section 106 money to pay for non-capital projects and/or for projects not covered by their legal agreements. 2) A 2009 report identified 2 critical areas for immediate management action. What did Labour do to address it? 3) ...
There was a larger than usual number of questions from Members at yesterday's Full Council. As this part of the agenda is time-limited, any pre-tabled questions that aren't able to be put to the meeting are answered in writing in the following days. One such question was from the Tory backbencher (and erstwhile Leadership contender) ...
The Closet, and the inseparable Coming Out experience, is a near-universal commonality between LGB people throughout the world. This powerful shared experience is paradoxically unique to each individual. At once it marks us a person and as a member of a group. This makes reactions to negative discussion of individuals and their own "Closets" often rather illogical and emotional. I've nothing against the Closet in general. No one chooses to be "in the Closet". It is where people are forced to be. And I've always said you are never more than one question away from a Coming Out moment (in ...
This is the conclusion of a group of PR experts
I've just read the full transcript of the Justice Secretary's interview on BBC 5 Live. Whenever there's a political row about something that somebody has said, it is vital to always read the full transcript, if you want to understand the whole story. Nobody (including Kenneth Clarke) doubts that rape is a very serious, horrible crime that must result in a criminal conviction whenever it is committed. The debate is about how best to use the criminal justice system to achieve that aim. I am not an expert on the criminal justice system. I actually don't know, technically, whether or ...
I found the image below on Lib Dem Voice, no less. I haven't clicked on the link yet - but if the promise is true.... ...well, we should all apply..... and it will rather negate the House of Lords reforms, won't it....
I should either take out a super injunction or demand the payment of royalties – that seems to be the advice from friends and colleagues for dealing with my new found minor fame. I am not sure they are being entirely serious. When I wrote about how I had become a poster boy for Lib Dem misery last Friday I expressed the fear that that in the future when someone at the BBC wanted to show some footage of a Lib Dem looking miserable they would end up using the pictures of me looking at my phone. Well it got ...
News that St Andrews will host the Olympic torch on its relay around the United Kingdom has been revealed by North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell. Sir Menzies, a former Olympic athlete himself and now a member of the Olympic Board, has been campaigning for St Andrews' inclusion for over a year. Ming ran the 200m for the GB team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and became captain of the UK Athletics Team 1965-66. He held the British 100m record from 1967 to 1974. Sir Menzies said: "I am delighted at the prospect of the Olympic Torch visiting St ...
Meeting with the Alnwick freeriders I had a great meeting this afternoon with the Alnwick Freeriders, a group of young lads who are trying to get a bike track to enable them to keep up with their sport, which is one of the fastest growing in the country. They have been working with the Gallery youth project to get a space that is suitable. They are negotiating for some land from Northumberland Estates. I met with them to see how the County Council could help. I'm taking it back to county hall and we're going to see what we can ...
Rather surprisingly, the Roman Catholic Bishops in the US who conducted a survey into clergy sexual abuse were able to deduce that the abuse was not caused by homosexuality. Now repeat that line with a huge dose of sarcasm. They also observed, shockingly, that it was neither celibacy nor male dominance either. One does wonder how much this cost. Their conclusion was that main causes
Over on ConservativeHome Robert Halfon, the MP for Harlow, is busy displaying his idiocy. He is complaining that using PR for the lords would be replacing one form of patronage with another as it would be up to party officials to decide who was placed where on the party list. Here's what he has to say:A partially elected Lords, elected by a variant or PR, would simply replace one form of political patronage with another, since party bosses would have an even greater say as to which party member would be on the List. If there has to be a ...
Oh I'm an idiot. When I migrated my website from WordPress.com to a self-hosted WordPress.org blog I was fiddling around with a lot of widgets. One of that was a comment verification tool. I wondered why I hadn't had a single comment on my blog since the move and the reason is painfully clear – I screwed up the plugin. Well I have deactivated the widget and all is right with the world (well the blog) for now. I suspect very few noticed or cared but if you want to lambast me for being an idiot now you have your ...
Why is competition such a dirty word? I do not understand the scandal. With a budget deficit of a £150 billion, we should be discovering methods to allocate public spending in an affordable manner. Britain cannot keep experiencing a fiscal ... Continue reading →
Nothing like a good misleading headline on racism to finish the day off. Courtesy of the Evening Standard. Especially when it has a statistic to throw people: UK Ethnic Population Rises 40% Well, in fact, that figure is relative. There has been an increase by forty per cent. Not, as the title implies, that UK population is now comprised of 40% people of an ethnic origin. The figure is in
I have believed for a long time that we don't want nuclear weapons, we can't afford them, and they weaken our moral authority to persuade other people not to obtain them. I proposed the emergency motion on this which we passed last year. So how do I feel after today's statement on the Initial Gate for Trident replacement? Disappointed – but also encouraged and heartened by what we have achieved. Nick Harvey, our Minister, has helped to secure a 25% reduction in the overall number of warheads, and cost reductions to ease the financial burden. But this is not enough ...
Hi Sophia, I was going to put this as a response on your newest blog post, but since you edited my last reply, I think putting it here gives it a higher chance of evading the censorship demon, and us liberals (the real kind, not the 'liberal as long as you agree with me' kind) don't like censorship very much. [IMG: Toby Jones in Infamous] I know it must have been embarassing to be called out on saying Toby Jones supported the Rally Against Debt, making insults about his movies and then realising that it was actually Toby Young who ...
UK unemployment has fallen by 36,000 in the three months to the end of March to stand at 2.46m. This is the second quarterly fall in a row. The total number of people in work rose by 118,000 during the quarter, a very encouraging figure, especially as the vast majority of this increase, 94,000, is in full-time, rather than part-time jobs. There is however an increase in the long-term unemployed; during the last three months those unemployed for less than a year fell by 56,000, while those unemployed over a year rose by 20,000. There is a shift, now starting ...
Liam Fox's announcement today of "Initial Gate" for Trident means we could spend up to £3 billion pounds designing new submarines before the next general election. (You may have missed it as the media are much more interested in what Ken Clarke said about rape and Labour MP Tom Docherty claiming that the Met will be investigating David Laws. As usual the process stories take over from the
Sir Alan Beith MP, who is presenting the Road Safety Bill to the House of Commons today, has a piece over at ePolitix urging the Government to do all it can to reduce the number of road deaths – because of their social, emotional and financial cost: I want to see better protection for pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users, along with better support for HGV drivers who face being involved in fatal accidents because of blind spots on their vehicles. A family in my constituency approached me for help after the death of their much loved daughter and ...
On Monday a Parliamentary debate touched on the use by the Labour Government of arms export licences for weapons that can, and indeed have been used for internal repression in the Arab spring. The evidence from the Committees on Arms Export Controls shows that the appalling practice of flogging sniper rifles to Bahrain, all sorts of weaponry to Libya, and so on, continued well into 2010. In the case of Libya, foreign policy expediency was judged in 2008 to override human rights considerations. This Government has tried to limit the damage. In the period from 27 January-9 March this year, ...
Following the local elections, the Lib Dems are still – by some margin – the largest party in Stockport. The current composition of the council is now 31 Lib Dems, 18 Labour, 11 Conservative and 3 Independent Ratepayers. Labour and the Conservatives have made it clear that they don't want to be involved in running the Council this year, and the Liberal Democrats will continue to provide the leadership in Stockport. However, because we're one seat short of an overall majority, there are some decisions that the Council can overturn if the other three groups agree to do so. We'll ...
...but I've done a bit of redecorating on the blog; had some feedback, hopefully it's an easier visual feast going forward. Again, all feedback gratefully received.
The national print media have finally picked up on the dilemma facing the Liberal Democrat councillors on Wirral Council ahead of next Monday evenings' adjourned Council meeting to decide. So far all we know from part 1 on Monday evening is that the Mayor is Cllr Moira McLaughlin, the Deputy Mayor is Cllr Gerry Ellis ...
Legislation to make permanent The Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Act 2010 was passed in the House of Commons last Monday. The legislation will stop creditors, including so-called "Vulture Funds", from using the UK courts to extract harsh and inequitable payments from poor countries for debts that the companies may in some cases have bought for a fraction of the cost. The Act could save poor countries an estimated £145m over six years. The original Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Act 2010 was passed in April 2010, temporarily restricting the actions of "Vulture Funds" in the UK. This act had a sunset ...
The government's attitude to rape has been called into question today after Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke revealed plans to give offenders credit for an early guilty plea. During a radio discussion on the matter, he also said the following: "Rape includes date rape and 17 year-olds having intercourse with 15 year olds. Serious rape, I ...
The BBC reports: Liberal Democrats John Dixon and Aled Roberts have had to step down as it emerged they were members of organisations the law does not allow AMs to be part of. They have resigned respectively from the Care Council for Wales and the Valuation Tribunal for Wales. The pair expect to be readmitted to the assembly following a vote on Wednesday. Under the National Assembly Disqualification Order 2011, AMs are not permitted to be members of certain organisations to avoid conflicts of interest. A spokesperson for the Welsh Liberal Democrats said: "Two assembly members had positions with outside ...
It does happen from time to time believe it or not althought the fact that Plaid Cymru only have 3 MPs means that by default, there is relatively little to agree or disagree with. All the same, I found myself agreeing with the new Carmarthen East & Dinefwr MP, Jonathan Edwards when he challenged the UK Government last week to change the way in which Welsh Assembly members are elected. Jonathan Edwards MP As this Western Mail article states, Jonathan has requested that the Government considers the possibility of future Assembly Members being elected with an equal share of 30 ...
Now for some good news: Don Foster has managed to get the Coalition's drive against red tape to include the scrapping of Live Event Licences for most venues. The current regime is an unnecessary burden on small venues where live ... Continue reading →
Tony Dolphin's posts about the state of the economy (made over on Left Foot Forward) are always on my 'must read' list because he regularly summaries not only a broad range of economic indicators but also puts them in a broader context, interpreting one month's figures for one indicator based on both previous months and other indicators. His recent post on the latest trade data, demonstrates the point about context nicely with his graph on export volumes: If you look at the decline in 2008-09, there were ten monthly figures from peak to trough. Yet during that decline, four out ...
I received a phone call on my BlackBerry this morning from a rather breezy young man who wanted to sell me mobile phone services. I'll be honest, I'm perfectly happy with the arrangements I have at the moment, so I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about his offer and, indeed, may well have conveyed that in the tone of my response. However, he pressed on, asking whether I have a contract or are on pay-as-you-go. Now, call me old-fashioned if you will, but that's my business, not his, so I explained that I was perfectly happy with my current arrangements. I judge ...
This isn't going to be popular. Ok let's get this out there. I have never been raped therefore I don't know a thing about it and don't deserve an opinion. If you agree with that stop reading. And I'll begin. Rape is in my opinion the most disgusting crime out there. It is in my opinion worse than murder because the victims will never fully recover and have to live with the consequences. However having said that I do believe that what Ken Clarke has said today is true that rape is not just rape – there are many different ...
For a number of years on 10 August many bloggers, including myself, have remember the 1911 Parliament Act which stated: "it is intended to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis, but such substitution cannot be immediately brought into operation." Well it hasn't been immediate but yesterday there was progress in a draft House of Lords Reform Bill which says: a reformed House with 300 members, each eligible for a single term of three parliamentselections using the single transferable vote (STV), electing a third of ...
While Clegg dickers over NHS reforms, proposing to challenge the competition body, it appears the Tories are busy railroading other non-coalition agreement issues through. We have the NHS and an attempt by Clegg to challenge the developments, but many feel his proposals will fall on deaf ears and that they are not addressing the entirity of the comments made at the Lib Dem conference earlier this
The debate in both Houses yesterday, when the Government came forward with its White Paper and draft Bill for Lords Reform, concentrated to a large and understandable extent on the relationship between the Commons and Lords. This morning I've been watching the discussion in the Lords Constitution Committee, where Members questioned the Deputy Prime Minister at some length on this point. In brief, everybody seems to be in favour of retaining the "primacy" of the Commons, and is worried that a legitimate, democratic, second chamber could threaten or even remove it. Of course, previous analysis, as well as the current ...
In between fielding allegations from his estranged wife over his previous behaviour, yesterday Chris Huhne announced that the government is setting an ambitious target for reducing carbon emissions in the mid-2020s. The government is accepting the advice of the Committee on Climate Change to set a limit on emissions of of 1,950MT for the fourth carbon budget period of 2023-27, which is equivalent to a 50 per cent cut in UK emissions by 2025. As Chris Huhne said of the announcement, It will give investors the certainty they need to invest in clean energy. It puts Britain at the leading ...
Next Tuesday, 24 May, is the Day of the Slavonic (early Cyrillic) Alphabet, but last night, a week early, the 12 Star Gallery in Europe House, Smith Square, London, launched an exhibition in its honour: 'Spirit of Bulgaria'. This featured some lovely bronze sculptures by Bulgarian artist Yanko Bonev and both paintings and icons by ...
In the interests of freeing up some time, I'm trimming my lists a bit on both LJ and DW. I haven't suddenly started hating anyone or anything, I just have a lot on my plate at the moment (so not much change there, then...) This entry was cross-posted from Dreamwidth, where there are currently comment(s). View DW comment(s).
David Laws is on the front page of today's Times(£), warning the Lib Dem MPs in the cabinet that they need to stop "sitting around in the corner of the political room sulking about the fact that we are in government," and that "banging the Cabinet table will not win influence within the coalition." In ...
Cornwall Council's cabinet voted today by seven votes to three to retain weekly black bag ('residual waste') collections. That's a victory for residents who were concerned that moving to fortnightly collections would cause a build up of litter in the streets, harm our tourism industry and cause huge problems for those residents with little outside space. In my contribution to the debate I praised the work of Cabinet Member Julian German for making sure that there has been a decent debate on the issue. Julian has been a passionate campaigner for moving to fortnightly collections because of the benefits to ...
Whilst I doubt that Mr Clegg will read this, I'd like to offer him some advice when it comes to his reforms to the House of Lords. Whilst I think that his plans are very good, that alone will not be enough. A good idea is always a useful thing to have but unfortunately, the key to success in politics is, as I'm sure we all know, good presentation. Good presentation can make even the worst idea seem palatable but bad presentation can destroy even the best ideas. After the defeat of AV, Lords reform is essential if we are ...
Virgin Media service boxes are causing a nuisance here and in other parts of Cambridge. One particular box in Holbrook Road is emitting a low humming noise, a source of irritation to people living nearby as it can be heard from front gardens. It's even keeping babies awake! I have reported this to the City Council's environmental health officers, who are on the case. As yet, Virgin Media have not sorted out the problem but I'll continued to pursue this. Meanwhile, please let me know of any similar problems.
A two word message was telegraphed to the fleet when Churchill was reappointed First Lord of the Admiralty: 'Winston's back' The message came as some degree of comfort to officers and enlisted men of the Royal Navy who knew that in time of great peril you put people of experience in charge. Times such as those called for heroes who had shown their metal before, for street fighters. Whilst parallels with Churchill are melodramatic and we don't have legions of Nazi's eyeing up our back yard as potential Lebensraum, a blitz-like mentality has taken hold in the Scottish Party. Indeed ...
"I haven't put [my rape sentence reforms] to women who have been raped because I haven't met one recently" – Justice Minister Ken Clarke on Radio 5 Live, discussing sentence reform
Over at The Guardian, Baroness Shirley Williams has a piece setting out the problems she has with the government's proposed NHS reforms, and four substantive changes that the Liberal Democrats would like to see made. Here's a sample: First, the role of the secretary of state: as the excellent fifth report of the House of Commons health committee pointed out, the public, who pay for the NHS, look to the secretary of state to be responsible for the delivery of a comprehensive health service, one that is equitable, accessible to all, and free at the time of use. The National ...
This is the first of a short series of posts summarising how the council believes it's doing in meeting those. It's a summarised version of a public report, which itself is a summary of hundreds of pages of reports, backed up by data, looking at every aspect of the 600+ services we deliver. This summary - and so any errors or ommissions contained - is my own. It comes from the 4th Quarter 2010/11 Corporate Performance Report which comes to the Council's Executive Committee on Wednesday. The report itself is publically available - you can read it from page 256 ...
The Manchester Evening News is today carrying a story that Salford Council has been vindicated in it's sale of land to Tesco, despite Salford Shopping City owners Salford Estates attempts to halt the sale by launching a judicial review. Salford Estates complained that the Council did not get the full value of the land from Tesco but judges disagreed and said the information the council received over the cost of the deal from independent experts was 'proper' and was taken on board by planning bosses. The court heard there was 'no proof' that the land was worth more than Tesco ...
Wed 18th
09:53
The Lib Dems should make a new coalition of shared beliefs and reach out to the 4th largest party in...
The Lib Dems have caused a headache for Labour and the Tories. So first Tony Blair moved Labour to Lib Dem territory. Then Cameron moved the Tories to Lib Dem territory. Now Cameron and Miliband are closing in and the Lib Dems are being squeezed. Why should anyone vote for the Lib Dems if Labour ...
South Glos Council is now carrying out the public consultation about the proposal to join Yate International Academy to form a 3-19 "all through" academy within the Ridings Federation of Academies. Click here to view the proposal and have your say. You may recall that we covered this proposal a few weeks ago. Responses have to be in by Wednesday next week, 25th May.
Let's be clear. I'm shooting from the hip here. But are being very good at designing windows for Harvey Nichols and fronting a TV show really the best qualifications for deciding how best to rejuvenate our High Streets? I refer of course to the appointment of Mary Portas to lead a review on that same topic. Now I'm happy to be told I've got it wrong about Mary. She does also run a very successful consultancy (although Simon Francis over on his blog has a few words about that - blimey), she is clearly very accomplished and may well be ...
To get the full flavour of the task facing the Government when contemplating Lords reform can I recommend going to the House of Lords website and calling up the Hansard for 17 May? There you will read an hour of exchanges when Lord Strathclyde (the Leader of the House) repeated the Government statement on House of Lords reform which Nick Clegg had made in the Commons. There was very little support around the House for the Coalition's vision for reform. I believe Nick Clegg has done the House of Lords the courtesy of treating the House of Lords like grown-ups. ...
belgianwaffle » Historic Times [now with extra traffic restrictions!] The disruption caused by Queen Elizabeth II to one Dublin family's life. (tags: ireland) Imogen no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed... | Love and Garbage - some commonplace musings Making the obvious point there there is absolutely no public interest in exposing the love life of a footballer, no matter how famous. (tags: freespeech law) Ignatieff in Canada: Another failed intervention | rabble.ca A lefty, but convincing, perspective on why Ignatieff failed so dismally. (tags: canada) The Scottish vote | YouGov Support for Scottish independence: 29% ...
The sixth Liberal Democrat in the UK Cabinet, Ken Clarke has come out with some very sensible comments this morning regarding the on-going debate on the right to privacy. According to the Telegraph, Mr. Clarke has indicated that a new privacy law will be introduced but, crucially, he also warns that the public is not entitled to "know about the sex lives of footballers". The Justice Secretary said there were "areas of privacy" where Britons could expect to be protected, but added he was uneasy about the use of super-injunctions, which prevent the public from knowing if a gagging order ...
Yesterday I heard the wonderful news that The Olympic torch relay is going to be running through Northumberland for a day and a half during the 14th and 15th of June next year, which has been announced today. It will be stopping for the evening of the 14th in Alnwick. There will be a big celebration event that day and the world will be looking at Northumberland. It is chance to put the whole county in the shop window and a brilliant chance to get the next generation motivated. It is well known with my friends that I am a ...
Regular Liberal Democrat Voice contributor Nick Thornsby has made a good spot with his blog piece yesterday, putting up a clip showing how David Cameron is on record as fully supporting Lords reform - and criticising others who have not got on with it. Despite reports to the contrary of his reluctance to pursue the issue, here's what he said in public:
You may have heard that Paul White (aka Lord Hanningfield), the former leader of Essex County Council, is currently on trial on charges of false accounting in Chelmsford. While I'm not going to comment on the substance of the trial until after it's concluded, there's one comment of his that's been reported that does deserve some attention: He said: "Essex is as big as Northern Ireland. So my job is something like the equivalent of being prime minister of Northern Ireland. It is bigger than Croatia, Lithuania and Latvia. Leaving aside the different roles of the Northern Ireland Executive and ...
[IMG: Olympic torch in a hand] Torch Cambridge City Council has just announced that the Olympic Torch will be coming to Cambridge next year and doing an overnight stop. It will travel from Greece in exactly a year's time and travel through the UK, stopping in Cambridge on 7th July, so it will arrive in the middle of the Big Weekend on Parker's Piece. There will be free entertainment shows staged by the sponsors to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime event. Cambridge is just one of 66 places in the UK to have been chosen to host an evening celebration. The Big ...
There has been a detailed review, pros and cons have been analysed, and Nick Clegg has concluded being seen to reform the NHS is bad for his poll ratings. The party now consistently believes that regulated competition is a good thing in almost all fields of human activity, but not the provision of health services which are 'special'. The Parliamentary Party would like the proposed new regulator Monitor to support 'collaboration' not 'competition' for the benefit of patients. This looks like cowardly sophistry. Outside the UK, Finland and Cuba competition for the provision of health services is perfectly normal. International ...
Wed 18th
08:26
Wirral Council (Annual Meeting) Part 1 - Acceptance speech by Mayor Moira McLaughlin (HD)
Here's the second part of the footage regarding the Annual Meeting, this time in HD. Here's the last part of the footage containing the last bit of Mayor Moira McLaughlin's speech and the installation of Cllr Gerry Ellis as Deputy Mayor. Filed under: Alan Jennings, Mayor of Wirral, Moira McLaughlin, Wirral Council Tagged: Alan Jennings, ...
Well, the Independent thinks there is:- Of course, the reality is the gaping void between the pluralism of the current national Labour leadership and the boneheaded tribalism that exists on the ground in many locations. Three years ago in Reading, when Labour lost power, warm words about common areas of policy interest quickly disappeared when the local Labour lot made it clear they would let nothing stand in the way of their self-interest. In 2009 the town found out that, though it had voted Labour out, any attempt to modify its budget was seen by Labour as 'blackmail' (a ...
Gagged! Yesterday was the AGM of Cambridgeshire County Council, at which Conservative Cllr Nick Clarke was elected leader of the Council. The Conservative Group voted through sweeping changes to the council's Constitution, giving less than 24 hours' notice and this was allowed by the Conservative chair of the meeting. Cllr Manning (elected last year) commented 'I was astounded by the arrogance of Nick Clarke and the acceptance of the new Chair of the meeting to allow the changes with such short notice.' Some lowpoints: Bus subsidy cuts will continue The new constitutional changes gag the number of questions opposition members ...
I just thought I'd bring to your attention a new link I've just added on the very left of the this site (Bar Hill Electoral Division (from MySociety). This new link shows the division of Bar Hill on Google Maps. This information comes courtesy of the MySociety group of projects. More information on this specific area is available here. I find it staggering that this information is not freely available and that, as a country, we're reliant on volunteers to put together a map of the electoral divisions in the UK in a way people can easily use (here, for ...
I heard this story on BBC Radio 4 this morning and thought it was an April fool. Apparently Police are attacking the Conservatives because the Conservative government in 1994 stopped Unions securing a pay rise. Police are reported in The Metro as saying they 'are being treated like cattle' and the Police Federation actually say 'the government... Hate the police service'. I don't know which
Yesterday Nick Clegg unveiled the Government's proposals for reforming the House of Lords, an idea that David Cameron is on record as fully backing. The mere idea of introducing elections for half of our Parliament is shocking enough for some (letting the public decide who rules them? what a radical idea) that the details have understandably so far got relatively little attention. So what are the highlights of them? First, the Lords will be small – 300. That makes sense given how enormous the combined number of MPs and Lords is in Britain at the moment compared with other democracies ...
i) births and deaths 18 May 1928: birth of John Abineri, who played van Lutyens in Fury from the Deep (1967), Carrington in The Ambassadors of Death (1970), Railton in Death to the Daleks (1974) and Ranquin in The Power of Kroll (1978-79). ii) broadcast anniversaries 18 May 1968: broadcast of fourth episode of The Wheel in Space. The Cybermen emerge and start to take over the Wheel. 18 May 1974: broadcast of third epsiode of Planet of the Spiders. While exploring the meditation centre, Sarah is transported to Metebelis Three, and the Doctor follows her in the Tardis. iii) ...
I awake, slightly feverish with the cold I have been suffering all day, and the thought occurs to me that one of the problems that the Liberal Democrats might have is that they are not enough like Tony Blair's New Labour. Well, it is the middle of the night and I can't sleep but might it be a question worth considering? Yesterday I had the parliament channel on in the background for most of the afternoon. One of the items on the parliamentary agenda was a statement from energy and climate change Sec Chris Huhne. He is an effective parliamentary ...
As of last week the 'free' bulky waste collection in Langworthy came to an end. Since the start of Langworthy's SRB5 re-generation the council has collected bulky waste free of charge and this has helped to combat (but not eliminate) the fly-tipping that has plagued our ward in recent years. All this has now come to an end in a short-sighted cut by Salford's Labour Council. The new charges are £24.14 for up to four items (excluding builder's rubble, bricks, concrete, paving flags and other heavy items and gas bottles). However, all is not lost. Salford Community Transport 'New to ...
Originally written for the Liberal Democrats in Northern Ireland blog, Michael takes a look at fighting homophobia at home in Northern Ireland where it appears to be rising by 20.6% and in Uganda.
Today we're all in IDAHO. No, we're not in the United States for the day, we're commemorating International Day Against Homophobia. For a number of us, this started at the weekend when we attended the IDAHO service in St George's Parish Church, in Belfast's High Street on Sunday afternoon. Those of us in church on ...
Saturday: Probably the best episode of the new series. And I mean since "Rose". This is the sort of story I watch Doctor Who for: glorious, barmy, inventive stories that you wouldn't, indeed couldn't see anywhere else; by turns funny, scary and heartrending; a meditation on all that it means to be "bigger on the inside". From the internal convolvulations of the TARDIS corridors, themselves twisting through time and emotion, to the hugeness contained in the word: "alive". We all contain universes, and this story opens with a throwaway shot of the entire universe. Do you need a better illustration? ...
