Every political party has what's referred to as a "core vote". This is the percentage of the public that can always be counted to vote for the party no matter what - e.g. the die hard voters who'd only stop voting for the party if they made their official policy the introduction of anthrax into free school meals, and maybe not even then. The core vote isn't constant, it varies up and down. The reason the core vote matters is because, at the moment, the share of the vote required to have a working majority in parliament is about 40% ...
Earlier today it seems that Labour MP Chris Bryant's objection to a fair, egalitarian House of Lords, based on the result of the election result left him standing there in just his underpants. Oops, that's another thing altogether. However, here is what he said in Questions to the Deputy Prime Minister: The thing we find most bizarre about all this is that it is a priority for the Government at this time. The coalition agreement states that they will continue to appoint peers to the House of Lords "with the objective of creating a second chamber that is reflective of ...
This seems to have been the question that has been asked since the Member for Birmingham Yardley took the decision to name Ryan Giggs as the subject of the much discussed High Court injunction, in the Commons on Monday. Surely ... Continue reading →
Earlier today there was this exchange in Parliament: Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD): Will the Deputy Prime Minister reassure my constituents that the Government will resist any siren calls to water down the Equality Act as part of the red tape challenge? The Deputy Prime Minister: I can certainly confirm that, as far as I am concerned, there will be no move to dilute incredibly important protections to enshrine and bolster equality in this country under the guise of dealing with unnecessary or intrusive regulation. Good.
I read with interest who the Reading Labour Party is putting forward to take on Cabinet positions at the Council's AGM tomorrow. I note that my portfolio has been split into three - do we infer from that it will require three Labour councillors to cover the work I did across housing, health and community care? As I suspected Whitley Councillor Rachel Eden will be taking on the housing portfolio. I wish her the best of luck. She will need it. The wellbeing of thousands of local people young and old depends on her and the decisions she makes. After ...
John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker.Hon. Members will be aware that I have a long-time concern about secrecy in court processes, which was highlighted in the story in The Guardian today. We have no true freedom of speech when people can be jailed for complaining about their problems. This country seems to have a penchant for covering up problems that would be
Following my post earlier this week about reported problems with refuse and recycling collections in and around Foxhill Road, this evening Glenn and I went down to talk to residents in the area to find out what they thought. A number of residents reported problems and a number have reported missed collections to the Council. However, it was disappointing to hear that problems we identified a few years ago with the service concerning poor communication and customer service continue. Below is a message I have sent to the Chief Executive, Directorate of Environment which summarises the issues: Residents have been reporting ...
[IMG: civic what] It seems to me that we have said goodbye to a golden age of local news coverage, recently I spotted a new innovation on Kent Messenger's website something called civicboom which is meant to turn many more of us into news gatherers (I know my place and prefer to remain a blogger). Maybe two or three years ago we there was a golden age for local news media when three newspaper publishers were producing well resourced newspapers for Thanet. It seems that the quality of output from local newspapers has suffered as a result one assumes the ...
Michael tells how his questioning about having the last appointment of the day at his dentist's surgery leads to new understanding of the current guidelines on treating patients living with HIV in that practice.
Today is the 54th of April - at least according to the calendar that Cornwall Council Leader Alec Robertson is working to. Cllr Robertson agreed to ensure that the board members of the new Cornwall Local Enterprise Partnership would be announced by the end of April but we still know no names other than the chair - Chris Pomfret. I accept that the private sector board members (a further four or five names) are a matter for the private sector, but we were told by Cllr Robertson back in mid April that the interview process was all but complete and ...
britishrailways.tv This film shows that last days of the Waverley Route - the direct line from Carlisle to Edinburgh that closed in 1969. Note the reference to the "young local Liberal MP David Steel". The good news is that the Waverley Route, or at least part of it, is to be reopened. In 2006 the Scottish Parliament voted to reopen the line between Edinburgh and Tweedbank near Galashiels. When that vote was passed it was said that trains would be running again by this year. A more recent report in Railway Gazette suggests that the scheduled date for reopening is ...
One of the great mysteries of our time is how Roger Helmer ever became a member of the European Parliament. Surely the Conservative Party is not that short of talent? He is the sort of saloon bar bore who is convinced that his opinions, at once hackneyed and extreme, are mere "common sense" and are also held by all right-thinking Englishmen. It is typical of such a man that his blog should be called Roger Helmer MEP: Straight Talking. In January Helmer tweeted: Why is it OK for a surgeon to perform a sex-change operation, but not OK for a ...
TweetToday Tim Farron has written an excellent blog on the Liberal Democrat Voice website, which can be found here. The blog talks about what we have to do, and what we have to be optimistic about, and I generally agree with what he says. One of those things is this: There has been very little thought of the potential voters we could gain over the next four years. I agree with him wholeheartedly, it's something the Liberal Democrats have been so far bad at. It's an issue that really needs developing. Traditionally the Labour Party had the working classes to ...
Or, as it is commonly known, the monthly bunfight that is questions to the Deputy Prime Minister. Usually, the questions are, shall we say, not of the highest quality and the event is treated as a chance for members to let off steam, to throw indiscriminate insults at Nick Clegg. He is, actually, a human being. Not that you'd think that from some of the claptrap that flies around the place. John Bercow really should do something about it as it's actually embarrassing. I'm not sure Nick would thank him if he did, though. I cringed with shame as my ...
Can secret justice be justice? asks Manchester councillor Jackie Pearcey: "Occasionally, there is a very good reason for short period of secrecy ... but indefinite injunctions can only do harm." Meanwhile Nick Thornsby revisits an earlier controversy to report that one of Phil Woolas's leading supporters in Littleborough and Saddleworth is being investigated by the organisation for which he works for apparently homophobic comments made about the Lib Dem candidate Cicero's Songs argues that today's borrowing figures show that Britain is still the spendthrift of Europe. David Boyle, writing for the New Economics Foundation, says the banks won't be able ...
"If the third party publishes information which is already fully and clearly in the public domain by reason of the acts of others, then the third party's act of publication does not have this effect. It does not have an adverse effect on the administration of justice in the action. The court's purpose in making its interlocutory order has, by then, already been defeated by the acts of others.
So David Cameron has appointed a man who won't pay tax in Britain to advise the Government. The question, surely, is: why did Nick Clegg not veto the appointment of Lord Ashcroft, a man who to many is toxic and the very image of what a belief in fairness and transparency stands against? Well done to Matthew Oakeshott for speaking out on behalf of the vast majority of Liberal Democrats who don't want to see the Government's reputation toxified by association with someone who was disgracefully granted a peerage and is allowed to bankroll Tory campaigning to an obscene degree ...
Sometimes in politics, it's necessary to look at events through the other end of the telescope. A paradigm shift, some call it. A hundred years ago, my party was led by a Liberal Prime Minister - a Liberal Prime Minister - who opposed votes for women, believed in Britain's imperialist subjugation of millions of people and thought that declaring war on Germany was a good idea. It has to be said that it is no longer Liberal Democrat policy to force-feed suffragettes, enslave India or start World War I. In other words, progressive opinion is sometimes wrong and often undergoes ...
Health Service Journal (HSJ) was on its high horse last week. Its front cover says "The Big Lie exposed: the truth about NHS management". The proximate cause is a report by the King's Fund called The Future of Leadership and Management in the NHS. This report suggests that the NHS doesn't have too many managers, and that, if anything the service is under-managed. The HSJ is directed at NHS managers, and it is easy to see why they are so fed up. But the HSJ coverage has a blind spot. It doesn't ask how the NHS got itself into this ...
This week a long time friend asked me what I had been up to work-wise for the past couple of months. Well my role at ArtistWorks has had me working with the team there on the creation of a number of online music schools and academies, one of which will launch next month.
Jim Allister really had better be more careful of what he asks for when he wants Northern Ireland to be called "Northern Ireland", and not "the North", "North of Ireland" of "Six Counties", in matters pertaining to the Northern Irish Assembly.When he said: "In light of that ruling, I invite you to consider the logical and necessary extension of that approach to references in this house to the state of Northern Ireland so that the proper name - namely that of Northern Ireland - is used on all occasions." So I thought I'd look at his own record reciprocating that ...
A presumptive Metro poll is trying to assess the public opinion on the potential separation of Scotland and England as the SNP have said they will hold a referendum on. I would imagine many of Metro readers hadn't given it a great deal of thought. But here was their opportunity. The Metro is inclined to imply current devolution is costly, with subsidies for Scotland at £14billion, of which,
I have had a number of enquiries about waiting lists for the various sites in the borough. Below I am publishing the reply that I have received. I ought to say that the council is now letting half plots to new folk so that will speed things up. In addition the sites are of markedly different size, for example Birkdale Irrigation isroughly 4 times the size of Town Lane. Some of the sites are self managed so those waiting for plots on those sites need to contact the Associations directly. Allotment Name Number on Waiting List Blundell Lane, Southport 181 ...
Barack Obama has been visiting the old country this week. Obama rightly boasts an ancestor from the great County of Offaly in central Ireland. This is the County my own family hails from. Down Town Kinnety The President was to be seen in the local pub in Moneygall taking a drop of the black stuff and updating the real special relationship. Lets face it Britain is third in the Special Relationship pecking order. First is Ireland then comes Israel and we bring up the rear. Offaly boasts the Sleive Bloom Mountains and the Blackwater Bog. Nestled at the ...
Children's Minister Sarah Teather recently took part in an interview followed by a readers' Question and Answer session for the Guardian about special needs provision: Sarah Teather, the children's minister, comes across as genuinely passionate about helping children with special needs. So much so that at one point in the interview, she got quite cross. The health service is failing some of our most vulnerable children, she said. The chance of a child receiving speech and language therapy is "between low and nil", while the wait for a wheelchair can be "really long", she said. On free schools and academies ...
William Powell, the Welsh Liberal Democrat AM for Mid & West Wales, attended the "March to Cardiff" rally on the steps of the Senedd, addressing the rally and speaking to individual protestors. He said: "Welsh Liberal Democrats are clear that we need to work much harder to reduce our energy consumption and find cleaner and more sustainable ways of generating electricity. But whilst Wales must reduce our over reliance on fossil fuels, this cannot be at the expense of our countryside. "The hub and transmission power lines that are currently threatening Mid Wales are poorly conceived and the electricity companies ...
Today I chaired the Health, Social Care and Housing Committee. We had an enormous agenda some of which I shall try to post about over the next few days. One items that we discussed was our Learning Disabilities Plan and a hugely gratifying figure slipped out during the discussion. For some time now the length of the waiting list of people requiring supported accommodation has been largely static, around 180 or so. We have put additional resources in over the years but no matter how many people we manage to provide new packages of care for an equivalent numbers of ...
The link is to a story about a secret committal for a breach of confidentiality.
Rats have started to destroy the pavement alongside Clarence Park Chris White has demanded action from the district council on rats in the Clarence Road area. Rats have been a perennial problems in this area and have started to undermine pavements along the side of Clarence Park. Chris said: 'We need some serious action now to stop any further damage being done. Contractors are refusing to repair the pavements until the rate problem has been eradicated.'
City Council Sports Development is holding a Fun Day on Friday 27th May in the City Centre. All activities will be FREE on the day with something available for participants aged 3 months and up. The Fun Day is open from 11am and will finish at 3pm. Activities available on the day are Street Football, Dance, Rugby, Basic Moves, Basketball, Street Athletics, Hockey, Mini Kickers, Mini Rugby and activities for people with a disability. The Wave 102 roadshow will also be present and will be situated in the City Square to engage with the local crowds. So come along and ...
The City Council has advised me that it has processed Orders for pothole repairs in both Hillcrest Road and Marchfield Road, following my passing on residents' concerns. The road condition in Hillcrest Road is particularly poor and I have asked the Roads Maintenance Partnership to consider full road reinstatement works here.
Tue 24th
14:41
Wirral Council - Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 - Part 5 - Cllr Kate Wood, Cllr Dave Mitchell & Cl...
Cllr Kate Wood said that Labour were doing what one would expect regarding councillors and outcome of the elections. She said they had a brave talk about a minority administration. She congratulated Cllr Tom Harney on the substance of his speech but she was trying to understand why the Lib Dems were doing this. She ...
With a year to go to the London Mayor and London Assembly elections a strange debate is underway about the huge part of London loosely described as "outer London". Remember the last election? One of the strongest attacks on Ken Livingstone was that he was just a "Zone One Mayor". He was accused of having visited Havana more times than the London Borough of Havering. Three years on and the London Labour Party have decided that no speech, press release, letter or comment can go out without the words "outer London" repeated ad nauseam. Zone one mayor The debate is ...
David Brooks and Roger Cohen have written two of the most pro-British articles to appear in the American press since Tony Blair stood shoulder-to-shoulder with President Bush. The New York Times, arguably the voice of liberal America, is unequivocal in ... Continue reading →
Cllr Hodson spoke next. He said paragraph 3 of the Notice of Motion of the Labour Group, did not take into account that the Conservatives had been the largest Group in 2008, with 24 councillors versus Labour's 21. He said that Cllr Foulkes as Leader had led to a "hell of a mess" and that ...
The saga surrounding Phil Woolas's 2010 election campaign has taken yet another bizarre twist. A couple of weeks ago I reported on a key witness who gave evidence for Woolas at the election court who is now appearing in court ... Continue reading →
Tue 24th
13:55
A Lib Dem MP struck a great blow for Press Freedom on Monday. So why do I feel so grumpy about it?
It's funny isn't it. John Hemming's actions on Monday were, by most people's definition, liberal. The law had already been made to look ridiculous anyway. What's more, why should the rich and famous who can afford the best lawyers get the protection of the courts when others without access to the same resources cannot do similar. I feel much the same about Dominique Strauss-Kahn's bail hearing - it seems wrong that because he had a million dollars handy and could afford to pay $200k a month in security to keep himself under house arrest he was afforded bail, when someone ...
Cllr Harney stated it was not just about changing leader. He also said it was not a no confidence vote. He referred to Lib Dem achievements over the last 4 years and last 12 months on recycling and CO2 reduction, 20mph zones in residential areas and the turnaround of Social Services. He said there had ...
Launceston is getting ready for the second ever Charles Causley Festival. The festival runs from June 1st-5th and includes music, dance, art and, of course, lots of poetry. The festival is named in honour of Charles Causley, the poet who was born and lived for most of his life in our town. Last year's event was deliberately small scale, but hugely successful and so we have tried to make this year's event a stage bigger whilst still retaining the focus on mainly local talent. The programme for the event includes: Wednesday 1st June James Lovelock in Conversation James Lovelock, originator ...
Today is a good day for British justice. The Crown Prosecution Service has finally changed its deeply flawed decision not to prosecute PC Simon Harwood for any offence in connection with the death of Ian Tomlinson. PC Harwood will now ... Continue reading →
The minutes of the meeting held on the 18th April 2011 were agreed as a true record. Councillors noted the election results which are here. Then Cllr Phil Davies, seconded by Cllr Adrian Jones moved a motion. The motion can be read here. There was an amendment submitted to the motion by the Conservative councillors ...
TweetThis is a guest-blog by Tom King, a self described Labour, Co-op, Unite, Fabian member. Student. Socialist. Republican. Welsh. Heathen. Wyre Forest's LabourYouth Officer. It is his first time writing for the "Yellow Bastard" blog. He can be found on twitter at @Tomilo. Not content having previously offended the LGBT community, Catholics, animal rights campaigners and many other groups, Roger Helmer MEP has now turned his attention to rape victims. Writing on his blog, Mr Helmer stated that that in some cases of rape "the victim surely shares a part of the responsibility". He asks readers to "Imagine that a ...
Everyone, that is, on the Left, including socialist gnome Laurie Penny, charming greenie Adam Ramsay, and the oddballs at OpenDemocracy, have seemingly managed to convince themselves that the sudden spurt of protests that happened in Spain during their recent local elections are the prelude to a revolution. As I write, news of the protests growing ...
The whole big question at the centre of the rows over injunctions and superinjunctions is can justice be delivered properly if it is secret? Occasionally, there is a very good reason for short period of secrecy (for instance, preventing reporting during the delicate negotiations to free the Chandlers from their captors in Somalia, as this might have caused them to be killed), but indefinite injunctions can only do harm. The Ryan Giggs issue is a case in point. Technically all of us on Twitter who joked about it for weeks could be sued (and it seems that his lawyers are ...
Just when I thought May couldn't have any more bad news, I read confirmation on Strictly Come Blogging that the irrepressible Claudia Winkleman will not be presenting the Strictly Come Dancing Companion show, It Takes Two this year. This is hardly a surprise. I couldn't imagine her giving birth to her third child in August and then doing a 5 nights a week show from mid September. I'm glad she's still going to be doing the results show on a Sunday evening, though. It's telling that the quote from her in today's Mirror offers a glimmer of hope that she ...
Tue 24th
12:53
Tim Farron writes: Enough doom and gloom, we have the greatest opportunity in the history of our par...
I don't know if you noticed, but the elections on May 5th weren't all that good for the Liberal Democrats. There was that business of the referendum defeat too. In much of the country we got an absolute pasting. Journalists and non-political friends keep coming up to me with pained expressions, asking if I'm all right, speaking to me as if I've just suffered a bereavement. I smile back and tell them to get stuffed - I'm used to 2 things as a Liberal this last 25 years 1) losing stuff 2) not giving up! So I for one am ...
After complaints from residents of Dudbridge Hill about the graffiti underneath the bridge that carries Dudbridge Hill over the cycle track. I took this up with Stroud District Council. It is actually owned by Gloucestershire County Council (GCC), but SDC managed to access some one-off funding, arrange access, and get the job done. There was even more rubbish half-hidden in the brambles by the access path and on the bridge (though off the road), and SDC has now tackled this too. During the election campaign, I also raised the issue of the County Council's own shrubs impinging on the pavement ...
The latest government borrowing numbers for the UK are spectacularly bad. To increase borrowing by 25% compared to the same month last year (excluding bank bailout costs) is a major failure for a government that must stand or fall by the way it tackles the deficit. Borrowing £10 billion in a month is not tackling the deficit, it is widening it. Meanwhile the Bank of England has failed, yet again, to address the acceleration in inflation. They continue to pretend that a 4.5% inflation rate can be ignored because it is only a function of "temporary conditions". This is false- ...
What was that wonderful line of Harold Wilson's? He arrived to speak at a Labour Party Conference, took the stage to rapturous applause, and said: "Thank you, my friends, for what the BBC will doubtless call a reserved and unfriendly welcome," or words to that effect. As I never tire of saying, I am a huge supporter of the BBC and its independence. That said, I was still amused and bemused to read the BBC headline "Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu defiant on 1967 borders", given that Mr Netanyahu's words on borders were one line - yes, one line - out ...
Earlier in the week I penned this guest post for The Holmes Report [IMG: Parliament - Big Ben] : Even keen electoral reformers are acknowledging that their heavy defeat in the AV referendum earlier this month means changing the electoral system for the House of Commons is a dead issue for a good few years, at the very least. So where does the referendum result leave the next big reform item on the government's agenda - introducing elections for the House of Lords? It would be a mistake for Liberal Democrats (or indeed reformers in the Conservative Party's ranks) to ...
I notice I get a mention on the former Leader of Wirral Council's blog about last night's meeting at the Town Hall. However here is a report on last night's meeting (previously adjourned) at Wirral Council which was reconvened from the 16th May. The meeting started with about 23 members of the public in the ...
In the run up to the 2011 G8 summit in Deauville, France, this May, international humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide is pushing for commitment and clarity on the agricultural aid promises pledged by G8 members in the 2009 G8 summit in L'Aquila. Back then, the British Government alongside the other G8 countries committed $22 billion in aid to be distributed over three years as part of the L'Aquila Global Food Security Initiative. The British commitment in particular was for £1.1 billion. These numbers may appear substantial, however they pale in comparison to the $30 billion per year that the UN Food ...
It was expected and anticipated. Protests do occur when government restrict, or reduce, public spending and reform the role of public services in our lives. It is a natural function of political debates. The European Union did not, however, prepare ... Continue reading →
Ok I know that title sounds surprising but we need to allow the full judicial system to play out before we convict. In the court of public opinion PC Simon Harwood is guilty of manslaughter and there is nothing we can do to stop that. However like everyone who is charged with an offence, the man deserves to have a fair trial with twelve jurors who have open minds and will make their decisions based solely on the evidence put to them in court. I know I have my opinions and they are clearly the same as the majority. I ...
Lib Dem MP John Hemming is all over the front pages of today's newspapers because of his decision to name Ryan Giggs and Giles Coren in the House of Commons yesterday. I think he was wrong to name either. John has a very admirable history of campaigning against various types of injunctions. The basis for his campaigns have been to highlight what he perceives to be injustices in the child care system where, he alleges, injunctions can be used to prevent parents defending themselves against claims of abuse and, in at least one case, to prevent someone who claims they ...
A number of residents have contacted me regarding the on-going problem of stray cricket balls in their gardens which they feel is having a direct impact on their quality of life. Since the local cricket season started residents have felt so unsafe that they are no longer sitting or even going into their gardens on match days. It seems however that this is not a problem with an easy solution and in fact there are a number of court cases dealing with exactly this issue, including Miller v Jackson [1977] QB 966 in which Lord Denning began with a rather ...
What Ryan Giggs wished to kept secret was a trivial issue that has been widely publicised as a result of him having the injunction. It was estimated that some 60% of the population knew who he was. However, last week he started through his lawyers the process of enforcement of the court order. That was being done through getting from Twitter the details of people who had posted entries on Twitter. Anyone who wanted to keep their identity secret could do so. Hence the only targets they would get are people who live in England or Wales and have posted ...
I've just picked the following comment out of my blog's spam filter and was particularly amused by it. Hello! Do you use Twitter? I'd like to supersede you if that would be ok. I'm fully enjoying your blog and look forward to late posts. Supersede away, my friend!
Yorkshire Zombie Apocalypse (page 16) I approve of this. (tags: zombies) BAFTA forgets Nicholas Courtney but Doctor Who fans never will. Containing two lovely videos of the great man (tags: doctorwho) Lord Tebbit's poison pen (warning: contains torygraph) I don't know which is more offensive: Tebbit's casual disdain towards the idea of having a relationship with a /bisexual/ or his "we should have listened to Enoch Powell" claptrap in the second segment. Well, probably the latter, but self-interest and all that... (tags: bloodytories) A content poll for my podcast Please to be voting (tags: podcasts) How to spot a psychopath ...
It's been a while (alright, it's been ages) since I blogged on anything vaguely bad-science related or scientific here, for which I apologise given that it was my original (self-appointed) remit to do so. Well, here goes...Simon Singh raises an interesting question via Twitter - Why waste limited research funds on proven pseudoscience? The proven pseudoscience in question here is homeopathy, and Simon's enquiry stems from an Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled by every skeptic's favourite MP David Tredinnick. Tredinnick's Motion calls for public funding to facilitate research into this important area to ascertain the effectiveness of homeopathy. The Motion ...
Chipping Sodbury Jazz Festival (featuring Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen) will held on the weekend of 29th-31st July 2011. Tickets at £18.50 are available from the Tourist Information Centre, Penny Farthings and Vickers Stationers, or email info@visitchippingsodbury.com For the full Jazz Programme click here Check out the Visit Chipping Sodbury, the website of the Chipping Sodbury Chamber of Commerce, for many more events happening in the town, local businesses and much more.
The Liberal Democrat peer who disclosed that former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Sir Fred Goodwin had a relationship with a senior colleague defended his action last night. Using Parliamentary privilege, Lord Stoneham of Droxford told peers last Thursday: Every taxpayer has a direct public interest in the events leading up to the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland, so how can it be right for a super-injunction to hide the alleged relationship between Sir Fred Goodwin and a senior colleague? If true, it would be a serious breach of corporate governance and not even the Financial Services Authority ...
St.Anthony's RC primary school has submitted a planning application for its permanent expansion from 45 reception children to 60 per year. As part of the application lots of new build, alterations and renovations would take place and cost around £5M. I whole heartedly support this planning application. The new look school when finished should feel lighter and more airy. The proposed higher insulation levels should make the school far more comfortable for children and staff alike – not boiling hot in the the summer and cold in the winter. A full form two form entry of 60 children should also ...
The link is to Jonathan Walker's article on the Birmingham Post website.This is a good summary. Most reports had lost track of the fact that enforcement activities had started on two injunctions. On both occasions against people who tweeted on twitter.
I was having a twitter conversation with Dr. Evan Harris yesterday. He tweeted ( and I'm paraphrasing here) that he didn't back Liberal Conspiracy's support of Ed Miliband in calling for Ken Clarke's sacking. I tweeted (as I've blogged) that it was a clever piece of political chicanery designed to keep Clarke in post and deliver various other political bonus points. And Evan was good enough to read my post and tweet this back... '@richard_morris_ Yr analysis is OK only if you can bear this "Ed M ...Positioned himself and Labour to the right of the Tories on crime" So: ...
Syria has been subject to more sanctions by the EU. The German Foreign Minister Westerville commented that '(the murder of civillians) can't be left unanswered by the European Union'. What does this say of the lackadaisical approach by the UN? They were only recently dissuaded from adding Syria to their ranks to replace Libya. The EU is firmly behind sanctions on the abuses, including more
The media's full of Alex Salmond's meeting with George Osborne, but he wasn't the only Scottish political leader in London yesterday. Willie Rennie was there to meet Nick Harvey to put the case for keeping the Scottish RAF bases, which are vital to their local communities. He also met Vince Cable to add weight to the campaign for the Green Investment Bank to be located in Edinburgh. Willie said: "I am down in London today to meet with UK Liberal Democrat Ministerial colleagues on two specific issues."I am continuing the work that Tavish Scott and Michael Moore have started, pressing ...
The Big Society was relaunched by Cameron yesterday, a white paper enshrining a lot of the principles we have been hearing about. Reforming Third Sector Giving The proposals for Charitable Giving are really interesting. Online advertising on Government sites (no information yet on whether this will accrue pin money), cash machine donations and round-a-pound promotions. However, a lot of people
As I hinted in an earlier post, there is currently a big row going on about who should represent Luton on the Bedfordshire Police Authority. It seems that arrogance by the Luton Labour party has screwed up the appointment process and left Luton without any members. The police authority is the body that oversees policing in Bedfordshire, sets the police budget, and appoints senior officers. It is made up of independent members and councillors appointed from the three Bedfordshire local authorities. Following this month's local elections a new set of councillors needed to be appointed and their membership was to ...
I'm uninterested in the sex lives of footballers. But I don't like blackmailers. And I don't think the law should favour them. Imagine this situation. Someone threatens to publish information about someone's private life unless they receive a large pay-off to stay silent. I don't think the law should say - "go ahead, publish away; you might be convicted of blackmail in the future but there's no reason why anyone should be able to stop you publishing now if your would-be victim doesn't pay up". I think the law should be able to say, "stop; don't publish until we've sorted ...
Yesterday's Independent reports that new figures from the Bank of England reveal that the UK's top banks are on course to miss Project Merlin lending targets for small businesses. They say that Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Santander UK lent £16.8 billion to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the first three months of the year, despite agreeing with the Government to increase lending to SMEs to £76 billion this year, equating to £19 billion in the first quarter. They add that the figures are likely to provoke outrage as the banks have been accused ...
Well, only hours after I blogged here yesterday about the superinjunction, John Hemming MP stood up in Parliament and used his Parliamentary Privilege to state the name of the Premier League football player who had used a superinjunction to try and cover a supposed 7 months affair with Imogen Thomas and who also attempted to take his wrath out on the thousands of Twitterers who ridiculed him for trying to do so. That name it comes as a surprise to no-one, was Ryan Giggs. No surprise as his name was being bandied about on the internet for days and indeed ...
i) births and deaths 24 May 1944: birth of Fiona Walker, who played Kala in The Keys of Marinus (1964) and Lady Peinforte in Silver Nemesis (1988). 24 May 1945: birth of Graham Williams, producer of the 15th to 17th seasons of Doctor Who (the fourth to sixth Fourth Doctor seasons, from Horror of Fang Rock to Shada); also co-author of The Invasion of Time and City of Death, and author of the unbroadcast story The Nightmare Fair which brought back the Celestial Toymaker (and was released in audio format by Big Finish in 2009). 24 May 1986: death of ...
I watched the first part of Adam Curtis's new documentary series, "All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace" - available for a while on iPlayer - last night and it's been troubling me. I feel something is very wrong with his premises and conclusions. First, let's get rid of the Ayn Rand stuff. I've never been a fan, though Curtis nearly persuaded me to try reading her. I think him tying so much of his story back to the influence of this controversial woman detracts from his story and what he is trying to say. Given the title of ...
...well John Hemming has used his Parliamentary privilege to tell us what we already know - that Ryan Giggs was one of the footballers with a super injunction to protect their philandering. I'm frankly not interested in his (or his fellow footballer's) sex lives as it is difficult to argue any true public interest - other than prurience. But the wider principle is that super injunctions prevent a free press reporting not only on footballers pecadillos but on matters of true public concern - like Fred Goodwin's activities that led to the biggest bank failure in history. It also means ...
Chinese Liberal Democrats and the Liberal International British Group (LIBG) scored a first this evening when they enticed former editor of 'Marxism Today', Martin Jacques, to address a packed meeting in the Board Room at the Liberal Democrats' HQ in Cowley Street, Westminster, on the theme 'When China Rules the World'. Martin's book of the ...
Tue 24th
00:34
People who do not understand our constitution should not pontificate on it. WARNING: contains rant
Do you know what really annoys me about this privacy argument? The number of people complaining about "unelected judges making up law". Firstly, to talk in generalities, the three arms of any legitimate government are the legislature, the executive and THE JUDICIARY. Judges are MEANT to interpret the laws they are given by the legislature, and they are MEANT to fill in the gaps when people have a dispute and the legislature hasn't legislated for that particular dispute. Just because we have a slightly unbalanced system in this country where the executive effectively controls the legislature and has carte blanche ...
Liberal Vision are off to the Houses of Parliament on 29th June. Well... We have certainly signed up to Simon Clark's genius event. Details from the Taking Liberties website are shown below – you can click here to find out how to get your own invite to the reception. Special thanks go to Rt Hon Greg Knight MP (Conservative), Roger Godsiff MP (Labour) and John Hemming MP (Liberal Democrat) who are hosting the event. The fight to amend the smoking ban is going to the heart of Westminster. On Wednesday June 29, two days before the fourth anniversary of the ...
