From the front page pictured here. I am using special squint technology to to read the text: Police have won a court order to obtain a tape recording and signed statement in which the estranged wife of the Cabinet minister Chris Huhne implicated the energy secretary in a criminal offence. The Mirror reports: Police investigating allegations that Cabinet minister Chris Huhne persuaded his estranged wife to take speeding penalty points on his behalf have obtained a court order to take possession of a tape recording in which the ex-couple apparently discuss the case. The Sunday Times reported that it had ...
On the subject of public transport - a bugbear of mine as I try to reduce my car use but realise that the numbers simply don't add up even with petrol at an all time high price - we had a bit of a mishap today as we returned from a lovely day out to Kew Gardens. Simply put, the issue was that our first train from Richmond to Reading was delayed by 16 minutes and our connecting train from Reading was due to leave 14 minutes after we were meant to arrive at Reading. So that's 14-16, which equals ...
Good news in Oxford, where the Conservative County Council has agreed a deal with the bus companies in the city for shared ticketing. Great. Something the Lib Dems have called for for a while now. The problem I have is that this agreement comes about 17 years after a Conservative government decided that buses should be 'deregulated', allowing any old crook or wide boy with an old transit to run a bus service, charge what they want and generally deliver a worse service than we had before. So a reasonably good, reasonably affordable local was withdrawn by the Tories, a ...
I have been to the Lowdham Book Festival (where I spoke last year) today. The final Saturday is a good day to choose as all the events are free. I listened to three talks and came away with two books. The first talk was by John Lucas, who was discussing his memoir of the 1950s Next Year Will be Better. He argued (rightly, I think) that it was a far more colourful decade than we have been taught to believe. Then I listened to Jasper Fforde discussing his novels. And finally I heard the cartoonist Brick discussing Depresso, his loosely ...
During a lively discussion over dinner in İstanbul this evening, İ was pleased when a distinguished Turkish newspaper columnist (and former BBC Turkish service employee) from the Journalists and Writers Foundation chrystalised a thought that had been germinating in my own mind for some weeks, namely that Turkey should be seen not as the model for Arab countries currently experiencing ...
David Boyle on The Real Blog celebrates the "genius" of Nick Clegg's bank share giveaway: "The Thatcherite privatisations involved a minority who did not exercise their ownership rights. This plan will involve a majority and the possibility of popular control." Birkdale Focus has been reading Matt Cole's new biography of Richard Wainwright. Edmund Burke is generally claimed as the intellectual father of British Conservatism, yet for most of his career he was a Whig and he was the most important ally of Charles James Fox. Liberal Vision has been reading his prophetic Reflections on the Revolution in France. Next week, ...
Today's I was fortunate enough to take in a screening of Oliver Stone's "Salvador". The film wasn't the attraction but the Q&A by Martin Bell, great British war correspondent and one time Independent anti sleaze MP. I am a huge fan of Martin Bell. He represents to me total honesty and objectivity, every inch the BBC tradition. Chatting to him beforehand in the Filmhouse bar, resplendent in the famous white suite (actually it was cream linen) he indicated that he had walked out of Salvador each time he say it. Indeed he had done so with Apocalypse Now. He did ...
If Boris Johnson supports the London On Tap campaign, then why are Tube stations covered in posters advising people to carry a bottle of water in the hot weather? I definitely saw one such poster (bearing Boris' "MAYOR OF LONDON" logo) today, including an image of a disposable plastic water bottle. The carbon footprint of some brands of bottled water can be up to 300 times more than that of tap water, and the Mayor himself has said: "Bottled water is environmentally damaging because it causes unnecessary waste and pollution. Tap water is a cheaper option which will also help ...
Heald Green Festival seemed packed today – busier than I can remember it. And that's both a bit of a surprise and testament to the work of the organisers as it wasn't exactly perfect festival weather, with most of the day being cloudy and dull and parts of it being more than a little wet. And still everyone seemed have a good time, whether it was holding the python, on the funfair, eating the food, visiting the many stalls, taking part in the parade and show or anything else.
Don McLean and his band are appearing on the Pyramid (Main) stage at Glastonbury tomorrow from 1.30pm-2.30pm. Good luck to Don and his excellent players. I am sure the audience will give them a great reception and really let fly for "American Pie". After rather ignoring Don McLean for decades, I have recently been discovering and rediscovering his music and words. There's no doubt about it. As singer/songwriters who have survived and deserve the title "legendary", Don McClean is the real deal. This is no part-timer who had a bit of luck with one song. Don McClean is the whole ...
I use the internet a lot. And I like analogies a lot. This is my analogy of websites. Websites, especially company ones, are like Curry. With curry you always get rice, this is the staple and relatively plain part of the food. But you get a meat (or veg) dish too. This can be Korma, or Tikka Masala, or what ever. And a company website is like this. You can usually command control over your meat or veg dish, but to change the rice, the core part of the site, it's a bit harder. Opinions? (Most people think i'm mad!) ...
There's a fantastic sounding event taking place today in London. Well, another one, that doesn't involve hitting balls over a net. CyberMummy 2011 is a Conference for parent bloggers which had Sarah Brown as its keynote speaker. I'm not there but it sounds fantastic. Maybe I should do more of the parenting type blogging to qualify. However, I do know some people down there and will be checking out their blogs in the days to come for their reports. There's Ellen, Melaina, Scottish Mum, Little Mummy and Susan K Mann. What I'm most looking forward to is finding out whether ...
Two weeks ago I blogged about Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in relation to the Baby Peter inquiries. Now the hospital has been at the receiving end of a "stinging rebuke" in the esteemed medical journal The Lancet (free registration required). The Editor writes: If GOSH's [Great Ormond Street Hospital's] management team had been in Wigan they would almost certainly have departed by now. Perhaps GOSH is just too important to be seen to fail. Even when a child dies....There are unanswered questions. Have the events that led to the death of Peter Connelly been fully and transparently investigated? Have ...
Police Commissioners are not a good idea and the scrutiny checking on them is even more I'll thought out. However it is no use hiding heads in the sand. These elections are highly liken to take place in May nextbyear and there will be 41 of them and so we need to select 41 candidates. It is amazing to me just how unprepared the party seems to be or even to acknowledge the need to get o with the process. I have been lobbying our regional chair that we should be pushing for a candidate selection in Mid October. Work ...
Appreciative crowds at Yate Music Festival in Kingsgate Park today Well done to all the acts, organisers and community groups involved in the Festival. Remember, there's more to come tomorrow. You can join in with Praise in the Park at at 10.30 am, and chill out to Picnic in the Park from 3 pm to 5 pm.
Despite reminders, the Tory-controlled county council has failed to repaint the crossing on Drovers' Way. As these pictures show, it has now become almost invisible. We will continue to press the county council to look after the safety of residents and shoppers using this busy crossing.
Edmund Burke is often referred to as the founder of modern conservatism. Nevertheless, he certainly has a part in the history of liberal thought (as understood by classical liberals and libertarians). How much is a matter of discussion. Two of the reasons for considering Burke in the liberal tradition are William Ewart Gladstone and Friedrich Hayek. Gladstone (1809-1898) one of Britain's most distinguished Prime Ministers in four terms adding upto 14 years, and the greatest political figure in nineteenth century British liberalism. Gladstone was a life time reader of Burke from his early ultra-Tory years, to his later years as ...
I have linked to the debate as to Labour's alternative. They proposed on Wednesday a "temporary cut" in VAT (which implies they have changed their policy on VAT such that the permanent rate is now 20%).This would increase borrowing in the year.I asked a number of Labour MPs who they would borrow the money from and how much interest they would pay. It shows a considerable ignorance of economic
Earlier this year, I mentioned the Dundee Russian School, an excellent initiative taking place at Harris Academy on Saturdays. Earlier today at Harris, the school held a Day of Russian Culture, and I was pleased to be asked to say a few words of welcome to the audience, along with one of the Vice-Consuls from the Russian Consulate General in Edinburgh and Dr Andriy Sukhodub, head teacher of the Dundee Russian School. It was good to see all the children taking part, enjoying themselves, whilst progressing their knowledge of the Russian language. Here's a couple of photographs from the event ...
[IMG: Posted by Picasa] Friday, Lindsay accompanied me to a consultation with Dr P, ast which he outlined the plan of action to decide what needs to be done about whatever is causing the high platelet count, see graph. First, the JAK2 test, which was described in the previous entry under 'Medical', followed by another consultation next Friday week. (Somatic mutations in JAK2, Janus kinase 2, a human protein that has been implicated in polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, and other myeloproliferative disorders, are analysed in this test, which needed 8 ampoules of blood. The technician who took the samples came ...
If you scan files using the Fujisu Scansnap, it produced pdf files only, and if you then want to upload the image into blogspot, you need a pdf to jpg converter. The online program pdf2jpg.net/convert.php seems to do this efficiently see the scanned inage below.
Sat 25th
17:45
Forget about abolishing Labour's shadow cabinet elections, Ed. That's not the battle you need to win...
It's been a tough few weeks for Labour leader Ed Miliband, with increasing mutterings internally and in the media with his performance, culminating in this week's ICM poll showing him to be less popular than Nick Clegg. On the upside, he's starting to score points off David Cameron at PMQs, a crucible of irrelevance to actual politics but crucial in shaping personality-obsessed journos' perceptions. And, with today's interview in the Guardian, he's proposed a 'reform agenda' to open up the Labour party — in his words, "in order to have a good conversation at party conference, you've got to expand ...
Today's Daily Telegraph contains a review of 'A Spectacle of Dust: The Autobiography by Pete Postlethwaite' and includes details of his complex character. One passage of the review though really jars: The most curious incident he records concerns a tour of Wales in the Seventies. Postlethwaite thought the tannoys in the dressing rooms were monitoring him and believed Aberystwyth was the centre of a secret cult. He was plunged into a full-blown episode of paranoid schizophrenia. "I was in meltdown... It was terrifically frightening." He walked off the stage mid-performance and "was gone for two or three days, nobody knew ...
Nick Clegg's very public call for the British public to be given shares in the bailed-out banks — creating 46 million shareholders and allowing collective ownership of banks — has garnered acres of coverage the past couple of days. It's three months since Lib Dem MP Stephen Williams first proposed the privatisation of its 83% stake in RBS and 41% in Lloyds by distributing shares to the public. Here's what my co-editor Mark Pack said about the idea at the time: Giving everyone shares in the banks: Stephen Williams's proposals examined (7th March, 2011) Stephen Williams's plan is to give ...
I find myself unexpectedly on a steam train, on the Worcestershire/Shropshire border, surrounded by people dressed in 1940s outfits, as the Severn Valley Railway celebrates one of its special event weekends. It's been an odd weekend, starting with a trip back to 1897 to experience life in a Victorian industrial town at Blists Hill, with a clay mine 'experience' complete with mock landslide (don't worry, I dug my way out with a handy shovel), domestic pigs, proper(ish) money and a post office guaranteeing next day delivery to everywhere except the Scottish Highlands and Islands and... Norfolk (why am I not ...
My column from this week's Ham & High: Tacking Violence against Women and Girls internationally I visited a rural village outside of Patna in the northern state of Bihar in India last week. Everyone was gathered around. We sat under a tree where an acting troupe put on a show about the violence women in India experience as part of their everyday lives. The women of the village all sat in a circle - joined by myself and UK Department for International Development (DFID) aid workers with the men of the village watching on. The 'play' showed a young woman ...
A fundamental principle of any democracy, and liberal society, is private property. We are free to own and control the land. It liberates us from public ownership, which is a method to control the lives of the occupants; it's why ... Continue reading →
Cllrs Zoe Moghadas, Gail Marchant-Daisley, Tim Ward, Sheila Stuart and Ian-Nimmo-Smith, Mayor's Cadet Daniel Pereira. The great thing about being a councillor is the tremendous variety of things you do. In the past ten days, I've taken in part in council meetings, enjoyed the Mayor's Dinner, done a councillor's advice surgery, written oodles of emails and letters, read council papers, written press releases, carried out a residents' survey, attended the inaugural meeting of the Cambridge Muslim Council - and helped to open an 800 year-old fair! Never a dull moment. As a City Bailiff, it's my job to dress up ...
Saturday: We wake at the tellingly-lazy hour of half-past-eleven to hear the Weak (sic) In Westminster debating the House of Lords Club and NEVER have we heard such a smug, selfish, self-interested, inward-looking, ignorant proof that the place needs totally abolishing down to the ground! Last weekend, we were with our families for Daddies Day, and - as can happen - one of our relatives went off on a bit of a "right-wing rant". "The trouble with this country is lack of leadership!" was the thesis. This, of course, is total HONK; the REAL problem of this country is CONTENTMENT. ...
Metrolink are currently undertaking improvement works on the Metrolink stops on the Bury line. Over the next few weeks they will need to carry out essential work at Heaton Park Metrolink stop outside our normal hours of construction. For safety reasons, this work can only be done while the tram line is closed. Work will take place between 11pm and 5am for the period 4 July to 22 July 2011. Some of our overnight work will require low level lighting and involve use of construction tools and vehicles. These works will inevitably cause some noise. We will aim to keep ...
Today an elderly constituent I've known for many years and who I have assisted with various local issues came to visit me at our ward surgery. We talked about the issue she had come to raise (relating to planning) and after a few minutes it transpired that she had recently become a full-time carer to her husband. I had no idea about this and as I asked her about what support she was getting at home. It soon became clear that not only was she not getting any support but that she didn't realise that she was entitled to any. ...
On the abolition of Regional Development Agencies, the land they own is being handed over to the Housing and Communities Agency. This could be an opportunity for the HCA to make some of the newly acquired land available for Gypsy and Traveller sites, see this question asked last Tuesday: 21 Jun 2011 : Column 1151 Lord Avebury: My Lords, will the Government encourage the HCA to devote some of the land it acquires to the provision of Gipsy sites, which will be in short supply consequent on the abolition of the regional strategies? Baroness Wilcox: I am afraid I do ...
Question last Monday: Caste Discrimination Question 2.36 pm Asked By Lord Harries of Pentregarth To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the finding of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research concerning the existence of caste-based discrimination in the United Kingdom. Baroness Northover: My Lords, Ministers have been carefully considering the findings of this report on caste discrimination and the wide range of views expressed by interested parties. The Government's red tape challenge currently has a three-week spotlight on equalities. This presents people with a further opportunity to express their views on the possible need for ...
"There was consternation in the room. Journalists, scribbling away madly, looked perplexed. Here and there, applause broke out. A supranational institution that could take binding decisions on behalf of France, Germany and other states? They were curious to see what Konrad Adenauer, the newly-elected Chancellor of West Germany, would make of it all. It quickly became clear that Adenauer was fully
Yes, I know that it's only June, but have you given any thought to your Local Party's AGM? The Party's Constitution specifies that it should take place between 1 October and 30 November, so it isn't as far away as you might think. And there are things that can be done now that will help to make it more successful than might otherwise be the case. Firstly, have you decided upon a date yet? Apart from the limitations on timing noted above, you don't want to clash with your Regional Conference, so you might want to rule that out. Is ...
In the past year Wandsworth Council have received a number of planning applications for high-rise buildings, a number of which are for sites on Upper Richmond Road. The first development, Tileman House, was given the go ahead in March. This will house 68 flats, 12 of which will be offered on shared ownership schemes for low-income families. Disappointingly Wandsworth have once again committed themselves to less than 18% affordable housing. One of these plans, the Capsticks site (next to Putney East Station) is planned to be 13 storeys high. Over twice the height of the existing buildings. And whereas the ...
Today the final part of the Dulwich Leisure Centre renovation reopened, the gym. Its' been a long haul since we promised in our Lib Dem 2006 election manifesto to completely renovate it. No one else made that promise so at the time it felt brave. After more than 50 years of no investment under Labour it would take a huge investment to fix. To complicate things we knew that as the building is listed it would need full planning permission that English Heritage would be happy to approve. We won that election and set the process of getting the centre ...
It's good to see Durham Brass International Festival has a good number of local connections in 2011. As well as YouTuba working with youngsters at Villa Real School, and Magicaboola in St Patrick's Primary School, there is a big event in the Empire on Monday July 11th. Voices from the local community will join with international solists Penelope Randall-Davis (sprano), Roderick Earle (baritone) and one of Durham's finest brass bands, the NASUWT Riverside Band. It promises an evening of world class music and can be booked through the Empire Booking Office on 01207 218171. If you're happy to travel just ...
For a dew days this past week, I was down in Swansea for the Welsh Local Government Association annual conference. Ceredigion County Council usually sends up to 10 delegates, comprising mainly of elected members and some officials. I've never attended before in my 8 years on the County Council but as the newly elected Vice Chair of Council, felt that it was worthwhile for me to put my name forward. So, along with fellow Welsh Liberal Democrat colleague Cllr Paul Hinge, the Independent Leader and Deputy Leader of Council Cllr Keith Evans and Cllr Ray Quant and the Leader and ...
Sat 25th
10:23Equalities and Human Rights Commission fails to get its accounts right for third time in a row
The news this week that for the third year in a row there are huge problems with financial control at the Equalities and Human Rights Commission raises questions not only about the future of its senior management but also about the paucity of political debate over its future. There have only been three sets of annual accounts since the EHRC was formed – and each time the National Audit Office has refused to approve them so deep are the problems with the EHRC's financial (non-)control. It's a perfect record: three sets of accounts, three sets of problems: In 2008, a ...
According to today's Independent animal campaigners believe that this week's dramatic vote to outlaw the use of wild creatures in circuses could prove a turning-point in the drive to combat animal cruelty. They believe that the changing attitude of young politicians towards the treatment of animals could scupper moves to repeal the ban on fox-hunting and to press ahead with a widespread badger cull: It had been widely assumed that the influx of large numbers of Conservative MPs at the last election would tip the balance against animal welfare issues. But a succession of recently elected Tories intervened during Thursday's ...
I am no legal expert, but reading the coverage of the Milly Dowler case has made me as mad as hell about the way that the legal system in this country is allowed to make victims of crime feel that ...
Well, I am only reporting what happened. A regular reader and commenter, Mark Clark, has asked me to keep the world updated with regular Rick Santorum updates. Rick Santorum was on Glenn Beck's Fox show. Glenn Beck said: "I could kiss you in the mouth" to Santorum. Here's the clip:
I haven't been able to blog about this topic for a few days now because the impact of the programme was so profound on me that I simply couldn't form a rational thought about it in the immediate aftermath. Im referring ...
As a son of (at least) four generations of City of Derry* today marks an auspicious day for the City. Since they have had the statue Hands Across the Divide two hands out stretched and not quite touching. Hands Across the Divide (1992) Maurice Harron Now from today there is the Peace Bridge. As one of those from Protestant descent whose direct family lived for as long as they could on the predominantly Nationalist west side (renamed from the Cityside in recent BBC coverage), though with lots of family on the east side (again renamed from the Waterside) I'm used ...
Cambridgeshire County Council has notified the local Parish Council that it is changing the grass cutting plan due to lack of rain affecting the growth of the grass. The original plan was for two cuts; May and July. Following the first cut the County Council has reviewed the result and decided to defer the second cut from its planned start in July to Aug/Sept. The Council believes this change will be of the most benefit to Right of Way path users. NOTE: A map of Public Rights of Way, across Cambridgeshire, is available by following this link;
The BBC reports: Two Liberal Democrats who were disqualified from the Welsh assembly for being members of prohibited public bodies have been told they will not be charged. Aled Roberts and John Dixon were told on Thursday that no action would be taken following a police inquiry. The two were forced to give up their seats for being members of public bodies to which AMs cannot belong... The party has blamed an "honest mistake". The Assembly's Commissioner for Standards, Gerard Elias QC, will prepare a report on the two men's cases so AMs can decide whether they should be allowed ...
i) broadcast and cinematic anniversaries 25 June 1965: cinema release of Dr. Who and the Daleks, starring Peter Cushing as eccentric scientist Dr. Who. 25 June 1966: broadcast of first episode of The War Machines; first appearance of Anneke Wills as Polly and Michael Craze as Ben. The Doctor and Dodo arrive in London, where Dodo falls under the influence of the computer WOTAN. ii) dates specified in canon 25 June 1906, 25 June 2006: birth and death of Edward Grainger (in the 2006 anthology, Short Trips: The Centenarian, edited by Ian Farrington). 25-27 June 1993: some of the events ...
When I was at school the external examinations we took were set by the Northern Universities Joint Matriculation Board, and that continued to be the case during much of my teaching career. I presume the Universities of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham tried to cover their costs but I doubt if they tried to make much profit out of the operation. I don't recall any great fusses abut errors and unanswerable questions, though occasionally the question papers were accompanied by a "correction" slip putting right some mistake in the printed paper. These caused no problems to those sitting the ...
Heart of Midlothian FC were taken over by Lithuanian based Russian gangster Vladimir Romanov in 2005. Since then he has initiated a campaign to destroy the reputation of one of the UK's oldest football clubs (and the second best team in Edinburgh). He has employed the old KGB interrogation tactic of building supporters up with the marquee signings of footballers that the club cannot afford then crushing them with the sacking of popular and successful managers. This has been accompanied by public statements of a bizarre nature attacking the Scottish football authorities. Meanwhile he has built up a debt of ...
