Latest information is that years 7, 8, 9 & 10 at Tring School are expected to close on Thursday. Check with the school if you have had no notification.
I know that I often write negative blogs. This is something I tried to change but it is much easier to write a negative post, criticising something, than a positive post. Therefore I am pleased to be commenting on the passing of a back bench motion in the House of Commons last week calling for a ban on animals being involved in circuses in England. My own MP (Don Foster) has campaigned for this and has been a long time supporter. I completely agree with his statement: "This is a matter of principle. It is not right for humans to ...
From Hansard: David Miliband (South Shields) (Lab): I apologise to the House for having to absent myself for a short period this evening. It is nice to be able to speak in the House in full and enthusiastic support of the manifesto on which I was elected, and consistent with my previous votes in the House for 100% election and 80% election to the Lords, in 2003 and 2007. I look forward to getting the chance to vote on the matter again. I wish first to dispose of three very bad arguments against proceeding towards an elected House. The first ...
I think I am one of the more liberal people around when it comes to rehabilitation with regards people who have been convicted of crimes and subsequently ensuring that they are not punished further than directed by a judge, and I also would rather not comment on specific cases where it is obvious that I don't know the entire facts of the incident. However I am appalled that despite being placed on the sex offenders register Heart of Midlothian Football Club have seen fit to keep Craig Thomas in their squad. As far as I am concerned, whilst you are ...
Road safety improvements welcomed Tonight saw the last City Council committee meetings prior to the summer recess and there was a substantial amount of business on agendas. At City Development Committee, I welcomed the proposal that the Blackness Road/Blackness Avenue/Balgay Road junction (see right) will be subject to road safety improvements over the next year. Many constituents have mentioned what a difficult junction this is - very busy and many vehicles making right turns - so the proposal to improve the junction is good news. At the same committee, I asked questions about a possible Business Improvement District for the ...
TweetIt doesn't come as much of a shock to hear that Ken Livingstone allegedly called Lib Dems a "Venal Sub-Species" . How wrong Ken is, and he shouldn't resort to playground politics! Now I'm not a London resident, nor will I have a vote so the politics of what needs to be done in London to win the mayoral vote is off very little interest too me. I do just hope that a Lib Dem wins, and at the moment I'm slightly favouring everyone's second favourite buffoon Lembit. But what Ken says provides us with a valuable insight into the ...
A very interesting situation is developing in the Western Area of Stockton Renaissance. In Yarm and Eaglescliffe there have been for some years a number of vociferous people who've opposed the indiscriminate "development" of large old houses and gardens into blocks of flats/luxury apartments. At the height of the development boom we seemed to fight one battle after another, no time to draw
The Sheffield Star reports: SHEFFIELD'S ruling Labour councillors have been attacked by Nick Clegg for 'dropping' a policy to give the authority's lowest-paid staff an extra £250 each year. The payment was made for staff paid below £21,000-a-year, under the old Lib Dem administration's budget for 2011/12 - and Mr Clegg said it was supposed to happen on an annual basis. But papers setting out the council's financial plans for 2011/12 - including cuts of at least £48 million - do not include a pay rise next year. Mr Clegg said: "I've had meetings with some of the country's leading ...
There's a lot of talk around at the moment of the proposed pensions reforms (or at least there was when I started to write this about a week ago) so I thought I'd throw my opinion in, I'm not sure it'll be the most popular opinion but here goes. From what I see there are two distinct issues going on which seem to have been muddled in a number of the commentaries I have read (citations are lacking as they are now a while ago). Aligning the state pensionable age of women with that of men I am a firm ...
From the Eastern Daily Press website: Archaeologists today hit back at a council leader who said he'd cut controls on developments, warning "the bunny huggers" won't like it". Alan Melton, leader of Fenland District Council, used the term in a keynote policy speech, at the council's design awards in Wisbech on Monday night. Announcing he planned to scrap the need for archaeological surveys when new developments get under way, he added: "The bunny huggers won't like this but if they wish to inspect a site, they can do it when the footings are being dug out."The site has the full ...
This morning I looked out of my window to see men at work – replacing the damaged sign advertising the Academy and Sports Centre construction. Here it is. Unfortunately they had parked up just past the sign for the Minor Injuries Unit below, but not noticed that it needed lifting too, or decided it wasn't their job.
Ainsdale Lib Dems had an excellent strawberry tea at the home of Roy Connell on Sunday. it was good to see such a good turn out. It was an excellent event well attended from members and supported from Ainsdale and further a field.. Mike Booth carries a report over on the Kew blog (link on the left)
Steve Shaw from Unlock Democracy has an article on Lib Dem Voice in support of the idea of allowing voters to force a by-election "if they have lost confidence or trust in them for any reason". I cannot support his idea. It would mean, as people are already pointing out in the comments on that post, that in many seats defeated parties would spend their time collecting signatures in an attempt to have the result of the previous general election set aside. Zac Goldsmith's Recall of Elected Representatives Bill envisages that it would take 10 per cent of the electorate ...
'The warping influence of nationalism' is threatening peace and prosperity in Europe again. The phrase from the old Liberal Party Constitution preamble-and often attributed to Elliot Dodds-reflects a deeply held Liberal view that nation states need to be bound together more closely and their peoples will more likely live in peace and prosperity if law governs the relations betwen nations. The economic collapse that followed WW1 led to the retreat into protectionism and nationalism Keynes famously predicted that that the war reparations demanded of Germany would impoverish the peoples of central Europe to a point beyond endurance. In his 'Economic ...
For your information, Merseytravel had its AGM this afternoon. Cllr Mark Dowd (exceedingly tribal, Old Labour, Bootle) was elected chair of Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority and chair of the following committees, Policy & Resources, Rail Services, giving him a measly sum of £42,184!.The Lib Dem group moved that the following amendment, Amendment to item 17 - Members Allowance Scheme 2011/12Delete recommendations (i) and (ii) and replace with:-(i) Note the continuing opposition of the Liberal Democrat group to the payment of multiple special responsibility allowances on the authority.(ii) Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority is the only ITA that allows members to claim ...
Too hot to write. Somebody turn the heating off in the big blue room, please? And dim the light while you're at it. Mister Miracle tomorrow if I don't boil to death in my own sweat. Links. Colin Smith on the covers to several Flashpoint titles. "No conventionally conscientious and competent artist could produce work ...
Virtual Shropshire tells us: Stars from the cast of the hugely popular BBC sitcom 'Allo, 'Allo!' will be centre-stage when the Severn Valley Railway turns back the clock once more and rolls out its big wartime nostalgia '1940s Weekends', on June 25th & 26th and July 2nd & 3rd. Vowel-mangling gendarme Officer Crabtree (Arthur Bostrom) - universally recognised for his 'Good Moaning' signature phrase and others such as 'My lips are soiled' - together with peasant-repressing Gestapo officer Herr Otto Flick (Richard Gibson), the effeminate Lieutenant Gruber (Guy Siner), sexy waitress and Rene's lover Yvette Carte-Blanche (Vicki Michelle), Resistance agent ...
This is so wonderful, it deserves a post all of its own.
This morning, I called Barclaycard and cancelled my card. It's my one man protest about the shameful actions of Barclays in closing the Egg facility on Pride Park, leading to 659 job losses in Derby by the end of the year. They certainly know how to kick a city when it's down. Their announcement came hours after 3,000 people at Bombardier learnt that their jobs were under threat due to their failure to win a contract for new trains which went to Siemens in Germany instead. Now, I admit my protest is going to be pretty ineffectual, but it does ...
The resignation and flight to the US of Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, chairman of Afghanistan's Central Bank, has been accompanied by a wide-ranging set of allegations from him about corruption being behind the near collapse of Kabul Bank. That it itself is not a surprise, as corruption was already widely suspected, but he has also claimed that corruption investigations had been deliberately blocked and that he feared for his own personal safety. It is credible that he would have detailed knowledge of such matters, though Abdul Qadeer Fitrat has not provided evidence to substantiate them. Nonetheless, his credibility and high profile ...
Over at the Guardian, former Paddy Ashdown advisor Julian Astle has an interesting (but controversial) piece in which he argues that there is a 'secret club' of cross-party, centrist, liberal-minded reformers at the heart of British politics, who have run the country for the 15 of the last 18 years. Here's a sample: Consider the ease with which the Lib Dems and Conservative leaderships put together a radical coalition agreement. Or the extent to which that agreement builds on the agenda pursued by the Blairites in their second and third terms. "Reform" in welfare, schools, higher education funding and the ...
Childcare is one of the remaining barriers to gender inclusive employment. The Standard reports today that nursery care is experiencing a drop in enrolment and cost is cited as the predominant reason, justified by childcare providers being owed significant backdated fees. The Daycare Trust calls for a 'sustainable network of local, high quality and affordable childcare' but I would suggest government bureaucracy makes this nigh on impossible. Childcare centres are required to have a minimum number of staff per child, all staff must be CRB'd, just to clean the windows, not to mention pass health and safety regulations, et cetera. ...
Liberal Democrat ward councillor for this area, Cllr Darren Fower tells us that officers at the Town Hall are presently looking to plot a map of problematic areas in the city effected by the ongoing problems of cars parking on verges, endangering pedestrians and even those drivers trying to exit their own properties etc Commenting, Cllr Fower said: "Following on from our latest Peterborough North Area Committee meeting, council officers are now asking for councillors to supply information regarding verge parking problems in our areas. "Officers have told me that they are most interested in areas affected by verge parking ...
Thanks are due to the organisers of the Gatley Rec Stream Clean – part of this year's Gatley Festival. In all I think there were about twenty people helping out on Sunday morning, including a good number of Cubs, Scouts and their parents, and we not only cleaned up the stream where it runs past the Recreation Ground and the Gatley Green Co-op, but also cleared litter from across the Rec Ground, around the recycling bins in the car park and a good deal of gardening and weed clearing was done too. The haul of rubbish included the obligatory shopping ...
If Wimbledon or Glasto re-runs are not your thing, you can switch over to BBC Parliament, where MPs are currently debating Lords reform. The excellent E-Politix just tweeted: This is excellent news, as cross party support and pressure is the only way such a major, and necessary, reform will come to pass.
Ran into this somehow, somewhere – one of those things that really shows up the differences between the UK and the US. Whilst it occasionally comes up as a debate, for most of the time, evolution is an entirely normal part of the national curriculum that is taught in every school.
Ever wondered why pavements get cracked? Well some of it is due to the lack of consideration of utility companies. The picture below is a classic example – there was no need to pull off the road. No-one else in this road does so. Should British Gas pay for the damage?
Helping me keep up my average of a book a week this year, The Inheritors is Golding's second novel (after Lord Of The Flies) and like that, it's also a look at some of humanity's darker impulses. Here, though, the focus is on humanity's beginnings as seen from the viewpoint of a group of Neanderthals encountering this new type of people for the first time. Golding expertly creates a perspective that's non-human but understandable as what's effectively a tragedy unfolds through a mutual incomprehensibility and fear. Definitely a classic novel, and well-worth a look.
A small but vocal group of Lib Dem activists came together last Saturday in Glasgow to debate the current state of and prospects for the Party in Scotland. Although mostly drawn from Glasgow and the West of Scotland members travelled ... Continue reading →
A while ago, I produced a per-capita analysis of the Google privacy data showing that the UK, per citizen, is the most snooped on country – there were more requests per person in the UK to Google than any other country. More up to date data is now available, for July to December 2010, showing that the UK is no longer the most snooped on – we've dropped to second place. Singapore does not appear in the January to June data but no reason is indicated for this. (Note: Previous positions in the table below are based on latest data ...
I've just obtained a weeks worth of speed data for Grove Vale and Lordship Lane: Grove Vale westbound vehicle mean average speed of 22.8mph, 85 percentile 27.7mph, total of 73642 vehicles. Grove Vale eastbound vehicle mean average speed of 21.2mph, 85 percentile 24.6mph, 68540. Lordship Lane (by Ashbourne Grove ) north bound vehicle mean average of 21.5mph, 85 percentile 27.3mph, 52036. Lordship Lane (by Ashbourne Grove ) south bound vehicle mean average 19.9mph, 85 percentile 25.3mph, 51419. To place 20mph speed limits on roads requires 85 percent of all existing traffic to be travelling at speeds of 24mph or lower. ...
I was glad I had the opportunity to speak in the debate on wild animals in circuses last week and even happier the vote went the right way. My full speech grabbed from Hansard is below. I also had the ... Continue reading →
Have just received this good news from the Gondar and Agamemnon Residents Association. "Gondar Gardens reservoir - planning application refused by Camden Dear all, some fantastic news: Linden Wates' planning application to build on the reservoir site hasbeen refused by Camden ... see for a copy of the refusal noticeand the planning officer's detailed report. This is great news, althoughwe need to exercise some caution - we need to analyse the detailed report and we don't know what Linden Wates will do next, possibly including going to appeal. Well done to everyone who wrote in to object, and to ...
From PoliticsHome: Liberal Democrat grassroots members are mounting a rebellion against the Coalition's policies on academies and free schools, PoliticsHome has learned. Members of the Social Liberal Forum, a left-leaning group within the party, are developing a set of proposals to contest Education Secretary Michael Gove's flagship policies, which they believe are "damaging" and are being "raced through" Parliament. They hope to capitalise on the party's recent success in changing Government health policy by speaking out on education as well. SLF members have been asked to support a motion going to the Liberal Democrat autumn conference in Birmingham, which calls ...
The bible doesn't have the best of times with maritime adventures. Jonah tried to flee on one but was caught up in storm, drew the short lot to appease the gods and was thrown overboard. Jesus's disciples set out on one on the Sea, it got stormy and he came walking on the water. As for Paul he got shipwrecked in the Med and ending up founding the basis of the Maltese Tourist trade. However, one is planned to be used as a Church in Belfast's Titanic Quarter. One that will be cross denominational, cross community, with each denomination being ...
For over six years now I have worked on Parliamentary campaigns such as the Sustainable Communities Act and the Climate Change Act. I have done this as an independent freelance, unaffiliated to any political party and always seeking cross party support. This experience has given me a deep insight into our system of governance from the Ministers and senior civil servants at the top, whom I meet in Westminster and Whitehall, to communities at the bottom, whom I meet at campaign public meetings that I speak at across the country. Our democratic system desperately needs reform. People increasingly feel disconnected ...
Crimes against children, especially sexual crimes, are rightly a cause for great concern in society. In fact, the issue of child protection has been covered at least three times by the Scottish Parliament in less than a decade. In 2003 the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act allowed for the creation of a list of persons deemed unsuitable for working with children. This list process was replaced and improved with the implementation of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007. Further issues to do with sexual contact with children formed parts of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009. Clearly, concern ...
Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen will be headlining at this year's Chipping Sodbury Jazz Festival. Tickets (£18.50) are available from the Tourist Information Centre (Clock Tower), Penny Farthings or Vickers Stationers.
Premier Wen Jiabao of China arrived in Britain over the weekend for a series of events culminating in bilateral talks with the Prime Ministers today at Number Ten. While the discussions will undoubtedly turn to the economy, trade agreements and further cooperation between our two countries, I hope the Prime Minister will also promote our greatest exports: our long held values of democracy, human rights and free speech. These bilateral meetings offer the British government a chance to place human rights unambiguously on the agenda in our discussions with the Chinese. As William Hague wrote last year, "promoting human rights ...
Vince is starting to irritate me. Greatly. His 'interventions' are untimely and, well, quite annoying. A liability might be too harsh, but Nick Clegg needs to question the Business Secretary's loyalty to the government and the party. Whether the government ... Continue reading →
So, Ken Livingstone has decided to call the Lib Dems a "venal sub-species". Now it's a shame he said that, for three reasons. It's an idiotic thing to say as Lib Dem second preferences will be crucial in determining whether it is Boris or Ken who wins the 2012 London mayoral election.It's an incredibly nasty and insulting thing to say which has put me off Ken completely. Which is a shame because:I used to prefer Ken to Boris Johnson. Mainly because the latter's record as mayor consists mainly of breaking promises, ignoring everyone who disagrees with him and hiking up ...
It's recently come to my attention that, a fortnight or so ago, there was a massive breach of data security at Guildford borough council. My understanding is that emails containing the council records of hundreds (if not thousands) of people were sent to the wrong people instead of the people who the records were about. Perhaps most gratingly for the council, this incident occurred just days after a glowing report on the council's data security by an outside inspector had been published. Apparently the data leak occurred simply because some council official selected the wrong mailing list when sending out ...
Recently in the local Press there was an article regarding the purchasing of a shop on Rochester High Street by a charity, I forget which one, and the fear of shop keepers and locals that the high street will become a haven for second hand shops and charity shops thus ruining the quaint nature of the Cathedral city. The local Labour party are keen to blame the Council administration for the collapse of Gillingham and Chatham shopping centres and indeed they do have some points. The parking in Gillingham is atrocious and the road works and constant changes to the ...
The formal application for the tube line extension is expected to be submitted towards the end of 2011 and if accepted the Northern Line Extension will be operational by 2016. The Northern Line Extension will run from Kennington to Battersea Power Station with an additional stop at Nine Elms. There is currently a shortfall in the funding which the GLA and Councils will have to find. It was also noted that the station at Battersea Power Station was not a terminal station so there is potential for the Northern Line to be extended further, either to Clapham Junction or even ...
It's always a pleasure to see a Liberal Democrat MP standing up for our core liberal values. And among the core principles of liberalism, private ownership of property is of huge importance. So it's truly gratifying to see that Stephen Williams, MP for Bristol West, is taking a stand to protect owners of property from being dispossessed. Stephen has given his support to legislation, to be brought before parliament by the government, to criminalise squatting. This is highly welcome and long overdue. Squatting has for too long been portrayed as a victimless crime, a Robin Hood grab from the rich ...
Another week, another letter backing Lords reform in Liberal Democrat News, this time from myself. If you agree with me, why not also send a letter for publication to Liberal Democrat News on ldn@libdems.org.uk? You can also sign up to support the grassroots Liberal Democrats for Lords Reform campaign on Facebook.
Good for Amnesty International for petitioning Hamas to improve the appalling conditions in which Gilad Shalit is held. I have signed and I urge others to do so; also, if you're an MP, you may also wish to sign EDM 1983. I suppose that Amnesty ought really to be calling for Gilad Shalit's actual release, but campaigning to improve the dire conditions in which he is held is a lot better than nothing. It is impossible to exaggerate the symbolic importance of Gilad Shalit to Israeli public opinion, and if you care about the peace process, then you need to ...
It's pretty clear that relations between the Liberal Democrats and Labour are at their lowest in history. Some individuals are keeping a dialogue open, and why not, but in terms of people that actually matter, the two parties have never been further apart. Enter, Ken Livingstone, a man who is going to need as many ...
Cavendish first and Renshaw second in Paris 2009 There is no surprise that this team has two objectives. One is to get Mark Cavendish to the front of as many sprints as the Manx Missile can get to, the other other is that Tony Martin places as high as possible in the General Classification so therefore the team is designed with engines to help both to their goals. Mark Cavendish (UK) 26 This years Tour isn't that good for him. Though that shouldn't stop Cav climbing from his tie for 12th for most stage wins. He currently has 15 one ...
Venal adj 1 : capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration : purchasable; especially : open to corrupt influence and especially bribery : mercenary venal legislator; 2 : originating in, characterized by, or associated with corrupt bribery venal arrangement with the police;Definition for the Merriam-Webster dictionary Now this may be news to London Mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone, but I am not for sale. Nor are the values of the Liberal Democrats. Nor am I a sub-species, he should ask Michael Connarty if he considers me to a political sub species or not. Look at the ...
Yate's Armadillo Youth Venue and Cafe has won the Local Authority Building Control (LABC) West of England Building Excellence Award for the Best Community Building. In a ceremony on Friday at Bristol's Royal Marriott Hotel, Cllrs Chris Willmore and Ian Blair, the four young people on the committee and Armadillo manager James Dunn, together with the architect and the contractor, were presented with a trophy and certificates. Chris Willmore commented "Many thanks are due to everyone on Yate Town Council, you all have a share of the credit for this, having the trust to let young people take such a ...
The row over Hearts backing Craig Thomson, who has just been placed on the sex offenders register for five years for inappropriate behaviour towards two girls aged 12 and 14 continues. I blogged that it was time for decent Hearts fans to take back their club, but it's clear that some are even contemplating going one step further and defecting to the green side. Welcome aboard James.
From time to time (OK, pretty much constantly – hundreds every month) we get copyright takedown notices from rights holders. We don't do anything about them, we're not their enforcement arm, but a handy little script automatically forwards them on to our customers via email. Most of them are of the form "WE'RE GOING TO SUE YOU UNLESS YOU STOP THIS RIGHT AWAY! Although, we may sue you anyway" wrapped up in some opaque legalese. So, it's refreshing to have seen the following go past over the weekend: Recently BayTSP detected an infringement of TV TOKYO Medianet Inc.'s copyright interests ...
Mon 27th
11:21
Southend Council Car Parking profits soar majestically as the motorist gets screwed over yet again.
We have all had a moan about how much car parking costs these days. When a friend and I pop into town for all you can eat Chinese as we do for lunch every so often we park in a residential area because it's free and walk ten minutes into town. The cost of parking your car even for a few minutes is obscene and people wonder why folks are being driven to out of town shopping centres where parking in generally free and why in town shops have been suffering all over the country for a fair while now. ...
This month, along with 600 other people, I took part in the Caledonian Challenge. This is a charity event which involves walking over 50 miles in 24 hours along a section of the West Highland Way from Fort William to Tyndrum.For an 'auld yin' like myself this is quite a tough challenge. Actually it is pretty tough for anyone. It includes walking through a mountain pass on General Wade's military road which is very rocky and hard walking. It also includes climbing steeply into the hills above Kinlochleven and over the Devil's Staircase into Glencoe as well as walking across ...
Vacansoleil-DCM are making thier debut in the Tour and indeed only one of their riders has riden the Tour before. Roman Feillu (Fra) 27 The French sprinter has started three Tours but has yet to finish, but he had three top ten finishes in his first Tour won. He also managed to pull on the Yellow Jersey (along with the White Jersey) after stage three of the 2008 Tour. But both were short lived. He won three stages in this years Tour Méditerranéen. He doesn't have the raw speed of some of the top sprinters but if he can get ...
Lancashire County Council are to introduce 20mph zones in all residential areas throughout the county reports Clitheroe's County Councillor – Allan Knox. Allan added: "The scheme, which will not involve any speed bumps, is going to be rolled out across the County in the next two years. "One of the first areas where it will be rolled out is the north and west of Clitheroe. "The dividing line will be the A671 (Whalley Road, The Inner By-pass and Chatburn Road) and those roads will not be affected by the scheme. However everything west and north of there will be included ...
Cornwall Council has released new data which shows that around one in five children in Cornwall is living in poverty with a range from 2% in the wealthiest areas to 58% in parts of Camborne. Full marks to Chris Ridgers - now a member of the Cabinet, but formerly chair of the Children's Scrutiny Committee which commissioned the report. He is quoted by the BBC saying: "We found it wasn't just the poverty that was the issue. It had knock-on implications for health, there was a strong correlation between the rate of teenage pregnancy and deprivation, educational achievement. There was ...
A few years ago, then Scots Tory leader David McLetchie had to resign effectively for taking a few taxis he shouldn't. Ultimately, he's a decent bloke, and losing his job was probably a bit severe. In the volatile world of politics, though, his position was untenable. I wouldn't condone what McLetchie did, but it was an easily made and easily rectified mistake. And then we have Craig Thomson, the Hearts defender, who has recently been convicted of sending lewd photographs of himself to girls of 12 and 14. He has walked away with a £4000 fine and has been put ...
On Thursday, Cornwall Council's Strategic Planning Committee will be discussing the application for 330 new houses and a new primary school at Hay Common (near the slip road onto the A30, south of Tesco). This meeting will be held in Truro and starts at 10am with Hay Common second on the agenda. However, you can also watch the meeting live via the Council's web-casting system - simply go to www.cornwall.gov.uk from 10am. Tweet
On Saturday I along with many like minded Liberal Democrats attended an initial meeting of Social Liberal's in Scotland at Partick Burgh Hall. I was so inspired by the speech by Robert Brown that I have decided to include this here. Now I know Caron has beat me to this, however if somethings good it is okay to repeat this. This speech is from a friend of mine who has been an inspiration to me. It is Robert who provided significant inspiration to me to stand as a candidate at the Scottish Parliament and the whole team in Glasgow were ...
Mon 27th
09:42
Polls show mistrust in Lib Dem talent: Changes needed in Lib Dem mindset to gain electoral success
YouGov shows that the public do not believe that the Lib Dems are led by people of 'real' ability. This is a worry as the Lib Dems' short and medium term future depends on the perceived success or failure of our role in the Coalition Government. So does our success in the Coalition Government depend ...
I was very pleased to see a rare showing of unanimity this past week in Parliament in support for Conservative MP Mark Pritchard's non-binding motion to ban the use of wild animals in the circus here in the UK. The fact that he stood up so resolutely against his own leader and party Whips under intense pressure to withdraw his motion is to his personal credit and it is lamentable of the Conservative Party and David Cameron that they attempted to silence Mr Pritchard in the manner of which he described at the start of his debate. My Thailand Experience ...
Proposals to put pictures on the internet of convicted offenders of triangulated crimes is simply diabolical. The argument made is that pictures are already available in local papers so being on a website is no different. Except, that local newspapers, while not 'microfiche' any more, are far less accessible. Even to access full stories, payment is required, which limits access. The accessibility of photographs online is far greater and opens up a pandora's box of vigilanteism that allows offenders to be persecuted long after their convictions are spent. Providing people with the beginnings of effigies will take us back to ...
In Andrews Rawnsley's excellent analysis of the coalitions lack of support in the North, there was one stand out point right at the end that gave me serious pause for thought. It was this: 'Nick Clegg has confided to friends that he was slow to realise how much visceral hostility towards the Tories there was in the north, nor had he foreseen how it would be displaced on to his own party through guilt by association.' What, really? Andrew Rawnsley is extremely well connected so I presume one of Nick's, ahem, 'friends', has decided to brief this to a journalist. ...
Congratulations to Energy Secretary, Chris Huhne who, according to the Belfast Telegraph, has told energy firms that they must bring forward voluntary plans to ensure customers can switch to the best deals, or they will face legislation forcing them to do so: In an open letter to the bosses of gas and electricity suppliers, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne calls for them to offer their ideas within the next fortnight and reach an agreement by the end of the summer. If a voluntary deal cannot be reached, he is threatening to use powers in the Energy Bill to impose requirements for ...
Plaid Cymru Leadership contender, Elin Jones is quite right when she says in this morning's Western Mail that First Minister Carwyn Jones' ability to negotiate with the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government in Westminster is undermined by Labour's refusal to introduce such reforms under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The First Minister has been highly vocal since Labour lost power at Westminster in calling for a reform of the Barnett formula and yet shortly before the 2010 election then-Treasury Minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry sent a letter to the Scottish Government's Enterprise Minister Jim Mather stating that the "Government currently has no ...
At the weekend Mark Valladares rightly pointed out that now is a good time for local parties to start thinking about their autumn AGMs. AGMs are important not only for their role in party democracy and accountability but also for the role in having a lively, healthy local party that does politics, campaigning and socialising. Here are my ten top tips to make an AGM (or indeed pretty much any local party meeting or event) a success. Individually, each of them are pretty straight-forward but the collective impact can make a huge different to how well a local party does ...
It's easy to knock statistics, and popular to do so when politicians churn them out as "proving" things which we intuitively feel to be wrong. The truth is, however, that (properly supplied) they are the safest basis for many of our judgements. We all know that before we can calulate how long a journey will take, we need to know how far there is to travel. Before we start buying for a meal we need to know how many people there are to feed. And so on. That's why the latest County Durham Joint Strategic Needs Assessment should be obligatory ...
The scandal over the Leicestershire County and Rutland Primary Care Trust's mishandling of the redevelopment of St Luke's Hospital in Market Harborough made the East Midlands edition of the BBC Politics Show yesterday lunchtime - as you can see from the video abouve. Edward Garnier MP and the Liberal Democrat councillor Phil Knowles took part in the report, which confirmed everything that has appeared in the press and my posts on St Luke's. In particular, it confirmed that the Trust paid £1.5m to the appropriately named Modcon UK, which has since been wound up by HM Revenue and Customs. It ...
Yesterday afternoon, I was delighted to address the Annual General Meeting of the River Crescent Residents' Association, held in the Education Centre of Dundee Botanic Garden (pictured right). I gave an overview of West End projects and local issues and residents raised a number of matters, including vehicle speeds on Perth Road, Ninewells Avenue and Riverside Drive. River Crescent has a vibrant residents' group and it was a real pleasure to speak with local residents at their AGM yesterday.
broadcast anniversary 27 June 1964: broadcast of "The Unwilling Warriors", second episode of the story we now call The Sensorites. The Sensorites threaten to take Susan to their own planet as a hostage.
EVE Evolved: The day that EVE Online died | Massively How the owners of EVE Online are losing the confidence of their customer base. (tags: games internet) Asteroid To Buzz Earth Monday, June 27th - Observing Highlights - SkyandTelescope.com Not a very big one - less than 20m -but very close - less than 13000 km! (tags: astronomy) Dressing Up For Going Out | The Onion - America's Finest News Source 'A simple, classic T-shirt always says "I'm here to have fun." Unless of course it actually says "Doctor Who."' (tags: funny) Goalkeeper scores goal in under-17s Canada v England ...
So says the Libyan rebel defence minister Jalal al-Dgheli who told the Beeb, "What we're learning from defectors is Gaddafi's inner circle is getting smaller by the day" And by way of photographic evidence I believe this may show just how small his inner circle has become:
