Has the Last Post begun to sound for Rupert Murdoch's British Empire? Rupert Murdoch's media empire in the United Kingdom consists of four major newspapers: the Sun, News of the World, The Times and the Sunday Times. Rupert Murdoch also has a large stake in the television media and is seeking to complete a takeover of British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). Several years ago rumours began to emerge about News Corporation journalists from the News of the World hacking into the phones of major celebrities and politicians. It has since transpired that many individuals indeed did have their phone messages hacked ...
Which Reading blogger once wrote to me:- 'I will help your Reading East campaign in whatever way I can.'........? More tomorrow. socialise this: [IMG: add 'Riddle me ree.....' a Del.icio.us] [IMG: add 'Riddle me ree.....' a digg] [IMG: add 'Riddle me ree.....' a Stumble Upon] [IMG: add 'Riddle me ree.....' a FaceBook] [IMG: add 'Riddle me ree.....' a Twitter]
Labour and the Tories have been vying for the affections of Rupert Murdoch for far too long now (the Lib Dems have never really had a look in but I doubt we'd have been any purer given the opportunity). News International have perpetuated the myth of their importance to the political discourse ever since the ...
I did my M.Sc. research dissertation on using NOAA satellite data to map lava flows on Mount Etna in Sicily. So I have seen a lot of satellite images of the island. Watching a YouTube video of "Londo's finest moments" from Babylon 5 Season 4 "Into The Fire", the Centauri island of Selini is shown ...
The thing which is baffling me about the New of the World scandal is what they thought could possibly generate a newspaper story from their hacking victims. Even at the most cynical view of the newspapers as having the sole purpose of selling papers, I really can not see how hacking the phones of people who were unlucky enough to get on the wrong bus and were killed in a terrorist atrocity could have produced a story. That friends and family were worried and trying to get in touch can be taken as understood, it's not necessary to get a ...
From the Daily Telegraph (21 December 2010) Vince Cable has "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch, the media tycoon, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. The Business Secretary indicated that he would seek to block Mr Murdoch from taking over BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster that he already partially owns. The disclosure is the second revelation in extracts from a covertly recorded conversation between Mr Cable and two undercover reporters from this newspaper posing as Liberal Democrat supporters in his constituency. "You may wonder what is happening with the Murdoch press", Mr Cable said. "I have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I ...
The Huffington Post UK has now been launched. In an earlier post, I said that Iain Dale was launching his new blogging site today. In fact he launches on Friday 8 July. Arianna Huffington's UK venture uses the same template as its US parent. There is lots of news that comes from contributory bloggers as well as links to the national media. The main focus is politics. In the US, this news cocktail works incredibly well. Over the last few years, in the UK, we have seen a growing number of blogs that have multiple contributors. Presumably, this is why ...
Tonight's "Evening Telegraph" highlights the utterly mindless vandalism at Balgay Cemetery that resulted in over 40 gravestones being toppled over. As I am quoted in the Tele - "I hope the police get maximum cooperation from the public apprehending whoever is responsible. It is a heinous thing to do. It shows no respect for people's families." Anyone who has noted anything suspicious happening at Balgay Cemetery over last weekend are urged to contact Tayside Police on 0300 111 2222. Shocking vandalism at Balgay Cemetery
Iqbal Mohammad has been a member of Dundee Liberal Democrats for a few years, joining as a young man soon after he left Morgan Academy. Iqbal has been a good friend to us all and we were all really pleased to learn of his recent success in gaining a place at university. The fact that Iqbal has Asperger's syndrome has made getting to university a big challenge and it is of great credit to Iqbal that he has overcome all hurdles to succeed. His success was reported in the Evening Telegraph last week and you can read more on The ...
It's been a tough day. I've not long returned from the funeral of a close family friend who will be dearly missed by everyone who knew her. I at least returned to the good news that Aled Roberts has been re-instated to the Welsh Assembly after a vote by his fellow Assembly Members (including the newly elected Eluned Parrott AM). The Elias Report, without saying so in so many words, exonerated him from any blame for the mess that has surrounded the Assembly over the past two months. It was clear for any reasonable person, that natural justice should be ...
Did you know that, if you live between the railway line and Kingsway in Gatley, there's a service that will pick you up from your house and take you to Gatley or Heald Green village centres – to use buses, trains or shops – and then take you back again afterwards. It's called Local Link. You need to book in advance, then you get picked up from your house. You can book by calling 08456 05 55 05 and ask for Local Link, 8am – 8pm every day, or online here. Book between a week and an hour before you ...
This is a somewhat random post. I've had a couple of photos on my phone for a while meaning to blog about them. The first is of the magnificent and formidable Nancy Seear. I was trying to find a decent photo of her on the internet to illustrate a posting about a meeting of the policy committee and the disastrous 'dead parrot ' . policy statement. Frankly there were none. I was in the NLC for the first time in a long time to attend the Liberal History group meeting which included a contribution on Richard Wainwright by the author ...
Labours capital budget being discussed tonight at council assembly hasseveral items related to the four traveller sites in Southwark. In total they propose to spend £1.23M on the 38 traveller pitches or £32,368 per pitch. WOW! Southwark being 1 of 32 London Boroughs is providing 1 in 14 of London's traveller pitches. Surely their must be cheaper ways of refurbishing these pitches – even if it means buying places elsewhere in London to create new or extending existing sites? Why is Southwark disproportionately accommodating travellers compared to other London boroughs with a housing policy to promote money for more traveller ...
On Sunday, I highlighted the eyesore of the graffiti mess on railway buildings at the north end of the Tay Rail Bridge, adjacent to Riverside Drive and Riverside Approach. I am pleased to say that yesterday Network Rail advised me that they would clean off the mess today and tomorrow. I was interviewed on Radio Tay News about the matter earlier today - click 'play' to listen:
Liberal Democrat councillor Kathy Pollard celebrates the departure of Andrea Hill from Suffolk County Council: "In a county where half the population earn less than £17,500 a salary of £218k was always going to be unacceptable to the majority." "His foreign policy was very much geared not to Empire, but to doing the right thing. Gladstone felt he had been put into this position by God, and so he had to pursue these policies even if they meant political failure, as it certainly did in terms of Ireland." Greg Garrett interviews Peter Francis, Warden of Gladstone's Library, on Patheos. The ...
We have done David Cameron and Jenny Jones, so we may as well see Boris Johnson making a fool of himself over phone-hacking too. Here he is as reported by Dave Hill for the Guardian last September: Boris Johnson today dismissed continuing concerns over the News of the World's use of phone hacking as "codswallop" that "looks like a politically motivated put-up job by the Labour party". Speaking at his monthly grilling by the London assembly, the mayor of London - who was warned by police in 2006 that he'd had his voicemail accessed, and was chair of the Metropolitan ...
I should have taken this advice from Groucho Marx "I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member." I recently had an invite to connect with someone who'd joined LinkedIn, in a moment of madness I thought why not? to be honest, I've being doing some night shifts, which particularly at this time of year, have a tendency to result in a diminished clarity of thought. To blog itself to many must be an indicator of crankiness, but by the same token reading such drivel, must also be a bit nutty. Anyhow LinkedIn is ...
It seems small potatoes now, but when Harigate broke I mentioned that Johann Hari once worked as a researcher for Jeffrey Archer. I was not able to find a source for this fact on the net, which I remembered from an old Private Eye. The new Eye helpfully reprints the item I remembered, which turned out to date from August 2007: A litte known fact about the 28-year-old Indie pundit Johann Hari is that he used to work for Jeffrey Archer ... assisting the great fabulist with his novel Sons of Fortune.Very unfairly, that item went on to add: The ...
Aled Roberts, one of two Welsh Assembly members disqualified shortly after May's election because they belonged to proscribed public bodies, has been reinstated after a vote by AMs today. The BBC reports: Members voted to reinstate Mr Roberts after an investigation found he was misled by out-of-date guidance for election candidates published in Welsh. He said it had been a difficult period and he now wanted to represent voters. AMs lifted his disqualification by 30 votes to 20 in the Senedd on Wednesday, with three abstaining after a near 50-minute debate. Mr Roberts, elected for the North Wales region, was ...
Wed 6th
19:11
SB's Guide to Conflict Resolution: part 1: the proper response to being told you have upset someone.
Here, dear f-list, I am going to teach you to suck eggs. I have said all this before, and I have no doubt I will have to say it all again at some point. Also: I am not perfect, nor attempting to assert that I am. We all cock up sometimes, myself included, and sometimes I even cock up my response to being told I have cocked up. None the less, here goes. If someone tells you that you have upset them, the proper response is to apologise, THEN investigate what exactly caused the upset, THEN try to justify yourself ...
The British Psychological Society (for whom I happen to work) is making its 2010 report Understanding Bipolar Disorder available for free download throughout July. As one of the authors says: "Much has been written about the biological aspects of bipolar disorders: this report aims to redress the balance by concentrating on the psychological aspects, both in terms of how we understand the problems and also approaches to help and treatment. We hope this report will influence the way in which services are delivered, so that more people have access to psychological treatments and that services will no longer insist that ...
If you visit the Sefton website today you are sure of a big surprise. Slowly, creakingly it is becoming more user friendly. I accept it would be difficult to get any less welcoming but there are, at last, genuine signs of taking the matter seriously. Good grief they have a twitter and youtube account. Ok many other councils, businesses, voluntary groups and individuals have had them for ages but this is Sefton and the resistance has been very deep rooted. It wasn't so long ago that they refused to deal with online media at all! One bit of the website ...
I've a number of tshirts that proclaim all sorts of things about myself on the front or on the back. I was looking for others and came across this one. It is quite appropriate – although some of us have had the image of us paddling across the Tiber with our breviaries held above our ...
A dark brooding storm cloud is gathering over News International's imposing fortress at Wapping and senior officers at the Metropolitan Police are assumedly watching with some unease, as inappropriate relationships between the two organisations begin to be uncovered. The revelations that Milly Dowler's phone was hacked by the News of the Screws, her messages deleted, false hope given to her distraught parents and the police enquiry hampered, have proven to be what media advisers call a 'tipping point.' This is where a story goes from being of interest to a section of society, to universal public awareness and in this ...
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has just emailed party members, appealing for their views on next steps following the allegations of widespread phone-hacking by the News of The World: I'm sure like me you have been shocked and appalled by the allegations of widespread phone hacking by the News of the World. As I made clear at Deputy Prime Minister's Question Time in the House of Commons yesterday the behaviour of those involved is grotesque and beneath contempt. The PM and I have agreed, as he announced today at PMQs, that there will be inquiries into both the original police ...
At the intermediate sprint in today's race Tom Boonen moved across towards the left hand barrier, making Jose Joaquin Rojas the wearer of the Green Jersey also move across. Unlike in stage 3 when Mark Cavendish and Thor Hushovd were relegated from the sprint a rider was impeded by this change of lane. That rider ironically was Mark Cavendish. Let us look at the rule book: 2.3.036 Sprints Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others. from the UCI rules If there is to be ...
I can report a small environmental victory by my husband. His department's water cooler is being retired at the end of the week.
Here are the Liberal Democrat entries in the top 100 political blogs as ranked by Wikio: 1 (6) Liberal Democrat Voice Down 1 2 (19) Caron's Musings Up 9 3 (27) Liberal England Up 6 4 (35) Jack of Kent No change 5 (41) Mark Pack Down 3 6 (42) Liberal Vision Up 6 7 (50) Mark Thompson Up 5 8 (57) Lynne Featherstone Up 38 9 (59) Paul Walter Up 8 10 (64) Miss S B No change 11 (87) Andrew Reeves New 12 (88) Spiderplant Land New 13 (90) Peter Black Up 3 14 (91) Liberal Bureaucracy New ...
The Badger Trust have issued a press statement in which they say that a report published on Monday by a panel of experts confirms that a badger cull would be a massively irresponsible gamble that could backfire on farmers and prove hugely unpopular with the public. They say that: "The forecast possible reductions in bTB are small and spread over a huge time frame - nine years until 2020. They are also highly speculative, relying on a large-scale, sustained, simultaneous cull over a large area. They are also, damningly, based not on science but on guesswork. "The impact and efficacy ...
I have just returned from a celebration of the completion of the first 34 houses and flats delivered as part of the Durand Close regeneration. Residents have already moved into their new homes including Judy McDaid chair of the residents association (pictured middle). The regeneration is a great model of partnership working between the developer ...
Nick Clegg shocked me when he said that the UK fiscal deficit is increasing by £400m every day. Since then we have had a broadly fiscally neutral budget from George Osborne, intended to stimulate the economy. True, VAT rose to 20% but in other ways, this was a give-away budget. VAT is a regressive tax, which we all have to pay, when we buy what we need, whether we can afford it or not. There should be lower rates for household essentials such as fuel. There should be no VAT on the first £1,000 of fuel bills. The income tax ...
The European debt crisis is a sign of a much bigger conflict within the European Union. It is a battle for what Europe is and what it should do. And, more importantly, where the power truly rests; Brussels or national ... Continue reading →
Wed 6th
15:02
Video - Julian Huppert MP raises issue of public confidence in Police in phone hacking debate
Julian Huppert has become something of a rising star within the Liberal Democrats. The MP for Cambridge has consistently raising important issues of civil liberties such as control orders and their replacement. Today he questioned Attorney General Dominic Grieve in the News of the World Phone Hacking debate:
I've been asked to contribute as a blogger to Huffington Post's excellent new UK site, which launches today. My posts will generally be on the UK Politics page and you can always find them on this link here. Please do go along and post comments there so that we can have a good debate. Do go to HuffPo and read my first post, in which I have written: Liberal Democrats' role in the Coalition Government offers the party a chance to re-define its foreign policy thinking, much as the Orange Book re-defined aspects of its economic thinking. The Orange Book ...
Quote of the Day during the News of the World Phone Hacking debate at the House of Commons by Labour MP Chris Bryant on Rupert Murdoch "We have let one man have far too great a sway over our national life. At least Berlusconi lives in Italy" It is nice for the tables to be turned on a former tabloid editor. Many times they have called on individuals to resign from their roles when the case against them is not proven. This is what has been asked of Rebekah Brooks, of the News of the World who was the editor ...
The following is a work of fiction as many of the devices used were a thing of science fiction at the time. Or were out of the realms of everyman usage. It is late in the evening of 15th April 1989, the News of the World editor Patsy Chapman, was calling an emergency meeting of her Editorial team as a result of the day's events. She looked at them and said,"We need a scoop, we need an angle that nobody else will have tomorrow. Go and get me it. Just don't tell me how you get it, just what you ...
Car parks in Launceston which charge drivers when they shouldn't will have their ticket machines changed as a matter of urgency. That's the promise I've just received from Cornwall Council's parking manager. I've also received a promise that any driver who has paid when they shouldn't (and still has the ticket) will get a refund. The charging hours for Launceston's Cornwall Council owned car parks were changed on May 9th. One of the key changes was that charges now end at 4pm. As I blogged, there are still plenty of people who were putting money in the machines at, say ...
Green London Assembly Member Jenny Jones has declared that phone hacking is "not something we should be spending a huge amount of time on." It is true that the Operation Wheeting is the second largest investigative team in the Met but, given the widespread and serious nature of the allegations, this at first seems a bizarre statement, of the ...
It has been a really important day, mostly dominated by the vote later this afternoon on whether to reinstate Aled Roberts to the Assembly. However, whatever happens in that vote the important decisions that need to be taken for Wales will be outside of the Senedd. These decisions are foreshadowed by Carwyn Jones' meeting today with the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding the Barnett formula and the forthcoming Calman-style review of the way that the Assembly is funded and related tax issues. There was a debate on a cross-party motion in the Assembly yesterday which will hopefully demonstrate solidarity on ...
The government has just launched a revamped version of the old failed and worn out counter-extremism strategy initiated by Labour whilst it was in power. Prevent was originally launched after the 7 July bombings in 2005 to stop the spread of home-grown terrorism. Labour's approach failed, proved divisive and also led to inevitable alienation in Muslim communities. Can the new hardline approach succeed in preventing acts of Islamist violence on the streets of Britain? The new framework runs counter to the liberal and sensible arguments proposed and hard fought for within Government by Nick Clegg and Andrew Stunell for a ...
It's great to see the first day of The Huffington Post UK. As is usual with their US version, their front page is an attractive mix of interesting articles, but all about the UK. Well done Huffpo team!
Proposed cuts to Cornwall's performing arts library will be debated at the council's Communities Scrutiny meeting on March 14th. The library is said to be facing major changes in a bid to cut spending. Like many Cornwall Councillors, I've received many emails from concerned users of a pretty unique facility. Based at St Austell Library, the performing arts library holds lots of sheet music and scripts for plays. It is used by amateur dramatics groups, bands and academics and saves each user many hundreds of pounds. If a group is looking for a play to perform, they can study and ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice A comprehensive win for Ed Miliband today, I thought. He came to the Commons with a three point plan concerning the phone hacking scandal: 1. Hold a public inquiry under a senior figure, with the power to call witnesses on oath, to look in general at the culture and practices of the media in this country, to include relationships with the police. 2. Refer the News International BSkyB deal to the Competition Commission. 3. Call for the resignation of the Chief Executive of News International. Cameron signaled, for the first time, that the government wants ...
It wasn't only David Cameron who got it wrong on phone hacking, as Helen Duffet points out on Liberal Democrat Voice. Here is Jenny Jones, Green MLA and London Mayoral candiate, on the subject: "Although this is not a victimless crime it is not something we should be spending a huge amount of time on," she said. "There are murders, child abductions and rapes that these officers could be investigating. All these people have to do is not use the voicemail facility on their phone and they will never be hacked again. At a time when resources are so stretched ...
The warden of Gladstone's Library-St Deniols-has an article 'In Defense of Liberalism'. It is well worth a read. St Deniol's has in the past not always been a comfortable place for modern day Liberals but it certainly is now. The article can be found in full here. In it he asserts: We should remember him (Gladstone) for all sorts of reasons, for instance, universal primary education. That's due to Gladstone. The shift from a democracy being run by the aristocracy to a meritocracy, that's due to Gladstone. The whole concept of human rights—he was certainly not the inventor of human ...
Second home owners in Cornwall will face an additional hurdle before being able to vote in elections in Cornwall. That was the decision made today by the Council's Electoral Review Panel and which will now be recommended to full council for approval. There has been concern for some time that second home owners are registering and voting in Cornwall when they should not be. The legal position is that homes which are owned purely for recreational reasons should not carry an entitlement to vote - but that has not been enforced in Cornwall until recently. Of the 13,576 registered second ...
A comprehensive win for Ed Miliband today, I thought. He came to the Commons with a three point plan concerning the phone hacking scandal: 1. Hold a public inquiry under a senior figure, with the power to call witnesses on oath, to look in general at the culture and practices of the media in this country, to include relationships with the police. 2. Refer the News International BSkyB deal to the Competition Commission. 3. Call for the resignation of the Chief Executive of News International. Cameron signaled, for the first time, that the government wants to hold inquiries into the whole affair. He ...
Made the front page of the politics section at The Huffington Post. Quite pleased with myself, and grateful for a contribution being used. Much thanks to the Post. You can, also, find my Huffington work here and become a fan ... Continue reading →
I have been shocked to find out from a local resident – then confirmed with the county council -that all the intermediate care beds in County Durham are either alongside, or to the East of, the A1. Intermediate care beds are provided either to keep people out of acute hospital care, or help people who have come out of hospital to get back to living a full and active life. Intermediate care is provided for a maximum period of six weeks. There are 43 of these intermediate care beds in the county, situated in Belmont, Chester le Street, Peterlee and ...
Not one link found on somebody's voicemail. Earth Hour – A new short story from Ken MacLeod. Misleading money-saving claims help no one – Bad Science becomes Bad Department for Communities and Local Government for a week, as Ben Goldacre points out how flawed the claim that local authorities could save £10bn a year from procurement costs is. Michele Bachmann's Holy War – A Rolling Stone profile of 'the candidate Sarah Palin was meant to be'. Scared yet? Murdoch forces normal people to agree with the Guardian – the Daily Mash's take on phone hacking. "Thank goodness the Daily Mail ...
There's one less blank sheet of paper at Labour HQ as the party gets ready to reveal how its policy review is progressing. Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary Meg Hillier is to give a keynote address to green executives and industry leaders which will "for the first time offer a detailed insight into the opposition's low carbon policy thinking." Looking forward to finally hearing what Labour think, 9 months and 7 days after first appointed as Chris Huhne's shadow!
Details can be found here Sefton Council was awarded £1.55m for its "visitor economy project", to improve facilities for pedestrians and cyclists in places such as Formby and Ormskirk town centres. The plans include the reopening of the Kew park and ride site, during school holidays and weekends initially, to improve travel into Southport town centre.
I have a question down to the Leader of the Council at our meeting on Thursday. I am trying to elicit from him his reaction to the decision of Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority (ITA) to abandon its policy of seeking to take over the rail track and rolling stock and run a cost effective integrated rail service. To date they have spent £1.5m on a campaign to promote this policy and the new government is sympathetic to allowing Merseyside to go ahead. In deed the Mc Nulty report specifically identifies Merseyside as the place to trial this idea. As part ...
You may think that News Corporation may need all the friends it can get at the moment, but be assured that the media empire retains many friends in high places who are courageously defending its position against the weight of public opinion. Many are at the pinnacle of power – Cameron's former director of communications, Andy Coulson, stands accused of passing money to the police while he was editor of the News of the World. I doubt that it was a donation to the police benevolent fund. Harlow Conservative MP Robert Halfon also appears to be one of Murdoch's staunchest ...
This morning at 6am the UK version of the Huffington Post went live. Unsurprisingly, they have decided to go after News International Chief Exec Rebekah Brooks on their inaugural front page after yesterday's phone hacking revelations. Last night there was a launch party in Parliament, essentially for lobby hacks. I managed to sneak in however, and even got a ...
There have been very few occasions since the election when I have honestly felt that I wished I was still a councillor but one of them was when I read in the local press about the shocking level of homophobia in Luton's schools. The report was of an NUT survey that found that in Luton's secondary schools; "a staggering 94.5 per cent of teachers had seen or heard a homophobic incident at least on a termly basis.....A further 56 per cent had seen or overheard homophobic abuse in the classroom either every day or at least once a week" This ...
While the country, or Twitter and the press, are consumed with vehement attacks on the Murdoch empire and phone hacking scandal, little changes to the NHS are slipping by. The NHS reform is still going ahead, in spite of compromises. However, even the reformed reforms still remove the duty of the secretary of state to provide healthcare. The change now means he will simply promote it, reawakening fears of a dissolving of the NHS as the bills are sent back to Parliament. Today's Guardian reveals a document from Lansley that undermines his 'reason' for the reforms; to streamline. How, the ...
Here is the link. As far as I understand, Iain Dale also launches his new blog project today too. Will these new sites change how we read blogs and access information?
Last summer a parliamentary question by Lord Hylton flushed out the huge volume of legislation passed by Parliament since 1997 but never actually brought into force. However, these are but the young upstarts in the list of things Parliament has said it would be but has never quite got round to. The grandfather of them all is the opening of the 1911 Parliament Act, which clipped the House of Lords' powers but promised it was only an interim measure, for "it is intended to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on ...
Yes, yes, yes, the title is linkbait – but it's not inaccurate. Let me explain.... I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Linux user. All my machines run some variant of Linux, usually Ubuntu. So, when a new client asked me to to use Windows XP I nearly quit on the spot! But, after a week of using the ageing OS, it strikes me there are a number of things that XP does better than Ubuntu. I was able to sideload Ubuntu using Wubi, so these issues all relate to the same machine. All of these issues are relevant to me and may not ...
You may have missed the special meeting held last week at Maiden Erlegh School by the Schools Adjudicator to discuss concerns about the changes to the catchment area. You would not be alone, because the meeting was arranged at very short notice. Apparently there are no minutes. The walktomaidenerlegh campaign (well done to them for doing it) have a comment thread which sheds some light: http://tinyurl.com/MaidenErleghforum One comment in particular I would like to draw attention to: the one which says they got the impression that the school might be going to revisit the catchments now it is an academy, ...
Chances are, if you've been to a Liberal Democrat event, you've bought a raffle ticket or two. Now don't get me wrong. I like raffles. Some of my best friends run raffles. I've even won two raffle prizes in the last year. But for such a popular Liberal Democrat activity, we are often surprisingly poor at running them. In perhaps three raffles out of five, by the time you get to the final few prizes, just about everyone in the room (if they are still paying attention) is impatient for the raffle to end, with too many prizes then exacerbated ...
Ofcom have produced a map of Broadband availability. The link is the link to it. The real problem, however, is that it does not indicate what someone should expect in some of the really large counties such as Powys.Broadband will vary across such counties so it is more of a management tool than a tool which really explains what someone should expect if they move to somewhere in such a county.It
Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, Nigel Ashton and David Rimmer are holding their next monthly advice centre on Saturday 9th July, from 11 am to 12 noon at St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Council problems you may have. No appointment necessary. Just pop in. We hold our advice centre every month (except August) on the second Saturday of the month at St John's School.
Wed 6th
09:53
Clegg's strategy to build a new voter base is not working: How he can begin to attract new and old v...
Nick Clegg's performance has been improving lately (such as here or here) but many question whether this will be good enough to attract votes. Significant damage has been done to the perception of the Lib Dems and Nick Clegg and changes are needed to rebuild trust. In the height of Cleggmania he was compared to ...
There is near universal outrage amongst people as we learn that the News of the World has been hacking the phones of victims. The most high profile case so far has been Milly Dowler's but this practice seems quite widespread so expect others to come to light. One serious question surrounding the Milley Dowler case is the polices actions, or possible lack of actions. Miller Dowler's phone was being monitored by the police in case it provided any clues or evidence as to where she was or who her killer was. Given that it's alleged that the News of the ...
I'd say it was a good rule of thumb that when a broadsheet national newspaper comes out and calls you a liar, then you've got a problem. I don't mean an implication of lying, liberal use of the word allegedly, or employing the use of phrases like 'economical with the actualite'. I mean full blown finger pointing and cries of 'liar, liar pants on fire.' Yet that is what Andrew Gilligan's Telegraph blog has accused Great Ormond Street Hospital of doing over it's disgraceful handling of the Baby P case. The headline I have quoted above leaves little doubt about ...
Last night BBC's File-on-4 explained some of the games bankers play. Finally I understood what a naked Credit Default Swap (CDS) is. You take out insurance against your investment in a government bond (or whatever) failing because the borrower defaults. However, unlike the insurance that you or I take out on our homes, cars, lives, you can sell the CDS to someone else, who does not hold the
Sorry I've been quiet recently. Mother-in-law has been for a visit, work intervened and I'm rediscovering my love of reading. Which is what I'm here to post about today. As regular readers know I have obsessions with both the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and with the Church of Scientology. I find both religions fascinating, inspiring and disturbing in equal measures. They have extremely similar backgrounds of charismatic prophets, tight control of followers, evangelism, mixing politics with religion and persecution. , which is both a concise history of the Mormon faith and the tale of a modern-day murder ...
Yesterday, Nick Clegg called the phone hacking allegations "Grotesque" and "beneath contempt". Today, he needs to tell the Prime Minister self-regulation by News International has failed and it is time for an independent judicial inquiry. As Liberals, our first position has to be protection of the individual from an over-mighty vested interest. It is clear that individuals within News International in particular and the wider press in general have taken the power of the free media and abused it. That needs to be stopped. If we cannot appeal to the Prime Minister's moral values, we can at least appeal to ...
As regular readers will know, the Council's Director of Environment, Planning and Economy raised the subject during an appearance before a House of Commons Select Committee. This caused a lot of annoyance among the tourist industry and led to hasty denials by the Council itself. I blogged before about the need to set this issue to bed and so yesterday I asked the question at full council. Councillor Ridgers, the new portfolio holder, made it clear that there is no Council policy in favour of a tourist tax and there would not be so long as he had anything to ...
Cap Fréhel On Saturday we started out in the Bay of Biscay, today we end up sticking out into the English Channel. The last 20km of today's stage from Carhaix to Cap Fréhel are likely to be the toughest. With the high cliffs of Brittany all around the cyclists will make their way through cross and head winds as they head back towards the coast and the finish. There will be cross winds and a finish on a headland. So an awkward one to control, but I don't think an awkward one to call. I think HTC are ready, Mark ...
Wed 6th
08:51
DPMQs: "Grotesque" and "beneath contempt" - Clegg on the Milly Dowler phone hacking allegations
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice The highest profile issue at Deputy Prime Minister's questions today was the issue of press phone hacking in the light of the allegations concerning Milly Dowler and the News of the World. Harriet Harman asked Nick Clegg to back Ed Miliband's call for a general public inquiry into illegality in the newspaper industry. As someone has said, this is a bit like holding an inquiry into why we get bad weather. In a sign of divisions within Labour, Chris Bryant, in contrast, has called for a more narrow inquiry. Nick Clegg stopped short of backing ...
Rarely does the Today programme make me laugh out loud. Simon Greenberg, Director of Corporate Affairs at News International managed it this morning. This satrap of the Murdoch empire opined to Jim Naughtie, "You're reaching a judgement without knowing all the facts. That's speculation. I can't comment until the facts are in."
Just a month ago, London Green AM and Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones criticised the Metropolitan Police for spending too much time investigating phone hacking: Jenny Jones, the Green Party member on the authority, said that the investigation, which is being handled by the Met's serious crime directorate, was diverting officers away from more important crimes. "Although this is not a victimless crime it is not something we should be spending a huge amount of time on," she said. "There are murders, child abductions and rapes that these officers could be investigating. All these people have to do is not use ...
This is a true story! A while ago we were travelling on the M6 and we stopped for a "comfort break", as we now call it. As I was wearing trendy jeans with a button fly I decided to use the cubicles rather than the communal urinals. I was part way through my visit when a young, but loud voice from the adjacent cubicle shouted out, " Stop weeing!" There was a pause (not on my part) " Stop weeing, these toilets are for pooing only!" Silent laughter from me hampered operations on my part. " Stop weeing, I'll tell ...
Who knew about the contents of Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire's notebooks after they were taken by the police in 2005/2006? After the Goodman/Mulcaire trials in 2007, why did the police a) not inform people who were named in the notebooks and b) not prosecute? Could it by any chance be related to alleged payments made to the police? When the Guardian broke the story about the hacking of celebrities' phones in 2009 did they also know about the Millie Dowler and July 7th hacking which has just emerged? What is going to be done about the lies told to ...
Liberal England first wrote about the News of the World phone-hacking scandal in July 2009. Read that post and you will find this passage: The BBC quotes a spokeswoman for David Cameron as saying he is "very relaxed" about the story: "The ramping up of this story is ridiculous" ... she said.I hope Mr Cameron is not feeling so relaxed now.
Andrew Gilligan, now the Daily Telegraph's London editor, wrote an article yesterday about Great Ormond Street Hospital's dishonourbale attempt to absolve itself of its share of the blame for the death of Peter Corrigen (Baby P). Writing of one of the doctors who has blown the whistle on the hospital, he concluded:Kim Holt is very lucky to have as her MP the superb Lynne Featherstone, who has been fighting her constituent's corner for the last three years. The hospital has been sabre-rattling against her as well, publishing on its website a, shall we say, unsatisfactory account of its dealings over ...
The next meeting of the Bar Hill neighbourhood watch will take place at the Parish Council offices at 7pm on Wednesday the 13th July. As I'm sure you're aware there currently isn't a Neighbourhood Watch in Bar Hill but your local policing team are hoping to have one up and running in the very near future so I'd encourage anyone who is interested to come along. If you can't make the meeting you can contact the Neighbourhood Policing Team on cambourne.npt@cambs.pnn.police.uk (please note that this is not for "urgent" matters as a response might take quite some time) and your ...
This years Arbury Carnival was one of the most successsful ever and if you'd like the opportunity to be involved in the 35th Anniversary event next year then now is your change. The Arbury Carnival committee is holding a public meeting in a weeks time (Tuesday 13th July at 7pm) in the Arbury Community Centre on Campkin Road to start planning for the 2012 event. If you would like to help out with this fantastic local event, either on the day or to plan the event, then please come along. The more the merrier!
www.sf-encyclopedia.com/SFE Press Release Final.pdf Hooray! "Encyclopedia of Science Fiction to be published online, with text available free - The third edition of the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, the definitive reference work in the field, will be released online later this year by the newly-formed ESF, Ltd, in association with Victor Gollancz, the SF & Fantasy imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, whose support will enable the text to be available free to all users." (tags: sf) Google made my son cry [Legends of the Sun Pig - Martin Sutherland's Blog] Alex is 10 years old... Google is basically just going ...
I'm not entirely sure what I think of the Edinburgh Tram project. I hear so many contradictory things. At this time I can only go on my gut instinct. My gut instinct is this: finish what you started! We are told that the Edinburgh trams will reduce congestion, we are told they will reduce pollution, we are told they will enhance the image of a city that competes globally in the same league as the likes of Barcelona, Munich and Prague. Certainly Edinburgh is becoming more congested. According to international figures it is one of the most congested cities in ...
It's 0126 on July 6th. Deadline day for the DD307 project (TMA04) and SD226 TMA03. I'm glad to say that despite asking for my first ever extension on an OU TMA (for SD226), I haven't had to use it after all. Even so, submitting an assignment with only around 11 hours to go to the formal deadline is the finest I've ever cut a submission since the era of electronic TMAs made it into the psychology faculty. DD307 was slightly less close to the deadline. As this had to go by post (and I still can't quite figure out why ...
Its been ages since I did a Random Thoughts post and I think this one may be a bit more random than most. They unveiled a statue to US President Ronald Reagan in London on Monday. Reagan's legacy, like Thatcher's, is an uncomfortable one for liberals but there is no doubt that, often underestimated in Europe as he was, 'The Gipper' was a master of the political arts. I had a look for this clip of him at his best: Talking of the political arts I wanted to highlight an important truth posted a while ago on Mark Valladares' blog ...
Front pages of tomorrows papers are here. The first 11 all show the NotW hacking scandal in some form, and as Nick Thornsby pointed out, the Sun has gone for something a bit different: Talk about ignoring the issue. They really should be ashamed. This story has definitely had it's watershed moment, and now I can just see more coming flooding through the barriers. Apparently the relatives of the 7/7 victims also may have had their phones hacked. By the sounds of things, any person involved in any news story for the past 10 years may have been a victim. ...
