Fun and yet somewhat creepy short graphic novel about a boy who gives away his dad in return for his friend's goldfish. Dave McKean on form as illustrator too. Though one does wonder what is going on in town that makes so many kids anxious to acquire a father, even one who only sits and reads the newspaper.
It is both amusing and inevitable that the closing of the News of the World has provked outrage from so many quarters. To hear some of the comments being made on TV and radio in the last 36 hours you would have thought that this was the pinnacle of British Journalism being shut down – not a gossip-filled rag, piled high with accusation, salacious tidbits and blurry photos of pop stars knickers as they scramble from car to club. Personally I can't see the problem with shutting it down. I took part in a discussion on this topic yesterday afternoon ...
In this week's mock the week, Jack Whitehall made a joke. He said "the north! Where men are men... And so are quite a lot of the women." As one person, both Mat and James turned to look at me. Grinning. Just because I was amused by them discussing house work earlier. I feel picked on. * lip wobble *
It became a thing, the hot chocolate with butterscotch schanpps. This one's for you, Kay.
An update for dog friendly followers. Our new dog "Mona" has settled in well with our other (slightly grumpy) dog, "Sulby". Mona, a border collie, is coming up to her first birthday. Sulby is a regular winner of rosettes at fly-ball competitions and Claire has great hopes for Mona to start her own rosette collection soon. Both dogs are mad about balls and tennis balls in particular. We now have a dozen balls which are rotated and washed. I don't know how lang the balls last at Wimbledon, but ours are lucky to lat a couple of weeks!
An old Guardian comment is free column from former Sun Editor, David Yelland sets Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg apart from the politicians in their dealings with Rupert Murdoch. Unfortunately, it is not because Nick is more virtuous than the others just that back before the General Election he was less important: Make no mistake, if the Liberal Democrats actually won the election - or held the balance of power - it would be the first time in decades that Murdoch was locked out of British politics. In so many ways, a vote for the Lib Dems is a vote ...
[IMG: TescoValueMargate] Us bloggers do this stuff for various reasons, me to infuriate those who rule us, from politicians to jobsworths and all those Muppets in-between. Still perhaps the best for me is knowing, that while I have limited talents, my original catalyst for doing Bignews (please note one word, wot I made up) Margate, was hearing Simon Moores wittering on about his blog at some public meeting. In fact it's some joy to realise that Moores, such a talent!, who I find quite er..... , qualified that's the word, Doctor! Marines! Pilot! Security! Ex Teacher, Ex SDP?, Ex Labour ...
Despite their Hebridean name (and sound) they're actually from Oxford...
For a decade now I have been the general secretary of EMAG, the Equitable Members' Action Group, a campaigning group for those who lost out because of maladministration and regulatory failure at the once venerable insurance firm Equitable Life. Our pursuit of justice for Equitable Life policyholders started in the summer of 2000. Shortly after, Vince Cable took up the cause and together we walked to Downing Street to deliver a protest letter to Gordon Brown on 6th August, 2001. It was the start of my personal politicisation and I became a Liberal Democrat Councillor in Camden in 2006. I'm ...
Monday, William Wallace's 70th birthday party, in the East Cloister of Westminster Abbey, with excellent choral singing by Voces. I hadn't realised how much time and energy William gives to music, and to the Abbey, and I can't think how he does it with his many Parliamentary duties, and frequent stints on the Government front bench. Wednesday morning, a session of Subcommittee F with the technical adviser who is with us for the new inquiry on the European Union's strategy for dealing with illegal drugs. Europe is divided into hardline states which believe that extra policing and tougher penalties can ...
At the stroke of midnight, 9th July (2100 GMT), South Sudan will join the community of nations as it officially becomes an independent state. It will step out from decades of civil war as it cedes from Sudan after 99% of voters supported independence in a referendum which has been accepted by Sudan's controversial President Omar al-Bashir. This BBC article gives the low down on what will be a historic event. The Republic of South Sudan will become the 193rd member of the United Nations and the newest member since Montenegro officially ceded from Serbia in 2006. As the BBC ...
I appear to be on it now. Feel free to add me if you are there too.
This afternoon I went for a circular walk around Kelston - up onto the Cotswold Ridge. The views were great although on the top it was lashing with rain (I think I was in the cloud!). There was a little thunder and lightning. On my way over the top I passed a dad and son out walking too. They were a mountain rescue call waiting to happen. Bearing in mind I had full waterproofs - they had an umbrella for the Dad (in shorts) and the son had a waterproof top. It does make you wander what they had in ...
Fri 8th
19:30
July Books 6) The Faerie Queene: a selection of critical essays, edited by Peter Bayley
I have not read a single line of Edmund Spenser's late sixteenth century epic, The Faerie Queene, but I am uncomfortably aware that if I am ever to try and grasp the history of Ireland in Spenser's time, I must some day give it a try, and this collection of scholarly essays on the poem seemed a plausible way in. Perusing academic analysis of a work which one has not actually read risks being as boring as hearing about other people's hilariously funny dreams, but the editor chose well here, and most of the essays are at least comprehensible and ...
Back to the second of the two meetings I chaired this week in the Palace of Westminster, on the political and human rights situation in Bahrain. In my introductory remarks I said that the situation now was worse than in the nineties, when also there had been widespread detention without trial. Now, there were soldiers shooting people on the streets, a foreign occupation force, show trials and arbitrary imprisonment of the whole leadership of the opposition. Although the King was trying to create an artificial dialogue, the situation had gone beyond the point of no return. Referring to the Foreign ...
DID YOU KNOW that approximately 2,500 bikes are stolen in Cambridge every year? So welcome to a helpful initiative to safeguard Cambridge bikes. ParkThatBike is a social enterprise specialising in cycle parking. In their own words, they're a 'specialist consultancy working with UK local authorities to improve the nation's cycle parking'. They are offering free cycle stands to local voluntary sector groups, charities, social enterprises and small businesses. Each stand holds two bikes neatly and securely. SO: if you visit any small businesses, community groups, shops, pubs, offices, surgeries or churches and worry that your bike might disappear while you're ...
Reply posted on the website of CharityInsight.com, to the Editor's Comment Vaccines alone will not prevent the deaths of children: As Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Global Action Against Childhood Pneumonia in the UK (APPG) I read Becky Slack's editorial on the recent GAVI pledging conference and vaccine funding with interest. Since its inception in 2007 the APPG has worked to encourage the reduction of childhood mortality through the prevention, protection and treatment of pneumonia. I agree wholeheartedly with Becky that the recent GAVI Alliance Pledging Conference was good news, not only for developing countries that ...
Let me echo Jonathan Calder: we need to hear from Nick Clegg on News International and phone-hacking. I hope he spends the weekend planning how best to do so. Friday is traditionally a day to bury news, though. There's also is need for a bit of tactical standing back as DPM while the PM makes his comments today. So it would be no surprise to hear that this week simply wasn't an option for strong statements from Nick Clegg. He also sent out his email requesting input regarding the issue and will be reviewing that. But time, she is ticking. ...
Speaking this afternoon, Nick Clegg has called the Press Complaints Commission "toothless" and said that it should be replaced, so that certain newspapers can never again act with complete impunity: I think that what we're seeing is a total collapse in public confidence in yet another pillar of the British establishment. It happened with MPs, with the expenses scandal; it happened to the banking system when the banking system went up in smoke; it's now happened to the police, to the media – and we've got to take the opportunity to clean the system up, and renew it, and put ...
It tends to be overlooked, that much of the work of Members in both Houses takes place in other parts of the building such as the 21 committee rooms upstairs, to say nothing of the dozens more in Portcullis House and elsewhere on the Parliamentary estate. This week I chaired two important meetings: on Monday, with the Jumma People's Network to discuss the failure of the Bangladesh government to implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace accord of 1997, promised in the Awami League's election manifesto and reiterated by the Prime Minister to the CHT Commission, of which I am ...
Birkdale Councillor Simon Shaw joined our colleague Mike Booth and Sefton Chief Exec Margaret Carney on an inspection of the Southport Coast. Mike has written up the visit here
Its getting harder for backbenchers to get their oar in at oral question time. There are four questions in the half hour allotted, making 7 1/2 minutes each, and naturally the Member who tables the question has first bite after the Minister's initial answer. Then the opposition front bench and the Bishops take priority over anyone else - and why should they, considering that we're the only legislature in the world that provided for ex officio representatives of clerics, as the Leader of the House Lord Strathclyde told me in a written answer this week. My impression is that some ...
It is a liberal tradition to be pro-businesses but against monopolies, this is one of the clear dividing lines of the economic heritage of the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party. Milton Friedman the farther of free market economics put forward the idea that is was the role of the State to set the rules ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week What does the Inverclyde result mean for the Scottish Liberal Democrats? (25 comments) by Caron Lindsay John Hemming MP: Why I'm calling for a review of the smoking ban (70 comments) by John Hemming MP Labour holds Inverclyde with reduced majority (27 comments) by Helen Duffett LDVideo: That Ed Miliband TV interview car crash in full (8 comments) by Stephen Tall Tim Farron MP writes: Out of the Westminster bubble (7 comments) by Tim Farron MP 5 ...
Liberal Democrats in the last general election fought for a more localised approach to public services, which is in practice a very simple idea, that local authorities / organisations should be able to spend the public money raised or devolved to them in a way that best suits their resident's local needs. The Recent announcement ...
I know it was a Sunday but this Friday is sort of dedicated to the 168 year old title that has been shut down so rapidly and unceremoniously this week. First off though how can anyone get us out of the jam we're in. However, this song did come with a warning Don't believe it all, find out for yourself, check before you srpead, News of the World. Destroyed by News International, I hate to bite the hand that feeds me. Or something like that. Finally I read the news today, oh boy. Bonus track And is that just his ...
Watching the news last night left more than a nasty taste in the mouth (well, it often does, actually). This morning I knew what it was - the closure of something 168 years old, in this case the newspaper the News of the World. What looked like an act of sacrifice by News International is a rather cynical ploy to speed up what they were intending to do anyway, which is to shed the staff of one newspaper and run a seven day a week operation from the Sun. Achieved now at a stroke. But what really bothered me was ...
Poland took over the presidency of the European Union on 1 July and the last few days have seen a positive fest of commemorative events put on by the Polish Embassy in London. On Wednesday there was a glorious reception in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and today the Embassy building itself hosted an academic ...
An absolute classic! I particularly enjoyed the Guardian ship firing a cannon into the side of the News of the World ship! These guys are geniuses!
Dale & Co Huffington Post UK Comment is Free The Commentator
We have got some great events this weekend going on for anyone who fancies venturing out across the consituency. Family Fun Day How do you fancy Glasto on your doorstep? Well Fog Lane Park is hosting an aviation and transport ... Continue reading →
If you'll allow me to set democracy aside for a moment, there's a simple reason why the House of Lords needs to be reformed, and the importance of "experts" challenged: experts are human too. Like all of us, they are more prone to make mistakes when they feel completely insulated from risk. The very characteristics necessary to becoming an acknowledged expert in one's field – confidence in one's own capabilities, a willingness to challenge others, ambition – then lead to problems. Our strengths are, after all, almost always related to our weaknesses. The basic solution to this problem is simple: ...
Monday, to the Chinese Church on Shaftesbury Avenue (which I didn't recall noticing previously, and neither did the taxi driver) for a well-attanded meeting on dual Malaysian/British Overseas Citizens who renounced their Malaysian nationality on the false supposition that doing so would enable them to claim full UK citizenship. Just i time after nagging the Minister Damian Green's office yet again for a reply to my letter of April 11 on the subject, I had the reply before setting off. There are negotiations with the Malaysian authorities to enable these persons to resume their Malaysian citizenship, but if anybody is ...
Not that all politics is basically the same or anything, but I was writing this very piece about an entirely different news story. Funny how all your chickens come home to roost when inevitably they do... There's a wonderful scene towards the end of The West Wing's final season in which President-elect Santos meets with the favourite to be the new Speaker Of The House. Santos outlines his first legislative priority; reform of the lobbying industry to free Congress from the corrosive effects of special interests. The soon-to-be Speaker's response is simple; "We have a majority and thus the edge ...
As (at least) one Lib Dem member commented after the local council elections, "the only way is up" from now on. But to win back support and indeed increase our base we need to refocus. It is right that we should be emphasising our distinctiveness in the coalition, but we need to do a lot more. We need to clearly articulate what we stand for, and communicate it relentlessly to the electorate. In the same way that the more tribal parties will repeat over and over again the same phrase so that people end up parroting them (regardless of whether, ...
Recommended reading for Liberal Democrat councillors and local campaigners from the last seven days: This week saw two big bits of news from the government (if you ignore the drama of The News of the World). The first was the publication of the Dilnot Report on adult social care which you can read about on the BBC, which Paul Burstow MP wrote about on Liberal Democrat Voice. The other was hidden news but one that many Liberal Democrats will be very pleased with, which is the government surpassing the target to cut carbon emissions by 10%. A good sign that ...
Pictured above are Councillor Simon Shaw (Cabinet Member for The Environment), myself, Margaret Carney (Sefton's Chief Executive Officer) and Rajan Paul (Head of Landscape Services). We were photographed at the end of our site visit to Sefton's Coast. I arranged the visit so that we could see some of the important work being undertaken by Coast and Countryise staff. What impressed me the most was the way in which the staff are able to multi-task. Rangers do not have set tasks. In this way, all Rangers can be called upon to work wherever they are needed. We were all impressed ...
This weekend, I'm off to a stag do in York with a Journalistic friend of mine. We are heading to York races to see the John Smith's cup race. I haven't ever been horse racing before, so gawd knows how much money I will lose! The quote for the weekend is a topical one on the News of the World. It also serves as a plug for Phil Booth's blog: I feel truly sorry for all those individuals whose lives have been affected by 'phone hacking'. But I think people would do well not to be distracted by coverage of ...
This week there really is only one story – the dramatic events in the News of the World phone hacking scandal. After it was revealed that murdered school girl Milly Dowler's phone had possibly been hacked by a private investigator working for the rag, pressure mounted, advertisers pulled out, and the house of cards came tumbling down. ...
Something has been troubling me about the narrative that is emerging about the remarkable furore engulfing News International. Many people seem to regard Rupert Murdoch as some kind of Ernst Stavro Blofeld character, lurking in his lair, white cat in hand, plotting how best to influence his many political puppets around the world so as ...
By far the most amusing incident of yesterday's spontaneous combustion of the News of the World was Charlie Brooker's pithy Tweet: It instantly captured how much of the Left perceives its role in this saga; as a collection of plucky rebels facing down an evil corporate empire. However, this is entirely the wrong sci-fi-franchise-prism through ...
Derbyshire CC, Sawley Lab 1351 (41.7; +30.9) Con 1197 (36.9; +12.8) LD Fiona Aanonson 692 (21.4; +10.7) [Ind (0.0; -54.4)] Majority 154 Turnout 30.56% Lab gain from Ind Percentage change is since June 2009. Wakefield MBC, Horbury and South Ossett Lab 1776 (51.5; +2.4) Con 1061 (30.8; -10.6) UKIP 232 (6.7; +6.7) LD Mark Goodair 200 (5.8; -3.8) Horbury Independent 93 (2.7; +2.7) Ind 88 (2.6; +2.6) Majority 715 Turnout 28.6% Lab gain from Con Percentage change is since May 2010. Purbeck DC, Lytchett Matravers Con 669 (52.8; +5.4) LD John Brian Taylor 599 (47.2; -5.4) Majority 70 Turnout 41.8% ...
We have heard from David Cameron speak on News International and phone-hacking and we have heard from Ed Miliband. The person we have not heard from is Nick Clegg. This ought to be a good story for the Liberal Democrats: we have no connections with the Murdoch empire - if only because he has always thought us too insignificant to be worth courting. Instead we have been all but silent. Nick did get a mention in David Cameron's press conference this morning - "the Deputy Prime Minister and I have agreed...", but that sounded like an attempt to get him ...
On Naked Capitalism, a blog I discovered this lunchtime, there's an excellent piece summarising the News of the World story. Let's hope this thought proves true: Although it does not (yet?) involve a sitting national executive, I suspect this investigation is going to command as much attention in England as the Watergate hearings did here. A great quote from David Cameron in one of the linked articles (to the FT) is that, "On my watch the music has stopped and the relationship has to change." Perhaps inadvertently, perhaps strategically, he has provided the metaphor through which we can push for ...
The link is to a story about the rewriting of care records.
We're asking you how you would prefer to communicate with us. There are currently many ways to stay in contact with police in Cambridgeshire, including e-cops, the force website and local meetings. However, as part of an ongoing review, we're keen to know which of these methods of communication, or an alternative, people like the most. The question is part of the fourth week of the 'Have your say' forum. The online tool gives the public the chance to help shape the future of policing in Cambridgeshire. The views of local people and businesses are very important to us. We ...
Health Minister, Andrew Lansley has been urged to push the government to sign off the new franchise agreement for Huntingdon's Hinchingbrooke Hospital to end the uncertainty for patients and staff. The call comes from Geoff Heathcock, Cambridgeshire County Council Shadow Cabinet Member for Health in a letter to Mr Lansley. Cllr Heathcock says the hospital needs to be able to make plans for the future with certainty. He said: "This needs to be brought to a head quickly. Patients and staff need the long awaited stability that this agreement will bring. They have faced a long wait for reassurance over ...
The corruption of the police, media and politicians is a hot topic in British public life, including here in Essex where the former council leader is now behind bars for fraudulent expenses claims. Paul White – aka Lord Hanningfield – is by no means the only person, nor is he the worst offender. He's a modest example, even in Essex. The national debate on corruption is long overdue. There has been a long-standing delusion in Britain that our institutions are incorruptible, that there is a sense of "fair play" that marks the country out inherently incorruptible. The scales have finally ...
Fri 8th
13:27
Murdoch may understand a lot about business but I'm not sure he knows a lot about brands...
I think - and I'm sure many people will agree with me - that the decision to close the News of the World is all about the money. But not the money most commentators are talking about. Firstly, it's not about the BSkyB deal. As Robert Peston pointed out this morning, the Jeremy Hunt decision is about plurality of the media - did Murdoch own too much? And Hunt had already declared that he was happy in principle that Murdoch did not. Sure, closing the NOTW cements that decision - but this was a hurdle they had already jumped over, ...
While I have reviewed each individual opera in the Wermland Opera Ring Cycle, I would like to use this summary post to give my impression of the cycle as a whole. Find my reviews of all four operas here: Das ... Continue reading →
The world ended yesterday well the News of the World anyway. The jewel of the Murdoch Empire has been shattered after the recent developments in the phone hacking scandal. Added to that the former Editor of the News of the World as well as the former spin doctor for David Cameron, Andy Coulson has been arrested by the police. This scandal has put News Corporation and its master Rupert Murdoch at the top of British news agenda (well with the exception of the Sun and the Times). But there's another angle to this story to consider and that's the relationship ...
In shutting the News of the World, the Murdochs have shown themselves to be ruthless. Their ruthlessness changed the story, although it has not killed it. David Cameron needs to be as ruthless. So long as the Murdochs have a powerful media presence, his hiring of Andy Coulson and his closeness to Rebekah Brooks are real issues. The retoxification of the Tory party is underway. Cameron should announce that he was lied to by Coulson, and that the level of rot can only have happened if people at the top were not managing the paper properly. It was Brooks and ...
I never thought I'd see myself writing this, but the decision to close the 'News of the World' is truly terrible. Don't get me wrong, I have no liking for the NoW, which has clearly engaged in some disreputable and disgusting activity. But for it to disappear from the landscape is a bit like a rapist and murderer being caught red-handed and then fleeing the country before he comes to trial. No, actually it's worse than that. One of the major paradoxes about British society is people's unwillingness to see just how much power they have over newspapers. If enough ...
Fri 8th
12:57
Drought in the Horn of Africa, Energy crisis in the UK and locally a Labour scandal that beggars bel...
The Mayor's Chaplain last night prayed that we would temper our contributions with brotherly concern. Well the Leader of the council certainly took that message to heart. I had the temerity to ask a formal question at the Council meeting about the conduct of Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority (ITA) better known to you and me as Merseytravel. I had a wide range of option I could have asked about the truly I eye watering allowance claim by the Chair of the ITA £70 million frittered away on Merseytram. The last Labour government frantically signalled that they were not going to ...
Friday: an appointment at 11.30 with Dr M in haematology outpatients this morning following yet another blood test. He said that the JAK2 test had been negative, but there was a C-MPL mutation which is associated with myeloproliferative disorders. Platelet counts were 930 on June 10 and 850 on June 24, and he wanted to be certain this wasn't due to iron deficiency, which needs a further blood test. The last time iron had been looked at was in 2007 when it was normal. In June 2010 serum iron was low, but ferritin also needs to be checked. (Ferritin is ...
Last week I wrote that Cornwall was set to be under-represented on the the new Police Boards which will monitor the work of elected police commissioners. In a nutshell, Cornwall was set to get just one of twelve local authority representatives with each of the Devon councils and the Council of the Isles of Scilly also getting a single rep. I brought this up with Lib Dem Local Government Minister Andrew Stunell at the LGA conference and he promised to look into it. Good news that the Government has relented and there will now be up to 20 councillors on ...
We now are all well aware that self regulation of the Press has been a failure. This morning both David Cameron and Ed Miliband this morning called on the Press Complaints Commission to be ditched. The Prime Minister said: "The PCC has failed. In this case [hacking] it was absent, ineffective and lacking in rigour. It lacks public confidence. We need a new system entirely." While the Labour leader said: "It failed to get to the bottom of the allegations about what happened at News International in 2009. "Its chair admits she was lied to but could do nothing about ...
Uniquely perhaps, I was a victim of the News of the World's private investigator, Glen Mulcaire, when I was a senior police officer at New Scotland Yard, working along the corridor from the officers who conducted the first phone hacking inquiry in 2002. But they never told me I was victim. It was only a couple of years ago when my solicitor received a call from a Guardian journalist, that I knew Mulcaire had my name and mobile phone number in his notebook. So you will appreciate, a bit like the animals who agreed to provide the farmer with a ...
Nick Clegg is today making a major European policy speech in Paris. Click here to read what I've said about it at Huffington Post. This is another defining moment for Liberal Democrats in government.
Lib Dem Mark Thompson writing on the new 'Dale&co' website has an intersting piece about how the forces of reaction would fight against a referendum on STV. Pretty spot on to my mind.
TweetYesterday when I wrote that twitter played a major role in the downfall of the News of the World I was roundly mocked and told how very wrong I was, even that I'd fallen or been duped by the Murdoch press, well the newspapers of today, seem vindicate me once again. Just call me Cassandra. Having read several newspapers this morning the running theme seems to says that a "catastrophic collapse in Adverts was Driven by online protectors" one paper reports that a combined force of mumsnet and twitter sending hundreds and thousands of tweets demanding advertisers pull out bad ...
Here. Iain Dale was up all night getting it ready. I bet Arianna wasn't up all night for hers.
Iain Dale's Dale's Diary has closed and his new site has now been launched. It is now listed under commentators on my blog as it is cross party. It has a great design and looks like it will quickly become a must read. With the launch of the Huffington Post UK, we may be seeing blogs with many contributors become the next big thing. Good luck to both!
It hasn't been easy being a Liberal Democrat in recent months. Being told you sold out your principles, when nobody ever bothered to actually find out what they were in the first place, has become rather grating after nearly 13 months. But it's ok – phone hacking has returned us to our rightful place on ...
Can be read here. An excellent, insightful piece.
The suggestion that the Labour Leader of Mersytravel capitulated to the RUM over moves to have vertical integration-that is to run both the rail track and the rolling stock- would seem to many have been confirmed by a statement from Bob Crowe reported in the Liverpool Post this morning RAIL union leader Bob Crow has praised a U-turn on plans to allow Merseyside to run its own rail network. Earlier this week, passenger authority Merseytravel voted to break off negotiations about introducing the system, known as "vertical integration" on Merseyrail. This was despite having spent £1.5m pressing for the new ...
One thing that's not being asked in this phone hacking scandal, is how did the hackers get into people's voicemail? Is it some technically complex technique involving getting into the computer systems of the mobile phone network? Largely, no. Much of the time people are accessing the mailbox in the same way a user can. ...
Friday: It turns out that we owe an apology to Harold Camping, of all people, for LO the End of the World has arrived and the Elect has indeed been lifted to Safety! In other news... We may be in the gutter... ...but some of us are looking at the stars! To the Space Shuttle Atlantis: go to Heaven. To the News of the World: do the maths! PS: *In the absence of the Current Bun covering this appalling phone-hacking story, it seems the Tell-lies-o-Graph have decided to take their place. Says it all, really. .
Last year I was probably the only MP to be elected while still living with my parents. Of course, I'd moved out of home and, like many others, had to move back again. It's a symptom of the fact that housing policy in the UK is in crisis. We have millions of people languishing on social housing waiting lists, first-time-buyers priced out of the market and in private rented sector tenants facing increased rents with decreased security of tenure and standards. Let's be clear: Governments of all hues have failed on housing and, frankly, the Coalition has barely begun to ...
Fri 8th
10:03
Council bows to pressure for more resident involvement in University-Hospital Area Parking Study
I wanted to give you a brief update on the latest news relating to the University-Hospital area parking study gleaned from a couple of meetings I have attended this week. As you know we have been lobbying hard for more resident involvement in the process and it appears this message is finally getting through to the Labour administration of the Council. Last month I represented residents views to the Council on the study and was disappointed to hear the Lead Councillor fail to guarantee that residents would come first in the search for traffic solutions. Officers have told me that ...
What a pointless wretch Ed Miliband is. Faced with the biggest scandal to hit the media in this country since, well, the last one (David Kelly, Diana, yadayadayada), this is a golden opportunity for the leader of the opposition to actually get some coverage, yet his best throw of the dice has been to call for Dave to apologise for hiring Andy Coulson. Now, I won't defend Dave and clearly his decision to hire an ex News of the World hack was a poor one but seriously, is this the best our opposition can do? Is there nothing to be ...
NOTW closure - don't be fooled Liberal Burblings points out that a change of name is not a change of behaviour. (tags: media) Keir Starmer: Rape claims retracted out of fear should not lead to charges | Law | The Guardian thank cthulhu for a bit of sense. (tags: rape law)
Fri 8th
09:55Lest we forget: David Yelland - 'Nick Clegg's rise could lock Murdoch and the media elite out of UK ...
And so, maybe, perhaps, slowly, it has come to pass. Amongst all the current hullabaloo, there is the odd mention of the fact that we have been studiously and continuously ignored by Murdoch at al since time itself began. So how brilliantly prescient this article from David Yelland, former editor of The Sun, published in April last year now looks. Do read the whole piece but here's a few great examples of what he said: "I doubt if Rupert Murdoch watched the election debate last week. His focus is very firmly on the United States, especially his resurgent Wall Street ...
The weather in Florida means there is only a 30% chance that the final Space Shuttle launch will go ahead at 16:26 GMT today. The launch is usually shown on both BBC News 24 and Sky News but you also watch NASA TV online.
Like many Lib Dems, I've been saddened by our party leadership's silence over the last few days, with seemingly nothing to say about the current scandals at News International and the closure of the News Of The World. For me, if there was ever a good time to make it clear that Government policy, Conservative Party policy and Liberal Democrat policy are three separate things, it's now. I also think that is a time when we can use our presence in Government – and the fact that we've not been enmeshed in the Murdoch octopus – to make a real ...
Simon Kelner replaced as Indy editor http://t.co/6ScKgzq >> I'm sure it was me wot did it: http://t.co/t0NYcrW # Andrew Miller's top 10 historical novels via the Grauniad http://t.co/5NXZi2J < a fab list to explore. # Ed Miliband random statement generator via @doctorvee here: http://t.co/dAffSW4 < ooh, subtle [IMG: :)] # Lots of fun plans for this weekend. What am I doing? Curled up on sofa with man-flu symptoms feeling rubbish. #bleugh # @travelling_wolf Thx for the sympathy. I guess ITV3 was made for days like this... in reply to travelling_wolf # Yay for @alexvtunzelmann's Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder + the ...
So it ended with spectacular fireworks last night – Hugh Grant sounding more capable than politicians on BBC Questiontime. The utopic sunset ending to a politico-news junkie's dream. With the closure of News of the World on Sunday, which as the Guardian observes, will not carry any advertising – although not entirely through choice, we see a potential end of an institution. There are many strands hanging loose though. Coulson is predicted to be arrested today. The Twitterati have launched www.hasrebekahbrooksbeensackedyet.com and while press vultures prey on the remains, others observe that News Corp have attempted to quarantine an epidemic ...
Yesterday, I began thinking about what turquoise liberalism might look like. Here are some further thoughts: Turquoise liberalism believes in progress but it is not a progressive movementIt celebrates things that emerge naturally and doesn't try to hold them backIt doesn't social engineerIt likes the ideas of Jane Jacobs It sees the potential of the web to change how we might do business in the futureIt celebrates traditions that come from spontaneous order but is sceptical of ones that have been imposed on people by those in powerIt celebrates pluralityIt believes one must be continually watchful of those who have ...
Fri 8th
09:22
Opinion: Nick Clegg didn't suck up to Murdoch - that's why his minions tried to destroy him
There was a moment during the election campaign last year when many Liberal Democrats realised we had passed through the looking glass. Nick Clegg's performance in the first leaders' debate broke the glass ceiling of British politics and, it seems, caused more than one Tory-supporting newspaper editor to wet themselves in fear. Then, on the eve of the second debate, the right wing press let slip the dogs of war. It wasn't just the Murdoch papers that went for Nick, but they did and they did it viciously. The Sun ridiculed him, splashing outrageous and ridiculous headlines on their front ...
Fri 8th
09:16
The Lib Dems new pitch to voters - Competence & Compassion: How to make it meaningful to win ove...
The new pitch to voters by the Lib Dems is now going to be one of "competence and compassion" - arguing they are more economically competent than Labour and more compassionate than the Tories, which is an interesting pitch. So what does it mean in making it meaningful to voters, which needs to happen if ...
There is surely some mistake that this stage has cropped up in the 2011 Tour de France. It finishes on broad roads and is a flat stage, with no kick up to the finish. However, we leave Le Mans more famous for motorsport but no stranger to the Tour having been a stage town on seven previous occasions, heading south to Châteauroux, the birthplace of Gérard Depardieu. It is also the first place that a shy Manxman first won a stage of the Tour, that was 16 wins and just three years ago in 2008. This is the sort of ...
Stage 6 was one of wet roads, but less crashes on them than yesterday's dry roads. Go figure. We were racing in Normandy where we will return in 2014 for the Grand Depart to mark the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day landings. Anyway there was a five man breakaway on the day with 3 minor catergorised climbs. One of the men in that breakaway was Johnny Hoogerland (VCD) who as part of the breakaway on Stage 4 on Tuesday took the point at the top of the Côte de Laz. The other's with him were Leonardo Duque (COF), Anthony Roux ...
[IMG: Rupert Murdoch - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: World Economic Forum Philip Stephens writes a sort of obituary for the Murdoch empire in the FT (free registration required), which concludes: As always, though, News International operated with a ruthlessness and on a scale that left its rivals behind. Within the industry, the News of the World was said to be "out of control". Mr Murdoch has bungled his response at every turn. Instead of acting decisively when a dam of new allegations burst last year, he backed a failed strategy of evasion ...
There's an interesting report on the BBC website this morning which discusses the data published by the Sutton Trust on where Universities get their intake. Unsurprisingly, the report makes much of the fact that Oxbridge applications are skewed towards particular schools and that in general, privately educated pupils fare better when it comes to gaining admission. I think we knew most of this already. However, there's some interesting data tucked away in table 12 of appendix 2 of the trust's report which doesn't seem to have been widely reported. This table shows the proportion of state educated pupils going into ...
The News of the World is soon to depart our news stands - a casualty of a greedy empire out of control. Hundreds of jobs, and a long (168 years) and illustrious history are being sacrificed to save one woman, who should have already been fired. Rebekah Brooks was Editor at the time, and was either in collusion or completely incompetent if that level of criminal activity was happening in her news room. This is also a bid to save the deal that will extend the empire, the purchase of BskyB in full - a deal already fraught with competition ...
Guided Bus, opening August 2011 Cambridgeshire County Council's Conservative administration made an arrogant decision when it made a 100% cut to bus subsidies in its budget setting exercise earlier this year. The council's own public consultation gave a very clear message: Cambridgeshire residents listed bus services as one of their top three most valued public services. The Conservative Cabinet, led by Cllr Nick Clarke, ignored this message and made the worst bus subsidy cuts in England. Bus subsidies were to be swept off the map, in several stages, with no assessment of the impact these reckless cuts would have on ...
A leading Cambridge City Councillor encourages residents to celebrate at the Big Weekend and turn their back on Saturday's English Defence League march. Rod Cantrill, Executive Councillor for Arts, Sport and Public Places has invited everyone from the community to join in with the family fun weekend and ignore the EDL. "We have so much planned for the Big Weekend and I would urge everyone to go down to Parker's Piece and join in," he said. "It is this type of event that makes Cambridge a wonderful place in which to live. I would like to see everyone celebrating all ...
The agenda for the next North Area Committee has been published online on the City Councils website; http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/democracy/ieAgenda.aspx?A=960 The agenda is outlined below. The key point (that will take the huge bulk of the time) will be the Open Forum - this is your opportunity to raise any issues that you'd like us as your local Councillors to address. Of course you can contact any of us at any time to discuss practically anything but this is your opportunity to have it discussed much more widely. Look forward to seeing as many of your there as possible! 1 Apologies for ...
One of my very favourite films is Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's A Canterbury Tale. It is that rare thing: an essay in English mysticism. It is almost impossible to classify or describe - you really have to watch it - but Peter von Bagh makes a brave effort: There are so many moments of wonderment in this film, many of them extremely simple, and just as many made golden by their deep humanity. How the wind waves the hair of the girl; night scenes where only mysterious sounds seem to exist; how the passage of a train into the ...
Gatley Primary School yesterday celebrated its 75th anniversary with a day of events and activities. Tours of the school during the day gave parents, governors and others a flavour of the past decades (a big "thumbs up" for Mrs Lees' colourful '70s suit). From the 1930s when the school opened through to the present day, there was no shortage of things to do and see including quizzes, displays, song and dance and much more. The rain more or less held off for the evening when entertainment on the playground and field included bouncy castles, karting, football, tombola, hook-a-duck and many ...
Good news – Greater Manchester has secured nearly £5 million Govt. funding from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) to improve cycle facilities across the region, including at Stockport bus station. Greater Manchester's leaders are celebrating after securing £4.9 million of Government funding for a new project that will kickstart a revolution in cycling in the region. Transport for Greater Manchester, and its local authority partners, will use the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) investment to launch a new project that will make cycling to work a more realistic option in a number of key commuter destinations. The Greater Manchester ...
Residents have complained to me about the state of the roundabout on Ninewells Avenue at the entrance to the hospital. It is very overgrown and I have asked the City Council to give it a tidy.
The World Ends! Greater self-love hath no man than this, that he should lay down the careers and livelihoods of hundreds of innocent staff in a desperate attempt to salvage his own business interests and those of his media empire. Disgraceful!
A couple of weeks ago something reminded me (or maybe I just remembered for no reason) about a great series of adverts from the nineties. This was reinforced by a feature on Tony Bennett on Radio 4's Today programme a few days ago. Allied Dunbar was a Life and Pensions brand which has since been subsumed into Zurich. The theme of the adverts was about preparing for the unexpected in various situations. Here are three focusing on employment, health and family changes: Andrew
James Murdoch has not cooled public anger with his closure of the News of the World. In fact the large number of sackings that this tactical move involves makes his own position, not just that of the indefensible Rebekah Brooks, increasingly precarious. He may also- simply as collateral damage- have wrecked industrial relations in the rest of Wapping. Certainly there are rumours of sympathy strikes at The Sun. More importantly though, the radical move has been greeted with a mixture of cynicism and cold fury in the wider world. Cynicism, because creating a seven day Sun has clearly been a ...
The fledgling Transition West Hampstead group is continuing to spread its wings.After a successful launch event - and a confident presence at the Jester Festival, the group is planning a Film Night on 18th July - details below. Dear Transitioners, Just a quick update on what's been happening with Transition West Hampstead and to tell you about our next Film Night on 18 July. Many of you attended our very successful launch event on 6 June. You can read more about it here: We also ran a stall at the Jester Festival on Fortune Green last weekend and got ...
There is a classic film, I think it is Casablanca, in which most of the action takes place in a bar/gambling club which is regularly frequented by the chief of police.However, activities of the club became politically incorrect (maybe the Nazis invade, or something, I am not good at remembering the details of films,) the club is raided by the police, and the police chief claims to be "shocked" at what he finds. I am sure there is a great deal of this, often less convincing, play acting in the almost universal expressions of surprise and horror at the antics ...
The Chronicle – How To Slash Better Neo sets out his experience on being a gay man, so people who aren't gay men, who like to write gay men, can do it better. (tags: sexuality fiction)
james_nicoll: A Russ Related Meme: 1980s (tags: sf) james_nicoll: A Russ Related Meme: 1990 (tags: sf) james_nicoll: A Russ Related Meme: 1991 (tags: sf) james_nicoll: A Russ Related Meme: 1992 (tags: sf) james_nicoll: A Russ Related Meme: 1993 (tags: sf) 1879 London murder mystery solved - Yahoo! News Skull of 1879 murder victim found in David Attenborough's garden. (tags: history crime) Was the Space Shuttle a Mistake? - Technology Review Short answer: yes, it was. (tags: space)
The world is a less kind place tonight. It became a bit of a thing; once a year whilst at university, I'd visit Coventry doing NUS stuff, and after it had all finished, Kay would drop by the hotel and take me to Brown's and buy me hot chocolate with butterscotch liqueur in it, and we'd have a long chat and a catch up. We talked about life and books and love. I left university in 2009, and although he was briefly at BiCon later in the year, that trip to Brown's was the last time I spent any real ...
Women are the majority, in blogging as in life. You wouldn't know it from a casual glance at either, though. For some reason (or, more accurately, a vast swathe of reasons) even though more women are out there saying stuff, the men get more attention. This is something I have been banging on about for quite some time. Of the top of my head, some of the reasons are as follows:women do not tend to be as self-promoting as men. People who shout about how awesome they are get more attention, even if it is others shouting back no you're ...
So goodbye after 168 years to the News of the World. No more Sunday gossip, scandal, sleaze and racy stories? It wasn't called the News of the Screws for nothing. I doubt if we"ll notice much difference. Firstly, we'll still have the Sunday Mirror and the People. And Murdoch isn't about to surrender a huge ...
