I think I witnessed one of the most ridiculous appearances on TV by a politician this morning. Harriet Harman was on Sky News at 8.30am. She looked like she was still waking up and I thought "Thank goodness I'm not a politician. Who would want to be up at 8am on a Saturday to be on Sky News?". She wanted Cameron to appoint a judge to lead the hacking inquiry TODAY. Her logic seemed crazy: Think about what is going to happen at the end of today: the News of the World is going to be closed down, all the ...
Jonathan Calder replies to a comment with a quote from his Liberal England blog from July 9th 2009. He warned about the phone hacking scandal and the danger of hiring Coulson. By spooky coincidence, I see that on precisely the same day I wrote about the phone hacking affair, Coulson and Cameron under the title: "Cameron's brazen hypocrisy". I concluded as follows: Now, the little toe-rag (Cameron) has been revealed as having the most appalling judgment as to who to hire, and thinks he can brazen it out with his posh accent. He appears to still think that, if his ...
The Diary in this week's Spectator is written by Nick Cohen. It is largely devoted to a strange experience that he had after having his book What's Left reviewed by Johann Hari in a small American journal. When the review appeared, Cohen thought it to be riddled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations, so he sent a reply pointing out all the mistakes and it was published. Cohen thought no more about the incident until he looked at his Wikipedia entry: As well as learning that I was a probable alcoholic, a hypocrite and a supporter of Sarah Palin, I noticed that ...
Today I have been to Wing in Rutland. The Genuki website about the village tells a remarkable story: However, one woman in the early 19th century became famous as the 'Wise Woman of Wing'. Amelia Woodcock was a herbalist, and her medicines were sold around the district by a man riding on a donkey as well as from her cottage. Her house no longer exists but 'City Yard' is a reminder of the time when gentry and city folk visited the wise woman. She died about 1850 but her remedies were still for sale in Boots the chemist in Uppingham ...
A fair-minder reader writes: You have pointed out that David Cameron, Jenny Jones, Boris Johnson and Guido Fawkes all dismissed News International's phone-hacking as an insignificant issue. But were any more foresighted yourself? Thank you, fair-minded reader. It happens that I wrote about the matter two years ago to the day. Here is some of what I wrote on 9 July 2009 under the headline News of the World scandal will harm David Cameron: 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 - ...
The NoTW scandal has brought back memories for me of the only period of my life when I read tabloids regularly, which was during my first marriage. I got married at 18. My husband's father had never learned to read, but his mother could, and she got the Mirror, the NoTW and Tit-bits. This was ...
The XI Young Song festival, held last weekend. A choir of 30,000 schoolkids and students watched by over 120,000 of the rest of the country. Magnificent and of course not one instance of bad behaviour recorded in the whole three day event. What land is this? No mountains vastly towerJust woodlands without end and mires in throngs but the people here are filled with wonderous power and strange the tales in their songs... What land is this? At times the day is eaten At times it lasts so long, it swallows the night The two pass us by regardless ...
This has been a momentous week, not just for the News of the World, but for print journalism, politics, how we use and access media and, frankly our national life as a whole! Like some other people have expressed, there is so much I could say about this, maybe in time, but I have some key thoughts. Matthew Parris wrote an excellent column on the issue in today's Times. His commentary is so often on the money. Today he looks at the issue from a different perspective and touched on one of the things I was thinking. He pointed out ...
Huge problems remain in Sudan, after a decades-long civil war in which 1.5 million people have died (with that war obviously not being Sudan's only recent internal conflict, either). 170,000 people - 170,000 people - have been forced from their homes there just recently. So the champagne needs to be accompanied by some bitter-sweet canapes, as we celebrate the birth of South Sudan - but celebrate we must. This is a huge step forward. If they can do it in Sudan, after so many decades of war and bitterness, then they can do it in other places too. The day ...
No, not a trailer for your super soaraway Lib Dem Voice on Sunday, but a quick quirk-alert on reader figures at our site this week. It's one of my jobs at Lib Dem Voice to keep an eye on the stats, including visitor numbers, popular posts, search terms and lots of other data. These give us blogging ideas, help us to plan (and sometimes crow), and are another strand of audience feedback – alongside the comments threads, survey responses, emails and phonecalls, and of course the articles themselves that people submit. So I thought I'd briefly share a surprising finding ...
I'm spending the weekend at Robinson College, Cambridge, at my first ever Federal Studies Conference, courtesy of the James Madison Trust. The theme is Europe in 2061: How will the European Union develop in the next 50 years? Proceedings began challengingly with the local LibDem MEP, my old chum Andrew Duff, giving an uncharacteristically downbeat ...
If you're curious about the title you can always skip to the end of this article. I attended the "hyperacute stroke service" consultation at County Hall. There were no members of the general public there that I could see, and only 9 of the 21 councillors on the committee to the best of my knowledge. You get your chance at Blackhills (sic) Community Centre on Derwent Street on July 20th between 4.30 and 6.00. Hyperacute care is the care patients get in the first two to three days after their strok. It is completely different from stroke rehabilitation care which ...
There's no doubt about the big story this week: Rupert Murdoch being forced to close the biggest-selling British newspaper in a brazen bid to ride out the illegal hacking story that threatens his media empire. Vince Cable's prophetic powers first came to prominence during the economic storm that came close to collapsing the banking system. Last December, he accidentally went on the record to make clear his wish to clip Rupert Murdoch's wings. Ironically, it was the Telegraph's widely condemned subterfuge which stopped Vince in his tracks, and prevented his ability to hold to account the company where illegal hacking ...
When we stayed in Washington in 2005, the table where we ate breakfast at our hotel was beside a tremendously vigorous picture of Betty Ford dancing on a table in the White House. I kid you not. Anyway, it's a sad reason to revisit my various stats. Longevity of women married to American Presidents and Vice-Presidents (top twelve, including the two oldest still living, above the cut): Bess Truman: born 13 Feb 1885, died 18 Oct 1982, aged 97 years and 248 days. Ann Gerry: born 12 Aug 1753, died 17 Mar 1849, aged 95 years and 217 days. Lady ...
There was another good turnout at today's Stockfield Fun Day, with the weather being as kind as it was a week ago for the Acocks Green Carnival. It was great to meet so many residents, as well as lots of the organisations that deliver services in the area. Best of all I bought some delicious home made carrott cake, which has no chance of lasting the rest of the day! The photo above is taken from the entrance to the Recreation Ground off Cedars Avenue.
TweetWith the Murdoch scandal breaking, it's been commented on far too often, despite it not being true, all the parties have gotten too close to Murdoch. We as Lib Dems have been positively despised by the Murdoch Press, so it's quite easy for us to revisit old ground, and that is as Charlotte Henry says, the self-righteous moral high ground. We must be wary of going back there; ultimately it could lead to our destruction. Yes it's true the Lib Dems aren't getting a fair hearing in the media as the two parties that so regularly sidled up to the ...
The first part of my Blog Tour is now up, in which the wonderful Grant Morrison fan site Deep Space Transmissions interviews me about the Seven Soldiers book. Since that interview was done, the book has gained a title – it's going to be called An Incomprehensible Condition: An Unauthorised Guide To Grant Morrison's Seven ...
Okay, I know it's been a while since my last update. Basically, I kept holding back because I somehow thought that I could write about my community work in an objective, non-political manner. Silly me. But I'm back now and ... Continue reading →
I have been following very closely the pensions dispute as it unfolds and one of my concerns is public sector workers could lose a lot of pay through strike action in what I am starting to believe is a political strike which they cannot possibly win. I am also a little surprised at the way the government have handled things so far and, as a former national union representative, I have been amazed at times by their ineptitude. Further confirmation I am afraid that the Tories and sadly many in our party don't understand the real world of industrial relations. ...
At about 11 o'clock last night I tweeted a link to this YouTube clip (above) from the classic film "The Wizard of Oz". The clip is from the end of the movie, when the all-powerful wizard is revealed to be just an old man behind a curtain franctially pulling levers to create an illusion and projecting his voice via a microphone into a vast sound system. The curtain is pulled open by Toto, the dog. The almighty wizard is finally revealed to be just an old man. It seemed the perfect allegory for what has happened this week to Rupert ...
When the Government launched its revised version of the Prevent counter-extremism strategy a few weeks ago my take on it was that it was essentially a fudge. There is a very real division within Government about how to approach these issues. There is the liberal approach most clearly articulated by the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg when he made his Luton speech. Then there is the populist Tory approach that Prime Minister David Cameron was playing to when he declared "multiculturalism has failed".So in developing its policy the Home Office was working within an environment where it had to square ...
Late starting Didsbury line Thanks to Railnews for this posting. The newest Manchester Metrolink tram line opened without ceremony at 06.00 yesterday morning, having been delayed by computer problems. This route through Chorlton is the first section of a longer line which will reach Didsbury from 2013. It had been hoped to open the line before the end of June. However, a new tram control system not only failed to work, but also crashed the existing system, leaving trams stranded in a queue at Piccadilly Gardens for a while at the start of last week. The problems have now been ...
I like everyone else listening intently to David Cameron giving his press statement yesterday at Number 10 over the Murdoch affair. If I am being completely honest, I wasn't at all impressed with the way he handled it, despite the ...
I fear there are likely parallels between the NOTW phone hacking scandal and the Credit Crunch in that in the aftermath, things are unlikely to change that much. It is argued that the full eruption of this scandal, not only allows a thorough investigation into the NOTW phone hacking practices that will lead to deterrent prosecutions and a stronger PCC but that it also weakens News International and releases its tight grip on the British body politic. Just writing that amazes me that it could be possible in a time of 24 hour mass media sources, that a single organisation ...
One man, above all, deserves to be singled-out for his single-minded pursuit of the lies, deceit and criminality that have stained British journalism: The Guardian's special correspondent, Nick Davies. His has been a lonely crusade. Despite the mounting evidence of corrupt practices, the tentacles of which have extended right into the very centre of the Establishment in this country — Parliament, media barons, senior police officers, Downing Street — Nick Davies has doggedly pursued a campaign which has resulted in the closure of this country's most-read newspaper. That is some accolade. But, as he would be the first to point ...
Here is a link to the piece. It is well worth a read.
Last weekend the Observer ran with the story on welfare reform and homelessness. A senior civil servant at CLG had written to the Prime Minister warning that the Government's proposed welfare reforms could result in - among other negative consequences – 40,000 additional homeless households (as I discussed here). This raised questions about a Government ...
This clip (below) is a classic of its genre. On last night's Newsnight, Steve Coogan really lays into the News of the World, in the person of Paul McMullan. Priceless. I was amazed Coogan stayed in his seat. I thought he was going to get up and punch the man at one point. Give Paul McMullen his due. He keeps up the defence. But Coogan keeps on knocking his arguments for six. At the end of the interview, the presenter puts it to McMullan that he is a bit of a tortured soul. Well, that is certainly consistent with McMullen's ...
25 years ago, when I was Leader of Kingston Council, Margaret Thatcher was planning to introduce Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT) for services like bin collection and road sweeping. The Council Director responsible for these services started working out what measures he would take to improve efficiency and cut costs. But then the government announced a delay in CCT so he proposed shelving these plans. I said no. I often recall this incident when the subject of competition in public services comes up. Liberals should never be afraid of competition where it is likely to lead to better public services. Nor ...
This week's episode contains an interesting piece by Pete Hague. In it, among many other things, he claims that the idea of Schroedinger's Rapist is inherently irrational. I have made a little (deliberately non-gendered and non-sexual) consequences graphic with which to illustrate the point that I think he is wrong: As you can see from the graphic, the consequences of treating an unknown stranger with caution (the stranger might get a bit miffed) are far less disastrous than the possible, even though far less likely, consequences of NOT treating an unknown stranger with caution. It doesn't matter that the stranger ...
A Few Reasons Why Women Shouldn't Go Into Politics - Jenna ... Interesting piece. Not sure I agree with it totally. Clegg on the press complaints commission He's right, too
From the Guardian yesterday: 9.07pm: Rebekah Brooks told News of the World staff today that she couldn't have resigned because she had no idea until the Guardian broke the story on Monday that anyone had hacked into Milly Dowler's phone Earlier the Guardian reported: 6.14pm: Rebekah Brooks "has visibility" on further revelations relating to criminal activity, according to 'Sky Sources'. Brooks has also apparently told staff that "in a year's time it'll become apparent why we did this". So where do these two snippets leave us? On the one hand, Rebekah Brooks is saying that she knows nothing. She was ...
Most accurate dig of the week: Saying Mr Coulson deserved a second chance, Mr Cameron hired him as his PR chief, then stood by him until months of digging, notably by the Guardian, forced the ex-editor to resign for a second time in January. (The prime minister should send the Guardian flowers: if Mr Coulson were still in office, his whole government would be in crisis.) From the Bagehot column in The Economist. But rather than send flowers, David Cameron would best repay the service the Guardian has done him by taking the rest of their commentary seriously, particularly that ...
I have already expressed my concern at the process of fracking, proposed for the Vale of Glamorgan and Maesteg as a means of extracting natural shale gas. The process works by injecting fluids under high pressure deep underground to deliberately blast apart the gas-bearing rock. In Lancashire there have been two minor earthquakes centred on the area where this activity is underway. New reports from the United States have now raised further concerns about this process. Amongst these are claims that wastewater from natural gas hydrofracturing in a West Virginia national forest quickly wiped out all ground plants, killed more ...
Yesterday's flattest stage with the exception of Paris was meant to be fairly uneventful. It was a natural sprinters stage which was proven my Mark Cavendish and his eight team mates doing exactly what they needed to do getting him as further 56 points in the Green Jersey competition, after two lead outs in half an hour. The first at the intermediate sprint where he secured 5th and eleven point and then at the end where he secured his 17th stage win on the same street as he secured his first. That tally moves him ahead of Jacques Anquetil, Charles ...
From the Guardian: In an interview with the Guardian, Featherstone issued her reminder that any public sector job cuts or other deficit reduction plans that failed to consider equality rules would fall foul of the law. Under the Equality Act 2010, a new equality duty was introduced in April dictating that any public body must have regard to the equality implications of its decisions. She said: "The equality duty means that the public sector will have to look at who is losing jobs and how those jobs are being lost because there is a duty to do so with regard ...
A leading Liberal Democrat Councillor has warned that £6 million worth of potential cuts to the fire service across the county could leave the service stretched to deal with an emergency on the new Guided Busway Nigel Bell, Liberal Democrat Leader on Cambridgeshire Fire Authority has spoken out as emergency fire service trials are due to take place this evening (Friday, July 1) on the new bus route. He has expressed his concerns because the proposed fire cuts include plans to remove the second fire engine at St Ives Station and to make the second appliance at Cambridge and Huntingdon ...
Frankly it was a bit of a shock to discover that Adolf Hitler has been an honorary citizen of his town of birth for the last 78 years, so the decision of Braunau council in Austria to withdraw the honour is welcome, though significantly overdue. The Guardian tells us that Hitler was actually born in the tiny village of Ranshofen, next to Braunau, and became an honorary citizen in 1933. Ranshofen became part of Braunau a few years later and thus Braunau is universally recognised as Hitler's birthplace. They add that local historians say they aren't sure if the title ...
You can download details of this course at the Mitchell Street Centre, starting next month, by going to http://tiny.cc/optionschoices :
The internet's private enterprise (tags: internet)
I would just like to send my praise and thanks to Simon Hughes, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. This is due to the fact that he has written to Ofcom the media regulator regarding Rupert Murdoch's planned takeover of British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). Simon Hughes asks Ofcom to assess whether News International is a 'fit and proper' person to take ownership of BSkyB in accordance with the Broadcasting Acts of 1990 and 1996. Here, Here! It is important that we stand up for Liberal Democrat principles especially now we are in government. We as a party have never ...
