This pretty much sums up today's hearing: I feel that people I trusted, I'm not saying who, I don't know what level, have let me down. I think they behaved disgracefully and betrayed the company, and me. It's for them to pay. I think that, frankly, I'm the best person to clear this up. - Rupert Murdoch Murdoch will be quite serious about thinking he's the best person to clear this up. But he will be missing one of the fundamental points, namely that the point is not simply to "clear this up". It is also to prevent similar failures ...
Well Rupert Murdoch said that his appearance to answer questions in Parliament was the most humble day of his life. But has there really been a shift in power within the Westminster Village? And what next for the "fourth estate"? It was Bristol's most famous MP, Edmund Burke, who coined the phrase "fourth estate". He ...
Tonight was Launceston Town Council's monthly meeting and as usual I went along to give a report about what Cornwall Council is doing. There was some good news - the decision to approve compulsory purchase powers to ensure the Kensey Trail gets built - some bad news - the continued failure of the Council to get parking machines working properly and some interesting opportunity for the future - a presentation by the people in charge of the superfast broadband programme about what is happening in Launceston. Apart from broadband (which is a great scheme), the most interesting discussion was about ...
The Blue Labour idiot has ramped up hatred against immigrants again, some twat has given Rupert Murdoch a Prescott moment, the government has slipped out a load of horrible horrible shite the last couple of days and the media have faithfully concentrated on hackgate instead, and half my party is supporting the badger cull despite there being lots of evidence that it will do knack all good. What is wrong with these people? Why can't they just vaccinate their damn cows? The word vaccination COMES FROM THE LATIN FOR COW for Cthulhu's sake. Anyway. I am grumpy, so I am ...
I was reading the Metro on the train this morning and was annoyed to find little adverts for "Body of Proof" on the Alibi Channel strewn throughout the TV listings. This made it harder to scan the listings and was not on I thought. I then noticed a big advert for the same programme on the left page. So far so commercial but I also noticed that "Body of Proof" was the top "Pick of the Day". Now, I know this is the Metro, but surely "buying" the Pick of the Day is a bit rum. But then I read ...
I am disappointed by the government's decision to go ahead with a cull of badgers in an attempt to combat bovine TB. I am even more disappointed of the Liberal Democrat MPs being split on the issue in an attempt to placate their individual voters. Andrew George, to his credit, has come out against the plans, but I suspect in general the overall picture will be as painted by ePolitix.com: Rural Lib Dems MPs like Tim Farron support a cull, while urban Lib Dems such as Chris Huhne and Greg Mulholland will be opposed.Desmond Carrington, writing on the Guardian Environment ...
It's amazing how a little thing like an approaching holiday can concentrate the mind. In the last few days, I've managed to read and make notes on two of the three 'group processes' chapters of DD307. So it's farewell to prejudice & conflict and intragroup processes! I'm even managing to get through the TMA05 chapter on intergroup processes too. This is just as well, as I only have this weekend left in which to write my essay if I'm not going to be scrabbling around for an internet connection while I'm in Cyprus. It wasn't too difficult to find one ...
The Conservatives had requisitioned the Wallington Traders' petition objecting to the new parking provision in Wallington as a result of the High Street works for debate at Full Council. I used this opportunity to pay tribute to the residents and stakeholders who had given so much of their time to be involved in the Steering ...
In 1970 the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima ritually disembowelled himself following the failure of his attempt at a nationalist coup. Today at Westminster the soi-disant comedian Jonathan May-Bowles achieved something similar with a custard pie - albeit with the assistance of a tasty left hook from Mrs Murdoch. You can say that May-Bowles is an idiot who ensured that the Murdoch would receive sympathetic headlines after their interrogation by the select committee. You can call him another Charlie Gilmour. You can suspect that he is about as funny as athlete's foot or Aaron Barschak. But I prefer to be charitable ...
If Filton Airfield closes, it's essential that the Great Western Air Ambulance stays based at Filton. It's different from the neighbouring air ambulance services, which concentrate on transporting patients. Ours is a true Helicopter Emergency Medical Service, and has a specialist trauma consultant on board - it's one of only four such specialist services in the UK. The site at Filton is strategically located so that the helicopter can get to any serious incident within our area as quickly as possible. If it had to be moved to Staverton for example, response times would become longer and lives would be ...
It's been a long weekend away in London. The primary reason for my visit was to attend Andrew Reeves' Memorial Service in the Union Chapel, Islington, yesterday afternoon. I blogged about my long trip to pay my respects at his Edinburgh funeral last month and I wanted to do the same with his friends in London at his memorial service. As I rarely visit London more than once a year and hadn't done so since last summer, I took this sad reason for a visit to clear my diary and to make a long weekend stay of it to catch ...
A quick meeting by our standards Maiden speeches from Cllr Woolridge, Phelps and Bean. Whether I agreed with what they said or not, speeking at full Council can be a scary experience for those not used to public speaking. They all made their contributions well. The Liberal Democrats proposed a motion, influenced by Shelter it called upon the Council to do more to protect residents from rogue
For far too long Rupert Murdoch has had the ear of every Prime Minister, red and blue alike. It was a great error for a man not even entitled to vote in this country to hold more power than those who can. Today he said sorry. He took out adverts in newspapers to say sorry. He knows that for all his contacts, his British interests are dependant on our Sky subscriptions and newspaper purchases
The pressure on Cameron is on, although whether a self fulfilling prophecy from Ladbrooks or a real result of Conservative divide remains to be seen. Ironically, Cameron's key supporter is Boris, according to the Standard. Keep your enemies closer? The papers are all reporting criticism of Cameron's hiring of Coulson. As I commented earlier, Miliband is point-scoring with gusto, Cameron is being forced to return to the UK, with his so-called-friendships with the Murdochs and the Brookses in presumed tatters. His tenuous position plays into the hands of Tory backbenchers, as yet unnamed, but I would suspect are the same ...
A by-election took place today in the House of Lords, to fill the vacancy among the excepted hereditary peers, created by the death of Lord Ampthill on 23 April. The ballot (under AV) was held between 10am and 8pm today in the Queen's Robing Room, and the count will be conducted tomorrow by Electoral Reform Services. Lord Ampthill was one of the 15 hereditary peers elected by the whole House, as part of a compromise in the House of Lords Act 1999, which retained 92 hereditaries in the House of Lords. His successor is also elected by "all Members of ...
The plot thickens. It now appears that while the relationship between News International and the House of Commons was symbiotic, so too was the relationship between News International and the Police. Working on an infiltration level that police would have been proud of, News International's tentacles seemed to invade the Met as informants, as PR, as administrators and as bribers. When I left work, surruptitiously listening to the Committee on an earphone, the finger of blame was being aimed at Yates. He admitted himself he was so incompetent as to not check the phone hacking scandal file himself, despite the ...
An old trick in the black arts of propaganda or sales, is to take an issue or objection, and manipulate it, slightly, I for instance have pointed out, that the councils decision not too respond to enquires, I might make, in the process of constructing posts, for this blog is political censorship. To explain what I mean, take this twaddle as a prime example from a Tory councillor's blog, "For the benefit of at least one local blogger, who insists, with a complete disregard for the facts, that the local council is 'censoring' its news releases, here's a link to ...
It's a very long time since last I read this, though I had seen the most recent cinema adaptation - which was more faithful to the book than I remembered, at least as regards the lengthy period of time spent with the Beavers. It really takes a long time to get going, with much exposition from the Beavers and Mr Tumnus before we get to the main plot. As a seven-year-old I remember being baffled and also upset by Aslan's death; now I perceive the heaviness of the allegory, but I am also impressed that Lewis makes the young reader ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice Some initial reflections on the Culture select committee hearing today: Is this the most humble day of Rupert Murdoch's life, as he claimed? I very much doubt it. I suspect the most humble day of his life will come when he is finally removed from his News Corp's Chairman's office, no doubt kicking and screaming, with his finger nails screeching along the expensive wallpaper. One of most significant moments, for me, came when Rupert Murdoch was asked if he felt personally responsible for what went on at his company and he answered "No". That seemed ...
Watching a recording of the Murdochs' Select Committee appearance, I was all set to blog about Parliament finding its teeth. I was going to say that this is particularly fascinating for students of Anglo-Australian cultural relations and those of us who find that cultural interactions are most interesting at the cutting edge where different cultures meet (here we have an Australian-American media magnate - a former leading light of Oxford University Labour Club - whose father was a knight and whose mother is a dame, appearing before a Select Committee of the mother country's Parliament, with his Austramerican-accented son - ...
Some initial reflections on the Culture select committee hearing today: Is this the most humble day of Rupert Murdoch's life, as he claimed? I very much doubt it. I suspect the most humble day of his life will come when he is finally removed from his News Corp's Chairman's office, no doubt kicking and screaming, with his finger nails screeching along the expensive wallpaper. One of most significant moments, for me, came when Rupert Murdoch was asked if he felt personally responsible for what went on at his company and he answered "No". That seemed very strange, for me. The ...
Janet and I have just got back from holiday, having a short cruise from Venice to Croatia then Greece, followed by a few days in Venice on return. Until now, my favourite cities have been Barcelona, Honolulu and Boston, but now Venice wins ... I absolutely loved Venice - a stunningly beautiful city and simply lovely to visit. So at the risk of boring everyone, here's a few photos and a short video from our trip. Now, back to the joy of loads of phone messages, letters and e-mails to respond to! Dubrovnik The Acropolis of Athens Me at St ...
Conservative Party statement on Neil Wallis informally advising Andy Coulson before the election: There have been some questions about whether the Conservative Party employed Neil Wallis. We have double checked our records and are able to confirm that neither Neil Wallis nor his company has ever been contracted by the Conservative Party, nor has the Conservative Party made payments to either of them. It has been drawn to our attention that he may have provided Andy Coulson with some informal advice on a voluntary basis before the election. We are currently finding out the exact nature of any advice. We ...
Today was meant to be about the questions asked to Andrew Stapleton, the James & Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks. Now due to one numpty it will be remembered for one custard pie and Wendi Deng, Rupert's wife's left hook. All fingers are pointing towards Jonnie Marbles who on his Tweeted profile has a UK Uncut Twibbon. He said earlier in the afternoon "I'm actually in this committee and can confirm: Murdoch is Mr. Burns." before just a minute before the disruption Tweeted this. As someone who says they are an "Activist, comedian, father figure and all-round nonsense." who Tweets ...
Tue 19th
17:53
Oh, go on then. Here's the comedy photo of Rupert Murdoch this afternoon. It doesn't involve a pie.
Yes. That is the bloke behind's shirt collar.
Durham Police Authority have launched their Community Awards scheme, which will be hosted on 1 December 2011 at Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham. The event aims to recognise and thank people who have made a real difference in making their communities safer. You almost certainly know someone who deserves to win an award in one of the six categories: Caring, Serving, Volunteering, Achieving, Courageous and Dedicated. So why not nominate them? I still believe that Consett is one of the most caring and community minded places you could hope live in. That's by no means the standard view across the county, ...
The picture shows Jonathan May-Bowles (allegedly) in a check shirt attacking Rupert Murdoch with a custard pie. Wendy Murdoch (dark hair and red dress back to camera) is about to get up and clout May-Bowles, who apparently tweets as JohnnyMarbles. According to Lord Bonkers, Molesworth blamed the pie on Peason. Bonkers also avers that he twittersphere suggests that Rupert Murdoch's defence is
Perhaps the most important select committee hearings for 30 years. And what will we see most of. This video of an 80 year old man being attacked. It takes a special kind of stupidity to get the world feeling sorry for Rupert Murdoch. But that idiot 'Jonnie Marbles' has managed it. Update Just seen this spot on tweet from Tom Harris
Tue 19th
16:45
Raf leuchars: decision "fundamentally wrong, strategically inept and likely to increase risk to our ...
North East Fife's Member of Parliament Sir Menzies Campbell has described the decision announced by the Defence Secretary not to retain RAF Leuchars as "fundamentally wrong, strategically inept, and likely to increase the risk to our citizens". Speaking during the statement by the Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox on Defence Transformation, the Liberal Democrat MP also questioned whether the decision was taken against the advice of senior RAF commanders. Sir Menzies said: "I cannot support the decision not to retain Leuchars in my constituency as an RAF base because I believe it to be fundamentally wrong, strategically inept, ...
Anyone passing the Gothic on Church Road, Gatley will see that the builders are in. The building is being revamped inside with a view to open as a wine bar. Several residents have expressed their concerns to me, worried that problems with the previous Gothic – loud noise, anti-social behaviour and the like – will re-occur. There's no requirement for planning permission - permission already exists for a pub or wine bar on that site, so a new owner doesn't have to apply again. Any new owner certainly does have to apply is for a license to serve drinks and ...
Sorry. Just had an email pointing out that comments are turned off. I'd completely failed to notice. This is because the blog was dormant for a year or so, and I blocked comments because I was getting fed up with the spam. Now I'm blogging about my time in Jerusalem, I've re-enabled them, so on the off-chance anyone wants to say anything, they can do. Don't all rush in at once ...
Once we'd finished at Qumran, we drove down to Ein Gedi, on the south-western shore of the Dead Sea. It's a little oasis on the edge of the desert, and is well known for its nature reserve. Joanna had booked us a room in a hostel there, and it was surprisingly nice: our own room between us; clean and modern, an all-you-can-eat buffet for dinner; plus a balcony to sit out on late at night, drinking Goldstar and playing card games. Couldn't ask for more! In the morning we set out for the nature reserve. Ein Gedi, which literally means ...
Over on Huffington Post, Mark Pack has a piece looking at the way US Republican presidential hopefuls are using technology in their campaigns, and at the difficulties of judging online activities from the 'outside', given the often hidden nature of much of it. Here's an excerpt: The old days of 'count the features and say those with the most are the best' are, thankfully, long gone when it comes to political Internet campaigning. As is common with many technological areas as they mature, after the initial proliferation of features and services, the real success and progress comes with technology that ...
Mr. Chairman. Select Committee Members: With your permission, I would like to read a short statement. My son and I have come here with great respect for all of you, for Parliament and for the people of Britain whom you represent. This is the most humble day of my career. After all that has happened, I know we need to be here today. Before going further, James and I would like to say how sorry we are for what has happened - especially with regard to listening to the voicemail of victims of crime. My company has 52,000 employees. I ...
We could call it "plausible meritocracy", as currently being demonstrated by the Murdochs in today's hearing: I'm the boss 'cos I know what we should be doing. That's why I deserve the big bucks. I'm the boss but I didn't know what we were doing. That's why I don't deserve punishment. Flip between 1. and 2. as necessary.
The Kindle version of my book An Incomprehensible Condition: An Unauthorised Guide To Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers, is now up here (US) and here (UK). A version went up yesterday which was badly-formatted. If for some reason you get this, please re-download the book (it might take some time for my changes to be live ...
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has a new tool which lets you calculate how wealthy or poor you are compared with the rest of the population. The quiz asks you for your income, how many people there are in your household and how much your council tax bill is. So I decided to give it a go using the value of what my notional income will be in my first job after graduating. As a student of engineering, when I graduate the average starting salary for my profession is £24,000 a year. If I assume that I'll have to pay ...
Paul Stephenson former Metropolitan Police commissioner stated at the Culture Select Committee today that a quarter of the Mets Public Affairs office are ex-News International. I wonder how these people where employed? I wonder if they were recommend by other staff? I also wonder how many staff worked for other papers? Shame these questions were not also asked so that we could have some prospective on the influence of News international in the Public Affairs office. Of course John Yates former assistant chief constable did send the CV personally for employment of Mr Wallis, so influence did occur there.
Tue 19th
14:21
Andrew Stunell MP writes: Re-localisation of business rates will give councils real financial freedo...
Yesterday's announcement of our plan to re-localise business rates is one of the most significant reforms announced by the Coalition so far. Ok, not as newsworthy as the phone hacking scandal, but it's big news for local democracy nonetheless. It marks another fundamental shift from central control to local responsibility. Under the current local government funding system, Whitehall dishes out grant allocations to councils each year based on an incomprehensible formula that is far too complex and lacking in transparency. Most of this money is funded by the business rates, collected locally, but funnelled centrally, and then reallocated. Councils are ...
So what will the committee be asking Pamella Bordes ?
Police are working with staff at the Gatley Green Co-op after a second robbery in recent weeks, and investigating CCTV. The first was a ram-raid where cigarettes were stolen from the closed shop. The latest happened at around 9.45 on Sunday evening – 17th July – when the Co-op was open. Three men threatened staff and stole money. Keith, Pam and I are very concerned about this recent spike in robberies and attempted robberies in recent months, with both Gatley Co-ops and Alaska Chicken being victims, and Tesco having had an attempted break-in. We are keeping in close contact with ...
In A ward just north of here, in a time... some point last year.... LIBDEM WARS EPISODE III It is a time of turmoil within the Medway Liberal Democrats.The party has split right down the middle as a break away group battles for Independence against the evil COALITION in Westminster. A young rebel by the name of Andy Stamp has dramatically reported his fellow ward partners for breaches of conduct and reported them to the standards committee. Now declared innocent he has found himself under attack by the vile forces of the LIBDEMS and now steels himself for a vital ...
Labour have been pretty vitriolic about the remuneration and bonuses received by the bankers in the light of banking crisis and the huge sums of public money that have had to be invested in financial institutions so as to keep them and the economy afloat. In doing so they have been reflecting the public mood, which is why the Government moved to tax the banks to the tune of £10 million over the next four years. Strangely though there has not been the same level of fuss from the brothers and sisters regarding another pay-off scandal, namely the golden goodbye ...
Following on from her debut single 'Friday', Rebecca Black is releasing her second single entitled 'My Moment' in the near future and the video has been put on YouTube. I have to admit that I was partial to Friday and I actually don't mind this tune. I feel a lot for her and the stick that she has got around the world but heck she's fighting and with over 400,000 twitter followers she is certainly taking her chance to make a career for herself. So please listen to the single and watch the video for her new single. It's not ...
Interesting piece about the diffculty of bringing about change
I get more and more annoyed with the BCCI. They are trying to ruin the game of Cricket by forcing the ICC to change the DRS system and with the first test between England and India starting on Thursday it has come out that umpires will be making all lbw decisions without any technological help No hawk-eye, no hot-spot or even the tramlines on screen to help the third umpire see where the ball pitched and struck a batsman. Basically it is completely down to the umpires and whilst umpiring has become much better in recent years – a lot ...
There's a lot of like about the House of Lords Science and Technology Sub-Committee's report on Behaviour Change. The short video (plus link) below goes into the detail. Here's what I particularly like: Recommending a scientific, experimental approach to produce legislation that (shock, horror) actually works. Good, clear examples – looking back at the success of seat belts, and forwards to possibilities for food labelling, both of which relate directly to health care costs. Calling for the appointment of an independent scientist (while acknowledging the presence of them within the civil service). A balanced view, specifically making it clear that ...
Local Lib Dem ward councillor, Darren Fower, says he's been told by Council Officers that they intend to close off the road along Amberley Slope, from Wednesday 3rd August, through to the 6th. According to the Council Officers, work is required due to damage caused last winter by ice, which meant the stretch of road became a dangerous slide on occasions. According to Darren, he has not seen or heard of any evidence to suggest damage arose due to sub standard material being used in previous resurfacing work. A letter from the City Council states: "While these works are undertaken ...
Last night, despite the rather unpleasant efforts of a handful of Labour backbenchers to throw stones from an already rather damaged greenhouse, the House of Commons overwhelmingly passed a motion proposing six members to form the Joint Committee to scrutinise the draft Financial Services Bill. Usually, such motions are passed without a murmur, especially as the nominees are proposed by the various political parties. However, on this occasion, the presence of David Laws, the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, drew the ire of, amongst others, Thomas Docherty, the Labour MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, and John Mann, the ...
Acting on complaints from local people, your Focus Team successfully campaigned for better arrangements for cardboard recycling now that cardboard can no longer go in the green bin. The bags had been expected to be available from collection points around the area in early summer. Unfortunately South Glos tell us that due to a quality issue, this has now slipped until the end of September. We will keep you informed.
It's hard to believe that it's only nine short weeks since Willie Rennie announced he was standing for the leadership of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He has made quite an impact since he took over, acquiring positive comments and coverage across the media. Here's a selection of comments made about him in the press. Links are included where the article is available online. A doughty campaigner, with an unpatronising down-to-earth style, Mr Rennie may grow into an impressive leader, building a level of credibility... The Herald Amid what was... a general air of gloom, there was one bright spark. This ...
Imagine you owned a number of PFI contracts. You would be relaxed about the fact that they were badly written and abusively inefficient, because it was the other guy getting shafted. Then imagine you are living through a time of austerity and cutbacks. A new Chancellor of the Exchequer is determined to reduce public sector expenditure. You might fear for those contracts. If we are indeed all in it together, then this hard-nosed Exchequer might kick off some tough contract re-negotiations. Fear not, gentle profiteer. Can you think of any better news than this? Parliament's PFI contract reviews are set ...
Christopher Fowler's The White Corridor is the fifth in his Bryant and May murder mystery series, set as usual with a very strong London backdrop though this time his two detectives from the Peculiar Crimes Unit, John May and Arthur Bryant, spend much of the book stuck in a snow drift in South West England. That relocation of his two main characters helps keep the book fresh as it allows some of the basic characteristics of the series to continue, but in a new and plausible form. So yes, once again, Bryant is poor at keeping his colleagues informed as ...
Yesterday I joined around 200 others in the excellent and beautiful surroundings of the Union Chapel near Highbury Corner in Islington to remember our friend Andrew Reeves. It was quite an expedition for me - and I was the furthest I'd been from Anna and Bob in 12 years, but it was well worth going. I arrived at Waverley Station in Edinburgh at 8 am yesterday. I realised I'd forgotten to take anything to read, so I went into W H Smith's. I was thrilled to bits to see my friend Keris Stainton's new novel, Jessie <3 NYC in pride ...
Tue 19th
11:50Brian Paddick writes: What's good for the Metropolitan Police is not good for politicians
The evening after the Metropolitan Police shot an innocent Brazilian at Stockwell I went and saw the then Deputy Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson. I asked whether it was true that the Commissioner had barred the Independent Police Complaints Commission from their legal duty to investigate the death. He said it was. I told him I thought it was the most stupid decision I had ever heard of (I knew by then that we had made a terrible mistake). He smiled and said "It's my job to support the Commissioner." I was concerned from then on that Stephenson might be giving ...
Like all councils Medway council has had to deal with a cut in its expenditure and the best way is to perform efficiency savings. It seems the council are adopting the slogan "Better for less." aimed at still providing excellent first line services whilst trimming the fat. In the first phase 60 posts are to be axed- either absorbed into other areas or made redundant. Of redundancies, 30 are to be gone by January next year. One move, published in the "Medway News" is the slim lining of the telephone banks system as council strategists slim the numbers down from ...
I'm still coming to terms with the sad death of my friend and colleague Andrew Reeves who died at the age of 43 a few weeks ago. Although the same age (he's actually a few months older than me) I always thought of him as younger for some reason. Last year he named me as one of three people who had inspired him in his early years in the party (along with Dave Hodgson and Gerald Vernon-Jackson) and I regret that I never got round to thanking him for that comment which meant a lot to me at the time ...
In his statement in the House of Commons yesterday, Defence Secretary Liam Fox announced that the army is definitely leaving Arborfield by 2015. This presumably satisfies Wokingham Borough Council's desire for confirmation that the site will be available for building on, and means they are likely to push ahead with adopting the Arborfield Strategic Development location masterplan. I think residents' last hope of preventing the whole thing might just have gone. The relevant sentence of his statement on July 18th says "This confirms that the Department will withdraw from Arborfield in Berkshire and Bordon in Hampshire, releasing the sites for ...
"William Powell, with his roots in the rural community, is well placed to represent rural Wales. He is a member of the Farming Union of Wales so he will be able to speak for farmers with confidence in the Chamber. William also serves on the committee of the Lloyd George Society - a true liberal. "Aled Roberts takes on the education portfolio. During his tenure as leader of Wrexham Council, they boosted the GCSE results of the pupils in the county. Aled has already, on his first day back, called for the Labour Government to introduce a pupil premium in ...
A new realisation has been slowly dawning upon me of late. I was talking to my dad about the cuts, and how (in my view) the cuts are wrong. He posited that the public sector is inefficient, and how cutting ... Continue reading →
Cornwall Council has just sent out the following press release. I'm reprinting it because there may be approaches made to local readers of this blog. Householders across Cornwall are being warned to take care before agreeing to have 'free' solar panels installed on their property. Trading Standards and Consumer Direct have issued the warning following a spate of telephone calls from concerned householders with issues about approaches they have received. "Although there are companies genuinely offering to install solar panels for free, there appears to be other companies exploiting the opportunity" explained Martine Barnes from Trading Standards. "In some cases ...
Next Tuesday, 26th July, is Cheadle Area Committee, kicking off at 6pm at the Upper Rooms above Tesco on Wilmslow Road, Cheadle (access from the car park at the rear). Coming up are: Two linked planning applications. The first is for five houses to be built on the site of the former Brookside Tennis Club, Brookside Close, Cheadle. The second is for re-surfacing of three existing tennis courts, construction of two new tennis courts,provision of car parking area and construction of a replacement pavilion at Baxter Park Tennis Club, Highcrest Avenue, Gatley. Single yellow lines for Abney Place, Cheadle. This ...
IFS - Where do you fit in? I'm in the bottom ten percent - specifically I am richer than 6% of people. And let me tell you, internets, it sucks down here. (tags: money economics work)
According to an amendment last week to the Ministerial code of Conduct, relations with senior media powers will be transparent in future: The Government will be open about its links with the media. All meetings with newspaper and other media proprietors, editors and senior executives will be published quarterly regardless of the purpose of the meeting. It was another world of press relations with Government when then-Chancellor Roy Jenkins faced the turmoil of the 1968 currency crisis.. As he said; I went back to Number 11 to receive William Rees-Mogg, then editor of The Times, who had suggested the visit ...
There's still so much going on you can't get blog posts out fast enough for Hackgate or whatever the colloquial term is at the moment. Brooks Resigning So Brooks went, and then she was arrested. Her lawyer is claiming that the police put no allegations to her in the 12 hours she was questioned. Brooks is claiming "enormous reputational damage". I would suggest she lost that when she persecuted innocent people by alluding to paedophiles living across the UK, resulting in mob justice on the wrong people. And if that wasn't good enough, I'd suggest in 2003 her admittal, on ...
Stage 16 is really going to be about the Green Jersey. There aren't enough points on offer to affect the King of the Mountains, the hills aren't big enough to make the main contenders go for it so all eyes will be focused on Mark Cavendish, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Philippe Gilbert. The first time we will focus on the three of them is at Veynes with 45 km to go. This is where today's sprint occurs. While it is uphill we know that Cav can and will put in the effort on uphill sprints and can pull it off. ...
Yesterday saw record traffic on this blog - largely due this Video of a Boris Johnson car crash of an interview, but also with spoof Rupert Murdoch ads, Quentin Letts acting like a dinosaur, and my take on the Paul Stephenson resignation (gosh, doesn't that seem a long time ago already...) In other news the site is now getting over 5000 page views a month, and thanks to the flag counter I know that over 1000 separate people have hit the site in the last 12 days (nb this is different from the traditional 'unique users' count). So thanks everyone. ...
For the past week or so, the legendary Auntie Helen Duffett has been doing her best Beau Geste impression, making it look as though the Lib Dem Voice team have been at full strength. Let me let you into a secret... they aren't. Whilst Mark 'Hawaii Five-0' Pack has skived off to the Canadian prairies, and Stephen 'where did you get that hat' Tall is buried under a mountain of work, the remainder of the LDV team are keeping things going. Which one of these is Mark Pack? My small contribution has been to write a few pieces to help ...
There has been much informed commentary on the phone hacking scandal but little in the way of wild eyed speculation. For instance, I'm fairly sure that Vince Cable's declaration of war on Murdoch was a cunning ruse to leave Jeremy Hunt carrying the bag when the BSkyB bid turned toxic, after Hunt made jokes about his Paso Doble. Here's a few more predictions of what is yet to be revealed: Ed Miliband only hired ex-News Corp employee Tom Baldwin as a health precaution, lest he explode from smugness at PMQs. Cameron hired Coulson just to really, really rub it in ...
Purpose The intention of this note is to give you an overview of the proposals for the Cambridgeshire Future Transport project to help inform local members and communities of the emerging plans and how they can be involved. Background Improving local passenger transport is one of the top priorities for the people of Cambridgeshire. However, faced with a need to cut costs in all areas of passenger transport, including public, home-to-school and social services transport, and recognising that other public bodies, including health and district councils also provide transport funding and services, Cambridgeshire County Council called a Transport Summit in ...
This week's 'have your say' is from Cambridgeshire Police Authority and asks what police in Cambridgeshire should prioritise in their day to day work? Cambridgeshire Police Authority engages with the public each year to help inform the setting of priorities for policing. This includes identifying a single People's Policing Priority to ensure the police respond to a problem that is particularly important to the public of Cambridgeshire. This year anti-social behaviour, with an emphasis on speeding and parking outside schools, was supported by members of the public. We want to know if we've got this right. Go to the forum ...
This week's 'have your say' is from Cambridgeshire Police Authority and asks what police in Cambridgeshire should prioritise in their day to day work? Cambridgeshire Police Authority engages with the public each year to help inform the setting of priorities for policing. This includes identifying a single People's Policing Priority to ensure the police respond to a problem that is particularly important to the public of Cambridgeshire. This year anti-social behaviour, with an emphasis on speeding and parking outside schools, was supported by members of the public. We want to know if we've got this right. Go to the forum ...
Word reaches me that Tony Page, he of Shinfield Road fiasco and Station Hill sell-off infamy, is up yet again on charges of breaking the Council's code of conduct. Couldn't happen to a nicer chap. I will post later on Page's latest blunder. socialise this: [IMG: add 'Page Faces Standards Challenge' a Del.icio.us] [IMG: add 'Page Faces Standards Challenge' a digg] [IMG: add 'Page Faces Standards Challenge' a Stumble Upon] [IMG: add 'Page Faces Standards Challenge' a FaceBook] [IMG: add 'Page Faces Standards Challenge' a Twitter]
One of my favourite writer/directors is Christopher Nolan, best know for Momento, Inception and the re-boot of the Batman franchise. On the 20th July next year, The Dark Knight Rises will be released, completing Nolan's trilogy of Batman films. In Batman Begins, Nolan developed Batman's backstory and imbued the character with a gritty darkness lacking from some of the previous films. The Dark Knight was memorable for Heath Ledger's amazing portrayal of The Joker in his last complete filmed role. The Dark Knight Rises has a lot to live up to... but I'm confident it's in good hands. Along with ...
I've spent a long weekend "down South", principally to see the Globe's production of "Much Ado About Nothing." Now that I've looked at them I see the Telegraph's reviewer shares my almost undiluted enthusiasm. Alas the Guardian's critic has sneering criticisms and accuses the actors of "playing to the gallery" (or, in this case, the groundlings.) In my view there is nothing "self indulgent" about the superb performances of the two leads, Charles Edwards as Benedick and Eve Best as Beatrice. I'm sure we shall hear much more of both of them. Anyone who was badly taught Shakespeare at school ...
The Dwayne McDuffie Tribute You Won't Be Seeing Matt Wayne wrote a tribute to Dwayne McDuffie. The publishers asked him to chnge it for publication, and he pulled out. This is the tribute, juxtaposed with a heart rending coic also by Wayne. I first read McDuffie's work through his Justice League series, where I liked his work but not the edicts handed down to him from editorial, where I learned what it does to a book when editorially dictated long plots interfere with the action-and-dialogue writer.Then I discoveredd his connection to the DCAU and his name kept coming up in ...
The standard of Herts Highways workmanship gets no better. This is Breakspear Avenue, where the humps have long caused problems for motorists – and an unsightly mess for residents. Chris has asked Herts Highways to give it proper attention.
This evening Wycombe District Councils cabinet (well 4 of them!) voted to stop the plan to build the Wasps/Wycombe Wanderers Stadium at Booker. Bucks Free Press has good coverage at Bookmark on Delicious Digg this Recommend on Facebook Share on Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet this
