Earlier this week I was a guest at the re-opening of the offices of the Bristol branch of the Samaritans. I visited them a few years ago at their St Nicholas Street base. The rabbit warren of rooms I saw then has now been transformed into a modern office suite, fit for the purpose of ...
After 2½ years the yellow lines for the Beggars Lane parking scheme are finally down. This will give an opportunity for parking where it is safe to do so, enable cars to pass safely in the narrow lane and provide a general improvement in road safety all round. However, parking beyond the double yellow lines on the bend is dangerous and will earn inconsiderate motorists a Fixed Penalty for obstructive parking – plus the obvious risk of an accident happening.
Wed 27th
22:37
Cuts to Vulnerable Services, Council Finances and the Council's New Household Waste Contract
At last night's Cabinet meeting a number of topics were discussed. The main items which have relevance to us all are: 1/ Financial Update Report: The Council are increasing, not reducing, a number of their reserve accounts. This means they are saving money (for rainy day) instead of using it now to reduce the amount of cuts in areas that affect vulnerable people. Relating to the economy probably most of us realise that it IS raining and we have our umbrellas out. This might be a Labour-minded strategy to save money now for a project later on in this electoral ...
Three Liberal Democrat proposals to increase the involvement of local residents in Council decisions were thrown out by the Council at last week's meeting. Firstly, they rejected Lib Dem proposals to reduce the number of signatures on a petition to trigger a council debate from 20,000 to 10,000. The current threshold is one of the highest in the country and only one petition has ever been debated by the Council. Secondly, they refused to debate our motion calling for a clear consultation policy to be put in place, in spite of the Council's own annual Governance statement acknowledging the lack ...
I am delighted that Lucy Robinson has accepted the role of interim Chief Executive at Suffolk County Council. She got the job on merit and the decision of the staff appointments committee was unanimous. There were five of us in total – 3 Conservatives, including the leader, Mark Bee, myself as Lib Dem opposition leader, and the Labour group leader. The council needed a period of stability after the turbulence of the last few months and Lucy has provided that since taking on the Acting Chief Executive role in May. I've been surprised, though, that people still want to talk ...
Over the past few weeks many members have been in contact about the latest allegations on phone hacking, so to help answer some of your questions I sat down with Julian Huppert MP, who has played a prominent role on the select committee, to talk about some of the issues being raised. You can view the video below; Or on our YouTube channel here The phone hacking scandal has uncovered a crisis that strikes at the heart of our democracy, calling into question our trust in the institutions and individuals tasked with protecting our freedom and enforcing the rule of ...
From Memebase:
Those of you that don't like my rants, stop reading now. OK, you've got this far. I want to tell you about my recent experiences with attempting to buy premium bonds from NS&I. And before you all tell me it's not a good investment, yes, I know that, but it's a better investment than the lottery. And I bet most of you play that (I don't). I'm also hopeful that my experience might serve as a warning to others before they manage to walk into the same customer service black hole that I've just stumbled into. Up until 2 or ...
The government decision taken last December to increase from 2012 the maximum amount universities can charge for tuition could deter people from going into higher education. It is now the duty of all of us - government, politicians of all colours and the public - to make sure that nobody makes a decision about going to university without knowing exactly how it will be paid for and the support available. The facts, figures and costs of a degree for future graduates are: nothing at all for those earning less than £21,000 and £7.50 a month for those earning £22,000. It ...
The Electoral Commission have cleared Chris Huhne over his expenses for the last general election. The Commission's full report is here. The Commission found that website costs had been under-reported by the "minimal" amount of £10.15. However, it also found that leaflet costs had been actually over declared by £194. Overall, the Commission found that the total expenditure of the campaign was "within the spending limit." All fascinating stuff. This all must be very frustrating indeed for our friends Paul Staines (aka Guido Fawkes) and Mr Harry Cole. They beavered away for months in their Sunlight Foundation to come up ...
Bad news, it seems, might be around the corner for Bodmin Tory Councillor Lance Kennedy. Despite being dumped as a cabinet member in May, the former policeman has made no secret of his ambition to seek the Conservative nomination for police commissioner elections which are due next May. But now it seems, at least according to Michael Crick, that the Tories might decide not to stand candidates at all. Tweet
OK, I admit it. I am completely excited for the arrival of the Olympics next year in the East End of London where I grew up. Its been a long six years since we wont the bid and so much ...
The Guardian have come up with a bit of speculative genius in the form of this article. Yep - it's true that there is a lot of unhappiness among Lib Dems over the proposal to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600, particularly after the way that the Tories behaved in the AV referendum campaign. But some of the suppositions are simply bonkers. How does Patrick Wintour imagine: "In the south east, Lib Dems Mike Hancock and Norman Baker might be fighting for a single seat in the Portsmouth/Lewes area." For those who do not know the area, ...
Mindful of the fact that every time I have written a personal blog post in the past, it seems to have been about miserable stuff or things that have gone wrong, its nice to write one in a good place ...
After the failure of the previous Extra Care scheme a new and bigger proposal is being developed for the derelict site off Shaftmoor Land and Spring Road where there was a Lucas (then Denso) factory. This time, the idea is to incorporate the AEC site, providing that their planned move to Solihull gets the go ahead (if it doesnt and they need to expand in situ a different plan will be developed). Assuming things go ahead as planned the site will provide: A medium sized Morrison's supermarket facing the Spring Road side of the site An Extra Care development providing ...
Start from the terminal basin and walk a little way along the Cromford Canal and you will come across High Peak Junction. This is where the Cromford and High Peak Railway began, reaching Bugsworth Basin near Whaley Bridge by a combination of conventional railway and rope-hauled inclines. It was later to be connected with the Midland Railway near Cromford, but originally all goods were transshipped from the canal before being taken over the Derbyshire hills towards Manchester. Amazingly, this line not close until 1967, which means that Sheep Pasture Incline (which begins at High Peak Junction) and its engine house ...
...especially when I go onto the local news website and read stories like this. Its hard enough for people in our society who are, as some would say 'different' to the rest of us but that is no justification for ...
I have no fundamental objection to the introduction of elected police commissioners, and the police must be democratically accountable is some way, but I have never been clear what problem this initiative is designed to solve. Now, if Michael Crick is right, comes news that the introduction of elected commissioners is to be bungled: The Conservatives are seriously considering not standing candidates for the elections for the new elected police commissioners which are due to take place next May - providing the legislation gets through parliament ... Rather than stand candidates under the Conservative banner, the party is actively considering ...
It's been a great day. I've spent the day at Cardigan Agricultural Show and in the many years that I have attended the show, it has probably been the best that I can recall. It was the 157th Cardigan Show since it was formed in 1854 and in its day it was I gather the biggest one day show in Wales. My grandfather J.R.Lewis I'm told was a previous President of the Show and was an avid competitor. Over the years my family have continued our proud association by competing regularly with our Shire Horses in his memory. It was ...
As you know I've been following the progress of wee sister Honor who, with the Inverness Spinners, is cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland and Inverness SNAP. At 9:57 am this morning, they crossed the Scottish Border. I'm amazed that they have managed to cover over 450 miles in just over 5 days. They head to Kilmarnock tonight, Crianlarich tomorrow, Fort Augustus on Friday, Brora on Saturday and then, finally, John O'Groats, after they've tackled the evil Berriedale Braes. They look a lot less evil than they are on this ...
Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted, I've been caught up in things, but one of the subjects I keep coming up across recently is the idea that democracy is somehow a sacred concept. Many libertarians believe in consensus politics, and I tend to differ from them on this particular front, so I figured I could do a post about it. First of all, to clarify, I'm in no way saying that democracy is a bad concept, or even not the best system of government, what I'm going to propose is that the way in which we have ...
I may be missing something but when did Corned Beef become so flipping expensive. Unless I'm suffering from old timers, I recall purchasing what I thought was a humble source of protein for about 70 pence a tin. Today my perception has changed, what I thought was the byproduct of old cows tails, bits and pieces and recycled shoe leather, must in reality be made from prime cuts of Aberdeen Angus. What was once fit only for oiks has now become at £8.80 a kilo food fit for kings.
On Wednesday 14th September Gordon Faddy, the Chair of registered charity "Enable in Cornwall Ltd", will be taking a dramatic zip wire ride at Adrenalin Quarry, Menheniot to raise much needed funds. The Zip at Adrenalin Quarry is the UK's biggest ever zip wire. Longest at 490 metres; highest at 50 metres; fastest at 40 ...
Last night I spoke to the South Somerset Peace Group in Ilminster about the so-called Arab Spring, highlighting in particular what has been happening in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen — each of which is quite unique, even if certain common threads can be ascertained. One of those is the importance of youth ...
Cornwall Council's parking machines in Launceston are continuing to rip-off drivers three weeks after I was promised that the practice would be put to a stop immediately. When the parking hours were changed on May 9th, the ticket machines should have been altered to reflect the new times. However some were not and so drivers can find themselves paying for time which is supposed to be free. When combined with the very poor signage advertising the change in hours, drivers are finding that they have been ripped off by the council many times over. I reported this mistake to the ...
I've had a couple of reports in the last week or two of smells from Longley Lane tip – something we thought was sorted a while back with their new building to take the green waste. If you're troubled with smells from the tip, please let me know, but also phone the Environment Agency. Call them free, 24 hours a day, on 0800 80 70 60.
Cambridgeshire Highways will be resurfacing Long Road between the Hills Road Junction and Long Road VI Form College from Tuesday 9th August 2011 to Friday 12th August. The work will be carried out during the daytime from 09:30hrs to 15:30hrs. Traffic will be controlled by temporary traffic lights. If you have any queries regarding the work please contact Jonathan Clarke, Area Maintenance Engineer for this area either on email (Jonathan.Clarke@cambridgeshire.gov.uk) or telephone Cambridgeshire Highways on 0345 045 5212.
I have spent most of the day at a Health Board meeting. Not much really to report apart from that we are looking at the potential of web casting board meetings. Tonight I have been invited to the re-opening of the National Museum of Scotland. I am very excited about this. The Museum is my all time favourite place on the planet. The high galleries have provided hours of endless interest to me and always proved a calming and restful place to hang out. A Christmas holiday was never complete without a day nosing around the statues and fish ponds. ...
Collected links from around the webWestern culture still very much there, say experts-The Daily Mash I love the Daily Mash sometimes (othertimes it's horrible, but, y'know). Professor Henry Brubaker said: "Everyone keeps saying western culture is under threat from Muslims or something, so we thought we'd better check. Turns out it's not." Think it's the paranoid extremists that're more of a threat m'self (tags: funny satire) In 1987, 42% of the software developers in America were women-heading back that way? I've read elsewhere (and Jennie's argued) that as jobs became 'profesionalised' and wages increased, women were forced out--case in point? ...
In other Huhne news this afternoon and as, ahem, predicted the Electoral Commission's investigation into Chris Huhne's election expenses has concluded that his campaign kept to the legal limits. The review concluded that one item had been under-reported by £10.15 (sic) but that otherwise the expenditure in the short and long campaign had been properly recorded and declared. You can read the EC's full report into the case here and you can look back on what Guido made of my prediction here. Well, one of us was right... [IMG: :-)]
The following tricks/hacks are a list of things which I've either discovered or found elsewhere on the internet. Screen Brightness If you prefer to set the screen brightness down to zero, you'll find that outside you can't see the screen. Instead of hunting through the menus you can do this quick trick to whack the brightness up to full. Press on the Status Bar at the top around the middle, hold for about a second, now drag to the right. As you reach the right hand side of the screen it should get brighter. You can do the same dragging ...
Residents have complained to Chris about the reappearance of construction lorries on Clarence Road – in breach of local planning permissions. Herts Highways and the district council have now spoken to each other and confirm that construction lorries are not permitted to use this road – which is essentially residential in character and physical strength. The contractors believed to be in breach have been spoken to. Please let Chris know if there are any more incidents – providing registration numbers and other identifying signs (eg company logos), dates and times.
First, a breakdown of those acronyms: HS2 = High Speed 2, a proposed high speed rail link that will directly London Euston to Birmingham, then later to Manchester (and Leeds). WCML = West Coast Main Line, an existing rail link connecting London Euston to Birmingham and Manchester (and than up to Scotland). It also has stations at many other places in between. It's the most important railway line in the UK. FPTP = First Past The Post, the electoral system used for general elections. The UK is split up into 600 constituencies, and each elects a single MP with the ...
You can't use the phrase 'perfect storm' these days. It is a cliché. But how do you express, with sufficient clarity, the phenomenon of a financial tsunami and a financial hurricane happening at the same time? Because we need to start asking how we might cope if the very worst happens – as well it might – and both the US government and key European nations default on their burgeoning debts at the same time? The euro has been rescued by the latest bail-out, but an American default would unravel that and cause a second banking crisis, far more ferocious ...
A report on how young people are doing in our area has much good news, with a few causes for concern. You can read the full report below, but here are a few key points. Cheadle & Gatley ward has three primary schools (Cheadle Primary, Gatley Primary and Lum Head Primary) and one secondary school (The Kingsway). Heald Green has six primary schools (including one special school), with Cheadle Hulme North ward having four primary schools, including Meadowbank at the Cheadle end of the ward. Stockport's primary schools were among the best in the country last year, as measured by ...
Crime levels still remain low and well under control for Bar Hill and the surrounding villages. This week I have carried out door to door police surgeries in Foxhollow, Bar Hill. I am happy to say that the consultation with the residents was positive with no issues raised. On Sunday, 17th July, whilst I was on patrol in a marked police vehicle, a member of the public alerted me to a vehicle that had come off the road in Station Road, Longstanton. I spoke to the driver and realised that he may had been driving whilst under the influence of ...
As you probably know, the USA is teetering on the brink of bringing down the global economy. This is because the US government has, for many, many years, been spending more than it brings in in taxes. However, the US has something called a debt ceiling and no government is allowed to increase the national debt beyond the debt ceiling without getting the approval of Congress. So, in order for the US government to keep on borrowing the money it needs to pay its bills and creditors, Congress needs to vote to raise the debt ceiling. Now here's where the ...
I think this may be the first time I've read a novel by a blogger (as opposed to reading the blogs of novelists) but if others are up to this standard, then I might have to find more. The Ministry Of Love is, as far as I'm aware, only available as an e-book from Amazon (and for a ridiculously low price), but it might be a good reason to get a Kindle, or at least a Kindle app for some other device as it's the sort of book that will definitely appeal to the sort of people who read this ...
I've reproduced below Simon Hughes letter to members about his report on ensuring fair access to higher education. The full document can be found here. I'm going to read it and digest it properly but on initial inspection it does begin to address the funding and resourcing of OFFA which I've blogged about before. I'm not sure it goes nearly far enough. But it's a start. Here's the letter: Dear Richard I am acutely aware of the concerns in our party about the decision taken last December to increase from 2012 the maximum amount universities can charge for tuition. Like ...
The proposed Stadium for Cornwall got a good kicking at today's scrutiny committee meeting as councillors from across the political spectrum railed against the apparent assumption that the project would go ahead and demanded assurances that there would be no further taxpayer funding for it. This was an interim report mainly aimed at getting councillors to raise questions that they want answered in the final report in the autumn. As such we weren't expecting many answers, but there do appear to be a couple of significant changes to the information given previously. The first (and possibly most significant) was the ...
Yesterday morning I attended a meeting about tube issues at Turnham Green station in Chiswick, with Transport for London representatives and Caroline Pidgeon, the London Lib Dem Leader. Part of the meeting was not so good as TfL continue to block ideas to have the Picadilly Line tubes stopping all day or on Sunday. They showed figures which indicate that more people (further West or East) benefit from the tube not stopping at Turnham Green than those at Turnham Green even if the total time saved or lost to journey times is used. However despite this, three positives came from ...
One thing is for sure, if we are to improve on our position in next year's elections for the Greater London Authority, we need to appeal to every community in London. If the MPs' expenses scandal didn't put people off politics, the perception that no one voted for the Coalition Government we now have, might well do the trick. Too often, people view politicians as remote and out of touch, unable to understand their needs and act in their interests. That's why, as well as getting our traditional vote out, we must appeal across the political divide and demonstrate that ...
I love this analogy on the damage the Republicans are doing to the political process in the US (thanks to Josh Marshall at TPM): Yes, at some level it's a game of chicken. Something we can all understand pretty intuitively in human nature and game theory terms. But to really get what's going on you've got to understand one key point: one of the two cars doesn't have a driver in it. Which changes everything. The full article itself is a good, short read. It's also in the vein of my piece yesterday on journalism's obsession with balancing two camps ...
Summary Twitter's way of linking URLs is broken. It's annoying to users, and a pain in the arse to developers. This quick post talks about the problem and offers a solution. I've raised a bug with Twitter and I hope you'll star it as important to you. Preamble A common trope in programming classes is "how do you detect valid email address?" It should be obvious, right? A string of text, an @, a domain – probably ending in .com. As it turns out, it's not that simple. "who+o'toole@invalid.museum" is a potentially valid address, for example. There are literally thousands ...
I got home today and poking out of my letter box was a glossy flyer from Medway Labour introducing Dave Colman, the new(ish) Labour councillor for Gillingham South. Now I know that it would be easy for me to be critical of him just because he is not a Lib Dem or because he replaced Stephen Kearney who I consider a friend even though he didn't canvas my vote at all... BUT You'd be wrong. I'm not that tribal - it gets in the way of things and distracts from the true issues of representing the constituents and the public ...
Registrations are now open for ALDC's Kickstart Training Weekend - 28-30 November 2011, near Birmingham. This is our main training event of the year and a great opportunity to ensure your team is a winning team at your next local elections. FACT: In the couple of years years almost all of us face local elections of some sort. Scotland, Wales, English Mets and Districts and London in 2012, English Counties in 2013. FACT: To win in challenging circumstances you team needs the skills and information to campaign effectively. You need a campaign plan that can build success across subsequent elections. ...
Liberal Democrat Federal Party Conference takes place Saturday 17 - Wednesday 21 September 2011, in Birmingham. All Party members can attend, more details on registration are available from the main party website here. Come and visit us in the Exhibition Hall - we're at Stand 104 in the main Hall 4. Staff and volunteers will be on hand from Saturday through to Wednesday to help with advice, information, membership information and technical queries. ALDC Fringe Programme Saturday 17 September 2011, 8.15pm, ICC 10B ALDC Annual General Meeting and Campaigner Awards 2011 Party President Tim Farron MP presents the 2011 Campaigner ...
Oh deary me. Andy Burnham tweeted last night: In first 7 months, Gove found time for 5 mtgs w/ News Corp but failed to visit a single special school, FE or 6th Form college. Enough said. This got retweeted 100+ times and it's not a bad line at all. Except it is wrong. Mr Gove ...
One to add to the lists of saints rather than sinners amongst Liberal Democrat peers: Claire Tyler recently joined the Lords and unlike some of her colleagues hasn't started backsliding from the party's very clear and long-standing commitment to introduce elections for the Lords. Instead her piece in the latest edition of Liberator takes apart the arguments from opponents of elections: "We must be careful not to come across as a party of constitutional obsessives out of touch with the electorate. But we must also hold true to our principles and values. Government is about tacking a rage of tricky ...
Today's Guardian contains a fascinating story in which Lord Mandelson hits out at the Blue Labour movement for proposing a dialogue with the English Defence League (EDL) as a way of connecting with the concerns of young people in Britain: Speaking to the Guardian, he said Labour needed a vision for the future but that it "is not going to come from the sort of populist, anti-immigrant, Europhobic, anti-globalisation language used by Blue Labour". In an implicit criticism of Ed Miliband, he said: "The problem with killing off New Labour and putting nothing in its place is that it leads ...
Wed 27th
11:52
The Cornish Pasty gets EU protected status but big-name bakers win concessions to continue using the...
The regulation granting the Cornish Pasty EU protected status has this week been published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will thus soon take effect, but major brand-name bakers Greggs and Pukka Pies have remarkably won concessions to continue labelling their imitations as Cornish Pasties for three more years.As a result of Commission Implementing Regulation No. 717/2011, only
A new bus passenger forum, an inquiry day into bus services and more information on the impact of subsidy cuts are the main outcomes of today's scrutiny meeting into bus services in Cornwall. In order to avoid bus routes being cut this year, it was also suggested that any shortfall in subsidy should be met from the council's reserves. The discussion was a pretty encouraging one but which contained some gob-smacking statements from Cabinet member Graeme Hicks. He seemed proud of his negotiating strategy which was based around a letter that the bus companies perceived to be a take it ...
This was e-mailed to me this morning. A parody of a typical American political attack advert. Brilliant and utterly hilarious.
In September the party political conference season will begin. For the last few years I attended all three conferences for my employer. This year I won't be going to any as I am doing a different job: public relations as opposed to public affairs. But I continue to have a keen interest in what goes on and will be taking part in a CIPR TV on the conferences with John Lehal and Iain Anderson on 6 October. You can never predict quite what will happen at party conferences. In the heat of the moment things get said that become headlines ...
Over the last week, more and more articles have emerged regarding disability benefit (Employment Support Allowance) and Work Capability Assessments. I say articles - they read like horror stories. People with degenerative conditions being told to get themselves to the Jobcentre. People being asked to come to assessments in rooms that aren't accessible to the disabled. It makes the blood run cold. We have failed to show the public that this is not a cost-cutting exercise. They feel that this is purely a convenient way to squeeze a little more out of those already worst affected. Claimants are terrified that ...
Many bloggers focus specifically on disability issues. I try not to, even though I'm a disabled person, because, I'm more than a disability. But that doesn't mean I don't get outraged when the press go for the jugular of 'scrounging', 'lying', 'workshy' Disability Benefit recipients. Flouting statistics in peoples' faces produces headlines like "only one in 14 is too sick to work" focusing on the dubious link between an illness and capability. However, as the Guardian reported only on Monday, 39% of rejected claimants are found unfit to work on appeals. This would change the statistic to 46% of claimants ...
At yesterday's Area Committee, Inspector Steve Gilbertson gave us the latest crime figures for the local villages. These are all figures for the year to date. Heald Green Burglaries down to 23 this year, from 28 last year Anti-social behaviour down to 158 this year, from 253 last year Gatley Burglaries down to 28 this year from 30 last year Anti-social behaviour down to 70 this year from 100 last year Cheadle Burglaries down to 17 this year, from 26 last year Anti-social behaviour down to 140 this year from 198 last year Inspector Gilbertson noted that vehicle crime was ...
The Guardian writes that the deputy prime minister won a battle over the phone-hacking inquiry, and is leading the way on press regulation finding some strengths in Clegg which are worth highlighting: The Liberal Democrats are the only one out of the three main political parties not to have spent much of the past two decades wooing ...
‪Film psychology THE SHINING spatial awareness and set design ... Awesome, awesome film about how Stanley Kubrick messes with the viewer's head with the impossible set designs in The Shining. Be sure to watch both parts! (tags: media)
The shadow Chancellor Ed Balls and the Guardian are quick off the mark to criticise a failure to grow the economy. The rhetoric, sorry, I mean 'argument', presented is that Osborne is conducting a "reckless political experiment" in tax and spending plans. However, the slant is entirely political expediency. The cuts and forcasts Osborne (the nefarious) are less that one percent different from proposals by Alaistair Darling in the run up to last year's general election. Without wanting to sound too Conservative (capital C), unlike the Labour administration's plans, because of the Liberal Democrats in the coalition, the so-called reckless ...
The Guardian writes Cable waxes as Murdoch wanes in which it sees a revival for Vince Cable's fortunes and outlines some improvements in his performance Cable has become ubiquitous, a man freed from his cell. He seemed to speak with renewed authority on the economy this weekend and will do so on banking reform on Tuesday. His ...
Wed 27th
09:14
Indications the new Lib Dem strategy is working? 16% in polls and old voters coming back
It was not that long ago that there were serious questions being asked about the Lib Dem strategy in Government. This prompted a change in strategy from the top of the Party, which was disguised as a 'this was always what we were going to do' plan. Just as the serious questions were being asked ...
Politics makes strange bedfellows; coalitions especially. In the 1970s the Liberals made a pact with socialists despite socialism being the antithesis of liberalism; in 2010 the coalition finds us in bed with Conservatives despite the Tories opposing liberalism for centuries. Coalitions therefore require us to remind the voters how we differ from the parties with which we are aligned in government. This week a new report from the Conservative-leaning think tank Civitas reminds us of one crucial difference: the Tories have always opposed free trade. Reviving British Manufacturing: Why? What? How? appears to be a throw-back to a former time, ...
The Guardian reports: L'Oréal has been forced to pull ad campaigns featuring Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington, after the advertising watchdog upheld complaints by Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson that the images were overly airbrushed. Swinson, who has waged a long-running campaign against "overly perfected and unrealistic images" of women in adverts, lodged complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority about the magazine campaigns for L'Oréal-owned brands Lancôme and Maybelline. The ASA ruled that both ads breached the advertising standards code for exaggeration and being misleading and banned them from future publication. L'Oréal's two-page ad featuring Roberts, ...
Figures in a Government consultation paper on the funding of academies have revealed that Michael Gove's policy of getting schools to convert to academies is expected to cost nearly £600 million more than planned over the two year period 2011 - 2013. This confirms what Lib Dem activists have been saying for some time i.e. that the programme for converting schools to academies is costly and unsustainable, as well as being divisive and unfair. When a school decides to leave its Local Authority (LA) and become 'independent' (i.e. dependent on central government!), in addition to its standard funding it gets ...
I recently received concerns about road speed in Jedburgh Road. Residents have mentioned to me their concerns about this, especially given that elderly pedestrians use the street, going to visit at Royal Victoria Hospital. I raised the matter with City Council road safety officers and have received the following positive response: "Tayside Contracts re-surfaced this road a year ago and I had discussions at that time to ensure the SLOW road markings were reinstated correctly. I will arrange to review this street in terms of markings and vehicle speeds." I am pleased that this review is being undertaken as I ...
TweetWarning: The same old nasty tories are back....Cameron's close friend and strategy director Steve Hilton has according to the Financial Times "has startled colleagues by proposing the abolition of maternity leave and all consumer rights legislation, as part of an initiative to inject life into Britain's sluggish economy." In tough times abandoning the rule of the law and our rights is not the answer. Of course in the privacy of meeting rooms and the hush of corridor meetings, those in government should be free to discuss, plan, and most importantly to throw around ideas. If they were not able to ...
On his feast day, Michael Implores the help of St Pantaleon, Martyr
