The old assumption that street lighting cuts accidents by 30% turns out to have been based on work carried out more than 50 years ago – when Britain's roads were very different. Now a more recent March 2009 report shows a much more complicated picture. In fact so many roads are so well-lit that "lighting", according to Edward Bunting, a senior policy adviser to the Department of Transport, "can no longer be claimed, statistically, to have any impact whatsoever on road safety". The data behind the assumption that bright lights deter crime is statistically more clear cut – it simply ...
Local news has recently been concentrating on traders suffering in Chatham High Street and one has to ask; Has Medway council failed the commercial areas or is this a blip on the radar that will sort itself out soon. Or as asked in is this a slide away from traditional forms of shopping and moving online? Last week's Medway News ran with the story that Chatham High street is being strangled by the never ending roadworks.Businesses have already begun making redundancies, cutting hours and some are on the brink of closure. Guy Varley (of Varley's electrical store) says their ...
From the Popbitch email for 8 July 2011...
Well, this evening the third episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day aired. And Tim Montgomerie (Editor of Conservative Home) moaned about it on Twitter: Torchwood is anti-business, anti-Catholic, portrays police as brutal, intelligence services as corrupted, Americans as trivial. Just saying. And then Therese Coffey agreed with Mr Montgomerie thinking it was something CMS Select Committee should ...
I had a motion down for full council yesterday but it was talked to death, you might say, before it was ever reached on the order paper. A number of other items also came under the guillotine as the clock struck 12.30. My motion ran as follows: This council calls upon its officers to set up a publicly available register of all Durham County Council capital projects budgeted to cost £50,000 or more. This register would include: 1. An outline of the project and expected works 2. The budgeted cost of the project 3. The intended and actual start date ...
A splendidly creepy story of the Doctor, Amy and Rory (set between the wedding and the opening of Season 6) at a Swiss sanatorium in the late 18th century where almost nothing is as it seems. James Goss varies from entertaining to excellent as a Who writer, and this is a particularly inventive novel, told from the points of view of various narrators, including the Doctor, Amy and Rory, all of whom turn out to be unreliable in one way or the other. As with any Who-related work by Goss, this is strongly recommended. I started it by listening to ...
At this time of year you cannot go long without hearing some airhead presenter asking if the school summer holidays too long. After all, they will tell you, these long holidays came into being only because children were needed to help with the harvest. Which is nonsense, of course. The harvest starts just as the schools are going back for the start of a new academic year. And the summer holidays are not too long. The current opposition to long school holidays reveals two unlovely but widely held assumptions. They are that parents do not much enjoy their children's company ...
Getting to the end of the books about how the Silmarillion was (and wasn't) written now, this volume includes several interesting insights into how Tolkien's works reached us. At the core is the rather slim pickings of The Lost Road, the time travel novel which Tolkien began at around the same time C.S. Lewis began his Ransome trilogy. Tolkien abandoned it, and it wasn't really going in the right direction; what we have here is too episodic to be coherent, and in particular, the framing narrative has a set of slightly odd father-son dynamics going on - Tolkien's own parents ...
There are so many unanswered questions regarding the hacking scandal and each day brings new revelations, but backtracking for a moment and looking at the transcript from the Rebekah Brooks evidence at our select committee meeting last week, a very interesting new line of enquiry jumps at you. In answer to Tom Watson Rebekah Brooks may have revealed the person at the heart of the operation. Q430 Mr Watson: So you would have approved payments to them. Rebekah Brooks: That's not how it works, but I was aware that we used them. Q431 Mr Watson: Who would have approved the ...
As Mark Pack reported over on his blog, for the second time allegations over Chris Huhne's election expenses that were strongly backed by Paul Staines and Harry Cole have collapsed after the Electoral Commission investigated them: 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. Regularly readers may recall how stridently both of them attacked people who disagreed with their claims over Huhne's election expenses (such as in this thread, which includes Paul Staines daring anyone to bet that Chris ...
Boris Johnson is in the news again (which Boris did you think I meant?). On the 15th September 2010, on Mayor's Question Time, Boris described the developing hacking allegations as "a load of codwallop cooked up by the Labour Party". If he was aware, at the time of his saying that, that police were actively investigating the phone hacking, he would have been attempting to 'pervert the course of justice'. So, did he know that there was an ongoing police investigation? Jenny Jones, the Green Mayoral candidate thinks so. It turns out that the Mayor's deputy for policing, Kit Malthouse, ...
I half watched the report and very heated debate that followed on Channel 4 News this evening (I was cooking...!) on HS2. Something struck me about it. Pro-HS2 people say 'Well, look mainland Europe & Asia are building high speed railways – so should we!' Hmm. Seems to me that is missing something rather important. ...
There has been a surfeit of stellar blogging in the past couple of days. The thing that's making me watch the news from behind a pillow is the shenanigans in the US. I've been having nightmares about all the potential consequences globally if this isn't fixed. Cicero's Songs gives me no cause for cheer - and he's not often wrong. David Boyle over at Lib Dem Voice talks about hospital patients being thrown out at bayonet point as the hospitals close down. I just hope that people are listening to his "life before banks" mantra. Mr Potter uses a word ...
The bin chaos in Manchester continues. To date, this has included residents being issued with their own individual bins only to have them confiscated (or not collected), residents being told to blag a key for entries to which they have no legal rights of access in order to be able to get to a bin, collections missed, communal bins in the wrong places, some residents finding that a stinking bin against their back walls have made their back yards unpleasant places to be and in places, the refuse starting to pile high. All due to a failure to consult residents ...
Thu 28th
19:50
Louise Mensch and Piers Morgan could learn a thing or two from Alastair Campbell, David Cameron and ...
Two incidents on the DCMS Select Committee hearings with the Murdochs have provided a constant distraction away from the main issues. One distraction was the idiot with the pie. The other was Louise Mensch getting her accusation of inappropriate behaviour by Piers Morgan, principally while he was editor of The Mirror, a little screwed up. Piers and Louise (goaded by Guido Fawkes) have been continuing their spat in both the mainstream media and on twitter ever since. There's no doubt that Louise got the facts about Piers wrong on the day, and while Piers may or may not have other ...
What are the issues in Sandown Free Presbyterian Church that lead to Mr McIlveen pulling out of tonight's "Hymn or Us" debate as part of Belfast Pride? I wonder.
Collected links from around the webAndroid's Dirty Secret: Shipping Numbers Are Strong But Returns Are 30-40% | TechCrunch The headline is hyperbolic, naturally, but user happiness with Android isn't as high as it should be given the hype. (tags: android mobile+phones) Anonymity and Pseudonyms in Social Software-anonymous need not mean troll Caterina was a co-founder of Flickr and has a good roundup. Some anonymous platforms are problematic. Some Facebook groups are full of arseholes using their real names. It's how you control things that matter, privilege inspired exclusionism doesn't help. You listening Google? (tags: privacy google+ pseodonymity) The ONS must ...
I was contacted recently by residents living in Cardigan's Napier St concerned about flooding incidents in the street which was not being dealt with adequately by the highways infrastructure there. At the new flood alleviation culvert in Napier St As it happens, Ceredigion County Council had begun streetwork improvements and residents queried whether as a part of that work, a better flood alleviation system could be introduced to deal with the river of water that comes down to Napier St from Napier Gardens in times of heavy downfalls. I got onto the Highways Department as a result and requested satisfactory ...
A great article over on the Lancs CCC website about the County Cricket here in Birkdale I really can't complain about my journey to the cricket this week. I shut my front door, walk for about six minutes, and there I am, unmolested by the tender mercies of Northern Rail, standing in the car park of the club I joined some 30 summers ago. I've seen it as a player, as an administrator, as a scorer, as a journalist, and, of course, as a spectator. I watched my first cricket here somewhere around the mid-sixties and I certainly saw the ...
It's Belfast Pride Festival this week – all over the comments pages to the various news articles that have been covering this event, or rather covering bad reaction to it, we have seen questions as to why we need Belfast Pride at all. Many of my readers will have seen Davey Wavey before. The video ...
Thursday: The problem with "The New World" is that it is structured very much like "Rose" but looks like the TV Movie. There are moments of intense family drama that are signature Russell Davies; there are moments of awesome, mainly Gwen going ninja on that helicopter; there's some genuinely clever science fiction going on; even the in-your-face gore of the "live autopsy" is hilarious in the blackest of humour ways. But at its core there's something deeply schizoid about trying to blend British sensibilities with American drama. Like a ghastly transporter accident blend of The X-Files and the District Nurse. ...
Yesterday I blogged about the rip-off ticket machines in Launceston car parks which are still charging drivers even when parking is free. I mentioned that I had written to Cabinet Member Graeme 'The Albatross' Hicks for an explanation and apology. Regrettably, Cllr Hicks has refused to provide either and has now set his email account to indicate that he is on holiday for the next month. His motto appears to be 'Never Apologise, Never Explain'. He did, however, invite me to apologise on behalf of the authority, so here goes: I am sorry that Cornwall Council has failed to ensure ...
This afternoon I have reported the spray-painted graffiti on the pavement on Kensey Hill to the Council for removal. It appears to have been painted by the landowner as an attempt to keep access to his property clear. I have every sympathy with them, but painting the pavement is not an acceptable option. Tweet
David Chandler Sunday 14 April 2002 Observer.co.uk Prime Minister Tony Blair's policy adviser, Robert Cooper, has been seen as highly provocative in his bold assertion of the need for a 'new kind of imperialism'. He is an articulate advocate for ... Continue reading →
If you go to page 13/36 of today's Jewish News, there is an excellent article about Jerusalem by my friend and Lib Dem colleague Fiyaz Mughal. I don't have to agree with every word before saying that this piece really deserves to be widely read. It's not about the detail, it's about the principle of someone in Fiyaz's shoes writing an article like this one - good for him. Elsewhere, the Jewish Chronicle reports the depressing fact that many conspiracy theorists are blaming Israel for the murderous actions of Anders Behring Breivik. Many readers of this blog will laugh that ...
The farmers' market was in full swing when I left the Town Hall this morning after a briefing. It was great to see so many people crowded round the street stalls. There were hill farmers with their lamb from the Lancashire moors and fresh veg from West Lancs growers as well as some new small traders with fresh pies, baking, black puddings and cheese. It is just what Chapel Street needs!
I've been batting away for a long time trying to get the bit of derelict land in Upper Aughton Rd developed with low cost housing. We desperately need the homes and the folk around about have had to put up with a boarded site for far too long. The site was originally owned by Servite Houses who (after years of doing nothing) sold it on to Adactus Housing. Richard Hands and I decided we needed to go and visit them in the HQ in Leigh to try and get a handle on progress. They did submit a planning application but ...
I was delighted to have the opportunity to visit the Great Yorkshire Show two weeks ago. It is one of those things Yorkshire does faultlessly. The food 'tents' were outstanding, with a great range of local producers including one of my favourites: Mr. Huda's curry pastes (Scunthorpe I know but I am claiming them for ...
Thu 28th
15:19
It's official: I am more excited about the possibility of the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire tha...
I am one of those 58% identified by YouGov in their poll who said they were either 'not very interested' or 'not at all interested' in London 2012. In fact it's fair to say I am more excited about the possibility of the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire than I am about the 2012 ...
A prop designer who made the original Stormtrooper helmets for Star Wars has won his copyright battle with director George Lucas over his right to sell replicas. The five-year saga, which ended in the highest court in the land, has ... Continue reading →
Stephen Tall has an article over at Dale & Co on the Hughes Report on Access to Higher Education, which he previously outlined here on Lib Dem Voice. Stephen comments: However, there is one recommendation in 'The Hughes Report' with which I take issue: It is my firm view that interviews which are conducted by an academic who will end up teaching that particular student are too subjective. ... interviews should be conducted by trained admissions personnel who will not have face to face teaching responsibilities for the interviewee. (p.33) It's an odd comment for two reasons. First, it seems ...
[IMG: goodbye to gazette] As I see it, there probably isn't much time, if you would like to save our local Kent newspapers, in Thanet that would be the Times and Gazette, the Office of Fair Trading will stop taking consultations on this matter by the 8th August. Ironically it appears that there is little news available to the public, in regard to the Kent Messenger Groups bid to buy Kent Regional News and Media (Northcliffe Media). No surprise that when I contacted Kent Messenger group and Northcliffe Media execs, they were unable to offer any elaboration on this significant ...
Just arrived in the UK but before I left San Francisco I was fortunate to attend a fascinating meetup of people from the EduTech (Education Technology) community with ArtistWorks founder David Butler. EduTech is a very exciting area at the moment as entrepreneurs and investors in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors look to re-imagine education ...
By all means Sandown Free Presbyterian are more than welcome to give thanks for the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible but they are rather selective in how they are going about it. Some people on Twitter are wondering what they will be doing for a grand finale. Will they take out Iris Robinson and Kirk McCambley and stone them on the Square in front of St. Anne's Cathedral after all in Leviticus 20 v 10 it says: "And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer ...
Councillors from across the political divide have joined the call for the County's education chief to resign as the county's school places crisis continues. Last Friday, Conservative councillor Clayton Hudson called on Cllr David Harty to "fall on your sword" after the County Council repeatedly botched plans for more primary school places for Cambourne children. Cllr Fiona Whelan, who represents Hardwick, agrees: "Cllr Harty has taken no notice of the parents or the parish councils of Hardwick and Cambourne. The department he is in charge of is failing our children badly. "No-one except the Cllr Harty seems to think it's ...
Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly policing spokesperson and member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, has commented today on the statement from Tim Godwin, Acting Commissioner for the Met at today's MPA Full Authority meeting, that in future the Met will adopt a similar scheme for recording gifts and hospitality as which currently operates for the Mayor of London and London Assembly members said:"Currently the Met's online register of gifts and hospitality for senior police officers and staff has more holes than a sieve and is often months, if not years out of date.""I therefore welcome the very clear ...
News today that the Tories may not even field candidates for their cherished police commissioner posts, but instead are 'considering instead whether to put ... support behind other contenders, such as prominent and distinguished local individuals' shows that this awesomely bad policy is starting to founder. Meanwhile Labour are having similar doubts and, as discussed elsewhere on Lib Dem Voice, our own Party is hardly racing towards a sensible selection process. The problem, of course, is not just that the legislation is not finalised but that the elections will be hideously expensive, covering in some cases several county areas: this ...
In Sturdee avenue - the closest to home I've ever had to write- the local pharmacy is preparing for a battering from a proposed Hundred hour pharmacy opening at the Woodlands Medical centre. The owners believe such a place would spell an end to the small pharmacy/ post office and would rip the heart out of the community. A flyer put through my door stated we couldn't allow what happened at Livingston Circus happen in Sturdee with the loss of Greengrocers and butchers.Well, the greengrocers went when I was a boy of 8 and I don't recall a butchers, also ...
I find myself conflicted. Vivisection is a difficult area and I am conscious of the pros and cons of both sides of the argument. Testing on monkeys is especially difficult and this has been amply demonstrated this week by the publication of Professor Sir Patrick Bateson's review of recent UK research. But it's the timing of the release of the report that troubles me. It could of course be entirely coincidental - I truly hope it is - but in 2 weeks a Hollywood blockbuster examining the (albeit fanciful) side effects of vivisection on apes ( which is illegal in ...
I was really pleased to see yesterday that 2 adverts by L'Oreal had been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority after a complaint from our MP for East Dunbartonshire Jo Swinson. If you want to see the judgements in full, you can do so, here and here. Jo complained because she felt that the adverts were misleading as the photos of Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington had been digitally manipulated. If that's the case, then, clearly, the claims made for the comments they were promoting could not possibly be accurate. Put simply, we ordinary folk can't airbrush our faces when ...
This week is Belfast Pride week. Therefore I'm going for some of the artful contributions out there that display the Rainbow flag colours. The colours chosen for the well now known 6 since 1979 instead of the original 8 in 1978 were to show the diversity of the LGBT community. The colours are red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sunlight), green (nature), blue (harmony), and purple/violet (spirit). Rio This image by Jeff Ball Finally something so quintessentially Northern Irish. There are so many image of the Free Derry Corner but last August for Foyle Pride it was painted pink here it ...
I cannot contain my delight at David Cameron's having used the verb "to bicycle". The Prime Minister told the Standard: "If my protection team let me bicycle, I'd happily bicycle." This is in contrast to "to cycle", and follows his having said recently, in relation to phone hacking, "I think everyone in this House [of Commons] and indeed this country will be revolted by what they have heard and what they have seen on their television screens." For the first time in some decades, we have a British Prime Minister who speaks English - with verbs, and everything. Goodbye, "the ...
If any of you are wondering how we can improve our situation in the polls then I've got a suggestion for you: back the Liberal Youth sponsored ESA Motion. Now there are all sorts of compassionate, liberal and financial reasons to back this motion. The current system is unfair, inhumane, inaccurate and expensive. But, putting all that to one side for a moment, there are sound political reasons to back it. At the moment the treatment of people with long term illnesses and disabilities is appalling. The media are starting to wake up to the issue, the government is facing ...
Manchester Carers Forum is holding a black tie dinner and charity auction on Thursday 6th October at the Midland Hotel, and I would like to urge all of my constituents to support this event. Carers are the unseen and unsung ... Continue reading →
An online acquaintance of mine, Becky Hogge, has released a book! Barefoot Into Cyberspace tells the story of the "hacker scene" over the tumultuous last few years. Yesterday, Becky released a transcript of her interview with Julian Assange – in it he discusses the News of the World hacking, amongst other things. A fascinating interview which helps set the scene for Becky's book. I've only just started reading the book, but it's clear that it's been written in a very accessible way. You don't need to be a hard-core techie to understand what's going on. I'm also impressed with her ...
So News International were involved in phone hacking. The whole world went nuts. Everyone cancelling their Sky subscriptions. People claiming to have never read The Times or even an online story on The Sun. Lefties scrambling to show the reading world that they had never even touched a Murdoch tainted product. One person even tweeted that she had never even seen a TV with Sky on it. I laughed so much I had a rectal prolapse* So as we sit here today with the rumours swirling around the Mirror Group and lets be honest most of us are pretty darn ...
Statement by Lord Avebury, Chairman of the International Bangaldesh Foundation and Co-Chair of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission. On July 27, Lord Avebury received the Law Minister of Bangladesh, Mr Shafiq Ahmed at Flodden Road. They discussed the progress towards implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord, which is part of the programme of the AL government and a personal commitment of the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina. Lord Avebury drew the Minister's attention to copies of two letters addressed to the Prime Minister by the co-chairs of the CHTC, recently: Lord Avebury also drew the Minister's attention to ...
Members of the South Werrington and North Gunthorpe FOCUS Team are happy to announce that for the first time in a decade, the South Werrington and North Gunthorpe RESIDENT SURVEY is now available for you to download, fill out and send back to us - all on-line and all for FREE! Commenting, local LIB DEM ward councillor, Darren Fower said: "The FOCUS Team's strength is our volunteers and lines of communication with the people of this area. Our residential survey has helped us secure a true understanding of issues in this area and helps do my job of representing at ...
It has been a relaxing two weeks, sunning myself on a Greek Island, but you eventually come back to reality and the real world. A small article in the Liverpool Daily Post caught my attention, you can read it here. ... Continue reading →
Yesterday saw the conclusion of a criminal case that for some unknown reason I have been following quite closely. It was the case of a 16 year-old who was accused of luring his ex-girlfriend to the woods near where they lived and bludgeoning her to death in an attempt to win a free breakfast off a mate whom he'd bet with that he would kill her. Well Joshua Davies has been found guilty of the murder of Rebecca Aylward and you read the story and just can't stop shaking your head is disbelief. A crime that makes no sense in ...
Two planning applications that came to Cheadle Area Committee on Tuesday illustrate some of the frustrations councillors have with the planning system. One is to further develop the tennis courts at Baxter Park – with new and refurbished courts. The other – linked – is to replace the (now unused) tennis courts in Cheadle between Brookside Close and Mornington Road in Cheadle with five new houses (four semi-detatched and one detatched) to be accessed from Brookside Close. Good cases were made for and against both proposals. The tennis club sees this as a good way to expand a little and ...
The Office for National Statistics is often, and usually unfairly, criticised as being a biased arm of government, massaging figures to suit government paymasters. Only when they publish bad news (as this week's sluggish growth figures attest) are they considered to be impartial. There is a real problem with the ONS, but bias isn't it. Statistics is not an exact science, but it's a science nonetheless, and witty aphorisms notwithstanding its practitioners are not in the business of lying. The real problem with the ONS is that its outputs inevitable become justifications for government action. In a world where politicians ...
The Independent write Vince Cable gets his mojo back and outlines some improvements in his performance which are worth highlighting: Like Ronald Reagan facing down the Soviet Union, Vince Cable has managed to win his "war" with Rupert Murdoch without needing to fire a shot. So it's perhaps no surprise that the Business Secretary has rediscovered ...
In the middle of the rush hour yesterday afternoon, a train derailed in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. Thankfully there were no passengers on board and nobody was hurt. However, the ensuing chaos which continues to envelop Scotland's rail network is causing misery for commuters in Central Scotland. Princes Street Gardens is one of the busiest stretches of track in Scotland, carrying every commuter train to and from the west and north - that's everyone to and from Glasgow, Stirling, Perth, Aberdeen, West Lothian. A whole load of people. 23 million passengers use Edinburgh's stations every year. You get the ...
A former colleague just sent me a link to this Chinese television documentary about him and his parter operating a literary coffee-house in Beijing. A nice story (part of a series about foreigners making their homes and businesses in China today) and also rather salutary to see us Westerners treated as objects of curiosity. (Filip is my former colleague - fluent in about 15 languages, including Mandarin Chinese.)
The other day I reported on the cover-up relating to the Labour-controlled Merseyside Transport Authority, where they have failed to publicise the details of Allowances and Expenses paid to councillors last year. This is something they are required to do by law 'as soon as reasonably practicable' after the year end. This follows last Sunday's expose by the Sunday Express which criticised Labour boss, Bootle Councillor Mark Dowd and others for what it described as "a culture of free spending" on corporate credit cards. Now the whole sorry saga has been picked up by one of the one of the ...
7. people tweet about how people who tweet about how people tweeting about dead celebrity should instead be tweeting about recent tragedy are assholes The full list is here, from Matt Langer.
Cambridgeshire County Councillor, Belinda Brooks-Gordon is fighting for a fairer deal for part-time university students under the government's education loans scheme. She has teamed up with Baroness Sal Brinton, former Cambridgeshire County Council Liberal Democrat leader to make sure part-time students are not discriminated under the scheme. For the first time, part-time students are eligible for loans to pay for their education; but they have to start repaying those loans after three and a half years before they have completed their courses. And the system for accepting repayments will not be in place until 2016 meaning that students who become ...
More on Merseytravel's 'Gravy Train' On Thursday I reported how the BBC in the North West were starting to take a serious interest in the "Gravy Train" antics of the Labour Chair of the Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority (MITA), Bootle's very own Councillor Mark Dowd. Arif Ansari, the BBC's Political Editor for the North West, reported the latest news on Cllr Dowd's £47,665pa position, which makes him one of the highest paid councillors in the country. However, I now learn that Cllr Dowd received rather more than that (pretty impressive) £47,665. In fact, his pay and expenses for last ...
I have received complaints from residents about the state of the rather potholed surface of the roadway of Westgrove Avenue and have taken up their concerns with the City Council. I have received the following response : "There is a thin surfacing scheme proposed for Westgrove Avenue for this financial year which has not yet been programmed. In the meantime an order has been raised for the repair of various potholes with a timescale for completion of 28 days." I am pleased at the proposed resurfacing during this financial year given the poor surface of the roadway here.
Yesterday's Telegraph contains a fairly run of the mill public spending scandal story about the Audit Commission. The paper reports that the council spending watchdog has been accused of wasting thousands of pounds on vanity photography of drinks parties around London. The paper says that the Audit Commission spent £12,000 on "alumni" events for former staff at five-star hotels around the capital: Frank Noon, a corporate photographer, was hired to take pictures of a number of events for the commission, including shots of its 25th anniversary celebrations. His photographs also included images of special "alumni" events organised for current and ...
