Since 1948 there have been 24 recalls of Parliament, Thursday's will be the 25th and the second within a month. Here is the rundown of those other recalls and what they were to discuss. 27-29 September 1949 to discuss devaluation of the pound 12-19 September 1950 Korean War 4 October 1951 Prorogation - followed by dissolution 12-14 September 1956 Suez Crisis and Cyprus 19 September 1959 Prorogation - followed by dissolution 17-23 October 1961 Berlin blockade 16 January 1968 Government spending cuts 26-27 August 1968 Czechoslovakia, Nigeria 26-29 May 1970 Prorogation - followed by dissolution 22-23 September 1971 Northern Ireland ...
Tue 9th
22:46
Here I am shaking hands with Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister, earlier this evening in Newbury
What a patient man he is! Believe it or not, this took three poses, two cameras and two photographers to finally produce. But he didn't bat an eyelid. And not only did I get this photo, but I got to wear a Hi Vis jacket this evening. So all my Christmasses came at once. This was all at a South Central Region LibDem members' opportunity to grill Nick Clegg at Newbury's Saint Nicolas Church Hall earlier this evening. Nick spoke for 90 minutes and took a whole host of questions, some appropriately hostile, others appropriately praising the man. I have ...
Just a brief one to let anyone worried (and who doesn't follow me on Facebook, Twitter or G+) know that Holly and I are safe. Right now, anyone who claims to know the causes of the current rioting is talking nonsense. The proximate cause in London was simple enough – as Mat Bowles has documented, ...
As a recently exiled Londoner, someone who has lived in some of the city's more 'lively' boroughs - Brent and Southwark - I have sat in front of my television screen watching with increasing frustration as talking head after talking head has added nothing useful but filled airtime conjecturing about the impact of this, or the cause of that, creating an atmosphere of tension and fear in the minds of ordinary Londoners. My mother, thankfully safe in her North West London home, has taken the remarkably sensible view that, until trouble comes her way, she isn't going to worry about ...
Last night a very good turnout at the inaugural meeting voted unanimously to set up a Launceston Foodbank. Foodbanks are projects run by local volunteers, often churches, to provide emergency food supplies to people in particular hardship. The meeting was organised at Central Methodist by Keith Roberts and heard from Jeremy Ravn of the Trussell Trust which co-ordinates more than 90 foodbanks across the UK. There were 58 people at the meeting - which I thought was incredibly good for a sunny Monday in August. The idea behind a foodbank is that donations of tinned and dry foods are collected ...
As the title of my blog suggests these are just ramblings, so ignore whatever you want to ignore. I don't claim to be an expert. I'm a firm believer in further devolution of power to Wales, when we're ready for more powers. The best way to make decisions that will really effect and improve people's ...
Even the word "rioters" seems to me to be too generous to the people causing havoc in Manchester and Salford this evening. I don't believe these thugs and thieves are angry at a police shooting in Tottenham, nor that they're rioting for justice. No, these are people who've seen the riots in London, seen people making off with expensive TVs, designer trainers and thought "I'll have some of that, thanks very much." There was no special targeting of the big stores owned by wealthy businessmen. Tragically, Affleck's Palace and a host of fantastic independent stores in the Northern Quarter, have ...
"What is happening to our young people?.. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions." (Plato, 4th Cent. BC) The political expediency has ceased to a certain degree, as motivation is for the returning Ministers to visit the communities affected, being booed by the masses. The mood has changed from one of abject horror at such aggression and sheer criminality (for want of a better phrase) and to a view that "enough is enough". A new political blogger, Neutered Vote writes a good synopsis from hype to community politics here, although I disagree on his ...
Reports of residents banding together to drive looters out of an area put me in mind of how the south of Shropshire coped with the Civil War. As the Bishop's Castle town website records it: The town ... set up a roster of armed burgesses, nicknamed Clubmen, to defend any property under attack and records show that around a thousand men in the Clun and Bishop's Castle area carried arms, "standing out against both sides, neither for the King nor Parliament, but only for the preservation of their own lives and fortunes".
The recent and spreading rioting, looting and violence is completely indefensible and makes one wonder what is happening in the UK when communities are closing down and streets left to yobs. Are our streets becoming dominated by youths from Lord of the Flies? There will be many questions asked of the police response and whether ...
[IMG: Click here to vote in the Total Politics Blog Awards 2011] From the Total Politics site: There are lots of ways of measuring how popular a blog is. You can compare the number of people who visit it. You can use complicated formulas and maths to plot the different variables. You can map its range on social media. Or you can just ask the people who read blogs what they like best. That's what the Total Politics Blog Awards is all about. There are no shortlists and no pre-selection. You can vote for any blog you like, large or ...
I'm bloody angry and not just at the clichéd mindless thugs setting our city centres alight. I am incandescent at those demanding that all the ills of society would be solved if only we brought back National Service – don't they realise that most of the kids (and yes they are kids) rioting would probably not have been old enough to do national service? I am equally angry at those who think that a few baton rounds from the army and water cannon would send all the rioters back home. Don't they remember that little sociological experiment we have carried ...
As some of you know, I have put myself up for election to the Council of the Electoral Reform Society, a political pressure group which promotes giving votes equal value, effective representation, an end to tactical votes and improved accountability of representatives to their electorates. Despite the disappointing loss in the recent referendum on the Alternative Vote the society has a great chance to build upon the work done by the volunteers and numerous passionate groups and voices which emerged during the campaign. I want to be part of a movement to ensure that the case for Electoral Reform continues ...
Third place Despite the nice tail among the weeds effect, this one gives little indication that he wants to have his picture taken. Second place It was great to find that Yarborough House has a resident cat again, and the cards in the background were an inspired choice. However, he seems to think that if he concentrates hard enough he will match the table and chair so well that he will disappear from view. That is never going to happen. First place Seen on bench in the little square at the top of the town where the market hall used ...
Local residents in Bloomsbury and King's Cross have been shaken by the riots hitting our city. In our area, the Gay's the Word bookshop on Marchmont Street was attacked early in the hours of Tuesday, an attack at the heart of our local community. Other local traders have had their takings hit as many people stay ...
I don't want to say where I live in case it attracts the looters but my area in London is on high alert. There's 1,000 police officers drafted in. The streets are very, very quiet and it feels eerie. The neighbours and my mother and I have been knocking on doors alerting other neighbours and checking that the vulnerable are aware of what may happen. There are a few elderly people who live here and a newborn baby too. I will provide an update later but I am hoping that I will be able to say 'nothing has happened'. Please ...
When something bad happens people rush to judge. It is inevitable. We want answers. We want to find an explanation for something that we don't understand. What started in Tottenham as a protest became a riot that led to mass looting. Two teenage girls were interviewed by a BBC reporter and said that they were doing it to show the police and the rich that they can do what they like. There was a man telling a journalist that it was all due to the fact that the government taxes everyone too much. Inevitably, people talk about gangs, youths completely ...
The Seasteading Institute is encouraging people to start your communities at sea and experiment with different forms of government. No doubt it will appeal to libertarians but how many people actually take to the ocean waves remains to be seen.
If this looks a bit peculiar my apologies. This is my first attempt to blog from my I-pad! I am sending this from ward 8y at the Royal Hospital. I am just in for tests so no by-election in Church ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Click here to vote in the Total Politics Blog Awards 2011] I would be immensely flattered if I got anywhere, since I moved from disconcertediscursives.blogspot.com I don't believe my readership has been as high, although I blog the same amount, if not more! I won't recommend any others on here, as that's against the rules, but I hope some of my bloglleagues get in too [IMG: :)]
As I mentioned last week, I have re-vamped my blog front page after 11 months and over 100,000 pageviews after I started blogging properly last September. I've made a push on promoting local businesses and organisations in Cardigan and also more widely throughout Ceredigion in the hope that I can give them some free publicity. I had intended to do so as attractive and eye-catching 'buttons' but short of having the html coding for every site, I have failed to decipher how I can do so just with the website addresses so for now, they will be placed prominently on ...
A controversial plan to extend the footprint of the shop at 77-79 Yardley Road, has been turned down by the Council's planners. The extension was quite radical and was opposed by many residents living near to the shops. The planners commented: "The siting and design of the proposed extension would appear obtrusive in the street scene and not reflect the existing character of the area. As such it would be contrary to paragraphs 3.8, 3.10 and 3.14C-D of the Birmingham UDP (Unitary Development Plan) 2005 and guidance in Places for All / Places for Living adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance." ...
Tue 9th
18:55
Opinion: Mike Hancock has grave concerns for a gay constituent facing deportation to Uganda
Robert Segwanyi is a gay man from Uganda. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, and Robert was imprisoned and, he says, tortured because he is gay. In June last year, he escaped and fled to Britain. Now the UK Boarders Agency want to send him back. UKBA does not accept he is gay and a judge rejected his appeal claiming that there is no risk to gay people in Uganda. This is what Amnesty International said about Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Laws: Both the current law and the proposed new law violate a number of human rights including the rights to equality and ...
I have resisted until now but I can't not comment on the atrocious thuggish criminal behaviour that has taken place in London (and other places) over the last three nights. I had the opportunity to move to London a year and a half ago, away from the serene surroundings of Bath due to my office being closed down and merged with one in London. At the time I was genuinely tempted, a healthy pay rise had been offered, however I was worried about the cost of living and generally not feeling as safe as I do in Bath. That wasn't ...
There's a very interesting piece on the Independent website, with calls by the Liberal Democrat Party President, Tim Farron to distance the party from the Conservatives in the Coalition. So that party members can 'hold their heads up high.' Give the article a read it is very agreeable from a centre-left prospective.
Causation is a very complicated thing. Every action has untold causes and effects. After millennia of trying to make head or tail of the chaotic nature of things, the best general rule we can discern involves butterflies, hurricanes and discredited weathermen. I find the only hastily written theory that seems to account for the chaos that has befallen recently comes from Nik Darlinton of the Tory Reform Group. The title sums up one of the most important messages of the last few days: 'We Know Nothing, Except We're All to Blame for This'. A more elegant summary comes from Martin ...
This morning I blogged regarding every man and his dog using the disorder to push their own agendas with some scoring political points. I had by then collated 50 'causes' for the disorder. Well throughout today another 50 odd 'causes' have emerged. I now make this 101 reasons for all of the disorder. Anyone got any more? Wishy washy politicians Narcissistic selfishness on an epic scale The civil device The media Lack of corporal punishment in schools A sub culture that's been covered up The taxes Foreign wars Foreign aid Policing by consent Revolution against the state Weak economy The ...
A scary day. Here in London people are appalled by the looting and burning, and angry and panicked. Something analogous is going on in the world's financial markets. At times like this we realise how much of a modern society is built on trust and confidence in strangers. On the streets we hope that our well-ordered and safe lives are built on more solid foundations: law and the agencies that enforce it. But in fact it depends on almost everybody imposing voluntary boundaries on their behaviour. Even a tiny minority can create havoc. If it truly is a tiny minority ...
As I mentioned the other day, the debate and vote on the ESA motion will be happening on the 17th of September at 16.15. You can find the text of the motion in the conference agenda on page 16. Unfortunately, this means that some of the changes suggested by campaigners won't be mentioned in the motion. This was a result of the time limit and the text of the motion in the agenda can't be altered now, even by the sponsors, Liberal Youth. HOWEVER, the good news is that the text of the motion can still be altered by an ...
[IMG: Riots myth] Not surprisingly rumour and utter bollix run riot during events such as last nights disturbances in London, I note increased traffic goggling on to this site as feeble minded yoofs check out the latest rumours. Suggest two things keep precious teens under observation and trust in the police (500+ arrested in London). KENT POLICE TWITTER STREAM FOR LATEST ALSO CLICK ON THIS SITE TO READ OF TWO ARRESTED FOR ARRANGING RIOTS AND REPORT OTHERS MARGATE - NO FIRE! NO RIOT! [IMG: no fire no riot]
Gloom. It's literally given me a headache just thinking about the amount of individual horror stories in the aftermath of the riots, and I very much doubt it's over yet. I'm tucked away in a quiet corner of Wales. Lucky me. Many friends of mine, and members of my family, are not so fortunate. And fuck that line of selfish thinking, many people I've never met too, but why should that make them less valuable? Homes destroyed, family pets trapped in blazes, jobs lost because businesses have been burned to the ground - apparently it's not enough to steal, the ...
Collected links from around the webBad money thing make new scary time | pretty good summary of some of the reporting of the economic crash Noisy room where shirty men swap zeroes have frowny day as lazy bones in sunny places say no money now and be sad. (tags: satire economics) Automatically posted from Delicious using [IMG: [personal profile] ] matgbs updated Delicious Glue script.
TweetThe following motion has been raised for conference (taken from the Autumn Conference Agenda) F9 Chair: Baroness Barker Aide: Cllr Chris Maines Accreditation for Party Conference Yeovil, Brent and 42 conference representatives Mover: Stephen Gilbert MP Summation: David Grace Conference ... Continue reading →
Local residents applauding police and providing tea for officers on duty. Remarkable. (Credit to @JieberSwag and Greg Burns)
I live in a relatively peaceful suburb of south London, in the heart of a huge allotment, secure in the knowledge that - if there is rioting - it will not come near here. So it was a genuine shock, as I walked through the park to the station this morning, to find clothes hangers and plastic bags and the other detritus of looting, and then an abandoned car rammed into the side of the local mobile phone shop. It made me all the more aware that we don't understand what is happening, still less do we have a coherent ...
It's that time of the year again, the Total Politics blog awards, in which people very kindly voted The Voice number one Liberal Democrat blog last year. This year the voting rules are slightly different both to remove the old system of sending in emails and also to reflect that some people blog in several different places, so you can now vote for bloggers as well as blogs: Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. The higher you rank a blog or author, the higher up they will appear in the aggregated results. You must enter a minimum ...
Kickstart Scotland 27th August - Perth - Salutation Hotel The full programme will be on the Scottish Parties website later this week at: http://www.scotlibdems.org.uk, but the draft agenda includes: - Basic Skills for new candidates / recruit - Peter Barrett - Reinvigorate seasoned campaigners - Running the council, getting back to campaigning - Using administration to further Liberal Democrats cause - Elizabeth Riches and Paul Edie - Succession planning - Fred Mackintosh and Caron Lindsay - New media - Caron Lindsay and Fraser MacPherson - Briefing by Alison McInnes NE perspective. Keynote speaker Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson - Leader Portsmouth City ...
[IMG: riots] There are no excuses for the riots in London and other towns and cities, clear and simple, commentators who suggest otherwise are brainwashed idiots, the fact is the country has witnessed a moment of madness, as lazy young immoral thieving scum organised themselves into cowardly ruthless groups of violent thieves. It was clear to me last night, as I drove to work, that kids were out on the streets in London, not to demonstrate about being victims of some great social injustice but to cause violent mayhem. Lets face it on mass and on the streets, these kids ...
The agenda for the Liberal Democrats' Federal Conference, published today on the Party's website, appears at first glance to have been kept very much free of any content that even by implication offers criticism of the Coalition government. Notably the agenda features a record number of set-piece speeches (13), along with five other presentation items. This figure in itself continues a trend of increasing numbers of set-piece items and fewer debates than in previous years; in 2006, for example, there were 8 speeches (one for then ex-leader Charles Kennedy and one for an overseas speaker). That's on top of the ...
Imagine how you would feel if you were watching a BBC news programme and they referred to England's 1970 World Cup victory, when we all know it was 1966. Well, that's how I felt last night when BBC TV news referred to the "boroughs" of Tottenham and Peckham. There are no boroughs of Tottenham and Peckham. Tottenham is in the London Borough of Haringey and Peckham is in Southwark. London is divided into 32 boroughs and the separate City of London (the Square Mile itself). The names of the boroughs are common currency to anyone who ever talks knowledgeably about ...
Lacking both the knowledge to comment intelligently and the instinct to start commenting in a knee-jerk stylee, I'm not throwing my hat into the opinion ring on the London riots. I hope people get through it OK, and that it receives as much consideration as condemnation in the weeks to come. But, in the spirit of hope, I think this amazing picture (or ones like it) should be given as much prominence in the media as the fire and looting.
At points in last night's London riots, it seemed as if society itself was disintegrating before our eyes. Feral youths running amok in their thousands, outwitting police, torching homes and livelihoods, the violence spreading from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. The police seemed powerless to intervene in a battle where one side was breaking all the rules, and the other was bound to uphold those rules. The Met were damned if they did and damned if they didn't, caught between rioters getting hurt at their hands and the risk of losing control. Amid the chaos were heartbreaking tales of family, community businesses ...
We're getting a few more museums lined up with QRpedia – and busy working on new features. I just wanted to update you on some interesting developments. QRpedia was presented by Roger at Wikimania – it seemed to go down a storm! The Children's Museum of Indianapolis are adding more QR codes. A lovely blog from Lori about seeing people scan the codes. A bug in Wikipedia has been fixed. This means that detection of mobile now happens at Wikipedia's front-end. The British Museum are stepping up their engagement with Wikipedia. There's an interesting quote about QRpedia from Matthew Cock ...
The Gordon Riots saw London subject to similar levels of violence – what are the present riots designed to achieve? Riots are unacceptable in a democratic society. Peaceful protest, we are told, is acceptable. Riots, however, do not come in simple 'one-size-fits all' shapes and sizes and I am concerned that the 'riots' in London, ...
Step one: you are a Labour councillor serving on the local fire authority and you oppose the axing of first class train travel for members of the fire authority. Step two: you put in a back claim for three years worth of travel, including numerous first class travel trips, totalling £20,000. Step three: your embarrassed Labour colleagues say they'll vote you out of office if you don't resign first. Details here and here.
Residents living in Campbell Drive, could soon see a little bit of police surveillance going on, after several complaints relating to anti-social behaviour in and around the Sports Pavillion, we made to members of the local FOCUS Team. Local Lib Dem, Cllr Darren Fower, recently put forward the idea at a Neighbourhood meeting, held at the Town Hall, following a meeting between the Neighbourhood Manager and Cambs police, about the placing of equipment to prevent anti-social behaviour in the area. According, to the police, they were in need of some ideas as to where to use their equipment and therefore ...
The best people I met on my tour around the city centre were those who had come to help clear up. This is a photograph of the volunteer clean up crew. Thanks to the efforts of the city council's staff who started work at 6am most of the mess had been cleared up by this point. The aftermath of the worst is really looking at the attempts to steal a cashpoint machine. All we had was an attempt
As London continues to burn and imagery reminiscent of the Luftwaffe raids on London are flashed across the media this morning. Many people are forced to ask if the aims of the Coalition have been proved a failure and that Politicians are too far removed from the situation on the ground that such a reaction was inevitable.It was a warning that Nick Clegg put forward last year ( http://t.co/XJBAFQL Thanks to Dr Keevil) that austerity measures would lead to this situation. People are angry at the cuts, angry at services being removed - they don't care about the national debt, ...
Tue 9th
13:10
When the tears have dried and the looters are locked up, we'll still have to answer the questions 'w...
I've resisted the temptation to write about the riots until now, mainly because perched in a holiday cottage in Matlock I thought the only thing I could be sure about was that I hadn't a clue what was actually happening. This doesn't seem to have stopped the rest of the world. So far I have seen the riots blamed on (in no particular order) the disaffection of the looters in general, their parents, the police, greed, the cuts at large, politicians, the absence of politicians, abolition of the EMA, tuition fees (no, really, someone was claiming that in Bristol), and ...
Recall of Parliament North Thanet`s MP, Roger Gale , has this (Tuesday) morning welcomed the recall of Parliament (on Thursday) in order that the House may receive a statement from the Prime Minister in relation to the acts of criminality that have taken place throughout London and elsewhere in recent nights. "It is absolutely right that Parliament should have the opportunity to hear from the Prime Minister and to question the action that is being taken and the facilities that are being made available to enforce the law, to restore order and to bring to conviction and sentence those that ...
It was inevitable that copycat idiots would hit the streets in Bristol and other cities, having followed shocking events in London. In the age of 24 hour TV and social media it is all too easy for a situation to escalate and for delinquents to prosper. The first duty of all politicians and leaders of ...
learn the lessons: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14456857
Thornton's Budgens in Crouch End are setting up cages outside their shop, where they will be collecting items for people whose homes have been affected by the fires in Tottenham at the weekend. If you have donations you would like to make, such as bedding, clothes, toys and unused toiletries, you can drop them off there and they will drive them to Haringey Council's offices on Seven Sisters Road in their delivery vans. Please bring donations before 8pm today, or after 6.30 am tomorrow. The address of Thornton's Budgens is: 21-23 The Broadway Crouch End London N8 8DU
Here at Catch21, our sole aim is to engage and inform our vibrant and vocal electorate, in the ever changing world of politics. To provide discussion, discourse and good old debate in on-trend topics, and to enable the freedom of opinion and understanding to reach out from the House of Commons into our own comfortable common rooms. In 2009, Catch21 set up the Uni-Q project, a political discussion show that gave students a chance to air their own political opinions whilst grilling willing MP's. Mirroring the format of BBC Question Time, Uni-Q set off touring colleges and universities across the ...
The Edinburgh Fringe can be a bit of a bubble at the best of times. As you dash around performing shows, seeing shows and napping (not so much while dashing around), it's easy to miss the news. I got the feeling a collective jolt went through the ex-pat Londoners up here yesterday evening as the enormity of what was happening back home fought its way through the fog of ticket stubs, alcohol and street performance. On the one hand, I'm glad to be well away from the rioting. On the other, I feel – entirely irrationally – like a coward, ...
Speaker: Ladies and Gentlemen we are gathered here today to discuss what to do about these riots. We have spokespeople from several sectors of society including a rioter, a police officer, the PM, twitter and Ken Livingstone. Let's keep this above belts folks, first of all we'll go to the PM... PM: Thank you Mr Speaker. I didn't leave a tip for that waitress because she didn't bloody deserve one. I carried the teas to the table. She did naff all. Red Ken: That's because she didn't have an EMA so couldn't afford to stay on at walking with teas ...
The mindless damage and riots in Ealing, across London and the country has been caused by criminals who I have no respect for what so ever. However young or old no-one has the right to damage property, commit arson or steal property from shops. Many local shopkeepers have not had a good time over the past few years. Any damage to the area or their property just takes away what our High Streets are about - diversity and people grafting to make a living. When I was in South Ealing on Monday evening at the time of the riots the ...
Parliament is to be recalled in response to the 'Dolce and Gabbana' riots. The question being asked on the interweb is - is it to enact powers contained in Labour's anti-terrorism legislation? Stephen Glenn has a good post about what this might entail. This would be an illiberal overeaction. What this situation needs is good police intelligence to find out where the organisers are targetting in advance and robust police tactics on the street. Anti-terror powers would appeal to the right wing mob - but have little practical effect other than to curb the liberty of the 99.99% of Londoners ...
@gray suggested that #prayforlondon is an empty twitter gesture. Michael suggests that those involved in #riotcleanup could do with the support of the heavenly armies.
I noticed I've picked up another follower to the Route 66 blog so I'm going to have to think of ways to keep you all hooked and entertained as the days and the miles rumble steadily on. I may have to resort to some dodgy celebrity endorsements or star spotting when we get to Vegas and LA to keep you riveted to each instalment. The latest leg of our trip saw us pass the midway point geographically on our trip, marked by a stop at the originally named Midpoint Café as we made the hop from Amarillo in Texas across ...
I attended our Policy and Strategy Committee this morning. I was very impressed by the annual report of our Services for Communities Department. It laid out in striking terms just what the improvement has been since the Lib Dem led administration took power after 23 years of Labour control. These are just some of the improvements in performance markers which relate to the part of my portfolio the Department deals with.... Domestic Abuse Noise Complaints Average Time between Complaints and attendance 06/07 35hrs 10/11 25hrs Antisocial Behaviour Average Time between Complaints and attendance 06/07 2hrs 10/11 0.7 Repeat Homelessness Presentations ...
I was on the Radio Tay News this morning about the Crichton Street Parcel Collection Office proposed closure - see below. I'll also be on the STV News at 6 this evening on the matter.
The government's "Cuts" agenda is expected to dominate politics over the next three and a half years and during the next election. I expect that we will hear the word "cuts" eminating from the lips of Labour politicians more times during this parliament than we heard Gordon Brown boast that he'd abolished Boom and Bust during the previous three. Yet the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats will also freely talk of the cuts they are making, while challenging Labour's narrative that this is all a heartless exercise motivated purely by ideology. They will point out that Labour left them with ...
Tuesday: There's a lot of talk about "anarchy in the UK" about at the moment. But Anarchy means without RULERS not without RULES. As Mr Balloon, Bouncing Boris and even Mr Millipede fly back into the country, what we seem to have is the exact opposite! Why are there riots in London (and Birmingham and Liverpool)? Is it the world economy teetering on the brink? Is it the Metropolitan Police being in chaos after the discovery that they were in bed with Mr Murdoch? Is it Captain Clegg being left in charge of the country? It seems inexplicable to me. ...
Tue 9th
11:43
Parliament Recalled: will Emergency Regulations have been made by Thursday? #londonriots
We've all watched the horrendous images from across our country's capital, London, and from other cities in England. The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. David Cameron MP has declared that he has spoken to the Speaker of the House of Commons so that the House is recalled on Thursday so that he can make a ...
You have to admit it, the standard criticisms of the Liberal Democrats do have a solid foundation in truth. David Allen's piece on Lib Dem Voice on"Frankensteinomics" is a classic example. Keynesian stimuli don't work, he says, and so therefore we should "raise taxes and spend money". Sorry, what?! Be careful, I would say. Many people are turned off by the Lib Dem habits of "wanting it both ways" and indulging in moral sanctimony. Opposing stimulus spending but proposing taxing and spending, because you have bravely proposed a third way that "few politicians want to think about", is a good ...
I am a Liberal, I believe in the right to protest. I've done it. Of course the right to carry out your lawful business, to feel safe in your home, to go to work etc are all rights just as important as the right to protest. Let's not forget, as people have the absolute right to protest, they have a right to not be involved. When your street is on fire or your business being ransacked - you're
For a good report on it see the KM website http://tinyurl.com/3myyls9 (photo credit to the KM too.) So last night the touch paper was lit in the heart of Medway as 15 trouble makers brought London fire to the streets of Medway causing limited damage to property and the destruction of a few cars. Luckily the powder was dry and failed to ignite last night but will it happen again and would the result be different? Medway is a large urban conurbation with a great mixture of people, many of whom earn less than £30k p/a per household (Ours is ...
Those are the words of a young woman who was part of a wanton criminality in London last night when asked by Mark Stone the Sky News reporter on the scene. First of all it was a terrific piece of journalism with Mr Stone putting himself very much in harms way to get a story but secondly it was quite chilling what the response was. First of all the young lady in question didn't seem old enough to pay taxes so her point seems a bit off but most importantly if people really think (and this wasn't an isolated sound ...
Churchtown Civic garden Cllr John Dodd & Dorothy Lee Fernery Floral Clock Flower Show Marquee Rotten Row
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother look down in mercy upon England, thy dowry, and upon us who greatly hope and trust in thee.
COBRA are meeting at the moment but the media while awaiting the Prime Minister's statement are speculating that there may be a recall of Parliament on Thursday. Why would such a recall be made? Possibly to enact the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. It is clear that the definition of an emergency certainly covers what we have seen in recent days. (1)In this Part "emergency" means—(a)an event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the United Kingdom,(b)an event or situation which threatens serious damage to the environment of a place in the United Kingdom, or(c)war, ...
As I write this, the Prime Minister David Cameron is chairing the civil contingencies committee, COBRA, summoned to discuss what to do about the three days of rioting in London (and some elsewhere) that have shocked the nation. Though unrest began in Tottenham, following a police shooting, yesterday it spread across much of the city ...
It's depressingly familiar to hear the cries of many for troops to be used to patrol the troubled streets of London this morning as the criminal looting subsides long enough for the thieves to have their Coco Pops. The oh-so-reasonable voice of Tory Patrick Mercer called for this in a measured way and his call was echoed by a military officer with experience of Iraq, who said that 'fire' should be fought with 'fire'. I can respect the views of the soldier but he is not a policeman and he has no experience of policing this country which, as is ...
Since I have started writing about weighty issues of political philosophy I thought now would be a good time to explain how I define liberty. The most influential modern definition of liberty is the absence of coercion. But what this ... Continue reading →
Croydon! Yes, Croydon last night If I was still working in retail in London who knows where I may have been sent to this morning to help with the clean up. As I was listening and watching the news last night I knew that three of the shops that I have worked in as temporary cover were affected, or close to an area affected one way or another. The trade I worked in would have been one of those that would have been a favourite of looters. Also I watched I saw or heard of addresses where friends live or ...
Why are Western politicians failing to tackle the debt crisis? Partly, because they do not know why things got this way. So they do not really know what to do. We need better understanding. At the risk of sounding like an airport paperback I offer – Frankensteinomics! The global economy, I contend, is like Frankenstein's monster – bloated, dysfunctional, and kept alive only by repeated jolts of artificial stimulation. The mad scientist who first showed how to apply the electrodes was Maynard Keynes. Using State spending to jolt the economy out of depression did of course look rational and benign ...
They won't work in these situations. They need a huge vehicle with water supply. They only work in large European style squares on large assemblies of people. – Not against little individual nippers, nipping in and out of back streets. If the police on foot can't grab the culprits then how the heck is a two ton lorry going to get within range to fire water at them? It's a ridiculous idea!
New figures show just how far ahead the people of Stockport are in recycling – and thanks to your efforts, we're saving millions of pounds. Each Stockport household threw away 77kg of rubbish (the stuff that can't be recycled and ends up in landfill) between January and March this year. We pay for all the rubbish that goes to landfill, so throwing away less rubbish means more money to spend on other services. How does that compare to the rest of Greater Manchester? The next best authority is Trafford, with 122kg – 59% more than us. The least successful authorities ...
Cllr John Dodd welcomes Merseytravel'ssmartcard revolution which is starting in the autumn. The new smartcards aresimilar to London's Oyster cards and are due to be introduced in October. Cllr Dodd, who is a Liberal Democratrepresentative on Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority (Merseytravel) said"The new smartcards will eliminate the frustration of queuing for tickets.They will make it easier for people to use the public transport system, whethertrain, bus or ferry." Once fully implemented, it willbe the biggest smartcard network outside London. Merseytravel willbe investing a substantial amount of money in the technology afterreceiving a £2.2m grant from the coalition Government. Cllr Dodd ...
It took me some time to take in the full scale of last night's rioting. Watching rolling news was no way to understand the detail of what was unravelling. Social media networks, particularly Twitter, did what they do – give a platform for ignorance and stupidity; the political reaction was similarly hopeless, one-dimensional dismissal of the actions as entirely about criminality, barring some stunningly crass statements from Ken Livingstone in an ill-judged attempt to exploit the issue. Of course there was criminality involved; but those dismissing the actions of the rioters as entirely criminal were guilty of being as crass ...
Amazing view, especially considering this is from a café in London, on the busy (and not very attractive) Edgware Road:
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We'd heard sirens passing up our street all night, as we're on a main route into Hackney and other parts of North London. We live in a relatively poor area, and spent much of evening in a state of nervousness about the prospects for trouble on our street, ameliorated by the fact that we don't ...
I have been looking at Facebook, Twitter and LibDemBlogs and listening to Radio 4. Radio 5 and BBC News 24 and trying to avoid my own anger and fear deteriorating into calls for the army etc. Comments fall into two categories: (1) condemnation of the rioters and looters and (2) searches for deeper explanations, usually involving government policy. For now, I settle on two points of social
The disregard for human life, the looting, the wanton destruction of the fabric of our communities and the violence against the police made for scenes of absolute horror – the like of which we have not seen on the streets of London. Like everyone else – I watched the horror unfold on breaking news throughout the evening and night – as what started in Tottenham spread across our capital city and beyond. The bloody scenes of violence, peppered with raging fires, indicate that we have people in our communities who care nothing for the rule of law and order, nothing ...
Flicking through old general election manifestos of the Liberal Democrats and our predecessor parties at the weekend, I was surprised to find how recent references to concerns over the pattern of media ownership in the UK are. It really is only with the 1997 general election manifesto that explicit policies about protecting or improving the diversity of media ownership feature. Given the number of technological innovations over the years, it is no surprise that some of the manifesto policies now read as very dated – 1983′s concerns over the impact of video tapes in particular. Yet the actual or feared ...
It has been interesting to observe how the news of rioting has spread and led people to incite other outbreaks of disorder. For quite some time a heady mix of commentators, police & trade unions warning of discontent, strikes and disorder mixed with police hyping 'summer's of rage' has created a latent expectation that at some point riots will occur. To some extent I can't help but feel a lot of this commentary has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. There are however a wealth of reasons and causes that lead to events like this. The riots in that regard are the ...
"Future students of history will be shocked and angered by the fact that in 1945 the same monetary system that had driven the world to despair and disaster [in the Great Depression], and had almost destroyed the civilisation it was supposed to stand for, was revived on a much wider scope." So wrote the Conservative French economist Jacques Rueff in 1964. The collapse of the old system in 1929 led to the Great Depression and the Second World War, so these are not unimportant questions. There is also more than a whiff of 1931 about the current situation. The markets ...
From a distance, it is hard not to see the similarities between the current riots across the UK and the student riots of a few months ago. At that time, I pointed out that there was an organised cadre of so-called "anarchists" determined to cause trouble. Clearly, when one looks at the new targets for the rioters: Oxford Street, Notting Hill, it seems pretty obvious that the same or at least a very similar group is operating here again. They are trouble makers, without a viable vision, simply spurred on by a dead ideology. They can not be taken seriously ...
These appear to be "Smartphone riots" or "3G riots". There are reports of Blackberry messenger being used to co-ordinate "hits". Andy Moore, BBC reporter, told of riot police in Ealing moving to one position but the rioters simply moving to another location to outwit them, presumably alerted by Smartphone. We've moved from 2G/SMS revolutions to 3G riots. But it seems to me that one solution, one obvious move to take the rug from under the rioters feet, is to turn off the mobile phone networks. Not for the whole country and not all the time. Turn off the transmitters in ...
I've been a member of the Party for quite some time now. I joined the Union of Liberal Students in 1984, and have paid an annual subscription ever since. And I've been fairly robust in my belief that my cause is a just one, and that any other political stance is, if not wrong, then just not as good. And we, as political activists, tend to paint our rivals as 'the other', someone to be opposed, beaten, bested, whose arguments should be shot down, in part because they aren't us, even when we sympathise with their stance. That easy generalisation ...
As reported in today's Courier, I have condemned Royal Mail's decision to close the Crichton Street Collection Office as this will be very detrimental to many Dundee customers who use the City Centre facility. The decision to go ahead with the closure at the end of August contradicts assurances given to me and other councillors when we met with Royal Mail on 19th May. At that meeting, the company said it would engage with City Councillors on the matter. Yesterday, I talked to Ian McKay, Royal Mail's Director of Scottish Affairs, to express my concerns at the closure decision. It ...
What can be learnt from the riots in Tottenham this weekend? There have been many controversial police shootings in recent years but this would not appear, on the face of it, to be one of them. The matter is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and from my experience that might be part of the problem. There are also deeper issues that need to be addressed. Local people are apparently complaining that the police have not talked to them or the family of the deceased about what happened. Most police officers have learnt the importance of police ...
browser does not support If you click on the picture above you will be taken to the British Pathe site to view a newsreel that was being played in the tile museum at Jackfield yesterday. (British Pathe has some extra footage without commentary.) I love the "Borough of Wenlock" sign: this is long before the new town of Telford was thought of. The British Geological Survey site has an article about Landslides in the Ironbridge Gorge, which will give you an idea of what caused the extraordinary images in the British Pathe films. As you will also see ...
The side effects of the policy allowing young people to run riot has brought riots to the entire country. For years we have pandered to our kids, allowed them to ignore the police and teachers and attacked authority figures that have stood up to them. Punishments have been reduced to meaningless in schools so our youth feel there are no consequences to their actions. The result is Riots, Mass looting and the death toll to several communities. They are about to learn there are consequences, when no jobs or businesses return to their communities for fear it happens again. The ...
Thanks to Open Culture for alerting me to this extraordinary video. In 1865 the five-year-old Samuel James Seymour was present at Ford's Theater when John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln. And here he is talking about it on a television panel game in 1956. Seymour lived only a couple more months after making this programme; the sad thing is that the fall he had beforehand at the hotel may have hastened his end. He died on 14th April 1956 - 91 years to the day after Lincoln.
Given that it will take a year or two, if not a decade or two, to bring society round to the view that full employment can be achieved by more sharing rather than more growth, and to avoid yet another lost generation (though given the current rioting it may already be too late) here is an an alternative to the present destructive and misguided austerity measures. Cut government spending by: . Abandoning Trident and its replacement; . Pulling out of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya with all possible speed; . Replacing the pensioners' free bus pass with a token payment of, ...
I'm finally breaking my self imposed blogging silence ( I needed a break) because I can't get this list down on twitter. So far the following have been blamed on either twitter or the telebox Cuts to EMA Rising tuition fees Cuts to Youth services Cuts to probation Labour's legacy The government not caring Youth unemployment that Labour caused Youth unemployment that the government does not care about The Tories 'Thatcher' 'The parents' Politics 'the cuts' Twitter Blackberry instant messenger Public sector pensions reform David Cameron's holiday arrangements Our culture denying the kids the chance of living a good life ...
Six more Seventh Doctor stories today: And straight in from Paradise Towers, we have another icon of British comedy, Ken Dodd, appearing in Delta and the Bannermen (and also getting killed off, but earlier rather than later). There are a lot of elements here that come close to working individually - the holiday camp, the bemused Americans, the rapidly growing alien child, the love triangle; but the whole is somehow a bit less than the sum of its parts, with the Bannermen themselves rather a weak element, and the feeling that not everyone involved totally understood what was going on. ...
Following complaints from residents that the fencing round the grass area at the junction of Pentland Avenue and City Road was damaged - and missing in parts - I contacted the City Council regarding this and also raised it at the last "Pentland walkabout." I am pleased to report that the fencing is now properly replaced - see right.
The Way the Future Blogs, an online memoir by science fiction writer Frederik Pohl » Blog Archive » Sri Lanka, War and Collaboration "So, not without a few tears, I threw away some twenty thousand words of perfectly good copy about the Sri Lankan civil war..." (tags: war sf)
"There are two fundamentally opposed means whereby man, requiring sustenance, is impelled to obtain the necessary means for satisfying his desires" wrote Franz Oppenheimer in "The State: Its History and Development viewed Sociologically" (1908). He goes on: These are work and robbery, one's own labor and the forcible appropriation of the labor of others...I propose in the following discussion to call one's own labor and the equivalent exchange of one's own labor for the labor of others, the "economic means" for the satisfaction of needs, while the unrequited appropriation of the labor of others will be called the "political means." ...
[IMG: Police] The very integrity of the police is now is serious doubt. In this year alone, the failed 'sex-honey pot' case of PC Mark Kennedy has brought into question multi-million pound sting operations; two other officers are being investigated after being recorded conspiring against a peaceful protester; and a CI and seven other officers are on trial for framing five innocent men for murder. Now evidence has emerged that the police not only failed to investigate but have been implicit in the deplorable, corrupt and illegal practices of tabloid journalists. Something has to give.The police-led inquiry cannot be expected ...
I went through three stages of emotion looking at my Twitter feed yesterday - confusion, amusement, and then downright despair. I find it hard to comprehend what's been going on in London, what motivates these rioters, what the cause is. Twitter answered none of these questions. What it did expose was how nasty and callous some political activists can be. I must first address the jokes. Most were tasteless, some were stupid, few were funny, and all were unnecessary. I can understand why people make jokes in an incomprehensible situation. It's a way of coping. But looking back over them, ...
Twitter was abuzz this evening with fears and rumours that the area of London I live in was about to be hit by rioters. I spent much of the evening sitting on the balcony looking out over the local police station and the main road, observing first as all the shops shut, the buses stopped running and a small huddle of policemen took post on the corner of the street outside the station, watching the news coverage on the BBC website and supping tea. The policemen looked increasingly bored; then the buses started running again, and the numbers of cops ...
Just a short update before signing off for the night: * There are still some youths on the street in Sutton, but the numbers have reduced significantly. They are now being dispersed by the police. * Despite earlier reports that the windows of HMV had been smashed they are intact but they have been vandalised. * The doors of MacDonalds were similarly attacked but not breached. Let's hope for a better day tomorrow.
I'm sat here writing this crying. Not because I am upset but because I am angry. The news is on on the television behind me and all I can hear is a rolling cycle of news of new areas of ...
I was going to try and spend today writing a balanced piece about the riots on Saturday but instead I have been watching BBC News 24 and following the Twittersphere as the riots and disorder spread across London and now as far as Birmingham and are threatening to spread around the country. I'm even taking precautions in my own home and Medway is not a likely place for the disorder and I am hoping we are far enough out of the city centre that if it does kick off we will be shot of it. Also if any would be ...
TweetAs the London Riots are ongoing there is a lot of information and misinformation flying around twitter. There are some interesting tweets, pictures and videos that are also going around, I intend this to be a continually updating list of such. Map of the problems in London This has proved to be not true, but however, a man is in hospital after being shot. Reports are this is Surrey Street in Croydon, This is a tweet from a 9 Year old at Birmingham Childrens Hospital. A Croydon Furniture Shop on Fire Oxford Circus apparently on lock down. Video of Rioters ...
