[IMG: A torn page from a diary. Written in pencil in a large round hand are the words "It's OK." Underneath and smaller, "smile". A smiley face is drawn next to them.] Twitter followers may have noticed that I had a breakdown this morning. I've been single for exactly three months today, and while I'm not having frequent fits of hating myself and despairing over no hope in my life, it's not exactly an easy three months. Since submitting my PhD corrections last week especially, I've been devoting time to self care and using the respite between semesters in which ...
David McCallum is seventy eight. SEVENTY EIGHT! I bring this up because we're watching NCIS, and he's on it, and he looks sort of late forties early fifties. Nowhere near approaching eighty. I mean, look at this picture. [IMG: David McCallum] His hair is a little darker than it used to be - presumably dyed back to natural mousy brown, as opposed to bleached blonde like it was in the sixties - but aside from that he looks pretty much the same as he did in Sapphire and Steel. His costar in that, the lovely Gurkha-rescuing Joanna Lovely, famous in ...
Work for the trams on Princes Street Douglas Adams may have written: "They rounded the foot of the Quentulus Quazgar Mountains, and there was the Message written in blazing letters along the crest of the Mountain. There was a little observation vantage point with a rail built along the top of a large rock facing it, from which you could get a good view. It had a little pay-telescope for looking at the letters in detail, but no one would ever use it because the letters burned with the divine brilliance of the heavens and would, if seen through a ...
A couple of months ago, I reported on feedback I had received from the City Council regarding the need for zig zag safety lining outside Blackness Primary School, and it is pleasing to note that this is now in place - see below.
You can clearly see the paint splatters on Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie's shirt and suit here. As Nick Clegg arrived for a private meeting with a packed hall of Scottish party members, a man who is now getting better acquainted with Strathclyde Constabulary threw blue paint at him. A policeman took most of it but Willie was fairly well splattered. You will know more about this incident than I do by now by virtue of rolling news channels. I really could kick myself for arriving 5 minutes too soon. I mean, I am never early for anything, but ...
Following residents' complaints about bad potholes on Paton's Lane (see below), I have contacted the council's Roads Maintenance Partnership requesting repairs.
Nick Clegg writes this evening at Comment is Free on the need for the British government to uphold human rights at home as well as abroad. He describes the strengths of British human rights laws, and reminds that the Liberal Democrats will continue to support them in the face of the Tories' rhetoric or moves to renegotiate them. Britain has a proud history of international leadership on human rights. It was our political leadership and legal expertise that led to the creation of the European convention on human rights in 1950, a convention modelled on centuries of English law. That ...
From tomorrow morning's Guardian: Court judgments themselves tend to tell a very different story about our rights culture than tabloid papers. The Human Rights Act and the European convention on human rights have been instrumental in preventing local authorities from snooping on law-abiding families, in removing innocent people from the national DNA database, in preventing rapists from cross-examining their victims in court, in defending the rights of parents to have a say in the medical treatment of their children, in holding local authorities to account where they have failed to protect children from abuse, in protecting the anonymity of journalists' ...
I suspect Nick Clegg is not a regular reader of this blog, but he has, according to the Mirror, come out and demanded full disclosure of all the papers relating to the Hillsborough disaster as I argued last week. With 100,000+ signatures on the e-petition there is no excuse for the government to further delay the release of these papers.
Tory and Labour councillors in Edinburgh today joined forces to take a farcical decisions that will cost the taxpayers of Edinburgh millions of pounds. Edinburgh's tram project has been beset by trouble since its inception under the previous Labour administration. Like Donald Dewar's Parliament building it is hideously overbudget and beset by contractual difficulties. The cost of cancelling it is now greater than the cost of part completing it from the city's airport to St Andrew's Square in the heart of the city. Originally it was supposed to go all the way to the port of Leith. Instead of biting ...
Having linked to an item about Postman's Park in a recent Six of the Best, I thought I would visit it myself. I found in on Aldersgate Street, close to St Paul's Cathedral. It is a trim little park, formed from the churchyard of St Botolph's Aldersgate. As the post I linked to on Historical Trinkets explains, it is most notable for its Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, the brainchild of artist George Frederic Watts and his wife Mary: The Memorial consists of a covered walkway with memorial tablets commemorating ordinary people who had given their lives whilst attempting to save ...
As reported in today's Courier, I have expressed dismay that, yet again, City Council officials have conceded that there will be yet further delays to the proposed consultation with West End residents in the area around the West End shops and up to Blackness Road for a possible residents' parking scheme to improve the very difficult parking situation for residents in the area. The City Council's Head of Transportation announced to the West End Local Community Planning Partnership last week that council officers were now not going ahead with putting together residents' parking improvement proposals this autumn as previously promised, ...
Well I never thought it could be like this? You innocently book up a flight. Bristol: 1. Easyjet check-in desk at Bristol deny all knowledge that you can take a travel cot with you for free. Yes you can. 2. Bristol airport charge £2 for trolley hire - to go 100metres. So we decide to boycott this and get accused of leaving luggage when we cannot manage it all in one go. Security gone bonkers. 3. We get priority boarding - with hostile glares from everyone else. Grow up dudes! 4. Flight gets called 20 mins before departure and the ...
In retrospect, screeching Dexy's Midnight Runners on stage without even a pair of denim dungarees for protection was a big mistake. My already struggling voice, which had begun to show signs of recovery, was shredded. And I had a show to do. There are three comedians in Three Man Roast. We have cunningly concealed a clue to this fact in the name. Yesterday, two of them did very well. The other one of them, having managed to screw his larynx, struggled through his set trying with only some success to get punchlines out without his voice cracking over the most ...
So. Big Brother is back. I blogged here back in September of its long overdue-demise. Reading back on what was one of my formative blog posts nearly a year ago, it still reads well despite the odd spelling error. It was as I said then, a programme which "split a nation but which has defined a decade". I honestly thought then that it would be the end but no, Channel 5 as I alluded too at the end of that post snapped up the rights for this tired old format. It is still with us but it won't last. It ...
Following complaints from residents, the Council has issued a legal notice requiring Virgin Media to fix the broken cover in the pavement on Ashfield Road, by the junction with Ashfield Crescent, Cheadle (near the library). We've effectively had a big hole in the pavement, covered over with some fencing, and Virgin Media have taken far too long to fix it. We've been told that they should be repairing it shortly – we'll be checking!
Thu 25th
20:26
Video: Nick Clegg says, "We are not going to start cutting people off from social networks"
Nick Clegg has said that the government won't "start cutting people off" from social networking sites, following the riots two weeks ago. He also pointed out the value of such networks in emergency situations like these: As it happens, those social media sites were also quite useful for the police to communicate with people, and were also quite useful for people to communicate with each other to avoid trouble. So there's another side to the story and we will proceed with this with a great deal of care – we won't do anything pre-emptive. Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone has also ...
My voice was screwed. The combination of a low-level Fringe cold and shouting on stage most days had taken its toll and I was starting to lose the ability to speak. It's an ability I took thoughtlessly for granted. Turns out it's a pretty key skill when it comes to doing stand-up in Edinburgh. Although I was croaky, the show went well and I was able to catch up with a number of friends from the audience over a pint afterwards. In an attempt to add tuberculosis to my vocal problems, I then headed down to the dankness of the ...
It was good to hear Chris Davis stepping up to the plate to challenge Merseytravel over its taxpayer funded legal action. He gave an interview to the BBC today which should make offiocers and Labour politicans think again about how they are using public money. More to follow
Nick Clegg paid us a visit today and confirmed to the media that all the files relating to the Hillsborough tragedy would be released. The families have been campaigning to see these files for many years but despite being in power for 13years Labour failed to instruct civil servants to publish the documents. Well done Nick Clegg. We were also pleased to learn that despite the baying of the right wing press and some Tories the Government is not going to take powers to close down social media. Can you just imagine what a Labour Home Secretary would have done? ...
Last February, David Cameron coined 'muscular liberalism' for dealing with extremism without over-stepping the limits of a liberal society. I was an instant fan, believing Cameron was stating an ideological commitment to rehabilitative justice, proportionality and targeting the guilty few, not the innocent many. I anticipated a dual approach to reducing criminality, advancing social justice alongside more effective sentencing; the 'tough on crime, tough of the causes of crime' coined but never realised by Tony Blair.But like Blair, who joked privately with his aides about how it would be better if we were all born in prison and had to ...
So, good news everyone - according to reports in the Guardian and others, the Home Office have decided that introducing legislation to allow the police to turn off access to Social Networks would be, ahem, inappropriate, and will instead work in cooperation with the networks going forward. To quote the Home Office after talks today "The discussions looked at how law enforcement and the networks can build on the existing relationships and co-operation to prevent the networks being used for criminal behaviour". Good. Of course, it should never have come to this in the first place. It seems lunacy just ...
I've been sat here writing a post about the banned EDL demonstration in Tower Hamlets and what crops up on BBC News 24 as a breaking news item? That some random person has decided to throw a blue paint bomb ...
So now we are in a sort of endgame in the Libyan war. It is not over, but Gaddafi's government has been decisively beaten. This outcome arises despite a constant stream of scepticism amongst experts and commentators, right from the start, and from a broad political spectrum. I was not one of these sceptics, and I must admit to being annoyed by the patronising tone of much of it, assuming that politicians and supporters were muddled naifs who had failed to learn from history. While these sceptics rapidly move on to point out the considerable difficulties that will arise in ...
So it seems as though a person who doesn't like Nick Clegg has poured blue paint all over the Deputy PM at an event in Glasgow this evening. Nick Clegg shrugged his shoulders and laughed it off. The rumour on twitter is that Stuart Rodger is the man who has been arrested and all you can say is what a tit if indeed this proves to be the case. Although whoever did it is a complete tit. Whoever did it may have thought they were making a stand against Nick Clegg but really? Whatever you think about Clegg and his ...
It's no secret that I am from Bethnal Green in the East End of London. It's no secret that I am proud of my area and home town for many reasons. One of those reasons is the multicultural diversity of ...
It appears that Cornwall Council's Leader, Alec Robertson, newly adorned with a beard after his summer holiday, is a bit confused. He had been summoned to today's Communities scrutiny meeting to explain how the different services would be represented on the Cabinet following the reshuffle in May. (We had asked nicely for him to come to the previous meeting but he refused so we had to invoke the Council's summonsing power.) I asked him to explain who was responsible for libraries, for culture and for leisure. He explained that for some services there was more than one person with direct ...
I have just returned from my USA vacation and am delighted to report that tales of the demise of the smoker across the pond are greatly exaggerated. Indeed in some states the fight back seems to be on. Despite what you may have heard, it was ludicrously easy to find hotels in New York offering smoking rooms. Much easier actually than finding a smoking room in many UK cities. Smoking on the streets remains common place – and the numbers of open air bars encouraging you to light up are, if anything, on the increase. Over in Las Vegas the ...
I know that in the past I have not always dealt with some of the personal attacks that have come to me in the best way possible. Last night I changed that in response to a comment left on the ...
TweetAs a Liberal, I shudder at the thought of banning anything. So to learn that controversial mayor Luftur Rahman and his acolytes have been successful in having the English Defence League march banned. The issue for me is that the practicalities of the march simply will not wed with my beliefs. Therefore I believe it's probably right to ban the march. In principle, I am against the banning of any group; it is an idea that is wholly abhorrent to my principles. This applies even to groups like the EDL and the BNP. I have always believed that giving repulsive ...
As regular readers will be aware, yours truly is currently heavily involved with a motion about the treatment of the sick and disabled that is going forwards to the Lib Dem autumn conference. Essentially the motion is about the Work Capability Assessment which determines whether sick and disabled people get support from the welfare system or not. At the moment it's failing thousands of those in need and putting them through real suffering. The firm that conducts the assessments on behalf of the government (and who get paid £100 million a year for doing so) are ATOS Healthcare. This is ...
What should happen to a policeman known to have committed a crime severe enough to warrant imprisonment? Or a sanctimonious priest known to be living in cardinal sin? What sentence would you recommend for a high court judge found guilty of a crime for which they had themselves harshly condemned others? Mensch (aka Louise Bagshawe) has become something of a celebrity MP for her trashy novels, TV appearances and classy glamour. Well, what if it was a law-maker themselves? Shouldn't it be all the worse? Apparently not, given the absence over a stir from Louise Mensch MP's admittance of past ...
Thanks all round to the gazillions of people and organisations who added a #handsofftwitter hashtag to their tweets today, it's great to see so many of them. Special thanks to MP's from Labour and Green parties (narrows the field, that last one, doesn't it) who were all non partizan and tweeted the tag as well. It seems that good news has emerged from the meeting with The Guardian (and others) reporting that the Home Office and the Met Police are backing down on the proposals. Any while that shouldn't mean we let our guard down - it's got to be ...
Please take a look at the Manor Ward Blog. There are two excellent posts there today including this video by money guru Martin Lewis
The Daily Post has more on this story: More to follow. This is not going to go away. Rex Makin reckons that Merseytravel may be in for tens of thousands of pounds to defend Labour Councillor..................................
Thursday: Back in the real (ish) world, Daddy has received his conference accreditation. Apparently he's in category 1 with access to the Module. Er, that's good, isn't it? Last time, I said Torchwood was playing join the dots between set pieces. This week, if anything, it's even more so. Modern television presents us with unrelated events and by convention we infer links between them. We're so used to it, we're blasé. But here Torchwood is actually doing the reverse. These events follow logically from each other, but because of the blink-and-you-miss-it expository connections they appear like almost randomly unconnected incidents. ...
Absolutely Fabulous tickets. I post this not because I'm interested in attending (although you may be). I post this because of the bits I've put in bold. Absolutely Fabulous BBC One | 9, 16, 23 September The cast reunite for three 20th anniversary specials. Due to the popularity of this show we are operating a random draw for tickets. You can apply for tickets at any time until Thursday 1 September at 4pm. You can apply for a maximum of two tickets and one recording per household. Good luck with your application. All information is correct at time of publication. ...
I was intrigued, upon reading the Daily Mail earlier today, to see how many positive articles it included about the Coalition - not "the Conservatives", but "the Coalition". Including one piece quoting an expert saying how bad a particular thing had been under Labour, and how much better it was getting now that the Coalition is in power, and an article reporting the Deputy Prime Minister's views on Abelbaset al-Megrahi. This reminds me of the enormous opportunity open to my party, if we all choose to take it. If people approve of this Coalition Government, that means that they like ...
Thu 25th
17:52
Ainsdale residents-what do you think about Pontins being used as student accommodation
My colleague Haydn Preece has written to Ainsdale residents to find out what they think about the new owners of the Pontins Holiday park being used as student accommodation Dear Ainsdale Resident. Here is the letter he has sent out: Dear Ainsdale Resident I was informed by the Southport Visiter on Wednesday that the owners of Pontins, Britannia Hotels are proposing to utilise the site as college student accommodation for Edge Hill University students. As your local councillor I would like to seek your views on this proposal. Please do not hesitate in contacting me. My immediate reactions are: We ...
With Monday being a bank holiday, there will be no bin collections on Monday. The collections for the week will be put back one day, so if you were due to have your bin emptied on Monday, it will now be Tuesday .. etcetera And just a reminder that next week is a blue bin (ie recyclabe) collection For arrangements in other parts of Northumberland see :-
Over a hundred signs advertising a "charity car wash" have been removed from streetlights and lampposts around Stockport. They were put up illegally, without permission. The sign material was wrong and the signs slipped down in the rain, often obscuring visibility. The same company has been putting up signs in East Cheshire, Trafford and elsewhere. Council officers are speaking to the company. With a small number of exceptions (mainly approved advertising on roundabouts), signs should never be attached to street furniture like traffic lights, bollards, streetlights and railings. If you see any – which we do on a regular basis ...
The westbound off-slip road to junction with Argyle Road will be closed when works are carried out for carriageway resurfacing works along the westbound section of the A40 Western Avenue, between Hanger Lane and the junction with Argyle Road in Ealing. The works are scheduled to start on Wednesday 31 August 2011 and are expected to last approximately five nights. In order to minimise disruption, and following consultation with the London Borough of Ealing, these works will be carried out at night from 21:30 to 06:00hrs, Monday to Friday.It is planned that these night-time resurfacing works will be carried out ...
TweetNick Clegg seems to be doing the rounds in the North and meeting lots of local parties, I had the pleasure of attending the meeting today. The following is a retrospective account of the hour spent in his company (and 50 odd other Lib Dems) I have some reticence about writing this blog it must be said, as there was general hushed overtones that what was said in the room should be kept quiet. However, as nothing particularly controversial was said, and on request of Party President Tim Farron I've decided to blog about the experience. As I didn't take ...
Sue Doughty has put together this emergency motion to conference. It is the most recent version and any amendments which improve but don't lengthen it should be sent to her on sue@suedoughty.plus.com. Conference Condemns without reservation the August riots as unjustified ... Continue reading →
Presentation of the petition at 10 Downing Street against the eviction of Traveller families from the Dale Farm site at Basildon: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-14667794. In the next few weeks, some but not all the families living on this site ate going to be kicked out, at a cost of over £10 million, £6.85 million on which is being subsidised by the Home Office and Communities and Local Government. Over a third of the families have planning permission and will be left alone, so it isn't as if there were overwhelming planning arguments for the evictions. There is nowhere else in the county ...
Writing in the Financial Times on 20th August 2011 Christopher Caldwell, who is against raising taxes for the rich, notes that Warren Buffet [who is mega rich & believes he should pay more tax], paid just under $7m in US Federal Taxes last year or about 17% of his taxable income. His 'back office' employees pay about 36%. The top 400 US 'earners' [some of us question the validity of the word 'earned' in this debate]: In 1992 made $19.9bn and paid 29.2% in taxes In 2010 made $90.9bn and paid 21.5% in taxes Elsewhere the same paper publishes two ...
Recommended reading for Liberal Democrat councillors and local campaigners from the last seven days: In general political news, Neil Monnery reports that Nick Clegg's approval ratings have gone up dramatically during August amongst Liberal Democrat supporters. Richard Morris and Nick Thornsby highlight an article in the Evening Standard that complains about the Liberal Democrats getting in the way of the Tories - something that many Lib Dems will be pleased about. On Liberal Democrat Voice Chris Rennard asks us to remember what was happening in politics four years ago and why we shouldn't lose heart now. In the local government ...
On Tuesday morning I spent a fascinating couple of hours finding out what it's like to be in a mobility scooter in Stockport town centre. I was ably escorted on my tour by Stephanie, Vice-Chair of Shopmobility and by Shopmobility manager John Leatherbarrow. Shopmobility is the charity – part Council funded – that hires out mobility scooters in the town centre and at Stepping Hill Hospital. Having taken my test (yes, I have the certificate to prove it), I set out to find the good and bad of being on a mobility scooter. First the good – because there's a ...
So, now that I have finished, what do I think of it all? Those who don't know or don't especially like Doctor Who may well query why a middle-aged analyst of international politics should devote any time at all to reviewing the 700-odd broadcast episodes of a TV show which started the day after the Kennedy assassination and ended in those weeks between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the overthrow of the Ceaușescus. Query all you like; I have never made any excuse for seeking escapism. Brian Aldiss once said that good sf is not about asking "What ...
It's the end! But the moment has been prepared for... In my last post I recanted my previous disdain for Remembrance of the Daleks, and uneasily anticipated that I might have to do the same for Battlefield. And so it proved to be; I take it all back, or almost all. Even if the precise background to the intrusion into our world of the Arthurian mythos as interplanetary battle is not really spelled out, it is generally pleasing, and especially pleasing to see the Doctor made to play the role of Merlin in someone else's drama. (He is definitely more ...
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is currently visiting Scotland to speak to party members in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Unfortunately due to work commitments I am unable to attend the planned sessions, but I am very pleased Mr Clegg has both taken the time to listen to Scottish members' concerns and attempt to address some of the unique problems facing the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Following the Holyrood elections, in whose aftermath I wrote to Clegg expressing concern that the cause of Scottish liberalism has been set back 50 years, the scale of the challenge facing the Scottish party became painfully clear. ...
Visiting my parents a few weeks ago I noticed this globe. Being a bit of a geek I had a closer look. I've always liked maps and globes and it presented a puzzle. The question is how old is it? ... Continue reading →
The respect of other people's culture here in Northern Ireland needs a lot of work. It should cut to each community within the diversity that we have within our wee country, but it is hard enough when the biggest two groupings fail to show mutual respect for each other. Yesterday we saw an example of ...
I like polls, without going into too much detail they are an interesting snapshot of the fortunes of political parties. Each polling company has different ways of conducting their polls and so I usually take a look at the UKPollingReport Polling Average which employs a methodology to amalgamate all the polls together (see here). This includes, among other things, a decline in weightings of polls which are conducted by the same company: In terms of creating polling averages this risks skewing an average if one pollster does a lot more polling than their rivals. For that reason, if a single ...
An interesting revelation in the Telegraph today; not sure if its mischief making, but the premise seems quite truthful: With Nick Clegg's personal poll ratings still flat-lining, David Cameron is rumoured to be preparing a dignified exit for his deputy. Clegg's spokesman does not immediately deny the story, but, after taking soundings, he gets back ...
The Cleggster visited Edinburgh yesterday and I was lucky enough to get a chance to hear him speak. He started by saying that it has been a tough time for the LibDems since entering coalition government with the Conservatives. And it has been tough nowhere more than Scotland. With this in mind it was interesting to see what Clegg had to say and what reception he got from Scottish LibDems. He got a laugh when he pointed out that the universally inoffensive party has become universally offensive. Nick said he had often asked himself, "could I have done something different, ...
I have just returned from leave to a rather busy week dealing with a number of crime enquiries in Bar Hill, Dry Drayton, Boxworth and Girton. I have also been providing cover for colleagues on holiday. On Wednesday, 17th August, we have had an incident report of rowdy nuisance in Pheasant Rise, Bar Hill. The occupants of the house had gone away on holiday and left the lodgers in the house. The lodger and some friends were playing the trumpet in the street and causing a nuisance to other neighbours. Police attended and made sure that order was restored. On ...
Local democracy is not well served by having councillors that spend their entire term remaining silent and doing nothing or having them drop out after a few months, forcing a by-election. The by-election caused by the resignation of town councillor Jon Shatford in Saffron Walden, just four months into his tenure, will cost the town's residents £3,500-5,000; per head of the population, the election will cost no more than 35p. According to the town's mayor Cliff Treadwell, Mr Shatford "felt that owing to work commitments, he felt that he could not represent his electorate and ward fully." The Conservatives were ...
For many decades the two biggest parties in British politics have had a financial edge over their opponents. There is a clear link between the achievement of power and the ability to receive vast sums of money from party political donations. The very concept of big money politics is arguably quite regressive to a modern liberal democracy, because the party that has the best policies should win the election not the one with the biggest bank balance. Also it's worth noting that big money politics is linked to the corrosive effects of lobbying with the party more concerned about their ...
We can all agree that the roller-coaster ride that has been the life of Nick Clegg would make for a terrific feature film. However this isn't a film and it is real life and he has been pilloried by the majority of people. Labelled a traitor and a liar his popularity with the public is not exactly sky high any more. The heady days of April 2010 seems like a different world to what he faces today. His popularity within his own party isn't great either. Many old school Lib Dems feel that going into a coalition with the Tories ...
Since I retired from the police I have not had a car. Since then 'the world is my Oyster card.' I rely on trains, tubes and buses to get around London and I'm appalled by what I see. Vanity projects and electoral gimmicks like the new Routemaster and replacing bendy buses are soaking up millions of pounds of the transport budget. The new Routemaster will cost nine times as much as a conventional bus – never mind the millions spent on development! On the right routes and properly regulated so they don't end up stuck together, bendies do a perfectly ...
I read with despair the report yesterday of the Naked Rambler's minute of freedom before being locked up for another 657 days. Is keeping this guy locked up in jail for longer than most people would get for much more serious crimes really the right way to handle him? He's been kept in prison for most of the last 5 years. To me, that's disproportionate. There is no evidence that he's ever caused anyone any harm. Locking him up in solitary confinement really is not the answer to this. Rather than jail him, then have the police waiting outside to ...
It seems a long time since I sat at my Dad's last April and read that the Lib Dems actually led in a major national Sunday poll. This was the weekend after the first leaders debate and the Lib Dem surge was going like a freight train. Those were the days. Things wouldn't get any better for the party as Andy Coulson did his worst and fed the newspapers as many stories about Nick Clegg and his party as he could. Even if they weren't exactly true and were murky at best it didn't matter. Gordon Brown and David Cameron ...
Just received the following from LibDem HQ: Dear Disgruntled, Just to confirm, we have received information from Greater Manchester Police that you have been successfully accredited for the upcoming Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference 2011. Your conference pass will be posted to you in September. In the meantime all conference papers, including the Agenda, Directory and Training Guide, are
Got an email today. I have been approved. It's a good job I hadn't waited till now to sort out accomodation - although the reason I hadn't is that a member of FCC had told me that they were only telling people if they failed and not if they passed and I (wrongly, it turns out) figured that I would have heard by now if I had failed. Seriously, security theatre people? Three weeks to go and you're telling people if they have passed or failed NOW? Anyone with any sense will have booked train tickets and accommodation a lot ...
Following extensive investigations by Stockport Council, the cause of flooding on Styal Road in recent months has been pinned down to a main sewer that's the responsibility of United Utilities. The Council have done some work cleaning out grids and drains, but need UU to do their bit. The Council have asked UU to do their work and we'll hope to hear soon when their work is scheduled to be done.
Residents are being asked for their views on the integration of the transport system in St Albans City and District and ideas on how to improve green methods of travel, such as walking and cycling. The Overview and Scrutiny (Public Services) Committee1 for St Albans City and District Council is to discuss how the Council can develop an integrated, sustainable transport and movement strategy for the District at a meeting on 22 September. The Committee would like to hear from residents with ideas or questions on transport issues, for example, on reducing traffic congestion, improving the ability to get around ...
My recent column in the Ham & High Am I bovvered? That was the gag line from Catherine Tate - and we all laughed. But there was nothing funny about the real life representation of lots of young people who were not bothered at all. Their consciences weren't bothered. They weren't bothered about the victims of their actions. They weren't bothered about the consequences to themselves of their actions. They weren't bothered about their communities. They weren't bothered about their families. They weren't bothered about what people thought of them and they weren't bothered about the businesses they ransacked and ...
Plan A is looking shakier than ever. After a slow climb out of recession, growth is now stalling and unemployment rising again, the approach taken thus far – cutting the deficit, and waiting for a spontaneous boom in the private sector – feels ever more risky, both politically and for our pockets. Vince Cable, who has always looked uneasy with a "plan for growth" that involves little except sitting back with fingers crossed, must feel increasingly unnerved. And he's right to be worried. His credibility is on the line and his legacy at BIS is yet to be secured. Now ...
What it's like to play online games as a grownup - The Oatmeal Of course, I appreciate the irony of this, given Mat and I are totally addicted to Zombie Lane at the moment... (tags: funny gaming)
From 19th September you will be able to contact Avon and Somerset Police by calling them on 101. Part of a national programme to make it easier for you to contact your local police, 101 will be used for non-emergencies such as: reporting a crime contacting local officers getting crime prevention advice making us aware of policing issues in your local area making an appointment with a police officer for any other non-emergency Key Facts 101 will not replace 999, which will continue to be used for emergencies. It will replace the existing 0845 number, although there will be a ...
Thu 25th
09:57
Clegg's language is unconsciously turning people off him: Changes needed for his poll ratings to imp...
The Lib Dems believe in community and the words 'we' and 'us' are important to us. When Clegg was vying for the top job he seemed to reflect these values well and his choice of words were in line with these values. However, now he is in DPM it may be these words which are ...
You can tell this is written by John Cleese and Graham Chapman. It has their fingerprints all over it. The very first episode (in two parts) of "Doctor in the House" from 1969 on ITV. Another comedy show I used to love....
The BTMRS have their meetings out of Blyth, but are still an active local society. This weekend (27th and 28th August ) sees their annual exhibition. It will again be at The Parks Sports Centre , North Shields . Full details are at the website http://www.btmrs.co.uk/ or http://www.railexne.com/ (including times and prices) I recommend a visit to everyone, railway enthusiast or not, who knows, perhaps you might become one ..? Because this year sees the 50th anniversary of the North Eastern Railway Association the exhibition will have a North Eastern theme , so may evoke some memories. The project to ...
Representaives of all the Social Networks are meeting with the Home Secretary today to discuss the effect of Twitter et al on the riots. David Cameron and the Acting Commissioner of The Met have both mooted the notion that the police should have the power to turn off social networks if they deem it appropriate, while the Tory MP and member of the DCMS Select Committee Louise Mensch has run a high profile campaign endorsing this thought (ironically enough, using Twitter). Today by all accounts the networks are going to give a firm rejection of this threat to freedom of ...
Thu 25th
08:25
The Tories are complaining we're getting in the way. We must be doing something right...
Thanks to Nick Thornsby who tweeted round this piece yesterday. It's from Tim Montgomerie in The Evening Standard and he's blaming us for everything. Here's a sample but do read the whole thing: "Does Cameron have the strength to overcome Liberal Democrat resistance to human rights reform and a new approach to family and parenting? Will he find the money to invest in the kind of early intervention and anti-gang programmes that the Centre for Social Justice think-tank has proven are vital to change social behaviour? Will he have the guts to replace the current Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, with ...
This brilliant KAL cartoon from the Economist used to be on many desks at UBS in the 1990s. I think it may well help explain the skittishness of the markets recently. The fact is that the economics data at the moment is rather ambiguous, and the market is filling the information gap by talking to itself. Of course there is much that is pretty bleak: the US downgrade, the downward revision in growth across much of the developed world, the growing sense that the debt crisis is likely to require many years to finally get things under control. On the ...
Cambridge City Council Leader, Sian Reid and Cambridge MP Julian Huppert have both welcomed the new Enterprise Zone on Alconbury Airfield (Just north of Huntingdon) believing it will bring great benefits for Cambridge. They say the new zone, designed to encourage investment, attract innovative companies and create around 8,000 jobs, will provide manufacturing land for high tech companies in the city allowing them to grow. It will also include a terminal for rail freight. Cllr Reid, a member of the Local Enterprise Partnership, said: "Cambridge is justly proud of its reputation for business and research; but at the same time, ...
A leading Cambridge City Councillor is urging people to put forward nominations for Olympic Torchbearers so that the city can play its part in the historic event. Rod Cantrill, Executive Councillor for Arts, Sport and Public Places met up with young Olympic hopefuls, shooting champion, Anna Rehfisch and fencer, Kristjan Archer to encourage nominations. The pair are hoping to compete in the 2016 games in Brazil and they joined Cllr Cantrill when the Olympic Torch visited Cambridge at the end of last week. Residents can nominate anyone who supports them in their lives to carry the torch in the run ...
Why do those who advocate home birth feel the way they do? (tags: choice) What Can Coverage of the Earthquake Teach Us about the LGBT Movement? (tags: sexuality) Black College Student Beaten For Speaking To White Female By Racists How the hell is this still going on? How do we stop it? (tags: racism) United Cabin Crew Thinks Books About Old Airplanes Signify A Security Threat A black man is asked to leave a plan for reading a book about antique aircraft. (tags: racism)
An extraordinary row has broken out between Welsh Ministers and the Leader of Pembrokeshire County Council over two critical inspection reports. The Welsh Government has accused the Council of trying to play down the reports' seriousness in some media interviews. But Pembrokeshire Council leader John Davies hit back by alleging that some comments in a letter from ministers were factually inaccurate. By far the most interesting part of this row is the reaction of the Council Leader: He later told BBC Wales he was concerned with how the Welsh Government dealt with the matter and accused ministers of turning it ...
And no it's not Zac Goldsmith... Here's a politician who can be truly said to have an exceptional background - even though I have to declare a personal interest.
Stephen Curry has stood as an independent candidate at local elections in Calderdale. I have a lot of respect for Stpehen, who runs a successful B&B and takes a keen interest in improving the upper valley. He recently wrote a letter to the Hebden Bridge times. The jist of the letter was a complaint against people who hold both a council position at Town and Council level. On Hebden Royd town council this would include three liberal democrat members and one labour member. I would like to respond to Stephen's comments, by firstly saying that I agree with him about ...
This Saturday, Doctor Who comes back for Autumn - the second-earliest it's ever returned, only beaten by 1968's The Dominators, in which the Doctor and his companions land on the peaceful planet Dulkis and encounter the cruel Dominators and their deadly servants. So just how terrible are its politics? Which actors nearly save it? What do Doctor Who writers old and new think of it? What exciting work by Paul Cornell do I reprint below? What connects it all to The Da Vinci Code? What's my shameful secret? And is it worth buying on DVD? Look out! It's the Quarks! ...
