With the result of the selection for a Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate for London now announced, it now becomes clear that one of the candidates appears to have concluded that we're all out to get him, that the Party will one day realise how lucky we are to have him, and that, like Nelson Mandela, he must suffer years in the wilderness. Call me cruel, call me heartless, but... Lembit, we're not out to get you, really we aren't. Some of us don't think you're serious, many of us prefer someone else, most of us acknowledge that you have talents ...
In the big news story today about salt in bread an organisation called 'Consensus Action on Salt and Health' - conveniently contrived/shortened to Cash were quoted in almost all media. Their campaign director Katharine Jenner said: "Most people wouldn't realise that bread contains so much salt, as it doesn't taste salty. It is scandalous that there is no labelling on fresh bread. Without it, how are we supposed to know where salt is hidden and cut our intake to less than 6g a day?" No it's not scandalous, it's at most inconvenient.
A u-turn today by Labour and SNP councillors in Edinburgh sees the city's tram project given the go ahead to the city centre. Only Tory councillors continued with their posturing - despite being unable to explain who would foot the £160 million bill to tear up the existing contract - their preferred view. Report here. Delivering a sensible solution to the trams debacle - inherited from the previous administration - is a huge achievement for the Lib Dem led council. The outcry from Edinburgh people over last week's decision to cut the line short shows how badly the other parties ...
On the BBC, Lembit Opik observes, concerning his fourth place/8% in the LibDem London mayoral election: I think like every great politician you have to have some wilderness years. Nelson Mandela had them. Many other people had them. It is not clear whether Lembit Opik had a straight face when he said this.
Busy delivering our latest Ward Newsletter this week and meeting residents, it's hard work but feedback is good. Hopefully break the back of the delivery tomorrow.
The Doctor Who News Page: Target reprints reach North America I was able to leaf through these in a bookshop last month, and they are all brilliant - particularly the introductions. (tags: doctorwho books) james_nicoll: Not related to previous post James asks, "Who's been saying the Hugo process is corrupt?" I think the answer to the question is, nobody - apart from the voices in some people's heads. See much slapfighting in comments. (tags: sf)
THE PETER CUSHING PUB WHITSTABLE INTERIOR IMAGES Regular readers will know of my visceral loathing for JD Wetherspoon PLC and all their works. None the less, I approve of this. (tags: pubs) The Math Gender Gap: Nurture Trumps Nature (tags: feminism) Quick hit: the science front of nymwars | Geek Feminism Blog Something I have never understood about big groups of people: they see another group cocking up and causing all sorts of strife and they think "hey, we ought to do that too!" As Tommy Lee Jones says in Men in Black: "a person is smart; PEOPLE are stupid." ...
No, I don't mean the London Mayoral election that will see Boris Vs Ken Vs Brian next year as it was in 2008. No, I'm talking about tonight's Welsh football result. A year tomorrow, Wales lost their opening Euro '12 qualifier away in Montenegro. It was the catalyst that brought be back to blogging a day later. That first blog post here lamented a lifetime of frustration in following the Welsh football team. It didn't get better either as they went on to lose their next 3 qualification matches. The ignominy of being cast in the same qualifying pot for ...
Lembit Opik had a piece in today's Evening Standard ahead of the results declaration in the London Mayor selection. In it he said he expected to lose and went on to say: Ever since I was first enticed into entering the fray as a potential candidate, I've experienced a remarkable degree of antagonism and aggression from certain Lib Dems. Most of it has occurred in the strange and self-styled environment of the 'blogosphere' – a parallel universe where some people who've never been elected to public office feel qualified to pronounce on those who have. When one meets these people ...
With the selection this evening of Brian Paddick as Liberal Democrat candidate for next year's London Mayoral elections the capital will be seeing a first: a replay of the 2008 match with the same three main party candidates, but under very different circumstances. Back then, Boris Johnson was the new Tory kid on the block, ...
From the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of BT repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Glamis Drive (from Glamis Road to Hillside Road), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Monday 5 September 2011 for one day. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes for vehicles are available via Glamis Road/Glamis Terrace/Hazel Drive/Glamis Drive. For further information contact 433168. Mike P Galloway Director of City Development Dundee City ...
Today is the birthday of my former wife Kina, with whom I had a nice little chat on the telephone this evening. We will be seeing her at the annual family High Elms picnic on Sunday. This morning David Bergman & Gita Sahgal called on me for a useful discussion on current events in Bangladesh. In the afternoon I had a visit from Sean Risdale and Matthew Brindley of the Irish Travellers movement in Britain. In spite of all the excellent work done by the ITMB, and their success in lobbying the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ...
As the Minutes Secretary of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust, I was pleased to see the recent Courier article about the Trust's search in bid to pay tribute to all Tay Bridge Disaster victims. Ian Nimmo White, the Trust's hard-working Vice Chair, has recently written an update on Trust activities : "The coming year, starting in September, is going to be a hectic one for the Trust. We'll be appearing at a number of festivals, including Tay Roots at Discovery Point, Fife Family History at Rothes Halls, and hopefully others in Dundee and Fife later in the year. ...
As you may have read here, I was invited to one of Her Majesty the Queen's garden parties this year. I was also presented to HRH Prince Phillip. Like many others I bought a copy of the DVD of the day ...
Please support this amendment to F38: A Green Stimulus for Economic Recovery, which you will find on pages 43-44 of the Conference Agenda. If you are a conference representative, then please add your 'signature' by filling in the form below. ... Continue reading →
Weatherley in middle of road at Brighton Pride 11 Mike Weatherley the Conservative MP for Hove is calling for a ban of Churches carrying out marriages if they refuse to allow same sex civil partnerships on their premises.Clearly he is not of the classic conservative free-market stance on this issue. We don't ban newsagents from selling newspapers if they don't sell books. Also those of us who have supported equal marriage for any length of time don't want to force anybody to do anything as it will only antagonise the opponents to the cause. What we want to do is ...
It is over three years since I read Farthing, the first of the Small Change trilogy, which is really too long an interval. Although Ha'Penny works extremely well as a standalone book, I was aware that for the characters the events of Farthing were only a couple of weeks ago, so much fresher for them than for me. But even so, I was riveted by this tale of an assassination plot against Hitler and the British prime minister, in an alternate 1949 eight years after the war ended in a sordid compromise. Walton's two protagonists are the gay policeman from ...
[IMG: Lembit Opik at the Roundhouse] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: salimfadhley The delusion continues. Lembit Opik is quoted in the Evening Standard today as follows: Ever since I was first enticed into entering the fray as a potential candidate, I've experienced a remarkable degree of antagonism and aggression from certain Lib-Dems. But we should look at the actual result courtesy of @markpack: First round Brian Paddick 1,289 (42%) Mike Tuffrey 1,232 (40%) Brian Haley 316 (10%) Lembit Opik 252 (8%) Total valid votes: 3,089 Second round Brian Paddick 1,567 (51%) Mike Tuffrey 1,476 (49%) Majority: 99 (2%) So, ...
Thanks to a tweet from the party press people I can reveal that the votes cast in the contest to be the Liberal Democrat candidate in next year's London Mayoral elections were as follows: Round 1 Brian Paddick 1289 Mike Tuffrey 1232 Brian Haley 316 Lembit Opik 252 Round 2 Brian Paddick 1567 Mike Tuffrey 1476
Congratulations Brian: First round Brian Paddick 1,289 (42%) Mike Tuffrey 1,232 (40%) Brian Haley 316 (10%) Lembit Opik 252 (8%) Total valid votes: 3,089 Second round Brian Paddick 1,567 (51%) Mike Tuffrey 1,476 (49%) Majority: 91 (2%) Commenting, Brian Paddick said: "I want to thank my fellow candidates for engaging in a high standard of debate throughout the campaign. "I also want to thank my excellent team without whom I would not have been selected. "Most of all, I want to thank London Liberal Democrat members who placed their trust and confidence in me to be their candidate for Mayor ...
Congratulations to Brian Paddick to on being chosen as the Liberal Democrat candidate in next year's London Mayoral elections. While we are at it, congratulations to Boris Johnson on being chosen as the Conservative candidate. And congratulations to Ken Livingstone on being chosen as the Labour candidate. That's right: the big three parties will be fielding the same three candidates in 2012 as they did in 2008. Why is this? I suspect the answer lies in the Mayoral system itself and the way it makes it harder for people to build a reputation in local politics. As James Graham wrote ...
Prins Gunasekera telephoned me this evening to remind me that it was the 22th anniversary of his arrivel at Heathrow as a refugee from Sri Lanka! I met him at Heathrow and after half an hour's delay he was admitted, our High Commission in Colombo and I having smoothed the path for him to escape probable assassination after three of his colleagues in chambers had been murdered. In 1971 I had met Prins in my office at 6 Harley Street when he visited the UK to enlist the aid of Amnesty International to investigate the circumstances in which nearly 15,000 ...
Well Brian Paddick is the Lib Dem Mayoral Candidate. The others have been swept aside in the inevitable victory for Paddick. However, I did notice this article by Lembit Opik earlier on today. The odds seem to offer that Opik will be probably pushed into 3rd or last place in the results, with in his own words he has suffered because of who he is. He told the evening standard "Ever since I was first enticed into entering the fray as a potential candidate, I've experienced a remarkable degree of antagonism and aggression from certain Lib-Dems." Now I'm not in ...
Jonathan Fryer, Chair of London Region Liberal Democrats emails party members in London with the news: The count has just been completed in the ballot for the Liberal Democrat London Mayoral candidate for 2012. The selection contest turned into a really close race, reflecting the excellent choice of candidates London members were presented with. I would like to congratulate Brian Paddick warmly on his victory, and all of us at Team London look forward to working with him and our GLA candidates over the next eight months to ensure the best possible result in May. Brian Paddick, Liberal Democrat Mayoral ...
Thanks to Andy Trappitt This time last year Pizzamen and, indeed, Pizzawomen appeared on the streets of Market Harborough. And, with the first hint of autumn, they are back. Lord Bonkers comments exclusively for Liberal England: I was shocked to see this rampant commercialism when I visited Market Harborough this morning. Let me emphasise that there will be no outbreaks of This Sort of Thing on the Bonkers Hall Estate - nor anywhere else in Rutland, if I have anything to do with it.
Today sees the start of a 14 week consultation by the SNP Government on equal marriage and allowing civil partnerships to be conducted by those religious organisations who wish to do so. This is all they promised in their manifesto and I'm glad to see that it's come so soon. It's also significant, as Lallands Peat Worrier points out, that it's Nicola Sturgeon who is fronting the consultation, and not either of the Justice ministers. I am also impressed that she's said in straightforward fashion that the Government tends towards the view of allowing same sex marriage. We can't assume ...
I don't think I'd read anything by Sayle before; I remember him from the 1980s as the landlord in The Young Ones and also memorably playing a radio disc-jockey in a funeral home which turns out to be run by Daleks, but I'm not sure I was even all that familiar with his standup routines. In this book he recounts the story of his childhood and adolescence as the sole offspring of two Communist Party activists in Liverpool, the standard stories of growing up as a smart kid in a tough-ish neighbourhood interspersed with trips to Hungary and Czechoslovakia where ...
During August, Islington Council delivered electoral registration forms to all the homes across the borough. The form to your home needs to be returned to be sure you don't miss out on the opportunity to vote at future elections. There are more details of the process over on the Islington Council website, including contact details for Electoral Services in case you have any queries. Only humans can register to vote.
This was going to be a Sponsored Post from ebuzzing – but they rejected it. Can't think why... I think I'm turning into a Luddite. I see all these shiny tablets and... I just don't want one! [IMG: Samsung Galaxy Tab] Don't get me wrong, I drove myself crazy trying to get an HP TouchPad because a) Massive discount and b) under a hundred quid. You see, everyone I know with a tablet has one of two accessories. A bluetooth keyboard. Because it's really hard to do any sustained typing on a touch-screen. A dock. Because it's really hard to ...
Officers have confirmed today that after a long battle by Redlands Lib Dem Councillors Carnarvon Rd, Donnington Road & Donnington Gardens are set to be resurfaced in the coming weeks. These roads have very badly damaged road surfaces - with a number of potholes which makes life difficult for local residents, drivers and cyclists. My ward colleague Cllr Glenn Goodall has been raising the state of these roads with the transport department and lead councillors (mainly Labour) for several years , and for years these streets were overlooked by Labour. When Cllr Richard Willis was the Lead Member for Transport he agreed ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week Ken Livingstone: mine won't be a grassroots funded campaign (23 comments) by Mark Pack Opinion: Why millionaire graduates should stop whingeing about fees (77 comments) by Jonathan Hunt Alex Wilcock writes... Tory boy throws toys out of pram: not exactly Man Bites Dog (19 comments) by Alex Wilcock Liberal Democrats moving HQ : the future's bright (11 comments) by Helen Duffett Chris White writes: It's nice to be hated again (19 comments) by Chris White 5 sample ...
Recommended reading for Liberal Democrat councillors and local campaigners from the last seven days: In general political news, the Tory press have started their pre-conference Lib Dem bashing pretty early. For instance they've picked up on: "Local councils should have the right and ability to raise additional taxes that they see appropriate for their circumstances. Not all places would be able to apply each levy, but this should not block those that were willing and able. Councils could also raise revenues to cover the costs of specific extra costs and services that they bear. For example, a small per drink ...
As all readers of this blog will know, the latest ICM poll has us up to a relative high of 17%. The less Lib Dem-friendly Ipsos Mori has us up to 15%. YouGov still have the yellows at around 9-10% but I'm not really sure if that means much anymore. Something I saw today really struck me, though. You may or may not be aware of a YouGov feature named 'TellYouGov' that allows its panellists to quickly express an opinion on almost any issue and give it either a positive or negative rating. The volume of opinions on topics is ...
Over at Lib Dem Voice, I have a piece about the St Andrews University 'Israeli flag' case. Do please have a read of that and comment on it over there if you want to...
Liberal Democrat MEPs say they will support the Government should it seek to ban the import of egg products from EU countries that have failed to eliminate conventional battery cages. The Laying Hens Directive was approved in 1999 as an ... Continue reading →
Not my words folks. Her own. Yes just when we thought that Nadine Dorries had no lower to go when talking she goes and gets the Royal Flush of insaneisms (yes I know that isn't a word but it really should be – its great). [IMG: Nadine Dorries God] I'm just a conduit for God to use As you may have seen elsewhere as it has been bouncing around the blogosphere today, Nadine Dorries in an interview with The Salvation Army has said that she is only an MP because God decided that is how it should be. It has ...
The Council today performed a U turn on the trams issue. The move followed the intervention of both the Scottish Government, through Transport Scotland, and the Contractor. Transport Scotland said that if the line was built only to Haymarket they would withhold about £70million. The contractor said that if we went for Haymarket the estimated price would rise. Today we had 4 parties voting for St Andrew's Square in one form or another though Labour hastily redrafted their rather confused amendment after it became apparent that their stance would have meant Haymarket again. Only the Tories stood back and proposed ...
The other day at a London Underground station, I saw a man who was visibly distressed. A 50-something Asian gentleman in a suit, he'd been waiting for his wife when a man asked him to move out of the way on a narrow path. Except he hadn't just asked him to move - he'd abused him racially and pushed against him. I could see that he was upset, so I stopped and he told me what had happened. Imagine, however, if, instead of expressing sympathy, I had told him that he was in the wrong for having been in someone's ...
Although there are doubtless many people who would love to see me brought to Bruch for my many misdemeanours, nobody took me to last night's concert of the Israel Philharmonic. In fact, I boycotted it, on the principled grounds that I have extremely little interest in classical music and so would rarely want to be in the audience for this orchestra or for any other. Oh, of course I didn't boycott it, that's a joke, but I am something of a Philistine on matters musical and was therefore at home watching Torchwood while some pro-Palestinian campaigners were disrupting the Israeli ...
This blog was dominated last September by stories about former Labour MP Phil Woolas, and the court case in which he became embroiled which ultimately led to his expulsion from Parliament and a by-election being held. Tomorrow – 3 Setpember ... Continue reading →
I read today in my edition of the Times ( I'm taking advantage of a free trial app) that last night a performance by the Israel philharmonic orchestra, part of the Proms was interrupted by civil rights protesters supporting Palestinians and BBC radio three had to cancel a live broadcast. Not surprisingly concert goers were understandably miffed, the Times reported the audience shouted "this is nothing do with music " and a board member of BBC's World Sevice Trust was "absolutely devastated" and who could blame them. Still as member of the big society (the Human Race) , I have ...
So this lunchtime when I read this article entitled BBC bosses face grilling from MPs over controversial Formula One rights' sharing deal I wondered who was the MP who has caused a stir. The answer would be Lib Dem MP for Bath Don Foster. Now I have written before about what I think of the BBC/Sky deal and it is not ideal – not by a long shot. However it is pretty clear how the deal went down. There is enough out there that you can quite easily cobble together a timeline for what happened but Don Foster doesn't seem ...
There was one principal local council by-election held on Thursday 1st September. We took a seat off an Independent. In the only parish or town council by-election result reported to ALDC we held a seat. Elections in Allerdale Borough council in Cumbria can at times be strange. In the Keswick Ward, for example, they had, without contest, elected one conservative, one Labour and one Lib Dem councillor in 2007 in a three councillor ward, all out election. In 2011 the same individuals were elected, again without contest but the Lib Dem from 2007 stood without party label. His lack of ...
Who do we trust right now? We certainly don't trust Ed Miliband. He rails against everything the Coalition is doing with apparent sincerity but what are his plans? According to YouGov, 53% of Greater Londoners said they believe Labour used to care about them, but only 30% believe they still do. So, do we trust the Conservatives right now, then? Not really. Voters fear a Conservative victory, anticipating that it will become harder and harder for them to cope. Is this the opportunity for Nick Clegg then? Well, sort of. Nick's obviously in no position to talk about trust right ...
According to the Evening Standard, Lembit has conceded defeat in his campaign to be the Liberal Democrat candidate at the next London Mayoral election. He says: ""Ever since I was first enticed into entering the fray as a potential candidate, I've experienced a remarkable degree of antagonism and aggression from certain Lib Dems." But don't worry: ""People have not heard the last of Lembit Opik just yet. As somebody else said once, I'll be back."
Whilst council tax and the bins go on being collected, council business pretty much stops for August which is why I make the decision to stop this blog apart from the odd community notice. But now it's September so council business and I will swing back into gear. September has already seen a meeting with a local Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator, the Blackhill Bridgehill, Benfieldside and Shotley Bridge Partnership Meeting (B,B,B & SB), Members briefing on Domestic Abuse and the Isles Windfarm application and a briefing on Hyperacute stroke services so I guess summer really is over! First of all, congratulations ...
Cornwall Council is breaking its own guidelines by providing senior officers with personal cars despite those officers only doing very limited business mileage each year. Details released to the Liberal Democrats show that only one of the six top officers provided with personal council cars uses it for more than the 20,000 business miles per year guideline that applies to more junior officers. In addition, two senior officers in the fire and rescue service have been provided with 'executive luxury cars' costing around £30,000 each. We are concerned that Cornwall Council is wasting money providing perks to senior officers at ...
So often when the question of the run away expenses of the Labour Chair of Merseyside ITA (Merseytravel to you and me) are raised Cllr Dowd is not available for comment. When a national broadsheet did a story on Merseyside he was not available, when the BBC was asking questions about his mega claims he was not available so iy was with some delight that he was actually tracked down this week. And once again he declined to comment It appears that Councillor Dowd uses the Merseytravel credit card for meals, hotels, theatres, Labour Party conferences etc The Liverpool Post ...
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..................................
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
Daily Post column: Time for answers from Merseytravel about legal biIt seems that Cllr Dowd David Barlett writes: .......Merseytravel did not like the wording in a press release about the chairman's authorised personal spending on the authority's credit card. But what sets this case apart is that the taxpayer (you and I) are picking up part of Cllr Dowd's bill. How much will the taxpayer pay? We don't know because Merseytravel refuses to discuss it, ironically until the legal case is complete. The transport authority has seemingly made a decision about this, yet refuses to explain it. Why? Excuses about ...
Arif Ansari the man from the BBC who has valiantly been covering the shenanigans at Merseytravel has penned posting in his blo which is well worth a look. (Mind you he has not done much better than we have in getting answers out of Mark Dowd.) Part of his piece which compared how Greater Manchester and Merseyside Labour have dealt with a similar problem reads: As I've reported before, Merseytravel has institutional problems. It's the only local authority where councillors set their own allowances, and very generous they are too. Thirteen Labour councillors share out 31 paid posts between them. ...
My colleague Tony Robertson has a posting about new revelation on the continuing farce that is Merseytravel. He confirm leading NW political journalist/Daily Post columnist's concerns that big decisions were taken at short notice and against/without(?) proper officer advice : Last night at Sefton 's Full Council meeting we may have started to unravel what on earth went on within Merseyside's Integrated Transport Authority when it dropped, out of the blue I would add, any involvement in bringing Merseyrail's infrastructure under its own control. The full posting is well worth a read:
After the fun of Vegas next stop was Los Angeles but first we had to find our way back on to Route 66 and after a couple of lovely stops on the way we were soon on the outskirts of the sprawling metropolis that was LA. And I had thought the traffic in Vegas was bad!! However, we eventually crawled through the Friday evening rush hour to reach Santa Monica and finally made it to the official end of Route 66 after 17 days and 2,960 miles!! It was a relief and a sense of achievement to have finally made ...
After all the excitement of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley we need to move on and head for somewhere quieter where we could relax a little. Las Vegas - the perfect quiet little place in the desert for a chill!! At least we had found our way back on to Route 66 along the way and had two lovely stops in Williams and Seligman to get back into the swing of things. But having driven literally hundreds of miles through desert and farmland over the previous few days reaching the bright lights, garish buildings and nose to tail traffic ...
Canyon de Chelly was a great appetiser for what lay ahead today with our itinerary taking us next to the Grand Canyon. But not satisfied with driving over 2,400 miles in under 3 weeks and seeing as many sites as there are on our schedule we decided instead to take a detour and add a few more miles/hours to the planned route and visit Monument Valley. It was a place we had always wanted to visit and while it would add to what was already going to be a long drive it was too close not to make the effort. ...
For the past 20 years a letter from the Post Office addressed to you in your councillor role probably meant one thing. They were closing another branch! That's why it has been a real pleasure for me to spend some ... Continue reading →
The Daily post has a story that concerns many Southport residents: HUNDREDS of cockle-pickers who converged on Southport beach were last night warned of the dangers posed by the Ribble Estuary.The town's MP ( John Pugh Lib Dem) voiced fears at the number of fishermen descending on the resort after the cockle harvest opened yesterday for the first time since the 2004 Morecambe Bay tragedy.Rumours of rapid riches to be made have prompted fears of unlicensed gangmasters exploiting migrants to work under the cover of darkness in the Pinfold Channel. Read More
Last year I blogged about how easy it would be to pay for parking via QR code. Now it looks like Islington Council have partnered with Verrus to make this a reality. But is it any good? Well.... nearly. Let's take a look. The Initial Impression The QR code is fairly clear and I was able to scan it without issue underneath street lighting. Sadly, there is no call to action. What does scanning the code do? [IMG: Islington Parking QR Code] (My camera has somehow mangled the photo. Sorry!) Code Density They've used the highest level of error correction ...
A great clandestine event has been taking place, without anyone really knowing anything about it (Twitter and party propaganda has been keeping me informed) – us Lib Dems are choosing our candidate for Mayor of London. Brilliant, yes? Well, no. The announcement is to be made tonight, precisely at 7pm. Party mandarins and activists will ...
The Work Programme (WP) is the Coalition Government's £5bn replacement for the range of programmes - including the Flexible New Deal - designed to assist unemployed people back into work. While the WP learns from and builds upon previous initiatives it also represents a departure. Its key characteristic is a more thorough-going application of the ...
If you happen to agree that web technology, and the technology we use to access web, is changing how we live, then the next question is what is the best public policy framework to encourage this? Should government's ensure everyone has access to broadband? Perhaps they should create seed funds for new companies or remove obstacles for start-ups? But there is another aspect to all of this. It is not simply about public policy encouraging all of this. It is about how public policy interacts with what this new way of living. I suspect that in the next few years ...
Party conference is a great time to learn new ideas and pick up a bit of motivation from Liberal Democrats campaigning in the rest of the country. Download and print out ALDC's Conference Planner for our full guide to training and fringe events for this year's September Conference. Come and visit us in the Exhibition Hall - we're at Stand 104 in the main Hall 4. Let us know how ALDC is doing and tell us how we can help you be a more effective Liberal Democrat councillor or campaigner. Thanks to Jonathan Swift for kindly giving permission to use ...
In the run-up to the Liberal Democrat autumn federal conference, WinkBall is carrying out a series of short video interviews with different Liberal Democrats about the past year, the current political situation and what the future holds. There are three video interviews up so far: Mark Thompson Maelo Manning Mark Pack Watch out for more videos as they appear here.
Darra Singh, a former Chief Executive of Luton Borough Council, has been chosen to head the Communities and Victims Panel that the Government has set up to talk to those affected by the riots in August and to attempt to understand why they occurred. The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, announced the membership of the panel this week. Darra was the Chief Exec for my first few years as a councillor in Luton and so I got to see him at work. I reckon he is a good choice for this role. I have in the past praised the work ...
I have written before about how web technology will impact on how we live, organise our society and economy. Listening to a David Boaz talk on the 'politics of freedom' I was struck by his remark about education. Boaz speculates that if the State did not provide education, and teaching was left to people we might see a very different form of schooling. In fact, he seemed to imply we might not seeing schooling at all. Instead we might have new methods of learning that harness web technology and crowd sourcing. It might all seem a touch fanciful and is ...
Fri 2nd
11:14
Legal threats against carer-support forum shows need for #libelreform and dangers of outsourcing pub...
Index on Censorship reports that an internet forum for providers of care has been forced to shut down following a threat of legal action from a healthcare company. Although it now appears that the dispute has been resolved, this episode clearly demonstrates the need for wide-ranging reforms to English and Welsh libel law, as well as some of the dangers inherent to outsourcing and/or privatisation of public services. The forum in question, CarerWatch, was suspended by its hosting company after they - the hosting company that is, not the owners of the forum - were sent a letter threatening legal ...
[IMG: Nick Clegg speaking at Lib Dem conference. Photo courtesy of Alex Folkes/Fishnik.com (07984 644 138 or alexfolkes@gmail.com)] There are many weighty issues on the agenda for the Liberal Democrat autumn conference in Birmingham, as well as some potentially significant debates overthe party's medium term strategy and policy outlook. There is also, however, a curious omission: tax. The word tax is not completely absent from the agenda, but aside from a reference in one motion calling for the party to look at its tax policy as part of a big policy review, there is nothing about what the country's overall ...
It's been a while since we last reminded readers about this, so now seems a good time to publish the information again. You may have noticed that next to some people's comments is a small picture of themselves, such as: [IMG: alt=] If you want a picture to appear next to your comments you need to do two things. Visit Gravatar.com, create an account and upload a picture. Post a comment, ensuring that your email address that you've used on Gravatar is the same one that you've put in the comment field. One thing to watch out for – the ...
Today's Western Morning News carries a story about campaigners against the arms trade urging Cornwall Council to pull out of its investments in BAe Systems. This story is along the lines of my question to full council next Tuesday which is about council investments in tobacco firms. People will have different views about the appropriateness of the local authority investing in different types of companies. To me, the investments in tobacco firms are among the worst because one of the jobs of the council is to persuade people to stop smoking as part of the public health remit. In response ...
The Cheadle Muslim Association Funday is always a very enjoyable – and interesting – afternoon out with lots for everyone to do. On the open day, the Cheadle Muslim Association opens its doors and invites the whole community so why not come along. From Misc
A classic.
The BBC follow up their story about the enforced regionalisation of local government this morning with another attack on the failure of Welsh Ministers to understand local democracy, this time from local government expert, Professor Tony Travers. He has warned that the Welsh Government could undermine democracy by appointing too many commissioners to run council services: The commissioners, unelected experts, are dispatched to local authorities when they run into trouble. They are currently at Blaenau Gwent and Anglesey, with intervention in Pembrokeshire possible. Those three compare to just one - Doncaster - among England's 152 principal local authorities. Prof Tony ...
There's a new row brewing over the council's long running discussion of buses and the reimbursement rate paid to operators for carrying free pass holders. After the inquiry day held a couple of weeks ago, the issue now goes to the Environment and Economy scrutiny committee to be held next Wednesday. The agenda for that meeting has been published, but the relevant paper is marked 'to follow'. Travelwatch SouthWest is a user group which has provided some excellent advice and information to councillors as we try to get to the bottom of this issue. Not surprisingly, they want to have ...
The British economy faces some serious questions about how it can grow in a sustainable way, but one thing has become clear: the planning laws are now so restrictive that they are not sustainable. The problem is that NIMBY-ism has mutated into BANANA-ism (Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anywhere). The consequences are villages that no longer have populations that can support a pub, let alone a school, shops or anything that makes a community- as a result the countryside is losing population fast. It is in a word "unsustainable". Meanwhile the less than 7% of the land area that is ...
I read Anne Chambers' book on the same subject last month; Cook is a clunkier writer than Chambers, but actually has a much better political grasp of what was going on in Irish, English and to an extent Scottish politics at the time and casts her net fairly wide. Essentially this turns into a study of the micro-politics of County Mayo in the last third of the sixteenth century, and gives a deep context to the story of the glamorous protagonist. I started by not really liking it because of the style but came around fairly quickly.
RT @TelePolitics: Oxbridge graduate councillor criticised for bikini Facebook pictures « BINGO! Triple whammy for T'graph news/picture desk. # RT @helenduffett: Excited hubbub on LDHQ's first morning. (@ Liberal Democrat HQ) http://t.co/ITlt3j6 « Good luck with the new open society. # On route to Manchester for @CASE_Europe's #CEAC2011 conference. First + last time I went was 10 years ago... # @mssusieday I like it. Nice duotone effect, achieved effortlessly. in reply to mssusieday # RT @electoralreform: Results of ERS 2011 Council elections http://t.co/ysKu4Ww « Interesting + good to see 5 women elected. # Finally in Manchester at #CEAC2011 Remind me ...
Or at least one of them around his far flung Orkney and Shetland constituency. It's the shortest scheduled flight in the world, at two minutes long, between the islands of Westray and Papa Westray. There are a handful of flights a week and I guess it's a must-do experience if you're visiting the islands as it's relatively cheap at around £21 return. The view is impressive, as a very nice person called b38alb has posted on You Tube. Alistair went there for his surgery yesterday morning. Not a bad journey to work.
NigelAshton writes: I had the opportunity to make my first speech as a councillor onan issue of huge importance to many people in Meols Ward - protecting our GreenBelt. This is what I had to say at Sefton's Full Council meeting held on 1st September. "Thankyou Madam Deputy Chair. I am pleased to have the opportunity to make my maidenspeech in the Council chamber on a matter of such importance. "Thismotion is about how to carry out the balancing act between the undoubted needfor housing on the one hand, and the desire of residents to maintain cherishedopen spaces on the ...
I've mentioned the results of my FoI-request digging in various places, but not in one spot and not on my blog. For those not familiar with the back story, there has been a bit of a fuss kicked up about the new security arrangements for the Liberal Democrat conference this year, which requires police vetting of all attendees. Based on an admittedly small sample size of 1 year, conference refusal rates are very different between Labour and the Tories. For the Tories, it's 0.04% (Conservative Party Conference 2010, 6 refusals of 13,767 individuals vetted) and for Labour, 0.2% (Labour Party ...
Whisper it, but it seems they might be starting to get it. It's only taken them a year and a half. 'They' of course are the assorted numpties of the British press and 'it' is how coalition government works and just how important and influential Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats are within it. For most of the time since May 2010 a crude and simplistic caricature of our government and the Lib Dems' role in it has taken hold - that this is really a Tory government and the Lib Dems are either naive puppets being taken for a ...
In 1983 I was 22 years old. I had been politically active since I was a teenager but one event of that year inspired me to more political activity and it inspires me still. You may remember the news programme called Nationwide and one particular interview with Margaret Thatcher. If you don't remember Nationwide you will remember Mrs Thatcher, the Marmite of politics as you either loved her or hated her. This was one of a series of interviews which allowed members of the public ask their questions to famous people. They were in another studio and their faces were ...
The continuing saga of Labour's games on Merseytravel tookanother turn at last night's meeting of Sefton Council. Lib Dem councillors proposed a motion to try to get to thebottom of why Labour-controlled Merseytravel had suddenly abandoned plans forMerseyrail to take control over its own track. The plans had all-party supportand £1.5 million had already been spent. But at a meeting on 27th June Labour suddenly pulled the plug without notice and without giving anyexplanation. We have been trying to get to the bottom of this ever since. Lib Dem Leader on Sefton, Cllr Tony Robertson, takes up thestory. He writes: ...
To some degree I have been supportive of the necessary cuts to get our country economy back in line (I only hope they reverse some of them when things are better, but I know it is probably a mere pipe-dream). I even understand that cuts in the military are necessary (though as with most of the cuts, the choices in what is cut seems to be front-line services rather than dealing with back-room excess and wastage) What is intolerable is that a single small regiment (3% of the army) have over 50% of the compulsory redundancy. How convenient for the ...
TweetIn the shifting of 24hr news, one has almost forgotten Alistair Darling's black eyebrows and malevolent presence behind Brown. However, his memoirs being released have had more impact on the press than Ed Miliband could generate by having a nose job. The extracts from 'Back from the Brink' apparently showcased on Labour Uncut (the UK version of the Tea Party), essentially stirred a wasps' nest (they weren't big enough to be hornets). The press initially picked up on Brown trying to replace Darling with Balls, which reads like a Private Eye satire. Balls waxed on tediously for a day but ...
james_nicoll: Not related to previous post James asks, "Who's been saying the Hugo process is corrupt?" I think the answer to the question is, nobody - apart from the voices in some people's heads. See much slapfighting in comments. (tags: sf)
Since my last post I thought I would update you with my thoughts on the issue of community groups and give an example of one we currently have that provides some useful experiences for the younger members of our community. One person in a local paper stated recently that given the riots, we have no community left. What rot! Nearly everyone is a good person and doesn't commit crimes. Ealing has so many residents groups, carers, tenants associations, play groups, after school groups etc etc. Some of the wonderful work done includes the Army Cadet force, who are a voluntary ...
