One of the best things about the recent influx of new Liberal Democrats was the arrival of John Shipley, former Leader of Newcastle City Council. A deep thinker about issues of local government, especially in the area of housing, he has played an invaluable role in hedging in some of the more 'blue sky' (alright, scary) thinking on the subject from the Conservative wing of the Coalition. Yesterday, his attention was turned to the role of local councils in providing housing advice, moving amendments to the Localism Bill to oblige local councils to give proper advice to the homeless, to ...
This blog has often in the past talked about the scandal surrounding former Luton South MP Margaret Moran and her parliamentary expenses. Today it was announced by the Director of Public Prosecutions that she will face 21 charges for allegedly claiming parliamentary expenses illegally when she appears in front of City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on the 19 September. She will face 15 charges of false accounting and 6 charges of forgery. The BBC has more: 'Ex-Luton MP Margaret Moran facing 21 expenses charges' For more on the background to this you can read the full list of Margaret Moran ...
It's September, and Doctor Who's back on TV, as it always was. Twenty-five years ago this evening, a superb cast led by Colin Baker and Michael Jayston launched into the longest and most postmodern of all Who stories, in which the Doctor is taken out of time and placed on trial alongside the show itself. Does the opening special effect still look as fantastic as it did in 1986? Can the Doctor convince the Inquisitor (and the audience) that he hasn't been misusing his time? And might this existential crisis be a better DVD release than it is a story? ...
So reports The Guardian: Nick Clegg is on Wednesday planning to vote against a cross-party amendment, tabled by socially conservative MPs, that would strip abortion providers of their counselling role. In the most high-profile parliamentary debate on abortion since the general election, the deputy prime minister will lead a series of Liberal Democrat and Tory ministers into the no lobby. They will be joined by most Labour MPs in voting against the amendment tabled by Nadine Dorries, a Tory backbencher, and Frank Field, Labour's former welfare reform minister... A rival amendment, tabled by the Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert, has ...
Quite rightly people have been contacting us asking why the big new shelter hasn't gone in during the summer as we were promised. We've been trying to find out. Chris Willmore reports on the latest position: "The officer responsible is refusing to answer phone calls today. He was on holiday in August and everyone else in the dept said they did not know what was going on and we should ask him when he got back on Monday. So people did. And he has not been returning calls or been available" "Earlier in the summer he said he did not ...
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy... Millennium reviews last Saturday's Doctor Who, which I've not seen yet. Eddie Campbell talks about ...
I have been ranked 7th in a top 10 list of child bloggers globally. I feel humbled, excited and grateful. Thank you for all your support in reading my blog and leaving comments, especially JohnM, Goodknight and LeftLiberal. There are two other bloggers in this list who are of interest. One is Madonna's, the pop singer, daughter Lourdes who comes in at 10. The other is the daughter of the Tiger Mother who comes in at 9th. Also to the right of this blog post is an interview that I did with Winkball.com who are interviewing some LibDem bloggers ...
In 2007 Richard Reeves published John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand, a biography and account of the great Liberal's thought. In 2010 he became special adviser to Nick Clegg. I find it encouraging that we have such a good Liberal in this role. It is well worth listening to this lecture, given at the University of Richmond, Virginia, in September 2009 under the title "The Individual and Society: How Would Mill Define 'The Common Good'?" Incidentally, my 2007 Liberator article Why John Stuart Mill is the greatest Liberal owed an indecent amount to Reeves.
I have heard the hackneyed phrase about striking a balance between security and liberty before - from Tony Blair, from John Reid, from David Blunkett, always in the name of some new restriction on fundamental freedoms which we as Liberals have opposed over the years. I do not take my stand against police accreditation on the inevitable inefficiency of this process. I would oppose it if it was
Policy Forum: Open Public Services: Another fine mess they'll get us into? Saturday 20.15-22.15 ICC Hall 5 What should we support and what should we oppose in the Open Public Services White Paper? Chris Nicholson, CentreForum, Linda Jack, Social Liberal Forum ... Continue reading →
Ok, back from holiday. Discover that roadworks in Poplar Lane have been a disaster for the residents. Doing my best to help them now. BUT School term starts tomorrow. The back gate to Winnersh Primary is in Poplar Lane and quite a lot of parents drive down there to drop their children off. If you know anyone who goes that way tell them: DON'T DO IT! They will get stuck. The road is only surfaced part of the way along, and the rest of it is not only very narrow but trenches have been dug alongside it, everything is covered ...
The Council recently informed Chorlton residents that they are planning to reopen Footpath 181 which runs from Claude Road (at the side of Meade Manor), behind South Drive and alongside Chorlton Brook onto Oakhouse Drive. This historic path has not been in use for many decades, however following pressure from the Ramblers Association, Manchester City Council have made it a top priority to reopen the route. I am deeply concerned by this action and am encouraging the Council to consider more options. I'm opposed to the path reopening because: · It would be a disgraceful waste of public money. The ...
From the Daily Mail: Former tennis star Tim Henman has clashed with his neighbours after gaining permission to demolish a 17th-century cottage and replace it with a gym. Henman, who turns 37 today, has won planning permission to knock down the building in the grounds of his £2million country house. He plans to build an annexe to the main house at his estate in Aston Tirrold, near Didcot in Oxfordshire, which will include accommodation and a state-of-the-art gym.And why is that story of interest to this blog?Because Aston Tirrold is the nearest village to the cottage where Traffic famously "got ...
From the Daily Telegraph this morning: "I approached the prospect of a feature film of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with the same misgivings that would have afflicted anyone else who had loved the television series of 32 years ago," the author said. "George Smiley was Alec Guinness, Alec was George, period. How could another actor equal let alone surpass him? "My anxieties were misplaced. And if people write to me and say, 'How could you let this happen to poor old Alec Guinness?', I shall reply that, if 'poor Alec' had witnessed Oldman's performance, he would have been the first ...
More of a comment than a Blog post really. I saw, last week, an argument brewing between a few Lib Dems about the upcoming Lib Dem conference and the security measures put in place. It wasn't the standard debate that we in the party usually love but almost a battle from different ideologies. I know the party is a cross spectra party based on Liberal theory and democracy rather than servicing the left or the right but this was something else. There seemed to be a misunderstanding over someones choice not to attend vs their inability to attend due to ...
Says who? Says Labour councillor and chair of the city council's scrutiny committee Ross Wilmott. Leicester's Labour group has always been faction ridden, but you have usually had to read between the lines to work out what is going on. But you don't have to be a redeployed kremlinologist to make sense of Wilmott's latest blog post: we have heard from Soulsby over and over again that propriety, openness, inclusiveness and robust scrutiny are highly valued and in his view were lacking of late in Leicester. He therefore gave assurances throughout his campaign and since his election that scrutiny will ...
A rainbow over Newbury videoed a few minutes ago. At least something good came out of the shocking weather today!
Congratulations to The Kingsway school, which has seem a big jump in GCSE results this year. 72% of GCSE pupils achieved 5 or more A*-C GCSEs this year, compared to 59.1% last year – an impressive 12.9% increase. Across Stockport there was a 3.5% increase, with the best Stage 4 results ever for the Borough. Over 65% of our young people achieved 5 or more A*-C GCSE passes, so well done to everyone involved.
An opinion poll of 760 London business leaders carried out by ComRes for the new LondonLovesBusiness website found an overwhelming preference for the next Mayor of London to concentrate on sorting out roadworks rather than trying to get a new airport runway built. Only 14% support a new Heathrow runway or a new Thames Estuary airport, but 57% want the next Mayor of London to focus on tackling roadworks disruption. Public transport is central to the business leaders' concerns with improving public transport and transport links the most popular selection as the "single most important thing the mayor could do ...
It was inevitable, really. With one of the biggest restructurings of the NHS of the past few decades working its way through Parliament, two MPs, Nadine Dorries and Frank Fields, have put forward an amendment to abortion law that, on its face, doesn't look bad: women seeking a termination would, under the amendment, have to seek "independent counselling" before going through with the procedure. This, of course, is very dangerous to abortion rights in the UK, as anyone who has thought about this for more than ten seconds would realise. The Right, over the past twenty years, have realised that ...
Liberal Democrats on Cornwall Council have welcomed today's decision to back our call for fair funding of council services across Cornwall. My colleague Ann Kerridge, who represents Bodmin East on Cornwall Council, proposed the original motion and spoke in today's debate. She said: "Since Cornwall Council was created there have been a lot of accusations that some parts of Cornwall are treated more favourably than others. We want to find out whether this is true and to what extent some areas are better off than others." "If the study proves our case that East Cornwall and the far West is ...
For everyone who hasn't seen this yet (and thanks to @rachel0207 who tweeted it to me), it would seem the Tories are getting slightly desperate for members. To the extent that they've just sent out the above e mail (do have a click on the image for a clearer view). Bonuses for joining include... 1. A FREE membership card. That's free mind you. Yes free. 2. A wine voucher. Presumably in an attempt to mitigate any pesky minimum alcohol pricing legisalation they may have to introduce... I trust none of my readers are tempted.....
I've accidentally caused a little Twitter storm over my remarks at Update Conference yesterday. During my talk, I mentioned the following statistic: In Africa, there is better access to mobile phones than there is access to clean drinking water. However, on Twitter, that's got mangled into: There are more people with access to mobile Internet in South Africa than have access to clean water. Understandably, there's been a bit of questioning of that statistic! So, I had researched the stat before trotting it out and I am confident it is accurate – but here's what I've found out specifically in ...
Before the general election, all the main parties agreed that the deficit needed to be tackled over the next 5 years. The country couldn't go on spending £1 in every 4 raised just on debt interest. The IFS scrutinised the deficit reduction plans of the three main parties in the run up to polling day. They calculated that the Conservatives were pledging £96bn of spending cuts by 2015, while the Lib Dems would cut £80bn. We now know that these two parties would form a Coalition government. In October they announced their Comprehensive Spending Review. Its figures show that the ...
Other than totally unnecessary use of the victims previous name, this story from the BBC about a bloke being prosecuted for a "breach of the peace" when he assaulted a trans woman seems, for once, reasonably written as it concentrates on the assault and perpetrator rather than the victim. I do wonder how the papers managed to find the previous name of the victim and I hope this wasn't something that was mentioned in open court, but that's likely a very misplaced hope. Sadly, from past experience, I fear that tomorrow may result in more torment for the victim via ...
Tue 6th
16:20
Setting up NTU (Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham Law School) Email on an iPhone
Go to 'Settings' on your home screen Then go to 'Mail, Contacts and Calendars'. Under 'Accounts', tap 'Add Account'. Select 'Microsoft Exchange' Enter your email address as the email address in the format: N0000000@my.ntu.ac.uk (Do NOT use the format firstname.lastname2011@ntu.ac.uk, or similar!) Enter 'pod51007.outlook.com' as the server. Leave the domain blank. Enter the same format ...
This afternoon I asked the council why it was still investing in tobacco companies through its pension fund when we also have a clear duty to promote the stop smoking message through our public health responsibilities. I was grateful to receive an assurance from the health portfolio holder Carolyn Rule that she is supporting out public health work and would like us out of tobacco investments. But I was disappointed to be told that we are not allowed to withdraw the pension fund money from tobacco firms. Apparently the only duty of our fund managers is to maximise income and ...
I am writing this from the position of having - after two false starts - finally been 'processed' or 'accredited' by the police in order to exercise my right as a member of this proud and democratic party. This has come after delay, rejection of my form, and increasingly agitated discussion with various people wasting vast amounts of time. Suffice to say that in my 11 years on Conference Committee, I would never have accepted the imposition of such a system. I am possibly luckier, too, than some Conference-goers in knowing how Conference is organised, and who has the ultimate ...
Last night at the Executive meeting we announced our proposals for the Council's 2012/13 budget, which will be consulted on over the next three months. Bizarrely, there were media reports that we were somehow making changes to the current year's budget (Granada and BBC). We're not! The budget for 2011/12 is being implemented and so far we're making all the savings we expected to (we're slightly ahead of schedule). Stockport Council's Executive last night agreed to consult on and assess a range of budget proposals to save around £13.5 million – around 6% of its total spending – next year ...
At 4.15pm on Saturday 17 September, Lib Dem autumn conference will debate the Liberal Youth sponsored motion on the Employment Support Allowance and the Work Capability Assessment. This motion deals with the way sick and disabled people are treated by the benefit system and the way in which they are assessed to determine whether they are eligible for benefits or not. The motion specifically targets the time limiting of support to a maximum one year for any sick or disabled people who have made national insurance contributions in the three years prior to claiming, the appeal system which sees anywhere ...
LibDemVoice have for the last few years nominated a time and a place for an informal drink and meet-up for internetty Lib Dems to let their hair down and have a chat. This time around, we weren't quite fleet enough of foot to get any such event in the conference directory, so we will have to rely on word of mouth helping to spread the details. After a quick chat on the topic in Lib Dem Voice's private members' forum, we settled on meeting at the Wellington pub, a short distance from the conference centre itself, on the Monday night ...
I'm was delighted to read yesterday's Standard interview with Brian Paddick - a great start to Brian's Lib Dem candidacy for London Mayor in the 2012 election. As the Standard said in its accompanying editorial, "Mr Paddick is a decent man with a genuine commitment to London and especially to tackling crime." As the editorial also noted, "At a troubled time, London needs fresh thinking on policing" - and who better than Brian to provide that? Indeed, I'd go further and suggest that he is likely to come up with some great ideas on other policy areas as well, including ...
Cornwall Council this morning voted by 47 votes to 36 to recommend that our Chief Executive does not take up the post of returning officer for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections. In doing so, we said that we are opposed to the potential under-funding of elections, worried about the risks involved and concerned about another step towards Devonwall. The Police and Crime Commissioner elections are currently being discussed by Parliament. It appears that the original proposed election date of next May is to be postponed until the autumn but the concerns are still there. The first concern is over ...
Cornwall Council debated an obscure-looking recommendation from the Electoral Review Panel this morning which would have made provision for the authority's Chief Executive to take the job of Returning Officer for next year's proposed Devon & Cornwall Police Commissioner elections. After a surprisingly long debate the Council voted against the proposals and in favour of ...
I was very sad to read of the death of former Superintendent Jinty Kerr in today's Edinburgh Evening News. Jinty was a remarkable lady who was the first female Chief Inspector in Edinburgh. She also headed up Lothian and Borders Drug Squad for a while. It was in the role that I first met her. She was great enthusiast with a great sense of humour and I worked with her when I chaired the Western Edinburgh Crime Prevention Panel for a time. She lost her fight with cancer at the all too young age of 63.
Alan Beattie writing in the FT on 3rd September 2011 discussing the Italian state finances says: " Mr Berlusconi's plans rely heavily on better tax collection, a wearyingly familiar magic pony traditionally brought out when more substantive fiscal measures have been discarded.". In the USA the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is preparing to sue some of the biggest US & European Banks over their role in the 'securitised mortgages' disaster. The FT Editorial (3rd Sep) sees this as welcome. They state " The perception that Banks have walked away from their pre-crisis incompetence ( to use a generous word) ...
I came across a brand new student blog called Playwright (in training) the other day. Unfortunately, as she's not associated with the OU, I can't justify adding her to my blogroll. However, I did think that it would be good to try to encourage promising new blogging talent. So do pay her a visit ... and tell her that her father sent you there!
I very much welcome David Cameron's statement that an independent inquiry should investigate evidence, revealed by The Independent, that British intelligence agencies were complicit in the rendition of terrorist suspects to Libya, where they were tortured by the Gaddafi regime. The Indpendent says that the Prime Minister has responded to the discovery of papers implicating MI6 in the arrest and extradition of Libyan dissidents: We've asked the retired judge Sir Peter Gibson to examine issues around the detention and treatment of suspects overseas." Mr Cameron told the Commons that the accusations were "significant" and promised that fears the UK and ...
This one was very easily missed. This YouGov poll for the Sunday Times indicates that 30% 'have confidence' in Osborne on the economy, only 24% have confidence in Balls, Miliband is scant better off with 28%, Cable weighs in with 31% and David Cameron tops with 41%. Maybe it is just me but I was surprised that the Liberal Democrat economic voice tops both his Tory and Labour competitors in economic confidence. I have my usual reservations about YouGov of course. I'm beginning to get an image of Cable as of late being the most untainted Lib Dem Cabinet ...
One of my friends stated the other day that he would like to see the Liberal Democrats completely destroyed in 2015. Well I'm sure many echo this statement but is it a fair prediction of our fate? The national party may die or be severely wounded. ( I hope the electorate will keep the MP's who work wonders for their constituents) We may be set back twenty or thirty years back to the days of Grimmond's ascendancy but we still have the local councillors who do an excellent job and one day we will be back. Since the Liberal Democrats ...
3:10pm, Saturday 17th September - that's when the Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham will be debating Lords reform. The motion aims to ensure the party both sticks to its guns on expecting Parliamentarians to be elected and also to show those Lib Dem peers who are thinking of rebelling over the matter the strength of party feeling on the issue. The full text of the motion is in the Liberal Democrat Conference Agenda (p.14-15). [IMG: Lynne Featherstone] As a bonus, the debate is followed by a speech from Lynne Featherstone. So what better way to ensure you're seated in a ...
I was asked yesterday what I thought would be the key issues for the Coalition over the next 12 months. Political predictions are always dangerous (what did you predict would be the main stories in August?) but I plunged in and said that education was emerging as a clear division between the Coalition partners. There has been a great deal over the past few days over the creation of the first free schools. The BBC tells us hourly that they are free from local government control: quite where they (and some politicians in our own Party who should know better) ...
There's been an unfortunately high number of posts on this blog about people dying. Most have been other people in politics but this is about someone who has had a far bigger impact on my life in general than anyone in politics. David Jackson was my Geography teacher for five years and Head of Sixth ...
Tue 6th
11:17
I can see why Tory split idea makes sense to Murdo Fraser, even if it is daft for the rest of us
Well, Murdo Fraser has had more publicity than he's ever had in his life over the past 3 days with his controversial plan to kill off the Tory Party in Scotland, and create another party whose MPs would vote with the Tories in the House of Commons. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose, as they say. It's an idea that was made for mockery. The very idea that the opposition parties will allow the idea that the new party would be full of peace and happiness and exciting new things and fluffity bunnikins with none of the baggage ...
TweetThe proposal to put criminal trials on television needs to be explained beyond the inflamatory headlines and substantial hints at descending into a OJ Simpson dramatic and theatrical dumbing down of the British Legal System. Cameron is today likely to announce plans. But not to display every nuance of a trial which could become an Endemol correographed masterpiece of reality TV. Instead it will be an initiative designed to show the sentencing only. For There are several arguments for doing this. Firstly, it acts as a greater deterrent. If one theme of sentencing is to deter offenders by transmitting a ...
The Amazon Kindle has won over a lot of scepticism towards e-books. Anyone who said that they prefer a book in their hands rather than another gadget soon changed their minds after five minute read on the Kindle. Personally, I ... Continue reading →
Early in the morning of 24 August, a man was dragged out of his car by masked members of Syrian security services in Damascus. He was viciously beaten, mainly on his hands. His name is Ali Ferzat, and he is ... Continue reading →
Another day in the Lords, another day spent on the Localism Bill, in fact the first day of the Report Stage, which kicked off with an attempt by Lord Whitty to impose ten year housing strategies on local councils. Before Clause 132, insert the following new Clause— "Housing strategy (1) All measures required of local housing authorities in relation to social housing and homelessness as a result of this Part shall be undertaken in consistency with the housing strategy required by subsection (3) and with requirements under section 87 of the Local Government Act 2003 and section 13 of the ...
As the Daily Telegraph reports of the much touted book by Matthew Hancock and Nadhim Zahawi: Sanctions are also suggested against non-executive directors of failed companies. The authors also oppose non-executives at systemically-important banks having other board roles and also want the law changed so directors of financial institutions that require recourse to public funds to prevent bankruptcy are legally barred from joining the board at other companies. They also want to tackle the cult of the CEO by encouraging the City to appoint co-chief executives. "There's this idea that the CEO is so revered that it's very difficult ever ...
Here are the Liberal Democrat entries in the top 100 political blogs as ranked by Wikio. As you'll see from Lib Dem Voice's drop to 10, there are quite a few changes at the top of the overall list, including a new blog in the number one spot. 1 (10) Liberal Democrat Voice Down 4 2 (19) Jack of Kent Down 6 3 (25) Caron's Musings Down 2 4 (35) Liberal England Down 3 5 (50) Mark Pack Down 5 6 (55) Craig Murray Up 5 7 (63) Mark Thompson Down 4 8 (72) Liberal Vision Down 16 9 (76) ...
Dear Scottish Conservatives, Your deputy leader and frontrunner in the leadership election has declared that a vote for him is a vote to disband the party. As a kind spectator, I wish to offer you some advise as you contemplate this decision and how you may go about achieving your mission of electoral success in
To finish my summer season of Comedy Classics, I finish with the best. Will Hay and "Oh, Mr Porter!" from 1937. I have never laughed more than when I watch this film. Simple, but hysterically funny nonsense.
The recent judgments have now been published in the Vicky Haigh case Doncaster v Haigh and Doncaster v Watson I am not going to comment specifically on the Watson case.I have always had and remain to have three concerns about the issues relating to Vicky Haigh. The first two were public. Firstly, I was concerned that there was an attempt made to jail her for talking at a meeting in parliament.
Tue 6th
08:55
Graduate taxes, Freedom of Information Requests and lifelong learning. All in one post.
I wrote a piece the other day pondering why we hadn't just called the new student fee system a graduate tax. Paid for by the student, over time, according to income, taken from salary. Sounds like a tax to me. And I still think that. But two responses to my post have given me food for thought. The first was a suggestion from Duncan Stott that the Treasury may have prevented ministers from referring to the new system as a graduate tax. This would be fascinating if true. So I have binges in a Freedom of Information request to the ...
Angela Harbutt on the Liberal Vision website suggests this (I think rather tongue in cheek). It certainly hasn't been publicised very well.As the person who campaigned for the Party to have a proper investigation I would have thought it common courtesy to let me know!
Delete words in headline to suit your own preference for hyperbole and then savour Nick Thornsby's pithy summary of the Liberal Democrat strategic choice: The Lib Dem strategy must be public negotiation, not internal opposition And then go read his post which explains his point in detail with a neat take on the issue.
David Cameron has been embarrassed by Andrew Lansley's decisions. Lansley assumed responsibility for something that in reality remained on the Prime Minister's desk. This turns the Conservative Party's confusion over the Health and Social Care Bill into a morality tale. It foretells of the confusion that will exist within the NHS if the duties of the Secretary of State for Health are muddied, as the Bill proposes to do. As we go into the third reading of the Health and Social Care Bill, I'll be watching one particular aspect of the debate: that the Secretary of State for Health should ...
This years Arbury Carnival was one of the most successsful ever and if you'd like the opportunity to be involved in the 35th Anniversary event next year then now is your change. The Arbury Carnival committee is holding a public meeting in a weeks time (Tuesday 13th September at 7pm) in the Arbury Community Centre on Campkin Road to start planning for the 2012 event. If you would like to help out with this fantastic local event, either on the day or to plan the event, then please come along. The more the merrier!
Yesterday, Suffolk County Council announced the opening of a consultation on the future of mobile libraries across the county. The proposals are designed to save 37.5% of the current budget, reducing spending on this service from £600,000 per annum to £375,000, a sizeable chunk of money when funds are tight. Naturally, as a parish councillor in a small village, I am concerned. The visit of the mobile library every fortnight for fifteen minutes represents one of the very few visible signs in the parish that the County Council exists, and for elderly residents, it is a social opportunity, a way ...
Nick Clegg spoke out strongly yesterday against the lazy idea that the recent riots are all the fault of the schools and all that is needed is for the teachers to be tougher (hence fast-track in some former soldiers), teach traditional subjects in the traditional manner and and make the kids behave. "Teachers are not surrogate mothers and fathers," said Nick. "They cannot do it all." Blaming the schools for perceived social ills, from bad spelling through teenage pregnancies to hooliganism and rioting, is nothing new: in fact it has been around throughout my career, and possibly longer. I well ...
Back in July, I mentioned feedback I had received from Dundee City Council following flash flooding in the Meadow Mill area of the West End Ward, near to Verdant Works. I have now received a further update from the City Engineer as follows : "Scottish Water and my Engineers are continuing their investigations into the root cause of the flooding within the immediate and surrounding area and I can confirm that CCTV surveys of the drainage system on Brook Street, Guthrie Street, West Henderson Wynd and Milne's East Wynd were all completed on 30th July 2011. Although we are currently ...
Ros, along with her colleagues on the House of Lords Appointments Commission, has been busy interviewing potential candidates to join the crossbenches. Strange, you may think, that the supposedly partisan members of the Commission should take part in such an exercise, but I see it as a way of ensuring that those with a party political background don't take up those places intended for people from beyond the Westminster bubble. And yesterday, the latest nominees were announced. Quoting from the House of Lords Appointment Commission's website; Sir Donald Curry is the Chair of NFU Mutual Insurance Society (a leading rural ...
The Executive meeting on 12th September will receive a briefing from Police about the recent public disorder in Sutton. The briefing will include the showing of a DVD compilation of CCTV footage of the evening illustrating how the events unfolded and were managed by the police and council working in partnership. Also for decision is ...
Saturday: Tonight's Doctor Woo starred DADDY ALEX! Well, A daddy Alex. Which is nearly as good. (For Daddy Richard - aka Sir Quincy Flowers - see "Phantasmagoria", also by Mr Mark Gatiss!*) But WHERE WAS THE FLUFFY ELEPHANT! Grr. "Night Terrors" is an episode that rewards a second viewing. Perhaps because we weren't anticipating anything happening, we enjoyed more of the moments along the way. Mostly these were scenes between Matt Smith and Daniel Mays, though there was nice badinage between Amy and Rory and I think the laconic performance from Bernard the Bulldog is worthy of mention as well. ...
