Technorati wants this code: BY2A4DVHQH8G Done. Apologies to everyone who found this rather dull.
I went over to Putney tonight to preview the Liberal Democrats conference for their Potatoes & Politics evening. The event was in Putney Library on Disraeli Road. The library is a lovely mix of old and new architecture and is on the road which, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, was home to the Italian coffee machine importer used by the 1983 Alliance general election to source the coffee machine that supplied journalists at the daily early morning press conference. Oh, and the raffle passed my LibDem raffle test with flying colours.
I have been going through something of a John Le Carré phase recently, watching the BBC adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy again and reading the novel. Tomorrow I hope to see the new film of it in London. John Le Carré has made a remarkable journey, beginning his career in intelligence and as a novelist in the era when the Soviet Union was our enemy. Today capitalists, sometimes Russian capitalists, are the enemy in his books. Except that you suspect he has not moved at all. He has held his ground as a decent man without illusions. We would ...
[IMG: Caricatures: GOP Presidential Debate Participants September 2011] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: DonkeyHotey Here's a seminal moment from this week's Republican Presidential candidates debate. Crikey takes up the story: During this week's GOP debate Ron Paul was asked whether a man who needs intensive care for six months and doesn't have health insurance deserves government welfare. The crowd cheered when he answered in the negative then, when the mediator further quizzed him on whether society should let him die, multiple voices yelled "yeah!".
Before you get alarmed, I should be clear that the ESA motion will still be debated on Saturday, will still face a vote to determine whether it becomes party policy or not and that I will still be backing it one hundred percent. Instead "proposing" in this case refers to the technical term for the person who makes the opening speech of the debate in favour of the motion. This person is referred to as the "proposer". I had originally been marked down as the person who would be the proposer but that's now changed because Liberal Youth and I ...
Another very busy week for me, I have spent most of the time in Bar Hill this week dealing with crime enquiries relating to two vehicles being broken into over the bank holiday period. The two vehicles broken into were parked unattended in Menzies Hotel car park, Bar Hill. During the hours of darkness unknown offenders have managed to gain entry and have stolen unknown items. I have thoroughly investigated this crimes, unfortunately due to insufficient evidence the crimes remain undetected. I also have spent a considerable amount of time dealing with a number of incidents relating to bilkings from ...
I recently received complaints from residents about the overgrown state of the grass area north of High Mill at Steven's Yard, adjacent to Shepherd's Loan. I am very grateful to the City Council's Planning Enforcement Officer who, at my request, contacted the landowners to get the very overgrown grass cut. As you can see below, the owner has now taken action and the area is now looking much better.
I really enjoyed the Chorltonville Centenary last Saturday. I invited the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Cllr Harry Lyons, to attend and I think he had a fantastic time. Chorltonville is a shining example of the garden village movement. The party organised by local residents was a great way to celebrate the Ville's 100 years. Thanks to all those residents that organsied the party and attended.
Early this morning and along with my Dundee LibDem colleague Craig Duncan, I was in Aberfeldy to help our party colleague Victor Clements, who is standing in today's Highland Ward by-election on Perth & Kinross Council. As you can see, it was a beautiful morning!
Come to the Queen Edith Chapel on the 5th October for a day of talks*, demonstrations and stalls focussing on the needs of over 50s. Take part in a fun exercise class, enjoy joining in a singing class for those who have forgotten the joy of song, get some top gardening tips from a local garden centre, learn about food and waste recycling, enjoy some home baked cakes. Get prescription advice from Kays Chemist, and more ... Just come along to meet you neighbours and have a chat. ALL WELCOME Flu jabs will be available for all eligible patients of ...
Chorlton Civic Society has just set up a new Blog to help advertise the Society and the work they do. It will also be an opportunity for Guest Bloggers to contribute about things going on in the Chorlton Area. You can view the new Blog at: http://chorltoncivic.blogspot.com/ to contribute content please send it to chorltoncivic@gmail.com. You can also follow the group on Twitter at @chorltoncivic
[IMG: Parkland Walk security concerns] Parkland Walk safety will be discussed at a public meeting, with police invited, after a spate of attacks on and around the local park. Ed, Katherine and I have made sure park safety is discussed at the next Area Forum – to give local residents an opportunity to ask questions about what is being done following the attacks, and what steps users can take to make sure they are safe on the park. willssed at a public meeting, with police invited, following a spate of serious attacks on the local park. Stroud Green Liberal Democrats ...
I have, in the past, been critical of my local Conservatives and their approach towards budget cutting. In their attempt to cut the County Council's budget, they have explored new and interesting ways to transfer costs to lower tiers of government, rather than actually cut spending. And it looks as though their colleagues on Mid Suffolk District Council have done the same. I have in my possession a copy of a letter from Mid Suffolk's Environmental Services Officer, informing us that, from 1 April 2012, we will have to make a contribution towards the costs of emptying dog and litter ...
It is not often I but the Telegraph, but I was involved in two stories on the front page of today's edition. Early risers get ahead of the game began as one of my press releases. And I helped get a quote for 'Shy' children at risk of being diagnosed with mental disorder. Sorry if this seems vain, but a blog can be useful as a diary and as somewhere safe to store links.
You would think that high profile awards – the kind that can afford posh locations like The Savoy, London – would do some basic research and Google their potential nominees before publishing them. Particularly if they're sponsored by Google. (For bonus points, you could read their Wikipedia page too!) Well, you'd think wrong. Either that or they just don't care. So, without further comment, the European Diversity Awards shortlist for "Journalist of the Year". The emphasis is mine. Cast Media Group – Journalist of the Year Recognising the outstanding contribution of journalists in the field of equality, diversity and inclusion, ...
From the Manifesto Club website: Following on from our report, The Myth of Racist Kids, we have now published an in-depth investigation of the hate-speech reporting systems that brand 34,000 children 'racist' or 'homophobic' every year. Leave Those Kids Alone, by Adrian Hart, shows the extent of 'hate speech' reporting systems imposed on schools by local authorities. The report gives examples of the kinds of petty playground spats that have been marked up as 'hate speech' incidents - which could have consequences for the child later in school life. The report argues that these reporting systems are an inappropriate intervention ...
Thursday: Well here is a secret I bet you did not know. Auntie Helen has only watched Torchhoot TWICE, and both times she turned on during the RUDE BITS! So she turned off again quickly. My daddies did NOT turn off. Bad daddies! Bad! Okay, this is, hopefully, going to be quick. The last episode of "Miracle Day" is on a at nine tonight and I want this up before then. I don't want to fall further behind! This was a really good episode. It was even a really good episode of Torchwood. It was just in entirely the wrong ...
Nick Clegg yesterday gave a speech to the LSE calling for a "gear shift" in state spending and on infrastructure. Nick Clegg stated that: "investment in infrastructure stimulates demand not overnight, but more quickly than many supply side measures." Economist Yasheng Huang in a talk to Ted Global, asked the question "How Important are Infrastructures
From the Liberator website: Really Facing the Future has been written by David Boyle and Simon Titley as an alternative to the Liberal Democrats' policy development agenda, Facing the Future, (which was published in August 2011 and intended to set out the party's values, highlight the main challenges and summarise policy development priorities for the remainder of the current parliament). The authors believe that Facing the Future fails to face the future. It lacks political imagination, it lacks a coherent analysis of the challenges we face and it lacks passion, seeming to have been approached as a dry academic exercise. ...
I applaud Prime Minister David Cameron's decision to pull the UK out of Durban III, the UN-sponsored conference on racism taking place in New York later this month. This chimes nicely with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's strong, public opposition to Durban II, which he reiterated in a speech last November. Why, you might ask, would I be pleased about UK non-participation in a conference on racism? It is because Durban I and Durban II, the two previous conferences, degenerated into one-sided anti-Israel hate-fests, rather than constructive conferences on racism. Nick Clegg strongly urged the Labour Government to pull out ...
The third day of the trial into Phil Woolas's conduct in his election campaign one year ago saw the conclusion of Woolas's evidence, followed by evidence from a Labour party volunteer, Rebecca McGladdery, and Mr Woolas's election agent, Joseph Fitzpatrick. ... Continue reading →
What to watch out for on Saturday in Birmingham at Liberal Democrat conference:
Monday: Education Bill amendment on deprived children generally, in which I concentrated particularly on the worst off: those from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. Tuesday: Question on the Tuaregs of Libya, on which the Minister promised to write to me. Question about the cost effectivenes of the UN-REDD initiative on deforestation, and the UK contribution to it, on which another Minister promised to write! Obviously at question time Ministers don't come prepared with answers to every possible supplementary, and if its my own question I try to warn them in advance of the area I mean to cover. But ...
The last two times I posted my Delicious links by hand, Delicious posted them again a couple of hours later. I've turned off Delicious posting once more, though even that has not always been a smooth process ion the past, so hopefully you'll only see these once (unless you're following me on Twitter, in which case you may have seen them already). Social media, black humour and professionals... - Anne Marie Cunningham queries the use of derogatory language in public spaces. Raad van bestuur Belgacom dreigt met opstappen - Trouble at the top of my least favourite telecoms company! Framework ...
On Monday 12 September the Boundary Commission for England released it's proposed changes to parliamentary constituency boundaries for Bedfordshire. The proposed new constituency of Luton South would be made up of the following council wards (all within Luton Borough): Barnfield Biscot Crawley Dallow Farley High Town Round Green Saints South Stopsley Wigmore Having looked again at this I will stand by my initial reaction to the proposed new Luton South constituency. If implemented these changes would make Luton South a safer Labour seat. Although it would remain competitive for all three main parties. The Conservatives do lose out though and ...
On Monday 12 September the Boundary Commission for England released it's proposed changes to parliamentary constituency boundaries for Bedfordshire. The proposed new constituency of Luton North and Dunstable would be made up of the following council wards: From Central Bedfordshire: Dunstable Downs Icknield Northfields Watling From Luton: Bramingham Challney Icknield Leagrave Lewsey Limbury Northwell Sundon Park Initially I wasn't sure what to make of a Luton North and Dunstable constituency. Now, having looked at the numbers, the conclusion is pretty clear. If implemented these changes would mean that the proposed new seat would be a highly marginal contest between the ...
I do too many things, I have too much stuff. It all came to a head last month as I sat down to review all my projects, tasks, roles and commitments only to feel overwhelmed by the sheer weight of it all. So I made a decision there and then to do the following: Identify ...
Everyone is lumping on to Johann Hari and let's not beat around the bush here a lot of it is very much fair as he has been a pretty shoddy journalist and a proven liar and you could even say a pretty shoddy person ethically and morally. However when Cristina Odone piled on in her column in The Telegraph today she opened herself to ridicule as in her attack on Mr Hari she wrote something that directly contradicted her own words nine years previously. The following quote was taken from this piece in The Telegraph [IMG: Cristina Odone in the ...
Excellent news from the Council: This weekend saw Stockport's town centre car parks jam-packed with keen shoppers, with numbers more than doubling since last month. On Saturday 3 September town centre retailers came together to arrange Stockport Festival, which attracted more than 40,000 visitors. And on Tuesday 6 September, Stockport was full to the brim with 39,000 shoppers celebrating the opening of the brand new 48,000 sq ft Primark, which has created 182 new jobs. Sunday 11 September saw the one year anniversary of the popular monthly 'Vintage Village' event at Stockport Market, which has attracted more than 25,000 visitors ...
Oh the shame of the FT's paywall! Yesterday the paper presented a wonderful view of the debate on the UK banking reforms proposed by the Vickers Commission with two opinion pieces under the title Taming the banks, long overdue or utter folly? For the reforms was regular columnist John Kay. Mr Kay (though I'm sure he's not really a mere Mr) is one of my favourite FT columnists. His articles do come out on his website in due course, but not this one yet, I'm afraid. It is a very lucid article, pointing out the massive size of UK banks ...
In a written statement to the House of Commons this week, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Andrew Robathan reported on the latest survey of electoral registration levels amongst members of the armed forces: It indicates that 75% of service personnel are registered to vote, up from 69% in 2009 and 60% in 2005. This represents the highest level of service registration since I first raised the issue back in 2005. Of those registered in 2010, the majority (77%) chose to register as ordinary rather than service voters. The level of voters registered as overseas voters has remained at ...
Thu 15th
15:53
Do politicians represent the views of their constituents or do constituents vote for someone to thin...
It is something that has been crossing my mind recently the idea of whether we elect people to represent our thoughts or whether we elect someone to think for us. If an MP is lobbied by the majority of his or her constituents to vote for something which goes against their own personal viewpoint then what should they do? It come to a prominent part of my mind last week during the debate on the amendment brought forward by Nadine Dorries. I would probably hazard a guess that if you balloted every single voter in the land that they would ...
Yes. It's been suggested we should get behind abolishing the 50p tax rate. I don't think so. Three reasons. Firstly - I don't think the current rate puts off entrepreneurs and wealth generators. As Simon Jenkins put it in his brilliant piece the other day... "I know very few rich people who got rich to make money. They got rich because, other than spivs and gamblers, they enjoyed their work and were good at it. How much they made might be due to competition, greed, love, prestige, personal rivalry or, as JK Galbraith said of senior executives, a "warm personal ...
We are only a couple of days away from the start of the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference, this year to be held in Birmingham. So I have been busy leafing through the agenda, juggling my schedule, and deciding on my plans for several days of wall to wall Lib Dem style politics. This is what my conference looks like so far. Saturday I won't be getting to Birmingham until after lunch on Saturday so I will be missing the three consultative sessions in the morning. Which is a shame because in some ways they will be three of the more ...
Perhaps the most tragic aspect of Johann Hari's fall from grace is that it serves to undermine the causes he cares about. At least, I hope he cares about them, and isn't just exploiting them for financial reward. See that? That's the problem. Once you read about how he produced his material, and consider how much better off he is than the people he writes for, the doubts creep in. Which part of me resents, because I don't like agreeing with Toby Young columns in The Telegraph. In the grand scheme of things, Hari's lack of basic ethics is easily ...
We've been invited to Edgeley Library to support the World's Biggest Coffee Morning in support of MacMillan Cancer Support. Please come along if you can, and let us know of other local places participating. Come to Edgeley Library for tea, coffee, cake and the chance to support Macmillan between 10am and noon on Friday 30th September 2011. Our invitation came from the Manchester Airport Community Relations Team who will be there too.
I tuned into First Minister Questions (FMQs) today for the first time in ages. I mistakenly thought that Daily Politics was going to be on (spent far too much time in England and forgot that BBC2 Scotland shows FMQs on Thursdays and not Daily Politics). I was particularly looking forwards to today's show as Jo
Everyone in politics likes to talk about change, none more so than the Lib Dems (who can forget that fabulous piece of election music...) but do we really practise what we preach? In areas such as diversity, campaigning, and our overall political role, we are frequently found to be behind the times. Our party can still say one thing at one end of a road, and another thing at the other end. Shamefully, we also still have woefully few female MPs, and not a single BME MP. It's all well and good discussing our failings, but it is much more ...
Cute cartoon.
These are no more than headlines you'd expect to see in a sane world. Which is why it's nice to see them. From gallup.com: Record-High 86% Approve of Black-White Marriages Religion Does Not Color Views About Violence (OK, 86% is less than 100%, but progress is progress.)
The meeting takes place from 7.30pm at Carlton Road Day Centre, 8-10 Carlton Road, W4 5DY, which is easy to get to by the E3 bus route or a ten minute walk from Turnham Green tube station. All residents and local businesses are welcome. The meeting will be chaired by myself, Councillor Gary Malcolm and ward councillors Harvey Rose and Andrew Steed will be present to discuss topics and answer questions. Agenda: 1. Welcome and introductions - also Health & Safety Notices (7.30pm) - apologies for absence 2. Request for "Any Other Business" items (7.35pm) 3. Notes of the last ...
Tom Smith-Hughes, Liberal Democrat group leader at Essex County Council, released the following statement in relation to this week's arrest of Paul White (Lord Hanningfield) as part of its ongoing investigation into fraudulent expenses claims: "The Liberal Democrats knew that there were very serious allegations against Lord Hanningfield which had been referred by Essex County Council to the Police. Justice must be done and seen to be done" commented Liberal Democrat Group Leader and Leader of the Opposition on Essex County Council, Councillor Tom Smith-Hughes. "Essex Liberal Democrats had, some time ago, called for a full investigation into possible misuse ...
I was so pleased to hear that planning consent has been granted for the new Drum Bare Care Home. This will, in time, provide much needed jobs in the Drum Brae area. I am looking forward to work beginning there soon. More details on the release below. Work set to start on city's latest care home Published Thursday 15 September 2011 Work on the City of Edinburgh Council's latest state of the art care home will begin next month after planning permission was granted. Contractors will start on the new care home at Drumbrae in October after agreement was reached ...
Today, along with the French President, Cameron made a "surprise" visit to Tripoli and was greeted in Cesar-esque triumph. The scenes were rather remarkable, with doctors and nurses cheering as he walked through a hospital – instead of treating seriously injured patients. A truly astonishing scene. Leadership approval ratings (of the Prime Minister) are already ...
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice It is interesting how voice quality can make all the difference at Prime Minister's Questions. Ed Miliband seems to have swallowed several family packs of Tunes lozenges. His voice sounded unusually clear yesterday, without its normal nasal twang. Combined with a disciplined debating approach, this led to a commanding performance (up to a point - of which more later). David Cameron, in contrast, was sounding slightly hoarse. Perhaps he over-indulged in Russian hospitality in some shape or form. The problem with being hoarse at PMQs is that you end up shouting to compensate. That makes ...
Why not get our latest headlines by email? Hundreds of Lib Dem Voice readers already do. Some people like regularly visiting Lib Dem Voice to see the latest stories. Others like to look out for us on Twitter or subscribe to our RSS feed and check that way. And some even read us on their Amazon Kindle. But if you prefer email, you can sign up for our daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day's posts from Lib Dem Voice. It has convenient links to click through to the full article, and a note of how ...
This might not be breaking news but it is the first time I have gotten around to blogging about it. I was going to let it slide but when I saw Charles Sale calling the former left back a 'celebrity' then I knew it was blogging time. The columnist at the Daily Mail has a thing against former sportsman going into TV as we've seen before as he continuously witters on about the BBC celebrity commentary pairing of Martin Brundle & David Coulthard. Not too sure they are huge celebs but saying that Scott Minto is a celebrity is really ...
I noticed the TUC now seems to be a big meeting in the office training room rather than a mass movement. I also notice they seem to be being incredibly out of touch with what they are saying about public sector pensions. From what I saw on the news yesterday I thought they were coming up with some incredibly undiscerning and unintelligent commentary on this issue. Public sector pensions have to change. I've previously written about that here and here. In common with pensions in the private sector they have become incredibly more expensive to run than in the 50s ...
You know Jimmy Wales, right? He's the guy co-founded Wikipedia – and, possibly, its most prominent face. So, a few days ago, he popped down to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis to see the work the museum is doing with its Wikipedian in Residence – Lori Philips. What else did he do while he was there? Why, scanned some QRpedia codes! [IMG: J Wales TCM 002] [IMG: J Wales TCM 013] [IMG: ASP 4574] You can see all the photos of his visit on Wikimedia Commons. My highly placed sources tell me that Mr Wales was highly impressed with the ...
I have been to one public meeting to discuss plans to build a biomass power station in the Llynfi Valley and will be meeting the residents action group later this month. Naturally, there is a great deal of concern at this proposal. However, the reaction of the developer to public opposition to the power station is over the top and insulting. The Glamorgan Gazette reports: Issa Sawabini - managing director of Morgan Credit - said the plant would have "no negative impact" on the area's natural beauty. He described the Leaf group as "pathetic" and said their objections were "very ...
The title below this video the BBC have just uploaded seems to think so....
My earlier, lengthier post defends intellectual property, but keeping it does not mean keeping it as it is. Here's a few things to consider: Fair use should be a clear principle Software should remain unpatentable Copyright lasts too long I don't know about art being co-opted for political or business purposes Earnings caps as a complement to term limits Fair use should be a clear principle A lot of people get caught up in how digital media is entirely different from traditional media, like teenagers re-inventing sex. But there's a lot of righteous comment out there about the need for ...
Many Lib Dems will remember that at the spring conference I closed the debate on health and asked conference to support the amendments which had been proposed. This surprised many delegates who thought that the Party Leadership (not me by ... Continue reading →
Thu 15th
12:26
an abuse of power, the action of a bully......Chris Davis on Lab leader of Merseytravel
I must admit to finding former senior policewomen Gill Cuthbertson a decent, intelligent and constructive councillor. I do not always agree with her but I can always follow the logic of her statements and respect the sincerity of her actions. She is one of a long, long list of elected Tories who has been purged/fallen out with the Tory leadership in the borough. The smaller the group has become the more fractious and divided its members. In this week's Formby Times it is revealed that Formby Councillor Gill Cuthbertson kept a log of her dealings with the leadership: On February ...
I previously blogged about a very good event about Turkey in the World at the LSE. That event was to launch an LSE report on Turkey's Global Strategy; the LSE's Nick Kitchen has helpfully pointed out that the report itself is available to read online. I shall read the report with great interest and would urge others to do so.
Councillor Richard Clifton has produced a useful summary of the latest economic trends survey presented at the last Economic Development Advisory Group which I chair. We continue to build on this solid base to attract new business and development to Sutton, creating employment and prosperity for our residents. There is an exciting Inward Investment event planned for April ...
Taking a voluntary break from LJ/DJ/DW for a while. This is not a result of any one event directly, but is an acknowledgement that I currently simply don't have time/spoons/bandwidth to engage on-line in a consistently constructive or intelligent manner. I'm randomising my password, so I won't even be able to log-in to reply to comments. Please don't expect me to. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Thu 15th
11:26
The Orange Order thinks about disciplining unionists for going to catholic funeral of a policeman - ...
Two Ulster Unionists, including the leader Tom Elliot, are to face disciplinary proceedings by the Orange Order for going to the Catholic funeral of murdered policeman Ronan Kerr. Oh please! This sort of thing has happened before and it is pathetic and an embarrassment. I'm not going to speak against the Orange Lodge working to promote their culture and their community. I'm not going to speak against them promoting their religion and involving themselves in theological debate. And I'm not going to speak against them defending their beliefs if they feel they are under threat. But this... The Orange Lodge ...
It is interesting how voice quality can make all the difference at Prime Minister's Questions. Ed Miliband seems to have swallowed several family packs of Tunes lozenges. His voice sounded unusually clear yesterday, without its normal nasal twang. Combined with a disciplined debating approach, this led to a commanding performance (up to a point – of which more later). David Cameron, in contrast, was sounding slightly hoarse. Perhaps he over-indulged in Russian hospitality in some shape or form. The problem with being hoarse at PMQs is that you end up shouting to compensate. That makes it worse and, red-faced, you ...
Rediscovered this clearing up open tabs on my computer. I'm completely cisgendered, and despite that, it kind of took my breath away the first time I read it, and again just now. Forget the images you've learned to attach To words like cock and clit, Chest and breasts. Break those words open Like a paramedic cracking ribs To pump blood through a failing heart. Push your hands inside. Get them messy. Scratch new definitions on the bones. Get rid of the old words altogether. Make up new words. Call it a click or a ditto. Call it the sound he ...
TweetYouth domestic violence has hit the news this week after a study revealed more than half of teenage girls interviewed have suffered domestic abuse. In a society where we are still condoning the objectification of women, it is not difficult to understand why young women view themselves with such low levels of respect. I won't make the tenuous link between sexualisation and violence, although there is both supporting and rejecting evidence available. However, both domestic abuse and sexualisation are issues of self confidence and self respect, and more should be done to address this early on. "Control and violence seem ...
Earlier in the year, I penned a series of posts profiling forgotten liberal heroes (to which a couple of other people also kindly contributed), looking at some of those who achieved great things for liberalism in their time but have been unjustly forgotten - such as Margaret Wintringham, the very first female Liberal MP. There is also another group of people who I think are often unjustly obscure - those local campaigners who are often at the heart of their local community and local party, delivering liberalism and helping others, but as their stage is a local one they are ...
I guess it's hardly surprising that the Committee for Standards in Public Life has found in its biennial survey that people have lost faith in politicians. Apparently the trustworthiness of an MP is, now at 26%, only 10% above a tabloid journalist, and that can't be right. I've now been involved in politics for 28 years and, hand on heart, I can say that most MPs I've come across, from all parties, have been decent human beings who are genuinely in it to improve the quality of people's lives. We may have wildly differing ideas about how to do that, ...
At any one time, the Probation Service has a few hundred people (mostly young men) on Community Payback – repaying their debt to society by doing useful, properly supervised, work around the community. The Probation Service are happy for anyone to suggest work for them to do, typically clearing litter, clearing vegetation or painting and decorating. They're not in the business of taking work away from other people, so they won't normally do work that someone else would otherwise be paid to do. At the moment this can work well, but it can hit problems too. There needs to be ...
Last night was the regular "Full Council" for Bury MBC, the meeting five or six times a year when all 51 elected councillors meet together. As seems to be becoming commonplace, it was another long meeting and we didn't finish until 10.15pm. The main items of interest were: Members Allowances and Expenses The Council agreed to reduce the 'special responsibility allowances' that some councillors receive by 10%, and also to abolish travel expenses for councillors (except for meetings or events that are outside of Bury MBC). The Liberal Democrat group fully supported this proposal – in these difficult financial times ...
I have probably spent far too much time looking at parliamentary boundaries over the last few days. I have been trying hard to get my head around the Boundary Commission's proposals and their implications – and I haven't even got beyond the East of England region yet. However, I have come across one proposed change that I reckon would get the approval of a much loved former Liberal MP. The late Sir Clement Freud famously won the Isle of Ely by-election in 1973 and went on to represent that part of North East Cambridgeshire until 1987. Under these new proposals ...
I really never thought I would say that. They can appear somewhat cliquey - the only Federal Committee to publish its mugshots in the conference agenda (apparently conference representatives aren't interested in who looks after their interests on the Federal Executive or the Federal Policy Committee). They can be a bit insensitive: not the cleverest idea to select a business motion which would increase their powers over emergency motions at a time when representatives are feeling restless. And a tad cynical to have it at 0900 on Tuesday morning when many will still be at breakfast. (Yes: I know you ...
A new report by the Committee on Standards in Public Life has found that there has been a steep decline in public confidence in MPs between 2008 and 2010. The BBC say that the percentage of people in England who think MPs are dedicated to working well for the public dropped from 46% to 26%: The survey of 1,900 people was carried out in the new year, 19 months after the MPs' expenses scandal broke. Although the watchdog's fourth survey shows a "long-term decline in public confidence in those holding public office" since 2004, the report says that on many ...
The Guardian features the story of Willow, a cat who went missing in Colorado five years ago but has now turned up in Manhattan. The paper says that workers at a pet shelter traced Willow back to a family in Colorado, thanks to a microchip embedded in the animal's neck that they checked with a scanner. Willow apparently ran away five years ago during a home renovation project. It will be flown home it passes a required screening test for communicable disease and to make sure it is healthy enough to travel.
Thu 15th
08:00
Guest Post: Gamlingay Division Councillors Report - South Cambridgeshire District Council & Camb...
Always interesting to see what is going on in the rest of South Cambridgeshire. This guest post is from Sebastian Kindersley District and County Councillor for Gamlingay; Broadband Everyone must be delighted to see the announcement from the County Council that it intends to pursue superfast broadband provision in rural Cambridgeshire. The situation is however at an early stage. Approval has been given by the County's Cabinet for up to £20M prudential borrowing, but this amount is being reduced by grants amounting to £8.5m. There is also a possible additional £4M. This comes from the government backing down over the ...
The march of continual improvement at the Manor* is continuing (despite very turbulent times in Education in England) as this years results build on last years success. This year for the first time over 60% of the Manors' Students achieved 5 higher grades wit almost 50% managing the same achievement including Maths and Science. Given the significant areas of deprivation (some of the worst in the County) within King's Hedges and Arbury this is an impressive achievement. The overall figures are;5 higher grades = 61.3% - 3% up on last year,5 higher grades including Maths and Science = 48.4% - ...
A quick round-up of the Liberal Democrat conference preview posts I've written, which I hope you may well find useful reading (again) ahead of the Birmingham conference: My email newsletter preview (sign up to get future email newsletters about the LibDems here)What to watch out for at Liberal Democrat conference - a preview of the agenda and the likely main debatesFive of the best fringe meetings - tips on what to go and seeMP conference fringe league table 2011: Vince is the new Simon, Simon is the new Vince - who has double- booked themselves the most?Conference agenda and directory ...
(Bear in mind as you read this that my background is the tech sector, not design or the arts. I'm really not having a go at technologists.) It's nice to be part of the democratic process - I've had an amendment accepted for the Lib Dem conference next week. It's a tweak to the IT working group's Option A, specifically to include a reference to intellectual property (IP) as a means by which creators benefit from their work. The working group, by bundling a deliberate omission of IP with a proposal to repeal the Digital Economy Act, has positioned IP ...
The Belgian papers this morning are full of the deal reached last night by politicians on the obscure but complex and painful issue of the partition of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. I was fascinated to read that one of the details is that the directly elected component of the Belgian Senate is to be abolished. The meat of the deal is that voters in the six faciliteitengemeenten / communes à facilités will get to choose between Flemish and Francophone lists of candidates for the European elections, and between Brussels and Flemish Brabant constituency lists of candidates for Chamber elections, and this will be ...
At around midnight tonight we'll know who's won in the increasingly bitter fight for Surbiton Hill ward. Unlike the anoraks at Vote 2007, this anorak won't be predicting the outcome. But all I will say is that the slump in the party's popularity from last year means anything other than a comfortable Conservative victory should be considered a respectable result for John Ayles and the team.
A must-read article by by Simon Jenkins, a Guardian columnists who is also chairman of the National Trust, provides a devastating critique of Eric Pickles's plans to "reform" planning laws in order to release protected greenfield land for housing. Among other things Jenkins claims that existing brownfield sites are estimated to have room for a further 3m houses. A friend of mine who specialises in housing finance tells me that the major reason why builders prefer to build on previously undeveloped land is that the risk is substantially less. Building on brownfield land involves the risk of subsidence due to ...
The top 25 Scottish political blogs were announced by Total Politics today. I was delighted to come in at 21. Thank you so much to everyone who voted for The View from the Hills I was particularly delighted to be in between Gerry Hassan and Iain Mcwhirter as they are both writers of such quality. I was also delighted to see such a consistently good blog project as Better Nation come out top - people voting for a good blog not just a known name there. Also glad to see such well written blogs like Burdzeyeview - the Burd's so ...
Ed Miliband was right to tell trade union bosses that it was wrong to strike while negotiations were ongoing about how best to keep the public sector's very priviledged pension rights. The heckling from malingering trots showed nothing more than how out of touch they are and how they are so wedded to entrenching their own personal priviledges at the expense of low paid workers in the private sector. But it is clearly a piece of political positioning by Mili minor who wants to distance himself from what will be deeply unpopular strikes. The heckling will have delighted his spin ...
