One of the things it's very easy to do – and something I do a lot myself – is to romanticise scarcity. I used to be a record collector, because being a record collector and being a music lover were, until very, very recently, the same thing. I remember the excitement of finding a 60s ...
The Lib Dems aren't planning on banning Page 3 but they do want greater regulation on glamour modelling. Well when I say that obviously I don't mean all Lib Dems do because I don't. Helen Lovejoy wants us to all 'think of the children' but I prefer to have faith that children are not as influenced by magazines and Page 3 as some will have you believe. I was drawn on to this topic following having read Kelly-Marie Blundell's post on it behind that link. She was inspired to blog about it following reading Andrew Emmerson's post on it which ...
I have started blogs on this subject many times, however I'm yet to finish one. One always seems to be on dangerous ground, likely to offend someone whatever your point of view. Mohmoud Abbas is today submitting a letter to the UN calling for recognition of a Palestinian state, after which he will address the assembly to present his case. This will be followed by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking soon after. The US have already stated that they will use their UN security council veto to block the move (the countries with vetoes are the permanent members, the ...
At a meeting this morning in Ealing Town Hall I was present when we discussed and then approved two Ealing residents who will carry the Olympic torch as part of the Olympic build up. Over two hundred people contacted the council to say they wanted to be Olympic torch holders. The short list was whittled down to about twenty. Myself with the Leader of the Council and the Ealing Conservative's party Leader discussed the merits of each applicant before choosing two. We decided that the two residents would have to have some strong sporting interest as well as being a ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black, will be holding an advice surgery in Neath next Friday. On 30th September he will be in Neath Central Library from 5pm to 6pm. No appointment is necessary.
With BBC4 showing re-runs of the seminal Old Grey Whistle Test this evening I'd thought I'd dig out a very young David Byrne and Talking heads from the YouTube archive:
Perhaps more surprising than REM splitting up is that they were still together after so many years of releasing indifferent material, with each new album being hailed as a return to form but flattering to deceive. It also provokes me to reflect on a quirk in my own musical taste, namely a tendency to lose interest in artists I like as soon as they become successful. I was a relatively early follower of REM, first hearing them in 1984 at the time of their second album, Reckoning, and playing 'Don't go back to Rockville' endlessly. Their wistful, melancholic sound was ...
As an avid reader of newspaper and magazine letters pages, I have often found myself annoyed by people expressing what is clearly a personal opinion, but sending it from their employers' rather than their home address. Academics are particularly guilty of this, and unless they are writing specifically on an issue of professional expertise, there can be no justification for it. Often one suspects they are using their university address to give added gravitas to their opinion on a subject where their opinion is no more expert than anyone else's. At worst author's can give the impression that their view ...
Though Steve Winwood was barely older than some of the leading lights of Punk, he was very much the sort of musician that the movement was aimed against. He had been part of the first supergroup, he had a big house in the country and Traffic went in for live 10-minute tracks on their albums. And only a couple of weeks ago his eldest daughter married Camilla Parker Bowles's nephew. So it rather a surprise to find that the singer of "God Save Queen" getting it together in the studio on Winwood's Cotswold estate. For Johnny Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten ...
I found this article this afternoon, and was appalled by the cavalier definition of Liberalism as a mission to destroy the State. I do agree with the assertion that Liberalism is a mission to destroy privilege, however the article chooses the moat bizarre definition of privilege I have ever seen; inequalities created by the State. Presumably these would be inequalities like the destitute being entitled to housing benefit, while millionaire bankers must pay for their own second home, or that people in job centres are entitled to state funded assistance in CV writing and interview technique, while the poor old ...
TweetFellow blogger "Proud to be a Yellow Bastard" beat me to the post pointing out that the Lib Dem conference did not ban 'Page Three Models'. He is, as ever more succinct than I, but I do feel the necessity to add my tuppence worth. Liberal versus illiberal A lot of people seem unable to ...
Congratulations to Paul Ankers (@citizenankers) who has recently taken over as yhe Chair of the Friends of Beech Rd ParkPublished with Blogger-droid v1.7.4
'The Lib Dem Conference is a recognisably democratic event in a sense that the other conferences can no longer claim to be. Policies are proposed, amended, debated and voted on in an impeccable manner'. (Martin Kettle, 'The Guardian', 18/09/09) Conference ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Barwell by-election] Barwell Parish Council, St Mary's LD John Cullinane 302 (57.5) Ind 130 (24.8) Lab 93 (17.7) Majority 172 Turnout 14.35% LD hold. Fenland DC, Staithe Con 228 (42.0; -13.1) Lab 166 (30.6; +1.8) LD Robert McLaren 90 (16.6; +16.6) UKIP 39 (7.2; -8.9) Ind 20 (3.7; +3.7) Majority 62 Turnout 28.8% Con hold Percentage change is since May 2011. Wisbech TC, Staithe Con 223 (41.1) Lab 171 (31.5) LD Nicky Smith 97 (17.9) UKIP 52 (9.6) Majority 52 Turnout 28.9% Con hold
And so, that's the end of conference for another year. It was certainly interesting. Prior to the start of conference, I was unsure how proceedings would pan out. Would conference see a stand-off between the rank-and-file and the leadership? Would discontent with the coalition, especially on tuition fees and the Health Bill, overshadow events? Would conference demand a change of direction from Nick Clegg, or would it embrace his determination to keep on keeping on? Well, in spite of media speculation some things are now very clear. We may not like the Tories and we may not like every policy ...
I've been refining my revision strategy for DD307 over the last couple of days within the three blocks I've decided to study (Block 3 – Social Judgement; Block 5 – Group Processes; Block 6 – Production of Knowledge). I've decided to focus the majority of my future revision efforts on a single chapter from each block. Unsurprisingly, as the discursive critique is the only one I'm really comfortable with, all three of my selected chapters pit the social cognitive against the discursive perspective. As none of these chapters came up in a TMA question, I figure that it's a reasonable ...
Finally, what does Danny Alexander find to say to Miriam Gonzalez Durantez? Or what does she find so entertaining?
Alistair Carmichael enjoys a glass of whisky...surely it's not hard to come up with some suitably entertaining captions for this one?
Another caption competition, this time featuring Vince Cable and a BBC reporter. What is Vince saying?
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 Blog of the Year Awards 2011: The Shortlists (11 comments) by Helen Duffett What Lib Dem bloggers and tweeters have said about Nick's speech (14 comments) by Stephen Tall EXCLUSIVE: 84% of Lib Dem members continue to back Lib/Con Coalition (19 comments) by Stephen Tall Opinion: Never Mention "STV" Again (29 comments) by Alex Wilcock Nick Clegg's speech to LibDem Conference (15 comments) by Mark Pack 5 sample LDV Members' Forum threads Attendance at conference Ed Miliband ...
Well the Lib Dem Party conference has been and gone. Sleep deprivation has been restored but the mood in this conference was so great that conference as a whole. Meeting many new friends as well as catching up on old ones, drafting speeches, one that was made and a couple that were not. But here are some of my highlights. First up is my friend Greg Judge speaking on the Employment Support Allowance and Work Capability Assessments motion. Now here is a message for Edwin Poots our Northern Irish health minister about blood and science from another friend Chris Ward. ...
From today's Guardian: To the impartial observer ... it simply represents an opportunity to have your mind repeatedly blown: if you thought the general air of positivity at the conference was a bit unreal, then the Glee Club is on hand to teach you that "unreal" is very much a relative concept. You don't even have to go to get the effect of being subject to an intense hallucinogenic experience. You just have to pick up the songbook, which is the best £3.50 you could spend at the Lib Dem conference, Liberal Image's enticing selection of badges featuring MPs notwithstanding. ...
Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander share a word during Lib Dem conference. But what are they saying?
What is Chris Huhne thinking?
What is going through John Thurso's mind as he listens to Michael Moore's speech?
So what could Paul Burstow be suggesting here? Please leave your ideas below, but surely you can do better than "I caught a fish that was this big!"
New status update options in the latest Facebook design:
Shirley Williams finds something hilarious - what has tickled her? Please leave your caption ideas below - winner will be announced next Friday.
Here's the second picture in the Lib Dem Conference caption competition - this time featuring Steve Webb MP. What could he possibly be thinking? Please leave your (hopefully) humourous ideas below - the winner will be announced next Friday.
I took a lot of photographs at our annual conference in Birmingham. Some were quite good, others more "interesting". Some were quite frankly hilarious. Some of these are deserving of fittingly amusing captions, which is why I'm putting them on my blog - in the hope that some witty and imaginiative individuals can provide a hilarious take on them. In the truest of liberal traditions there is of course no prize other than the knowledge that you are the wittiest reader of A Scottish Liberal! We'll start with this photograph of Nick Clegg answering members' questions. Allan Heron has already ...
Fri 23rd
15:59
Election Expenses: 2011 (Wirral Borough Council) Claughton ward Candidate: Stephen Foulkes Agent: Ge...
1 DONATIONS The Croft 63 Grosvenor Road Prenton Merseyside CH43 1UB 0151 652 6667 07.05.2011 Dear George I haven't got all the details of the outcome of the election but congratulations on gaining an extra five seats. With 29 in the bag does than mean the Labour Group can run the Council as previously?? I ...
Fri 23rd
15:49Election Expenses: 2011 (Wirral Borough Council) Claughton ward Candidate: Stephen Foulkes Agent: Ge...
14 Donations Donor name Address Status Received Accepted Value £ Nature KEN TASKER THE CROFT 63 GROSVENOR ROAD PRENTON CH43 1UB Paid by KEN TASKER WIRRAL LABOUR GROUP WALLASEY TOWN HALL £188 NOTIONAL CLAUGHTON LABOUR PARTY. £639 Paid by CLAUGHTON LABOUR PARTY. TOTAL £827 Filed under: Uncategorized
Fri 23rd
15:27Election Expenses: 2011 (Wirral Borough Council) Claughton ward Candidate: Stephen Foulkes Agent: Ge...
6 A Advertising Item Receipt/ Item/ Name and address of supplier Date paid Value £ Amount Notional Disputed no invoice service (unless on invoice/receipt) paid £ value £ /unpaid 1 6185 TANOY S. S. RADIO 5/5/11 £30 £30 - - 2 Leaflets WIRRAL LABOUR GROUP 10/5/11 £245 £245 3 Leaflets WIRRAL LABOUR GROUP 10/5 - ...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members responded, and we're currently publishing the full results. 42% of Lib Dem members reject 'free schools' LDV asked: "Free Schools" are new state schools set up by parents, teachers or voluntary groups which are outside the control of local authorities. Which of the following statements best reflects your views on free schools? 30% – Free schools provide more choice for local parents and will help improve education overall ...
According to Bank of England statistics [FT 17 Sep 11] lending from UK Banks to private sector businesses has dropped by £64bn since Sept 2008. SMEs have been particularly hard hit. Governments are rightly criticised for trying to micro manage but what can they do when a British based entrepreneur, who has won a contract to provide hydroelectric power to Windsor Castle, cannot find a bank willing to lend the money to get the turbines built in Britain? He's had to get them from Holland.[Observer 11 Sep 2011] Meanwhile the Federation of Small Businesses has launched a campaign setting out ...
Political discourse is full of unhelpful comparisons: shrieking keffiyeh wearing activists like to demonize Israel by comparing it to Nazi Germany or apartheid South Africa and unlettered Eurosceptics (usually found skulking the Telegraph's comments section) like to compare the European Union to the USSR. Pro-Iraq War Tories had the impertinence to dub Charles Kennedy 'Charlie Chamberlain' in the lead up to the 2003 invasion. And not to revert to easy-Lib-Dem-clap-on-Question-Time mode, we all know how that turned out... So those uneasy with inappropriate analogies must have been taken aback by the Centre for Policy Studies publication 'Guilty Men' (if you ...
Fri 23rd
15:07Election Expenses: 2011 (Wirral Borough Council) Claughton ward Candidate: Stephen Foulkes Agent: Ge...
5 Section 4 Donations Please tell us about any amount of money provided by the candidate to meet election expenditure – if no money has been provided enter 0 (zero) Total value £ ZERO Enter the total value of all donations worth up to the cash value of £50.00. No further details are required about ...
Why do some people in the technology community seem so susceptible to snake oil? I suspect it's because of two things. We trust our friends' judgement. We are experts in our fields and, therefore, trust our own judgement in matters we don't fully understand. Compare and contrast the following two statements. On the announcement of the original iPod, one influential pundit declared... "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame." Source: Slashdot.org's original iPod discussion On the search for the Higgs Boson, Stephen Hawking said "I have a bet of $100 that we won't find the Higgs [Boson]." Source: BBC ...
In 2007 the East Dulwich councillors arranged for a walking audit of Lordship Lane. Over the years we've gradually been delivering it recommendations. The final problems from that report that need fixing are crossing East Dulwich Grove where it meets Lordship Lane and crossing Lordship Lane around where the Coop/Somerfield supermarket it. I'm chuffed to report that it has finally been agreed and approved to install three crossing to fixed these final problems. The timescales will be that the works will be completed by March 2012 and will include some rearranging of local parknig to ensure that overall a gain ...
A resident contacted myself and highways officers in despair about a local issue earlier this week: "please find attached photos taken at 11.25am on Sunday 18 September 2011. As you can see there are a host of cars parking on the newly painted double yellow lines at the junction of Cintra and Warwick. Clearly there isno enforcement of the parking restrictions and it seems all of our efforts and council money spent on that has been wasted because there is no enforcement. Similarly, those yellow lines and the new double yellow lines at the junction of Christchurch Road and Cintra Avenue are also ...
On Monday evening Liberal vision and the Institute of Economic Affairs co-hosted a fabulous fringe event in Birmingham. Our distinguished panel considered how entering government has changed the Liberal Democrats. Whether deficit reduction meant the party has embraced a new economic direction? Whether the days of the Lib Dems making high public spending pledges were over? And to what extent the LibDem leadership is now decisively "free market liberal"? Our thanks to the wonderful Michael Crick for being such an organised, as well as thoroughly entertaining, chairman and to our speakers Jeremy Browne MP, David Laws MP, Mark Littlewood (IEA), ...
I am, in political terms, a fairly gentle soul, as I may have noted before. I like to think generously of my opponents, as far as that is possible. It isn't always easy, but one should try. And perhaps I'm not the only person who should. Now that we've got the hang of this 'being in government and acting responsibly' lark, perhaps we need to think about how we do politics as a party. As people who talk a good game of pluralism, we imply that collaborative, inclusive politics is a good thing. Which, of course, it is. However, we're ...
During Liberal Democrat Conference, the BBC's Politics Show did a piece about the gay blood donor ban (partly lifted but with Lib Dems calling for further steps). It featured both Liberal Democrat Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone and London Mayor candidate Brian Paddick:
Well, before I get into Conference, I'm sure that all Liberal Democrats will be pleased by this JC Diary story about Lord Palmer's latest contribution to the work of the Coalition Government...So, to Conference. My highlights included being on a communal computer which posted one of my blog postings on someone else's blog, which I noticed fast enough to delete immediately. And, while I was talking to an old university friend about how neither of us remembered knowing George Osborne when we were all at the same university together, a slightly confused woman, with whom I had hitherto been unacquainted, ...
So, I've not always been entirely friendly to the police on the blog. In fact, when I think of the posts I have written mentioning the police, they've mostly been fairly critical of the police. And that's because most of those posts have dealt with how the police have handled various protesters and, like all things, it's very easy to criticise when they've got it wrong but rather less blog worthy when they've got it right. But that's not really fair of me at all. I've always said that the police were like anyone else - that there were good ...
Fri 23rd
13:11
The team that rocks - the yellow bit of Downing Street is about to get a whole load better
After a very upbeat week at Liberal Democrat conference, I am delighted to hear news that two very sensible appointments have been made to augment the Liberal Democrat team within Downing Street. The first was actually announced about 10 days ago by the Herald - former Herald journalist Christine Jardine is going to be the link between No 10 and the Scotland Office. One can only hope that if David Cameron and George Osborne ever express the wish to say anything about Scotland, she'll be able to lock them in a cupboard until the urge passes. The second, announced today ...
The Daily Mail ran it, and I ignored it. After all, it's the Mail. But Pink Paper just ran it too, so I'm going to have a pop at it because the headlines are plain wrong. Here's the document that's creating the fuss. (PDF Link) Quoting from "Key Findings" on page page 28: (The Daily Mail quoted this bit too) ...the majority of British people now accept the concept of same-sex couples as being 'rarely wrong' or 'not wrong at all'... That's somewhat different from the Daily Mail headline, isn't it? Well, they cherry-picked one particular statistic from the document ...
The group Unite Against Hate is there to create a zero tolerance Northern Irish approach to all hate crime and discrimination. Whether that is sectarian, racist, homophobic, transphobic, religious or disability related hate crime. Anyone who has seen me for the last year will have seen me wearing their white wristband, it never leaves my wrist. Therefore I was as shocked as anyone to see the sign pictured reported in the news yesterday. It was on display in an off licence in Draperstown, County Londonderry. However, can one tell it someone is a foreign national. If a Nowegian, American or ...
Whether yours an iPhone or an android, now you can report a series of local issues direct to the council without putting pen to paper. As if you've still got pen and paper! The app is free and should offer us the chance to "do it now" when we see a problem rather than just meaning to get round to it later.
I've been away for the past week at the annual Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham (a review to follow in a forthcoming blog post). During the week I've been away, Total Politics have been drip-feeding their 2011 Blog Awards Results out to the wider-world. It's the first time that I've been involved in the proceedings and I must add my comment to that of others that the way in which they were released did not show Total Politics off in a particularly professional light. But anyway, the results themselves amazed me. I was really quite stunned to have made such ...
On Wednesday I was quite shocked to see a tweet from local MP Mark Reckless of Rochester and Strood, saying; Support and implement the Liberal Democrat manifesto. I know I said before that the Conservatives were becoming more liberal but I thought this might be taking it too far! Basically he was calling for our pledge to take the EU to a referendum for the people to democratically say yes or no. [http://fb.me/18v0ppt7x] This would normally be something I would agree with. It is an important thing for the nation to discuss seriously and their opinion needs to be heard. ...
As I wrote in the immediate aftermath of Nick Clegg's conference speech, the party was much better at saying what it was not and what it was against – not the Conservatives, not unhappy, against tax cheats, against overpaid under-performing company directors and so on – than what it was for. In theory the answer should have been found in the conference packs handed out to people on arrival at the Birmingham ICC, for inside them was not only an "In government – on your side" leaflet but also three others from different Liberal Democrat ministers, all promoting the party's ...
The New Statesman was selected its "20 under 40" rising stars in the Commons, and there are two Liberal Democrats among them. Jo Swinson: Her dedication to issues outside the mainstream - such as a recently launched campaign about body image, not forgetting those Easter eggs - suggests that she is not simply a ruthless careerist. Last year, Red magazine named her as one of Britain's most influential young female politicians, noting that "she is renowned for speaking up on national issues that other MPs shy away from".And her husband Duncan Hames, who gets a much shorter profile - apparently ...
This post has been prompted by a friends comment on Facebook that more people die worldwide from Obesity than from malnutrition. Given he works in London I'm assuming he got it from metro This factoid passed my "that sounds like nonsense" test and the lack of statistics regarding global mortality from these conditions in this article further reinforced this. A quick scan of available data highlighted the following >In 1970 37% of people in the developing world suffered from malnutrition. >In 2009 that figure was 16% (and projected to fall further) >Despite this, malnutrition is present in half of all ...
When one is in opposition and attacking the government it is nice to have one's views validated by an independent observer who has both respect and credibility. This is especially so when we are arguing that the government is not acting in the best interests of Wales. The views of Sir Emyr Jones Parry, who led the inquiry that established the case for a more powerful Welsh assembly are particularly powerful, though like everybody else I am surprised at the strength of those opinions and the fact that he expressed then in public: Speaking at a conference in Cardiff Bay, ...
Liberal Democrat Conference It's been quite a while since we had a round up of blogs that I have enjoyed ...Continue reading »
The Food and Drink Festival shortlist for voting is out now Food & Drink Festival Wednesday 28 Sept - Sunday 9 Oct You can now vote for your favourite shortlisted venue in each of the 7 categories of the Food and Drink Festival. The categories you can vote for from across the whole district are: Best Restaurant Belvedere Restaurant (at Ardmore House), St Albans Darcys, St Albans Lussmanns, St Albans Okka Cafe Brasserie, Harpenden Veer Dhara, St Albans Best Pub The Holly Bush, Potters Crouch The Plough, Tyttenhanger The Six Bells, St Albans The White Lion, St Albans The Three ...
One of the speakers in the Lords reform debate at Liberal Democrat conference was former party leader Ming Campbell, who not only backed the plans for elections to a reformed upper house but also directly addressed the Lib Dem peers who have been talking of opposing the introduction of elections: The motion was passed overwhelmingly, including the diversity amendment. You can support the campaign for House of Lords reform by signing up to the Facebook page Liberal Democrats for Lords Reform and by taking part in the official Parliamentary consultation (it only takes a few minutes).
I start work at Downing Street on Monday. From Monday I start working at Downing Street as the government's Deputy Director of Communications on a maternity cover. "I hope you're going to keep a diary," has been a regular reaction. According to the contract for special advisers you are not allowed to write a memoir. Hilarious! "You must not publish or broadcast personal memoirs reflecting your experience in government, or enter into commitments to do so while in Crown employment. The permission of the Head of Department and the Cabinet Secretary must be sought before entering into a contractual commitment ...
The feel good factor is back amongst rank and file Lib Dems. Of that I think there is little doubt. The members up at Lib Dem Conference were in general upbeat and after a long time licking their wounds are starting to grow into being in government and relishing the challenge. Sadly though the electorate unsurprisingly still aren't being dragged with us as the following two screenshots will show. These are taken from the Ipsos-Mori September set of questioning. Please click on them to see them in a larger size. [IMG: ipsosmoripollseptember] Party Image September 2011 As you can see ...
Having been at conference I have missed much of the press coverage and so I will try to put anything worth noting which highlights strengths in the Lib Dems together for the period: Nick Clegg's speech was solid, well delivered and made good sense... The party leader even dared to unveil a new persona: a ...
Registration underway @oxfordalumni's #oxfordalumniweekend Best of luck with it guys! http://t.co/8J17baHc # And the @oxford_thinking Campaign stand is ready for business. #oxfordalumniweekend http://t.co/FOhTmjWV # RT @peterc Why the Oxford/Harvard comma is important (funny pic): http://t.co/DXoXirmO « Excellent! # @markpack Congrats! in reply to markpack # Good #hackgate cartoon on front cover of British Journalism Review. http://t.co/MGBERE63 # RT @markpack Tonight I will be @stephentall. Anyone got a hat + more importantly his joke book? < NB #ldconf feel free to heckle this year. # BBC's James Landale on #ldconf – a good, fair assessment here: http://t.co/v4tJ6ESO # (Tho Lib Dem-haters ...
Some may be aware that I interviewed Nick Clegg recently and I have written this up as an interview here. However, this blog is about marrying the solution focused approach to politics and I styled my interview on solution focused questioning. I will therefore write up the interview explaining and discussing this from the SF ...
Here are copies of the resolutions passed at the first two business items at last night's Cabinet. Click on the relevant image for a larger copy. These are now reduced to 10% original size. Item 19A Item 13 Filed under: Cabinet, Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems, Martin Morton, Wirral Council Tagged: PACSPE
The Scottish Liberal Democrat conference is coming up in the next couple of weeks and having spoken at it in previous years I am unable to attend on this, the first with Willie Rennie at the helm. However I spent some time this weekend contemplating if any of the Laws of Marketing that I use in my day job could be applied to the Scottish Lib Dems. I recognise in doing this I may be burnt at the stake by some of my more open-toed Liberal friends, but feel free to discard whichever of the Laws you feel are unapplicable. ...
Birthday surprise "I've had this well of excitement and anxiety. I'm terrible - TERRIBLE - at keeping secrets and more than once I'd had to stop myself from spilling it all out. Once or twice I've had to blatantly lie, which I hate, but I'm determined this will be a complete surprise." The four stages of happiness: anticipate, savor, express, and reflect. "My research has shown me that a key to happiness is squeezing out as much happiness as possible from a happy event. Unhappy people don't have fewer happy experiences as happy people, they just think about them less." ...
As it is Friday time for the previously mentioned Penguin picture from Birmingham Museum. There are much better pics and some information at the Birmingham Museum website. The painting is called "Dominicans in feathers" and is by Henry Stacey Marks. ... Continue reading →
Fri 23rd
07:40
Memo to LabourList's Paul Richards... Feel free to keep obsessing. It'll lose you the next election.
I think it's safe to assume that LabourList's Paul Richards is not Nick Clegg's greatest fan. What prompts me to leap to this conclusion? Well, I guess if you headline your article profiling the Lib Dem leader 'A snivelling, venal, ruthless social climber' you're making some kind of statement. I'd highly recommend reading Paul's post in full if only to gain an appreciation of the impotent fury, this red mist, which is clouding the Labour party's judgment. Here's a flavour: Some make the mistake of saying that the reason why Clegg so naturally fits into a Tory government is because ...
[2011] EWHC 2376 (Fam)Doncaster v Watson has been published in which Wall P says: "The first myth I wish to explode is that a person can be sent to prison "in secret". Nobody in this country is sent to prison for contempt of court "in secret"."He also makes reference to:[2007] EWCA Civ 248 Hammerton v Hammerton in which it is clear that someone was sent to prison "in secret". Hence he is wrong
Last night at Stockport Full Council we had a presentation on how the town is preparing for the Olympics. Stockport has an impressive number of top athletes, including Kerry-Ann Payne – the first Brit to qualify for London 2012 and many others – we'll be cheering them on and hope for their success. We're also hoping that our impressive sports facilities locally will be used for training by other national teams – several are being spoken to and where we've performed this role for other competitions in recent years the visitors have always been impressed. And we want the Olympics ...
I recently received a constituent complaint that the street sign in Marchfield Road on the east side at the top end of the street is missing. Having reported the matter to the City Council, I have been advised as follows : "The missing street name plate will be checked within the next week and any replacement sign ordered thereafter. Replacement signs are normally erected approximately eight to ten weeks after the order is raised."
I'm a prize, 100%, utter, f****** bleeding moron. Basically, I just made a massive cock up. A while ago I decided it would be a good idea to write a "farewell" blogpost which I would constantly rewrite and which would be autoset to publish at some point in the future. The idea being that I would constantly move the publishing date significantly forwards into the future so that it would never get published until I was no longer around to postpone it. Now, you can guess what happened. It published last night because I forgot about it in the aftermath ...
I can't believe I've been going to Liberal Democrat Federal Conference for 15 years now, and although I've missed a few Spring conferences I've been to every single Autumn conference since that first one in Brighton in 1996. At that time they were all in seaside resorts (except Harrogate, which is pretty much a seaside ...
The B&T Lib Dems have been out recently delivering news and views from around Shaftesbury. See the link below with the leaflet for more info. Shaftesbury Voice Summer 2011
Thursday evening brought Constituency Committee. There were a number of discussion points: A financial update – as may have been expected we will once again face a significant challenge meeting our budget this year. That said, we usually seem to start the year with a major challenge – currently a potential slippage in savings of £533k, and then get close to a balanced budget by year end. Last year we ended up with a deficit well under £100k, or less than 1% of our spend. A presentation on the street lighting improvements now well underway as part of the Amey ...
