Has anyone noticed the amazing resemblance between Ed Miliband and Ginger, the escapist chicken in Chicken Run ? I wonder if perhaps they are related or move in the same closed circles.
A welcome update to my post from earlier this week: the decision banning candidates from calling on members during the Merton & Wandsworth GLA selection has been reversed. Candidates may now call on members. In the thread on the earlier post Matthew Green, one of the selection committee members, explained his reasoning: Well, I was part of the selection committee that made the rule. There was a wide range of views expressed at the committee, from more liberal to more restrictive. We were mainly guided by precedent - the RO's previous seat (Greenwich & Lewisham, I think) having very similar ...
One of the best fringe meetings I attended during last weeks Liberal Democrat Conference in Birmingham was the Local, Social, Digital fringe that looked at the role that social media can play in engaging citizens and communities in democracy. This was held on the Sunday lunch time and included Julian Huppert MP, Mark Pack, and Cllr Daisy Benson as the key speakers. However, this was a very participatory fringe with lively discussions between those present. As an occasional skeptic of the current emphasis that many place on the role of social media I was pleased that the points made in ...
Labour have been keen to repeat across the board at their conference that a complete recasting of British society and economy is needed and that the current government is simply defending this broken status quo. Now if was leading a party that had overseen this 'broken status quo' for 13 out of the last 14 years and if I had been a been a cabinet member just 506 days ago who had been part of that 'broken status quo' I might just wonder how culpable I was personally for this 'broken status quo'. It's this almost complete lack of self ...
The One Tree Hill allotment society have their annual apple pressing afternoon next Saturday, 1st October, between 1pm and 5pm. All are invited to come and join them "chop/ mash/ scrat/ press apples into lovely fresh juice for you to drink." It's a free event and is at One Tree Hill Allotments, Honor Oak Park ...
***WARNING THIS BLOG POST LINKS TO THE DAILY FAIL*** You'd expect the Daily Mail to condemn us Liberal Democrats it is something that they do on a regular basis. However, Richard Littlejohn takes the biscuit today. He says that Lib Dem delegates at conference, so that by that he includes me, are infantile for cheering Nick Clegg for defending Human Rights and the Human Rights Acts. Only of course Littlejohn doesn't call it that he calls is yuman rites, when it comes to terrorist suspects. Here is news for Mr Littlejohn all suspects are just that suspects until proven otherwise. ...
Tue 27th
22:15
Election Expense Barbara Sinclair Page 5 Claughton Wirral Council 2011 B Unsolicited material to ele...
B Unsolicited material to electors 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 602600 A Leaflets THE WIRRAL PRESS 26.4.11 534 534 Sub-totals 534 534 Filed under: Claughton, Conservatives, Election Expenses, Elections, Wirral Council Tagged: Barbara ...
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 Sub-totals 0 Filed under: Claughton, Conservatives, Election Expenses, Elections, Wirral Council Tagged: Barbara Poole, Barbara Sinclair
Tue 27th
21:43Election Expenses: 2011 (Wirral Borough Council) Claughton ward Candidate: Barbara Sinclair Agent: B...
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 £ 0 Enter the total value of all donations worth up to the cash value of £50.00. No further details are required about these ...
A few years ago, I joined Facebook as a way of keeping in touch with friends in Canada and the UK. However, I never enjoyed using it. I found it complicated and time wasting. I left months ago, and haven't regretted doing so. I'm using the time I saved to write a novel. I've recently ...
Calm down, calm down! It's only a bargain. A New Bargain So Ed Miliband wants to offer us a new bargain. But what sort of bargain is he offering? The problem is that his speech today gave very little clue as to what that was. After all speech is cheap, quite the bargain really and if you can fill 55 minutes with platitudes and nothingness. Ok saying "something for something" and attacking one part of the opposition's approach to the NHS without ignoring that the other part is doing the sort of things you're saying you want to do. So ...
Despite as recent spate of burglaries in Lorna Grove, Dingle Grove and West End Avenue, Gatley, there is some good news: overall burglary figures are down in Gatley. There have been 39 burglaries from houses in the last three months, compared to 62 in the same three-month period last year. Police are also working on a spate of car vandalism and thefts of fuel in Cambridge Road and Belmont Road, Gatley (there was a similar issue last year in the same area and the person responsible was then caught). As we reported previously, there's been a recent spike in shop-lifting ...
Police have warned of a new scam which has led to thousands of pounds being stolen from people taking money out from cash machines in Cheadle & Gatley. Thieves fit a "money trap" onto the cash machine. When someone legitimately withdraws money, it goes into the trap and doesn't emerge. The innocent user goes away, then the thief comes back, removes the trap and takes the money. The banks are reimbursing people who have lost money in this way, but please keep a close watch out for any odd attachments on cash machines.
Yes probably. But I could not help but hoot when Ed Miliband went off air for a while during his speech... Trust Labour with the economy ?.. You can't even trust them to get their "once a year- showcase to nation" broadcast right. Oh dear... There is a mischeavous part of me that wonders if his "advisors" did not pull the plug on him.. Then came the sad indictment of the whole Labour party conference...Rather than spend hours with woeful Labourites arguing (still) that Ed Balls should not have apologised for Labour mistakes – or analysis and reactions to their ...
The news this evening that Dana Scallon and David Norris had both secured the support of four councils means that there will be seven candidates for the Irish Presidency. Dana was the first of the final two to acquire the support of four councils before the 12 noon deadline on Wednesday. With the support of Carlow, Roscommon, Donegal and Offaly county councils. Norris still seeking to be the first openly gay president of Ireland secured the support of his fourth council Dublin City late this evening to add to Laois, Fingal and Waterford. Cork had refused to support him earlier. ...
For those of you on Internet Explorer 8 you may have noticed we have been causing your pcs to crash. Apologies – wasn't really our fault – that's Internet explorer8 just a bit behind the times. But we have fixed it anyway! If you are using Chrome or Firefox or IE9 you may not have noticed a problem – please be very smug and ignore this message.
I have received notification that a number of "minor" amendments have recently been made to the County Councils Constitution to implement decisions made by the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with Group Leaders. The full Constitution may be viewed at the following link (just in case you need something for your quite a large part of me that thinks Constitutions shouldn't be able to be edited like this. Is that wrong? - I mean with the amount of changes that have happened lately how much more work can be done to it before it stops being a Constitution and becomes ...
Sinderins Court In addition to a number of visits to constituents earlier today, I have : * Attended an open meeting of the Pennycook and Sinderins Courts Residents' Association, where I discussed a number of local matters at a good gathering of the sheltered tenants. These included an update on progress with the Pennycook Lane seating and planting project, bin collection issues, noise concerns and the damaged (missing) bus stop on Perth Road near Step Row (I have reported this to the City Council). * Taken part in the latest Jericho House Support Group meeting at which good progress on ...
This post first appeared on Lib Dem Voice. Liberal thinking on tax is based on both that the state has a duty to protect the poor and vulnerable, and that the state brings the best out of each individual. The practical aim of Liberal Democrats is therefore to help to lift the less well off ...
Would you like a community radio in Yate? If so, use your finger between 26 September and 23 October. Go to http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/4548 (see instructions below on how to vote) and vote for Yate Armadillo Community Radio. If we get enough votes, we will get £6000 - enough to kit out a radio studio in the Armadillo, which will be led by young people, but will broadcast a full range of news, sports reports, adverts for local firms and groups - including live gigs by local bands. Unlike many community radio stations this will be youth led, a social enterprise giving ...
Tweetbar·gain (bärgn) n. 1. An agreement between parties fixing obligations that each promises to carry out. 2. a. An agreement establishing the terms of a sale or exchange of goods or services: finally reached a bargain with the antique dealer over the lamp. b. Property acquired or services rendered as a result of such an ...
Many people do not watch political conferences. If they had watched the recent Liberal Democrat conference they would have seen a lot of good discussion about important matters. Without the Coalition Government our country would be in a very poor shape, perhaps like Greece, as there would be infighting about how they are to solve their financial problems. Our coalition has amicably started to reduce the budget (and the huge interest payments this will save us). None of this is easy but it needs to be done. We are doing better than the USA, Spain and Greece to name a ...
Yes, I know. Nothing new in the headline it is such common knowledge that Labour stands for the producer interest that in a way this isn't news. What is interesting, however, is that Ed Milliband has now admitted as such in today's Leaders speech. According to total politics one of Eds 'well crafted lines' was the one that proclaimed Labour would stand up for producers not predators. Like his favour the rich policy on tuition fees and authoritarian journalist register this will make good headlines and bad policy. I am a Liberal because I don't support the producer interest. If ...
Perhaps the most depressing feature of last week's Liberal Democrat conference, at least from a personal perspective, was a fringe meeting I attended on social mobility. Hosted by CentreForum and the ACCA and supposedly debating "breaking down barriers to social mobility", I was particularly attracted to the event because of the promised attendance of Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee. Unfortunately Ms Toynbee's invite must have got lost somewhere but there was still a distinguished panel of current and retired academics as well as Norman Lamb MP. What solutions did they have for "breaking down the barriers"? Lamb started off positively, citing ...
Details of this planning application can be found by following this link: The case officer is Steve Isaacson - please email comments and objections to him at steve.isaacson@lewisham.gov.uk, and don't forget to copy us in at foresthill@lewishamlibdems.org.uk
Over on his blog Jonathan Calder makes a good point about the speech-making abilities of Liberal Democrat President Tim Farron: My impression of Tim is that he is very good at saying things people agree with. So in Cumbria he is against second homes and in favour of farming subsidies and Kendal mint cake... Now that Tim Farron is being spoken of as a possible party leader, he needs to risk the odd unpopular speech. Someone in that class cannot always be telling people what they want to hear. [IMG: Tim Farron] There's certainly a role for funny and uplifting ...
I can't honestly claim to be an avid reader of the Daily Mail. Britain's second most hysterical tabloid (still not quite as deranged as Desmond's Daily Express) is normally aimed at those who enjoy being enraged by something – I have quite enough of that observing Cornwall Council's Tory-led administration at work, thank you very ...
"It seems to me that the Liberal Democrats are likely to splinter at the time of the next election between if you like the Orange Book leadership, Nick Clegg and others at the top, and what I think of as the majority of Liberal Democrats.""If that happens, then I think there is a prospect for some kind of alliance, with if you like... the genuine Liberal Democrats, together with the Greens and together possibly with other forces.""But I think from the basis of where we are at the moment I think it is very possible we can win the next ...
Many people round the world are paying tribute to Wangari Maathai who died on September 25th. She was one of those people who just radiate life and energy around them. I met her once at the breakfast we shared as delegates to a conference back in 1984 The memory of those few minutes of warm conversation will stay with me always. And not because she is the only Nobel Laureate I have personally met. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee said when awarding her the 2004 prize: "Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment. Maathai stands ...
More than any other issue, tuition fees have damaged the view of our party in the country as a whole. For what it's worth, here's what I think our leader should say about fees when going into the next general election: I would just like to say a few brief words about tuition fees. As a party, we entered the last election with a promise to oppose any increase in tuition fees. As a party, we then broke that pledge. That was wrong. Nothing can justify breaking a promise like that. Nothing. We made a mistake and we have been ...
Tue 27th
15:54
Ed Miliband talks tough on the energy companies - now he's not in a position to do anything about th...
Today we heard Ed Miliband make a stand against energy companies for constantly putting prices up. 'Prices go up but never come down' exclaimed the leader of the Labour Party as he chose his fight. It is a great thing to speak on. Energy prices are going up at around five times the rate of inflation. I know that my heating bills will certainly go up this year and I don't like it one jot. Those on a tighter budget will feel it worse. I can see what Ed Miliband is trying to say but I have one issue with ...
Driving down London's, Euston Road en route to or from work, for a while now I've been curious as to what rich probably uncaring entity, could afford to occupy a rather striking, opulent, brightly lit building between Euston and St Pancras Due to the traffic congestion, I eventually spotted the signage for Unison (public sector union) and wonder how this brash glass and concrete building fits into the role representing Unison as the embodiment of hard done by, selfless, caring, public sector workers. I know I'm cynical of those whose jobs are funded by the taxpayer, and frankly take the ...
I have serious reservations about the coalition governments plans for reforming the planning system. I doubt many MP's have ever sat as a councillor on a council Planning Committee or for that matter been a developer promoting a scheme. I've done both and the current system is biased towards big developers. The system isn't perfect but it does balance many competing wishes in a relatively fair way. If anything the present system, due to concerns by councils about potential to lose appeals and have costs awarded against them, already have a tacit presumption in favour of developers. If anything objectors ...
I've never quite worked out why human nature is only ever invoked to explain our worst actions, as though it guarantees people behaving badly. Yesterday, in one of those moments of complete absent mindedness that can happen when you're thinking about several things at once, I removed my bank card from an ATM but failed to take the cash. I didn't realise until some time later but when I did realise I phoned the Post Office and the Police Station to check if anyone had handed my money in. I was a little disappointed, but not particularly surprised, to find ...
TweetEd Miliband, not content with leading his party down blind alleys, also appears to be proposing to decimate their funding even further. The ipaper reports that Miliband is trying to reduce the value of Union member votes. There is an irony in this, given that it was the weight of the Union majority that allowed ...
We're in the middle of the political conference season. Ed Miliband will be delivering his keynote speech to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool this afternoon following Nick Clegg's speech last week to the Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham. Next week it will be David Cameron's turn in the Tory conference. Here in Wales, Plaid Cymru also had their annual autumn gathering two weeks ago. Whilst I was in Birmingham last week, I spent a few hours at the bar in the company of one of Wales' political reporters. We had a good chat about all things political and rugby ...
I am still spending way too much time on DW/LJ when I should be doing other things, so I am going to be trimming my lists again in both places. As ever, it doesn't mean I don't like you any more - there just aren't enough hours in the day. This entry was cross-posted from Dreamwidth, where there are currently [IMG: comment count unavailable] comment(s). View DW comment(s).
I wasn't there to hear the Birmingham conference back the community politics motion on Tuesday. I had meant to be but had to go back to London early. It was one of those pieces of sacred Liberalism that you daren't speak against, but I would have done. I'm not sorry it was passed but the party must also understand that there is another side to it. Community politics may be a revolutionary doctrine, but BAD community politics - and we have practised some of that occasionally, let's face it - damages the party and damages the political process. I know ...
I will be live-blogging Ed Miliband's speech to the Labour Party Conference here from 2.30 pm. 1430 Delegates are currently watching a video of various Labour supporters denouncing the 'Tory cuts' in no uncertain terms. Those will be the cuts that Ed Balls admitted Labour would not reverse in his speech yesterday. 1432 The BBC Parliament channel is currently playing its funky little theme tune over the video that is apparently introducing the man of the hour, so I can't give you any further commentary. The unmistakeable Tom Watson has just appeared on screen though, so it can't be all ...
As Ed Miliband is poised to take the stage to make his Leader's Speech, it really is true what the pundits have been saying: Labour is now the least interesting of Britain's three parties. For anyone who enjoys following politics (regardless of which party they support, if any), the Coalition Government is an utterly new and engrossing story. The politics of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are the only show in town. Labour may win the next General Election, Ed Miliband might be our nation's next Prime Minister, but it is very difficult to summon up much interest in what ...
ALDC presented its annual Campaigner Awards at its AGM during Federal Conference in Birmingham. We had a large number of entries from across the country and the standard of entries is improving every year. Once again, the awards were kindly sponsored by Midshire and Riso. The awards were presented once again by our Party President, Tim Farron MP. Pictures of all the winners can be found on ALDC's Flickr site. The winners were: Overall Winner Bath and North East Somerset Best Focus Winner: Cambridge Highly commended: North Somerset and Eastbourne Best literature by a volunteer campaigner Winner: Cotswold Highly commended: ...
Today, Labour have announced a policy (yes another one they're on a roll) of licensing journalists so they can be 'struck off' for breaking the law. in the aftermath of the phone hacking scandals they clearly think this would be a populist move but I hope the cheerleaders for this policy stop and think for a moment. Do we really, as a country, want to have a compulsory list of journalists with a state funded quango deciding whether they work or not? This may seem like a good idea in the aftermath of phone hacking but is downright dangerous and ...
In a big scoop for the Extra Bold Blog, I have again obtained an early draft of Ed Milliband's speech. For copyright reasons, I won't release this until after the actual speech has been delivered. [check against delivery] Friends, comrades, it is great to still be here. A generation ago a Labour leader condemned Labour in Liverpool. Today, Liverpool has been put right, by someone. Ask me the three most important things I've done this year, and I'll tell you. They're all about my family. Which is nice. But let me talk about my nose for a while. You'd be ...
It is with regret that the Ripplestone Review will be cancelling the 2010 ~ 2012 awards due to the increasing financial pressures caused by the ongoing economic downturn. All events/music/places etc reviewed during this period will remain eligible for the 2014 awards (which may be called Quadrennial Awards) when, hopefully, the economy will have picked up. Many thanks to all the fanatastic places/events/music that have been reviewed in the last two years and wishing everyone the best of luck going forward.
At the risk of an analogy of a relaunch of a relaunch, I am yet again coming round the to revitalising of this blog of mine. Work and interests and family and life generally have taken over and it's time to draw this all together and get writing again... As a context I am reading a lot again which is great fun and will be putting up some of this in the blog. The Historic Kilburn Plaque Scheme needs gingering up and galvanising into action, the African Liberal Network is going great guns and the Forum for Africa is picking ...
At least that is one implication of what shadow culture minister Ivan Lewis could bring about with a register of journalists. You only have to look at what Labour's Socialist cousins around the world have done by allowing only certain publications to publish news down through the years. So while I agree that something needs to be done in light of hackgate a register of journalists and a striking off of some of those is not the way to go about it. Where would this register end? How would it affect freedom of speech and thought? Would it be used ...
Saturday (again): If this was really the last story for Amy and Rory Pond, it would be - rightly - remembered as a classic. But it isn't. Instead, it's a standalone story relying heavily on the series' established continuity, but at the same time undermined by the continuing aspects of the plot. Hinging on Amy's faith in the Doctor immediately after a story that showed an Amy who had lost her faith in the Doctor and in the middle of a season-long arc where Amy's faith in the Doctor is betrayed by his failure to rescue her baby seems... misplaced. ...
Ready the confetti, assemble the brass band and prepare to burst your lungs with cheering. For another victory has been won in the war on eccentric website terms and conditions. Once again someone snuck in a demand that people get prior permission before linking to the Dumfries and Galloway Council website. An FoI request from me revealed that the council keeps no records of any such requests (which makes the idea of insisting on permission a little hard to enforce...) but on being asked for a comment their press office promptly responding telling me: Our Council's web team has agreed ...
We often hear of the numbers of police being cut, and of what the police are being asked to do ...Continue reading »
Tue 27th
12:28
Opinion: Is the Chancellor ready to listen to the best economic brains in the Cabinet?
Having just left one party conference, where I was able to deliver my message on the shortcomings of the Coalition Government's strategy to revive the UK economy and to promote my alternative take on the official Lib Dem approach to party policy development, in advance of the next General Election, (see Facing the Future ), I am now waiting to hear what George Osborne has to say at the Tory party conference in Manchester, in just a few days' time. Labour really is - as Alistair Campbell has recently put it - the third most interesting party in the UK. ...
Massive edit: It appears I misread the speech and that Ivan Lewis is NOT calling for state licensing of the media, however I still object because the "independent" licensing in the form he proposes goes way too far. OK ... Continue reading →
On Saturday, we go pick up the keys for our new house. [IMG: [personal profile] ] magister and [IMG: [personal profile] ] matgb and I are all going to be living together. The new house is much bigger, and closer in to the town centre, but it still works out cheaper for us overall because we're not paying for seperate houses. We'll have much more space, and even room to have visitors, AND it'll cost us less! How cool is that? Mat is most excited about the kitchen, which is LOVELY, and has a double oven (proper sunday dinners!). James ...
There was one principal local council by-election held on Thursday 22th September. The Tories held the seat. There were two parish or town council by-election results reported to ALDC. One seat was held by the Tories, one by the Lib Dems. [IMG: Wisbech Parish Cllr Robert McLaren was our candidate for the District (l) and Cllr Dave Patrick is one of our two distrct councillors (r)] Fenland District Council, in Cambridgeshire, has two Lib Dem councillors. It held a by-election in the Staithe ward on the edge of Wisbech. In 2010 we did not stand a candidate and we had ...
Autumn Federal Conference is always a busy time for ALDC, and this year's event in Birmingham was no exception. ALDC's training programme saw 27 different sessions highlighting issues as diverse as: email campaigning, being an effective ward councillor, campaigning against organised independents and campaigning in your local community. Our Fringe programme kicked off on Saturday evening with our Annual General Meeting which included the 2011 ALDC Campaigner Awards presented by Party President Tim Farron (see separate story). This was followed by our members reception, with kind support from the Co-operative, and guest speakers Nick Clegg MP and Andrew Stunell MP. ...
There is controversy within Stansted Mountfitchet Parish Council over blogs, particularly the inclusion of blog website addresses in the village magazine. I am the only parish councillor with a blog and district councillor Alan Dean also runs a blog. Conservative David-James Sadler, based in Saffron Walden, is the only other active blogging councillor in the district. At the last full parish council meeting, one councillor thought it inappropriate to include links to councillors' blogs in the parish council's magazine because they are "political", although Stansted is the only village in Uttlesford that has party political elections – some villages don't ...
My team and I at ArtistWorks have been quietly working away at signing some of the world's best musicians and teachers with the intention of launching a string of online music schools over the next couple of months. It's with great pleasure that today we've announced that award winning dobroist Andy Hall (Dolly Parton, Wynona, ...
One of the things that people were 'kindly' reminding me of during my time at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Birmingham last week was my experience of becoming a poster boy for Lib Dem misery following this May's elections. Something which I have written about here and here. Thanks guys for the support! This wasn't helped by the Daily Politics using the footage in its review of the year for the Lib Dems on the Wednesday before the Leader's speech. I think my prediction that "when anyone at the BBC wants some stock footage of a Lib Dem looking miserable ...
Coalition and the changing Liberal Democrats from Institute of Economic Affairs on Vimeo.
TweetFollowing a rather interesting article in yesterday's Guardian on the backlash against feminism, the reports on Amanda Knox today caught my eye. Italy provides the perfect dimension for contradiction between the sexes. The President, Burlosconi, is notorious for his sexual exploits and excessive interactions with young ladies. Yet should a woman present any interest in ...
The moment of truth is here. A couple of weeks ago, I declared: We signed it off today: the first 'annual fund' for the University of Oxford in a couple of decades. Well, it was mailed out on Friday, so will start arriving through the letter-boxes of alumni this week. In total, 170,000 people will be sent their copy in the coming weeks inviting them to make a donation in support of the 'Oxford Thinking' Campaign. My fingers are fixedly crossed that (i) they will like it, and, more importantly, (ii) they will respond with a gift. I promised you ...
An update on my mini-campaign to improve the Oyster machine situation at Finsbury Park Tube station: Transport for London has now given me a detailed response. Here's what it says: The Duty Station Manager is aware of this situation but extra or catching signage will not really address the issue. During the rush hour many of our customers are in a hurry and automatically go to the nearest Oyster reader. In the interim we'll make announcements to advise customers of readers and if feasible place an available member of staff in that area, advising customers that more validators are available. ...
Liberal thinking on tax is based on the principle both that the state has a duty to protect the poor and vulnerable, and that the state can help bring the best out of each individual. The practical aim of Liberal Democrat tax policy therefore is to help to lift the less well off towards the average. This is not achieved only by handouts - which would be Labour's priority - but by having a tax system that encourages work and aspiration for the lower paid. Liberal Democrats are implementing our manifesto commitment of a £10,000 income tax threshold. This is ...
Tue 27th
10:43
Labour are finished until they lose their sense of entitlement to people's votes #lab11
Labour MP for Glasgow South Tom Harris took his book promotion tour Scottish leadership campaign to Good Morning Scotland today. He may well be talking the talk about how rubbish Labour have been recently, and how they need to change, but the use of a simple word shows that the old mindset is truly alive and well within him. He talked about how voters had abandoned Labour. That to me is an interesting choice of word because it implies some wrongdoing on the part of the voter. It's almost as if Labour feels aggrieved that those voters deprived them of ...
The Press Association carries a story today based on remarks by the Shadow Welsh Secretary, Peter Hain in which he asserts that Labour could form a coalition with backbench Liberal Democrat MPs if the next General Election does not hand Ed Miliband an overall majority. Apparently, Mr. Hain wants to by-pass the Liberal Democrat leadership and work directly with those members of the party that he does approve of: A fringe meeting at the Labour party conference in Liverpool heard that unofficial channels had already been opened up between shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne and some Lib Dems. ...
Last night there was a lot of confusion over Labour's position on marriage equality caused by a recent article by Peter Tatchell entitled "Why has Labour failed to vote for marriage equality?" This caused many on Twitter to assume Labour had voted against marriage equality. Now, as much as I dislike Labour and fear their conservative instincts on many issues, I can't see how anyone could imagine a situation where they would vote against such an obviously progressive measure. Of course they've been against marriage equality in the very recent past. Gordon Brown answered a question on this here: In ...
If you're wondering what I'm referring to, you can read the full story of what happened yesterday on my last blog. Basically, the Lib Dems walked out of full council at County Hall because of the disgraceful conduct of the ... Continue reading →
One of the key parts of the Liberal Democrat budget proposals for next year is something called the "Public Realm review". Stockport Council has to make savings of £13.5 million in the year 2012/13. We've got a proposal to merge road repairs, litter clearing and parks maintenance so that it will save over £750,000 without reducing the service. That last bit is important – we are not proposing a reduction in service. By taking three separate teams and merging them into one, and by implementing a few other measures, we can save the money and maintain the services we currently ...
Lord Ashcroft has done some useful polling on the Lib Dems in the last year and he has just completed some more which you may have read at LibDemVoice but there seems to be some really interesting data here which seems to have been missed by many – that a third of voters will vote for ...
Last Sunday morning at about 8:50 I entered the conference hall in Birmingham as was asked by Gareth Epps if I could summate on amendment 2 on the Accreditation for Conference Motion. I did have a card in to speak on the motion, but knew that being asked to do this I would be throwing out a lot of what I had to say and dealing with arguments raised by a lot of people during the debate. I was shocked by the number of people who said well done, either in person, on twitter or text. Yes my pocket kept ...
The Dulwich Vegan and Vegetarian Society (DVVS) are encouraging residents and businesses to support the concept of meat free days. I'm observing meat free Monday's. Whole host of great positive reasons to support this – health, environment, finance and obvious animal welfare. My eating habits are entrenched but I'm making a real effort on Monday's. I'm interested in becoming a vegetation full-time but the prospect of cultured meat that is grown in labs rather than on animals isn't helping my motivation levels! So far DVVS have obtained the following support: Schools: Alleyn's School (advertising the scheme to the students and ...
Tue 27th
09:15Labour's odd messaging: how the party was for reversing Coalition cuts before it was against them
Mark Pack has already highlighted the pitfalls of political opponents commentating on other parties' conferences. And he's right of course. But it didn't stop him, so I won't let it stop me... I am genuinely puzzled by Labour's key messages based on the first two days of their conference. Day 1 kicked off with the Big Announcment by Ed Miliband that Labour is now committed to doubling tuition fees (dressed up as only The Observer could as Labour committing to 'slashing' fees). Regardless of what you think about the policy, and I think I've made my views clear enough, the ...
His nose is just sinking below the water in the polls, but there is no cry to deleader Ed Miliband. Could it be because there are 3.5 years to go before an election? -That's due to the fixed term parliament change. If the change wasn't on the cards, then perhaps there would be more panic in Labour circles about Miliband's lacklustre leadership – after all, in that situation, there could be an election at any moment.
In an update to a previous story on this blog I was on the bus yesterday reading the Metro and happened to notice this story in the Metro. According to the story the Metropolitan Police's specialist crime directorate have now announced he will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates Court today (27th September 2011) after ...
They say you should never judge the success of a budget based on its reception within the first 24 hours. Perhaps we can extend the ruling to policy pronouncements too. On Sunday, Ed Miliband vowed that Labour would 'slash' student tuition fees... by, erm, doubling them from their current rate. Even though it will make no difference to low- or middle-income earners. I wasn't alone among Lib Dems in pointing out the gaping flaws in this plan. And nor is it just Lib Dems. Hopi Sen is one of the most intelligent Labour bloggers, and he's distinctly underwhelmed too in ...
I'm too busy to blog today but fortunately I have a piece appearing on LibDemVoice where I've written the speech on tuition fees which I think our party leader should give at the next general election. So, follow that link! UPDATE: The article has now been posted on LDV - go and read it!
There can't be much better nourishment for the liberal soul than being in a room with Julian Huppert, Shami Chakrabarti, Ming Campbell and Evan Harris. A packed fringe meeting at Lib Dem Conference in Birmingham gathered to hear these esteemed speakers along with Tom Brake and Yasmin Alibai-Brown discuss the Human Rights Act. I hadn't realised that Julian Huppert had once been a Council member of Liberty, but, frankly, it makes sense. I tweeted my way through the meeting and I've picked up some tweets from some others. The key message was that the Human Rights Act is vital, despite ...
A tenant farmer, whose parents started their 52-year-old business following a £100 win on the football pools, has joined the fight to save plans for wind farms on county council land. George Munns, who runs a 21 acre smallholding at Westmoor Farm in Chatteris, had planned to build a medium sized wind generator on his land. But his plans fell apart when county Tories put a hold on allowing wind farms on council land and threw away almost £1 million a year in extra revenue. Liberal Democrats have called in the decision to the county council Cabinet on Monday (September ...
Monday: The GENIUS of Mr Bully Balls is to hold two completely contradictory views simultaneously without EXPLODING. For example: On the one fluffy foot, the (Hard Labour) Government CANNOT be blamed for the MASSIVE ECONOMIC IMPLOSION of 2008 because they were at the MERCY of worldwide economic conditions, the poor helpless little ducks. On the OTHER fluffy foot, the (Coalition) Government are ENTIRELY to blame for their powerful, cruel, ideological policies causing the stagnation in growth and employment in 2011 because that CAN'T be anything to do with the meltdown of the Euro and the chaos in Americaland, can it? ...
Labour Party HQ. Interior. The week before Labour Party Conference. Ed Miliband and some other senior Labour MPs and peers are watching Nick Clegg's speech to Liberal Democrat Conference. E. Miliband: (breathing heavily) [inaudible] H. Harman: Are you alright, David, er, I mean Ed? It doesn't sound like that operation did you much good. E. Miliband: (removes clothes peg from nose) Oh, sorry, Harriet. I was just experimenting to see what my voice would sound like if I didn't constantly speak through my nose. It turns out it makes little difference. Anyway, what do you guys make of this speech? ...
Ed Miliband has seized the initiative at the start of his conference, announcing that Labour would cap student fees at £6,000 per year. This policy is superficially attractive, and is clearly designed to win over LibDem supporters who remain angry at the rise in tuition fees. Today I have published an analysis of Labour's proposal. It uses the Business Innovation and Skills graduate income "ready reckoner", which is based on data from the ONS Labour Force Survey. The underlying data are as good as they can be, although of course predicting graduate incomes in 30 years time is a dangerous ...
Liberal think tank Centre Forum has been busy crunching some numbers, and their findings don't make happy reading for Labour's seemingly-doomed leader. Ed Miliband has made a big socalist play of his alleged plans to force nasty bankers to subsidise cheaper degrees for the bright teenage children of hard-working families. Yet through its complexities, Miliband's plan would typically benefit "graduates in their fifties earning £72,500". The study says: "Virtually no one in the bottom half of the earnings distribution, and virtually no one under the age of 35, will stand to gain from Labour's plan." The policy of lumping further ...
TweetAccording to some, admittedly Orange Booker, Lib Dem colleagues, I'm so left I ought to join the Greens and read the New Statesman. This is because of my position on liberal interventionalism, in particular in Libya. Discussing the subject with a range of people recently, I found a substantial level of indoctrination that Gadaffi is ...
OK, so Tony Blair was a steaming pile of hypocrisy in office. So he was also pretty incompetent, leaving us with a constitutional settlement that could destroy the country and economic policies that brought us to the brink of national insolvency. OK, so he left us with the inept and unworthy Gordon Brown as his hand picked successor. So he created a coterie of dishonest unelected "special advisors" - the so-called "sofa cabinet" and undermined the civil service, personalizing his regime in a way that was also essentially against our constitution. So he was a war monger. So he was ...
[IMG: IMG_0689] This morning I put my 'normal' grey wheelie bin out for the very last time for its weekly collection. From next week everyone in Bury moves to a new system where different bins get emptied in different weeks. For the 1/3rd of us who don't have brown bins, we're only getting a visit every two weeks. The Council is right to want to do something about recycling. It is a disgrace that Bury has the LOWEST recycling rates anywhere in Greater Manchester, and send more waste to landfill than anywhere else in Greater Manchester. In the last couple ...
Chorlton Lib Dem Councillor Victor Chamberlain has accused Manchester's Labour Council of showing inappropriate and blatant party political bias through their use of the official twitter account (@ManCityCouncil). The 'official' account follows 168 people; which include six Labour City Councillors, the account for Manchester Labour (@ManchesterRose) and Manchester's Labour MEP, Arlene McCarthy. The official account does not follow a single Liberal Democrat Councillor or politician despite many having twitter accounts. Last year Manchester's Liberal Democrat opposition criticised the Labour Council for hiring a £38k Twitter tsar while axing 1500 jobs. Councillor Chamberlain said: "The City Council is legally required to ...
