I'm not one of these people who regularly asks their readers to help a good cause in one way or another but recently I've come across three good causes which it would be brilliant if you could help out with. The first two only require a few minutes of your time and I'd like you to please seriously consider donating money to the last one. The first cause is the Barn Youth Project. This is a youth project in Guildford which has been running for years and which makes a big difference to the lives of lots of young people. ...
I know it's been a while since I posted anything, and this is going to seem completely self indulgent on my part but please hear me out. I have had my first short story published by Amazon, and it is now available for download to your Kindle, IPhone, IPad, PC, Mac, Blackberry, and other android things that I don't quite understand. It's the first thing I have ever had published, so I would be really appreciative of all those people who paid the small some of 86p and read my story. Getting feedback is also important to me, so if ...
Rory Weal, the 16 year old who got up in front of Labour conference and told the world that he and his family had relied on the welfare state during a period of financial difficulty was incredibly brave for doing what he did. Today the Mail and the Telegraph have attacked him for being from
Labour are determined to have a monopoly on progressive politics. That can be the only conclusion to be drawn from a frankly bizarre report by the IPPR (reported on Lib Dem Voice) that implies that raising the threshold when low paid workers start paying income tax is regressive. It appears to be based on the assumption that any further rises in the threshold don't benefit those already benefiting from the zero tax rate who by definition are the poorest of the working poor. This is ludicrous sophistry of the highest order and the sort of rationale that led to Gordon ...
Everyone knows that members of the Liberal Democrats are pro-Europe. There are many reasons why this is the case. The party has a long-standing international tradition. It supports free trade and the removal of protectionist barriers. The party is a product of a merger between the Liberal party and the SDP. The SDP founders left Labour because of that party's anti-European position. And finally, there is a practical side that says it is better to be part of an organisation that impacts on how the UK operates than trying to influence that entity from the outside. The recent Euro zone ...
Given the SNP want independence - when they are given the opportunity to enjoy the biggest transfer of power from Westminster back to Scotland in roughly 300 years you think they would jump at it, wouldn't you? Well, that's not exactly how it is turning out. Sadly the SNP instead are questioning the risks of getting more power but whilst ironically asking for more power. The SNP refused to be involved in the Calman commission consultations despite its obvious importance to the people of Scotland at the time of the Report being compiled yet now seem to be trying to ...
Rory Weal is the 16 year old boy who spoke at the Labour conference two days ago and is now being attacked in the press, in blogs and on Twitter for his speech and his circumstances. Rory said: "I owe my entire well-being and that of my family to the welfare state ." He said this because his family had hit hard times and had to rely on the welfare state to get through. At first Rory received praise for giving a speech at his age. Then, in true British style, he was villified mercilessly because the press found out ...
After a seven month wait Hibs finally win a league game at Easter Road 3-2 v St Johnstone. The match stats provided by the BBC make interesting reading - and it's not the fact that Hibs appear to have been comprehensively outplayed. It's because despite scoring three times, the stats say Hibs had just two shots on target...
[IMG: UNICEF] In Kenyan camps, vaccine protects Somali refugee children from killer pneumonia DADAAB, Kenya, 14 September 2011 - About six months ago, Kenya was one of the first countries in Africa to introduce the pneumococcal vaccine, and children now have access to this life-saving intervention through routine immunization in the Dadaab refugee camps in the north-east of the country.
Last year, I suggested that Ed Miliband was developing a narrative that could be described as civil libertarian socialism. This year, his conference speech built upon the 'socialist' element. He argued for a State that intervenes in the economy to encourage good behaviour. The distinction between businesses that produce wealth and those that are predatory fits with a certain left of centre world view. Even conservatives have been known to be critical of the way some companies operate. It was Edward Heath who once described a businessman as "the unacceptable face of capitalism". Miliband, and his advisers, are hoping that ...
Earlier today, I was looking through the Webscriptions catalogue of ebooks. Webscriptions is both a great site and an annoying one. It sells DRM-free, multi-format science fiction ebooks – and it gives them away free to disabled readers. It sells them cheaply – average price is $6. The problem is, for every one good book ...
I've been reflecting on our situation as a party recently and I was reminded of something. Specifically I was reminded of these old words: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." ~ Mahatma Gandhi And, as I thought about them, the more they seemed to apply to the history of the Liberal Democrats. In the late 80s and most of the 90s we were treated as an irrelevance. There were a few brief headlines due to good polling results around the era of the Alliance, prior to the merger of the ...
I find myself surprised that I am about to write about Ed Miliband's speech to the Labour Party conference yesterday. While the media hype the significance of each of the three party leaders speeches to their members it has never really caught my imagination. My instinct is that the speech is often more about presentation ... Continue reading »
From the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard: Challenge issued for Sherston Mangold HurlRead all about the "increasingly popular root vegetable-based sporting extravaganza". With thanks to a reader.
The fiasco over Shadow Culture Secretary Ivan Lewis's call for journalists to be registered has rather obscured what should be a good point of debate: the degree to which journalists or editors should be held personally responsible for what they do. As I wrote earlier in the year about media regulation: There needs to be a much greater sense of individual, personal responsibility by journalists and editors for how they behave. This is best illustrated by the classic doorstepping exercise trawling for a story that many newspapers carry out. That sort of exercise can be justified - it is, after ...
Earlier today Clive Pownceby left a comment on an old post of mine about Ronnie Lane in Shropshire that paints a visit picture of the town in that decade: Lots of 'head shops,' rainbows, tie-dyes, hippie chicks n' dogs around. Used to see Ronnie in the Three Tuns in Bishops, either playing darts in the public bar or deep in conversation with people looking suspiciously like poachers and horse-traders. Wish I'd had the bottle to go up and chat. He seemed at ease and in his element.
Terrific stuff from David Boyle on the New Economics Foundation site as he points to the relevance of William Cobbett's opinions to modern Britain: "He believed that Britain was run not so much by a government, but by a financial system which had 'drawn the real property of the nation into fewer hands ... made land and agriculture objects of speculation ... in every part of the kingdom, moulded many farms into one ... almost entirely extinguished the race of small farmers ... we are daily advancing to the state in which there are but two classes of men, masters ...
Every time a Labour party conference comes around, you really really hope that they will take their thumbs out of their backsides and start being a real party of opposition or at the very least start extolling the values they tell everyone ...
Ed Miliband is a conflicted and compromised man. That much was evident from his keynote speech to his party's conference in Liverpool yesterday. There is so much that can - and has - been said about the speech, not least its intellectual incoherence. But more importantly is what the speech says about the man. It reveals personal insecurities, inner turmoil, divided loyalties, a confused policy direction and a certain fear of powerful interest groups - whoever they might be. So, what does the speech tell us about Ed Miliband that we perhaps didn't know before? 1. He wants to be ...
TweetIf you are homeless and residing in a council run hostel or b&b, the impetus to get a job is very difficult. Most employers now require a permanent address, and this is requisite for bank details and national insurance. So if you are not scuppered by an application form asking for details which may be ...
That was the subject of a discussion on the BBC Radio Berkshire Andrew Peach breakfast show on Monday morning. It involved all the usual comments about Twitter: I don't see the point of telling people what you're eating and I don't want to tweet every five minutes To his credit, Andrew Peach uses Twitter himself, and emphasised that they were not saying that there is no point to it, but he was interested in what local people use it for. I sent in this email which he read out just after 9am: It's been an interesting discussioon about Twitter. Two ...
TweetDuring the riots, the criticism of slashing of the police budget was echoing round the Commons. The argument Cameron made, and which is correct, is that budget cuts need not translate into front-line-service cuts. There is a lot of waste in civil services, not least through commissioning and bureaucracy. The budget holders can decide to ...
But let me say something else: The rioters are not the face of Britain's young people. The vast majority of our young people are good, decent and doing the best they can. Don't condemn all of them because of the actions of a few. You know what really struck me? How so many of those who did join in the riots seemed to have nothing to lose. It was about what they could get, here and now. Not what lies in front of them, tomorrow and in the years ahead. As if their own future had little value. Too many ...
You get to ask me one question. Any question, anything, no matter how $adjective it is. I won't judge you for your choice of question and only I can see poll responses, so you get to remain anonymous to everybody else. Only one catch: I won't break the confidence of anyone else. You've got one week. Go! View Poll: The (Slightly Edited) One Question Meme [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Why the debate at the party conference in Birmingham did not go nearly far enough. We need to do more than simply re-commit to community politics - we need to completely re-invent it:
Last week it all kicked off on twitter when some people said that there were not enough women on the Mock The Week panel. The show discussed it via their twitter feed but decided to draw a line underneath the debate. A blogger wasn't happy and put together a blog entitled Mock the Week Mock the Women which she posted yesterday. She describes herself as a feminist and as an active member of the Bristol feminist network so that is her words not mine so don't say I'm feminist bashing before you've read my 2p worth... Jo Brand commented two ...
A further word of caution for those deluded folk who want to creat a centre right, pro busisness, pro free market party like the FDP. The latest opinion poll illustrates the fate of such enterprises: Latest Germany poll: CDU 31%, SPD 29%, Die Grünen 19%, Die Linke 7%, Piraten 7%, FDP 2% (Forsa). The Pirates massacre FDP and damage Linke. It was said for years that the FDP was locked into a 2.5 party system by the electoral system used in Germany. Well funnily enough that has not stopped the rise of the Greens who occupy territory which in the ...
I know that this is early, but preparations for the Remembrance Services for Blyth are underway. On Sunday 6th November ( the Sunday before Remembrance Day ) there will be the Submariners Service at St Mary's Church, followed by the wreath laying at the memorial on Elfin Walk On Saturday 12th November there is the service at Newsham Memorial On Sunday 13th November there are three services. The "main" cermony will be at the War Memorial on Ridley Park , with another at the War Memorial at Cowpen. This is to be followed by a short ceremony at Bebside. I'm ...
This afternoon Cornwall Council's Communities Scrutiny Committee voted by 8 to 2 in favour of my proposal to save Camelford Leisure Centre. We now have to hope that the Cabinet accept the recommendation. When Cornwall Council set its budget in November last year, the recommendation (which Lib Dems voted against) was to withdraw from operating Camelford Leisure Centre. After a lot of protest from the local community, the Council agreed to provide some 'tide over' funding from the Leader's Contingency and from the Children Schools and Families budget. But this money is due to run out in April next year. ...
Several years ago the Stern Report made it clear that as a minimum Britain needed to reduce it CO2 emissions by 80%. In response to this and other previous reports Southwark council led by Liberal Democrats adopted a pledge to reduce its CO2 emissions by 80%. Yes 80% is "highly ambitious" but the consequences of climate change will be even more challenging. Half of Southwark could be below the water line. Acheiving the predicted 27% reduction by 2016, largely from centralising back office functions into Tooley Street, is a start but we have to save our planet. Apart from anything ...
Wednesday: This makes me sick. And not JUST because I have to link to the wretched Daily Hate Mail. (I'd much rather hat-tip Stephen and Neil.) On Monday, we felt for Rory Weal, as he told Hard Labour's Conference how the Welfare State saved his family when their home was repossessed. I was PUT OUT to see, smugly shaking the boy's hand, Mr Potato Ed, one of the very people RESPONSIBLE for destroying the economy and hence wrecking young Rory's life. But now we learn Master Rory is just as much of a PRIVILEGED little LABOUR PRINCELING as Mr Ed. ...
Vote here to help the 62nd St Cuthbert's Scouts, Churchtown,win the funding they need to repair and improve their headquarters. The 62nd St Cuthbert's Scout Group Churchtown Headquartersis in desperate need of refurbishment. The roof of the main hall leaks badly - in fact it has had to be proppedup for safety. They also need a newheating system, the building re-wired and wheelchair accessible toilets. The St Cuthbert's Scouts have applied for community fundingfrom the Nat West Community Force, but they need your help. Everyone will beable to vote for their favourite projects. The three projects with the mostvotes in ...
Tom Baker was often rather spiky in rehearsals, but it was only at the end of his time as the Doctor that he actually broke out as a cactus. In Doctor Who - Meglos, first broadcast thirty-one years ago this week, the Doctor, Romana and an increasingly knackered K9 face religious fundamentalists, scruffy space pirates and a megalomaniac succulent. Its DVD release earlier this year completed one of Doctor Who's finest seasons (for the lot, watch The Leisure Hive first, then The E-Space Trilogy and New Beginnings afterwards) with a mixture of good ideas, clichés, entertaining performances and feeble gunfights. ...
I have been sent information on how those currently unemployed can access jobs at the new Tesco store being built at The Swan. The new jobs will come on stream in January 2012, but the application process starts this autumn. For more details click on the link below: Tesco_Yardley_Job_Opportunities_Advance_Briefing[1]
A campaign run by a number of Wandsworth community groups to support a speed limit of 20mph on residential and shopping streets has been underway for the last few months. I spoke with Jon Irvin, vice-chairman of Wandsworth Environment Forum (WEF) with regards to this. He is supporting this change to reduce the number of road accidents in the borough in the hope that it will encourage more people to cycle and walk around the borough. Earlier this year the Coalition made an announcement to reduce the bureucreacy for councils wanting to implement 20mph schemes. Lib Dem Transport Minister Norman ...
Lib Dem Voice last week featured a brief post on the Coalition's plans for legal aid reform. But this is an important change that's been passed with barely a murmur from any Lib Dem MPs, when in fact it strikes at a principle at the heart of the party - civil liberties. The bill in which this change is contained, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, is currently making its way through the House of Commons. For something that will have fairly drastic effects on many people's access to justice there has been relatively little talk about ...
I welcome the Ilchester Park play area in Bidston as mentioned in this Wirral Council press release. However 200 yards away from Ilchester Park (as the crow flies) and just a few minutes walk away is a play area next to the Gautby Road Community Centre. The land the play area is on is owned ...
A working party set up to explore Liberal Democrat concerns about the county's deteriorating road network has supported their claims. The Cambridgeshire County Council review group released its interim report yesterday (Monday, September 26) and acknowledged that money is being spent on cheap maintenance instead of proper structural work. Last year the council spent just over half of the £12.5 million the government has handed out for road maintenance. And over the last five years it has invested no more than 75 per cent of the funding in the road network. "This had led to roads crumbling across the county," ...
When I say all bloggers, I mean those of any political party and none who sigh when they see yet another article decrying the Human Rights Act in the right wing press. And, actually, you don't need to be a blogger. If you want to contribute, just e-mail me a piece and I'll put it up. You may have seen my tweets from the Liberty fringe meeting at Lib Dem Conference in Birmingham last week. This was all about defending the Human Rights Act from the attack of David Cameron's Conservatives. Julian Huppert made the point that we don't often ...
County Durham Society for the Blind and Partially Sighted could get £6000 if enough of us vote for them. It's a bit of a clart but worth doing at http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/4169. The bid they've made is through the Natwest Community Force awards. It takes a couple of minutes to register and vote but if they get the award it will go towards employing a new part-time member of staff to run their resource centre, and will enable them to continue helping blind and partially sighted people in County Durham remain independent. Make a date with yourself to help the blind and ...
My regular column in the Prestwich Advertiser: Last week Bury Council's "Executive Committee" met in Prestwich, for the first time for many years. Sadly the only major decision taken that night was to close Prestwich's last council-run Elderly Person's Home, Redcliffe on Hilton Lane. Not exactly a visit to be proud of. Back in May, Labour took control of the Council promising to save local services. They swept the board in Prestwich on that promise, but have since presided over a string of closures which have hit Prestwich hard. The public desk at Prestwich Police Station is to close permanently ...
It's been a tough week and a half. I've not felt like blogging and have kept my head down despite the fact that the Labour party conference is giving me more than enough ammunition to rant at if I am ...
Susrprising I know what 7 of my Great-Grandparents were doing at least at one point of this day 99 years ago. They were either signing the Ulster Covenant, if they were male, or the Declaration, if they were female. Only one of my Great-Grandparents signatures can I not find, that may have had something to do with the nature of his work. His wife also only signed with her initial to try and hide her identity a little, and that took some detective work. However, as Michael has said we need to learn from our history. The covenant that they ...
As a political insider it's very easy to be carried away by partisan emotions, but very dangerous. Thus I have been watching (not literally) the Labour conference with a great deal of caution. I want to scoff, but my better self tells me to be more careful. And that applied especially the Labour leader Ed Miliband's speech delivered yesterday. After reading the commentary in the papers I decided that I had to read the text of it too. Let's start with the good bits. It set out a clear narrative for the past present and future. His starting point was ...
[IMG: Labour leader Ed Miliband delivers his speech] Every year, the media and the political class get themselves well and truly worked up about party leaders' conference speeches. They seem to forget that most voters hardly notice these performances. The party activists have almost always forgotten them by the time they get home. There are usually sound reasons why this is so. Still, a leader's conference speech provides the scribes with a quick and easy barometer of how well a party leader is performing. With luck, they and the activists will pick up some clear signposts as to where the ...
It is 99 years on since the Ulster Covenant was signed all over the Province. I know that at least ...Continue reading »
Transport for Greater Manchester have launched a consultation to ask cyclists what they want to see from proposed cycle compounds and centres which are to be built in locations around Greater Manchester, including one in Stockport. The money to build them has come from a Government grant, and the plan is to get something on the ground pretty quickly. But how should they be designed? What should the opening hours be? What should be in them? How should people access them (e.g. membership scheme). Have your say at TfGM.
I am on the horns of a dilemma. I served Londoners in the Metropolitan Police for more than 30 years and loyalty to my former colleagues runs deep. As a sergeant, I faced bricks and petrol bombs on the streets of Brixton in 1981. So I know what officers went through during the recent riots. I was later became one of a small cadre of advanced trained public order senior officers who took charge of policing protests and big events in London. So I know the strategies and tactics for dealing with riots. Yet I, like most Londoners, was disappointed ...
It's not really surprising that Cory Wheelabrator are a little bit desperate. 93% said no to the King's Lynn incinerator in a West Norfolk referendum. 97% said no in the Norfolk-wide planning consultation, including the majority of parish councils that ... Continue reading →
I've decided to stop blogging all the books I read - I'm permanently backlogged, and it's become another unnecessary source of stress. When I read a Kindle book, I'll be tweeting that I've done so, since Amazon provides a nice little automated feature for that, so feel free to ask me about anything that looks interesting. My Twitter handle is liz_with_hat. Other than that, I'll only blog a book if it's part of the Kitchen Reads book club or if there's something I particularly want to say about it. I know some of you liked the booklist posts, so apologies, ...
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has recorded this video message sending greetings to the Jewish community for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). May I also say "Shanah tova" to anyone who is celebrating.
The Twitter developer blog has some good tips on how to use Twitter securely, including the obvious (good passwords, surprise), the not so obvious (what to do if your account is compromised) and the never occurred to me (such as the benefits of using a corporate email account with a Twitter account). The full post on Twitter security is here.
Last Sunday we had the AGM of the Advisory Council on the Education of Gypsies and Travellers, an organisation formed in 1973 by Lady (Bridget) Plowden to lobby for more effort and resources to be put into Gypsy, Roma and Traveller education. I succeeded her as President when she died at the age of 90 in 2000, and as usual this year I spoke at the AGM on current problems of which the main one is the rundown in the Traveller Education Support Service. Since 2006 when the ring-fenced money provided by the Department for Education was merged into a ...
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When struggling into work at 5am this morning, to continue the radical life of sleep deprived baker, I usually spend the first few moments listening to the news headlines on the radio. Celebrate gossip and nonsense tend to torment my insomniac soul, but the political stories aim to provide informative facts for potential blog posts, ...
As I read Ed Balls' interview in yesterday's I the more I thought of my beloved local team. Every season the doom mongers predict a rough season, only but a few hopefuls talk of automatic promotion and the majority of us take each game as it comes, there are NO guaranteed victories for Gillingham, its the way we play and its what the fans love I guess. Predictions are usually negative and the outcome bleak, every now and then we are surprised by a victory and jubilant when the team does well but there is always the nagging doubt of; ...
There have been a number of searches to this blog (and one email request) for the Anna Klonowski report following media reports of last Thursday's Cabinet. Her (first) report is here with a covering report written by Jim Wilkie here. I haven't got around to typing up what happened at last Thursday's Cabinet meeting (yet). ...
Bro Ed Miliband was keen on the subject of broken promises in his conference speech taking care to bash the LibDems on this matter & saying he would never make a promise he wouldn't/couldn't keep & the going onto make a fair few such promises. We might also recall David Cameron pledging to make Britain the most "family friendly in Europe" and of course Duncan-Smith "making work pay" - which is why 58% of children in poverty are in families where at least one parent works. Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics show that UK households have experienced ...
Formal note from district council REASONS FOR DECISION 1. We note that the applicant submitted an application with a blank operating schedule - no consideration appeared to have been given to how the licensing objectives would be promoted. 2. We believe that insufficient consideration has been given to the overall operation of the venue with karaoke, live music and films, in particular: i. Prevention of consumption of alcohol by under 18's beyond the restaurant ii. No detail of the type of films or the regulation of the noise from the films on the first floor. iii. Conflict between the provision of off sales and their ...
Some may have seen the heralded new star of Labour speaking on Monday. 16 year-old Rory Weal comes from a broken home, the house he grew up in was repossessed and it was only thanks to the welfare state that he wasn't on the street knifing people with guns in gangs. I may have used some poetic license there but basically his family run out of cash and thanks to the welfare state they weren't on the street. However today the Daily Mail did a bit of an exposé on the kid and whilst he clearly had help from the ...
Would you like to see a Farmers' Market in Queen Edith's? Possibly outside the Wulfstan Way shops, or in the Hills Road area? A farmers' market is a market in which farmers, growers or producers from a defined local area are present in person to sell their own produce, direct to the public. All products sold should have been grown, reared, caught, brewed, pickled, baked, smoked or processed by the stallholder. For more information, see http://www.farmersmarkets.net/ Farmers' markets are a great way of bringing producers and customers from the same area together. Not only do they support the local economy, ...
Was young Rory Weal's hard times a result of the welfare state. Actually his father Jonathan Weal ran an City-based employment agency so his hard times were as a direct result of the banking crisis. If his father had no savings from a quite well paid job that is his fault, many of the poorest on the minimum wage cannot afford to save at all. He did say that "Two and half years ago the home I lived in since birth was repossessed." That would have been a £950,000 house in Chislehurst (pictured to the right) sold after repossession for ...
Wed 28th
10:20
Demonstrating how the Lib Dem policy of raising income tax thresholds IS an irrefutably progressive ...
Another week, another attack on Lib Dem tax plans. This one comes from Kayte Lawton, Senior Research Fellow at the IPPR, whose publication on Coalition Tax Policy concludes that raising income tax thresholds is regressive in its impact. What do terms like 'regressive' or 'progressive' mean? Quantitatively, it's a little difficult to define: we're not talking about a single number, but about a distribution – the shape of a graph. If we consider net gains to an individual and order our data by income percentile, then a progressive distribution of gains would slope down from left to right; if we're ...
It was with great sadness that I heard yesterday that the great, indeed possibly Britain's greatest ever comic writer, David Croft has passed away. At the age of 89, he outlived his wife of 61 years Ann Croft by a matter of just months. It was only last month that I blogged here about the death of the legend John Howard Davies and now the comedy world has lost another great man from that golden era of comedy in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. His writing and producing credits are like a Who's Who of Britian's best comedy through the ...
[IMG: excellent downgrade] BBC report that KCC are making significant improvements to child care and lord knows they need to. For details of how they've improved things click to read the BBC local news report. Still no news, as to who within Kent County Council is responsible for placing children at risk of significant harm, I suppose we will never be told, as KCC seems committed to side stepping this for reasons, we will have to guess. So just where does " the buck stop " on this issue? Will Paul Carter ever sort out that enquiry as to what ...
Wed 28th
10:07
'Not easy, but right' - Clegg doesn't get it: We need to build trust not defensiveness if we are to ...
The Lib Dems have a problem. We have known about this problem for a long time and those at the top of the party have been trying to improve the situation with changes in strategy, a redoubling of efforts to show the Lib Dem contribution to the Government, and new messages. But we still have ...
The Lib Dem team have secured a new pavement for Church Road, Gatley with more improvements to Gatley Green and Cheadle planned to follow. The new pavement, which some people may have seen being measured up over the last few days, will run on the south east side of Church Road, from the old Nat West down to the Prince of Wales. We hope to see the pavement laid down in the spring. Over the next few months, residents in Gatley Green will be consulted on improvements there (we hope to get a good balance between improving the parking situation ...
Wed 28th
09:59
Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee Wirral Council 27th September 2011 Part 5 Budget ...
Ian Coleman referred Cllr Brighouse to paragraph 4.5.1 on IT Services. He said that Cabinet had agreed to savings of £500,000 then £400,000 a year which by year 4 comes to £1.7 million. He said that each year the efficiency investment fund was used, mainly for staffing and needed to be replaced. Cllr Alan Brighouse ...
Yesterday I blogged about how the University of Oxford is asking our alumni for money. But of course saying 'Thank You' is at least as an important part of fundraising. Here's one approach we trialled for the first time this year... by inviting those who featured in our Campaign Report 2011 to utter those two simple words that never fail to bring a smile to our faces... (Available online here.) And here is the Campaign Report. You may recognise what, following the video, are now some familiar faces... Oxford Thinking Report 2011 (A4) Share this on Facebook Email this via ...
If you don't yet own an iPad (like all the journalists at LibDem Conference did), Dan and Dan explain one of the reasons you might like to buy one (or not). (You have to scroll down to "iPad Head".)
Cambridge University Press invites children to get creative with the Wildlife Trust this autumn half term. Date: Tuesday 25th October, 2.00 – 4.00 p.m. Venue: Cambridge University Press, Shaftesbury Road. Activities at this free Big Draw event include: Fantastic Creature Drawing Competition Creature Craft Activities Wildlife Spotting Face painting If your children would like to join in, contact Nicky Dawidowski by 19th October. ndawidowski@cambridge.org.
I am getting my heat increasingly set on the idea of a community hydro project in the upper valley. I have been intrigued by these projects for quite some time, and was recently reminded of the potential at a presentation at the last Luddendenfoot ward forum. Bainbridge in the Yorkshire Dales has recently completed their project, that comes with a rather intriguing Archinedean screw. With so many rivers flowing through the upper valley I don't see why something similar can't be possible here. After all the industrialisation of the Pennine landscape was first brought about by water mills. I'm hoping ...
Wed 28th
09:39Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee Wirral Council 27th September 2011 Part 4 Financi...
The committee went to Agenda item 2: Financial Monitoring Statement. Ian Coleman, Director of Finance said this had been brought forward from the Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 15th September. Cllr Phil Gilchrist said it was for background. The report was noted. The committee then considered Budget Projections 2012/2015. Cllr Gilchrist said ...
books The Save Cambridgeshire Libraries petition was presented to Tory county councillors at Shire Hall yesterday (28th September). It is the Conservative administration at the County Council that we need to persuade to keep our libraries in their current form. Professor Jane Elliott, the chair of the Friends of Rock Road Library, spoke eloquently of the need for a professional service rooted in the local community. The 8,000+ names calling for Cambridgeshire County Council to keep libraries open with professional librarians were presented to Cambridgeshire County Council's Cabinet at Shire Hall and the Cabinet heard from campaigners from various Cambridge ...
Wed 28th
09:33
I've not got much love for Ed's Bargain Basement with the nasties in the dark corners #lab11
So, yesterday afternoon, Ed Miliband gave his first proper speech to the Labour Conference. The first, last year, was written hastily after his unexpected victory, but he's had a bit longer to think about this one. Why, then, was last year's better? And all he could come up with was a so-called "new bargain". That seems to basically mean that those same large corporations and media organisations (Murdoch, anyone?) that Labour sucked up to for years are to re-designated evil and be made to stop ripping us off. The former energy secretary mentioned energy companies and their rigged market. That ...
Wed 28th
09:11Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee Wirral Council 27th September 2011 You Choose Bud...
Cllr Brighouse, Vice-Chair said that he had no problems with the £14 million & £25 million issue, however said that what they were "asking the public to do is right". He talked about what Wirral Council did with the results and its effect on decisions. He said the majority were looking for a bigger reduction, ...
North Bristol NHS Trust plan to become a Foundation Trust from December 2012. They want to know your views on the plans and are holding a meeting at Frenchay Hospital tonight, Wednesday 28 September. The meeting runs from 7pm to 8.30pm in the Monica Britton Museum. More information is available on the Trust's website.
Wed 28th
08:53Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee Wirral Council 27th September 2011 You Choose Bud...
Cllr John Hale asked a question about the consequences used for reduced budgets. He also asked about efficiency savings. The Chair, Cllr Gilchrist said there was a ninety-three page guide. Cllr Ron Abbey said it was "only a tool" and a "means to an end". Cllr John Hale said that there would've been a different ...
Chris has been chasing Herts Highways to get on with repainting the increasingly dangerous zebra crossing on Drover's Way. Chris commented: 'Assurances keep happening that this will be done but it is still as invisible as ever. I would advise pedestrians to take extra care when using this crossing since some motorists may not spot them.'
The Metro lists some of the items confiscated by the Police from visitors to the Houses Of Parliament over the last six months. These include 12 darts, a sword, an egg, five imitation police helmets (child's size), a horse crop, a rock - and three megaphones: Two keen gardeners were prevented from entering with a pair of secateurs and six daredevils tried to take in bungee cords. One visitor was forced to surrender ten hipflasks and others have tried to get in with piercing kits, a grenade lighter, a guitar and a pair of plastic handcuffs. They add that eleven ...
Wed 28th
08:33Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee Wirral Council 27th September 2011 Declarations o...
The Chair, Cllr Phil Gilchrist welcomed those present to the Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee. He asked councillors if they had any declarations of interest. Cllr Ron Abbey and Cllr Jon Salter declared the same interest in regard to item 7. This was because they are Wirral Council's representatives on Merseytravel (Merseyside Integrated Transport ...
C. Northcote Parkinson died in 1993, but almost every day we see examples of his famous Law in action. Put simply he said "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion". From this fundamental insight, in various semi-humorous books, he laid out different aspects of how human nature conspires to undermine the efficiency of organisations. You may want to read his original and brilliant essay here. Nowhere is Parkinson's Law more clearly obeyed that in government bureaucracy. I recently saw a good example. A well known international financial agency has approached the governments of the Baltic countries to ...
[IMG: Dilbert.com]
Ed Miliband's speech to the Labour Party yesterday - for that is what it was - has received a reaction from the media commentators that has been difficult to read. However, my interpretation is that there seems to be a general consensus that it was a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the more right-wing media outlets seem to think that the speech heralded a swing to the left, and there is some evidence to support that theory. But others suggest he was aping none other than Nick Clegg, at least in the 'anti-establishment' passages. For my part, I ...
TweetThere is, I concede, one area of Miliband's speech that interests me. However, as many have observed, he is not an orator and it lacked panache yesterday. The Independent picked up on the idea of a society which rewards the wrong values. This is a strategic view that probably lacks impetus with the majority of ...
Cambridge Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert took the case of Cambridge's long suffering rail commuters to the heart of government today (Thursday, September 15) saying massive ticket increases of eight per cent were too much for them to deal with. Julian, Co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Transport Committee warned Transport Minister, Philip Hammond that prices are a major factor in determining whether people use the railways. And he said that, despite the Lib Dems arguing for rail fare increases below inflation, the government had pushed prices up to three per cent above inflation. Julian raised the issue during Transport Questions ...
TweetTelevision doesn't figure highly on my radar unless it is political, documentary or stand-up comedy. However, ITV's huge faux pas caught my eye today in the Metro. The channel flounders with 'serious' programmes, unable to compete with BBC's Panorama or Channel 4′s Dispatches. So the launch of the self proclaimed 'Flagship Investigative Show' was another ...
Cambridgeshire County Councillor, Belinda Brooks-Gordon has won support from Liberal Democrat conference delegates for her fight to get a fairer deal from the government for part-time students. She teamed up with former Cambridgeshire County Council Liberal Democrat leader, Baroness Sal Brinton to put a motion to the Birmingham conference to ensure part-time university students were not discriminated against under the new education loans scheme. For the first time, part-time students are eligible for loans to pay for their education; but they have to start repaying those loans after three and a half years before they have completed their courses. And ...
A number of residents have now contacted me regarding the deteriorating state of the Roseangle Car Park - the pictures below indicate (right) the poor condition of much of the car park and (left) the poor condition of much of the bay lining, which is meaning some inappropriate parking obstructions and a lack of enforcement. At residents' requests, I have contacted the City Development Department of the City Council requesting improvements at this busy, well-used car park.
The ward forum meeting took place at the Carlton Day Centre and a lot of issues were discussed. Present was one Ealing Council's recycling officers, the local police team and a park ranger. The following was agreed: 1/ Lighting Southfield Rec - after a good discussion the ward agreed to fund a consultation for the 1000 or so residents around the Rec to see if they might benefit from having the Rec lights installed at night. We also agreed to see what anti-crime measures (a night camera) mights be installed to reduce any crimes that a lit park could attract. ...
The Jayhawks' trademark sound was based on the harmonies of joint songwriters and frontmen Mark Olson and Gary Louris. It's sixteen years since they recorded together under the Jayhawks moniker, eight since the band sans Olson released a studio album and three since the two of them recorded the (under appreciated) Ready for the Flood album as a duo. So the reunion album Mockingbird Time has been much anticipated by the band's long-standing followers. Before the release of the new album they professed the ambition to be the band who produced their best album work later in their career and ...
