The Labour party has admitted to itself that Uttlesford is hopeless territory and its local party has collapsed. An internal Labour party campaign strategy plan entitled "How the East was lost ... and how to win it again" and authored by leading political analyst Lewis Baston and former Waveney MP Bob Blizzard demonstrates that Labour has little influence or credibility in districts like Uttlesford and towns like Saffron Walden. The research stated that the Liberal Democrats have "become the main non-Tory force in many areas," while at the general election Constituency Labour Parties "did not exist in any functional way ...
When I start blogging a short time ago, it really helped me. It helped me with an outlet to an opinion that I really thought needed to be heard. However, starting a new university course, and moving on with my life will leave me with less will and time to blog. It has always been a pleasure to write, and to be recognised occasionally for my writing. However, the time has come to end that. I know longer feel the need or the will to do what I do. That is not to say I won't be back in a ...
[IMG: Obama Visits Silicon Valley] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: jurvetson With the death of Anwar al Awlaki, it's clear that, whatever doldrums the US economy dawdles in, President Obama has been a massive success in executing the "War on terror". On The Dish, Andrew Sullivan puts this very succinctly: This administration actually is what the Bush administration claimed to be: a relentless executor of the war in terror, armed with real intelligence and lethally accurate execution. ...The same goes for al Qaeda more generally. Obama has done in two years what Bush failed to do in eight. He ...
Today's is another from OGWT. The Cult 'She sells sanctuary' from 1985. It was around this time I saw them live at the Capitol in Aberdeen. They messed this track up badly.
As readers of www.dundeewestend.com are aware, I have made clear my opposition to the merger of the University of Dundee and the University of Abertay Dundee, and I therefore welcome the apparent reassurance made by Alex Salmond at First Minister's Questions yesterday that there would be "no forced merger" of our two universities. Let us hope he is as good as his word. Today, along with the City Council Group Leaders on the City Council representing the Conservative, SNP and Labour parties, as Liberal Democrat Group Leader, I signed a joint letter to Alex Salmond on this matter that can ...
Eric Pickles seems to think that it's a basic human right to have my bin emptied every week. Millions of people in poor and developing parts of the world would welcome the basic human rights of clean water, enough food, shelter and safety. Those rights are violated for many every minute of every day. A little further along the scale of rights might come the right to be cared for humanely when
This morning, along with one of my ward colleagues and many other invited guests, including from the Harris Academy FP Association, I had the pleasure of attending Harris Academy's first annual Macmillan Coffee Morning. It was extremely well attended, the coffee, sausage rolls and cakes were lovely and it was great to chat with everyone who attended, including local residents. And ... it also raised funds for one of the country's most worthwhile charities. A great debt of gratitude is owed to the school's Home Economics Department, all other staff involved, the school captains and all other pupils - including ...
There's just a couple of weeks left to have your say on the Government's new planning proposals. There's been a good deal written about them. Some of it is nonsense (e.g. suggestions that the presumption in favour of development is something new – it's existed since 1947). There are also valid concerns on how it will work in practise – will it get the balance right between development and environment, between national policy and local concern? If you can find 20 minutes to spare, the DCLG have an audio summary of the proposals – they're well worth a listen. If ...
Time to recycle Eric Pickles? 'For most people, the only visible service that they get from the council is the removal of refuse.' Eric Pickles, Daily Mail, 30th September What a fatuous comment and how deeply insulting to the thousands of people who work in councils throughout the country. The hardworking people who empty our bins and sweep the streets have hundreds of thousands of colleagues working alongside them in their councils: 1.7 million according to the LGA1 - yet Pickles says they are invisible. One wonders what kind of world Pickles's people inhabit. Do they not register their children ...
For this album, unlike any of the others under discussion, I'm afraid I have to discuss a lot of music which can not, at present, be legally acquired. By late 1967, the Monkees were working to all intents and purposes as four solo artists, with only minimal involvement with each other's work. And by the ...
The crisis of the Euro is not a Greek crisis... it is a German one. We are told, incessantly, that the crisis is a question of German tolerance for the lazy, un-German economies like Ireland, Spain and Greece. But actually, the issue is the fact that German (and French) banks funded borrowing in those countries in a way that they would not have done at home. So as Estonia, in common with the rest of the Euro-zone, signs off on a deal that doubles the national debt of the country, we should recognize that this is not a deal to ...
The ALDC explains the efforts behind Charlotte Barnes's victory last night: Bishops Castle is a geographically large rural division on the Welsh border of Shropshire Unitary authority. Newton and Welshpool in Montgomeryshire are closer than either Shrewsbury or Ludlow. We won it 20 years ago after the hard graft of Peter Philips whose resignation caused the by-election. Peter suffered a pulmonary embolism on election day so a resignation for health reasons was always likely. He put it off to complete some major political projects dear to his heart, the local BioMass project and saving his local school. Once they were ...
I was going to comment on today's announcement from the local government department of a quarter of a billion pound bribe to local authorities to reintroduce weekly bin collections - but Eaten by Missionaries got there first. But soon the real debate will surely move on to the role and purpose of the local government department itself. If councils are going to have autonomy to decide on the form and level of local services - why do they still have a man in Whitehall telling them that he knows best? Abolition of the DCLG would free up local government from ...
Gwynedd UA, Penrhyndeudraeth PC 515 (61.4; +2.9) Llais Gwynedd 233 (27.8; -13.7) Ind 91 (10.8; +10.8) Majority 282 Turnout not known PC hold Percentage change is since May 2008. Gwynedd UA, Diffwys and Maenofferen PC 210 (57.9; +16.7) Llais Gwynedd 153 (42.1; -7.2) Majority 57 Turnout not known PC gain from Llais Gwynedd Percentage change is since May 2008. Watford Borough Council, Nascot LD Jeanette Aron 1021 (48.5; +2.8) Con 818 (38.8; +2.5) Lab 134 (6.4; -5.3) Green 133 (6.3; 0.0) Majority 203 Turnout 34.29% LD hold Percentage change is since May 2011. Shropshire UA, Bishop's Castle LD Charlotte Barnes ...
Fri 30th
19:23
First clause of Cameron's British Bill of Rights: the right to a weekly bin collection
[IMG: Refuse truck] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: markhillary Isn't it reassuring that David Cameron's British Bill of Human Rights would include (if E.Pickles has his way) the basic human right to have weekly bin collections? Three cheers,copies of the Daily Mail and heads in the sand all round! Eric Pickles has found £250 million at the back of his sofa which he is giving to councils to restore "weekly bin collections". LibDemVoice has an excellent debate on the pros and cons of this here. And The Periscope Post does an excellent job in summarising the arguments around this. ...
An update on the planning application for a takeaway on the corner of Greenhill Road and Melbreck Road, L18. (grocers shop - no 306) Richard and I sent in objections to this planning application as did a number of local residents (we had to alert some of them to the application as the council official letter hadn't reached that far) We have just had it confirmed today that the application is being turned down. The planners must have been convinced by the arguments about traffic, parking, litter and so on. We have written to people in the area to let ...
As promised an update. I went to licensing committee today to argue against the application for an off licence, as part of a convenience store, at 184 Garston Old Road (corner of Stormont) and opposite the park. There were also some residents there and the lady who runs Clarendon College (the lovely little Montessori school) The good news is the application was turned down completely. The applicants may well appeal but if this happens we will let people know.
TweetOn the eve of the Conservative Conference, Pritchard, the malevolent 1922 Committee Secretary, has uttered a statement many Lib Dems will be relieved to hear; "[Tory] natural supporters have frustration that we cannot do everything they would expect from a Conservative Government" All hail a sigh of relief. Liberal Democrats can stand proud on the ...
Cllr Chris Blakeley said it "needs more than five minutes to understand the ramifications" and asked when the next meeting was. The answer given by Mrs. Shirley Hudsepth was the 30th November. Cllr Les Rowlands said there were no time issues. Cllr Chris Blakeley said this needed to be conveyed to Mr. Morton. Cllr Dave ...
The Chair, Brian Cummings said he wanted to consider an urgent request in respect of whistleblowing from Mr. Martin Morton. Cllr Pat Williams declared a prejudicial interest in this matter as Mr. Martin Morton had made a complaint about her. Cllr Denise Roberts declared a prejudicial interest in this matter as Mr. Martin Morton had ...
If you are not a parent of a child at Moorside or CCSC, you probably won't have a very clear idea of the next moves in the commencement of the Consett Academy, so this is for you, but it also includes some information which may be useful to parents. The Academy opens in January 2012 on the two current sites with a minimum of change in arrangements for pupils, though the Academy will clearly have a new basis of governance, management structure and school uniform. From September 2012 the Academy will operate with a South Campus (Moorside) and a North ...
I note that there have been some rather critical responses to the announcement that preferential treatment might be given to those with jobs when allocating social housing. But before we get too indignant, perhaps we need to consider what underpins such an idea.Escaping the ghetto mentalityWith social housing in short supply, and with the existing obligation to house those meeting set criteria, it is increasingly only those whose circumstances are most desperate who get housed. It is, as has been noted, a case of putting a roof over the heads of those most in need. The catch is that, as ...
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 £6k versus £9k tuition fees: the real impact in pictures (26 comments) by Stephen Tall Ed Miliband on tuition fees: £6k not £9k. The reaction so far... (34 comments) by Stephen Tall Memo to LabourList's Paul Richards... Feel free to keep obsessing. It'll lose you the next election. (20 comments) by Stephen Tall Opinion: What Nick should say about tuition fees at the 2015 general election (48 comments) by George Potter Only 3% swing to Tories in ...
Cllr Pat Williams asked about the two instances of 125 days and 95 days were there any more? Malcolm Flanagan said he didn't have the details. He pointed out that how long complaints took was measured differently internally to how the Local Government Ombudsman measured them. Cllr Pat Williams said the spokespersons should be made ...
Cllr John Salter said he would disagree for the first time [with the Deputy Mayor Cllr Gerry Ellis], he called regularly and calls were answered within three to four seconds. He though they were always excellent, but his local library was a bit untidy. Cllr Dave Mitchell said that his local library was brilliant. Cllr ...
It is a commonplace for Britain's politicos to sadly shake their heads and complain that the Euro crisis demonstrates a woeful lack of political leadership. Regardless of the fairness of this charge in respect of Angela Merkel, say, it clearly has resonance for Britain's own leaders. There seem to be two camps: ravingly impractical Eurosceptics, and sheer paralysis from everybody else. The mood amongst Europhiles (as I witnessed at fringe meeting at the Lib Dem conference) is akin to deep depression. It is time for this to change. To be fair some key players have been showing something less than ...
The Chair, Brian Cummings moved to the item entitled Mystery Shopping. Malcolm Flanagan said that at the last meeting on the 4th July, committee members had asked for details on Mystery Shopping which had been done on the call centre, One Stop Shops and libraries. He said they don't ask specific questions, but make up ...
Cllr Pat Williams said she was interested if Bill Norman had talked to the Chief Executive and that [the staffing issue] was really an Employment and Appointments issue, if there were ongoing pressures they should be made aware. Cllr Dave Mitchell said there would be a saving to the authority, if the correct legal services ...
Cllr Dave Mitchell said at the original meeting it had been deferred because of the Localism Bill. He accepted the recommendations and would monitor it closely. He could see the reason behind the question about where it would go to if it was out of Bill [Norman]'s hands. He said legal could take 2 1/2 ...
Political speeches are usually replete with statistics, numbers culled without context and thrown in the path of critics like metaphorical stingers strewn across a motorway. But one statistic from Nick Clegg's conference speech which deserves to live and breathe in its own right is that in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (where I currently live) more than half of children progress from school to university. In the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (where I lived before moving to Hammersmith) the figure is that just 4% of children go to University. These Boroughs are thirty minutes away from ach ...
TweetThe Metro runs a brief outline of the latest New York magazine cover, which depicts a woman, seemingly in her fifties, heavily pregnant in a now ubiquitous pose. The premise of the story is women are having children later and later in life. It's an interesting point that medicines have evolved to keep us alive ...
Cllr Bill Davies said it was on record the length of time spent on caution. Cllr Chris Blakeley said the time limit over improvement was not twelve months, but this could be withdrawn if it was the will of committee. He said we want to see in action how it operates over twelve months. He ...
There were five principal local council by-elections held on Thursday 29th September. We held two seats, the Tories held one, Plaid one and Plaid gained one off Llais Gwynedd (Voice of Gwynedd). There was one parish or town council by-election results reported to ALDC - a Tory hold. [IMG: The Shropshire team] Bishops Castle is a geographically large rural division on the Welsh border of Shropshire Unitary authority. Newton and Welshpool in Montgomeryshire are closer than either Shrewsbury or Ludlow. We won it 20 years ago after the hard graft of Peter Philips whose resignation caused the by-election. Peter suffered ...
The Chair, Brian Cummings asked committee if proper timescales and a monitoring regime would be sufficient or not? Cllr Chris Blakeley said he didn't believe it would. He thought Bill Norman had been given enough opportunities and it should be "taken out of his hands". He passed a resolution around members of the committee for ...
Cllr Chris Blakeley said that when Bill Norman joined Wirral Council he was aware of the resources, that he uses as an excuse. He said that Bill Norman says we should adopt the protocol, so that they can be held to account. There had been "poor performance" and "no improvement" for years. Cllr Pat Williams ...
I don't really have time to write a blog today but I'm squeezing one in because I'm angry... George Potter (from The Potter Blog) has it absolutely right when he says: "This idiotic initiative will make life easier for the employed whilst ignoring and punishing the very neediest of people. The welfare system is meant to act as a safety net for those who have fallen on hard times - not punish them for it. But that is exactly what the idiotic Grant Shapps is doing and which Labour is calling for." The initiative he is speaking of is to ...
Others have written (here and here) about the Eric Pickles' latest daft idea of a £250 bribe for councils to revert to weekly collections of residual waste. What strikes me is that Pickles doesn't understand the basics of refuse and recycling collections. While he cultivates the image of blunt, plain-speaking man, he is clearly so remote from everyday life that he never actually puts the bins out. Or else he would know that his proposals do nothing to achieve his stated goal. According to the Daily Mail, Pickles says that: My aim has always been to pass the chicken tikka ...
Whether it's crime or jobs, health or education, environment or transport, there are challenges and opportunities waiting for us in Stockport. This paper goes through them – looking at how Stockport is doing now on a range of different measures and seeing what's coming down the track whether it's the global economy, Government legislation or local issues. You probably won't be interested in all of it, but I reckon most people will find a few pages to be worth a read, so have a look through. Stockport Summary 2011
This is my first month of participating in the Kitchen Reader book club. This month's book, chosen by Sarah of Simply Cooked, is a collection of essays by Laurie Colwin from the 1980s, which together make up a memoir of her experiences of cooking. The collection started well for me, with a self-description that could easily apply to me as well: "Unlike some people, who love to go out, I love to stay home ... My idea of a good time abroad is to visit someone's house and hang out ... wander around the markets figuring out that night's dinner ...
Video also available on YouTube. Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone has today launched a new teaching pack to help children understand how images in the media are altered and the impact these have on self esteem. From the Home Office: The teaching pack developed by not-for-profit company Media Smart marks an important contribution to the government's ongoing Body Confidence campaign. Primary school teachers will be able to download the materials to structure a lesson specifically tailored to the 10-11 age group, an important stage in a young person's development. Pupils will be guided to look carefully at the images they see ...
I'm rather angry at the moment. This is because the other day I saw the idiotic announcement by the tory Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, that he wanted those with jobs to be given priority in the social housing waiting list. This follows on from Labour's announcement of the same desire at their party conference and, following Grant Shapps anouncement, Westminster council (better known as the council which passed a bye-law effectively making homelessness ilegal) has decided to implement this moronic idea. Let me just put a scenario to you. You have two families, each with two children. In one family, ...
Back in 2009, Labour tried to mothball the Territorial Army in order to save just 20 million pounds. To put that in context, over 10% of the total regular and volunteer manning of the British Armed forces was threatened for a saving of around 0.05% of the total military budget. The situation was dire, with military out of control and with a budget "black hole" of £36 billion. Even without a huge deficit to worry about, something had to be done – but the choice of cuts was bizarre and displayed a fundamental lack of understanding of how the military, ...
There is something about the figure that Eric Pickles (pictured left in a role he fulfilled when I was working for the other side) has magically plucked out of the treasury to ensure the 'front line' services of weekly bin collections are brought back. It seems vaguely familiar. Oh yeah that was it. Has that £250 million been offered to buying bulletbroof vests for our soldiers? (Especially on the day that Liam Fox announces MoD job cuts). Has it gone into maternity units especially cardiac units after all it seemed to be all that Labour were moaning about all week? ...
After a very successful Federal Conference earlier this month, Liberal Youth will hold its Autumn Conference on 22nd & 23rd October. It's in the Roman town of Colchester* (home to the UK's oldest market on record). Conference, as all Liberal Democrats know, is a fantastic opportunity for party members to shape policies and hold elected officers to account – and Liberal Youth is no different. Along with all the usual reports from officers (and the odd constitutional amendment), there will be policy debates on the Arab Spring, MMR jabs, Women's Rights & Bank Shares. As we have seen from this ...
Despite all the woes the Eurozone has been going through, Romania is still keen on changing to the single currency and anticipates it will be ready by 2015. That point was made clear by Ambassador Ion Jinga at a Federal Trust seminar on the EU Economy: Lessons Learned by a Newcomer, held at the Romanian ...
Looking at my calendar it tells me that we are in the month of September and the year is 2011. I have done my background checks and I can confirm this is the case. Further research goes to tell me that the year 2015 is not today or tomorrow. It is a good way off yet. Getting out my calculator and doing 2015-2011 comes out with the answer '4′ so that is how many years until the next time the electorate goes to the polls in General Election terms. Before then though there will be by-elections, local elections and European ...
Published in the October edition: In talking about introducing internet voting in the UK, Melanie Batley called the trials in the UK "a great success" (Total Politics, August 2011). I beg to differ: they were costly and produced no significant increase in turnout. There are many criticisms that can be made of the last Labour government and its rhetoric about evidence-based policy-making, but on this point it can't be faulted. It tried it, saw that it didn't work to raise turnout and dropped it. Far from being a reason for the public to demand that the government resurrections the idea, ...
[IMG: Ferme Park Road would be split in half by the boundary change] I've been contacted by a number of residents concerned about new proposals to change the parliamentary constituency boundaries in our area. The Boundary Commission has suggested moving Stroud Green ward from the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency to the the Tottenham constituency. This would mean that in the next General Election residents in Stroud Green ward would not have a say in who is MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, but would instead vote for who represents Tottenham. Local elections would remain the same, with Stroud Green ...
Chris Huhne is doing a lot of good work as Energy Secretary to mark out the UK Coalition's green agenda but his work is in danger of being undermined by his cabinet colleagues. This proposal by Eric Pickles for example to put aside £250 million to tempt English Councils to revert to weekly bin collections is just bizarre. On the plus side it shows that Ministers cannot just do what they like, they need to work with Councils to get things done. On the minus side the proposal threatens to undo all the good work being done to increase recycling ...
Tuesday: And now, over to our LIVE-ish feed from the Hard Labour Conference in Liverpool where Mr Potato Ed is just rising to address the delegates. The mood is ELECTRIC. Literally: they've wired up the seating to ensure he gets a standing ovation... Thank you Comrades, Congress, Concords. It's great to be here in Liverpool. A generation ago a Labour leader came to Conference to condemn the behaviour of a Labour Council in Liverpool. Thank goodness the Liberal Democrats were in power here for a decade and fixed everything, eh! Concords, I've got a couple of jokes for you. Harriet ...
Eric Pickles says it is a basic right for people to have their rubbish collected weekly and therefore is looking at ways to spend £250 million to 'restore' weekly collections. Of course what has happened in most locations is that alternative weeks are taken up with general waste collection and recyclable waste. the example of flats as a case were weekly or more than weekly collections are made is of course an anomaly as there of course there are communal waste facilities and what you provide for residents has to be empties when it is required. Of course people in ...
The Avengers is fifty years old this year, and at last it's all available on DVD. But where to start? Strangely (but for both practical and quality reasons), not at the beginning. Last night, I celebrated one of the most important anniversaries in Twentieth Century British history in saying Why The Avengers Matters, how it changed television and society too. Today, I have a simple guide to those extraordinary agents' DVDs for you to watch one of the greatest TV series ever. And if you buy The Avengers Complete 50th Anniversary Collection box set today, you can get a bargain! ...
My short answer in response to David Boyle having only two cheers for Community Politics is: "I agree". The slightly longer response to David is: "I mostly agree, but [insert couple of small caveats]". The nearly long enough to justify a blog post version is... David Boyle is right to raise the concerns he did, and had he been in the hall he would have not only heard Gordon Lishman himself express similar concerns but also the excellent news that Gordon is intending to draw in a wide group of people to some of that thinking and updating that we ...
It's balloons and doughnuts in the office today as MHP Communications celebrates its first birthday. Highlights since the merger of Mandate, Hogarth and Penrose (can you see where the new name cunningly came from?) include New Media Age naming MHP as the UK's Number 1 digital PR agency. For more about what we've achieved in just the last year, see the blog post from our CEO, Sacha Deshmukh, over on the MHP blog.
This is the lottery dream, of course. Give quite a bit to charity. Pay off the mortgage. Buy a yacht and invest the rest sensibly for the future. It's not so clear what you do if you're a government department. Councillors across the country are waking up to the astonishing news that the Department for Communities and Local Government has been opening cupboards and jamjars and has managed to find £250 million it had not previously accounted for. Not new money from the Treasury. Not money from other projects. But shiny, otherwise unused, cash. So: what does the Department do? ...
Dear Eric Pickles, You seem a little confused this morning. I notice you are quoted in several places stating that "Weekly rubbish collections are the most visible of all frontline services...". Fair enough, if the council did not collect the rubbish at all there would be uproar, so I can't disagree with you there. But then you go on "...I believe every household in England has a basic right to have their rubbish collected every week". I've had a quick look at Liberty's guide to human rights and oddly, bin collections are not listed. Right to marry is, so perhaps ...
Good news: Clegg gets ratings boost from ICM, up from -21% net approval to -8% (better than Miliband's -14%): http://t.co/03vOIdfJ # Bad news: Lib Dems dip back from Aug's 17% to 14% in latest ICM poll (with Lab on 38%, Tories 37%): http://t.co/03vOIdfJ # @mattdowney1342 Within margin of error, but yes. in reply to mattdowney1342 # Bless you for this! >> RT @LondonPulpebook I would not worry about it Stephen. i think the lib dems will win more seats in 2015 # @mattdowney1342 I suspect last month's 17% was a bit high. Plus I'm not sure we got a +ve ...
The Government 'Body Confidence' project was launched last year. This is a campaign about pushing back against the overwhelming pressure on all of us to conform to one, impossibly perfect body image. One part of the project is about helping children deconstruct the images used by the media and advertising. Media Smart – a not for profit organisation – yesterday launched a learning package for teachers to help children understand how the media can and does alter images to make them unrealistic – as well as the impact of these images on self-esteem. Obviously – working with quite young children ...
Hmmmm. Most people looking to the Coalition Government to be the 'greenest government ever' will be scratching their heads at the announcement of a consultation on the raising of the motorway speed limit, and dismayed at the latest boneheaded Pickles brainchild, to waste £250m on weekly bin collections when there's an infinite list of better uses for that money. I'm relaxed about having a debate about an 80mph limit, as it happens, although the eventual decision must be evidence-based. I drive my car so little these days that swapping it for car club membership looks an increasingly attractive option. I'd ...
Via a survey carried out for LondonlovesBusiness.com comes this list of the top five London MPs for annual outside earnings on top of their MP salary of £65,738: Sir Malcolm Rifkind, MP for Kensington (Con) – upwards of £240,000 Nick Raynsford, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich (Lab) - £60,657 Mark Field, MP for Cities of London and Westminster (Con) - £41,740 Jo Johnson, MP for Orpington (Con) - £12,314 Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Lab) - £10,326 What do you think of these figures: good to see MPs having a range of activities or bad to ...
[IMG: funny pictures - Doctor Who: Episode 1 Land of the Giant Cats] see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!
I found this on Death Star PR this morning . Yes, there is such a website! Depending upon your point of view this will rather be impressive geekery or a pointless waste of time. To this who love a little bit of geekery enjoy
A brief post this morning on Ed Miliband's conference speech. Here's the main things I observed.You really know you're luck's down as leader, a leader struggling to make an impact, when your conference speech loses transmission to the BBC, Sky and ITV all at once. I didn't see 7 minutes of Ed's speech. Blogger Iain Dale wondered whether David Miliband had pulled the plug. It was unfortunate, of course it wasn't his fault... but it didn't help and Labour aides will have been furious.The "good" and "bad" businesses "proposal" sounded vague and almost impossible to implement. Fine, perhaps, as a ...
Last night I finally got around to watching Wednesday afternoon's Politics Scotland show. Yes, I know, I call myself a political blogger and I choose to watch Celebrity Masterchef when it was going out live. Disgraceful! Anyway, Wednesday's programme contained a gem of an interview with Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie and the SNP's Joan McAlpine. In it, Willie made the very obvious point that the Scottish Parliament is being given a whole load of new powers, the biggest devolution since the Act of Union in 1707. You would think the SNP Government, which wants independence, would be delighted. Instead ...
News release from Cambridgeshire County Council relating to Bus Subsidy changes. No mention of the fact that the Council was forced to embark on this review or face a "Judicial Review" of its decision (that had already been taken) to cut 100% of Bus Subsidies - this would have left Cambridgeshire Residents to take the worst bus cuts in the entire Country. Nope. No mention of any of that. "Cambridgeshire Future Transport" is being talked about a lot lately - but it's still not exactly clear what it will mean for people trying to get from Village A to Village ...
My good friend Kiron Reid sent this as a comment to my post last weekend about the Edd Bauer case. It raises some specific points about Liberal Democrat Conferences, but a more important wider point: should a party founded above all on tolerance not be speaking out more to defend the right to peaceful protest? Gareth, Thank you for sharing this. I am relieved that Edd Bauer now has bail. I am intrigued to know what the arrest was for? The police have routinely in the past used over heavy handed and disruptive tactics against Fathers for Justice campaigners, deliberately ...
I thought a round-up of some of my posts and other background about the party's new electoral database software, CONNECT, would be useful as they've been spread out over several months. First, the origins: following the party's 2010 general election review, it was decided to get a new electoral database with three companies tendering for the work (including EARS). The winning company, announced in March 2011, was VAN (Voter Activation Network, now merged with NGP to form NGP VAN). The VAN package is being adapted for UK use and will be known as CONNECT. That 2010 review was in fact ...
Had it not been 'rebranded' as STV North, Grampian Television, the regional TV service for the north and north-east of Scotland, would have been celebrating its 50th anniversary today. Some of us campaigned against the removal of the Grampian brand back in 2006 and regret the passing of a great regional television service - immortalised by TV greats such as Ron Thomson, Jimmy Spankie and Alan Saunders. STV North has, to its credit, produced an excellent Dundee and Tayside segment in the STV News at Six each evening, but I regret the passing of Grampian, a genuine regional and much-loved ...
The Government has launched a public consultation with a view to raising the speed limit to 80mph in 2013. Yippee. As a Porsche-driving-self-confessed-petrol-head, I am delighted. Environmentalists and road-safety campaigning groups are already out of the traps arguing that this will increase CO2 emissions and cause more accidents. These people clearly don't drive down the average motorway very often. You sit in the middle lane doing 70mph and cars go past you in a steady stream. Ever seen a police rolling road block at 70 mph and noticed how quickly the traffic stacks up? And let's be right Germany – ...
Congratulations to Charlotte Barnes, who won yesterday's Shropshire council by-election in Bishop's Castle. I will post the figures here when I get them. Later. They are now on the Shropshire County Council website: BARNES, Charlotte Ann (Liberal Democrats) - 801 votes ELLIS, Georgiana Louise Dacre (The Conservative Party) - 544 votes GRAY, Jean (The Labour Party Candidate) - 80 votes TUCKER, Michael Richard (The Green Party Candidate) - 74 votes
Fifty years old this year, The Avengers is remembered not just because it's the most Sixties show of the Sixties, or outrageous fun, but because, unexpectedly, it mattered. And there's no better date to show you why than September 29th. Because exactly forty-nine years ago tonight, The Avengers - Mr Teddy Bear introduced viewers to Honor Blackman as an intelligent, independent woman who flung men over her shoulders. I'd like to say that TV was never the same again, but staid, submissive roles for women still can be; but this changed Britain by showing that they didn't have to be. ...
