This evening I took part in a TV curent affairs show in which the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations were the main focus of attention. I was interested by the argument of two other participants in the discussion — far to the left of me — who declared that what was happening in New York and ...
We were delighted to win this years Campaigners award. May was a difficult election for the party but here in BathNES we bucked the trend. Our key to succcess – lots of door knocking and conversations with people Plus local campaigns on local issues. 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 ...
Motion from the Northern Ireland Party Conference notes that many sports honour not just the winner but the person or team that comes second and sometimes even third. Look at all Olympic sports, Grand Prix Racing, equestrian with the various rossettes, and enclosures at horse racing circuits. Even in Football where there is a third/fourth playoff in the World Cup and in Tennis were both finalists are usually presented with some trophy. Conference therefore calls for the immediate introduction of podiums in all sports including golf. Of course the above motion has nothing whatsoever to do with today's result in ...
AVAAZ have another petition going to stop bad fishing practice As concerned global citizens, we call on you immediately to implement and enforce your obligations to the UN resolutions on fishing and work to ban the destructive practice of deep-sea bottom-fishing. We urge you to usher in a new era of accountability and commitment to our injured oceans by steadfastly holding other nations to their promises to protect oceans and curb devastation. to sign up click HERE
My letter being sent to people following the Shelter Campaign. Re: Shelter Campaign – Evict Rogue Landlords Thank you for your letter dated xxx regarding the above campaign by Shelter. Bath and North East Somerset Council are very supportive of this campaign by Shelter and we take the matter of rogue landlords in our area very seriously. We are committed to acting on concerns you have regarding poor housing and encourage good landlords and tenants to speak out and report unsafe or unhealthy properties to us so we can investigate them under the legislation. Our approach for tackling poor housing ...
Following my press release on the dangers posed by Fracking in the Mendips to Bath I have already had several emails in support. Have a look at this site to see the impact in America www.gaslandthemovie.com And the Chronicle reported it thus
I can't believe that I missed this stunning headed goal from Norway last weekend. As shown here on the BBC News website, Jone Samuelsen has written himself into footballing folklore with what is surely to be confirmed as the longest headed goal in the history of the game. It was scored for Odd Grenland in injury time to cap a 3-1 victory after the opposing Tromso IL goalkeeper went up to the opposite side of the pitch to take part in a corner for his team. What makes it remarkable is that the goal was from within Jone Samuelsen's own ...
A party which can cheer the likes of Kinnock and Brown-but boo Blair-is a party which is now rusted on its Left-leaning axis.
Today David Cameron apologised for appearing to make sexist comments. He claims that what he said came out wrong and that he is not a sexist man. When David Cameron said 'Calm down dear' he was just quoting from an advert and he did not mean it in a sexist manner but the way the male MPs reacted it seemed as if they were promoting sexism and this is terrible. It is important for the Prime Minister to say that sexist jokes are wrong because it shows strong leadership and it sets the trend for a non-sexist society. Prime Ministers ...
It is great news that the new Bath Community Energy group is launching next week. This is another great initiative that has developed from the local transition movement. As the leader of the Council it is great that I can be there to support the launch. Council hosts launch event for new initiative with carbon reduction community company Bath & North East Somerset Council will be hosting a launch event at the Guildhall, Bath on 5th October 2011, 6pm as part of its intended future cooperation with Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE) – a social enterprise run by energy ...
Today, in his speech to the Conservative Party conference, William Hague praised Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats for supporting the coalition government. Hague praises Nick personally for "sticking to it" despite suffering losses in May in terms of councillors and the AV referendum. Is this praise, or a cunning plan? Think about it. If the top Tories know how unpopular some of the government decisions are, which of course they do, then what a great way to ensure that the LibDems get some of the kicking too by making sure the public thinks the LibDems are supporting the government ...
Revising group processes seems to be far more difficult than either production of knowledge or social judgement. The sheer number of studies in the prejudice and conflict chapter makes it difficult to see the woods from the trees, but I think I can just about make a critical argument or three now. Anyway, enough of me rambling, here are the photographs. [IMG: I'm relaxed about the DD307 exam, even if you aren't] I'm relaxed about the DD307 exam, even if you aren't [IMG: All ready to start the day] All ready to start the day [IMG: The garden bench could ...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 550 party members responded, and we're continuing to publish the full results. Lib Dem members backed Libya intervention... and two-thirds are optimistic for country's future LDV asked: Do you think Britain, France, the US and other countries were right or wrong to take military action in Libya? 76% – Right 15% – Wrong 9% – Don't know An overwhelming majority, therefore, of Lib Dem members backed the UK's involvement in the ...
No idea how this compares to other similar blogs, but for anyone who might be interested, our Cheadle & Gatley Lib Dem website visitor stats for the last couple of months (courtesy of Google analytics). August 2011: 7,847 Absolute unique visitors 12,208 Pageviews 9,475 visits September 2011: 5,746 Absolute unique visitors 10,253 pageviews 7,281 visits Nearly all our visitors come from the UK (not surprising as it's a hyperlocal site mainly concerned with the two villages of Cheadle and Gatley, with the odd story relating to Stockport and Greater Manchester). And some geeky notes: About half our visitors used Internet ...
Really a rather good Torchwood novel, taking Bilis Manger from the end of the first season and Idris from the Who episode Boom Town, and also an alternate timeline which foreshadows a lot of future developments (blowing up the Hub, leaving Gwen, Rhys and their baby as the sole survivors of Torchwood). To a large extent it's a sequel to the episode End of Days, but much better. Lots of good character moments and exploration of what it means to be inside their skins. I must say that the Torchwood novels are proving generally rather a cut above the usual ...
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As I quipped during Liberal Democrat conference, one of the most popular Conservative MPs with party activists is Nadine Dorries, courtesy of that question at PMQs. Today Home Secretary Theresa May has shown rather more political skill in making a very similar point. Talking to the Sunday Telegraph, she's said that "personally" she would "like" to see the Human Rights Act go. It's a skilful move because by using that phrasing she isn't triggering any stories of coalition meltdown. Liberal Democrats saying the Human Rights Act won't go and Tories saying they personally would like it to go aren't contradictory ...
Labour - officially socialists, fighting on behalf of the poor and working class when in opposition but screw them over when in power. Think that taking advice from bankers on how to regulate banks is a brilliant idea. Terrified of upsetting the Daily Mail or the Sun. Also think that shooting Brazilians on the tube and invading Iraq is the best way to protect us from the Saudia Arabian terrorists who are living in Pakistan. Conservatives - the lone defenders of Middle England against the hordes of politically correct, fortnightly bin collections, the communist BBC and evil global warming promoting ...
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What amuses me about Andrew Tyrie's comments on the economy isthat while, as Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, he is undoubtedly asensible and substantial figure, he has been elevated to the status of a"Top Tory" by the headline writers, to make the story sound exciting. When this happens, it is alwaysfor the following three reasons: The person's name is not wellenough known to itself be recognisable in a headline, so Top Tory is used as acipherTop Tory is short enough to fit easily into aheadlineThe story only has legs if it is about someone so senior as to be ...
This weekend I had the opportunity to relive some childhood memories as I visited my local cinema to see the recently re-released Jurassic Park. Originally released in 1993, the film was a ground breaking production from director Steven Spielberg. With incredible special effects and a wonderful cast, the movie wowed audiences around the world and ... Continue reading »
[IMG: Attribution] [IMG: Share Alike] Chris Christie in Iowa – Photo credit: Some rights reserved by IowaPolitics.com We appear to be on the cusp of an interesting development in the US Republican Presidential nomination race. For months, there have been "will he, won't he" stories about the potential candidature of Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey. I have tended to ignore these rumours and have not troubled you, dear reader, with them. Apart from anything else, Christie's popularity in his own state has been on a downward trajectory. But my nose is starting to twitch. The rumours may now be ...
I read with interest Cllr Tom Harney's press release about a response to the Anna Klonowski report. He is right that Wirral Council needs to change and Cllr Tom Harney calls for more joint party working. However it was his group of councillors that in May ended the joint Conservative-Lib Dem "progressive partnership" by their ...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members responded, and we've been publishing the results in recent days. Party members back Coalition spending cuts and welfare cuts by 2:1 majorities LDV asked: Do you think the government has on the whole made the right decisions or the wrong decisions about where spending cuts should be made? 59% – Right decisions 31% – Wrong decisions 10% – Don't know By a 2:1 majority, then, Lib Dem members ...
I was outraged to hear Gyles Brandreth say on Just A Minute: "The one thing I could not stand about being an MP were my constituents." Mr Brandreth knows perfectly well that he should have said: "The one thing I could not stand about about being an MP was my constituents." A thing was, not a thing were. If you have not already read Mr Brandreth's book Breaking the Code, then please do - it is the best (and most entertaining) book that I have ever read about Parliamentary life. Incidentally, in contrast to Mr Brandreth's comments about his Chester ...
Five years ago there was a debate on this blog over the way the term "train station" has replaced "railway station" in recent years. One or two people argued that we have always said "train station", but thanks to the Google Books Ngram Viewer I can show that this is not the case. The graph is striking and confirms my view that the change to "train station" happened very rapidly and very recently. I am still not certain why, but I suspect that rail privatisation had to a lot to do with it. Study the graph closely and you will ...
Fresh from this vital decision over our bins, David Cameron might usefully be asked a few interesting questions about a long discussed plan to build a new road in Witney which would devastate a local flood plain and park and which would brilliantly divert traffic from one bottleneck to another within the town, shifting a problem down the road rather than resolving it. I had a rare day off work on Friday and I drove into Witney. The good weather had caused a bit of a glut of cars as everyone bought stuff for the weekend. On this particular day ...
So the Tories' latest gimmick for their conference is Eric Pickles's wheeze to bribe councils to re-introduce weekly bin collections. In fairness, this does honour one of their pre-election pledges but in practice it's as daft as John Redwood after a litre of scrumpy. Here in Tory West Oxfordshire, we have had fortnightly collections for about a year now and its all going fine. Our waste is collected every two weeks, our green waste the other week and our food waste every week and all is fine. In my village we have no overflowing bins, there is no evidence of ...
Recently, I happened to be on the same flight from Brussels to Birmimgham with Tory MEP Roger Helmer who sat in splendid isolation in Business Class. It struck me as being a little odd and not a little hypocritical for a flight which couldn't have lasted more than 50 minutes, especially as Helmer frequently rages ...
Shades of the Cones Hotline are hovering over the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester. Because the government initiatives so far announced to coincide with the event are distinctly underwhelming. An increase in the speed limit. Weekly rubbish collection. Is that all you've got? Maybe this tells us something important about Cameron's Conservatives. If you take away the impossibilist fruitcake agenda - abolish all regulation of business, withdraw from Europe, withdraw from the modern world - it is hard to see what of substance is left. As to the question of weekly rubbish collections, this is a perfect example of an ...
Sat, 13:28: Autograph identification http://j.mp/nHTzYH Sat, 18:14: #DoctorWho a flashback to "Curse of Fatal Death"! #drwho Sun, 05:54: RT @marwilliamson: Something big is happening....http://t.co/onb2gwtz Sun, 06:05: It's the Inequality, Stupid | Mother Jones http://t.co/gBqypD6H What's wrong with the US. #fb
According to a story on the Pink Paper's website, the North East of England has the largest proportion of straight ...Continue reading »
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Nazi anti Jewish boycott. This morning on BBC1 the Rev Hargreeves, leader of the Christian Party, made the claim that Christians today, in Britain were being treated the same way that the Jews in Germany were treated under the Nazi Government. He later went on to argue that he "Obviously" didn't mean the Holocaust but the beginnings of anti-Semitic law brought in by Hitler at the very beginning of his Government and that History has seen this sort of religious persecution before and it could lead to similar problems. He has sited a few cases, such as a BA air ...
The Lib Dem website finally has the link to the full text of the motion on ESA which was passed by conference. The version passed included an amendment which significantly altered the wording of the motion. The full text of the amended motion is below: F6 Employment and Support Allowance and Work Capability Assessments Liberal Youth Mover: George Potter (Approved amendments to the motion included in bold text below.) Conference notes: i) That eligibility for the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) benefit is determined by the Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) which are currently carried out by Atos Healthcare, a private ...
[IMG: oct2] Margate was once again looking busy in the extraordinarily warm weather, I had a quick stroll around the old town and harbour arm latish yesterday afternoon, how fantastic to see the difference in just a few months. [IMG: oct 1] The exceptional weather matched by the equally exceptional change in Margate, people coming to soak up the growing artiness of the old town, which complement the more traditional seaside attractions. [IMG: oct3] I find it difficult, to be cynical as I once was, about the Turner Contemporary even if you cannot find something to suit you in the ...
Liberal Democrats returned home last week from another Conference: holding government ministers to account; debating policy (even nearly managing the rare feat of throwing out a policy paper); catching up with friends. But while it's fresh in Conference Committee's minds, I have some small suggestions for next time. Talking to Lib Dems who may not have read every word of the Agenda or Conference Daily updates, and to people who were watching at home on BBC2 or BBC Parliament in their vast ratings of one or two, just a few simple changes could make Conference a lot easier to follow. ...
Rather to my surprise I find that I bought the LP Come on Feel the Lemonheads when it came out in 1993. (Yes children, it was on vinyl.) This is a pleasant song from that album, country tinged and with a nod to the 1960s. And rumour has it that Belinda Carlisle is singing the backing vocals too. Anyway, it will have to do until someone puts Half Man Half Biscuit's seminal "Descent of the Stiperstones" on Youtube.
This is my thirteenth monthly round-up of blog figures for anyone who is remotely interested in who reads my little blog. These stats for the month of September come courtesy of google analytics. After the August malfunction, normality has resumed although the re-setting of the Google Analytics link to my blog has thrown up some new and rather odd statistics. Calming Down The start of my second full year in blogging has been a relatively quiet one. My output for the month of 21 blog posts is my lowest since last November when I blogged 19 times. This was mainly ...
Since it's come back in 2005 I have really enjoyed Dr Who. Although it's different from old who in as much as I don't see the show as science fiction but much more fantasy based fiction. ( although there are clear science fiction motifs) it is, in my humble opinion, excellent. Dr Who has been responsible for some of the best TV in the last 6 years and some of the writing is first rate The one thing that has consistently frustrated me has been the quality of the series endings. RTD was brilliant at the set up but, for ...
Sun 2nd
11:08
Elected Mayors do nothing for Salford and prove English Democrats are not fit to hold power
There has been some debate recently regarding an elected Mayor proposal for Salford. I blogged about this here back in July. Recent correspondence in the Salford Advertiser from the petition organisers Geoffrey Berg (a resident in Prestwich, which comes under Bury Council) and Paul Whitelegg (English Democrat party) suggests that an elected Mayor could "reduce Salford's spending" and lower the city's council tax. However, Paul Whitelegg agrees in his letter that the cost of the Referendum alone would be add around £1.50 to Salford's annual council tax bill, so he is proposing I pay an extra £1.50 to fund his ...
Sun 2nd
10:53
Littlejohn: 'There is statistical proof that the nation is overwhelmingly white, Christian and robus...
[IMG: Attribution] [IMG: Noncommercial] [IMG: No Derivative Works] Photo credit: Some rights reserved by radiothings.com I'm just wiping away the tears of laughter from my eyes. I had forgotten what a good laugh Richard Littlejohn's column in the Daily Mail is. It's fantastic. In writing it, he assumes the spoof persona of someone who is obsessed with sexuality and race to the point of apparent insanity. It's an hilarious mickey-take of right wing bigotry. (It is a spoof, isn't it?) This week he states the obvious (Next week: "Whatever the Guardianistas say: Ursine mammals STILL defecate in wooded areas") in ...
Party Conferences are excellent opportunities for Government Ministers to play to the gallery, especially when there is no actual debate on policy. Combine that with the tradition of a Tory Home Secretary appealing to his or her party's right-wing and there is no surprise that Theresa May has come out today against the Human Rights Act. She claims that the Human Rights Act is preventing her from deporting terrorist suspects, forgetting perhaps that there are treaty obligations as well that might apply here, even if this is true, not to mention more fundamental British legal concepts such as being innocent ...
Over at the Sunday Express the paper roundly condemns the Welsh Government's charge for single-use carrier bags, claiming that High Streets were thrown into chaos as a result. Really? Did they actually come to Wales and go out into the country's shopping centres before writing that story, or did they cobble it together from the comfort of a London office? My experience from shopping yesterday was that people were taking it in their stride and adapting well to the new regime, but what do I know?
I have previously posted this diagram of European Bodies:It shows the complexity of the different bodies in Europe. There is a debate going about whether or not to have a "referendum on Europe".The first question of course is what the referendum is about. There are those people who would like to leave all of the European bodies in the diagram (except perhaps the Common Travel Area - which isn't
Over on Dale & Co Gareth Knight writes: Any Conservative, including Iain Dale who attends the Liberal Democrat conference, remarks how impressed they are with the mere fact the conference is where party members openly and robustly confer on policy. The exhibition stands at the Liberal Democrat conference include dozens of party groups as well as the recent deluge of large companies and organisations desperate to suck up to the party they've proudly ignored until now. The agenda for conference is focused on policy papers with speeches for and against where the party leadership will frequently get involved in the ...
All too often, we hear of companies and councils dropping the use of their coat of arms, and changing to ...Continue reading »
Leading Cambridgeshire County Councillor, Geoff Heathcock wants a meeting with Health Minister, Andrew Lansley to discuss the future of the health watchdog criticised over the collapse of the Southern Cross care homes. Cllr Heathcock, Cambridgeshire County Council's Shadow Cabinet Member for Health has called for a meeting with the South Cambridge MP to find out what the government plans to do about the structure, staffing and inspection regime of the Care Quality Commission. His concerns come after a Parliamentary report which revealed that the CQC was set up with an impossible working brief but failed to raise the alarm when ...
Sun 2nd
07:53Tories fall back on a tried and tested strategy - The one that lost them the last election.
[IMG: Attribution] [IMG: Noncommercial] [IMG: No Derivative Works] Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Nick Atkins Photography As usual, Andrew Rawnsley's column is a must read today. The gist: ...it makes a certain sort of sense for the Tories to load the emphasis on David Cameron when he is more popular and has a better reputation than his party. This is also a tried strategy. In fact, it is precisely the strategy that they pursued at the last election, the one which they failed to win.
I reported earlier that Jack Allen Holdings have decided not to build a waste plant on Stalbridge Dock by the Cressington Heath housing development. However the Council is still looking to designate that piece of land as the official "sub regional" waste site for Liverpool (there are others being designated in other parts of Merseyside) There was a consultation on this earlier this year in which I took part as did others from the Garston area, but the final report has to go through each relevant Council. The bad news is that Stalbridge remains the identified site in a report ...
Update from the City Council : "The latest phase of work in the multi-million pound transformation of Dundee's Waterfront will see the opening of the new Tay Road Bridge off-ramp and long term temporary traffic routes. Traffic will be transferred onto the new routes in three carefully planned stages over a four week period. The city will remain open for business as usual during this important and high profile stage of work that is fundamental to delivering the waterfront vision. Dundee City Council and the contractor Farrans, have carefully planned the work to minimise disruption, but the crucial work will ...
This weather is great for some Lib Dem doorknocking. This is part of the team out yesterday (rubbish photo which manages to cut people out of the shot entirely) is by me!
I got a small group together recently to see what we could all jointly do to improve the small area by the Cenotaph in Garston. We've got a row of shops and some houses as well as a bench and some bus stops. It's by a busy road and very visible. But it's one of those places that seems to suffer from more litter and mess than most and this picture shows a typical morning site outside the shops. So we've got together some people from the Council, Enterprise Liverpool, the Long Lane Church and others to see if there ...
The last year has been terrible for the LibDems. Their brand, based on realignment of the leftand carefully constructed for over half a century, has had a coach and horsesdriven through it. Their pollratings are disastrous - even accounting for a recent turnaround from absoluterock bottom. They have a mountain toclimb to save seats with a less than favourable economic backdrop, and theresult of going into coalition has exceeded even the most miserable of worstcase scenarios.Perhaps worst of all there has been a complete loss of trust,pulling the rug of credibility from under them and seeming to undermineeverything they say ...
Sun 2nd
00:05
A keen interest in politics saw Harrogate 16-year-old Conor McKenzie featured in the Observer magazi...
That was the headline to my piece in the local paper, the Harrogate Advertiser – and here it is: I am currently a long standing member of the Liberal Democrats and also the leader of North Yorkshire for Democracy, a coalition group formed from the Electoral Reform Society and Unlock Democracy - two of ...
