Within the last few days the Lib Dem Transport Minister Norman Baker has unveiled a review and shakeup of confusing traffic signs and declared war on "bureaucracy and clutter". While there should be consistency across the UK on signage, the number of signs councils need to put up will be reduced, the need to get Whitehall permission for common signs will be removed and councils in general will be given greater flexibility. He has issued a Policy Paper called Signing the Way setting out his proposals and seeks to continue to engage with road users and local authorities. No Motor ...
The news that all the Hillsborough papers - possibly as many as 300,000 - are to be released to the families is a victory for football fans - particularly those who support Liverpool. Their 22 year wait for the facts about the tragedy has gone on far too long. It's a campaign that has won wide polical support from all sides - including from Nick Clegg back in August as this blog reported. Without taking away from the long campaign of the families and the 140,000 people who signed the e-petition one wonders if a majority government - rather than ...
Not got time to blog however, listening to BBC radio Kent this morning (Monday) I heard that Kent council has managed (sorry wrong word) to lose 25 vulnerable children and young adults on its care. It is suspected that these children have been almost certainly been part of the apparently increasing Human Trafficking, forcing young people into the sex trade, drug crime, forced labour. Another failure of our county council but more importantly society ( which is you and me), however many of us seem oblivious, still it sounds as if Kent Council are at least beginning to react to ...
It's nearly time for Sarah Jane Smith's final adventure. She was with the Doctor when I was three and first fell in love with the series, and it's been wonderful to have her back on screen for five years in The Sarah Jane Adventures (with CBBC showing every single episode this week. Time to catch up). So with today's and tomorrow's finale looming, I'm excited but never been so heartbroken at new Doctor Who. Time to go back, then, to 1973 and Doctor Who - The Time Warrior, where both Sarah Jane Smith and the Sontarans made their first appearance... ...
The present system of free market capitalism known as neoliberalism is clearly teetering on the edge of a major crisis. 'Occupy' protests have swept the Western world in recent days and more and more people are becoming hostile to the notions of austerity and additional bank bailouts. Capitalist globalisation is clearly in need of radical reform. However the issue is not whether we should abandon liberalism but rather how can we strengthen it. Neoliberalism in my opinion is not liberal; despite its namesake. It does not promote social justice and greater fairness, it does not enhance our democracy and it ...
"The Welsh government has decided to send part of its higher education money to England in order to subsidise the tuition fees of Welsh students who decide to study elsewhere in the UK. This sounded great in December 2010, at a time when students were staging protests all around the country. Let's be frank - in 2011, Welsh Labour decided to use Welsh university funding in order to buy votes in the Assembly election." Maria Pretzler, on her Working Memories blog, tells it like it is. There are still American and British time bombs under Liam Fox and Adam Werritty, ...
Rolling Stone's outspoken financial commentator Matt Taibbi has proposed a rule that forbids banks that have accepted public money to bail them out from employing lobbyists. This is why we need the rule as soon as possible:
I started writing this blogpost on the train home from London. It was prompted by finding a copy of the Evening Standard on my seat and seeing its frontpage: 'SKIVING' MPS WANT ANOTHER HOLIDAYThe story beneath the headline is about how a cross party consensus is considering introducing a five day parliamentary recess in November in order to make up for the days of recess lost during the summer when MPs were recalled to deal with issues such as phone hacking and the England Riots.The article itself is all about quotes from various people all saying how terrible this is ...
For a report that doesn't get pubished until tomorrow, the details of the O'Donnell inquiry are becoming remarkably well distributed tonight. The Guardian says the report will say that Fox breached the ministerial code but did not gain finanically. It severely criticises Liam Fox's association with Adam Werrity and is expected to be "brief but damning". We are also offered these remarkable nuggets about Fox and Werritty's meetings in the heart of the US defence establishment: The Pentagon confirmed that Fox introduced Werritty to Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, during a meeting there in March 2010, just before the ...
Well it's been fun. 1988 seems like only yesterday – well actually no it doesn't – it seems like a bloody long time ago. I was only five when the SDP and the Liberals joined forces to form the party I would grow up to join. In 1988 I don't think I had read all the manifestos and put together my political thoughts. I did though sing in the playground, 'Maggie Thatcher put her in a bin, put the lid on sellotape her in, if she pops out kick her in the kick woo, glory glory Maggie Thatcher's dead'. It ...
Come and listen to this very popular local brass band. They've been going now for 15 years, and would like you to help celebrate their anniversary this Saturday (22nd October) in Dodington Parish Hall, Finch Road, Chipping Sodbury, BS37 6JZ. Tickets are £4 (including refreshments) from Wendy or Krystina at Dodington Parish Council - call in to the office in Dodington Parish Hall, phone 866546 or buy at door. Under 15s free.
A number of residents have contacted me about the new touch-screen bus information facility at the bus stop west of the Queen's Hotel. The comments by one constituent highlights the issues faced by users of what should be a welcome addition to public transport information services : "The touch-screen bus info one strikes me as something which may look great and logical to someone indoors at a desk, but actually using it on site is another matter - it took me over 5 minutes to check through services (timing myself to see). As far as I can see the only ...
I'm sure it's been said a million times by members and to members, the coalition have changed the Lib Dems forever. No longer are we seen as a wing of the Labour Party (Except by the far right), in fact I'm not really sure anybody knows how to see us. Our challenge is redefining ourselves in the public image, and that will effect just who votes for us in 2015. It seems pretty obvious now that we shan't be attracting too many soft left votes up and down the country as we have done in the past. It now seems ...
I see from a copy of the Evening Standard loft behind on my train home this evening that there is some controversy over the decision to add in an extra week of recess for the House of Commons in mid-November. It would therefore seem sensible to assume that the Lords will be off as well, wouldn't it? Well, no. The Lords will sit on three of the four days concerned, demonstrating perhaps that young people today don't really get the notion of 'work ethic'. In fairness though, it is easy to accuse MPs of fecklessness. For some, the recall during ...
Last night was finally the time that H2G2 completed its trip through the etha and landed after testing from a dedicated team of, well put honestly, friends. The doors were flung open at the new, old address of www.h2g2.com easy to remember. After 10 years with the BBC the collaborative effort (how very h2g2) of Robbie Stamp, Aly and Brian Larholm, and the h2g2 Community Consortium. Robbie was a close friend of Douglas Adams and helped set up the site back in 1999 as well as producing the Hitchhikers' movie. Aly and Brian have a decade of social media expertise ...
A copy of the Creeting St Mary newsletter drops through the front door, and a pretty professional effort it is too. I always read it, in part because there are things happening in our neighbouring parish that impact on us, and because, if they've gone to the trouble of dropping a copy through our door, it seems only fair that I do so. This month's issue is more interesting than usual though, as there is a two page article about an apparently controversial planning application at Whissels Farm. Admittedly, I don't actually know much about it, but the contributor is ...
Jim Pickard, Political Correspondent of the FT, tweets: Sir Gus O'Donnell report into Fox will find the former defence sec breached ministerial code, but no evidence of personal gain... [IMG: Attribution] [IMG: No Derivative Works] Liam Fox photo credit: Some rights reserved by Foreign and Commonwealth Office [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond will have been smiling this weekend as a new poll revealed that more people in the UK support independence for Scotland than oppose it. The poll conducted by ComRes revealed that 39% of people in Britain believed that Scotland should be independent compared to 33% against it. Although, more startling ... Continue reading »
On Friday Bagehot in The Economist turned his attention to the East Midlands new MEP Rupert Matthews: Mr Matthews is also a man of robust views, it emerges. In particular, he is exercised by the Lisbon Treaty, which he asserts grants the European Commission powers to invade Britain, should the British ever try to leave the union. I spent many weary hours reading the treaty, and cannot for the life of me think of the articles he is referring to.There are treaty articles which talk of deploying military forces on peacekeeping missions outside the Union, but they all make clear ...
Seriously, Chope? Rejecting an increase in MPs' contribution to their own pension scheme is utterly insane. Contributions should clearly rise, for the foreseeable future, in line with standard public sector pain, or (as the Union rep pointed out) we're really not all in this together. On the inconsistent point; devolving the power for the future, while specifying at least how harsh to be for now, makes perfect sense to me, dude. MPs need to take this seriously, because if the second best enumerated public servants in the land can't cut their own pay without a fight, then we're in for ...
No government can control volatile world energy prices. But we can still help people get their energy bills down. So today I am bringing together industry, consumer groups and the regulator Ofgem for an energy summit that will focus on getting people the help they need to reduce their bills in time for this winter. As Liberal Democrats we have long argued that in the long run the only way to reduce bills is to improve energy saving in our homes, and to invest in more energy generation at home to end our reliance on imported fossil fuels. But there ...
Well, okay, not quite. But this post was prompted by a Twitter discussion with Kevin McNamara (@WoolyMindedLib) in relation to the changes to constituency boundaries overseen by the Boundary Commission. The aim was firstly to reduce the number of seats in the House of Commons to 600 from 650 or so and secondly to equalise constituencies (that is, to make the number of eligible voters in each single-member constituency as consistent as possible). The main bone of contention Kevin seemed to have was that whilst he agreed with equalising constituencies the 600 figure was "arbitrary". He agrees that there's scope ...
Chatham House this afternoon hosted a 'conversation' with former US Senator George Mitchell and former Labour Foreign Secretary David Miliband on the theme 'The Middle East in the 21st Century'. It was striking that the focus of the discussion was almost entirely about that most 20th Century of questions: the Arab-Israeli conflict and the related ...
I've just started reading Paul Collier's "The Bottom Billion " (2007), something I picked up after this morning's Introduction to International Relations lecture. In the first few pages he makes a point that I noted too in Tim Harford's "The Undercover Economist " (2007): that the economies of the countries in which, by and large, the worst off billion people on the planet live, are smaller than an average city in developed countries. Harford makes a direct comparison, that "Chad (pop c. 11 million) has an economy smaller than that of a town like Shrewsbury (pop c 70,000)" (Harford, 2007:230) ...
During the Tesco closure this week there is a free bus from Yate to Tesco Bradley Stoke. It leaves Yate on the hour from 9.00 am until 4.00 pm, and returns from Bradley Stoke on the half hour from 9.30 am until 4.30 pm.
Southwark Council are still considering whether to take the Honor Oak Rec for use as a cemetery, and we've been making our own submissions to them. Meanwhile, we were disappointed to be told in September – despite having raised it with council staff and in the Chamber regularly over the past year – that Lewisham ...
Via Paul Wild and Jason Hunter: It should be noted that 100% of Conservative MPs who took part in the lobbying reform vote also opposed lobbying reform, though that was only one MP.
Last winter seems a long time ago now (even with cold weather forecast soon), but we haven't forgotten the problems caused in the snow around the hills on the Estate. We asked Lewisham for an update on the revised Winter Service Plan on one of the hottest days in June. Together with TLERA officers, we ...
Details of this planning application can be found by following this link: The case officer is Geoff Whitington - please email comments and objections to him at geoff.whitington@lewisham.gov.uk, and don't forget to copy us in at foresthill@lewishamlibdems.org.uk.
Consultation with Professor M at King's College Hospital this morning, to discuss the prognosis of my MPD/MDS. On average the life expectancy from diagnosis of this condition is 3.5 to 5 years, but probably one year before it starts to interfere with normal life, with blood transfusions becoming necessary, and treatment of the side effects such as the build-up of iron that transfusions produce. This estimate is no doubt an average, and I didn't ask for the standard deviation. The prognosis varies greatly between patients: some deteriorate gradually, while others remain on an even keel and then go downhill sharply. ...
Worrying news this week about an attack on a pizza delivery man on Newcastle Road in Redlands. Residents or readers with any information should report it to the Police on 0845 8 505 505. However, overall the picture in relation to crime in this part of the ward is positive. According to the latest crime statistics published by Thames Valley Police crime in North Whitley has fallen. Burglary has fallen by 25% to 59 reported burglaries in the past 12 months. Theft from vehicles and theft of vehicles are both down (to 33 and 9 in the past year). Anti-social ...
In the midst of an economic crisis, a climate crisis and a Secretary of State for Defence who seems determined to turn his life from an uplifting drama into a crisis, it's easy to forget the sins of governments past. But some issues shouldn't be left to lie as footnotes in the pages of history. One of those is the case of the solicitor Patrick Finucane, and Liberal Democrats should return to their campaigning roots, within and outside Parliament, to press for a full inquiry into the case. Finucane was a Catholic solicitor in Northern Ireland, where among his most ...
Ah the Death Penalty. The most extreme of sentences that can be given out by a Court of Law. In the main most Lib Dems believe that the sentence is unjust and is too far. Some don;'t but that is their call. However the majority of people in the UK would be far more open to the return of the sentence in UK law compared to those in the Lib Dem bubble. The electorate or the General Public – either/or – are far more open to mob rule and the ending of someone's life. Personally I'm very much against it. ...
There are Nineteen thousand, five hundred bus stops in London! Each one of them is (eventually) going to be upgraded with a new real time bus countdown signs. If you've got an Internet capable phone, you can get real time information for your bus at http://m.countdown.tfl.gov.uk/. The service has a number of cool features, including geolocation. The great thing, in my opinion, is that each stop has a unique URL. I can bookmark http://m.countdown.tfl.gov.uk/arrivals/72073 and check the buses as my train pulls in to Waterloo Station. At the moment, there's no signs on bus stops to let people know how ...
I have spent my entire working life in the field of health and social care. For many years I worked for Age Concern and for all my time in the Lords I have been a member of the Health and Social Care team. I am, and always will be, a passionate supporter of an NHS which is free at the point of need and open to all regardless of their ability to pay. Although the Health and Social Care Bill only came to the Lords this week I have been working on it for several months along with Democrat Liberal ...
I have been elected to the executive committee of LGBT+ Lib Dems, and my term of office starts in January. I am sad to see that lots of the people I voted for didn't get in, including the person I gave my first preference to, but I shall represent those missing voices to the best of my ability. I'm really glad the term of office doesn't start till January; hopefully by then the house should be something approaching shipshape. If anyone wants to come and visit and have a nosey you will be most welcome. We have lots more room ...
A little gem discovered when out canvassing in Wandsworth at the weekend: I do like the idea that an old, dilapidated, messy council sign is there telling residents ... not to be messy. Though judging by the amount of dumped rubbish underneath it, I don't think it's a sign getting much attention.
News last week that the Big Six energy firms are raking in bumper profits while the nation struggles with soaring fuel bills was just the latest electric shock to hit cash-strapped families. Ofgem's revelation that energy firm profit margins have risen to £125 per customer per year, from £15 in June, will crank up pressure on the Government to act - and rightly so. But if Ministers really want to get to grips with soaring fuel bills we must also tackle the root cause - our nation's reliance on increasingly expensive gas, coal and oil and the failure of the ...
In an interview with the local papers last week, Cornwall Council Leader Alec Robertson plugged the idea of holding local referendums next May alongside the election of the new police commissioner. The aim, he said, would be to ask questions on issues of interest to people across Cornwall such as the level of council tax that second home owners should pay or whether the Council should take responsibility for the A30. Unfortunately for Alec, he got a couple of things wrong. First, the elections for the police commissioners have been postponed until November. And second, on Monday last week the ...
The markets hould be free; I passionately defend the right of enterprise and markets. Competition is healthy for the economy and for consumers, we should be given a wider variety of choices without the state picking the 'winners and losers.' It is the individual who decides on what is a morally correct business practice. If ...
Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats have welcomed the allocation of an extra £8.5m for Hertfordshire's schools via the Pupil Premium. The original plans for an extra £430 per pupil have been boosted by £100m, meaning that every school in Hertfordshire will now get nearly £500 for every child on Free School Meals. Schools across Hertfordshire are already planning more support for their disadvantaged pupils. Liberal Democrat Children's Minister, Sarah Teather, recently announced that the total Pupil Premium funding for next year will rise to £1.25bn, double the amount in 2011-12. Thanks to the Liberal Democrats in government, the money allocated to the ...
It's been more than eight months since I gave up life in the big city and moved permanently to my small village in mid-Suffolk. And whilst there were some concerns when I did so, it seems to be going well enough.Part of the adjustment was ensuring that I didn't become isolated, a genuine risk when you don't drive, and you rely on a rather fragile transport infrastructure to get around. And so my role as a Parish Councillor helps that, both as an intellectual challenge (it is possible that I worry too much about that element of the job) and ...
A pilot scheme which offers Edinburgh tenants financial help in moving to smaller homes has seen a 72% increase in applications from people living in homes too large for their housing needs. The Tenants Incentive Scheme started in May 2011 and tenants can benefit from up to £1,000 worth of help in moving to smaller homes. Fifteen tenants have moved under the scheme up to the beginning of this month with a further 122 people seeking to move (up from 71 before it started). The scheme, which is run by the City of Edinburgh Council, aims to free up much ...
No, I have not taken leave of my senses, I genuinely wish to offer a tribute to Liam Fox, the now former Minister of Defence who was forced to resign for allowing his defence lobbyist best friend to sit in on ministerial meetings without clearance. Oh, and also for trying to pretend nothing wrong had occurred. But nonetheless I wish to say thank you to him. Because of Mr Fox having to leave the government in disgrace, the government is to push through with implementing tighter rules on lobbying, including a register of all lobbyists. This was in the coalition ...
Pensions minister Steve Webb flanked by Neath's Mathew McCarthy and Jenny Willott MP Frank Little writes: One of the benefits of belonging to a party which is in power, albeit only in coalition, is that one gets to question ministers of the crown. On Saturday in Wrexham, Steve Webb, Liberal Democrat MP and pensions minister in the DWP, joined two officers of care organisations on a panel to be quizzed by Liberal Democrat conference representatives. Being a LibDem gathering, there were rather fewer soft questions than one would expect at a Labour or Conservative rally, but Steve dealt efficiently with ...
BBC reported on the 13th of October that despite receiving billions in EU funding, West Wales and the South Wales Valleys have become relatively poorer, and are expected to qualify for further EU funding. "West Wales and the valleys are joined by Malta, two regions of Portugal and four regions of southern Italy as the
The BBC's failure to link properly to the original sources of its stories, especially those relating to developments in science and healthcare, may be just be a personal bugbear, and you may well be blissfully unaware of or affected by it, but do indulge me as I think this matters! For some time now the likes of medic and writer Ben Goldacre have expressed real concern at the underwhelming way the BBC uses hyperlinks on its website. Specifically, when the BBC website carries a story based on papers published in academic journals, clicking their 'related internet links' sends the reader ...
Education can be seen simply as education for the sake of education, or a means of improving the future economy. However, if the education itself is sub-standard, curtailed, or not reinforced with practical experience, the developments of the future economy could be undermined. As stated in the May '11 Welsh Liberal Democrat manifesto: "Higher Education
You know how it's the fashion these days in restaurants for them to give you not one delicious morsel on a plate, but three? Well, it's the same for the Liberal Democrats and Parents' Week. First of all, Nick Clegg's message for Parents' Week, emphasising that we recognise that all families have different needs and we want to give them the tools to arrange their lives in the way that best suits them. Secondly, Sarah Teather's initiative on Parenting Classes in England. This is all very good stuff. My only concern is that I would like to see a balance ...
Here is the second sign in the series. This one was spotted at a service station on the M1. It requires anyone staying at the hotel to hand over their personal details. You have no real option here as failure to do so will result in an automatic fine being levied against you. In order for these systems to work the DVLA has to sell access to your personal details in order that they can send the fine to your home address. An Automatic Numberplate Recognition system operates in this car park. As a hotel guest please inform reception of ...
"Today Nigel Ashton is the inheritor of that tradition which was founded on Methodism and temperance."I'm sure Nigel won't mind me quoting Iain Brodie-Browne's comment in his tribute to Southport's David Bentliff.I don't know about the Methodism but everything else is true and tells us how the world changes.
The Woodcutter, Reginald Hill I approached this book with some trepidation. I love Hill's Dalziel & Pascoe series, but found his previous thriller The Stranger House disappointing. And when I realised this book was going to riff on The Count of Monte Cristo, a road already travelled (brilliantly) by Stephen Fry, I was nervous it would end up as pastiche. Thankfully. I. Was. Wrong. There is a lot of Andy Dalziel in the protagonist, Sir Wolf Hadda, a fully-fleshed, implausible-but-compelling force of nature. A wealthy financier who Has It All, he suddenly loses everything — his wife, health and money ...
I've been away in Wrexham over the weekend at Welsh Liberal Democrat conference. It must be said that what was a pleasant weekend was destroyed by the rugby result. I can't write fully about it night now because it's too painful. Suffice to say, the manner of the defeat was bitterly difficult to comprehend and cast a shadow for me over the entire weekend. An added source of sorrow on Saturday was the news that Coronation Street legend Betty Driver has died aged 91. It's no secret that I'm a big Corrie fan. But as a man of heritage, despite ...
Conservative politicians spend much of their time criticising their Labour counterparts for the often-inefficient way in which they spend public money. This is often quite justifiable: the many billions wasted through disastrous PFI schemes, abandoned IT projects and expensive-but-pointless gimmicks under Labour are a shameful legacy. But the gap between this Tory rhetoric and reality is often rather stark, and nowhere is this more evident than with the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. Take, for example, one of Boris's pet projects of a cable car to transport people between the O2 arena and the Excel exhibition centre (both Olympic venues). ...
 Heinkel HE 115 -one of the types used for mine laying.  On the out break of hostilities the Luftwaffe began a campaign of laying anti-shipping mines of different types in the Medway and Thames Estuaries. The Royal Navy and local trading ships suffered losses and a real concerted effort was made to clear these hazards from the shipping lanes. Mines were layed by U-boats, Heinkel He 115's, Heinkel He 111's, Dornier Do 18 floatplanes, Junker Ju 88's and Heinkel He 52's usually at night or in the early days when RAF fighter control was not what it became ...
The Herald is having a go at Willie Rennie for having help in his office from an intern from the organisation CARE, which is run by evangelical Christians and is emphatically opposed to equal marriage. They clearly haven't read our constitution. I can't really blame them for that. But this passage is quite relevant. We look forward to a world in which all people share the same basic rights, in which they live together in peace and in which their different cultures will be able to develop freely. We believe that each generation is responsible for the fate of our ...
Since we formed the Coalition Government there has been a lot of focus on the Lib Dem party with accusations that the party has sold out, that people don't know what the party stands for anymore and that the Lib Dems will be wiped out at the next General Election. Many in the party have ...
"Do not feed the trolls" This is probably the longest lived and most widely quoted piece of advice when it comes to online discussions. It is advice that is presented as sure and true. And after all, given how long-standing and popular the advice is, isn't that a sign of its quality? Well, that it was I used to think. Now I not only doubt it, but I think it is often the exact opposite of what you should do. My doubts started with an over-the-top personal insult posted in a comment thread I was moderating. However, this was not ...
On a more serious note it seems that the Liam Fox affair has provided an opportunity for the Liberal Democrats to press for more urgency in introducing the register of lobbyists promised in the coalition agreement. Today's Guardian highlights the extent of the problem. They say that Ministers held more than 1,500 meetings with corporate representatives in the first 10 months of the coalition: The figures show that ministers met corporate representatives on 1,537 occasions in the first 10 months of the coalition. This excludes several hundred round-table meetings where numerous companies were present. Trade bodies, thinktanks and other interest ...
Having long campaigned for the ending of male primogeniture – I am delighted to see the Prime Minister take up the cudgels so forcefully. I am equally delighted that (according to press reports) the Queen is in agreement. Her Majesty's views are hugely important and will undoubtedly help the cause at the meeting of Commonwealth Heads of State coming shortly. There was a view expressed by one senior politician – one of the times I raised this issue on the floor of the House a couple of years ago – that it obviously should happen but that it wasn't a ...
Or, while the Commons decides it can use iPads, nobody notices the Government blocking strengthened powers for Select Committees. Unusually a Parliamentary debate on House of Commons procedures got a high level of interest and press coverage last week. This was of course because MPs were debating whether or not they should be allowed to use Twitter, or more accurately "hand-held electronic devices", in the chamber. I followed the debate via BBC Parliament and it was reasonably entertaining. There was an amendment from the old fart tendency in Parliament to place further restrictions on the use of these devices. It ...
[IMG: Cutting the ribbon] There was a huge turnout yesterday for the grand medieval-themed opening of the new Stationers Park play area, organised by the Friends of Stationers Park. It was clear that the kids absolutely loved the new 'castle' with its slides, fireman's pole and rope ladder. I had the privilege of helping local children to cut the ribbon to official open the fort. Before cutting the ribbon, I took the opportunity to say a big thank you to the Friends of the Park, and particularly Kle Savidge, for the amazing work they have done to get this new ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats Conference in Wrexham at the weekend got a fair bit of coverage, not least for Kirsty Williams' portrayal of Shadow Welsh Secretary, Peter Hain as an old Labour dinosaur for his sudden and dramatic conversion from an advocate of the alternative vote to one of calling for the whole Welsh Assembly to be elected by first past the post. As Kirsty pointed out that would have led to Labour having two thirds of the seats on 42% of the vote. In today's South Wales Evening Post, Peter Hain responded rather lamely by calling Kirsty a pantomine ...
Just a reminder that the temporary Tesco store in Yate Shopping Centre has now closed so that the site can be cleared and car park restored before the new Tesco Extra store opens at 8am next Monday, 24th October.
You know how much I love my Formula 1. I'm not, though, blind to its dangers. Twice in the last two years, I've seen literally heart-stopping moments when I've actually screamed. There was Felipe Massa's accident in Hungary in 2009, and that awful moment when Mark Webber went flying after running into the back of Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus. Webber, thankfully, walked away. Massa was out for months. Around 11 last night, we had a shocking reminder that these things don't always end so well when word came through that British Indycar driver Dan Wheldon had been killed in an horrific ...
I've written before, and it's been written by others, that Labour and the Conservatives are parties of interest. By which I mean that they exist to support and advantage the interests that support them. In contrast, the Liberal Democrats exist for the whole population, in terms of aspiration, or of opportunity, or of freedom. The ...
At the autumn conference of the Welsh Liberal Democrats held in Wrexham last weekend, a topical motion proposed by Eluned Parrott AM on behalf of the Vale of Glamorgan party called for a pause in preparations for shale gas exploitation in Wales. She pointed out that the technical briefing on mineral extraction made available to planning authorities was out-of-date, since it did not cover the technique of hydraulic fracturing. Speakers drew attention to the probable contamination of ground water and seismic events which have been attributed to hydraulic fracturing in parts of the United States. Cllr Frank Little stressed that ...
TweetIn principle, the 'occupy St Pauls' is a good idea. The protestors, of which estimates vary wildly from 250 to 5,000, have vowed in this morning's Metro to stay there until Christmas. They are creating a platform for media whores to go and speak (Assange), and a delight for the media who are hounding side ...
From a speech David Cameron gave at the University of East London on 8 February 2010: Now we all know that expenses has dominated politics for the last year. But if anyone thinks that cleaning up politics means dealing with this alone and then forgetting about it, they are wrong. Because there is another big issue that we can no longer ignore. It is the next big scandal waiting to happen. It's an issue that crosses party lines and has tainted our politics for too long, an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money. I'm ...
In the wake of all the kerfuffle around Liam Fox, Ed & his mates are demanding a register of lobbyists. Is this the same Ed Milliband who voted against a Lobbying register or the same party as 'Cab for hire' Byers? Thanks to the Lib Dems a lobbying register is planned to be implemented. Maybe this time Ed will remember to vote yes! The artwork is not mine but Lib Dem member Paul Wild's
Many residents in our villages do regular volunteer work, and make a huge difference to isolated people who need help in their day-to-day lives. The Care Network helps to coordinate many of these efforts: supporting community car schemes, luncheon clubs, mobile warden schemes, and so on. Funding for the Care Network comes from government and is channelled through the County Council. Whether you are on the giving or receiving end, you will know that these schemes are part of the fabric that holds our village communities together. Of course, this is exactly what we are told the 'Big Society' is ...
The Masterclass on hypocrisy, started by Labour in May 2010, continues. Before you think I've found some artistic skill - but no, you would never believe that, this was made by Liberal Democrat member Paul Wild, based on information provided by Sanjay Samani.
From yesterday's Observer: In a wide-ranging interview with the Observer, Featherstone said it was vital the coalition delivered on its family-friendly rhetoric ... In a forthright attack on some of the advisers shaping government policy, she criticised the role of Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist tasked with reporting to the prime minister on how to cut regulation on business. Beecroft is understood to have recommended a U-turn on government policies on shared parental leave and flexible working. The proposals, outlined in a white paper, would allow couples greater freedom to co-ordinate maternity and paternity leave. A separate proposal would make ...
As Occupy Wall Street starts copycat protests around the globe I can't help but think it is part of a wider trend, a trend that is fundamentally about trust. A lack of trust at every level of society is behind some of the movements we are seeing in finance, politics and the economy today: Banks ...
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