Just about caught up after a fortnight in Andalucia and ready to start blogging again. Andalucia is everything on expects from the guide book: wonderful scenery, centuries of architectural history reflecting that southern Spain was territory contested between Christian and Muslim worlds. With my interest in more recent territory, I looked out for signs of commemmoration of the Spanish civil war. I realised, however, that since the return of democracy the so-called 'pact of silence' has meant there is little recognition by public bodies of the legacy of the war. Avoiding raking up its poisonous legacy was no doubt intended ...
Two seminal UK groups announced they were reforming this week. Steps and Stone Roses. One dominated the single charts for years, had two platinum number one albums (along with a greatest hits compilation) and have seen numerous spin off bands copying their style. The other is the Stone Roses...
The world was so mesmerised yesterday by the capture and summary execution of Muammar Gaddafi that most people failed to notice the 55th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising. Coincidentally the events in Budapest in 1956 were also overshadowed by North Africa so far as London and Paris and even Washington were concerned because of the Suez Crisis. But ...
I've just finished watching the first of Derren Brown's new series - 'the experiments'. In it (without trying to spoil it for anyone who didn't catch it) he used hypnosis to try to see whether people could be trained to assassinate someone without knowing it. This was the defence used by Sirhan Sirhan - who is still behind bars for Bobby Kennedy's assassination and who has lost 14 parole appeals. You can find more about it on Derren Brown's blog...
Fri 21st
22:32
It's that time of year when a bureaucrat's thoughts turn to amending the Constitution...
Off to Cambridge tomorrow for East of England's Annual Conference (we don't have a Spring Conference, the only Region not to have one, as far as I know), where I get to chair the pre-lunch session, including presentations on the 2012 campaign (not available in Mid Suffolk) and diversity, a speech from Watford's city boss, Dorothy Thornhill, and the report of our MEP, Andrew Duff. This means that I don't have to work too hard, but come up with pithy introductions for each bit, and maybe control a few questioners. We then have the entertaining prospect of Ros chairing the ...
Just back from helping to set up for tomorrow's Friends of Magdalen Green Coffee Morning at Dundee West Church - all looking good - see below.The coffee morning starts at 10am - all welcome!
A very good question indeed. So, what is the answer? If you happen to be free on the evening of 2 November, you might be more enlightened if you attend the Hansard Society event forming part of Parliament Week, described as a week of planned events and activities which bring the story of Parliament to life and encourage greater engagement with democracy amongst people of all ages, running from 31 October to 6 November (is it me, or is the fact that it includes 5 November curiously symbolic of something?). The Hansard Society is particularly keen that the work of ...
It is time to draw Rupert Matthews week to a close here on Liberal England. We have, among other things, seen him teaching for the International Metaphysical University and expressing his fears that EU Panzers will invade Britain. But how much does he know about the paranormal? Go to Matthews' blog The GhostHunter and you will find a post from February of this year about Wem in Shropshire: And then on 19 November 1995 the new town hall, by then over three centuries old, went up in flames. Those who gathered to watch the fire were certain that they saw ...
Every so often, you run across an amazing and forgotten story that you know has to be preserved. I just did. So let me tell again the strange story of John Hatfield, the sentry at Windsor Castle. I'm not sure what year this was, except that it was during the reign of William and Mary and Hatfield was born in 1668. It was almost certainly sometime around 1690, when he was court-martialled for falling asleep on sentry duty on the terrace of the castle. At his trial, he vehemently denied it, and to prove he had been awake at midnight ...
TweetAs Wikipedia observes, "A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations". And in the age of austerity, we're seeing a vast array of protests. Interestingly news websites and papers have began to refer to the protest outside St Paul's Cathedral not as 'Occupying London' but ...
A Scottish Liberal brings the worrying news that Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, is employing an intern provided by an evangelical Christian group. "Mental health is an issue that affects us all. One in four of us will experience some form of mental health problem and many more of us are indirectly, yet often profoundly, affected as friends or family members. But what we don't often realise is how the daily lives of many people with mental health problems are blighted by the prejudice, ignorance and fear that surround them." Health minister Paul Burstow writes for Liberal ...
Doing a job in London today which always means a few crafty beers around Kings Cross before jumping on the train to civilisation (AKA the North) anyhoo, I overheard the following in t'pub. Customer (suited professional) :4 snakebites and black please mate Barman: sorry mate we can't do that. Customer: Why? Barman: it's company policy Customer: what? That's crazy, can I speak to your manager? Manager: Can I help Customer: I would like 4 snakebites and black please Manager: sorry we don't serve that, company policy. Customer (grinning) can I have 4 half's of larger and black 4 half's of ...
Here are the names, electoral divisions, and winning margins (number of votes and percentage of overall vote) for those County Councillors (yes, including Cllrs Harrison and Heathcock) who voted in favour of the 25% increase in Councillors Allowances at Full Council. This is taken from the video as recorded by Richard Taylor and available via the for any typo's that have occurred, let me know and I'l fix them!)The full list of members who voted in favour (by Political Group) is below;ConservativeBates I C (The Hemingfords and Fenstanton, +1139, 65%)Brown D (Burwell, +31, 47%)Brown F (Littleport, +279, 53%)Butcher R ...
So reports the BBC:
Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat Voice He still looks like a clever sixth former to me, but it is fair to say that Ed Miliband has cracked Prime Minister's Questions. His performance this week was excellent. "Just a bit late" was David Cameron's description of Miliband's raising of the Fox affair. It is easy to understand why Miliband did not raise the subject last week. Labour played a canny game with Dr Fox. They did not call for his resignation and at the last PMQs, Miliband did not ask directly about the issue. This allowed Dr Fox to swing in the ...
Fri 21st
19:17
A local Liberal hero who knew why Liberals still banded together to continue-extended and amended th...
'The truth is that Liberalism is the only hope of a world in which dictators still rule; in which preparation for war is the only insurance against chaos; in which men can be victimised because of their colour or creed; in which there is one law for weak and another for the strong. It is because we know this that we Liberals are still banded together to continue the struggle.' David Bentliff January 1952 In those difficult days for Liberalism Southport Liberals still commanded significant support in the town. Local newspapers described 'the old world part of the town (Churchtown ...
He still looks like a clever sixth former to me, but it is fair to say that Ed Miliband has cracked Prime Minister's Questions. His performance this week was excellent. "Just a bit late" was David Cameron's description of Miliband's raising of the Fox affair. It is easy to understand why Miliband did not raise the subject last week. Labour played a canny game with Dr Fox. They did not call for his resignation and at the last PMQs, Miliband did not ask directly about the issue. This allowed Dr Fox to swing in the media wind, without obvious Labour ...
I went to Bill Quay Community Farm in Gateshead this morning for the breakfast launch of Bill Quay Local Food Connection. As a food and social historian and allotment and cookery webcaster, this was clearly going to be of interest to me. The information we were sent explains the project:Thanks to grant funding from the Big Lottery Local Food Programme, the Farm's facilities now include a
Left-wingers, I'm going to be somewhat annoyed at you if you agree with the statement here but still campaign to keep Tescos out of your towns. Planning permission laws are ridiculous, and unfortunately it has taken people being forcefully evicted from their home of over a decade to make the left see what we've been saying all along. In this instance, we're dealing with a special type of planning permission law, dealing with designated 'green belt' zones which are supposed to preserve wildlife areas between towns. When I talk about this, you're probably not imagining a concreted-over piece of land ...
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 New constituency boundaries in Scotland: the impact on the Lib Dems (14 comments) by Stephen Tall Jasper Gerard writes... The Clegg Coup - and the serialisation horror (26 comments) by Jasper Gerard Julian Huppert MP writes: High Speed Rail no longer the transport of the future, but a logistical imperative (29 comments) by Julian Huppert MP Opinion: Why the Lib Dems need all-women shortlists (48 comments) by Nat Jester The Independent View: Lib Dem peers kill local ...
When Giles Fraser, Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, asked the police rather than the protesters to "move on" last week I felt proud to be a member of the Church of England. Now, apparently, the Church has changed its mind and the Dean of St Paul's, Graeme Knowles, has asked the protesters to leave. He is reported as citing "health and safety" as a reason, but is also concerned that access for potential visitors could curtailed (and in half-term week they can be a nice little earner.) As the protesters seem a reasonable and peaceful lot it should not ...
Many of you will have read the story of the 42 year-old teacher Charlotte Berry who used twitter. On twitter she would have conversations with people. Y'know like many of us do. In these conversations she was known to (om my god) use swear words and talk about being a slut and blow jobs. Why will somebody not think of the children? Well somebody did. No wait. Somebody saw a story that would make headlines and give himself a boner. That man was journalist Sam Smith of the local rag. He describes himself as a journalist who has worked in ...
After four months reviewing the future prosperity for Merseyside, Lord Heseltine and former Tesco head honcho Sir Terry Leahy the key recommendation appears to be that Liverpool needs a Boris. Admittedly they may have stopped short of actually using that phrase but essentially that is what the report says clearly when recommending that the "Greater Liverpool" brand needs a directed elected Mayor to preside over the city and its surrounding Boroughs. Writing in the Times, Sir Terry Leahy singles out that recommendation as the thrust of his article setting out strongly why he feels his home city needs No surprise ...
It's not too late but if you like live, local music why not get a ticket and see a day's worth of music in Chiswick? I am. See the link for more info: http://oxjamchiswick.co.uk/about-us/12-oxjam-chiswick.html One Day - One Wristband - 5 Venues - 50 Bands. 50 bands from the unsigned, the up and coming to tomorrow's headliners. From Classical, Steel drums and Flamenco to Indie, Rock, Hip Hop, Dance, Dub Step and Pop - there's going to be something for everybody. This is the first time Chiswick has had an Oxjam and we are going to put Chiswick on the ...
Charity Lodge Night 9th Nov
Work will start next Wednesday (26th November 2011) to upgrade and improve pedestrian crossing facilities at the Stockport Road/Councillor Lane junction in Cheadle. The works will last for a few weeks, during which time it will not be possible to turn left from Councillor Lane towards Cheadle village. Instead, traffic will be directed to turn right and go round Roscoe's roundabout. See details below. Work at Councillor Lane and Stockport Road, Cheadle View Cheadle and Gatley in a larger map
On Wednesday I received the following e-mail. My comments are in italics. from Joan Richardson info@theseoco.co.uk reply-to info@theseoco.co.uk to neil@neilmonnery.co.uk date 19 October 2011 10:55 subject Re: I Can Help Get neilmonnery.co.uk higher! Good Morning, Hello, My name is Joan Richardson, and I hope you do not mind me contacting you. I have recently visited your website, neilmonnery.co.uk , as I was hoping to be able to help you secure more traffic to your website via the Google, Bing and Yahoo natural listings. I have no issue whatsoever with you contacting me. However you say you recently visited my website for the reason that you ...
This week (Tuesday, 18 October 2011) the Court of Appeal constituted by three of is most senior members, the Lord Chief Justice, the President of the Queen's Bench Division and Lord Justice Leveson, gave judgment on ten cases arising out of the August riots. Seven of the ten sentences were upheld including two where the offenders had committed their offences by posting on Facebook. The LCJ began the judgment with a clear statement: There can be very few decent members of our community who are unaware of and were not horrified by the rioting which took place all over the ...
There were eight principal local council by-elections held on Thursday 20th October and one on Tuesday 18th. There were four Labour holds, three Tory holds and one Lib Dem hold. There was one Independent gain from Tory. There was one parish or town council by-election results reported to ALDC, a Lib dem gain from the Conservatives. In a pretty busy week for by-elections the highlight was undoubtedly holding our seat in the Bookham South , By-election in Mole Valley District Council in Surrey. Bookham South is three Councillor ward where we held all three until last May, when we lost ...
Interesting to note today that the Labour administration has dropped it's previous opposition to our plans to introduce a new, more cost-effective landlord accreditation scheme in conjunction with the National Landlord Assocation to improve standards in Reading's large private rented sector. I launched this scheme last year, when I was Lead Member for Housing and was attacked by Labour's then housing spokesperson for 'abandoning' Reading tenants - when of course I was doing nothing of the sort. The Council has announced that a further training session for landlords of rented properties in Reading is to be held on October 27th ...
A decisive switch in voters from Labour to Lib Dems since May Former Saffron Walden mayor Mike Hibbs has regained his Audley ward seat on the town council, five months after losing it, in a decisive by-election win with a solid turnout. Called after the resignation of a Conservative councillor, the election was won due to a combination of a good local candidate, a strong canvassing and leafleting campaign and a message that resonated with voters, namely sustainable housing development and protecting front-line policing. Mike pledged to fight any massive new housing development in Saffron Walden while at the same ...
I regret that there is more truth in this statement than we should be comfortable with: Leaders of the mutuals sector have today said that the government must do more to promote mutual forms of business.Speaking ahead of the 2011 Mutuals Forum, Peter Hunt, Mutuo Chief Executive said:"The Coalition Agreement promised to 'foster diversity and promote mutuals.' So far, there is little evidence of a coherent Government plan to do this. At the same time, the Mutual sector is the strongest it has been in many years. It employs over a million people and turns over more than £110 billion ...
Just back from a quick immersion into Irish politics and economics. Six members of the Commons Political Reform Committee travelled to Dublin for a one night stay, in order to swap experiences on our constitutional arrangements and also discuss the Irish economy and the crisis in the Euro Zone. Political relations between Dublin and London ...
The evidence: Even if, ahem, the list of raffle prizes is longer than it should be. Oh, and Shirley Williams gave a fantastic speech.
Astute followers of The Guardian may have noticed that I have a response piece in the paper today, as a retort to Zoe Williams' article of 13th October about the role of 38 Degrees - the campaign organisation - in debate on the Health and Social Care Bill. I have already received one or two angry responses by email, by those who only read The Guardian's sub-headline which calls 38 Degrees "crass". I didn't use that word, as closer readers of the article will see. Of course, what I do say is that we need a more fruitful form of ...
The Government's planned introduction of Individual Voter Registration was to be the subject of a special 'opposition day' debate in the House of Commons this week. Labour MPs are getting extremely excitable about the changes, shrouding what are really partisan fears in a cloak of concern about democracy. In the event, their debate was cancelled because of other urgent business, but the issue certainly isn't going away. For all of their recent hollering, legislation to introduce Individual Electoral Registration was actually passed by Labour in 2009. They accepted then that the present system of household registration is inadequate and inaccurate. ...
According to newspapers apparently Surrey Police knew all the way back in 2002 about the News of the World hacking the phone of murdered school-girl Milly Dowler yet chose not to act on it. Now, I have to say that that's not especially surprising. After all, it seems likely that there was a lot of collusion between the police and the media for years. But what is surprising is that Surrey Police are the police force investigating whether the Met knew about phone hacking but didn't act on it. Seems a bit unusual shall we say?
A temporary 40 mph speed limit is being introduced on a section of the B1050 to improve safety and to allow riverbank strengthening work to be completed. The surface of the road deteriorated because of the underlying soil conditions and the riverbank needs to be stabilised before repair and resurfacing work can be carried out between the Bridge Farm lay-by and the A1123 roundabout. The undulating road and the existing 60 mph speed limit has caused problems for high sided vehicles passing on the narrow road and for drivers using the road at higher speeds. The lower speed limit is ...
Invest it in a tip – and them close it! That's Durham County's latest move. [IMG: Broomsdene] Readers of this blog will know that last year the county council poured £105,000 into the Bromsdene tip at Stony Heaps, and now the cabinet has decided to "consult" on its closure. And we all know the outcomes of consultations in Durham, so you can safely predict that this will have been another £100,000 binned. Since there are another five sites on the list for closure we can assume that we're actually talking about mega-money; exactly how much I hope to find out ...
Still putting pressure on about the one on Sandpit Lane!
Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern and others deserve credit for their role in negotiating Eta's 'indefinite cessation of violence'. On TV last night, Mr Blair said that Eta's terrorist campaign was the last war in Europe. I know what he means, but what about Chechnya? What about Dagestan? What about South Ossetia and Abkhazia? All conflict zones that have rarely caught the attention of British public opinion, but conflict zones nonetheless, and let's not overlook them.
As taken by my husband yesterday morning on his mobile phone. I think the sky is gorgeous. Oh, and I did ask him first if I could post them here....
Fri 21st
10:54
Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee 20/10/2011 Part 1 (PACSPE call in)
The agenda and reports for the meeting can be found here. Apologies Cllr Stuart Wittingham substituted by Cllr Denise Roberts Cllr Pat Hackett substituted by Cllr Ron Abbey Present: Conservative councillors Cllr John Hale (Chair) Cllr Don McCubbin (Vice-Chair) Cllr Steve Williams Cllr Adam Sykes Labour councillors Cllr Denise Roberts (substitute for Cllr Stuart Wittingham) ...
I'm mildly amused this morning, having run across this private members bill by Tory MP Philip Davies that's being debated in parliament today. The bill makes positive discrimination unlawful for most protected groups, and in addition to the seven strands includes nationality and socio-economic status. But he forgets about Trans people – so by implication, it's OK to positively discriminate in favor of trans folk. I'll guess that's not what he intended! (The commons briefing paper produced to go along with this bill also points out the discrepancy, so it'll no doubt get fixed – assuming the bill goes anywhere, ...
Fri 21st
10:25
First Sure Start director has a positive verdict on new government's children policies
Naomi Eisenstadt was the first director of the Sure Start program when it was created under Labour and in a press push around the publication of her new book has some interesting things to say about both Sure Start's origins and the current coalition government. On Sure Start's creation and then rapid expansion, she points out how it didn't fit the claimed public emphasis of the time on evidence-based policy because the expansion was rushed through before the initial pilots have been evaluated. However, she thinks pushing ahead regardless was right: The speedy expansion of the scheme from an initial ...
Logie Estate Its been a bit of a "walkabout" week! Following Tuesday's walkabout with council officers round Pentland to look at local issues and problems there, yesterday morning, along with council officials from the Housing and Environment Departments and a ward colleague, I took part in walkabout round the Logie Estate, where, amongst other issues, we looked at railings condition, open plan grass maintenance, damaged or missing street signs and pavement repairs. In the afternoon, I had a very productive meeting with the City Council's Head of Transportation, mainly about the inadequate bus services in Peddie Street, Pentland, Scott Street ...
Earlier this week, Liberal Democrat MP for Yeovil and former education spokesman, David Laws, had a piece in the London Evening Standard defending the government's record on education policy to date, but also urging a more ambitious programme over the coming years. Here's what David has to say on what Michael Gove and his Lib Dem colleague Sarah Teather have done so far: Our qualifications system was also undermined by Labour - which was determined to "prove" that standards were rising, even if this just meant making exams easier. Targets distorted teaching: too few pupils took key subjects. Under the ...
Labour in Wales are in the middle of a classic u-turn, again. Having lectured us constantly for the best part of 18 months about the need to invest in capital, to boost the construction industrym, they have apparently changed their mind. This is the only conclusion that can be drawn from the announcement yesterday by the Health Minister that new building projects in the NHS have been put on hold. Lesley Griffiths made the announcement in yesterday's Health and Social Services Committee that all capital spending projects will be delayed until health boards submit their plans in the new year. ...
Well if you've read the previous entries on the full Council meeting you'll not be surprised to hear that the Tories have a clean sweep. In third place The Tories on speed (no not that kind of speed). During the Manydown debate the Tories accused the opposition parties of being to slow in raising the Manydown issue. Manydown had been considered a suitable, achievable and available site through
Hurrah: Russian visa just delivered. Off on Monday, hope to return with all kidneys intact. # Fab & massively cute > '1-Year-Old Plays With Magazine Like It's an iPad' (via @mashable) http://t.co/6znOA134 # @innerfamilylife Simply my comment pointing (>) at Mashable's headline ('...') in reply to innerfamilylife # Apparently there's some rugby thingy happening. Twitter strangely silent on the matter. # @travelling_wolf </irony> in reply to travelling_wolf # @CroPage No idea. Think it wd be much better if the ball weren't squashed. Say if it were spherical. in reply to CroPage # Just finished reading Jasper Gerard's The Clegg Coup ...
Rarely can a ministerial resignation be less mourned than Liam Fox's. An intriguing aspect of his fall is explained in my book The Clegg Coup. Senior Lib Dems and Tories told me repeatedly how Cameron and Fox loathed each other. Indeed, Cameron would often ring our Nick Harvey rather than his Fox to the extent that Harvey became known as "Cameron's man at the MoD". "Fox sees himself as the prince across the water," I was told. "He thinks Cameron never faced a proper challenge for the leadership because he [Fox] was edged out in the first round by David ...
The Lib Dems have many problems and what we can do about them is a big debate. But there are things we can learn from some of our oldest problems which may help. One of our oldest problems has been that we have had a senior member of the party who has been very well ...
I have posted before about the European Questions. It is sad that the public debate never really gets into any of the details of this issue. There will be a debate on Monday which has a motion proposing a referendum which has as one of it's options a renegotiation.I would like to make my underlying view clear.I do not support an "ever closer union". I do see that there is a role for a
Fri 21st
08:49
Please say we're not a nation of tricoteuses - the appalling coverage of Gaddafi's death
Before I start, don't think for one moment that I will be shedding any tears for Muammar al-Gaddafi. He was a thoroughly nasty, cruel, manipulative man who cared little for the lives of innocent people, whether his own citizens or those of other countries calmly going about their business in Northern Ireland, or catching a flight across the Atlantic. The world is undoubtedly a better place for him being out of power. The British media, sadly, isn't showing its best side, though, in its coverage of the dictator's demise. You don't expect much of the Sun, for sure, but for ...
So far, the planned move from household to individual electoral registration in Great Britain (catching up with the changes made in Northern Ireland several years ago) has generated rather more political heat than light. But after the announcement from Nick Clegg at the last Deputy Prime Minister's Questions that he is minded to part of the government's plans, what is the outlook for the proposal? Individual electoral registration to go ahead First, and most important, individual electoral registration is going to go ahead. Although some of the highly charged Labour rhetoric, saw attacks on the principle of individual electoral registration, ...
Parents of children due to start secondary school in September 2012 are being reminded that the relevant forms must be completed and submitted by the end of this month. The Secondary Application Form - and Supplementary Information Form if required - must be submitted to Cambridgeshire County Council by 31 October 2011. Information and guidance about how to apply for a place is available in the Next Steps - Admission to Secondary School: a guide for parents 2012 - 2013 leaflet. This publication is available from Cambridgeshire County Council's website at: www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/admissions, where parents will also be able to access ...
I am in Toronto, Canada attending a conference (more on that another time) and have been fascinated by the British news and personalities making the headlines here. The first of the pick has to be Piers Morgan who showed a fantastic British disregard for authority by trying to make Hermain Cain feel foolish for saying that Gay people choose to be gay. Piers did his interview the day after the Republican presidential candidate debate, which I watched. Herman is in the running but Piers wasn't letting Herman get away with homophobic views. Simon Cowell is on billboards everywhere too. Should ...
Spidey is irritated at the whole EU referendum discussion going on at the moment. Every time I turn on Twitter or the news I keep hearing about whipped votes on the EU referendum question and I find myself getting annoyed ...
So, I've been in London for the day, and the sun was shining, which was nice. Best of all, I wasn't in a hurry, which meant that I could ride the bus from place to place, a much more pleasant means of transport than the Tube.Lunch with my father and my kid brother was very nice, especially as I don't see as much of them as I would like. The chosen pub serves Timothy Taylor's Landlord, which is always a bonus, and my weight loss has not gone unnoticed, which puts me in a good mood.However, they have to go ...
