Rail freight history was made last Friday when the first of a new weekly container train run by DB Schenker between Wroclaw in Poland and Barking in Essex arrived on time at 0100. The train was the first regular rail freight service to use HS1. It was loaded with European-sized curtain-sided swap bodies, opening up a new international railfreight market. The train delivered a range of manufactured parts and components for the automotive sector and an extensive range of goods for the food and retail markets. Alain Thauvette, Chief Executive of DB Schenker Rail UK, said: "We have worked hard ...
After my surgeries late this afternoon at the Mitchell Street Centre and at Harris Academy, I attended tonight's City Council meetings. * At the Environment Committee, I welcomed proposed playground improvements across the City, including at Lochee Park, Milnbank and the Roseangle car park. I sought and received assurances that the City Council will work with Friends Groups like Friends of Magdalen Green that wish to work in partnership with the council to see further improvements to play equipment in their local area. Its an obvious point that this should not be at the expense of the council providing resources ...
There is a history of peasantry petitioning the ruling Monarch over pressing issues, usually at the front of a peasants revolt and usually ends in an execution or two! "Well if Jack Cade and Watt Tyler can do it" I thought. That's when I did something that was probably a little inadvisable and reached for my Laptop. Mr Chris Sams, XXX Sturdee Avenue, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 2HG Tuesday 14th June Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace, London, SW1A 1AA If it pleases your Majesty, I am writing to you to plead the case for the reinstatement of city status ...
Yes, another year older, and possibly another year wiser. Another year closer to death, certainly, although I like to think of that as being rather a long way off, and really not worth worrying about. That said, I don't really do birthdays, as I never know what I want, don't like having a fuss made of it (except when I unpredictably feel like it) and tend to have fairly simple needs anyway. Fortunately, Ros is a pretty astute judge of her bureaucrat, and it was agreed that apart from the gift bit, and a nice dinner for two at home, ...
In Southfield tonight I attended the local police forum. After the AGM recently a number of long-standing committee members stood down to allow for some turn over. The meeting tonight had a lot of new members. Because this was the first meeting after the AGM there is no chair until chosen later in the meeting's agenda. I chaired the first part of the meeting. This section of the meeting was used to explain what the panel is for (to promote crime reduction measures) and to discuss some priorities for the group and the police to concentrate on: 1. Education matters ...
A new website is up and running for the Asda supermarket and associated projects proposed for Tyseley by Helical Retail and A&J Mucklow. It is available at www.theregenerationoftyseley.co.uk and includes pdfs of two of the presentation boards from the October consultation event at St Edmund's Church. Further detail on the proposals was available at another consultation event last weekend at the same venue, which I attended – this included further information on the road improvements proposed as part of the scheme and some more detail on the range of shops proposed to sit alongside Asda in the retail part of ...
I attended the Remembrance Day parade in Whickham yesterday. My ward colleague, Councillor John McClurey, laid the wreath on behalf of the Mayor and residents of Whickham South and Sunniside. This was the biggest parade I have seen for many years. 30 wreaths were laid by a wide range of organisations and individuals.Here are some of our photos of the parade and ceremony.
It may be that everyone and his dog is taking part on Movember this year, but that's no bad thing. Movember helps to raise money for men's cancer charities. All I'm doing is donating my top lip. (Actually, that's not all I'm doing - you have to keep the rest of your face clean shaven for the month). Already I've suffered looking like a fool during the Remembrance Day parade through the town as well as the jokes from those more able to grow a proper moustache. I've raised a bit through donations so far, but not nearly as much ...
I have been unemployed for a month now, and to be honest it's not a great place to be. Of course I've been foraging about for jobs, and contrary to what friends, acquaintances and people I just happen to have a conversation with have told me, they do exist. In fact there seems to be quite a few of them. Trouble is there seems to be a hell of a lot of people in my situation at the moment, so I guess that equals stiffer competition. Anyways, while the main thrust of the day is centred around applying for said ...
Sunday morning found me walking across Hampstead Heath as 11 o'clock approached. I sat on a log for the two minutes' silence, which was nearly perfect in the silvan sunshine but for the distant wail of a police siren. Long gone are the days when the traffic stopped and even the trains paused on their journeys.
Thursday was a sunny, misty November day and I climbed Glastonbury Tor and attended the Wells Constituency Dinner (in Highbridge, NOT on the Tor). I always meet interesting people on the Tor and at the dinner. On the Tor there was a group with a peace banner planning a demonstration for the next day, the 11th of the 11th of the 11th. I wished them luck. Peace is the fundamental value of
I admire Elizabeth Warren, I like her first statewide TV ad. Plain, direct, simple. Her background shouldn't be as important as her message, but voters do take backgrounds into account, and often for good reasons. Hers should play well. Hers is a campaign and a potentially a senatorship that have huge potential to make an important, positive difference in the world. Let's hope she wins. If not, I wonder if she'd move to the UK so I can campaign for her over here?
Tweet Prancer was the gay one Rudolph was an alcoholic Dasher was the sporty one Vixen was the slutty one Donner was a cross dresser Blitzen was the the one that got photographed snorting coke with models Dancer always mimed Comet was the fat one Cupid was everyones favourite until he married a reality tv ...
Next Tuesday (22nd November) is the latest Area Committee meeting. As usual, the meeting starts at 6pm in the Upper Rooms above Tesco in Cheadle (access from the car park). All are welcome, and there are opportunities to ask questions of police, council officers and councillors. In this meeting we will be looking at the Local Development Framework – Allocations Development Plan – which suggests possible uses for different parcels of land to help guide future developments. There are two development applicatons, both of which officers are recommending we grant and a discussion of the Council's draft parking policy, amongst ...
TweetFeminism is taking a strange turn in the world of the Internet. There are more and more feminist and pseudo-feminist discussions starting up, and these are spawning real life activity. While I agreed, in principle, with the message being represented in The Slut Walk that went across London, my understanding was of a message of ...
Our week at Bonkers Hall reaches its penultimate day. Saturday No Good Liberal will have cared for all those 'security precautions' at our Birmingham Conference - passport numbers, police with automatic weapons and all that rot. "There are people out there who want to do us serious harm, there are people out there who want to kill us," said one fellow in defence of them. That, however, was also true of the SDP in the Alliance years, and we never went to these extremes then. I fear we have lost our sense of proportion in recent years. Previously on Lord ...
A week ago I stated that I sympathise with the Occupy London protesters in the sense that they seek to protect the poorest 99% against the excesses and greed of the top 1%. Following endorsements from senior politicians from the Green Party and the Labour Party; I argued it was time for the Liberal Democrats to state their support for the 99%. Yesterday on the Politics Show, the Business Secretary Vince Cable announced that he sympathised with the cause of the Occupy London protesters. Occupy London which is primarily based outside St Paul's Cathedral is campaigning against gross inequalities of ...
TweetThe 'news' today is the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) consider there to be a slowing in the jobs market. Queue Labour shadow ministers airtime, expressive opinions on Radio 5 Live and a range of panic driven responses to an allegedly shrinking job market. However, before we all panic, consider that the subjective, ...
The Third Man emails me: "Peter was a friend over 45 years. He was a great Liberal. If you think it valuable for non cricketers and cricketers alike to see him through this perspective..." So let me send you to the piece he has written on his blog Down at Third Man.
Six months ago Dave Wood wrote a guest post for this blog about Creative Perambulations, his project to mark and celebrate the ancient boundaries of Sherwood Forest. Dave has written to say that he ended the walking section of Creative Perambulation on 5 November with the planting of two trees in Nottingham. Both have been grown from the Major Oak, generally regarded as the heart of the forest. By the end of the day, 23 people had come along to help and to be part of the process; one tree planting was at the Victoria Embankment and the other at ...
It's Time To Switch Banks are fucking us over. They gamble with our money, lose it, ask us for a bail out, lose more money, then ask us for yet another bail out! They are resisting even the very modest changes the government is imposing on them. No more. We have a very easy way to stop the banks pissing about with our money. Take our money from them. I'm not talking about taking out your savings for a few days. I'm talking about a permanent withdrawal of our consent. We take our money and we move it elsewhere. Move ...
Further to my response to the Conservative Home post by Tim Montgomerie, "Please tell us that Conservatives don't do this", in which I took the first picture that appeared in a Google Images search. I have since received a phone call and this follow up email from Mark Garnier's office. as promised I am printing the response in full. Dear Stephen, Further to our conversation earlier I would like to confirm that the photo currently on your Liberal Journal was taken in November 2009 when Mark Garnier was a Parliamentary Candidate for Wyre Forest Conservatives. He laid his wreath as ...
The long trailer for 'The Iron Lady' is out....
First up, I'll probably not have a proper post up today – my anxiety/stress/blood-pressure problems, which had been getting better for a few weeks, came back with a vengeance on Thursday/Friday (I've got a fairly trivial thing I need to do at work, but I've been unable to get it done, I'm hoping to get ...
I watched the football match between the Republic of Ireland and Estonia last Friday. As the Hungarian referee made decision after decision that favoured the Irish visitors, it was firstly frustrating, then infuriating, then contemptible. I am not the only one who believes that the match we saw last Friday was not fairly refereed. Other too point out that Estonia should not have had to face two red cards and a penalty There is then the question of why Estonia faced this biased match? Personally I do not think that UEFA or FIFA would have decided that Ireland deserved a ...
Mon 14th
17:53
VIDEO: Distinguished 89 year old Baroness Trumpington gives two fingered salute to fellow noble Lord...
Well spotted Grant Tucker at Total Politics: Lord King of Bridgewater, making a rather self-congratulatory speech about the passing of the wartime generation in the Lords on Thursday, turned and gestured to his colleague Baroness Trumpington to illustrate his point about the extreme age of WW2 veterans. Baroness Trumpington, an 89-year-old Conservative life peer who served in naval intelligence at Bletchley Park during the second world war, showed him just what she thought of such a patronising reference with a simple hand gesture. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
A couple of comments from my latest post on The Staggers over at The New Statesman have questioned the accuracy of my assertion that what it is going on in Italy isn't very democratic. Here's Carlo Turco: I think that your opinion is somewhat ill founded and rather misleading. No doubt the financial crisis etc. are at the root of Mr. Berlusconi having been fired. But this has been accomplished within the Italian Constitution rules framework. It's the Italian Parliament that would have not granted Mr. Berlusconi the required votes majority and Mr. B. has liked better to resign than ...
When it comes to the letter I there can really only be one band that takes the honour in my record collection. Back in the early 80s an Australian penfriend told me to look out for this band. So I regularly checked the local independent record store Musique to see if they had any of their releases. When they appeared LP, 7" or 12" single I bought them. I have quite a large vinyl collection from this band, even before a fateful day on 13 July 1985. That was the day that with the world watching they represented Australia on ...
St Paul's Cathedral is London's newest campsite. It comes with its own "university", light musical entertainment, first aid tent (especially useful for those suffering from Attention Seeking Syndrome) and wonderful views of the next tent. Conveniently situated near St Paul's tube station, you are able to get there easily after a good night's sleep at home in a comfortable bed, and leave just as
The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch - mark.hat.libdemvoice.org.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one) if you have any questions you would like to suggest. Today's Campaign Corner question: I have built up quite a large number of emails for residents in my ward and I'm expecting a close fight in May. How can I get the most out of emails to them? [IMG: Email inbox] Subject lines matter: the subject line on an email is rather ...
You may have read in Get Reading the terrible news that a 91 year old woman was burgled while she slept on Erleigh Road on Sunday. According to the news report two thieves broke into the back door of the woman's house in Erleigh Road using a shovel and searched the downstairs of the house before moving upstairs and waking the woman by searching her bedroom at around 2am. This is a disgusting crime and I have written to Inspector Penny McKenzie of Thames Valley Police to ask her what the Police is doing to support residents and reduce the ...
A North West England Euro-MP says that Israel need have nothing to fear from people in Gaza if only it offers them hope for the future. Chris Davies says that on a 4-day visit to Gaza he met with people ... Continue reading →
I am really proud of Willie Rennie today. I've just watched his appearance on yesterday's Politics Show where he unapologetically made the case for equal marriage in Scotland. You can tell that this is something he really believes in and he argued passionately and convincingly for the change. He was on with John Mason, whose motion on the subject of same sex marriage caused such controversy earlier in the year. It was really telling to watch Mason wriggle and squirm and do anything other than give a clear answer when asked whether he believed in equal marriage while Willie was ...
Mon 14th
15:40
Merseyside Pension Fund accounts, Ed Davey letter about Post Offices, Free Mersey Tunnel Fast Tags (...
Every so often I write a post that answers questions people have posed by searching for my blog in search engines. There have been a couple of searches today for the Merseyside Pension Fund Annual Accounts for 2010/2011. Merseyside Pension Fund is administered by Wirral Council. There are of course two versions of the accounts ...
This photo has been banded around on twitter for a few days but I thought I'd throw in up on the website for those that haven't seen it. Apparently too many people are having wanks in the University of St. Andrews toilets and those in charge decided that this needed to stop and have put up the following 'Masturbation Notice' on the door. [IMG: University of St Andrews Toilets] Don't tommy tank in these toilets... So it is costing far too much to remove all the stains from the floor. Firstly I'd wondering who would want to go in there ...
Marvelous to see reports of the Queen's visit to Margate old town and the Turner Contemporary, a remarkable day for the town by any standard. An event in which the best of British met the best of Margate and probably Kent. Not being able to witness the event myself I had to rely on coverage on telly, which was surprisingly comprehensive, particularly Meridian which as a rare viewer challenged my preconceptions. Brilliant to see so many people enjoying themselves including the royals, and good to see veterans meeting the queen. A day to mark the journey, so far in the ...
Mon 14th
15:05
How do you react when someone stops feeling you are worthy of being social media friends?
That moment where you see your Facebook friends has gone down or you notice someone you interacted with has stopped following you on twitter are strange moments. In the main the people that de-friend you or those who stop following you are people you never speak to anyway. They are people you knew from school but haven't spoken to in ten years or people who followed you because they liked a RT they saw of yours but then noticed they didn't like your style of tweeting. However when it's someone you do know and do speak to that decides enough ...
Cornwall Council will shortly be starting the consultation process for a whole heap of traffic and parking regulation changes in Launceston. As local councillors, Sasha, Adam and I have been waiting for a long time for some of these to happen. In order to save money (the legal process costs £3600), it is right that these should be combined and that is why we have had to wait for so long for changes which should enjoy universal support. In each case, residents in close proximity to the proposal and others who will be directly affected will get a letter asking ...
Yesterday, I went off into Edinburgh to help the awesome North, East and Leith local party with their campaign for the Council elections. The City of Edinburgh Council has been ably led by Lib Dem Cllr Jenny Dawe since 2007. They inherited a right financial mess from Labour and have transformed the city in the past 4 and a half years, making communities safer, reducing homelessness, building new council houses, improving social care and getting the city's finances on a stable footing. There is a lot to be proud of in their record. The Lib Dems are the only party ...
The Independent Taskforce on Student Finance is today (14 Nov 2011) holding a 'Students Finance Day' . The taskforce says: "This is a national day dedicated to explaining the 2012 changes to student finance in England. The main aim of the campaign is simple - to ensure people understand how the new student finance package works before they make a decision as to whether they can afford to go to university. The day is being organised by us alongside the National Association of Student Money Advisers (NASMA) and the Higher Education Liaison Officers Association (HELOA)." This is building on the ...
So for 33 year old Milan-based journalist Giovanni Riga, this at least will be Silvio Berlusconi's epitaph. Goodbye Silvio - please close the door behind you His comment on the scandal-strewn period in office of the out-going Italian Prime Minister in today's Independent speaks volumes for a discredited maverick who rode on the wave of populism and whilst doing so, fed the self-interest of those business aquaintences who surrounded him whilst allowing for his nation's economic fortunes to reach the precipice of disaster. Papandreou - Gone / Berlusconi - Gone / Zapatero Next? After the near collapse of the Greek ...
I have a job for Olly Grender and Christine Jardine, two of the Lib Dem media people in Downing Street. They need to head for Ikea, buy a large cupboard and lock David Cameron or George Osborne in it every time they feel the need to talk about Scotland, the SNP, or the independence referendum. They could even line it in tartan if they like, as long as they keep them out of sight until the urge passes. You see, it really doesn't help. There are issues to do with the referendum, as Willie Rennie pointed out the other week, ...
Another continuing problem has raised its head again, the spectre of parking in Medway. It's attack is three fold. 1. Aldi Car park. Regular customers at the popular budget super market on Duncan road will have discovered over recent months that the hour and a half free parking was reduced to an hour.The Supermarket, who subcontracts the monitoring of the car park to another company "parking Eye" took the decision at an above store level possibly motivated by patrons who used the carpark to use Gillingham High street. Although there was a sign posted, many customers were not aware of ...
Saturday's Western Morning News had an interview with Lance Kennedy as he vies for the role of elected Police Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall. But is Lance a bit confused about his electoral history? I only ask because the article contains the sentence: "Two stints as mayor of the North Cornwall town followed before taking on the role of councillor at the then Cornwall County Council." Of course Lance wasn't on the former County Council and nor was he on North Cornwall District Council. So how did the journalist come to write that he was? Incidentally, I'd love to hear ...
North West England Euro-MP Chris Davies has called on top Chinese officials to take a global lead in fighting climate change. He says that all sides need to recognise the new world order now that China emits twice as much CO2 as ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Media_httpwwwnoiseoft_afcmb] via noiseofthecrowd.com Leo Barasi has provided some useful context for the Cameron-Osborne "blame Europe" narrative on the economy. Their "blame Labour for the cuts" narrative still has some way to go. But half the country now holds the coalition responsible for the cuts, at least in part. Time for a new story . . . Posted via email from Neil Stockley's posterous
A small group of idealists, pitched up at a famous London landmark, arguing for radical change. Surrounded by hostile press trying to catch them out and making outlandish (or just plain false) accusations, they stay, grimly determined to make their voices heard by the public, the press and the powerful. Yes, it's Occupy London, but I could also be talking about the Parliamentary Liberal Democrats. Maybe I'm naïve, but I see that we have more in common with Occupy than meets the eye. Let's look at how our actions and beliefs match up with Occupy's initial statement: 1. The current system ...
At this morning's meeting of Cornwall Council's Electoral Review Panel, we agreed to ask the full council to make a submission to the Boundary Review with an alternative to current proposals. The first statement we want to make is about the Devonwall proposals. For all the reasons stated before, we want to reiterate our opposition to the idea of a constituency which crosses the border. Although the Boundary Commission was restricted in what they were allowed to propose, they are still able to make the statement that they are only proposing a Devonwall seat because they have to. The second ...
There is none; the answer does not exist. Households, private sector and governments have to de-leverage a colossus amount of debt. Stimulus and inflating the bubble (again) will make the depression even worse-which we are currently in-and would destroy living standards even more. During the Great Depression, British growth was sluggish and uninspiring. But the ...
The team at Heaton Park would like to know our views on how the Heaton Park Bonfire Night event went. A number of new initiatives were tried this year, which seemed to go well and over 40,000 people attended the event. But feedback is wanted to make sure that any issues can be improved on for future events. For information the event comprised: - A fenced-off event on the Paper Field - Search Lanes were introduced and there was a ban on taking alcohol or fireworks into the event site. - c 70 security staff on duty - a Voluntary ...
I'm loving the new single from Little Boots. A perfectly formed and executed slice of electronic pop.
The fourth, and final, episode of Derren Brown's experiments was aired last Friday. In 'The Secret of Luck' Brown investigates why some people are lucky while others seem to attract misfortune. By spreading a rumour that the statue of a dog in the park of a local village is lucky, people begin to rub the head of dog and then attribute their success to luck. What the programme shows is that people will have luck if they seize opportunities that come their way. If they ignore, or simply don't spot. the chances they have they are more likely to think ...
Angela Harbutt's recent post on the direction of the Lib Dems suggested that the party should focus on the small and local. Before the merger of the Liberal party and the SDP, the former was very much about local decision-making and championed 'small is beautiful'. As other parties adopted the language, and policies, of decentralisation the Liberal Democrats searched for other ways to differentiate the party. But there is no reason why the party cannot take these two areas and turn them into a compelling narrative. To do this it would need to review its policies. What was suitable for ...
Lib Dem equalities minister Lynne Featherstone is in the news for examining proposals to make the specific offence of stalking a criminal offence. The Independent reports: Stalkers are to face jail under government plans to create a new criminal offence after prosecutors admitted it was hard to bring cases to court. Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat Home Office minister, on a visit to Manchester, [is today to] unveil proposals to introduce a specific offence of stalking, potentially also covering cyber-stalking. A three-month consultation will also look at the use of restraining orders and police attitudes to stalking cases, following concern ...
Friday was the regular monthly meeting of the AGMA / GMCA Scrutiny Pool (Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, Greater Manchester Combined Authority). This is a pool which exists to 'scrutinise' decisions that are made at a Greater Manchester level made up of 3 councillors from each district. This year I am one of two "Co-Chairs" of the pool. NHS Reforms In the morning we had a training session on how NHS structural reforms would be affecting Greater Manchester. We are being sent the 'slides' from the presentation, with the detail, and I'll post them up here when I get them. ...
A few months ago the Building and Social Housing Foundation argued that one in five households could be living in the private rented sector by 2020, if current trends continue. Last week the estate agents Savills suggested that we could reach that situation by 2016. Is the housing market trend towards private renting speeding up? More probably, we're not quite sure exactly what's happening, nor how fast. But it is fairly clear that there's plenty of change in the housing market. We know that something like a million additional properties have entered the private rented sector since 2005. We may ...
I am on Wave 102 News this morning about the concerns over Dundee College funding cuts - click 'play' to listen :
Mon 14th
09:28
Watson vs Farage: 'not one single British job depends on EU membership' exclaims UKIP leader
This week's The Record Europe again saw South West Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson clash with UKIP leader and MEP Nigel Farage, and thanks to the UKIP press team, we can all enjoy the confrontation via YouTube.While the continuing troubles in the Eurozone took centre stage, the two British MEPs clashed over whether EU membership was beneficial to the UK with Sir Graham managing to extort
Over-populated, chaotic and under-water, Bangladesh is not on most people's list of holiday destinations. But with some of the kindest people you can hope to meet, a fascinating story of economic development, sensational food and a rich history, it offers a rare opportunity to totally immerse yourself in a foreign culture in a short space of time. I've selected 25 photos from our trip, which you can view in the slideshow below. I'm planning a post which will use these images to tell the story of our trip and hopefully give some insights into the country.
The Government has announced plans to extend free early education to 140,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds, and parents will be able to access the free entitlement more flexibly. In Cornwall, around 900 two-year olds are expected to benefit from the proposals. Liberal Democrat Children's Minister, Sarah Teather, announced a consultation today on how this commitment will be implemented. The plans include proposals to help parents and children alike by making the free entitlement of 15 hours per week of early education more flexible, so it can be taken between 7am and 7pm across two days instead of the current three days. Helping ...
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is an independent body, created to help us hold the government to account. It's their job to check the government clears the structural deficit within this parliament. So it's pretty important that we understand what is meant by "structural deficit". But what exactly is the structural deficit? The word "deficit" is bad enough. A lot of people confuse it with "debt", and that's not just in inadvertent typos. However, if you stop and think, it's not so bad. 'Debt' is what we owe, and 'deficit' is how fast our debt is increasing. The structural ...
Putting aside the issue of whether the England football team should or shouldn't have worn poppies on their shirts yesterday, it has given rise to that old canard that sport has nothing to do with politics. Indeed to quote FIFA on Friday... Jim Boyce, a vice-president of Fifa, said: "I'm glad that a compromise has been reached [and] I'm delighted that Fifa has now said to the FA that players can have black armbands on Saturday with the poppy on the black armbands. Let me also say that I can understand why Fifa do have this rule. Football and politics ...
When I went to East Lothian for the annual Liberal Democrat dinner on Friday night, I think it's fair to say that the last thing I expected to come up in Willie Rennie's speech was Justin Bieber. Bieber is a teen pop idol type who divides teenage girls into those who love him and those, like my daughter, who loathe him with the same sort of passion I reserve for Lewis Hamilton. How on earth did he find his way into Willie's speech? Well, Willie doesn't just believe in turning up, eating, speaking and leaving when he goes to a ...
The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is launching a series of road shows across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to give businesses a real say in the development of the new economic strategy. The Launceston event will be on December 8th at 2.30pm. Called 'Tell Us', the series of 15 road shows challenges businesses of all sizes to take the driving seat and set the priorities for the recently formed Local Enterprise Partnership. Chris Pomfret, Chair of the LEP says: "For the first time, we have a chance to create a local economic strategy which ...
A headline like "Give MPs more benefits, says diversity report" is bound to raise a few hackles, which is presumably why the Independent chose to use it, however on reading the article it soon becomes clear that the sub-editors were thinking of a different piece. The suggestion is actually that candidates, not MPs, should have a statutory right to time off work and state funds to cover loss of income in an effort to encourage more diversity. However, it is not clear how the authors propose to fund this, nor how they suggest we get acceptance amongst businesses or the ...
The Press Association reports: Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie called on the Scottish Government to put a fair access policy in place, or extend the remit of the the Office of Fair Access north of the border. He said this would not only address the fair access gap for poorer students from England and Wales, but also improve the chances of Scottish students deciding to go to university. Mr Rennie said: "With Scottish universities now able to set fees of up to £9,000 a year, and Edinburgh and St Andrews universities now the most expensive place to study in ...
MP Julian Huppert is celebrating victory after today's (Thursday, November 3) announcement by the government that it will be giving Cambridgeshire schools an extra £10.2 million. Julian had been pushing for more money for the county's schools which are among the lowest funded in the country. He joined MPs from across the county to campaign for extra funding and raised the issue in the House of Commons. In February, Education Minister, Michael Gove promised Julian a review the county's grant allocation - and today he announced the county would be among 100 benefiting from an extra £500 million to provide ...
MP Julian Huppert is celebrating victory after today's (Thursday, November 3) announcement by the government that it will be giving Cambridgeshire schools an extra £10.2 million. Julian had been pushing for more money for the county's schools which are among the lowest funded in the country. He joined MPs from across the county to campaign for extra funding and raised the issue in the House of Commons. In February, Education Minister, Michael Gove promised Julian a review the county's grant allocation - and today he announced the county would be among 100 benefiting from an extra £500 million to provide ...
I want to ask you how you would feel in the following scenario. This week David Cameron announces he and his government has lost the confidence of the markets and he has tendered his resignation to the Queen. I know many left leaning readers of this blog would probably replicate the scenes we have just seen in Italy, but lets carry on the story. At the same time David Cameron announces his resignation the Queen puts a senior figure from the London School of Economics (LSE) into the house of Lords so he can head a 'technical' government with elections ...
The long weekend of "remembrance" which has just passed has been the usual uneasy mixture of national pride, nostalgia, sanitisation of the effects of war, and mourning. What I believe should be its principal purpose, an acknowledgement of the horror futility of wars, which occur through the failure of politics, is barely acknowledged. I applaud the British Legion's attempts to transfer the remembrance events (sure the term "celebration is a misnomer) to the 11th November rather than the nearest Sunday, which is something the French do, and it is a public holiday, perhaps meant to be observed in the original ...
Permission was given for a Judicial Review of Durham County Council's refusal of the village green application for Belle Vue Fields on Friday November 11th at the Leeds Administrative Court by Judge HHJ Richardson QC. I attended the hearing with a sense of déjà vu having myself appeared in front of a judge in the same courtroom two years earlier, arguing unsuccessfully for a Judicial Review of the original decision to build the new Academy at Belle Vue. I have to say it was a lot less nerve racking on Friday, sitting as an observer from Consett Green Spaces Group ...
With the permission of TACTRAN, our regional transport partnership for Tayside and Central Scotland, you can download the latest quarterly e-newsletter from TACTRAN by going to http://tinyurl.com/tactranautumn2011. Subjects covered in this edition are : progress on improving rail services through Tay Estuary Rail Study (TERS) work;approval of the Tayside and Central Scotland Health and Transport Framework;progress on Travel Planning support for public and private sector employers;development of plans for a Freight Consolidation Centre in Perth;progress on the delivery of TACTRAN's revenue and capital projectsHaving chaired TACTRAN between 2007 and 2009, I am hugely supportive of the need for strategic regional ...
(Part one) Well first, as we've established before, there is no Doctor Who canon in the sense that there is for, say, Star Wars. There is no sense in which some of these stories that someone made up are more real than some other stories someone else made up. The very idea is absurd. But ...
Thanks to Lib Dem Voice's "Golden Dozen" I stumbled upon this post at Matthew Gibson's "Solution Focussed Politics" blog that seems to epitomise the lack of understanding of what "economic liberalism" means by the sort of folks who side with the "Social Liberal Forum". Apparently there's some new research out from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (pdf) examining more evidence for the hypothesis in "The Spirit Level " that inequality within a society leads to damaging social and health outcomes. Matthew says that: the debate is very important to the Lib Dems. The Social Liberal Forum endorse the Spirit Level and ...
Here's the press release: Nick Perry, the Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, has expressed his concern that a local project funded to help excluded and hard to reach young people has 50% vacancies, despite the high levels of need and disadvantage in the town. Finding Futures, part of the Brighton Housing Trust ...
