Well, it's really called "Members Only", but from 1:30 to 3:30 there is some lovely footage of the National Liberal Club - apologies for the sexist views expressed. The film is dated 1965 and the commentary implies the building may soon be demolished. Fortunately, it was not. I did not know the staircase was rebuilt after the Blitz, but then not may people know that the club's wine cellar is housed in the remains of an early underground railway.
Tue 15th
22:51
Planning Committee Part 1 Cllr Elderton interrupts proceedings, Planning Committee discusses freedom...
The Chair of the Planning Committee, Cllr Elderton interrupted Cllr Niblock tonight during the Planning Committee during its consideration of planning application APP/10/01105 (agenda item 4). This is what Cllr Elderton (and others) said (or at least what could be heard on the recording as there are segments on the recording where there is more ...
At the Liberal Democrats regualar meetings with the CEO of Ealing Council a number of issues were discussed: Council cuts; regeneration in Southall, Ealing and Acton; the Ealing Riots; Libraries and Legal advice in the eastern end of the borough. Coming to the cuts it appears after six months of only a few proposals on how Ealing Council needs to reduce its spending it will be announcing a longer list of cuts. My party will be scrutinising them to see how many of them will leave people more vulnerable or in need. I asked about the topic of a £5.5 ...
At last, the moment has arrived! Our offspring has started her own blog. It's on Tumblr here. Tumblr is hip, hop, happening and...er...."cool"...apparently. Well, I can't not plug it, can I? Image credit: Some rights reserved by joshwept [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
And so another week in the company of Rutland's most celebrated fictional peer draws to an end. Sunday To St Asquith's for Divine Service. "And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of ...
As reported in tonight's Evening Telegraph, I have condemned the irresponsible persons who drove across the football pitches at Riverside over the weekend leaving the pitches damaged - see right. I am pleased to say that, having spoken with the City Council's Head of Environmental Management about the situation, he has promised remedial works and the offer from the Riverside Sunday Morning League to assist with this is both generous and welcome. Tonight, I attended Dundee Contemporary Arts' Finance and Operations Sub-Committee at which there was productive discussion on a number of financial and administrative matters.
Launceston Town Council decided this evening to take over the running of two public toilets in the town to save them from closure by Cornwall Council. The decision, by 11 votes to 3 with one abstention, will secure the future of the facilities in the Walk House car park in Tower Street and of the toilets in Race Hill car park. Some months ago, Cornwall Council made its first effort to persuade town and parish councils to take over the running of public toilets. Then a month ago they published a list of 114 toilets across Cornwall which they were ...
Tue 15th
21:10
ITV1′s The Jury - The case should have been dismissed and the show axed after 15 minutes.
I kept meaning to write a review of ITV1′s The Jury but kept putting it off due in part to y'know being lazy and all that jazz. Well Caron Lindsay over at Caron's Musings has put up her review which you can find this link and it seems we differ quite a bit! First of all I will say both barristers were acted very well but did I care about some of the back stories of the jury? Did I heck. Yes Rashid coming to terms with aspergers and demanding that he be allowed to do jury duty and seemingly ...
I've tried to avoid blogging on the Occupy movement, as there's not really much that you can say about people who want to change the world by setting up vagrant camps! Noticing a flurry of controversy on the side, however, ... Continue reading →
The Social Liberal Forum is too eager to build a straw man argument against "economic liberals", argues Jock Coats. Barnet Council "has put in the most ludicrous complaint against a local blogger, Mr Mustard ( real name Derek Dishman) to the Information Commissioner claiming he has committed a criminal offence under the Data Protection Act by not registering as a data controller because he has made critical comments about whether some of its officials have real jobs," reports David Hencke. Why is Camarthenshire County Council giving public money to a particularly wacky American religious group? Y Cneifiwr investigates. "The evil ...
The Belfast Telegraph is seeking nominations for its Making the Difference Awards 2011. Those awarded will receive their awards at a ...Continue reading »
The Belfast Telegraph is seeking nominations for its Making the Difference Awards 2011. Those awarded will receive their awards at a fantastic awards night in Belfast's Grand Opera House next year. The next round of nominations are due to be featured in the paper in the next few days so get your nominations in quickly Categories ...
After all that fuss about unprofessional self-publishers, I just got my own proof copies through of my Monkees book, in both hardback and paperback. There are no printing errors anywhere I can see throughout the book – except that the very first line on the back cover of both says "ere they come..." I've fixed ...
The Swindon Advertiser reports that the appeal against Swindon Council's refusal of permission for 890 houses and a business estate on land near Coate Water began at the Steam museum in the town today: Jean Saunders, 65, of Longcot, hopes to speak at the inquiry as secretary of the Jefferies Land Conservation Trust, which has suggested alternative plans to protect the site as an educational nature reserve. "We're going to be bringing to the table a whole host of other concerns we raised," she said. "Obviously there's this issue of precedent - if planning permission is granted for this, it ...
Details of this planning application can be found by following this link: The case officer is Steve Isaacson - please email comments and objections to him at steve.isaacson@lewisham.gov.uk, and don't forget to copy us in at foresthill@lewishamlibdems.org.uk
Details of this planning application can be found by following this link: The case officer is Kate Challenger - please email comments and objections to her at kate.challenger@lewisham.gov.uk, and don't forget to copy us in at foresthill@lewishamlibdems.org.uk
The First Minister Peter Robinson seems to think that throwing his toys out of the pram is the way to go to enable an inclusive prison service in Northern Ireland. The issue arose in the debate on the Prison Review: Final Report at Stormont yesterday. The thing that seems to concern him most is the issue of the emblems used by the Northern Ireland Prison Service and most noticeably on the sign for the prisons themselves. The Justice Minister, David Ford made remarks in his summation particularly in response to Jim Allister of Traditional Unionist Voice who had earlier said: ...
I am a complete sucker for a good courtroom drama. Lunchtimes during the school holidays when I was a little girl would find me avidly watching Crown Court. There was always that moment of drama on a Friday when The Verdict was declared. I just wish they'd bring it back - it'd surely give Doctors a run for its money. Not, of course, that I watch that. In fact, when I was in the gym today over lunch time, I chose, as usual, to watch the BBC News Channel while I huffed and puffed on treadmill, bike and cross trainer. ...
According to most commentators, Brodie Clark's case all hangs on whether his account of his conversation with his boss Rob Whiteman is accurate. To quote The Guardian: Clark's version of events directly clashed with that given repeatedly by the home secretary to the Commons over the past 10 days. But it is impossible to judge the competing claims unless the paperwork to back them up is published I worry that the paperwork will be published - but it won't be able to back up Brodie Clark's claims. This video show's why... Never a truer word spoken than in jest, I'm ...
Bitcoin me! 1JDDn6cHgzqsRtgQJZwhToJPAX4oYZg19T If that "sentence" makes any sense to you – you're not a muggle. Muggles (for want of a better epithet) don't want to invest a lot of time into things which don't fit with their mental model of how the world works. Without getting into a philosophical discussion on what money is and how value is generated – let's look at how Bitcoin works in practice. Failing to Design is Designing to Fail Bitcoin is doomed to fail. Pick a reason why. Governments will ban it. A proprietary alternative will spring up. An EMP will destroy enough ...
The Australian Senate has just passed landmark legislation in the long fight to prevent young people from starting smoking. From next July, all cigarette packs sold in Australia will look the same: a murky green box with big health warnings and the brand name in a standard font. The tobacco industry desperately fought the plans with millions spent on adverts, dubious research, front groups and legal action. But despite their unprecedented campaign, the idea is widely supported by the public and was passed unanimously in the Australian House of Representatives. Now it's our turn. The Coalition Government understands the need ...
Bignews Margate has over the years, commented on some Kent Councils PR initiatives, taking a quick look at KCC's website recently, I notice that Kent Council busy bodies have launched a new campaign, which if your of the local authority busy body mindset is a fantastic breakthrough in public safety, however if your cynical like me it's just more interference in peoples lives and a bit of a non-event since you would expect local authorities to police Anyhow here is the jist from the latest Press Release from KCC " A new initiative, A-board Aware, is being launched to encourage ...
Odd, bizarre, unexpected and yet brilliantly practical with a significant impact on the real world. You never know what is going to happen next, with all sorts of twists and turns along the way. I defy anyone to predict how it will end. Oh, you want to know the title? Why, it's A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates, produced by the RAND Corporation of course. At the time of publication in 1955 finding genuinely random sets of numbers to use for purposes as varied as statistics, lottery administration and even (so maritime lore has it) plotting submarine evasion ...
The Government today gave its backing to the changes introduced by Cornwall Council to restrict the right of second home owners to vote. This year, those people who have a second home in Cornwall which is used purely for recreational purposes will no longer be able to register to vote. People who live permanently in two homes - such as students - will continue to be able to register from both but may only vote once in any single election. In the House of Commons this morning, North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson was told by Cabinet Office Minister Mark Harper ...
Policy-makers have ben talking about economic armageddon. That is strong stuff. Of course, we don't need to worry because David Cameron has asked the Treasury - the high priests of There Is No Alternative - to look at contingency plans. Luckily, I had some time on my hands so I've given them a little help:
There's a comforting story out there that the eurozone is in crisis because of countries such as Greece and Italy have huge deficits and that if they weren't in the euro everything would be ok. Nonsense! The crisis started in the US ... but let's skip a few passages. The euro is a strong currency and it's an international currency, which means any problems with it will impact on the rest of the
Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has agreed to meet with a Cornish delegation to discuss devolving more powers to Cornwall. In Parliament this morning, St Ives MP Andrew George asked Nick to meet with him and others to discuss giving greater decision making power to Cornwall. As part of the Localism Bill which is just completing its passage through Parliament, local councils and local communities are getting more powers, but Andrew wants this to go even further in Cornwall. (Photo is nick during a previous visit to Cornwall with Stephen Gilbert and Matthew Taylor in St ...
Classic!
Tue 15th
14:15
Opinion: The Lib Dem leadership's attitude to the Police Commissioner elections is baffling!
"Liberal Democrats – soft on crime" was the headline that has often screamed off Labour leaflets over the last decade. Indeed, in the latter stages of the 2010 General Election, Labour strategists used that message to squeeze the Liberal Democrat vote when we were on 29%. Looking at the partial, last-minute collapse in our vote, it's difficult to argue that this line of attack didn't work. The 'soft on crime' attack was used against us in the Oldham East and Saddleworth By-election. Labour's Christmas Card to constituents in Oldham even featured a snowman with a police hat on to illustrate ...
Some good news on the bovine TB front comes with a press release from the Badger Trust which reveals that the National Farmers Union and the Badger Trust are working togther on an initial project to vaccinate badgers on two farms owned by members of the NFU. They say that NFU chief farm policy adviser John Royle and Badger Trust Director Simon Boulter have agreed a joint project in which the badgers on two farms owned by NFU members will be vaccinated. In addition, the Badger Trust has identified five other landowners around the UK wishing to vaccinate badgers and ...
The BBC has news of yet another Government special advisor who, it is alleged, is not up to the job and is in danger of dismissal. In this case it is Larry, the cat brought in to tackle Downing Street's mouse problem. He is under pressure after reports that a mouse appeared at a recent prime ministerial dinner. The BBC say that David Cameron was with other ministers, including Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, when the offending creature appeared. Rather worryingly, Larry has had the political equivalent of the Chairman's vote of confidence in the football manager, when ...
A new planning application has been received which is within your Holyrood Ward or Prestwich as detailed below:- Application number: 54555 Type of application: Demolition Determination Date Registered: 14/11/2011 Applicant: Vale Park Demolition Services Ltd Location: 131 & 133 Heys Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1QJ Proposal: Prior notification of proposed demolition of pair semi-detached dwellings Plans will be available to view on the Council's website within 2 working days. Should you require further details please contact the case officer: Mark Kilby on: 0161 253 7639 or contact either myself or Councillor Tim Pickstone if you would like advice about commenting ...
This is one of what is becoming a series of blogposts written in half an hour of my lunch break. Hopefully this will force me not to ramble on at ridiculous length. I was very pleased to see in the news that MPs will be havign a parliamentary debate petrol prices. This is thanks mainly to a petition on the government petition website reaching the requirement of 100,000 signatures. A while back I talked about how I thought that high petrol prices were hurting the economy and how the government needs to lower them. The debate will, according to the ...
Ceredigion County Council's Cabinet this morning agreed to allow for free parking throughout the county from 10am on the 3 Saturdays running up to Christmas - the 10th, 17th and 24th December. Traders from Cardigan have been making the case for free festive parking in the town for years because of the negative impact that the same policy in neighbouring Carmarthenshire has had on trade in our town. It has been exacerbated by a new policy to a similar effect coming into force this year in Pembrokeshire. This year, the County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, Cllr Ray Quant has ...
Herman Cain sounds rather confused in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: President Obama called for the removal of Gaddafi. Just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing before I say, yes I agree, I know I didn't agree. I do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reason — no, that's a different one. I gotta go back to... Got all this stuff twirling around in my head. Specifically, what are you asking me, did I agree or not disagree with on what?" We all have things "twirling around" in our ...
In the 1970s came a school of economic thought popularized by the German-born British economist, E.F. Schumacher called "Small is Beautiful". This itself was the product of much work done by Leopold Kohr, Schumacher's teacher, and the author of the seminal work "The Breakdown of Nations". The simplest level of the ideas of the small is beautiful movement is that "when something is wrong, something is too big". The implications of this are profound. Innovation, for example, usually flows from small companies, not from large ones. Mergers of large companies almost never deliver the returns that they promise, In the ...
There were only two planning applications decided by officers during this period. The first was for the erection of one non-illuminated fascia sign at Park View Hotel, 426-428 Price Street, Birkenhead, CH41 4JQ. This is for an advertisement consent. However it has been withdrawn by the applicant. The second is for erection of a rear ...
Even if the Euro survives, which is not guaranteed, it is likely Greece, Ireland and Portugal will be exiting the single currency in the short-medium term. All efforts will remain focused on Italy and Spain; French downgrade has already been priced into the market, with significant moves occurring in French bonds and in the CDS market. ...
The current approach to the United Kingdom doesn't work. The current approach treats each home nation as an individual, yet this approach leads to everyone pulling the centre in every direction. It leads to infighting, or to one country taking control and dictating to the others how they should be run. Neither result leads to a strong union. We currently have the Scotland Bill going through Parliament devolving more powers to the Scottish Parliament; Wales passed a referendum giving its citizens the ability to pass primary legislation; and Nick Clegg has set up a commission to address the West Lothian ...
(With thanks to Northumbria Police for allowing me to "cut and paste" this Dated: 15 Nov 2011 [IMG: © Northumbria Police] Police in Northumberland are warning people to watch out for card skimming devices on cash points. In the last week two such devices have been found on cash points in the Blyth and Alnwick areas of the county. The first on a Lloyds TSB machine near to ASDA in Cowpen Road, Blyth, and the second on a HBOS machine in Bondgate Within, Alnwick. The devices came in two parts; a card reader fitted around the card slot and a ...
Labour MP for Blaydon, David Anderson, proudly announced in October last year that he was "delighted to have been asked to play a role in building our [Labour Parliamentary] team". Mr Anderson's comments were made as he had just been appointed to the dizzy heights of Opposition Assistant Whip. He was going to help "devise a reasonable and convincing alternative" to the Coalition.Alas, Mr
Lucas Papademos, former vice-president of the European Central Bank, has now been installed as the new Prime Minster of Greece. The imminent arrival of former European Commissioner Mario Monti as Prime Minister of Italy will get the post-Berlusconi era properly under way. This is to be an era of technocratic policy-making by market-approved placemen. Defenders of democracy are deeply concerned about the way in which this process has evolved. It is not so much that crisis has precipitated change at the top of national governments. Nor even that these countries find themselves governed by interim governments that are appointed rather ...
Proof, if further proof was needed to you don't refer to a Lady as 'looking old' Given she worked in Naval intelligence her response was probably a little restrained :-)H/T Demitri Seirlis
St Albans City and District Council wants to hear your views on the long-term future development of St Albans Civic Centre area, currently home to the Council's offices, the Alban Arena, the Principal Health Centre and police station. This work follows on from the City Vision work undertaken by the Council which identified city centre development sites and opportunities for change. This new step in that process provides more detail on possible new uses and layout for this important and poorly performing site. The community now has an opportunity to engage further in shaping change in the city centre by ...
There has been plenty of talk recently about the unfairness of Westminster internships and calls for all internships in Parliament and in political parties to be paid. I understand the good intentions behind this argument but am concerned about the effects this could actually have on opportunities. There are two issues being discussed around internships and it's important not to get them confused. The first is the issue of informal internships – Daddy getting you an exclusive internship because he plays golf with somebody influential. This is what Nick Clegg is talking about when he says that "it should be ...
If you don't have time to read a longish blog article right now, save this one as a favourite to enjoy later. In July, my friend Graeme left the comfort and proximity of Starbucks of his office to go to rural Uganda to volunteer as a teacher for a couple of months. He's finally got round to writing about his experiences. His blog "Hunting for Gems in the Pearl of Africa" outlines a bit about the history of Uganda, the philosophy behind Volunteer Uganda's programme and about the children he taught. I remember he posted on Facebook about how enthralled ...
There has been a big push by the Coalition government to cut the deficit, or more specifically to be seen to be cutting the deficit and within this agenda there has been a big focus on benefits. Claims of benefit scroungers - people who can but refuse to work being paid by the Government - ...
This monthly meeting with police and Neighbourhood Services contains a lot of good news, and one area where the police need your help. Overall crime in both Consett and Stanley is down, and detection rates are up,but both show the same area of criminal activity increase – metal theft. Up 39% in Consett, and up 64% in Stanley. Both increases are from a low base, and ofter quite minor items, but the police are acting to stamp on it and would welcome your help. If you see anything suspicious please phone 0345 6060365 to report your suspicions and please GIVE ...
Tue 15th
07:35How best to boost growth? Coalition debate sees Tories argue for supply-side reforms, Lib Dems pushi...
As the OECD forecasts a sharp slowdown in global growth, the Coalition is re-examining old and new ideas to boost the economy here in the UK. And, judging by this report in The Guardian, the likely approach illustrates the impact of Lib Dem thinking within government... The Coalition choice: Tory supply-side reforms OR... One area that has been looked at to boost growth is supply-side reforms to free up the labour market, such as those championed by Conservative adviser Adrian Beecroft. The 'Beecroft Report' has urged radical reform, most controversially advocating the government to stimulate private industry to hire workers ...
The economic crisis affecting the Eurozone has now seen off the governments of Burlusconi and Papandreou - evidence, if any were necessary, that every cloud has a silver lining. I shed no tears for either, but what does concern me is how the economic and political needs of the moment appear to have sidelined democratic values in favour of "stability". In both Greece and Italy incumbent leaders have been replaced with unelected economists as fears of pending financial collapse have led to faith being put in the apparent expertise of Mario Monti and Lucas Papademos, rather than in the electorate, ...
Why can I no longer import posts from my website to my Page's notes? - Facebook Help Centre - because Facebook is suicidal. (tags: internet ) Penser la Yougoslavie 20 ans après Series of events coming up locally. (tags: belgium balkans ) Who Wrote Shakespeare? Eric Idle tells us. (tags: shakespeare ) Three things make a post, double meaning edition A simple self-help technique. (tags: life ) nostalgia_lj: Old Who Recs (a meme) Rec one TV story per Doctor. Not neccesarily your favourites, but ones you think might appeal to newbies. (tags: doctorwho ) some_stars: the nice thing about DW ...
Police moving in on Occupy Wall Street, live.
The beeb reports that residents of Wentworth Court, St Mark's Hill, Surbiton are objecting to English Heritage's plan to award the building a blue plaque. The reason? Because it is in recognition of the woman who introduced striptease to the UK - Phylis Dixie - who lived there in the 1930s. Now I have some local knowledge of St Mark's Hill and it is famous for being the road that gets you to Surbiton Station quickly. Now Surbiton Station is not without its architectural merits: Wentworth Court however is not: But that is not the issue. Dixie deserves a blue ...
