Earlier tonight while over at my brother's he turned to me from Facebook to tell me that Richard Lowry had died earlier today. Mr Lowry as we knew him was the younger Economics teacher at Regent House Grammar School when I started my A' Level in the subject. But he was the one who was more inspirational. He was only 15 years older than us but he had ways to get us involved in practical Economics. When it came to learning about how the stock market worked, he gave us all pages of accounting paper and the sum of £500 ...
With most schools closed tomorrow many millions of parents will not be able to go to work. While an extra day at home with the little darlings will be welcomed by many, those with jobs without the long term security of the public sector or the guaranteed publicly subsidised pensions (whether gold plated or not), or those self employed will be the big losers with another productive day wiped out by the selfish actions of the public sector unions. The unions argue that their members are paying the price for bailing out the banks - which is simply untrue. Around ...
For me, remembering to post about notable anniversaries is a bit like sending birthday cards: a couple of weeks out from the day I make a mental note not to forget. Then it doesn't cross my mind until after the event has passed. In the nick of time I've remembered that today is the tenth anniversary of George Harrison's death. I had intended to watch Martin Scorcese's two-part documentary on the Quiet One and use it as the basis for my argument that he was the true genius of The Beatles. But I forgot either to record the second part ...
A remarkably brave and honest performance by Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander on Newsnight, mere moments ago. Given the disappointing deficit reduction figures to date, the next government will have to make additional savings of around £30bn to get the public finances back into balance. Danny made it unambiguously clear that a commitment to find these savings will be in the next manifesto. Even Paxo was surprised about his frankness and unambiguous clarity. A top performance. And at least we also know the task for LibDem conference for the next couple of years. And at least it's a ...
I was invited this afternoon to attend a meeting of the school council at Ingleby Mill Primary School. Unfortunately I was held up and arrived a little late so I missed the presentation done by the Yr 6 councillors to the others. Apparently I missed a treat, but I was in time to witness the children completing the school audit - where they are along the road to becoming a Fairtrade school.
If you heard the sound of distant cheering the other day it was because it has finally been agreed that Northampton's Greyfriars bus station is to be demolished. The site it occupies will be used to extend the Grosvenor Centre, the town's main shopping centre. The new bus station will be built on the site of the old Fishmarket, which is currently occupied by an independent arts centre run by Northampton Arts Collective.
When the programme warns you that the performance contains "scenes of a disturbing nature", you know you're not going to be in for an easy ride. However, that didn't seem to put off the 52 audience members – a (more than) full house – who attended Emily Holyoake's adaptation of Sherryl Jordan's "The Raging Quiet" at St David's Church, Exeter on 27th November. The start of the play introduces us to the two main protagonists in quick succession. Raver/Raven (Nicholas Limm) – deaf, but brutally maltreated as an idiot by everyone in the village except Father Brannan (Harry Boyd) enters ...
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has called the protestors at London Occupy St.Paul's 'hemp-smoking hippies...crusties' and he said that the demonstration was 'baffling protests against capitalism that have not led to a single resignation of a banker, but of three clerics'. Some of you reading this will agree with Boris and that's fine. I am angry with him because as Mayor of London he has no mandate to be so downright dicriminatory against a group of people who have a lot of support and whose cause is widely recognised. Message to Boris -Why are there so many people preparing ...
Brace yourself for a lot of misinformation over the next few days, as public sector workers, attempt to use all the black arts of the propagandist. So far in all the preamble to the strike action we've been knee deep in selfless nurses, dedicated teachers, heroic border agency bods, references to school dinner ladies, etc, much play of the low wage public sector workers, I noted that even the BBC's entertainment programme the one show managed to line some prime examples last night (Monday). For some reason its unlikely that BBC journalists or mainstream media will be spending to much ...
The news comes in a tweet from Munira Wilson.
Even though it was the main event, the budget was not the only key item at today's six hour council meeting. The proposal to back a public holiday on St Piran's Day - first put forward by my Lib Dem colleagues Ann Kerridge and Jeremy Rowe back in March - was finally approved. There were a large number of Conservatives (including the Leader) who backed an amendment for yet another round of consultation (presumably using expensive consultants). However the final result was pretty clear cut.Cornwall Council will be continuing to campaign against the proposal for a Devonwall parliamentary constituency and ...
Cornwall Council today agreed a Lib Dem proposal for a council tax freeze next year which will save a Band D household £31.11. We faced the choice of asking residents to pay more to maintain the current level of services or accepting the government's offer of a grant to freeze council tax next year. For us this was no choice. We cannot justify asking residents to pay a penny more than we have to. From saying over the past month that they were not prepared to discuss council tax levels until next year, the Conservative leadership have performed a hurried ...
Sainsbury's are looking to extending their operation hours to start earlier. If you wish to write in details are below Planning Services PO BOX 5006, Bath, BA1 1JG Tel: (01225)477000 development_control@bathnes.gov.uk App Ref: 11/04808/VAR 14th November 2011Expiry Date: 13th February 2012Sainsbury's
Yesterday I went to support the Anchor Grey Pride Campaign in Parliament, aimed at having a designated Minister for Older People. I've already signed an Early Day Motion calling for the same thing. What I found staggering was that today more people are over 65 than under 60, and in forty to fifty years half a million people will be over 100: yet there isn't any - or any plans - to have a person specifically representing their needs in government. The people I spoke to yesterday were very interesting and raised valid arguments for a Minister for Older People. ...
I look outside and see nothing but gloom and darkness and wildness tonight. I could be George Osborne looking out at the economy. No, scrub that. I could never be George Osborne. But there seriously isn't much to take any sort of cheer from in what he said today. The only thing that we can be sure of is that Osborne alone would not have seen any reason to uprate benefits in line with inflation - but that idea was kicked into touch, as has been widely reported, by the Liberal Democrats. It's an important thing. Unfortunately, tax credits are ...
I thought that you might like to have some information about how the public sector strike will be likely to affect Sutton tomorrow. The number of refuse collection staff on strike will not be known until tomorrow morning. Any bins that are not collected on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday should be left out. Waste collection staff will be working on Saturday to get through any backlog. Nine of our schools will remain fully open. 26 will be closed and 27 part-closed. I have provided a list of the schools below. The meals on wheels and care services will run as ...
Local residents of Aubretia Avenue recently contacted Cllr Darren Fower to say that despite reporting a broken light in their road, nothing appeared to be happening. Cllr Fower visited the site in question, and has now reported the issue to the Council's Street Lighting Team, as well as reporting it to the local authority's Neighbourhood Manager. Commenting, Darren said: "At this time of year, non functioning street lights need to be repaired as soon as possible. "Research has shown that poorly lit areas often see an increase in crime, not to mention several other issues arising from poor visibility. If ...
Peckham Rye station is one of the busiest stations in Southwark – 2.67Million enterring and leaving during FY10_11 - and the 150th busiest railway station in the UK out of 2,525. Many of these passengers live in East Dulwich ward. I was delighted that the long term Peckham Visionfor revitalising the centre of Peckham Rye around the railway station has moved several notches closer to becoming a reality. Both Southwark Council and the Mayor of London are talking about jointly funding the £5M needed to create a new station concourse and new public plaza. This was one our the key ...
The Australian reports on the treatment of Palestinian children by Israeli soldiers and Israeli courts. This is a far cry from any system of justice we recognise. John Lyons, the reporter, was allowed to attend the court with an official Israeli guide but not allowed to photograph the Palestinian children walking in handcuffs and shackles. An Australian lawyer, Gerard Horton, who defends
So, this wasn't exactly said today but in recognition of the anniversary of CS Lewis' birthday enjoy Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the ...
How did George do then? The Chancellor needs to walk the line between providing stimulus on the one hand and protecting Britain from the bond markets on the other. It really isn't easy to decide which side he should err on. The bond markets are currently a ravenous pack of hyenas who have tasted blood in Greece, Italy and Portugal. Although they're currently distracted by Belgium, Spain and now France even the slightest hint of weakness on Britain's part will draw their perilous attention our way. That said, protecting Britain from a bond market savaging must not be done at ...
Yesterday I posted about how the BBC had managed to produce their Sports Personality of the Year list without including a single woman. Today I'm going to produce a gender balanced list of champions, looking at some of the criteria of the all-male list, I have the double World medalist, the emotional champion winning year, the complete dominance of her sport, the inspirational captain and the one who's put disappointment aside in a preferred event to succeed elsewhere. Mo Farrah Rebecca Adlington like Mo Farrah above came back from the Worlds with a gold and silver medal. Only see got ...
In amongst all the headline economic news, there was a round of good news about opening up government data, detailed in a 13-page Cabinet Office document. It includes this on transport data: Train and bus data – The Government will work with the transport industry to make available by April 2012 timetable and real-time train and bus information to support the development of innovative applications to improve passenger journeys... Rail fares data – The Government will consult in early 2012, through the Fares and Ticketing Review, on providing open access to rail fares data, giving passengers and business better information ...
In the scheme of things, the very minor surgical procedure Anna underwent this morning isn't a great drama. Or even a small drama. For a child who's been lucky enough never to require much in the way of medical treatment, it was a very new experience, though. Especially when her mother is a State Registered Coward. We pitched up at the hospital at the appointed time, Anna listening to Queen on her iPod and me faking serenity. She had to have a local anaesthetic which, she told me afterwards, was very sore, but which she endured without making any fuss ...
Just back from the House of Commons, where I praised the Coalition Government for boosting the incomes of the poor despite the terrible economic circumstances. Prior to the statement there was speculation that the Chancellor would fail to give the unemployed and pensioners an increase that matched the current high rate of inflation. In ...
Tue 29th
16:53
Sarah Teather MP writes... More two-year olds to get free early education, thanks to Lib Dems in Gov...
[IMG: Sarah Teather and Nick Clegg visit Church Street Nursery] Sarah Teather and Nick Clegg with children at Church Street Nursery. Photo: Department for Education. When the dust has settled from the Chancellor's Autumn Statement I hope that one of the things that Liberal Democrats will remember will be the doubling of the offer of free early years education for two-year olds. In last year's Comprehensive Spending Review Nick Clegg announced that the 20% most disadvantaged families would be guaranteed 15 free hours of early education each week. The additional £650m announced today will extend that to 40% of families. ...
I was rather amused by George Osborne's quoting of the growth forecast from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), as reported by Andrew Sparrow on the Guardian's Live Blog: This year – growth of 0.9% 2012 – 0.7% 2013 – 2.1% 2014 – 2.7% 2015 – 3% 2016 – 3% So, we go from low 0.7% growth in 2012 to a thumping 2.1% in 2013. So in 2013 the Eurozone will all be sorted out, Greece and Italy will be awash with cheap cash and flowers will bloom out of George Osborne's ears. They haven't really got a clue have ...
This afternoon I have spoken with the Highways Manager in charge of the Barlow Moor Rd and Mauldeth Rd West crossroads. I discussed the serious problems that occurred there yesterday and expressed the anger of many residents. Further to my previous Blog post the transmitter was faulty and this had a serious impact on the temporary traffic lights. As a result people on site had to direct traffic themselves for 3-4 hours whilst the traffic light and transmitter problems were fixed. The Council's Highways Department have told me that they expect delays until 9 December because of the Chicane in ...
Before I start this post I should just point out that I am far from David Cameron's biggest fan. There are numerous areas where I disagree with him, in some cases profoundly. You only have to look at the responses he gave to some of the questions posed by the great and the good in the Guardian's recent Q&A to see plenty I take issue with not least his extraordinarily dismissive answer to Jonathan Ross's question about drugs policy. However I want to tackle something that I keep hearing and reading about Cameron. Essentially I keep hearing that he is ...
Southwark Council has signed a deal with JCDecaux UK Ltd to allow 90 x 2.746m (9foot) tall x 1.472m (4'9") wide free standing pavement advertising hoardings. The plan is they'll be illuminated 24/7, 6 sheet rotating things with the first application for one outside East Dulwich station – 11-AP-3314 – heaven only know what the carbon footprint will be. They will be VERY tall. If you think this is a great or bad idea please do tell the planning officer anna.clare@southwark.gov.uk. And please do tell me what you think.
Letter from Camden's Planning Department: Development Management Forum: Redevelopment of the site at Gondar Gardens Reservoir, Gondar Gardens, London, NW6 I am writing to invite you to a meeting of the Camden Development Management Forum on Wednesday 14th December 2011 at The Hampstead Synagogue, 1 Dennington Park Road, West Hampstead, London, NW6 1AX. Registration will be at 6.15pm for a 6.30pm start. We aim to close the meeting at 8.30pm. At this meeting, representatives from Rolfe Judd Ltd, on behalf of Linden Wates will be presenting a proposal to develop the site at Gondar Gardens Reservoir, Gondar Gardens, London, NW6. ...
Here, courtesy of the latest British Social Attitudes survey (published last year) is the answer: What is notable is that whilst overwhelming numbers agree that "the income gap is too large", and have consistently said so over the last 20 and more years, two of the possible routes to closing the gap have consistently fallen in popularity, namely using taxes or benefits. Instead, it is policies such as providing better educational opportunities for the least well off (pupil premium anyone?) which best fit what the public says it wants although, as other evidence shows, the case for education needs to ...
On the run up to Christmas the Cycloan project has a number of bikes offered for sale at very affordable prices, due to the number of bikes ready for sale emailing a list as we usually do is too large a document to circulate via email. The project is now housed at Stockport college and has recently received the Inspire Mark by the Olympic 2012 committee and has also recently received a highly commended Award via Stockport Council Extra Awards. Please try and support this innovative project become sustainable by making a purchase on any of the open times below ...
There was an armed robbery at Thomas Cook, High Street, Cheadle at 10.40am today (Tuesday). No staff were injured. One male threatened staff with a weapon before making off with money. Police officers have been on site through the day – we'll add more information as we have it.
[IMG: The cover of Elemental Micah #1: Three people are standing facing the camera: a black man with a broken nose and glasses; a white woman with purple hair and a large smile, and a white man with heavy sideburns, holding his shirt open to expose his chest] Writer and Artist: Michael Georgiou Publisher: self-published What's it about? Micah Sampson is a seventeen year old college drop out, feeling his life draining away from his as he works as a supermarket. He has low self esteem, mostly surrounding his body, and a huge crush on the American older man who ...
"Too far, too fast" – until recently you could scarcely switch on a TV without hearing Ed Balls repeating his four-word analysis of the coalition's fiscal policy. It seems to be a line that Balls and Miliband are no longer sticking to. If I were to give them more credit for economic analysis than they deserve I'd speculate that this might be because they realised it is utter nonsense. More likely, their polling showed them that the public just weren't buying it. And the public would be right not to believe it, because, on a key measure, the difference between ...
North West England Lib Dem Euro-MP Chris Davies has welcomed a number of important wins for his North West constituents today. The infrastructure investments announced by the Chancellor today include the electrification of the Transpennine rail route between Manchester and ... Continue reading →
When the great Welfare state was created, under the influence of great Liberals Keynes and Beverage, it was to take care of the population who needed assistance between Cradle and the grave. Those who could not (or could not afford) to take care of themselves would be helped by the state. Now the state, in the form of Medway Council, is to cut off the elderly, many of whom are not well, to save £2 million pounds now and £1m every year. Conservative Councillor David Brake, of Walderslade ward, portfolio holder for adult health and social care told the press; ...
We are about to embark on one of the largest public strikes for some time because talks between the unions and government have supposedly broken down and the position is irretrievable, and yet according to today's Independent, that may not be the case at all. The paper says that a meeting between Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister, and Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, alongside other union leaders, could be scheduled for next week. This is likely to lead to two weeks of "intensive negotiations" in an attempt to strike a ...
Here's the email from Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, on the Autumn Statement: Today's Autumn Statement has been delivered in incredibly difficult and uncertain economic times. But as Liberal Democrats, Nick, myself and the Ministerial team have worked hard to ensure the Autumn Statement as a package of measures remains true to our party's values and to the commitment we made to the British people when the coalition was founded. Every decision has been informed by our desire to help to people working hard to make ends meet in difficult times and to put the economy on the ...
Oh dear! What can the matter be? Peter Robinson might be starting a calamity. At the weekend Peter Robinson called for an end of "them and us" in Northern Ireland politics only it didn't seem present from his party in the chamber of Education Training Colleges yesterday. Now it seems he wants to step into Scottish Politics, or does he? Of course the big question for Northern Irish Unionists over the SNP's call for separation is that once the Union starts to break up in one part what is to stop it happening elsewhere. Look at recent history. The USSR ...
The Autumn Statement was today. There are some innovative proposals in it (such as using QE for smaller businesses). I was concerned that we continued to protect the poorest in society. The cost of living has gone up substantially. I was concerned to ensure that the full inflation increase of 5.2% occurred for the poorest who find it hardest to make ends meet.Life is getting harder for many
Tue 29th
12:50
BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Here's how to find out who voted - and who they voted for
Much has been made, and quite rightly, of the outstanding lunacy that has led to the shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year containing the names of 10 men - and not one woman. Simply gobsmacking. The reason why this debacle has occurred is probably revealed when you realise how the shortlist is assembled. It is put together by asking Sports Editors for newspapers and magazines who should be on the list. Clare Balding has tweeted that she believes every single one is Male And it's also worth pointing out that such homes of excellence in sports writing as Zoo ...
In 2004 we had one of the worst tragedies of recent times on our doorstep in Morecambe when the Chinese cocklers died. What has happened since then? Well we have had the beds closed to all cockling, then re-opened then closed again. Morecambe Bay was closed to cockling in 2009 and has not re-opened. Unfortunately the closures are not caused by the need for safety but because of depletion of stocks. so no fishing is allowed. Cockling still went on near Lytham up to a couple of weeks ago when the beds there were closed. Again the closure was not ...
I know everyone's going to be doing this today but I intend to liveblog from my lunchbreak while listening to the Chancellor's autumn budget statement. Sadly I don't have any fancy technology to help with the process so I'm afraid you'll have to keep refreshing your browser between 12:30 and 13:00. After than I'll just update it with a quick addendum and that will be that. Don't forget, the setting for today's statement are predictions of the UK and the eurozone reentering recession but today is also a day where the markets have lowered the interest rate the UK will ...
When only 2% of sports coverage in the mainstream media mentions women at all, despite the massive successes of our sportswomen; When Nuts and Zoo are on the judging panel; When the uniforms for women's sports are specifically designed to cater to the male gaze because that's the only way we can get people* interested in women's sport... Sports personality of the year really is an illustration of the problem, rather than the problem itself, isn't it? Hopefully this furore might get the media to pay a bit more attention to the stunning successes of some of our female sports ...
Message circulated today to other Medway Liberal Democrats. Its message regarding the closure and privitisation of care homes in Medway is very important and I urge everyone to read it. I will be publishing a blog post today on the plight of the care homes, such as Nelson Court, in Medway later on today. Please read Tony's message and please sign the petition attached at the bottem and make a genuine difference to people's lives in Medway. Thank you. Tuesday 29th November 2011 Good morning one and all. Some of you will already be aware of the fact that the ...
The police are holding their monthly drop in session at Arbury Court tomorrow morning. To quote from them... Just a reminder that next Wednesday, 30th November some of your local officers from the team will be in Arbury Court between 11am - 1pm to hold a police surgery. If you have any concerns or issues, please do come and tell us. Alternatively, if you cannot make our police surgery, you can always send us an Ecops message or phone our non-emergency number, 101. Please do remain vigilant and let us know if you see anything suspicious. If you would like ...
With many wheelie bins in Birkdale due to be collected tomorrow I have received the following press release from the council: Due to national public sector strike action planned for Wednesday, November 30, 2011, waste collection services across Sefton will be affected. The weekly green box and food waste recycling collection services will continue to operate in all areas as normal on Wednesday, November 30 and for the rest of the week. All households that are due to have their grey or green wheelie bin emptied on Wednesday, November 30, will not receive a collection on that day. Residents scheduled ...
Last week, I mentioned that I had had the pleasure of attending Ancrum Road Primary School's library 10th anniversary celebrations. Now, with grateful thanks to DC Thomson for their kind permission, here's some more photos from this event : All photographs courtesy and © D.C.Thomson & Co., Ltd
Birkdale's Lib Dem councillors have been working hard to try and minimise massive disruption expected in Birkdale Village from next week. A £1 million scheme to rebuild the pedestrian subway under the railway line at Birkdale Station is due to start on Monday 5th December - just days before Christmas. The project will mean that the present Liverpool Road entrance to the 90 space Birkdale station car park will be closed for 2 months to allow a site compound to be located next to the subway. Birkdale Lib Dem councillor Richard Hands has voiced his concern at the early December ...
Last night, after the City Council meetings, I managed to attend some of the very enjoyable Nethergate Writers' reading evening, with live music and refreshments, taking place at the Vine as part of West End Christmas Week. It was a superb turnout and here's a short video of part of the introduction that I made, thus showing off my lack of skill in videoing!
For a country that has been run by a puritanical Islamic government for the past 32 years, Iran has an astonishingly rich cultural output in many media, from cinema to poetry. Cemsorship means that some of the more sensitive literary production cannot be published in Tehran, which is why some Iranian writers have chosen to ...
After a long twelve months of allegations that Mike Hancock was busy doing it and letting a Russian spy run amok in parliament the judge at the centre of her deportation case has made his decision and that is the Home Office failed to prove on any level that Katia Zatuliveter was in fact a spy. Miss Zatuliveter is free to continue living and working in the UK and the presumptive end to this case means that Mike Hancock's name has been mostly dragged out of the muck and it does mean that yet again he could quite feasibly fight ...
This morning it was announced that the Government is looking into plans for an international hub airport in the South East. So where, if the South-East has no option but to have a new airport, would be best for Kent? I still believe the existing airports could be utilised (see previous blog) and in Kent that means Manston, (Kent International Airport). The runway is already capable of landing the size of aircraft required for long haul to the China and Asia and expansion of this airport into an international hub that flies only to far-east destinations would prioritise this new ...
Having previously criticised other Liberal Democrat speech makers for having speeches which have positive things to say about the past but only gloom about the future, it is only fair to point out that there is one I have heard who does painting a picture of a positive liberal future well – Ed Davey. I've heard Ed speak a handful of times now, but it was his latest speech that was the most striking in this regard as it was at a South West London Lib Dem fundraiser for Munira Wilson, just after Tim Farron had spoken. Tim's speech was ...
Tobacco was unfortunately very much in the news again recently with the BMA launching a campaign to ban smoking in cars probably as a prelude to what will then seem a more reasonable move to get it banned when children are present. I want to focus here not on the ban but on the methods being used by its advocates. On Radio 4s Today programme Vivienne Nathanson of the BMA was questioned about her evidence: Nathanson: Well, the evidence is, in fact, that the levels of toxins that can build up in a car do reach 23 times the levels ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black has called for the energy companies to come clean over the premium that they charge to customers who pay their bills by cheque. Mr. Black was reacting to a survey produced by Which? Which showed that on average customers who pay their dual-fuel bills by cheque are being charged almost £100 a year more than those who pay by direct debit. Mr Black, who is the Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Social Justice said: "While nobody disputes that it must cost more for the energy companies to process ...
Over at the London Evening Standard, Lib Dem MP for Yeovil and former Treasury chief secretary, David Laws, has a piece urging the chancellor to maintain the coalition's deficit reduction plan to avoid importing the debt-driven eurozone crisis to Britain. Here's a sample: Before the general election, many people said that a coalition would be weak and unstable. They don't say that any more. By comparison with the eurozone and the US, our Government looks strong, stable and united. It is set to stay that way. The Chancellor will be able to report that borrowing has been falling as planned. ...
Tue 29th
09:57
Ceredigion Council Unanimously Call on Health Minister & Hywel Dda Local Health Board to Scrutin...
Last week I blogged here on a Health motion that Cllr Elizabeth Evans and I proposed and seconded for a full meeting of Ceredigion County Council yesterday. I'm pleased to report that the motion was passed unanimously by the entire Council. We have called on the Health Minister in Cardiff Bay and the Hywel Dda Local Health Board Management Team to meet with us as a full Council to answer a series of questions regarding the service provision in Bronglais Hosptial but also the future capital spend plans for Cardigan Hospital, Tregaron Hospital and the future Cylch Caron project and ...
Within an hour of George Osbourne sitting down government loyalists, soft right / Liberal think tanks and some business organisations will praise / cautiously welcome the statement today. The unions, Eds Balls & Milliband, left leaning think tanks and some right wing and libertarian types will denounce the statement. Like all statements the smart move would be to wait and see the small print before pronouncing its success or failure as a statement and package of measures. But, alas, with 24 hour rolling news and blogs looking for instant comment a more thoughtful approach to looking at these statements will ...
If you fancy reading a lot of abuse ained at yours truly, do pop over and read the comments section of this piece. My use of the phrase 'clear yellow water' has proved particularly ill judged... If you can't be bothered, here's what's got them all so riled. In the Autumn Statement, a Tory Chancellor will announce a set of Liberal Democrat policy initiatives, and, all things considered, be congratulated on his foresight and wisdom by his Labour Shadow. I'll let you all chew that over for a moment. OK? Right then, onward... Up until May 2010, the easiest way ...
Well, you won't find me voting in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year this year, that's for sure. The institutional misogyny at the BBC is alive and well. Clearly, in sport as in current affairs, women just aren't worth bothering about. How else can you interpret an all male Sports Personality of the Year shortlist? In a year when our Gymnastics team were led by Beth Tweddle to a historic best and Rebecca Adlington picks up gold at the World Swimming Championships again, how can this possibly be justified? And look what Tae-Kwon Do champion Sarah Stevenson has been ...
The sad death of footballer Gary Speed has thrown mental ill health into the spotlight again. As I write I do not know what led to the death of a popular young man by his own hand at the tragically early age of 42. However, it highlights the battles many suffer from illnesses such as depression and the desperate challenges faced by their families and loved ones. I want to consider the issue of those who suffer mental ill health and their carers. I want to talk about how important they are, how important it is to look after them ...
The Glum councillors website which features Britain's councillors and campaigners pointing at things and looking down hearted has recently started posting new material after going a bit quiet over the summer. However one can't help noticing just how scruffy the councillors are in the more recent postings - surely the UK's elected representatives should take a bit of pride in being glum?
