Tomorrow's Independent has a terrific front page. The have caught executives from the lobbyists Bell Pottinger boasting of their contacts with leading Conservative ministers and of their success in suppressing criticism of foreign dictators. You can watch a video of the exchanges on the newspaper's website or read a fuller transcript: TC [Tim Collins]: "And where we want to get to - and this will take time, this is where David's team are magical - is you get to the point where even if they type in 'Uzbek child labour' or 'Uzbek human rights violation', some of the first results ...
David Cameron's people allowed it to be said on the BBC today that the Prime Minister's top concern is to increase competitiveness in the eurozone. That is like suggesting that Ilsa's main concern at the end of Casablanca is whether or not the plane serves salted peanuts. I believe that the Prime Minister gets that the top concern re:- the eurozone is not increased competitiveness (nice though that would be) but the possibility of total and utter doom if the whole thing collapses. I say "I believe that the Prime Minister gets..." because Mr Cameron today said, re:- this other ...
When I first read this three years ago, I wrote: A fairly standard New Adventure, introducing the sinister character of Irving Braxiatel, renegade Time Lord and cultural collector, with lots of fun archaeology for Benny and combat for Ace. The actual plot is a rather ludicrous Sekrit Plan involving the overthow of a warmongering dictatorial regime by means of an electronic theatre and a long-lost play, so it makes as much sense as many Who stories. Having decided to include those New Adventures (and EDAs) which I had already read in my sequence, I have now reached a stage where ...
A slightly random choice for my Song of the Week this week, or should I say this month as I'm not very good at writing this regularly. The reason for this choice is that this song suddenly came to mind on my way home from work tonight. I was listening to Radio One when a ...
My critique of Ian Hislop's recent BBC documentary When Bankers Were Good appears on the History & Policy website. It begins: ... although entertaining and informative, Hislop's programme could also serve as a warning against using history to advance a contemporary policy prescription on the basis of very thin evidence.Among the aims of the website are to: 'demonstrate the relevance of history to contemporary policy making and to increase the influence of historical research over current policy.'
[IMG: Katherine and me on Ferme Park Road - GreenN8 video] Ed, Katherine and I have today submitted our response to the Boundary Commission's consultation, on behalf of the hundreds of residents who have contacted us or filled in our survey. An amazing 98.5% of those who have responded to us (401 out of 407 responses) are opposed to the Commission's proposal to move Stroud Green ward from the Hornsey Parliamentary Constituency to the Tottenham Constituency. The change would mean Stroud Green residents would vote for and be represented by the MP for Tottenham after the next election. Instead of ...
This is the concise version of the disability benefits fact sheet I produced earlier. Sources are provided in the long version. Overall, there are 10 million disabled people in the UK, half of whom are over the state pension age. In total, 19% of the working population are disabled. However, 50% of them are in work with another 1.9 million looking for work. They are hindered in the job market by the fact that 23% of disabled people have no qualifications compared to 9% of the rest of the population. These figures are in line with the European average. 4.7% ...
TweetIn the disparate, fractured society ruled by social media, as Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror showed last night, we the public are quick to judge. By the same reasoning, headlines stick. Despite evidence to the contrary, people in the UK still think that the riots in August were conducted by nefarious gangs from some sort of ...
TweetAllegedly, we are all week equal in the eyes of the law. One would suppose this would extend police treatment too. Not so. It seems that we are all equal in court, but if your child disappears abroad, you're entitled to a Scotland Yard investigation four years on only if you sup from the same ...
"The Swiss government commissioned a study on the impact of copyright-infringing downloading. The independent study concluded that downloaders use the money they spend to buy more legitimate entertainment products. So they've concluded to maintain Switzerland's extant copyright law, which makes downloading for personal use legal." Boing Boing on common sense amongst the Alps. Matthew Harris catches the BBC, ludicrously, describing Fidel Castro and Che Guevara as "libertarians". The public sector cuts must go further. Who says so? Former Labour General Secretary Peter Watt on Dale & Co., that's who. Today's newspapers have been full of claims that 3.8m children in ...
A huge thank you to everyone who donated to the 'QuarryMo' team for this year's Movember effort. At the time of writing the team has managed to raise £569 for various prostate cancer and men's health charities. Special mentions go to Andrew Wallis and Alex Folkes whose efforts contributed to the total. There appears to ...
Long debate on Slugger O'Toole; reflections from Mark Devenport.
For over 100 years Dulwich Hospital has been a much loved location with many memories for Dulwich residents. For the last 20 years its gradually seen services vanish. Even during the boom years it wasn't redeveloped into a fine new community hospital we'd all wished for. So we, the local Lib Dems, have produced a paper giving our thoughts of what we aspire to for the Dulwich Hospital. Please do take a look and tell me what you think. In summary we want to see a GP service with extras remain on site. We also believe that if the latest ...
Channel 4 are doing us all a favour by exposing the madness of John Prescott's Pathfinder scheme at and on TV this evening. I moved the motion way back in 2007 that paved the way for Reading – at last – getting something done about empty homes. I chased action in my own Katesgrove ward and in other places where I found empty properties across Reading. Some of the worst offenders are housing associations – and let's not forget, either, the number of closed pubs with viable living space above (a dozen or so in Reading Borough at any ...
I have received complaints from residents at Pleasance Court about the poor street lighting behind the housing at Lower Pleasance, due to overgrown trees.I raised the matter with the City Council and the Forestry Section has responded as follows:"I am writing to you to keep you up to date regarding your enquiry about trees located in the southern section of Lower Pleasance and the south side of Brewery Lane. As you are aware I had contacted City Development to ascertain if it held any responsibilities here, but it does not. I also contacted the roads maintenance section asking if there ...
On Wednesday, Councillor Victor Chamberlain will present a motion to the Full Council calling on them to drop plans to cut the Manchester School Crossing budget by a whopping 80%. Since this proposal was announced there has been widespread anger from people all across the city, and many hundreds have signed petitions and sent e-mails to the Liberal Democrats and Manchester Evening News in protest. In the last few days I have delivered over 4,000 petition letters to homes across Chorlton, and on Saturday Chorlton Lib Dems hosted a fundraiser at Chorlton Central. The money raised will help pay for ...
Yes, you can talk about his great goal against Russia in the 1982 World Cup, but I prefer to remember him like this...
This post was prompted by the frankly terrifying level of ignorance and the buying into of myths about disability benefits by some of my fellow Lib Dems. Hopefully this post will go some way towards dispelling ignorance about a vital issue. If you don't have the patience to read all of this, I'm compiling a separate, concise fact sheet. Spending on disability benefits In 20010/11 of £691.7bn of government spending, £32.8bn, or 4.7%, was spent on disability and sickness benefits. This figure includes £17.2bn on Disability Living Allowance (DLA) + Attendance Allowance (an associated benefit) and £7.8 on the Employment ...
I have been in Edinburgh today at Scottish Government with the "day job." Despite it being incredibly cold, it was a lovely day - here's a couple of photos! River Forth from the rail bridge A real Christmas feel around Princes Street!
A decision to spare Cambridge commuters from a massive hike in their season tickets has been welcomed by MP Julian Huppert. The government has decided not to push ahead with a rise in rail fares of three per cent above inflation which would have meant an eight per cent increase on season tickets for city commuters. Instead, travellers will face an increase of one per cent above inflation for the coming year. The news is due to be announced today (Tuesday, November 29) in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement. Julian, Co-Chair of the Lib Dem Transport Committee said: "This will be ...
The full list is here thanks to some superb work by blogger Ian Silvera. The Tory list is here and the Labour list is here. It's all interesting reading. Credit for photo of Catholic Parliamentary interns standing outside Parliament on June 27th 2011: Some rights reserved by the Catholic Church (England and Wales) NB: The photo on the right is a Flickr Creative Commons photo which depicts some interns. There is no connection intended between this photo and the lists linked to in this post. I make no representation as to how the interns in the photo are remunerated. [IMG: ...
The recent comments of Lib Dem Euro MEP Sharon Bowles are pretty startling: Bowles had travelled to the event directly from Brussels to inform the industry about the current state of the European Mortgage Directive. But after her main speech was concluded she was asked a number of questions from the audience about the future of Europe. The event's host, Kevin Duffy, managing director of UK
The Liberal Democrat response to the Boundary Commission for England's draft proposals, submitted today: Well done to everyone involved in pulling it together.
I have just spoken to Vicky Rosin, Manchester City Council's Deputy Chief Executive. She has told me that this morning an announcement was made that that the Council has found the money to save the High Risk (Red) School Crossing Patrols. This means 38 Crossings across Manchester are safe including the crossings on Manchester Road / Longford Road, Oswald Road / Nicolas Road, Longford Road / Oswald Road, and Oswald Road / Longford Road. Unfortunately the future of the crossing on St Clements Road/Vicars Road which primarily serves Chorlton CoE school is still in doubt. At Manchester's City Council meeting ...
Apologies for the lack of updates, the previous few weeks have been incredibly busy, but productive. I haven't had time to write many blog posts so if you want to keep up with my activities you might want to follow me on Twitter. But I wanted to write a quick note about an important current issue and one that is close to my heart . This week is National Empty Homes Week - the brainchild of my friend David Ireland, Chief Executive of the excellent campaigining charity Empty Homes. David switched me on to the problem in Reading when he ...
My friend Richard Hudson posted a graph on facebook last night illustrating how wages in six income brackets have changed from 1980 to the present day. This graph is only for illustrative use only. The minimum wage was introduced in 1997. As you can see from the graph, the introduction increased the lowest-paid wages slightly ...
[IMG: Beyond the Corporation: Humanity Working]
Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats make the following response to the recent press release by a far right political organisation: It was established at a court hearing in Cardiff that an unauthorised act of removal of a minor took place in the United States, and that Councillor Keith Davies was unreasonably denied access to relevant files by officers of Neath Port Talbot county borough. Liberal Democrat members of the council made it clear that we dissociated ourselves from the council's actions then and subsequently. In view of the injunction which we understand still holds in relation to events in the ...
With the cold winter weather now set in, the result in a by-election in Wells Constituency in Somerset at least gave us some heart-warming news. Although we didn't managed to win we achieved an impressive 15% swing from Conservative to Liberal Democrat. The Brent division of Somerset County Council is a collection of small villages in the Somerset Levels sandwiched between the resorts of Weston-super-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea. Until 1988 it had a Liberal councillor, but since then it has become the safest Conservative seat in Somerset with them receiving nearly 70% of the vote in the last county council elections. ...
Second Saturday of the month means it is time for our monthly drop in session. Do you have a local issue you'd like to discuss with your local Councillor? Maybe you have a view on a local problem, changes to the library services, or what you'd like to see your Council (either City or Council) doing in King's Hedges? This Saturday (December 12th) from 10am until midday you can come and talk to us at the Arbury Community Centre. No need for an appointment, just turn up!
Want to spread wealth and power more fairly, tackle the obscenity of mega pay, improve productivity, get business to concentrate on the 'long-term' making it more resilient during a period of retrenchment? Well the Liberal Party had this quaint idea. They identified the issue of ownership as matter that had to be reformed. Today we would say that the market collapse that led to the banking crisis was in significant part caused by a model of ownership that meant the Directors of a company had one over-riding duty-namely to increase share holder value. This led to some of the short ...
Mon 5th
16:59
Audit & Risk Management Committee (Wirral Council) 29th November 2011 Part 6 Internal Audit Upda...
Cllr Jim Crabtree asked if Cllr Ron Abbey had a question. Cllr Simon Mountney said it was unfair to ask [Colin Hughes]. He said the question should be put to the Director of Law, Human Resources and Asset Management [Bill Norman] at the earliest opportunity. Cllr Ron Abbey said the wanted his question minuted. He ...
This is National Empty Homes week. It is scandalous that we have so many people waiting for housing – and so many new houses being built, often against the wishes of the community – but according to the latest statistics in England there are 300,000 homes that have been empty more than 6 months – over 3,000 of those in Berkshire. 439 of those are in Wokingham Borough. That's roughly how many houses are going to be built at Hatch Farm Dairies. A very small number of them are council owned or housing association. The majority are privately owned. Often ...
Back in the days of Championship Manager (when Championship Manager was in fact superior to Football Manager) there was a young Manchester United kid who was a great buy as a defensive midfielder. That person was Ronnie Wallwork. Today the same person who was a can't miss talent on a football game is sitting in a jail cell having been sentenced to 15 months for handling stolen goods as part of a stolen car racket. It just reminds me that people so many idolise are sometimes not the greatest of role models. They have spent their whole life in or ...
I have borrowed the above photo of the "In Bloom Forum"from my colleague Tony Robertson's Blog. Tony referred to the meeting we both attended recently where various North West in Bloom groups met to share views and concerns. Part of the meeting was given over to an explanation of the proposed cuts to Parks & Open Spaces budgets that are currently out for consultation. My main reason for this posting is to register my surprise and thanks for the support expressed for Southport's Botanic Gardens. Often when resources face being reduced, interested parties retreat into their silos to defend their ...
I listened with great excitement this morning as the Japanese President of the International Court of Justice announced the ICJ's ruling on Macedonia's complaint that Greece had broken their 1995 agreement by vetoing Macedonia's application to NATO in 2008. It was a masterly takedown, as he ran over the points raised by the Greek side and demolished every single one. Bascially, Greece had undertaken in 1995 not to block Macedonia from joining international organisations under the name of FYROM, and had broken that undertaking in 2008, and no amount of obfuscation could really get over that fact. The Greeks are ...
The database state is back in the news today with Cameron's announcement of closer collaboration between the NHS and medical research companies. First off I am not a Luddite, and there are a lot of good ideas in the proposals but I am not happy with my NHS records being given to third parties without my consent. This is our personal data and as such not the governments to give away or sell. We are also being told not to worry because the data will be anonymised. This is, of course, nonsense, what can be encrypted can be decrypted. There ...
Because most councillors will be at a joint meeting of Northumberland County Council and the Parish / Town councils, the December meeting of the Blyth Valley Liberal Democrats has been cancelled. There isn't a meeting in January, so the next meeting will be on the first Wednesday of February I'll post details of next years calendar in the New Year, but if anyone wants details, please contact me
A new Liberal Democrat think tank is set to be launched early in the New Year. Details of who is behind it and their plans will be in the next edition of my monthly email newsletter about the party, coming out tomorrow. You can sign up for it here.
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: In a previous Campaign Corner you wrote that "Less is more", praising big headlines, white space etc. But don't many issues need more explanation than you can fit in a dumbed down few words? A very good question! To which (surprise, surprise) I once again have three answers: ...
During one of his regular cycles around this area, Cllr Darren Fower tells us he noticed that the paint on the road sign for Larkspur Walk had completely faded! Darren says he has now reported the issue to the City Council and hopes that action will be taken in the next week or so. Commenting, Cllr Fower said: "I've sent the picture into officers at the Town Hall which clearly shows that the road sign is not fulfilling its purpose in life at present and something needs to be done. "The paints completely faded and now either needs replacing or ...
Below is the join submission by councillors in West Hampstead and Fortune Green against proposals to put Fortune Green in with the parliamentary constituency of Finchley and Golders Green. You can put in your own views by going to We, thecouncillors of the wards of Fortune Green and West Hampsteadin the London Borough of Camden, are writing to express our concerns about theBoundary Commissions initial proposals. The suggestion that the wards ofFortune Green and West Hampstead are split betweentwo different constituencies which cross two different local authorities is illjudged. Leaving this arbitrary line on a map unaddressed will lead ...
Mon 5th
14:55
The Independent View: Selling our NHS data is not putting us in control of our health records
Back in 2010 there was a wave of optimism amongst civil liberties campaigners, especially those of us concerned with protecting privacy from an over-bearing database state. Not only did the coalition agreement set out a promise to scrap ID cards and its associated population register, there were other promises too: "We will end the storage of internet and email records without good reason" and then on page 25 of the coalition agreement the statement that "We will put patients in charge of making decisions about their care, including control of their health records". In our briefing document 'Privacy Under Threat' ...
Mon 5th
14:39Audit & Risk Management Committee (Wirral Council) 29th November 2011 Part 5 Internal Audit Upda...
Cllr Jim Crabtree said they would find someone. Cllr Abbey said he had other questions on actions and timescales. Cllr Simon Mountney said he was happy to talk, but the decision over not having a legal adviser because he had a meeting tomorrow he thought "a disgrace". He repeated that he thought it was a ...
Sadly Stephen Chapman announced early last month that this was going to be the last month of his 5 on the 5th series. Check on the link to find out what the others have contributed to this grand finale. As for the theme he appears to have been a good predictor of weather systems as early this week he said it would be Winter Weekend on the weekend that a lot of the UK saw its first snow of winter. Here are my Five for the Fifth for December Last night my mother shouted out that it was snowing.It fitted ...
Mon 5th
14:05Audit & Risk Management Committee (Wirral Council) 29th November 2011 Part 4 Internal Audit Upda...
Cllr Abbey said he had to be as blunt as this as time after time, actions had not been actioned. He had suspicions it was deliberate. He said the corporate governance recommendations had not been actioned, damage done and that they should have people sitting at this committee as it was a very important meeting ...
Since my stroke and my forced early retirement, I have been receiving Disability Living Allowance. It's very useful, and helps me get around (taxis etc,) and to purchase things I need for living and so on. In fact it is a sign of my health improving a little that I had my claim for the mobility part of the allowance reduced from the higher rate. However, I can see no reason why I , and presumably others, should receive a Christmas bonus. It's only £10, and I had forgotten it was even coming. The Government is looking to save money, ...
Mon 5th
13:42Audit & Risk Management Committee (Wirral Council) 29th November 2011 Part 3 Internal Audit Upda...
The committee considered the Internal Audit update. A council officer said it covered from the beginning of September to October and that he wanted to bring to the committee's attention several items. At 1.5 the format and content of Internal Audit reports was under review by a working party. This included the Chief Internal Auditor, ...
Consultation this morning with a new doctor, Dr L. Platelets slightly raised, so the Hydrocarbamide is increased from four to five days a week. The problem is that this may reduce the Neutrophils which at 1.59 10^9 g/L are already below the normal range of 2.2-6.3, having fdropped from 2.44 on October 17. Dr L will have another look at the blood in two weeks' time. Dr L said that the genetic abnormality C-MPL W515 occurs in 5% of the MPD/MDS cases, of which there are 2,000 a year. So with only 100 cases a year, there aren't enough data ...
One afternoon, as I was strolling though Westminster, I was approached by a smartly-dressed young lady who was holding a clipboard. She explained they were collecting signatures for a petition to demand a UK referendum on membership of the European Union. 'Do you think the UK should leave the European Union?' she asked me. 'No,' I explained, 'the EU is far from perfect but I think it is in our interests to stay in.' She then politely thanked me and wandered off - no longer interested in my signing her petition. Presumably she thought I would not be interested in ...
Conservative MPs have been accused of weakening Britain's influence by navel gazing about repatriating powers from the EU. With Europe's leaders due to meet on Friday to discuss the eurozone crisis, MEP Chris Davies claims that eurosceptic Tories are failing ... Continue reading →
We all know that times are tough for Government finances. In order to bring Britain's enormous budget deficit under control there has to be a mixture of increasing tax revenue and restricting the growth of spending. Tax revenues are most easily increased by rises in the rates of various taxes. So the Coalition Government has ...
This is one of my series of lunchtime blogposts. This is why we need a Lib Dem Home Secretary. Today we have the wonderful revelation that the City of London police have labelled #occupy protesters as a "domestic threat". Here's the "Terrorism/Extremism Update" letter where they do so: In quite literally the same breath as talking about the threat from Al Qaeda and the IRA (terrorist organisations which have killed thousands of people between them) the police also talk about the "domestic threat" from a protest that has so far managed such heinous attacks on our way of life such ...
Whilst trawling through today's I I found a small but interesting article by Hamaish MacDonnell entitled SNP would join the Scandinavian circle if Country was independent. It is a bit of a coincidence as I was thinking randomly about Scottish independence on my commute in this morning. My original hypothesis was that when Scotland votes for independence, which I really believe they will and is their right to do so, they would find it difficult to cut ties with England and stand alone. After all England and Scotland have similar interests globally and on this island, both have massively integrated ...
As a rule I am usually against data being kept on an individual for anything other than the purpose with which it was given. Data sharing etc usually falls against this for me. However I find the BBC's reporting of the NHS - Life Sciences partnership to be pretty poor as, unless I'm missing something, I don't see the proposed reforms to be "opening up to private companies". As far as I am concerned, surely opening up anonymised patient data to private companies would be an excellent way for them to ensure that research is targeted where it is needed ...
I've got rather a backlog of stuff that I wanted to cover, so for those of you who have read the booklet already, you can always find a couple of dozen leaflets to deliver... A copy of 'Tax and the coalition: fairness and responsibility?' has been passed to me, and given my obvious interest in taxation policy (you might as well know what might be done to you, personally and professionally, before it is), I've found time to read through it. Written by Dick Newby, our Treasury Spokesperson in the Lords and a former tax policy advisor for the Inland ...
So writes Tim Montgomerie on ConservativeHome: [IMG: Chris Huhne] The reality is that Chris Huhne is a remarkably successful and powerful minister who is delivering very bold (and expensive) action on climate change. Tim Yeo, the Conservative chairman of the House of Commons energy and climate committee, acknowledges this in remarks to The Observer: "We are getting a change of rhetoric, with more emphasis on the burdens that green projects could put on the economy. But it is out of step with what the government is doing, much of which is radical and forward-looking."
On teletext (or whatever we're now calling it in the new millennium) and presumably also online, the BBC has an obituary of the Brazilian footballer Socrates that includes the following line: "But Socrates' heroes included famous libertarians Fidel Castro and Che Guevara...". A libertarian is "a person who believes that people should be free to think and behave as they want and should not have limits put on them by governments". In what conceivable sense are Castro or Che Guevara libertarians? They weren't 'libertarians', they were communist revolutionaries. Why this matters beyond mere semantics (not that I am anti-semantic) is ...
This ongoing saga with Julian Assange is bizarre, using his own beliefs. He allegedly believes in openness, transparency and accountability. Ergo, the logical conclusion is he should accept there is an allegation against him from another country, and support the fact that he needs to go there for a free and fair trial. To suggest he shouldn't go because...erm...I don't know, perhaps he doesn't like the cold? Other than suggesting he'll be hung out to dry, there is no defence offered that matches his purported views on what is right in the world. Why would a man release millions of ...
Michael questions why the Bikeability test available in England, Wales, and Scotland, seems to be not available in Northern Ireland? Surely we need it here just as much as the rest of the UK? Continue reading →
Cuts will be extending into the next Parliament because the current administration does not have the appetite to cut deeper and at a modest accelerated rate. Current economic data, including this mornings PMI Service number contradicts the media narrative of a failing economy; in fact, the United Kingdom fundamentals are not that bad. However, the ...
Sunday: From Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar Day 4: Spider Robot
The Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors (ALDC) recently held another successful Kickstart event over the weekend of 25-27th November. 140 keen Lib Dem campaigners and candidates from across Britain, gathered in a hotel near Birmingham for a weekend of training and mentoring. Over the many years it has been running you can trace the electoral success in a range of different places back to their decision to attend the event. With 20 different training sessions, three drop-in Q&A sessions, several hours of mentoring with an experienced campaigner and inspiring speeches, the participants came away with improved campaign plans, refreshed knowledge ...
I've been wondering for a little time what the Liberal Democrat MEPs are pushing for when it comes to the European Union's budget, which makes London MEP Sarah Ludford's latest email update particularly timely: No pro-European LibDem can be other than fully committed to reform of the EU. Any flaws in the way it is run overshadow its good work on everything from research to roaming charges, not to speak of the area I am passionate about, justice and civil liberties. I'm pleased therefore that a deal has been reached for the EU's 2012 budget which overall represents no real ...
Reviving and updating a list I put together a little while back about David Lloyd George, here are some of the former Liberal Prime Minister's appearances courtesy of YouTube: Lloyd George visits Chequers – a silent movie, like the others (and therefore perfect for those who, shock horror, browse the internet whilst at work) David Lloyd George gives a powerful speech about economic recovery Lloyd George quits as PM – also silent Lloyd George visits Hitler – perhaps his least finest hour, recorded in colour If you don't know much about Lloyd George, the Liberal Democrat History Group's website has ...
Having struggles on many occasions to get my trolley across Sainsbury's cobbled car park, I was pleasantly surprised to see a new smooth car park yesterday. An otherwise cold, wet, miserable day, was brightened by this relatively small improvement. The state of my back will also improve as I often carry several bags to the car rather than risk breakages in the trolley. Well done Sainbury's!
Now that we can see the final regional breakdown in the Russian election results, it is much worse for Putin that it initially seemed. The 49% vote for United Russia includes the tallies for non Russian republics, such as Chechnya, where the 99.9% support for United Russia is clearly false. Given that several districts in Moscow and St. Petersburg returned tallies of less than 25% for United Russia, then it seems like a reasonable working assumption that the majority of Russians in European Russia voted substantially against Putin. When we consider that the election was not certified free and fair, ...
Here's the agenda for the meeting, which Cllr Keith Moffitt will be chairing:7 - 7.30 pm: an opportunity to meet ward councillors informally over tea/coffee7.30 meeting starts:Parking Policy review Presentation by Cllr Sue Vincent, Camden's Cabinet Member for Environment and Deputy Leader of the Council Neighbourhood Development Plan Discussion on neighbourhood development plans, led by Keith Moffitt and James Earl West Hampstead Business Forum Presentation on West Hampstead Business Forum by Cllr Gillian Risso-GillFuture of West Hampstead Community CentreShort presentation by Alan JohnsonWe'll aim to finish by 9.30 at the latest.We look forward to seeing lots of West Hampstead residents ...
You can see the excellent Page One on BBC iPlayer until Sunday 11 December. The documentary looks at the challenges traditional media faces by spending a year with the New York Times. It is a fascinating insight into the way the newspaper business is changing and leaves one wondering what will be the future for the newspaper as a channel to deliver news.
Before conference there were lots of pieces here on Lib Dem Voice about the new security hurdles over which people wanting to attend conference would have to jump. There was the occasional piece defending the new arrangements, but most were pretty hostile. I am not usually one to pick at scabs, but I thought that once the dust had settled on conference season I would ask each of the police forces responsible for security at the three main conferences for some hard numbers. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act I did just that. What were the figures for the ...
Mon 5th
10:07
Worrying signs Lib Dem Ministers thinking is being corrupted - They should not forget their roots
It has taken a while for George Osborne's autumn statement to be been felt throughout the party and the potential consequences. We have always campaigned on being an independent party and we have fought to show we are independent from the Tories only to blow this out of the water by effectively saying that we ...
You've got to love the SNP. And I actually do, even if they annoy the hell out of me most of the time. I have my passions in life. If you're a regular reader, you'll know that Strictly, F1 and Doctor Who occupy a significant proportion of my waking thoughts. On things that actually matter, children, housing, poverty, freedom, equal marriage and LGBT equality drive my political thinking. Now, I know that an overwhelming support for independence is hardwired into the DNA of every SNP supporter. That's what you would expect. I do find it just faintly ridiculous, though, when ...
Note from District council: Give your views on the Maltings Arts Theatre at public meeting Come along to a public meeting at the Maltings Arts Theatre on Wednesday, 7 December 2011 at 7pm and give your views on how you would like the venue to be used in the future. The open stakeholder forum meeting is being organised by St Albans City and District Council as part of a wider consultation on the future of the theatre. The Council's Malting Arts Theatre Working Party is looking into possible long-term uses for the theatre and is keen to hear from anyone ...
It's December which means for those who have them, it's time to get out those chocolate advent calendars! But for those of you who, like me, don't do such things anymore (and indeed for those of you who still do!), I thought I'd give my own unique little twist on this festive time of year with my Musical Advent Calendar countdown of my Top 25 favourite Christmas songs! I'm blogging a song a day, culminating with my favourite on Christmas Eve. So let's continue on our seasonal countdown... Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 5! Today we have the ...
Liberal Democrats are always looking for distinctive ways to show that the party is making a difference in government – things we can proudly point to and say "look, we made this happen." This week's announcement that the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee is to launch a new inquiry into drugs policy is one that activists, MPs and Peers alike can rightly point to as an example of the positive influence Lib Dems have on public policy. There is now widespread recognition that the UK's drugs laws are ineffective and expensive, with MPs of all parties signing Tom ...
Dear Alan Rusbridger, I was going to buy a product from the Cleaning and Laundry products part of The Guardian's online shop. But then I noticed that every identifiable person in photos in that section is a woman. So could you tell me, are men allowed to buy household cleaning and laundry products too? Thank you. Yours etc.
The County Council has been given financial backing by Natural England to help protect one of the oldest roads in Cambridgeshire. A total of £25,000 over five years is being made available for additional management of grass and scrub on the Roman Road. The Roman Road starts in Fulbourn and runs through several parishes towards Haverhill. The road is no longer used by vehicles, but it is an extremely popular right of way used by walkers, riders and runners. But unfortunately it has become somewhat overgrown. The road is also a site of national archaeological significance, a Site of Special ...
As you might have picked up from the minutes of the Cambridge Area Environment and Traffic Management Committee (no? It's a riveting read) Cambridgeshire Highways used to have a list of all the open highways issues in each division (split into unfunded and those with an identified means of funding) which would come to the AJC meeting, be discussed (usually added to) and then would be back in the hands of officers who would get done what they could, identifying new streams of funding if possible, and then report back to the next meeting of the AJC. As you can ...
Continuing my advent calendar of YouTube treats I'm handing it over to Linus to explain what Christmas is all about.
Ellen Arnison with her sons Ellen Arnison on the difference that blogging has made to her life and how she has turned her experiences into a book. "Why should I blog then?" It's a question I've been asked several times over the past few weeks and it's a surprisingly difficult one to answer. Blogs are as varied as the noses on the faces of the people who write them, but, done right, a blog can bring myriad benefits. My blog has improved my sanity, created work opportunities, made me new friends, found me communities to join, taught me new skills ...
The election result in Russia is hardly unexpected: Putin won. Except he didn't.. quite. The political system for elections to the Duma does not permit liberal parties to participate. The choice is limited to the neo-fascist "Liberal Democrats", the rump Communist Party and a party "Fair Russia" which has been widely considered to be another bunch of Kremlin stooges. Under the circumstances you would expect the Putinista vehicle "United Russia" to walk every election. Just in case, however, the only free election monitors- Glos- were harassed and more liberal media outlets had their websites hacked. United Russia was advertised at ...
Marathon. Training. Starts. Tomorrow! I still think I'm in good shape. I did my 7 mile long run yesterday at world-record slow pace, but I did it. And it wouldn't have been QUITE so slow, if I hadn't chosen some really challenging hills to tackle. Was it my best run? No. Was it the worst? No. Would have I have done anything differently? Probably yes - I would have run today when it was beautiful and sunny, instead of yesterday when it was grey and horrible and I probably could have found a better pre-run fuel than chocolate covered Trader ...
When Guardian columnist Deborah Orr appeared on Newsnight a few weeks ago as the token Liberal Democrat her performance was embarrassing to say the least. However, her ineptitude is redeemed by a splendid article on Saturday 3rd December entitled "Any one got a clue how to make things better? Well yes, actually, I have..."(sorry, the link thing is not behaving itself) with six very practical suggestions as to how the pain of the present economic situation could be spread more fairly and used positively to build a more equitable society. The article is well worth reading but if you haven't ...
It seems that it is not just Britain where the burden of incumbency takes it toll on the governing party, though I suspect that the sins of Putin's United Russia party far outweigh anything that may have gone on here or any other western democracy for that matter. The Independent reports that exit polls cited by Russian state television are showing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party tallying less than 50% of the vote in Russia's parliamentary election: The results represent a significant drop in support for United Russia compared to the previous election four years ago when it won over ...
The Mail on Sunday's Black Dog column speculates that top-level sackings at Labour's Party HQ might be a purge of Blairites by Red Ed Miliband: A secret memo on how to deal with tricky questions on the shake-up gives the game away: 'Is this a witch-hunt against all Tony Blair supporters? Everyone who is willing to be loyal to Ed Miliband is welcome.' We get the picture, Iain. Nothing ever changes!
This is a series of posts that I wouldn't be making if someone hadn't asked me to, because I believe - and not without reason - that my religion / faith / practice, however you frame it, is a personal matter. And while there's absolutely no reason not to share it with people who asked, it's not really something that should be foisted unannounced into a personal blog without context. In other words, my Buddhist practice isn't a thing to evangelise, and far as I'm concerned, it should only be talked about if someone asks. And people have, so I'm ...
