As I mentioned before, I'm putting excerpts of my music books up as loss-leaders on Amazon, as a Classic Albums series of ~10,000 word 99-cent books (the first three will be up tonight). While I was preparing this, I noticed formatting errors in the Kindle versions of the Beach Boys and Monkees books – in ...
2010 Election results: Lab: 21,174, 43.6% Con: 16,516, 34% LD: 6,669, 13.7% UKIP: 992, 2% 2011 Predictions: Lab: 9,900, 45% Con: 5,060, 23% LD: 3,080, 14% UKIP: 2,420, 11% I'm expecting a significant chunk of the Conservative vote to fall away mostly to UKIP, slightly to Labour and slightly to the Lib Dems, as has been happening in Local by-elections everywhere in recent months. UKIP particularly are doing well currently due presumably to the prescience of the EU in most people's minds at the moment and the Cameron's percievedly fuzzy position. I think Labour will easily hold the seat even ...
Tue 6th
22:53
Excel Parking's management of Chorlton Precinct under the spot light on BBC's Rip Off Britain
This morning BBC One's Rip off Britain programme had an item about Excel Parking's management of Chorlton Precinct Car Park. I was featured briefly discussing the action I have taken to support residents in fighting unfair parking charges and trying to get Manchester City Council to recognise the established right of way. You can view the programme at http://bbc.in/rNBsAo the item about Chorlton is available from 09:18. You can watch it on BBC iPlayer until 23 December. Please let me know if you are affected by the unfair parking charges or if you can support our campaign to reestablish the ...
Local Liberal Democrat Councillor Conor Snowden at the Gracemount site This afternoon I visited the new Council Housing development at Gracemount with a group of Councillors. We were getting inside the new council homes we are building up there and they look fab! The first tenants are due to move in in January and I am sure they will love their new homes. There are many things Edinburgh's Liberal Democrat led administration have done over the last few years of which I am proud; cutting crime by 21%, cutting homelessness by 15%, reforming Home Helps so people get a service ...
The US Presidential contest is hotting up and the Republican candidates are busy producing ads. There's this from Newt Gingrich: Forgive me, but every time I see the hand waving through a corn field, I automatically think of the film Gladiator when that image was used as a metaphor for death. Is this what Newt wanted to imply? At the other end of the scale is this effort from Ron Paul, the ultra-libertarian. It's based on an ad for a truck and so, presumably, is designed to appeal to 'all American' men: Tweet
The tableaux of children's book or television characters in Town Hall Square are one of the pleasures of Christmas in Leicester. There are always two of them - usually one inspired by a literary classic and one by something more contemporary. This year it is tradition all the way, with displays inspired by Lewis Carroll and Beatrix Potter. Add to that a nativity scene and a "Christmas Greetings" banner on the front of the Town Hall in Britain's most ethnically diverse city and it seems Christmas is safe for a few years yet whatever the Daily Mail says. But then ...
(...That's the handbag he's metaphorically stolen from Mrs T, by the way.) Is anyone really stupid enough to be taken in by David Cameron's idiotic threats of a veto against Euro-zone treaty changes? He's either transparently bluffing or he is insanely gambling with the future of this country by risking the future of the Euro-zone on which we rely. The truth is probably somewhere in between those two extremes. What sticks in the craw is that he originally said, in terms, that the UK would helpfully facilitate the changes necessary for the Euro-zone. Now he's had the wind put up ...
London Mayor Boris Johnson this evening had his fifth meeting with the capital's Ibero-American community, i.e. the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking populace, who are thought to number about 700,000 in the city, and over one million in Britain as a whole. As a warm-up act, those of us (including several Ambassadors) who had gathered in one of ...
TweetI was one of the few extra thousand who bought the Independent today for a bewitching front cover on lobbyists. The story, as they go, isn't as "sexy" as Fox and Werrity, Giggs and his brother's wife or even Brooks and Coulson. But it is compelling nonetheless. If you want to lobby the UK government ...
The Guardian write George Osborne's autumn statement speaks to the public mood in which they have a positive view of the Lib Dem influence in Government which is worth highlighting. Do not overlook, either, that this has been a surprisingly successful autumn not just for the Tories, but the Liberal Democrats too. The Lib Dems have ...
TweetI appreciate that we're suffering from economy ennui. The ping-pong ball debate between the G 20, the G8, Europe, Eurozone and a whole host of acronyms have ceased to have meaning for the majority. As the "Merkozy" debate continues, different ways to resolve the crisis are met with dismay in the UK. Cameron wields no ...
These groups and the "new" replacement for Area Joint Committees (AJC's) across Cambridgeshire. The membership of the groups (in so far as the party political makeup) has been finalised and will be as follows;Huntingdonshire Rural Panel - 6 members: 3 Conservative / 1 Liberal Democrat*East Cambridgeshire Rural Panel - 4 members: 4 ConservativeSouth Cambridgeshire Rural Panel - 6 members: 3 Conservative / 3 Liberal DemocratFenland Rural Panel - 5 members: 5 ConservativeCambridge Panel - 4 members: 3 Liberal Democrats / 1 LabourMarket Towns Panel - 6 members: 5 Conservative / 1 Liberal DemocratThe interesting thing is that there has been ...
This morning's Independent quotes Tim Collins telling representatives of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (who he thought were working on behalf of the government of Uzbekistan): "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 that come up are sites talking about what you guys are doing to address and improve that, not just the critical voices saying how terrible this all is."Let's ...
My goodness me this takes me back! Sunday afternoons lying prostrate in the best chair I could muscle my way into on what passed as a "television room" at my boarding school 600 feet above sea level next to Exmoor. The older you were the better seat you could get. For the last year (indeed the very year for which these titles were extant) I was head boy so I got the best seat even though I couldn't have fought for it successfully (I wasn't in the First XV (or the 2nd, 3rd or even 15th XV), you know – ...
Preventative healthcare is far cheaper than our current remedial approach. Yet we are not really creating policies to create a more preventative model of the NHS. Our approach of moving towards a more preventative healthcare system is to provide more education so that we all know what to look for. Has nobody noticed that very ...
Rupert Matthews, a familiar figures to reader of this blog, has answered his critics. Writing on Conservative Home the (soon to be) Conservative MEP for the East Midlands complains: My career as a councillor (8 years) has sunk without trace, my work for the party since I joined in 1982 has become invisible and even my day job as a writer of history books has vanished entirely. No. All the press are interested in is the fact that I have written a few books about ghosts, a couple on UFOs and one on sasquatch. For the most part these stories ...
A special thank you is being said to Library Friends groups who are thriving and growing in Cambridgeshire. On 9 December a Friends Recognition event will be held to celebrate the hard work of the 20 current Friends Groups and welcome the 10 new groups that have been formed this year. Attendees will share some of their successes and advice. Friends Groups give vital support to the work of Cambridgeshire County Council libraries. The groups, made up of volunteers, help in a range of ways from local promotion of the service, fundraising, putting on community events and even decorating and ...
Zach Walls testifies before the Iowa House of Representatives. Hat-Tip: Andrew Sullivan
It's been quite a day! I'd woken up at around 6.30 this morning and the first thing I did (after giving Jane a kiss, of course!) was to check my StudentHome page. iPads are wonderful for furtive internet browsing in bed while still half asleep. No change. So I'd started to get up to go swimming and noticed that someone had posted a message on the DD307 facebook forum – RESULTS ARE IN! Heart in mouth moment. I made sure that nothing breakable or valuable was nearby. I checked – and sure enough, just after 7am this morning I had ...
Labour's record at closing libraries in London is in the spotlight in the Feltham and Heston Parliamentary by-election, judging by the latest full colour A3 leaflet from the Liberal Democrat candidate Roger Crouch: Roger Crouch's leaflet sensibly follows up on his campaign's earlier newspaper advertising. No mention of the admission from a Conservative MP that "there is absolutely no chance of us winning here", but the leaflet will have been artworked before that quote from Bob Stewart MP came to light. Details on how to help Roger Crouch's by-election campaign are here and you can also follow Roger Crouch on ...
Elaine Dobson is the Labour candidate for Lib Dem held Whickham North in Gateshead, the neighbouring ward to mine. She has stood a number of times before and has an impressive record of defeat at the polls, including in my own ward when she stood as Labour candidate in a by-election in 2008.Back in the autumn of 2007, when the election-that-never-was was happening, Mrs Dobson edited a leaflet
Shabnum Mustapha is a good friend of mine and she's recently started a new job as Director of Amnesty Scotland. It was lovely to wake up this morning and hear her talking about human rights in China in the context of the pandas and the First Minister's visit to China. She made the point that it's really important for everyone who comes into contact with the Chinese Government to raise the issue of human rights. They may well gruffly brush off such approaches, but there is evidence to show that they do have an effect in reducing the amount of ...
Following consultation with residents, the Lib Dem team have asked the Council to substantially change proposals for improvements to Gatley Green. We're very glad that residents and businesses have been properly consulted, and that their views are being taken into account. Proposals for the road outside the Prince of Wales to be made one way have been scrapped, as have proposals to block off the small section of road separating the war memorial from the rest of Gatley Green. The idea to move parking to the house side of Gatley Green has also been knocked on the head. Residents will ...
Following a recent accident where a teenager was injured on the Schools Hill pelican crossing, the Lib Dems have been working to get improvements. Here's where we're up to: The pelican crossing lights have already been cleaned and turned up to maximum power to make them more visible. The public consultation has been completed Electronic speed signs will now be set up on Schools Hill – these have a good record of slowing down traffic. We've asked for this to be done as soon as possible. We don't think the proposals for reducing parking on Schools Hill at the junction ...
Very pleased to receive this award from The Association for Public Service Excellence (apse). This award covers the whole of the UK. The last two years has seen Conwy recognised as having The Cleanest Streets in Wales (Keep Wales Tidy). I have said and will say that we strive for continuous improvements regarding Street Cleansing and I believe this award is recognising the improvements made to date. My sincere thanks to all involved.
Consett residents will look with envy on Ashington's plans for a new sports & lesisure centre. Instead of the pared down version we are to get, in which £15 million passed to Durham County Council has been been slashed to £10 million as they syphon it off for other purposes, Ashington is to get a £20 million centre to include a customer access point (!), Library, cafe and registrar's office. In an entirely novel approach they are planning "for a greater range of services, and longer opening hours." Even more revolutionary is their genuine interest in where local people think ...
I posted last month about my frustration with the lack of information coming out of the Superfast Broadband programme. It's a great scheme which will put Cornwall ahead of most of the UK - but it's next to impossible to find out when a particular area will be connected. The good news is that Launceston is among the first areas to see the roll out and that parts are already connected. It appears that the connected area is the top end of Western Road (the end nearest the A30) and at least part of St Johns Road. Tregadillet is also ...
The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that's fine, we're grateful for people taking the time to read the site. You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are four simple ways: 1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there's something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you're an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or ...
It seems that some Plaid Cymru and Welsh Conservative members are fairly unhappy that they were not the ones to secure a deal with the Welsh Government. I've seen many call it a "pathetic deal" and claim that, in the case of the Tories, that the party have "endorsed Labour's savage cuts to the NHS"
As I suspected in my previous blog the Manchester Evening News has announced that the City Council has caved on the issue of cutting School Crossing Patrols. This looks like a step in the right direction, but all is not as it seems. The Labour-controlled Council still intends to cut some crossings on cost grounds, and is taking the money to fund the rest from the City's education budget (says the paper). This is not what the hundreds of people who signed my petition demanded. They wanted ALL School Crossings saved, not just the most dangerous ones. They didn't buy ...
Had I not been sent a review copy of Show me a hero: The sin of Richard Byrd Junior by Jeremy Scott, I suspect I would never have read it - and what a treat I would have missed out on. From the cover and beautifully chosen typography - wonderfully invoking the 1920s - through to the fast-moving drama of the race to be the first to fly to the North Pole, and the question of whether the first to claim this achievement was a liar, this book is a real treat. Few of the characters in this tale of ...
Having read the latest case of "investigative journalism" regarding the boasting of Bell Pottinger partners on how they influence David Cameron, George Osborne and William Hague, it's been interesting to hear the responses to it. The general response from those who are not too against it, is the classic clichéd kind of "well, I don't support it, but it's not like they're killing people like in Syria is it". This suggests that morality slides along a scale from 'very bad' to 'kind of ok' (I do of course realise morals are subjective, but lets take the view for sake of ...
Good heavens, have I really just posted my 2000th blog entry? It would appear so, having started my l'il old blog six years ago (when dinosaurs ruled the Earth). In those relatively early days, when blogging was trendy, but not yet mainstream, it was all about opinion, and my rather gentle musings on life, the universe and bureaucracy made barely a ripple in the blogosphere. And, six years later, not much has changed in terms of the blogging. I'm still not terribly excitable, and there's still rather a lot of bureaucracy - despite my increasingly frequent chafeing about being defined ...
In a bid to attract a diverse range of people to stand for election to Cambridgeshire County Council, the Liberal Democrats are calling for some meetings to be held in the evenings. They want to see a shift away from meetings being held exclusively in the daytime which are often difficult to attend for those in full-time work. And they believe holding some in the early evening would give more people the chance to stand for election as councillors. A motion calling for support for the idea will be proposed to Cambridgeshire County Council members on December 7 by Councillor ...
Last week we published Liberal Democrat minister Norman Baker's defence of his approach to the tar sands issue. Here Chris Davies MEP explains his view... The weak and obfuscating position on tar sands being taken by the Coalition Government is an embarrassment to every Liberal Democrat who wants to believe that having our representatives in office will advance the environmental agenda. It may stem from nothing more than Whitehall's traditional "Brits know better than Brussels" arrogance, but it is wrong-headed nonetheless. The EU's Fuel Quality Directive encourages oil producers the world over to lower the carbon intensity of their products ...
Chris Davies, Liberal Democrat MEP for North West England, has welcomed the Coalition Government's announcement that tough action will be taken to stop eggs from battery caged hens being sold in the UK. As of 1st January 2012, eggs that ... Continue reading →
A new youth club that recently started at Werringotn Village Hall, Church Street, Werrington, is not expected to meet up again now until the first Friday of February 2012, according to local Lib Dem ward councillor Darren Fower. Darren tells us that the group, who previously used to met up in North Werrington, have so far held a couple of sessions at the Village Hall, and so far he's only had a couple of residents contact him regarding concerns relating to the club. At a recent ward surgery, Darren spoke with event organisers and asked them if he would be ...
As Chair of LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, I welcome the government's announcement to consult and determine whether restrictions on NHS workers with HIV, should be relaxed, after a review found an "extremely" low risk of the disease being passed on to patients. Alongside the Blood Ban announcement in July, which for me was only a small step in the right direction (as there is further work to do); because the stigma remains for men who sleep with men and their partners, with a 12 month deferral ban, the signal from government strikes the right tune at how current policy is being ...
Received today from Dundee City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of carriageway repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Artillery Lane (from Cross Lane to approx. 100 metres south), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Tuesday 13 December 2011 for 4 working days. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. No alternative routes are available For further information contact (01382) 433168. Mike P GallowayDirector of City DevelopmentDundee City Council
Forthcoming events this week from Friends of Wighton : Wednesday 7th December, 1.15 to 1.45pm : Lunchtime Recital. The traditional December concert by the wonderful Wighton Singers! Admission free, donations welcome! Saturday 10th December, 10.30 for 11am : Cappuccino Concert. Alastair McDonald, Singer, Raconteur, Banjo player, TV and recording star! "Alastair has the rare ability of lifting a song directly from the written page & into the hearts & minds of the listening public." (Alistair pictured above right). Tickets, price £5 (includes coffee and newspapers) from secretary@friendsofwighton.com, 07792 336804 or at the door.
Due to other commitments, I was unable to attend a book launch that took place in Palermo during the ELDR Congress, that of 'The little Liberal Book: a guide for political party work'. It is exactly what it says on the tin, a nuts and bolts guide to building a political party from the grassroots up. As someone who has rarely found himself in a successful, dynamic Local Party (Brent North, Dulwich and West Norwood and Bury St Edmunds have hardly been wildly successful in periods when I have been involved), I have found that one hurdle to success is ...
It is a commonly acknowledged fact that without the work carried out by carers and other volunteers, the British welfare state would grind to a halt. If we were to pay the going rate for what they do then the money would very quickly run out. This is acknowledged in a report published today by pensions company MGM Advantage, which found that Britain's 12 million pensioners contribute £2,000 each to the economy every year though unpaid childcare, voluntary and charity work. That is just the tip of the iceberg of course but considering it adds up to a £25billion contribution ...
The Bank of England made the following statement this morning:In light of the continuing exceptional stresses in financial markets, the Bank of England is today announcing the introduction of a new contingency liquidity facility, the Extended Collateral Term Repo (ECTR) Facility.This Facility is designed to mitigate risks to financial stability arising from a market-wide shortage of short-term sterling liquidity. There is currently no shortage of short-term sterling liquidity in the market. But should that position change, the new Facility gives the Bank additional flexibility to offer sterling liquidity in an auction format against the widest range of collateral.Obviously this follows ...
I am pleased to announce that registration for Spring Conference 2012 is now open. For the first time, conference will be hosted by NewcastleGateshead. The Liberal Democrats have a proud history in the North-East. We control Northumberland County Council and Ian Swales MP, Sir Alan Beith MP and Fiona Hall MEP represent the Region in London and Brussels respectively. Fiona said, "Conference is going to be a great boost for the area ahead of vital local elections in May. The region is gearing up to make it a fantastic weekend for everyone. I hope representatives also take the opportunity to ...
1. Introductory post Do not accept any of my words on faith, Believing them just because I said them. Be like an analyst buying gold, who cuts, burns, And critically examines his product for authenticity. Only accept what passes the test By proving useful and beneficial in your life. - Gautoma Buddha [IMG: A picture of a beaded bracelet, with a close up of three beads near (but not at) the end.] The first set of three beads on my bracelet represent the Three Refuges - but that bothers me because I always thought the plural of refuge is refugia. ...
This made me laugh! According to Labour Councillor John Eagle at Gateshead Council's last meeting, I am "a Tory" because I was wearing a blue shirt and tie. When I say "laugh", I mean laugh at Labour, not with them, as Labour descends even further into the shambolic mess that is their comfort zone. Cllr Eagle is, shall we say, not amongst the best when it comes to public speaking. That
Yesterday the problems facing the English housing system got some much needed airtime. Channel 4 is performing an important service in raising the profile of some of the most pressing issues. Perhaps a week focusing on housing problems can really give the debate some momentum. Last night's first offering was Dispatches' continuing investigation of rogue landlords. Then we had The Great British Property Scandal, looking at the coincidence of Empty Homes and housing needs that are either going unmet or are met through grossly inadequate accommodation. Dispatches provided some vivid illustrations of the appalling conditions to be found in temporary ...
A few days ago I put the last-but-one email I have received from 38 Degrees under the spotlight, pointing out that: On probably the biggest criticism made of 38 Degrees - that it encourages mass, superficial activism which confuses getting a big headline number of petition signers with effective campaigning - the email is unrepentant, eagerly talking up a plan to "flood" the target of the campaign with emails. Mass despatch of identikit emails in this form is such a controversial subject because the evidence that it works is very mixed, at best and it can be extremely counter-productive (witness ...
This started out as a comment on somebody else's post, but it grew and grew. Nick Clegg has signalled the possibility of government action on high pay, and Charlotte over at DigitalPolitico says he's being "worryingly illiberal". I don't see that. I think we need to be clear about what the issue is and about what a liberal response to it would be. Then in terms of a strategy there are two questions to answer. The first is does government have a right to interfere; the second is will it be effective. As for what Nick Clegg has actually done, ...
Monday: From Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar Day 5: Elephant-shaped Slave One, How Cool Is That!
Tue 6th
11:55
Lib Dems invest record amounts in Libraries and Leisure in Ashington - we need your views
At last week's Congress of the European Liberal Democrats, the umbrella grouping of liberal parties across the continent, Graham Watson, our list MEP in South West England (and Gibraltar), was elected to the position of President. Here are his thoughts on the task ahead... Last week I had the honour of being elected the new President of ELDR, the European political party federation to which the Liberal Democrats belong, at its annual congress in sunny Palermo, Italy. I was unopposed as a candidate, so the result was not quite the surprise as it might otherwise have been. I'm not sure ...
At last night's Full Council meeting the Tories were exposed for their lack of understanding of housing matters and despite their professed support for our servicemen and women, refused as a group to commit to the Armed Forces own campaign to establish a Community Covenant between those who serve in the Armed Forces and the local ...
Here are the Liberal Democrat entries in the top 100 political blogs as ranked by Wikio. Welcome back to the Top 100 to Mark Valladares. 1 (7) Liberal Democrat Voice Down 1 2 (25) Jack of Kent Down 9 3 (28) Caron's Musings Down 3 4 (43) Liberal England No change 5 (46) Mark Pack Down 5 6 (63) Liberal Vision Up 4 7 (66) Paul Walter Down 13 8 (73) George Potter Up 7 9 (75) Peter Black Down 11 10 (80) Nick Thornsby Up 1 11 (91) Mark Thompson Down 13 12 (92) Stephen Glenn Down 3 13 ...
One of our young members, Stephen McFarland, of Liberal Youth Northern Ireland, is organising Christmas Liberal Drinks and Dinner for all of the local party and our friends, for the period when he is home from university. This is a great opportunity all of us in the Northern Ireland Lib Dems to get to know ...
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 6! Today we have a ...
We don't normally republish lengthy pieces from other people's blogs, but in the case of James Graham's review of Don't Take No For An Answer by Lewis Baston and Ken Ritchie, which doubles up as a detailed post-mortem on the AV referendum, we're happy to throw those rules out of the window because of both the post's excellence and the importance of the issues to future campaigning and hopes for electoral reform. So here is a slightly revised version of the post which first appeared on James's blog. You can also read Mark Pack's (much shorter!) review of Don't Take ...
I was pleased to be interviewed the other day for the new website promoting the county, www.thisisnorthumberland.com . Its a combination of tips for residents and a guide for tourists. I recommend you have a look. The interview with yours truly is at http://t.co/H1w9pvOW
Clichéd, old-fashioned use of female blondes to advertise bedroom products? Not surprising. That it should be The Guardian perpetuating the sexist shopping clichés? Less impressive. Though given the paper's vision of only women doing cleaning or its obsession with photos of Sienna Miller, not too surprising either.
Well its been quite a while since I've had either the time or the inclination to rite a blog post but I find myself sat once more in the familiarity of carpet class and the urge has struck so here ...
Riders and walkers can now enjoy the full length of the 16 mile maintenance track that runs along the Cambridgeshire Busway after the last sections of black top were laid. Work to lift the maintenance track by as much as four feet to minimise the chance of flooding has been completed. This is the last of the major defects left by the Busway contractor to be corrected. While doing this work the Council has taken the opportunity, with the assistance of grant from cycling charity Sustrans, to add a black top surface. Already there are thousands of trips a day ...
Today's addition to my Advent Calender comes courtesy of Harry who is doing so well on Strictly Come Dancing and Dougie update, make that King Dougie, who is doing well on I'm a Celebrity but the words and music come from the Beach Boys.
The publication of research into the thinking and motives (or lack of it and lack of them) of the summer rioters stimulated horrifying pictures of apparently mindless vandalism and thuggery on our television screens last night. The point of the research was that the views of the rioters had not been, but needed to be, heard. This does not, of course, condone their thuggery or justify the breakdown of law and order. A common theme expressed from all parts of the country was antagonism towards the police. It is a cliché of the left in Britain that most evils in ...
In the middle of last week, exceptional measures were announced by a coordinated group of six central banks: the Fed, the ECB, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank. In effect they agreed to supply virtually unlimited Dollar liquidity to the market. The result has been a sustained market rally over the past few days. However it is only now beginning to sink in what lay behind the central banks' decision and how close the financial system just came to collapse. It is now clear that the funding cycle, even ...
With the death of Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Sousa Vieira de Oliveira - better known as just Socrates - the football world has lost one of the finest footballers of the last 30 years and the captain of the fine Brazil team that everyone thought would win the 1982 world cup but didn't. I don't know whether Socrates was a fan of Monty Python - but as Liberal England reports he wasn't averse to turning out for teams at the less serious end of the game. And here is the Python sketch where the Greek philosophers take on the Germans ...
I start this book with a warning to myself – a kind of memento mori. Should my book go wrong, it could turn into Who Killed Kennedy by David Bishop. Which is not to say that it's a bad book, as such – it's a very enjoyable book of its type, hardly high art, but ...
Today Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy met for make or break talks to save the Euro. If they implement what they have agreed the Eurozone will become essentially both a monetary and a fiscal union. If they fail, the enormous debt mountains threaten to bury the currency, along with several countries and with it perhaps the EU itself! And what of Britain? What is the future in an outer ring of nations outside a core of 17 nations joined fiscally and monetarily? In trying to answer this question I am conscious that I have always been, and remain, a pro ...
For those who are wondering why this site's changed, I'm getting more and more sick of websites that pull little bits of JavaScript from twenty other sites, and images from thirty other domains, and have lots of little buttons to track you all over the internet. I'm particularly fuming over the Google Reader changes, which ...
Just finished watching a superb documentary on ITV about the Nigel Benn v Gerald McLennan world title fight in February 1995. It was a brutal fight that left both boxers in hospital and McLennan fighting for his life with permanently disabling brain damage. The focus wasn't just on the fight, but on the rivalry and consequences for both boxers' lives. Benn and the McLennan family carried on the feud for 12 years before Benn (now a born again Christian) organised a fundraiser for McLennan - raising £200,000 for the bills for his contining care. It's just a shame that ITV ...
