Parking will be free at certain times of the day Parking in Hexham, Morpeth, Alnwick and Berwick council car parks will be free all day on Sunday 18 December and free between 9 and 11am and 3 and 5pm from Monday 19 to Christmas Eve. This is all part of the councils attempt to help local shops and to encourage people to come and do their last bit of Christmas shopping. Car parks will be clearly marked with the temporary changes. Of course parking in Prudhoe town centre (and Ponteland) is already free at all times and I have fought ...
This morning's Daily Telegraph carried revelations that examination boards charge teachers large fees to attend events that tell them how they can help their pupils cut down on the amount of work needed to those boards' examinations. And tomorrow's edition has another story on the theme: Steph Warren, a senior official at Edexcel, told an undercover reporter posing as a teacher who was considering using the firm's tests that "you don't have to teach a lot" and that there is a "lot less" for pupils to learn than with rival courses. Miss Warren, who sets geography exams for tens of ...
For the good of my blood pressure I have missed most of Question Time and instead watched Yesterday's account of the battle for Normandy, in which hundreds of thousands died over three months. Early in the programme we saw soldiers passing a sign to Ouistreham. I was reminded of my trip to Pegasus Bridge in June 2004, the sixtieth anniversary of D-Day. I hired a bicycle in Ouistreham and as I
It really is extraordinary how long this debate is becoming. We have a highly centralised, dysfunctional banking system. Most of our trading partners also have an effective decentralised local banking system as well, fuelling their economy. We don't. It isn't really rocket science, yet there is David Cameron weighing into Europe to defend what our corrosive City institutions which - apart from paying a humungous amount of tax - don't do the job they are required to do. Worse, they suck imagination, energy and investment away from productive local economies. But maybe the answer lies in something a bit like ...
No fewer than seven awards are in Durham County Councils sights in the 2012 Local Government Chronicle listings, including the overall award for 'Council of the Year'. The final winners will be announced in March, but at this stage DCC is in the running for: Low Carbon Council (carbon management programme) Efficiency (service reviews in Neighbourhood Services) Children's Services (Family Pathfinder project) Public Sector Partnership (the Safe Durham Partnership's Total Home Safety initiative) Health and Social Care (mental health Support and recovery) Management team (Neighbourhood Services) Council of the Year (Altogether better Durham)
Acocks Green's Railway Station will be getting a £1m investment, as part of the extra capital spending announced in the autumn statement last week. The money will provide two passenger lifts, new stairs and an expanded footbridge, finally making the Station fully accessible to the disabled and those with pushchairs. This scheme is something that I, Councillor Iain Bowen and John Hemming MP have long campaigned for, and I'm delighted that the money has now been found by the Government. It means that the peculiar absurdity of the Station car park having a nice row of disabled parking bays next ...
The issue of education and RCT is beginning to be a bit repetitive now. Having blogged about the farce Labour led RCT Council made over the restructuring of post-16 education in the county borough not so long ago, the Government's new 'banding system' only highlights the failings of RCT on education. Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC
Iris Johnson proposed Clive Hart as new leader of council after Cllr Bayford loses vote of confidence. It will be interesting to see if Clive Hart is up to the job, I'd like to think he is but I'm afraid. .... Anywayh the vote in favour was confirmed at 20:29 twenty eight for Hart twenty six votes for Bayford.
I recently found this, from Bertrand Russell in 1951: Perhaps the essence of the Liberal outlook could be summed up in a new decalogue, not intended to replace the old one but only to supplement it. The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows: 1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything. 2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by
Scotland - and some other parts of the UK - have been getting buffeted all day by unusually strong winds with gusts of 165mph have been reported at the peak of Cairngorm and 84mph reported in the Firth of Forth causing the road bridge to be closed. The BBC has, as it does on such occasions, invited people to contribute pictures of the havoc caused and some of the results, including a particularly eery picture of an empty Forth Road Bridge, are here. One picture in particular caught my notice however, as it was taken near the widow's ancestral home. ...
As many will be aware, the recent e-petition to make financial education a compulsary part of the school curriculum reached the magic 100,000 mark that makes it eligible for debate in the Commons. I believe that the campaign, headed by Martin Lewis, is integral to what the Government should be doing to ensure that they ...
Following on from my previous blog post, I am continuing the countdown of my top 10 favourite Christmas songs. In the first part, I counted down the songs that made up positions 10 to 6. In this final part, I count down my top 5 and reveal what my favourite Christmas song is. 5) Chris Rea ... Continue reading »
medicalschool: Woven bone is the primitive bone first laid down during fracture repair or new bone formation. It consists of a higher percentage of osteocytes than normal. The gross structure is highly disorganized and thus much weaker. It is eventually replaced by concentrically organized lamellar bone with much lower proportions of osteocytes. The histology slide shown demonstrates woven bone arising directly from surrounding mesenchymal tissue.
I returned to work this week after some time off ill, so posting has been slow, but I'm going to try to get the next Doctor Watson up tomorrow and another Doctor Who post for the Mindless Ones up over the weekend, at the very least. Before I post links, I just want to say ...
I don't often write these kinds of self-congratulatory posts, but Norfolk Lib Dems have been going through a tough time recently. Not only did we lose a by-election in Lakenham, but two of our county councillors have defected to the Conservatives (not much of a loss in either case, but two less Lib Dems anyhow). ...
I was very proud today to launch the Government's Advancing transgender equality: a plan for action – the first ever Government action plan to advance transgender equality. It lays out the Government's vision and commitment to improve transgender people's lives. To view the action plan and our e-bulletin, please click here. The action plan was formulated with the trans community and I would like to thank everyone who took time to speak to us, attend our events and respond to our e-surveys. All of the input, challenge and continued hard work by the community themselves have made the action plan ...
Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, has quite rightfully said it is "A total disgrace" about that the huge number of pedestrian crossings in London which have no facilities for blind and partially sighted people. Research undertaken by Caroline Pidgeon revealed that there are currently 347 Transport for London (TfL) pedestrian crossings which have no facilities to assist blind and partially sighted people to safely cross the road. This is despite there being long standing national accessibility standards to ensure every pedestrian crossing has either an audible sound and/or a rotating cone to assist blind and ...
The Scots, and indeed those of us in Northern Ireland, are battening down the hatches in the face of horrendous storms. The locals have nicked named it Hurricane Bawbag, though the pesky Germans are calling the depression Friedrich. However, I'm hearing of blackouts in the North of Ireland (Donegal, Derry and Antrim) as well as Dumfries and Galloway, Clyde and Central Scotland. But it doesn't stop there being a little bit of humour to lighten the mood. The hashtag #HurricaneBawbag top trended not just in the UK but World wide. Although it appears to have blown away Sky News's atlas, ...
Thu 8th
16:54
Extra £11million funding for disadvantaged pupils is a "sham", says Manchester Labour Party
There's rather bizarre news from Manchester, where the Council's ruling Labour group has passed a motion declaring the pupil premium a "sham" and calling for the policy to be scrapped. The pupil premium – which was a key Lib Dem policy at the last election – has meant a funding boost of almost £11million for Manchester's schools this year (rising to £20million next year), with the money targeted specifically at pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. As Lib Dem councillor for Gorton North, Jackie Pearcey, says: I know that in Gorton and Abbey Hey, this money is making a real ...
It appears that Selby District Council has restructured its whole organisation into a small group of commissioners – a core group of 14 staff – and a multifunctional provider organisation – Access Selby. We move a step nearer to realising Nicholas Ridley's vision of the Enabling Authority. We're taking the idea of the firm as a nexus of contracts to its illogical conclusion. All we need now is for Access Selby to receive an offer it can't refuse from an external commercial body and we're there. As and when that happens, it would be a reasonable bet that the commercial ...
Short, provocative and highly relevant – an excellent clip from David Meerman Scott about measuring the ROI of social media work: Hat-tip: Stuart Bruce
Launceston's annual festive bonanza takes place tomorrow evening with and evening of entertainment in and around the town. The event is known simply as 'late night shopping' but it's far more than just having the shops open late. There will be a parade featuring camels, the town band and a samba band. There will be street stalls and a charity auction and there will be food and drink available. And you can do your Christmas shopping at the same time. If you haven't been before, it's a huge party. And the lovely people at the Town Council have announced that ...
From www.wordle.net It's interesting how "anyone" is so prominent. It's good to see the word "reasonable" in there – one of the most useful words in the English Language, over the centuries. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
[IMG: Facilities Focus from the House of Commons] Facilities Focus from the House of Commons Some people have said that the Liberal Democrats must avoid becoming part of 'the Establishment' just because we are in Government. I couldn't agree more. However, you will imagine my surprise and delight on discovering that part of the Establishment appears anyway to have joined the Liberal Democrats. The Facilities Department of the House of Commons - which manages accommodation, catering and the like - is publishing a newsletter called Focus. Its namesake is that of Liberal Democrat leaflets up and down the country, informing ...
I've learnt again this week that it's not a good idea to believe everything you read in the papers. In this case, it was a story in the Sunday Telegraph suggesting that the Government were changing the wording of "Academy Funding Agreements" on the teaching of marriage. Thankfully, it turned out to be a non-story. Academy Funding Agreements are the governing documents for academies and Free Schools and are agreed between the Secretary of State and the governing body of the Academy, and the story suggested there were "strict new rules" about marriage. However, a bit of digging indicates that ...
It's heartwarming to see how Durham County Council acknowledges the past. When mentioning the £7 million of insecure Icelandic Investments it hopes it still has, Durham County Council never misses the chance to acknowledge that they were inherited from Derwentside District Council. I expected, therefore, that whilst warmly congratulating itself on picking up a prestigious award for a housing scheme in Craghead, Durham County Council would similarly take the chance to acknowledge that it inherited the Craghead Housing Intervention Project from Derwentside District Council. But it didn't. I guess it's that single-minded dedication to seeing only one side of any ...
Israel's Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein, has reportedly said (http://bicom.org.uk/news-article/3939/) that the so-called NGO bill is unconstitutional and restricts freedom of expression. This bill (which comes not from the government, but from a couple of backbenchers) has been much exercising the minds of those of my friends who still read the Guardian. It basically seeks to restrict foreign government funding for various Israeli NGOs, some of which receive a lot of their income from foreign governments - including the British Government. A just, peaceful resolution of the Israeli/Arab conflict is a key aim of UK foreign policy, so our government funds ...
Cornwall Council spent £139,000 per day on consultants in August this year according to new figures just released by the authority. This is despite the frequent promises to cut spending on this area. The bill for consultants was £4.2 million for the month and another £1.4 million was spent on agency staff. There is always likely to be some spending on consultants. It's unreasonable to expect the council to have every type of expertise within its workforce. So occasionally we need to buy in people who are, for instance, experts in railway law. But these should be contracts for hours ...
Last night Brian Paddick, Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate attended a public meeting to speak about why people in London should vote for him in the 2012 mayoral contest. He then answered questions from Ealing residents - and one from Hillingdon (who had travelled to hear Brian speak)! Bridget Fox, who is a Liberal Democrat candidate for the Greater London Assembly, was also present and spoke on a number of issues and showed her excellent knowledge on air pollution and other environmental matters. The main points from the evening were: Brian Paddick has a track record of success. He started off ...
A good, but a bit wet and windy, session today with the Friends of Garston Park and youngsters from Gilmour infants school. We were planting trees (some very small others larger) on Garston Park near the Leisure Centre. You can find out more about the Friends of Garston Park at http://www.fogp.blogspot.com/
Here's another document that I've read lately, which you might find of interest. The good news is that I can now remove it from my in-tray and file it... The European Union must take a decisive step towards a federal economicgovernment, with common fiscal policies and a larger budget, if it is to savethe euro. Saving the euro is the precondition for the economic recovery of all Europe. Therefore a major revision of the EU treaties can no longer be avoided. EU states which choose not to accept political union will have to beoffered a new form of associate membership. ...
1. Introduction 2. The Three Refuges Suffering happens. Suffering has a cause. I can be free from suffering. By following the Eightfold Path. If you know anything about Buddhism, you've probably heard of the Four Noble Truths: the very core of the Dharma, which makes the whole thing look very simple indeed. Because it's really all about one thing, when you get down to it. The Buddha could have chosen to teach all sorts of truths to his followers, but instead he chose something that many people were, are and will always be, primarily concerned with: suffering. The First Noble ...
In the debates about what the government's fiscal policy should be, how wise Danny Alexander is and whether or not the Liberal Democrats are sticking to what they previously believed, there are two policies from the party's general election manifesto which are often forgotten. (In fact, I've not seen anyone quote them though given what I read, hear or watch is only a small fraction of what is said, I'm happy to believe some people have remembered them; any links would though be interesting so please do share.) Liberal Democrats were committed to big deficit cuts A Comprehensive Spending Review ...
Liberal Democrat Home Office minister Lynne Featherstone has today unveiled the government's Transgender Action Plan: Too many transgender people still face prejudice at every stage of their lives, from playground bullying, to being overlooked for jobs or targeted for crime. I am proud to announce the first government strategy to tackle the specific barriers facing transgender people. Like everyone else, transgender people have the right to be accepted, to live their lives free of harassment, and to be free to achieve any ambition they choose.
This is one of my series of lunch time blogposts. I'm afraid I'm going to cheat today. Instead of writing a proper blogpost, I'm just gonna post an email I sent to Tim Farron MP, President of the Liberal Democrats, yesterday. You see, yesterday I tweeted Tim about my article on Lib Dem Voice about the government's proposals to force cancer patients to undertake work related activity. Because Tim is so awesome, he replied to my tweet almost immediately and asked me to email him about it. So, below, is the email I sent to him: ------------------------------------------------ Hello, I tweeted ...
Most of the measures in the Welfare Reform Bill are extremely sensible. Designed to streamline a byzantine system where fraud was far too easy and anomalies like benefit recipients living in million pound mansions too common (though not as common as the Daily Mail would have you believe!). During the passage of the Bill, the Liberal Democrats have managed to curb some of the worst excesses of our coalition partners. For example, we got rid of the idea that people on Job Seekers Allowance for more than a year would lose 10% of their housing benefit. It is measures like ...
For as long as I can remember, back to my childhood, there have been wonderful natural history programmes made by the BBC. Always narrated by the iconic David Attenborough, I find them utterly compelling viewing. The latest season 'Frozen Planet' has just drawn to a close. One of the things I have most loved about the latest series has been the 'Freeze Frame' feature that lets us go behind the scenes and answers the questions about how some of the amazing shots were achieved. (The answer is very dedicated camera teams working in incredibly demanding situations). The final episode dealt ...
Wednesday: From Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar Day 7: You're Not In Glee Now, Chewie
After two extreme winters, I've been working hard to ensure that the County Council improves its response this year. Grit Bins have all been given unique numbers and the phone number to get them filled up has been put on the bins. New grit bins have been placed in the ward and new concrete bases have been put in place where grit bins were on unstable ground, which caused them to tip over. Contracts with local farmers to grit estate roads that gritters find it hard to reach have been issued. In addition, the county has 40,000 tonnes of grit ...
I have now been a party member for 44 years. In that time I have enjoyed elation and disappointment. There have been policies I have massively agreed with and some that set me to shaking my head in despair. Today ... Continue reading →
In the UK, there is the mistaken belief that the euro has a problem and that if the euro breaks up, it's a problem for countries in the eurozone. Wrong! The euro is a strong currency, it is countries in the eurozone that are the problem. For example, Greece has a structural deficit problem, which no amount of revenues from taxpayers can solve. Greece's debt was a very small proportion of the EU's
The County Council Rogue Trader Team has reported that a number of rogue trading incidents have taken place during November. These included: In Welwyn Garden City a householder was cold called by a trader saying that they needed to look at fascia work that had been done 9 years previously as it may have been done incorrectly. The trader then ripped off the fascias and roof tiles and said they wanted £6500 to put it right. The householder refused and the trader has disappeared without putting back the fascia and tiles, leaving behind £3000 worth of damage. The rogue trader ...
Worst Wednesday for years. It began with the publication of the National Centre for Social Research's survey of British Social Attitudes revealing what a stupid, selfish nation we have become. Item: Only 30% believe that taxes should be increased to fund higher spending on health, education and social benefits, compared with 61% in 2002. Gee thanks, New Labour. You really changed minds on that
I hear there's a red squirrel Christmas card going around. This cat would be more appropriate.
Thu 8th
10:17
Former Liberal Democrat MP John Barrett backs campaign to exempt all cancer patients from work asses...
I was pleasantly surprised to receive a text from John Barrett, the former Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, yesterday morning as I was tootling round the supermarket. He wanted to let me know that he was "happy to support your campaign on chemotherapy proposals" and that I could put his support on my blog. I wanted to leave yesterday to Joshua's appeal, but I'm really grateful to John. I know that he will also be advocating behind the scenes on this one as well. Just to recap the situation, at the moment, if you are receiving intravenous chemo for ...
[IMG: Hornsey Town Hall Carol Concert Flyer] This Friday evening I'll be helping out at a Christmas Carol Concert outside the Hornsey Town Hall off Crouch End Broadway (stewarding and bucket-shaking rather than singing thankfully). The event is to raise money for two excellent causes – supporting local carers and the Tottenham Fund for people who were hit by the August riots. The event starts at the Town Hall Square at 6pm. I'm assured that Dunn's will have a mulled wine stall, which should help keep out the winter cold. Please do come along and join the festive celebrations! Admission ...
A few months ago, there was a conversation on my flist about the trend towards "Hey!" as a greeting rather than "Hi!" At the time, I said I used it only with my kids, because they had started using it with me. This morning, I realised that in the short time since that conversation, it's spread to my office as well, and I now use it quite freely with colleagues. I think I only use it with older colleagues if they use it first, but with younger colleagues I often actually initiate it. Funny how quickly language evolves. This entry ...
Thu 8th
09:28The Independent View: MoD suppresses Lib Dem review and spending information on Trident ahead of Par...
Liberal Democrats can be rightly proud of their record on challenging like-for-like Trident replacement and keeping Britain's nuclear weapons near the top of the political agenda - certainly during the last general election campaign. But now it looks as though their coalition partners are moving to stifle the gains they have made. Not only has the Defence Secretary announced the suppression of the Lib Dem-led Trident Alternatives Review. He is also making a mockery of the delayed Trident replacement decision - scheduled for 2016 - by committing to spend £6 billion before that decision date. This is hardly fair play ...
I love the idea of the UK having High Speed trains. Great virility symbol and I'm male. I've been a regular business traveller to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds for 20+ years. All these services feel more reliable and better, if albeit very expensive than past years. Getting there in a fraction of the time – fantastic...or so I thought. So how is the Department for Transport progressing High Speed 2. 250mph is fast and the line is being designed for this speed but no one is using such speeds. In Europe the happy compromise of 186mph has been reached. China ...
An issue of a road sign, that has been tarnished with graffiti for well over a year and half, has been taken up by local Lib Dem ward councillor Darren Fower. The sign which informs people of the tonnage limit for road, is located at the entrance to Edinburgh Avenue (Werrington) and following a site visit, Darren has now publicly reported the issue to the City Council, through the ever popular website FixMyStreet. Commenting Cllr Fower said: "This sign has been tarnished with graffiti for so long that even the Google street view shows the sign with the unwanted tag. ...
Nick Clegg's speech today on giving new powers to towns and cities is a very important landmark for this coalition and underlines Liberal Democrat influence in introducing a decentralising empowering approach to government. According to the Telegraph, Clegg will tell Councils that they will be able to go into debt to fund new schemes by being allowed to borrow against future tax revenues: The plans are expected to be published in a new Local Government Finance Bill in the next two weeks, with the powers in place by April 2013. They will allow councils to borrow for the first time ...
Late in the night on the 22nd November, parliament approved the 'money resolution', passing the bill to a committee of MPs to thrash out the fine details over the next few weeks.That means the next big vote is just around the corner, and we need to ramp things up in a big way to make sure MPs show up on the day and vote for lighter evenings.We've done this before and we can do it again, but we need to raise £5,000 to make it happen. Can you help by making a donation?http://www.lighterlater.org/donate.htmlYour contribution to the £5,000 target will help ...
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 8! Today we have a ...
It is yet another day on my advent calendar of goodies for this year. I found this and give you some amazing choreography. The title is the 12 gays of Christmas but as the original with poor sound quality said, not all these gets are necessarily of the gay persuasion but they obviously are members of this dance school.
What would you think of a party selection process for candidates which involved putting all the shortlisted names in a hat and picking one out at random to be the winner? Not a lot, but the reasons why that is a bad process have often been neglected in the writing of the party's selection rules. Proper contests make for a healthier party That is because a selection process is not about giving everyone an equal chance - go for a raffle if that is what you want - but about letting those who are most suited for the job demonstrate ...
This post originally appeared on 14th November on the Huffington Post UK: The last government started buying up works of art in the style of the spoiled wife of some Russian oligarch desperate for her Mayfair mansion to rival the likes of the Louvre. As the end of Labour's time in power approached, spending on the Government Art Collection really started to escalate. In 2008/09, for example, those running the collection spent just over £250,000 on buying artwork, with other parts of the government buying a further £154,000 worth. A further £160,000 was spent commissioning new works of art from ...
When we first moved to the village where we live, train connections were rather good - from our local station, there were two trains every hour both to and from Leuven, arriving there just before the half-hour mark and departing just after it. This worked particularly well for connecting trains to Brussels, which usually leave Leuven on or just after each half-hour. But a couple of years ago, the local timetable was changed; the trains now leave Leuven just before the half-hour at 28 mins past, and arrive just after at 33 mins past (and in the evening they drop ...
The weekly Parliamentary riot that is the British Prime Minister's Question time must have reminded Mr. Cameron how fractious his own party is, when it comes to the European Union. The problem is that the freedom of action that the government has on the issue is pretty limited. The Franco-German diktat, organised my "Merkozy" is pretty much the only game in town, since any proposal has to have the support of the German treasury. From the point of view of the UK, we have been outplayed and outgunned by the slippery French President. That is... for now. Britain has been ...
The background noise of protest in Moscow and St. Petersburg has continued, despite the severe clampdown. Over 1000 people have been arrested, which implies that the size of the protests is much larger than the few thousand that has been admitted by the regime. Significant figures amongst the opposition, such as the blogger Andrei Navalny, remain under arrest. The problem for the regime is that evidence is growing that the declared results are so far out of line with the real tallies as to be utterly at variance. This is not just a matter of the vote stuffing in Chechnya ...
Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the December meeting of Community Spirit Action Group, that took place at the Mitchell Street Centre. The meeting took the form of a social event and it was thoroughly enjoyable. What's more, I won a bar of chocolate in the raffle - Janet - later in the evening - enjoyed every bite! Community Spirit does great work as the residents' group covering Polepark, Pentland, Cleghorn, Ancrum, Tullideph and surrounding areas and you can read more about its work at www.dundeecommunityspirit.org.uk.
Yesterday afternoon, at the Ryehill Police Station, I met with PC Jim Mitchell, the new community police officer for the Perth Road area. Jim is a very experienced officer and is a great addition to the team of community police officers in the West End. We have a superb policing resource in the West End and it was good to speak with Jim today about local issues. You can read more about Jim and his role at http://tinyurl.com/perthroadpolice.
Conservative eurosceptics are arguing that any new Euro treaty that leads to a closer economic union for the Eurozone should be vetoed by the British PM if it doesn't include unspecified protection for the City of London. Or if there is no veto it should be subject to a referendum - with the clear assumption that the UK electorate would reject any treaty. Boris Johnson, who should know better, told the Beeb, the UK should oppose any change which created a "very dominant economic government" across Europe. "If Britain was asked to sign up to such a thing within the ...
Once again Tory Eurosceptics are demanding for a referendum on the EU, powers to be repatriated and even more protection for the City. Once again they are wrong. The coalition agreement has stated that a referendum is only applicable when more powers are to be transferred from the UK to Europe, there is no suggestion ...
Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, David Rimmer andNigel Ashton are holding their next monthly advice centre on Saturday 10th December,from 11 am to 12 noon at St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Councilproblems you may have. No appointment necessary. Just pop in. We hold our advice centre every month (except August) on thesecond Saturday of the month at St John's School.
Fifteen Derwentside pitches have gone missing in the last 13 years. That's the conclusion of one of our local football leagues. Keen to find them I was excited to see that the cabinet at County Hall is preparing to debate the long awaited "Playing Pitch Strategy" – well, I know one reader whose been long-awaiting it. Usually you find endless papers attached to a cabinet report, and as you know I just love to go sleuthing in the fine detail, but on this occasion I was disappointed. No papers are attached, but at the foot of the paper are the ...
Cllr John Dodd & Cllr Nigel Ashton recently attended ameeting at St Cuthbert's Church Hall, Churchtown, to discuss the future of theformer museum in Botanic Gardens. The outcome of the meeting is that a steering group will beset up to consider potential uses for the former museum building, and to investigatepossible funding arrangements. John Dodd will be part of that group.
I am simultaneously a resident of Alberta, home of the horrible tar-sands, and a member of Lewes Liberal Democrats, who has campaigned for Norman Baker. So, I consider that I'm duty bound to get my head round the barney between Norman and environmentalists, on whether the UK is giving unreasonable support to Canada on implementation ...
Madness - the £189k unaffordable affordable house It was a lively meeting of Northumberland County Council today. The highlight was the slightly surreal moment of the Tories proposing a motion urging ring fencing second home council tax money for affordible homes and the Lib Dems, Independent and Labour groups uniting to oppose it! The Lib Dems and Independents opposed it because it would have inadvertanly reduced the amount the council spends on affordible homes, Labour because they vote against anything the "party of Thatcher" put forward even if it makes sense. But it did lead to a debate about affordable ...
Thursday: Still trying to watch an episode of "The Prisoner", this week my Daddies appear to have stuck in a disc of time-travelling rom-com "Dr Watson and the Amnesia Machine" instead by mistake. Hang on, why's it named after the theme from "High Noon"? I thought the Western was last week! information Dr Seltzman, inventor of the mind-swap machine, has disappeared. And only the Prisoner knows where to find him. The Village's solution? Use the machine to stick his mind in the body of one of their agents ("The Colonel", Nigel Stock) and follow him. What could possibly go wrong? ...
