I have blogged previously on the 46% price hike for households buying both a residents and visitors permit HERE. Cllr Parker challenged this when it was discussed at committee stage, we have since written to the cabinet and this week spoke at cabinet. Thanks to Lib Dem pressure, the portfolio holder announced that plans to increase the residents permit for this year were scrapped and that the
You may have heard that Fox Business News called the upcoming Muppets movie if teaching communism to kids. I don't know how, where in these lyrics is there anything that can be misconstrued in such a way. It's time for Communism It's time to prove Marx right It's time for Marx and Engels on the Muppet Show tonight. It's time to raise the masses It's time for proletariat It's time to raise the red flag on the Muppet Show tonight. Why do we always come here I guess we'll never know It's like some kind of future Where the nobels ...
Two sites, two planning applications, worlds apart. The Allen's West application is for a housing estate the size of a village - bigger in fact than Preston is, with perhaps its own shop and some allotments, maybe some unspecified community facilities and potentially bringing with it a mass of traffic problems. Of course, the traffic problems could be reduced by careful road changes and
Kelvin McKenzie, the former editor of the Sun is often seen on television because of his forthright views. Today is no exception because of the way he argued the case for the Sun on yesterday's The Politics Show. He suggested that the scurrilous articles seen in the Sun actually came from reporters in Merseyside. He has apologised today and his defence was that Hillsborough was 21 years ago. The trouble with this defence is that he has had 21 years to get things right. Firstly he shows no remorse for his decision to run stories that were scurrilous. Secondly he ...
As regular readers will know, this blog likes orphans and railway stations. So I was bound to enjoy Martin Scorsese's Hugo. What children will make of it, I don't know. I suspect it may be a little long and slow for some of them. It tells the story of its eponymous hero who lives within the walls of a great Paris station tending its clocks and trying to avoid being carted off to the orphanage. The story tells of the way he makes sense of his own history and, even more, the history of cinema. As Peter Bradshaw's Guardian review ...
Inspired by the newspaper's investigative coup this week, Allison Pearson has a column in today's Daily Telegraph discussing the failings of our school examination system in much the same terms that I did yesterday. However, I have to take issue with this paragraph: When I was my daughter's age, I barely knew what an exam was. Your teacher might take an educated guess at what would come up on the paper (Henry VIII's foreign policy last year, so probably domestic this time), you swotted up as hard as you were inclined, went into the hall with a leaky fountain pen ...
Thanks to Caron Lindsay I came across this wonderful video. Here are The Sensational Alex Salmond Gastric Band with a topical ditty about the recent Scottish storm - which is now known colloquially as 'Hurrican Bawbag'. And if anyone doesn't know what a 'bawbag' is - they can always find out (if they dare) here.
Fri 9th
19:07
Citizenship Education needs improving. The first hurdle is incorporating financial education.
If you were to gather a group of young people together and ask for their experiences of citizenship education, you're almost certain to receive a mixed response. 'Pointless' one would say. 'Boring' mumbles another. 'Actually I thought it was brilliant' the one at the back pipes up. This reaction is worryingly commonplace, despite the fact ...
Nick Clegg: I have said for months that it would be best to avoid arcane debates about treaty change altogether and if we had to proceed down that road, it would be best to do so in a way that did not create divisions in Europe. The demands Britain made for safeguards, on which the Coalition Government was united, were modest and reasonable. They were safeguards for the single market, not just the UK. There were no demands of repatriation of powers from the EU to Britain and no demands for a unilateral carve-out of UK financial services. What we ...
During Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday David Cameron answered the first two questions like this: The British national interest means absolutely that we need to help resolve this crisis in the eurozone. It is freezing the British economy, just as it is freezing economies right across Europe. Resolving this crisis is about jobs, growth, business and investment right here in the UK. At the same time we must seek safeguards for Britain. That is the right thing to do. Then to Ed Miliband's first question: we will have the key aim of helping to resolve the eurozone crisis, and we ...
I struggle with Europe. I am a passionate European and I see only benefits in the European project. I have always supported Britain's membership of the EU but that enthusiasm is tempered by my complete disdain for the EU as it is: a garbled, ill-thought out 'camel' of an institution with absurdities such as the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Fish Abolition Policy and the farce of the European Parliament moving lock, stock and barrel from its headquarters in Brussels to Strasbourg once a month at a cost of millions of Euros to satisfy French egos. Europe is a mess ...
An excellent analysis of what's happened, why it's happened and what it means domestically, from the Guardian. This one will run and run...
Following the furore generated in this week's Stratford Herald (sorry – the Herald website doesn't let you access current stories, so best buy a copy if you haven't read it), I thought I'd take a look at the attendance records of all the District Councillors. I make no judgement (well, I will a little) because in the majority of cases I don't know the reasons behind any poor attendance – so I'll leave that up to you. Incidentally, these figures are available here. Councillor Party Number of attendances (This includes meetings they were present at but not actually on the ...
On Wednesday, the parish council held a public meeting with the West Essex Primary Care Trust on the proposed health care centre, which will form part of a larger development planned by Pelham Structures. The planning application has been submitted and will now be subjected to the normal planning procedures. The following facts were established at the meeting: The main risk to the project comes from any objection to the four-way mini roundabout at the Lower Street-Chapel Hill-Station Road-Church Road intersection proposed to cater for increased traffic volumes. There is a possibility that Essex Highways may oppose the lay-out without ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week "There is absolutely no chance of us winning there" - Conservative MP's Feltham & Heston outburst (8 comments) by Mark Pack Opinion: Oh, what is the point?(59 comments) by Alex Marsh Opinion: We can't refinance the economy from the meagre incomes of the poorest, only the wealth of the richest (47 comments) by Tim Nichols Pack & Tall Debate... What's the Lib Dem economic narrative now? (30 comments) by The Voice How many failed the conference security ...
The government will impose a "tax lock" on all local authority tiers as part of its "radical extension of local democracy", although Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles will dictate a limit on precept increases. Councils will be forced to hold referenda if they raise their precepts by more than 3.5% – a level deemed "excessive", although at the current inflation rate would amount to a cut of 1.5% in real terms. The goal is to put public finances on a more stable footing. There is no plan to introduce the tax lock on town and parish councils in 2012/13, but ...
The Bracknell Standard recently asked me about the Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson comments on the BBC One show where he said "Public sector workers who took part in the strikes should be shot adding "execute them in front of their families". My reply printed in the paper was as follows; Yes Clarkson should not of said it. But aren't there more important things to complain about. People say things like this all the time but they don't actually mean it. No one is going to shot anyone. 21,000 complaints, please people get a grip. Don't moan that political correctness ...
Next week, at a formal session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought will be awarded to five representatives of the Arab Spring movement: posthumously to the Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi, whose self-immolation partly triggered the whole new Arab Awakening; Asmaa Mafouz (Egypt), Ahmed al-Zubair Ahmed al-Sanusi (Libya), Razan Zeitouneh ...
I was appalled to read about how schools in RCT have been banded in the Welsh Government's new branding system. Only two schools were placed in Band 1, and three schools were placed in Band 5. Futhermore, the GCSE attainment of schools in RCT is, generally, very low. In Ysgol Gyfun Garth Olwg, only 57%
Today the Forth Bridge (that is the proper title of the Railway bridge spanning the Firth of Forth ) finally finishes being painted. The extraordinary cantilever bridge - described by Billy Connolly as Scotland's Eiffel Tower (what an astute remark) - was, according to urban myth, painted all year and when the painters finished they started again from the other end! I'm not sure how true that was but new technology means that it won't need painting for another 20 of so years and the poly sheeting that has covered it has been removed so you can see the old ...
Fri 9th
16:00
Opinion: Lynne Featherstone's defence of evidence-based translational medicine is welcome
[Declaration: for the last nine years I worked in an academic research laboratory, developing therapies for inherited disorders that cause blindness. During this time I worked with animal models to help our improve our understanding of disease mechanisms and to act as a test-bed for new therapies]. The sparsely-attended adjournment debate on Wednesday secured by Conservative MP David Amess, saw a rare thing – a genuine discussion based around the merits of peer-reviewed scientific research and a robust defence of an evidence-based approach to translational medicine from Lib Dem Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone. For a biology nerd interested in ...
Birkdale's Councillor Simon Shaw, who is Cabinet Member Environmental on Sefton Council, has good news for local residents who missed their green garden waste wheelie bin collection last week. They will now have an additional collection just before Christmas. Following the national strike on Wednesday, November 30, green wheelie bin collections were cancelled on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week. This was done to enable grey bin collections, also missed on November 30, to be made on Thursday and Friday of that week. Unfortunately this meant that some residents did not have their green bins emptied on their last scheduled ...
David Cameron didn't betray the British national interest at a dinner last night. He betrayed it over two years ago, on 22 June 2009. That was the day that he withdrew his party from the main centre-right bloc in the ... Continue reading →
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 9! Today we have a ...
It is a depressing thought that David Cameron has ridden into battle in Brussels in defence - of all things - of the conglomeration of short-termism, bonuses and economic corrosion represented by the City of London. One of the few benefits to the UK economy of the euro crisis might have been that the European Commission would have stirred themselves into some kind of financial reform. We have lived too long with a dysfunctional City, sucking up capital and talent that might have been used productively. Sadly, we are going to carry on doing so. Cameron was stirred into sacrificing ...
If there was an EU-wide transactions tax, the money would be collected and retained by national governments, right? Calling it EU-wide, etc, leaves open the inference that money collected in France, the UK or Portugal would not go into the national coffers in Paris, London or Lisbon, but would instead go to Brussels, to be spent by the EU on straightening bananas, banning sausages and rigging the Eurovision Song Contest. And that inference is mistaken, right? The money raised on transactions in the City of London would actually go to the British Treasury? My perception of the issues at stake ...
So David Cameron vetoed the new deal in Europe before it had even been written. As far as we can tell, Cameron's position was that Britain must be exempt from any new regulation of the financial sector (you remember them, the ones who got us all in a mess to start with). Clearly Sarkozy (and others) were not going to be told at gunpoint that the British wanted a competitive edge over everyone else in what is supposed to be after all a free trade area – and said so. The result? British walk away before the real negotiations have ...
Fri 9th
14:32
Cabinet (Wirral Council) 8th December 2011 Part 4 Council Tax Base 2012/2013, Council Tax Discounts,...
Ian Coleman said report 4 (Council Tax Base 2012/2013) was an annual update and the basis for the grant settlement. Cllr Foulkes asked if the Cabinet were happy to endorse it and it was agreed. Ian Coleman then introduced the report on Council Tax discounts. He said there were a range of discounts in line ...
It's not exactly a huge surprise that Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies, frequently the iconclast* and always the strong pro-European, is disagreeing with Nick Clegg's views over Europe today. But that makes fellow Lib Dem MEP Sarah Ludford's view all the more significant: [IMG: Sarah Ludford MEP] Asked to comment on reports that Nick Clegg was "entirely signed-up" to [Cameron's negotiating] strategy, she replied: "Well, you're hearing two different narratives. President Sarkozy, who I think has been quite mischevious actually, said that David Cameron wanted to exempt the UK from financial services regulation. If that is the case, which I ...
...but what do we do now for the metaphor?
After a long night of fractious negotiations which saw the UK write itself out of future European economic integration, there was a tangible shift of mood in Brussels this morning as Croatia signed its accession treaty with the European Union. It will become the 28th EU member state on 1 July 2013, just over ten years since lodging its membership application, and almost eight years after the negotiating process started. It is a dramatic achievement for Croatia, which when I lived there in 1998 was still recovering from conflict and getting to grips with the social and economic changes needed ...
I was alerted to the fact that we might have a problem within the County's internal postal system by a question at Full Council by a Lib Dem member from Newton Hall. Apparently they have found themselves powerless to prevent a mobile phone mast which had been refused planning permission because of delays in the internal postal system. So that made me think, "What about Consett?" First I tried ringing the Customer Access Point (CAP) on the number given on the website, but after listening to the usual selection of numbers to press if I wanted ........... I eventually got ...
Cllr Steve Foulkes said he wanted to make an apology and it had not gone out on time, there were a number of reasons behind the delay, one was the issues raised by the Corporate Governance Committee/Anna Klonowski Associates report. He said these had to evolve in time enough to know where they were going. ...
People get into politics for four reasons. 1. On a simple, local issue that they feel strongly about. It could be anything from wanting a new pedestrian crossing on the main street or something larger like the combating of "Boris Island" 2. To represent the needs of constituency or ward and help your communities or improve/defend public services. 3. For the glory of your party, be it Lib Dem, Labour, Conservative or any of the others. Your party can do no wrong and the other parties must be exposed as the liars, flim-flam men, cads, bounders, and frauds that they ...
Well, that was a depressing headline to wake up to. And a depressing throwback to Tories of years past as they go mad again on Europe. I voted for the Coalition Agreement at our Special Conference last year; I still support it. Some of what the Government's doing is heartening Liberal; some of it's revoltingly Tory; but most of it's unpleasant but necessary. And though I'm never going to like David Cameron, he's certainly been a far better Prime Minister than I expected, in part through mostly striking a more reasonable and conciliatory tone than the likes of Mrs Thatcher ...
Fri 9th
13:44Cabinet (Wirral Council) 8th December 2011 Part 2, Declarations of Interest, Minutes (24/11), Corpor...
The agenda and reports for the Cabinet meeting can be found by following the link. Present: Cllr Steve Foulkes (Chair) Cllr Harry Smith Cllr Chris Meaden Cllr Ann McLachlan Cllr Anne McArdle Cllr George Davies Cllr Adrian Jones Cllr Brian Kenny Cllr Phil Davies Cllr Steve Foulkes welcomed people to the Cabinet meeting. A blanket ...
I have posted a list of those attending the EU summits at the end of each of the last three semesters (here, here and here). Unfortunately I made a fairly serious mistake in all three posts, in that I had Romania and Lithuania represented by their prime ministers rather than by their presidents. I may go back and change the earlier entries, but not right now. Today's list is as follows: Jean-Claude Juncker (born 1954), Prime Minister of Luxembourg since 20 January 1995 (EPP) José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (born 1960) Prime Minister of Spain since 17 April 2004 (PES) Lawrence ...
The Euro debate in Britain takes place in a vacuum. The Euro-sceptics are not challenged, even when they start to resort to absurd national stereotypes and mentioning the war ("I think I mentioned it 73 times, but may have got away with it") in the most inappropriate contexts. The fact is that the image of Britain is so rooted in the Second World War, that we have become imprisoned in a national myth which insists on our unique righteousness and moral certainty. No one is allowed to mention the equivocation that created a culture of appeasement, the rise of the ...
This is one of my series of lunch time blogposts. I'm ashamed to say that I make a point of not commenting on Scottish affairs - mainly out of ignorance and out of fear of being swamped by cybernats frothing at the mouth at an Englishman daring to tell Scots how to run their lives (in fairness, I do have a regular cybernat visitor in my coment threads already - but he seems fairly tame). However, I was reading Private Eye this lunchtime and I noticed a brief piece about the two Chinese pandas that have arrived at Edinburgh zoo. ...
The first big subject at Prime Minister's Questions this week was Europe. Tory MP Andrew Rosindell asked if David Cameron would show "bulldog spirit" at the forthcoming summit. Later, similar points came from various Tory Eurosceptic MPs, including the Father of the House, Sir Peter Tapsell. He is always heard with great respect, despite his long-winded, rather pompous and, in this case, halting mini-speeches which have barely inquisitive constructions stuck on the end of them. Ed Miliband started on Europe as well, asking if Cameron would fulfil his promise that treaty change might give the opportunity to "repatriate powers". The ...
In Gotham City, a new caped crusader is prowling the rooftops; a woman in black and red, falling hard on the followers of the Religion of Crime, and looking for information about their new leader. She is Batwoman. Her name is Kate Kane, she is an officer and a lesbian, and the devotees of this religion stabbed her through the heart a few months ago. I knew going into this story that it was going to be good. Nothing prepared me for quite how good. Read more on The F-Word
Fri 9th
12:52Cabinet (Wirral Council) 8th December 2011 Part 1 Motions (libraries, Autumn statement, 0% Council T...
There were three motions to Wirral Council's Cabinet meeting. For each motion you can click on the images for a larger version. The motion on libraries strategy is below, which will mean libraries will be open on Wednesdays and at lunchtimes after the merge with the One Stop Shops is complete. The second motion is ...
It's one year on from the vote on Tuition Fees, so I thought I would lay out some reasons why I, as a student, am still a Liberal Democrat after our great 'betrayal'. Although our ministers are having to make tough choices, Liberal Democrats have won a major victory – having a tax cut for the low paid, rather than the very rich, as the Tories would have preferred. Raising the income tax threshold to £10,000 is a good way to correct the disaster Gordon Brown created when he scrapped the 10p tax band. Plus it is a tax cut ...
Any student of economic statistics recently would have to be very positive to spot encouraging trends. The best we can say is that perhaps we have passed the bottom of the slump. Vince Cables speech at Lib Dem conference this autumn set the scene - responsible but very serious. Many people are saying that young people today may be the first generation in centuries where they are worse off than their parents. Of course in many northern towns, the neglect of traditional industries by successive governments has meant that for working class families that has been the case since the ...
Following a rash of complaints about the amount of Dog mess around Prudhoe, I've been asking people on Twitter (@bradburysworld) to identify problem areas. Some of the areas where there are problems are where children regularly walk and play. It is beyond belief that people don't pick up their dog's waste. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as the Dog Poo Fairy! More stickers warning people to scoop their dogs' poop have been placed around the town and a council "hit squad" has been dispatched to clean up the areas identified. The Council has also pledged to monitor two problem ...
Thursday: From Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar Day 8: Who IS this mystery X-Wing Pilot?
The Liberal Democrats have always recognised that if we want the best health service in the world, we must continue to innovate and invest. That is why I want to highlight how new funding announced on Monday will ultimately support life-saving research and help to protect millions of vulnerable people living with long-term conditions at home. I have long championed the benefits of telecare and telehealth (home-based alarm and monitoring devices), so I want to highlight the fact this high-tech equipment will now be accessible to another three million people over the next five years. This week I met a ...
Here is Nick Clegg's statement on the dramatic events overnight in Europe: [IMG: Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister] I regret that last night it proved to be impossible to find a way forward as a group of 27 on European treaty change. I have said for months that it would be best to avoid arcane debates about treaty change altogether and if we had to proceed down that road, it would be best to do so in a way that did not create divisions in Europe. The demands Britain made for safeguards, on which the Coalition Government was united, were ...
A number of journalists have phoned me to ask my view as to the use of the veto. I think Cameron was right to use the veto on changes to the treaties. It is entirely right that the 17 Eurozone countries resolve how to get greater fiscal unity which is essential for the success of the Euro and consequential success of the UK. However, that does not mean that we have to sign up to that. We
... goes to the Australian Liberal Party for this fine effort: Gillard removes final brick in Howard's wall on border protection and swings door open to boats Remove final brick from wall? OK. (Though strictly speaking if there was only one brick left to remove, what you had before wasn't a wall. It was a brick. With pretensions to being a wall.) This causes door to swing open. (Don't ask what's holding the door up so it can swing. Not a wall. Or a brick. Presumably it was a gust of wind from the moving brick that swung the door. ...
It is hard, this morning, not to feel a little sympathy for David Grace's conclusion that the Coalition is no longer working to promote Liberal Democrat values, set out at In particular, it does seem that Britain's role in Europe and Liberal Democrats' role in rebalancing the economy have played second fiddle to a toxic mix of Little Englanderism and deference to the broken financial services sector. As I have said before, Britain should have taken the global lead in brokering a workable financial transaction tax (as indeed Gordon Brown had 13 years to do), providing much-needed cash to ...
Young and clueless David Cameron went all the way to Brussels to 'defend British interests' and wave his veto to other European countries. In one stroke, he humiliated Britain and made her irrelevant. Cameron fought to retain British sovereignty, didn't he? Nope, he waved his veto to protect financial services from regulation, the same financial services that got us into this mess. Now, I'm not
HertsHelp is a new, innovative service made up of a formalised network of over 130 voluntary and community organisations who are working together to help people find their way through to the vast range of practical support, guidance, information and advocacy they need. HertsHelp is accessed through a single phone number: 0300 123 4044 and email address: info@hertshelp.net and is being co-ordinated by the Herts-based information, advice and advocacy charity POhWER. The service is open to the whole of our community, including professionals and is funded by Hertfordshire County Council and NHS Hertfordshire. Already hundreds have benefited from the HertsHelp ...
This is my personal view of the night Labour gained control of Thanet Council, made more unreliable, in that my smartphone didn't save the notes, from the first half of the meeting, so I'll go big on atmosphere and er backdrop. I left early for last night's council meeting thinking everyone knew that Labour would be taking the reigns of power, that is except for Cllr. Clive Hart who apparently didn't, and claimed he didn't think he would be getting the support of Cllr Worrow toward the end of the meeting, even though its likely everyone else thought he would ...
The first big subject at Prime Minister's Questions this week was Europe. Tory MP Andrew Rosindell asked if David Cameron would show "bulldog spirit" at the forthcoming summit. Later, similar points came from various Tory Eurosceptic MPs, including the Father of the House, Sir Peter Tapsell. He is always heard with great respect, despite his long-winded, rather pompous and, in this case, halting mini-speeches which have barely inquisitive constructions stuck on the end of them. Ed Miliband started on Europe as well, asking if Cameron would fulfil his promise that treaty change might give the opportunity to "repatriate powers". The ...
So I was up early this morning. Way too early for my liking. I flick through my iPhone in bed and see on twitter that big news was coming down that we had used our powers of veto and not signed up to a new treaty that it was hoped would save the Eurozone. The reasons we have used our veto seem pretty clear. The deal would actually harm the UK but strengthen Europe. As the UK is not in the Euro our viewpoint was always going to be different from the French and the Germans who are busy forcing ...
I joined the Liberals in 1974 for the party's views on the three Es: Economy, Environment and Europe. Now we are in government, we have abandoned our traditional economic ideas, most notably what Keynes taught the world. We have weakened our commitment to the welfare state bequeathed us by another great Liberal, Beveridge. We have compromised our environmental policies, particularly on nuclear
Herts County Council's Schools Library Service is to be axed. The service, which provides staff support to the County's school libraries, will close from next April. At the Libraries Cabinet Panel yesterday (7th December), 8 Conservatives voted to end the contract on 31 March 2012, while the Panel's 3 Lib Dems voted against. Labour's representative on the Panel did not attend and did not even send apologies. Paul Goggins, leading for the LibDems, accused the Tories of 'giving up far too easily and too soon'. While acknowledging that there had been a small fall in demand from schools, the Lib ...
I do. Have had to book Byron into the vet's again. His tumour is flaring up - and just when we'd cured his cystitis. With that in mind, then... Oi, Discovery Channel? I'll see your Boom de Yada and raise you an Attenborough :P [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Cameron-having burnt his boats with the mainstream centre right parties in Europe-turned up to the Euro summit with no allies. In order to stop a Tobin/Robin Hood tax ( read the report from Stamp out poverty here)he has damaged Britain's long term interests.* My Lib Dem MEP has issued the following statement: David Cameron was this morning accused of relegating Britain to the second division of Europe. Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies claimed that by wrecking agreement between EU countries in Brussels the Prime Minister had ensured that a two speed Europe would develop. He said: "Far from keeping Britain ...
Fri 9th
08:54
17 TfL pedestrian crossings in Islington unfit for blind and partially sighted Londoners
Research by London Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon has discovered that 17 pedestrian crossings in Islington looked after by Transport for London – and 347 across London in total – are unfit for blind and partially sighted Londoners. There is a despite it now being 16 years since the Department of Transport set down a national accessibility standard to ensure every pedestrian crossing has either an audible sound and/or a rotating cone (under the box where the 'Wait' sign and push button are located) to assist blind and partially sighted people. Caroline Pidgeon commented: "It is a total disgrace ...
The Association of British Insurers, whose members are significant shareholders in UK banks, has written of its concern over remuneration in the banking sector in the most stern terms. The ABI's Director General Otto Thoresen has highlighted the need for all banks to fundamentally restructure their remuneration practices. This follows on from the independent High Pay Commission's report into executive remuneration, which emphasised the need for shareholders to play an activist role in setting top pay – the letter appears to be a first step towards a large number of shareholders in UK banks taking just such a stance. The ...
'Father who set up anti-gay bullying campaign after son's suicide found dead' via @guardian http://t.co/pJKsVOcC < Truly tragic. # 'More people give to charity but average goes down' http://t.co/obGBv4Z1 £11bn total donated (but inflation means £900m less in real terms). # Ohh shit... I've done that drinking-gin-then-1-clicking-on-Amazon-kindle thing. S'alright, I'll read 'em all soon enuf. # @mpntod Where's the fun in that [IMG: :)] in reply to mpntod # @mpntod And less sober time for regret [IMG: :)] in reply to mpntod # Has the sleb memoir had its day? http://t.co/WFNBWrZG (Graph's line of best fit suggests not, btw.) # ...
David Cameron was this morning accused of relegating Britain to the second division of Europe. Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies claimed that by wrecking agreement between EU countries in Brussels the Prime Minister had ensured that a two speed Europe ... Continue reading →
Well, it got a bit blowy last night, didn't it? At least it did in Scotland where gusts of wind up to 165 mph were measured in the worst storm for over a decade. Virtually all schools in west and central Scotland were closed by midday and the disruption and damage caused seems to have been at a minimum. That's not to say it was safe out there. One friend spoke of scaffolding being blown down from flats and breaking windows, another of chasing his greenhouse round his garden. There will be some who say that it was only a ...
A new service designed to take away some of the stress of notifying Government departments and local councils of a birth or death will be launched in Cambridgeshire next month. The national Tell Us Once scheme will be rolled out in Cambridgeshire from December 1 and is part of local public services commitment to work together and cut through red tape. The scheme has been launched by Cambridgeshire County Council as well as district and city councils across the county, and is backed by the Government. Immediately after registering a birth at any of the County Council's six registration offices ...
Keeping on finding new, interesting and fun Christmas related clips to fill up my advent calendar for you here is a little Muppet inspired, Queen related and nativity rich combination. You don't believe me? Watch this.
Tonight there was an interesting meeting about the future of Acton - the Pool, the Priory Centre, the Town Hall to name a few parts of the regeneration. Of course we need to improve Acton to lead the way so that we can reverse the trend of people not shopping in Acton High street. It is v sad to see shops where a company has gone broke. This has been happening more so over the past few years. The overall scheme will improve Acton but there are concerns: Less community spaceThe Pool being closed earlier than many residents think reasonable ...
This post originally appeared on 22nd November 2011 on the Huffington Post UK: Too many knowing commentators now assume that the euro will fail. But not only will the euro survive its current difficulties, Britain will eventually join. We should not wait until the euro has proved itself by surviving this test of fire, and join at some future moment of weakness. We should join now. Not only would we be able to name our price, but the commitment we would show would go a long way to calming the European economic storm, sooner rather than later. What I have ...
[Ed:This article was written late last night, albeit before details of Prime Minister's veto emerged from Brussels emerged.] When David Cameron arrived in Brussels last night for the pre-Summit dinner of EU leaders, he may have sensed a certain frisson in the room. He missed out on the earlier gathering of most EU Heads of Government, who are members of the EPP (Christian Democrat) Euro-parliamentary group and held their own important caucus. Until Cameron became Tory Leader, the British Conservatives were members of the EPP, but in a blatant ploy to get backing from Euro-sceptics among Tory backbenchers, he pledged ...
In yesterday's election, Offerton Parish residents have rejected Labour and elected ten Parish Councillors from the "No More Parish, No More Bills" non-partisan campaign supported by the Lib Dems and others. Why did we have Parish Council elections in December in Offerton? Here's the background: Following an extensive public consultation last year, Stockport Council had agreed to follow the will of the people and wind up the parish council – the only one in Stockport Borough. Most residents didn't feel they were getting their money's worth and wanted to see it go. A Labour former councillor Eddie Gallagher disagreed and ...
Fri 9th
07:45New LDV members' survey now live: your views on economy, pensions, strikes, drugs and life in govern...
The new LDV members' survey is now live. So if you are one of the c.1,300 registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum — and any paid-up party member is welcome to join — then you now have the opportunity to make your views known. Questions we're asking this month include: what you think of the Coalition's deficit-reduction policies; whether Lib Dems should commit to further post-2015 public spending cuts; if you agree with Nick Clegg's support for means-testing some universal benefits; your views on public sector pension reform... ... and on the recent public sector strikes; how satisfied ...
December update from our local library : Christmas Closure The library will be closed from 1pm on Thursday 23rd December until 10am on Wednesday 4th January 2012. Toy Library Blackness Library has a small toy library which can be accessed by any adult eligible for library membership. There is a small one off fee, costing £1 and for this charge up to 4 toys can be borrowed for a period of 3 weeks. We will have some brand new toys available after the Christmas and New Year holiday.Computer Tuition The library is running a 4 week beginners' computer course in ...
Reproduced, with thanks to the school :
The EU summit is mostly over. A seven-page statement by the leaders of the countries using the euro outlines the solution: there will be a new treaty involving all the EU member states except the UK and Hungary, with the Poles and Czechs going away to think about it. Participating states will enshrine a commitment to balance their budgets at "constitutional or equivalent" level. This will certainly mean a referendum on Ireland, which could be simply on balanced budgets but much more likely on the deal as a whole. This will all take some time (though the conclusions optimistically speak ...
Back in August 2009 I blogged about the shrine that had grown up in Cardiff Bay in tribute to a character from the Dr. Who spin-off, Torchwood called Ianto. There were many fans who wanted the character brought back but it was not to be. Yesterday, I was walking through the area and noticed that not only was the shrine still there but it has grown exponentially and has now become a Torchwood and Dr. Who montage. It seems to be quite an attraction and I was even approached by a woman claiming to be doing a PhD on it. ...
I have spent the day at the London Chess Classic at Olympia. This is a tournament featuring the very best players in the world and the best in Britain. There was plenty of space for coffee and casual games, but the tournament hall itself is surprisingly poor. The four tables are crammed on to a narrow stage and the audience appeared to consist largely of bronchitics with a serious boiled sweet habit. Conditions for the top players were far better in the Sheffield sports hall used for the British Championships this summer. But I was there for the games and ...
At one point this afternoon this clip was the second most watched video on the Beeb website. The unanswered question is has the player trying to catch up with the ball stopped running yet?
