I've now been pointed to the details of new BBC political programming to replace the Politics Show at There are a number of things wrong with this. First, it contains the odious right-winger Andrew 'Brillo Pad' Neill, who wears his politics on his sleeve, trivialises it and could not conduct an interview if his life depended on it. Second, the 'local slot' appears to be severely downgraded. Third, well, I refer you to the first point... Given the faint air of nausea suffered by me (and many others) on encountering Brillo Pad on the box, I wonder whether this ...
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dems on Broxtowe Borough Council. A special welcome to the new readers that we have this week. As we get towards Christmas many services and events run down for the holiday, and as a result there is less news to report than usual, but there are still a number of things going on. Can I apologise for the typo in last week's news about Chilwell Conservation Area. I of course meant to refer to options if you had missed the ...
It has been a while since I posted a blog and also my face has probably been out and about less over the last month than at any other time in the last year. My surveys and petitions are still landing on door mats and being pushed through letter boxes, and for that I am grateful to the team for agreeing to continue to put out my literature in my absence from the local Inverclyde Liberal Democrat Association. I am thankful to the association to once again re-appointing me to the position of vice-chair of Inverclyde Liberal Democrats at last ...
David Cameron has decided, on behalf of the Conservative Party, to isolate Britain- either temporarily or permanently -from all other continental European countries. This course of action is just one of two options that Britain can take as it manages its decline as an empire. Since 1945, Britain has given freedom to its former colonies ...
I note that my gallant colleague, Disgruntled Radical (better known in this household as Young Mr Grace), is deeply unhappy about the shambles of the past few days. But he has had some better news. Yes, you heard it here first, David has been successfully elected to be an (Extra)Ordinary Member of the Regional Executive of the East of England Liberal Democrats. I think that he will liven things up no end. Indeed, I thoroughly expect him to enjoy working with our Europhile MEP, and to make sure that we run a properly pro-European across the Region in 2014. In ...
At the Members Siminar (Councillors Briefing) on the 2nd December the first tentative details of the Cambridgeshire County Councils Integrated Plan (in essence the budget) for the next year was revealed to opposition Councillors.I've attached below the Powerpoint Presentation that was provided to all Councillors (I've also converted it to a PDF as more people stand a chance of being able to read that format!). A video of the presentation slides is also attached at the bottom of this post (should you have two minutes of your life you're not needing!).For me (and bear in mind this is "on first ...
We have seen that Thomas Cook is commemorated in Leicester and Market Harborough. He is commemorated in Kibworth Harcourt too. The photograph above shows the village's Congregational chapel, which closed a few years ago, and the neighbouring manse. As an old article from the Kibworth Chronicle tells the story: One day in 1841 the world famous traveller, Thomas Cook, was walking from his home in Market Harborough to a Temperance Meeting in Leicester. As he passed the Chapel he had a brilliant idea for his first railway excursion. From this small beginning Thomas Cook went on to establish one of ...
Having past the two month mark, the business of being unemployed is finally starting to take its toll. The latest set of rejection letters have just confirmed my status for a further week, and inevitably I'm starting to reflect on my lack of initial success - I haven't even been invited to interview for anything as of yet. So I've began asking myself the same two questions over and over: 1. Would I ever employ somebody like me? 2. Looking at my relevant skills, do I even deserve an interview? A sign of my current predicament has made me increasingly ...
As regular followers of this blog will know, this blog hasn't been regular recently. Since Hallowe'en, I've had a busy month, mostly because of that lovely biannual event - essay season. Follow that by a weekend spent in Istanbul at the International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) General Assembly and a nasty cough, and we ...
This Sunday is traditionally the time when Liberal Democrats in London stop writing Focus leaflets and do a bit of festive socialising as a reward for working hard all year round. And today the parties did indeed take place — I attended a lunch put on in Barnes by the local branch, then a mulled ...
[IMG: Katherine, David and me thanking volunteers] Earlier this week I was part of a group of councillors who turned up to thank volunteers who had spent the morning clearing rubbish and dead vegetation from a section of the Parkland Walk. The session was organised by the Council's waste contractor Veolia, who encouraged their own staff to volunteer. In the space of two hours four lorry loads of debris was removed. It's great to see a large company like Veolia putting something back into the local community. Many of the Veolia volunteers I spoke to lived locally and used the ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 251st weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (-, 2011), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Nick Clegg's verdict on ...
We are all familiar with the nonsensical idea that laws should be passed to "send a message". But Sir Peter Soulsby, Leicester's elected Mayor, has come up with a variant on it: the city should send a message by paying him a very large salary. The Leicester Mercury reports the representations that Soulsby, his deputy Rory Palmer and other Labour councillors made to the independent pay panel have now been released. The paper says that Sir Peter told the panel that the salary for the post of city mayor should reflect its "symbolic importance". And it goes on: In his ...
Sun 11th
18:30
Time for Liberal Democrats to invoke clause 6.6 in defense of Europe and the spirit of the Coalition...
For the first time since the General Election, and stepping back from the front line of community politics in West London where I was an active Liberal Democrat for a decade (a parliamentary candidate in 2005 and 2010), I feel compelled to speak out. The Liberal Democrats have often allowed ourselves to be presented as mindlessly pro-European - we are not. We are pro-reform and the creation of a far more efficient, less bureaucratic EU. However neither are the Liberal Democrats isolationist - we are internationalists. Thus, the news of Cameron's inept negotiations at the end of last week have ...
Please continue to put out your household rubbish andrecycling on your normal day over the Christmas period. From 12th December 2011 until 13thJanuary 2012 your grey wheelie bin will be collected weekly on your normalcollection day. The green wheelie bin collection service will be suspended forthis period. The weekly green box and blue bag recycling collectionservice also remains unchanged over Christmas and the New Year. Further details are on Sefton Council's website.
A lot of nonsense has been promulgated by Tory eurosceptics and even by Liberal Democrat apologists for the mess our coalition government has landed us all in. They have tried several arguments which don't work. As usual, the mantra - "Blame the French!" plays well with the public. Let's look at them in turn.1. The government was protecting the City of London, the financial sector.This is
Today was the now traditional pre-Christmas Haringey Liberal Democrats minced pies and mulled wine, featuring – of course – a Lib Dem raffle. GLA candidate Dawn Barnes trapped me in the corner: With the result that I had no choice: And, hooray, I was a winner. I didn't pick the fluorescent William Hague lookalike garden gnome (seriously, but then I do already have an official Asda 2001 general election William Hague gnome in the garden, alongside the Charles Kennedy and Tony Blair ones). Instead I went for: Yum. Oh and some politics was talked:
A month ago I chose At Seventeen by Janis Ian, who kindly left a comment thanking me. In the hope that the trick will work again, here is another distinctive seventies single by a female vocalist. I think of For You in the same bracket as At Seventeen, though it turns out to have been released in 1978, three years later than Janis Ian's song. I assumed at the time that she was American, but the Judie Tzuke website explains that she was born in Britain with Polish ancestry, and that both her parents were in show business. The website ...
Apparently two long-lost episodes of Doctor Who have come to light - "Airlock", the third episode of Galaxy 4 from 1965, and the second episode of the 1967 story The Underwater Menace. The latter becomes the earliest known surviving episode of Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor. I don't have further details - am rather bizarrely following this on Twitter in a Portuguese bistro in Luxembourg, on my way to attend next week's plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg - but I imagine it will be all over the news pretty soon for those of us who care. Looking forward ...
This post is a gentle nudge in the direction of The Widow's Window where, subsequent to the recent hiatus, I have recommenced postings. Happy days.
The last few weeks have flown by, as the christmas decorations come out, the christmas markets and sales pop up and the feeling of good will is spread things get far more hectic and busier than would seem possible. In the last few weeks I have started up a new collaborative site called Voices of ... Read more
I was planning to get my head round this whole Euro row thing so that I could post something vaguely coherent on here. But Jonathan Calder (Small row in Europe, not many hurt) has pretty much summed up my view, so why say the same thing again when one can just post a link? It seems to me that the reaction of Lib Dems to the Cameron veto has been relatively restrained. I don't really find this surprising. Lib Dem attitudes towards Europe reminds me of G.K. Chesterton's The man who was Thursday. In this novel, the members of an ...
Saturday: From Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar Day 10: The Imperial Shuttle
There's a superb article in the Economist here about what happened on Thursday night. It appears Cameron may well over-played his hand: Mr Cameron had two problems, as my source sees it. The first was the nature of his demand, and how it was made. In essence, the British did not ask for an "emergency brake" clause or opt-out for financial regulation. What they asked for was a protocol imposing decision-making by unanimity on a number of areas of regulation currently decided by majority voting. (If you want to be really technical, the choice is voting by unanimity or the ...
The last edition of a very good programme. Political debate in the UK will be a lot poorer for its passing; the exchange between John Redwood and Matthew Oakeshott was a good way to go. Local and regional debate will be seriously diminished by the end of the excellent Politics Show South, presented by the always pleasant, always incisive, peripatetic Peter Henley. I don't know what Peter's up to next, but I wish him all the best. The one thing I won't miss is the filming techniques, though. The time they were looking for a soundbite in opposition to the ...
View Poll: Quick pronunciation poll
Thanks to the Gatley Carrs Conservation Group, local Scouts and Cubs and the Stockport Council Parks Department, 125 trees were planted in the nature reserve in just an hour and a half. Keith Holloway and I went along to help too. The trees were received free from the Woodland Trust to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee next year (more information here). Braving the rain, a selection of young trees were planted in the bottom field near the car park. Then a line of hedge trees were planted near the wildflower meadow, which we hope will grow into a hedge to ...
Nearly 200 years ago, in September 1812, Napoleon reached the maximum limit of his nominal power when he entered Moscow with his army drawn from right across Europe. His empire covered France, Germany, Poland, Italy, much of Spain (his lieutenants were in the process of driving back an advance by Anglo-Spanish forces that had temporarily liberated Madrid) and now much of Russia, including its Asiatic capital. But he could not hold it; by the year's end he had been forced to abandon Russia altogether, his army destroyed, and he was completely crushed within a year and a half. For the ...
The express story has been updated to include more than was in the printed story.It now includes the following comments from the British Association of Social Workers:Nishra Mansuri, of the British Association of Social Workers, recognised the whistleblower's comments and said: "It's a major concern. The cuts are creating so much pressure for social workers that the right decisions are not
Sunday Sounds is back! This week I've chosen Louis Armstrong with "That Lucky Old Sun" - heavenly listening: Andrew
As far as momentous television appearances go it was hardly Frost/Nixon, but Danny Alexander nonetheless made quite a stir on 29th November's Newsnight. Our Chief Secretary to the Treasury confirmed that, post-Autumn Statement, the budget deficit would not be eliminated by 2015, and that further cuts would be required beyond then if this goal was to be achieved. For most of us this was stating the obvious, as well as in keeping with our manifesto policy on the deficit which called for it to reduced at a slower rate than that taken up by the Coalition, at a minimum being ...
Avebury, Eric Haematology OPD 83y M de Lavallade, Hugues PRE 29-Sep-1928 D442931 / V6825848 05-Dec-11 08:33 Renal/Liver/Bone/Urea Sodium 143 [135-145 mmol/L] Potassium 5.0 [3.5-5.0 mmol/L] Urea 7.0 H [3.3-6.7 mmol/L] Creatinine 104 [45-120 umol/L] Estimated GFR 59 [mL/min] Calcium 2.26 [mmol/L] Corrected Calcium 2.18 [2.15-2.6 mmol/L] Phosphate 1.18 [0.80-1.40 mmol/L] Total Protein 75 [60-80 g/L] Albumin 44 [35-50 g/L] Globulin 31 [25-35 g/L] Bilirubin (Total) 8 [3-20 umol/L] Alkaline Phosphatase 72 [30-130 IU/L] Aspartate Transaminase 24 [10-50 IU/L] Gamma-glutamyl 17 [1-55 IU/L] Transferase 05-Dec-11 08:33 Full Blood Count WBC 3.57 L [4.00-11.00 10^9/L] RBC 3.10 L [4.5-5.8 10^12/L] Hb 9.9 ...
David Cameron went to Brussels but his use of the veto, which could have been justified in certain circumstances was bad from the point of view of strategy and pretty appalling from the point of view of tactics. His position was so last minute that he had not briefed even a single potential ally. The result was that we had no allies. Sarkozy laid an ambush which the UK walked straight into. The result was a catastrophic defeat for British diplomacy, which puts at risk not only our wider diplomatic reach, but undermines respect in Washington and Beijing. Neither has ...
Sun 11th
11:05
Nick Clegg: I will fight for British jobs and interests after "bad for Britain" summit
For the second Sunday in a row, I got up to see Nick Clegg on the Andrew Marr Show. I think Liberal Democrats have been in shock this weekend, trying to make sense of the shenanigans of the Brussels summit which have left us, at least temporarily, isolated in Europe. On Friday, I just threw myself into frenzied spate of cleaning, tackling both behind the sofa and the rabbit hutch on the same day, simply as displacement activity so I didn't have to think of the ramifications of it all because I was so upset by it. By yesterday, every ...
Sun 11th
10:58
Martin Horwood MP writes... Britain needs to stay at the heart of European decision-making
Let's be honest: it's not a great result. It would have been far better if all 27 EU member states had agreed on an inclusive treaty change this weekend. Instead we may find ourselves in a group of one or two with almost every other EU state involved in a different bloc. I don't say this because I'm a starry-eyed pro-European Liberal Democrat. Actually Lib Dems have consistently argued for reform in Europe. We have argued for more focus on building UK and European business and prosperity. We've argued that there should be greater flexibility for EU members to vary ...
Clegg needs to ask himself a difficult question: did he come into politics to be part of perhaps the most diplomatically-inept and Euro-hostile government in modern British history? John Campfner, The Independent, 10/12/11 The consequences of David Cameron's refusal to agree to participate in the Merkozy plan early on Friday morning will be many and various, short-term and long-term. Some of the domestic political consequences are already apparent. Having scented Cameron's weakness, or a kindred spirit revealed, the Europhobe Right have taken to the airwaves to demand renegotiation of Britain's relationship with the EU. While, after an initial attempt to ...
Having just watched young Clegg on 'The Andrew Marr Show', I am much reassured. The initial reports of his response to the failure of the Brussels summit were, in the eyes of many Liberal Democrats, including this one, deeply regrettable, which only goes to show that you shouldn't necessarily believe what you read in the newspapers or see on the television news. And I have to say, I thought that Nick did very well this morning. By admitting the truth, that the City of London is no safer now than it was before Cameron played the Conservative Party's joker, he ...
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 11! Today we have another ...
I happened to hear this song by Johnny Cash on Radio 2's "Sounds of The Sixties" yesterday, and I'm afraid I couldn't help thinking what a gift it could be for some satirists... There once was a musical troupe A pickin' singin' folk group They sang the mountain ballads And the folk songs of our land They were long on musical ability Folks thought they would go far But political incompatibility
Note from county council Cooking oil at the Hertfordshire County Council Household Waste Recycling Centres then you've been helping to reduce the cost of repairs to damaged drains and watercourses and also providing electricity to power the National Grid. Used cooking oil has traditionally been difficult to dispose of and research has shown that the majority of householders in the UK are still throwing it down the sink. However getting rid of used cooking oil this way not only harms watercourses and wildlife but adds to your bill from water companies who have to spend on average £15 million per ...
Sat on a shelf a few metres away from me is a box containing the various military medals won by my relatives over previous generations. The medals criss-cross Europe, coming from different countries, over the three wars that had a German-French conflict at their centre. To British eyes that count of three wars may seem odd at first, but for the German and French politicians building new European structures in the aftermath of the Second World War, their heritage was one of three wars - the Franco-German war of 1870 and then the two World Wars. For them something drastic ...
It isn't just me who was rather irate about David Cameron's handling of Europe early on Friday morning. It appears that Nick Clegg his Deputy is equally angry. Of course in 1992 the Prime Minister was special adviser to Norman Lamont on Black Wednesday when his reaction to an Exchange Rate Mechanism crisis was to up interest rates first from 10 to 12%, then to 15%, then back down to 10% and withdraw from the ERM. All in the space of 24 hours. Maybe if he had stayed around the table in Brussels for a few extra hours we would ...
The link is to a story in Today's Sunday Telegraph about the many foreign children trapped in Childrens Services' kafkaesque world.
I'm overjoyed to see plans to resurface Milton Grove in Prudhoe - for the first time since the concrete road was built in 1940! Although the road surface is still structurally OK it is very noisy and is full of holes and bumps. There has been an urgent need for work for years. Since getting elected to the County Council, I've been pressing for work and resurfacing is due to begin soon. In addition, the County will try to replace the pavements, which in some places have sunk substantially.
Once again we reach a Sunday so my advent calendar will take on a more sacred feel for today. Christmas Eve traditionally the BBC goes to King's College Cambridge for Midnight Mass, traditionally I usually miss it being out at a service myself. But also by tradition this is usually one of the carols that they sing.
The link is to a story in today's Sunday Express about how misleading reports and psychobabble are used to destroy families.This is an extract:The whistleblower, a father who works for a large authority in the south of England, said: "We're being pressured to go against what we think is right for families."Personally, I've written reports and been told 'You are too positive with this family. We'
So says 1066 and All That (Sellar and Yateman - a prewar forerunner of 'Horrible Histories') when summarising the Reformation. It's a good line and we can smile at the vanities of sixteenth century isolationism, knowing that today's politicians, and people, are much more sophisticated. Nor do we regard the continent as cut off if there is fog in the English Channel. During the early hours of 9th December (mark that date) David Cameron, we are told, played a blinder and ensured that 26 out of 27 countries in the EU were rescued from their fiscal and financial folly by ...
This post originally appeared today (11th December 2011) on the Huffington Post UK. The big EU summit in Brussels reminds me that on Europe I often feel like Cassandra. I am sure that Britain's future is European. I am sure that in time we will join the euro (stop laughing). I am certain of these things, yet enunciating these kinds of views is often met with disbelief. British commentators seem set on the idea that the euro will fail then fall, and that Britain may even abandon the European project altogether. But ask yourself this: if we left Europe, what ...
Having taken some time to reflect on David Cameron's European veto my instincts are that Nick Clegg's initial public reaction that the Prime Minister had no choice was the correct one, and that what we are being told now about the Deputy Prime Minister privately raging at the PM's 'spectacular failure' is a differentiation too far. Cameron's problem of course, as Eurfyl ap Gwilym points out in the Western Mail, is that in the UK in 2010 bank assets as a percentage of GDP are 550%. This compares to the United States where the percentage is 100% of GDP: "Between ...
Library bosses have been touring the county talking to Friends groups, Parish Councils and campaigners who helped shaped the new vision for the service. The views and ideas put forward from 13 communities whose libraries were previously 'under review' are now helping to take forward the new vision for 21st century library services, and will be used in discussions with other communities across the County. Cambridgeshire County Council received an overwhelming response from communities to the previous consultation into libraries in support of their library services. In response the County Council launched its new vision for 21st Century Library Services ...
People of pensionable age, in South Werrington and North Gunthorpe are set to benefit after Liberal Democrats in government delivered the biggest pensions rise in history. From April 2012, the basic state pension will rise by a £5.30 per week - more than it has ever been increased before - making the new rate £107.45 per week for a single person. This is in stark contrast to the last Labour government which insulted pensioners with a miserly 75p increase. Liberal Democrat Pensions Minister Steve Webb MP said: "I hope this pension increase demonstrates our commitment of fairness to people who ...
The fallout from the European summit has really fascinated me. On one hand everyone is playing their parts in the same old way. Many Tories, many right of centre bloggers and papers are jubilant. Many Lib Dems and left of centre papers are angry and as for Labour, i'm not sure. They seem to be attacking Cameron for the outcome whilst not committing themselves to saying what they would do in this situation. I want to ask a simple question that goes to the heart of all this kerfuffle. What exactly has Cameron vetoed? When you cut through all of ...
Residents have contacted me following masonry dropping from the steeple area of the former McCheyne Memorial Church building and landing on the area to the front of the church - see right. This occurred on Thursday during the very windy period and residents are concerned that other masonry may be loose. I have contacted City Council Buildings Safety and Planning Enforcement staff regarding this, asking that the owners are contacted and that appropriate safety action is taken.
Another of my music selection in the run-up to Christmas (although zero Christmassy about this!) :
... As proposed by TheWherefores on tumblr now has a name - Women Write About Comics - and a home on Wordpress which is fed to DW as [IMG: [syndicated profile] ] womenwriteaboutcomic_feed. I think this is a spankingly good idea and am in. Anyone care to join me? [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
So, the results are out. I managed a pass in DB123, and I've acquired 30 credits towards my degree. I only logged on to the University site just in case there was a result. I didn't expect the result to ... Continue reading →
