When I attended tonight's last cabinet meeting of the year I was hoping when it was finished to have the chance to listen to the end of a meeting, also in Ealing Town Hall, relating to the Ealing riots. Sadly they both finished at the same time. I have noted some of the items from the Cabinet: 2011 OFSTED reports - these showed in most areas Ealing Council and the schools have done okay in the last year. There are some areas where action is needed but far more good points than bad. Well done to staff and teachers.Primary School ...
I have just heard from Caroline Pidgeon, Chair of Greater London Assembly's Transport Committee, that a number of bus routes are to be either diverted, have an altered frequency, capacity or be curtailed, during the Olympics and Paralympic Games. At present, changes are proposed to Routes 7/N7 and 92 which serve the Borough of Ealing. And some bus stops will be relocated. Routes 7 and N7 - Russell Square to East Acton (7) / Northolt (N7): Due to the part-closure of Russell Square, will be curtailed at a temporary terminus on Bedford Place. From Montague St, buses will run directly ...
Councillors have agreed to install new signs around the chicanes on St Ann's Road North in Heald Green and Gatley. The signs will bring the chicanes up to the latest modern standards and hopefully will reduce the instances of motorists trying to run the chicanes – dashing through when there really isn't the time to do it and risking a head-on collision with oncoming traffic.
Local neighbourhood police are to move out of the Cheadle Heath police station into the Cheadle police post, which has been closed for several years. The post will be staffed, but won't have a public desk (residents will be able to make an appointment to see the police there). Local police are looking forward to once again having a base of operations more in the heart of the community. The police have also told us that Business Watch in Cheadle has been an immediate success, with arrests already made. The Business Watch tells Cheadle shops about known shop-lifters – if ...
Following a thorough consultation with residents, councillors have voted to make the South Park Road estate a 20mph zone, without speed humps. The consultation initially came back with several options having roughly equal support, and the top option overall being for a 20mph zone with speed humps on the Kingsway Service Road. However, a closer look at the figures told us that residents on Kingsway didn't want speed humps on their own road. We did more consultation work this week that backed that up. Therefore, I proposed at the meeting for a 20mph zone with no speed humps. Several residents ...
Peak queueing time for cars turning right from Cheadle at the Kingsway junction could be slashed from 10 minutes to two minutes. That's what the modelling predicts will happen when changes we've long campaigned and worked for are introduced as part of Highways Agency proposals to widen the slip road off the M60 roundabout. Traffic queueing to turn right from Gatley onto Kingsway will see similar drops and other queues will also be cut (though there will be little difference for traffic coming north on Kingsway, which will only improve slightly). Key changes include: The current one lane slip road ...
November Books 26) A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula Le Guin December Books 8) The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula Le Guin December Books 9) The Farthest Shore, by Ursula Le Guin December Books 10) Tehanu, by Ursula Le Guin December Books 11) Tales from Earthsea, by Ursula Le Guin December Books 12) The Other Wind, by Ursula Le Guin Partly inspired by Jo Walton's set of essays (here, here, here, here, here and here) but more by the fact that Tehanu was next on my list of Nebula winners, I have been rereading the six Earthsea books. I strongly ...
It is only a few minutes since I published my last blog but I had to write about Liverpool's Luis Suarez. He has been found guilty of repeatedly insulting the Manchester United player Patrice Evra because of his race. The word used was a Spanish variation of the word negro and Suarez denied that it was an insult in South America. That's fine if they were in South America but they were in England. More importantly, it was perceived as an insult. The reason I am writing about this decision is not because it is remarkable but Liverpool's reaction is ...
North Korea is a nation of racist dwarfs, the late Christopher Hitchens explains in an article published by Slate last year. "If Europe lets the Euro fail it won't stop there and just because we are outside the Euro, (it) doesn't mean we won't suffer the full impact of (the) unintended consequences." The Rambles of Neil Monnery shares the wisdom of a passing banker. UK Polling Report explains why the Lib Dems always do best in ICM polls and worst in YouGov ones. "I wonder if he now needs to move outside his sitcom comfort zone of deliberately un-PC fake ...
There may be another actor I haven't spotted, but I think Simon McBurney is the only actor who has the distinction of having been in both Vicar of Dibley and in Rev. He plays Archdeacon Robert in Rev. In Vicar of Dibley he played a rather madcap choirmaster and Cecil. He particularly stood out at the wedding of Alice. Top: Simon McBurney (rt) with Tom Hollander (lft) in Rev. Above: Simon McBurney in Vicar of Dibley [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
I was saddened to hear that the Barbara Hepworth statue in Dulwich Park was stolen overnight – probably for scrap metal. I've been encouraging people for some time to sign a petition so that this issue has to be discussed in parliament. The law needs to be. Change. Some predictions are that metal thefts cost UK plc over £700m pa. So how to really reduce metal theft? Currently scrap metal dealers keep very poor records despite the Scrap Metal Dealers Act requirements. Ensuring greater compliance to accurate records would help but more importantly making it illegal to deal in cash ...
Monday: From Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar Day 20: A TIE fighter pilot, relaxing after a hard day oppressing the enemies of the Emperor
I have retailed this anecdote from Read My Lips by Matthew Parris and Phil Mason before but, hey, it's Christmas: In 1948, a Washington radio station contacted ambassadors in the capital, asking what each would most like for Christmas. Britain's representative, Sir Oliver Franks, mistook the request. French Ambassador: Peace throughout the world. Soviet Ambassador: Freedom for all people enslaved by imperialism. Sir Oliver: Well, it's very kind of you to ask. I'd quite like a box of crystallised fruit.Thirty-four years later, as Lord Franks, he was to chair the inquiry into the events leading to the Falklands War.
... has just arrived in my inbox from the Faculty of Social Sciences. It confirms what I'd been told by the Yorkshire region a few weeks ago, with the merest hint that something may be resolved in time for late 2012. The email is reproduced below, with my thoughts in italics. Dear Tim Holyoake I understand from PGSS colleagues in Region 07 that you have enquired about studying psychology at postgraduate level with the OU/Faculty of Social Sciences. I note from your academic record that you have recently achieved a first class honours degree in psychology with us. Warmest congratulations ...
I sometimes think Paul McCartney can't win. One of the big complaints I'd read from reviewers after the previous shows on this tour was "He's doing too many hits. Why doesn't he do some more obscure stuff? It's just the obvious set." And yes, of the thirty-six songs in the set, twenty-five are the absolutely ...
A move by Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats to attract councillors from a wide range of backgrounds is to be discussed publicly with a view to forming a county council policy. The group has been invited by the Tory-led administration to produce a report increasing the diversity of elected members by holding a quarter of council meetings out of office hours and organising training in the evenings. Cambridgeshire County Council Cabinet Member for Resources and Performance, Steve Count agreed the idea was a positive one and promised that the report and its recommendations would be presented to a public forum. Cllr Ian ...
I have been struck down by the dreaded lurgi over the last few days. And what an eventful few day they have been. We have seen the deaths of two remarkable and spectacularly contrasting world leaders. Vaclav Havel will be remembered as one of the prime movers behind Czechoslovakia's Revolution. The bloodless overthrow of the Communist regime there was the tipping point in 1989 and signalled the end of the cold war and of tyranny in Eastern Europe. Havel's passing was mourned throughout the world. He had been a brave dissident and champion of freedom even when it was not ...
A beautiful film. I've watched it 3 times now and have cried every time :-)
In the news yesterday was an article about riots in Egypt. The ruling council described the pro-democracy campaigners as trying to bring down the state and said they were provoking soldiers into retaliation. This was not how the BBC reporter saw it when describing an attack on a female protestor who was fully veiled prior to the attack but she was kicked and beaten and her body exposed. The case for the protestors is also strengthened with the incontrovertible evidence of hundreds with injuries and twelve people who have died. The beating is one of the worst that I have ...
Under the headlines IMU Professor Rupert Matthews joins the European Parliament! and UFO expert to take place in the European parliament! The International Metaphysical University celebrates the imminent elevation of Mr Matthews (as we have hitherto known him): Finally one of our own to take a high seat in the European parliament. He is an expert in UFOs and paranormal activity and is set to become Leicestershire's voice in the European parliament. The decision by outspoken East Midlands Tory MEP Roger Helmer to quit at the end of the year means that Rupert Matthews, 50, is due to replace him. ...
Please can you spare a couple of minutes to help Fox Hollies Community Association win £12,000 of funding recovered by the Police from Criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA). The Fox Hollies Community Association (registered Charity no 701230), based at Fox Hollies Forum at the end of Greenwood Avenue, Acocks Green, has applied for POCA funding to: Improve the internal features of Fox Hollies Forum, Undertake a consultation with the local community and Set up a safety hub. Having been successful with the first stage of their application, the final decision will be decided by a public vote, ...
This is a genuine headline. Seriously I'm not making this up. You can actually 'catch' binge drinking as easy as you can catch a cold. Who'd have thought it? Apparently, the study shows, in short, that if you are a student in your early 20s and you have a boyfriend / girlfriend you are likely to be a bad influence on each other and drink more....well knock me down with a feather! I was going to write a long post about this but I have Christmas present buying fatigue and i'm not sure I want to waste my time on ...
The news that the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons has condemned the way in which HM Revenue & Customs staff have handled their dealings with the United Kingdom's largest corporate taxpayers is merely the latest of a series of PR disasters for a Government department that now raises nearly £500 billion for the public purse annually. Accusations that Vodafone was allowed to avoid more than £1 billion in tax, and that Goldman Sachs was erroneously allowed to pay an enquiry settlement without interest amounting to £10 million, are alleged to be just the tip of the iceberg, ...
Having wound down my political activity in recent months, I do need something to keep me busy. And, on the apparent basis that the Devil makes work for idle hands, today I'm making my debut as one of the volunteer editors of Liberal Democrat Voice. In fact, today I'm sharing duties with Paul Walter who, along with Mary Reid, will be handling Tuesdays on an alternating basis, under the close supervision of Mark Pack. In fairness, Paul has done most of the work today, and is clearly keen - this augurs well for the future. Once we're considered ready, the ...
1. Was 2011 a good year for you? Is it really possible for a 52 week period to be all roses and sunshine? No, I'm ending it on a happy enough note, but it's been the usual rollercoaster. 2. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before? Tasted food under the influence of Miracle Fruit. Visited California. Went to a swinger's club. Met one of my favourite ever music artists in person (Frank Turner). Tried rope suspension. 3. What was your favourite moment of the year? Torn between being approved to co-run BiCon 2013 and going to ...
Yesterday the Coalition Government announced a separation of retail banking from risky investment activities. This followed on from an announcement by Vince Cable who told the BBC on Sunday that the Government would accept the Vickers report in full and ... Continue reading →
I have been wondering for a while how much of a role geographical accident plays in politics. When I first decided to get involved with politics a few years back I chose the Liberal Democrats because they were the party that most closely matched my views. In my local area, the party did not have any council seats but there are a small group of very dedicated and experienced local members and campaigners who have fought a number of local and national elections with alacrity since I joined. The situation, though, has got me thinking about how political careers are ...
Every day the economic storm clouds get darker and darker as the recession deepens and unemployment soars. Over the past two years one new sector has offered a glimmer of hope: the UK solar industry. But Government cuts to solar payments this month are set to devastate a home-grown economic success story and pull the plug on tens of thousands of clean energy jobs. Today Friends of the Earth and two solar firms are taking the Government to court. Ministers are slashing cash-back for generating green energy through solar panels, ahead of plan. Pulling the funding rug from under small ...
Payment by results, much beloved of the coalition - good idea in principle. The trouble is that Whitehall has not really grasped what went wrong with their targets regime and therefore don't understand the perils of their new payment by results regime, as I discovered during a seminar in a Whitehall department last year. The real problem is that payment by results will inevitably end up with targets again, as I explained in the new edition of Local Economy journal: http://lec.sagepub.com/content/26/8/627.full.pdf+html
... but doesn't carry on quite as planned. I particularly love the person rushing in to take a photo at the end: Hat-tip: James Crabtree
"We don't want a referendum, just a return of power". So writes George Eustice, Tory Eurosceptic MP for Camborne and Redruth in the Financial Times of 10th December. But even my teenage grandchildren understand that 'power' rests with 'the markets' and 'ratings agencies' and 'multinationals'. They are not sure what these are & not much bothered, having what they believe to be better things to do with their time (they may well be right) but they know that they are not the 'Government' or the 'EU'.I find it amazing that people who are otherwise highly intelligent are so obsessed with ...
Can be read over at Liberal Vision.
This Monday, Nick Clegg set out his vision for British society. As someone who has argued that Clegg has been weaving a liberal narrative from liberalism's rich tradition, it is interesting to see Clegg draw these strands together. Clegg distinguishes the socialist, conservative and liberal views of society. He argues that socialists, or social democrats, believe in a 'good society'. Conservatives want a 'big society' and liberals promote an 'open society'. He makes it clear that there is some overlap for liberals with a 'big society' as both conservatives and liberals are sceptical of State power. There are also differences, ...
As councils across the country wrestle with this year's Council Tax dilemma, here's just one example of the dynamics involved. To Raise or not to Raise? That's the burning question to be answered early in 2012. Should Stockton Council accept the bribe on offer from the government to keep the Council Tax at the same level as last year, or ignore the offer and raise the tax? On the surface it sounds like a no-brainer. Why wouldn't we vote to keep the tax at the same level as last year when all around us residents are having to find more ...
After writing a 2,500+ word piece about banking and the future of the Euro yesterday, I think it's time for a little wind down. Who wants to see a video of a monkey riding a dog? If you answered 'me' then it's your lucky day. If you answered 'not me' then I can only apologise. How crazy is that? [IMG: Share on Tumblr] [IMG: Submit to StumbleUpon] [IMG: Save on Delicious] [IMG: Digg This] [IMG: Submit to reddit] [IMG: Share on Myspace] [IMG: Share via email] Tweet
BAE Systems today announced that it had sold its Woodford Site, in Cheshire to Avro Heritage Limited, a company jointly owned by Jo Bamford and Harry Harvey. The sale is effective immediately. Avro Heritage Limited has vowed to ensure that Woodford's proud association with the aviation industry is reflected in the future development of the site. On completion of the sale Jim Welsh, BAE Systems said: "BAE Systems has a long and proud association with Woodford and although disappointed to be leaving the site we are happy that the new owners have exciting plans for this historically important site. James ...
Over the past few years, as the banks restrict personal credit, we have seen the massive expansion of payday loans. I noticed in a recent planning submission that the Money Shop (representative APR - 219.1%) is planning to open more than 200 stores over and above its existing 407 stores. As budgets get tighter and the banks more uncaring, the poverty market is increasingly been met by expensive providers. Many of our town centres are being filled up with pay day loan shops, cash for gold outlets, pawn shops and expensive monthly payment stores. They all aggressively market themselves on ...
I recently came across this short video documentary, which was released earlier this year by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to mark its 120th anniversary. The video is meant to articulate the core values that make the party relevant and distinctive and that drive its policies and decisions. It's a missed opportunity. There's some interesting material and great footage (hey, I recognised Al Grassby!). But the array of talking heads and mind numbing, power point-style lists of past policies and legislation, almost entirely devoid of colour or context, will baffle most people. The ALP is trying to present a political ...
Tue 20th
12:53
Opinion: The Tory Party has mutated. It is for us to say Europe is our hope for the future
David Cameron's renunciation of a Treaty not even yet fully negotiated was the culmination of a process that began around 1992. In 1992 a small group of Tory ultras, "the Maastricht Rebels", began fighting their party's traditional pro-Europeanism. It has taken 19 years to make their fringe views a normal Conservative Party and conservative press position. 1992 has led to 2011 like a river flows to the sea. Anti-Europeanism's hold on a major political movement has caused a poorly informed anti-Europeanism to take hold among many of our fellow citizens in the UK, as it has among some of our ...
Like many of us, I'll be braving the supermarket aisles over the next few days, ready to feed visiting family. This year, however, in more straitened financial circumstances (aren't we all?), I'm very aware of how much food I've wasted over Christmases past, and determined not to make that mistake again. Research by environmental organisation WRAP shows that each year we throw away one third (6.7 million tonnes) of the food we buy, over a quarter of that still in its packaging. The average person will have thrown away their own weight in food between January and December. And Christmas ...
Courtesy of Andrew Sinclair, BBC East's political correspondent... Philip Hardy, the Group Leader for the Greens on Norfolk County Council, and councillor for Thorpe Hamlet has defected to the Conservatives, the first Green councillor thought to have done so. Elected to the council in 2009, he gained the seat from the Liberal Democrats, before becoming Group Leader in July last year. From the Eastern Daily Press; Derrick Murphy, leader of Norfolk County Council hailed Mr Hardy's move as a "major coup". He said: "Philip is a fantastic councillor who has already managed to make Norfolk a better place through his ...
Tue 20th
11:53
Tram Extension in Nottingham to go ahead - as Herts works to clarify Abbey Line responsibilities.
Last week the Department for Transport confirmed its support for two new Nottingham tram lines. Liberal Democrat Transport Minister Norman Baker has now confirmed that the DfT will provide £371 million funding towards the total maximum cost of £570 million. Construction will begin in the New Year. In parallel with the DfT decision, Nottingham City Council has confirmed the appointment of the Tramlink Nottingham Consortium to take over operation of the system from Arrow Light Rail. The work will extend the route length of Nottingham Express Transit by 17.5km, more than doubling the present total, and the tram fleet will ...
The speech on the open society Nick Clegg gave at Demos yesterday started with a brilliant encapsulation of the problems facing our society: But our politics and economy are distorted by unaccountable hoards of power, wealth and influence: media moguls; dodgy lobbyists corrupting our politics; irresponsible bankers taking us for a ride and then helping themselves to massive bonuses; boardrooms closed against the interests of shareholders and workers. The values of the hoarders are increasingly out of touch with the spirit of openness alive in the UK. He then went on to argue that these are some of the characteristics ...
Tue 20th
10:55
5 things you shouldn't miss: the wonder of 1 second films, recycling digital music and more
[IMG: Top 5 picture] Welcome to the latest in our monthly collection of five links that you shouldn't miss. The 1 second film festival http://bit.ly/sMaYh0 Think you can't say much in one second? Think again with these entries from Montblanc's 1 second film festival, a clever bit of content marketing from the firm that sells high-end watches amongst other products. Recycle your digital music http://bit.ly/rrm9GA The use of a blonde in a very short skirt may be a marketing cliché out of the ark, but the service is rather more modern and clever: creating a second-hand market in digital music. ...
With the part-night lighting scheme set to be rolled out to more districts from the start of the New Year, Hertfordshire's Liberal Democrats have once again sounded a warning to the plans by the Conservative administration at County Hall, saying the proposed scheme is too inflexible. Commenting on behalf of the Lib Dem Group, Malcolm Cowan, Lib Dem County Councillor for Handside & Peartree (Welwyn Garden City), said: "When the final criteria for the scheme was debated by the Scrutiny panel, the only group that is recorded as not having supported the plans are the Liberal Democrats. We abstained on ...
On November 11th, Phil Hardy, Leader of the Green Party Group on Norfolk County Council said: "Councillor Paul Rice's defection from the Lib Dems to the Tories only a few months ago was the first one in Norfolk since the 1970s. Now David Callaby has defected so soon after, this is a clear indication of how close the Liberal Democrats are with the Tories, not just with the coalition Government but here in Norfolk too. People in Lakenham need to be aware of this when they decide how to vote in the by-election on 24th November." Just a month later ...
Nick Clegg's speech yesterday appears to have achieved its objective of setting out the Liberal Democrat agenda in government for 2012. In particular the commitment to using the Parliament Acts to force through Lords reform is welcome and will hopefully ensure that those turkeys in the upper house realise that they have no choice, Christmas is coming whether they like it or not. Today's Independent sets out some of the key points in the speech: Unelected peers were one of a string of unaccountable vested interests in the banks, business, politics and the media at which the DPM took aim, ...
Common sense from Lib Dem Members... now common sense from the Health Secretary... What is the world coming to? A beady-eyed reader of the Independent On Sunday brings us word that the Health Secretary has come out loud and proud stating that minimum pricing on alcohol is not the answer. Some of you will have noticed last week that a group of leading doctors and academics were publicly calling for the Government to bring in a minimum price on our drinks. But this has apparently failed to impress Mr Lansley! Talking about the impact of minimum pricing, Lansley said whilst ...
The steady rise in youth unemployment since 2004 has now reached over the one million mark. That's more than one in five 16-24 year olds not in education, training or work: not because they are lazy or feckless, but because of factors well beyond their control. In Salford, shockingly more than 2,500 18-24 year olds are currently on Jobseeker's Allowance. This is worrying. If young people are out of work, the consequences of that will be felt for decades afterwards. We need to ensure that the young people of today do not have a false start and help us build ...
The sudden demise of North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il at the weekend removed one of the world's most bizarre and reclusive rulers. Though there were televised scenes of schoolchildren, soldiers and workers crying in the streets of the capital, Pyongyang, when the news was announced on Monday, the mourning was considerably less hysterical than when his father Kim Il-Sung expired in 1994. Kim Il-Sung remains the sun in the sky as far as North Korean ideologues are concerned. Kim Jong-Il was merely the son here on earth. He had moreover taken the precaution two years ago of naming one ...
I was delighted to see the speech that Nick Clegg gave to the Open Society Foundation. It was an excellent restatement of why a liberal, open society approach is the most effective at tackling the corruption, hoarding of power and lack of opportunity that bedevil our society. I urge you to make a cup of coffee and read the speech in it's entirety here. Clegg is to be commended for sticking to his liberal, progressive values. As he reminds us, in difficult times it's tempting to pull up the drawbridge and retreat into isolation. In fact, that's the time when ...
Tue 20th
09:27Smersh: Stalin's Secret Weapon - Vadim Birstein documents an untold part of Stalin's horrors
Thanks to Ian Fleming and James Bond, SMERSH is one of the best known foreign intelligence agencies in the world, with its chilling acronym based on the Russian for 'Death to Spies'. However, as this book starts out explaining, much of Fleming's version of SMERSH is wrong. Not only has little accurate information been published about SMERSH, even less has appeared in English. That makes this book, based on voluminous access to secretive Russian official records, an impressive and important piece of scholarship. It also means that the accounts in the book are often fragmentary, with the scattered evidence building ...
Tue 20th
09:21
Making the Lib Dem message on Compassion Meaningful: Ideas for a distinctive Liberal message
This was published in the November Liberator magazine which you can access for a short time here. What is the point in voting for the Liberal Democrats? The May 2011 elections gave a distinctive answer - "I am not quite sure". So the Independent (9 May 2011) offered some advice to the party to "retain ...
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 20! Today we have my ...
Residents in the Seafield Road area have queried why they cannot recycle tins, plastice and glass via a household collection. At their request, I raised this with the City Council's Recycling Projects Officer, who advises : "At present we are investigating different collection methodologies which may, in time, enable us to increase our kerbside collections of these materials across the city. In the meantime however, there are a number of Recycling Centres & Points in the vicinity of Seafield Road to enable your constituent to recycle his tins, plastics & glass: • Neighbourhood Recycling Point for glass & paper at ...
They all seemed strangely happy about it!
In his speech yesterday Nick Clegg said, "We want a truly open society, in which every man and woman will be able to go as far as their talent, ambition and effort take them". Oh wait, hang on. Sorry, wrong speech. That was John Major back in the day, though the words would have fitted seamlessly into Nick Clegg's latest speech. Aside from a bit of channeling of John Major (I'll let you decide if that's better or worse than channeling David Owen), Nick Clegg's speech to Demos and the Open Society Foundation was really rather good. As a frequent ...
Christmas is getting closer and today's song actually was released in the first year that I actually did what the title of the song says. We did travel by road from Kingston to Stranraer (via an overnight stay in Glasgow). I'm sure this song did come on the radio
Liberal Democrat Voice has always aimed to be 'Our place to talk', a site primarily for Lib Dem members to discuss and debate. We welcome readers' contributions, whether financial (hem-hem) or intellectual. Building and maintaining a site like this, with fresh news and opinion day-in-day-out, is a labour of love. We are therefore delighted to be able to welcome a clutch of new day editors to afforce the Voice Collective: Caron Lindsay Prateek Buch Nick Thornsby Mark Valladares Paul Walter All have volunteered to do an occasional turn here at LibDemVoice.org (while continuing their own sites)... so don't be surprised ...
Had to blog this in case any of my readers suffer from this. My psoriasis has been, for the last few months (since my stress became so bad I had to take time off work) almost unbearable. I've actually wished at times that my leg (where the worst part is) would be amputated so I ...
I'm often asked: why hasn't Syria gone the way of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya or Yemen, to which my short answer has been: because of the country's religious diversity. There are many things one can legitimately criticise the al-Assad regime for over the past 40 years, not least the brutal crackdown on dissent since this April. But ...
In recent weeks I have been waking with a start in the early morning. Sometimes accompanied by cold sweats, I am either suffering from deeply embedded anxiety or having recurring weird dreams. Whatever the reason for this, when I woke up in the middle of early morning today I was greeted by some bizarre news - the death of Kim Jong-il. What made it all the more strange were the images I was presented with, the same ones that were presented to the people of North Korea. In my half dreamlike state, for some reason I could not comprehend that ...
