Saturday As an enthusiast for the Noble Art, I was naturally distraught at the death of Smokin' Joe Frazier. How well I remember his trilogy of battles with the great Muhammad Ali! The greatest of these, of course, was the 'Thriller in Manila', and it was about then that I turned my mind to the revival of heavyweight boxing here in Rutland. With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps my ideas smacked too much of the circus, but audiences had dwindled to an alarming extent. So it was that I first staged the Heavyweight Championship of Rutland in a large brown ...
I'd originally started to write about how the Lib Dems and Labour could work together in a coalition in the future, that piece is coming, but in it, was an idea I thought deserved it's own blog post. That question is, is Clegg definitely an obstacle to any future Lib/Lab coalition? It's obvious that there are certain people holding off a coalition between Labour and the Lib Dems. This problem originates back in the post-election days of 2010; it is pretty much true that Nick Clegg signalled the demise of Gordon Brown, insisting that he could not work with him ...
I've never given much thought to tattoos. They have always been something for other people, and I guess they'll stay that way, but I've been forced to think about them by a letter I received recently entitled "Bad Tattooists". The writer, himself a tattooist, writes, The right design, applied by a proficient tattoo artist, in the right place, can be a thing of beauty, pride, and self expression. However, at the end of the day, a tattoo is a mark as prominent as any scar which the recipient must live with for the remainder of their days. The thrust of ...
[IMG: http://static2.stuff.co.nz/1323575502/811/6122811.jpg] [For the previous post on this topic, click here] On 12 December, New Zealand's prime minister. John Key, leader of the (centre-right) National Party formed his second administration. The previous day, he had concluded a relationship accord and confidence and supply agreement with the Maori Party. National has 59 seats and, on confidence and supply issues, can now rely on the Maori Party (3 MPs), United Future New Zealand (1) and ACT (1), giving the government a total of 64 votes in the 121-seat parliament. But the deal with the Maori Party is a bit different from those ...
Though he greatly admires her, Peter Oborne, writing in the Daily Telegraph, is against the idea of giving Margaret Thatcher a state funeral: "The problem is that talk of a state funeral for Lady Thatcher reflects a troubling failure to understand what such events are about. They are so very rarely awarded because they have been designed for a category of great men and women who have come to represent the nation as a whole, rather than a particular sect or faction." Voters in the unrecognised state of Transdniestria (a sliver of eastern Moldova) have kicked out not only the ...
I hope everyone in Ealing had a happy Christmas. I am hoping for some snow as well. When shopping for some of my Christmas presents, the queues seemed as long as usual. Christmas tends to bring out the positive side of ourselves. Last week at my company, everyone had the chance to bring in their children for an afternoon party. I think all the kids and parents had a great time (especially eating the cake!). Christmas is a time to have fun and take a break from work but we must never forget those whose lives are more difficult at ...
I hope everyone is enjoying the festive break - I certainly am. It's an opportunity to be with the family at a rare time when everyone is overcome with the sentiment of goodwill to all. Long may be it last. Here is my annual little effort to sprinkle some goodwill around at this time of year. I delivered my Xmas Council greetings card shown here to residents living in my Aberteifi Rhyd-Y-Fuwch ward in the week leading up to Christmas. I hope that they and all who read this are having a peaceful time and let us not forget how ...
This was the last of the 2010 releases in the main Doctor Who series to hit my reading list, and to be honest it's not a strong contender. Some interesting concepts, particularly the moving of the Doctor both backwards and forwards in the same timeline, and the intersection of the Whoniverse with the US politics of the Cold War era, but Smith's style is irritatingly unpolished in places.
Off the air over Christmas and returned to find someone had changed my password for me. Have now recovered control and will reply to any outstanding comments.
I think it is fair to say I'm not a huge Horse Racing guy. I work for a company who deals in Horse Racing but I keep the sport at an arms length but today I actually switched away from the football to watch the King George VI Stakes at Kempton Park for one reason and one reason only – Kauto Star. This horse is something special but the past year hadn't been impressive. Was he finished? Was it just nostalgia that was drawing the punters in? Could he go from being a great horse to a truly special horse? ...
For a party struggling to find relevance and a wider electoral base, today's media coverage cannot really have helped Plaid Cymru, no matter what they themselves may think. And that is part of their problem. The nationalist party are either indulging in unpopular irrelevancies such as Welsh Independence, adopting causes promoted by narrow interest groups such as a badger cull, despite the fact that the vast majority of the population, even in the countryside, is opposed to it, or just examining their own navel by calling for more Plaid Cymru peers to be created at a time when the democratisation ...
I guess it's possible that you have missed some interesting developments over the other side of Europe, where the voters of the unrecognised state of Transdniestria have kicked out not only the strongman who had run the place since the end of the 1992 conflict with Moldova, but also the Kremlin's chosen candidate to replace him. In the first round of the election, on 11 December, incumbent Igor Smirnov came third with less than 25% of the votes; he was pipped for second place by the Kremlin-supported Anatoliy Kaminsky, who got 26.5%, with Kaminsky's predecessor as Speaker of the Transnistrian ...
It looks as if the Boxing Day hunting debate is becoming as traditional as the Boxing Day hunt. We have conservative minister Jim Paice taking care to go on record and say the act is unworkable and needs to be repealed. From my point of view it's only unworkable because hunters insist on breaking it. (I look forward to Paice saying the drugs laws are unworkable and need to be repealed, but I'm not holding my breath.) Meanwhile the Telegraph reports that David Cameron is pushing back the point at which there will be Parliamentary time for the debate that ...
As guides to Who go, this is one of the better ones I have come across, with a main core narrative recounting the televised Dalek stories of Doctor Who (shamefully little space goven to The Power of the Daleks, but otherwise decent enough) and lots of brilliant little sidebars about how and why the Daleks have been brought to the screen, and also going through the non-televised Dalek material in great detail - particularly the comic strips and computer games, of which I must say I knew very little. I would be very interested to hear of James Goss writing ...
With increasing energy prices more people are now at risk of fuel poverty. If you or anyone you know is struggling to pay for comfortable levels of heating please do get in touch with the Home Heat Helpline on 0800 33 66 99. This helpline was created 6 years ago and is one useful outcome of the last Labour government. From November the coalition governments new Warm Homes Discount has been giving an extra £120 each year to the least well off pensioners to help them keep warm. And from October 2012 the Green Deal will start which will help ...
Well, I thought that was above average for a Who Christmas special. The jokes were funny, the whole thing seemed disciplined in its self-indulgence, Bill Bailey got to do his thing, Claire Skinner is excellent, and it fitted well with the Zeitgeist. Good stuff.
In July I blogged about Lembit Opik's appearance in the reality show cariad@iaith, where celebrities (I use the term in its widest sense) spent a week learning Welsh in an eco-friendly chic campsite in Pembrokeshire. The, er, good news is that cariad@iaith returned on Christmas Eve for a "one-off festive special" in which the challenges turkey plucking, cooking mince pies and a Christmas pantomime performance. And who played the Fairy Godmother in that pantomime? Lembit, of course! To see the whole performance, go to the cariad@iath website and then click on the cast photograph. Those who wish to read the ...
I'm feeling mellow from a very quiet but lovely day yesterday. The house is full of that glorious aroma of the turkey stock being made and my mouth is watering at the anticipation of a hearty plate of broth at lunchtime. I've been a bit knackered since our exertions in Liverpool so after 3 hours in the shops on Christmas Eve, I wondered how on earth I'd manage to get all I needed done by the end of the day. The good news is that barring the writing of a few cards (sorry, friends, I do love you, really) and ...
If there is no outright winner of the next general election, who should the Liberal Democrats form a coalition with in 2015? Is the deal sealed with the Conservatives, or can the hatchet be buried with Labour? That is a question that will trouble strategists of all three parties as the next year, and the two following, develop. John Kampfner has explained why he thinks that the Lib Dem's future lies with the Labour Party, while Labour Leader Ed Miliband has indulged in petty personality politics in refusing to even consider an alliance as long as Nick Clegg remains leader. ...
As supporters of hunting gather for their little ride in the country today, the Telegraph signals that they may well be denied that final bloody kill for some time to come. They say that the Prime Minister has effectively given up hope of lifting Labour's ban on foxhunting. Senior figures have told the paper that the promised Commons vote on repealing the ban will not be held next year and is unlikely in 2013 either: And even when a vote is eventually held, senior Conservatives are resigned to the Commons opting to maintain the ban. Ministers privately accept that there ...
Further to my article last month about possible future Park and Ride facilities sited in the west of the city and the subsequent decision by the regional transport partnership TACTRAN to progress the proposal for siting the facility at Wright Avenue, I sought, on behalf of constituents, some reassurances from TACTRAN about the facility. The park and ride proposals have been largely welcomed by local residents but householders who live to the north of the preferred site have sought assurances that the facility would be properly screened. Residents who currently enjoy excellent views of Riverside Nature Park, Invergowrie Bay and ...
That way, in my view, lies not only more electoral success, but, and far more importantly, a brigher, better, bolder Britain.
Well the calendar on my iPhone has ticked over to December 26 and Christmas Day is over for another year. So how did I spend the day? I woke up around 8ish but that was far too early. Happily my body also realised this and thus I fell asleep once again and got up nearer 12. I had a Christmas Breakfast Curry as I usually do and this year it was a two horse race between King Prawn Masala and Chicken Jalfrezi and after a lengthy look at both it was the Chicken Jalfrezi that got the nod and that ...
I am so glad that I am lucky enough to still be in touch with my family. I know that I am one of the lucky ones. Others, like Lee, are not so lucky. I hope that all families will ... Continue reading →
