Not that they're likely to display any dazzling powers of prediction, but... 1. The coalition will survive in tact, despite a few unhelpful interventions from prominent figures in the Lib Dem parliamentary party, and continued howls of frustration from the Tory right. 2. Chris Huhne will survive the fallout from the allegations about speeding in ...
What do you see when you look at the picture of me above with my face covered? Do you see a young person out to cause trouble? Chances are that most adults would think negatively.It is actually a picture of me at Occupy St.Paul's with another protestor. In Dr Rowan Williams', the Archbishop of Canterbury, New Year message he said, 'There is a national habit of being suspicious and hostile when we see groups of youngsters'. This happens particularly when a group of boys are hanging out. The stereotyping of young people is a common problem. As a young person, ...
Well done to Jackie Ashley, writing in tomorrow's Guardian: I don't expect the coalition to fall this year, though we should rule nothing out.
The BBC certainly knows how to welcome the new year with a seasonal episode of Eastenders as character Pat Butcher's death is milked for every nuance of misery know to dramatists, half way through the final appearance, its going to be grim as the BBC can make it, including being evicted even as the last few breaths are taken. Happy New year everybody!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt: The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 35,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 13 sold-out performances for that many ...
I'm not normally one to make resolutions as they are hard to stick with but I figure if I write them down I'll have something to look back in December to see if I've done as I wanted. I guess most of these aren't really resolutions, more goals... Post more than the 144 posts I made last year. Aiming for 200 this year.Write more in general - I want to write a novel which I have the outline in my head. I don't care if it's good, I just want to prove I can write that much.Beat my previous time ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 254th 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 (25-31 December, 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. A Labour Party ...
I wanted to thank Tom Harris MP on twitter for bringing this to my attention. The original tweets: @Askinner2011 @TomHarrisMP "why do nats presume they're more Scottish than unionists?" We don't: we're just clear on where our loyalties lie— David S. Berry (@DavidSBerry) December 31, 2011 Now David Berry was the SNPs candidate in East ...
Since lots of other people appear to be doing something similar, I thought I'd take a look at my top eleven postings from twenty eleven. It's been an on and off year with some months having little blogging at all. I've been hovering around the 200 mark in the Wikio UK Politics blog rankings most of the year. It's my usual eclectic mix of stories: In at 11 we have a post from October 2011, International relations: the problem's in the name, I did while feeling frustrated about an essay on one of my modules. I was frustrated that, as ...
Ed Miliband has stirred up some New Year's controversy, not least amongst his own supporters, with the news that Labour is to speak out more strongly against the perils of so-called "benefit scroungers". Labour are no doubt concerned at consistent polling evidence suggesting that opposition to benefit cuts are out of step with the views of the public. In reality, there's little difference between the positions of the different parties, nor much change in the position of any individual party over the last couple of decades. Across the mainstream political spectrum, few disagree that handing out state benefits too freely ...
FROM: Edelbertha Spengler, Chief Executive TO: Kenneth Spotlessnob, Director Of Transformational Excellence and Strategic Vision Kenneth: Could your people cast an eye over this excerpt from a speech by the Secretary of State and see if there's anything we need to do? "...and another thing. It's about time we stopped poncing around burbling on about equality and human rights. People in the Isle of Brent aren't bothered about that highfaluting nonsense any more than they are in Heckmondwike. Get the streets cleaned. Get the milk put out. Put vandals in prison. Those are the things that count. If I find ...
TweetThere are a few political/news highlights of 2011 that are worth a mention. Mobile Phone Hacking I do loathe the pretension of adding "gate" to the end of every verb to describe some dilemma, it creates delusions of grandeur around meaningless stories. However, hackgate was worthy of the title, given the rapid expansion of the ...
2011 in terms of politics has been a painful year for Liberal Democrats in Scotland, but it's also been a year in which a new leader of the Scottish Party has revived the optimism in the grass routes. There is a great belief that in the Scottish Parliament and at local council level that we can be a catalyst for change even if we are not the main opposition. I will start off with my review of International news then work my way into more local and national matters of importance. International News The Key news of 2011 from an ...
As the lyrics of this highly under-rated ABBA song goes... "Happy new year, Happy new year, May we all have a vision now and then, Of a world where every neighbour is a friend". I wish all of my blog readers a happy, prosperous and peaceful 2012.
Sun 1st
16:24
Book review: Jane Shaw - Octavia, Daughter of God: The Story of a Female Messiah and Her Followers
This book tells the story of the Panacea Society, a religious community founded in 1919 by a group of mostly middle-class, mostly middle-aged Englishwomen who came to believe that their houses in Bedford stood in the original Garden of Eden; that one of their number was the new Messiah, sent to redeem the human body as Jesus of Nazareth had redeemed the soul; and that by following her instructions and those of the "Instrument of the Divine Mother" - another community member from whom much of the community's theology and rule of life actually came - they could achieve immortality ...
View Poll: #1807656
Both military history and the railways regularly generate large numbers of publications, with even the small details of minor events often covered in copious detail by numerous different authors. Strange then that the overlap of the two, the role of railways in military history, has generated little attention and no over-arching standard history. Christian Wolmar's Engines of War looks to put that right, and makes an extremely good attempt. Wolmar's expertise lies in the railways rather than military history and he is refreshingly frank about the limitations of his knowledge of the latter. He has acquired sufficient such knowledge to ...
Here are the five posts published on this blog between October and December that recorded the most hits: Keen insight into the monetary economy (15th November) Shifting underoccupiers (26th October) Liberal Democrat rebranding (27th November) Chaos in all directions (22nd December) On economic amnesia (12th October) "Keen insight ..." turned out to be the most popular post so far published on this blog. And the first three of these posts made it into the top 10 of the year. Thanks for reading. And commenting. Even when you're disagreeing with me. Image: © iQoncept – Fotolia.com
Today's the day we launch our search for the Liberal Voice of 2011 to find the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is the fifth annual award, and as is our tradition, we're looking beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the greatest liberal who's not a member of our party. The list of nine nominees appears below. These were sought from Lib Dem members via our most recent survey; 233 nominations were submitted, and each of those short-listed needed to clear a threshold of five. To ...
Sun 1st
14:21
My personal New Year's Message to Electoral Reformers from John Ault (Chair of the Electoral Reform ...
I became involved in politics 25 years ago and one of the main reasons I became involved was because I saw the way that our electoral system doesn't fairly represent the wishes of British voters. Becoming involved in the practice of campaigning for electoral reform has actually been a relatively recent thing for me though; ...
According to Google Analytics these are the five most viewed posts on this blog during 2011. While I seem to have a readership that comes here via the Lib Dem Blogs aggregator and Lib Dem Voice, and I have seen an increase in links from Facebook and Twitter, the most popular posts have been those that people have found when Googling for information about the EDL rally in Luton at the beginning of the year and the link to this blog from the 'Have I got News for You" programme pages on the BBC website. Should I take out an ...
You would have thought that with Ed Miliband's leadership in crisis, the Labour Party would be looking to up their game in 2012. Instead, it appears that they are playing a blame game instead, accusing the BBC of failing to properly represent their views. Really? I doubt that this is the experience of the average person who has a passing interest in politics. In fact, if I were to be pushed I would say that the opposite is true but then I accept that it is a fact of life that the media makes its own rules and that there ...
Some of the cool cats over on the Lib Dem Blog aggregator are posting blogs looking back at their top ten most viewed blogs of the year. I seem to be following on from them like a sheep. Looking back though it is clear that more people visit my blog for non-political reasons than they do politics but as Kel would say 'awww here goes' The most popular blog of the year was Nick Halling leaves Sky Sports NFL coverage with over 23,000 views in 2011. Nick Halling had been on Sky Sports NFL coverage for an eon and his ...
I heard this on Jools Holland's Hootenanny last night and it sounded good. Though, to be honest, another reason for choosing it is that Aloe Blacc's real name turns out to be Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III.
The Bad News is time flies. The good news is you're the Pilot. -by Michael Altshuler
Here are my top 10, most popular first. The one on spanking didn't make it... Many thanks to everyone who has visited, commented and linked to the blog in it's first year - it's been a blast! 1. Time Magazine 'Person of the Year'. Please read this and then nominate Mohammad Al Bouazizi. It will take 2 minutes. 2. Libya, Tunisia, Egypt et al - uprisings all started by a fruit seller in Sidi Bouzid. 3. Nick Clegg bashing by the Press is getting ludicrous now. 4. I've just asked Nick Clegg how many seats he wants to win at ...
Given the amount of blogging I do on Lib Dem Voice and elsewhere, my ten most read posts on this site is not a synonym for my ten most read blog posts. It's still an interesting snapshot of 2011 however and highlights some useful tips if you are wanting to build up your own traffic. First, the list is backloaded towards the end of the year, reflecting the growing readership (for which, thank you). In fact December 2011 was my best month ever, beating even the 2010 general election peak. Second, as you would expect posts which tap into interests ...
Dear Tim, Congratulations on your appointment as Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats. You take up the post in tough but exciting times. Even if you were not one person but a superhuman army of fifty you would not be able to do all the things party members and staff are saying they want from the new Chief Executive. As you are but one person (I hold out hope on the superhuman front) you will inevitably have to pass up on many of these demands. Picking the right priorities will be central to being a successful Chief Executive and so ...
Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals has launched an online tour of children's services at the City Hospital. The tour will enable children and their families to see what the unit is like and help reduce the fear and apprehension that is often felt when coming into hospital. "The tour will be helpful for children, parents and carers to become familiar with the surroundings and see in advance what the environment is like," said Erica Crust, Ward Manager for Jungle assessment unit. "We are extremely proud to be able to offer such great facilities at the City Hospital. This is a very ...
Predicting the future is not something Human beings can do with any great accuracy, so the acres of newsprint devoted to imagining the year ahead before it happens are largely wasted effort. I do not intend to make any predictions, but I can see a few interesting "what-ifs" on the horizon. There are some definite dates that we can play with: we know that France and Russia will face elections. At this point, the French candidates include the incumbent Nicholas Sarkozy, his great right wing rival, Dominique de Villepin, the Socialist Francois Hollande, and Marine Le Pen of the Ultra-right ...
Regular readers will be familiar with the fact that the author of this blog is almost as big a fan of former Glasgow MSP Robert Brown as she is of Paul McCartney and Doctor Who. We were all devastated to lose him from Holyrood this year but it's great that he's now decided to stand to be a councillor in Rutherglen. He has huge Council experience, 15 years of it, prior to being an MSP. He has a new website and has even joined Twitter. The people of Rutherglen could not wish for a better Councillor. This blog will be ...
After extolling the New York countdown, I ought to mention the fantastic fireworks around and from Big Ben (or the Clock Tower as its officially called). They get the fireworks to explode just at the precise split second the bong goes off for midnight. That takes some doing. Well done fireworky people! [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
I had some feedback over Christmas about this blog. Main criticism was that the grey-on-black text was too hard to read and unwelcoming, so I'm trying a cleaner style. Don't worry, the picture of Nick doing jazz hands with his serious business face on will be back as soon as I dig it off the ...
We've never really sorted out the New Year countdown thingey in Blighty. This is how it should be done – ABC TV's New Year countdown from Times Square, New York with Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark. WARNING: CONTAINS JUSTIN BIEBER [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Well – it's nice to get good news to start off the year. A poll by Liberal Democrat Voice amongst its member only forum rates how ministers have done: which four ministers have most improved their standing, who is minister of the year and who has done worst.
"Troubleshooters are needed to spot failing academy schools around the country and sack incompetent headteachers, the new chief education inspector has said." So reported the Daily Telegraph on 28 December. The article continued: Sir Michael Wilshaw said ministers must set up regional early warning systems because by the time his Ofsted inspectors discover an institution is in trouble, it is too late. As more and more secondary schools gain independence from town halls and become academies, it will also be difficult for the Department of Education to focus on improving individual schools. Sir Michael said that to maintain standards, dozens ...
Message from the County Council Traffic Section Manager in Regeneration and Economic Development: As you may be aware Civil Parking Enforcement commenced in the north of the County on 7th November, this transfered responsibility for parking offences from Durham Constabulary to the County Council. Since then our enforcement contractor has issued warning notices to motorists parking on yellow lines etc. No 'fines' have been issued to date. This has been an ongoing attempt to educate drivers and dissuade unnecessary parking on yellow lines in Consett. At present our contracor is issuing up to 25 warning notices per day, many to ...
I'm watching all of Woody Allen's films in chronological order. Set in Paris, a struggling writer on the brink of a loveless marriage seeks solace in the city's many nocturnal delights. Featuring a suicidal young woman, a cameo by Toulouse-Lautrec, and some delightful shots of Paris and its surrounding countryside. [IMG: What's New Pussycat Poster] Is this Woody Allen's "Midnight In Paris"? No, it's his 1965 film "What's New Pussycat". It is a film of its time – a bawdy sex comedy set in the swinging sixties – so it seems rather unfair to judge it too harshly. Nevertheless it ...
One plan for the next year is to do a monthly try on www.politicalcompass.org – chart my political development and see if there's any difference over the months... So, here's my first of the year! *drumroll* Bottom-Left! So, apparently, I should be a Green? Damn... Answers below.
Well, since the world ends this year, I better get a lot done. If it's not the last year, then I still have a lot to get done in order to prepare for the year after! So, here are my blogging resolutions for 2012 1) During this year, I want to generate at least 1 ...
As a lover of photography, and a participant in Project 365 this year, I've seen how photographs can chronicle a year. Looking back on photos helps order the mind, remind us of past events: Images inspire memories far better than words, in my experience. It is images, not newspaper articles, speeches or blog posts that ...
As the dying hours of 2011draw to a close, and I mix my last metaphor of the year, it's time for Stat Pr0n. Enjoy. Since my 50th post a few months ago, I've started to settle into my main fields – reportage, Liberal Demmery and European issues. I've publicised more, and the steep increase in ...
Here's hoping that 2012 brings everyone reading this health, peace and happiness in their lives.
Benjamin Britten's A New Year Carol, with the Corpus Christi Carol as a bonus.
