Over on The New Statesman one of my favourite bloggers, Richard Morris, has set out why he believes the Lib Dems are languishing in the polls. Basically it is because everyone has Nick Clegg/us marked down as "horse f*ckers" due to one lapse in judgement (tuition fees) whilst David Cameron is a beloved tyrant. Now I agree with him that this has done major damage to our party with regards reputation. I also love Andrew Emerson's comment (available in blog form here) about not settling for the current rhetoric, I particularly love the sentence that higher education should be accessible ...
In the Cold War, there were a series of existential nightmares that kept policy planners awake at nights. One of them was the cutting of the vital oil supply lines from the Persian Gulf to the West. Today, the Iranian regime has threatened to cut the straits of Hormuz, if the United States tries to returns its carrier to its base in Bahrain. Iran has also tested a missile that could sink a carrier in the precise same place. Iran has also, rather mysteriously, shot down a US unmanned drone. The best technology to do that is in Russia. Russia, ...
If Dubya didn't call them missspokes, he should have done. Please note this is about missspokes and not misspokes. They occur in all walks of life (drives of life in America, where they don't walk; cycles of life in Amsterdam). Classics like the sign at the English church, "Preachers for July will be nailed to the church door" and the sign by the railway crossing "Beware of trains going both ways at once" lighten life. On a slightly more mundane level, poor grammar results in signs like this in a bird hide in Somerset: "The benches in this hide are ...
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt: A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,300 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 55 trips to carry that many people. Click here to see the
I know that I have already written twice about Suarez but whenever I hear nonsense then I am inspired to write a new blog. Liverpool will not appeal against Luis Suarez's eight-match ban (see blogs from the 20th and 22nd December). It is obvious to me that regardless of intent (which I have no way of knowing) Suarez used a word many times that was perceived as offensive. Liverpool maintain that he is innocent. If that is the case then they should appeal. That is what the appeal process is there for. However Liverpool will not appeal because they fully ...
Take out your copy of Leicestershire's Stations: An Historical Perspective by Andrew Moore and turn to page 46. What's that? Really, if you are not prepared to do the reading there is no point in your coming to these seminars. Let me try a different tack. I bought Moore's book some years ago and was intrigued by what I found on page 46: From the [booking] hall, passengers pass the site of the ticket barrier, in use until the station became 'open' on 1 October 1984. At this point a large IRA bomb exploded in July 1939, causing much damage, ...
TweetQuietly quietly, the Occupy movement has slipped out of the news. their website(s) continue to grow in professionalism, and judging by the expansive timetable, they are trying hard to get a coherent message to put in the papers and persuade politicians. Many supporters of the Occupy movement, the key issue is one of tax avoidance ...
MP Julian Huppert learns about the worrying rise in skin cancer cases across the country Skin cancer rates in Cambridgeshire are higher than the national average but fewer people are dying from the disease. The figures were revealed to Cambridge MP, Julian Huppert in a new report launched in Westminster. According to the report, Skin Cancer Revealed, in 2009-10, Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust spent £1.86 per head of population on treating skin cancer patients compared to the national average of £2.25 a head. Incidences of malignant melanoma - the rarest and most serious form of skin cancer - per 100,000 ...
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt: A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,100 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people. Click here to ...
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 31,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 11 sold-out performances for that many ...
"A row over the ownership of the name of Stilton cheese could end in court," reports BBC News.As the website goes on to explain, Stilton is made in a handful of dairies in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. And since 1996 the cheese has enjoyed Protected Designation of Origin from the European Union, so it cannot be made anywhere else. Which is odd, because the village of Stilton is in none of those counties. It was originally in Huntingdonshire and is now in Cambridgeshire as the smaller county has been abolished. The conventional wisdom is that the cheese became famous and ...
Article on Lib Dem Voice by Michael asking whether Nick Clegg meant what he said and said what he meant about standing in every seat in the elections in 2015.
News has reached your reporter that, in a radical break with tradition, the English Candidates Committee is likely to meet later this month to address key questions relating to the selection of European Parliamentary candidates for elections due in May 2014, where Liberal Democrats will be defending seats held in each of the nine English Regions (two in South East England) and in Scotland. Radical, because the Committee usually only meets four times a year, with the first meeting at the Spring Federal Conference, and the newly elected Chairs of Regional Candidates Committees will in some cases have only just ...
West Drive in Gatley has suffered from pooling water across the road from time to time. When the problem hit before Christmas, the Lib Dem team got the drains cleared within a few hours. Now the problem's back, so we've asked the Council to look further. The gulleys near the bottom of West Drive will all be cleared again this week, and further work done to look at any additional measured needed to be taken. The problem isn't helped by West Drive being just a few yards from the Manchester border – so the gulleys they have responsibility for can ...
Stephen Lawrence will be remembered as a tragic murder victim simply because of the colour of his skin, but let us not forget that in many ways he is foremost a symbol, and icon of the struggle against racism. 18 ... Continue reading →
With having the extra day of work I went to the Bunny Park on Monday afternoon. Despite the paths being muddy after the rain on Sunday we got there without slipping and falling over. Touch wood! Was good to see a few animals and birds that you don't see in many parks. The kids who were there certainly liked the rabbits and the ice cream in the cafe. It was funny at one point where the peacock came over to see us, and what ever we did the nearby goat would not turn its head. It seemed totally shy from ...
Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis will not be surprised that I found Liberal Democrat Voice's shortlist for the Liberal Voice of 2011 profoundly depressing. Why? Purely because there is only one woman on it, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Much as I love my dear colleagues at Lib Dem Voice, I really can't let that one pass. One woman out of nine nominees is pretty poor, especially when this has been a year of very rich pickings. They could have chosen Michele Bachelet, the head of the new UN Women agency who has hit the ground running in ...
Bob Russell MP, who who was first elected when Nick Clegg was only four years old, has received a knighthood in the New Year's Honours list. Sir Bob, who received the honour for his public service, has described the honour as "A matter of great personal importance and significance to me." The BBC reports: The Liberal Democrat, who's been involved in local politics for more than 40 years is among the region's most outspoken MPs, particularly since the formation of the coalition. This is a significant honour for a man who for decades has been one of the most colourful ...
We recently announced the success of the Lib Dem campaign to secure the A555 Relief Road extension from Manchester Airport to the A6 at Hazel Grove. We now have the latest maps showing the route. These may not be the final version, but show the current proposals as of the end of 2011. A555 Relief Road proposed route 2011 – v2
On the 3rd January 1892 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa where his father was managing a branch of the Bank of Africa (a British owned colonial banking concern). When he was three his mother Mabel decided that the climate in England would be better for John and his younger brother Hilary Arthur Reuel so they returned while his father carried on in South Africa, but he died the following year of a severe haemorrhage as a result of rheumatic fever. His mother was to die in 1904 as a result of complications from diabetes. Therefore ...
Richard Thomas started today as the Chief Executive of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. The BBC reports: The Welsh Liberal Democrats' former head of communications has been appointed as the party's chief executive. Richard Thomas takes up the post as the Lib Dems get ready for local elections in all Welsh councils in May. He takes over from Joanne Foster who now works for Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. As well as his previous job with the party, he has worked for Lib Dem MPs and as a public affairs consultant. Here's how Richard shared the news on Twitter: Today was ...
I think every parent suffers anxiety at some point at the prospect of losing their child. We all worry that some pathogen or malevolent force will take them from us. Just the thought is enough to teach us the meaning of shivers down our spine. We know, though, that that awful feeling is tiny in comparison to what those who have actually lost a child have to go through. I have nothing but respect for Stephen Lawrence's parents, Doreen and Neville. They know that their beloved son was murdered in cold blood by a group of racist thugs who took ...
Which Reading Conservative activist is openly relishing their annual Council group meeting as the 'night of the long knives'...? Answers below please. socialise this: [IMG: add 'Riddle Me Ree....' a Del.icio.us] [IMG: add 'Riddle Me Ree....' a digg] [IMG: add 'Riddle Me Ree....' a Stumble Upon] [IMG: add 'Riddle Me Ree....' a FaceBook] [IMG: add 'Riddle Me Ree....' a Twitter]
Much as I love the details of the Iowa caucuses, they aren't really the Presidential race political news which should be catching the British news headlines at the moment. Yes, they're fun and engrossing but they're also mostly irrelevant – the winner of the Iowa caucus frequently does not get their own party's nomination (and there there's always the little matter of the actual public election). So who wins in Iowa will have little direct influence on the UK. However, over the Channel in France there is also a Presidential election coming, and – as Nicolas Sarkozy's actions over Libya ...
This Friday there will be a discussion on the details of Cornwall Council's plan for a local Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). Whilst the concept of a Cornish EMA is very good and Lib Dems have welcomed it, we're very disappointed with the details of what is being proposed. The Council can and should do better. My colleague Graham Walker has made the following statement about the plans: "We welcome the proposal for a local fund to help the 7,647 16-19 year olds worst hit by the withdrawal of EMA, 90% of whom qualified for free school meals. But the council ...
The central tenet of what I call "Rigorous Liberalism" is that a truly liberal state would seek to eradicate economic, social and class barriers to equal opportunity before creating more government programs to subsidise people at a disadvantage in markets distorted by decades or centuries of privilege and rent-seeking. Nowhere is this need more obvious than in land, planning and housing policy. Artificially restricting land supply drives up land prices and drives down housing quality. If customers can only afford so much and most is sunk into land costs there's not a lot left for competition to drive up quality. ...
The thing that took my eye for the first blog of the year was an article in today's local paper about a by-election in Morecambe on Thursday 22nd December. The winner is quoted as saying how pleased she was that she "got 80% of the ballot box vote, although it was an extremely low turnout". The results were 191:153:106 which means that the winner received less than 43%. I am not sure of the difference in value between the votes in the ballot box and those in the post but the winner attaches some importance to it. However she was ...
Three Conservative councillors have now been suspended from Bracknell Forest Council's Conservative group because they voted against the housing plans in November. Eight Conservative councillors in total voted against these plans, however the other 5 has not been suspended because the houses would be in the words they represent. These councillors are Chas Baily, Hanworth, Michael Sargeant,Bullbrook and Shelagh Pile, Harmans Water,This was because even though there are 40 Tories on a council of 42 members the conservative leadership still felt it necessary impose a three-line whip. At least these councillors voted for what they believed their electorate wanted. Yet ...
Got a small shock on the bus today finding out the bus fare had gone up, expected, around 20%, size not expected. There are two questions, why and what effect will it have ? Why is easy, I suspect increased fuel costs being passed on, and with some many users having free bus passes, it won't alienate much of their clientèle. A quick check of the profits of First Group shows them to be healthy, not surprising as it is an monopoly. What effect ? As I have already suggest I suspect not much amongst the current clientèle, but ...
Here are my predictions for the coming year: HMV will go bust.A currently living former Chancellor of the Exchequer will no longer be with us by the end of the year.Barack Obama will win reelection with an even higher percentage of the vote than in 2008.Chris Huhne will leave the cabinet.David Laws will rejoin the cabinet.Kate from off of Teh Roayls will announce she is pregnant. The media will go loopy at the prospect.Mo Farah will win Gold at the Olympics.Pointless will be promoted to prime time TV (i.e. after 7pm) with increased prizes to match.By the end of the ...
Happy New Year. I hope you all had an enjoyable festive season. I must apologise that I have been unable to blog in recent weeks. As everyone knows the festive season is always manic and this year was no exception with numerous visits from friends and family making the month of December especially bus I ... Continue reading »
Michael Wood's In Search of Myths & Heroes was a four-part TV series in 2005, looking at the historical truth behind the stories of the Queen of Sheba, Shangri-La, Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece and King Arthur. It is bubbling over with Wood's trademark TV style – full of enthusiasm, energy, plenty of smiles and amazing landscapes. On the historical front is rather more of a mixed bag than his previous In Search of the Trojan War. That had a full series to in which he could play historical detective, trying to locate the truth by tracing a story ...
(These notes are mostly for my own benefit). Android is moving away from USB Mass Storage. You will no longer be able to plug in a USB cable and have your Android show up as a USB disk. There are some good technical reasons for this, but it is a pain if you want to copy some files to your phone. The new system – MTP – isn't automagically detected in Ubuntu. This is something which is likely to be fixed in later versions of Ubuntu – but for now you'll have to hack around it. The crazy cats at ...
The BBC reports the stunning news: Two men have been convicted of the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, 18 years after he was stabbed to death at a south London bus stop. Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty by an Old Bailey jury after a trial based on forensic evidence. Scientists found a tiny blood stain on Dobson's jacket that could only have come from Mr Lawrence. As he was led away, Dobson told the jury they had condemned an "innocent man". Sentencing will be on Wednesday. Stephen's parents, Doreen and Neville, wept in court as ...
As I've blogged before, Cornwall Council is busy pushing the stadium for Cornwall on the basis of the new jobs it will bring and the boost that it will provide to our local economy. According to the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Chris Ridgers, the stadium will mean an extra £3 million a year and 109 jobs. I asked for the basis on which these statements were made and have been sent the consultant's report. You can read the whole thing at the bottom of this post. This document (presumably with others) will be going to a meeting of the ...
manjushra: Abbaye de Villers-la-Ville (tags: poetry belgium ) This is What Happens When You Give Thousands of Stickers to Thousands of Kids | Colossal Amazing interactive art project! (tags: children art ) Free eBook: 'Georgia on my Mind' by Charles Sheffield An excellent collection! (tags: ebooks sf ) 22 Free Hitchcock Movies Online I did not know he had adapted 'Juno and the Paycock' for the big screen. (tags: films ) Twitlines Interesting visualisation of Twitter updates. (tags: twitter ) Somalia meets over federal Constitution "Members of the new federal parliament, expected to come into effect by June 2012, will ...
So, the Glitterball has barely been packed away and already we know that there will be at least one big change on Strictly Come Dancing this year - we'll need a new judge. Alesha Dixon is quitting the show after 3 years to join David Walliams, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell on the judging panel for Britain's Got Talent. I'm not going to shed any crocodile tears over this news. I like Alesha and supported her to win, but I've not been impressed with her as a judge. She always overmarks and doesn't have the technical background of the other ...
"On the morning after the Depression a man came to work building a house, and the foreman said to him "Sorry chum you can't work today. There ain't no inches." He said "What do you mean there ain't no inches? We got lumber, we got metal, we even got tape measures." The foreman said "The trouble with you is you don't understand business. There are no inches. We have been using too many of them and there are not enough to go around." Alan Watts, From Time to Eternity, 1960 Alan Watts' famous story about the inches inspired the inventor ...
The next edition of my monthly newsletter about the Liberal Democrats will include the results of some exclusive opinion poll data showing what has happened to people who told pollsters in May 2010 that there were going to vote Liberal Democrat. To make sure you don't miss out on the newsletter, coming out in a few days time, join hundreds of others and sign up now.
One issue which comes up regularly in different ways is party members feeling they do not know what the party's federal committees are up to in their name. Without getting too lost into the rights and wrongs of each individual case, I think we have a problem from both ends – committee members do not communicate enough and also members do not get in touch with them enough. The way to break that is to improve the basic flow of information, so more information comes out from committees, prompting members in turn to ask and lobby more, prompting committee members ...
So, Happy New Year everybody. Did you survive the celebrations without incident or hangover? I shouldn't be writing this right now. We should be at the Winter Wonderland in Edinburgh, but it's blowing a pretty major gale out there so we can't. And it's the last day tomorrow, so we'll miss it. Serves us right for being so lazy throughout the holiday - but we needed it. Our Hogmanay celebrations did not go according to plan either - which was, basically, lounging on the sofa in our jammies and heading to bed just after the Bells. However on that occasion ...
Lib Dem Voice are running their annual poll to find their 'Liberal Voice of the Year 2011' and (in an eclectic field) have nominated Mohamed Al Bouazizi. Here is the full list.... If you click on the link you can find the full list (voting buttons can be found on the right of the page) and a few reasons why each has been nominated - and of course I'm actively encouraging a vote for Mohamed Al Bouaizi. Here you can read about Mohamed And below you can find a short video from C4 news as to why he has been ...
Just found this video on The Guardian website. Everything you could want to know, numbers wise, about The 2012 Olympics. In beautiful animated infographics. Lovely.
For some the Olympics and Para Olympics holds no interest and is especially alarming taking over London this year. They plan on being away to avoid the travel chaos, hype and hassles. Some wish to rent out their homes for Olympic fans and visitors. BUT in Southwark, to deter very short term letting and renting, you have to obtain planning permission for a change of use to offer such letting. This makes perfect sense normally to avoid areas being over run with uncaring tenants hear to day and literally gone tomorrow. But this sensible rule looks a bit silly when ...
Well the weather this morning seemed to sum up the mood of the nation returning back to work. With gusts of upto 73mph hitting the North West I thought I would share this useful press release I have had from ... Continue reading →
I had a funny conversation at a New Year Party. I was in the kitchen talking with a very good friend of mine. He mentioned that he thought David Cameron would get fed up with the Liberal Democrats, call a general election and win it. "He can't" said I. "You what?" said the friend. "He can't" I repeated to the friend who was now doing that Gussie Fink-Nottle (I think) "fly catcher" face of P.G. Wodehouse fame. "On 15th September the Queen signed the Fixed Term Parliament Act. David Cameron can't call an election. The Queen would ask Ed Miliband ...
Local LIB DEM ward councillor for this area, Darren Fower, tells us he has now filled a request with Peterborough City Council to remove the latest piece of graffiti tagging that has found its way onto the street light, located to the rear of Grasmere Gardens! During a visit to the site, Darren spoke with one local resident who explained that on occasions the area was sometimes used by groups of young people as a meeting point. Commenting, Cllr Fower said: "Tagging is a very distasteful expression and does little to help promote the image of graffiti for the real ...
Last month I wrote about the huge number of people in the UK who are entitled to be on the electoral register but aren't. Now comes the news that there are twice as many 18 year old Facebook users than on the electoral register. I suppose this isn't a surprising statistic - I have yet to meet an 18 year old who isn't on Facebook (although I'm sure there are some, somewhere). But the report says that just 55% of 17 and 18 year olds are on the register. This report suggests two things. First that the Electoral Commission, local ...
This morning I went to question and answer session with Helen O'Shea, the interim Chief Exec of Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust (Derriford to you and me), which was mainly about their bid for Foundation Trust status. There is a lot of concern about the loss of clinics locally with around a dozen being lost from Liskeard and Launceston hospitals over recent months. Ms O'Shea told us that of the clinics they are responsible for, the main loss is a rheumatology clinic as the consultant has become semi-retired. They are looking to replace him and the clinic will be up and ...
Many people think of the Liberal Democrats as a family. I know that I have often felt part of a huge family when I have been across on 'the other off-shore island' whether it's at conferences - Federal Party, Scottish Party, or LDYS (oops: I'm showing my age) - or helping with elections be they local elections in Manchester with Cllr Paul Shannon and our dear friend the late Neil Trafford, or when I helped in Ipswich with all the camaraderie that was there. Most families have a member that they would prefer to forget about: a person that doesn't ...
Well the first result from Iowa has been declared that of Hamburg Inn #2 Coffee Bean Caucus as I wrote about yesterday. The results show a clear winner in Barack Obama (indeed polling 2,472 more than the Republicans combined), which in hardly surprising in this Democrat State. But what of the Republicans. Well Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Ricky Santorum have all stopped by while on the campaign trail. Yet only Bachmann seems to have benefited from her stop leading the poll. Santorum who is showing a last minute surge in the opinion polls to be in a tie with ...
Jo Grimond, former Liberal party leader in the 1960s, famously argued for a realignment of the Left. When the SDP formed some thought this was the beginning of that realignment. Now that the Liberal Democrats are governing in coalition with the Conservatives, the idea of a Left realigning that includes the Liberal Democrats seems fanciful. Tom Papworth, in his post A Labour Party we could work with, sets out what he sees as the conditions for a coalition with Labour: not so much a realignment, more a practical arrangement dependent on what the voters do at the next general election. ...
London Lib Dem mayoral candidate Brian Paddick and leader of the London Lib Dems Caroline Pidgeon have criticised Boris Johnson's 7% price hike for public transport fares which came into force today. Here's the party's official statement: Commenting on the Mayor's 2012 fare rises being introduced today Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate said: "Once again we start the year with another painful fare package from Boris Johnson. For the fourth year in a row he has racked up fares by far more than the rate of inflation. "His latest rises will simply add to the financial problems of ...
As the Hollywood version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opens I completed watching the Swedish version's of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy. In recent years, we have seen the emergence of Scandinavian noir. This includes Larsson's work as well as the stories of Kurt Wallander and others. Noir originated in America. Inspired by the novels of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson and German Expressionism, film noir explored the underbelly of society. In noir life happens in the shadows, ethical decisions depend on the situation the characters are in and corruption runs deep. Hammett is particularly interested in the ...
Happy New Year all. 2012 started pretty much the same way 2011 did. I am not a New Year person so spent it having a quiet night in watching DVD's and reading Hemingway. January the 2nd saw the New Years Derby between the Mighty Hibernian and local rivals Hearts. Hearts ran out 3-1 winners extending an unbeaten run in the fixture to 9 games. I fear we are only a third or so of the way through another of their long unbeaten runs in this fixture - 28 I think was the last one. Never easy being a Hibs fan ...
To mark the start of 2012, we're running a series of posts over consecutive days on the main challenges for the Liberal Democrats in 2012. I've already written about the four priorities for the party's new Chief Executive, Tim Gordon, but as the Liberal Democrats are more than just the one man whilst he has four, this series sets out six for the party. Political pundits rarely get their predictions right. It isn't that they are particularly bad at punditry, it is just that – as research has shown across several fields – experts generally have a pretty poor predictive ...
You have to hand it to Nick Clegg, he is a trier. According to this report in the Daily Mail, the Deputy Prime Minister is to press on with plans to refund the way that political parties are funded, despite the fact that there is no consensus within the coalition, never-mind with the opposition. The paper says Mr. Clegg plans to get cross-party talks underway within weeks after announcing an aggressive attempt to force all three main parties to accept a donations limit, coupled with new restrictions on spending during elections and more flexible rules on the use of existing ...
You probably thought you were too late to nominate your "councillor of the year", but the closing date has been extended to January 13th so you've still got the opportunity. I only know this because I received an email from County Hall entitled "Leader of the Year Award", but it turns out there is a full complement: Age UK Pride of Place Award – New for 2012 Bruce-Lockhart Member Scholarship – New for 2012 CCLA Award for Outstanding Contribution to Financial Performance Community Champion of the Year Judges' Special Award for Contribution to Local Government – New for 2012 Leader ...
As some of you appreciate, although I happen to be a Liberal Democrat, I don't set out to overtly promote Liberal Democrats, for the simple reason this blog was started as a personal take on what goes on in these parts and certainly I don't stifle comment either, although I have to say, I feel more than a little guilty, for not mentioning some of the parties achievements, particularly dumping ID cards, giving schools additional funds to focus on disadvantaged children, increasing tax threshold so 880,000 low paid workers don't pay income tax. Bill Furness a fellow Liberal Democrat has ...
The City Council has recently published its adult community learning newsletter for the first part of 2012. This includes details of some courses based at the Mitchell Street Centre such as Options and Choices (on career development, including updating your CV and interview skills) and Just the Job (for people whose second language is English and who are looking to improve their employment prospects). You can download the newsletter by clicking on the headline above or by going to http://tinyurl.com/learningjan2012.
Since my children started school this seems to have been an issue for parents, yet no-one seems to have taken it on. INSET days (known by many other names) are teacher training days - usually tagged on to the start or end of a holiday. Don't get me wrong I am all in favour of continued professional development but why can't it be coordinated across schools? Today is one those training days for my youngest monster, whilst my older two are getting up in a moment and heading off to school. This always used to be a niggle for me ...
While not wanting to underestimate the worries caused by the PIP breast implant scare, one can't help thinking that self interest might have something to do with this.
Lib Dem Voice is holding its annual Liberal Voice of the year poll. And a pretty unispiring choice it is too. Two of the short list stand out: Mohamed Bouazizi - whose self immolation (ahem) sparked the Tunisian uprising - and Chinese human rights campaigner Ai Weiwei. But neither's actual political views are definitively known to be liberal rather than simply opposed to oppression and injustice. The rest of the shortlist is a ragbag of names who may have uttered something vaguely liberal at some point in the last thirty years. It's obviously not to be taken too seriously, but ...
Writing in The Guardian last month, John Kampfner says Labour and the Lib Dems need to start preparing to work together if Nick Clegg wants to achieve the principles he set out in a Demos speech about an 'open society.' ... Continue reading →
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