This article has appeared on BBC Wales News today – University Applicants in Wales down 9.3%. "Figures from university admission service UCAS show applications to higher education institutions in Wales are down on the previous year as the deadline approaches." However the article does say that there has been a late surge in applications during November ...
One trial that has caught mine (and apparently Twitter's) interest over the past few days is the #ObscenityTrial. Now I don't know all of the ins and outs (pun not intended) but according to the defence lawyer in the case the trial will: "...ultimately clarify the law on the representation of gay fisting, urolagnia as well as BDSM." The problem I have with this trial is that in order to be found guilty the material must be able to "deprave and corrupt" a viewer. I personally am at a loss to see how anyone could be depraved or corrupted by ...
Today I've received notification, from Officers, that (with the agreement of the Chair) the January meeting of the Cambridge Area Joint Committee (responsible for Traffic Management and the Environment within the bounds of Cambridge City) is being cancelled with the agenda being moved back to the next meeting in February.It's a little disappointing that this meeting has been Cancelled, especially as it's currently a "target" for the Conservative Administration who incorrectly perceive that it serves no useful purpose. I'm always a big fan of cock-up over conspiracy and it's likely that this is just being cancelled because of the relatively-light ...
1 The worrying kidnapping of Red Cross aid worker Khalil Dale in Pakistan. The profile showed someone who has spent his whole life working in war zones. He had taken part in a BBC documentary where he talked of watching people starve to death in Somalia. Let's hope he is released safe and well, soon. 2. And I'll accept that my reaction to this second story is exacerbated in the context of the above. Ambulance workers have turned down a settlement which would have given them a one-off payment of £1500 then £100 every time their meal breaks were disturbed ...
Last year, in the process of paying Tim Farron some backhanded compliments, I commented that he had: turned Westmorland and Lonsdale into what looked very like a safe Liberal Democrat seat until the Boundary Commission got hold of it.When I wrote that, it looked as though Tim would have to stand in a very much altered constituency against the Conservatives' Rory Stewart (aka Lawrence of Belgravia). Tonight, courtesy of Michael Crick on his blog for Channel 4 News, comes news that the major parties appear to have agreed upon alternative proposals that would overturn the Commission's proposals: The cross-party deal ...
From the Guardian website this evening: The Liberal Democrats' biggest donor, who has been on the run for three years after being convicted of a multimillion pound theft, has been arrested by police in the Dominican Republic, the Guardian can disclose. Michael Brown, who bankrolled the party with £2.4m of stolen money, was detained near the resort of Punta Cana on the easternmost tip of the Caribbean island this week. Interpol has been informed.The report suggests that this development could lead to renewed legal efforts by his victims to seek compensation from the Lib Dems and Brown through the British ...
Doing the rounds on Facebook at the moment is to post the number 1 single in the charts the day you were born. And due to a new year lack of creativity I thought I'd steal the idea. So here, filmed in an evocative 1960s London, is Jackie Trent with Where are You Now, My Love...
There's likely to be a "select committee" to look at what the Council wants to do re libraries in Liverpool. This follows the Cabinet meeting this morning which agreed the plans (including potential closure of Woolton and other libraries and changes to opening hours) The Liberal Democrats have "called in" the plans. A "call in" is basically a device which asks the administration to think again. It means there has to be a meeting so that a different group of Councillors can look at the plans and make points. The meeting can then agree with what the Cabinet wants to ...
I think we are all annoyed at the high rises in bus, tube and rail fares. Other countries have it so much better. The £9 or so million that Boris Johnson has spent on six new Routemaster buses is such a waste of money. Following the introduction of the Mayor's fare rises for 2012, Lib Dem Leader Caroline Pidgeon of the Greater London Assembly said: "Once again we start the year with another painful fare package from Boris Johnson. She then added: "It is now time for a new approach to fares. We need to end the scandal of Oyster ...
....who, in response to Ed Miliband's unfortunate Twitter spelling error, tweeted Nicely done, I thought. Let's just hope they never make any mistakes like that........ This led to the #edmilibandgameshows game on Twitter. Best I could do was Family Fortunes, The Weakest Link and Pointless. This shouldn't detract from what prompted Ed's tweet in the first place, the sad death of Bob Holness, much beloved to most of us of a certain age for his daily game show Blockbusters. I loved it when I was a teenager. Or maybe when I was a bit older than a teenager as well. ...
As far as I'm aware, the following are planned meetings at Blyth Town Council next week. Tuesday 9th January , 6:30 pm , at Isabella Centre, Assets Committee (Councillors ) followed by 7pm (notional) Assets Committee (Councillors and Allotment Holders' Reps) Thursday 11th January , 6 pm at Ebor House, Finance Committee This meeting will be to discuss the budget for 2012 / 13. The draft budget that has been put forward has some items that I agree with, other items that I vehemently disagree with. Hopefully there will be open and civil discussions to reach a concensus to take ...
It's still just the Super Severn Scottish political blogs on Wikio as we kick of a New Year. I didn't get round to doing the list last month, so I've no real idea who was where. Wikio, or EBuzzing as it seems to be calling itself is, if you don't know, a way of ranking blogs depending on how influential they are based on links to them and tweets. I tend to take a fairly simplistic view of their methodology. When I go up, it's great and when I go down it's rubbish. It works for me. I'm hoping this ...
Cornwall Council's Tory-led administration seems to have got quite touchy about any criticism of their plan to introduce a Cornish EMA or Bursary. Cabinet member Neil Burden even went to the extent of commenting on this blog about it. A policy idea that appeared to start with a desperate attempt to come up with something interesting during Conservative Party Conference week has turned into a scheme which, whilst still significantly flawed, is an example of what Cornwall Council can do to help the less well off. That's not to say that the process has been an easy one. I don't ...
Miss Holly came home from school today with a special certificate for good behaviour and a new-found fondness for the art of David Hockney. She is currently snuggled up next to me on the sofa watching 60s Batman. Not Eartha Kitt Catwoman, but one can't have everything. These things are happy-making, and more than make up for me dropping out of the Wikio top Lib Dem blogs (which serves me right for my inactivity). If you'd like to read some proper political stuff, might I recommend Caron, who has a splendid post today on sexism. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments ...
Christmas Day: And now for a very special sneak preview of NEXT YEAR'S Dr Woo Winterval Special... "What could be more Christmassy than a James Bond film at Christmas," cackled the Mister Moffster as he penned the title of the 2012 Christmas Special: "No Doctor You Only Live On Her Majesty's Secret Service From Russia With The Spy Who Loved Me Twice!" Scene One: "Phew, that was close!" cried THE DOCTOR as the TARDIS flew within a gnat's whisker of the Copyright-Infringement-Lawyer-Bots from the planet Intellectual Property Six..." Anyway, more of that next Christmas. Here's Daddy's review for this year... ...
Trying to understand the global economic crisis? This article from Joe Stiglitz is required reading. I have flagged it already on Facebook and Twitter, but without much in the way of reflection. In fact it has produced an epiphany moment for me. I have maligned Professor Stiglitz in a past blog as producing only superficial commentary on the crisis, alongside his fellow Nobel laureate Paul Krugman. This was based on one or two shorter articles in the FT and some snatches on the radio; I wasn't reading or listening carefully enough. Professor Stiglitz is one of the foremost economists on ...
It's four months since we reported the departure of party chief executive Chris Fox, who did such a good job of filling the big shoes of his predecessor, Chris Rennard. Apparently, though, there is life beyond the Lib Dems — as PR Week reports: Chris Fox today started in his newly created post of director of group comms at London-listed GKN, which employs around 40,000 people in 30 countries. ... In an internal email to Liberal Democrat colleagues, Fox said there had 'been few dull moments' during his three-year spell with the party, adding: 'I am looking forward to getting ...
It is with a heavy heart that for the second time in three weeks I have to report the death of a giant of Czech literature. Although less well known than his contemporaries, Milan Kundera and Vaclav Havel, Josef Skvorecky was as good a writer as Kundera- and in a broader idiom- and as humane a political figure as Havel. Forced to defect to Canada after the Soviet invasion to crush the Prague Spring, Skvorecky became a publisher who popularized his fellow Czechs in the West, while still writing warm and wise novels of his own. His semi-autobiographical novels, the ...
Benjamin Netanyahu is on record as declaring that Israel "does not want to rule over one and a half million Palestinians in Judea and Samaria" (the West Bank). Numbers matter and change perceptions. Even at the time (a Washington briefing ... Continue reading →
Ed Miliband on 'Blackbusters'
Estonian Roulette | Politics | News | ERR @lobjakas: Repeating the course of history in the 1930s, Estonia's foreign policy focus is shifting away from the anglophone powers. (tags: estonia eu ) The Handmaid's Tale, Fahrenheit 451 & Other Beautiful New Folio Society Books Superb. (tags: art sf ) Visualizing the Global Digital Divide By Mapping Internet And Population — vis4.net "shows more than 80,000 populated places in blue and about 350,000 locations of IP addresses in red. White dots indicate places where many people live and many IP addresses are available." (tags: internet maps ) Azerbaijan: Baku Fumes Over ...
A sumptuously produced book (though the idea of having a dust cover which turns into a poster does not really work), Gregory Benford's book is a collection of some of the best, worst and strangest predictions for future technology published over the years in the pages of the American magazine Popular Mechanics. A few wider themes come out from the collection, including the move during the twentieth century from concern over there not being enough food to concern over people eating too much, and the way in which predictions about improvements in flying technology have consistently oversold its potential. Issues ...
Fri 6th
14:40
Racism is rightly unacceptable - so why do we tolerate blatant, unadulterated sexism on prime time t...
Well, I seem to have stirred up a wee bit of a hornet's nest with my post on Diane Abbott yesterday. I still think that, in the scheme of things, her one tweet, while ill judged, was not the end of the world. In fact, as James Graham pointed out, an opportunity to point out a few things about how power elites work was lost. Where it comes to racism, or suspected racism, it seems we have a very low tolerance threshold. And that's right, to be fair. People shouldn't be castigated for the colour of their skin. End of. ...
Cllr Iain Roberts has placed the order for two vehicle activated speed signs for Schools Hill. These signs flash up to alert drivers who are going too fast along the road, and have been shown to be effective elsewhere. The Lib Dems have been working to improve safety on Schools Hill for some time and we're very glad to be making real progress. In addition to the speed signs • The Council cleaned and brightened the zebra crossing lights last year after the accident where a teenager was injured, and they are noticeably clearer than before. • Residents have been consulted on ...
Our latest Lib Dem Voice members' survey (the final results from which will be published this weekend) has generated ample coverage in today's Independent — including this rather splendid graphic showing who you chose as the top/bottom 5 performing Lib Dems: Here's some of what the paper wrote about the findings (and, don't forget, you can catch up on all the survey results here on LibDemVoice): [A] survey of 564 members by the Liberal Democrat Voice website shows that Mr Clegg's standing in his own party has recovered a little since his nadir a year ago after the party's damaging ...
From Tuesday 10th January, there's a new way to apply for a Leisure Key in Stockport. The Leisure Key scheme allows Stockport residents to get discounts on leisure and cultural activities such as swimming and other sports and theatre. The new system streamlines the claims process for Leisure Key customers, removing the need for a paper application form contained in the current Leisure Key leaflet. From 10th January, residents can apply by calling into: Fred Perry House on Edward Street any Stockport Direct Centre any Stockport Library Stockport Tourist Information Centre in the Market Place Armed forces cards are only ...
Hmm I have been having a think... I wonder if I'm a bit trigger happy on the old 'he/she should be sacked/resign' malarky? First off, I have been interested to see the reaction to the Diane Abbott furore. I thought that she should resign - on the basis that if a white politician made the same remark about a different ethnic group it would be completely unacceptable, so why shouldn't the reverse be true? But while everyone agrees (including Diane) that the tweet was wrong - it strikes me that the majority of people think an apology was enough, and ...
We've had quite a few complaints about traffic on Aigburth Hall Avenue and on Booker Avenue. Quite a few things have already been tried to deal with this but the problem persists and it can be like taking your life in your hands to get across the road sometimes. Along with colleagues from Church ward and Mossley Hill, Richard and I have written a motion for the City Council. It may not get discussed but if it doesnt it still has to get replied to and hopefully acted on. Here's the text. The actual agenda doesn't get published until Tuesday ...
Thanks to everyone who has visited the blog, which has finally crawled into the Wikio Top 100 political blogs for the first time. Very excited to be in such illustrious company. Here's what their analysis looks like - and hopefully I'll continue to climb ever upward... Meantime, I do need to work out how to make the wikio icon on the right update...
Cllr Richard Kemp CBE, Church Ward Liberal Democrats, 16, Dovedale Road, Liverpool L18 1DW; E-mail: Richard.kemp@liverpool.gov.uk Cllr Joe Anderson, Leader, Liverpool City Council, Dale Street, Liverpool 1 6th January 2012 Dear Joe, Firstly, Happy New Year! I understand from ... Continue reading →
Like the summer riots, the Stephen Lawrence case provides us with yet another attitudinal Rorschach test; we screw our eyes up, peer closely, and conclude that what we have seen is just what we expected. At least, that's my view, after hearing Paul Dacre's astonishing self-congratulation on Tuesday. For him, the verdict was 'a glorious day' for the Lawrences, the police, British justice, politicians, British newspapers (especially, of course, the Daily Mail, without whose 'relentless campaigning' none of this would have happened). For me, it was a good day; but it was also a reminder of the arrogance, incompetence and ...
From 1998 to 2001, President Bill Clinton turned the United States deficit into record breaking surpluse. The $290 billion deficit of 1992 was transformed into a record breaking surplus of £236 billion in 2000 and was used to pay down the national debt by over $300 billion from 1998. In order to achieve social society ...
Attempts by the taxi trade in St Albans to seek an increase in fares were turned down by district councillors last night. Chris commented: 'They wanted to reintroduce the supplements for carrying more than two passengers, which had been removed last year as part of the agreement to increase fares. They argued that because the January 2011 fare increase had put passengers off, there needed to be a compensatory fare raise. Understandably, councillors found this argument difficult to follow.' Councillors also rejected a request to make the external livery less clear, to allow for advertising. Chris commented: 'It is vital ...
When a phone's web browser visits your site, how can you tell what capabilities that phone has? How can you work out its screensize, whether it can play mp3s, or know if it supports a particular bit of JavaScript? It ought to be possible using a mixture of UAProf, accept headers, and media queries. But it's not. The data are inconsistent and unreliable. Out of this frustration, a number of databases have been developed to track the capabilities of as many devices as possible. For the longest time, the most popular and accurate was WURFL – the Wireless Universal Resource ...
Chris has asked the county council to deal with this as a matter of urgency: water is already running down Keyfield Terrace and across Sopwell Lane and this will become lethal when there is a frost.
Here are the Liberal Democrat entries in the top 100 political blogs as ranked by Wikio. Farewell this month to Stephen Glenn, Spiderplant Land, Miss S B and Lynne Featherstone and hello again to Richard Morris. 1 (7) Liberal Democrat Voice No change 2 (22) Mark Pack Up 24 3 (23) Caron's Musings Up 5 4 (32) Jack of Kent Down 7 5 (45) Liberal England Down 2 6 (54) Paul Walter Up 12 7 (63) Liberal Vision No change 8 (65) Mark Thompson Up 26 9 (69) Peter Black Up 6 10 (74) George Potter Down 1 11 (80) ...
Defence by Party for all of 2011 Our performance against other parties in 2011 Cumulative votes cast in the whole of 2011
Fri 6th
11:53
Lord German writes... A benefits system that works: the Welfare Reform Bill in the House of Lords
As Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Party Committee on Work and Pensions the Welfare Reform Bill has absorbed most of the past year. It is now in the final stages of passage through the House of Lords. There has been some negative press surrounding the Bill, which is clouding aspects that have been long term goals of the Liberal Democrats. A big first step is being taken towards our long term ambition of merging tax and benefits. Our benefit system is the most complex and cumbersome system in the developed world. It requires an annual book to be published which explains ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black, will be holding his first advice surgeries of the new year next week. On Friday 13 January 2012 he will be in Neath Central Library from 5pm to 6pm. No appointment is necessary.
Snowdrops, A.D. Miller You can always remember where you were when you read a really good book. And so it is with Snowdrops, which I read on a flight back from Moscow, transfixed by the headily oppressive atmosphere AD Miller conjures of a city that is simultaneously authoritarian and corrupt, yet breathtakingly vital and entrepreneurial. This is the first person story of Nicholas, an amiable Englishman-abroad corporate laywer, who finds himself hooked on Moscow — its grubby underworld and opulent high-life — and drawn, gradually but ever more deeply, into personal and professional frauds with deadly consequences. But the plot ...
I greatly admire Peter Oborne as I have said on here before. He has done some sterling work over the years, especially in exposing political hypocrisy but a piece he wrote for the Telegraph yesterday in which he claims that the right is winning the argument in every major area of policy is wrong-headed in my view. Mehdi has already had a crack at fisking the article here so I won't go through all of it but I wanted to highlight a couple of things from the last 10 or 15 years that prove Oborne is wrong. His central thesis ...
If my local weekly newspapers, the Hexham Courant, new year resolution was to start reporting news in a balanced way that gave all parties a chance to have their say then I am afraid it has already broken it in its first edition of 2012! In a front page article entitled "Town parking charges may leap" (my italics) - it goes on to say in it's first paragraph "Parking charges in Hexham are set to soar - to pay the bill for a free shoppers permit!" (my italics again). It gathers this by adding two and two together and making ...
My husband sent me this link today to a beautiful piece of architecture in Norway dedicated to the people who were burned as witches in the witch trial days. Nobody seems to know how many exactly there were around the world but one is too many in my opinion. Saying that, there is an awful stat about one woman being killed every week in the UK by her partner that does lead me to believe that we are not out of the woods yet.
At the risk of being accused of self indulgence, here is another attempt at saying something in a more compressed kind of way, normal service will be resumed shortly: Coming backto bed I understoodin my confusion that I want and I don't want.I see, Ithought (but I didn't see).You told meonce, before you left, that I was... you paused... clumsyI wonderedif it was true and what you meant. The full moonshines through the window, A dusty ballof dirt, inert- yet it glows with a memory of youIt does notshow hope or fear, or love, or distraction, though I think it ...
Fri 6th
10:2570% of Lib Dem members back Clegg's call to means-test some benefits of wealthy pensioners
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 560 party members responded, and we've been publishing the full results. 70% back end to free bus pass and TV licences for wealthier pensioners LDV asked: Nick Clegg has suggested introducing means-testing so that better-off pensioners would no longer be entitled to receive benefits such as free bus passes and television licences. Supporters argue that at a time of financial austerity such benefits for the wealthiest paid by general taxation are ...
The AGM of the Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats will be held on 30 January at 7.30p.m., in the Premier Inn, Waring Street, Belfast. All party members are invited to attend. Among the items of business are the election of a chair, treasurer, membership development officer, and voting delegates to Federal Conference. We look forward to ...
Southend on Sea have recently installed the first average speed cameras to enforce 20mph in the UK. They're due to be switch on now. They have a mile long dead straight sea front road (Golden Mile) with lots of pedestrians around lots of risk that 20mph wont be obeyed and people get injured. The system will be a SPECS3 which can cover single road section or be part of a group of cameras helping to enforce an areas speed limits. It will be interesting to see the impact they have. If they have a positive impact it would be good ...
G3 Magazine just put Julie Bindel up for an award for campaigner of the year. Initial relation: Rolling of eyes, general "oh dears" and "here we go again". If you are not familiar with her work, I have a few earlier posts about her tagged. Her significant work in 2011 includes her getting a Royal College of Psychiatrists' meeting canceled merely by being invited to it. I don't expect the protests we had with the Stonewall awards back in 2008, partly just because G3 magazine is known to be problematic anyway and does not have the profile Stonewall does. G3 ...
I wish I had longer this morning to go into my elation on the news that children are being given the right to see both parents. The headlines say parents are being given the right but actually it is the children who are the victims. This is something I have spoken on at conference, campaigned for and I am really pleased that the government are finally legislating! DISCLAIMER: I realise in some cases it is not the case that it is wise for parents to have access but these are the exception rather than the rule. PS Longer more detailed ...
Yesterday, I was given the great fortune of writing for LibDem Voice and recommending the Occupy Movement as Liberal Voice of The Year. The overall anti-corporate message was welcomed, yet few were surprised that an overtly Marxist collective could be defined as liberal. You can read it here; Free markets and capitalism are not the ...
Whether you blame the rolling news channels helping to create a "give me it NOW" culture, or that the news channels fed into that existing culture, it's clear that news is no longer just about reporting the news. Someone I spoke to recently said they are just old enough to remember a time when at 10pm, they'd hear "Today, there is no news". News is now about comment. "Today, xyz happened, let's talk to an expert about this" or "Unemployment went up/down by 0.5% today" - which is where the news stops, but no - it adds "so let's cause ...
Fri 6th
09:30Clegg's priorities for 2012: showing how Lib Dems are making tax fairer, tackling excessive pay, and...
The Voice's Mark Pack has been writing about the Party's challenges in 2012 – as if on cue, leader Nick Clegg set out his priorities for Lib Dems in Government in a Radio 4 Today interview which you can hear in full here. As reported in The Guardian, these priorities include tackling tax avoidance by both corporations and wealthy individuals, clamping down on excessive and undeserved top pay, and re-engaging with governments and business in Europe following the Prime Minister's unhelpful showing in Brussels at the end of last year. Pressed on how that re-engagement would materialise, Nick said that ...
I read a beautiful piece in the NYT the other day about the value of stillness. For those of you that are considering staying away from social media this month, as I am.
I've been on holiday this week — what a relief not to be sat at a desk, staring at a screen all day... Instead, I've been sat on my sofa staring at a screen all day. Mostly doing productive stuff, but also messing around with this blog to add a few new features to the ones already added. Let me introduce them to you... First, I have a new Facebook page — for those who want simply to keep up with the RSS feed of the blog without feeling like they should have to be friends with me. You can ...
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. To re-cap: As with many other liberals, Nick Clegg is strongly motivated by the issue of fair taxation of wealth. In addition, pursuing the issue provides three neat political benefits. First, it offers a clear distinction ...
This was one of my favourite videos from last year and nice to watch when you are feeling a bit stuck in the city.
Fri 6th
08:39
January Books 6) At The Mountains of Madness, by H.P. Lovecraft, adapted by I.N.J. Culbard
A late Christmas present which I had been very much hoping for, this takes Lovecraft's classic novella and puts it into a stark graphic novel adaptation, beautifully suited to the tale. The original story is a masterpiece of horror, ratcheting up the tension and dread with each sentence; Culbard's adaptation must play with the text a little, but keeps many of the best lines. The drawing style is generally restrained, which makes the one or two moments of horrific revelation (particularly the gruesome fate of the advance party and the first sight of the hidden city) all the more effective. ...
Captain Ska yesterday released a new tune on youtube. The first verse is: Hard times Living on the breadline Broken homes and dreams It shouldn't be like this We didn't vote for this I agree with the first four lines. I may disagree with how Captain Ska would change it and what kind of country ...
@charlotteahenry The joys of the holiday season [IMG: :)] in reply to charlotteahenry # Want to know what's different about how they celebrate Epiphany in Guadeloupe? Of course you do: http://t.co/hwOrkS3G # Congrats to David Dixon (@votedave): runner-up for Bath Chronicle Politician Of The Year > http://t.co/GBefcTuo # @LloydieJL I doubt it – tbf, he's a liberal Tory not a Liberal Democrat. in reply to LloydieJL # Local council by-elections: the Lib Dem recovery continues http://t.co/uGeqeIKp via @libdemvoice & @markpack # @paulwalteruk S'alright, I don't much mind radio interviews I can do in my dressing gown with a cup of ...
In 2012 the African National Congress (ANC) celebrates its centenary, a hundred years of, eventually triumphant, struggle that commenced in a small Church in Free State province. The ANC will have another celebration this year; that of eighteen years of dominance and rule over post-apartheid South Africa. This figure is symbolic as it means for the first time, South Africa will have people of voting age who have known nothing but ANC, a matter especially crucial in the 'African' communities, where children will be raised with the legend of the fight against apartheid, and heroes such as Nelson Mandela and ...
Nick Clegg submitted himself to the new year delights of the primetime 8.10am Today Programme interview on Thursday. Here's a round-up of what he said and the reactions to it... Nick Clegg has kicked off his new year promising more action to curb executive bonuses, amid continued questions over his leadership. ... The deputy prime minister insisted he was responsible for many of the tougher sanctions against high-earners and tax avoiders, saying he had inserted sections on tax avoidance into the coalition agreement. "Look at this debate about irresponsible capitalism, what I call crony capitalism," he told BBC Radio 4. ...
This morning's Guardian reports that the shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy has asserted that Labour must reject 'shallow and temporary' populism in which it opposes all government spending cuts, and instead build up credibility by outlining where the party would make savings. Mr. Murphy told the paper that Labour needed to achieve "genuine credibility" on spending as he revealed he would accept £5bn of the government's defence cuts before a new defence review by Labour to be launched later this month: Although he limited his remarks to his defence brief the Guardian say that his intervention comes at a sensitive ...
An amusing mistake spotted by my wife on her way to work. SouthWest Trains are trying to promote their Twitter service – @SW_Trains – via their LED message boards. [IMG: SW Trains Twitter Mistake] Looks like the displays don't understand the underscore character. I wonder if anyone tested this before it went live? You can watch the full video [IMG: flattr this!]
I have received concerns from residents about the state of the walkway from the railway station to Tesco Riverside, much of which is claustrophobic given the concrete barriers that Network Rail insist upon being in place as the adjacent roadway runs in parallel to the rail station concourse. In November, the Director of City Development advised me that : "We currently have plans with Network Rail to extend the Riverside layby as part of the rail station refurbishment/upgrade. This will require the removal of a section of the containment barrier. We have proposed the barrier be removed, or reduced to ...
The bulk of Durham's Icelandic investments should be repaid over the coming years. This arises from a decision of the Icelandic Supreme Court that local authorities are "preferential creditors". The investments themselves were inherited from Derwentside which held them at the time the Icelandic banking system went into meltdown, and the county council has already had some repayments in dribs and drabs. This isn't "hot" news but I previously forgot to update you on it. And of course, even if the bulk of the money is repaid the value will have been eroded by inflation over the intervening period. The ...
Four thousand homes in Cambridge alone are entitled to help with their winter fuel bills and Liberal Democrat Cambridge MP Julian Huppert is backing a campaign to make sure people who are eligible apply for the grants available. Julian is urging people on low incomes to call the Home Heat Helpline - 0800 33 66 99 - to find out about grants which are worth an average of £250 per household. He said: "Families, couples and individuals living in around nine per cent of the homes in Cambridge can get help to stay warm this winter. No-one should be struggling ...
So, apparently the choices on this were picked by party members via the LDV members' survey. I don't recall ever being asked who my choice was, which leads me to believe that the question must have been asked in the survey I had technical problems with. Now, I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat here, but I can't help but wonder who else got technical problems on that survey because, seriously, party, you think Mark cocking Littlewood is more deserving than Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir or Helle Thorning-Schmidt or Michele Bachelet? FFS. Nine nominees and the one woman is Hillary bloody Clinton. Sometimes ...
St Albans City and District Council is running a recycling service to help residents dispose of their Christmas cards in a way that will reduce the amount of festive waste that goes to landfill. Collection bins for the recycling of Christmas cards have been installed at the council offices, council-owned sports centres and community centres across the District until the end of January. The locations are as follows: St Albans City and District Council, Civic Centre, St Peter's Street, St Albans Alban Arena, St Peter's Street, St Albans Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre, Holywell Hill, St Albans Greenwood Park Community Centre, ...
