Thursday: My fluffy diary has, it would seem, been voted 31st Worst Political Blog in Great Britain, and, as far as I can tell, that makes me WORST LIBERAL DEMOCRAT BLOGGER! It's a moment to be truly proud! To be RANKED more REVOLTING than such media movers as Mr Benedict "Tell-lie-o-graph" Brogan (48) and Mr Nick "Mate-of-Dave" Robinson (57); JUDGED more JAUNDICED than such Conservatory contrarians as Mr Daniel Hangman (63) and Mr John Deadwood (73); DEEMED more DREADFUL than such egregious egoists as Mr Chris Paul (93) and Mr Hopi Sen (99)... it's more than a fluffy toy deserves! ...
If the broadcast media start reporting what is being reported worldwide, that there are serious questions to be answered by Cameron's top political aide, former News of the World Editor Andy Coulson, it would place David Cameron in something of a predicament. As can be seen from the depth this story is being written about in the USA, this is no story without substance, yet the BBC, ITV and Sky seem scared to touch it. This does beg the question as to why this is being ignored by our broadcast media. The BBC may be rather scared of the response ...
This year's Total Politics Blog Lists are being published on a day by day basis at the moment and today saw the publication of the Top 30 councillors blogs. Last year I came in at number 29. This year I've risen to number 5! There's a new badge on the right of this post to reflect the new ranking. All I can say is wa-hey (and thanks very much to everyone who voted for me). Congratulations also to Porthleven Councillor Andy Wallis who has made it in at number 28.
The mystery over the long running diversion on the 210 bus route - with the stops on Beaumount Rise closed for several weeks - has been solved. It turns out that the awful road surface along Beaumont Rise is now so bad that Transport for London decided it was no longer safe for the 210's double-deckers to use the road. [IMG: Danger sign. Photo credit: johnharveytolson on Flickr] Islington Council is responsible for the road surface but has not yet repaired it. That should finally happen in the next few weeks, which will be welcome news and not just for ...
Or both? Today I was horrified to read in the Granuaid (http://tinyurl.com/376gqfd) that the coalition government were being condemned from Dennis McShane, former Labour Europe minister, for "opting out" of a EU wide directive on sex trafficking. Except for when you read the article properly, you will see the UK governments position is much more intelligent. The home office is quoted as saying "The government will review the UK's position once the directive has been agreed, and will continue to work constructively with European partners on matters of mutual interest. By not opting in now but reviewing our position when ...
Officials at Knowsley Council have blocked a question I submitted today to be asked at next week's council meeting regarding the costs of the Council attending next months Labour Party conference in Manchester. The full costs of Knowsley attending the conference - £32,950 - was recently revealed in a Freedom of Information request and my question sought to clarify how the Leader of the Council could justify spending this money in the current economic climate. While I had asked a question at the June meeting about Knowsley's plans for the party conferences the full extent of the costs for next ...
In an email sent this afternoon, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has written about his trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Earlier this week this week I went to Afghanistan and Pakistan to see for myself the problems and challenges that those countries face. The coalition government is committed to playing our part to helping ensure that the region has a peaceful and prosperous future. It was my second visit to our armed forces in Afghanistan, where I saw again the bravery and professionalism of our troops. Whilst the situation in the country is still difficult, I believe that we are ...
On Lap 16 of the Belgian Grand Prix my limited respect for Red Bull hot shot Sebastian Vettel took a further slide as a rookie's error took my favourite driver Jenson Button out of the race, and after Sebastian also failed to score points after he got going again, practically ruined both their chances of winning the World Championship. But we've been here before. Back in Turkey, he crashed into Mark Webber in a move I didn't even think he should have attempted (see previous blog), and going even further back he caused an avoidable collision in the 2009 season ...
More problems with the general election administration have come to light in Wolverhampton South West, with the news that one of the marked registers has gone missing. An investigation is already taking place into a mismatch between the number of ballot papers counted and the number issued, with more having been recorded as counted than were officially issued. The latest news has been reported by the Wolverhampton Express & Star: A register containing the names and addresses of hundreds of Wolverhampton voters has gone missing... It contains names and addresses of up to 500 voters along with a mark to ...
Liberal Democrat Health Minister Paul Burstow says the new NHS 111 service will benefit patients. The Coalition Government announced the intention to establish NHS 111 in the Health White Paper in July. The new service is being piloted in four areas before being rolled out in 2013. Commenting Liberal Democrat Health Minister, Paul Burstow said: "NHS 111 will build on NHS Direct but will go further providing a much more integrated service for the public. "Unlike NHS Direct NHS 111 will be free to call. Where NHS Direct can only signpost other services NHS 111 will be able to book ...
Here is tangible evidence that the debate has moved on. At this morning's cabinet meeting we were reviewing capital spending and there was a proposal for a data base for children. To me it sounded uncannily like Contact Point. Officers were quick to claim that wasn't the case. I have asked that there is clarification to a public meeting eg the cabinet member for Children Schools and families so that if necessary we can 'call in' the item and review it. What was interesting was the response of the Labour Leader (who was the cabinet member responsible at the time ...
Allies of Gordon Brown have criticized Tony Blair's memoirs as unfair and one sided. Get real guys! They are his memoirs and his slant on things! Their publication comes in the week that Chris Mullins latest set of diaries are serialized on Radio 4. Mullin's diaries are really interesting and very well written. He wrote "A very British Coup" in the 1980's so can turn a phrase and has an eye for a plot. Prime Minister,Churchill excepted, rarely make good diarists. Churchills "My Early Years" is a rip roaring read I would recommend to anyone and has an account of ...
I went to the the first meeting of this group took today. The group looks at where Mid Sussex is going after the collapse of the Thornfield project to regenerate the town centres. MSDC officers confirmed that all we have left after the Thornfield experience is the master plans / Special Planning Documentss. There is some interest from developers in picking up part of the plans, but it's early days. The best part of the meeting was a presentation from a director of Solum Regeneration. This is a partnership between Kier Construction and Network Rail. They focus on developments on ...
The stream of speculation, inference and behind-the-hand sniggering about William Hague's personal life shows no sign of abating any time soon. His Special Adviser, Chris Myers, has bowed to the pressure and resigned, and certain sections of the press seem intent on keeping the 'news' cycle rumbling for as long as is humanly possible. To ...
The debate on whether to replace First Past the Post with AV for elections to the House of Commons certainly seems to be warming up. Both sides are seeking increasing media coverage, bloggers from both sides are debating on the internet, and public interest seems to be growing on the issue. Yet there seems to me one thing missing - an appreciation of the role of the House of Lords, and how it might be reformed. The reason for this is quite important - the House of Commons does not exist in a vacuum. The AS-level course I teach on ...
The headline on today's Guardian letters page says, 'Tony Blair was't Labour's messiah'. Was he a very naughty boy, then? I was also surprised to see the self=description of the author. He signed himself as 'Frank Jackson, Political education officer, Harlow Labour Party'. A local party with someone dedicated to political education? It sounds like something out of ...
Whilst Ros and I were, strictly, on holiday, we were able to find time for a little Party business whilst in Canada. A meeting had been arranged with Liberal Party of Canada President, Alfred Apps, and Senator Al Eggleton, the former Mayor of Toronto, over lunch, and I was intrigued to see what would happen. The lunch (dim sum) was extremely good, and our hosts were keen to find out how things were going following the creation of the Coalition. The politics is a matter of public record, of course, so conversation focused on the nuts and bolts of party ...
Harry Potter star, actor Daniel Radcliffe, was one of the Lib Dems' star supporters in the lead-up to the election — and it seems he's sticking by Nick Clegg and the party in government, according to the Voice's favourite online political read, ShowbizSpy.com: "I'm a very big fan... I don't agree with everything he says, but of all the party leaders, he was the one I voted for," Daniel said. "I thought he was a great speaker and very charismatic and very statesmanlike. "I'm glad that he is still in a prominent position in British politics because I think he ...
Total Politics has started releasing its lists of Top Blogs. Yesterday it was the turn of the Top 50 Scottish Blogs. I am very grateful to everyone who voted for me because I've risen 3 places to number 4. Tom Harris retains the top spot he's had ever since he started blogging. I like reading him because once you get past the partisan Lib Dem hating exterior, there's a funny Doctor Who fan in there and the blog is nothing if not entertaining. Anna, however, still bruised after her brush with him has set me the challenge of replacing him ...
As so many other Liberal Democrats that I know have tried Vote Match, I thought I should. It's the questionnaire that shows how closely you match the views of the various Labour leadership contenders. Also, like many Lib Dems I came out as closest to Diane Abbott. The full figures were: Diane Abbott – 71% ...
So says the New York Times in its detailed report on what the News of the World got up to with phone hacking during Andy Coulson's time as editor: A dozen former reporters said in interviews that hacking was pervasive at News of the World. "Everyone knew," one longtime reporter said. "The office cat knew." One former editor said Coulson talked freely with colleagues about the dark arts, including hacking. "I've been to dozens if not hundreds of meetings with Andy" when the subject came up, said the former editor, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The editor added that ...
I've been quoted twice, in successive days, by the Financial Times – a career highlight I can't allow to pass un-self-hyped. Yesterday, the FT covered the publication this week on Lib Dem Voice of the results of our members' survey, which was completed by almost 600 Lib Dem members. Under the surprisingly accurate/straight headline, Lib Dem members give poll boost to Clegg — you can tell this was the FT: any other paper would have searched its damnedest to pick out a negative slant — both Mark Pack and myself are quoted: Nick Clegg and his fellow senior Liberal Democrats ...
Last month going to my first live gig in what seems likes far too long I decided to do a new monthly feature. I thought I'd do a new feature at the end of each month let you share the song of my month. It may be the song that means something to me, the one I couldn't stop singing (out loud or in my head), the one I kept presses play and repeat on various formats, the one that sums up my month, its moods, its events etc. Therefore I was going to post this one before a minor ...
Just a brief note to say that I've been informed of a Take Back Parliament (the organisation campaigning for a Yes vote in the referendum on the voting system next year) meeting for Essex that's happening next Tuesday. It's at 7.30pm in the Charles Peters Lounge of Chelmsford YMCA. I'll be going along with at ...
Those nice people at Vote Match have developed a nice Labour leadership edition to help Labour Party members decide who to vote for in the ongoing contest. Andy Burnham isn't included because he didn't get his information to them in time. Clearly I don't have a vote in this contest, and nor would I want one, but I tried it anyway. Vote Match has been pretty accurate for me - it picks up my liberal, peace loving hippy tendencies and always tells me to vote Liberal Democrat. For Labour leader, it suggested my closest match, with 78%, was Diane Abbott. ...
The Chairman of the Universal Peace Federation, Moon Hyung-Jin, has been in London this week, on his first ever visit to the UK, promoting the idea of an Inter-Religious Council at the United Nations. The idea was first mooted 10 years ago by his father, Moon Sun-Myung, head of the Unification Church — a body ...
After many false starts the goal posts will be fitted in Rosewarn Park next Tuesday 7th September. The pitch was marked out just recently.After the installation there will be football match so the young people can use the pitch to celebrate their acheivement in raising the money for this project. Well done to the young boys who raised the money for this helped by Nich Gardham from...
Thu 2nd
11:57
The Independent View: Confronting conspiracy theories is a classic case of civic society trumping ce...
Conspiracy theories, an increasingly popular dinnertime conversation, are often otherwise dismissed and ignored. At most they are regarded as the amusing yet ultimately harmless hobby of a fringe, irrelevant few. They are neither of these things. They are a powerful social phenomenon. In many contexts they demolish trust between government and communities. In some, they are dangerous. On Sunday, Demos released a report, The Power of Unreason. In it, we looked at the role that conspiracy theories play in radical and extremist groups. Analysing over 50 such groups, we found conspiracy theories to have a strong functional value that play ...
Stay and Play in Rosewarn Field organised by First Steps Family and Children's Services for all children aged 0 to 5 in the area on 3rd September (tomorrow) from 12 noon to 2pm.
Its been almost a week since i moved into the new place and already it feels like home in a way that my old house didn't. The removal men were two of the maddest machines I have ever come across ... Continue reading →
The link is to the BBC story which includes the text:The UK should have addressed its public deficit back in 2005, former Prime Minister Tony Blair has told the BBC.Speaking to Andrew Marr, Mr Blair said: "We should probably have taken a tougher fiscal position than we did."He said that this was also about the time when disagreement between himself and Gordon Brown "started to spill over into
Cornwall Council officers have promised to co-ordinate their road cleaning works better in future after residents complained to me that the Council was clearing road gullies only to sweep rubbish straight back into them. The particular problem arose in Dutson Road where residents found that their drains and gullies were being cleared but that the street sweepers would come along two days later. I've talked to the Council and the two departments concerned have promised to co-ordinate better in future so that the gulley and drain clearing takes place just after street sweeping rather than just before.
The application of the solution focused approach has been wide and it is always interesting to see how it is implemented in practice and the results. Some of the techniques and methods are very simple to implement and so have been taken up enthusiastically by those working with people. I have already looked at a ...
I've been talking to residents in Town Mills about problems with cars speeding round the tight bends from Under Lane. Drivers who don't know the area often are not aware that they are entering the built-up area of the town and the corners are much tighter than they might expect. As a result, we get cars traveling too fast and sometimes out of control as they go round the bends. I'm delighted that Cornwall Council has agreed to put some new road markings down to warn drivers that they are approaching a built-up area with tight corners and telling them ...
Thu 2nd
11:03
An Englishman, An Irishman, A Scotsman, An American, A Brizilian and A Ukrainian go to watch Footbal...
One of the experiences that I was really looking forward to was going to watch a football game in the Ukraine. Having seen several games at different grounds around England I was really hoping to find out the similarities and difference between the culture. Would they have more vocal home support (let's be honest it can't be too hard), would I get to see a flare go off, would the Ultra's try and
The lovely phrase "spray on evidence" was coined in the late 1990s in frustration at the attitude towards evidence shown by many in the Labour government. Though officially the government was determinedly set on a course of evidence-based policy, many of those involved in policy making felt that evidence was being applied as a bit of glitter to justify policies rather than really shaping them. Spray on history now seems to be the order of the day in much political punditry with the futures of the coalition, Liberal Democrats and Labour often talked about with several nods towards the past. ...
Not sure why , but the latest crop of headlines gave me a very extreme attack of the giggles: Firstly, a dullard school student who electrocuted himself by connecting his nipples to mains electricity is trying to sue the teacher at the school where this took place, because he should have warned him that this was dangerous. Frankly the idea that this guy could still contribute to the gene pool is a fairly scary prospect. The second story, sadly shows that the gene pool does indeed remain contaminated by spectacular stupidity: a father seeking to drive a spider from behind ...
I am more than a little underwhelmed about the fuss surrounding the identification of the Stig. I'm quite cross that the BBC seem to have wasted some of the licence fee pursuing this through the courts, but I can't really see the fundamental problem. Now I admit that I don't watch either Top Gear or Dr. ...
Somalia is one of the most benighted places on the planet. Staggeringly violent, desperately poor, it regularly comes last in any ranking of the nations of the Earth. Since the collapse of the Somali state, nearly twenty years ago, the country has become a extremely dangerous anarchy. The capital Mogadishu, once known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, now stands in ruins. Somalia is the number one example of a failed state. It has no government. In the face of this breakdown, it is worth considering that the state of Somalia, created in 1960, rests on two historic foundations: ...
According to the BBC the Electoral Commission will give its verdict later today on the proposed question for the referendum on whether the Welsh Assembly will be able to pass laws in the 20 areas of policy it is allowed to administer. The Commission has spent the past 10 weeks trying out the question with members of the public. It will reveal if it believes the wording is suitable, or if it needs rewriting. Only when the question has been formally agreed can legal moves begin to call the referendum vote. The BBC say that it is understood that the ...
Next week, on 8 September, there ends the consultation period for a remarkable set of proposals from the Coalition Government entitled 'Rebalancing the Licensing Act'. Drink and the British are a potent and not altogether attractive combination. Drink and politics have been even less attractive. In my own city of St Albans it was routine for the Whigs and the Tories to fight each other in the streets, fired up with generous amounts of election day alcohol (the city later lost its right to have an MP at all because of electoral corruption). The Liberals famously lost the 1874 General ...
I am staggered to read a piece on This is Cornwall about the cost of the election of the new Police Chief. It is said that this process will cost around £1.9 million in Devon and Cornwall - more than the total cost of the current Police Authority and equivalent to what it costs to put 50 Police Constables on our streets. The Conservative plans are for the elections to take place in 2012 - at a time when the only other elections in Devon or Cornwall are for councillors in Plymouth and Exeter. That means that the total cost ...
And hooray, I now own a copy: [IMG: The Art of Faking Exhibition Poultry by George Scott] The book, which I discovered courtesy of my growing niche book collection, is appositely dedicated to "All poultry judges and exhibitors in the interests of the poultry fancy". The admiring quotes at the front of the book also tell us that its author is, at least according to The Poultry World, "the most arresting and provocative writer on poultry". He also wrote a preface to The Ceylon Poultry Club Year Book, 1934. Quite the expert it would seem. He was also a man ...
The publication of Tony Blair's memoirs and the quite disgraceful pursuit of stories about William Hague's private life have somehow managed to push a far more important story off the front pages. From what I can see only the New York Times and The Guardian are reporting on allegations that the prime minister's media adviser, Andy Coulson, freely discussed the use of unlawful news-gathering techniques while editor of the News of the World and "actively encouraged" a named reporter to engage in the illegal interception of voicemail messages. Coulson has always insisted that he had no knowledge of illegal activity ...
Dear all, This morning's Today programme on Radio 4 has just said that the Foreign Secretary being in a room with another man was a 'lapse of judgement' for a straight politician. Therefore and henceforth I shall have to make some adjustments to the way I live to avoid making a similar 'lapse' seeing as I am an openly gay politician this will affect my female friends and acquaintances. To Caron, you had better not get ill again. I know during your recent illness I spent many hours coming to see you and sometimes turning up while you were still ...
The other newspapers are slowly catching up on The Sun's 'exclusive' about the X Factor contestant who allegedly works as an escort girl or prostitute. The young woman called Chloe has apparently been spotted advertising her services online and was booked by the tabloid for an hour's work at a hotel close to her Yorkshire ...
It was not just Birmingham that Telly Savalas failed to visit: there was Portsmouth too. I like his "this city has a fine sense of history" over the shot of a car park.
On the 5th August I blogged about the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Councillor Kay Cutts snubbing Ian Campbell who was to be presented with a youth citizenship award for his work promoting gay rights and fighting bullying and anti homophobia in schools. You can read the original post HERE. As I wrote at the time Ian is the youngest Mayor in the UK, aged just 23. You will see from the original post that Councillor Cutts spokesperson claimed that she didn't have her photo taken with Ian Campbell because he was a Labour activist, nothing to do with him ...
It's been an 'interesting' day for the blogosphere, following the resignation of William Hague's Special Advisor, Christopher Myers, linked to a series of allegations. Naturally, I'm not the first to comment on this. At Liberal Democrat Voice, Stephen Tall and Iain Roberts have already made valuable contributions to debate. Elsewhere, Iain Dale has, somewhat handwringingly, claimed that today has been a bleak day for the political blogosphere. Perhaps I have a perspective that differs from others. After all, Paul Staines has been pretty vile towards my wife in the past... Let's start with the allegations. The best way to proceed ...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of a variety of key issues, and what you make of the Lib Dems' and Government's performance to date. Almost 600 party members have responded, and we've been publishing the full results of our survey over the past few days. Today, in the final part of our survey, we focus on the performances of the leading lights of the Liberal Democrats - those of our MPs in the cabinet, those occupying ministerial positions, and other leading Lib Dems: How would you rate the performances of ...
Thu 2nd
06:45
Whoniversaries 2 September: Eileen Way, Roy Castle, Tomb of the Cybermen #1, The Ribos Operation #1
i) births and deaths 2nd September 1911: birth of Eileen Way who played the Old Mother in An Unearthly Child (1963), the old woman in the woods in Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966) and Karela in The Creature from the Pit (1979). 2nd September 1994: death, two days after his 60th birthday, of Roy Castle, who played Ian in Doctor Who and the Daleks (1965), the first of the Peter Cushing films. ii) broadcast anniversaries 2nd September 1967: broadcast of the first episode of Tomb of the Cybermen, starting Season 5. The Doctor, Jamie, and new companion Victoria ...
The BBC brings us the news (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11138535) that the North West health observatory reports that problem drinking is more prevalent in the North of England than the South. The North East and North West have a much higher prevalence of health problems often linked to alcohol consumption. Now I'm not going to say that alcohol is good for your health. Far from it. But I really object to the way journalists immediately portray it as a North South divide and then immediately conclude that problems of higher alcohol consumption will be dealt with by minimum pricing. Funnily enough looking at ...
August has been my busiest month so far on YouTube. I started August with my videos having been viewed 1,222,886 times. I started September with 1,273,124 viewings. So, for the first time ever, my videos have been viewed 50,000 times or more in a single month. If anyone has nothing better to do, they can visit my channel at www.youtube.com/jonathanwallace.Meanwhile, my blog about trying to become
Craig Murray writes on his blog about attempts to smear the man behind Wikileaks, but finishes his article with a comment about how he himself has tried to clear his name of accusations and smears put across by the Foreign Office. To quote Craig Yet, even to this day, the FCO has refused to acknowledge in public that I was in fact cleared of all charges. This is even true of the new government. A letter I wrote for my MP to pass to William Hague, complaining that the FCO was obscuring the fact that I was cleared on all ...
I saw on the news last night that there is a report on the harm caused by alcohol and there is a much greater problem in the north of England. In particular Blackpool was highlighted as having a significant problem. The misuse of alcohol may be a factor in losing employment, medical conditions and higher levels of crime. It seems that if all alcohol-related deaths were prevented, men would be living on average nearly two years more. Perhaps we should be looking at preventing misuse. I say perhaps, because you have to compare this with another programme shown yesterday evening ...
While its only a few weeks since the 2010 Carnival, the preparations are under way for the 2011 Acocks Green Carnival. The organising committee are on the look out for keen and enthusiastic people to help with the many tasks necessary to make next year's Carnival a success. If you are interested in helping, please turn up to the next meeting of the committee, which is on Thursday 23rd September at Acocks Green Methodist Church, Shirley Road at 7pm. All offers of help will be welcome!
I don't swear for the total authenticity of this recipe, but it tastes good! 1kg beef shin, cut into 5 cm cubes 400ml red wine 200ml beef stock 2 cloves garlic, chopped 2 sprigs fresh thyme 1 bay leaf 300g shallots 250g cubed pancetta or unsmoked streaky bacon 150g button mushrooms Pre-heat the oven to 140°C (Gas 1, 275°F). ...
In one way, Tony Blair was the most brilliant politician the UK has ever had. That is the way in which, during his time, politicians became more anonymous and less in possession of character. He won three general elections, was Prime Minister for ten years - the fifth longest unbroken stretch of any Prime Minister - yet I always felt we never really knew him. He threw up a mask and has kept it to this day. In the case of his predecessors, Margaret Thatcher and John Major, whatever you thought of them, you knew the sort of people they ...
I know I'm a big softie, but when I read William Hague's unprecedented personal statement, I actually had a tear in my eye. It must have been really difficult for both him and Ffion to be so frank about their personal situation. I certainly don't have much time for him politically - he took the Tory Party into a very bad place on issues like immigration and fought a very nasty campaign in 2001. It's worth remembering that Charles Kennedy had the good sense not to pander to the Daily Fail lobby, hold his ground and kept to a liberal ...
Blogging is, in general a good thing. It gives people a voice, it bypasses the mainstream media, and in many cases it gets news out in to the open which in other cases would not be heard, for example, after the attempts by Trafigura to muzzle the mainstream press with injunctions or the case of Oligarchs trying to stop criticism of them. But today, the shortcomings of the one man blog was highlighted for all to see, in my opinion, today. One advantage that the main stream media has over bloggers is that there are sub-editors, lawyers, and people who ...
So in Tony Blair's memoirs the former Labour Prime Minister has revealed a number of revelations. The Countryside Alliance will be fuming that he apparently didn't want to introduce a ban on fox hunting, which will certainly confuse voters who were constantly told "Vote Labour or the fox gets it", but the one I want to focus on is his comments about Welsh devolution. Now, the soundbite claiming that Welsh devolution was a "dangerous game" will unsettle Labour activists and certaintly anger the Nationalist faction of their Welsh Assembly coalition partners Plaid Cymru. But Tony has in my opinion, both ...
We have a cat. He's fifteen years old and has a lovely relaxed nature. He loves being fussed, and sunning himself. He's a lot slower now than he used to be, but even in the spring he was able to catch a bird in the garden, and until last year was fairly regularly bringing the ...
Rumours have been flying around the internet for weeks now about William Hague and his special advisor Chris Myers. I had considered blogging about it a week ago but decided otherwise because it just felt wrong to give a greater ... Continue reading →
There was a moment of shocked silence in the Parliamentary Committee Room, in which the Culture and Media and Sport Committee was sitting, when it was announced that Princes William and Harry's phones had been tapped by News of the World's then royal correspondent Clive Goodman, and his associate Glenn Mulcaire. Today, the New York Times has revealed that editor Andy Coulson not only knew about such goings on at his newspaper, but actively encouraged it. Mr. Coulson now happens to be Director of Communications at Number. 10.... The investigation into the affair, conducted by Scotland Yard, has always been ...
I like this. The Mayor New York City, Michael Bloomberg has recently been plagued with questions about whether he will stand down. Now he has refreshingly answered those questions: At his Bronx Q and A, The Post's Dave Seifman asked if there were "any circumstances" under which he wouldn't finish his third – and hard-fought-for – term. "Yes," the mayor replied. "What are they?" asked Seifman. "If I died," Bloomberg said.
At a cost of £78,000, Cornwall Council has today published the news that an expert report has proposed that there should be a 'Stadium for Cornwall' built in either Truro or Threemilestone. Yet the Council has yet to publish any evidence that a stadium for Cornwall is needed or would be anything other than a white elephant. Some of my colleagues have blogged asking why the stadium should be in Truro, rather than Bodmin or elsewhere in Cornwall. They have a point. Truro is not on the main A30 and simply being in the middle of the population doesn't seem ...
From Political Wire: Though a majority of Alaskan Republicans still like Sarah Palin, a new Public Policy Polling survey shows she can't count on a whole lot of support back home if she runs for president in 2012. Key findings: 62% of Alaska Republicans are opposed to her making a White House bid and she gets only 17% in a hypothetical 2012 primary in the state tying for her second with Mike Huckabee behind Mitt Romney.
On a day when even Tony Blair's autobiography has been forced from the top of the news bulletins by the William Hague story, it seems that no other political subject could possibly make the headlines. Yet there is one story which should do. It is the New York Times story on the involvement of Andy Coulson in the royal phone tapping scandal. At the time, Coulson was editor of the News of the World and denied any knowledge of the phone tapping by the paper's royal reporter Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Yet he resigned anyway and went ...
So, Total Politics are starting to drip feed the results of this year's Total Politics Best Blog lists and today was the turn of the Top 50 Scottish Blogs. There are 23 new entries, just 8 blogs went up from last years position (including mine), 2 stayed where they were from last year including Tom Harris MP who retains the top spot and 17 slipped down the pile. So, thank you to everyone who voted for my little blog. Congratulations to Tom Harris for holding the top spot, Caron Lindsay for moving up to 4th position, Stephen Glenn for finally ...
This post has taken me a good few hours to finish. I've actually toned it down a lot on re-reading, all of which wasn't doing my blood-pressure any good I guess. Trying to be as objective as possible when I'm this close to the subject has been hard. So I decided to screw on my journalistic head (just like Wurzel Gummage if he had one) as much as I could. I may have only been back in Northern Ireland for only 10 days but I've already learnt a lot in my few short days back here. First a personal observation, ...
Today was the first meeting of the new Culture Board for Cornwall, followed by a consultation event about the new Culture Green Paper. I've been appointed by the Council's scrutiny committee to attend meetings of the Board and to report back. My role is not to play a part in decision making, but I don't see it as meekly watching from the sidelines either. I will be asking questions (sometimes difficult ones) and challenging assumptions in order to make sure that the new Board (which is an excellent idea by the way) really takes the lead. The members of the ...
Clun's church is situated on a rise of ground on the English side of the river. It looks as though it was built so that it could be defended if the Welsh cut up rough. The original Saxon settlement was here too and probably for the same reason. Later a new town was laid out in the shadow of Clun Castle on the other side of the river and the parish was moved from Wales into Shropshire. This is the reason why, when you look at a map of the border today, Clun Forest just out into Wales You will ...
My Voice colleague Iain Roberts has already blogged about this afternoon's big political news that William Hague's special advisor Christopher Myers has quit his post following allegations — vehemently denied by both — that they might be having an affair. Iain writes: "We at Lib Dem Voice wish both the Hagues and Christopher Myers well," and I agree 100%. However, there are two further points I'd make. The questions were fair enough... Paul Staines blogged about the issue on 24th August, using the Freedom of Information Act to ask three questions inquiring as to the suitability of Mr Myers acting ...
My Voice colleague Iain Roberts has already blogged about this afternoon's big political news that William Hague's special advisor Christopher Myers has quit his post following allegations — vehemently denied by both — that they might be having an affair. Iain writes: "We at Lib Dem Voice wish both the Hagues and Christopher Myers well," and I agree 100%. However, there are two further points I'd make. The questions were fair enough... Paul Staines blogged about the issue on 24th August, using the Freedom of Information Act to ask three questions inquiring as to the suitability of Mr Myers acting ...
So, Tony Blair doesn't like bloggers. He quite contemptuously dismissed people who write blogs as non-representative of the views of the population as a whole. Instead, he claimed he had a direct link with the people and knew exactly what they thought. He was equally dismissive of journalists. Andrew Marr had to remind him that intermediaries - the media, in all its professional and amateur forms - necessarily stood between the PM and the people. This exemplifies a problem that is a real one for everyone in public life. Politicians inevitably come under attack, and in order to maintain their ...
Well, such is the drift of an otherwise inscrutable performance by James May on the Simon Mayo show here at 1:05. If you've ever wondered how to fly a A330 (I thought that was a road near Birmingham) there is some clue in the clip.
Well, he's been leading up to it for a long time but this time Guido has really shown his true colours for all to see.... Let's step back a bit – as they say. One of the "life skills" which I have acquired is living through (a) losing a child and (b) ten years of trying for children. These are the sort of "life skills" which make one a "grown up". Making cheap shots at someone in a general fog of homophobia does not make one a "grown up". It is valid to question the appointment of an alleged friend ...
In fact I told you so back in December 2008, simply by quoting the Guardian. So why has the BBC been spending money trying to keep a secret that was told long ago?
I managed to get to most of three days of the Discworld Convention in Birmingham last weekend; it was great fun as I expected. The headline for me was that Terry Pratchett himself is looking and sounding very well. I saw him speak at the opening ceremony on Friday and the "Man in the Hat" interview on Saturday, and my friend D won the draw to meet him in a klatsch and reported that he was just as lucid in a group conversation. Long may he continue. The striking visual thing about the con was the number of people in ...
It is striking that David Miliband is trying hard to play down his former closeness to Tony Blair, but no one holds his brother or Ed Balls's closeness to Gordon Brown against them. This suggests two things. The first is that Blair has become the new Harold Wilson: someone who won multiple general elections for Labour but has now been written out of Labour's history. The second is that Labour clearly has little idea of what it has to do to regain an appeal to the wider electorate.
The link is to an English Translation in the german newspaper Der Spiegel. They are talking about Peak Oil being around nowish. (Although on a geological scale even a thousand years from now would be around nowish).
Guido Fawkes ran a story yesterday, Exclusive: Hague Shared Night in Hotel Bedroom with SpAd on his blog just yesterday. Hours later Guido then ran this follow up story, FCO Says Hague/Myers Relationship Professional. Then first thing this morning Iain Dale posted this story on his blog, Guido Fawkes Should Cease & Desist. I wasn't going to say anything about this for fear of breathing new life into the story, but I can't stay silent any longer. However, I'll keep it brief. The campaign against William Hague on the Guido Fawkes blog is nothing short of reprehensible. The lies, smears ...
Allegations have recently been posted on Paul Staines' blog Order Order (where he blogs under the pseudonym Guido Fawkes) about a relationship between William Hague and one of his special advisors, Christopher Myers. These allegations have led to Myers resigning from his post and to the Hague's releasing a full and frank statement which include revalations they would, I'm sure, have rather remained private about the problems they've had in their attempts to start a family. The allegations have been categorically denied by William Hague. We at Lib Dem Voice wish both the Hagues and Christopher Myers well. Claims are ...
At last, a proper news story. From the Leicester Mercury: A motorist was stopped in his tracks when he saw what he believes was a panther bounding across the road. Solar panel fitter Pete Base was driving past Greetham Valley Golf Club, in Rutland, when he spotted the animal about 100 yards in front of him. It is the first big cat sighting in Rutland for several months. The Mercury quotes a "big cat investigator" as saying: "There was another sighting at Drayton, near Medbourne, two weeks ago when one bounded across in front of a woman on a path.Drayton ...
I've just returned from a Neighbourhood Partnership meeting where the news is that crime in Gorton is down, by over 50% in terms of some crimes. The police and other agencies have put a lot of work into identifying risks and taking proactive action to prevent crime. Although Gorton is far from crime-free, that's still a great acheivement for all involved. Well done to all concerned.
William Hague is in some ways a pretty strange guy. Think teenage speeches, baseball caps and 14 pints. He's also an obviously highly talented man, with intelligence and wit. Many years ago, I met him in a work context and he was utterly charming. Had he been able to wait a few more years before ...
It's been a while since I last updated my blog- but we're back to work after the sumer recess - and I have a new mode of transport for the month of September! For some time now I have been trying to get a better bus service for Caldectote where I live. For those who are fit, healthy, energetic and able to walk a mile or two to the top of the village, there is the Citi 4 service in to the City. However, if you have to walk more than a mile (and many in the heart of the ...
As part of an ongoing attempt to put my online world into some sort of order I have today refreshed the website for my company, Grit & Oyster Limited. This website hadn't been properly updated for quite a while. So it needed to be changed to reflect the current status of the business, given a more attractive look, and to be brought into line with current internet standards. I also wanted to move it to WordPress as its platform for content management. This was not only to reflect the fact that a large part of the work I am doing ...
Today I tweeted this "@GuidoFawkes Disgusting you & the press have lost a man his job, caused family heartache & have committed a big error @iaindale was right" (see Guido Fawkes Should Cease & Desist). This was in response to Christopher Myers resigns from the FCO, citing "untrue and malicious allegations" with William Hague. See Guy Fawkes Blog Exclusive : Hague Shared Night in Hotel Bedroom with SpAd. This type of story where the media and/or bloggers try to out someone for being gay and therefore cheating on their wife because two men share the same room (yep I have ...
It is indeed that time of year again. Total politics are currently in the middle of announcing the list of the Top Political Blogs for 2010. Today it was the turn of one of the categories for which I am eligible that of the Top Scottish blog. For the past two years I have actually finished in eleventh place in Scotland on both occasions. This year however I am into the top ten at number 7, the spot held last year by my dear friend Caron, she has climbed to number 4. My spot for the last 2 years was ...
I had been meaning to write a post reporting on the Dnipro football game that I experienced recently. However due to technical difficulties (read camera) I am delaying this. Much more importantly I taught my first classes today! The first was "Kids level 2" and the second was Pre-Intermediate teenagers (12-16). The first class was certainly an experience, being my first monolingual class (where
Something interesting landed in my E-Mail today: a complaint about illegal file sharing via Bittorrent. In itself, that's hardly remarkable. We get over a hundred most months and because we go so many, most are just automatically forwarded on to the customer without any comment or action. Most are one-offs but I've previously estimated about 34,000 people could be affected by the Digital Economy Act because of repeated allegations. This one wasn't well formatted though, so needed a human to look at it. It's regarding, from what I can tell, some sort of specialist computer aided design package. I'm really ...
It's good to see that headline, even cloistered, as it is, in the august environs of the FT, behind a free registration wall. Cleggie deserves a boost. He's doing a good job. And it's good to see such prominence being given to a humble LibDem Voice forum survey, in which I took part. But our national poll rating has halved, so why are members not up in arms? Well, firstly, I think there is a masochistic strand within the DNA of LibDems. We enjoy the occasional purging which comes with low poll ratings. We all thoroughly enjoy remembering when we ...
Dear Colleague, I expect that you will have read or seen the media coverage over the Bank holiday weekend about NHS Direct. I wanted to write promptly to you to correct any misleading impression that this may have created that NHS Direct as an organisation is being closed down. This is not what the Government has said, nor is it their intention. The Government has confirmed that the 0845 46 47
Joined with a group of residents on Moorland Road on Bank Holiday Monday to protest about the latest planning application to turn a shop into an office. Moorland Road already has too many estate agents and offices. It needs to keep to its retail classification.
I remain bewildered by the Right's conviction that AV will make it more difficult to remove a government and that this somehow counts against AV. The comments on this IEA piece are rather indicative. I suspect that this is going to be the main thrust of the No2AV campaign; not least the statements from the ...
So Tony Blair's book has finally been published. I have very much enjoyed reading the tweets about the book and as far as I can tell so far, there is too much information about him and Cherie, he doesn't think too much of Gordon (shocker), and he feels for those who fought for Iraq. I am holding off reading it for a while because even looking at pictures of him still makes me angry, and suspect that I may have a few issues with what he has written. I shall just make a donation directly to the British Legion and ...
The Member of Parliament for Redcar, Ian Swales, will be joining a fundraising bike ride on Saturday 4th September. The event is one of around 50 'Fresh Air Miles' events taking place across the country to celebrate 15 years of the National Cycle Network. The event is being hosted by leading UK charity Sustrans who help people to make smarter, healthier, cleaner and cheaper travel choices.Sustrans work with families, communities and partner organisations so that people really do have options. Ian Swales will be joining Philip Chisholm who is Sustrans' volunteer liaison ranger in Redcar on the bike ride.It will ...
On the day that Mister Tony's Erinnerungen finally hits the bookshops, as we've been constantly reminded on the news all day, it's depressing yet altogether unsurprising to see that the Mirror, which still carries some clout among traditional Labour voters, has decided to endorse the deeply uninspiring David Miliband as the new Labour/New Labour leader. Is it too much to ask that they pick someone who might just offer a glimmer of hope that they won't be in hock to the military-industrial complex, the corporations, and the banks? I thought the clue might have been in the party's name, but ...
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] May be this is just a story to plug his new book but... There have been some odd mutterings from Tony Blair today. He practically admits the failing of the last Labour Government: i.e. they failed to tackle the deficit, they failed to reform welfare and they failed to reform the NHS. In the Telegraph he practically stabs his friends in the back saying of Brown: Political calculation, yes. Political feelings, no. Analytical intelligence, absolutely. Emotional intelligence, zero Blair goes on to state that the Tories and Lib Dems have come together to deal with Labour's legacy, and ...
...racing driver Ben Collins apparently. Picture courtesy of The Telegraph The High Court has this afternoon overturned the BBC's request to not publish Mr Collins' autobiography, in which he claims to be the mysterious Top Gear driver. The producers of Top Gear argued that by revealing the Bristol born Ben Collin's identity, the aura that is so key to The Stig's brand has been removed. It is quite an interesting case, in that presumably Ben Collins wanted to defy his employers at the BBC and publish his book, or he would not have written it or agreed to a publishing ...
Recommended reading for Lib Dem councillors and local campaigners from the last seven days or so in the media: Aside from the Labour Leadership contest, the main political stories over the weekend focussed on: - debate on the future of NHS Direct, and its replacement by the 111 number. Here's how libdemvoice reported on the our minister Paul Burstow reassuring us that New 111 service will be better than NHS Direct. Here's the original story in the Guardian. - Chief Secretary Danny Alexander's statement on taxation. Here's Danny's interview in the Guardian; here's a rather critical editorial from The Telegraph.... ...
Originally posted at 04:18. Now updated with new information which in my humble opinion makes this vitally important and potentially a coalition deal breaker. Yesterday on my way to Liberal Drinks in Belfast I read a story that really got me seething, sadly I couldn't get signal on the train or it would already have been written up. Apparently the coalition government has used its European opt-out not to sign up to a directive that includes a common definition of trafficking which makes it easier to convict people across the 27 member states. Dennis McShane is up in arms about ...
Nominations open today for a series of positions within the machinery of the Liberal Democrats today, as follows; President Federal Executive (15 positions) Federal Policy Committee (15 positions) Federal Conference Committee (12 positions) International Relations Committee (5 minutes) There are, in addition, two more esoteric elections taking place; Interim Peers Top-Up List (15 positions) ELDR Delegation (8 positions) I have, in a spirit of openness, requested two nomination forms from the Returning Officer, and given that the election count is due to take place on my birthday, I may have more reason than usual to celebrate. These elections are more ...
It's almost exactly 10 years since I lost my father to bowel cancer at the age of 73 and almost a year to the day that Matthew's grandfather, who I loved as my own, died of the same disease at the grand age of 98. The latter fought the illness for five years, a great ...
As regular readers will know the Electoral Commission are investigating the General Election result in Wolverhampton South West after I pointed out that more votes were cast in the General Election in Wolverhampton South West than were issued - (also see
Just testing whether it's now possible to crosspost DW -> LJ -> Twitter all in one go... ETA: ... to which the answer is yes. Okay, I'm done with testing now - as you were. This entry was cross-posted from Dreamwidth, where there are currently [IMG: comment count unavailable] comment(s). View DW comment(s).
[IMG: Financial Times report on Lib Dem Voice survey] So starts today's write up in the Financial Times of the latest Liberal Democrat Voice survey of party members. It's a reflection of the media's current deep interest in talks of splits or absence thereof that the FT should have given a long page 2 column to the story no less. Full details of this survey and all the previous ones are over on Liberal Democrat Voice. The FT's story will at some point move behind its paywall, but here are the views Stephen and I express in the piece about ...
Looks like it may only work with default security set to public... ETA: Yup, that was it. Now I need to decide whether it's worth changing that setting. I will not be crossposting my comments, btw, so the entries and journals you don't want all of Twitter/FB to know about are safe from me.
Just testing LJ cross-posting to Twitter. Nothing to see here, move along.
I returned home last night to discover that my new wife had nearly had her head chopped off by the door to our loft, which had mysteriously swung open as she walked underneath. Spousal decapitation would have been a sad end to the day, although on the plus side, my mortgage would have been paid off. She escaped with merely a grazed neck, and my disappointment in having to do some emergency DIY was only compounded when I opened my post to discover the new issue of "Intelligent Life," the lifestyle magazine I get with my subscription to the Economist. ...
Yesterday, Twitter disabled the basic username/password authentication for client applications. This is a move toward greater security but it did mean that anyone using Gwibber will suddenly have found that their Twitter stream stopped updating. A mere matter of hours later and an updated version of Gwibber has been pushed out that supports the new "OAuth" method. People using openSUSE have two options to get hold of a fixed version. The first is to follow the relevant links on the openSUSE wiki entry for Gwibber and grab the version from GNOME:Apps. I just sent an update request for this package ...
August Bank Holiday saw Changes put on a Party in the Park. This was the first event to be organised by the Changes group and was modelled on a similar project in Peasedown St John. Cllr Nathan Hartley gave Changes the help of his experiences in putting on a community event. In the end lots of people came along and a great day was had by all and the sun shined I was impressed by...
TED talks ... about Orgasms
Many people who I have worked with in politics over the years, and readers of my old blog, will know of my slight obsession with process and organisational structures. The simple, but often overlooked, fact that the processes by which organisations make decisions has a direct impact on the quality of those decisions and thus determines how well that organisation achieves the outcomes it has set for itself is something I am always keen to remind people of. So I was interested to spot this in the coverage of the extracts from Tony Blair's memoir; 'Blair writes of his earlier ...
With direct Israeli/Palestinian talks set to begin in Washington, I was pleased to read this cautiously optimistic article by Martin Indyk in the New York Times. I heard Martin Indyk speak at last year's conference of J Street, an organisation which has much to commend itself to all Lib Dems with an interest in Israel/Palestine. It can be difficult to summon up much optimism for the Israel/Palestine peace process, especially in light of yesterday's tragic news from Hebron - and anyone whose politics prevents them from seeing this incident as tragic needs to examine their consciences. There is no valid ...
To be frank I am not inclined to buy or read Tony Blair's book. That is not to say that I am not interested in what is in there, just that I have a lot of other books to read first and I doubt if I will ever get around to it. Nick Robinson gives us a flavour on his blog. However, as he says Blair just confirms what had been speculated about in the first place, specifically: • Tony Blair blamed Gordon Brown for starting the cash for honours row which led to the first ever police investigation into ...
It's been a long time since I've been the healthiest in this house. We all have a nasty bug which involves misery in the stomach, throat and chest departments, but I seem to have got off lightest. Bob is utterly miserable and has a nasty cough which sounds a bit like there's a tubercular bull up the stairs. Anna is lying on the sofa, actually more miserable, congested, sore and washed out than she was yesterday. I was amused by her certainty that the fact that her throat sometimes isn't quite as painful is down to hot chocolate and not ...
As I am incarcerated in hospital for nine days, I have made sure that I have plenty of reading matter. Husband Matthew has been looking after me with fresh fruit and clean clothes, but now he is away on a business trip, it has fallen to my mother in law to keep me supplied whilst in hospital. This ...
It looks like the Gothic pub near Gatley Green has closed - for now at least. I don't have any firm information on why, and I don't know if it's likely to re-open as a pub. Gothic's closure follows on from that of the Red Lion a few months back and leaves three pubs in Gatley - the Prince of Wales, the Horse and Farrier and the High Grove on Silverdale Road.
There is a horrible way to have proportional representation in single member constituencies. Instead of counting the votes cast, draw one at random. That candidate is elected. The more votes a candidate receives, the greater the probability of them being elected. At a constituency level, this is very unfair to the individual politicians, particularly those who don't get elected despite being the most popular. However on a national scale across all the different constituencies, the law of large numbers means the net result will tend towards one that closely represents the will of the people. There are no wasted votes ...
As the political world starts its rather leisurely return to school, thoughts in the devolved parts of the country return once again to the problems of multiple referendums and elections on the same day in May 2011. And as Betsan Powys raises the very good question as to which of the various polls will be counted first, I'd like to pose one of my own. Why do we keep forgetting Northern Ireland? It may have escaped our notice, but their devolved government has (perhaps most miraculously of all) survived its four years and will be due elections in May 2011 ...
For a few weeks we've had on-off smells around the north west corner of Gatley (Altrincham Road, Lorna Grove, Dingle Grove, Frances Avenue, Green Walk and other roads in that area). Before last September when we had those smells, it was always a problem at Longley Lane tip with the green waste. They then built an enclosed building for the green waste on the other side of the site, with odour suppresant, which looked to have cracked the problem. Pam has been investigating these new odour issues, and the people at Longley Lane tip have been saying that they check ...
The gas works and the 'temporary' removal of the pedestrian phase at the junction of Lordship Lane with Barry Road junction (where Dulwich Library is) and vehicles, due to temporary lights, driving on the opposite side of the road causes me very real fear. This is exactly the scenario we had over at Peckham Rye/East Dulwich Road junction where a young school girl tragically died crushed by a lorry while trying to navigate the temporary situation on her way to school. Is everything being done to speed these works through? Can a temporary lolly pop person be assigned to help ...
But now? The news that MySpace is letting its users synch their status updates with Facebook is just a small curio.
Following on from the last blog post it isn't just women and children who are the victims of sex-trafficking. In Spain they have broken a male sex prostitution ring. Apparently 60 - 80 Brazilian men were given a travel bag and airline ticket to Europe (often flying into Schengen, Luxembourg before being moved to Spain. Once there they were under threat to pay back their flight expenses and kept in brothels and given cocaine, poppers and viagra and put to work as male prostitutes. To pay back their fees of over €4000 on top of daily expenses of up to ...
Mercury music prize nominees, Foals, are set to headline an electric and eclectic line-up at Freedom Gardens during this year's live music, dance and arts festival, Freedom, Friday 10th and Saturday 11th September. The Oxford quintet will top the bill on the Freedom Stage which will be based at the Hull College end of the gardens and covered by a large canopy structure. Foals will close a full festival programme in Freedom Gardens which includes dance spectaculars and the very best local and alternative bands running across two stages on Saturday 11th September from 11.45am. A further third stage - ...
I wish it were more broadly appreciated that respect for human rights has very positive economic benefits. Perhaps conservative thinkers would then shift from the default position of seeing them as an expensive indulgence. There are national security benefits too, but that's for a different post. Author and commentator John Kay argues against the inclusion of internet access as a human right (FT. com – registration required). This is in response to a BBC poll that finds 79% of the UK in favour. His objection is one of cost. In other words, he makes a mistake that many others do, ...
They do take fish quite seriously in Canada. On the East Coast, the decimation of cod stocks wiped out the Newfoundland fishing industry, leaving a shadow of a trade which employed thousands. On the West Coast, it's all about salmon. Last year, the number of salmon returning to spawn in the Fraser River system was at its lowest in recorded history, just 1.5 million, and there were genuine fears that salmon fishing in British Columbia might go the same way as cod fishing on the Grand Banks. The usual suspects were blamed, sea lice from farmed salmon, predation by sea ...
So, continuing my monthly stat porn figures for anyone who is remotely interested (I am so there), the monthly summary of my visitor stats according to google analytics is as below for August 2010. The busiest day on my blog last month was Tuesday 31st August and the story was about the coalition replacing NHS Direct but highlighting Labour's hypocrisy and lies on this as it was in their election manifesto, to do the very same thing - many thanks to Guido Fawkes for linking to the story. Last month I had 4,661 absolute unique visitors, nearly double the numbers ...
Tony Blair's enemies are legion. Many express themselves forcibly: he is a "political shape shifter", "unprincipled or deluded", "master of lies and spin", "the ultimate hypocrite". Gideon Rachman in yesterday's FT, suggests that the hatred of Blair is overdone, and that eventually a more balanced view will emerge. Perhaps this may be true about some of his policies in office, but the huge mistakes that Blair made are obvious to even an unbiased observer. The half baked version of devolution that Labour offered will cause us constitutional problems for years to come. Even what Blair regards as his greatest success, ...
In the Telegraph , Mail , Mirror , Express and Independent. I am disturbed by the disgusting level of homophobia (through comments) surrounding the origin of these rumours in a particular blog. There also appears to be only the thinnest veneer of "evidence" to support any allegations of an inappropriate relationship. Reports from an unnamed source of "body language" at a breakfast before the election is hardly what you would call a cast-iron, "slam dunk" case.
Wed 1st
06:45Whoniversaries 1 September: Burn Gorman, Destiny of the Daleks #1, Thorington, Roz's funeral
i) births and deaths 1st September 1974: birth of Burn Gorman, who played randy (and later undead) medic Owen Harper in the first two series of Torchwood (2007-2009). ii) broadcast anniversary 1st September 1979: broadcast of episode 1 of Destiny of the Daleks, opening episode of Season 17. Romana regenerates; the Tardis lands on a radioactive planet; the Doctor is captured by the Movellans, and Romana threatened with extermination by the Daleks. iii) dates specified in spinoff literature 1st September 1991: happens over and over again in the Suffolk town of Thorington. Incidentally, what happened to the sea? (as told ...
Liberal Youth Wales today announced they are relaunching their campaign for homophobic bullying guidance, revealing that the Welsh Assembly Government had promised everything and done nothing towards stamping it out. Oliver Townsend, Campaigns Officer for Liberal Youth Wales, said "It's plain wrong. Almost half of those who suffer homophobic bullying at school consider suicide as a result. The neglect Labour and Plaid Cymru have shown is despicable. There are young teenagers suffering every single hour of every single day. The weight of the statistics is a story of pain for hundreds of vulnerable teenagers across Wales, yet they are just ...
"What will my friends say, I can't tell them, they won't understand. What would my parents think? They'd be so ashamed if they knew. And my partner, what if they leave me? I can't tell the kids, they're too young and won't get it. I can't tell anyone, people will laugh. I might lose my job, I can't come out, the risk is just too high." This person has a mental health condition, just like millions across the UK and hundreds of thousands of people in Wales. In fact a quarter of people in the UK will experience mental ill ...
Although still busy dealing with residents' issues over the summer, Council is officially in recess until September and therefore I haven't had much council business to report for a while. However I have been baking and I was very proud to win first prize and the Bowerman cup for "Best Loaf of Bread" at the Leigh Summer Show. [IMG: Cup] [IMG: Bread] I thoroughly recommend a visit next year if you haven't been before. The highlight is the competition tent where you can see a fabulous display of vegetables, home produce and arts and crafts. If you fancy entering something ...
There is something distinctive about the North. As a Lancastrian who has lived on the banks of the Tyne all my adult life, I love it all from the Albert Docks to the Hull waterfront and up to the moors of Northumberland and Cumberland. I have always felt in discussions of Englishness vs Britishness a crucial link has been missed out. Not whether you are from the Government Office region for the North East, North West or Yorkshire and the Humber. I am a Northerner. I always feel like I have a lot in common with people from the north ...
The M6 toll road has been in the news recently. It has been criticised because it seems that toll roads don't solve congestion. It was opened nearly seven years ago and I have travelled on it a couple of times. Generally I stick to the M6 and there has only been one occasion when I regretted my choice of route. However I don't usually drive at rush hour and I can understand that many regular drivers would prefer to avoid the jams. There have been many times when I have been told that there was congestion on the M6 and ...
