LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Cheddleton should have a parish website. I've been looking at Parish Council Websites and making a few notes. The best have comprehensive information about the council plus general information about the parish. This website for Madeley Parish Council in Shropshire is a good example of the kind of site we should have. Ideally, Cheddleton website would have a list of councillors and contact details, information about the council and what it does, including copies of minutes of meetings, and pages on our churches and chapels, history, the canal and flint mill, the carnival, etc. It ...

This week is your last chance to see the Rirkrit Tiravanija exhibition at London’s Serpentine Gallery, and in particular the Resonance FM studio-type thing at the very centre of the building. In just over a week’s time, the entire inner structure will be dismantled in preperation for the next exhibition. I went today and took many [...]

by Phil Grant As Jabez Clegg, the first cuckoo of late summer, has noted, the annual season of A Level news stories and comments is upon us. Polly Toynbee is looking forward to settling down to Thursday's newspapers and their obligatory coverage of "hothoused supergeeks with monstrous strings of mega-results". Reader, I must confess: at least as far as the local press was concerned, I was once one of these hothoused supergeeks; thankfully, this was before the wide spread of the internet, so the pictures are likely to remain obscure. The more serious thrust of Toynbee's article is her ...

Labour was clearly impressed by the Liberal Democrat's election pledge of a fair deal for pensioners. How can I tell? Well this article in yesterday Guardian suggests so. However it appears that instead of taking them out of the unfair council tax as we were proposing and giving them a decent pension they are merely going to defer payment to the inheritors. So with one fell swoop they are going

Some top notch telly last night. After Mastermind on BBC Two came BBC Four’s Britpop Night, interrupted briefly for The Smoking Room on BBC Three and rounded off by the premiere of the new Franz Ferdinand video on Channel 4. The Britpop Story was interesting and full of nice clips (although some were lifted from Britpop [...]

Acronym of the day: SCABS - the Scottish Consortium for Academic Book Supply.

Whilst bored at work or if you've got the niece/nephew around, try this: PaperToys.com

Followers of my blog will have seen the NHS question about how many reorganisations have we had. We've yet another. The number of PCTs (Primary Care Trusts) nationally is to halve. This means merging East and North. (and then probably HoB and south). It would be nice if people would stick with one structure. There is a quotation (Which sadly does not appear to be a true quotation) We trained

The August 2005 issue of the Liberator is out - just received my copy. Had a quick glance - no time to read it now but it's a cup of tea moment I'll enjoy - I've got a mischievous sense of humour. The writers of some articles certainly go for the jugular. I can feel the squirming of several party movers and shakers. Not sure if washing dirty linen in public is the right approach but the Mag's certainly popular amongst party membersChecked which tit-bits are published online - Radical Bulletin 304 (my favourite ) - CHEADLE SAVES CHARLIE, rehashes ...

Backing [Ian] Blair (cf. Backing Blair).

by Peter Tabman-style, let's start with a song: There's only so much oil on the groundSooner or later there won't be much aroundTell that to your kids while you driving downtownThat there's only so much oil on the ground Can't cut loose without that juiceCan't cut loose without that juiceIf we keep on like we doing things for sureWill not be cool - It's a factWe just ai't got suffiecient fuel There's only so much oil in the earthIt's a fact of life - for what it's worthSomething every little boy and girl should know since birthThat there's ...

Oscar Wildebeest on the third Ashes test at Old Trafford. ADDENDUM: Oh, yes, that reminds me. Apparently someone on ITN news had the gall, after the second Test, to proclaim “has cricket finally become interesting?” Which is a bit like saying, “has ITV finally become shite?”Tags: cricket, the+ashes, test+cricket

The good news is that I have found somewhere to blog here in Burnham Deepdale. The bad news is that I haven't had any profound thoughts yet. One lesson I have learned is that it is not a bright idea to go walking in a prime tourist area (North Norfolk) in high season without booking accommodation in advance. I like to be a free spirit when I am walkng, but you end up staying in either backpacker hostels or luxury hotels. Still, the cost averages out over the week, so it is not a bad way of carrying on. Profound ...

The rather blunt dismissal of pleas to give the Welsh Assembly powers to restore hunting with hounds to parts of Wales was inevitable. As I said previously, this was always an exceedingly thin thread that the pro-hunting lobby was clinging to.The Government recognised that the plea for more power was never based on any principle other than self-interest. Most of those supporting the Middle Way Group are opposed to the existence of the Welsh Assembly and under normal circumstances would rather eat their own intestines than advocate greater powers for it. The only reason they are doing so ...

Thanks to a Guardian typo, this subhead from yesterday’s paper about the feud between the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Loyalist Volunteer Force suggests that the UVF will be rebranding itself to make it even less popular with Catholics: Ambush in morning rush-hour linked to feud between LVF and IVF Tags: guardian

Tuesday 16th August 2005 - Knowsley hosted a delegation from the Chinese city of Nanning today as part of the Memorandum of Friendship that has been established between our two communities. It is still early days but let's hope with China's growing position in the global economy that this arrangement can bring positive developments to the people of Knowsley and who knows maybe some jobs can be