11:29 pm
If there’s one issue guaranteed to make the blood boil of even the most moderate liberal, it is the despicable campaign that has been waged against asylum-seekers in recent years by the right-wing press. Their ignorant, hate-filled, reactionary assault is epitomised by this Daily Express front page; but it is by no means an isolated example. As Peter Riddell remarks in his article, Saving
11:16 pm
As regular readers (and there turns out to be an alarmingly high number of you - back away slowly) wil know I’m fortunate enough to be one of a 100 strong ‘rabble’ singing as part of two Proms in the Albert Hall this year. I wasn’t able to attend rehearsal three last week, so was keen [...]
11:07 pm
Now there's a question. Mick Hume introduces Spiked's "survey of writers, thinkers, academics and artists": Enlightening the Future 2024: Key Challenges for the Next Generation. There are some interesting contributions, and maybe this will help to rectify the lack of vision that now haunts British politics. The days when we had to fear people who wanted to impose ideological blueprints on us have long passed. The exercise is sponsored by Orange. I have always thought their "The future's bright. The future's Orange" commercials would make perfect Liberal Democrat party political broadcasts.
10:59 pm
Tonight at the Newbury Comedy Festival I saw Barry Cryer. Although a few of his jokes had a mustiness resonant of the musical hall, the man was a triumph and had the audience, including me, in stitches throughout. He must have told about 300 jokes in about 90 minutes. For someone aged 72, that is remarkable. He repeated a line which Kenny Everett said to him: "Baz! You have been married 30 years
10:53 pm
Here is a depressing statistic from an article on the BBC website: 48 per cent of telephone subscribers are now ex-directory. No doubt this has a lot to do with a wish to avoid sales calls. But it may also tell us something about the atomised state of life in Britain today. In America the figure is a lot lower. There is a telling quotation from someone in the article: "The people I want to contact me, I would give them my number. Why would I want anyone else to contact me?"
10:44 pm
The Newbury Comedy Festival is an absolute triumph this year. Last night we thoroughly enjoyed the "Wise Crackers" final which was a competition involving youngsters from Reading and West Berkshire. Hosted by the excellent Richard Thompson, it was hugely entertaining. One always feels for the young ones - a couple of whom were nine years old - taking to the stage to entertain. But they were all
10:32 pm
Tory blogger extraordinaire Iain Dale has dropped me a note to say that he's making this blog his blog of the week in tomorrow's (Wednesday's) Channel 4 News Morning Report podcast. Oh ok Iain ... here's another link to your blog.
10:25 pm
One of the things I discovered when I took on this role is that the Mayor is the President or Patron of a good number of organisations in the Borough. So I do get invited to chair or speak at several AGMs. Yesterday evening it was the turn of Global Arts Kingston, who ran the very successful Global Arts Bazaar a couple of weeks ago. It was encouraging to learn about the range of...
8:47 pm
I have been away on Holiday in Pembrokeshire for a week. As a result I did not have enough time to elaborate on my previous post - until now. I have included some more pictures in this post & a couple a video clips that I recorded on my mobile phone. The Bridgnorth Raft Race is organised by Bridgnorth Lions [...]
7:00 pm
Suffering Doctor Who withdrawal symptoms on Sunday, Richard claimed spin-off series Torchwood (starring Captain Jack) was available in movie form, and dragged me out of the flat to see it. Imagine my disappointment when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest featured the wrong Captain Jack*! All right, that’s a fib – I enjoyed it enormously. And in deference to the rest of Keira Knightley’s ouvre, it is a truth universally acknowledged, that every boy in possession of a rip-roaring aquatic adventure, must be in want of a giant squid. This one had tentacles to spare for the main villain. ...
6:35 pm
When the history books on New Labour are finally written, one subject that will fill volumes will undoubtedly be why it is that Labour are so obsessed with technological solutions to everything, and yet simultaneously so bloody awful at them. So it is that their new passport system has fallen over after just 18,000 applications. [...]
6:03 pm
I was very sorry to hear the death of Syd Barrett announced on Virgin radio as I was driving home. He was the "first creative force" behind Pink Floyd in the sixties. The first thing I would pay tribute to him for is "See Emily Play". It is one of the greatest pop singles ever produced. I am very proud of my vinyl 45 original copy of it. As well as being a mind-blowing recording, it is one of the finest examples of how vinyl can enhance a song. After years of playing, my copy has an extra "zing" which ...
5:49 pm
I read on John Hemming’s blog that people on benefits who are good enough to volunteer their time for worthy causes will be encouraged and valued by… Having to declare any money for food or free cups of tea, so the Department for Worthless People (as New Labour consider it) can cut their benefit. Gee, great idea. This comes from a Daily Mail-fed mindset that anyone on any sort of benefit is a cheat, who must be punished (except, of course, for pensioners, who Get A Raw Deal). John’s right to say how ludicrous it is to starve helpful people. ...
4:24 pm
Syd disappeared years ago and still news of his death comes as a shock. I spent my teenage years listening to his music, and have since replaced vinyl with CDs, and added to the original Pink Floyd and solo recordings with later collections and a few bootlegs. For me his brightest moment was certainly the first Pink Floyd LP - and songs like Matilda Mother and Lucifer Sam. The first solo LP was famously uneven, yet contains some songs that will never die Dark Globe, and No Good Trying for me). Nowadays I play some of his whimsical songs like ...
4:22 pm
This is the first of a two-part entry on defections, don't worry I have not jumped ship, but two Councillors in Walsall have from Conservative to Labour. Since the General Election I know three Councillors that have left the Liberal Democrats to either sit as an Independent or a Conservative and another that started his own Group and took six other Councillors with him!
3:50 pm
{BBC Also See} Just looking at Fifa investigates Zidane red card on the BBC website and noticed a few stories in the Also See section. Mad Materazzi, Fourth official saw Zidane action, How will Zidane be remembered?, France's arrival home in photos, An enduring hero to French immigrants, Trezeguet rallies behind Zidane, Zidane blames Materazzi insults, Zidane the flawed genius, Sent-off Zidane named best player, Zidane's red mist, Reaction to Zidane's sending off, Zidane off as Italy win World Cup and BBC pundits on World Cup final. Guessing BBC Sport don't ...
3:49 pm
Finally, some decency from the US Administration: All US military detainees, including those at Guantanamo Bay, are to be treated in line with the minimum standards of the Geneva Conventions. The White House announced the shift in policy on Tuesday, almost two weeks after the US Supreme Court ruled that the conventions applied to detainees. Just a shame that it's not so much that they've seen sense on the issue as that they've had to accept the need to comply with the Supreme Court.
3:38 pm
Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett (January 6, 1946 – July 7, 2006) I was saddened to learn today of the passing of Syd Barrett. For those who don’t know Pink Floyd, Syd was a founder member of the legendary band. But he was never able to realise his full potential, succumbing to mental illness which may or [...]
3:15 pm
Via Recess Monkey, today's terror threat level:
2:58 pm
Amazing plans to transform Redcar seafront into 1940s Dunkirk next month have been agreed by Redcar and Cleveland Council after a formal contract was officially signed following detailed talks with a major film company. Working Title Films believe the town provides the perfect backdrop for the highly anticipated film version of Ian McEwan's bestselling novel, Atonement, which will feature Keira Knightley and James McAvoy in the lead roles. The stretch of promenade, from the town's Regent Cinema to the boating lake, will become a film set as preparations take shape this month through to late August when filming ...
1:54 pm
The Times’s David Aaronovitch makes a compelling point in his article today, No, Mr Humphrys, there is no excuse for probing into the DPM's sex life: ... last Thursday listeners to the Today programme heard John Humphrys ask the following question to the Deputy Prime Minister: “There are now reports, and they’re circulating on the internet, as you know, that you have had other affairs — is that
12:30 pm
Good news from Oxford's Lib Dem group (at last some would say, but hey, it's only just two months since elections), who are manfully (in a non-gender-specific way of course) striving to clear up the big pile of number-twos that are the city's finances and operations after Labour's "ancien regime". In their itsie-bitsie mini-budget 'Putting People First' they are going to spend just £84,000 (and fifty of that only in this year, non-recurring) on four little projects that will bring glad tidings of great joy to many people in the city - well, something like that anyway... The ...
12:16 pm
My attention was drawn to the issue of just what those on benefits can or cannot do vis-a-vis volunteering by John Hemmings post. He is concerned about the issue of expenses for those on benefits who are volunteering and specifically the statement that those on benefits "won't be able to claim for buying lunch" because "the amount of Income Support or Job Seekers allowance you get is already meant to cover the cost of your basic needs including lunch". I start off from a very simplistic view of the world in that I believe that volunteering is a good thing. ...
12:12 pm
Imerys have announced their plans for what they call "reorganization of its UK kaolin operations" which amounts to the loss of 800 jobs late next year. This is terrible news for Cornwall and particularly the China Clay area of Cornwall, where stark rurality already presents a number of issues ... the loss of these jobs could potentially plunge some of these communities into despair and the finding of alternative jobs is going to be tough. It is clear that little can be done to save these jobs ... but just to give you a small insight to how integral the ...
12:11 pm
The Beeb is reporting questions over the future of the Government’s ID card scheme. Anyone who has ever come into contact with any Government database will be aware of the utterly desperate incompetence which inevitably accompanies it, and the overarching truth that such things never, ever work. The BBC report states that: In emails quoted by the newspaper, Peter Smith, acting commercial director at the Identity and Passport Service, reportedly says the organisation is planning for the possibility that ID cards could be "canned completely". David Foord, ID cards project director at the ...
11:59 am
Never mind the mistresses, look at the policy failures says MatGB. Here's the bulk of his impressive list (which draws upon a list by Tim Montgomerie) Council Tax rates have effectively doubled for most people in the last ten years, and the short term bribe in the 2005 budget for pensioners was abolished this year. The Standards Board for England is an anti-democratic monstrosity that puts those we elect at the control of quangocrats. Ken shouldn't have been suspended; it's teh electors job to fire him, no one else's Postal voting has been pushed and pushed and pushed. ...
11:57 am
Edward Lucas of the economist has an excellent article on his blog about the state of Russia under Putin and Putin's desire to create a greater Russian Empire. Well worth a read. A few choice quotations: Putin himself describes the collapse of the Soviet Union -- Stalin's empire -- as 'the geopolitical catastrophe of the century'. 'I know how much a congressman costs. What about an MP?' a
11:41 am
Guido Fawkes has posted a copy of a letter (shown below) from David Borrow MP, responding to a constituent's request for him to sign an EDM (Early Day Motion). Mr Borrow states that:-I am currently the Paliamentary Private Secretary to...
11:28 am
So, North Wales Police have abandoned their ill-advised investigation into claims that Tony Blair insulted and swore at the Welsh. I should think so. The BBC reveal that the cost of this ten month indulgence was £1,656.51. The fact that North Wales Police have costed it down to the last 51p is in itself deeply worrying. Can an organisation have obsessive compulsion disorder? If so then Mr. Brunstrom's force must be prime candidates. A prescription for a more strategic outlook and a dose of commonsense might help.
11:21 am
[Be careful with the link. It is a large document (700K) at the DWP website.] The DWP have decided in their wisdom that there is no such thing as a free lunch for volunteers on benefits. Any volunteer who gets as much as a free cup of tea for lunch will have their benefit cut. This is the key bit from the link: Remember, for benefit purposes, a person who is paid for their time isn’t a
11:02 am
20,000 young people take part in the London Youth Games, competing in over 40 sports, making it the biggest festival of sport for young people in Europe. This is a bustling and exciting event, inspired by a former Mayor of Kingston, Eileen Gray OBE, and I was delighted to meet up with her again this year. So it is congratulations to all those who represented Kingston at the Games this...
10:49 am
The media this morning is full of speculation that the Home Office is about to do another u-turn and abandon the controversial Police merger proposals that, up until a few days ago, they were proclaiming as essential to the security of the nation. How things change.The Western Mail reports that Home Secretary John Reid will make an announcement on Wednesday. This follows the withdrawal of co-operation by the Lancashire and Cumbria Police Authorities who, up until now, had been prepared to voluntarily merge. It seems that the terms of that merger, and in particular the financial settlement, were not to ...
10:36 am
There are several things which come out of the case of the NatWest Three.Firstly there is the case itself and the laws under which the three are being extradited:Contrary to some huffing and puffing amongst Nu Labour supporters, objections are nothing to do with anti-Americanism. It would not matter if it was (to take many people's idea of a social democratic utopia) Sweden who these people were being extradited to.I have three principle objections to the extradition: The US has not ratified the agreeement, thus they are using powers which have not been granted to the UK in ...
10:13 am
It is disappointing to read that DELGA and ALDTU are to lose [at least for the time being] their SAO status within the Lib Dem party. The crude and arbitary numbers rule of a membership of 250 has accounted for the Association of Liberal Democrat Trade Unionists. The party's initial position on the minimum wage deterred some erstwhile Labour supporting friends from voting for us at the GE, despite agreeing with us on many more policy positions than the government. We cannot be seen to have nothing to say about workplace democracy and rights at work. In short, the perception ...
10:09 am
{Pirates} Yesterday twelve of us went to see Pirates of the Caribbean. The film is a great action movie, with amazing CGI and stunts. The only problem, the film never ends. I've seen many films which are clearly made to promote a sequal, however they normally tie up most of the plot lines, leaving one or two to be carried over. In Pirates none of the plot lines end, so the film turns into a 2.5 hour trailer for Pirates 3. 5/10 {Omen} The Omen, saw this on the 6/6/06. Unlike the orginal this isn't scary. Instead of ...
9:56 am
So what to make of Boy Dave and hugging hoodies? I feel that Cameron is making a mockery of politics at the moment. How can people believe or trust their politicians when it is so cynical and so glaringly obvious that these gargantuan shifts in tone are about votes and not conviction? So whilst Dave sets mood music to be conned by, I remember back to my first Question Time (one week after I was
8:57 am
Oh dear another bad new s day for the Home Office and their computerisation. This time is is the online application of passports that they are unable to deliver. 5000 people are still awaiting for their passports which are still being processed out of a mere 18,000 applications. The system was only begun on 18 May and was withdrawn on 20 June with the promise that all applications would be
8:42 am
The Oxford Mail today reports (City chief 'may back the burn') that: Oxford City Council's new leader John Goddard has controversially not ruled out backing incineration to get rid of the city's waste in the future. Now this argument is getting tired, with the so called "constructive opposition" folk from the city's Labour and Green groups being consistent only in their disingenuousness and spin. I went to a conference in spring 2005 organised by the Oxford Inspires group - obviously they were already so knowledgeable that these political stalwarts of the environmental movement didn't ...
8:15 am
This is quite an interesting article signalling further advances in fertility treatment (especially for men) but in particluar this paragraph caught my eye"Prof Nayernia also hopes to create sperm from female embryonic stem cells, and eventually, eggs from stem cells.If he is successful, the work could give single men and women the possibility of providing both sperm and eggs for embryos - effectively allowing them to mate with themselves..." Is it just me or is that a little bit strange. Having spent time with friends who have had difficulties in conceiving naturally I have seen the heartache caused by an ...
8:14 am
I have some practical advice to anyone who believes the best response to teenage yobbos is to hug them, as David Cameron currently seems to be suggesting - and that advice is, don't. My attacker wasn't wearing a hoodie - this was back in 2000 and fashion in those days ran to a baseball cap and black and white camouflage Moschino trousers - and I don't think the rest of his gang were either. But undoubtedly their younger brothers are out tonight wearing them. His first couple of blows with the bottle opened up a wound by my ...
8:08 am
Well that is what some of the country's most senior Bishops have said. Nineteen Bishops have written a letter to the Independent warning Tony Blair that replacing Britain's Trident nuclear weapons would be "evil" and "profoundly anti-God".
7:37 am
Society sometimes picks the oddest yardsticks to measure itself by. Here's two passages from today's media:Life after Lea Grace Dent's brilliant Radio Times Big Brother Blog Optimistic Spiral is still certain that six weeks in the BB7 house is going to be one long "par-tay". "I like to party!" he tells Big Brother, "Where there's a party! That's what I'm all about!" Why the stupid boy didn't get an easyJet flight to Ibiza and spend summer giving out flyers, dancing on bars and copping off with pretty, E-addled teenage girls wearing thong bikinis is anyone's guess. Instead he's incarcerated in ...
1:32 am
The Independent today reports that US researchers have found that Magic mushrooms can induce mystical effects. By Jeremy Laurance, Health EditorPublished: 11 July 2006A universal mystical experience with life-changing effects can be produced by the hallucinogen contained in magic mushrooms, scientists claim today. Forty years after Timothy Leary, the apostle of drug-induced mysticism, urged his hippie followers to "tune in, turn on, and drop out", researchers at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, have for the first time demonstrated that mystical experiences can be produced safely in the laboratory. They say that there is no difference between drug-induced ...
12:55 am
Well done to Iain Dale on News 24 reviewing the Dead Tree Press tonight. He picked up on the ridiculous story of Andrew Phillips, the Lib Dem peer who wants to start taking things easy at 67 but has run foul of the house rules that say you can never really retire. You can take leave of absence but nobody's quite sure it seems whether that would reduce your party's presence or not and allow an extra place to be allocated next time there were a raft of party appointments. These are of course the same rules that ...
Monday 10th July 2006,
Sunday 9th July 2006,
Saturday 8th July 2006,
Friday 7th July 2006,
Thursday 6th July 2006,
Wednesday 5th July 2006
