11:44 pm
Thanks to James Robertson for pointing me to this site in response to a call for fresh thinking on how to fund the EU after 2008. I'll no doubt return to this in the future but for now just have a look. How we can finance the EU and get a dividend back. Technorati Tags: EU, monetary reform
11:17 pm
Labour's latest headline-orientated crime initiative is to find a way of indirectly criminalising children under the age of 10. Parental Compensation Orders, up to the value of £5,000 will be issued against the parents of delinquent tots if it can be shown that the activity the child was engaged in would have been a crime for an over-10. The level of the fine will reflect the cost of the damage done by the child. The scheme is being trialled in ten areas, of which Southwark is one. The South London Press has highlighted that this new law exposes some ...
11:14 pm
Chistine Axsmith was fired from the CIA because of her "classified" blog. As the Washington Post explained: Christine Axsmith, a software contractor for the CIA, considered her blog a success within the select circle of people who could actually access it. Only people with top-secret security clearances could read her musings, which were posted on Intelink, the intelligence community's
10:55 pm
As our Lib Dem Tax Commission prepares to promote its policy paper in advance of Conference, where members will have to debate and vote on adopting what are really quite complex policy issues, and the Tories are getting the evidence together for their own tax policy group, William Norton helpfully outlined a "ten point briefing on tax policy" at ConservativeHome today. It hasn't generated as much interest as the Bow Group suggestions from yesterday but it's equally important for the questions it seems to ask of policy movers and shakers when they are considering tax direction and what can be ...
10:29 pm
Two things. Via the UK law students comes this most quirky of stories: A high-profile New Zealand lawyer has decided to wear women’s clothing to court to highlight male bias within the justice system. Rob Moodie, 67, arrived at Wellington’s High Court on Monday in a blue women’s suit, stockings and a diamond brooch. OK… In other news, [...]
9:33 pm
I'm sure you've all by now read the story about Mark Oaten stepping down at the next election. I have to admit to being slightly surprised, although the possibility had been discussed. I was told a while ago by a...
9:27 pm
Mark Oaten has announced that he will not stand in Winchester at the next election. This is not a time for mean-spirited comment - but if by any chance you do want some mean-spirited comment, I recommend Paul Walter or James Graham. Lord Bonkers, as ever, was prophetic. Here he is writing in March of last year: At Westminster I encounter a naggingly familiar figure in a grey suit. “Hello,” it says, “my name is Mark Oaten.” I look him up and down. No moccasins, no tomahawk, no feathers, but eventually I recognise him. “Rising Star!” I exclaim, “What have ...
9:19 pm
I was very grateful for the informative comments left after my post about Duddridge v Prescott. A local observer tells me that certain developers are seeking to spend large amounts buying up everything they can in Southend - budgets of 40 billion pounds have been mentioned, which seem excessive, unless they've found oil under Southend Pier.....
8:59 pm
The BBC reports: Three men have been cleared of trying to procure a substance which police claimed could have made a "dirty bomb". They were arrested in September 2004 after trying to buy "red mercury" from an undercover reporter. Why the inverted commas around "red mercury"? The BBC explains further: The most bizarre aspect of the trial of Abdurahman Kanyare and his two co-defendants was the fact that no-one in the court could be certain whether the terrifying substance on which the entire prosecution case was based actually existed. The prosecutor, Mark Ellison, admitted the police had ...
8:33 pm
From the Leominster Journal : A Shobdon teenager highlighted the stance of London peace campaigner Brian Haw at a Sports Relief event in North Herefordshire at the weekend. While scores of people jogged around a designated track at Luctonians’ Rugby Club in Kingsland, 13-year-old Simon Davey crawled round on a skateboard to draw attention to the enduring one-man protest mounted by Brian in June 2001 outside the House of Commons. The Wigmore High School pupil completed his challenge in support of the protest, which directs messages of peace against the ‘war on terror’. All Simon’s sponsorship money will go ...
8:19 pm
The BBC reports: Jockey Paul O'Neill has apologised for the headbutt on a horse which could see him punished by the Horseracing Regulatory Authority. He will be asked to explain his actions by the HRA next week after the incident at Stratford was caught by TV cameras. That's all very well, but shouldn't the HRA also investigate what the horse said to provoke him into doing it?
7:03 pm
Mark Oaten has announced that he will be standing down as an MP at the next election. Very wise. Sighs of relief and triples all round!
6:36 pm
I’ve been told off for being rude about Mark Oaten too often on this blog. So I will just say that what is Winchester and Westminster’s loss is Z-list celebrity reality TV show’s gain.
6:28 pm
Disappointed by the distinct lack of punnage in Chris Huhne’s press release about Cadbury’s today. Okay, there is “melting away” but that is obvious. It does remind me of a press release I wrote for one of his erstwhile European colleagues a few years ago though: “Yesterday’s news will be a boost for Cadbury’s workers in [...]
3:40 pm
Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, and a finalist in the New Statesman New Media Awards last night Jo Swinson, has criticised his outspoken attacks on TheyWorkForYou: “Mr Straw has seen fit to attack theyworkforyou.com for using ‘quantitative rather than qualitative’ measures to assess MPs’ performance. Sites like this are in their [...]
3:32 pm
I was very saddened to learn that Tom Frame died earlier this month. Tom was a letterer (literally someone who writes the text in comics) for 2000AD and several other UK comics. For me, he was the letterer for Judge Dredd, and like a lot of early-2000AD stalwarts for a whole generation he will be better [...]
2:19 pm
Last night, I attended the New Statesman New Media Awards. My old mate from the All Party Internet Group, Derek Wyatt, picked up the award for Best Elected Representative Site for his newly redesigned personal site. Nice clean design and plenty of new information. Derek had a hand in the original Labour [...]
2:03 pm
An interesting take from Gaby Hinsliff of the Observer. Do the Tories feel they'd be better off losing next time so that Brown can implode 2010-15 and they'd get in with an even bigger majority?
2:01 pm
My Jack Straw pledge now has 51 signatories - just over the halfway mark. But with three more days to go, can I urge people to sign up - and get their friends to sign up? Cheers! Oh - and blog it. Ta.
1:59 pm
There has been a brief blogging interlude as we have taken delivery of new arrivals into the Allan household. Eleni (left) and Alicia (right) were born just over a week ago and are the apples of their father’s eye. *Sighs*
1:03 pm
Getting a new passport is a stressful business. You have to get an application form, read through all the documents (some of which you won’t need), and obtain passport photographs which, by law, make you look ten years older, several stone heavier and ravaged by an obscure tropical disease. Then you send everything off in [...]
12:09 pm
There probably isn't much I can add to the debate about the Middle East situation and our Prime Minister's latest folly. I would just like to state for the record that he does not speak for me. (And I've added those nice Lib Dem buttons to the site. Thank you Dr Pack.)
12:04 pm
Peter Black acknowledges the small step forward that is the Government of Wales Bill but comments: 'There is still a rocky road ahead until Wales has parity with Scotland' True maybe, but it might be worthwhile remembering that the constitutional arrangements presently in operation in Scotland are far from settled, so you could well be chasing a moving target!
12:01 pm
On Sunday I caught some of 'Pick of the Week', one of the items was a french street musician playing Sex Pistols covers, on his accordian, in french. This reminded me of the band I was briefly involved in. We were just in the process of initial rehersals and were playing a kind of basic bluesy rock with country tinges. One of the guitarists brought along a book of Sex Pistols songs wanting to
11:15 am
It may be a glorious summer but today it turned pretty dismal for the Labour Assembly Government.The Western Mail reports that despite efrfectively sacking Gerant Talfan Davies as chair of the Arts Council for Wales and replacing him with his own nominee, the Culture Minister still cannot get his way on the direct funding of Wales' top six arts companies.Under Alun Pugh's plan, the Arts Council would no longer be responsible for funding Welsh National Opera, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, literary body Welsh Academi, dance group Diversions, Clwyd Theatr Cymru and Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru. Together the six companies ...
11:01 am
The granting of the royal consent for the Government of Wales Bill today is undoubtedly an historic moment. The spin is that this Act of Parliament will settle Wales' constitutional position for a generation. I am not so sure. There is still a rocky road ahead until Wales has parity with Scotland and, even though, as Dafydd Elis-Thomas said this morning, all the tools are available in the Act to get us to where we want to go, there is always politics to get in the way. Specifically, this Act of Parliament is built on the notion of ...
10:28 am
Today's Metro says that the cost of a passport is to rise by 29% to £66 on 5 October. This is of course to pay for the introduction of the first phase of the government's ID Card scheme. The Metro also said that the collection of 'other' data, again for the ID Cards, will start at the end of the summer. You can still avoid this extra expense and intrusion by renewing now!
9:52 am
From the papers and the web today.... Panic in Welsh Labour The Welsh Labour Party are worried that a Lib Dem/Tory alliance might take the assembly from them next year. NHS Cash Crisis Dozens of hospitals are facing acute pressure...
9:16 am
I must admit I missed this one as I wasn't aware that it was illegal to fly a flag in the first place. All this probably fits in with the politically correct barking mad world in which we currently live. See also my post during the world cup on this sort of nonsense. I was probably too closely involved in watching the world cup to notice that someone was being threatened with prosecution for displaying the national flag. Anyway hats off to Yvette Cooper for displaying some common sense - a trait which is all too ...
9:03 am
I read the news today, oh boy, it appears that the Millenneum Dome, owned by Philip Anschutz whose ranch John Prescott visited, is topping the Super Casino short list. Quel surprise! The panel have just announced their provisional rankings for the first time and instead of answering questions it leaves a lot more unanswered. Just how much Government influence was brought to bear on this decision? Did Prescott's relations with Mr Anshutz have anything to do with Anschutz either shaping his bid to best fit the criteria or to allow influence on the panel from the Deputy Prime Minister? The ...
8:51 am
In 1940, as the confidence debate on Chamberlain's government reached a climax, Arthur Greenwood rose to speak. Afraid that he would not condemn the failures of the government and deliver the coup de grace, from across the floor of the House a cry rang out: "Speak for England, Arthur!" Though the Middle East crisis is a less immediate crisis than the fall of France, the way that the British
8:31 am
Back in April I wrote a piece about a particular Anti-Social Behaviour Order handed down to a chap from Blackbird Leys in Oxford that banned him from his family home for the rest of his life. I was particularly concerned about the draconian nature of the punishment - a modern day banishment redolent of some Shakespearian mediaeval Italian city state run by a tin-pot tyrant. Now today the Oxford Mail reports that this particular ASBO has been quashed by a judge on appeal, who said that the evidence presented was little more than local "tittle-tattle" and did not stand ...
12:52 am
Just back from London, having been at the New Statesman New Media Awards, hosted by the Staggers' genial proprietor, Geoffrey Robinson, at Hyde Park's Serpentine Gallery: swanky on the inside, municipal on the outside. (I thought about trying to live-blog it, but was worried I'd spill canapes everywhere. Oh, and that it'd look tragically sad.) Guest of honour was David Miliband, one of my
Monday 24th July 2006,
Sunday 23rd July 2006,
Saturday 22nd July 2006,
Friday 21st July 2006,
Thursday 20th July 2006,
Wednesday 19th July 2006
