Stephen Byers’ call in yesterday’s Torygraph for Inheritance Tax to be scrapped might have been better regarded had it not been presented in such a blatantly populist, intellectually empty, and anti-Gordon Brown way: It would be difficult to overstate the political impact of the abolition of inheritance tax by a Labour Government. It would send out a powerful message as to the political direction
Most modern notebook computers generate so much heat that it’s not safe to use them on your lap. They can cause male infertility, and burns. There’s a market in solutions to this problem like the iLap. I’ve found another solution: the Mac OS X Internals book. Available here. With the OSX book heatshield, your threads [...]
From Matt Hughes' Times appreciation of Michael Essien's perfromance on Sunday: Even Stuart Pearce was impressed, refusing to blame Essien for his part in Bernardo Corradi’s sending-off despite a clear tug on the Italian striker’s long, lank hair. “He’s got lovely hair, I pull it all week,” Pearce said.
Last night, I was able to attend the Community Celebration organised by the Southwark Muslim Council at the East Dulwich Community Centre. Prof. Dawud Noibi spoke eloquenty about the true nature of Islam and rightly denounced those carrying out terrorist attacks in its name. I spoke briefly about the importance of religion in the community - particularly [...]
The City Council is currently consulting on proposals to prevent free leaflets and publications being distributed in the City Centre from 1 December 2006 without prior permission. This is designed to prevent the problems that this causes, such as the amount of leaflets that are quickly discarded in the street (as shown in the picture). From April 2006, the Clean Neighbourhoods and
I was always thinking I should start to write a new Website. There has been a Yardley LibDems site for some time. The problem I have with this site is that it is inside my company's intranet. That means I have first to get into my company's network and then into the server. That makes keeping it up to date much harder than just using FTP to upload files. When I first started setting up
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust is consulting until 23 October 2006 on its plans to become a NHS Foundation Trust. Foundation Trust status would bring greater financial freedoms (i.e. less central interference, at least in theory) and the creation of a membership structure for local residents, patients and staff. There will be a number of public meetings and the details of the
The Guardian tells us: Insurance firms have warned policy holders it would be "foolish" to think that they would be covered for burglaries if left their doors and windows open, in the wake of comments from the Metropolitan police chief that crime was now low enough that people felt safe to do so. Sir Ian Blair caused surprise when, in an interview published today, he claimed people were "...opening their doors, leaving their doors open now, or leaving them unlocked, certainly, in a way they haven't done for 25 years". Paul Redington, property claims manager at Norwich Union, said ...
Latest update from Jaggy Thistle; another amusing trashing of the plastic trots. And more of the same from a more polite source.
Iain Dale has tagged me with this meme... 1. Things that scare me: Daddy longlegs Dark water Fierce dogs 2. People who make me laugh: Alexei Sayle Leonard Rossiter The League of Gentlemen 3. Things I hate the most: Tyranny Snobbery Anti-intellectualism 4. Things I don't understand: What is so great about Mozart What is so great about Jane Austen Why some Liberals have an inferiority complex towards socialism 5. Things I'm doing right now: ...
Disgraced former Labour Minister Stephen Byers, is off on one today about Inheritance Tax, or rather scrapping it by raising Green taxes. My party would at least agree with the second half of that, but instead focus the benefit on taking people out of Income tax altogether by raising allowances. On Inheritance Tax (IHT) itself we'd tighten up some of the exemptions but otherwise leave it unchanged. Personally, having started more in favour of IHT than others like income and VAT, I've become more agnostic over time on this issue. I'm just not sure whether the tax is fair ...
I read with interest in the Denbighshire Free Press that 65% of your readers are for an extension to a two day Flint and Denbigh Show What marvellous news! And yet there are "show stalwarts" who have given a mixed reaction to this statistic! In fact our Tory North Wales AM says "It is not practical to extend the show to two days" I believe that it is complete madness to ignore the wish to extend the show. Having worked on the Federation of Small Businesses stand at the show, I was given the opportunity of speaking to many ...
I finally found the survey that compiled a rating for overall liberty from a variety of other surveys, such as the Random House survey (Click on the Heading for the details). Estonia is the freest country in the world- not a shock to those of us who know her! Then: IrelandCanadaSwitzerlandIcelandBahamasUKUSACyprusNew Zealand Of the leading EU economies, Germany is 21st (behind Latvia), Spain is 34th (behind Cape Verde), Italy is 41st (behind Botswana) and France is astonishingly 48th (behind South Africa). Horrifyingly, Russia is 124th- even Saudi Arabia is freer than the Russian Federation. In last place- North Korea- 122 ...
why is inheritance tax: "a penalty on hard work, thrift and enterprise"... When the people who would benefit from the removal of inheritance tax are the children of the deceased who have to do precisely NO hard work, show NO thrift and display exactly ZERO enterprise in order to acquire their welcome windfall (well, ok, the person dealing with the estate has to fill in some forms). If you
The Scottish Sunday papers are predicting that First Minister McConnell might be coming to a sticky end very shortly: Senior party sources warn there is serious doubt about McConnell's future as leader, amid growing concern that Labour will be hammered at the polls next May.Given recent byelection results, it does seem likely that Labour will be hammered, but I suspect that this has more to do
It was reported last week in the East Kilbride News that a member of the public had voluntarily contributed their own time, effort and money to improving community facilities by giving a much-needed coat of paint to a park bench. Admittedly the choice of colour could have been better - pink isn't to everyone's taste. But the response from local SNP Councillor Anne Maggs was typical of the
One common complaint that I get as a ward councillor is about police cars rushing all over Lewisham Central with sirens blaring. This can scare Liberal Democrats and others with a guilty conscience. More seriously, some people feel that might cause a serious accident and at the very least gives the impression (rightly or wrongly) that this is a high crime area and adds to a sense of insecurity.I wrote to Sgt Mark Whitten from the Lewisham Central Safer Neighbourhood Team and got the following reply:The drivers of the police vehicles are highly trained and need to take responsibility on when and ...
Way back when, when I was once a city councillor, I did take quite an interest in the development of the Town Hall. It's a great building, built by public subscription in the late nineteenth century to be the civic centerpiece of the city to match the grandeur of the university's buildings all around it. I imagine it was a vibrant place, all lit up most evenings with balls and dinners. It has housed the main courthouse in its time and the main city library. It was the drill hall presumably for the locally raised militia. ...
Football that is. A so-so week to kick off the fantasy season for me. 10 of my starting 11 played. I need to find out why Chimbonda didn't start for Wigan. In terms of leagues, I'm in 4 private leagues this year: 1 work, 1 friends, 1 Lib Dem [Cowley St and other types], and Iain Dale's league. If you fancy your chances of taking £100 of politicos vouchers off Mr Dale then sign a team up at the premierleague fantasy site, and join Iain's league with this code: 239252-43069
The Council is consulting residents about putting speed bumps along the southern part of Hither Green Lane. I know that speed bumps arouse passions among residents (for and against), so I thought I would check if there are any profound objections to my writing on the following lines:<p>"I am responding as a local resident and ward councillor to the Council's consultation on speed humps on the southern end of Hither Green Lane.<p>I think there is a definite need to stop speeding along this part of Hither Green Lane. However, I would like other methods to be considered as well as ...
Former Met police chief Lord Stevens says he should be fasttracked onto his flight because he doesn't fit the profile of a suicide bomber. Yet, some of the suspects currently in custody don't "fit the profile" (from the home counties, related to Tory activists etc). The storm about profiling has again raised its head, but profiling has been taking place for quite a while: Customs & Excise regular use it (if you arrive at the same time as a flight from the carribean, or asian sub-continent then nearly all the C&E chaps are looking at people coming off those flights, ...
I have today written to the Epping Forest Council to ask them to investigate ways to improve recycling in flats. Since last September I have been encouraging everyone at school to recycle. Each class (and the staff room) has a recycling box and in the dining room there is a container to put empty plastic bottles. The offices have separate bins for recycling paper. This has had a positive
According to today's Guardian even the Blairites think that Stephen Byers has lost the plot in his call to abolish inheritance tax. There may well be a need to carry out some reforms to modernise it but its abolition will both deprive the Treasury of £3 billion a year in income that will need to be replaced elsewhere and allow those who have wealth to pass it on without penalty, a situation that is both inequitable and inconsistent with most of Europe. What is interesting is the assumption in Byers' proposal that Labour have to out-Tory the Tories to ...
Today is the start of National Gut Week. According to a radio programme I have just caught on the subject 2.5 million weddings each year are disrupted by gut problems. No news on how many stag and hen nights are affected by this condition however.
Tryst Williams in the Western Mail reflects my views in his article on Rhodri Morgan's praise of Big Brother's Glyn Wise: In fairness to Glyn, he used his platform in the BB house to raise awareness of Wales at every available opportunity, either by speaking Welsh, wearing Welsh rugby tops or even by declaring that his favourite dish was Welsh lamb (what else?). And there's no denying that he was more recognisably "Welsh" than the show's previous "Welsh" contingent, dippy characters who might as well have come from Milton Keynes or Midlothian, were it not for their accents (just ... 
Redcar and Cleveland Council's libraries are coping with Atonement-mania as moviemakers move into Redcar to film author Ian McEwan's international bestseller. The work on creating the set, transforming a stretch of the town's Esplanade into 1940s Dunkirk, has already attracted hundreds of people to the town. When this week's hectic filming schedule is complete, involving 1,000 extras, a three-day localised daytime road closure on Newcomen Terrace, between Henry Street and Turner, next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - August 30, August 31 and September 1 - will allow the dismantling of scenery on top of the former Olympia Health Club. That ...
Strange things, holidays. I'm used to zapping from place to place, spending just long enough in one place to have to reorganise my packing before catching another plane. Restricted to one, albeit lovely, place, I'm beginning to forget about thinking - it's all becoming rather hard work. It is at moments like this that I begin to transform into 'armchair philosopher' mode, and start to dream of
This week saw the passing of General Alfredo Stroessner, former Paraguayan President and hard man, in a Brasilia hospital, aged 93. He is one of history's rare cases of a dictator who actually appeared to like the idea of being re-elected, although it would be fair to say that he was far from being a democrat, ensuring that there was no chance of his actually being defeated. It is perhaps an
The NUS have launched their "long-awaited" NUS Extra card. For a mere £10 students can get... well... the same benefits they have always had for free, plus a tiny bit more off in some places. If you don't wish to pay a tenner for something you previously had for free, then the NUS Democracy Card is for you. It'll get you, well, the right to vote in students' union elections and nothing else. If
Interesting news from the Philippines . There is precedent here. Denning took counsel from a jar of bees under his bench, who would whisper him the answers.
Somebody’s put quite a lot of effort into this internet vid about David Cameron, entitled ‘Digital Dave’. Its not bad, but I think it would be better if they focused less on his background and exclusively on the fact that he’s a vacuous git who constantly spouts facile bilge – rendering him unsuitable for premiership of this country.
Just in case you didn't know today sees a huge shake-up in the way post is costed. The size of the envelope is also taken into consideration as well as weight.
Peter Ridsdale may or may not have been banned from Elland Road. The Leeds United official site is silent on this one. The report from the BBC appears to imply that Ridsdale thinks he has been banned for life whereas Bates says he has not been banned. On a personal level I do not care that much whether Ridsdale is allowed in or not. Of far more interest is how he is allowed to play an ongoing role in the running of a Football Club.
A member of City Centre & Harbour Community Council raised with me concern that two more mature looking trees in Commercial Street (near former Arnotts building) had been replaced with new, smaller ones. Now had feedback from the Council's Forestry Officer, who explains why:- "We don't have any mature trees on Commercial Street; they are all less than 20 years old. What has happened is that due to the renovation to the Arnotts store some of the trees were in the builders' compound and got severely damaged, which I condemned. This was them ...
On behalf of the working group I’ve just posted up the final report from Meeting the Challenge. Fifty two pages and they couldn’t squeeze in a name check for me for doing the website. Bah. In time I may have something substantive to say about the content of the paper, beyond simply searching the PDF for [...]
The Sunday Herald quotes some good sense from the boss of Air Welshpool: In the next edition of Flight Training News, Lembit Opik, the popular Lib-Dem MP and a pilot himself, will let rip against the security hysteria. He says: “The unavoidable logic of the ever-tightening noose of security leads directly and quickly into a police state … What has happened is a very real compromising of our civil liberties … Risk management, not risk elimination, is the sensible approach.” Airline security needs “informed decision-making”, he goes on, adding: “Ministers are only concerned with checking everyone who gets on ... | < | August 2006 | > | ||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
