I’ve already been hugely impressed by YouTube and Google Video as means of sharing video, but thanks to the TechCrunch blog, I’ve now visited a couple of sites that are truly astonishing. jumpcut, motionbox, and eyespot all of which actually let you edit your video online and remix other people’s videos! Is this the beginning of the end for the [...]
Now it's official - The first Liberal Democrats' Blog of the Year award will be announced at the party's autumn conference - Send in your nominations - Mark Pack is anxiously waiting - he says in an email, "as this is a new idea, please feel free to drown me in suggestions about how it's an awful idea". The judging panel will include blogging MP Lynne Featherstone, website pioneer Ed Davey MP
This year, for the first time, there’s going to be a competition for the ‘Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year‘ at conference. There’s an online entry form on the federal party site. The party has declared an interesting criterion: the blog that has done the most to promote liberalism in the last year Not necessarily the same as [...]
'Nuff said, or this blog's going to end up looking like Guido's: Caroline Flint: New Labour's 'Minister for Fitness'.
That nice Mark Pack just left me a welcome comment. Most important fact in his post was a link to the place on the Lib Dem website where you can nominate people for the Lib Dem Blog of the Year award. I popped right over and typed in the following: I would like to nominate Liberal England http://liberalengland.blogspot.com/ It’s [...]
Last night BBC2 showed Accused - a remarkable documentary on the Orkney "Satanic Ritual Abuse" case of 1991. I cannot find a page on the BBC site devoted to it, but this news report includes some of the material from the programme. Although it included dramatic reconstructions of some of the interviews social workers conducted with the children, what was most impressive about the Accused was the way it allowed all the participants in the affair - including the children, who are now grown up - to speak for themselves. In the case of the social workers this ultimately involved ...
I'm sure it could be so construed. Buying small vials of an oil like substance from Palestinian Arabs. Try it. It's great stuff. And if you're so inclined you can also ponder whether any of the trees listened in to the sermon on the mount, or something. Clearly not one for your hand-luggage though.
Two blog meets at Brighton Conf Bloggers’ Reception Sunday 2100-2300 Gloucester room Hilton Metropole Blog Meet 2 Tuesday 1900 Evening Star 55/56 Surrey street Following an endorsement from Tristan that having a meeting in a pub as well as going to our posh reception would be a good idea, and following a recommendation on a nice pub not too far from the conference centre, [...]
My friends in the South London Press have been trawling this blog for stories again. The latest is the news of Punch Taverns’ decision , following sustained local pressure, not to put a mobile phone mast on the Crystal Palace Tavern. You read it here first…..three weeks ago!
The story of the day has to be the claim that English cows have regional accents. Now the Guardian allows you to judge for yourself.
Niles's Blog has spotted the following in the Liberal Democrat Conference agenda for (I think) the Sunday: Bloggers' Reception Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards Come and see the inaugural Liberal Democrat bloggers awards being presented and hear from some of the top Lib Dem bloggers, including Lynne Featherstone MP. 21.00-23.00, Gloucester Room, Hilton Brighton Metropole Does anyone know who has decided they are qualified to make these awards? Is it an official party thing? If so, it is a little too reminiscent of the Labour Party's idea of offering "an up and coming blogger" access ...
Privacy International are running an open competition to discover the world’s most pointless, intrusive, annoying and self-serving security measures. The awards aim to highlight the absurdities of the security industry. They were first staged in 2003 and attracted over 5000 nominations from around the world. Awards are made in the following categories: Most Egregiously Stupid AwardMost Inexplicably Stupid AwardMost Annoyingly Stupid AwardMost Flagrantly Intrusive AwardMost Stupidly Counter Productive Award
The last edition of the Sunday Herald carried an article investigating the payment by British Nuclear Fuels of £15,050 to a pro-nuclear Trade Union lobby group called Nuklear21. That an employer should directly fund a trade union is peculiar to say the least; that a state-owned company should hand over more than 15 grand of taxpayers' money to a trade union is obscene: Nuklear21’s expense claims
I've recently been drawn into an interesting discussion on Let's be Sensible about inheritance tax in the wake of Stephen Byers' recent comments. I can't deny an element of self interest in this debate, but responding to the commentary made has lead into examining the problem of passing on inter-generational wealth and a possible solution which I would be keen to hear people's views on. Let me begin by saying that I believe the crux of this debate lies in the legitimate wish of parents to help their children, but at the cost of entrenching wealth. Society has tried ...
It’s strange to think, if all goes to plan, that in a day and a half I’ll be leaving Scotland and heading into England, exactly one month after starting this walk. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt since setting off, it’s that Scotland is much bigger than you think. Consider that Inverness is regarded as [...]
A useful antidote to the repulsive racism of the popular press in today's Independent, and Herald. But Frank 'Redneck' Field has once again given voice to Labour's innately populist intolerance of immigrants, claiming: eastern European migrants were taking jobs at the expense of British workersMakes you wonder why the BNP even bother standing candidates.
So says Sussex University's SU President Dan Glass in: Student union bars ban Coca-Cola, about how the union has decided to remove Coke from its outlets. So, ironic that I noted this today too Nestlé reports profit jump. That last great NUS anti-corporation target seems to have been mortally wounded by the boycott, doesn't it? Personally, I boycott both, and a whole load of other things, and encourage others to do likewise if I get the opportunity, but banning it doesn't seem to make a jot of difference. And I'll bet the Sussex SU has lower turnover through ...
Courtesy of the OED: [< Anglo-Norman and Middle French mortgage, mort gage (1283 in Old French; also as gage mort (1267); French mort-gage (now arch.)) < mort MORT a. + gage GAGE n.1, after post-classical Latin mortuum vadium (from 12th cent. in British sources) < mortuum, accusative of mortuus dead (see MORT a.) + vadium pledge (see INVADIATE v.). Middle French mort gage {goesto} post-classical Latin morgagium (from 14th cent. in British sources), mortgagium (a1564 in a British source). Extended use (sense 1) is found slightly earlier in English than the technical legal sense (2); such extended use is ...
Over the last few days I have been thinking on the meaning of "a proportionate response" in the military sense. So here are three posers: 1. If a country were attacked with nuclear weapons, what would be a proportionate response? 2. If a country were attacked with a "dirty bomb", what would be a proportionate response? 3. If a country were attacked with chemical or biological weapons, what would be a proportionate response? In all three cases, assume the geographical origin of the weapon were known, and assume that the political origin were also known. Getting to grips with the ...
Campaigning MP, John Hemming, has welcomed South Wales Police's launch of an investigation into experiments performed by Professor David Southall of North Staffordshire Hospital on children. He has called for other parents whose children were treated directly or indirectly by Professor Southall who may have concerns, to write to him at the House of Commons so he can pass information to the
My posting last week, Another Lib Dem election? - wondering if the current Lib Dem president, Simon Hughes, would be re-elected unopposed, or would face a contest - triggered a vigorous response. And none of it will have made happy reading for Simon. All of those who commented on my article wanted an election, while Toby Philpott and Neil Woollcott both put finger to keyboard to urge a change at the top. So I’m going to upload a new poll tomorrow asking folk who they want to be ...
The council is consulting local people on their views about Goose Green and how this open space could be improved. You can download the survey here: Goose Green Questionnaire. The forms need to be returned by September 4th to Ursula.Allison@southwark.gov.uk
Last night I completed and emailed out the edition of my email newsletter eFocus that goes to the larger of the distribution lists I have of constituents in Blaydon constituency - 600 addresses. I included in it a link to the video newsletter I produce. If any Lib Dems want a copy as an example of using emails for mass communication to residents, drop me a line at j.wallace@libdems.org.uk. I
Following my email to Epping Forest Council I have received a reply today Paul Blamey, Parking Manager who has told me he will ensure that site surveys are carried out. He also informed me that each bin costs £400 without installation. I will keep you updated.
Monday Today we learn that children’s television channel Boomerang is to EDIT the versions of classic Tom and Jerry cartoons that they show. Why cut down these little slices of CARTOON HEAVEN, you ask? No, it is in order to remove any bits where we see our 2D heroes SMOKING. The people who have complained to OFCOM say that they are worried that children might imitate them. This seems very BIZARRE to me! Never mind that the next minute they might be hitting each other with household objects, ohhh scary stuff one or other of them might take a ...
If you ask me, smoking was an integral part of the First World War. As John Reid alluded to when he was in charge of the nation's health, a "one small pleasure" people who were about to die got. Songs - "While you've a lucifer to light you fag...", sayings - "unlucky third light" (never light three cigarettes with one match - the sniper spots you on one, aims on two and kills the "third light"), show how important smoking was. We can't just eradicate its place even if we want to eradicate the habit. So it seems ...
Accurately (have a bouquet The Scotsman and Gerri Peev): Voters warm to the Lib Dems as Labour suffers a backlash THE war on terror and the crisis in Lebanon have sent Labour's poll ratings plummeting to a near-record low, giving a boost to the Conservatives and especially the Liberal Democrats. In just one month, Labour's popularity plunged by four points, putting the governing party on just 31 per cent. Meanwhile, the Tories have gone up one percentage point to reach the psychologically important 40 per cent threshold, but it is the Liberal Democrats who benefited ...
The Scottish Licensed Traders Association has said that its members report a 10 per cent reduction in alcohol sales north of the border since the smoking ban came into force. The story is reported here on the BBC website. It has been amended since this morning and in its earlier version mentioned that smaller pubs were suffering more than the large chains. This makes my comments on this blog back in January seem remarkably prescient : ...the problem will be of accelerating the decline of rural village pubs and urban backstreet locals. The large vertical-drinking emporia will cope with ...
At Redcar & Cleveland's Grand Scrutiny meeting, held yesterday, the Council's Chief Executive, Colin Moore, was asked two questions about Coatham Links and these are the answers he gave: In answer to the question of whether in the event of planning permission being granted the Council had the resources to complete the Leisure provision he said: "The cost of the two swimming pools, bowling alley, leisure centre including five a side pitches and dance floor is £11.5 million. The Council has £14million secure through the capital receipt from Persimmon, Sport England Grant and prudential borrowing. This is £2.5 ...
It's official: the nanny state now has a minister for fitness.But as with all training regimes, we should be led by the example of the cabinet itself with such fine examples as Prezza and Brown. Every Thursday morning Caroline Flint should lead the cabinet in an aerobics class.I've known that I'm overweight/obese for sometime (since about 10yrs old...). But my BMI is currently on the way down (30.9), not through growing taller, but by shedding some pounds. Over the last 4 weeks, I've given up a daily can of coke/fizzy drink substitute, and a bag of crisps. So far this ...
News that families will have to pay back tax credits despite government errors. As a metaphor for this government - over-complex, interfering and inefficient - you couldn't do better. Tax credits are designed to help Gordon get elected, not to help those who need the most help.
Councillor Vera Moody, speaking as Cabinet Member for Economic Development, said: "Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has been told that an application for judicial review for a Village Green at Coatham in Redcar has been refused. "The Honourable Mr Justice Collins at the High Court of Justice, London, found that 'the inspector's findings of fact, following a careful and detailed review of the evidence heard over 6 days at the inquiry, cannot be impugned'. "This means that following a lengthy and thorough process of review the final decision is that the land at Coatham Enclosure is not a Village ...
Redcar's Kirkleatham Museum is offering another look back in time with its hugely-popular exhibition on the doomed ocean liner, Titanic, attracting over 2,000 visitors a week. The publicity which has put the town in the national spotlight with the transformation of the Esplanade into 1940s Dunkirk for the filming of the hoped-for blockbuster, Atonement, is also having a marvellous spin-off for the Museum. As total visitor numbers approach 20,000 since the exhibition opened nine weeks ago, staff have this week welcomed coach parties from Birmingham, Bradford and Durham en route to the seafront. Redcar and Cleveland Council's Cabinet Member for ...
I was amused by news that Tony Blair has appointed a “minister for fitness”, tasked with tackling the UK’s rising obesity crisis. Obesity can lead to terrible health problems but providing the public are made aware of these is it really the Government’s job to dictate lifestyle choices? If the answer to this is ‘yes’ can we [...]
The public will be given a fascinating chance to get an even closer view of Redcar Esplanade's incredible transformation into 1940s Dunkirk when filming for the hoped-for blockbuster, Atonement, is completed. The stretch of the Esplanade, from the Regent Cinema to the boating lake, has been out of bounds to the thousands of people who have flocked to see the action this week, involving 1,000 locally-recruited extras for director Joe Wright's adaptation of Ian McEwan's bestseller. The road closure is expected to be lifted some time on Sunday when the tons of rubble, which have been strewn across the surface, ...
August 23rd is the anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. This was a secret and criminal treaty that divided Eastern and Central Europe between Hitler and Stalin. It allowed Hitler to invade Poland a week later, without any fear that the USSR would intervene, and it allowed Stalin to crush the independence of the Baltic Countries and to seize half of the corpse of Poland for itself. Stalin also had a free hand to seize Bessarabia and turn that Romanian speaking land into a Soviet satrapy. Thus this monstrous bargain inflicted occupation and slavery on millions. All of course ...
I don't know whether it is because I grew up on public transport, but Bus Stops are strange places. They could be compared to churchs or the local pub where people come and meet, congregate. It is like a whole new world happens under the bus shelters. People talk. They talk about the weather and I am most certain they also talk about politics. Whether the area is getting better/ worse, the state of the environment etc etc. It is a moment where 2 or more people generally get together and talk about everything and ...
The Labour MP for Caerphilly, Wayne David was all over Radio Wales this morning criticising Cardiff and Ceredigion Councils for resolving not to co-operate with the introduction of ID cards. Quite why these two Councils were singled out is not clear as I am aware that Swansea has also passed a similar resolution and no doubt other Councils have too. What is more the National Assembly for Wales has also voted to reject the use of ID cards to access services paid for out of the Welsh block grant. They did so in June 2005 and Wayne's Labour colleagues abstained ...
Will’s posted his account of our day of walking. We never did manage to work out which boat was the Floaty Boaty, though.
Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell received a boost earlier in the week from a new poll showing that, in contrast to both Tony Blair and David Cameron, most people do not think he is 'all spin'. The MORI survey for the Sunday Times asked people - "Politicians are often accused of being all spin and no substance, would you say this is or is not a fair criticism of the following politicians?" Sir Menzies was the only Party Leader where more people thought it was an unfair criticism, Tony Blair recorded a massive 64% thinking it was a fair criticism. ...
The bid by Reading for Kilgallon has been a big talking point in our household with a Leeds fan (me) and a Reading fan (my son). I go to watch Reading with my son and although I would be extremely reluctant to let him go from Leeds for as little as the rumoured bid of around 1.3m I think I would also be reluctant to see him join Reading. I am not convinced that he is a Premiership class defender of the quality that Reading will need if they are to progress. I guess the fact that ... | < | August 2006 | > | ||||
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