I've been a Returning Officer for the Party's internal selections since 1989, and in carrying out my duties, I've covered a surprising amount of territory from Mole Valley to Stevenage, Harrow West to Faversham and Kent Mid, and including much of London. Apparently, I'm pretty good at it, good enough to have been appointed to act as Returning Officer for the last two European list selections for
9th October is “the Day Humanity starts Eating the Planet“ New research reveals rising consumption of natural resources is pushing the world into ever earlier ecological debt, or ‘overshoot’ New calculations released today show that from now until the end of the year we will be living beyond our global environmental means. Research by the US-based [...]
The Guardian reported this morning: Prisoners from countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA ) - which comprises the 25 EU nations plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein - will be offered a package worth between £500 and £2,500 to go home, rather than face detention while they are considered for deportation.Nick Clegg asked: "What has the Home Secretary been doing for the last six months if his efforts to solve the foreign prisoner crisis now amount to a vague pledge to sort the problem out by next spring, and an even vaguer plan to bribe them to go back home?But ...
I did some work tonight on the next edition of the Parliamentary Campaigner which is due out shortly. There's quite a bit in it about the Green Switch Campaign and a bit of a round up on conference. Which reminds me, I must get my report done on the Conservative conference. (Shouldn't take long to write up the policy side.) Some of you were spared my blog contribution this afternoon in which I
There was a time when ITV was thought to be a higher quality channel than the BBC. During the 70's and early 80 ITV had the top rated comedys, quality factual shows (World in Action), the best quiz shows and a news service that rivalled the BBC. Nowadays, its just such utter drivel. I watch ITV just once a week. What I watch is pretty low brow (The X Factor) but it is entertaining. For the rest of the week I watch no ITV 1, 2, 3 or 4 at all, except to occasionally watch the News. Now that ...
A post to recognise that today is the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China. Happy Anniversary!
Congratulations to Kingston's trampolining team who gained gold in the London Youth Games! The team does include two world champions, but it is still a terrific achievement to be the best of the 32 London boroughs. The trampolining team, including their managers, with their medals and trophy But they were not the only successful athletes in the London Youth...
The BBC reports: Some of Britain's waterways may have to close amid funding cuts which have led to 180 job losses, the organisation which runs the 2,200-mile network says. British Waterways blames the cuts on a £7m drop in its funding from Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Defra's cost-cutting follows a £200m overspend - which it blames partly on bird flu fears and new farm subsidies Farm subsidies do great damage to the third world, as the kickAAS blog emphasises. They have also led to the despoilation of the British countryside, as Graham Harvey's ...
I really liked a piece yesterday on the BBC Website - about Cameron hitting 40. It rang true: Forget the politics, it's a 40-year-old father thinking aloud. Have you noticed something about the Conservatives? Trying to look a bit more youthful, suddenly discovering that money isn't everything, obsessed with looking after the children. Yes, it's a 40-year-old man thinking aloud. David Cameron
Some very welcome news today. The government is to substantially alter the pay scales of troops serving for prolonged periods in conflicts around the world. Soldiers risk a lot for very little in terms of pay. One of the most shocking things is the vast pay bonuses (danger money) offered to private contractors and the small number of Civil Servants who visit areas of conflict. Typically, their pay is around £100,000+, tax free, for a year's 'Tour of duty'. During that time it is unlikely that they will experience much more than slight danger, and many of them achieve little ...
Jane Macartney writes in this morning's Times: If Beijing is not to find itself too far out of step with much of the rest of the world, it may even be forced to consider sanctions. It is a measure that Beijing abhors because of its foreign policy principle of non-interference. A passing Tibetan lama remarks: Bollocks.
The last time I wrote about my reading, I had just started Tristram Hunt’s “Building Jerusalem”. I am still ploughing on with that, but it is something that I am dipping in and out of rather than reading properly. Most of my reading is done before I go to bed or when I am on [...]
For my university's student newspaper, I interviewed Rob Wilson, MP for Reading East. Here it is, before it's even published: “I’ll have a Boris moment shall I?” Rob Wilson, MP for Reading East, says, as we take our seats in Dolce Vita. He thinks about it: “I haven’t got the hair or the 17-stone frame.” Mr Wilson was elected at last year’s May General Election for the Conservatives, overturning
The Labour Party were very smug tonight, as most of the cases against them were thrown out of court on a technicality. After the election writs had been served to elected councillors at the Town Hall, rather than at their home addresses. Only 2 Councillors were served correctly with writs at home - Cllr Salim Ullah (Bethnal Green South and Labour Whip) and Cllr Rofique Uddin Ahmed (Mile End &...
There's a new kid on the political media block.
Having been forced to go to my local Tesco Metro, I am convinced that there is something missing. That something is the phrase "Special Offer". Normally, when you go to Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, etc, aisles are festooned with "Special Offer" or "Buy one get one free" signs. However Tesco Metro seems to be an offer-free zone. Why is this ? Is it because Tesco feel they have a captive Market ? Tesco is after all the only grocery shop in my village. If so, it highlights just what a danger Tesco pose as they now have approaching one ...
Because I am a deputy headteacher who only teaches for 50% of the week, I am often asked what do I actually do. Well here is my answer, but at the end of the day I feel shattered. It has been non-stop all day, lots of meetings all on a different subject. Here is just a highlight: 1)Wroked on my NPQH (Qualification you must have before becoming a headtecher) 2)Meeting with a salesman
“The huge increase in numbers and the prevalence of short-term sentences is crippling to any attempt at a constructive approach to prison.” This was Cherie Blair, of course, back in 2002. (Hat-tip: the FT's Philip Stephens.)
Following various IT problems, I can now finally write what I was intending to say about Jack Straw’s remarks on his request for Muslim women who wear a veil that they remove it when he is speaking to them at his surgeries. My stance is fairly simple. I think that it would be better if [...]
I was planning to watch the second episode of the annoyingly-titled The Amazing Mrs Pritchard this evening to see what all the fuss was about, but now I see that More 4 is starting to show flaccid American drama Commander in Chief tonight at exactly the same time. Having caught an episode before (in the [...] 
Weight is the new black. A new week, a new article about weight either too high or too low. It would seem paradoxical that there's a boom in size 0 clothes occurring at the same time as shrill newspaper headlines trumpet a possible reversal in life expectancy due to excess weight. Are we really becoming a nation of extremes? Well, not really. You see, this article misses the point. A UK size 4 (a
I am taking a night off from work / leafleting / anything remotely taxing, to go and see James Dean Bradfield at the Manchester Academy. He is the lead singer from the Manic Street Preachers, and although my knowledge of his solo stuff is absolutely zero, I do like his voice. Other than that, I’m afraid I have little else to report today. A day of drudgery in the office, beginning at 08.30, and
The very sad death of snooker player Paul Hunter yesterday only serves to remind us all that Cancer does not discriminate, it can affect anyone at any age. My wife's family have suffered at the hands of cancer, and my wife, as a result is keen to raise money for research in to cancer. She does the "run for life" almost every year and we both give regular payments to Cancer Research UK. I know that giving a few pounds each month really isn't very much, but it is groups like Cancer Research UK that are really pushing the ...
Oh dear. Walking into work this morning at my usual clip with a slight drizzle in the air, I got to a set of sliding doors with a shiny metal plate they run on. I stepped onto said plate, slipped and eighteen stone of British beef landed on my left (fortunately) elbow. They think it's broke. They might try to fix it tomorrow when I go and see the ornithologist, orthodontist or whatever he or she calls herself. But for the moment I am in perpetual pain with every slight movement - I've never felt more in ...
I’ll be honest, the title for this blog wasn’t my first choice. When the other Headington councillor first offered to help me shuffle my superannuated (by his standards) way into the third millennium, he held out the possibility that I could be in vino veritas. That would be my style – and would probably reflect my state when posting late at night. But somehow that didn’t happen. I can only assume that it’s already been bagged by AA blogging backsliders or some other distinguished outfit. At this point, and before I go any further, I should ...
Yesterday, The First Post’s Mole (hat-tip Guido) revealed that: John Reid, the bookies' favourite to challenge the Chancellor for Labour's top job, made it clear to Brown privately last week that he would not stand against him. Despite encouraging signs during Labour's conference, Reid has realised that support for a serious challenge isn't there. Odds are that, having made his peace, Reid will
Given the choice between cleaning my oven or pulling up some weeds, the oven would win any day. I'm not a gardener, I'm afraid. I do understand the pleasure that a lot of people get from being out in the fresh air among the plants, but it has never really captured me. So composting was always a mystery to me; a highly technical process that produced good brown stuff that...
Despite only starting recently Welsh Conservative blogger Glyn Davies has embraced the medium enthusiastically, even getting a fair amount of publicity for his efforts. Is he about to be eclipsed by his leader though? I have just stumbled across a blog site under development in the name of Nick Bourne. It can be found here. I do not believe that he will be going off message much. Has he been influenced by David Cameron's ventures into internet technology or is this just a token effort set up for the election period? What are the chances of Nick video blogging from ...
Today's Western Mail records the increasingly desperate attempts by the First Minister to dig his government out of the hole it has got itself into over Alun Pugh's Christmas cards: The Assembly Government was forced to admit that more than £3,000 of the cost represented legal fees on checking out copyright law, even though the company which makes Scrabble had waived its right to a fee. Opposition politicians have strongly criticised the scandal, which was first reported in the Western Mail on Saturday. Last night the Assembly Government issued a "statement of clarification" after earlier confirming to ...
Stephen Tall, Blogging Queen of the Year (2006), wanted to hide from public view a photo of himself holding a baby by putting it onto his blog so that it would be hidden from view by anyone else on the planet. (A Liberal Goes A Long Way). In an attempt not to be outdone and with like minded spirit of not wanting it seen by anyone else on the planet, I have sorted through my folder of photos on
James Graham’s review of last night’s More 4 film Death of a President is spot on. His summary - “utterly pointless” - is the same conclusion I reached. Here’s a review I posted up last night for Daily Kos readers. UK digital television channel More 4 this evening transmitted the first broadcast of Death of a [...]
If medical records are held on someone then they should be provided to them. What I cannot understand is why the University Hospital of North Staffordshire have not yet done this with the Special Case files.
Parliament returned to business yesterday, which meant the Parliament Choir also came back. We had an excellent (or so it felt from where I was singing!) rehearsal, so I thought I’d flag up our next concert. The choir will be performing Elijah in Westminster RC Cathedral on Wednesday 6 December at 7.45pm Tickets are £10, £17.50, [...]
Parliament has only been back for a day and we already seen a prime piece of idiocy. A little improbably, Sir Stuart Bell (sometime author of the steamy Paris 69) was answering questions on behalf of the Church Commissioners. Here is the supplementary from Mark Pritchard, Tory MP for The Wrekin: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that bishops should be appointed on their spiritual and administrative attributes and skills, not time served? If so, what is the Church doing to recognise such skills earlier in those clergymen who have not served 20 or30 years?Where to begin? Perhaps by asking what ...
The growing disconnect between the voters & the politicians they elect is one of the seemingly intractable problems facing political parties today, and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard some hand-wringing politician crying crocodile tears about the “you’re all in it for yourselves mentality” which prevails amongst the general public. Of course [...]
It is very interesting to see how the media have jumped at Jack Straw’s comment on the wearing of the veil. There has been relative little speculation about Jack Straw making a pitch for deputy leadership and why he chose this topic. They simply opened their mouths, or grab their pens, and let it all flow. It’s quite amusing to read journalists write about something they know nothing of with such
I watched More 4’s Death of a President last night and, to be honest, I rather wish I hadn’t wasted 2 hours of my life. I don’t have a problem in principle with either mockumentories or a drama speculating what would happen if Bush was assassinated. I enjoyed the BBC’s If… series as well as [...]
The Home Office now estimate that the cost of delivering and running the ID card scheme over the next ten years will be £5.4bn. All well and good (apart from the ID card part of the announcement) as the figures fall in line with the figure of £5.8bn previously estimated by the Home Office. The government has published this information as part of its first bi-annual report to parliament as required under s37 of the Identity Cards Act However, I couldn't identify anywhere on the Home Office website where the breakdown of these costs was given. Eventually I ...
A series of blog posts recently has led me to think about the realtionship between the liberal and the state. Liberalism is largely defined by a committment to individual freedom (liberalism is an individualist philosophy, every individual is of equal worth, all have the right to determine their own life). This leads the liberal to some complex areas which are still under much debate, but
According to this story, the Nedap ES3B can be privacy compromised by eavesdropping on radio emanations. It is not clear from the story whether the machine must be tampered with first, and the manufacter of course insists their machines will be clean. Transparency is the Achilles heel of e-voting. Building a machine which faithfully records votes is easy. Building a machine which can be seen to
So, is Japan a nuclear power now, or not? Bets?
On the day of the funeral of Anna Politkovskaya it hardly seems necessary to point out the failings of the Russian Federation. The narrow view of the Russian regime about its own national interest marks them out as a country that does not believe in the benefits of free trade. The Kremlin sees power as a zero sum game, in every case there must be winners and losers. The idea that a given course of action could lead to winners on all sides is pretty alien to thinking that was conditioned by the brutalities of the KGB. The pattern that ...
The news of the huge pay differentials between male and female workers in the City Council has broken across most of the broadsheets and "quality" tabloids, and the Metro, today. The figures pretty much speak for themselves, and will take years to sort out so that there is any kind of "equal pay for work of equal value". As someone who has gone through two equal pay audits while in my work place, I know and value the fact that as an organisation I am being equally rewarded for my work as someone doing completely different, but at an equivalent ...
I almost missed the UKIP Conference, easily down I know, it took place this weekend in Telford. The only exciting news I can find from it was their Leader in Wales, and UK-wide Leadership candidate (yep bet you missed that one too!) Richard Suchorzewski resigned. 
There is lots of mention today about Laurie Draper and his "cannabis induced" instant psychotic episode (in the Telegraph), or is it, as the Guardian says "hypomania" in Soldier killed friend's father in drug attack that supposedly led him to kill a friend's father with whom he had been sharing a pipe of cannabis. There is no denying that his victim is dead, and that Draper killed him. But I would be intrigued to know what the medical evidence was. Because certainly the media coverage either cannot get it right or is reporting some cod science used to ...
Saturday: Daddy Richard has had nothing to write for AGES so it is about time I put him to work again, don't you think? Fortunately, the BBC have come across with a new series for him to review for me! It is called ROBBING HOODIE and the SHERIFF OF NEO-CON. I THINK that there might be some sort of SUBTEXT! I wonder what Daddy thinks… Even before the launch of the official Doctor Who spin off "Torchwood" (thoughtfully trailed at the end of tonight's episode) we get as good as the next "son of Doctor ...
It is great to see that work has started on Europes largest wind farm. The project will take three years to complete and will generate 322 megawatts of electricity - enough to power 200,000 homes. I am a great fan of wind power. The picture to the left is of the Ecotricity Wind Turbine at Green Park, Reading adjacent to the M4. I drive past this one a couple of times a day and I have to say I think it is beautiful. The more the merrier I say and they claim that the scottish scheme will save 250,000 tonnes ...
Thanks to BAGnewsNotes I've seen this striking picture from Vanity Fair. They are four veterans of the current Iraq war, and as far as I can tell, they are all standing for election. A brilliantly composed group portrait of some feisty people. The lady, by the way, is Major Tammy Duckworth, she's standing for Congress in Illinois and here's another picture of her here: According to
How about this for a quiz Don't look at the bottom and work your way down before scoring yourself Sadly I only scored 3 out of 7
"I feel frustrated. I feel the whole mode of modern British Government, Whitehall and Westminster, is in a profound way counterproductive." So says Andrew Phillips, as he would want to be known, and we should listen. Personally, I would add anti-democratic, dysfunctional, depressing and, more than anything else, increasingly unnecessary. He goes on to say: "We have politicians and civil servants who have done nothing outside parliament. All they are fit for is passing new sky blue laws." In a century we have swapped one ruling class for another, plutocracy for psephocracy if you will, where careerist spinmeisters ...
The City Council Cabinet discussed its commitment to tackling climate change and to ensuring a sustainable future for Birmingham at its meeting on 25 September 2006. Deputy Council Leader Cllr Paul Tilsley (Lib Dem, Sheldon Ward) said: "The Sustainability Statement is a high level expression of the City Council's commitment to sustainable development. It will inform everything we do and result
News reaches me of Tory hopefuls to be London's mayor are jostling for position in Bromley Council. Due to come out of the block is John Horam's former bag carrier Peter Hobbins. This man has only been on Bromley Council for a few months, but is setting his sites at the top - well probably the top of the list of Tory hopefuls to replace John Horam when he retires (which must surely be at the
Design ideas for Eastside City Park, which will be Birmingham's first major city park for over one hundred years are now on show for public comment. The designs are being displayed at Millenium Point from today (9 October) until 23 October 2006 and will be shown on the hoardings around the Town Hall in Victoria Square, although you can also view them (and comment) online. People who comment
Technical Announcement - I have just upgraded this blog to the Beta version of the new Blogger. If you spot any bugs or problems, please do not hesitate to let me know. You can use the comment function for this purpose. | < | October 2006 | > | ||||
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