Tonight was the “First Annual Bury Liberal Democrats Dinner.” The use of the word “Annual” was somewhat presumptuous, because if the whole thing had been a disaster, I doubt it would have become an annual event. Thankfully, it was anything but, and I imagine there’ll be a Second Annual Bury Liberal Democrats Dinner. Probably in about a year… The night took place at the Woodthorpe Hotel, which had
I stumbled on Beppe Grillo's Blog this evening. I must confess that I didn't recognise his name, even though apparently he has one of the 10 most visited blogs in the world. According to Wikipedia: he is an Italian actor and satirist, and a campaigner on issues such as corruption and energy policy. His take on the US elections? Well then, is it true that Italy is getting to be ever more
According to the BBC Thai newspapers report that the new cabinet decided to give the leaders of September's coup additional pay on top of their monthly military salaries. The payments for the seven-member Council for National Security, (which amount to approximately $3,000 per person per month) were agreed by the cabinet on Tuesday. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont is reported to have defended the move, saying the extra payments were worth it to rid the country of corruption!!
I was inspired by the Kingston Camera Club show to upload a photo that I took today at City Hall.
I do feel rather diffident about taking photographs of expert photographers. This is Bob Brewer, the President of Kingston Camera Club, with two of his photos on the theme of Trees in Winter. You can see these and dozens of other superb works at the exhibition now on in the Art Gallery at Kingston Museum. I opened the show and gave out the awards, then allowed myself to be...
I was very encouraged, and more than a little humbled, by the next-day reaction to my column, and am tempted to pen another - despite the fact it’s filling column inches for free for Rupert Murdoch! For now though I’m posting up here the full text, and the feedback from the next day’s edition & [...]
This morning I represented Kingston at the first of several Remembrance Events. This was held in the stunning surroundings the Council Chamber at London's City Hall. After the ceremony I sneaked back in to get this shot of the wreaths laid before the book of remembrance. The views from London's Living Room on the ninth floor, where we had coffee, are quite...
Calne town councillor Ellie Bland, who has been suspended from the Tory party for sending a racist email, is the subject of a poll on her local paper’s website. At the bottom of the editor’s choice column they ask “Should Ellie Bland resign as a councillor over the racist e-mail joke she sent her council colleagues?” Current [...]
Ultimately the BNP won't be defeated by trying to censor what they say but by tackling the issue of social cohesion and poverty. We could start by building many more council homes to tackle the dire shortage of affordable housing in too many parts of London and elsewhere.
I am off to Birmingham tomorrow morning to train Lib Dems for a couple of days. Organiser of the training is Colin Ross - Training Officer for the West Midlands Liberal Democrats, and a long standing friend. Colin has been doing a great deal on exposing the Midlands Industrial Council - a shadowy organisation that pumps money, resources and influence into the Conservatives. The latest 
It’s no surprise that Alan Johnson has ruled himself out as a Labour leadership contender, opting instead to run for the No. 2 post. What is surprising is his definition of the deputy leader’s role, according to the BBC: The deputy must be "subordinate to and supportive of the leader, (carrying) out whatever duties the leader sees as being essential to securing a fourth term in office".“
Y'know, you can tell a lot about a man from his clothes... as ITV News observed of David Cameron: It's good the Tory leader was focused on what really matters during his party's conference - after all, still no policies to worry about.
Most people in the street do not know that their local council is reliant on government grants for a large proportion of the council's income. Those same people don't realise just how much the government has squeezed the money it gives to councils whilst at the same time they are asking councils to do more and more. So it is easy to see why people get so fed up with rising council taxes each year. This year, again, the fear is that councils will be forced to close more and more facilities and provide less services because ...
As over-consumerism sweeps the Western world, it is no better evidenced than in America where they actually have a day – November 15 – to rid the household of their excessive lifestyles. Nov 15 is clean out your refrigerator day. I just can’t get round my brain the need to remind the house-husbands of America that in the run up to Christmas, they have to clean out the cold storage facility? I say house-husbands, as I cannot imagine any woman in the world would need to be reminded of this. This post comes courtesy of 123 greetings.com ...
You've lost the Senate, you've lost the House, you're a lame duck President with plunging approval ratings - chances are you're a bit miffed. You gotta blame someone, and that person obviously can't be you. Here's your 'to do' list: 1. Take full responsibility, then 2. Sack the defense secretary you said was unsackable, and 3. Make a barbed joke at your chief political strategist's expense:
Norwich City football club does not have the large set of celebrity glory hunters that some teams have. I always resent people who are glory hunters, perhaps that is why I am a Lib Dem, and it is certainly why I am an Everton fan (please note, I started supporting them in 1978 and they won nothing until 1984 - most glory hunters give up long before then). Anyway, as many of you know, I am also a follower of Norwich City, and until yesterday our celebrity fan base that I knew off consisted of Stephen Fry (esteemed ...
A very productive meeting of the Central Dundee parking strategy "focus group" this afternoon, looking at improving parking for residents in both the City Centre and also the areas immediately adjacent including the West End. The Director of Planning & Transportation is now considering some draft proposals for consideration by the group in the weeks ahead. I have emphasised the need for consultation with residents on any proposals. Whilst at the meeting, delighted to hear that the City Centre & Harbour Community Council has successfully obtained £5000 of lottery funding to help its Hogmanay celebrations activities. ...
The blocking off of the entrance to the land behind Churchway and East Damwood road is happening. Hoorah. I have been working on this particular problem - asb and general dumping - for more than two years now and its good to have some sucess. This particular patch of land had turned into a general venue for anyone wanting to terrorise the people in the houses round the outside. .. it also appeared to be the general dumping place for stolen goods and burned out cars. We had it cleared umpteen times and got a bollard put in to stop ...
Seasonal events (is it that time already?) include: the Christmas Lights Switch On this Saturday (11 November 2006) at Millenium Point;a chance to see Father Christmas at his Grotto (from 2 – 24 December 2006) at the Bull Ring; the Frankfurt Christmas Market (16 November – 23 December 2006) in Victoria Square and New Street;and a number of productions at the city’s theatres, which the City
Julie Kirkbride MP (Bromsgrove) has now admitted to being the Conservative's Parliamentary link to the Midlands Industrial Council. She is listed as an "ex-officio" which may explain why her name was not revealed previously. Interesting she has also confirmed that other MPs have attended Midlands Industrial Council meetings.
White poppy’s, not wearing poppy’s and emblems in general are all other TV, radio, newspapers and the internet right now. Either because of Jon Snow refusing to wear a poppy on screen or a Christian group claiming the white poppy is more christian and peace loving. Personally I don’t like the idea of wearing a white [...]
Attended the Chelmsford Green Drinks last night. Good to meet up with others from Chelmsford concerned about the environment. One of the group was Frank Davis, a bit of an expert on peak oil theory. He is speaking at the Chelmsford Liberal Democrat meeting in two weeks time.
As I have named this blog "As I look out over this magnificent vista..." I have decided to introduce a sporadic feature (though no more sporadic than my general postings) of photographs of what are in my view, wait for it, magnificent vistas. There are many I could choose and when I have I'll head off with my digital camera and capture them, however it struck me that I already has a suitable
Astonishingly, counting continues here in the 1st Congressional District of New Mexico, although the incumbent Republican Congresswoman Heather Wilson has claimed victory, leading by 1607 votes at the latest count. There are still 4000 provisional and 'in lieu of' ballots to count, and Democratic challenger Patricia Madrid has refused to concede defeat. This could run and run...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1-5RDNF1jo and go to 1:48 in. It's best to miss out on the rest of the video, trust me.
ZZ Top and Steve Hackett are the featured artists in my rock show tonight. Tune into Palm on 105.5 fm if you live in South Devon or go to www.palm.fm and click listen live. You ...
Last night I attended, and Chaired part of, the Walsall Liberal Democrat. Due to local party re-organisation that the Liberal Democrats and all political parties are undertaking for 2007 onwards we ended up having five meetings last night, although it still took under two hours. It is not as bad as it sounds, but as a result we now have a functioning Walsall Borough Liberal Democrats with two branches ready to take over on 1 January 2007.
I was updated today on the appalling housing crisis in my area. There are now 5,800 families on the waiting list for regulated rent social housing and only 300 allocations of housing each year.&...
The BBC will on Sunday's Politics Show expose the secrets behind the Midland's Industrial Council (MIC), the secretive front organisation which funnels donations to the Conservatives whilst allowing donors to conceal their identity from the official list of party donors. Read about it HERE. The Tories have been quick to accuse Labour of dirty tricks when it comes to party funding, but the MIC is a sign that the Tory are far from whiter than white. Indeed, given the furore and fuss the Tories are trying to make of the Michael Brown money that the Lib Dems may have ...
American comedian Amy Lamé dropped me a nice email a few weeks ago mentioning that her show, Amy Lamé’s Mama Cass Family Singers (which I’ll refer to, for ease of typing if not ease of reading, as ALMCFS from now on), has a London run this month. One of the highlights of my Edinburgh festival visits*, [...] 
Certainly not Dave!
At the end of the Panorama documentary Has it got to be Gordon?, Andrew Marr closed with the following statement: Prime ministers are successful or not partly depending on the mood of the time. If the next few years are mainly about a bubbly consumer boom then perhaps Gordon Brown will feel somehow out of time. If, on the other hand, we're a more nervous country looking for security and reassurance, he could surprise his critics. It depends partly on whether he is true to himself. In private he endlessly quotes an American academic called Gertrude Himmelfarb who admires Britishness ...
Lord Sainsbury has had a better offer from a firm of shelfstackers....
During the last Liberal Democrat Conference I commented on Brighton and Hove's delightful practice of naming its buses after prominent local residents. I have now found a page that lists all the people who have been honoured in this way and provides links to short biographies of them. Hours of fun.
At least that is what he said yesterday: They made a wonderful row. Lord McNally, leader of the Lib Dems, then the lord speaker with whom, under the name of Helene Middleweek, I was at university, which makes me feel very old.
I am sorry for the lack of posting this week. My stepfather died on Wednesday afternoon aged 89 and I have been busy supporting my mother and doing grown-up things like informing relatives and registering his death. I have a little time between appointments now, so let's see if I can post some of the flippant material for which this blog is noted.
Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha), or Wat Phra Chetuphon, is located behind the splendid Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It's the largest temple in Bangkok and famed for its huge and majestic reclining Buddha measured 46 metres long and covered in gold leaf. The Buddha's feet are 3 metres long and exquisitely decorated in mother-of-pearl illustrations of auspicious 'laksanas' (characteristics) of the Buddha. For more information click here
After the passage through the House of Commons of the largest bill in British political history, our legislators seem shell-shocked. This is only the latest Companies Act to be addressed by Parliament in recent years. We have also had several Criminal Justice Acts too. The problem is that too many MPs do not see that regulation can be done implicitly through the interpretation of principle and existing Acts of Parliament and are determined to create explicit and micro-detailed Acts of Parliament- "some thing must be done about...". This is very dangerous and removes much flexibility and, in the case of ...
These, along with the Iron Bridge, Winnie the Pooh, Rolls-Royce, cheddar cheese, narrowboats, the Peak District (all of it, apparently), the Thames, red telephone boxes, Mrs Beeton’s cookbook, Wimbledon tennis, Westminster Abbey, the robin, roses, the V-for-Victory sign, the English weather and the stiff upper lip, join the 53 previously announced as Icons of England. Rather [...]
The BBC must be desperate for news. They are reporting about how the lib dems are preparing for a snap general election in October next year. If they had looked on Lib Dem Blogs they would have seen that Duncan Borrowman had confirmed this in October. I think any party would be silly not to plan for a general election each year. Let's just hope the local parties are also prepared.
Labour peer Lord Richard of Ammanford, who is the former Leader of the House of Lords, has picked up my refrain from 18th October about the very real problems and conflicts that the Government of Wales Act will bring. In today's Western Mail he warns that the new settlement could lead to clashes between Cardiff Bay and Westminster. Effectively, he says that there will be "too much scrutiny by Westminster and not enough autonomy in Cardiff." It is worth quoting his comments in full: He said, "My problem with the Act is really twofold: first, that it does ...
After tax, and the Green Switch, the Lib Dems open up a new policy/campaign front - this time the enemy is legislature itself. The Independent gives the story some coverage. BBC online previewed it yesterday. Also in today's newsEd Davey is preparing for an Autumn 07 election, according to a leaked report obtained by the BBC. Curious piece in The Daily Telegraph today (they so often are) from Annunziata Rees-Mogg who was recently selected to fight Somerton and Frome. From her article its difficult to discern the fact that the seat is currently held by David Heath, a Lib ...
"The researchers also concluded that Conservative leader David Cameron, unlike Tony Blair or Gordon Brown, has features prone to make people laugh."Oh, all right - BBC link. From now until Further Notice, Cameron will be referred to on this blog as "Mr. Funny Face."
You may also wish to enjoy this rather beautiful rarity, Mike Scott playing to Connemara schoolchildren. So happy Friday everyone! Except for the Managing Director of British Gas, I hope you have a shit Friday. And you're not allowed to watch the video.
Ivy Day in the Committee Room from Joyce’s Dubliners remains a strikingly accurate portrait of the of people who actually keep democracies ticking over. The ‘activist’ as a broadly civically minded, unambitious and rather gossipy character rings true more than ninety years after it was penned. Conversation in the committee room barely ever touches upon substantive politics, rather circling around personalities and the shared experience of ground level politicking. There will be always be an old codger eulogising about the inestimable virtues of a departed heroic party figure; in the story it is Charles Parnell. In Lib Dem circles it ...
Interesting discussion on Samizdata, in which a couple of people make the point I make - the Republicans are /not/ the friends of libertarians/liberals, just as the Democrats are not. The Republicans do not believe in a small state or civil liberties (as they have amply demostrated). I say the same things to those libertarians in the UK who throw their lot in with the Tories. The Conservative
I was very interested to read today that the Welsh assembley has made it compulsory for every school to have a school council. We're pretty good on school council's and pupil invovlement in York, but it has to be said that they do vary in quality and influence from school to school largely dependent upon the staff in respective schools. In Wales this will become a thing of the past as...
The linked article (slightly old apologies, from October 2006) relates to how flooding at one mine caused a jump in prices of Uranium. With the issues about either scarcity of fossil fuels or carbon emissions there have been discussions about Nuclear Power. It is quite clear that there are constraints on the availability of Uranium. There are arguments that there is only enough Uranium to
This is the infamous 'nude' calendar produced for Awel Aman Tawe to promote wind power and featuring naked Plaid Cymru AM, Rhodri Glyn Thomas. Apologies for the lack of warning. A number of people have commented to me on the unfortunate juxtaposition of the naturist AM and the slogan 'Yes 2 wind'. I have had to point out to them that the calendar is concerned with alternative energy and has nothing whatsoever to do with flatulence. Oh, yes!
The BBC report that John Marek has finally resigned as Chair of the House Committee. Apparently, it has been confirmed by an Assembly Parliamentary Service spokesperson. In what must be the longest resignation ever the Deputy Presiding Officer finally handed in a letter........uh...sorry...I must have dozed off. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Last night Irfan Mustafa came from fourth place to win a safe Labour seat in Clementwood ward (London Borough of Redbridge). The result was: Lib Dem 904, Labour 715, Tory 377, Independent 65, Green 49, British Public Party 48. In May (only five months ago!) the result was (taking top vote for each party): Labour 1,424, Tory 477, British [...]
I have been in a training session in Cowley St today learning how to use Pageplus. If you use Pagemaker and haven't tried the new system, I recommend it! Duncan Borrowman is a dab hand at Pageplus and put on the training event. We have another one next week.I left the office at 7.30pm to meet up with Richard who lives in my flat and have a meal before heading to KX for the 9pm train to Newcastle.
After last night praising the way they do things in the US, with my example from Arlington, VA of how in local government it seems Americans are encouraged to innovate and compete one with another, we heard on Thursday in another one of these league tables in the UK that Oxford City Council gives 'poor value for money': OXFORD has been revealed as one of the poorest value-for-money district councils in the country. Oh dear! This is not a criticism from me of the current incumbents in the corridors of power at the Town Hall, nor actually ...
I know, it's pathetic.
I asked this question a few weeks ago when I heard Chris Huhne talking about carbon trading being a better incentive than carbon taxing for businesses to make cuts in their pollution output, but nobody responded with an argument either way. Now, in Obscenity of carbon trading: The Stern Review's emphasis on carbon trading is wrong, Kevin Smith argues; only cutting emissions at source will curb climate change. So I'll ask again, since Kevin Smith doesn't actually put forward any mechanism by which people and businesses should be encouraged to cut their emissions. You see, the air ...
My favourite Labour website Ministry of Truth writes about the Great Repeal Bill: It’s not often I have anything positive to say about the Lib Dems, but just for today I’ll make an exception in the case of their proposed ‘Freedom Bill’ or ‘Great Repeal Bill’, which they also called it. Okay, so its pretty much a gimmick with little real prospect of going anywhere other than the Lib Dems website,
Lib Dem Blogs has ebay advertising on it. You can't blame Ryan for it... You can't blame ebay for it... but following a link there tonight: ebay user fortiter2 - there was a day I would have murdered you in your sleep for this mistake! | < | November 2006 | > | ||||
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