This website appeared last Thursday - "LABOUR'S BIG CHANGE". There's a lot of stuff here that I sympathise with : If Labour is going to win the next general election, we need a fundamentally new direction of travel for the new Government after the election of a new Leader and Deputy Leader. We need more than corrections of where we have clearly gone badly wrong – over Iraq, Lebanon and
I don’t often write about my day job. Partly that’s because politics, and this blog, is a refuge from my work. Partly because it wouldn’t often be appropriate. Mainly because it would be dull for you to read, and for me to type. (All or some of which may apply to this post, too.) I work as development director for St Anne’s College in the University of Oxford, responsible for fundraising, alumni
Could you be the Samuel Pepys of cyberspace? From police chiefs and politicians, to students and teenagers, millions of people worldwide are taking up writing weblogs, or internet diaries, enabling them to speak to the world at a keystroke. Latest reports from internet experts indicate that 100,000 new blogs are created daily, and 1.3 million new posts made on existing blogs - currently thought to number around 57 million. And as the mainsteam media gradually wakes up to the potential of blogs for informing the news agenda, their influence is growing. Some have even ...
As I trekked round most of the North of England today (specifically, York - Harrogate - Leeds - Settle - Carlisle - Preston - Manchester) a question dogged me; what does the party really think of LDYS policy? I ask because it has now become something of a professional concern; as an LDYS Executive Member I've taken on a portfolio loosely entitled "Policy and Education" concerned with improving
Political Opinions brings together postings from British political blogs of all persuasions.
Anyone see Spooks tonight? I know "M" doesn't think too highly of it, but it's fascinating viewing for me. The imaginative conspiracy theories of BBC script writers and all that. Tonight, the last in the current series, is about some environmental activists, "Divine Earth" threatening to stop the Thames barrier being lifted to stop a spring tide surge that will carry a 6m wall of water up into central London. They are doing so in order to have a top secret government plan exposed that sets out their alternative to the Stern report's recommendations...that the UK and US ...
Five years ago Norman Lamb, Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk was raising concerns about why a debt ridden county like Tanzania where a sizeable part of the population was starving, was spending millions of pounds on a military air traffic control system, the specifications of which were far too high for the countries own needs. At the time, Norman asked why £28 million was being spent on this and why it was personally approved by Tony Blair. Now The Times and The Telegraph highlight corruption claims regarding this deal. The Telegraph reports that The MOD and Fraud ...
Yesterday's Sunday Times had an article on Elspeth (wife of Ming) Campbell's memories of her father Major-General Roy Urquhart. As everyone knows by now, Urquhart was the character played by Sean Connery in the film A Bridge Too Far: During the course of filming Urquhart got to know Connery and “because they both loved whisky and golf, they got on quite well”. With apologies for the headline.
Momentum origianlly hoped to find £5000 to enhance the lives of children with cancer at Kingston Hospital. Two years later it has raised £150,000 and had a royal visit. And last night I began to see how Bianca Effemy and her team had managed that. We attended their fundraising opera evening at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington. I don't think I have ever been to a...
I have just found time to catch up with yesterday's episode of Torchwood and finally worked out what it is that is bothering me about it. With Dr. Who the doctor comes in and sorts out the mess and the leaves without any thought as to what he has left behind. We are able to suspend disbelief to accept this because we have moved on with the Tardis. In the case of the Torchwood Institute however, they are rooted in their community, people are being killed all around them or being attacked very publicly by aliens. How can they ...
A local dinner-nanny (the lady who patrols the school playground at lunchtime) recently noticed that two children had wrapped a skipping rope around the neck of a third and were about to heave it tight. This childish prank (used to execute put of favour Turkish rulers in the not too distant past) was happening some distance away, so she uttered a playground stilling bellow then ran to save the
I was privileged to be allowed to take this photo of the Torah scrolls in the Kingston, Surbiton and District Synagogue yesterday afternoon. The scroll with the large crown is very special indeed and I was there for a service that celebrated its history and re-dedicated it for use in Kingston. The scroll, containing exquisite Hebrew script, originated in Ostrava...
"So its alright to take drugs because if the government stops you, they'll have to pay you some money in compensation, right ?" What does a drugs education teacher say to a pupil who asks that today ? What message does this send out ? The news, widely reported, that the government have settles out of court to drug users who were denied drugs when imprisioned, is appalling. It's a crazy system that allows drugs users to demand drugs, illegal drugs, that the government have to supply, or the government can be sued. Rather ...
In a piece entitled "Murdoch makes up his mind on Dopey Dave", Private Eye reflects on the changing attitude of our Rupe to David Cameron. In July, Murdoch declared himself "undecided" on the Chameleon. In the middle of October, the Sun was running Arselekanean headlines such as "Cameron for No 10". Then Rupe himself "dropped in for a friendly chat with Sun editor Rebekkah Wade". All of a
Iain Dale's Diary has a link to my story yesterday about Tesco, Fakenham and the closure of shops in the town. He points out the irony of the piece in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday saying that despite her pocketing of £1million in fees for ads she did for Tesco, Prunella Scales wants now to support independent small shops !
I did think that there was a chance of some humility from Blair, plus a new approach to Iran and Syria, on the Iraq problem. I am now a little nervous because it seems Monsieur Blair has dusted off his diplomatic megaphone: The prime minister believes the two states should be warned of the consequences of failing to help. Is it me? I happen to think that a large measure of humility is needed
It seems possible that a judgment by the European Court of Justice may mean the end of "booze cruises". We may be able to order low cost drink and fags on the internet, and then have it shipped to our door from places like Latvia. That is interesting. When my wife does our little booze cruises, I ask her to bring back beer, mainly brewed by Shepherd Neame in Kent. So in future, we will just get
A lot of campaigning coincided this weekend, so I got to spend some time in 3 different areas chatting with colleagues and members of the public as we canvassed and delivered. In Kentish Town, Camden, there's a by-election on after one of Labour's hi-fliers gave-up as a Councillor just 5 months into the job to go off and work for Ken Livingstone instead. Labour used to run Camden until May, but as with Southwark in 2002 lost badly to minority control after years of smug complacency. I'm afraid this particular vanishing Councillor rather assumed she would be getting a ...
...or a Les Paul ...or a John Birch Scientists in Australia have come up with a shirt which allows you to really play air guitar! It looks a lot of fun, and some great integration of technology. But somehow I am not convinced it will replace the Strat. Many years ago I recorded a TV duet between Hank Marvin in Sydney and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter sat next to my mixing desk in London. It was for a
I am going to have so much fun this week with my Cornish colleagues. A recipe for the Pasty has been found in Devon that predates the Cornish version by 200 years. Oh joy. On a more seriou... 
So outgoing Countdown presenter Des Lynam (an anagram of “Manly”, I notice) is to be replaced by Des O’Connor. I can get the appropriate CROONED for 7.
My Saturday blog referred to chocolate biscuits made by David that were left unsold at the end of our Blaydon coffee morning. So I brought them into Cowley St and put them in the kitchen to prove to colleagues that I'm quite a generous guy! They lasted about 5 minutes (with only a few crumbs left after the press office got to them!) Here are the responses: delish bisquits! - Laura
The World Wide Web is 16 today - born a year after I started using email (through the OU) and 4 years before I would start using cix conferencing - which I still do. So your question for today students is: Internet porn, blogging dogs, skateboarding duck - is this what Tim Berners-Lee envisaged?
There has been a successful campaign in Lewisham to save the Ladywell swimming pool. The (Labour) Mayor, Steve Bullock, had these lovely words to say about the campaigners: “I feel the passionate and enthusiastic campaign by Save Ladywell Pool, although challenging at times, is a great example of how local people can get their views heard. Their work [...]
The time is right for Redcar's Town Clock to come under the spotlight when a £230,000 refurbishment of the 93-year-old building is officially unveiled on Thursday, November 16. Children from the town's primary and secondary schools will tell the story of the King Edward VII Memorial Clock in a performance of music and dance in the High Street, starting at 4pm. Then Redcar and Cleveland Council's Mayor Councillor Mary Ovens and the chairman of the Friends of Redcar Town Clock Vera Robinson MBE will switch on the lights at around 5pm to illuminate the clock from dusk to ... 
From both the Sunday Mail and the Sunday Independent: “Labour party officials tried to hide details of millions of pounds in loans from auditors examining the party’s finances, it emerged. “Police believe the party went to extraordinary steps to conceal the fact that it had received £12million loans from businessmen nominated for peerages by Tony Blair.” More labour [...]
Commenting on the resignation of David Sainsbury, the Liberal Democrats said: “David Sainsbury was the best thing about the Government’s science policy. He provided continuity and an obvious enthusiasm“ oh, and: “In March Sir Menzies Campbell highlighted the obvious conflict of interest in having the Labour party in hock to one of its own ministers. Lord Sainsbury has [...]
Well I am officially worth £130! Bedford Liberal Democrats had their Promise Auction at the weekend. A day's worth of my campaigning time was sold for £130, cheap at twice the price if you ask me. I was bought by Mark Chapman of Sheffold in Bedfordshire.
On Sunday I went to attend the remembrance day service in Ely Cathedral. It was a wonderful reminder of my own school days and the continuation of traditions. The wonderful cathedral rises like an ocean liner above the bleak and rather wintry fens. It may be me, but I have never felt warm in the Fenlands. The Cathedral was completely full, so I stood at the back with a few other late-comers. The banners of the British Legion, Sea Cadets, Scouts, Guides, Cubs and Brownies were marched in, with a military band playing cheerful airs- although the pealing of the ...
Anglican martyr and more latterly ‘religio-politcal’ blogger Archbishop Cranmer might be amused to know that his image decorates a wall of ‘the Cardinal’, the pub next to Westminster Cathedral which drips with Papist memrobilia and portraits of the Roman clergy. To be precise, it hangs above the lavatories.
Jamie Whyte in the Times today makes a provocative case for political apathy. Democracy is required to defend our liberty and prosperity. When the people cannot remove a government, it is sure to descend into despotism, corruption and inefficiency. But we should not confuse our love of democracy with a love of voting and other forms of political engagement. Political engagement is worthwhile only when there are political problems.Jamie Whyte - The TimesAlso in today's news...Ultra-low turnouts in recent NHS trust elections have been put under the spotlight by Lib Dem health spokesperson, Steve Webb."These figures show Tony Blair's ...
I can't wait.
An interesting idea has been to pool the results of surveys of different aspects of democracy- transparency, press freedom, corruption etc. to create a table ranking the level of democracy in different states. Some very interesting results: Finland is number one, Myanmar (Burma) is bottom. Inside the European Union Greece does not even make it into the first division and Italy only just makes it. Perhaps even more worryingly - Bulgaria is also in the second division, whereas Romania ranks in the third division even below Serbia.
The Guardian reports that up to a quarter of all the wild goats living in Snowdonia are to be culled to allow sheep to graze more freely, to protect young trees and even to avoid car accidents. Apparently, feral goat numbers have almost doubled in the last five years to around 500. The animals are accused of coming down off the high mountains, marauding through gardens and eating flowers, knocking down walls and eating saplings in protected woods. Briefing papers prepared by the park authorities say that conservation efforts are being compromised by the goats. "[They] can potentially kill ...
I have spent a considerable amount of time critically examining Chris Davies MEP's ill-judged words with regard to Israel. To be honest, I thought that after this post and this post on Liberal Review that I would never re-visit this sorry matter. That was until Davies published this account of his visit to Palestine published on his website on May 19th 2006. Aside from a rather one-sided account of the Israel-Palestine tragedy given to Davies by a Palestinian Activist, there was at first sight nothing new or remarkable. Until, that is I read this passage [given in full]: TUESDAY ...
Up at 6.30am to be driven through a gap and glimmer of sunlight to the Central Station. My train to London was late leaving Newcastle but I am now on coach F and will be passing Durham shortly.My list of things I need to do this week is a rather long one. It includes: 3 Focus leaflets 2 members' newsletters 3 email newsletters Phone the people who filled in the Post Office petition
Reading resumed normal service yesterday with a 3-1 defeat of Spurs which takes them above the team that finished fifth last season. There is still a very long way to go, but the victory and the nature of it will give Reading some much needed confidence as they head into a run of fixtures over the next six weeks from which they should hope to accumulate a few points if they are to fulfill their ambition of staying in the premiership. In the run up to Xmas they take on Charlton, Fulham, Bolton,Newcastle, Watford, Blackburn and Everton before back to ...
We have been very sad
I spent this morning at the Sixth Floor Museum, the scene of one of the more infamous moments in history, the assassination of John F Kennedy who, in November 1963, was gunned down from a window of the Texas School Book Repository building. You can look out of the windows onto the actual road where the Presidential motorcade was driving when Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly shot Kennedy twice, once
Apparently genes get names. I thought they were all numbers or something. And apparently some of them are now a bit, well, politically incorrect. I can understand - if you named one the "lunatic fringe gene" when you discovered it made a fruit fly twitch and now you find the same gene in a human and it controls, I dunno, whether one has a propensity to developing diabetes or something it could get a bit confusing discussing the cause of their diabetes in terms like "you have a problem with your lunatic fringe gene". So... ...
It's nice to know that I've attracted the attention of some in the corridors of power. After my post the other day about whether it was better to tax emissions or to give out emissions permits and allow companies to trade any surpluses with other corporations that need to buy more for whatever reason, I got an email from Chris Huhne tonight to let me know that he'd put something more about it up on his own website. I presume he refers to his speech in response to the Stern Report which contains lots of good stuff. Though ...
...or why we would still need Land Value Tax even if everyone had a home. One of the most common responses to the suggestion that Land Value Tax would be an equitable way of solving housing shortages is that "we don't need more tax, just looser planning regulations" enabling landowners to release more (and predominantly rural) land for additional housing. You can see these arguments out in force in the comments to a recent posting on LVT by PragueTory. It is also the core logic of Kate Barker's report on the housing market which the government has decided will ... | < | November 2006 | > | ||||
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