The advanced discount conference registration rate (£45 for spring only, £79 for both 2007 conferences) lasts until next Friday, December 15th, so for the lowest price you should register as soon as possible. Both events return to the locations of this year’s: Spring Conference will be in Harrogate, 2nd-4th March, and Autumn Conference will be back [...]
A busy evening tonight, at the AGM of a local Primary School where I'm a governor followed by the Bermondsey Area West Housing Forum AGM where I'm a first time delegate from my TRA on Bermondsey Street. At the school the kids put on a great Christmas show before the Chair wrapped up the business of the meeting in about 30 minutes and everyone went downstairs for a party. The Housing meeting wasn't quite that fast and there was less singing. I'm quite happy from the meeting that the story Labour are trying to put about that the ...
It is said that Commodore Bainimarama, the army leader who has illegally taken over Fiji, is doing so to stand up for the minority ethnic Indians in the country. There is an old fashioned technical term for this line of argument - codswallop. There are two reasons why this argument holds as much water as a rusted collander: 1. The government of Fiji was a multi-party one, with a multi-party
Last summer this blog got very excited about the Yorkshire leg-spinner and batsman Adil Rashid. We rejoiced at his magnificent county debut and all-round performance for the England under 19 team. Now news reaches us that he has been resting since then with a stress fracture of his back. It doesn't sound too serious, but we hope the saviour of English cricket will be fully fit again soon. We shall have to win back the Ashes in 2009.
Only in the Shropshire Star.
Once again, the dreadful extradition laws introduced by this government which have been shown to be so biased towards America, have been shown to be an absolute ass. The excellent John Wilkes Libertarian Blog highlights that although we may want to extradite from Russia someone who may be responsible for Litvinenko's death, the Russians have already said a firm no. However, Russia is free to extradite UK citizens easily. Read HERE to learn more.
I like to browse the various factoid related sections of the internet. I was looking up the country with the highest percentage of mormong (don’t ask), I found a Mormon adherents website which took me to the CIA world factbook. I wasn’t particularly interested in Tonga so decided to see if the details on Jersey where [...]
Tuesday: Nuclear Fusion has been the PHILOSOPHER'S STONE of the modern scientific and engineering world since long before Harry Potter was born! The dream of our age is to make CHEEP and CLEAN and RELIABLE and NOT-RADIOACTIVE FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS electricity out of earth and water. (Well, LITHIUM from the Earth and DEUTERIUM – a kind of Hydrogen – from sea water, actually.) Pop 'em in the stove, smash 'em together and POW you make Helium and ENERGY. Just the same as the way that the SUN, and every other star in the sky, does. (Obviously, you have ...
Housewives' favourite*, Nick Clegg, is on Iain Dale's Vox Politix show tonight from 9pm over at 18 Doughty Street. * I understand he is also Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretary.
The international condemnation of Commodore Frank Bainimarama's coup in Fiji has been welcome. The man is a complete idiot and he is making idiots of the Fijian people in the eyes of the world. New Zealand, as its largest neighbour, usually has benign influence over Fiji. I am delighted that Helen Clark, New Zealand's Prime Minister, has been voiciferous in condemning the coup. She said: "This 
So screamed today’s Oxford Mail hoardings hot on the heels of the news that the 48 city councillors’ expenses soared 19%, in 2005-06, to more than £240,000. This is an average of £5,000 each, which - as I earned £4,997 last year - makes me a below-average councillor. Unlike MPs, there is an economic argument for higher wages for councillors: though there is an abundance of folk wanting to get
At last I have some good news for local residents' regarding the campaign to oppose the South Bristol Ring Road. Today at Full Council 8 other Liberal Democrat Councillors, who represent wards so...
Today I met with council officers and other local councillors to review the results of the consultation for the removal of the Whitchurch chicanes. 79% of respondents have backed their removal and end...
The Oxford governance debate rumbles on… Following last week’s defeat of the Vice-Chancellor’s proposed reforms, over 200 members of Congregation (the University’s ‘parliament of dons’) have triggered a postal vote of all 3,700 electors. Ballots will be mailed to us within the next few days, and close of voting is 4 pm on Monday, 18th December. I would be surprised (though delighted) if the
Blogging isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and MPs appear to be among the most resistant. So I was surprised, but pleased, to see my local MP, New Labour’s Andrew Smith, joining the modern world at the request of the local rag. But, somehow, you could always tell his heart wasn’t in it. This was his opening gambit: Funny thing to be doing a blog. I have never been very attracted to them myself, and
A party for "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists". But which party is it?
The Number 10 petitions website continues to fascinate me. I have resisted further temptation to sign up to stuff, even the delightful suggestion that we replace our stolid national anthem with Gold by Spandau Ballet. Since my earlier criticism, which was picked up by Peter Riddell in The Times, I continue to be concerned that petitions imply apparent support for opinions with no opportunity to register dissent. However, this is not the end of the story. The petitions page could, in theory, garner in excess of 30m signatures for a particular policy. Would the Government then be compelled to ...
The BBC reports that Nigel Farage is claiming that the Tories offered him a safe seat in Parliament to defect to the Tories shortly before the last general election. Read the story HERE. The Conservatives have denied the story, but if they had offered him a seat, they would deny it now, wouldn't they ?
Apparently Hazel Blears met Howard Dean to discuss the role the internet played in his campaigning and how it could help the Labour Party. Read the story HERE. Apparently, he spoke to her for more than an hour. Goodness knows he he stayed away for so long in her presence. If there is anyone (possibly with the exception of Stephen Timms) who is more boring in the government, please let me know.
What a refreshing change Bob Gates will be as secretary of defense in the USA. He speaks bluntly, tells the truth and is not George Bush's "yes" man. Today he has already debunked Bush's obsession with claiming that Iraq is central to the war on terror, whilst unusually for a politician he gave a straight answer to a straight question by making it clear that the war in Iraq is being lost. Who knows, this man might even have a solution, at least at the moment he is ruling nothing out. I'm not expecting miracles, but we can ... 
This deserves to be read (re the new Mental Health Bill). Key point: The main reason the opposition is so widespread is that the proposed legislation - the general thrust of which hasn't significantly changed over those eight years of consultations and committees - is far more focused on dangerousness than on providing better healthcare to vulnerable people. It widens the definition of mental disorder, thus making more people potentially subject to compulsory treatment, and it introduces compulsory treatment in the community, thus allowing stringent conditions - "mental-health ASBOs", according to The Times - to be imposed on people outside ...
Woodside High School are having an anti knife-crime week - and all Tuesday is taken up with me and police and young people talking, with theatre and panels on how to resolve the terrible problems that carrying knives have become. I give a ten minute introduction and then a senior police officer tells the hall (full of year 11s etc) what the police are doing. Then the Comedy Store takes over. They
A quick catch-up on some happy news: Councillor Carolyn Baker, councillor for Harringay ward, has given birth to a beautiful baby girl. Jenna Smith arrived weighing in at a healthy 8.5 pounds. Congratulations to Carolyn and family!
Last week the Adam Smith Institute linked to a piece I did advocating greater understanding and use of markets in dealing with our housing crisis. Today I see The Guardian has linked to my piece pointing out the heroically overspun Blairite approach to hospital closures. I suppose what they have in common is hostility to Mr. Blair. Mind you, good to see that Liberalism can be attractive to people across the British political spectrum...
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is set to invite residents from South Bank, Grangetown and the Greater Eston area to have their say on future development in their area. The Council is set to commission its Greater Eston Masterplan - a key document that will act as a definitive guide and play an essential role in moving forward work to secure major investment and development for the area - investment that has the potential to bring about the provision of wide range of development such as affordable new homes, thriving shops, entertainment, open public spaces and parkland, a new ...
The Mayor of Redcar & Cleveland, Councillor Mary Ovens, will get her Christmas wish granted - and switch on Redcar's festive lights in a rearranged ceremony on Friday, December 8. Galeforce winds forced organisers to abandon Sunday afternoon's planned programme of entertainment in the build-up to a switch-on. But now, even though the illuminations have been glowing for shoppers throughout the week, Councillor Ovens and Father Christmas, who moved into his grotto on Monday, will team up for another ceremony. They will be helped by one of the Talent 2006 competition winners, nine-year-old Nicole Taylor from Coatham ...
Brotton library will be turning over a new leaf when the brand new facility opens within the new Freebrough Specialist Engineering College in the New Year. There may be a few tears when the existing library in Brotton High Street closes for the last time on Saturday, December 16 but it will be cheers all the way when the new library opens its doors on the first school day at Freebrough on Monday, January 8. There will be longer opening hours at the new library, and, in an innovative move, the library service will be providing services to ...
You get a roll with it Originally uploaded by Up Your Ego. Every year a soup kitchen is held in St Helier’s Royal Square. Unlike more traditional soup kitchens it doesn’t serve free, simple soup to homeless people though. The Soup Kitchen features soups from the best [...]
Today’s Guardian carries the obituary for Arthur Wicks, the last Chairman of the London County Council. He also served as Chair of the LCC’s successor body the Greater London Council. The obituary is written by Mr Wicks son, the MP and Science Minister Malcolm Wicks.
Todays link is here. This takes you to a site which shows the life of Jesus as a timeline. There are four different ways to view it. You can see the major events in Jesus’ life, from his birth to his death and resurrection. You can also look at his parables and soundbites, and at his miracles. Each version of the timeline has plenty of links which lead to the original stories of Jesus, written in his own time by his first followers.
Last night Cicero attended a talk given by Steve Forbes, the American publisher and former presidential candidate at the London Junto- a discussion group for financiers, loosely modeled upon Ben Franklin's original Junto. Ben Franklin famously said "Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.". So it was particularly appropriate that the leading American advocate of flat tax should be speaking to the group. Cicero has been involved with the Baltic countries since he first discovered the Estonian Legation in London in 1979 and Estonia has been in the vanguard of the flat tax movement in Europe. ...
The latest comments from the Russian chief prosecutor are not acceptable. Unless Mr. Putin actually wants a major diplomatic crisis- to include the arrest and or expulsion of the very large number of Russian spies in the United Kingdom- then I would suggest that he talks to his chief prosecutor- now. The patience of the United Kingdom in the face of murder and nuclear contamination coming from Russia is not unlimited. It would be wise not to add insult to injury.
Seems that the House of Commons is going on a charm offensive for Christmas. I have to say though that demanding a 66% payrise is going a bit too far too soon. Yes, £60k a year for a backbench MP is a bit on the low side given the pressures of the job but demanding £100k straight off is taking the Michael Bliss. The job should be better paid (as an aspirant MP I would say that wouldn't I!) but a reasonable pay demand would have been at most 10%. MPs are going to start ...
Last night I was walking through Prestwich Precinct and noticed a potential problem spot by the public toilet there. It's one of the new types of convenience, with the "Star-Trek" style sliding doors. Lots of young people seemed to be banging on it and making a lot of noise, and I noticed when the door slid open that there were about half a dozen young people using it as a place to shelter from
I’m looking forward to returning to Exeter this weekend, to be entertained by my friends; Sam and “Dr” Alwyn Harrison (as he's rather precociously started signing himself). I recently had an idea, to try and re-construct a cocktail which was first mixed during a game of alcoholic Monopoly (students, eh!?) in the library of Lopes Hall, Exeter, some time in 2002. The drink was christened ‘the grey lady’, because it was the colour grey. I seem to recall taking a small sip and wretching a little, though the memory plays tricks. If anyone can suggest which ingredients might have made ...
Today's Guardian has a story about the changes the government wants to make to the NHS - including downgrading or closing some A and E departments.... and the fact that the government realises it is losing the argument over this. The idea seems to be to have more regional A and E departments serving a bigger population. It strikes me that all the changes proposed in the health service are about grouping things so that they serve larger catchment areas - the super surgeries proposal for GPs in Liverpool is a case in point. Now that's all ...
A fascinating article today on the BBC website about the rising awareness of young people in China about environmental and animal welfare issues. The level of environmental damage I witnessed during my years in China was frightening and was steadily getting worse until relatively recently. In Shenyang, where my wife is from, the European Union co-financed a major integrated environmental programme and helped massively clean up the air quality in the city which frankly had got pretty awful. But this was a mere drop in the ocean against the damage that was being done in ...
As most fellow bloggers will agree, blogging does not pay the rent. Man cannot live off Ad Sense alone (a few of the blog-illuminati aside), and like most of us I have a day job. I try to keep it away from this site, however, lest my bosses take umbrage. However, as a policy analyst in a business that is receiving increasing attention from the Government, I do come across some excellent examples of how government undermines small business. Take today’s story. Childminders – as you may know – are self-employed individuals that care in their own homes ...
Residents, who have lived for decades in prefabricated bungalows, originally built to last ten years, have been the focus for budding photographers in a fascinating exhibition that traces the homes' history. The 30 photographs and a collage to celebrate the longevity of the 36 bungalows in East Meadows, Marske, which were built in 1947, will be unveiled at Marske Library on Wednesday, December 6. Coast & Country Housing, working in partnership with Redcar and Cleveland Council's Library Service, created the project which involved young people from the library's Reading Group and nearby Errington Primary School. Photographer Tony ...
Chester, Westmorland and Lonsdale, North Norfolk and now Plymouth … it’s clearly not a good time to be a Conservative Parliamentary candidate. Chester - Tories call their own candidate an embarrassment and want to oust him. Westmorland - Tories oust candidate (sort of) North Norfolk - problems with homophobia in the selection campaign (oh, and the new candidate, [...]
If I said I went to the same school as the members of Wishbone Ash, no one under 40 would know what I was talking about. But during the early 70s this rock band were among the biggest and best in the...
The Labour Assembly Government has laid the final budget without any agreement with the opposition. This is the joint statement the opposition parties have just put out: “Last night’s budget discussions failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion. However, there is still time for a deal to be reached which can meet the demands of all parties, and which would be in the best interests of the people of Wales. “Laying a budget without the agreement of the opposition would be an act of folly. Negotiations so far have succeeded in settling many of the original issues. We would wish ...
The proverbial free lunch may be a myth, but it appears that there is at least cheap wine with which to wash it down. A week ago I was forwarded a Threshers voucher offering 40% off wine. With my usual cyber-scepticism I did nothing with it, assuming that it was a hoax and the shop assistant in Threshers would mock me for my gullibility. So I was pleased to be forwarded a link to the business section of The Times which confirmed all my hopes. Rhys Blakely writes that "Threshers, the off-licence, is being swamped by booze bargain-hunters ...
I think I have a knack for upsetting my fellow AMs. After this article in today's Western Mail I am not expecting any favours: Last night Peter Black, the Liberal Democrat chair of the Assembly's education committee who is also a member of the Shadow Commission that will oversee the legislative side of the body from next May, said, "My personal view is that the current AM salary is about right for the responsibilities that the Assembly currently has. I don't think there should be an automatic increase simply because we shall be increasing our powers next May. ...
I was rather glad to learn that Channel 4 is launching an alternative to BBC Radio 4. Although I'm one of those who uses 'indeed' a lot, I find most of Radio 4 frustrating. There are some very good programmes, but when Radio 4 proposed to its listeners to make suggestions on what could replace the Shipping Forecast, the greatest majority wrote against the change, notwithstanding some good ideas.
The party’s asked a group of leading members for their top two books/DVDs etc to enjoy over the festive season. You can see what Ming Campbell and others recommend at www.libdems.org.uk/support/christmas.html
Alas, as I predicted some time ago, it seems that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is going the way of Angus Deyton. He used to be such a nice boy.
Ah! In December a young Prime Minister's fancy turns lightly to thoughts of spin. The gigantic deficits in the British health care system are reinforcing a need to rationalise services on fewer sites. The problem is that closing hospital services is always deeply unpopular in the the communities they serve. When the services under threat are Accident and Emergency- then campaigns are tinged with the fear that A&E services might be too far away and that lives may be lost. Whether road accidents or heart attacks- people get nervous about closures. So Mr. Blair is making a pre-emptive strike - ...
Winchester's pavements are a disgrace and the fault lies clearly with the local Highways Authority, Hampshire County Council. In ten years of Conservative control of the county we've seen matters get worse and worse. In the picture I'm pointing out one of many tarmac patches in Winchester's High Street. Tarmac patches scattered among stone paving slabs. Tarmac patches that sink and trip unwary pedestrians. Tarmac patches that just look ugly on the main street of an historic city that relies so much on tourism. And this is just the tip of the iceberg! Dangerous and unsightly pavements are simply not ...
I have now managed to get some of the transcript of the GMC hearing as images. I have been asking the GMC themselves to provide an electronic copy. They should do this, but I am not going to hold my breath. I have managed a quick scan of part of the cross-examination of David Southall. It is interesting how he tries to redefine research as "Clinical Audit". The point about Clinical Audit is that
I harbour a deep dislike for environmental hysteria. It is unhelpful, it obscures the facts and what is needed and most importantly debate. I'm also developing a like for the US TV show Bullshit. It takes a rational, sceptical look at beliefs. This episode is on environmental hysteria, and the nonsense which is spouted: For me, some of the key moments is Patrick Moore co-founder of
This flower is the Starfruit. I have to say I had never heard of the Starfruit until the other day. Named for its star-shaped fruit, this pretty, aquatic flower has been hanging on at a handful of sites in southeast England for the last decade. However this year, not a single plant appeared in the wild, meaning that Starfruit could be facing a very real chance of becoming extinct. The main cause of Starfruits decline, and the main threat to its future, is the disappearance of ponds in the countryside, particularly in pastures where cattle trample the mud as they ...
Well a pop trio has to do something in retirement... It's a cruel cruel summer.. Oh..it's Bainimarama is it?! All I know is that he's called Frank and he wears a beret - some mothers do 'ave 'em. You have to laugh or cry, though. Three coups in twenty years. Without the benefit of a head of state to hold things steady (Frank has made himself President - last time the President hopped it pronto
Monday: There has been a horrible assassination of a leading anti-Syrian Minister in the Lebanon. The Syrian government denies all knowledge. There has been a horrible assassination of a leading anti-Russian dissident in London. The Kremlin denies all knowledge. Why am I thinking of STRANGERS ON A TRAIN?
It seems Mick Bates is in good company! Hat Tip to Disillusioned and Bored for the picture
Duncan Borrowman points to the only 10 Downing Street petition I have wanted to sign (I said I never would sign one two weeks ago) HERE. Spandau Ballet's "Gold" would make a perfect national anthem in an Olympic year !
Anyone who has tried 118 118 will almost certainly know that they are about as useless a service as you can get, are ust about the most expensive and rely on advertising, not positive word of mouth to get people to use their service. But hey, they just got even worse. Read HERE. Yes, now you can get the shocking service of 118 118 for "free", but with a number of adverts to listen to first and you cannot speak to anyone real, they instead use voice recognition software. That said, if you've ever spoken to one of the 118 ...
It appears the Tory group on Waveney District Council are in some trouble after it was revealed that they have issued £600,000 of contracts illegally ! Read the story HERE. | < | December 2006 | > | ||||
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