The BBC tonight has run a story about a Labour donor allegedly being offered by Lord Levy a "K" or a "Big P", apparently references to either a "Knighthood" or a "Peerage". This story continues to get bigger and bigger.
Is it me or have the Conservative Party been strangely silent over the news that the Serious Fraud Office have been "ordered" to cancel the investigation in to bribes when BAE won the deal to supply tornado jets to the Saudi government in the 1980's ? Iain Dale made clear is anger at the decision HERE, but the only people I heard today being vocal in their criticism of the government have been Norman Lamb and Menzies Campbell. Is it what I alluded on Iain's blog when I commented that the SFO investigation might have dug up too ...
Ok I know it sounds a bit like the chip advert, but I have just been told by a friend that 'my blog or songs of praise' is the question they ask themselves every Sunday night. Now before I offend anyone, I do not have a problem with Songs of Praise. In fact it reminds me of growing up. My nan used to join us for Sunday lunch followed by songs of praise on the television. I remember the many
The news today that the outer harbour at Great Yarmouth has cleared the final hurdles before being approved is great news for Norfolk and Great Yarmouth. Read the EDP story HERE. Great Yarmouth has long lost its cheerful holiday veneer and looks sadly run down. There have been efforts at renewal with work finally commencing on replacing the shopping centre burned down ten years ago, the Oasis being made smarter, Wellington pier being virtually re-built and hopefully soon something to replace the Marina Centre. However, what Great Yarmouth really needs is proper work for local people, not just seasonal ...
Sheffield’s public transport system was once the pride of the city. It had regular bus services all over the city and they were cheap to use. Sheffield had one of the highest rates of bus usage in the country, and it was popular. I accept it meant that Sheffield’s taxes weren’t exactly [...]
Last week we reported on the rumour that Adam Rickitt wanted to take the place of ousted tory candidate Paul Offer.
Saturday: Today Daddy was told "you cannot take photographs in ASDA". So obviously this photograph was not taken in ASDA, and it certainly does not contain evidence that WalMart are breeding an ARMY OF GIANT PENGUINS to take over the world! p...p...p...pick up a picture Actually quite apart from the pedantic grammatical point ("may not take photos", not "cannot take photos") I wonder if it is true that ASDA can actually enforce that. Obviously their shop is private property, but it seems to me that ASDA's security cameras are taking photos of me ...
“It’s political correctness gone mad”, say those people who object to this year’s Christmas stamps not being religious enough. Well consider this: We have only had Christmas stamps since 1966 when they were introduced by Tony Benn! The first Christmas stamps weren’t that religious, depicting a snowman and King Wenceslas. They were designed [...]
As I was walking past Parliament yesterday I happened upon a large contingent of Gurkhas along with a few of my Lib Dem firends from Folkestone. They are campaigning for the Government to honour a promise made two years ago to give equal rights to Gurkhas when they retire. They have launched a petition to the Prime Minister on the whizzy new Downing Street petitions website. I've signed it and would urge you to do so to. Find out more about the issues here.
I have just picked up on this case from Monday. It goes to the nub of one of the legal arguments in child protection. There are fractures that can be diagnosed as Classic Metaphyseal Lesions from X-rays. I have a report from the College of Radiologists that confirms that noone knows what proportion of children who have Metaphyseal fractures have obtained them through abuse. There is a
Todays link takes you here. It is a list of all the Christmas Number 1s since 1945 The track at the top of the singles chart on 25th December is an annual source of speculation and intrigue. The winner tends to be thoroughly soppy, wonderfully nostalgic or utterly jingoistic! A technical note; the Christmas Number One does not always synchronise with the dates elsewhere as they refer to 'week ending' chart dates. These are the real Christmas Number Ones! The singles chart did not begin until 1952. The Christmas Number Ones prior to 1952 are based on sheet music sales. ...
Between the overweight, smokers and those who are fond of the sauce the social moralists are busy these days. Indeed, they’ve still managed to find time to berate parents, the indolent and various other groups too. It seems there is no rest for the self-righteous. Today it is fat people whose lifestyles are under scrutiny. A team of public health professionals including Sir George Alberti, the Government’s national director for emergency care, and Laurence Gruer, director of public health science at NHS Health Scotland, have written in the British Medical Journal that large-sized clothes should have a fat-help line ...
Received a letter this morning from the planning expectorate informing me, as one of the witnesses, that the Public Inquiry into the massive Heslington East university expansion proposals will report 'on or before May 3rd 2007'. Well well. I can hardly believe that that is a coincidence. This is typical of New Labour- obsessed with timing things like this- things which are supposed to...
I've noticed one or two Tory leaflets have gone out- one of the latest proclaims "We're alive". I have to say, there's not much evidence in York.
According to Neil Reddin on the selbloggers site, Bromley Councillors are debating what to replace the mayoral car with. They (in an uncharacteristically witty way) suggest a stretched Hummer. This debate has raised it's head at regular intervals over the decades as the old Roller has grown tired (I reckon once every 4 years since 1990 at least...). I have in the distant past suggested a bike ( 
Okay, I admit it, I sometimes rant without thinking too hard about it... A key example is the Sandra Gidley post. Although I disagree with her still, I realise she wasn't quite calling for abolition of sports days, but her comments are not exactly helpful. Quite honestly, it should be up to the school to choose what sports they do, quite why Parliament needs to discuss this I don't know. My
Congratulations to our Parliamentary teams for picking up on the legal and constitutional horrors in the decision to drop the Saudi arms deal bribery investigations. Just to note though that there may well be a real political and diplomatic crisis brewing in Saudi Arabia which could well be further destabilised by revelations about financial skulduggery. There is apparently a huge internal political row within The Family who run Saudi that in comparison makes the Blair- Brown insult factories look like a nursery pie-fight. Latest manifestation – the Saudi ambassador to the USA Prince Turki al-Faisal has just resigned almost certainly ...
Henry Mencken (nearly) once said, "No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the Lib Dem blog-reading public." How right he was would have been. “Proof, if proof be need be,” (as The Day Today immortalised) is in this blog’s hit-counter, which suggests my post on sexiest Lib Dem male/female will soon be more popular than John Prescott’s departmental website. It’s lovely of so many of
All round love walrus John Thurso MP is currently heading a poll to be crowned sexiest man in the Liberal Democrats on the blogger of the year’s site. It’s the ‘tache that does it. Lib Dem Voice unsucessfully lobbied for Jeremy Purvis MSP to be included on the list. Jenny Willott is currently leading the field [...]
Credit where credit’s due, the Labour Government has done some very good things since it was elected. Sadly, most of those were in its first term, and the best was within its first week. I genuinely believe that had Gordon Brown resigned after one week in office, having handed control of interest rates to the Bank of England on his sixth day, he would forever be known as the greatest Chancellor Britain has ever had. Instead, he will be known as the man who wrecked the public finances and raised taxes to their highest level in a quarter of a ... 
Again I have a busy weekend planned – although, again, I imagine the reality will be different from the plans. Tonight Tam and I are going to see The Beautiful South in concert at the MEN Arena. Last time we saw them was a couple of years back at the Apollo, so hopefully the show won’t have lost anything transferring to the soul-less cavern that is the MEN. I have my doubts though… We are out
Unable to send blogs from imate while out of the country. Have gotsomeone to post this for me.Packed programme of meetings with no free time. Am suffering frominformation overload. W...
Are the England team also part of the "take the trash out" conspiracy to cover for Tony's questioning?
Last night in the Drama Connections slot, a programme about the cult TV series Tenko which emphasised how male dominated BBC TV was at least until the 1980’s. This story of women in a WW2 Japanese internment camp was practically the first on British TV offering a woman-dominated story with strong un-stereotyped characters. This highlighted for me the great BBC lost opportunity of the late 1940’s. Some years ago a friend of mine who worked in the BBC just after WW2 told me that during the war women took on high powered positions backstage in the BBC including ...
Lynne Featherstone MP proposes a change to how we elect council group leaders
Now that the dust is starting to settle over the budget debate I thought it was worth stirring it up again with a look at some of the highlights of that discussion. This is of course an entirely partial view and is designed to paint the Welsh Liberal Democrats in a good light. By far the most effective intervention was that of Leanne Wood on Nick Bourne. The Tories are starting to learn the hard way that what they think is amusing in their blog entries comes across entirely differently to the outside world and may well be used against ...
The Western Mail goes into public scrutiny mode today with revelations that the cost of Government special advisors in Wales has risen from £110,067 in 1999 to £363,708 this year. By the end of the current Assembly term the total cost is expected to be £2,088,478. There are seven in all. They also highlight a lavish reception for 200 business people in Tower Bridge at a cost of £23,000. To an extent this is the price of government but I think it is right that we question expenditure such as this and ask what we are getting from it. ...
Redcar and Cleveland Council's Road Safety Team, in conjunction with Halfords and Kwik Fit, is offering motorists the chance to have free checks on their car tyres, windscreens and wipers, as well as giving out leaflets on winter driving tips and topping-up their wiper bottles with washer fluid, at three venues next week -at Asda, South Bank on Monday, December 18, Saltburn seafront on Tuesday, December 19 and Marske town centre car park on Wednesday, December 20, all from 10am-3pm.
Labour Sandwell Councillor and blogger Bob Piper earlier this week had a 'blacked-up' David Cameron picture on his website with a whole load of negative comments about BME people. Bob its just not funny and even less funny that an elected Councillor thinks it is appropriate to put on his blog.
Via Duncan Borrowman comes the welcome news that Hilary Stephenson, one of the party’s most experienced campaigners, has been appointed to succeed Paul Rainger as Director of Campaigns. Among the many campaigns she has run was the (relatively) recent Cheadle by-election to defend the seat following the death of Patsy Calton MP, which saw [...]
Friday morning and I am tired. Was up at five o'clock yesterday morning delivering good morning leaflets for the Grange Hill Ward by-election. In the end we didn't hold the seat but we managed to reduce the Tories' majority from May from over 150 to just 23 votes. This bodes well for us next May. Woke up this morning and the Lib Dems were main story on BBC Breakfast (the creme la creme of
Hydrock the Combe Down stone Mines contractor usually puts up a Christmas tree on site every year, but this year they have gone one better. Local people can now see the horsechestnut tree in the middle of the field draped with Christmas lights. Well done Brian McConnell. Thank you and your workers for all you are doing for Combe Down. Given the size of the task the operation is making relatively little impact on the local community. This photo nearly didn't happen because the security guard at the site would not allow me to take a photo of ...
Friday: Tragically, of the family, not themselves! And a Very Happy 15th Day of Advent to All of You at Home - ooOOoo 10 days to go!
Can anybody help me? I'm desperately trying to find another word to substitute for "Incentivising". A colleague came across this foul neologism, and I am struggling to find a word with which to replace it. I am stuck between "encourage" and "reward", and need something that captures both concepts. Please. For the love of English! Somebody help me!!A site for political analysis and opinion of an avowedly liberal view. It's all about freedom.
Hilary Stephenson has been appointed the new Director of Campaigns for the Liberal Democrats. Chris Rennard phoned me with the news earlier, but it is now doing the email rounds, so is public. Hilary has a wealth of experience and will be great for the party - we have come on a long way since I joined the Campaigns Department in 1998 and we were three men and a dog (I was the dog). Well done | < | December 2006 | > | ||||
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