LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Thursday 21st December 2006

Day 2178 2179 2180: Daddy Cannot Count

Wednesday (again): …which is obviously pretty bad news for an accountant. I have been learning MATHS and trying to work out why my days in my diary DO NOT ADD UP! [Daddy Richard Says: Move Along, Move Along. Nothing to See Here!] This is REALLY BORING but I am going to explain! In the FIRST PLACE, my diary should have started on Day 1881 (NOT Day 1880). This is an example of the old counting lampposts error! If your road is ten metres long and you want a lamp every metre, then how many lamps do you need? ...

Bromley 149th out of 150 for truancy

So which south London Borough has got a major truancy problem? Lambeth? Lewisham? Southwark? Spotted in a recent report by senior Bromley Council officers to inspectors: Page 16, para 3.4: Bromley ranked 121 out of 150 on the overall absence rate for all schools. When our progress relative to the trajectory is ranked, Bromley is 149 out of 150 on the overall absence rate for all schools. Our

Day 2177: Virgin Birth: It's a Lizard!

Wednesday: Flora the Komodo Dragon Lizard, the biggest lizard in the world, who has never KNOWN a boy lizard, has given birth to a clutch of eggs and is looking forward to babies by Christmas. This is called PARTHENOGENESIS! Apparently it is down to CHROMOSOMES! If you think of your DNA as the blueprints for building you, then your chromosomes are sort of the volumes of the encyclopaedia that your DNA is put in. It's not REALLY like a blueprint, though: DNA is more sort of like a little set of workers who come in and do one ...

That cheeky Mr. Fawkes

Guido has decided to have a bit of a pop at Lembit here and here. My response: From the BBC: "Welsh Liberal Democrat officials have said they are satisfied MP Lembit Opik did nothing wrong in discussing his new girlfriend's visa problem." Are you happy now Guido? Or should we have him investigated by the Standards Board for good measure? Failing that, I hear Ken Starr's not doing too much these

Putting on the veil

Brendan O'Neill writes about the hijab on Comment is Free and gets it right: When a woman donned the burka in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan she became just another blue sheet drifting through the streets, indistinguishable from all the other women; a nobody, a non-person, just as the Taliban desired it. But when a woman in Britain puts on the hijab or niqab or burka, she immediately stands out from the crowd and turns heads. It is the Islamist equivalent of becoming a goth and going out in public with jet black hair and garish black make-up: you know people will gawp ...

How the child protection industry stole Christmas

Over-cautious child protection policies are blighting Christmas events – from the vetting of Santas and bell ringers, to bans on parents taking photos of Nativity plays......says the Manifesto Club.

Touch my bum this is life

The Shropshire Star reports: Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Opik is to be quizzed by Liberal Democrat officials following nationwide publicity surrounding the new love in his life.And adds a little ominously: Increasingly people in Montgomeryshire have been voicing concern in recent months that their MP was making headlines in national newspapers for reasons other than his political work.My title, of course, is taken from the Cheeky Girls' classic "The Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)".

Crystal Walton

The link is to a story about Crystal Walton who is the daughter of Ian and Sarah Walton. The Court Proceedings relating to Crystal ended on 23rd October 2006 hence it is not a contempt of court to identify Crystal or her parents. This case was highlighted to me as an extreme example of injustice and how Social Services (in this case Enfield) go wrong. Sarah is Ian's second wife. He had two

This made me chuckle.

Live Music @ The Jug.

I popped down to The Jug & Jester last night where, The Tide, Men in Caves, Circle 3 & King Tide were holding a Pre Launch Party for a regular slot they are organising on a Wednesday night. The live music scene in Leamington is starting to flourish again over the past couple of years and this is all due to the hard work and efforts of the people involved organising gig's and events, raising money for charity and generally encouraging up and coming musicians in the town. There is a fantastic arts scene in both Leamington & Warwick ...

Scary looking MP says: Election night dramas 'will stay'

Well there certainly will be election night dramas in her Lewisham East constituency... but that's another story. From the new year, postal voters will have to write their date of birth (note correction to what the BBC says) and include a signature when returning forms. The signature must be in a specified box on the form.

New wagons roll with recycling message

Redcar and Cleveland Council has unveiled its new green and tidy look - refuse collection vehicles, complete with new livery. The Council, which achieved Beacon Council status for its waste and recycling management earlier this year, is the top performing authority of the 25 councils in the North East for recycling and the second most improved in the country with recycling rates currently at over 34 per cent. Now the positive recycling message is even clearer with the investment of over £750,000 in seven new replacement vehicles, which are already on the Borough's roads in the busy Christmas ...

Supermarket Police Stations

Southwark News also reports that the replacement to the Police Stations in Camberwell, East Dulwich and Rotherhithe will apparently be eight 'mini-stations' of unspecified structure. While more welcome than the closures in isolation, our spokesperson highlighted that it's the actual detail of what this means that matters. In Bromley for example the new mini-station turned out to be a desk in Tesco. The spokesperson commented "If someone reports, for example, a rape then that is a really harrowing thing to do that requires privacy...". One of the major issues with crime in Southwark is that people ...

Labour isn't working

It’s an old story, but it appears that they’re remaking it again. No, it’s not the BBC dramatisation of Dracula. It’s rising unemployment. Youth unemployment is particularly troubling. In November this year 11,200 young people had been claiming benefits for more than a year. Youth unemployment is now worse than it was when Labour came to power, according to theA site for political analysis and opinion of an avowedly liberal view. It's all about freedom.

Christmas as a time for giving

Because of my usual state of disorganisation/strong moral principles (delete according to how well you know me) I haven’t sent out any Christmas cards this year, but I have made a donation to Shelter instead. And if you want to round off the year with a donation to charity, you can still make a very late [...]

I can't hold off any longer.....

Sitting here in Cowley Street with the dreaded task awaiting me. Yes, Christmas shopping. Avoid it though I try, in the end it has to be done. I always cheat. Most of it is done by David. But he can't do all of it. So things like getting his presents, and a few others, have to be done by me. So shortly I will be venturing into the Xmas jungle of central London, prepared to fight to the

You say coke I say caine*

I recently bought a bike. In itself, that is (I readily accept) pretty uninteresting. What intrigued me, a little at any rate, was my rationale. I don’t drive, do not own a car, have never driven one. Having lived within a mile (at most) of Oxford’s city centre since I was 18, I’ve rarely had the need. I’m sure if I had one I would use it, but - to quote that most abstemious of self-denying

What future for Tony Blair

Tony Blair has told DJ and former TFI Friday presenter Chris Evans that after he leaves office he would like to find a job with “a real purpose to it.” It will certainly be a challenge. Most Prime Ministers effectively retire, though they turn a tidy sum on the lecture circuit. According to The Observer, John Major makes £30,000 a speech. But Mr. Blair’s ego is likely to prevent him fading away into memory. One thing is sure. Mr. Blair will not sit happily on the backbenches. I doubt he will fight the next general election, and if ...

How Ken spends your money on partisan campaigns

Southwark News has reported today on the near £20,000 of taxpayers money spent by Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone in retrospectively underwriting solicitor's bills that had already been spent by Southwark Cathedral against a licence application for a lap-dancing club on nearby Tooley Street. The figure came to light from a Freedom of Information Request I submitted. The application eventually failed due to the club's landlords, Network Rail, refusing permission, an option that the Cathedral's solicitors identified early in the process. However, with an eye to generating local scandal that could damage the minority Liberal Democrat Council, during an ...

Town For Sale

Had a meeting with one of Torbay's four Mayors this morning - the elected one. (For an explanation of why Torbay has so many Mayors see blog dated 21 October) Having questioned him in the ...

Christmas hiatus

Well, today is my last day at work for the year. I shan’t be back in until January 3rd, a duration which appears on a calendar to be 13 days, but will in fact go by in precisely one blink of an eye. I speak on this matter with bitter experience. And, for the next few days at least, I won’t be blogging either. I am going down to Farnborough in Hampshire for some festivities with Tam and her

Trident, new weapons and Intelligence

OK, so would the UK want to deploy this new non-Nuclear weapon on Trident missiles? Maybe we should at least be aware of what is possible. According to the January 2007 issue of 'Popular Mechanics' magazine about weapons systems developments in the USA: The plan is part of a program — in slow development since the 1990s, and now quickly coalescing in military circles — called Prompt Global Strike. It will begin with modified Tridents. The warheads on the these missiles are not nuclear Traveling as fast as 13,000 mph, the warheads are filled with ...

Last working day

This week for most people is a bit of a write-off. Numerous parties, winding down for the christmas closedown and general wandering around being festive. Today is even worse. The morning is spent discussing when "the email" will come from on high to say you might as well leave. Lunch is spent having a quick pint in the Staff bar, and then you go back to the office to clear things up. In the Academic depts it seems that things are even more laid back. When I was dropping things off this morning, I noticed several all dept gatherings even ...

More Peer Pressure

Blair will find himself answering questions about his answers, and then answering more questions. He might just be falling victim to one of his own initiatives.

How green is Gordon Brown?

Not very, it appears. gordon brown

Can I say Seasons Christmas?

Was just listening to a local radio phone-in where an old bloke phoned in to complain about ‘Seasons Greetings’. He said “as far as I can remember we only have four seasons, we don’t say seasons greetings at the start of summer”. Then went on to say “we’re Christians, whats all this Seasons Greetings rubbish”, [...]

The Richards-Robinson spat revisited

Steve Richards’ accusation in Tuesday’s Indy that the BBC’s political coverage ‘is symptomatic of an anti-politics movement that serves no one’ has touched a nerve with the BBC’s Nick Robinson, who has penned a long rebuttal on his blog. It’s a shame that Mr Richards chose to focus his argument on the BBC’s reporting of Tony Blair helping the police with their enquiries in the ‘cash for honours

Irony/Sarcasm Warning

Readers are warned that my blog may contain irony and/or sarcasm. If you are unable to cope with ironic or sarcastic posts or have an allegy to irony/sarcasm then you are advised to get off this page NOW!!! May contain irony. May contain sarcasm.

Simon Wright Challenges Home Secretary over Norfolk's Community Support Officer Cutbacks

Simon Wright, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman for Norwich South, has written to Home Secretary John Reid over cuts to proposed numbers of Police Community Support Officers for Norfolk. The Home Office has slashed funding to recruit 280 officers by one-third.

No State Funding for Political Parties

Labour gets ever more mired in the cash for peerages mess. The Tories find themselves funded by obscure trusts in Liechtenstein. Questions continue about the Michael Brown affair amongst the Lib Dems. Some commentators now believe that political parties should be funded directly by the state. After all, goes the argument, it is necessary for the workings of the political system to have vigorous, well funded parties and it is better to have these openly funded rather than by foreign or other questionable sources. Bluntly, this is self serving bulls**t. If the political parties can not manage to fund themselves ...

Caroline, or Change

Had a lovely family outing to see 'Caroline, or Change' at the National Theatre http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/caroline/. Its a somewhat surreal opera - the opening scenes include bursts of song from a washing machine and a dryer - but one that wonderfully evokes a time and characters from the South of the US in 1960s. It shows how fundamentally good people can be propelled to speak evil through no real fault of their own and the challenge of how to live a life well. And Tonya Pinkins who plays the title role can both act - and really belt it out! ...

Guardian BNP revelations

Many of you will have seen the articles in the Guardian today on the BNP - big splash, interesting reading. When I turned to pages 4-5 my eye went to the pull out quotes on the top of page 5. The first one stood out: "The police will watch leading members, but they can't watch everybody who joins. And it's no secret that most police officers support us." Steve Tyler Central London, activist. I

Lembit, celebrity and credibility

The Telegraph tries once again to prove that it is really just the Daily Mail printed on bigger sheets of paper today. There is a rather ugly 'Tessa tells all' report (or at least 'close-personal-contacts tell all'). Also Liz Jones opines on the relationship problems of poor Sian and Lembit. Celebrity in this way should hardly be the subject of a supposedly serious policy blog such as this. However, we've blogged about personality politics before and the Jones piece is interesting in that it equates Lembit and Sian's difficulties with those of Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman and Kylie Minouge: ...

Here comes the Sun!

I have been waiting for this day for weeks - today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day. Which of course means from tomorrow the days begin the get longer. I am convinced I suffer from Seasonal Adjustment Disorder (SAD) though have never had this confirmed as I just accept it and have not been to the Doctors about it. I have noticed I know a lot more people who also suffer from SAD now than I used to - not sure what that means, one person I know goes overseas at this time of year to try and combat ...

The Tory Said connection

One thing that hit me yesterday when looking at the silence of the Tories and the Al Yamamah affair was my distant memories. None of you will have missed the fact that I worked for TVam for the first 5 years of it's existence. The running of the company bounced between the two cousins who headed one of the companies main merchant bank backers - Aitken Hume - Jonathan Aitken and Timothy Aitken (

Mick's Cat

Mick's cat shows Rhodri Glyn Thomas how to use the Assembly Chamber voting system!

Surbiton Probus

There are two Probus clubs in the Borough, and they offer a programme of speakers, lunches and activities for retired professional and business people. Both clubs have been kind enough to invite me to their Christmas lunches. Yesterday I was treated by the Surbiton club at the Antionette Hotel. I took the opportunity to tell them about my theme of 'empowering young people' and how...

Amy Woodgate House

Here I am chatting yesterday with staff and their clients at Amy Woodgate House, which has a Day Centre as well as a residential care home. Its a lovely, caring place. And I have to admit to joining them in a glass of sherry - not something I usually do when on duty, but it is Christmas.... Mince pie watch Mince pies offered to date: 14 Mince...

I want a goat for Christmas

I want to talk goats. Last Christmas and this, my housemates and I have chipped in to buy a goat and some water for Africa, using Oxfam Unwrapped’s gift scheme. I gather the popularity of the idea - whereby you give the cash for a project in the developing world rather than a pressie - [...]

BBC: Good excuse to show The Cheeky Song (Touch my bum)

Last night, I watched the BBC Ten O'Clock news enthralled, because they said they had a story "coming up" on Lembit. I should have known better. The teaser used that well-known journalistic cop-out - the question: "Could the Cheeky Girls have landed this MP in hot water?" Well....er....no, actually. The minister, Liam whatshisface, laughed heartily when the subject was mentioned. It seems that

Sticking to the party line

Rather uncharacteristically, the Assembly's Presiding Officer is going to great lengths to argue that his latest pronouncement is absolutely on-message with that of his party: DAFYDD ELIS-THOMAS last night denied he had spoken out against Plaid Cymru's objective of Welsh independence in an interview he gave to a political magazine. The magazine Parliamentary Monitor suggested the National Assembly's Presiding Officer had deviated from the policy of the party he used to lead by saying that devolution in England would help deliver a "United Kingdom in a united Europe". Lord Elis-Thomas was said to have argued that giving ...

Doctors speak out against community hospital closures in North Norfolk

The EDP reports HERE that doctors in North Walsham are united in their opposition to the closure of community hospital beds in North Norfolk. I have written about this issue before, but it is clear that North Norfolk will suffer dreadfully as a result of the new Norfolk Primary Care Trust having to balance its budget after it failed to receive the level of grant from the Labour government needed in order to maintain services. Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk and now Lib Dem shadow Health Secretary has said he intends to visit all the community hospitals ...

Haringey's West Indian Community Centre

Caribbean time rules OK. Last year I went to the Haringey Older Citizens Afro-Caribbean Christmas lunch as the invite said at 12.30 - and we got going an hour or so later. So - one year on and smarter - yesterday I got there at 1.00 and we got going around three quarters of an hour later. So next year... It was an absolutely packed event and very pleasant. But there is obviously a threat hanging

Medical Ethics - NHS responds

I did a speech on Medical Ethics on Tuesday (see link) which referred substantially to the research managed by Dr David Southall. It included the following section: Furthermore, the lack of action to maintain its integrity makes the national health service institutionally complicit in the destruction of evidence. At least now the NHS is acting at a level other than that of the Hospital. I have

2006 by-election round-up

By elections

David Cameron and Saudi corruption

Guido has now picked up on the curious silence of David Cameron on the Saudi arms corruption investigation. Al Yamamah david cameron saudi arabia

Guardian advent 21st December

Todays link takes you here. It is more mistletoe only this time you can send an electronic sprig of mistletoe to someone else.

Walk in the Park? Spurs limp through

Meant to say this earlier, but Monday and Tuesday were the best travel to work days for a long time... the road through Alexandra Park past the Palace was closed to traffic, so walking down to the train station was an absolute pleasure. Unfortunately the cars are racing back through now - as usual, often at double the speed limit of 20mph. Wish I'd taken a photo on Monday so I could always have a reminder of what a park is meant to look like... Spurs last night: painfully embarrassing. And that's no disrespect to Southend - who didn't ...

Day 2176: Christmas Benefit

Tuesday: 'Tis the season – as they say – for a spot of GOODWILL to all persons, but poor Baron Hardup, single parent, and his daughter Cinderella had nothing to look forwards to except a visit from the UGLY SISTERS: Mr Hutton and Mr Balloon! Fortunately, a FAIRY GRANDFATHER is about in the form of Sir Mr the Merciless: no magic wand, but new Liberal policy proposals to simplify benefits, halve child poverty and end the dependency culture. Yes, Sir Mr the Merciless has come out FIGHTING today, denouncing Mr Frown's obsessions with mean means-testing and terrible tax credits ...

Is the public sector necessarily inefficient?

Today saw the publication of the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Annual Report, a document which, for obvious reasons, is of some interest to me. I work in Corporation Tax, and I was quite surprised to discover the cost of bringing in each £1 of revenue from Corporation Tax was, in 2005/06, just 0.71p, compared to 1.24p in 2003/04, an apparent improvement of nearly 43% and the sort of improved

When will this government stop missing the point?

I understand from the Guardian that John Reid is planning to introduce mandatory fingerprinting and photographing of resident foreigners. Now, whilst I will get a certain degree of ironic pleasure from knowing that my American ex-wife and Labour Party member will probably be made to join the 700,000 likely to be called up to sign away their civil liberties, there is, as always, a more important

Mr Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?

Nick Robinson has posted a staunch defence of the BBC’s political reporting, defending Auntie from the charge levelled by the Indy’s Steve Richards that it is becoming ‘anti-politics’. Mr Robinson’s argument - ‘This simply won’t do’ - would have been a whole lot more persuasive had BBC Online not been carrying prominently the story, ‘MP intervened in Cheeky Girl case’ - with its clear innuendo

Make cold scan

I’ve recently started a course of physiotherapy on my knees. This is due to various aches and pains brought about by my desire to jump up and down on walls, bounce down stairs and do things not becoming of someone my weight. As part of this the Sports Medicine specialist at the Jersey General Hospital (oh [...]

British

I’ve been thinking about whether I consider myself to be more British, English or European for a while now but started wondering a lot more after reading various posts from Anthem4England, CEP and Toque. Obviously I am English, I was born in England but I have a Scottish grandfather, German great grandmother and a Welsh grandmother. [...]

Top Gear

You probably already know this one but according to Final Gear, Top Gear Magazine and various interviews with the Top Gear Team, the show will be returning on Sunday 28 January 2007. This is brilliant news as it’s been off air for far too long. I know a lot of people critise it for not being [...]

Thursday 21st December 2006

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