LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Wednesday 7th February 2007

We would create health hubs for seamless care

Welsh Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Jenny Randerson, AM for Cardiff Central, said: “The people of Wales have long understood that we are more effective when we work together, than when we stand alone. I want to apply that principle to health care. “I want to create ‘health hubs’, as they do in modern health services in other countries. These expanded Primary Care Centres, will bring together a whole range of services which affect the health of patients. Such services would include pharmacies, physiotherapists and other therapies, housing and social services, Citizen’s Advice Bureaux and so on. This will help ...

Letter in the Denbighshire free Press

Dear Ed, Having just read your recent article "AM's favour England Stub it out deadline - I had to smile as our Labour AM, Ann Jones and Karen Sinclair painted themselves as business friendly AMs putting small businesses at the heart of the smoking ban. Call me an old cynic, but election and spin politics comes to mind. At the Flint & Denbigh show last August, I spent the day working on the Federation of Small Businesses stand. All local AM's, MP's and candidates were invited to the stand for some healthy debates over the future of small ...

The Second 007 of ’007

It’s the 007th of the month again, and time for the next 007 James Bond films: this time, those of Roger Moore. In the last month Richard, Millennium and I have watched the DVD Special Editions of Dr. No and From Russia With Love… I’m relieved that I still agree with myself, and they look great, but the new Bond DVD menus aren’t a patch on the old ones. However, I’ve done no cheating; don’t worry, I still know nothing about music, so my reviews of the James Bond films and their songs will be just as ill-informed as before. ...

Sexuality & God

What has God got to do with sex? Sexuality has been treated with suspicion when not rejected altogether by religious authorities throughout the ages. ‘Primordial’ fears of the body, its functioning and sexuality have led to a rigorous control and even regulation of sexual activity. Sexuality has thus been socially constructed in a primarily negative way. Women’s bodies were often seen with disgust (and I assume it still happens in many quarters), with rabbis referring to the womb as ‘place of rot’, not to mention patristic misogyny. Women have been associated with sexuality and have come to represent ‘the body’ ...

I zorb, therefore I am...

One of my more unusual pastimes is zorbing... and no, this first picture isn't of me... more a way of giving you an idea of how it works (describing it to people is quite difficult). I discovered zorbing nearly three years ago after Rachelle and I separated, and it was a key part in my recovery from the trauma that preceded it, an exploration of things that weren't wholly 'safe'. The first

A Matter of Words and Anti-Americanism

In response to my post of yesterday, commenting on Nich Starling's comments on the death of Matty Hull (I cannot abide the phrase 'friendly fire', in much the same way as I hate 'joyriding'), Nich has got back to me to mention that: "I didn't mention in my posting that the US denied on several occasions that the video even existed. Liars as well as war criminals." And while I don't mean to

Worst 5 films of all time

Ok, so this is just a list of the worst films I've seen, I haven't been doing any definitive polling. It was inspired by unfortunately seeing 30 seconds of one of them on tv recently. The only restriction I've used is that they have to be films I saw at the cinema. So, I have probably seen worse films, but these are the ones that have most spoilt my big screen enjoyment. In no particular order... Vanilla Sky - actually, there is a bit of order here, as this has to be the most unforgiveable mess ...

Coalition with the Tories - unthinkable or merely unlikely?

I've spent the last twenty-four hours debating with a few Tories, following the debate within Conservative ranks about a possible coalition with the Liberal Democrats. It is an intriguing thought, and one that few might have thought likely that long ago. When I first got involved in politics in the mid-eighties, Margaret Thatcher was in her pomp, Labour were busily writing the longest suicide

Why is this news?

John Amaechi has announced that he is Gay. So what? Well Mr. Amaechi is probably the most successful British basketball player ever, spending 6 years kicking around the NBA. And, more importantly, he is the first NBA player to come out. I find it a little sad in this day and age that the fact that a journeyman professional sportsman happens to be gay is back page news. Maybe John will be the

Manifesto Website

I have just received my login for the party's new manifesto "think tank" website and have to say I am very impressed, well done to all concerned, registering was fairly swift and painless and I am looking forward to contributing and hopefully getting across my thoughts on how we get ourselves across at the next election. I can see it's already rather busy, expecially considering it's recent launch, and I hope that many members will sign up and get really involved. New media is so exciting and opens up so many opportunities but I do worry about those members ...

Snow Joke...

Snow is on the way, so I'm told. And although I work for a Council and know exactly how hard the gritting people work (very), I'll bet all the money in my pockets that lots of people are angry tomorrow when they're skidding about all over the place. The traffic on the way home tonight was as bad as if the snow had arrived a day early. The motorway was closed at Simister Island which, for

Not "social"; not "economic"; just liberal

As so often, Tristan has written a post that has elicited an answer to lengthy not to add to my blog. This time, he is discussing “the difference between what people call Social and Economic Liberalism”. I have often thought that the divide between economic and social liberals is a false one, whipped up by the media and swallowed by a few too many within our own party. In my view there is only one form of liberal: one that believes that individuals should be free to do whatever they want as long as it does not impinge ...

Bloody lords

I’m not going to waste your time re-publishing Jack Straws ideas for House of Lords reform, you can read it on pretty much every news website in the UK and a number of ones outside of the UK as well. Or if you want more than the facts you can read more details across the Blogosphere, [...]

East Barnet polling day tomorrow

Just on way to my casework surgery - after that on to a meeting in Wood Green too. Wish I'd remembered a woolly hat today. In the morning it's a very early start - assuming we haven't been snowed in - as it's polling day in the East Barnet by-election. Sean Hooker is our excellent candidate and we're looking to make this a Lib Dem gain from the Tories, just like we did in the last Barnet by-election (Dec 2005). Sean has always helped Haringey Lib Dems out a lot, especially at election times, so it's nice to ...

Joined Up Free Thinking

On the same day BBC News reports French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy defending a magazine which printed cartoons of Muhammed, the Islamic prophet, it also reports on Germany's attempt to criminalise Holocaust denial across Europe. And guess what - France already has such a law. Muhammad as depicted at the US Supreme Court

Ming and The Barrage

I am very much in favour of new media but there is a case for ensuring that you get the camera angles right. For example the last video of Ming had a tree growing out of his head, whilst this one....

Nothing to say today - Not well, not well at all !

Just to say that if you are looking in on my blog to find some gem or nugget making sense of the day's events (That is supposed to be a joke - I'm not that pretentious), then you are out of luck. I've got some sort of flu thing, started coming down with it yesterday just when I was having my interview for my own job (school mergers = some job losses), and I've got steadily worse since then, oh, and befopre someone calls it man flu, my wife woke up this morning with it, and she is off ...

UPDATE: British tyranny marches on

Last week I reported that schools had been taking fingerprints of children without the permission of the parents and storing them on databases. Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland has raised the issue and forced the Government to issue guidelines to schools (which had previously been operating in a regulatory vacuum) but the practice continues. Lewisham Cllr. Brian Robson informs me that at least one Lewisham School is among the offenders. I wrote to the Office of the Information Commissioner last week to check whether this was a breach of data protection legislation. Amazingly, they have told me that the ...

Trial by Media is wrong

I have written to the Home Secretary recently asking him to both investigate the source of briefings about the reasons for the recent arrests in Birmingham and also to bring this trend to a halt. There have been three occasions recently where the police and courts have been badly undermined by bad briefing. One was the Ipswich murders, another was the loans for peerages and the third was the

Planning Application

Ward: Combe Down App Ref: 06/04347/LBA Parish: N/A Registered: 30th January 2007 ...

Where's My Nomination?

It must be that politicians are less reliable than pop stars that the annual Channel 4 Political awards are being recorded tonight rather than broadcast live like the Brit Awards next week. I shall be...

On Peter Hain

Via Liberal England comes this passage from today's Guardian on my constituent, Peter Hain: Gordon Brown comes out of Iraq better than Peter Hain. It is a very long time since British politics has witnessed anything quite as abject and contemptible as Hain's recent interview in the New Statesman. "The neocon mission has failed," Hain proclaims - now. "People have forgotten about [the government's achievements] because of the Iraq conflict," the Northern Ireland secretary tells us - now. The government found itself working with "the most rightwing American administration, if not ever, then in living memory", he observes ...

The Syvret Letter

Jersey’s Health Minister, Senator Stuart Syvret has been the subject of much debate over the last few days - due in no small part to an open letter he sent to a Jersey property developer. In the letter he passes comment on a number of things he believes is wrong with Jersey and it’s poltical system [...]

Where's your nearest motorway?

In Holland apparently (if you live in the new Broadland constituency). Don't know why I know this. Don't know if it is true. Don't know why it would interest you. Don't know why I've blogged it.

Your first day at the office: how to make an interesting impression

Person A: "I'm starting work at the International Monetary Fund next week" Person B: "Is that the same as the World Bank?" Person A: "I don't know" That should make for an interesting first day in the office...

First Post looks at Childrens Services

The First Post has written about the Adoptions EDM. (see link).

Challenges

It was a day of lists and challenges in the chamber yesterday. First off was Neath Labour AM, Gwenda Thomas, who set a new standard in the number of local organisations that can be squeezed into a single question: Gwenda Thomas: I am sure that you will join me in welcoming the work of Neath Port Talbot Age Concern, which has developed two projects under the community food co-operative programme: the ‘you are what you eat’ lunch clubs and the Bangladeshi community women’s taster group. Will you also join me in welcoming the £160,000 recently received by organisations ...

Its happening again...

Latest Google spike comes courtesy of Giles Ingles-Jones. Giles was the Tory candidate in Ashfield at the 2005 general election. Despite spending a lot of money, the Tory vote actually decreased (we saw a good increase, as it happens, despite a very small campaign). I've previously blogged about how Giles (who was a perfectly nice bloke, and extraordinarily tall) exemplified how the Tories candidate selection policies are simply mad. I've previous blogged about this, hence I think the hits the site is getting from the above Google. So, what is A-Lister Giles up to?

Another Government IT success

For those who still have confidence in the Government's ability to deliver the technology that will make their ID card work, then this article in today's Guardian must be sobering reading. The paper tells us that the microchips in 3 million passports, which are supposed to be valid for 10 years, only carry a 24-month warranty: Whitehall spending watchdogs also warn today that much of the technology surrounding the new ePassports is still unproven and could lead to passenger delays at airports, raising doubts about their immediate security benefits. A National Audit Office report says the ...

Final three for Wolverhampton South West Conservatives

Wolverhampton South West Conservatives have reduced the final five to the final three for their Parliamentary selection. The final three are Eddie Hughes, Giles Inglis-Jones and Paul Uppal, the open primary will take place on 16th February (which I will not be attending).

Shocking

The letter bomb attack on workers at Swansea's DVLA this morning was quite shocking. I cannot find words strong enough to condemn this outrage and when I told Sky News this afternoon that when the perpetrator is caught then they should lock him or her up and throw away the key, I was not understating my feelings. The Guardian website is reporting that there have now been seven such attacks and it is difficult to know or understand what is motivating them. It is important however that everybody dealing with mail now takes extra precautions until those responsible are ...

Social vs Economic Liberalism

Something which occurred to me is that the difference between what people call Social and Economic Liberalism often comes down to the degree of faith you have in the state. I have very little faith in the ability of the state to produce good outcomes (let alone the best ones) so I look to the state [...]

Pensions injustice

During my time as the Lib Dem pensions spokesman, one of the issues that I got very involved in was the injustice suffered by thousands of people who were members of company pension schemes and who lost some or all of their pensions when their company went to the wall. Although they were repeatedly told that the pension fund was 'ring-fenced' from the company, and despite Govt. literature telling them how 'safe' their pensions were, many lost a large part of their pension. Among other MPs, I referred some cases to the Parliamentary Ombudsman who found in favour of the ...

Top Gearist extremism and other distracting stereotypes of justifying violence

OK it is totally unfair to link the current spate of letter bomb attacks on establishmenst inimical to Unrestricted Motoring* with the kind of rhetoric sometimes used on the Top Gear TV show. Though that issue of fairness wouldn't stop some commentators doing minute forensic examination of 'Islam' if 'Islamic Extermism' could be used as a peg for a story in parallel circumstances. For my part, I think a root of the problem is the legitimisation of violence as a political process available and justifiable by any sufficiently self-indulgent interest group. We legitimise this at a state level, ...

Geoffrey Wheatcroft on Peter Hain

Good stuff from this morning's Guardian: Gordon Brown comes out of Iraq better than Peter Hain. It is a very long time since British politics has witnessed anything quite as abject and contemptible as Hain's recent interview in the New Statesman. "The neocon mission has failed," Hain proclaims - now. "People have forgotten about [the government's achievements] because of the Iraq conflict," the Northern Ireland secretary tells us - now. The government found itself working with "the most rightwing American administration, if not ever, then in living memory", he observes - now, in the year 2007, just as he ...

Set my turkeys free

My favourite commentator on farming and rural affairs, Graham Harvey, has an article on Comment is Free about the economics and health and environmental consequences of intensive poultry farming: Until the 1960s, turkeys - like chicken - were mostly reared on mixed farms. Their feed was grown on the farm, and many were allowed to roam over pastures and corn stubbles. Given the opportunity, turkeys will eat significant amounts of vegetation as well as the insects and worms they find in their general foraging. It's now known that poultry meat produced this way contains higher levels of B vitamins, ...

Under the sea to Skye

You cannot fault the people of the Outer Hebrides for ambition. The Independent reports: Violent storms this winter which disrupted ferries to the Western Isles, and fears that climate change will make the situation worse, have inspired a campaign to build a road tunnel between the Outer Hebrides and mainland Scotland. Local councillors, business leaders and residents are proposing an undersea link, which would be the longest road tunnel in the world. The Channel Tunnel, which opened in 1994, is 31 miles long, with just 23 miles under the sea, while the Western Isles road tunnel would be 41 ...

Lords, Leadership, Polls and Death

No one story caught the FreeThink bloggers' eyes this morning, but there is a smattering of interesting reading that pick up on various ongoing FreeThink themes.Firstly, Lords reform. It seems that enough of a consensus will form around the Government's White Paper. The Independent quotes Norman Baker who feels that their lordships should not just go quietly, but also cheaply"I don't see why they should pay redundancy. They didn't compensate the hereditaries when they went. Peers are officially paid nothing so I'm happy to give them three years' pay on that basis."The next item we liked was in The FT. ...

Supping with the Devil(s)

There’s been much debate in Tory circles about the possibility of a Tory/LibDem coalition in the event of a hung parliament. Rather predictably the hard Tories are opposed to any thought of a deal, often due to what I see as misunderstandings of what the LibDems stand for (I fail to see this radically left [...]

Thanks Bob the Bankbuster!

For those of you who aren't already aware of Bob Egerton's activities please see this link. I have been one of those people who has been stung for penalty bank charges over the years I have banked with Lloyds. It wasn't until I had a conversation with Bob at conference last year I realised that they were actually possibly unlawful and I could perhaps claim them back. The charges totalled £720 over 4 years (aarrgghh!), it was a complete shock, so I printed out my statements and sent them to Bob who did a really fantastic job ...

Written Parlaimentary Question: 7th February 2007

Court of Appeal Q:To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many appeals were filed with the Court of Appeal in relation to family law cases where the local authority was a party to the case in each year since 1990; and how many of the appellants were (a) the local authority, (b) the guardian, (c) the mother, (d) the father and (e) another party in each year. A:

What to do with the Lords?

I am looking forward to seeing the Government’s latest proposals to reform the House of Lords later today. It is a major piece of unfinished business that should be settled one way or the other. I am personally in the all elected camp. The last time it was voted on in Parliament, House of [...]

Latest Community Council update ...

If you follow the link above to my website (click on the headline!) you can read the story about my latest Community Council update and download the update itself.

They still don’t get it

I’ve just heard Matthew Taylor (Blair’s ex-advisor not the LibDem MP) on the radio talking about trying to include people in local government and politics. He misses the point entirely, he keeps on talking about ‘persuading people to act wisely’. Why should government persuade people to act wisely? How on earth can government decide what that [...]

Is this what I will be riding in 20 years time?

I sincerely hope not. This is the world's first purpose built hydrogen powered motorbike which is designed by Intelligent Energy. It may be environmentally friendly but I would certainly dispute that it is likely to be fun as they claim. Apparently the only noise is from the tyres - not much use to a Harley loving nut like me then. And probably not very safe if people cannot hear you coming at all. According to the BBC there is some good news in that there are some downsides to this technology : Producing hydrogen ...

Day 2228: You're Past it Sir Mr the Merciless, says DEATH

Tuesday: Death (3.5 billion), former leader of the not-ongoing SDP (Sudden Death Party), has said that Sir Mr the Merciless (65) is getting a bit long in the tooth. Well, since he's the man with the hourglasses, is there something he would like to share with the rest of us! Death suggests that we swap Sir Mr the Merciless and recommends Mr Hewn (52) because he is 42. Er. Maybe some sort of Time Travel is involved. Perhaps we could get Mr Clogg (40) to stand aged 76. Or Ms Lynne Featherweight (21) to be leader ...

Day 2227: I want my Independence!

Monday: It has been suggested that the UKPnuts party are to change their name in order to split from the UK. Yes, they are to become just Nuts. No, no, no. Their leader, Mr Nigel Farago – soon to be know as Gil Rago – has denied everything. "His s ot rue" he said. "T s _ issue f ies. E re ot osing ny etters rom he tart f ur ords.[*]" Speaking of the lunatic fringe, Mr Edward Vivian Leigh might be able to understand Mr Farago's message. Certainly, he is talking the same ...

Saud state of affairs

There was an extraordinary piece on last night’s Newsnight concerning the educational texts used at the Saud-funded King Fahad Academy in London. The school’s Director offered virtually no defence, other than muling “context!” to the fact these books describe Jews and Christians as “monkeys and pigs”. One of the chapters had a lesson objective for students to be able to "explain some of the contemptible qualities of the Jews". As the recent Channel Four Dispatches highlighted, the pernicious and dangerous influence of Wahabism in the UK and overseas is something we seem highly reluctant to combat. The silence of the ...

Norfolk Blogger: The Sun shows video of US planes attacking UK troops - Are America really our ally of choice ?

There are a lot of very good reasons to question the value for the U.K. of having such a close relationship with the United States, but with all due respect to Nich Starling I am not sure that the matter of this video is one of them. The U.S., particularly the military, have become very sensitive, if you pardon the turn of phrase, to the declassification of information in the wake of 9/11. In

Songs of Innocence

In the spirit of my friend Alex’s long-running ‘Good Things’ tapes, this selection is neither necessarily contemporary or in any meaningful order. I might do this regularly, or I might get bored and never do it again. We’ll see. I can’t get no satisfaction (Thank God) – Talulah Gosh Beautiful twangy guitarwork, Amelia Fletcher’s ethereal presence and rambling but intelligent lyrics combine to give us this work of loveliness. I am indebted to Max for introducing me to goshworld. Killing an Arab – The Cure I only recently read Camus’ The Outsider, on which this song is based. ...

Brrrrr!

Occasionally my work means I get to travel to far off and exotic locations, or rather business parks in far off and exotic locations. All a little reminiscent of the 3 weeks I once spent working in Slough, without the attractive roundabouts and the added bonus of jetlag. This week I'm in Naperville, a large patch of urban sprawl to the West of Chicago. The Great Lakes area of America where Naperville is situated is currently experiencing a blast of weather from the Artic. The outside temperature is 15 below zero Celsius, 30 below with wind chill. It's ...

Wednesday 7th February 2007

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