This week's music purchase has to be Mashed from Go Home Productions. For those of you that don't know of Mark Vidler (aka GHP) he is the greatest splicer and mixer of tracks there is. Mashed is released on Monday. Here is the TV ad: Though it doesn't include his classic Madonna v Sex Pistols "Ray of Gob"
Not because people care about cannabis, but because everyone will be reminded that he went to Eton.
Senator Barack Obama (D-Il) finally announced his Presidential candidacy today. You can watch his speech in full here. I’m still not too sure whether the reality will match the hype. But if the reality matches the rhetoric the next couple of years are going to be a helluva ride. His final, poetic paragraphs are stirring stuff: As Lincoln organized the forces arrayed against slavery, he was
A new book purports to out David Cameron as a teenage dope user. Should anyone care?
The Mail on Sunday. "David Owen, Ming's top men, even Mandy - all are welcome in Dave's big tent". "David Owen"? Pass the oxygen, I am going to expire through hyperventilatory laughter! "Mandy"? Here is my last will and testament. I may die of laughter shortly. Last autumn, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, invited himself into the office of a leading figure in the LibDem Party. Then, 
Earlier this week BskyB announced that, as of this spring, Sky News will no longer be shown on Freeview. If you want to watch it in future, you’ll either have to upgrade to a new digital terrestrial set-top box, or get a satellite dish. This is a loss to the political world - yes, we sniff [...]
Relaxed Saturday and Sunday afternoons are such a pleasure (unlikely to be sampled by yours truly between now and May 3rd, incidentally). ...Sunday falling asleep in front of a black and white film (it's traditional - Genevieve is the best one to do it to - I have never watched the whole film). And Saturday is a particular pleasure pressing the red button for "Final Score" at 4pm. Drowning
Eight awards, three Tory wins, one Labour win, no Lib Dems (Sandi Toksvig doesn’t count). No-one could doubt, I’m sure, that our parliamentarians are working hard - but these awards measure the impact of that work. Listed below, the prize winners - Lib Dem nominees appear in brackets. For what it’s worth, Greg Mulholland was robbed. Politician’s [...]
Parliamentary recess began on Friday with sighs of relief from staffers in Westminster offices, whilst constituency employees began to wonder how they will get any actual work done with their MP breathing down their neck for a week… or so I imagine… But one group of MPs won’t be bothering their staff this week. A cross-party [...]
I've just received this info about the park. I have been there so many, many times with both my children and groups of children on Manchester play schemes - we went as its like a hidden garden, not overlooked and so near a busy road and yet another world. Info from Activist against plans to develop in the park: "The 5 acre gardens and caretakers lodge (designed by Joshua Cartwright) were gifted
Tomorrow’s Mail on Sunday has the story, which is online now.
For reasons which may be apparent to many bloggers, my mind has recently been concentrated on this subject. There was a disturbing story from the Guardian today. A poor old restaurant reviewer has been found guilty of libel: The Irish News in Belfast has announced its determination to fight the jury's verdict and the £25,000 awarded in damages to Ciaran Convery, who sued over a review in 2000
A colleague at work remarked that she's ashamed of saying where she lives as people assume she's a racist - she lives in Coln. She isn't by a long chalk and was very interested in a fund-raising lunch followed by leafleting - part of a positive campaign showing what the Lib Dems do to encourage and support tolerance, respect, values and integration of our communities. Rather than intolerance,
A pretty full day today (so far!). This morning was the councillors' surgery in Speke - so I was at the community centre. They I was off delivering leaflets in West Speke for Lynnie Williams - our candidate in the Speke- garston by election. A quick break for lunch, then off again (this time with a big team of helpers) to deliver in East Speke. On the way round I picked up some casework for a local resident. It seems this is something he asked a labour councillor about some time ago - but heard ...
It's another Sunday evening on Radio 4 this weekend as I'll be appearing again on The Westminster Hour: Radio 4, 10pm, Sunday.
One of the meetings I went to last week was the operations committee of South Liverpool Housing. I am on the board of SLH - and this is the committee I chose to be on. We discussed the progress of the developments "under the bridge" in Garston. As people move out, there are more properties to be demolished before newer ones are built. The cheapest option would be to wait until a whole street is vacant and then demolish each block in it at once. But we decided that it would be better to ...
Visited my old primary school in Highgate on Friday to 'open' two new sports playgrounds. All the children came into the hall and then the dignitaries (Lianne Sanderson / Arsenal Ladies and England footballer), Anthony the amazing Deputy Head, Jill (the Head), Justine (parent governor) and a gentleman who had been Anthony's right-hand man throughout the project (sorry, didn't catch his name)
The news in The Daily Mail highlighting approaches made by the Tories desperate to "woo" Lib Dem MP's David Laws, Jeremy Browne and Norman Lamb (pictured)to join the Tories must be sending Conservatives in Yeovil, Taunton and North Norfolk in to something of a panic. They now have to campaign against Lib Dem MP's who everyone now knows David Cameron wants to have in his team. How do you sell yourself on the door as a Tory in these constituencies in these circumstances ? Personally I find it hilarious. I know Norman Lamb well and know that an enormous part ...
There's a good example in Friday's South London Press as to just how the paper's obsession with Labour's gimmicky 'naming and shaming' policy is skewing their reporting and consequently ensuring the wrong questions are being asked in respect of those responsible for public safety. The article "I'll umask Asbo thugs" relates that Borough Police Commander Malcolm Tillyer has "told Council bosses 'if you don't name and shame Asbo recipients, then I will.'"... This is such a revealing remark... Firstly it highlights that it's not just Councils that have ASBO powers. The Police are perfectly entitled to request ...
With the depressing situation in Venezuela (its so predictable, price controls mean that food shortages are arriving, Chavez is continuing his clamp down on opposition and his dictatorial measures), its good to see that Peru is embracing economic freedom and free trade to the benefit of the country and its citizens. Along with Chile I hope [...]
Shaun Ley has written a good piece in the latest BBC World at One newsletter, which I think deserves wider circulation: The image has stayed with me ever since the evening when I sat in the Strangers Bar in the House of Commons. It’s small and undistinguished, with a narrow bar and pretty unimaginative décor. The [...]
We are told, in in part I agree, that in an ideal world we wouldn't need cars. An integrated public transport network will get us from A to B quickly, cheaply and easily with the minimum of carbon output and everyone is happy. The problem is, this would never work for some people. Let me tell you why. I have the flu. I've had it since Tuesday. I have to go out every other day to buy more paracetamol because if I but two packets at the same time I am told I can only buy one packet because the ...
Watching the BBC's "score interactive" programme this afternoon in my slightly fevered state, I can't be the only person to have noticed that Garth Crooks has suddenly become very aggressive, shouty and really very patronising. The way he cut across comments from Carlton Palmer on a number of occasions and kept giving him the evil eye was bordering on blatant rudeness on a number of occassions. I've never been impressed by Garth Crooks skills on TV anyway, but today should have shown the BBC at least why someone needs to take him aside and get him to think about ...
... and they got their wish.... It really does look as if the fat lady has a sore throat, and isn't going to sing at Roots Hall.
Death of Anna Nicole Smith: tragic, but not an international news story that needs live coverage on rolling news channels. Milliband's "gaffe": plenty of politicians I can think of have had a bounce in their popularity after they stood down - so his comment that in a future with Brown as PM people might be pinning for Blair was really just a statement of the extremely likely. About as newsworthy 
Andrew Spence, one of the most high profile organisers of protests about fuel prices (and taxes on fuel) in the last few years has announced that he wants to be a BNP candidate in May’s local election. He preivously stood as a UKIP candidate. It’s the latest in a series of links between some fuel protestors [...]
Guido Fawkes points us to an article by Peter Oborne on the Daily Mail website: Last autumn, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, invited himself into the office of a leading figure in the LibDem Party. Then, without so much as a preamble, he got down to business and presented him with a dramatic proposition, which he made clear had been sanctioned by David Cameron. Osborne suggested to David Laws, LibDem work and pensions spokesman, that he should consider defecting to the Conservative Party. In return, he would be offered a shadow cabinet job. At this point, Laws politely ...
Well a win is a win and Italy aren't as bad as the French made them look last week. But still, that game was dull. Italy spoiled well, England's pack never got going. England wasn't helped by Wilkinson having a mare with his kicking from hand, several sliced into short touches and several others just humped down field meant that England spent the second half stuck in their own 22. Iain Balshaw
Went out during the morning when the snow first fell for a walk into Bridgnorth. Bridgnorth always looks stunning, with terrific views. In the snow things seem even better. Two snaps are included below.
I haven't written much this year about ward issues, but I have been carrying on my role as a ward councillor throughout. Today was an example of the methods we use to arrive at decisions with local residents. This morning we (councillors and traffic engineers) had a street meeting in Green End at 9.30am. The people living in all 14 houses had been invited and half turned up in spite of...
I have decided to go out on a limb here and declare Gavin Ramjaun the best TV newsreader in the country - by a mile. There is no question about it. He smiles virtually all the time. He does look serious for serious pieces but then his smile comes back - particularly at the end of the bulletin. He makes the news cheerful and if you get bored with what he is saying you can watch his hair, which
It’s been a very sad week for many Liberal Democrats with the death of two long-standing members. David was active for many years, including in the early days of the Liberal growth in Southwark and most recently in Enfield. He was very generous with his time and advice and maintained a thorough optimism about the ability of [...]
Staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn have been told by their "turn around team" that the trust will not be buying any stationery. This is already leading to staff having to subsidise the hospital by buting their own stationery. For all those who do not know the "turn around team" is a team who dod the government's bidding by attempting to ruduce budget defecits, not in the most painless way, but the quickest way possible. So what next for Kings Lynn residents in the government's search to sort out the black hole they have left ...
Yesterday was a fantastic day one of my favourite projects of last year (Cornish Kobe aka Drunken Beef) was picked up on the web by the local media. It ended up being syndicated and has today started appearing in the national press. Apparently, the farmer tells me, NOTW have been on the phone (drunken cows, right up their street I suppose) and orders on the website have really increased. Today it is in The Guardian (p.14) and hits to the website have again increased substantially. This is a brilliant result, I love doing marketing campaigns, especially for new ...
Good News from Thursday's County Council by-election in Penryn, although a low turn-out (24%) our candidate Cait Hutchings won with 38.64% of the vote. This is a brilliant result especially with Local Government Reform being such a burning issue in Cornwall at present (instigated by our Lib Dem run County Council, misunderstood by everyone else!) - Well done Cait, I am really pleased for you. Am off to watch the Rugby with my husband this afternoon, hopefully Jonny Wilkinson will keep up his impressive comeback. A few of our friends have gone up to Twickenham and between you and ...
I’m currently in Heysel, on the edge of Brussels, where I’ve managed successfully since arriving last night on a smattering on schoolboy French. Thought I’d blog from the Atomium, where I am right now. It’s based on a molecule of iron and I’m in a giant silver atom now, making it, via a bad pun, literally [...]
Ming comes good!
We all know how Lib Dem campaigners just love rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in to dumped rubbish, graffiti and dog poo - metaphorically! Well - it looks like we might all soon be partly put out of business thanks to this excellent new website coming along: neighbourhoodfixit.com It lets you report these sorts of local issues direct to the relevant council, but without having first
Once again, there's been a lot of controversy about the tactics used by CICCU (Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union for those who don't know) during their latest campaign. Let me say that I'm uncomfortable about the tactics used by particular individuals during these times, and I wouldn't be best pleased if someone came knocking on my door pressuring me to accept a particular version of the Gospel. However, I want to say three things in defence of CICCU: Firstly, people have been saying a lot about colleges being "secular". Where this is the case, however, it doesn't mean ...
Assembly Constituency Candidates Mel ab Owain Arfon Mick Bates Montgomeryshire Frank Biggs Clwyd South Ed Bridges Cardiff North Paul Brighton Alyn and Deeside Helen Ceri-Clarke Swansea East John Davies Ceredigion Nigel Flanagan Newport West Alison Goldsworthy Cardiff West John Gossage Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Dominic Hannigan Cardiff South & Penarth Mark Hooper ...
Okay, the government says it was an error. The Department of Work and Pensions says it was a terrible mistake. However, I call it appalling. How can they issue 26,000 letters containing other people's bank and personal detailas to the wrong people ? Do they have no system of checking the mail ? Why wehn large mailshots are sent out do they not take a random sample of letters to check they are correct in every way. The government lecture us on taking every preventative measure to avoid ID theft, but the government are as bad as any ...
You may recall last May I went to Pakistan with a number of other young politicians. One of the things to come out of this was the creation of a Youth Parliament. PILDAT, the organisers, have just emailed me about it, below is a report that I thought it would be good to share with you.
Don't get me wrong I think that Oxfam do a lot of good work but I think they need to make sure that their own house is in order before they have a go at others. They have taken the EU to task for bank charges incurred in transferring money to the Palestinians. More than €3m (£2m) of EU aid for Palestinians was spent on bank charges last year in an effort to bypass the Hamas-run government, Oxfam said yesterday. The money was spent between August and December under the temporary international mechanism, a system run by the European ...
Writing in today's paper, the Guardian's Washington Correspondent, Ewen MacAskill, says that US preparations for an air strike against Iran are at an advanced stage. He reports on the military build-u...
In a further embarrassment for Wales New Labour it emerges that yet another of their policy initiatives has hit the rocks, this time before they have even had time to implement it. Today's Western Mail reports that contractual issues will prevent the party from fulfilling its pledge that all hospital cleaners in Wales will be employed by the NHS, not outside agencies. Private companies currently hold the contracts to manage Neath Port Talbot Hospital, Chepstow Community Hospital and St David's Community Hospital, in Cardiff, under the PFI deals struck to build the hospitals. These include long-term cleaning and catering ...
The news that Hay-on-Wye has been twinned with Timbuktu has led to a number of comments. One entertaining one is in today's Guardian letters' page in which, presumably alluding to the snow, Aidan Roe of Manchester compares travelling experiences: I went to Timbuktu (Hay-on-Wye toasts its twinning with Timbuktu, February 7) in 1965. Then, as now, there was a regular air link from Bamako to Timbuktu via Segou and/or Mopti. A regular ferry service runs from Mopti to Timbuktu. You can also take a king-size pirogue, which is usually faster. Getting to Hay-on-Wye? Now there's a problem. It ...
One of the reasons I love the theatre is the slight feeling of risk involved in live performance. Will the cast be on fire sparking off each other and the audience taking their performances to different places, or will they have been out on the town the night before and just trying to get through evening. Well An Oak Tree which has just opened at the Soho Theatre following a run in New York takes
Thursday: Former BERSERK SAFETY ELEPHANT, Mr Charles Clarke, has given a speech to the LSE saying it is time to start charging for the NHS. Has he gone MAD? Has he got BIRD FLU? Or has he been HIT BY A CAR and sent BACK IN TIME to the EIGHTIES?!?!?! At the other end of the Labour food chain, captain of the CREEPY-CRAWLY club, Mr David Millipede, was on Questionable Time last night, being badgered by Mr David Dimbledonkey. Watching Mr Millipede talk down to the audience it was clear that he ... | < | February 2007 | > | ||||
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