The agenda for the City Council Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday 22 May 2007 has now been published and can be found here. The AGM is mainly a formal occasion and the main items of business are: the election of the Lord Mayor for 2007/08 (Cllr Randal Brew (Conservative, Northfield Ward) will take over from Cllr Mike Sharpe (Labour, Tyburn Ward));the election of the Leader of the Council
Sky New’s coverage of the recent developments in the missing Madeleine case is absolutely incredible - I hope they’re operating within Portugese law, because in the event of this guy being charged for something (and Sky have clearly decided he’s guilty as sin), this coverage could seriously prejudice a trial if it took place in [...]
There is an interesting story on the Daily Telegraph site this evening. On the eve of its conference the Police Federation has published a dossier of absurd cases where the removal of the power to use their discretion has forced officers to take action. Those cases include: A Cheshire man who was cautioned by police for being "found in possession of an egg with intent to throw"A child in Kent who removed a slice of cucumber from a tuna mayonnaise sandwich and threw it at another youngster was arrested because the other child’s parents claimed it was an assault ...
I learned today that the governments planning white paper due to be published either tomorrow or Wednesday will abolish the 'Supermarket Needs Test'. These are a set of guidelines that our local council can use to see whether there is a need for a new supermarket. This is important because too many supermarkets in an area can destroy town centre or high street trade. I have personally seen this in the town near where my mother lives, out of town supermarkets and some bad planning decisions have created a ghost town, even the pound shops are closing. We have ...
Have I mentioned I was in Italy a couple of months ago? I might have alluded now and again to the fact that work forced me to visit a country I thoroughly enjoy. There is so much that I relish there – but, recently, there has been one issue that has made me thank the Lord that I am British. Civil partnerships: the Labour party has a patchy record on such issues, understandably so for an organisation which does not see civil liberties as at its core. But, while they are still reprobates on matters like ...
If the Lib Dems have a hard time breaking the two party mould spare a thought for third parties in the US. There are only 2 independents out of the 500 and odd members of Congress and as far as I am aware there isn't a single third party Governor in any of the 50 states. Therefore I wouldn't hold out much for Chuck Hagel the anti-war Republican Senator if as he keeps hinting he does make an
Toby Philpott resigned as the Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Folkestone & Hythe Constituency on Sunday. Shepway Local Party Chair, Tim Prater, commented: “Toby made a real contribution to our campaigning over the last few months. Just 10 days ago, the Liberal Democrats took control of Folkestone Town Council, and also form the largest opposition [...]
“Hampshire Labour News” had nothing on this report about campaign tactics in Romania’s presidential impeachment referendum: An SMS with PD leader Emil Boc as alleged sender was received on journalists’ phones over the weekend. “Basescu sees himself back in Cotroceni. Power has taken his reason. On May 19, show him you don’t want any more dictators. [...]
Wednesday night will see the Annual General Meeting of Bromley Council, and yet again we witness a night of a thousand knives among the Bromley Tory Council Group. The list of the new Executive was put on the web, then removed, but thanks to Google caching we can all see what is happening. OUT from the Executive goes George Taylor, I hear because he talked too much to Liberal Democrat
I'm Lancashire born and bred (and bloody proud of it, might I add) and caught the play going habit thanks to trips to Bolton's Octagon Theatre with the parents. It was with pleasure therefore that I spent Friday evening listening to Lancashire accents on the stage of that bastion of southern metropolitanism, the National Theatre. Rafta Rafta is Abdul Khan-Din's updating of Bill Naughton's
Frank Field’s deconstruction of the New Deal for Young People makes damning reading. What is perhaps is even more damning is that despite the fact that despite the fact that the Department for Work and Pensions have had all day to formulate a response, the ‘rebuttal’ on the BBC website remains ultra-lame: “Since 1997 the [...]
On Saturday, I went to a council meeting with a difference. We have regular Area Assembly meetings throughout the year - but usually the standard evening meeting in a school hall, church hall or somewhere similar. Our Area Assembly covers a massive four wards (Fortis Green, Alexandra, Highgate and Muswell Hill), compared with just two wards in many other parts of the borough, but is very ably chaired by my Lib Dem colleague Cllr Gail Engert. Although we get good attendance at the meetings anyway, with residents from all over the four wards coming with ...
Last week, we met with all three other political groups on the City Council to discuss a way forward for the administration of the Council for the next four years. The discussions were constructive. We have now had the opportunity to read fully the manifesto proposals of the other parties. We have substantial concern at the number of costly proposals by the SNP group which, if introduced, even in part, would lead to a large increase in Council Tax in the City. We have worked, as part of a joint administration, over the past ...
After the last episode of Torchwood Season One, I offered my own considered thoughts on the programme which, with the exception of the Guppy Fans, appeared to go down quite well. One of my arguments was that the main problem with the series was the lead writer: Chris Chibnell. In the last series he wrote [...]
Yesterday’s Observer newspaper carried three interesting stories about BAE Systems plc. Congress stands by to torpedo BAE’s deal In January, the US formally protested to the British government about the abandonment at the end of last year of the Serious Fraud Office investigation into bribery allegations over the £40bn al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia and the [...] 
Why is it that the newspapers are always full of stories about the police failing to respond to 999 calls when people phone to give information about kids and anti social behaviour ? Why do members of the public feel that they have to take the law in to their own hands when nobody in the police force seems to be willing to arrest people causing mayhem in their communities ? Well, I have the answer. If you want to the police to turn up mob handed, wearing their full body armour and make an arrest at 12am ...
At school today we were discussing in the staffroom whether anyone watches Teachers .tv. For those of you who don't know, Teachers.tv is a channel that is supposed to be for the "professional development" of teachers. However, nobody, I repeat, not a single soul at school said they watch it. What is the point of it ? They don't have a "police.tv" or a "nurses.tv", so why a teachers .tv ? It is supposed to aid professional development. But do teachers want to sit down when they get home and watch a tv show showing someone teaching maths then ...
The local news is full of today's events in Fakenham, my old council area, and the bomb incident in town. It appears that a man who lives in Field Dalling, five miles from Fakenham in the countryside, heard an explosion in his garden last night and this morning found a device that looked like a large grenade. Upon finding this device, he put it in his van and took it to the police station in Fakenham. Upon seeing what he had in his van, an exclusion zone was set up in Fakenham and a bomb disposal team was ...
Tim Hames in today's Times bemoans our celebrity obsessed world in a rather entertaining article "I don't give a damn about what the PM has on his iPod"Rather conveniently this fits well with FreeThink's new debate on celebrity politics. The trend for successful people from business and entertainment to move into politics has long been practised in the US. However, where Michael Bloomberg succeeded in the US, UK businessmen with good track records, like Conservative Archie Norman, have struggled. Similarly, Sebastian Coe's olympic gold medals didn't save him from the Tory wipeout in 1997. That hasn't stopped many politicians trying ...
Hard on the heels of the Norfolk Blogger, Richard Younger-Ross has tabled an EDM calling on the BBC to insist on changes to the Eurovision voting system or to withdraw from the contest. Tonight's Radio Four PM featured news of an academic study on Eurovision voting patterns by Derek Gatherer. He has identified at least three distinct voting blocs - the Balkans, the former Eastern European USSR
Nick Clegg's call for a 'narrative' for the Liberal Democrats has aroused some interest and confusion. I'm a recent convert to the joys of the narrative myself. What is one? It's the story that you tell to link things together and give them meaning. What links Tony Blair's resignation, the Lib Dem policy on taxation, Ming Campbell's next speech, and last week's local elections? Whatever answer you give will almost certainly be a narrative. It might even be a narrative about the Liberal Democrats, and possibly is a positive narrative about us rather than a negative one. ...
Tonight is the meeting on the way forward for Fortismere School, to which my colleague Cllr Gail Engert is going on behalf of the Lib Dems (as I can't go) and putting forward our proposals. There is a great deal of angst and bad feeling grown up in response to the school’s seeming desire to move to foundation status. The concerns are around moves to selection; reduction in intake of statemented
No, not the dead African American gospel singer, but a Labour councillor in St Helens. As Jonathan Wallace points out, this means Labour is no longer the largest party on the council.
The following short letter published in 'The Independent' on Saturday 12 May said succinctly why the Tories are not an alternative to Labour. Sir : Before we finally condemn Tony Blair for his war escapades we must remember that he would not have been able to go to war either in Iraq or Afghanistan if it had not been for Conservative support. And we would not be now committed to wasting billions on a worthless nuclear weapons upgrade without the Conservatives . For many millions such as myself , the Conservatives are not a serious alternative. ROBERT ...
A simple thought: with VoIP services becoming ever more popular, will the price savings make it viable for mass cross-territorial voting in the Eurovision Song Contest? Imagine if a campaign were to be run in a country the size of, say, the UK, to stitch up the Balkan states’ votes? In the short term, those [...]
The government wants us to be happy and well. So now GPs should be prescribing country walks as medicine for those suffering from depression (actually, it’s called an ‘ecotherapy’) and happiness lessons for school children. I am not going to do a rant about it all being common sense etc, etc because I do understand that the study on country walks, was looking at non-chemical responses to an
The front page of the online Guardian was recently redesigned, and there is a piece in today’s paper about readers’ reactions. Some people like the new look, some don’t. “Emily Bell [online editor… sorry, ‘director of digital content’] has made it clear that there is no going back,” apparently, but the disgruntled among the readership [...]
First thing visited Avenue Nursery in Highgate. Definitely the Rolls Royce of nurseries - and in fact, not just a nursery, but going up to 6/7 year olds now. Beautiful premises (good design) and facilities (amazingly huge garden)! I am there to accompany a class on a litter observation outing. So eight youngsters, their two teachers and myself and Ed Butcher (councillor and my Head of Office)
Not much change in Redditch - with both Diane Thomas and Nigel Hicks winning their wards. There are now 14 Labour, 11 Conservatives 3 Liberal Democrats and 1 BNP.
Nominations have opened and Hazel Blears has appeared in Westminster, all bright-eyed and bushy tailed (is she ever anything else?) supported by John Reid and Tessa Jowell. So far, she appears to have the most big name backers according to the Independent. By the way, if you want to read a rather bitter and twisted character assasination of John Reid based on events which seem to have taken 
There’s a fascinating piece in today’s Guardian outlining the views of the six contenders for the Labour deputy leadership, based on interviews covering various fields, including foreign policy. Interestingly, all but one of the candidates hoping to step into John Prescott’s shoes distance themselves from the Blair-Bush love-in. The exception is none other than the [...]
There have been rumours about Jack Straw getting the Treasury, then the Home Office, then the Foreign Office. Kevin MacGuire, in his Westminster gossip column in the News Statesman now reckons its defintely the Treasury.
I have often been fascinated about living life on a remote island. The New Statesman carries a regular column from Malachy Tallack who is 26 and lives in Fair Isle. "He is a singer-songwriter, journalist, and editor of the magazine Shetland Life." The articles are well worth reading, if only to hear how far removed island life can be from that in the bustling south of England.
Murder-spinner Harriet Harman MP's bid for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party looks in deeper trouble today with the announcement that her Southwark neighbour Tessa Jowell MP is the leading cheerleader for ultra-Blairite rival Hazel Blears. Blears claims the support of 47 MPs, Harman 45. Harman also lists the support of 8 of her Borough Councillors. How wise that is though is questionable, given it highlights that 21 of them appear to share similar doubts to Jowell.
We appear to have picked up another councillor from Labour. Bessie Griffin in St Helens has joined the Lib Dems and has at a stroke ended Labour's reign as the largest party (though without a majority). Labour and Lib Dems now both have 21 councillors on Sh Helens.
Sharon Payne Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will apply for rescindment of the court order relating to the provision of the medical files held by Sharon Payne to the Attorney General A:It would not be appropriate for the Secretary of State to seek a rescindment of this court order as this remains the responsibility of the Attorney-General.(Caroline Flint (Minister of State (
Speaking at a North London fundraising event, Nick Clegg has called for the party to develop a “narrative” to accompany its policies. Duncan Borrowman and Jonathan Fryer have more. One would presume the two logical places to start are Ming Campbell’s first major conference speech, in which he called for the Liberal Democrats to create a country that [...]
Southwark's Lead Member on Environment and Transport, Cllr Lisa Rajan, met last week with Transport for London's top officers, armed with a number of questions that affect Southwark's residents. Because TfL are responsible for so much of the capital's transport networks, it was a good opportunity to grill them about the issues that people often ask Southwark councillors about. Lisa said "TfL gave a presentation to lead members from 20 of the London Councils on various aspects of what they do, but the most useful part of the session was the informal chat I had with several of the chief ...
There has been a hot debate about the extent to which computer software should be patentable in both the US and the EU over recent years. This has been a matter largely for hi-tech companies and individual technology campaigners outside the mainstream of political and business debate. But this story on the latest [...]
The winner is Jeremy Hargreaves: I spent half my childhood and early adulthood in cathedrals...
Yesterday was the second annual Prestwich Clough Day. Last year was the 100th anniversary of the Clough, and we had a fabulous day celebrating local groups and people who contribute so much to the community and the outdoor life in Prestwich. Someone suggested that we make it an annual event, which prompted some smart-alec (me) to remark jokingly that you can't celebrate something's 100th birthday
I notice that Gordon in his hustings yesterday defended the principle of overseas military intervention in Darfur - saying that he wanted to see a joint UN / African Union force in the country almost immediately. Well - yes - don't we all? But we are being taken for fools by the Khartoum government who clearly think they can play with us with no consequences. So - this is a test for Gordon: is he
Saturday night was the annual Lib Dem post election party, which thankfully for the last few years has been a time of celebration, rather than bitter recriminations / evil and revengeful plotting / tears and sadness. This time of course we had a triple celebration, as we thanked all the leafleters, envelope stuffers and volunteers who helped elect me, Steve Wright in Sedgley, and Wilf Davison in
Apologies for no weekend blogging - the staff at Orange Broadband obviously mistook the exam in buck-passing for the exam in internet technical maintenance, and passed the former with flying colours whilst neglecting to take the latter. Hence they now blame BT for the ongoing lack of broadband action at my house. Idiots, the lot of them. Unhelpful in the extreme, and just plain unable to sort my
I've posted before about New Labour's obsession with the "strong man" approach to leadership and how almost inevitably it is a man, so I was interested to see this article, 'RoboCop ready to fight again for job he does not believe in', while catching up on my reading. Ray Mallon, the elected mayor of Middlesbrough, apparently doesn't think much of the elected mayor model. According to the
Liberal Democrats Ray Farmer & Trevor Snaith who defeated the Conservatives to become Wycombe District Councillors for the Ryemead ward were ‘weighed’ in on Saturday in front of a large crowd that included Robbie Coltrane. The mayor and Councillors are weighed in to see whether or not they have been getting fat at the taxpayers [...]
Local Lib Dems were out in force on Monday morning, collecting petition signatories and campaigning to save the threatened Crown Post Office on Borough High Street. Royal Mail have recently announced that 76 crown post offices are to be relocated to nearby WH Smith shops. In most cases, this will see a massive cut in the number of counters available to customers. The future of a further 9 post offices - including Borough High Street - is in doubt. Sources say that WH Smith refused to take this branch into one of its stores. When local Lib Dems asked Royal ...
The twelfth 'Best of the Blogs' round-up of the past week in the Lib Dem blogosphere is now available for your vieing pleasure over at Lib Dem Voice here.
If you haven't seen the Al Gore film yet - this is another chance. The Cooperative Group, Liverpool Friends of the Earth and FACT present: A FREE screening of An Inconvenient Truth By/featuring Al Gore [Pre-book! See below] Plus...a Climate Change Pub-style Team Quiz At: FACT cinema and bar, Wood Street Liverpool 1 On: Thursday 17 May 2007 Film: 7-9pm (Screen 3; to pre-book, ring the Co-op Group on 0161 246 2213 Quiz: 9.30-10.30pm (first floor bar) with donated prizes! Bring your friends! Frank Kennedy Regional Campaigns Coordinator (North West England)
Welcome to the twelfth of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (6th-12th May), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. Let’s get this party started… 1. ‘Iain Dale, Wales, and why blogs should never be trusted’ on Duncan Borrowman’s blog. A [...]
There is an interesting article on salon.com about how opposition aides place stories with blogs and reporters to discredit their opponents. "Oppo dumps" seems to be the new phrase to describe this. Often these "oppo dumps" are sent anonymously to reporters and blogs. The whole McCain "Bomb Iran" story seems to have come about due to an anonymous "oppo dump" via the Drudge Report. And it appears
It is not only us that have to worry about the weight, length, width and thickness of parcels we send. Now the US is introducing the same system. CNN reports: The postal rate increase that kicks in Monday is shaping up to be a big headache for many businesses. Many companies say they are confused and frustrated as they try to adjust to the new rules, and some say mailings could be severely
I have somehow contrived never to attend the Lord Mayor’s Parade through Oxford during my time on the City Council. This year’s seemed a good one for which to make an exception… at least while it was sunny. A gaggle of councillors were ferried a couple of hundred yards on an open-top bus into historic Broad Street, where we alighted to process through the central streets in order to bemuse
For a long time it was impossible to have a serious conversation about immigration into Britain without being accused of racism. This wasn’t just over-sensitivity by the political correctness police – it was because many attempts to raise the issue did indeed have at least undertones based on race. But discussion of the impact of immigration [...]
I spent half my childhood and early adulthood in cathedrals so I do have some idea of the challenges of running one, and also how common it is for people to smoke in them (not very). So I was sorry to see that English cathedrals seem to have allowed themselves to be used as ammunition [...]
It has been a week of filling in forms, I have almost felt as though I am drowning in paperwork! First there were all the forms for council - the declaration of interests, the new parking permit, the personal details, the bank details, the expenses I hadn't claimed at the end of the last financial year (smacked hand) ... and many more bits and pieces of paper. I am sure that the environmental impact of elected members is considerable ... not to mention the strain on my postman's back. He was perhaps the only person I know who wasn't happy ...
Since my last post I have been a little busy which has prevented me from further posting to this site. My last post was on the day I handed in my dissertation so after returning home that day I slept to recover from the lack of sleep that I had over the few days prior to that.
We have already established that the cost of the London Olympics has quadrupled to £9.3 billion. In addition it has been claimed that charities and sports bodies in Wales could lose over £24 million as a result of money being top-sliced from the lottery to pay for the event. In the circumstances one would look for some clear benefits from this expenditure, not just for London but for the rest of the country as well. Alas, it seems that this is not going to be the case. A report in this morning's Daily Telegraph tells us that the ...
Had a read of the Scottish Sunday papers late last night on return from London. A very different read to the English editions I had read on the flight up to Edinburgh! I wryly smile at the comments of commentators who are criticising the Liberal Democrats for not cosying up to Alex Salmond and the nationalists at Holyrood. Eddie Barnes in 'Scotland on Sunday' quotes Salmond’s view before the election that Nicol Stephen and the LibDem MSP were “Barclaycard politicians – my flexible friends.” Sorry Alex, got that one wrong. ...
We lost a seat in Oswestry as did Labour, as a result the Conservatives took overall control of the Council. The Labour seat was their only seat so Labour are now not represented on the Council.
James Graham has an excellent post on some of the articles attacking Ming that have appeared on Liberal Democrat Voice. You should read the whole thing - but here is a taste of his argument: the party is continuing to suffer the aftershocks of that political earthquake[the removal of Kennedy]. The Conservatives took a decade and more to recover from their act of regicide; I don’t think we’ll struggle for anything like that amount of time, but the fact remains that Ming hasn’t been allowed anything like the sort of honeymoon period that leaders who have been elected ...
The Independent reports that Labour are encouraging their MP's to support a Tory attempt to exclude MP's from the Freedom of Information Act. If this is the case, it speaks volumes about Blair and ought to go down in his legacy too. Why do some MP's feel they are so special that the law should not apply to them ?
One thing that the ongoing selection I am involved in and the recent elections I have been involved in have meant is that I have seen little of (or even spoken to) my daughters Jessica and Philippa much (they live with their mum). As the selection draws towards its conclusion Jes is close to sitting her A-levels, with the hopeful outcome of going to King's to study Medicine. So she will still be | < | May 2007 | > | ||||
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