Wednesday 30th May 2007

10:44 pm

More Dental Pain

Gravatar Yet again, it is being reported in the Neath Port Talbot Guardian that there is no end to the dental crisis in Wales, with patients living within the Borough having to travel as far as the Rhondda Valley for NHS dental treatment. The article goes on to say that remarkably: "None of the 17 dental practices in the borough are taking on NHS patients while an advert in the Guardian last week promoted NHS places available in Ferndale and Treorchy." Aberavon AM, and Health Minister, Dr Brian Gibbons has recently said, "We have already started to ...
10:43 pm

A New Playground On Google

Gravatar I've just stumbled on something that could be useful - an item in Google Labs called "Experimental Search". You can search for something, with your search results arranged either chronologically along a timeline - for example, for FA Cup finals. or geographically on a map - for example for the Battle of Britain. However the Battle of Britain example shows the flaws with this. Along with
9:45 pm

Fire at Oldbury power station

Gravatar The reactor at Oldbury nuclear power station has been shut down until further notice following a fire at the plant, reports the BBC. It sounds as though no serious damage has been done, but the incident has reminded me of my participation in one of the nuclear industry's more bizarre publicity stunts. In 1977 the British Monopoly championships were held on top of the nuclear pile at Oldbury - the idea was that the location represented the Electricity Company on the playing board. In reality the event was advertising for the nuclear industry and Waddington's. I must ...
9:29 pm

Is accountability the “idea” that the Lib Dems need?

Gravatar An interesting article by Steve Richards in The Independent yesterday throws a spotlight on a political “theme” that he believes should be much more debated by politicians than it is. That theme is “accountability” and although I do not necessarily agree with some of his conclusions, the points he makes are quite interesting, particularly [...]
9:05 pm

Memories of "Look and Learn"

Gravatar A memory I didn't know I had was awakened as I turned over to the Obituary pages in the Guardian last Saturday. The obituary was for Angus McBride, artist and illustrator, who drew illustrations for "Look and Learn". You can see some of his illustrations for that magazine here.There was an example of McBride's illustrations in Saturday's Guardian. It included the magazine's masthead (above). It
9:01 pm

Channel 4 humiliated

Gravatar I have just watched the "Summary of Adjucation" which Ofcom made Channel 4 broadcast before the start of the new series of "Big Brother". It was very humiliating for Channel 4. Good!
8:53 pm

Labour deputy leadership promises of renewal founder in politics as usual

Gravatar A day late, I have just watched the Newsnight special on the Labour Party’s deputy leadership contest. What a depressing experience! Every single one of them stressed their desire to “Restore trust in politics” (Benn) and “renew the party” (Blears). Yet by-and-large they all committed the same sins that make politicians so contemptible. Asked to give a “yes or no answer” to four policy questions, only Alan Johnson was prepared to say what he believed without either hedging or explaining. When pushed about replacing Trident, new nuclear power, ending the charitable status of independent schools and ...
8:10 pm

Local income tax for Scotland?

Gravatar Support for a local income tax is one thing that the Liberal Democrats and SNP agree on in Scotland (cue argument about how many other such things there are…). With the SNP minority government there’s now quite a good chance that a local income tax will be introduced, but the SNP want a flat rate [...]
8:01 pm

US & Canadian Friends!!!!!!!

Gravatar Well it's news and politics.  News that I am crossing the pond again in a few weeks time on a whistle stop tour visiting Ottawa, Vancouver and Seattle over five days, and politics in that I ...
8:00 pm

Should Robert Zoellick head up the World Bank?

Gravatar As I've said to the media today, following the news the George Bush has picked Robert Zoellick to be the next World Bank President (and the US nominee has always got the job in the past): No offence to Mr Zoellick, but this is another American and another Bush appointee.The World Bank has fallen into disrepute through political appointments.It is not credible for the World Bank to preach good
7:39 pm

How Tony Blair made cynics of us all

Gravatar The BBC tells us that, out in Sierra Leone, Tony Blair has been attacking critics of the Africa leg of his farewell tour: "The one thing I have come to despise more than anything else in my 10 years is cynicism."So Tony Blair has come to despise cynicism over the past 10 years? That cannot be right. From its earliest days, New Labour treated cynicism as the worst of sins. It seemed that anything was forgivable except refusing to take Blair and his henchmen at their own high estimate. In his first Labour Conference speech as prime minister ...
7:31 pm

Black Shirts in the West Midlands

Gravatar Am I the only one that finds this disturbing? Black-shirt police A police force has changed the classic uniform of white shirts and black ties for officers who wear body armour. West Mercia Constabulary is introducing black shirts, which are designed to be more comfortable under protective vests, next month. Traditional uniform will be retained for officers not on frontline duty. A site for political analysis and opinion of an avowedly liberal view. It's all about freedom.
6:52 pm

Cheggers plays Shakespeare

Gravatar Seeing as I have blogged about the fact that Sid Owen once played Al Pacino's son in a film, I suppose I am bound to mention this too. Keith Chegwin appeared in Roman Polanski's 1971 film of Macbeth. A thespian writes: It is bad luck to mention that name. Leave the dressing room and turn round three times before you come back in. Liberal England replies: Come, come. Cheggers isn't as bad as all that.
6:48 pm

Scottish government to move to replace council tax

Gravatar Fascinating! The BBC reports: The Scottish government is to press ahead with plans to replace council tax with an income-based alternative. Good Lord. Sounds a familiar policy.
6:45 pm

Search Serendipity

Gravatar One of the joys of the internet is the way in which you start looking for one thing and find something else that is of equal or more interest than your original intended target. Over the weekend I started on a playlist of music videos on YouTube after finding an interesting Pulp video and then exploring [...]
6:40 pm

Thai Rak Thai dissolved

Gravatar The Constitutional Tribunal has banned Thaksin Shinawatra and 110 other Thai Rak Thai officials from political office for five years. They have also ordered the party to be dissolved after it was found guilty of violating electoral laws. Apparently thousands of troops are on the streets of Bangkok in case of unrest and one former Thai Rak Thai deputy had threatened to mobilise thousands of protesters.The caretaker leader of Thai Rak Thai Chaturon Chaisang said last night that the verdict was "highly unexpected", and expressed his worry over "setbacks" towards the development of democracy in Thailand. He called upon ...
6:36 pm

George Osbourne throws fat on the Grammar school fire

Gravatar Just when you thought the Grammarsgate fire had died down, dear old Gerogie Osbourne pops up with another gallon of petrol to lob on the smouldering embers. Iain Dale quotes a Press Association report saying: Shadow Chancellor George Osborne risked stoking the bitter education row further today by indicating that a Tory government would actively prevent new grammar schools being opened. This
5:47 pm

David Cameron - "Botox Boy"

Gravatar The Telegraph diaryish page today includes a piece entitled something like: 'Cameron makes enquiries about Botox'. In fact, from the story it seems he bumped into a Botox expert at a "do" and 'expressed surprise that treatments were so cheap'. A bit tenuous, I thought. Sorry to be vague but I read the story at the dentists and can't find it on the Telegraph site. I did find a reference to David
5:30 pm

How can football help tackle crime?

Gravatar That's one of the subjects touched on in my latest (and brief!) column about issues around young people and crime in Haringey, written for one of the local magazines: Are you (whether young or not yourself) intimidated when you walk past a group of young people wearing hoods? Lots of people are – but I still believe that it’s not how young people look but how young people behave that counts. In
5:23 pm

Written Parliamentary Question 30th May 2007

Gravatar Education and Skills: Adoption Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 15 May 2007, Official Report, column 662W, on adoption, what intensive targeted work has been carried out by his Department with local authorities to improve placement stability for children in care; and what assessment he has made of the effect of this work. A:Too often,
DataFlame
5:19 pm

The County Show

Gravatar When I saw the weather forecast a few days ago it was obvious that the County Show was being held this week! What a tragedy for the organisers who always put so much effort and hard work into organising this annual event only to choose, yet again, a damp cold miserable day for the opening day. Jill Hood and I went down to cast our eyes over the 'foodie' stallholders who may be interested in
4:55 pm

Peter Tatchell turns up in an unusual place

Gravatar There was an excellent discussion of Peter Tatchell in The Times yesterday. I was surprised that nobody mentioned it. Perhaps it’s true that Lib Dems don’t read The Times.A site for political analysis and opinion of an avowedly liberal view. It's all about freedom.
4:49 pm

The battle lines are drawn

Gravatar As liberals we often have to argue against a simple binary view of politics. But there are some questions today which do have a clear right answer - and a wrong one.
4:17 pm

Letter to Herald Express 300507 - FoI

Gravatar Letter sent to the 'Herald Express' newspaper 300507 : Marcus Wood of Torbay Conservatives has accused the Liberal Democrats of jumping on the bandwagon in public with regard to the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill, but not following this up with action. The reality is this : on Friday 18th May, Conservative and Labour MPs voted to exempt Parliament from Freedom of Information laws, creating one law for MPs and Lords and one law for everyone else. The opposition was led by Liberal Democrat MPs Norman Baker and Simon Hughes and not a single Lib ...
4:14 pm

Grammar Schools - Letter in Herald Express 280507

Gravatar Published 28 May 2007 - written in a personal rather than Lib Dem capacity. David Willetts, Conservative Education spokesman is right to declare that Grammar Schools 'entrench privilege' and do nothing to serve the needs of children from poorer communities.David Cameron is quoted in The Guardian as saying 'Parents fundamentally don't want their children divided into sheep and goats at the age of 11'. Right again. Of course, this doesn't sit well with a Tory shadow cabinet for whom over half had the privilege of a public school education. As for Marcus Wood, the announcement of ...
4:02 pm

West End site visits, Botanic Gardens, Western Cemetery and Graffiti

Gravatar A busy couple of days, with a couple of site visits with residents, firstly to Tullideph Road where’s there’s a pavement fault next to the bus stop opposite the shops near the City Road junction (see right) and to Paton’s Lane about an unlit ‘one way’ sign. Both now reported to the Planning & Transportation Department for attention. The steering group of the proposed Western Cemetery Association met yesterday. They are planning a public launch event at West Park on Tuesday 18th September – a lunchtime event, followed by a cemetery walk and talk by Iain Flett, Dundee City ...
3:02 pm

Watching the watchers

Gravatar This fascinating website appeared on one of the few forums I participate in. It is based on the premise that the FBI have introduced a 'non-intrusive method' of tracking internet surfing. They say you will not notice anything different. Putting aside this attempt at satire, one must recognise that there is a very real problem with internet repression around the World. Amnesty International has just launched a site to try and tackle this issue. They are urging web users to take action on behalf of individuals persecuted and imprisoned for expressing their opinions online. They want governments to stop ...
3:01 pm

What would a Lib Dem reshuffle bring?

Gravatar In less than a month, there will be a new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who will re-cast the Cabinet to reflect his ambitions. The posts of chancellor and of home secretary will, we know, become simultaneously vacant. It seems likely, too, that the current incumbents at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (Margaret Beckett) and the new Ministry of Justice (Lord Falconer) will be leaving the stage
2:43 pm

Did you stay up for the debate?

Gravatar The Newsnight debate last night was a bit like builder's bottom - not very pleasant but you just can't help but look! So I stayed up for the debate, or rather I switched from a channel with the inevitable programme filmed from the back of a police car as cops go chasing crooks, to watch this drivel. So here are my impressions of Labour's democracy in action (ie the surrogate for the important
1:47 pm

We are wasting time

Gravatar I am greatly troubled by information from a trusted grassroots source that voters were unenthusiastic about turning out in support earlier this month because they were unenthusiastic about Ming. Whatever was intended by those who forced Charles Kennedy to resign, this is the result. In March 2006 the membership made what they thought was, on the limited information available to them, the safe choice, but I thought then and have thought ever since - a period of nearly 15 months now - that it was not the best choice. Now what? We are waiting, ...
YouGov
1:35 pm

Relocation of travellers' site from Thurston Road

Gravatar As you probably know, the Council is currently consulting on the relocation of the travellers' site at Thurston Road to either the lorry park at near Lawrence House in Catford, or to the disused school in Church Grove, in the Ladywell part of Lewisham Central ward. I have attended a meeting with residents at Church Grove on this issue, as well as the public consultation event earlier this month at St Mary's Church on Lewisham High Street.
1:12 pm

School vouchers convince me...

Gravatar ...but they have yet to convince James Graham. An excellent debate is brewing at Quaequam blog, however. I urge all who have strong views on education, liberalism, capitalism and statism to hurry there and make your points. I urge all who have weak or no opinions to go there and learn I urge the rest of you to go there and read other posts about 18 Doughty Street or what nonsense fear of Wi-Fi radiation is. A site for political analysis and opinion of an avowedly liberal view. It's all about freedom.
12:48 pm

Busy today

Gravatar Last night's street surgeries again let Cllr O'Hanlon and I meet some local residents and tal through some of the issues - anti-social behaviour, cracked paving slabs and street cleanliness (again) were the main discussion points last night. Today I am busy all day interviewing and entertaining some of the new crop of graduates hoping to be management trainees here at work. So I am blogging on a
11:44 am

Telegraph backs Cameron

Gravatar Last week we sniggered as Janet Daley well and truly lost it over the Tories' grammar school debate.  I look forward to reading her next missive on the issue - but it seems she has lost the battle with her own paper.  The Telegraph today backs Cameron. ("Cameron must win grammar war")The Independent link the row to their Communicate Research poll - Con 35 (-1) Lab 31 (+4) LD 19 (-3).  For the best analysis of the Independent's figures, though, turn to PoliticalBetting.com.Three other articles that caught our interest this morning were:Following up on the French elections, Sarkozy is proving ...
11:38 am

Doughty news values (UPDATED)

Gravatar Originally posted May 29, 2007 @ 18:16 Despite coming from a different political galaxy, I wish 18 Doughty Street every success if nothing else than for the fact that if it works, it opens up the possibility of other, more politically sympathetic, rivals. It really needs to work out what its agenda is however. [...]
11:36 am

Hurray for George Bush!

Gravatar Tuesday’s announcement by President Bush that he is imposing stiffer sanctions on the Sudan for its genocide in Dafur is welcome news, and puts the rest of the world to shame. “Too long the people of Dafur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder and rape of innocent civilians,” President Bush said at an 8am press conference. “My administration has called these actions by their rightful name: genocide. The world has a responsibility to help put an end to it.” Too right. After the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the world’s ...
11:25 am

He who is without sin…

Gravatar Having been responsible for my fair share of online typos, I’m not sure I should cast aspersions, but this is such a textbook error, if you’ll excuse the pun…
11:05 am

Tories hoist the white flag

Gravatar We've all known it since Cameron took control, but today they officially announced it. The Tory party is, officially, the heir to the Blair vision, they are "Blue Labour". George Osborne says so so it must be true !
10:30 am

European Parliament votes for a cap on mobile roaming charges

Gravatar The European Parliament voted last Wednesday to put a cap on the cost of making or receiving mobile phone calls when travelling in another EU Member State. MEPs are now pushing for the new rates to come into effect before the summer holidays.
10:21 am

Six Dwarves?

Gravatar The most entertaining thing on telly last night, well apart from QI, was Newsnight's Labour deputy leadership debate. Quite a few moments to get me laughing or shouting at the TV. Wasn't it interesting how they all seem to want to make sure that they were seen to regard Tony Blair as some sort of bad smell? Who won? Well I thought Harriet Harman just seem to shade it. She came across as the
10:13 am

Pale And Fierce

Gravatar It was pale and fierce, gulping down a bowl of soup. I wondered if it was Jah, come to deliver me from Babylon, but I have a very shaky grasp of Rastafarianism, so I cast that thought unto the winds. Not that there was much in the way of wind that day. In fact, the [...]
10:11 am

A Response to the heirs of Blair

Gravatar As the Cameroons declare themselves to be the heirs to Tony Blair, I would like to declare once again the key principle of Liberalism, taken from the book that is the badge of office of the President of the Liberal Democrats, On Liberty: "The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, whether physical or moral is not a sufficient warrant. . . .Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign" John Stuart Mill ...
10:00 am

Britain’s attitude to Europe: Cracks in the Ice?

Gravatar Next year it will be twenty years since Margaret Thatcher made her famous ‘Bruges speech’ . That event definitively marked the shift of first herself and then very soon afterwards the British public, away from being friendly to the European Community – in the wake of the 1975 referendum in which she played a leading [...]
8:50 am

Poll: Tories more disunited than Labour

Gravatar A poll reported in the Independent (from Communicate Research) shows that voters think the Tories are more disunited than Labour: Asked which leader would be able to keep his party united, 40 per cent said Mr Brown and only 37 per cent said Mr Cameron. A similar poll a month ago showed that 64 per cent thought Labour were divided, compared with only 36 per cent who thought the Tories were
8:03 am

Taking the Pepsi challenge

Gravatar I have blogged in the past on the strange fascination of some politicians with McDonalds, no doubt eased by the fast chain restaurant's continued sponsorship of inter-Parliamentary charity football matches and associated hospitality. Now it seems that Pepsi has joined the fray with the news that former health secretary and arch-Blairite Alan Milburn has taken up a new job as an adviser to the American company to help it fight the backlash against unhealthy snacks and build a more acceptable image and product range. PepsiCo's best-selling brands include Walkers Crisps, Pepsi, PJ Smoothies, Quaker and Tropicana juices. ...
12:08 am

Brown paper packages tied up with string - These are a few of the bomb squad's favourite things...

Gravatar You've seen the ads, you may even get the spam e-mails urging you to but any number of tablets, ointments, cream and paraphernalia to liven up your sex life, and always, always, they promise a "discreet" service and "un-marked" packaging. So imagine if you've plucked up the courage, waited for your package to arrive only to find your street is cordoned off and the bomb squad are called in to blow up your "discreet" package. Well it happened to someone today, so just be grateful it isn't you !
12:02 am

The revolving doors of power

Gravatar I am not sure if the title is totally suitable for this post however recently I was working on something which led to research how many people had served in certain roles in government during Tony Blair's premiership. As we know since May 1997 Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have been two cabinet posts occupied by the same two people.

Previous days:

Tuesday 29th May 2007, Monday 28th May 2007, Sunday 27th May 2007, Saturday 26th May 2007, Friday 25th May 2007, Thursday 24th May 2007