I had lunch today at the French House in Dean Street, with my great friend, the former Observer journalist (and now novelist), Mark Frankland. I’d not been to eat at the French since I researched my little volume Soho In the Fifties and Sixties – the only one of my books which sold out! The establishment is all very [...]
I've had a week of mixed luck on the bike this week. Tuesday saw me pick up a puncture at the midway point, Wednesday was wet, and today I had a car driver shout at me. Normally a motorist shouting at a cyclist is as a result of the driver thinking they own the road (well they do pay road tax...), but today it was because of something completely different. I sensed I had a car right on my back wheel while going down a nice little downhill stretch, but there was also a hint of a following wind. I'd ...
Dear Tories, You have diplayed a distinct lack of self-awareness by releasing this statement today: '...the funding of his campaign shows that he is incapable of breaking with the culture of cronyism that has dogged the government for years.' As well as picking a pretty weak target to demonstrate this 'culture of cronyism', I don't really want to defend Gordon Brown but if you are going to have a go at him at least get it right. The donors you were talking about sat on some independent reviews and were appointed by the Government, what you failed ...
The other day I received a text message from my mother saying that there was a letter for me at their house. Although I have not lived with my parents for over 7 years now, I do get the odd letter sent there. Actually I think the ploy on my mother’s behalf was to try and get me to respond to her messages (I know I am a bad son, but needed some space to my self.) Anyway I visited my parents
I'm not sure whether this makes me a dead white male but I must admit that last nights trip to see Kneehigh's A Matter of Life and Death at the National didn't particularly make the earth (or the heavens) move for me. Adapted from the classic 1946 Powell and Pressburger film of the same name it tells the story of bomber pilot Peter Carter who falls in love with the voice of radio operator June 
The indications are that the SNP intend pushing ahead with their supposedly Local Income Tax alternative to the current Council (Property) Tax, despite the unlikelihood of it coming into being without a considerable degree of bargaining at the very least. Of course, as the SNP, true to their centralist convictions, intend to set the level of [...]
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have issued three reports on the subject of "Migration, integration and local neighbourhoods". These have been interpreted in a variety of ways by the media. The BBC summarises the reports here: The survey also found evidence of tension between different ethnic groups - "Strong expressions of prejudice against other migrants and against some British ethnic
One of the oddities of going to the gym is that I get to listen Capital Radio in the middle of Berkshire. I couldn't help noticing - mainly because they mentioned it 1,966 times every ten minutes when I was at the gym - that they are running a "Lights out London" event which will involve getting people to turn off their lights and other non-essential domestic appliances between 9pm and 10pm on
Hank Marvin was on GMTV this morning. I can't say I am great fan of his music, but I have to admire his longevity in the music business. He is publicising an album of instrumentals which will be TV advertised. When you think that he played guitar (as part of the 'Drifters' - later the 'Shadows') on the record which was number one when I was born ("Livin' Doll") and I am 47, you have to give him
Duncan Borrowman has the top 11 selected for the London Assembly list elections next year: 1 Mike Tuffrey 2 Dee Doocey 3 Caroline Pidgeon 4 Jeremy Ambache 5 Geoff Pope 6 Ben Abbotts 7 Stephen Knight 8 Shas Sheehan 9 Duncan Borrowman 10 Monica Whyte 11 Merlene Emerson
Watching the TV programme, "A New Life In The Country" on Channel Five this evening was rather delightful, looking at the restoration from a ruin of an old water tower in Norfolk, that was until they ran their competition. The question was; "Which if these is a famous town in Norfolk ?" Instantly, I thought of all our towns. Swaffham, Watton, Dereham, Downham Market, Diss, Wymondham, Stalham, Great Yarmouth, Kings Lynn, Cromer, Wells, Holt, North Walsham and Sheringham (apologies if I have missed any). So what were the choices ? A- Cardiff B ...
The article that is causing all the fuss this evening is Dominic Grieve's "View from the House" column for the Buckinghamshire Examiner, which was published last Saturday. He writes: Our local schools are very good and provide excellent education for the students. This is why I am pleased that although my own party is looking at ways of improving education nationally through reforming the existing comprehensive system, there is no question of our changing the selective education system in Buckinghamshire against the wishes of the local community.We must also ensure that if further grammar or secondary schools are needed ...
Result of the Lib Dem London Assembly selection. 1Tuffrey 2 Doocey 3 Pidgeon 4 Ambache 5 Pope 6 Abbotts7 Knight 8 Sheehan 9 Borrowman 10 Whyte 11 Emerson. Cant say I am not disappointed. But will now try toenjoy rest of my birthday. Note that 6 out of 11 arefrom SW London in its strictest interpretation. 5 fromRichmond.
Andy Coulson, the man who was editor when the News of the World was using phone tapping and hacking in to members of the Royal family's mobile phone messaging systems, is to be head of the Press team for David Cameron. What does this tell us about David Cameron ?
Alexei Lugovoi, the prime suspect in the death of Alexander Litvinenko, today attempted to pass the buck and make accusations that Litvinenko was killed by the British Secret Service. What I am interested to know is why the British media have led on this story all day. As I see it, a prime suspect for a murder has sought to pass the buck and blame someone else. Is this really the only news around today ?
Andy Coulson’s* appointment as the new Conservative Director of Communications has spawned at least one amusing blog comment: So what will happen to the Tories ? Will we now get screaming headlines, more best chested photos of the Tory frontbenchers and 2 part cd collections with every Tory leaflet. and one insightful blog posting (which points out his [...]
Earlier this week we (my colleagues and I) treated a friend of mine who has cancer to his first trip in a small plane. Fortunately. he really enjoyed it and it was a wonderful occasion. The flight took place at White Waltham airfield. We based ourselves in the bar looking out onto the planes and runway. It was a gorgeous day and such a vantage point must be about as near to heaven as you can get
Grammarsgate Day 16 Dominic Grieve (shadow attorney general) told his local paper that if more grammars were needed in Buckinghamshire, they should be built. In an article for the Buckinghamshire Examiner, Mr Grieve - shadow attorney general and MP for Beaconsfield - said he was "pleased" the Conservatives were looking at ways of reforming the comprehensive school system nationally. But he
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from the Council saying; Dear Councillors At the last Member Development Panel, it was mentioned that some Members would have liked to have joined the tour of the borough after last year's elections but work and prior engagements prevented them from doing so. We are proposing to run the tour again, subject to Member interest, in July, commencing late afternoon. Yesterday I received an update that five Councillors are interested in taking the tour. Now I can almost understand running a tour immediately after the ...
The clear winner is Topsy Ojo. I have seen him play for London Irish at Welford Road, and he looks a handy player. But he has really been selected because he is the last English wing three-quarter left standing.
We seem to be in danger of getting into a rut in which the media’s story at every Conference is “Ming vs the Party”. This really isn’t terribly helpful. Last week I found myself sitting in a meeting which was discussing the details of a policy proposal which will come to party conference for approval this [...]
Visit to Abyssinia Court today - a housing scheme (extra care and sheltered) - to meet with both the tenants and also those attending the drop-in centre and luncheon club. It’s a really well run scheme - but if only Haringey would create more, or let the Hornsey Trust who run and manage the scheme create more. Mind you - Haringey Council have tried twice since I've been around to close luncheon
Met yesterday with the developers (Acorn) who bought the bit of land that Haringey Primary Care Trust controversially sold off at the Hornsey Hospital site. The land shouldn’t have been sold off, but it was (regardless of local residents’ views). We haven’t even yet had in black and white that the monies will go on Hornsey Hospital – but as it has been sold off, I wanted to find out what the
With the prospect of a woman or a black man as Democratic nominee, the Gallup polls showing how tolerant the American public would be of Catholics, Jews, gays and atheists as president are worth a look at. You won't be surprised to hear that gays and atheists are unlikely to succeed, with only 55% of Americans willing to vote for a homosexual and 45% for an atheist. Exactly how a gay atheist would do, I don't know. I can guess at the reason and so can you: Red America wants to be led by a family-loving person of faith, ...
My blogging life has two dominating themes: 1) bringing interesting Times articles to a largely Guardian/Independent reading audience, 2) commenting on yesterday’s news (often because by the time I’ve written it up it is too late to post it on the day and so I leave it to the following lunchtime to post). On Wednesday, Chris Dillow wrote a provocative piece on why we put up with terrible, inept government (though actually he had a lot more to say about why government was terrible than why we put up with it). He comes to the shocking conclusion that ... 
Our local MP was one of the gang of Tory and Labour MPs who voted for more secrecy, exempting MPs from the Freedom of Information Act. The Liberal Democrats have launched a petition against this example of double standards.
Last week, Maureen Clelland passed away. She was the much respected Labour Councillor for Dunston and Teams in Gateshead. The funeral was on Tuesday and Labour have already called the by election, for 5th July. Rather hasty I think. The ward has been, and presumably continues to be, the top target for the BNP in the North East. However, their performance has been sagging recently. A by-election
So Andy Coulson, the former Editor of the News of the World is to be the new Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. He is obviously supposed to be the Alastair Campbell to David Cameron's Tony Blair. He may well offer an approach that is every bit as brutally effective at savaging a tired NuLab administration as were Campbell's attacks on John Major (remember the "Y-fronts outside his trousers" image). But one of the most powerful moments of the whole "end of Blair" saga was Michael Howard looking Campbell in the eye on Newsnight and telling him ...
The linked article is interesting. “What is now clear is that high levels of stress in pregnancy can, in some cases, be detrimental to the health of the baby and to remain as stress-free as possible is certainly important. It is vital that pregnant women are given adequate support and reassurance from their family, friends and employers, to ensure they have a happy and healthy pregnancy." Is
I wonder why the Kremlin is so vocal on the question whether Mr Lugovoi may be extradited to London. The Russian Federation’s Constitution (adopted in 1993), Article 10, provides (unless this translation is inaccurate): “State power in the Russian Federation is exercised on the basis of the separation of the legislative, executive and judiciary branches. The bodies of legislative, executive and judiciary powers are independent.” So the extradition decision ought to be up to the courts, not the Kremlin. As for the substantive question, Article 61(1) of the Russian Federation's Constitution provides: “The citizen of ...
It would appear that my post on Tuesday about school vouchers was timely. The second in Direct Democracy’s series of Localist Papers is on precisely this topic. I haven’t read the pamphlet yet, but my knee-jerk reaction is indeed negative. On first reading their proposals sounded like the Monty Python right for men to [...]
As you may have seen over at Lib Dem Voice, I’m one of the team to whom the editorial baton is being passed by LDV’s founder, Rob Fenwick, who has (to mix my metaphors) chosen to let the curtain fall on his time as editor, and leave the stage. I’m going to take on the somewhat poncy soubriquet of ‘commissioning editor’, trying to ensure that LDV's content reflects the diversity of opinion within
I'm appearing tonight at 10pm: 10:00PM Vox Politix: Thursday 31 May 2007 Tonight's guests: Lynne Featherstone MP (Lib Dem, Hornsey & Wood Green), Phil Hendren (Dizzy Thinks Blog), Steve Richards (The Independent), and Julian Glover (The Guardian).
You really couldn’t make it up, could you? Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson is to become the Conservative Party’s Director of Communications. Mr Coulson quit his job with the tabloid after one of his reporters was jailed for plotting to intercept phone messages left for royal aides. I bet Simon Hughes is delighted for [...]
As was clear from the reaction to Rob Fenwick’s post on Monday, there is a strong desire among Lib Dems (and politicos from other parties) for LDV to continue. We’re delighted to announce that it will, with a new team leadership in place. Here’s how it’ll work: * Ryan Cullen, creator of the Lib Dem Blogs [...]
I have been having unbelievable troubles trying to log in to my blog, OK, so I've had an enforced hibernation for a few weeks, but then, rather than welcoming me back with open arms Blogger told me s/he didn't recognise me????? The ultimate insult! I have been round and round in circles,now have another blog somewhere in bloggosphere, but, by a route I know not how, I managed to break back into the Muze. So let's see, what to chat about...........firstly, can someone let me have a reduced Shakespeare version of the last few weeks of the blogs? Then ...
Last night I attended to lots of casework that has come my way over the past couple of weeks. All of the issues I'd picked up at the street surgeries, and all of the other stuff I'd been contacted about in recent days. I also received a message from the Council's "Ask your Councillor a question" service, accessible from the Council's website. Bizarrely, despite this being an online service for
Whatever else you say about the Tories, you've got to give them this: they have a redoubtable ability to put a smile on our faces. I'm not thinking now about Cameron announcing he's the heir of Blair, just at the time when most of the nation are counting down the days until the PM finally shuffles off his super-mortal coil. What's amusing me is the Tories' apparent embarrassment about having drawn to their ample bosom two city councillors formerly stranded on the Independent bench. What with the Witney Wonder himself taking the unusual step of setting foot into Oxford ...
A crucial EU summit is approaching, but nobody seems to know what the outcome will be
Once again, the government is evading scrutiny of the cost of ID cards. They have gone to the High Court to block the publication of an Office of Government Commerce “Gateway Review” - a sort of feasibility study - completed way back in 2003 of the ID cards scheme. Mark Oaten made a Freedom of Information request [...]
Today the commentators are digesting George Osborne's 'heir to Blair' comments.The Guardian leader says "Once, Tories were embarrassed to be told that their leader wanted to be the "heir to Blair". Now they boast about the fact." ("The Tories and Tony")The Tories have never really got a handle on Blair. In their undisciplined campaign of1997 they campaigned on the twin, incompatible themes that a) Blair was all spin and no substance, but that b) there was sufficient substance somewhere to justify the 'New Labour, New Danger' demon eyes. Now with Tony (nearly) out of the way, they feel they can ...
The most Senior Catholic in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien is to tell voters in Scotland that they should reject politicians who support a woman's right to choose to have an abortion. By what right does he make such statements ? The Roman Catholic Church has in the past hidden paedophiles working with the church and actively colluded to mislead the police who have investigation allegations against Roman Catholic priests. Yet when it comes to talking about a woman's right to choose, a Roman Catholic Cardinal, forbidden by his own church's rules from even "being" with a woman ...
The following is my commentary on the judgment in respect of the above case: The judgment is in the link. On 27th March 2007 there was a hearing in the Court of Appeal where I appeared as a Mackenzie Friend. This related to a case where a couple (IW and SW) were asking the Court of Appeal to stop the Local Authority (Enfield) from having their daughter adopted whilst the case was considered by
Russia has cast its dice- A total farrago of lies that suggests that it is the UK that is guilty of the murder of Andrei Litvinenko and not Russia. Instead of this barrage of nonsense, let us consider the evidence: The Polonium 210 came from a Russian reactor under the control of the Russian Security services just outside Moscow- we can tell which reactor produced the poison by specific isotopes that were in the mix. From the decay rate we can even tell on what day the Polonium was produced. The trail of alpha radioactivity released by ...
I can't say it will last, but Big Brother started last night and I didn't even watch it. With "The Apprentice" on BBC1 and "Children's TV On Trial" on BBC4, I had more than enough TB choice and, to be brutally honest., after last year's series with the level of bitchiness and Celebrity Big Brother with it's lack of "celebrity" and the racism, I have lost interest. The only problem is as we approach summer and the TV schedules get worse (they always do as we get nearer to summer) then with the children in my class inevitably asking ...
It appears that at least one Labour Councillor has decided the best way to react to accusation of whipping-up 'race-hate hysteria' is to increase their militancy. On Wednesday Cllr Foulkes published two further bile-filled hate-pieces on the Mayor and Deputy Leader of the Council. Notable mainly for their inaccuracy. For example, Cllr Skelly's, one "stupid and crass" comment three years ago, for which he apologised, lost his Executive job, and served a four month suspension from his Group, has now been inflated to "comments", suggesting quite improperly that Mr. Skelly is in the habit of making racially insensitive ...
Isn't odd that former KGB man and prime suspect (according to the CPS) in the death of Alexander Litvinenko is a Jame Bond look alike. Andrei Lugovoi (below) does seem to resemble Daniel Craig (above) very strongly doesn't he ?
I love Matthew Parris. Today the redoubtable Tory columnist has a sympathetic word to say about Ruth Kelly, who has been let down by her future boss, and has an excellent suggestion for making the Labour deputy leadership contest more interesting. It makes Thursday’s bearable. A site for political analysis and opinion of an avowedly liberal view. It's all about freedom.
The Assembly is in recess for half term and will next be convening on Tuesday morning when the Queen arrives to carry out the official opening and presumably, hand Rhodri Morgan his seals of office or whatever they do nowadays. As a result I have been out of it for the last few days, catching up on work, sorting out the election expense return and trying to get my Assembly issued laptop to work. This does not mean that I have not been paying attention, just that I have been disinclined to comment on what is going on ...
Last night was the meeting of Enterprising Communities. A massive wrangle driven in part by the Balsall Heath Forum and in part by Respect occurred. The biggest row was about whether it was a meeting of a Joint Board or a Joint Meeting of Two Boards. Constitutionally until last night there was not a "joint board" and all meetings were in fact meetings of both boards. However, because some
The George Osbourne "heirs to Blair" speech is further dividing the Tory party. Peter Riddell in the Times writes: Mr Osborne’s raid is an attempt to divide Labour, but it also risks dividing the Conservative Party The Mail says: David Cameron was accused of picking a "needless fight" last night as battle lines were drawn between Tory high command and the Right wing of the party. Senior MPs
Thankfully common sense has prevailed and Janipher and the babies are to be released. I know that many of you have written to the authorities to complain about the appalling way in which she has been treated and I have been asked to pass on her heartfelt gratitude. She is obviously very relieved. The road ahead is not going to be easy for her but at least she is now out of danger. The thing that really made me cry was hearing that she'd said that she'd been delighted to be able to tell the doctor ...
The government's plans to introduce Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABC's) for shoplifters really must stick in the throat of ordinary law abiding citizens, but for shopkeepers, it must be absolutely sickening. I agree that efforts should be made to stop the criminalisation of first time offenders, particularly teenagers who may have succumbed to peer pressure or be involved in some sort of appalling initiation which involves stealing something. However, the government seem to want to introduce ABC's for those who are not first time offenders, letting them off with a slap on the wrist and a promise from the offender ...
Okay, so it's time to give a little plug to my other little venture - "The 1909 Group". At Harrogate conference in Spring, several of us put our heads together and wondered how we might bring "left" and "right" in the Lib Dems together. In ALTER, our Land Value Tax and Economic Reform campaign group, we just knew we had the answers, or at least the seeds of the answers, to providing both the likes of the Beveridge Group with funds for their high spending ambitions and the "Orange Bookers" with the means to encourage lively and ... | < | May 2007 | > | ||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
