Following the ratings triumph of my correspondence with Her Majesty, I've decided to publish my exciting correspondence with Mr Cheney. It has lots of messages!! And lots of exclamation marks!!! AND EVEN MORE CAPITAL LETTERS!!!! It truly displays Mr Cheney and the US of A at their very tip top best. Tune in soon!!!!!
I'm beginning to get a suspicious feeling that I may be holding one or two too many positions... The Officers of my Local Party met this evening, or at least most of us did, and one of the issues which arose was the unexpected, and hopefully temporary, disappearence of our Secretary. And so, yes, you guessed it, I am now acting Secretary. So, I'm now working with nine Local Parties in various
I decided that I had to watch Britain's got talent tonight to see who would win, and actually I couldn't think of any act that deserved to win more than Paul Potts. To see Paul, a shy, retiring and quiet man who has, by his own admission, lacked confidence all his life, come completely to life, stand a foot taller in stage when singing, was an absolute joy to behold. Interestingly, you could see Simon Cowell's eyes absolutely light up when Paul Potts sang, which is why he was so keen to announce Paul would be releasing an ...
I had a great time strolling round the Leamington Peace Festival this afternoon. This is a fantastic event often hot and sunny each year and today we were very lucky with the weather. I was able to mix two different worlds, Music & Politics. When I arrived Souler Rhythm were playing on the main stage. I did sound engineering with this band some years ago and we had some great times travelling around the country, doing gig’s in very different places. It was good to catch up with some of them briefly afterwards backstage. I then did a ...
Around 15 months ago I purchased a piece of Liberal Party history on eBay, which is a Liberal Party centenary medal (stamped no. 32 of 500). Photo of the front (badly taken by me) is shown is above. I would greatly appreciate some information about this item & would be really interested to hear from other others who are custodians of other medals such as this. Thanks. 
One of my main desires for my year on the executive of the University of Manchester Students' Union is to motivate life sciences students to participate in everything ranging from societies through the student newspaper to academic course representation. While life sciences is the smallest faculty (around 1 700 undergraduates, compared to the 15 000 undergraduates in the humanities), that should never mean that life sciences students should not take part. Students involved in the union are almost entirely humanities students, and the few students from different faculties who are involved are often involved due to joining social/liberation groups or ...
In terms of dodgy trials, this takes some beating, and I'm surprised that I hadn't heard about this before. But this is an account from the Washington Post, about a school substitute teacher facing a possible 40 years in jail. For a lack of IT skills. In civilised Connecticut.... Substitute Teacher Faces Jail Time Over Spyware A 40-year-old former substitute teacher from Connecticut is facing
Whenever bumpkins gather of an evening in the shack at the end of the lane, sooner or later their talk will turn to the Huffington Post. It is not uncommon for the peasantry to fixate upon minutiae, of course. We think of Old Farmer Frack, obsessed with his bellowing cows, or the eerie barn at [...]
I offer the following tale by way of apology for my recent absence from the blogosphere (such as it is). Moreover, one of the policy areas that will be up for discussion at Brighton will be the Jobcentre network and how we can make it best serve its users and society as a whole. In anticipation of that debate, I thought it might be useful to share my ongoing experience with the benefits system,
Earlier this year, I bought a new Toshiba laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium pre-loaded after my previous XP laptop practically stopped working (think 10 - 15 minute start-ups and a fan so inefficient I'd had to place the computer atop a book for the last six months of its life). I only had three peripherals* to use on the new laptop, a mouse (which works fine), my phone (which after a few
Before {A French flag} last Monday's Panorama about the Al Yamamah bribery scandal (in brief: lots of allegations about BAE breaking the law and bribing Saudis to get a big arms contract; big criminal investigation finds lots of evidence; but the investigation was axed before being concluded; both the BBC and The Guardian have unearthed plenty more since then) I emailed out to quite a few people to let them know about the TV show. The gist of a few responses was that bribery being illegal didn't matter - everyone does it - so if you want the ...
Yesterday after the Regional Executive, but before door knocking, I took my Euro Candidacy conversion. Whilst I have been approved to stand for the Liberal Democrats at Westminster level, to be able to stand for Parliament, an extra approval session must be undertaken before people can stand for Parliament.
This morning, and afternoon, I have been over in Bedworth helping in the Slough by-election (takes place on 28 June). The area we were canvassing was a very mixed area with a fair amount of support for our candidate Frank Mills, the Conservatives, Labour (through far less of it than either for Frank of the Conservatives), the BNP and even a man supporting the English Democrats.
Catching up on the week – on Friday I visited Highgate School. Now this was a repeat visit - obviously wowed Year 9 boys last year - so that I'm back by popular request. Always enjoyable to make politics live for young people. The questions were more serious than the ones I had to field last year - which seemed to concentrate on the shenanigans by certain grown up men in my party. This year it was very much about politics itself. I also met the new Headmaster who seemed very enthusiastic about working with other schools in the Haringey ...
The 1,200 borrowers at Redcar's Roseberry Square library are set to be turning over a new leaf this month - with a move to a purpose-built new building just 50 yards away. The existing library, built in 1967, will close at 12.30pm on Saturday, June 16, with the new facility opening its doors for the first time at 10.30am on Monday, July 2 in the new shops parade. Redcar and Cleveland Council's Libraries Service is advising the branch's borrowers that they can take extra books during the closure period and as well as reminding them that they can ...
According to our local paper the Echo, today: A CANNABIS plantation caught fire at a house in Westcliff. Firefighters were called to a blaze in a terraced house in Brightwell Avenue just before 9am on Saturday morning. Their report ends with: A joint investigation by the fire service and Essex Police has been launched.
The sheer hypocrisy of Labour Councillors is breath taking but we welcome their conversion to Coatham Links and their condemnation of the tiny handful of protesters who are trying to block this wonderful development for Redcar. It is a pity they did not have the courage to support the proposals when they were in opposition. Then all they wanted to do is encourage the protesters. COUNCILLORS CONDEMN PROTESTORS' ACTION AT COATHAM ENCLOSURE, REDCAR Leading members of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council today (June 12) condemned protestors' actions to occupy the land set out for development for the ...
Firstly, I have had a number of residents raise with me the state of the derelict building on the north side of Brook Street (see right); it has certainly seen better days. I have raised this with the City Council's Legal Manager, who leads the Council's Derelict Land Working Group, which works to try to bring derelict buildings and land back into a useful existence. When delivering West End FOCUS with me today, my colleague came across a dangerous drain in Larch Street (again, see right) - cover missing - so I have reported the matter. Lastly, ...
Welcome to the 17th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (10th - 16th June), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. In pole position this week: 1. ‘How not to launch a policy’ on James Graham’s Quaequam Blog! blog. Has [...]
To what extent can the actions of the British government be held mainly responsible for the tragic humanitarian consequences of the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849)? The Irish potato Famine was one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes ever visited upon mankind. In the census of 1841 the Irish population numbered over 8 million, by 1851 it numbered around 6.5 million (1). Many historians, especially those of a nationalist persuasion have blamed these tragic results upon the actions and inactions of the British government at the time. However, some historians (many of them British) have challenged this outlook and reduced the ...
I set up a Facebook group a few weeks ago. I didn't do it to change the world or to be clever or even to massage my own ego. I did it for the simple reason that I do not understand what purpose Facebook actually serves. People claim that social networking is the future of social networking, in which case, can someone tell me how this is the case ? To my mind it is like a e-mail newsgroup, a way of collecting e-mail addresses, basically, not anything special or new. However, I'd love to be proved wrong. Really, genuinely, ...
Saturday: I have ORDERED Daddy Richard to write a review of the latest Doctor Who. I said: “I AM the Millennium Elephant, and you will OBEY me!” And it worked! I am thinking of asking for STICKY BUNS next… “One and one and one make three “My bad, bad angel put the devil in me.” Think about the foreshadowing! To my exceptional delight, no sooner was the episode over than I was phoned up by my niece and nephew with a whole list of questions. They’ve finally been captured by the ...
The number of visitors to my blog seems to have increased dramatically in the last month. I have been suspecting for some time that the webstats were not recording all the visits, so it does look as though I was right and the visitor rate was higher than it appeared. It's slightly scary knowing that you are all out there peering at me..... Oddly though, no comments have been...
I blame Thatcher for nearly making me miss my flight to Canada. The Falklands War ceremonies in Whitehall brought central London to a virtual standstill and the jams getting out on the road to H...
I really should have blogged earlier about last Wednesday's South of the Borough Neighbourhood Meeting, especially as it was the first one I'd chaired. A number of people who live in Tedder Close, Gibson Close and Mansfield Road wanted to tell us about problems they've been having with uneven pavements, blocked drains and refuse collections. We were able to tell them that Tedder and...
BT has come under fire for its new billing policy which penalises customers who do not pay by direct debit. Those paying by cash and cheque face a £4.50 charge every month - even if they've always paid bills on time!
When Conservative blogs like Conservative Home and Iain Dale are agreeing with a Lib Dem blog like Paul Walter, you know that call me "Dave" Cameron and his policy review panels might not be on to a winner. The Tories have said that they may allow major museums and galleries to charge for visitors, a practise ended by Labour. This opens up the opportunity for the Tories to be shown up as elitists who care little for the ordinary man in the street. The Telegraph headline which says "Tories want to make free museums history", couldn't make it any ...
The New Conservatives are now in favour of local government issuing bonds and against quangos (and, by implication, against public-private partnerships). Here is a brief summary of the New Conservative proposals on the matter. It is the state's job to build local infrastructure, and local government is the best place to fund, own, and mange the infrastructure. Local government should borrow the money it needs to spend on infrastructure projects against local taxation.Money should be spent by elected local politicians, not by government departments.Local government should be powerful and have unified control over transport, fire services, welfare, and the ...
It's the jam making season and Cowley St are expecting a regular supply. So we cropped all the rhubard from the allotment to make 27 jars of rhubard and ginger jam. Later I picked 3 kg of gooseberries from the allotment to make 13 jars of gooseberry and elderflower jam. We've restocked our pond with goldfish. My aunt Carol was over from New Zealand so the Family went out for dinner. That's
By John Dixon I’m worried about global warming. The idea that what thousands of scientists have been saying it is all a ‘grand conspiracy’ sounds itself like a grand conspiracy. And although I understand that there has been some verbal trash coming from the green corner (see David Cameron for numerous perfect examples) that doesn’t really [...] 
Hot-on-the-heels of the grammar school debacle, the Tories have unveiled a fresh way to lose votes. It’s the turn of Hugo Swire, Tory culture spokesman, to come up with this week’s U-turn-in-waiting: “We do not want to ban free admissions, but we believe museums and galleries should have the right to charge if they wish to.” According [...]
A double by-election was held in the Newcastle ward of Wingrove on Thursday with both Labour and Lib Dems defending a seat. The contest was a hang over from the local elections when the death of a Green Party candidate caused the election to be deferred. The by-election resulted in no change. The double vacancy was caused by our one councillor in the ward resigning due to a change in job. The
With thanks to Duncan Borrowman who has tagged me for this meme. Two things Gordon Brown should be proud of; 1) Independence for the Bank of England (A Lib Dem policy in the first place) 2) Selling of 3g Licenses for an unbelievably high price at the very top of the market. Two things he should apologise for. 1) Robbing pension funds right at the beginning of the first Labour term which has done untold damage to the pension system in the whole country. 2) Keeping quiet on Iraq until it was too late. Two ...
David Laws, Lib Dem shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, has compiled figures showing 8.5 million Britons who have opted out of the state second pension will be worse off as a result of Gordon Brown’s last budget, which will claw back £4 bn of rebates over the next five years. I’m not [...]
Whilst writing my last entry, a thought crossed my mind. If the upper echelons of the civil service have become politicised, can an incoming government really trust it to work effectively on a new political programme? I must admit that the secret of good administration is that it must be able to adapt to changes in the political weather, as the methodology of a Conservative administration will
The Scotsman reports that the Tories are to back a vote in the Scottish Parliament calling for a referendum on Independence. The Conservatives claim that an Independence vote will see a crushing defeat for the SNP and will "shoot their fox". If the Tories are correct, this might be a clever strategy. However, what if they get it wrong ? There are plenty of potential problems for the Tories in backing the SNP in such a vote. Firstly, every Tory marginal at the next election or any Scottish target seat they have will no doubt be swamped with ...
I'm not often critical of the civil service, after all, it would be like eating one's own children. However, I have always believed that government is not simply a set of rules, it is an opportunity to understand why people do unpredictable things or act in a manner which appears at first sight illogical. That implies that civil servants should exercise discretion, empathy and, believe it or not,
Observant regular readers will notice that there are no pictures of the Parliamentary Cycle Ride. That is because it was moved from the morning to lunch time. I ended up in a mixture of the Legal Services Bill Committee and an adjournment debate on the TA. Hence couldn't go on the ride.
The problem Plaid Cymru finds itself in when it comes to the Welsh Assembly is a difficult one for any political party, but for one who has no real experience or expectation of power outside of a small handful of councils, it is causing a real headache. The options for Plaid are a Rainbow coalition with the Tories and Lib Dems, a coalition they would lead or a coalition with Labour where Labour would lead. And there in lies the problem. To lead or to follow. Ordovicius' excellent blog asks whether Plaid have lost the plot. There are ...
Honestly, I go out to help a friend celebrate their birthday only to return to find people expecting me to be at my computer live-blogging the outcome of the Plaid Cymru Executive meeting. It is not as if the Party of Wales made any surprise decisions. In fact the outcome of the meeting was entirely predictable. What is not so easy to foresee are the consequences of their decision for Wales and the reaction of the other parties. For the Welsh Liberal Democrats' part I refer readers to yesterday's post.
The extent to which we had the British people and Parliament were deceived over the decision to go to war in Iraq is revealed further this morning with a news item in The Observer. The paper tells us that Tony Blair agreed to commit British troops to battle in Iraq in the full knowledge that Washington had failed to make adequate preparations for the postwar reconstruction of the country: In a devastating account of the chaotic preparations for the war, which comes as Blair enters his final full week in Downing Street, key No 10 aides and friends of Blair ...
There's nothing final yet, but the Press Association report that: The Tories are considering plans to scrap guaranteed free entry to major museums and art galleries. One of the good things that the Labour government have done is introduce free Museums admission. Visits increased by millions. This is a very important facility to allow the education of everyone. It is utterly typical that the
Cameron's Conservatives have now slipped back to only two points ahead in a YouGov poll in the Sunday Times. Brown is ahead of Cameron on many qualities: Asked about how they rated Brown and Cameron on a range of qualities, the Conservative leader came off second best on most. Brown was easily ahead on “sticking to his principles” (49%-19%); being strong (44%-11%); and being decisive (38%-12%
Michael Portillo writes that the Euro and the EU constitution were buried as "live issues" by Blair, Brown and "events". That meant that the Tory eurosceptic controversy died down for a year or two. The new Merkel-promoted EU constitution debate threatens to start those old fires again. However, Portillo reckons that Brown will stop Blair from getting too Euro-enthusiastic at the forthcoming
More on the clearance of the Olympic Park in East London. The Telegraph reports that a Royal Navy veteran may be physically removed from the site to make way for the bulldozers. A Royal Navy veteran faces eviction from his home this week to make way for the London Olympics.Ron Rowen, 75, is set to become the first person to be physically removed from the Olympic Park site in east London by police
On June 1st this year Minor Planet 22740 was named "Rayleigh" - my home town! Why is it called Rayleigh? It was named after the scientist John William Strutt, who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1904 and became the 3rd Baron Rayleigh. He wasn’t made a lord for his scientific work, he simply came from an aristocratic family. In fact Lord Rayleigh is described on the Nobel website as “one of
The Telegraph reports: Washington is buzzing with talk that Barack Obama, the candidate for the White House, and Colin Powell, the former general and secretary of state, may join forces. Last week, Mr Powell revealed that he has been advising the senator from Illinois on foreign policy - provoking a flurry of speculation about the plans and ambitions of both men. There have been loads of
James Graham has asked me to join in the Brown Meme that Matt Wardman began. 2 things Gordon Brown should be proud of: - Resisting demands from within the Labour Party to reverse all the good legislation of the previous two decades - Becoming a father 2 things he should apologise for: - Pushing the size of public spending to the highest level ever seen - Claiming the credit for economic growth that was in spite of, rather than because of, his efforts. 2 things that he should do immediately when he becomes PM: - Resign ...
The Observer reveals quotes from senior Blair aides at the time, from a forthcoming Channel 4 programme, which show that Blair repeatedly warned Bush of the need to prepare for the post-Iraq invasion scenario. Blair knew full well there was no adequate plan. The picture painted is of Blair as powerless to persuade the US to properly prepare for the aftermath. Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal
Amnesty International is currently supporting two prisoners of conscience, Ye Guozhu and Mao Hengfeng. More information on how you can help the fight for human rights in China here. | < | June 2007 | > | ||||
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