Tuesday 4th September 2007

11:59 pm

RMT - Affiliation to the Labour Party

Gravatar As the Tube strike seems to have ended, where do Gordon and Ken stand on this now? Following its expulsion from the Labour Party, it remained RMT policy to be affiliated to the Labour Party and the union had been pursuing the option of action against the Labour Party to challenge the legality of the expulsion. RMT advises that the Council of Executives recently considered further legal advice
11:58 pm

Libyans Come in from the Cold

Gravatar The Libyan Embassy in London hosted a National Day reception at the Dorchester Hotel in London tonight, with a full Lebanese buffet and the sort of drinks service one certainly doesn’t see in Tripoli. ‘We have to make sure our British guests are happy,’ was the charmingly disconcerting explanation by the hosts. And happy we were. It was a fascinating mix of Arab diplomats (out in force), Brits involved in the oil industry or PR, and the more exotic fringes of London’s foreign community. I spent an intriguing, though not entirely easy, 20 minutes with the Ambassador of North Korea (Kim ...
11:25 pm

No more muderous catholics!! (Reverence - Southwark Playhouse)

Gravatar My flatmate, a nervous beast at the best of times, has had a hard time of it the last couple of days. First dark goings on amongst the religious in Silent Witness, and then I drag her to Reverence at the Southwark Playhouse. Staged as promenade performance underneath the railway arches that form the playhouse's temporary home, Reverence is Goat and Monkey's take on the story of Abelard and
11:18 pm

Klaxons win the Mercury Prize

Gravatar Grace has just told me that Klaxons have won the Mercury Music Prize for best album for Myths of the Near Future. Good news, great album. Klaxons are allegedly "New Rave" - I would describe them as "Art Rock". For those who have no idea what I am driveling about, here is Golden Skans:
11:14 pm

Another Conservative policy review blunder

Gravatar You’d have thought managing to flip flop between four different positions on the same policy point in one document, or perhaps using data ten years out of date, would be hard to top, but the Conservative Party’s policy review process has now managed to top even its previous incompetence. As Gavin Whenman has spotted: Michael Ancram’s swipe [...]
DataFlame
11:13 pm

If Brown doesn’t show up a leaders’ debate should continue

Gravatar The Prime Minister told the Downing Street press conference today that, if there is a General Election, he won’t take part in a televised debate with the other party leader. It grossly contradicts what he said when in opposition- a concept that with which British democracy is all too familiar. In the past Prime Ministerial refusal to take part in such a debate has been taken by broadcasters as a veto of such an event.  Why should it be?  The BBC should invite all three party leaders to a debate.  If one of them doesn’t turn up then the debate should continue with one empty ...
9:34 pm

A lurch to the right? More like drift into desperation

Gravatar Has David Cameron fallen into his last three predecessors’ trap - start off promising to be a fluffy moderniser, end up losing as a shrill reactionary? That’s the charge from both the Lib Dems and Labour in the wake of Mr Cameron’s recent focus on the so-called core-vote issues of crime, Europe and immigration. In some ways, it’s a fair point. But I think it underestimates the partial success
9:21 pm

Apoligies, illiberal and school meals

Gravatar First of all, sorry. It has been far too long since I have done this - blog that is - and there is no excuse. So, secondly, thanks to Tristan Mills. He responded to a post of mine on Lib Dem Voice&nbs...
9:19 pm

15 minutes of fame stolen

Gravatar Stephen Dorrell, remember him ? I think he did the chicken run in 1997 and was last heard of signing EDM's in parliament, seems to have been a bit miffed by Michael Ancram stealing his thunder, and 15 minutes of fame today. He called Michael Ancram's attack on the direction of the Tory party as "bizarre". In the next stage of what seems almost like a co-ordinated attack on David Cameron by Tory MP's in recent weeks, Michale Ancram told Cameron not to abandon what Margaret Thatcher stood for. I couldn't agree more, I liked the good old days when ...
8:30 pm

Tory Public Services Policy Group Makes a Whoopsy

Gravatar Michael Ancram's swipe at David Cameron has kind of buried today's publication of the Tory's Public Services Improvement Policy Group's report, but it is worth our attention: "Proposal 20 – We propose that the next Conservative government should consult on raising the legal age for smoking to 18." (Page 22) One tiny problem with this, it's barely worth mentioning, but just in case, they might
YouGov
7:55 pm

Lenin spinning in his grave

Gravatar That is the view from the window of Prague's Museum of Communism... that and the fact that it also shares the building with a casino added a little humour to our visit. It was a great little museum, worth a visit if you're in Prague. That and the Strahov library were possibly the best two typically touristy things we did. We did also visit a photography gallery that turned out to be about 40 photos of dogs in 'amusing' scenes, couldn't really recommend that, even at only 20kr admission. Anyway, instead of rambling on... if anyone is planning to visit ...
7:55 pm

High praise for Ming from the Independent

Gravatar Sir Ming is a bit of a throwback to an earlier, more innocent political age. He has never knowingly uttered a "soundbite". He thinks that spin is something that should be left to cricketers. If interviewed, he tries to answer the question rather than deliver pre-cooked clichés. When Sir Ming appears on public debating programmes such as Question Time or Any Questions – something the leaders of
7:49 pm

Prague, more bars than you can shake a dumpling at

Gravatar Got back from a few days in Prague yesterday - hadn't been before and had a lovely relaxing time. Good weather, a beautiful city and plenty of bars. And I mean *plenty* of bars. It seemed that every other doorway (at least) was a little bar and, away from the more overcrowded tourist bits around Wenceslas Square/Charles Bridge especially, there were some great ones. The photo is of what became our local - well, for four days. Really chilled out, great music playing and very comfy chairs. And at 25kr a pint (about 60p) it wasn't breaking the bank either. ...
7:20 pm

Brighton here I come

Gravatar I’ve finally made the decision to go to Autumn Conference in Brighton later this month. Martyn is still unwell so him and Sadie will be staying at home, so it looks like I may be the sole traveler from Sandwell. Still, there’ll be plenty of friendly faces with the Selly Oak mob, old friend Chris Ward, Colin Ross and of course everyone I met at the Ealing by-election making their way to the south coast. Looking at the agenda I plan to take in the speech from EC President Jose Manuel Barroso, alongside various fringe meetings including a discussion on ...
7:17 pm

Campbell renews TV challenge to Brown

Gravatar Commenting on David Cameron’s call for a TV debate and Gordon Brown’s refusal, Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell said: “David Cameron is a Johnny-come-lately on this issue. I wrote to both David Cameron and Gordon Brown challenging them to a TV debate in June this year. “Gordon Brown’s new politics is only skin deep. As the leader of his party he should take part in leaders’ debates to discuss the issues facing this country. This is what people want and expect. “I cannot wait to debate against both Gordon Brown and David Cameron.”
7:14 pm

Afghanistan

Gravatar I wonder what the government's strategy is in Afghanistan. It is relatively easy to defeat someone in battle. It is almost impossible to get people to like an occupation.
7:12 pm

21st century bureaucrat (part 2)

Gravatar As many of you will be aware, I suffer from a tendancy to avoid technology. Obviously, I have a PC at home, all the better to carry out the evils of liberal bureaucracy, and those of you who frequent this blog on a regular basis may recall that I obtained a laptop, allowing me to take the concept as far away as Vanuatu. And now, let fear be unconfined! This blog entry comes to you live from a
7:02 pm

A slave trade protest - 'No sugar in my tea please - I'm Cornish'

Gravatar I've finally cracked a bit of a mystery that has been puzzling me for years. I have often heard the expression "I don't have sugar in my tea - Cornish people don't". I don't either and have always been rather proud of it. Of course, when I ask people like my parents and other relatives about this, they immediately disappoint me and say they have never heard of such a thing. It is obviously me
6:56 pm

Gordon Brown - serial kleptomaniac of political ideas

Gravatar Just a few days ago, David Cameron proposed a crack down on violent videos and computer games viewed by kids. Now Gordonius Brownus has stepped in: Gordon Brown promised yesterday to look again at banning violent computer games for teenagers.He said he was aware of growing concern about the effect of screen violence on youngsters. And he would study whether new rules are needed on advertising
6:50 pm

Is it time for a televised leaders’ debate?

Gravatar Yesterday Gordon Brown faced repeated media questioning asking if he would agree to take part in the UK’s first televised debate between the leaders of the three main political parties. Mr Brown rejected the idea. Adam Boulton’s blog rehearses the familiar arguments: Brown didn’t even entertain the idea of debate. Instead he used the same old [...]
6:50 pm

MEP jailed - unbelievable!

Gravatar It is incredible that Ashley Mote, an MEP for South-East England, will keep his parliamentary seat despite being jailed for nine months after being found guilty of 21 offences including falsely claiming benefits of £65,000. I cannot believe that UKIP selected this man to stand for them in the first place.
6:38 pm

Coming soon to a doormat near you...

Gravatar You'll shortly be getting the Register of Electors form from South Glos - the form that makes sure that you can vote at elections. It also gets checked if you want to apply for credit. If there aren't any changes from last time it takes literally just a minute to fill it out - it'll probably take you longer to work out how to fold it. Remember to tick the right-hand column if you don't want your details used for marketing. Please fill it out now and pop it into the postbox - no stamp needed - and make life ...
6:22 pm

Travelling past St Pancras the Lib Dem way

Gravatar The CNJ's John Gulliver recently took a swipe at Camden's Liberal Democrats for not attending the launch at St Pancras of our national party's new environmental policy: www.thecnj.co.uk/camden/083007/gulliver083007.html Here's my response: My apologies to "John Gulliver" for not meeting him at the St Pancras launch of the Liberal Democrat national policy to transform Britain into a carbon neutral country which absorbs as much carbon as it emits by 2050. I would have been there but I was on holiday - visiting Portugal by train - putting Lib Dem principles into practice . London-Paris-Lisbon-Faro-Seville-Madrid-Paris-London. A magical ride through some phenomenal scenery ...
5:50 pm

Cleaning up the Stables Market in Camden

Gravatar There's currently a petition running on the Downing St website calling for the Prime Minister to cancel the "plan to replace Camden's unique market area with a shopping centre". Just so we’re all clear - this is nothing to do with Camden Lock market which is flourishing and sparkling and looking good. Nor is it anything to do with Inverness Street where the newly redone market is also looking good. This is about the Stables Market, which is a later offshoot of Camden Lock Market, and is somewhat scruffy and a bit threatening. It was high time for a clean ...
5:06 pm

What's wrong with libdems.org.uk?

Gravatar Just started reading the It's Time To Stop Sneering At Sir Menzies article from Dominic Lawson in the Indy. But didn't get too far. It begins with an assertion that the Lib Dems website is 'behaving oddly" The official website of the Liberal Democrats is behaving oddly. If you ask it for information about any leading individual within the party then you are deluged with encomia; but click your mouse on the image of Sir Menzies Campbell CBE QC MP and all you get is "An Error Occurred". Well, obviously, I immediately went to the Lib Dems site to check. ...
4:41 pm

EXCLUSIVE: Bob Crow joins Facebook, greeted by Tube Strike outcry

Gravatar What would have happened if we'd (well... you'd... I was 4) had Facebook during the Miners' Strike? Who can tell, but there's already a proliferation of Facebook groups against the Tube Strike. "If 100,000 Londoners Join This then maybe we won't have another Tube Strike" is quite polite; "We Think Bob Crow And The RMT Are A Bunch Of Wankers", less so. The second one is currently bigger. The "Bob Crow of the RMT Union Fan Club" has only a single member at the moment - though on inspection it turns out to be a spoof. Bob Crow himself seems ...
4:20 pm

This country could learn from India's valued rubbish

Gravatar Unbelievable, TV that stopped me reaching for the off switch. With the BBC series of programmes about India and Pakistan, looking at the two countries 60 years after independence, TV has actually been worth watching in the last few weeks. One of the most interesting programmes was the mini series ‘India with Sanjeev Baskar’. It was great to see more of a country that has every level of development within one boundary, from the poorest, most impoverished people to the most high tech the world has ever seen. During Sanjeev’s travels, rubbish seemed to crop up at the most unexpected ...
4:18 pm

Reorganisation in Politics

Gravatar This last week the Liberal Democrats launched a series of policies to make the UK carbon neutral by 2050. These are a huge step ahead from anything the spin doctors of David Cameron’s Conservatives have announced and completely out of Gordon Brown’s field of consideration. It’s yet to be seen if this is a vote winner for the Lib Dems, but there will have to be a huge swing for them to have enough power to implement the policies. I’m surprised that Gordon Brown hasn’t taken more notice of the reports that say if you spend money now, you’ll save ...
4:18 pm

What do astronauts do with their rubbish?

Gravatar The astronauts in the international space station simply threw it into the void that is space. Worrying to think that the space station, which supplies so much of the information about global warming and pollution, is adding to the mess that is our outer atmosphere. A US astronaut simply threw the item as far as he could from the space station, which shows there wasn’t a huge amount of science involved with the space walk. The 635Kg (100 stone) refrigerator sized ammonia tank will no doubt crash into someone else’s satellite or fall to earth, along with the rest of ...
4:16 pm

UKIP MEP: where will he do his probation?

Gravatar It just occurred to me that Ashley Mote MEP’s sentence raises an interesting point. He will serve half his sentence in prison.  He was on bail so he will be released about 17 January 2008, he will then be free but on licence for the rest of his sentence, until 3 June 2007.  He will have to report to probation on a regular basis. Assuming that he cares about his parliamentary duties in Brussels, how will he see his probation officer during the week? If it was the case that his job took him to Yorkshire or Scotland it would be transfered to local probation officers ...
3:57 pm

A road by any other name - musings on the database society

Gravatar It isn’t as important an issue as the DNA database errors noted by Lynne, but the odd glitch I came across when my son moved house does illustrate part of the problems of the emerging database ‘snoop and categorise’ society. My son e-mailed me his new university address but not the postcode. I looked up the street on the online maps services –and nothing turned up. Tried various alternative spellings and finally one popped up showing his road with the alternative spelling for the name. Thing is, my son spelled it right first time. It is an error that has ...
3:37 pm

Am I too ‘right wing’ for the LibDems?

Gravatar (hat tip to Barrie Wood for the title for the post (which was already being written) Sometimes I do wonder… I happily define my views as liberal, or perhaps libertarian. Unfortunately my view of liberalism seems to differ from many in the LibDems. Mainly this seems to be because I think the state should keep out of almost [...]
2:58 pm

Inspirational is not the half of it

Gravatar Very sorry to read about the death of Jane Tomlinson whose battle with cancer over several years was a feature of regional news programmes here in Yorkshire and also her increasingly brave efforts to raise money for charity. The term ‘inspirational’ seems to be overused these days, but if there was ever a person to whom this should be applied than it has to be Jane. I just hope the city of Leeds and indeed Yorkshire as a whole is able to properly remember her, not just over the next few days but for a long time to come. Perhaps we could ...
2:28 pm

19th century Rail

Gravatar As the high speed rail link is finally tested between Paris and London, it is certainly progress to report that the journey time between the two capitals is now set to be 2 hours and 15 minutes. Unfortunately, it is rather depressing to report that the average speeds into London on other railway lines are now slower than they were in 1910! I am sure that the Victorian engineers that had such vision to create the network in the first place would be astonished to find that it takes five minutes longer to get from Richmond to Waterloo, for example, ...
2:14 pm

Good for Cornwall - Thumbs up for Matthew

Gravatar In Cornwall we are welcoming the news that Matthew Taylor has accepted Mr Browns invitation to advise government on rural economy and housing. Matthews experience of representing Truro & St Austell (largest town 22,000) for 20 years puts him in such an excellent position to share his knowledge - hopefully - for an improvement in the way in which Westminster treats these issues. I understand the grumbles about it going against the stand Ming took against Paddy becoming part of Mr Brown's government and the suspicions regarding Mr Brown's motives but on this one I have to say that the ...
2:10 pm

New Poll - Should Redcar & Cleveland Council retain Yorkshire as part of its postal address?

Gravatar Posted by Chris: At 2pm on Thursday, in the Town Hall, Fabian Road, Eston, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Councillors will debate a spiteful motion proposed by Labour Councillors to delete Yorkshire from the Council's postal address. Let's be honest about it, this petty action will cost absolutely nothing to the Council, though it may cost Royal Mail money in wasted time having to hand sort incorrectly addressed letters. It cost the Council nothing to add Yorkshire in the first place and it will cost nothing to replace it. I make this point because when it was first proposed that we ...
1:38 pm

UKIP MEP jailed- but there’s an underlying problem

Gravatar Ashley Mote MEP (South East) has been imprisoned today for nine months for fraud.  It remains whether he will resign his seat, which hopefully he will. In fairness to UKIP, he lied to them about this case and they suspended him. But Mr Mote is not the only criminal holding public office in Brussels.   The corruption of people associated with former French President Chriac is legendary.  On 20 March 2005, no less than 47 of his former staff and associates were charged with corruption relating to Chirac’s time as mayor of Paris, a majority of whom pleaded guilty.  The man is a walking ...
1:14 pm

It would appear that my faceless days are numbered…

Gravatar Ros and I had considered whether or not we should ‘announce’ our engagement, and had not entirely concluded as to what we should do or where (when you reach our age, you do tend to be more traditionalist…). However, someone very kindly appears to have taken the decision for us. I received a telephone call from Ros, advising me to check out the Daily Telegraph, and through the magic of the
1:13 pm

Conference date irritation

Gravatar I am missing the big ol’ Federal Conference this year, because it is in Brighton and thus about as far from my house as is possible without the addition of a passport. However, I can accept the horror of my fate and live without five days of south coast liberalism safe in the knowledge that the North West conference is just around the corner and, as its name suggests, is happening in the North West and thus closer to home. Or so I thought. Unfortunately this year the conference is a month earlier than usual, so now I can’t go ...
1:11 pm

Bourgeois radical false counsciousness

Gravatar I shall probably write something about Tim Henman when he finally retires, but a comment by the normally sensible Dave Hill has caught my eye. Comparing Henman with Andy Murray, Hill writes: At least my relationship with Henman was straightforward - he was my class enemy. It's much trickier being someone's surrogate dad.Class enemy? I wonder what Hill does for a living? Coal mining, perhaps? sheet-metal working? Farm labouring? Er, no. If you look at the top of his blog you will find that hill describes himself as a novelist and journalist. And a journalist who writes regularly writes for ...
1:08 pm

Cameron's leadership deficit

Gravatar Two quick questions, prompted by a couple of the results from Ipsos-Mori’s latest survey of political opinion, published yesterday: Which of the three main party leaders has the lowest overall satisfaction rating with the general public?Which of the three main party leaders has the lowest overall satisfaction rating among his own party’s supporters?If you read the Telegraph (and indeed some of
1:05 pm

Ludlow Town Council: Better than the pictures

Gravatar According to the Shropshire Star: Every council tax payer in Ludlow will face a £6 bill to cover the cost of four months of rows at their beleaguered town council.By the sound of it, it is worth every penny.
12:51 pm

Greek Fires: a problem with how the EU works

Gravatar Back from the long recess, the European Parliament has debated the Greek forest fires.  There were worthy calls for support to be paid out of the EU Solidarity Fund- a decision in the hands of the Council of Ministers. But these decisions shouldn’t have to wait so long and they shouldn’t be dependent on what calls are made in any given case. If the EU is serious about mutual assitance there should be clear principles about the distribution of “solidarity” aid determined in advance.  When an emergency arises funds should be used according to those principles, and disputes resolved by an independent ...
12:50 pm

Cannabis and Its Relationship with Order & Liberty

Gravatar Andrew Lilico puts a superb case for the legalisation of cannabis at Conservative Home, of all places. Having debated the issue several times, i have found that those who support prohibition tend to use highly illogical arguments whereby they assume that the status quo in terms of supply, usage and links to other, stronger drugs would remain the same under full legalisation. Lilico pulls the rug from under the prohibitionists' feet on the aforementioned issues by demonstrating how they would change under prohibition with a wonderfully merciless rationalism. His position on individual liberty is particularly refreshing, given that his party ...
12:50 pm

Why fewer children are taking school meals

Gravatar Lib Dem Comment on the revelation by David Laws that fewer children are taking school meals than before the start of Jamie Oliver's campaign for healthier menus has generally taken the line that the change to better food was asking too much of children and parents. We simply could not expect the proles to give up their microchips so quickly. This is certainly the line taken by David himself and by Lib Dem blogger Arwen Folkes. Even Norfolk Blogger, who is critical of David Laws, shares the assumption that the masses do not want good food, but he thinks the ...
12:44 pm

TGV at St P

Gravatar I’m watching BBC News 24’s coverage of the inaugural journey of the Eurostar along the high speed line to St Pancras - and I’m more excited than I really ought to be. We had vague plans to use the new service to Brussels later this year, but I suspect that will have to be put back til next year. It is a bit of a national embarrassment that the only high speed rail in this country runs from London to the Channel Tunnel. I remember reading, but can’t now source, a factoid along the lines of 5,000kms of high speed ...
12:38 pm

European Parliament should scrap long recess

Gravatar The EP was in recess from 18 July until this week.  It seems to me there are three good reasons for getting rid of this long recess. 1. It coincides with the recess of the Parliament in the UK (and other states).  It might help get some news coverage for MEPs’ work if the EP didn’t break at the same time. 2. This long recess is offensive to a lot of working people in the European Union. 3. If a point of the recess is give MEPs time to spend in their constituencies then it would be sensible to spread ...
12:05 pm

Another Private Eye Reference

Gravatar £5.8 billion: Cost of the new Eurostar high-speed link to St. Pancras.20 minutes: Time saved on the Paris-London journey by the new high-speed link. £290 million: Cost per minute saved of the new Eurostar high-speed link to St. Pancras.
11:59 am

Weaning the kids onto "pukka" food.

Gravatar As a mum who watched Jamie Oliver's exposé of the school meals in the UK with great interest ... and a mum who was sadly not surprised to see the pictures of Mums ferrying crates of fish and chips and feeding it through the railings to the children once Jamie's changes had been introduced, I am sorry to say that I am not surprised the take-up was difficult and not as widespread as hoped. The problem was the way in which it was introduced ... I think a fair compromise could have been reached and children "weaned" away from their ...
11:47 am

Arnie recoils from the Curse of Cameron

Gravatar All along the watchtower reports plasible reasons, to do with Californian affairs, as to why Arnold Schwarzenegger will not be attending the Conservative conference this year, as previously widely advertised. It seems a fair assumption that Arnie is actually dumping Cameron because he can see he (Cameron) is not a likely election winner. Why cheese off Gordon Brown when it is obvious that
11:44 am

Research from the University of the Bleeding Obvious indicates…

Gravatar I am now regularly woken to the dulcet tones of the Today programme on Radio 4, and a means to get the blood pumping in the morning, it’s hard to beat. However, I can tell that it’s still summer by two pieces of research that were highlighted yesterday and today. The first was released on Monday, indicating that those born to poorer parents were more likely to live their lives in poverty. I
10:52 am

He’ll be back (in California)

Gravatar Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced that he won’t be attending the Conservative party conference this year . The governor was going to speak on the issue of climate change, as California was the first state in America to impose a cap on green house gas emissions, but he will now be staying in California to try and get his reforms passed by the Californian state legislature. His health care, political and water policy reforms have stalled in the sate legislature (the lower house in the Californian state Congress) which is scheduled to end its current session on September 14th. ...
10:39 am

The wisdom of crowds

Gravatar Useful things to discover: Google finds only two hits for the phrase “as good as the Star Wars prequels” (OK, so there’ll be three now) and one of those is commenting on the fact that there’s only one mention of it. Infinite recursion, anyone?
10:33 am

More Tory Duplicity on the Environment

Gravatar Dover is being rocked by a Conservative scheme to build over 6,000 new houses.  The controvesy arises out of concentrating the lion’s share all in one place- in Whitfield, a village that currently only has circa 1,800 homes. Whitfield’s Lib Dem Councillors Clive Meredith and Peter Lodge have been leading the fight against the plans, calling for new housing to be spread more evenly across the District.  They were re-elected with an increased majority over the Tories last May. Here’s the thing.  Conservative Council Leader Paul Watkins says that new housing is needed to protect the environment.  His argument is if we don’t build these ...
10:27 am

Government 1m children behind target

Gravatar Shadow education, schools and families secretary David Laws has uncovered a worrying trend in school meal take-up, according to the Guardian. According to figures obtained in response to a Lib Dem parliamentary question, almost two-thirds of secondary, and around 60% of primary school pupils, are shunning school meals. The numbers of children eating at school was set [...]
10:04 am

Brown's cunning plan?

Gravatar George Jones in the Telegraph says that Cameron's summer wobble is in danger of turning into a winter of discontent. He also says that Cameron is in danger of using up all his ammo (all these commission policy announcements) too early. The latter point was one that has occurred to me in the last few days. Gordon Brown's middle name is "devious" and one has been searching for a motive, other than
9:46 am

New Year for Me

Gravatar There's something great about this time of year. September always feels like the start of something rather than January. Back at work now busily sorting out the course material for when the undergraduates come back, and the new ones start. Have managed to book some really interesting guest speakers as well as sorting a lot of new material for myself. This year the degree I teach on will have third years for the first time, so I am looking forward to some degree ceremonies next summer too.
9:22 am

Boris Johnson's Compass Stalker

Gravatar So, yesterday I got a comment on one of my posts about Boris Johnson's mayoral candidature from a person calling him/herself "Young Londoner". I read through it and thought nothing more. Surfing the web later, I found an identical comment, from the same person, on another site (here). Both the comments quote the recent Compass report on Boris Johnson, disparaging the hapless buffon. Turns out
9:03 am

Populus poll "kills off" October election speculation

Gravatar Call me old-fashioned, but I have never thought an election this year was going to happen. That was mainly because I couldn't see where Gordon Brown would find £10-20 million, to fund Labour's election campaign, at the drop of a hat. But after all the prevailing wisdom in the press saying an autumn election was imminent, we now have the Times saying that it's off. The Tories and Labour are 36%
9:00 am

Troops leave Basra Palace

Gravatar British troops have transferred their final post in downtown Basra to Iraqi control. On Sunday, at 0100 local time, 550 soldiers withdrew from Basra Palace, joining 5,000 of their colleagues at an army outpost, near Basra Airport. This will mean British forces cannot leave the compound, outside the city, unless called upon by Iraqi authorities. Responding to the announcement, Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed the withdrawal was "not a defeat". Two senior British generals have criticised US post-war policy in Iraq. Gen Sir Mike Jackson, head of the Army during the invasion, told the Daily Telegraph US policy was "intellectually ...
8:35 am

Cameron gets blasted by Tory heavyweight

Gravatar Oh dear. Oh dear. There could be a snap, crackle, pop election in thirty days time, but dear old David Cameron is under fire from Tory heavyweight Michael Ancram. David Cameron 'is trashing Thatcher legacy' is the headline in the Telegraph. It seems that Cameron has missed a trick in not putting Ancram in charge of one of his commissions to keep him busy. Instead, Ancram has put together a
8:03 am

Day 2436: They Think It's All Overwatch… It is now!

Gravatar Monday: Acting under the aegis of OPERATION: "SNAP GENERAL ELECTION", British Troops are falling back from Basra palace to the relative safety of the airport. This withdrawal comes just a week after Mr Frown rejected Sir Mr the Merciless' call to draw up plans for a withdrawal. Perhaps Mr Frown thinks it is better to retreat WITHOUT drawing up a plan first. Maybe his reputation for doing well in a crisis is GOING TO HIS HEAD! The Prime Monster does insist that this is NOT A DEFEAT. Perhaps he could remind us what the conditions for VICTORY were, in that ...
7:31 am

Ure Street

Gravatar I have been advised by the City Council that, because of water service works, Ure Street will be closed to through traffic (between the mini roundabout near its south end and the link road to Bellfield Street at its north end) from today for a maximum of five working days. Pedestrians can access the street as normal and alternative routes for vehicles area available via the link roads at either end of Bellfield Street.
1:09 am

Tongue Got Your Cat?

Gravatar Despite the security problems that come with visiting such a dangerously unsafe city as 'Sidney', (sic), and ahead of the annual 'silly shirt fest' of the APEC summit of sartorially challenged Pacific nations, US President George W Bush has headed out to Australia. However, hot on the heels of the British Army's decision to vacate the Basra Palace base and pull back to Basra airport, Bush visited Iraq en route for a quick 'photo-op-over' in Anbar province to show how few Iraqi's are dying in a part of Iraq where virtually no Iraqi's live. .... - (Al Anbar is the ...
1:09 am

Ted Kennedy the hypocrite

Gravatar Ted Kennedy had a great record environmental, until a wind farm was planned off shore from his coastal mansion. Not just outside his window, but dots on the horizon. Ted Kennedy is opposing the plans! View the Greenpeace video here:
12:14 am

Air quality in Bearwood

Gravatar My thanks to Robert Wright, a Lib Dem Councillor for Birmingham’s Selly Oak ward, for pointing me at a new website where residents of the West Midlands can keep a check on air quality. The website will be of particular interest to Bearwood residents, as one of the monitoring stations is situated on Bearwood Road. While the data on its own is meaningless to the average Joe, the commentary with it makes for interesting reading. Across the borough of Sandwell, NO2 (Nitrogen Dioxide) exceeds the annual mean objective and therefore Sandwell has been designated an Air Quality Management Area for ...

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