Our local PCT is looking to change its specialist cancer care provision away from the RUH to Bristol. We are very concerned by this and are promoting a campaign to raise awareness of the threat and pursuade the PCT to decide to keep this specialist gynaecological cancer care at the RUH. Don Foster MP has recently been getting a large health survey around Bath and our team of... 
I have just watched the South Bank Show documentary about the two Johns. There was no mention of Well Anyway - the situation comedy they wrote and performed for the BBC in 1976. I remember enjoying it at the time and being impressed by them, even though I was too young to know anything of their involvement in the satire boom of the early 1960s. Yet there is next to nothing about the programme on IMDB and only a little more detail at mtv.com: The setting for this British sitcom was the Earl's Court District of London. By day a ...
The powers that be at the LibDem HQ in Cowley Street came up with the excellent idea earlier this year of an online hustings for Euro-candidates, which means that any member of the party can pose a question on-line and then see what each of the candidates replies. That’s the good news. The bad news is that although the service has been up and running for over six weeks, hardly anyone has availed themselves of the facility. The London region has had the most traffic — at the time of writing, a grand total of three questions! Perhaps now that the ballot papers ...
I am one of the founding bloggers listed on the site for the Campaign for Fixed Term Parliaments. This is a cross party initiative whose aim is to persuade politicians that the Prime Minister's power to call an election at the time of his or her choosing is an anti-democratic constitutional anachronism and should be replaced by a fixed parliamentary term of four or five years. I have added a
I confess to having taken the weekend almost entirely away from Council work or politics - a fairly rare event. But it was high time we caught up with our rapidly growing young grand-daughter and her parents, as well as being time to celebrate a family birthday. So Friday found us heading down the motorway towards the midlands. A thoroughly relaxing weekend was topped off today by a pleasant 
I was very supprised to see that Lynne Cheney, the wife of US vice president Dick Cheney, was going on the Daily Show. now as it turns out the interview wasn't too bad, and you can see the full interview below; Part 1 Part 2 Now i say it wasnt too bad, i should actually correct myself. The first half was very good, she did better then i, or probably anyone could excpect. Going in to the liberal lion pit, that the Daily Show is something that right wing politicans in America very rarely do, but for someone who is ...
Trip to the cinema this evening to catch Control the Ian Curtis biopic. Its been praised to the heavens by the critics, and for good reason. Even if it starts slowly by the second half it has dragged you in to such an extent that the ending, even though you know what's coming, is devastating. It is the closest I've been to crying in a cinema since I blubbed through the last 15mins of Boys Don't
{Archers} From today you can now listen to the Archers on your MP3 player. It’s on iTunes, or manual downloads can be done via the BBC Website. Good to see that at least BBC Radio are making their programmes easily available, unlink the TV arm and their dreadful iPlayer.
Mike German, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Welsh Assembly, has announced his intention to retire from the post in 2008. This from the BBC: Mr German said he had “unanimous support” from his colleagues in the assembly to continue as their leader. He is also to stand for the separate role of Welsh Liberal [...]
This week's historic court judgement on Alexandra Palace (courts blocked the planned sell-off) is a damning indictment of the behaviour of the Labour councillors who rammed through the deal on Ally Pally with Firoz Kassam's Firoka group. It is justice being done and seen to be done (see Hornsey Journal here and here and Ham & High coverage). A real local hero, Jacob O'Calloghan (who is a local historian), is the David who took on the giant of the Labour establishment over their now found to be much wanting 'sale' of Alexandra Palace. Throughout the process Labour steamrollered through an ... 
Welcome to the 34th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (7th-13th October), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. And no prizes for guessing which story has been to the fore this past few days. So, here we [...]
One of the most interesting things about running a blog is seeing how people who had no intention of reading what you have to say and know nothing about you ended up landing on your web page. At the start of the year, I was briefly the top of list on Google when you searched for “Facebook,” which was bizarre. I’ve had several hundred people land on my when trying to figure out how to make pear crumble. (Pipped to the post by a website called sofeminine.co.uk, a slightly odd website that includes a section on how your star sign ...
The Observer reveals that the school governor who challenged the screening of Al Gore's climate change documentary in secondary schools was funded by a Scottish quarrying magnate who established a controversial lobbying group to attack environmentalists' claims about global warming: The Observer has established that Dimmock's case was supported by a powerful network of business interests with close links to the fuel and mining lobbies. He was also supported by a Conservative councillor in Hampshire, Derek Tipp. Dimmock credited the little-known New Party with supporting him in the test case but did not elaborate on its involvement. The obscure Scotland-based ...
Had a Lib Dem day today, writing leaflets for a couple of the wards in Epping Forest and preparing all the paperwork for the forthcoming AGM. Before I could send the leaflets to the printers I had to take a couple of pictures of our councillors. The photos were for the 'Save our Post Offices' campaign we are running to compliment the campaigns being organised by the local Guardian newpaper and
One of my original intentions with this blog, which seems over time to have slipped a bit, was not to let it be dominated only by politics. So I’d like to extend a warm welcome to the two people who have been directed here over the last couple of days from typing into Google “Sue Lawley leather”, and also the separate person who got here from the search term “kirsty young tits”. I hope you found something here that gave you what you wanted (though I don’t think it’s very likely!).
Yesterday marked the fifth anniversary of the weekly vigil outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London protesting against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. Their website states that they will "continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe."I went there for the first time last week. Here's a hastily taken picture:
Councillor Karen Hamilton has this afternoon been selected to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Perry Barr constituency at the next General Election. Karen is already a Councillor in the constituency and is incredible popular on the ground.
In the last week I have received two e-mails from potential Lib Dem Euro candidates asking for my support. No doubt they hoped their e-mails would impress me, and others, in to voting for them, but instead they have had the opposite effect. I am not against them because they have spammed me with e-mail. No, I am rather pleased to see candidates using modern technology. No, what I don't like are the errors in mailings. One candidate, who contacted me last week and attached he e-leaflet, fails to mention at any point the words "East of England" or a ...
It’s a difficult subject, yes, but we of the People’s Republic never shun controversy. To be taunted that one has wet oneself is just about the worst political accusation there is. Bad judgement, over-excitement, lack of control, the resultingly wiffy pair of pants that you are STILL WEARING, all this and more are implied. The accusation even has the far-reaching effect of damning the cause in which the self-wetting occurred. The implication is along the lines of “What, have you wet yourself? And for this? I would never wet myself in that way, but even if I were going to I would certainly never wet ...
Tony Blair's best friend and "confidante" Lord Falconer has launched an attack on Gordon Brown's renewal of the Labour Party at exactly the same time as Gordon Brown has put on hold plans for Lord Falconer to receive a whopping pension from the government after he stood down/was sacked (delete as applicable) when Gordon Brown became PM. When you also factor in that Falconer can barely breath in without being told first to do so by Tony Blair, it makes you wonder how he has found the courage to attack Gordon Brown without the hand of Tony being behind it. ...
Lord Falconer has called on Gordon Brown to outline his "vision for the future of the UK". I am sure Gordie is poised with his notebook, at this moment, and dialling up George Osbourne to ask him what his (Gordon's) vision for the country should be. I don't agree with William Hague. Well, then again, I would never take a blind bit of notice what that bleater says anyway. But when Hague says
The Campaign For Fixed Term Parliaments. It’s like being a Chartist, only with a Facebook group instead of marches, rallies and protests.
An all party group of bloggers has joined together to set up a blog and campaign website to gather cross party support for fixed term parliaments. I am certainly adding my support to them and would urge anyone else who feels that the sham election debacle that Gordon Brown presided over recently has devalued out democracy to do the same. You can link to the website above or can find it in my blog roll under "Other Political Links"
Dear Mr Pritchard, Last week I wrote to you to complain about an unsubstantiated claim made by Jo Revill in an article that MPs were plotting to replace Sir Menzies as leader of the Liberal Democrats. I did not receive a reply (original message below). This week I am writing to you about the same issue. In Jo Revill’s article this week (Bad polls raise heat on Menzies) she asserts that: Now the prospect of a general election this autumn has disappeared, many grassroots supporters and MPs feel the time to replace him with one of the party’s younger generation ...
The link is to Pauline's story in the Independent. Note the behaviour of the social workers. The Police would not harrass people in this way. I cannot understand why this behaviour is permitted from Social Workers.
Is this what it will be like if Al Gore decides to run for US President in '08? Hat-tip to the Daily Irrelevant, who have more cartoons on this subject.
My mole in Aberwystwyth has been bloody useless this morning and failed to notify me of Mike German’s decision on whether or not to restand as leader of the Welsh Assembly. To be fair, the mole was exactly right about what they throught German would say, and so it has passed. He has decided to restand (and presumably stand for the vacancy left by Lembit yesterday), but only on the basis of standing down again in 12 months. Why the lame duck act? Simple: it’s called Operation Stop Peter. If Mike had stood down, the only viable candidate at the ...
I’ve just realised I had forgotten to mention the AGM of our local party in Sandwell, which took place a few weeks ago in Hamstead. The meeting was quite well attended and it was pleasing to see some new faces. Another bonus was some volunteers from the membership taking over the roles of Chair and Membership Secretary, decreasing the burden on the Council group. After the meeting some time was taken up by discussing plans for the General Election, which we all expected to be called in a matter of days! With the sad death of Martyn Smith earlier this ...
A local resident brought us this picture today of a vehicle that is occasionally left parked, in this position, at the bus stop in Troutbeck Road, close to the junction with Windermere Avenue, Redcar.
I’ve just spent the morning watching the BBC’s Ministry of Truth programme. Surprisingly, it is even more loathesome, and unexpectedly sinister, than I imagined it would be. First of all, let’s take the name. As well as being half-inched from Unity’s blog, it is taken from Orwell’s 1984. “Minitrue” of course is anything but and is the main purveyor of newspeak. Oddly the documentary namechecks Derrida, banging on about the dreadfulness of postmodernism and its influence on modern politics but doesn’t discuss Orwell and indeed indulges is a bit of truth manufacturing of its own. The programme manufactures a reality ...
A bizarre thought occurred to me last night watching the rugby - like France in the 2006 football World Cup, England started poorly and have then improved as the tournament has gone one. One of the keys to that improvement has been a player who was one of the two scorers the last time they won the World Cup, and now the final will be the last competitive game of his career before he retires. Therefore, the World Cup Final will end with Jason Robinson emulating Zinedine Zidane and headbutting one of the opposition.
The Campaign for Fixed Term Parliaments has launched their brand spanking new sparkly site, following first reading of the Fixed Term Parliament Bill earlier this week. As the list of supporters shows, this is a cross party campaign, showing genuine commitment across the political spectrum for ending one of the most egregious, anachronistic* royal prerogative powers still around. In a democracy
I have received complaints about the condition of the pavement on the north side of Nethergate (around the area opposite DCA) where residents have complained the pavement is untidy and greasy. I have complained to the Waste Management Department about this, asking for the pavement to be cleaned.
There’s a few blog posts doing the rounds on the subject of Ming’s leadership again. Let’s sort this out, one way or another. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again - I was not a Ming fan. He was second to Chris Huhne on my ballot. However, I have warmed to Ming and have been impressed with the way he has dealt with internal matters. But. I agree with the bloggers who say Ming has struggled to get our ideas and policy across in the media. This is a real problem, as I think right now we have some ...
At our Conference today Mike German will announce that he is re-standing for the position of Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Group leader. He will tell Conference that he will stay on long enough for him to finish work he is currently engaged on and that he will stand down as soon as possible after the May local elections so as to give the longest possible period for his successor to establish themselves. This is a formula that has been agreed by the group after a number of them took it upon themselves to ensure that there will be no contest ...
The Safer Lewisham bus will be driving into Lewisham High Street on Monday 15 October to give advice to people about crime prevention and community safety. The event is timed to coincide with the Home Office initiative called Not In My Neighbourhood which aims to reduce crime by working with residents in their local area. Residents will be able to visit the bus from 11am-3pm and speak to officers from a range of services including the warden service, Trading Standards, the police and the fire brigade. Not In My Neighbourhood week will run from Monday 15 October ...
Humphrey Lyttelton "I'm sorry I haven't a Clue", Chester, 10th December 1994. Yes, I believe the time has come. I have been one of Ming's strongest supporters. I remain a great admirer of his. I think he is considering things this weekend. I believe now is the time for him to step down gracefully and hand on the baton to the next generation. I say this not because of recent nonsense in the
Northamptonshire, my home county, doesn’t make the news very much. Once a year a bunch of people drive cars round a track really fast, but that’s about it. Apart from this weekend, when the World Conker Championships returns to Ashton. QUIET AT THE BACK! Yes, the World Conker Championships. You may jest, but these people take it seriously. Over 300 competitiors are about to kick-off in Northamptonshire for the right to call themselves “World Conker Champion”. I’ve also got a family link. My cousins Martin (Grand Master Bash) and James (Hitman) are former junior champions (!) and will be entering ...
We all know the Daily Mail is a tabloid rag and aimed straight at ‘middle England’ with its bitter, twisted attitude to the world and anyone not like them - but up until recently it hasn’t really bothered me as it knows what it is, knows what it likes and gets on with it - and that’s cool with me. But the other day I was reading an article on the site (via Digg) and saw a banner for a piece on this seasons best buy boots and the banner had a picture of a nearly naked woman - naked ...
Keep it clean please.
As soon as I saw this story on the BBC website, I assumed that within days there would be a load of Tories denying it, claiming instead that it was a conspiracy theory, there is no scientific proof of obesity and it might be due to sun spots and solar activity instead.
Episode 849 of Hooting Yard’s ‘detergent opera bouffe’, loosely based on the groundbreaking STV series of 1980. Whooper swans whooped on the airport pond. Beyond it, by the grain silo, the airport squirrel skittered and twitched, as if terrified. But it was on home ground, and scared of nothing. As with all squirrels, its twitching was merely the outward sign of its high metabolic rate. A path led from the grain silo to Runway Number Nineteen, where on this fogbound morning a supersonic überjet from a bygone era sat rusting on the gravel. Nineteen had been the experimental runway, where ...
There will be a public meeting at 7.30pm on Wednesday 24 October to discuss how to spend the £10,000 Locality Fund allocated to Lewisham Central Ward. This will be at the Methodist Church on Albion Way. The Council has produced leaflets advertising the meeting but won't deliver them: that's up to the ward councillors. Could you let me know if you might help deliver the leaflets in your area? In the meantime, please keep sending ideas for spending the money to your local councillors.
So we got home last ngiht after a meal at The Lobster Pot (According to the chef, "ze special tonight ees... France are going to win!" ... ha ha ha) and flicked through the TV channels, settling upon the 1988 TV version of A Very British Coup on More4. I was stunned and amazed to see Iain Dale tapping the Prime minister's phones, smearing Cabinet ministers, and plotting with the Americans to bring down the British government. Of course it wasn't actually Iain Dale, but an actor called Tim McInnerny. Though I've never seen them together - have you? Of ...
Spent last night at Edgware Road where many were celebrating Eid Al Fitr, the end of the fasting period for Muslims. There were many people who had come to celebrate and there were many young people hanging around the streets laughing, smiling and greeting one another - far from the ASBO generation promoted by some sections of the press. The sheer diversity of Muslims and Islam is positive and something that is wonderful to see and what was also exhilarating to see was the sheer vibrancy that comes out from such religious events. The vibrancy is something that I also ...
Ming hit back at critics today saying that there was idle chatter from the occasional dissident......if that is true he has nothing to worry about. He is right, we all have a responsibility to raise our game, but he is the only one who can do anything about raising his own personal ratings. Having spoken out earlier this year I have kept my mouth shut due to the possibility of a snap election and due to fellow party members asking me to because they believed it would damage the party. That is the last thing any of us want to ... | < | October 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 | |||
