Mary Reid has tagged me with this ‘ere meme to ruminate publicly on my nominations for the Womens’ Blogger awards. The People’s Republic has stayed silent on this so far because we are mindful of the ever-sage words of Don Liberali, who points out that the announcement of the Gender Balance Campaign Women Bloggers Award follows on the [...] 
I read this at Prague airport this afternoon. I am glad that Danny Alexander (who I don't particularly know but I'm sure is very good) enjoys fishing and hill-walking. I enjoy hill-walking myself. I have never really tried fishing, though I might have to give it a go now my parents own some trout-fishing rights. I wish Danny's wife and daughter, who I have never met, all the best in the world. But why on Earth does the Telegraph think this is important information about 'the key man in Nick Clegg's circle'? He might enjoy electronica, surrealism or paintings made ...
Having been alerted by Bryan Appleyard to the fact that Julie Burchill loves Tesco, I feel driven to say that I hate Tesco at the moment. I shop at my local Tesco normally and loyally. I don't normally love it - it's convenient, it's good value, and it's reasonable to good quality. But at the moment I hate Tesco, as I did at the same point last year. The reason is that they insist on playing "Christmas" music for the last few days before the big credit fest, and it drives me bananas. It's impossible to shop udner such conditions. ...
News that Tim was taking over the Agriculture brief sent me back to his article in Liberal Democrat News last week. It was a campaigning piece - his aim is to make the liberal democrats "the party of choice for UK farmers". And that is a great idea as far as I am concerned. One of the things I have found annoying over the years is our failure to communicate to farmers just what our policies are. There is a hugely important trade press for the farmer sector and we have many ways to get into it. But (telephone) canvass ...
Sky news have begun to look back at this years news stories, as they always do (give it a week or so then every half hour on sky news will be a look back on the years events). On the sky news website they are showing the top 9 new stories, as judged by American news editors. Here are the 9, in the order that they were picked; Right first off is the Massacre at Virginia Tech in April of this year. The shooting saw 32 people killed and many more injured in the worst ever shooting incident at American ...
The Mystery Pollster blog has a good summary of the latest poll findings in Iowa, the first state to vote in the procedure for selecting Democrat and Republican candidates for next year’s American Presidential election.
There is always something of interest in the Shropshire Star. English Heritage has awarded the headstone of an unknown African man at St John the Baptist Church, in Bishop’s Castle, a Grade II listing because of its “historical significance”. The paper goes on to say: No firm details about the man are known - including his name - and he is listed as “native of Africa”. It is thought the man may have arrived in the town as a servant in a local country house.But experts believe the elegant decoration and inscription on the headstone indicates he had achieved higher ...
My column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Headline to follow Welcome to the 2007 House Points Awards, coming to you live from the Mecca Ballroom, Goole. (Our investigations revealed that there is no Goole Ballroom in Mecca.) The first award is for The Most Absurd Statement by a Labour MP. There was support for Graham Allen’s thoughts on Tory sleaze: "It took a Labour government to end those scandals and introduce legislation to bring greater transparency to party funding." As one judge said, it is not enough to pass new laws: you have to obey them. But the winner is ...
Well done to Sylvester from Pontesbury: Members of a Shropshire family are all smiles after their beloved cat, which had been missing since last Christmas, turned up just in time for this year’s festivities.
I was particularly delighted to learn that Lembit Opik has been made Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister. Meeting the housing needs of Britain’s growing population is an area in which he has considerable prior expertise.
I read somewhere that although women are frequently more active than men in local communities, they have less status, less power and less access to money than men. So, why is that? Is it because women suffer discrimination? Or do they just expect special treatment? Personally, I think a little of both. This comment posted on the Telegraph website, by someone calling themselves Dr N hopefully explains what I mean; “As a female engineer in Microelectronics, I have been outnumbered by men since I was 16. Through A-levels, undergraduate and PhD I was always encouraged, and in fact found that ...
Today was the 3rd annual vigil held to remember those people torn from our community and repatriated to "safe" countries where many have disappeared or been imprisoned and tortured. This happens in our names because the government deems it to be the popular thing to do. In a church in central Middlesbrough people of many nationalities gathered to remember friends and to share hope for a better
I'm a Christian, but I agree with a lot of what Marcus Brigstocke says here: This contains strong language and potentially offensive material, and is probably on the internet illegally. But watch it anyway! To my Christian friends, Merry Christmas. To those who aren't Christian but happy to recognise the tradition, enjoy the relaxation and the time with your family. To the tiny minority who are actually offended by my calling it Christmas, I respect that. Enjoy whatever you are celebrating at this time of year (if anything).
{Picture of DNA} It's a while since I've written about Low Copy Number (LCN) DNA testing, but the news today that - as a result of the Omagh bomb trial - the use of this technique is to be reviewed (see BBC story for details) is welcome. As I wrote previously, "LCN DNA should only be used cautiously – and only with corroborating evidence", and as I put it in an article on the dangers of DNA databases and the like, it is highly risky to place your faith in technology always working flawlessly: "As investment goes in, a commercial ...
The Campaign for Gender Balance ( a Lib Dem group) has just launched the Gender Balance Awards - and they don't all have to go to Lib Dems! The categories are: Best blog by a woman Liberal DemocratBest blog post by a woman Liberal DemocratBest blog by a woman non-Liberal DemocratSo get nominating! James Graham has challenged me to suggest: ...
Ok I am going to have a go at this meme challenge from James Graham to promote the Campaign for Gender Balance blogging awards designed to celebrate and promote women bloggers, both inside and outside the Liberal Democrats. Please go there and nominate somebody. My problem here is that my knowledge of Liberal Democrat and other blogs is actually quite restricted. As such I am not going to offer a particularly original insight. In looking at this exercise I have found some very good blogs by women that I should be reading regularly and certainly should be linking too. The ...
In April 2006 Home Office incompetence led to over 1,000 foreign-born criminals, who should have been deported, being freed instead. These included rapists, paedophiles and at least 3 murderers. It led to Home Secretary Charles Clarke being sacked in May and the eventual hiving off of sentencing prisons, probation, and prevention of reoffending to form a new Ministry of Justice in May 2007. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown told the Times in July: "I want a message to go out - if you come here to work you learn the language; if you commit a crime you will deported from ...
Back in March 2006, Winchester City Council, then led by the Lib Dems, put forward a carbon management programme which committed the City Council to a 50% reduction in emissions by 2012. It had clear targets. It had a clear baseline measurement to compare against. And it laid out a draft implementation plan to kick off the process of delivering those targets. The Conservatives took over control of the council a few weeks later.. and since then - silence. Their recently published strategy paper - Live for the Future: Tackling Climate Change - and the accompanying action plan - makes ...
The link is to a story about a sad case in Bristol where a young baby was hurt by his birth parents. What mystifies me about this is that it went on over a period of 50 days. That is when there should be at a minimum a health visitor visiting. It explains a good reason why we need to open up the work of the safeguarding boards to scrutiny. Since prior to the Climbie case the decisionmaking 
It seems elements in the Labour Party are now openly talking about a 'coup' against Gordon Brown which is being attributed to Nick Clegg's election as party leader. Todays Labour Home reports that 17 Labour MPs are talking about Brown being asked to 'step aside for the sake of the party' if the polls under his premiership do not improve by the time they all get back from their hols in the new year. All the dismissive talk from Labour loyal media outlets over the past week, about the Liberal Democrats has been a smokescreen. Charles Clarke got the ball ...
At least according to today’s Telegraph: The key man in Nick Clegg’s inner circle is Danny Alexander, who was elected to Parliament with him in 2005. Mr Alexander, 35, is a former PR executive who is now Mr Clegg’s chief of staff and will be responsible for drawing up the party’s election manifesto. Married with one [...]
Rob Knight tagged me with this meme on Liberal Review I would have responded there but...I had some technical problems. The photo is a vineyard the other side of the hill from my house. Most of the icons I never use - but some people reading this will have suffered from my AYMail I suppose. If they are reading, how about Nich Starling, Chris Black, Stephen Robinson and Steve Travis revealing their darkest desktop secrets?
Quick alert for those wanting to see/hear Lib Dem MPs live on air in the next three days: • Tonight (Fri), Sarah Teather, the Lib Dems’ new shadow secretary of state for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, will be on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions at 8.00 pm (repeated Saturday, 1.10 pm); • On Sunday night, [...]
{Snowman} I do a monthly column for the Ham & High newspaper through the year. After all the serious pieces, the Christmas one is my little bit of fun: my annual Christmas Fairy Tale. Of course some people think this is terribly out of order and MPs should be terribly dour and serious all the time (hello diary columnists!), to which I say - as every year - bah humbug! 
I watch far to many West Wing repeats for my own or anyone Else's good. So on Monday, Christmas Eve, I shall spend a few hours recreating one of my favourite episodes. I'll be in , what I imagine will be a largely deserted Civic Hall, with a couple of intractable local problems on my desk. I will ring bewildered Council officers asking for some action and trying to get a bit of Christmas spirit out of them. As the Council bureaucracy seemed to have shut down by Wednesday anyway I don't fancy my chances. Intoxicated by the Christmas Spirit ...
Nick Clegg came to Cowley St yesterday to talk to staff. We were packed into the board room to meet him. Exclusive photos of the event......
Network Rail has written to householders in the "Birds" roads (Goldcrest Rd, Robin Way, Gullivers Place) and Gaunts Road to say that they will be removing the trees on the top of the railway cutting. In the case of the Birds this is everything the railway side of the allotment fence, plus the corresponding trees the other side of the cutting, next to the farmer's land. The work is being carried out for safety reasons. The letter explains "Vegetation can create a host of safety problems. It is well documented that during the autumn months thousands of tonnes of leaves ...
Support your local team is my mantra when I talk to kids wearing Man Utd, Chelsea or other Premiership shirts. So I couldn't say no to the Torquay United Supporters Trust when they asked me to p...
We now have a potential date for Network Rail to be off site at Westerleigh Rd. They have some further drainage works to do in February, and hope to be off site, with all the fences removed, by the end of March. They have inspected the defective trench (thump, thump) across the road, but say it's OK and that the traffic noise is coming from a defective reinstatement nearby. They have asked S Glos to inspect it. We'll follow this up after New Year. Our investigations show that unfortunately we can't plant any screening on the Westerleigh Rd verge opposite ...
This is not one produced by me.
Jonathan from Liberal England is worried that women’s blogging awards will just serve to position women as the weaker sex. But, is offering a platform for an underrepresented group to get increased profile really such a minefield? Are women Lib Dem bloggers (and beyond) really so in danger of being patronised and undermined? Surely, the good female bloggers such as Alix or Charlotte, to name just
Who says the BBC hasn't got a sense of humour. Watching a BBC news item on the controversial Japanese mission to hunt humpback whales in the Antarctic I had to chuckle to myself when I saw that their reporter was called ………..................Jonah! Merely a coincidence?
Following the whole Fairytales of New York malarkey, I had noticed Alex Wilcock’s unlikely-sounding account of the derivation of the word “faggot”, and was forced to weigh my deep-seated concern for sound etymology against the fact that I weally, weally wuv him, especially when he is having righteous anger. Love won (doesn’t it always) but then Jonathan Calder dismantled Alex’s [...]
Upon his promotion to the shadow cabinet, Jeremy Browne MP has said that "It will be stimulating to have a place at the top table and be contributing to the discussions on national policies. The role gives me responsibility for holding ministers to account on all areas of Government spending. While there has been some welcome investment in public services, too much public spending is squandered on unsuitable projects, targets and initiates. I want to see greater value for money for the taxpayer. I will also be working on the costing of Lib Dem policy proposals for the next general ...
I next to Sainsbury's earlier and the nicest possible way I could describe it would be to say it was deeply unpleasant. Nothing wrong with the shop, just your of people doing enough shopping to last 4 months and a traffic jam of trolleys. Indeed every aisle was packed except for one. Guess what this aisle sold ? Tea and coffee.
As promised on the podcast, I've placed a bet on the US Democratic primaries: Richard's gone for Hilary Clinton at odds of 2/5.
The fear of going bald does strange things to a man - just ask Mark Oaten. Thing is, there’s no turning back from it. Greyness can be dyed - or embraced as distinguished - while general creakiness and excess weight can be argued away with vague promises of the gym. Hair loss, however, is the end to your illusions of eternal youth. In my case, I’ve spent the last couple of years cultivating a ponytail that reached halfway down my back. It’s gone now - sent to a charity that makes wigs for child cancer patients. {Before} For the last ...
One issue that seems particularly confusing to me is the issue of inflation. The RPI (Retail Price Index) rate of inflation in November was 4.3% while the CPI (Consumer Prices Index) was 2.1%. Other figures I am interested in are my rate of interest on my student loan (was 2.4% before September but is now 4.8%) and my current pay rise in local government (2.5%). I know my pay rise is actually a cut as I voted for strike action in a unison ballot recently as I thought it was outrageous. So, (I'm taking things slowly here) just because I ...
David Cameron suffered embarrassment yesterday after it emerged that his local Conservative Party was forced to forfeit donations totalling £7,400. Witney Conservative Association had to give up a donation of £5,900 after failing to make basic checks that would have shown that the donor was not entitled to vote in a British election and so not entitled to make a political donation. A second donation, worth £1,500, from a supporter in London who was not on the electoral roll and therefore impermissible as a donor, was also surrendered.
It is right that the First Minister has declared in his Christmas message that the fight against child poverty is his top priority however words will not be enough. The Assembly Government has a target of halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it altogether by 2020. These are ambitious targets. They are more so when one considers that the recent Joseph Rowntree Foundation annual report has found that the level of childhood poverty in the UK is the same in 2005/06 as it was in 2002/03. These figures have stark implications. At present, there are 170,000 children living in ...
Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that there is now the facility to comment on what you read here on this blog. Under the title to each posting there is a little “comment” button for you to press and leave your views on what I have to say. Please do get in touch, it’d be lovely to hear from you! Rick
Castle Point DC, St Marys Con 509 and 461 (41.0; -27.3), Lab 480 and 456 (38.6; +6.9), BNP 253 and 234 (20.4; +20.4). Majorities 48 and 19. Turnout 24.8%. Con hold and Lab gain from Con. Last fought 2007. Hackney LBC, Springfield Con 1244 (59.0; +16.1), Lab 590 (28.0; +0.4), LD Brian Stone 113 (5.4; -4.8), Green 85 (4.0; -9.5), Christian Party 40 (1.9; +1.9), Communist 37 ( 1.8; -4.0). Majority
Time for some catching up on the world of technology and I find a number of interesting developments have passed me by including progress by the BBC on making the iPlayer available on Mac and Linux. Something for me to play with over the Christmas break - I have a MacBook running OSX natively with Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP installs on it running under VMWare Fusion so can try the user experience on all three platforms side by side. As some of the holiday season involves being out of the UK, then some jiggery-pokery may be required for me ...
I finish work later today and, after going for Xmas dinner, will be out of the office until the 7th of January. The first few days will be spent with Catherine and her family in Perth, returning to sunny (not -5 degrees c this morning) Ayrshire for the rest of the holiday. I'll have to take limited chances to get on the internet in Perth and I only have dial up at home, so you may all get a blessed relief from my ramblings for a couple of weeks - on the other hand, I may feel the need to ...
An intensely driven, rather solitary and gloomy man from a strictly religious background achieves the heights of politics. This comes after a long struggle against more popular figures in his own party at a point when many have previously written off his chances completely. The Leader continues to prosecute an Asian war inherited from his predecessor, though ultimately the leader hopes to withdraw his forces. Intensely driven, the leader feels a sense of inferiority towards the more socially polished figures around him and resentful of their thinly disguised patronising of his education and background. There are rumours of questionable practices ...
Well the rest of the Lib Dem blogosphere has had their say on Nick's reshuffle so I suppose that I should add my two pence worth: Congratulations to Chris on his deserved promotion. Congratulations also to Danny & Willie on their respective jobs. Not enough women in senior places when there are talented and able women available. Well, that's it.
We now have a new leader, Nick Clegg. For the last couple of weeks, Lib Dem Voice has been inviting party members to tell us what you think should be his top priorities. Four have so far taken up the challenge: Paul Walter, Linda Jack, David Morton and Mary Reid. Today it’s Mark Valladares’ turn… So [...]
With all the quite proper fuss and concern about the government losing personal data, it is easy to forget just how difficult it is to get your own personal data corrected when it is wrong, and its even more difficult when the people with the wrong information are Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. I my case the Student Loan Company wrote to me to tell me that in the alst tax year I had made no payments to them. Actually, I have has deductions made from my account, but none of them seem to have arrived with the SLC in ...
BBC - CBeebies Make and Do - Postman Pat Post Office I'm having a very lazy morning after finishing at work for two weeks which reminded me of being a student...so I completed the scene and switched the beeb on for the morning kids TV shows. What a treat! I thoroughly enjoyed Postman Pat and wondered if we could employ him on our campaign to save our post offices? The post office and royal mail are featured heavily in most episodes and having Pat on board would really liven what is a potentially dull campaign. If you click on the link above ...
The government has been shown to be lying when they say that foreign criminals should be deported after a memo revealed that Immigrant ion staff have "no interest" in deporting foreign criminals who have served less than 12 months. As I understand it most burglary, actual bodily harm, death by reckless driving, common assault, mugging, shoplifting and breach of the peace offences have less than 12 month sentences yet the government feels that people who commit these offences have the right to stay here ? Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime ?
This refers. Does anybody recognise the scene?
how still we see the lie...........
Much reaction on the blogs and elsewhere to yesterday’s Lib Dem shadow cabinet announcements. Here are the links: * Home Affairs for Huhne on Peter Welch’s Eastern/European blog. * Clegg keeps Compo! on Martin Land’s New Model Army blog. * Steve Webb given environment role on David Nikel’s The Golden Side of the Moon * Great role for [...]
Will Davey crush the Millipede? Will Goldsworthy wipe the Cheshire Cat grin off Blears' face? Will Huhne hound the hapless Smith? I sincerely hope so. I was particularly delighted to see that Ed Davey will be our Foreign Affairs spokes. I have to confess I wasn't always that enamoured by Ed, and there are a few (!) policy areas I would disagree with him on. However, I have got to know him a bit through FPC and the more I see of him the more impressed I am. So I look forward to seeing him take on the lightweight Milliband ...
From Midnight the EU's Schengen Zone grew by an additional nine countries. The Schengen zone now covers 400 million people living in 24 states. The UK has still not joined and, as normal, is being left behind.
Pracharaj Party Introduce the price guarantee scheme of 12,000 Baht per tonne for Jasmine Rice and 900 Baht per tonne for sugar cane Enhance agricultural production efficiency to increase the competitiveness of farm and food production Develop irrigation infrastructure and improve farm water management Improve village fund scheme management Prevent and suppress corruption and abuse of power in government and [...]
Having noted the demolition notice hanging over Lawrence Miles's Beasthouse for the last few months, I am pleased to see he has apparently thought better of this decision. Hurrah! And just in time for Christmas, too. Although he has broken his silence with a somewhat erratically numbered Advent Calendar feature. Either that, or he is doing his irritating deleting posts thing. Anyway, that's all
Last year, I tried out the idea of reviewing my year in three parts, a concept which, if I say so myself, was quite a lot of fun. So, as the year draws to a close, it is perhaps time to start this year's review... The beginning of the year found me in India, celebrating yet another wedding (my cousin Clyne and the lovely Nisha this time), and telling all and sundry that, unless my beloved cousin
Anyone wanting to copy Andy Warhol's famous Campbell's soup painting will be out of luck as the Kings Lynn factory where the unique condensed soup was made is to close and the famous Campbell's brand is to disappear and be renamed part of the Batchelors brand. You can read more about it HERE.
I see that Harriet Harman has called for a ban on the selling of sex. Now, whilst I've never paid for sex myself, and am troubled by the notion that prostitution is a victimless crime, I find it somehow difficult to believe that making prostitution illegal will actually help matters in any way, shape or form. Prostitution is supposedly the oldest profession and, whilst there are those who want
I received a bizarre phone call this morning from a Mail on Sunday journalist. He had picked up from the register of MP's interests that I had made a donation to Nick's campaign. I am then easily found by a Google search linked to my business and the phone call came through the main Company switchboard. I had had a piece published in the Financial section of the Mail on Sunday last week about my Company's plans so I assumed this was a follow up - so took the call and was therefore rather caught off guard when he launched ...
The below is to a video of singer Natalie Imbruglia appearing in a routine alongside David Armand spoofing her song Torn Secret Policeman's Ball 2006.
The link below is to a video of singer Natalie Imbruglia appearing in a routine alongside David Armand spoofing her song Torn during the Secret Policeman's Ball 2006. | < | December 2007 | > | ||||
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