LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Tuesday 13th May 2008

Sarah Turley joins the Lib Dems

Cllr Turley (second from left) is welcomed by (l to r) Cllr Marilyn Palmer, Cllr Ruth Davis and local MP Steve Webb Councillor Sarah Turley (Boyd Valley) has left South Gloucestershire's ruling Conservative group and joined the Liberal Democrats. Sarah says, "When I stood for election last year I was determined to stand up for my local community. Unfortunately, over the last year I have found that my work has been undermined by members of the Conservative group on the Council." "In particular, when I wanted to speak up on behalf of local residents against the in-vessel composter, I was ...

Steve Webb speaks out on bus service changes

Read the full story in today's Bristol Evening Post.

Guido Fawkes on the Lib Dem Crewe campaign

An intersting observation from the pointy-bearded one: The LibDems are not repeating the mistake they made in the Mayorals. They attacked Boris when the public was moving towards the Tories. This election they are going with the popular flow and attacking Labour. Their advertising says "Send a Message to Gordon Brown". They might take some votes from disillusioned Labour voters who can't bring themselves to vote Tory.

Round and round we go ....

The winter heating allowance problem remains unsettled. I wrote on 2nd May that I thought I had got the right agency to sort out the winter heating allowance for my constituent. However I hadn't heard anything so started to chase, and chase and ...... I was not able to get a phone number of the Government Department in Cardiff (grr) where my letter and attachments had gone, on May...

Murder of an Aston Villa footballer

On Sunday I mentioned that as a boy Steve Winwood sang in the choir (and illicitly played the organ after choir practice) at St John the Evangelist, Perry Barr. A visit to the church's website reveals that the churchyard contains "the grave of Aston Villa's Tommy Ball aged 24 murdered by a deranged Police officer in 1924". (This is on the site's History page.) Intriguing. If you want to know more, this scrappy page from the Northern Echo site is the best place to go: Settled in Birmingham, he'd married Beatrice Richards - daughter of a well-known pork butcher, pie ...

Great ad for Asda...not so great for the people of Crewe

I do feel as if I'm standing behind Edward Timpson with a blowtorch at the moment, but then there is a by-election and he is the tory candidate so I'll forgive myself...phew! Big news from an excited Timmy [Timpson] - when people are trying to spend less money they...gasp...actually buy the 10p baked beans at the bottom of the shelf...you know, the tins with the white packaging and the garish designs...well, Timmy's actually found out someone buys them...and it's not just that man with the beard and the dog on the string he crosses the street in Crewe town centre ...

Hampstead Rugby Club should be pleased, I am.

Martin Johnson has announced the England squad for the summer tour, and it is good news for exciting Rugby. Four Quins make it into the squad - Danny Care as first choice scrum, David Strettle on the wing, Mike Brown as the only dedicated Full back and No 8 Nick Easter. Along with the Harlequins players are 7 Wasps (which is why the Hampstead Rugby Club of 1870 should be happy, with 11 players

Well done Bristol City!

Congratulations to Bristol City on their result this evening, beating Crystal Palace 2-1 at Ashton Gate (4-2 on aggregate). In a real cliff-hanger City scored 2 goals in extra time. City now go to Wembley on Saturday week to meet meet Hull or Watford, depending on their result tomorrow (Wednesday). If City win at Wembley it will take them into the Premier League for the first time. The BBC reports the match here.

Why is the FTSE not in freefall?

"Official: Housing Crash on the Way" headlined London's Evening Standard tonight after the unwitting disclosure of Caroline Flint's cabinet briefing paper which admitted that UK house prices will fall by least 5% this year and possibly more. It's been a dire day for economic statistics. Housebuilder Redrow reported reservations down 50% so far this year while the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors confirmed what we all knew that property prices are officially falling. According to RICS, confidence in the housing market is at its lowest for 30 years. To make matters worse, the price of oil continues to surge upwards, ...

Whoops!

I listened to a phone message left yesterday for me, pointing out the grammatical error in a Focus article on the new Mayor! Mea culpa. I wrote that particular article and did indeed slip into a common error, so I hope readers will forgive me. The lady who so politely pointed it out to me didn't leave a contact number or name so I can't apologise to her personally. I had an unusual experience

ATTN Christians & Atheists

Sam Harris wants to do research on your braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains. If you're either a Christian or an atheist, then click here and help Sam compare our branes. Some of the questions are applicable to non-Christian religions, but some of them aren't. Some of them are clearly control questions which any reasonable person, religious or no, would answer in a certain way... Anyway, go, click, take surveys, have fun.

Car park proposal and the sea wall

Two items from today's Courier. Firstly, if you click on the headline above, you can view the story of residents' concerns about the sea wall at Riverside Drive and my making clear that the City Council takes seriously any concerns about the safety of the retaining sea wall and these concerns must be investigated immediately. I've been away in Edinburgh with the "day job" today and a West End Community Council meeting this evening immediately on return, but, having just got back home, the following feedback had been e-mailed to me by the City Engineer : "An inspection of the ...

Red means go on Planet Boris

This article on Comment is Free says a lot about the Tory love of law enforcement for other people. Boris clearly hasn't taken a car theory test because if he had he would know that jumping a red light on a bike is just as illegal as if he were driving his car. Riding on the pavement is also illegal and could cost Boris dearly if caught by a police officer. Also illegal is riding through a park, but not on Planet Boris. If this had happened while in his car there would be an uproar. As I've said before ...

Labour doing a Ratners on Tax

I have just seen the details of the concessions made by the Government to 'compensate' people who have lost out on their tax policy. It has descended into a complete farce. The abolition of the 10p rate was designed to help Labour win the election that never was. Now this by-election budget is designed to help them cling on to Crewe in next week's vote. The Chancellor is desperately trying to backtrack from the disastrous decisions of the Prime Minister but has still hasn't managed to get it right. Surely it would be better to admit they were wrong and ...

Smannell and Enham Lib Dems launch Affordable Homes Campaign

In the field behind Lib Dem County Councillor Robin Hughes (above) will be 2500 new homes to be built in the East Anton MDA. Robin Hughes and Len Gates fought a long campaign to ensure that Smannell did not lose out from this development. The deal has now been done and work has started, changing the face of our parishes for ever. However, our campaigning has not stopped. Developers can be made to pay for improvements in the parish such as Roads, Schools, Playing Fields and communications. Lib Test Valley Councillor Len Gates is already looking to ensure that adequate ...

Burma and China - Man made disasters

The Guardian is carrying an interesting piece this evening which shows how angry Chinese are turning on their government after the devastation caused by the recent earthquake. It reported a women, hoping that she will be able to again see her daughter, asking; "Why isn't there money to build a good school for our kids? Chinese officials are too corrupt and bad." She went onto say; "These buildings outside have been here for 20 years and didn't collapse - the school was only 10 years old. They took the money from investment, so they took the lives of hundreds of ...

One statistic to remember about today's 10p tax rate announcements

Today’s announced tax changes, designed to deal with the fallout from the abolition of the 10p tax rate, will cost �2.7 billion (to be funded by extra borrowing). Of that, only �630 million will go to people who lost out in the first place due to the abolition of the 10p rate. In other words - more [...]

Poll: Marry, Shag or kill?

I've mentioned that shared brain thing, right? I finished reading something, got up to go check on the pizzas, stole a kiss from Jennie on the way past and said I had a poll to post when I got back up. She showed me her screen and asked if it would look a bit like this. To which the answer is yes, yes it would. Female voters 'fancy Cameron' apparently, but we're both convinced it's the old shag, marry or kill question, so here we go. View Poll: Bag, Shag, or Crag (trying inserting her poll into my post, might ...

Tax changes: bad economics and bad politics

Can this government get anything right? The reason I ask is that Alistair Darling's announcement today about raising the income tax personal allowance is, on the face of it, a clever way out of the hole Labour had dug itself into with the abolition of the 10p tax rate. The trouble is, it's precisely what he shouldn't have been doing. It's bad both politically and economically, and Vince Cable was absolutely right to say that it's a short-term gimmick. I'll deal with the economic arguments first. The timing of the announcement was lousy, as it came on the same day ...

Pollspam! Which party leader Bag Shag or Crag?

Lots of people have linked to this today, in which it is made out that Cameron is the sexiest of the three party leaders, but nobody mentions which questions were asked. However, it seems fairly obvious to me that it was the old classic Bag, Shag or Crag. So, dear f-list, once again I seek your opinions. Which of the three party leaders would you Bag (marry/mate with for life), which would you Shag, and which would you Crag (throw off a cliff) View Poll: Bag, Shag, or Crag Me, I say Bag Cameron, because he's rich, and you can ...

Warren Bradley re-elected as leader of Liverpool City Council

Liverpool Confidential offers a colourful account of proceedings yesterday evening. I hope this story is true: Once upon a time, the Lib Dems used to meet, like the other parties, at Millennium House. Then somebody realised spies has infiltrated their inner sanctum. Surely this was a job for James Bond 007?But it turned out that because of a hyper sensitive, state-of-the-art hearing loop installed in the Lib Dem meeting rooms, hard-of-hearing opposition members, wandering around outside, could pick up the secret deliberations on their digital hearing aids. And so it was that the action was moved, unfolding at the Town ...

FWD This Link

Hah, Guru {[info]} rhodri's new book is available for pre-order at Amazon: FWD This Link: A Rough Guide to Staying Amused Online When You Should Be Working It's only �6 (and if you reserve it on pre-order then bookstores will stock more which helps him, right, no obligation to actually cough up later), although given most of my posts at the moment are already linkblogging...

For and against more regulation in the same speech - Cameron's latest say-anything-to-get-elected posture

I came across these interesting bits from a speech by David Cameron to the Council for the Protection of Rural England, made yesterday. In it he makes the case for less regulation. And then he goes on to make the case for, errr....more regulation. Here's what he said: The third way in which our present regime has undermined social value is through over-regulation. And then he went on to say:

Vince on Labour's 10p tax-con U-turn

Once again, it was Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable who asked the hard questions of Alastair Darling today, as Labour’s Chancellor attempted to put right his boss’s blunder in penalising 5.3 million of the nation’s poorest by doubling their tax rate. Vince’s Commons’ response is reprinted from the Hansard transcript below. Particularly telling, however, was [...]

How you can back Lib Dem David Howarth's campaign for Fixed Term Parliaments

Cast your minds back to last September... Gordon Brown was riding high in the polls, the Tories were in disarray and the Lib Dems were polling at 13%. Gordon toyed with exploiting his momentary advantage by calling a snap election. He dithered and dithered and dithered until the polls turned and the choice was taken [...]

From failure to humiliation and on to gross stupidity - Labour's 10% solution is a massive failure by every measure

The humiliation of Labour under Gordon Brown today was complete when Alistair Darling announced a �120 tax give away for this tax year (and this tax year only) to anyone on 40% tax. Whilst Frank Field and other Labour rebels might be delighted, the whole principle of what Labour have done "sucks" in so many ways. The main point for me is that this re-hash of the budget had to be done because Labour had failed to protect those who deserved protection most. Low wage earners would , as a matter of principle, be the last to be made to ...

Gender Balance

Each of the three main parties has its own approach to gender balance. The Tories have no rule book, preferring to do things the way we do our constitution in this country. They want a better gender balance, or claim they do, but they don't have a set policy on it. Advantages to this approach include flexibility. Disadvantages include a total lack of transparency or predictability. The Labour do all-women shortlists. Advantages of this approach? You quickly increase the number of women in power, and thus approach balance at speed. Disadvantages include... well, we all know my views on positive ...

Love Prestwich? Come to Local Area Partnership Meeting Thursday night!

The first Prestwich Local Area Partnership of the Municipal Year takes place at 6.30pm pm Thursday 15th May 2008 at The Longfield Civic Suite, Prestwich. Come along and see the launch of the “Love Prestwich” anti-litter campaign, which follows on from some of the work local Lib Dem Councillors have been leading on in getting the Council to tackle the “Dickensian filth” which sometimes plagues local streets. Prestwich LAP will launch its Love Prestwich Litter Campaign for the summer which aims to target Prestwich Village Town Centre to promote respect of the environment to residents and businesses to Love Prestwich and keep ...

And the winner is...

Thanks to those Lib Dem Voice readers who submitted entries for yesterday's competition to win a copy Susan George's book, Hijacking America - by providing a suitable epitaph for George W. Bush's presidency. The standard was extremely high - I heartily commend the comments thread to those who missed it - which has made judging the [...]

London Elects admits: we failed to add up all the votes

A letter has gone out today from Anthony Meyer, the Greater London Returning Officer, providing further details of the London election results. In it he admits that the Mayor result as declared at the time was inaccurate, as not all the valid votes were included in it: The Mayoral 1st and 2nd preference figures for two [...]

Why stereotypes can sometimes be true

This unbelievable story about a man in Australia who appear to love beer more than his own child really does prove that despite out best efforts to rule out stereotypes as being very far from true, sometimes they really are true.

Why Did They Resign?

I saw Harriet Snookes of the Bucks Herald talking to Fiona, the Parish Clark, and Mrs. Green, a Wendover Resident in dispute with the parish over a square meter. Harriet has a really hard job there, to sort out the facts about the dispute. But that is only the Casus Beli. I hope she does not loose the plot there. The real question is not who is right (in this case everybody is right and everybody is wrong) but why was this not settled in the usual amicable manner that characterised the Wendover Parish Council until now, and what was ...

Younger than John McCain

I'm younger than John McCain. A lot younger. I was wondering why Betfair still has odds on "Republican Nominee". You shouldn't be able to make any money on it any more, right? John McCain has it all sewn up? Well, yes, the politics is all sewn up. However, the Betfair market seems to think there is a 5% chance that McCain won't be the Republican candidate. There can only really be one reason for this: the risk that he will be too ill to stand, or possibly dead. That seemed unlikely to me. But then I had a look at ...

Boris Johnson Resignation Watch Day 8: It's going to be a while yet

The Times has been out and about in Henley gauging local voters’ views on Boris Johnson’s two jobs* and reveal just how relaxed the timetable for a by-election is: [Boris Johnson] will stand down, and there will be a by-election, but the local Conservative Party says that it will not have a new candidate in place [...]

Woo-hoo, no sorry boo-hoo �120 better off

Woo-hoo, no sorry boo-hoo �120 better off. Last month I published how much I get in my allowance. My only PAYE income. I was �15.95 worse off after this years budget. That has now changes and I am only �5.95 worse off.... What a joke! Labour just want to leave people worse off, forgetting their grassroot supporters. Using Lib Dem tax proposals I would be paying under �40 a...

Conservative MP uses Parliamentary expenses to promote by-election candidate

Trouble brewing for Conservative MP Stephen O’Brien, who has been promoting Edward Timpson - Conservative candidate in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election - on his website. The problem? The website is paid for by the Parliamentary funds. And that’d be funds for which the rules expressly forbid such campaigning. Tsk tsk. A formal complaint has now [...]

Darling to the rescue - but will it work??

A few minutes ago the Chancellor made a statement to the House of Commons setting out how the Government would dig itself out of the mess created by the Prime Minister when he abolished the 10p tax rate. The doubling of the 10p rate created around 5.3 million losers, and their average loss was around �120 per year. To compensate for the 'average' loss, the Chancellor has therefore announced that the personal tax allowance for 2008/09 will rise by �600. Since the basic rate is now 20%, this will save most people 20% of �600 or �120. Gains won't only ...

Moving on

The Daily Post reports that BNP North Wales organiser John Oddy and party members Paul Harley and Susan Harley who were elected unopposed to Bay of Colwyn Town Council this month have now resigned from the party: Haulage worker Mr Harley, 62, from Penrhyn Bay, who was elected to the Dinerth ward, said: "When I joined the party I did believe that the party had changed from its former image. "I felt the same after attending meetings where racist views were not expressed but in the past few weeks I have found out more about the party and I am ...

Boris sets out to reflect London's diversity

Much as it pains me to say it, 2 weeks into the job, and Boris has made some inspirational appointments. The first was Ray Lewis, as Deputy Mayor in charge of Young People. Lewis has successfully set up a series of academies across London to provide support to troubled black teenagers. He is drawn from outside the Tory partys inner ranks, and someone who has actually done some real work. Today Boris has appointed Kulveer Ranger, as his Transport Advisor. Ranger was previously Cameron's vice chairman for the inner cities, and is the most senior Sikh within the Tories ranks. ...

Keeping things in proportion

Interesting editorial in the Western Mail this morning highlighting the plethora of coalitions that are forming in local Councils all over Wales: Here is a huge irony in the fact that, despite Welsh Labour's massive opposition to the introduction of proportional representation (PR) in local government, coalition politics is now predominant in Wales. Since the council elections earlier this month, just four of our 22 local authorities are controlled by single parties - Neath Port Talbot, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Monmouthshire and Vale of Glamorgan. Elsewhere, political groups - if they exist at all - have been forced to negotiate with ...

Burma

The death toll from Cyclone Nargis continues to rise and over 1.5 millionpeople are now at risk. We know that diseases, such as cholera, dysenteryand malaria, are spreading. If the world does not intervene soon, the deathtoll could rise by thousands every day.No country could cope with a disaster of this scale alone, yet Burma¹sGenerals are shunning the world¹s offers of help; they¹d rather see theircitizens die than accept help from overseas.If any country can make the generals change their mind, it is China. We havewitnessed the recent terrible loss of life in China following thedevastating earthquake. However, the response ...

Cameron at odds with his own MP's

Tony Blair famously set himself against his own party numerous times and now David Cameron seems to be following in his footsteps. He voted against the majority of Conservative MPs who took part in the division yesterday on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Altogether 37 Tories voted in favour with 49 voting against. This is not the first time Cameron has been out on a limb either. According to Professor Philip Cowley, this is the fourth time he has been in a minority in his own party in Commons votes recently. The others were votes cast in favour of ...

Quote of the day

God is "an incarnation of the most childish superstition" - Albert Einstein Discuss.

Hillary: The Appalachian girl

A fascinating insight from an analyst in the US: It seems that it’s not so much a race thing but to do with genetic background! Obvious answer to the problem: When Obama gets the nomination get Hillary out on the stump in the Appalachian mountains!

Another front in the ongoing Sunni vs Shia "war"

The fratricidal aggression between Sunni and Shia Islam is a major force shaping our world. It's not just Iraq and Lebanon with this sectarian fighting but also Yemen. There could easily be more problems in Bahrain and eastern Saudi Arabia. On the rise of Shia Islam in the late 20th and early 21st century read Vali Nasr's excellent Shia Revival N.B. The photo is certainly not my position. It is the example of the inter-sectarian hatred.

Caroline Flint adds to the caos of this Government

Benedict Brogan reports, and has a photo, of a mistaken leak by Caroline Flint, Housing Minister, on the housing market. Oh dear, oh dear. Oh, and Neal Lawson, of Compass, has now called for Brown to go.

Why are we waiting...?

You may well be wondering whatever happened to the arrival of the long-awaited bottle banks, earmarked for 3 sites in Redlands (Hexham Road, Erleigh Road and Cintra Park). After years of campaigning by the Lib Dems, we were told by Council officals earlier this year that sites would be installed during April. Well, we're half way through May now and there is still no sign of them! I've been trying to get answers from Council officers for weeks but to no avail. As soon as we have any more details from RBC (such as precise dates!) we will post them ...

Stands Scotland where it did?

Over the course of the last 25 years Scottish politics has altered substantially, and in doing so it has diverged markedly from the rest of the United Kingdom. The next five years will determine whether Scotland will continue to diverge to the point of separation or whether a new United Kingdom can be forged based on more federal lines. In 1979 the Conservative Party in Scotland gained 916,155 votes votes in Scotland and elected 22 MPs. Labour gained 1,211,455 votes and elected 44 MPs, while the Liberals got 262,224 votes votes, electing three MPs while the SNP gained 504,259 votes ...

Pakistan announces Death Penalty moratorium

Pakistan announced a moratorium on the Death Penalty. Campaigners lead by Amjad Mirza Hussain from Leeds have worked tirelessly to bring this about the UN level.

Tories: 'Lesbians Are Fine As Long As They're In a Relationship With A Man'

Paul Walter brings today's stunning Tory story: stunning both because they have an actual policy - yes, a policy, that's two and counting - and because it's to (nice Tories, inclusive Tories, pant, nice Tories, inclusive Tories, strain, nice Tories, inclusive Tories, grrr, no, can't keep it up, knee-jerk bigotry nastiness EXPLODE! Ahhhhh... That's better) it's to use the law to discriminate against lesbians. So, the nice, modern, inclusive Tories' only two confirmed policies: tax cuts for millionaires; bash lesbians! Why is anyone surprised? Without greed and bigotry, what's the point of the Tories? And there are two more questions. ...

New Deal for The City

The domestic news today has once again been full of the types of economic bleakness that makes me ache with frustration about things. Prices for domestic fuel seem about to leap again, and if Tam and I are feeling the pinch trying to keep the two of us warm in a modern house and with two above-average incomes, God knows how OAPs and big families with low wages are supposed to cope. On top of this, I tried to fill my car this morning and would have had to take out a mortgage to achieve it, had any ...

The Huhney Monster

He has been a bit quiet recently but these two quotes from Chris Huhne show why he and Liberalism are effing brilliant. On Labour ignoring the advice on the classification of Cannabis: Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said that, as its advice had been disregarded, ministers should disband the advisory council of experts and replace it with an advisory council of “tabloid newspaper editors”. BBC News and on Boris, the new oh-so-liberal Conservative Mayor of London banning alcohol on public transport and then the Government doing possibly one of the dumbest things ever and following suit nationwide: Liberal ...

Being back

To be honest, I'm still struggling a bit to get back into the swing of things, after a three week break for the wedding and honeymoon. Getting back to Westminster yesterday I found that we had reached Day 4 of Committee Stage on the Lisbon Treaty where the Lib Dem team, led by Hugh Dykes, are dealing with rafts of Tory and UKIP amendments. We even voted last night, unusual at Committee Stage, but probably necessary to prevent deep vein thrombosis setting in on the front benches. Todays vote will be on the Channel Tunnel Rail Bill which has got ...

Hey Ma - Its Now 5 Years In Iraq

Mayor Making at City Council last night. Congratulations to new Mayor Sue Callen and Deputy Mayor Ros Cox. I gave a little speech which seemed to go down quite well. Afterwards I was speaking to the Mayor of Wadebridge. He is, quite rightly, very proud of his son, who is serving out in Afghanistan. I agreed with him, that our soldiers out there, and in Iraq, are doing heroic work. But I had to ask, is the price in dead and maimed young men a price worth paying. An organisation called Help for Heroes has put out a shocking video ...

Government clueless about cutting travel costs or emissions - Baker

Commenting last week on the Tandberg report, which shows that most Government departments are failing to reduce unnecessary travel or investigate green alternatives to flying, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker said: "This Government simply doesn't understand how to cut carbon emissions or control costs. "The report shows that basic steps are not being taken to reduce the need to travel. The taxpayer and the environment are paying the price for the Government's extravagance. "Ministers clearly prefer jetting around the world to using less glamorous but more sustainable alternatives, such as video conferencing." The Tandberg report found that: - ...

Huge pro-Union demonstration in Glasgow city centre

Hundreds, if not thousands, of anti-separatist demonstrators have been driving their Union Jack bedecked cars around the streets of Glasgow all morning in a clear signal that the Gnats desire to see the break up of the United Kingdom is very much a minority view. The protesters have even adopted a uniform of royal blue shirt with Carling lager advertising, jeans, trainers and excessive numbers of tattoos. The odd Saltire has also been seen and even a scattering of red hand of Ulster flags have been spotted. On the other hand Glasgow Rangers are playing in the final of the ...

Disgraceful Tory policy on female same-sex couples and IVF treatment

Ah great! At last, a bit of red meat to rant about! I have booked a check-up with my GP. I agree with one of Bob Shaw's posts. Well done Bob for flagging up that the latest pronouncement from Team Cameron, saying that Lesbians should be barred from IVF treatment if there is no father figure present, shows that Cameron's purported modern "compassionate Conservatism" has disintegrated into a

Redlands Ward Surgery

Our councillors' Surgery will be held on Saturday 17 May in the church hall at St Lukes, on Erleigh Rd. Feel free to come along any time between 10 am and 12 noon. Click here to see future ward surgery dates.

All five Post Offices lost

All five Post Offices within the Borough which were earmarked for closure are indeed to close, the Post Office announced this morning. Quite how Crown Street, which already suffers from horrendous queues for much of the day, will cope with the extra business I can't imagine. Cleveland Terrace Post Office was a hub of the local community: a community about which the Labour Government and its Post

UoR Neighbourhood Forum - 12 May 2008

Planning/Building The results of the Masterplan consultation will be out end of May - The UoR are completing the environmental survey requested by RBC, whose comments came in late (end Feb). This should eventually be available on the web. The University has merged with Henley Management College, this will lead to +50 extra students on Whiteknights - These will use the new ICMA Business School, currently under construction. The Institute of Education currently on the Bulmershe campus will be moving into the London Rd site. The London Rd campus will also be refurbished and incorporate new halls of residents which ...

At last Hillary gets it

As a Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Obama seven points ahead of McCain nationally, Hillary's thank you video (below) at last signals that she has realised the game is up: A video sent by Hillary Clinton as a thank you to her supporters has fuelled speculation that she is on the verge of dropping out of the White House race, with its strikingly valedictory tone. The senator was also heard

Testing times

This week more than a million pupils will sit national curriculum key stage tests. Meanwhile, the Commons schools select committee is set to publish a report calling for the reform of the testing system. It seems to me to be common sense that you cannot treat education like you would competitive sport - setting up league tables and letting the schools scrap it out. The governments argument that the tests are essential to measure pupils progress is invalidated by the very existence of league tables which introduce the competitive element. Any sensible testing regime should start from the need to ...

Labour Party splits into two in Doncaster

It looks as if the impending self-imposed term limit for the Labour Mayor of Doncaster has helped trigger a split in the Labour Group. The current Labour Mayor, Martin Winter, has twice been elected as Mayor but Labour’s internal rules don’t allow someone to run for a third time. However, Doncaster’s mayor, Martin Winter, has been [...]

David Cameron's Compassionate and Inclusive Conservatives

Having just read this story in the Guardian, I get the distinct impression that Germany's Third Reich were more accepting of Lesbians than today's 'modern day' conservatives appear to be. I can't help wondering, is this what David Cameron meant when said he wanted a 'brand of modern compassionate Conservatism, and a party which is more inclusive and reflective of today's modern Britain'? ........

Should Oyster go national?

Met with Cubic - the company who deliver Oyster - yesterday. I met them at Alexandra Park Station where they said that Oyster compatibility for such train services would be coming to in mid 2009. Hurrah! Having a joined up system will bring much benefit to local travellers! But their bigger quest is to get Oyster-compatible ticketing across the nation. Their problem - it is low on the Government's priority list - and no one in the Government transport team seems to want to champion it, even though it would be cheaper and more effective in the long run to ...

Post Offices to close

After all the consultations, it has now announced the Weston Park, Ferme Park Road, Salisbury Road, Alexandra Park Road and Highgate Village Post Offices will all close. This is outrageous. The government promised it would listen after its drumming in the recent elections, but it is has proved itself completely deaf to the pleas from thousands of local residents and community activists. If Labour was listening, Labour would have stepped in and acted. The message from we the people was clear: we do not want these closures.

Government must justify spend on lie detectors

The Government last week announced that �1.5m is to be spent on lie detector tests designed to stop benefit fraud, despite the fact that results of the pilot schemes have not been published. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Danny Alexander said: "Before spending another �1.5m on more lie detector pilots, ministers should publish the evidence to show it does lower benefit fraud and is not another money wasting scheme. "Spending more taxpayers' money must be justified with proof that lie detector technology is actually making a real difference. "Last year �530m was lost though officials making mistakes ...

"A New Deal for the City: Liberal Democrat Proposals" reviewed

Nick Clegg’s speech to the LibDem City Forum was sufficiently interesting to make the BBC news homepage. Nick acknowledged that Vince wrote it - a deserved tribute to Vince’s credibility. Nick highlighted David Laws, Chris Huhne, and Susan Kramer as evidence that we have “the strongest team of economic expertise in British politics today”. True, [...]

Are Labour trying to lose Crewe?

Have the Brown rebels decided that the Crewe and Nantwich by-election is worth losing just to hurt Brown? It seems the Blair/Levy/Prescott trio of autobiographies have all been released into the wild from captivity simultaneously. Can a section of a party really decide not to win an election just to further internal squabbling? It seems it can. I would have thought any bad publicity about Gordon was already in the public domain in the shape of 'The Spin Doctor's Diary' and the Alastair Campbell guide to swearing that I nearly parted with my hard earned cash for. It beggars belief ...

HFE Bill - Second Reading

I voted against the Second Reading of the HFE Bill. It was interesting listening to the arguments about the Bill from its proponents. One argument related to establishing rights in respect of contact with children for lesbian couples. This was done last year in the House of Lords. Similarly the arguments about discrimination are not valid because the various acts against discrimination take

SATS what do children gain?

This is a week I have been desperate to get past. It is the week my middle child sits her Key Stage 2 SATS. She has been using the exams at opportune moments to try to get her own way, but has only succeeded in winning that battle once. I am quite lucky that she is relaxed and calm. She has been brought up with the theory that these tests are to test her teachers, not her. Having said...

Goodbye to the Premiership

Well, next season we'll be back playing competitive football, and hopefully winning lots of games in stadiums full of real fans, taking part in an exciting league, unlike the almost pre-determined results in the Premiership. It's been a great three years, from our record-breaking 106 points in the Championship in 2005/06, to our eighth place in the Premiership in 2006/07, to our relegation to

Do Labour Need Me to Carry Around Half an ID Card?

A little worrying the tack that Labour's ID Card policy is taking down in Crewe and Nantwich. Especially it would seem the requirement of foreigners to be required to carry them. Now to the best of my knowledge that requirement was lifted before the end of World War II as soon as Churchill, who hated the whole idea of internment etc could do so. It also hasn't been part of Labour's published

Post Office announcement imminent

Despite our local consultation starting a week before that in London (the fate of whose Post Offices was announced last week) the Post Office website this morning still showed no sign of a decision. News reaches me, however, that one, and presumably all, the local Post Offices have already been told their fate - and in the particular case I've been told about, it's closure. Publication of the

Brian Paddick's Post Mortem and a bit of Psephology

Brian Paddick's election diary has been edited and published by the Hate on Sunday. Typically for the Hate there are a couple of errors - the most important one being all over his Facebook profile:Yesterday Brian was campaigning in Crewe on Saturday - never give up, never surrender! (11:51am) May 11 Brian was campaigning in Crewe on Saturday - who said I was giving up politics?! (5:21pm)However, it has prompted an interesting thread on LDV. Some Lib Dems are offended by the fact that Brian hasn't exactly heaped praise on the party (he's given ammunition to the Evil Dale, you ...

Truly deranged English Democrats video

Hat tip to Iain Dale for this. What was the producer drinking. Where do I begin.. Backing track of The Proclaimers singing about English rule over Scotland! O:52 - Simon de Montfort, a French nobleman until 1229 1:45 - Ruth Kelly HIM! ? Oh, just watch it...

Labour election leaflet unveils anti-foreigner shift in ID cards policy

As I blogged about a few days ago, the Labour Party in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election is attacking the Conservative candidate for opposing “making foreign nationals carry an ID card”. As I said then, The use of the word "foreign" there seems to come with some rather unpleasant overtones in this context, the implication being that [...]

Day 2687: DOCTOR WHO: The Doctor's Daughter

Saturday: Time for a quick BACKGROUND CHECK on this Time Lord "doing the business" business! Lungbarrow {Posted by Picasa} Oooh! Blushes! Despite superficial similarities to "The Sontaran Stratagem" (a race of clones; perpetual war; an aquatic enemy; gas for reforming the world; a warrior copied from one of the TARDIS crew) this was an enormous amount better. There's a proper "science fiction" idea at the heart of it - the perspective difference between "generations" and "years" - and it was fast and fun. The very title has been titillating and traumatising fans for months now: will she be Susan's mum? ...

Tuesday 13th May 2008

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