LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Friday 16th May 2008

Friday 9th May 9.30am

Carers Partnership Board Chair's Briefing I currently chair the Carers Partnership Board which is one of the many boards which feed into the Sutton Adult Partnership Board and ultimately the Sutton Partnership Board. The Sutton Partnership brings together public, private, voluntary and community organisations to promote a better quality of life now and for future generations. I met with the vice-chair Ken Fish who is a carer, and Simon Latham as executive head with responsibility for carers services, to receive information about items on the agenda for the meeting on 19th May. One of the issues that came ...

Lib Dem MP uses FOI Act to get info on Post Office Closures

Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk, is using the Freedom of Information Act to request a full copy and breakdown of the score ranking system the Post Office used when deciding to close a number of Post Offices in his North Norfolk constituency. It might be a good idea for all MPs to do this given the rather arbitrary nature of some closures of Post Offices that are well used and don't seem to qualify for closure. it should make interesting reading.

Making a Difference

The day started with a seminar on possible future arrangements for Local Government. Most people aren't too bothered about how the council works as long as it does. But the Labour government seems obsessed with the idea of changing it - should we have an elected mayor like some of our neighbours or would the risk of a single-issue candidate capturing the imagination for a day be too great? Or

Senior Conservative tells porkies to the Financial Times

Tsk tsk, someone really did get their facts wrong because the FT’s Jim Pickard reports: A senior Tory tells me, over a cup of Earl Grey, that 30 Labour/Lib Dem councillors have defected to the Conservatives in the last 12 months. Only one Tory councillor has quit the party during the same period. One problem with that. It [...]

Charlie Rose - Sir Jeremy Greenstock: 'Tony Blair knew Iraq had no nuclear capability'

puddings and policy

I had a great time this evening. I went along to a puddings and policy evening on the environment at the leftbank centre down by stokes croft. Steve Webb MP was speaking. also Cllr Gary Hopkins and someone from friends of the earth, a wind power consultancy and the railway path organisation. I learnt a lot and appreciated that perhaps with the casework I have in lockleaze: housing and anti social behaviour (mainly) I miss out on the more global influences. The major stuff that makes everything pale into insignificance really. I heard a very peculiar new development on green ...

I have a dream..

Martin Luther King had a dream, and his dream revolutionised the United States, he is remembered as the man that began the end of racism in America, and everybody has heard his legendary speech, the day after which he was assassinated, unable to see his vision begin to come true. He proclaimed “I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land.”. What does the world look like from your mountain top? {view from mountain} I see a world without injustice. A world ...

House Points: Cameron's Conservatives are so like New Labour

My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Lookalikes United What would a Conservative government look like? Depressingly, the evidence suggests it would look remarkably like the one we have now. Boris Johnson's first act as Mayor was to ban people from drinking alcohol on trains and buses. It is fine to turn up drunk at a station or bus stop - he would have to scrap the whole night bus network if he was going to challenge that - but you can't have a can of beer open after work. Worthy of New Labour at its finest. Then ...

5000 houses - another opportunity to find out the facts

Steve Webb MP and Cllr Linda Boon in last week's crowded meeting at Chipping Sodbury Town Hall Following Steve Webb's very full meeting in Chipping Sodbury last week and the previous meeting in Yate, residents have a chance to meet South Gloucestershire Council officials at a consultation event next week. The Government has told the council to investigate where they would put 30,800 new homes, and South Glos are saying that 5000 of these houses would have to be near Yate and Chipping Sodbury. The consultation meeting will be in Chipping Sodbury Town Hall next Tuesday (20 May) from 2pm ...

Traffic confusion as bus breaks down

There were traffic problems in Yate today during the evening rush hour when a bus broke down at the end of Sundridge Park, next to Lidl. For some reason a foreign lorry appeared to be stuck behind it as well. Traffic tried to squeeze past the obstruction, but if they timed it wrong some drivers had to reverse back into the traffic light controlled junction, and there were a few near misses. We tried to call the police to direct traffic, but we got put in a very long unanswered queue for their control room - they were presumably busy ...

My Big Weekend

One of the perks of serving on the Culture, Media and Sport select committee is the range and diversity of invitations from organisations that want you to know about their work, tell you their problem...

'Warriors' are not always wrong

A Radical Writes makes some interesting points about the 'Free Palestine' demo he attended in London at the beginning of the month. He says he is skeptical of these movements and challenges readers to "name one that has succeeded" which is slightly disingenuous since there are plenty of national liberation movements that have succeeded throughout history and still do in the present day. Europe's newest nation, Kosovo, is a testament to the fact that they can and do succeed in the present-day. Of course, the issues thrown up by these movements are always complicated but certainly with the case of ...

Wendy Moten - Come In Out Of The Rain

OK, its Friday night, Janet's out with her mum, my younger son's been round, but now I'm reduced to the Smashhits! channel on Sky as I create a marketing brochure (day job) ... and then this comes on. So 90s, but brilliant!

Claims child of 12 voted in local elections

Police are investigating claims two children, 12 and 16, were allowed to vote in Cambridgeshire in this month's local elections. The votes were cast in the contest for the St Neots-Eynesbury ward of Huntingdonshire District Council. The pair are alleged to have received voting cards by mistake and been allowed to vote on showing them. It was the Liberal Democrats, who failed to win the Conservative-held seat, that raised the complaint. However, it is not suggested that the votes changed the outcome of the election. Huntingdonshire District Council's returning officer David Monks told the BBC: "I have passed some material ...

Posh Spice - A Nation Mourns etc

Posh Spice - A Nation Mourns / / / / That song off the Piriton advert

The scandal of Lord Goldsmith's proposals for Irish settlers in the UK

I found an interesting article in this week's Big Issue entitled "Irish Face Threat Over Right To Vote", concerning Lord Goldsmith's proposal with respect to voting and other rights for people north and south of the border in Ireland. When Goldsmith's report came out in March, the media focussed on his proposals for swearing oaths and suchlike. But some of his other proposals, in the words of

Activia ads: What precisely is "Bifidius Regularis" ?

One of my life experiences is having GMTV on in the mornings. They run quite a lot of ads for Activia. I have blogged before about how I explode and turn into a flying saucer every time I hear someone on the telly saying they "feel a bit bloated". But I have noticed a sublter little ploy in the Activia ads recently. It happens very quickly. They say the words "Bifidius Regularis" very quickly,

Dundee Waterfront - The Future

With thanks to the City Council's Economic Development Department, who gave me the CD, here's a glimpse of Dundee's Waterfront of the future. As Planning & Transport Convener of the City Council, I am a member of the Waterfront Board, and am taking a very close interest in developments. You can access the Waterfront website by clicking on the headline above.

Do we want an off licence there?

Quite a bit of controversy locally over an application from a local garage to start selling alcohol. The BP garage is off Aigburth Road and surrounded by residential streets including quite a bit of sheltered housing. We have already had quite a few residents get in touch to object. Our job now is to make sure everyone knows about the application and so can decide on their own response. Annoyingly the current laws mean that as councillors we can't automatically object unless someone living very locally to the site makes a point of asking us to. And in licensing issues ...

European Supremacy

I was thinking today, just before I buy my euros for our annual trip to Normandy, has the euro finally won the big pound v euro debate. Why on earth did we not join in 2001 where have all the euro skeptics gone, crying over their empty wallets I believe. In 2003 when I first went to Normandy the exchange rate was about 62p todays rates is 79p that in real terms mean that for every pound that we

Neighbourhood fund

Today I was at a meeting with my two ward colleagues, Councillors Peter Millea and Richard Oglethorpe, and one of our neighbourhood officers. Each ward in Liverpool has a different amount of neighbourhood fund to spend - decided on by the local councillors. We don't have a huge amount- 40,000 in fact - and needless to say we have a wishlist that would cost a lot more. What we want to do is based on a mixture of knowledge of the ward and feedback from local people. We went through a menu of possible spending options and agreed to meet ...

If I were free this weekend, this is hardly going to make me want to go to Crewe and Nantwich

As The Times puts it, this is hardly Obama's "Yes we can" video. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I think this might be the video I need at home put on a loop to help my son get to sleep at night. It's not Susan Kramer's fault, but the person who decided that 10 seconds of watching the same clip from four different angles really ought to be made to watch it.

A new Mayor for Islington

Another week, another new Mayor… this time it’s Islington’s Mayor, Liberal Democrat Cllr Stefan Kaspryzk. He'll be giving London spellcheckers and toastmasters a challenge for the coming year! Stefan is the perfect synthesis of old and new Islington. Islington born & bred, he's a former pupil of St Aloysius and champions the once neglected Archway [...]

Bercow Watch: Infinity and Beyond

Overheard in a Westminster bar this week - Bercow holding court with assembled admirers and stating categorically that: "There are only three or four jobs in government I would even consider. For instance, if you were to say to me: 'transport?', I would say absolutely no way, full stop, period - no." Which I guess pretty much puts to bed any chances of him defecting. Unless Brown becomes so desperate for publicity that he ends up offering the guy a really plum post, but we're not there yet, are we?

Are you avin a laff?

I have just received a rather strange email from Neil Trafford, Elizabeth Shenton's Agent in Crewe and Nantwich. It seems, if I travel the 181.16 miles from Taunton to Crewe (an estimated journey time of 3 hours and 7 minutes and at a cost of £69.80 (Saver Return) or £115.00 (Standard Open Return), I can, if I'm really, really lucky, "win tea for two" in London with one of six top Liberal Democrats. Now, as attractive a companion Sarah Teather would undoubtedly make, there's no escaping the fact that that's a bloody dear tea! I have calculated that I could, ...

Caring for the miracle in your chest

I just wanted to praise the British Heart Foundation Doubt kills campaign. Yesterday, for innocuous reasons, I had the chance to see my heart on an ultrascan screen. It was one of the most magical things I have ever seen. I could even see the valves shutting and opening. It really is perfectly amazing that millions of years of evolution have produced this remarkable feat of natural engineering

CCTV: Cutting Crime or just feelgood?

Chelmsford Weekly News reports "Cctv Cameras Are Cutting Crime Say Council" but if you read the story carefully it is mainly reporting that CCTV helped catch some criminals, which is not the same thing. It did not stop the crimes being committed! Clearly, it is difficult to prove a negative - that CCTV stops crime being committed. But some reports have tried: More CCTV on London's streets does

Doctor Who and the 'Celebrity Historical'

Tomorrow evening at seven, Doctor Who takes us back to 1926 for The Unicorn and the Wasp and a meeting with Agatha Christie. What makes odd goings-on in history so uniquely Doctor Who? Why has the new series made linking adventures in history with famous figures so much its own? Will the dads sigh at Felicity Kendal, and the kids shriek at the giant wasp? How will this new story compare with the series' last attempt at 'Agatha Christie pastiche', Peter Davison's 1925-set Black Orchid? What is the secret of Ms Christie's missing days, and of Black Orchid's well-furnished cell? ...

If other parties did it we would accuse them of being scared

For most of the 1990's you were hard pressed to find a Conservative candidate willing to use the word "Conservative" on their leaflets, so damaged was it as a brand and ever since 2003, the same can be said for Labour party candidates too who were none too willing to have their party logo in big letters any more. So it is odd, as Gavin's Gaily Gigest points out, for the Lib Dems to be so keen to avoid using the words "Liberal Democrat" on a letter to supporters. Firstly, the "brand" is hardly tainted. with much more buoyant poll ...

Tsvangarai and environmentalists address LI Congress

I am attending the Liberal International Congress in Belfast. This morning Morgan Tsvangarai, courageous leader of the Zimbabwean MDC and Presidential challenger to the disastrous rule of Robert Mugabe, was enthusiastically welcomed when he spoke at the opening session of the Congress. We were told that Mr Tsvangarai was persuaded to attend by President Aboulaye Wade of Senegal: this clear public support from a leader of another African state is perhaps an early sign that African nations are getting over the paralysis that has affected them for so long over Mugabe and the Zimbabwean crisis. After the opening session I ...

Dave does homelessness - don't get your hopes up

David Cameron has announced a new Homelessness Foundation on which the heads of many national homelessness charities will sit. He spoke of looking at the root causes of homelessness, including poverty, mental illness, employment and housing shortages. In response, Labour minister Caroline Flint has said the Tories were not serious as they had opposed the government's laughable house-building targets. This is an interesting exchange since Dave has hit the nail on the head by identifying the need to look more widely than simply a roof over someone's head. Caroline Flint's response suggests that the Labour government's approach is rather one-dimensional ...

House of Commons loses fight to stop expenses being published

The House of Commons has lost its rather disgraceful legal fight to prevent details of MP's expenses claims being made available to the public. Sadly, some MPs and senior HoC officials chose to try and block voters from finding out what MPs actually spend their money on. One argument used to try and prevent this information being published was that it would put MPs at risk and make them less secure. Obviously some MPs forgot that their address is actually published on the ballot paper every time they stand for election. What will be interesting will be to see who ...

Icons, voting and a conductor caught in the act

IM represents 'new linguistic renaissance' | The Register I still dislike using IM, but the snobs are wrong: far from ruining teenagers' ability to communicate, IM lets teenagers show off what they can do with language (tags: language linguistics) Science and SF articles needed For the science writers and reviewers out there, Nick Mamatas needs feature articles for his Clarkesworld magazine. He'll even pay you. (tags: writing nick+mamatas) La conductrice qui jouit Note to train drivers - if you're going to have a wank after making an announcement to the whole train, turn off the intercom first? (from Popbitch, natch) ...

Henley By-Election Letter: Guess the party

Can you guess which party sent me this letter, asking for my help in the upcoming Henley by-election: It is a bit hard, but the answer’s in there somewhere. Here’s how they could have flagged up who the letter is from a bit more clearly: 1 weeks, 4 days, 14 hours and 20 minutes without [...]

Quiet weekend beckons - NOT!

Well it's finally here - moving weekend. Please wish us luck as Catherine, Penny, a van and I transfer my worldly goods from Irvine to Kinross-shire. Now I've just got to remember to tell the gas suppliers, electricity suppliers, Council Tax folks, insurers, bank, Post Office etc. But they all require a different form to be completed. In some ways I'm very lucky as the bulk of the stuff that is going are my collection of wargames miniatures, books (circa 1200), DVD's, CD's, cooking gubbins and only three or four items of furniture. The house in Irvine is where I ...

Talk about being unpopular

Gordon Brown's week just appears to keep on going from bad to worse. I understand he now looks set to become the first UK Prime Minister in over 150 years not to have a wax figure at Madame Tussauds. How embarrasing is that? Even Howard from the Halifax advert managed to make it in there! ...

Africa Takes Centre Stage in LI

There was a time, not all that long ago, when Liberal International (LI) was a Euro-centric organisation. But that has changed dramatically in recent years, as democratic forces have gained ground in Latin America, Asia and Africa, and the LI family of parties has grown. That process is continuing at the LI Congress in Belfast [...]

The councillor from Spain: an update

I blogged before about David Murphy, the Labour councillor in Rochdale who has been living in South West Europe. He was eventually expelled from the Labour group, but has now popped up again in the town. Rochdale Online reports: David Murphy can serve yet another 6 months, at your expense, as a Councillor despite moving to Murcia [...]

Robert Dunlop Killed During NW 200 Practice

They say that engine oil ran through the veins of the Dunlop boys Joey and Robert. Joey was killed racing in Estonia in 2000 after that summer having a display of all his trophies at the Isle of Man TT where he had runb 26 races. Robert was the record holder at Ireland's premier meeting the North West 200 with 15. Sadly yesterday evening during a practice session his 250cc bike appeared to seize

Newcomen Primary School building for the future

A Redcar primary school, excited at the prospect of a planned £5million rebuilding programme due to start later this summer, has been given another boost by Government inspectors. Newcomen Primary School, says the Ofsted report, is "a good school with some outstanding features. Children make good progress in all aspects of their education, particularly in their personal development which is outstanding." The report adds: "The pupils are polite, friendly and helpful. Their behaviour is exemplary. They are justly proud of their school and enjoy their education. They view the school as an oasis of peace in a challenging world." Parents, ...

Council choose Guisborough to host Yorkshire Day parade

Redcar and Cleveland Council has announced details of its plans to celebrate Yorkshire Day on Friday, August 1 - with Mayors from all over the White Rose county. The Council has accepted an invitation from the Yorkshire Society to host the annual event, which brings 250 civic dignitaries to a civic celebration and church service. The Council's Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism Councillor Sheelagh Clarke said: "We're hoping it will be a lovely day for all of us - and we're keeping our fingers cross that the sun shines." The day will begin with the Council's newly-elected Mayor, ...

Prestwich Cash Office

Last night eh Local Area Partnership heard a presentation on the future of Prestwich Cash Office. A number of local people will have noticed the signs that have been put up at the "Cash Office" at the Library announcing its closure. We have been assured that these have been put up in error and the office is not closing at the present time. Prestwich Councillors all met with Mike Owen, the Council's Director of Finance and E-Government on Wednesday, who answered questions on the cash office. The Council does want to review whether the Office is viable nowadays and will ...

Highways Funding is Absolute Joke

Last night’s Prestwich LAP contained one gigantic disappointment - the list of roads identified as most in need of repair, and the frankly laughable amount of money given over to repair them. As in previous years, the top dozen roads are identified. These, remember, are the least well-maintained roads, the ones with most pot-holes, cracks, loose paving stones and all the other hazards and unpleasantness that makes driving or walking down them dangerous. The total estimated cost to repair all twelve is £596,000. The total budget allocated to fix Prestwich roads this year is just £108,000. That’s only 18% of ...

Victory over the right to publish MP's second home details

An Hallejujah moment. And to think that £100,000 of tax payers money has been spent on trying to defend the indefensible at the behest of Speaker Martin. Scandalous. MPs (first) home addresses are normally completely in the public domain (they appear on scores of thousands of ballot papers apart from anything else). So why not second home addresses? Why is there a security problem with second

Nick Clegg - asset or liability? a quick update

Media reporting of the latest opinion polls has all but ignored what they said about Nick Clegg, so here are some quick observations and a couple of questions to ponder. Nick's main challenge remains lack of profile: people still don't know him well enough to express an opinion. PoliticsHome's five day rolling average tracker (1 - 8 May) tested all three leaders for a range of attributes. 28 per cent thought that Nick Clegg had "none of these", compared to 9 per cent for David Cameron and 7 per cent for Gordon Brown. Let's get it this into perspective: Nick ...

Noise mapping: update

I blogged earlier that DEFRA had announced new noise maps were online, without actually putting them online. The good news: the link to the maps is now up. The bad news: it doesn’t currently work. Watch this space…

Day 2689: Immortality - It's A Bad Thing... isn't it?

Monday: As the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill begins to make its way through the House of Commons, my fluffy thoughts turn inevitably to Space: 1999... No, seriously. Although the second monster (or man-in-same-rubber-suit-painted-a-different-colour) crazed season got too silly for words, the FIRST season - well known as a cure for insomnia though it many be - has two BIG sci-fi themes: (A) aliens, with ways to strange for us to understand; and (B) immortality, it's a BAD thing. What's THAT got to do with HuFEB, I hear you ask. And well you might! But let's just try thinking things ...

Commons loses MPs' expenses fight

Hip hip hooray, and jump for joy. At last a bit of light in the murky corridors of power. As long as they don't appeal - I really hope not. Few things have looked cheaper than this. (Some would say the move back to a 10p tax rate was a cheap stunt, but actually it was darned expensive.)

More strange happening on George Square

Further to yesterday's pantomime horse racing, as organised by a friend of mine - see comments to yesterday's post, today sees the square hosting a visit from "Europe's largest sofa"! This appears to be the length of around 30-35 normal sofas and is accompanied by a troupe of cheerleaders and a van bearing the slogan "if nothing happens in this bed don't blame us", not to forget the posse of photographers and camera crews. Even odder is that people are not being allowed to rest their weary bones on the thing. Frankly I'm mystified.

The brutal truth about Lib Dem candidate selections

I've had an anonymous comment, taking issue with the Lib Dem candidate selection in Crewe & Nantwich, and arguing against my own comments on Iain Dale's article. (It's actually posted off-topic under my David Icke thread - I hadn't blogged about the by-elections myself until now - but I thought I'd reply by starting a new post. No point in having a discussion about the by-elections buried under a thread about lizard men taking over the world.) Anyway, this is what Anonymous thinks: With regard to your comment on Iain Dale. It is not standard practice to reopen selections after ...

10p fallout continues

More fallout from the 10p tax rate disaster. When Gordon Brown announced the move last year, Emily Thornberry MP was among those who cheered him on: "I am proud to sit on the Government Back Benches when my Government do things like that”. Oh dear… But now it seems that the brightest Labour brains had [...]

Northampton North: Conservative candidate quits, then he doesn't

It’s not that unusual for a would-be Parliamentary candidate to be selected for a seat and then, after a period of time, to quit - perhaps because of a change in their personal circumstances, because they found being a candidate wasn’t really for them or because of an internal dispute. However, the case of Michael Ellis [...]

Poetic Injustice

I've been told by others that I write some pretty decent poems. Some examples of which have on occasion made it unto this blog. The problem is trying to get any earnings from the best of them. Now it appears I realy should write far worse prose as it looks like being more profitable. A set of 35 of William "the worst post in the world" McGonagall's poems are heading to auction and are expected

Update: Why Lindylooz Muse is great...even when it goes squiggly

Update: I have modified the language of this post as it appears it was open to an interpretation which I did not intend. I apologise to Linda for this unclarity. She is right to raise this issue and I am a great fan of her passionate and spontaneous blog. Rather like a dam bursting after a almighty rain storm, suddenly 12 comments have blurted out below Linda Jack's post entitled: Man Woman

Another Post About California Unbanning Gay Marriage

I am really glad that {[info]} strangefrontier recommended that I add {[info]} si_blog to my reading list, because this post on the situation in California made me want to cheer aloud:The California Supreme Court has just overturned the state's ban on same-gender marriage. People (gay AND straight) who support full civil rights for all Californians are celebrating; those who believe people forfeit their routine civil rights if they have same-gender sex are outraged. Memo to this latter group: I've read your denunciations of this court decision. When I look beyond the lies and distortions, I see your fear and anger. ...

Has the Daily Express got bi-polar disorder ?

Down one day... Up the next....

Something and nothing

Anyone reading today's online edition of the Daily Mail could be excused for thinking that the lead story, 'Revealed: Afghan plane hijacker now working as a cleaner at Heathrow' was in someway terrorist related. Having just read the story, I have to say, it appears to be nothing of the sort. Unless I am mistaken and missed something, the whole story seems to be something about nothing. Other than the fact that the person concerned was once granted asylum following the hijack of a plane from Afghanistan to UK, the story appears to have very little to do with airport ...

Thursday 8th May 7pm

UNDERSTANDING RELATIONSHIPS FOR HEALTH SCRUTINY MEMBERS DEVELOPMENT TRAINING This was an information sharing session which I had suggested with the support of the Health & Well Being Scrutiny chair. The aim was for members to learn more about the governance arrangements of our NHS partners and to develop our relationship with them. Often the scrutiny setting can appear combative and we wanted to meet with our health partners in a less formal setting to encourage them to see us more as critical friends. It also gave us a chance to explain the nature of the scrutiny committee's role as set ...

Expenses

Whilst we continue to be embroiled in the very artificial, one blog row over the regulation of publicly funded Assembly Member websites, a new factor has now appeared that may give some AMs more cause for thought. The Guardian reveals that the House of Commons Speaker, Michael Martin, has lost a high court battle to prevent the disclosure of the details of second-home expenses claimed by 14 prominent MPs. The Assembly Commission has already been preparing its own more detailed disclosure of AMs' expense claims but was awaiting on the outcome of this appeal before proceeding. It now seems likely ...

U-turns in Westminster

The Guardian indicates how the mood has changed in Westminster following the humbling of Gordon Brown over the doubling of the 10p tax rate. They tell us that the Prime Minister has sanctioned a last-ditch move to secure a deal over the proposed increase in the period of detention without charge to 42 days after deciding he would rather compromise with Labour's rebels than risk a further loss of authority by being defeated on the issue. Meanwhile, there is further controversy over the Government's ID cards programme. An official report has warned that the government's plans for ID cards may ...

Graham's blog Friday 16 May

I am increasingly optimistic about the extent to which the EU spirit is seeping into public life. While opposition to UK membership of the EU has hardened among those who have always opposed it, the numbers feeling more positive about the EU continue to rise. I see it regularly; among school pupils, university students, freelance professionals, people in local government and the business community. Particularly young professionals; partly because we've put 1.7 million students through the Erasmus university exchange scheme (and hope to have reached 3 million by 2012) and partly, I think, because they have more contact with continentals ...

Shuttle bus to Winchester Hospital

{bus.jpg} A new shuttle bus service will be commencing in June for patients needing to get to Winchester Hospital from the Andover area. A pre-bookable shuttle bus (fully accessible and with capacity for 2 wheel chairs) will run four return journeys direct to the hospital. The bus will start from Andover hospital, stopping to collect patients from Andover Bus Station and Stockbridge (at Trafalgar Close, if pre-booked). The journeys will be free for this service. The scheme is being promoted by the Winchester & Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust and is supported by Test Valley Borough Council and Hampshire County Council. Leaflets ...

Residents' Parking Scheme Extension: Public Consultation

Councillors in the wards where the consultation on residents' parking is taking place have been updated by the transport consultants who are carrying out the work on behalf of the City Council. As residents' parking is an issue raised by many people in the West End, I have been taking a very close interest in driving forward this exercise and, as Planning & Transport Convener, I met with a representative of the consultants on 28th April to discuss the process. Here is part of their communication to councillors : "As you will be aware the council has been receiving a ...

The mystery of March to May

It was a disappointing end to the season for Spurs last Sunday - despite the sunny weather (as you can see from the photo). A 2-0 defeat, another insipid performance and the season was over. Well, the season was pretty much over after our brilliant Carling Cup win in February. That was evident in the season highlights compilation they showed on the big screen - didn't include anything after February. The players and the fans have pretty much just been waiting for next season to start since them, it seems. So it has been a disappointing season, despite the cup ...

Virtuous (re)cycle

I don't know about you, but recycling as much as I can makes me feel quite virtuous. So how do you increase recycling from 25% to 50% overall? Simple, you collect recycling every week and you recycle a wider range of materials. That's what happened in Berrylands when the Council tried out weekly recycling collections. The latest news is that...

Noise mapping

Rule number 1 of PR announcements: make sure the thing you are launching is ready. I got excited about a news item on the ‘Today’ programme this morning; the Government is publishing noise maps for large parts of the country, available on the DEFRA website. Except the DEFRA maps aren’t there yet! Frustratingly, London’s noise map [...]

Last night's LAP

Last night’s meeting of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership (LAP) was successful on a number of fronts. First, there were no recorded fatalities despite the meeting taking place in a room hotter than an angry volcano. If I’d have known what the temperature was going to be, I’d have brought along a couple of eggs to fry on the floor rather than waiting until I got home for tea. I would also have probably removed my tie, although I may not have gone quite as far as one member of the panel who decided to leave any semblance of respect ...

Prestwich Local Area Partnership

Last night was the first meeting of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership for the new municipal year. This is the body that brings together the nine local councillors in Prestwich (who are all Lib Dems now!), key partners like the police, NHS and fire service and community representatives from business, charities and local groups. The main item on the agenda last night was the URBED study into the Prestwich Village Centre, which I’ve already reported on below. Other than that the main issues were: - Local Grants - we’ve received applications for grants from the Prestwich (anti) Litter Campaign, to ...

Pure greed

An air of panic is definitely setting into the housing market. I've already heard of a couple who have been forced from their home and are now effectively homeless as their landlord panicked and wanted to sell. Rented property is that hard to find in Somerset. Or it was...I should imagine it's almost impossible to find anything appropriate in the current climate. I'm sure there must be hundreds and thousands of others in the same position. Where once there would have been the safety net of council housing to catch them, they are now shunted to one side as the ...

Anyone got a pin?

We've all been there. It's a week from polling day. Everyone's hyper and exhausted from canvassing. You haven't really been thinking too much about the opposition party candidate, just concentrating on getting your own candidate to the commons. You've met him/her by now and they know your name so you feel obliged. If things turn out right you really will have helped get an MP elected! Little old you...until you sit down with a mug of PG Tips* and a hobnob with a couple of seconds to think. Christ, what if the Tories/Lib Dems/Labour really have worked harder/talked to more ...

Government's strategy on data protection a shambles - Alexander

Commenting on reports that staff at the Department for Work and Pensions have been sending out highly sensitive data in packages that include the passwords, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Danny Alexander said: "The Government's strategy for protecting citizens' personal information is a shambles. "We've had mislaid CDs, lost laptops and now passwords are being circulated with the information they are supposed to protect. "Data protection is being undermined across Whitehall - the very idea that this Government could be responsible for an ID card database is a joke."

Eleven Conservative Shadow Ministers benefited from secret donations, including Grant Shapps

Hey ho, here’s the story from The Times: The scale of secret cash links between senior Conservatives and wealthy backers was revealed yesterday after George Osborne was told that he should have declared how his office was being funded. The Shadow Chancellor was the subject of a parliamentary investigation after it emerged that he failed to [...]

82 year old with foot problems denied care on the NHS

{Lynne Featherstone with Mrs Kelly} Since 2007, when her local Fortis Green clinic closed, Mrs. Audrey Kelly, 82, who suffers from severe foot problems that often leave her unable to walk, has been refused treatment or referral to an NHS chiropodist by her GP.Mrs. Kelly, who is on income support, has been told that, as she is not considered a 'high risk' patient, the only way she can get foot care is to go private. It is outrageous and completely unreasonable that the NHS will not treat her foot problem. Mrs. Kelly is in such severe pain, and being unable ...

ID cards put poorer people at risk

This from the Guardian today.. yet another reason to abandon the ID cards scheme ************************************ An official report has warned that the government's plans for ID cards may put poorer people at greater risk of fraud, and that ministers are failing to coordinate implementation of the 10-year programme. In a blow to Downing Street, which insists that biometric technology will make ID cards safe, the report says people with a "rich biographical record" will have better protection when the cards are introduced by the target date of 2017. The warning, which prompted Tory calls to abandon the scheme, came in ...

What I've been up to by Text today

My daily digest of texts, tweets and status updates.12:33 is laughing at Jennie for ringing me and saying "hello, is that the council tax office" Chace'd be a fine thing--bloody bills. #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.

A new definition of the school crossing - Salusbury Road and Winchester Avenue junction

It's interesting how things cluster - in China, for example, towns feel like they are organised by trades - all the butchers are in one street, all the tailors in another - so here in Queen's Park (an unlikely connection I grant you!) I noticed how Salusbury Road was quite a serious municipal heartland upon a time - now much much reduced (just a Police Station and a Library really)... But the junction of Winchester Avenue, Salusbury Road has maintained the education links it was built with at the start of the last century. College Mansions (1900) - on the ...

No Solid Crewe

The most amazing thing about the Crewe and Nantwich by-election is the sheer amount of column inches it has generated in the national press. As a by-election veteran (I confess, I haven’t gone to this one), I’m used to fighting the great fight in eminently winnable seats (which of course, we went on to win) and yet have the media completely oblivious to the fact right up until the day before polling day when they finally get around to sending a monkey up to see what is going on. Not that I’m complaining, mind. The more they ignore a by-election ...

The 10p debacle - why the bleeding won't stop

It's all become like passing the scene of an accident on a motorway. As people drive by, they can't help but slow down to look at the grisly sight of wreckage and perhaps the odd smear of blood. Voyeuristic, I know, but human nonetheless. Alastair Darling, having been given one of the worst 'hospital passes' of recent years, understandably concluded that silence was the best approach to dealing

Jonathan Meades: Magnetic North

If, like me, you were out tonight and had to miss the Meadster, do not despair. Magnetic North is available for the next six days on BBC iPlayer. And there is always Youtube.

on MP's expenses

Nick Clegg released his expenses on Wednesday, he's spent loads on his second home. My view on MP's expenses. They deserve it. MP's (the best ones) hold terrible hours, are hated by the public, are expected to be spotless, gaffe free, endure death threats and be superhuman. If they weren't MP's they would have amazing jobs, chief execs etc. with share options. Instead, for their pain, MP's are paid... £61,000, the salary of a Financial Controller or a bloody good recruitment consultant (and lest we forget they pay tax on it and don't have the option of hiring a good ...

on tax and inflation

On Monday we learnt of the Chancellor's plans to give basic rate taxpayers (that's over 20 million people) £120, by increasing the tax free allowance to £600. This is to compensate the 5 million people who lost out as a result of the scrapping of the 10p tax rate. Overkill? Consider this. Last month inflation achieved a 3% increase in prices compared to April 2007 or a 0.8% increase in prices compared to March 2008. Whenever the inflation rate hits 3% the Governor of the Bank of England has to write the Chancellor a letter telling him why, the only ...

on George Osborne and doing a Peter Hain

Why declare funding? If you are an MP and the public gives you £200k a year and you do what the public wants is that a bad conflict of interest? If you are a policeman and a criminal gives you £200k a year and you do what the criminal wants is that a bad conflict of interest? If you are a teacher and a student gives you £200k a year and you give him grades higher than he deserves, is that a bad conflict of interest? It has transpired, that members of the Shadow Cabinet, have been receiving donations from ...

Day 2688: Murder by Memoir

Sunday: I am beginning to think that Mr Frown's problem is a simple one: after ten years of spending his every waking moment devoted to undermining the Prime Monster, he has simply FORGOTTEN to stop doing it! Let's look at a first draft of Mr Frown's MEMOIRS... 5am: Morning: wake up; phone papers with leak against Prime Monster. 5.01am: Shower: remember that I AM Prime Monster. Kick self. 5.15am: Breakfast: phone Balls; instruct him on daily briefing against Prime Monster. 5.16am: Read papers: full of poisonous briefings against Prime Monster. Reminded that this is me. Bash head on breakfast table. ...

Friday 16th May 2008

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