This evening I entertained the Shaw Society with a talk on the Polish artist Feliks Topolski and GBS. Topolski moved to England in 1935, or rather came to London on a working visit and stayed. He quickly found an outlet for his 'absolutely remarkable draughtsmanship', as George Bernard Shaw called it, in magazines such as [...] 
That is the reaction from seafront traders, who are backing a £5-million redevelopment plan for the resort's Central Promenade. The image of what Cleethorpes' Dolphin Square area could look like by 2010 has been released today, prior to going on public display tomorrow. A clear feature from the as yet unnamed developer is a plan to maximise views across the beach and Humber Estuary to Spurn Point. Is this the picture postcard scene of Cleethorpes 2010? If given the go-ahead, it would replace the premises currently on the site, which include The Submarine pub, takeaways, a shop and the beach ...
Earlier tonight, John Howell was selected by the Conservatives to be their candidate in the Henley by-election. His selection has been welcomed by Stephen Kearney from the Liberal Democrats, who has already been hard at work on the Henley by-election campaign trail for several weeks: After a difficult selection process [a reference to this], the Conservatives have [...]
As a GIS professional it is nice to see our field of work at the front of national politics for once. However the Tories are making a fundamental error in suggesting live data should be available to the public. Crime hotspot analysis is first and foremost an intelligence tool. By modelling where crime is occurring at different times of day it is in theory possible to quantify risk and deploy
I really, really, really want to get home having been away for 11 days. I get to Kings Cross station and what do I find? National Excess have delayed my train. It was meant to leave at 9pm. We were allowed on board at 9.15pm. When we were told we could board, there was a great surge of people dragging bags with wheels on. In the olden days, yes I am old enough to say that!, old ladies were the
One of those humbling days today, when people who have a lot of needs also prove to have a lot to offer the rest of us. I had a meeting as Chair of the Western Area Partnership with a young man who doesn't let severe dyslexia hold him back. He's currently doing a degree but in his spare time is working on a number of projects as a volunteer. The one we were officially meeting to discuss is '
Conservative Home reports that the Conservative candidate will be Cllr Dr John Howell. His bio; 'Formerly a partner in Ernst & Young responsible for opening Eastern Europe after communism. Latterly a presenter for BBC World. Now specialises in international visual communications. Adviser to successive UK governments on overseas trade and aid. Parish Councillor in Warborough, local organist and choir director and environmental campaigner. OBE (2000). ' {Digg!}
Mills Observatory Mills Observatory's Summer Programme includes the following : Wednesday 2nd July : Water Rockets Wednesday 9th July : ConstellationsTuesday 15th July : Solar SystemsTuesday 22nd July : Space ModelsTuesday 29th July : Planet TrailWednesday 6th August : Story telling All take place between 2pm and 4pm and are aimed at children aged 8 to 11 years (admission £2 per person) - click on the headline above to view the Observatory website. ... and Sunday Bandstand Concerts ... There will be the annual (and absolutely brilliant) Sunday bandstand concerts on Magdalen Green from 2pm to 3pm on : Sunday ...
The really frightening thing about the new technology companies is how big and powerful they have become in such a short space of time. With members of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee I ...
Having recently staggered down the stairs after dispatching two crotchety kids to dreamland, a thought occurred to me. Rather than the clever, clever ads with lots of sexy youths involved in various acts with the names of STDs on their clothing, the government could probably reduce the teenage infection and pregnancy rate significantly by the simple expedient of having video screens in the toilets of clubs and bars where the poor innocents gather which show looped short clips of patient but frazzled parents negotiating with their respective darlings/terrors as they throw their food across the room/refuse to go to bed/refuse ...
If you want evidence of how weak the UK's model of Parliamentary democracy truly is, you only need to glance at this article: Parliament should be able to bypass ministers and launch its own inquiries into issues of "exceptional" public concern such as the Iraq war, MPs say. This is a power that pretty much every single Parliament in an established democracy takes for granted. It goes to the heart of the point of democracy, yet here it is considered to be radical and should be reserved for "exceptional" circumstances. Meanwhile, the government's Constitutional Renewal Bill, which was supposed to ...
I received this anonymous comment below my recent post on Councillor Gavin Webb and his suspension from the party: As you say, only one side is presented on the site. There are some parts that gives a clue as to what the other side of the case could be - like 'It has also been said by some inside and outside of the Party that someone in elected office should be more 'careful' about what they say
I am at war with Manchester Airport. Not literally, obviously. Because they'd win, what with their access to radar and aeroplanes. Not to mention duty free booze for the victory party afterwards. But I am having a strongly-worded dispute with them all the same. And it concerns the fact that their recent security improvements are having a direct financial impact on regular people coming to pick up their relatives. And more importantly, those regular people now include me, as I found out a few weeks back. I arrived to pick Tam up off a flight, and discovered that I could ...
It seems a pro-EU versus anti-EU battle is at the heart of the Henley Tories' by-election candidate selection this evening. Cllr Ann Ducker has been touted as the likely choice in the press and Tory members think they are being bounced into selecting Cllr Ducker by the 'pro-Europe faction'.
Nick Clegg has said that all green taxes had to be 'recycled' in order for the public to 'sign up to green taxes' in remarks reported on Politics Home. He said that in his view the imposition of 'green taxes' should be offset by reductions in income tax. Certainly it is fair to say that the current focus of this debate is on the amount of tax people are paying and the damaging effect that is having on family budgets. In this climate the green lobbies voice is struggling to be heard. He also said that in his view 'instead ...
After the success of previos years, there will be another Fish Festival at 9am on the 7th of June. I'll be taking part in the Children's parade at 10am, after which I will be around to have a chat or answer any questions you might have. There'll be community groups, displays of locally caught fish, a children's parade, Morris dancers, Newhaven Marching Band, the Dieppe Market, Punch & Judy and much more.. So that's 9am, West Quay, Newhaven, on Saturday 7th of June. Don't miss out!
ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETING This was the annual mayor-making meeting together with councillors' formal appointment to committees for 2008/9. Myfanwy Wallace was the outgoing mayor and I had enjoyed attending a few events with her and her mayoress June Reid, a lovely lady. The one I remember most fondly is the Scouts Centenary Camp, because two of my [...]
Following the meeting between Dundee City Councillors and Post Office Limited yesterday, I've now written to the other West End City Councillors suggesting a West End cross-party campaign to co-ordinate efforts to save the threatened Post Offices at Lochee Road and Nethergate, Dundee. I was pleased that all four West End Ward councillors had attended the meeting with Post Office Limited and that there had been an excellent cross-party and cross-city turnout of councillors. All four West End Councillors have made clear our total opposition to the loss of these Post Offices and I have taken the step of writing ...
There's an interesting story lurking around the bottom of the political pages (see 'Phil Collins bows out' in The Standard, 'Labour put on the path to tragedy, says Blair ally' in The Guardian and 'A tragedy is unfolding under Gordon Brown, says Labour adviser' in The Telegraph). Phil Collins, a speechwriter for James Purnell, has been told his services will no longer be required following an article he wrote for this month's Prospect magazine called 'Liberalise or die'. The article contained two elements that might have been cause for dismissal. Firstly, it was a little rude about Brown and his ...
The BBC reported that it was confirmed by Downing Street today that Gordon Brown regularly phones up members of the public to chat about policies, and issues they may have written to him about. PR Week claims it is part of a new campaign to generate positive 'word of mouth' about Mr Brown. But number 10 denies this is part of a campaign to 'humanise' Brown, and that he's always called up people who have contacted him. Apparently Gordon rang up one man at 6am, which is pretty late in the day for him, given that he famously only needs ...
A quick follow up to my earlier post about Labour's splits in Doncaster: the Mayor, Martin Winter, has now been expelled from the Labour Party (source: BBC).
Following on from the news about the internal ructions in Henley Conservatives over their selection of their Henley Parliamentary by-election candidate (requiring first John Maples and then David Cameron to meet personally with the local party to order them to fall into line), we now this rather bizarre report in today's Henley Standard: An air of [...]
A couple of weeks ago I got interviewed about the credit crunch by a journalist from the New Statesman I am quoted in this article 'Drowning in Debt' pontificating on one of my favourite subjects, passive consumerism and its impact on young people. A comment left on the article by a young person reinforces my point: 'I currently find myself staring down the barrel of £18,000 worth of debt; £13k student loan and the rest in overdrafts, credit cards and bills. I, like many my age, have consigned myself to a lifetime of debt in an almost fatalistic fashion; without ...
Living in the future - May Contain Nuts Andrew Ducker asks: When did you start feeling like you were living in the future? And if you don't - what would make you? (tags: questions speculation progress) Pickled Politics » Know your limits The Govts Know Your Limits campaign, all £10million of it, is both a misplaced use of our money and based on dubious medical evidence. And because most light drinkers can see it's bollocks, the core message gets ignored (tags: alcohol campaigns) Drink limits 'useless' - Times Online and here's some of the evidence that says the unit limit ...
Mendip DC, Shepton East Con 435 (50.3 +4.1)LD Bob Champion 307 (35.5 - 3.0)Lab 122 (14.1 -1.1)Con HOLDPercentage changes are from May 2007. Mendip DC, Street North LD Bryan Beha 347 (47.9 -19.8)Con 297 (41.0 +8.6)Ind 81 (11.2 +11.2)LD HOLDPercentage Changes are from May 2007. Somerset CC, Shepton Mallet Con 950 (47.4 +10.0)LD Rachel Witcombe 783 (39.1 +5.5)Lab 271 (13.5 -15.5)Con HOLDPercentage 
My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Everyone writes satire nowadays and no one reports what is said in debates at Westminster. So maybe serious is the new funny? A Westminster week MPs are away for the Whitsun recess, so there is time to look at what was going on in Westminster's backwaters last week. In Thursday's Commons adjournment debate Kevan Jones, the Labour MP for North Durham, used Parliamentary privilege to continue his campaign against the leadership of the Durham Miners' Association - as the Durham Branch of the National Union of Mineworkers is now known. He ...
Outgoing Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party Ian Paisley has raised the prospect of a merger of the main Unionist Parties.
Please send a message to the G8 summit, by signing a letter from tearfund to the Japanese Ambassador Mr. Yoshiji Nogami . The letter reflects views that I would hope most of us share.Please ensure G8 agreements on climate change benefit poor people. As a Tearfund supporter, I am worried about the poorest people in the world who are having to adapt to climate change. I am pleased that Japan is making climate change a priority at the G8 this year. Please convey to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda my appeal that Japan- remains committed to binding national targets under the ...
I have not, I confess, followed the debate on abortion time limits particularly closely, perhaps because I tend to the view that it is a woman's right to choose - a position which is consistent with my liberalism if not my Catholicism. However, I happened to be outside Parliament on a day when both sides of the argument had gathered across the street to make their point. The pro-choice lobby
Well, you just couldn't make it up could you? This man is just such good entertainment value. The man who has conspired with others to lie and deceive, to engage in an illegal, immoral and unjust war, a man with so much blood on his hands you would think he would go and find a hole to crawl into..........................not a bit of it, he thinks he has the credentials to act as a catalyst for world peace. His 'Faith Foundation' launched today in New York is his contribution to bringing the world's religions together. I don't object to the idea ...
I had a go at the Political Compass test which put me at: Economic Left/Right: -4.25 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.41 The good thing is I'm near to Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. I'm quite literally opposite to Gordon Brown. However it puts me about between the Green Party and the LibDems. So I'm left of the party economically. So now I need to justify that. I wouldn't describe myself as a left-winger. Fundamentally I sympathises with the ideas, against corporations and the rich and taking the money to the poor. However I except it can give state's too much control. ...
Goring-on-Thames has to be one of the most beautiful villages in the country. I was lucky enough to be dispatched there yesterday with a large bundle of tabloids under my arm. I took these photos (above) as I walked, without going off my delivery route - I hasten to add. They show how lovely the surroundings there are. I was seized by an obsession with the striking architecture of the village
Well now my half term break is about to finish, and I've ermm got all that homework done. I'm going to Henley this Saturday. I've never been involved in a by-election campaign, so I'm quite excited about it. And of course I would encoarage as many of you as possible to go at some point in time.
When questioned this morning on the bastion of forthright investigatory journalism, GMTV, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said that the Government had spent 'Billions' on energy efficiency. Errrr... billions? Of pounds? Its always quite scary when a minister mixes up the letter 'm' with the letter 'b'. Avid AJF readers will know that this follows his lie on BBC Newsnight last week where he claimed that the Government held no predictions on oil prices. ('Oil think twice', 22 May) Incidentally, his press release on 'measures to help vulnerable consumers and especially the elderly make their homes warmer and more energy efficient' ...
Earlier this year Boris Johnson signed an EDM (a sort of Parliamentary petition open to MPs to sign) calling for A permanent statue of Sir Keith [Park, who played a leading role in the Battle of Britain] on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. You couldn't get much clearer than that really could you? So of course now [...] 
I regularly use the Bedford to London line for commuting to work and other things. In fact, it is probably fair to say that my life probably wouldn't work without it. In general the train service is a good one. Well, as good as things get in this country given the chronic lack of investment in our transport infrastructure. Yes it can be tiring and frustrating and when things go wrong they really
Fifa's decision to back a proposal from Sepp Blatter to limit the number of foreign players in each football team to no more than 5 is a retrograde step. As the EU has pointed out, such a proposal is incompatible with the right for European nationals to practise their trade anywhere in the EU. As such, it is a non-starter in terms of legality. But supposing the proposal did go through, who would be the people most affected? Probably not the European players, who would still be able to go to just about any club they wanted, due to those ...
I agree with the many blog entrants that thought that the entreaties to go to Crewe and our campaigning there were wildly optimistic, in many cases wrong-headed and in some cases quite vacuous. No one is denying the difficulty in setting up such a campaign and we raise our hats to those that did so and went to help. The problem is that it's not enough to do `business as usual` campaigning but [...]
Not sure how much I am supposed to say as the programme won't be broadcast for a while.. but I am now revising my subject for the semi finals!!!
24 points ahead and wet dreams about Winchester. It'll all end in tears. The bubble will burst. You mark my words.
Citizen's Advice Cymru is very critical this morning of Government proposals to overhaul the houisng benefit system, which they say will create homelessness. They argue that plans to allow housing benefit claims to be backdated by only three months instead of one year will hit some of the most vulnerable in our society: JJ Costello, head of housing services for charity Shelter Cymru said: "The proposal to reduce the ability to back-claim housing benefit from 12 months to three represents a scandalous clash in government policy. "The ability to backdate benefit is a key tool in preventing the homelessness of ...
The Conservatives seem to have got themselves in to something of a pickle of the way they have selected their European Parliamentary candidates for next year. Potential candidates have been told that they have lost or won, but there are claims that some existing MEPs were actually deselected by the electorate and were only saved by special intervention. But the real problem is, that despite supposedly being a democratic party, the Conservative Party will not reveal the votes cast for each candidate. It's akin to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, controlled by Mugabe, but at least they released the figures in ...
Boris Johnson's first act as Mayor of London was to ban the consumption of alcohol, and the carrying of open receptacles of it, on public transport. I have already outlined the case against in full over at my own blog, but to recap briefly... Boris' ban is essentially petty authoritarianism. Considering the wealth of existing legislation [...]
In a straight fight between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives last night, the Liberal Democrats won. Not just once, but four times, winning a seat on South Somerset District Council and three on Chard Town Council. Labour did not contest any of the seats and urged their voters to vote Liberal Democrat.
The IFS have said that the tax windfall is enough to postpone the proposed rise in fuel duty. See Independent report: Tax windfall enough to cover fuel duty freeze, says IFS. I sincerely hope that Gordon Brown does postpone the 2p rise scheduled for October. Many people are feeling the pinch, particularly road hauliers and businesses [...]
Sepp Blatter and FIFA want no more than 5 foreign players on a team by the 2012/13 season. What a jibbering idiot. England has the best football league in the world (both Champions League finalists were Premier League teams). We didn't before the likes of Cantona, Bergkamp, and Klinsmann came over. The plethora of international players in the Premiership has raised the standard to a phenomenal level. It hasn't hampered English talent, which now gets to play with the best players in the world every week. Its not like England's dismal international performances are due to lack of quality available ...
The marvellous Politics Home website (www.politicshome.com) distracts me from work a frightening amount, but does distill the morning's newspaper analysis into digestable chunks. Yesterday it recommended an interesting piece by Matthew Parris. He writes about a couple of recent logically questionable proposals from the government regarding obscenity laws and clairvoyants. It isn't fashionable to curb limits on either, and I certainly can't suggest it on here without wading into a gigantic puddle of trouble. So instead, I will just post the link and let you make up your own mind... Rick
As ConservativeHome reports, the Conservative Party is continuing to keep secret much of the information about its recent European Parliament candidates selection process. Although the winners have been announced, the Conservative Party is still refusing to reveal information such as the number of votes won by each candidate. It's likely that publishing that information would trigger [...]
When I was about nine or ten I went on my primary school's ski trip. Whilst there, I engaged in what I think was the first money making exercise of my life. I noticed on the first day that the people on the trip (kids and adults) really liked a particular kind of strawberry lollipop, which appeared only to be for sale at two ski huts/restaurants on the mountain. We only went to one. So on the second day of skiing I bought around 20 of them at 3 Austrian Shillings a pop. Then out on the slopes I sold ...
It's quite simple - the paving stones were damaged - largely by the resident, others in the street and indeed those visiting the street (sometimes with deliveries). The Council comes along and takes out the broken stones and replaces it with tarmac. All very straightforward except when the residents complain. Now there is a bit of an issue with York stone paving and people want the high quality maintained, but the main beef if that you end up with a totally hopscotched pavement surface. I'm not saying that this pavement (location un-identified) isn't going to be replaced soon, but it ...
Mark Oaten has confirmed he is considering standing down before the General Election, triggering a by-election in his Winchester constituency. According to The Times, David Cameron, he of the absent chin and vacuous policy book, is "relishing" the chance to take the seat back from us poor Liberal Democrats, which we currently hold by a majority [...]
This time last year Gretna football club were living the dream. They had climbed from Division 3 in Scotland to the SPL in quicker time than my team Livingston before them. Completing the climb in 3 successive promotion. Yesterday they completed the reverse journey in double quick time becoming the first team to be relegated from the SPL to Division 3 in one season. At least that is their story
Now I'm certainly one for talking, most people who know me will be able to agree. I certainly like dialogue. I can see the evident benefits of the US having an open dialogue with Iran over a great number of issues. Yes we spoke to Gerry Adams, an elected MP. However, speaking to AQI is a little different I feel. We can talk to Iran because we have mutual interests, and can negotiate within the bounds of geo-politics. We could negotiate with the IRA because a peace process was possible and the thought patterns of the IRA were not too ...
Read Ben White on the deportation of Hitch Yezza after he was arrested and held without charge for 6 days for possessing terrorist material, which he was researching in his academic capacity at Nottingham University. Potentially very worrying stuff. There is a dedicated blog here.
Charlotte Gore is back! Joy! I love this girl - so much so that I once had to hurriedly clarify to her that I wasn't gay and trying to pick her up on Facebook, I just thought she was a really good egg! That's how much I love her. Her first two posts make a fascinating pair of counterweights. The first, [...]
Whatever thoughts crossed my mind that weren't worth a whole post.11:17 wonders how far back he should skip back in Twitter #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.
Check out this video. Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan
We've heard it before, regulators fine companies, companies pay up and the government soaks up the money. Or does it? This money either ends up as a bonus for Treasury bigwigs, or more likely it ends up back with the company. Through subsidies. What happens to fines imposed by regulators and is it time for the way these fines are imposed to be reformed? Some of the large fines in the last few years include: Royal Mail fined £7.5m in September 2003 by Postcomm and again £11.4m in 2006. Fines are directly paid to the Treasury (page 9 note 14) ...
Friends of Ian Sherwood will be pleased to know that his ten years service in the LibDem leader's office in Cowley Street, Westminster, has been marked with a presentation. The picture shows him after receiving a print of Westminster, signed by three of the leaders he has served. Left to right are Nick Clegg, Ian, Paddy Ashdown and Sir Menzies Campbell.
In lieu of This Week, have a Linkspam: You know earlier in the week I was talking about Proper Christians? One of them has posted, and she's not entirely sure about my terminology. MegaCool OldSkool Who Posters! Boo for a lack of Old Sixie, though. Laurence Boyce talks sense about skience. Predictably, in the comments, there's one who Doesn't Get it.
Ros had been invited back to her old university. coincidentally mine too, although I graduated in the mists of time when dinosaurs could still be seen roaming the grassy meadows next to Suffolk Terrace. Noting that I had been there too, the invitation to meet the Vice Chancellor was graciously extended to her husband too, and I was delighted to accept. I enjoyed my years at UEA, and though I | < | May 2008 | > | ||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
