I usually work from home, but every couple of weeks or so, I set off for Bucks and a day at my firm's office in Chesham. The journey is a multi-modal treat: bus, train and tube. The last part is on the shuttle train between Chalfont & Latimer and Chesham, descending through woods and fields [...] 
Just as Edward Heath, Conservative Prime Minster dragged the country into the EU (then the EEC), David Cameron's Conservatives, if elected into government at the next election, will do it again. This time they propose to scrap Greenwich Mean Time and make Britain adopt Central European Time, putting London in the same time zone as Paris, Madrid, and Warsaw. This would leave Portugal and Ireland as the only two countries operating on GMT or UTC. Interestingly the article says the benefits would be better trade with other CET countries, the reduction of deaths and serious injuries on the road by ...
The Mail on Sunday's interview with Valerie Singleton is largely concerned with her love life, and in particular the fact that she never had an affair with Joan Armatrading. But for the lover of British films there is a little nugget of gold hidden in there: Despairing of my academic future, my parents enrolled me in the Arts Educational School, which was near Oxford Street at the time, studying every kind of dance and drama.This was a revelation and I was soon in no doubt about what I wished to do with my life.I danced in pantos at the Finsbury ...
I think the theme of the week is going to be transport. I chaired Sutton Council's Public Transport Liaison Group today and tomorrow I have a meeting with Peter Hendy, Transport Commissioner in Victoria Street to discuss the new Mayor of London's Transport Strategy amongst other things. Then on Thursday Peter is paying a visit to Sutton to see the progress we have been making with Smarter Travel Sutton. CHANGES AHEAD Today we spent some time talking about the impact of Network Rail's South London Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS). The strategy has some good news and some bad news for ...
Last week I reported that Icke was thinking of standing in David Davis's by-election. Now his website is saying that David Icke will definitely stand. Time, perhaps, to remember Terry Wogan's finest hour...
According to Wikipedia - the whole school will stay in until the boy who laughed owns up - Richard Thompson and Hugh Cornwell were in a band together at school. It was called Emil and the Detectives. Great fun as the Stranglers were, this confirms my view that they were a pub band that got lucky rather than real punk rockers. Cornwell and his bandmates were part of the sixties generation, not a reaction to it. Similarly, when Steve Winwood's first solo album came out in 1977 he was dismissed as a rock dinosaur. But despite having been a star ...
Politicians, so we are told, are supposed to be rather obsessed with the sound of their own voices. However, it seems that the difference between a politicians and an adviser is the ability of politicians to internalise what they may be thinking whilst an adviser speaks out loud. Take for examples a couple of examples of advisers to conservatives on either side of the Atlantic in the last couple of days. Yesterday one of Boris Johnson's aides was forced to quit after he said 'let them go if they don't like it here' when asked about how black people might ...
This morning's Western Mail reports that more than £34m of the money allocated to local health boards to pay for drugs over the last two year was unspent. They say that there are fears that this unspent money - the result of buying cheaper, non-branded drugs - could have been used to offset LHB debts: More than half of Wales' 22 LHBs made savings on their prescribing budgets, despite a steady increase in demand for prescription medicines. The figures, compiled for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry Cymru, come amid ongoing concern that some patients are being denied the ...
Coming back from the campaign centre at Thame this evening in a glorious balmy light with hot air balloons decorating the horizon. Campaigning in sunshine in these long days and light nights is super even for us moles preparing the leaflet shots. In North-East Europe this is of course St Johns Eve and a major public holiday. In Lithuania for example there are big open air parties with bonfires and booze and traditions such as floating flowers in the streams to tell fortunes and many people don't get to bed at all. One tradition is that a mysterious magical fern ...
{The walls as they are now...} If you've ever walked down Southbrook Road, you've probably noticed the walls outside the flats at the Burnt Ash Road end. Well, not so much the walls, but the lack of them - as the photo to the right shows. We've made sure Lewisham Homes are aware of the problem - including through a walkabout last year - but due to tight budgets, they've been unable to fix them up to now. However, the launch of Lewisham Homes' resident-led programme has meant we might be able to secure some funding. There's half a million ...
It's a pertinent question. After two fop-heads the honest burghers of Henley, Thame and a large chunk of very middle England will be asked to vote in a new MP on Thursday. I suspect a good swing to the Lib Dems, but we shall see. I'm old enough and hopefully wise enough not to second guess the electorate. There is no doubt that a lot of Cameron cred is on the line. A strong swing to the Lib Dems would raise a lot of doubts. The 'Right' (a euphemism for everyone in the Tory Party except those who would actually ...
I know that citing the Google searches that resulted in people accidentally stumbling across one's blog is a bit clichéd, but... hey, trite-and-tested is my motto. And I did like the idea of someone keying in the phrase: Tony Blairs Lord Mayor Blanket speechIt sounds like rather a good idea: forget the white tie and tails, just bring a sleeping bag.
42-days will be slowed down by the House of Lords when they reject it. So our liberties aren't after all ditched. Meanwhile in Sweden they passed a wiretapping law and I only just found out. It's been compared with actions of Saudi Arabia, China and the USA by Google. This means the Swedish Government can read people's emails and stuff. But no need to worry apparently they've been doing it for a decade and they do destroy unnecessary data after a full 18months.
The Treasury is heading for a £5bn Stamp Duty shortfall due to falling property prices, new research by the Liberal Democrats has found. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, Lord Oakeshott said: 'Gordon Brown let Britain's house party get out of control. Now Alistair Darling has been left with a £5bn Stamp Duty hangover. 'The Chancellor had hardly sat down on Budget Day before the housing market fell off a cliff in early April. 'Britain's mortgage famine, after the wild feast led by Northern Rock, means most house sales are now forced and at knock-down prices. In this horrible market you ...
For the last 10 days, the debate has raged here on Lib Dem Voice and on various Lib Dem blogs. But the result of the most recent LDV poll is pretty clear: by a 2:1 margin our readers think Nick Clegg did exactly the right thing in deciding the Lib Dems should not field a [...]
Today marks the first anniversary of Gordon Brown succeeding Tony Blair as Labour Prime Minister. But with Labour sinking in the political doldrums, the question is: will this be the last anniversary he celebrates in Number 10? There are three possible reasons why it could be, in descending order of likelihood: 1. The Labour party [...]
Taylor Wimpey, the developers who have bought the Sea Stores site, will be holding an exhibition at Poole Court from 1st to 5th July. This is the latest in a set of consultation stages, and they want to hear residents' reactions to their ideas before they apply for planning permission in a couple of months time. Please visit the exhibition and make your views known. You can also find out about and comment on Yate Town Council's ideas for the section of the land set aside for community purposes. The exhibition will be open as follows: Tue 1 July 12.00 ...
I wrote an article back in December about intellectual property becoming one of the big ideological political footballs in ther 21st century and it got a good reception. Time for an update of some recent trends methinks. First of all, numerous posters have recently gone up around Islington claiming that, as you can read in Islington Now (PDF), DVD piracy "finances crimes including child trafficking, drug smuggling, gun crime - even terrorism." If I were an Islington council tax payer I'd be demanding my money back. Leaving the claims to one side for a moment, why is council and the ...
Boris Johnson has been in office for less than two months and already he has lost one of his key advisors: his deputy chief-of-staff, James McGrath, who fell on his sword when it became obvious that there was no way of excusing his comment to a black journalist that elderly Caribbean residents of London should [...]
Last night I blogged a response to Chris Dillow's appalling piece on Liberal Conspiracy regarding the eviction of Alexandra from the Big Brother house. The debate that has arisen from the article does touch on a crucial issue (not relevant to the immediate context) about the role violence plays in politics. I fall somewhere between the two schools of thought; I recognise that violence is always regretable but within certain context's is morally justifiable. This debate is particularly pertinent with the Zimbabwe unravelling before our very eyes. People rightly deplore the violence of Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF but what if ...
Well Nick Clegg has my support on this. He has spoken of the need for 'Liberal Interventionism'. He has said intervention is necessary when, 'when a state intentionally permits extreme and unnecessary suffering that it has the power to stop.' We can look back at History and see the terrible things we have aloud to happen. Rwanda, in a country of just over 6million people, 800,000 people died and 2million fled into Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo). This was followed by the Congo wars, the worst war since WW2! And no one seems to of heard of it. Over ...
There is a dreadful article on the Guardian's Comment is Free here. Frustratingly dim witted, it is nothing like the debate we need in the UK about the Government's continued erosion of civil liberties.addthis_pub = 'regnodelfines';
It looks like Mogan Tsvangirai will still actually be on ballot papers. Unfortunately I'm not going to talk optimistic and say Tsvangirai could still win. The huge turnout against Mugabe needed to get past his fraud, won't be there. People's determination to vote, has possibly now gone and Mugabe will win. Mugabe has some problems though. MDC has control over Parliament, although I don't think it's powers are very much at all. The west has still more action it can take. Financial sanctions can be put into place, the Zimbabwean dollars are printed by a German firm (can you imagine ...
Friday To the Bonkers Home for Well-Behaved Orphans, where the little mites plead to be taken to feed the Rutland Water Monster this afternoon. Call me an old sentimentalist, but I am in the mood for an outing myself and it has to be admitted that the modern chimney can be remarkably narrow. So on condition that they are All Good, I agree to return this afternoon with a few scraps for the old girl. After enjoying my own luncheon, I round up a couple of sheep, a bullock, two ramblers who wandered off a public right of way last ...
I only ask because, while there was a robust response from LibDem bloggers decrying the stupidity of Camerons legal shenanigans last Friday, the Tory blogosphere has been remarkably silent. I can only find two right-wing blogs making any comment about it on blogsearch.google.com: 1. A view from Middle England by Arden Forester says that it was an 'own goal with golden boots on'. 2. While there 
You wouldn't expect many youth today to know where their political idiology is. But two of my friends quite happily identify themselves as 'left-winged'. This is of course talking economically. And if you're from a lower-class background or you have an nasty idea of the rich, who can blame them. It's better than getting really disillusioned and liking the BNP. Well a while ago I did an entry on my political compass. It revealed that I was Libertarian and Left-Winged. Since then I've also done the World's Smallest Political Quiz, I got 30% economic issues and 80% personal issues. Which ...
...according to a poll, that's how he's most commonly seen. And that's good: According to the British Chihuahua Club website the breed generally pays scant regard to a lack of size and 'are ready to stand up for themselves even if the opposition is far bigger'.
If you agree with me then feel free to copy this image and put it on your own blog.
One year on, and Gordon Brown and the Labour party are in a mess. The PM's popularity - and self-confidence - plummeted after he bottled out of calling a general election last October, since when Labour's ratings have drifted downwards: they have been above 29% in only one poll out of 15 conducted in the [...]
That fearsome right-wing triumvirate - Robert Halfon for ConservativeHome, The Spectator's Stephen Pollard and The Times's Daniel Finkelstein - all repeat what they consider to be a terribly clever point about Gordon Brown's tainting of David Cameron as a 'shallow salesman'. Here's Mr Halfon: Far from being used as a political insult in which Mr Brown can attack the Prime Minister [sic], 
Went to Sefton Park on Saturday to the annual Africa Oye festival. Despite the weather, which must have put some people off coming at the beginning, it was a great event with some fantastic music and great stalls (I did a bit of shopping before coming home). Obviously it's too late to decide to go now - but I really do recommend this for next year.
Party leader Nick Clegg made his first speech on foreign affairs today at Chatham House. The highlights are given in the press release on the party site, and his words are covered by the BBC here. We'll bring you the full text when the technology permits, and when the bulk of the Voice team aren't on trains. The [...]
That's the topic of my (first!) posting today over at Liberal Conspiracy: I've been pretty critical of two massive government IT projects - the existing plans to introduce mandatory identity cards with a huge database behind them and also the Home Office talk of a database of all phone calls and emails made anywhere in the country. My criticisms in both cases are three-fold: the money involved could be better spent on other projects (such as giving us more police rather than keeping huge databases of the activities of innocent people), they involve a huge infringement of our liberties and ...
I have today submitted a formal objection to Post Office Ltd's proposals to close Lochee Road and Nethergate Post Offices. This is part of the growing campaign to keep these two Post Offices open. In my letter, I point out that, given its significant customer base, I am extremely surprised that Post Office Ltd is giving any consideration to closing Nethergate Post Office. There is considerable evidence to show that the customer base of this Post Office will increase in the future rather than decrease. The Post Office is located in the City's vibrant cultural quarter, an area which will ...
The exile is in dire straights. It needs help. And cash. If you've ever delighted at its crude humour, mixed with superb analysis, give it money. Now. Or else. It will all be over.
Stephen Kearney has just had a stonking interview on BBC News 24 (oops, The BBC News Channel). He was on with the Tory and Labour candidates and made mincemeat of them both. The Labour candidate tried to convince viewers that the economy is actually in robust health. Yeah, right. The Tory, when pressed on his developer links blustered that he simply sought to ensure that both sides of the argument are heard in a contentious planning application. Isn't the Government trying to argue along the same lines in their new Bill which will hand all planning consultation responsibilities over to ...
Boris Johnson the Mayor of London has lost one of his senior adviser over a race row. Mr Johnson's advisor said that people who did not like Boris as being mayor should return to their country of origin. The Caribbean people made comments about the Mayor and the Mayors Senior Advisor said that if they do not like the mayor then they should leave the country. Well the Advisor of Boris made a Very Big Mistake everyone has a freedom of speech and if they don't like Boris like me and many others as he is incompetent then he ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7468430.stm Local Councils are using Laws that are in place to prevent terrorism by listening into phone calls or reading emails as a way of putting surveillance on Local people. A Council got Surveillance on a family and there was not a need for surveillance on that family. A council in Lancashire is using the Law to catch Dog Fowler's and that is not what the Law has been bought in for. These Councils are really bending the rules with a Law that should be used for the safety and security of the country not for catching people who's dog ...
An exhibition of photography students' work will be launched at Prestwich Library and Adult Learning Centre on 4 July at 6:30pm. The exhibit includes work produced by adult learners who have completed the 'Using Your Digital Camera Effectively' course.This is a three term course run by Bury Adult Learning Centre and allows students to learn more about the art of digital photography. Photography on display includes landscapes, buildings, birds and flowers. The exhibition will close at Prestwich Library at the end of July but can still be viewed at the Bury Adult Learning Centre after this date. There will be ...
What's your reaction to a chance to go on a decent rollercoaster? The reason I ask this is because we[1] went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach[2], and Jennie insisted on going on as many of the big fast rides as possible. At one point she observed to one of the crew 'I'm not bothered, but he is'—meaning me. The thing is? I wasn't bothered, just really really not caring. I just don't really see the appeal of most of them—one of them, the Revolution, announced itself as 'the most thrilling ride of your life', but to me it was merely meh. ...
I missed Nick Clegg's interview last week on Sunday AM but he reportedly pointed out the ambivalence of Conservatives towards David Davis' stand on civil liberties. This is typical given the conflicting traditions of the Tory Party. There are a minority of liberatarians in the Conservative Party who are effectively successors of the Liberal Unionists and the Samuelite National Liberals- the factions that who [...]
The Third meeting of the Better Bath Forum has now taken place and they have posted the conclusions of the discussion on Sustaining Bath's economy - what changes do we need on their web site. To see the conclusions and what comes next visit The Better Bath Forum web site at http://www.betterbath.org.uk/past-meetings-minutes.php?id=6
Woke up this morning with the Redemption Blues.
I spent the weekend working on a motion for Council which I will be proposing on Wednesday, to do with the Post Office closure programme. We oppose the programme, which sees 2,500 more Post Offices close across the country, including another five in Bury I was typing away with one hand (my left one, as us left-handers tend to do...) whilst holding a gigantic Post Office publication in the other, which lists in staggering detail every fact and fancy about the closing Post Offices. So I will be speaking in support of the motion to stop the closures on Wednesday ...
George Carlin, thorn in the side of the po-faced and pompous since the sixties, has passed away. The world is a poorer place without his biting wit and pinpoint accuracy on political targets. I vote we all ring the local radio station and swear as much as possible over the air in his honour.
{Armand and Nicholas at the Warminster Road} The whole of Bath's major road network is to be covered by an Air Quality Management Area to tackle unsafe levels of air pollution. Originally the AQMA covered the London Road up to the Cleveland Bridge, a road with officially the worst air quality in Britain. This being insufficient, the entire major road network is to be included; in Bathwick this inlcudes Bathwick Street and the Warmininster Road until Minster Way. This change will come into effect on 30th July, following a decision made by the cabinet a few months ago. An Air ...
Afzal Anwar has kick started his campaign and all his local issues that he think are of importance can be read at the Pendle Liberal Democrats Website. On my Blog it is my thoughts and opinions on Politics in Pendle and the Whole of the Country but on the Pendle Lib Dem website you can find out about what Mr Afzal really believes as the Website is an official Party Website. To find out more visit: www.pendlelibdems.org.uk
There is an excellent piece on libdemvoice from Thomas Hemsley on the future of the EU and I posted the following comments (amended) which I would like to place here to see if anyone has anything to add: I am not 100% in agreement over the ideas for institutions which others have written about. And there, in a nutshell, lies the fundamental problem with Europe - all 350m of us have slightly varying views. Rather than an overarching higher authority to govern our lives in detail, what we Europeans need is an underlying set of principles to bring us together ...
'There is some suggestion that what you do in your own home doesn't really matter. That you can drink yourself to oblivion and it's your right. I think there are two arguments against that. 'First, we don't simply allow people to do anything they want. We don't allow people to watch internet porn relating to children or some other vile matters in their own home because it impacts on others. We
The following is part of a quotation from Carol Sarler's Daily Mail Story. When a story unfolds that is as obscene as the deaths of Amy and Owen Philcox by the hands of their father Brian, most of us try to work our way through the unthinkable steps of it: how carefully he planned the murders and how cruelly he hinted at what was to come. What I would ask, however, is why this seems relatively
The Times reports: One of Boris Johnson's most senior advisers was forced to resign last night after he plunged the Mayor of London into another racial controversy, saying that immigrant blacks could leave if they did not like the Tory administration. The remarks were reported by Marc Wadsworth on The Latest.com: McGrath was far from politically correct, David-Cameron-new- cuddly-Conservative
Stockton Council's engineers asked the people applying to develop these two sites to calculate the effect of not only their own traffic but each other's, especially on the roundabout near Tesco. Those calculations are done using standard computer programmes that are accepted right across the country and it's very difficult to argue to a Planning Inspector on appeal that they are wrong, even when
A good turn out from local residents marked a successful Open Day for Badger Farm Community Centre yesterday. I was pleased that the Mayor of Winchester was able to attend and offically open the event. The jazz band was going strong in the garden, while the hall saw displays of Tae Kwon Do, Latin American dancing, 'Legs, Bums & Tums' exercise and much more. Stalls in the other rooms were
I'm a great fan of Archbishop John Sentamu, who recently did a parachute jump in aid of the Afghanistan Trust. That's after tearing up his dog collar in protest at the state of Zimbabwe. When John was Bishop of Stepney (our local Bishop for Islington), he came to conduct a confirmation service, then left the [...]
Whatever thoughts crossed my mind that weren't worth a whole post.08:59 is up far to early for any sane Sunday #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.
We have four more days to go to the Henley By-election, and it is really looking interesting. I have been along to help five times and the reception on door steps has been really positive. A member of the armed forces I met, newly returned from Afghanistan, was seething over the BNP as they drove around Henley town playing military music, ”How dare they! We are out there fighting for freedom, they would take our freedoms away, I'm with you mate good luck". Boris had the Boris factor, hugely popular in the area but suddenly he is not there any ...
Well done Cllr Paul Braithwaite for organising an excellent All Around Camden event today. About 75 residents, escorted by police on bicycles, cycled around the boundary of the borough and through all 18 wards. All good fun. I hope this will now become an annual event. See below for an exhausted cycling cop! For more pictures see the Camden Cycling Campaign website. Cycling up the Kilburn High Road escorted by six police officers on bikes I was once again struck by how dangerous normal cycling (ie without police protection) is on roads like that. And once again I came to ...
There's been a lot of water under the bridge since the last Mayor's Question Time in May! Since his last grilling by the London Assembly, Johnson has resigned as MP for Henley and, it is hoped, has more time to devote to the new job. Last Wednesday I spent a brilliant birthday at two very different points on the Thames. Yet, as Bridget Fox says, it's a small world! In the morning, I was at City Hall right beside the Thames in London - it was Boris Johnson's second Mayor's Question Time. Walking up the spiral ramp to the Chamber, ... | < | June 2008 | > | ||||
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