A little while back I met up with some residents suffering from the attentions of local youths. Nothing too serious. Nothing to make the police charge to the rescue. But enough. Fences kicked in. Newspapers left burning on the step. Shouts and insults. The yesterday I read an account in the Guardian of Nicholas Blincoe, harassed and finally beaten up by a small gang of kids. David Cameron and the Daily Mail would have us believe that every child is a feral youth, that millions are roaming our streets every night throwing abuse and punches, drawing a blade or gun ...
Fiona Hall, our MEP, paid a visit to Darlington on Saturday morning to support the "Make Your Mark" promotion being run by the Markets Department of Darlington Borough Council. This is part of a national scheme. Budding retail entrepreneurs are invited to submit their business idea to a panel of judges. The winner gets a free market stall for six months, free advertising and business support.
My Lib Dem colleagues in Whitefoot Ward - Cllrs Dan Houghton, Cathy Priddey and Pete Pattission, have a new website - Working for Whitefoot. It looks very good to me, so if anyone has friends or family in Whitefoot Ward, do let them know about it.
I will try and post links to what other bloggers reckon about stuff and that I have found interesting regularly here. I will likely focus more (although not exclusively) on non-Lib Dem ones as most readers of this blog are more likely to have seen other Lib Dem blogs anyway. Here's the first lot: Skipper thinks Osborne is doing a better job at lambasting the bankers than Darling.Tory MP Douglas Carswell reckons that England is starting to get angry about the state of things. I am indeed angry about some of what he says.John Prescott is trying to get a ...
A quick update on some more environmental links: If you've not already visited Winchester Action on Climate Change, please do! They're currently trying to get as many people as possible to measure their carbon footprint and then publish it. It makes interesting reading. I've done it - and once I'd recovered from the shock, it was definitely worth doing and gave good guidance on how to cut my carbon. The site also got a good write-up from John Grant's GREENORMAL blog recently which was also very encouraging. If you were as horrified as I was by the Government's decision to ...
Thanks to the Squiff for drawing my attention to this little gadget courtesy of DK. The atheist bus campaign was all very fun and jolly, but there are other things I would pay serious money to put on the sides of buses. It's probably just as well I'm never going to have the opportunity. Possibly not my [...]
According to the Mail on Sunday, the Tories were all set to use this poster until David Cameron decided it would be seen as "too personal" by the voters. I don't know about that, but this is a good opportunity to point out that Marie Antionette never said "Let them eat cake". As The Straight Dope ("Fighting ignorance since 1973 - It's taking longer than we thought") says: The peasants-have-no-bread story was in common currency at least since the 1760s as an illustration of the decadence of the aristocracy. The political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau mentions it in his Confessions in ...
They want to know where we go: Spy centre will track you on holiday. But we're not allowed to know where they go: Speaker Michael Martin in secrecy row over British Council trips. Doesn't seem fair.
Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek was great entertainment and additionally contained many valuable messages that were just as valid in the 196os as they are today. When reading about Jacqui Smith's "second home" expense claim today, I am reminded of a quote in Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country. "just because we can do a thing, it does not necessarily mean we must do that thing. " I am, of course, referring to the Additional Costs Allowance that MPs are allowed to claim in order to support them when they must be in parliament. The idea behind this is that MPs ...
Meeting Cllr Syed Hoque today at a reception, to welcome him on the brave decision to resign from the Labour party and join the Camden Liberal Democrats. It was engaging to talk to Syed about 'the real issues' that faces the country. For full details on the move by Cllr Syed Hoque
Now all the caveats about difficult cases and bad law notwithstanding, and the sensitivity of the case, being one of a severely wounded veteran fighting this government's ridiculous war in the arse end of the world, it is, quite categorically, none of Downing Street's business to be interfering in a local development control decision: Joe Townsend lost his legs while serving in Afghanistan Gordon Brown has ordered a council which told a disabled soldier he could not build a specially-adapted home on his grandparents' land to reconsider. Wealden council had said the planned building in Pevensey, for Royal Marine Joe ...
Sorry for the delay in getting my last couple of Final Crisis Week posts up - they'll be up tomorrow and Tuesday. This weekend has been a lot busier than I thought - yesterday alone involved disappearing estate agents, meeting two Daleks, people juggling fire, getting on the wrong train, a samba band and far [...]
It was 40 years ago today, this website suggests, that rock's first supergroup was formed. Certainly, Marmalade Skies says that Blind Faith were formed in February 1969. Hence this week's music video. Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood go back a long way. As I wrote a year ago: Alan Clayson's biography of Winwood has a photograph of the pair of them on stage together with Sonny Boy Williamson at a concert at Birmingham Town Hall on 28 February 1964. Which means that Clapton was 18 and Winwood only 15.I have since discovered that there is a recording of that occasion ...
A sensible request over at Liberal Bureaucracy: since Labour are so keen to keep tabs on us, insisting that the innocent have nothing to fear from being monitored , it's only fair to return the compliment. Mark suggests If you see a Labour MP, MEP, MSP, AM or councillor, use your blog, or Facebook, or Twitter, or whatever, to publish the location of that person and, if possible, what they are doing. Be accurate, and there is nothing to fear.Sounds good to me.
I have learnt this weekend that Woodcote Road will be resurfaced between Beddington Gardens and Stafford Road starting on Sunday 22nd February. The work is likely to take up to 6 days to complete. As a result of the work plans have been drawn up to send vehicles down Beddington Gardens, Shotfield and Stanley Park Road or Stafford Road, Clyde Road and Ross Road as an alternative route. I understand that with Woodcote Road closed it will also be necessary to close Ross Parade and Beddington Gardens from the junction with Shotfield. As your ward councillors Jayne McCoy, Richard Bailey ...
This Government, and all of its elected officials, believe that we should be monitored. Alright then, two can play at that game. Therefore, you are courteously requested to take part in an exercise. If you see a Labour MP, MEP, MSP, AM or councillor, use your blog, or Facebook, or Twitter, or whatever, to publish the location of that person and, if possible, what they are doing. Be accurate, and
Finally got round to registering Himmelgarten Cafe with Wikio a month or two back, then got it assigned to the political blogs last month (it somehow got marooned in General) so I'm happy to see it fly into the charts at number 91, snuggling next to Liberal Bureaucracy (who could ask for more convivial company?) Charlotte Gore, Jennie Rigg and James Graham are amongst the 90 political bloggers deservedly well ahead of the Cafe in the Wikio popularity stakes. I've really no idea if any of this means anything in the real world, but we must take our comforts where ...
I.T. when it works is a truly wonderful thing - my sons thinks I'm a dinosaur when I tell them that I was the bees knees in my office back in the 1980s with an 80 Mb hard drive. When it works, I can email friends and relatives all over the world. My ex-husband and I have dramatically reduced our phone bills now that he and the boys use Skype and a webcam to keep in touch between the UK and USA. Even my ever patient other half (who doesn't live with us and travels a lot) frequently helps out ...
It's no surprise to me that Adam Ingram, John Robertson and Jim Sheridan are leading a charge to return powers from the Scottish Parliament to Westminster as they have never fully accepted devolution Through loyalty to their leadership they have been forced to stew in their own juices for the last decade. Using the nuclear energy fig leaf to protect their nakedness will deceive only a few - probably those who would prefer to see the abolition of the Scottish Parliament or to see MSPs neutered. Their motivation is little to do with any considered analysis of the constitutional settlement. ...
The Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, has blocked the release of details about MPs' foreign trips with the British Council. From The Telegraph: Since February 2007, 12 MPs have travelled overseas with the British Council to destinations including Thailand, India and Malawi, often at a cost of thousands of pounds. MPs must normally declare any hospitality they receive from outside organisations, and the British Council does not appear on a list of bodies whose gifts are exempt from the requirement. When The Sunday Telegraph used the Freedom of Information Act to ask the Commons authorities why the ...
For twenty years tenants in Central and Farm Road in the small village of Crombie have had to put up with substandard housing. In the late eighties the Government declared that the Unitroy design of houses were Statutory Defective at which point the landlords, Scottish Homes (now Fife Housing), stopped almost all investment in the properties as it was estimated that they would only have a short life and therefore any investment would be wasted. Twenty years on the houses are still standing but are not wind and watertight and are expensive to heat because of the poor heating systems ...
Watching Back to the Future today, I had a scary realisation. You'll remember that, in Back to the Future, our hero goes back in time thirty years and finds 1950s America a different world, just waiting to be wowed by his guitar-playing and skateboarding prowess. The scary bit was realising that we're nearly as far from the "modern" BttF time as they were from 1955: it's now 24 years since Back to the Future hit our screens. Is the gap between now and the early '80s as great as between then and the '50s? My instinct is not. We have ...
It's the council's budget setting meeting tomorrow, where Lib Dem Leader Robert Gorrie will be presenting his plans for a freeze in Haringey's council tax, handing £3 million back to local residents struggling with high council tax bills. We've worked up some innovative budget proposals - all will be revealed. Like opposition councillors in other areas, we're allowed to work with council officers to cost and verify any proposals, which we have done in a couple of areas. This is done confidentially - we did this last year, when I was leader and Robert was preparing our budget. But on ...
Terminal illness makes you think. And the coverage of Jade Goody's cancer has prompted some thinking about class. Brendan O'Neil writes about "the unpleasant distinction between 'chic' and 'chav' cancer", pointing out that Ruth Picardie, John Diamond and Kylie Minogue were praised for talking about their cancers, while Jade has been attacked. The same theme is [...]
I recently have started to receive comments from Anton Howes who after reading up about is an interesting young man. He is 18 years old so only one year older then me and he is the Leader of the political party Social Liberalist Party and is a political blogger like myself. I personally have read up on their site and think its quiet interesting because it has a lot of youth related issues which the party addresses. If I was to choose another party to join (which I am not) then I would join this party of young political anoraks ...
Sun 8th
19:12
"We know what you're saying, we know what you're writing... and now we know where you're going"
According to today's Sunday Times, the Government is building a secret database to track and hold the international travel records of everyone in this country. Well, apart from the fact that it isn't a secret any more, is there no point when the British rise up as a nation and say, "Mind your own business, nosey parkers!"? Apparently, this new database will be enable government agencies to,
We may be only five weeks into 2009, but Lib Dem MP Evan Harris has already won an award - Secularist of the Year. The BBC reports: The Liberal Democrat was named joint winner, with Lord Avebury, for their work in abolishing the blasphemy libel law in England and Wales. Dr Harris called the law "ancient, discriminatory and illiberal" as well as not compliant with human rights and against free speech. The offences of blasphemous libel and blasphemy were abolished last summer. ... Dr Harris has also campaigned to separate religion and the state claiming the current system has a ...
I am in Portmeirion in West Wales for this seminar . The title of course comes from Patrick McGoohan's cult series "The Prisoner" which was filmed at Clough Williams-Ellis's fantasy village. The picture shows the view from my window on arrival on a wet winter afternoon. The conference has been pulled together by Julia Hobsbawm of Editorial Intelligence, where I serve on the Advisory Board. Fellow participants include historian Simon Schama, style guru Peter York (of Sloane Ranger fame), commentator Yasmin Alibai-Brown and a huge supporting cast of academics, businesspeople, journalists and internet pioneers. We will be looking at globalisation, ...
Gerald thinks we should request the Diddy Men to switch from the jam butty mines at Knotty Ash to the salt mines. He thinks there'e some at Seaton Carew. But I don't think they'll like it!
James Graham writes an interesting piece on Radio Four's Thought for the Day. Faith thrives best in a challenging environment rather than behind parapets. It's "Thought for the Day", not "Religious Thought for the Day". I'd love to hear contributions from atheists, humanists, rationalists, pantheists, brightists (what on earth is "Brightism" anyway?) or, indeed, just plain thinkers, poets or
I am tired today. Last night I enjoyed the 50th birthday party of fellow Prestwich Councillor (and Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South) Vic D'Albert a little too much, and was not in the least bit pleased to find myself awake and leafleting less than seven hours after doing some unwise dancing in his living room. But leafleting I was, in the freezing cold. Nothing beats that in terms of blowing cobwebs away. I have spent a large proportion of the rest of the day writing St Mary's Focus, which will be designed and printed in the next few ...
I submitted a question to Council on Wednesday about Local Area Partnerships and the Prestwich Plan. The Council quite rightly talks about the success of partnership working and the importance of Local Area Partnerships which bring together all the public services (Council, NHS, Police etc), but I don't think they necessarily back that up with action. At the bi-monthly Local Area Partnership (LAP) meetings, which are the most publicly visible bit of LAP working, the facilities are often inadequate, the papers are often missing, and the whole thing is a bit shambolic. The staff supporting the LAPs try their hardest ...
Do you know, I can't believe what a smooth ride it was. The time machine went back all the way to the 1970s and I barely noticed. I opened the paper today to see a story that belongs way back in the days of medallions, hairy chests and Benny Hill. 3i, an equity firm, has invited a selection of city bankers to attend a party with a "short lingerie presentation" in association with Agent Provocateur. It's a pre-Valentine occasion, where the firm's latest creations will be modelled. Of course, it's only men who have been invited. They really don't get ...
You can read the last installment of Lembit's soul-baring in the Mail here. Lembit actually had a bad year last year, and it's no surprise he couldn't devote a lot of time and energy to his Presidential campaign: After surviving the slings and arrows of the year, there would have been an awful irony in being killed by a humble pork pie. We can all be relieved though, that Lembit has now found
Please be assured that I wasn't criticising Cowley Street - I was actually congratulating them as we seem to now have a better media presence than at this time in the last cycle! My advice is not to just Cowley Street but to all Liberal Democrats - a third narrative is developing because we're fighting for [...]
News today of yet another way for us to surrender our personal lives to the Government, while the Government doesn't reciprocate. A new database is being built, to store all Britons' international travel details, including passengers' names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card details, seat reservations, itineraries, and possibly details of travel companions. While our travel details will be reported and logged, the Home Office wants to keep the location of their surveillance centre a secret. Believed to be in Wythenshawe, Manchester, staff are supposed to refer to it only as " a new operations centre in the northwest." The Sunday ...
I have been following Ben Goldacre's Bad Science blog for a couple of years now. It is an excellent read. He really gets into the detail of medical and pharmaceutical issues with an endearingly self-confessed nerdiness. I also read his Bad Science book before Christmas and I can highly recommend it. One of the issues of recent years that he has campaigned most strongly on is the MMR hoax which erroneously linked the triple jabs for measles, mumps and rubella with bowel disorders and autism. Just to clarify, there is no credible evidence of any link at all. However that ...
It seems that all three political parties in Britain have decided that the bonus culture of the City is no longer working. The Government has launched a review, George Osborne says that things cannot carry on and Nick Clegg has suggested that where the Government has a majority stake in a bank, bonuses for the Board are stopped. Clegg is also arguing for temporary nationalisation of those banks. If you own something you get to have a say in how it is run. And taxpayers are more than a touch put out by the fact that Chief Executives of banks ...
Lembit Opik the Liberal Democrats MP has hit out at bloggers who posted at the time of the parties presidential election with stuff that was "inaccurate", this comes from a post that was written by Iain Dale which can be read by following the link. The quote from Lembit Opik is: Various party 'bloggers' took a rather pernicious approach towards me on the internet. A lot of what they said was desperately inaccurate. Though it seems comical now As a person who supported Lembit through his campaign I can point out a few of them bloggers but that would just ...
Pendle Liberal Democrats Press release: Local Liberal Democrat Councillors have welcomed the news that the government have at last given permission for the demolition of the old Printworks in Every Street, Nelson. Whitefield ward Liberal Democrat Councillor Nadeem Ahmed said: "Hooray! I am delighted that at last the Council can get on with pulling down this building which is both an eyesore and dangerous. "This is a blot on the area but pulling it down was blocked for several years by the government office in Manchester due to conservation pressure groups that wrongly thought it had a contribution to make ...
{Wasted taxes} A shocking dossier from the Liberal Democrats has revealed just some of the ways our taxes are being wasted on extravagant and incompetent projects Despite the hardship many local families and residents face, Labour found £130 million to refurbish the Ministry of Justice's office, £29 million to build accommodation for asylum seekers which was never built, £7 million for chauffeur-driven cars for ministers in just one year - and £50,000 for a party to which only 20 guests were invited A massive £13 billion has also been spent on an NHS records system which doesn't work. How our ...
With barely three weeks to go now before the Convention on Modern Liberty, we bring you a quick refresher course (courtesy largely of the Guardian's excellent Liberty Central A-Z) in how we've arrived at today's crisis in civil liberties. The tour will be chronological, so cast your minds way, way back to 1998, the last age of innocence, and the bullishly named Crime and Disorder Act... So what's in it? Some perfectly workable stuff - barring of sex offenders from activities and areas frequented by children, and obliging police forces to draw up crime and disorder strategies for their areas ...
Paul Jobbins, the Liberal Democrat Focus Team candidate, has lived in Horse Street, Chipping Sodbury with his wife Nicola for 19 years. Colonel Paul Jobbins has recently finished his second career in the Royal Marines, having served in Northern Ireland, the Falklands and Bosnia. He first retired in 1999 but was recalled for the Balkan Crisis. As lead military Observer to the UN peace keeping force in the Congo he won the George Medal: "Under fire he personally and unarmed rescued many terrified civilians and personally ensured the safety of thousands of civilians and is cited for his commitment, courage ...
Ooh, look at me - a modern, cool nerd. Who'd have thunk it? Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test...Modern, Cool Nerd61 % Nerd, 65% Geek, 35% Dork For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd. Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's ...
There will be a by-election for the North East ward of Sodbury Town Council on Thursday this week. This ward covers the St Johns Way and Gorlands Road areas, including the streets off them. If you are in the area you should have had a polling card from South Glos Council, but you don't need the card to be able to vote. If you have arranged for a postal vote you should have received the papers by now - if not you should contact South Glos Council. The vacancy is caused by the resignation of a Conservative councillor. The Green ...
Now let me get this `straight` - the Government wants an independent review of bankers bonuses. I've no real problem with a review as long as it was aligned with the bailed out banks being CONTROLLED by the Government on behalf of the taxpayer. Again new Labour attempts to `depoliticise` this issue (as in `It's [...]
This could be a case of deflective therapy over the attacks of Derek Draper. Or it may be the pressure of the Red Devils heading to Upton Park the afternoon*. But Iain Dale Tory Version 1.0 seems to have a bee in bonnet about the Lib Dem Blogosphere this morning. First he took exception that LDV hadn't published Nick Clegg's 25 Random Things About Me, then when LDV posted a teaser which has since been updated in full following permission being granted, he took it on himself to publish the list in full in an update. Now Iain you can't ...
Dale-o (as I like to call him) has a post today about Labour's apparent attempts to shift the focus of their attacks on David Cameron from being an out of touch toff t0 being a "nice guy" in charge of an unreconstructed right wing party. Iain thinks that this is doomed to failure. I think it is as well because yet again, their attacks on Cameron do not resonate with the popular mood. Let's have a quick run-down of what they have tried so far: 1) They claimed he was too inexperienced. The problems with this are that he is ...
The Tribune has the story. Islington's Lib Dem deputy Mayor, Cllr Anna Berent, faced down aggressive youths and their equally aggressive dog, with nothing more than her polite good sense. And it worked. Anna has a winning combination of persistence and charm that gets things done. She persuaded the Screen on the Green to hold screenings [...]
Well Alistair Darling said all the right things on the Politics Show - about what a disgrace it was that senior managers in banks paid themselves such obscene bonuses while leading us to hell in a hand cart. They're all right in their mansions while the rest of us fear for our jobs and worry if we'll ever get a mortgage again. So you'd think, that if the Government were so opposed to these huge multi million pound payouts, they'd stop 'em now they control such a whopping share of the banks. Nah. What do we get? An independent review! ...
Thanks to James Graham for twittering about the cheapest MP which has then made me want to post about it. After reading an article over at the BBC website I am amazed to the commitment of the MP that is being discussed in it. The MP is a Conservative Councillor in his constituency which is Kettering and the honorable member goes by the name of Philip Hollobon who apparently only spends £44,551 something that is topped by MP's renting themselves properties they already own! I am actually dazzled by the commitment of this MP because he wants to stay in ...
1. About 12 o'clock news - on the bonuses for the bailed out banks - why no Vince Cable? 2. Is the BBC investigating the Jacqui Smith `homes` issue? Has it and what is its findings? Will it report back or feature it in the news?
I refer you to this on Newsgeeks.
People in Cowley Street this is not the time to take the foot off the pedal. There's been much work done in getting our people across on the BBC. Today I've put in another complaint regarding the main 12pm news on R4 - no Vince Cable! We've reached 22% (means about 19% without the GE [...]
I love Eddie Izzard. His DVD collection MMVI of his first six live DVDs* takes a proud position in my DVD collection. Having seen a number of comedians live** he does strike me as having one of the must brilliant minds as you always feel like you have come away with some education amongst the laughs at his shows. So it was with interest that I read a piece about him in the Sunday Times entitled 'Eddie Izzard: Hollywood to the House of Commons' in which he mentions political ambitions. "I'm going to stand for something in about 10 years' ...
I am asking myself the question, why post this? as I write but I picked it up on a blog over at the Telegraph and thought I would share it with readers. If you follow the link you will be taken to a blog post by Toby Harnden the US editor for the Telegraph on which he shows a video of Hilary Clinton choosing to kiss Barack Obama over Bill Clinton. I bet Bill wasn't happy after she dodged him to kiss the President, was it to make Bill jealous? Or was she doing it to get more publicly liked ...
You can probably tell that this film was made by Daddy. Ah, white male privilege is a wonderful thing...
So Last week, on Sunday I attended the Holocaust memorial at the Civic centre, all very moving. There were speeches from a Belgian Jewish survivor and one from a Zimbabwean survivor of the carnage there. The Leader of the council and Reading West MP's were asked to give a few words, few they were and added nothing to the day. Then on Monday I saw Steve Webb MP give a great talk on our policy, the recession, housing and opinion polls. On Tuesday there was a briefing on Academy Sport, and the paper going to Cabinet following a successful 'call-in'. ...
Another piece of grass is being spoiled by drivers too lazy to go a few yards round the corner to the access road. This time it's at the end of Dalmuir Close where someone has driven over the grass to or from the garages instead of using the correct route. Not only is the grass spoiled but the pavement isn't reinforced for vehicles so the services running underneath can be damaged.
The ICM poll in today's "Sunday Telegraph" (click on headline to view more) shows a dramatic increase in Liberal Democrat support - up 6% at 22% - only a fraction off what the we got at the 2005 general election. Bearing in mind that the opinion polls - without exception - underestimate LibDem support after an election campaign by at least 3-4%, this is an extremely positive poll. For Labour, down to 28% is very concerning for Gordon Brown and his failing government. The Tories may be ahead, but that's more to do with Labour unpopularity than any real desire ...
Over the past week I have been keeping an eye on the Victoria Country Fire Authority website as it was clear that with the massive heatwave this year that major bush fires were bound to break out. Over the days an outside fire ban was introduced across the whole state, and then lots of small fires started. Today I woke to the headline on 6 Music of massive fires, towns wiped out and deaths. I
Just before Holocaust Remembrance Day, Pope Benedict XVI has re-admitted to Catholicism the Lefebvrists, the followers of Marcel Lefebvre. The movement had been excommunicated because they wouldn't accept the reforms of Second Vatican Council of 1965. It turns out that two of the four clerics have 'doubts' over the Holocaust. British bishop Richard Williamson denied the existence of the gas
It's Norman Lamb. And his guilty secret is that he is a godfather of grime. The Lamb family, including grandma, invested in son Archie's record label. And now their acts include Tinchy Stryder of Ruff Sqwad, and Lethal B. Does this make Norman's declaration of interest the coolest in Westminster? And will Lib Dem conference sing-songs [...]
When he travels overseas, he is always sure to carry over a suitcase with a thousand or so British power cables (server manufacturers include both U.S. and U.K. cables with their products, so every data center regularly throws away the foreign leads). He sells them in London for a pound each, financing his round-trip airfare and hotel with his e-waste arbitrage. But how does he get all these
Having moved recently and with an expired passport I finally got around to starting to sort the situation out this morning. First off the Passport. A google search gets me to the relevant agency and apply on-line forms a series of questions a postcode based address finder (with accurate information)and a return button promised me a pre filled form in the post in the next couple of days. So far
Hat tip to Liberal Conspiracy for highlighting this story . Basically Pamela Izevbekhai and her two daughters, aged 5 and 7 sought asylum in Ireland, 4 years ago, after a third daughter died after being forced to undergo forced genital mutilation in their home country of Nigeria. I can just imagine the fear that must be in Pamela's heart when she remembers that terrible event. If the family is forced to return to Nigeria, there will be nothing that can be done to protect the two younger girls from the same abuse. For some crazy reason, I somehow had more ...
Monday House of Lords: Legislation: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL] - Committee stage, day 6 Tuesday 09:15 Children and Young People Committee (Committee Room 2) Inquiry into Children's Budgeting 09:30 Petitions Committee (Committee Room 1) Draft protocols with the Welsh Local Government Association and the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales Oral update on P-
It is not often that somebody can tell the UK Government that 'they told them so' but that appears to be the case today, with revelations in national newspapers that the government's flagship policy to revolutionise welfare by paying private companies to find jobs for the unemployed is in crisis. Firms say that there are too many people out of work and too few vacancies to make it viable. It is not me that is claiming the benefit of foresight in this instance however, I am doing so on behalf of the Bevan Foundation who, on 10 December last year ...
Stephen Tall's excellent "25 random things about the Lib Dems" piece last week took an internet meme and applied it to the party as a whole. But amongst the many tagged to write their list of 25 things was our leader, Nick Clegg. And he has duly obliged. His friends on Facebook can read his list here but for now, here's some highlights: [Mortimer sneaks in for an edit. With permission, we can now bring you... the full list! 1. The weirdest thing I've ever eaten is fried bees in China. 2. My favourite way to get to work is on my ...
Jacqui Smith the home Secretary has been caught out for claiming £116,000 for staying at her families home with her sister. This news comes from the Mail on Sunday and has been blogged by Guido over at his blog, to read Guido's post follow the link. Jacqui Smith has really been scamming the system, below I quote from the blogpost of Guido which is very interesting: "She claims her "main home" is the one she stays in when in London - except it belongs to her sister. She claims her "second home" is the home she owns in her constituency. ...
Please find below a flyer for the details of the regular Community Playworker Sessions and for the February Half Term activities being run by Bury Play Network. Please pass on to families/community groups you work with, or pass on to your own children to come along! If you have any queries please contact the Children's and Young People's Information Service on 0800 731 4611. More information from Hannah Burbedge, Play Strategy Implementation Officer, h.burbedge@bury.gov.uk {Comm Playworker flyernew2-1}
Here's the thing. Your job requires you to be in two places at once - Westminster and your constituency. You'd only run one home normally, but now you need two. So the rules say you can declare one your 'main' home, and get taxpayers' help for the other. That's fair enough. You keep your existing family [...]
This story in the Mail on Sunday does not look at all good for Jacqui Smith. There are allegations that she is claiming her primary residence as being a house in London that her sister owns and hence can have claimed up to £20,000 per year for this residence. The estimated cost of the police protection she requires because of her residential choice is close to £200,000. As Home Secretary she could have a grace and favour apartment which already has police protection anyway but she refuses to. In order to be able to legitimately claim the £20,000 per year, ...
{A baggage tag} The Government intends to store all Britons' international travel details on a new database. Every passenger in and out of the UK will have their details held on computer for up to 10 years, including their name, address, telephone number, credit card details, seat reservation and travel itinerary. The UK Border Agency already counts people who enter or leave the country by "high risk" routes, including via Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Under the "e-borders" programme it is planned that all 250m annual movements will be counted by 2014. From The Times: Some immigration officials with knowledge of ...
It's a well-established pattern during this Parliament that YouGov generally gives lower ratings to the Liberal Democrats than other pollsters, and this appears to be due to YouGov finding female voters to be more Conservative than other polling companies. Whilst YouGov did well in last year's London Mayor elections, its record in other elections is more mixed. Most notably, its exist poll at the last European elections got the Conservative and UKIP vote shares badly wrong. Interesting then to see Ben Goldacre's column in yesterday's Guardian which, on the way to rubbishing the PR of an insurance company, took to ...
I was entranced by this video from Callytimecat on YouTube. The film traces a walk from Euston through Kings Cross and Barnsbury to the Westbourne estate, all in the snow last Monday. Familiar places are transformed into a magical landscape, and the snow makes everywhere look lovely. It's particularly fascinating to me, as this used [...]
Our recycling and black bags weren't picked up on Friday, because of the snow. But according to the Council website, they should be collected later today. The advice is that the recycling and refuse collections are running two days in arrears, with both refuse and recycling crews working over the weekend: all scheduled collections will [...]
Surely I've crossed the line too far to say "This site doesn't do statporn but if it did..." however was quite impressed earlier that the first week of February is only really outstriped by 4 of the last 12 months and almost on a power with Sep and Nov. Not a bad seven days, and we all know that's a long time in politics.
...Back in the USSR! The government is compiling a database to track and store the international travel records of millions of Britons. Computerised records of all 250 million journeys made by individuals in and out of the UK each year will be kept for up to 10 years. The government says the database is essential in the fight against crime, illegal immigration and terrorism. [From BBC NEWS | UK | Government plans travel database] Oh dear. Yet another database. This time you won't be able to book a plane, international train or ferry ticket without having your details stored for ...
... spending time in the company of a very cool hat and an awesome beard (and the people wearing them). matgb and I met with andrewhickey and minnesatva and we walked the dogs, and then went to the National Media Museum and petted the dalek and watched Mr Benn in TV heaven, and saw much other coolness. I still want the 3D Alien poster with light-up Egg, but still can't justify spending a week's food budget on it... Anyway, then we all went to Marsden and did the Fire Festival. Which was AWESOME! Somehow I ended up stewarding (this seems ...
The Vicar of Putney writes: The problem is that atheism is defined by what it's against, that it is not theism. And to introduce such a sense of "againstness" would fundamentally alter TftD's character. Some years ago, Richard Dawkins was offered a slot to experiment with a secular TftD. He told us religious explanations were "childish and self-indulgent", "infantile regression" and "lazy". The whole thing was one long assault. Of course, lots of people will agree with Dawkins. And they absolutely must have equal access to the BBC's airwaves. But this sort of denunciation is not what TftD is about. ...
Over the past few years we have had a series of recommendations to change the way we deal with drugs, from scholars, scientists, even top policemen, as well as people whom the government has hired specifically to look into the issues. Blakemore, Birt, and now Nutt (and whatever you think of Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom of North Wales police him too) have all concluded, after reasoned study and argument that our current system is not fit for purpose and does more harm than good. Not a single one of these people is remotely what you could call "pro-drugs". Not one ...
... for confirming in your ICM poll in today's newspaper what I've been picking up on doorsteps in London and from the local election results nationwide in recent weeks: the Liberal Democrats, far from being a busted flush, are enjoying a surge in support, as New Labour loses credibility — locally, nationally and above all internationally. The great [...]
There was no doubt England would beat Italy today, but the contrast between that match and Ireland v France was marked. I have long argued that the match doesn't hinge on the man in the No 10 shirt... it hinges on the understanding between Nos 8, 9, 10 and 11 in reading the match, gaining possession and in the ELV era making territory. Most of all they must understand each other. To a big extent
