Via Sharon Ball's blog I see that Don Foster has become a signatory on Peter Luff's Private Members' Bill: Make Small Business Rate Relief automatic Bath MP Don Foster has become a signatory to a Parliamentary Bill that would see Small Business Rate Relief paid automatically to those businesses that qualify. [From Sharon Ball: Make Small Business Rate Relief automatic] Oh dear! Given that it's a private member's bill and therefore unlikely to become law, do we really need to have our MPs supporting things that are directly contrary to party policy? Yes, it sounds nice. I support the aims ...
Benedict Brogan is going back to where he came from which is the Independent according to a blog post by Iain Dale and this is very interesting. I think Benedict is a great blogger and when ever I read his blog it shows that the main stream media still does have light hearted journalists in it and its not full of dead lonely men who have nothing better to do except drink whisky and copy and paste press releases. Benedict is a great writer but will he be as successful as he is at the Mail when he moves to ...
I'm running for a national position within Liberal Youth - Vice-Chair (Membership Development). The job description is pretty self-explanatory, being responsible for supporting branches, organising training and helping branches both grow in terms of numbers but also as people. My full manifesto is available to read. Please show your support by joining my Facebook group or become a supporter on Facebook. I'm also on Twitter, and can be contacted via email at memdev@chrisjenkinson.org. If you've got any comments about my manifesto or campaign please let me know!
It has been a busy few days and as a consequence I have not had the time to catch up with the details of the decision by the Home Secretary to prevent Dutch Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders from entering the country. My instincts as ever in these situations is that this sort of ban is counter-productive. Fundamentally, it is wrong to seek to prevent somebody from expressing their point of view, no matter how offensive. That is an illiberal and anti-democratic act. If Geert Wilders has broken the law then arrest him and let him answer to the courts, ...
In the light of the Geert Wilders controversy, it's well worth reading this defence of the right to criticise religious belief from Johann Hari.
Bath MP Don Foster has become a signatory to a Parliamentary Bill that would see Small Business Rate Relief paid automatically to those businesses that qualify. The Small Business Rate Relief (Automatic Payment) Bill is supported by the Federation of Small Businesses as well as a host of other organisations, including: National Federation...
Most of you know I have little truck with bankers at the best of times, let alone after they have comprehensively trashed our entire way of life(!), but to be fair to them, I've been watching some coverage of the Westminster Banking Trials, and it made me wonder whether our glorious representatives might have actually started from the wrong place. They have passed the buck to the banking industry and not looked at the state's much more important contribution to creating this crisis. Without learning this, they will be doomed to make similar mistakes in future and cause, one day, ...
My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. I wrote a little more on horses and drugs earlier in the week. Horse sense On Monday MPs had the chance to question Jacqui Smith. Unfortunately, none asked the home secretary how she could justify nominating her sister's spare bedroom as her main residence and claiming £116,000 (and counting) in second home allowance on the house in her Redditch constituency where her husband and children live. Instead they were angered by someone else. Professor David Nutt had published an article in the Journal of Psychopharmacology that said: "Drug harm can be ...
Today's headlines in "The Sun" glorifying the 13 year old father of a child really does send out the wrong message. The Sun has an "exclusive" on this story and the baby's teenage parents have, apparently, been behind closed doors with representatives of "The Sun" all day. Putting two and two together you would have to assume that "The Sun" are not providing this support out of the kindness of Rupert Murdoch's heart and they have paid the teenagers a handsome sum in return for the exclusivity of this story. At a time when people bemoan the obsession teenagers have ...
Cannock Chase DC, Cannock WestCon 654 (60.6; -14.1)Lab 333 (30.8; +5.5)LD Susan Wells 93 (8.6; +8.6)Majority 321Turnout 19.4%Con holdPercentage change is since May 2008Croydon LBC, WaddonCon 1462 (46.0; +2.7)Lab 1222 (38.5; +0.7)BNP 157 (4.9; +4.9)LD Patricia Gauge 150 (4.7; -2.7)Green 115 (3.6; -5.4)UKIP 48 (1.5; +1.5)The Peoples' Choice Exclusively For All 13 (0.4; +0.4)The Monster Raving Loony
Many residents in the southern part of the Maryfield Ward - particularly in the City Centre and Broughty Ferry Road areas - cannot receive Freeview digital TV. This is because they get TV signals from the Tay Bridge relay transmitter, which does not yet carry Freeview. Chris has received complaints about this and enlisted the support of the LibDem Council Group Leader, Cllr Fraser Macpherson, who has been in discussions with the broadcasting regulator OFCOM and with Digital UK about the issue. Chris says, "It is unfair that, although everyone pays the same TV licence fee, some residents do not ...
SNP should ditch Independence Bill
SNP should ditch Independence Bill
Fatigued by Iraq, the world eagerly anticipates an Obama administration foreign policy agenda, and the potential breath of fresh air this may bring. Will it be shaped by Clinton-era liberals, who intervened in Haiti and Kosovo? Has the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive military intervention been conclusively abandoned? Can the tireless activists who cry out for humanitarian intervention in Darfur and Zimbabwe prevail? Or, more likely, there will be no 'Obama Doctrine', but just a set of ad hoc policies without ideological coherence? Labels and doctrines inform policy less than the particular circumstances of a case. Furthermore, they are mostly used ...
In difficult times it is good to know that all levels of government are working tirelessly to help businesses both large and small. I wish! In reality it is all too often the exact opposite as the latest EU nonsense demonstrates. The bEUrocrats have got it into their heads that all sheep should be electronically tagged so that [...]
"Most of us have mobile phones with names and numbers stored in their memory. If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? "Hence this 'ICE' (In Case of Emergency)...
Fri 13th
17:05
David Howarth MP writes... My top priorities as Lib Dem shadow secretary of state for justice
The main responsibilities of the Ministry of Justice are the criminal justice system, including prisons and probation, and constitutional reform. Crime has not been seen as a political strength for us in the past, but I believe that it could be, because we have very distinctive things to say. Constitutional reform is one of our traditional strengths, but the task there is to make it relevant to current politics. There is a crisis in the criminal justice system of staggering proportions. The prison population is at a record high, and is eating up £ billions in public expenditure. 70% of ...
Saying thank you - like saying sorry - isn't something people always bother to do these days. So it was really touching to get a thank you note this week; "for your help, and your lib dem team, for a speedy repair to my roof and decorating kitchen". I'd met this constituent - I'll call him Joseph [...]
Another organisation that turns out in all weathers is St John Ambulance, seen here supporting Great Western Ambulance Service in the recent snow. Well done St John!
Boris Johnson has decided to go back on his manifesto pledge to fund four new Rape Crisis Centres (RCCs) in London. These centres provide long term counselling and specialist care to women who have been affected by sexual violence. Having previously promised to spend £744,000, a sum that was to be channelled from a 20 per cent cut in the mayor's media and marketing team, Johnson told the London Assembly Budget Committee that this figure was to be reduced to £233,000. It is unclear if the mayor's PR department will also be cut. Either way, we need to spend more, ...
Gareth Aubrey's more a Liberal Conspiracy kind of Lib Dem but his post on the subject of the 7 billion intercity train renewal thing amused me no end. There is, however, one further complication to the HST replacement that the Pendolinos did not face. For while Virgin's search for a high speed electric train could span the world (leading eventually to an off-the-shelf product from Italy based on technology originally acquired from BR), the list of countries with high speed diesel trains starts in the UK and ends here too. The press coverage of the announcement trumpets that the trains ...
UNRWA has been looking after us all of our time in Gaza, ferrying us around in 3 cars. We stop for a brief meeting with the boss, Karen Abu Zayd, who is American. She has quite a job. Given that UNRWA is so crucial to the survival of people in Gaza I wondered how it worked with the civil administration. The answer was that it doesn't, but seems to work in parallel. The UN Sec-Gen is part of the Quartet and its policy opposes contact with Hamas. No doubt there are informal contacts. She confirmed my impression that rubbish was ...
I remember icy winters from many years back now - and I simply dont remember such winters resulting in so many immediate serious pot-holes in the roads come the thaws. Anyone else noticed this? Is this 'the years past grasses were greener' syndrome, or do we reach for the Jutland comment (*) and ask if there is something wrong with our bl%&dy roads today? Have we been indulging in inferior standards of road-laying with the imperfections disguided by a series of warmer winters? Or did the regular occurence of icy winters in decades past expose flaws in the roads at ...
The debating chamber of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza City is full of light. But then it would be, one wall is completely missing - the place has been devastated by Israeli shells. We meet instead in a marquee in the compound grounds, 6 of us and 20 PLC members (two of them women), all of them I think elected as representatives for Change and Reform (Hamas). The only government member is the Minister for Justice who arrives late. The primary purpose of our visit to Palestine is to explore the prospects for reforming a government of national unity. ...
So much to think about after the "We are Names Not Numbers" seminar at Portmeirion. Firstly what a national treasure Simon Schama is. It was a privilege just to be in the audience when he gave his keynote talk - entirely without notes and with a panoramic inclusion of so many different strands and ideas. Throughout the three days he made incisive contributions to a wonderfully relaxed and swooping set of conversations. And I had the particular pleasure of walking up a hill with him (of course I called it a mountain when I came down) discussing his forthcoming history ...
Well, yes and no. Firstly, there is a relentless logic. Although there are all sorts of messy delays, Suffolk, Norfolk and Bedfordshire are all going down that route. You don't need a First in Geography to work out what's next. Cambridgeshire. So would Cambridgeshire form a single county Unitary. It's highly unlikely. The reality is that it's a very artificial construct. Another 1973 fudge, I'm afraid. Even the most casual observer would note the different economic, social and demographic profiles of three distinct areas of the county. When will it happen? No idea, but within five years I suspect. Is ...
Salford's Liberal Democrats have chosen their candidate for the Pendlebury by-election, to be held in a month's time. After the death of Labour Councillor Maureen Lea on 17th January, the Pendlebury ward now has a vacant seat. The by-election will be held on 19th March. {Paul Gregory being congratulated on his selection by the Leader of the Liberal Democrats Group, Councillor Norman Owen.} Paul Gregory being congratulated on his selection by the Leader of the Liberal Democrats Group, Councillor Norman Owen. The candidate's name was announced last night (Thursday 12th February) as local man Paul Gregory, who is the head ...
Geert Wilders holds extremly unpleasant views with which I disagree fundamentally and which many people will find very offensive. He has produced a film which links various verses of the Qur'an with various terrorist outrages in an attempt to unfairly tarnish the Muslim faith as a whole with a belief in terrorism. Unfortunately the Government appears to believe that because they find his views unacceptable and/or offensive, or they fear that some people may find it so, they have stopped him from entering the UK. Strangely though they have not banned the film itself. In my view freedom of speech ...
The Home Office has revealed the cost of capturing our communications data from selected Internet Service Providers - and has also broadened the terms of this to include text messages. At a total cost of £46.58m over 8 years, the Home Office (i.e. The Taxpayer) "will bear all costs relating to the design, development and installation of Data Retention Facilities with communication companies." The communications companies which were consulted (including BT, Cable and Wireless and O2) welcomed the news that they wouldn't have to foot the bill for retaining data not required for business purposes. So in return for the ...
The ban of Dutch MP, Geert Wilders has created a mix view within the blogosphere and also there has been certain attacks made upon Chris Huhne over him supporting the ban, within the Lib Dems blogosphere. He was going to make this talk and present the video at the House of Lords, upon invitation by a UKIP peer. Firstly by banning Geert Wilders, what has it achieved, i think it has achieved all objectives that Wilders wanted. By publicising it we have added fuel to the fire and have made people curious, as Rushdie did with the Satanic Verses. So ...
My thanks to a local resident who sent me details of an on-line petition onbjecting to Royal Bank of Scotland paying bonuses to its staff this year. The text of the petition is as follows It's reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which received £20 billion of taxpayers' money, plans to pay out £1 billion of it in bonuses to bankers and traders.This from a bank that last year posted losses of £28 billion.We believe this is morally and economically outrageous and the bonuses should be stopped. The taxpayer owns 68% of RBS so we are now ALL ...
Fri 13th
14:16
EU 48 hour week a threat to Retained Fire Service ... and Life Boat Service, Mountain Rescue and Cav...
I've received an email from the Scottish Liberal Democrats campaigning on behalf of retained fire services: Retained firefighters usually have full-time jobs outside the fire service. As a second job, they spend up to 120 hours per week "on-call" - in their own homes or at their regular workplaces, but there if we need them in emergencies. An EU law limits working hours to 48 per week - and this includes the time retained firefighters spend on call. If this law is enforced in full, dozens of fire stations will have to offer reduced services. "For some people, especially ...
It's not the most obvious feature and I have found I've walked past on more occasions than not without reacting, but here on England's Lane is Chalcot Gardens. It's set back and 'protected' by a brick wall with a sort of sealed gateway effect on which is mounted an old plaque. (if you double click on the pictyure on the left it should open up and the words are much more legible larger!) Chalcot Gardens came about in 1880, as part of the great development of the Eton College Estate that is now Belsize, Belsize Park and the Chalcots Estate ...
I still get a steady trickle of people who arrive at this previous posting who are searching for "doctor thumbs". I've tried the search and my post does indeed come top but nothing else of use. Maybe they are looking for a thumb doctor?
Shanghai in 2009 is New York in 1929 - in a manner of speaking. Shanghai owes the shiny new tower blocks on its waterfront to China's booming economy of recent years just as New York owes its Manhattan skyline mainly to the booming 20s. And, by curious coincidence, Herbert Hoover, the US President in 1929 was a geologist [...]
Yesterday's post about social workers was partly about how we like to blame social workers whatever they do. As I said, "We expect them to get it right day after day, year after year." Maybe my meaning was not entirely clear. I'd like to ...
The main concern in Brussels this week has been the worryingly protectionist mood music in some national capitals. I suspect Gordon Brown will come to regret his 'British Jobs for British Workers' comment (there are far more Brits living or working elsewhere in the EU than citizens of other EU countries over here); and Nicolas Sarkozy his criticism of French carmakers investing in the Czech Republic (many non-French companies invest in France). As I reminded listeners to BBC Radio 4's One O'Clock news bulletin today, it was the protectionist impulse in the 1930s which led to World War Two. The ...
Irfan Ahmed isn't afraid to take the unpopular or contrary position on an issue - and good for him. Unfortunately, that doesn't always make him right. Irfan's comments on why he feels Jacqui Smith was right to ban Geert Wilders from entering the country raise an important liberal issue. His reason is "the Muslim community in Britain who I would have been among would have been up in arms that the British government has allowed such a thing to enter into the UK"I'll assume Irfan didn't really meen to refer to Geert Wilders as a thing (i.e. something less than ...
I was quite disappointed that the excellent question put to the panel on Question Time last night "What is the point of the ACMD if the government is continually going to ignore its recommendations" (paraphrased) was left until the last 5 minutes, thus not giving the panel much time to respond. The most sensible responses in my view came from Monty Don, the gardener and the leader of Respect, Salma Yaqoob, both of whom think that the current system is silly and Don even said he would legalise them all. Justine Greening for the Tories (who frankly had been very ...
It's not every day I open a glossy mag and see someone I know. But readers of Easy Living magazine may have spotted an article in the current issue on why women support political parties. And the Lib Dem woman interviewed is my friend, and Islington activist, Sue Buchanan. Sue talks about the Lib Dems' [...]
The proclamation by Geert Wilders, as he was being detained awaiting deportation yesterday, that he was being denied his inalienable right of freedom of speech as a citizen has unfortunately provoked many members of the Liberal grass roots to his defence. I say unfortunately because Wilders' freedom of speech is nothing more than a rhetorical trojan horse to allow him to propagate an ideology that runs so contrary to anything that may be called liberal or free. Wilders himself is certainly no believer in freedom of speech. A 2007 article for the Volkskrant, a Dutch daily paper, called for a ...
The Liberal Democrats are reviewing their party policy on women's issues and it is now open for comment. You might ask whether it is still necessary to produce policy specifically aimed at women. Jo Swinson MP, the Chair of the Working Group says:"As Liberal Democrats, we are concerned at the injustices that women face in our society. The last major review of Liberal Democrat women's policy was
The Conservatives held the seat in yesterdays Cannock West by-election on Cannock Chase District Council
There was a railway through Gaza. It ran from the north through to Sinai in the south, easy to build across flat countryside of sandy soil. The old maps show a station with sidings and a turning triangle in Gaza City. I didn't get the chance to see what was left on the ground, but 250 metres to the east of the road leading to Erez crossing there is a line in the fields that looks suggestive of disused railway. I found it again a short distance on the Israeli side. It looks long gone, unrecognisable as a railway line ...
Back in November I blogged about concern in Redlands about rats. It seems to me that the Council's pest control resources are stretched and this not helped by the high level of litter on many of our streets outside of the town centre. Today the issue has appeared in a typically sensationalist article by the Evening Post about fears of a booming rat population in East Reading. I was only talking about this issue earlier in the week with my colleague Cllr Ricky Duveen, Chair of the Environment Scrutiny Panel. I suggested pest control and infestation might be a good issue for further ...
I am the subject of Paul Burgin's latest "20 questions to a fellow blogger" feature on his Mars Hill blog.
It's been on the tip of my tongue for weeks now, a mental itch I've not been able to scratch. I'm sure we've all had that feeling, where you know you're missing something really obvious and important (no obvious jokes about libertarianism please). Sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees. For example, being a political blogger very quickly removes you from the day to day experience of 'politics' in the real world. I simply accept this for now - I have no intention of standing for election although terrifyingly I was asked, very recently, if I'd consider putting ...
Calm down. Calm down. We all knew it was going to happen. At the Liberal Democrat Conference in September of last year Nick Clegg announced that he would be taking paternity leave when his wife has their next baby. And the child is due this month. It will be interesting to see if Vince Cable's return as acting leader will lead to a little of his personal stardust rubbing off on the party as a whole. Reporting Channel 4's political awards, where Vince came away with both Opposition Politician of the Year and the "Political Impact" award, politics.co.uk says: Lib ...
I've received an email from John Prescott updating me on his campaign for the Royal Bank of Scotland to give up their bonus. Last night it you were watching BBC's Question Time you would have heard Kelvin Mackenzie try and defend the bonuses being given by the RBS with one basis being that other banks were giving them. Therefore you can imagine how hollow that message sounded when I read Prescott's email. In it he points out the fact that Barclays, who haven't taken any Government money, have already reviewed their bonuses for the year. Even in parts of their ...
Posted by Chris:My third and final More or Bore column has appeared in the Evening Gazette today:THERE was quite a fuss last week when Gordon Brown met with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao because the Union flag was displayed upside down. It was pointed out that when flown upside down on a ship this is a sign of distress. So maybe it was appropriate at this time of recession. There is just as much fuss when the Yorkshire rose is displayed the wrong way round. Football clubs are the worst offenders. Doncaster Rovers, Leeds United, Huddersfield Town and Sheffield United ...
Courtesy of The Yorksher Gob.
Everyone in Gaza who speaks of the Israeli assault refers to war crimes. A commission has been established to collect documentation that can be used in prosecutions. They say they now have detailed reports of 100 cases. We meet with surviving members of the Samouni family, talking in the open on the ruins of the house into which 97 members of an extended farming family, living in the countryside on the edge of Gaza CITY, were allegedly herded by Israeli troops. The building ended up being bombed or shelled in the early hours of one morning. The attacks came one ...
Council tax is widely hated, and no wonder. Council tax is simply unfair. It's not based on your ability to pay but on the notional value of your home (very notional given the boom and bust of house prices). So if your income changes (because you lose your job), your council tax doesn't necessarily go down. [...]
I am not going to watch the video Fitna but after reading what Iain Dale has had to say about it I am a little weary to write this post but what they heck here goes. Personally if you look at it from a Liberal point of view then Dutch MP Geert Wilders should not have been banned from this Country. But if you look at the overall consequence of him not being allowed in then it shows that Jacqui Smith has done the right thing. If the Dutch MP was allowed into the UK then the Muslim community in ...
"Respecting press freedoms while safeguarding public safety can be a difficult balancing act, especially when mayhem breaks out at an unauthorised demo. But if you've been reading our news pages recently, you'll know that there's a lack of equilibrium when photographers come face to face with police and their sometimes over-zealous use of stop-and-search powers. As the Home Office has quite correctly stated, there are no restrictions on photographing in public spaces, and the government - as far as we're aware - has no plans to introduce any. But it has failed to address concerns that despite new guidelines designed ...
Watching This Week last night where one of the guests was the chef Anthony Worral Thompson, I was struck by something he said. He was talking about how he has had to close some of his restaurants and make numerous people redundant due to the credit crunch. He explained how during the good times he ran things very tightly and did not need much credit, he only expanded and opened new restaurants when he had the capital from profits from his other places to do so. He said that had he needed to, he was sure that 18 months ago ...
Ah-LAY-DEEEEEZ AND GENNEL-MEN! Roll up, roll up, and purchase your tickets! This is a once in a LIFETIME opportunity to witness the strange, the weird, and the illiberal! To ride the rollercoaster of the British legislature! To experience the stomach-churning terror of the food stalls... GASP at Mr Goldacre's Amazing Hydra in the Freak Show! Marvel at the gall of David Milliband on the Hook-a-Duck stall! SWOON as the beautiful, ethereal Madam Mortimer tells the future with uncanny accuracy (and salty language!)! Enter the Carnival if you dare... Hello, good evening, and welcome to the fourth Carnival on Modern Liberty! ...
Right, time to stick up for Chris Huhne, who is being ludicrously pilloried by LD bloggers for getting us publicity. 'Scuse me?! First he is an extremely capable politician with more political nous in his little finger than Jacqui Smith or whoever the Tory Home Affairs nonentity is. Second he has more awareness of what buttons to push for publicity than most of our people. Which is better for our party: a harmonica playing relationship with a cheeky girl or ten minutes on the Today programme? Third, [and only slightly contradicting what I said above...] no publicity is bad publicity. ...
Fri 13th
10:55
Day 2966: X-Rated Phone Calls - Should the Mayor of London be treated more leniently than Jonathan W...
Friday: A popular personality from BBC television programmes phones up a member of the establishment and delivers a tirade of abuse... Obviously, Bojo the Clown going CHRISTIAN BALE on ultra-slimy Hard Labour stooge Mr Keith Vayse-Vase-or-Vose will do nothing but INCREASE the mayor's maddeningly unearned popularity... to the extent that when asked "who leaked the transcript of their private phone call" the "quo bono" question (that's LATIN for who gets the DOG FOOD!) means that the fluffy foot of suspicion should not JUST point to the Vase office. But the REAL question is about the DOUBLE STANDARDS of the Meeja. ...
These made me smile and wince at the same time...ouch! Have a happy Valentine's Day tomorrow.
Anyone who saw the last series of Top Gear will remember the test of the new Ford Fiesta. During the piece Jeremy Clarkson 'tested' how good the car was at joining in with a naval assault on a beach. The car was pictured driving along the shore with military personnel, landing craft, Lynx helicopters, the lot. Someone asked the military how much this event cost to stage. They replied by detailing the equipment and personnel involved but claimed that the exercise was a scheduled one and so there was not additional cost involved in fitting in with the filming. The ...
Oh dear, oh dear ! The Today programme could not find a minister to defend the government's stupid decision to ban Geert Wilders from entering Britain, so they found Chris Huhne to do it for them. Chris began by saying "Freedom of speech is absolutely crucial" and then showed that he doesn't know the meaning of absolute by trying to draw a dividing line we should not cross, a principle for
The hyperactive Derek Draper has certainly been busy with his Labour List project. They haven't got any readers yet, but I'm sure they will come. The only trouble is that they seem to have forgotten something quite crucial. A month or so ago when Labour List started appearing on our screens, Draper confided that this was a soft launch designed to iron out any failings. Indeed, the screen proudly announced it as being in Beta at top left. Fair enough many of us thought. Let's wait for the official launch on February 12th when the all-singing and dancing version would ...
Sigh, again my tardiness (or wanting to watch Cowboy Builders on Channel 5 instead) has caused me to be the late one to this particular party. I was going to mention the couple of other bloggers who have raised concerns with this but now even LibDem Voice has a round up of the by now myriad blogposts on this subject. That's how late I am, sigh. Anyhoo this is what I was going to say: When people ask me why I'm a LibDem, I don't have to give any of this wishy-washy well, on-balance, my views are more in line ...
Jenny Randerson's complaint that the First Minister breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct by pre-judging a consultation on a school reorganisation in his constituency has been rejected - by Rhodri Morgan. It seems that Rhodri is the appropriate person to complain to when the Ministerial code is breached and he is the person who decides whether he has acted inappropriately or not. No doubt he will ensure that he remains at arms length from any decision on schools in his Cardiff West constituency. Update: Jenny Randerson has again written to the First Minister, outlining which sections of the Ministerial code ...
In the week a UK national newspaper publishes, with very little fuss, a cartoon including the figure of a revered religious figure wearing high heels, an invited parliamentarian from a remarkably liberal country is turned back because he wanted to show a film (which was shown anyway) and meet UK Parliamentarians (whom he had met a couple of weeks ago in London anyway).Has the world gone mad?And
Tonight sees the last ever ITV local news bulletin broadcast from Plymouth. In a fit of rationalisation, ITV has decided that the news for the whole of the South West should now come from Bristol. For all its problems, Westcountry TV saw fit to produce decent local news broadcasts and had sub-regional studios in towns around the region, each of which would produce a 7-10 minute slot for the local news programme each day. It was truly local news. I'm not going to condemn the new programme until it starts on Monday. But the messages are all in the wrong ...
This is a dark city, which will come as no surprise, but the centre at least is not quite as dark as you might imagine. Sure, it doesn't have the brightness of Tel Aviv up the coast, but there are a few streetlights working, some private buildings have lights over public areas, there is light from the windows of some homes, and passing cars in early evening emit a mixture of helpful shine and blinding glare. The London blackout it is not, and one light a distance off can be very helpful. But away from the main highways are pools ...
OK lets for a moment assume I accept the SNP's excuse for dropping Local Income Tax (LIT)proposals on the grounds that there was not enough support in Holyrood, even with the Lib Dems on side. What does that mean for the appointment of Mike Russell to his new role? Now I'm not claiming to be good at maths (OK stats is what I do for a living) but surely there are 13 less MSPs* in favour of Mike Russell's new remit as Minister for Independence than there was for scraping the council tax and replacing it with LIT. Indeed independence ...
There are those in the far South West who quite enjoy the fact that we are not in the middle of the country (there wouldn't be any beaches, for one thing). But increasingly it appears that England is drawing in on itself and abandoning the remoter areas. Take yesterday's announcement about new trains for example. Lovely shiny new trains are being bought from a British consortium for two of the most important lines in the country and 12,000 jobs are being created in the process. Except that, as we all know, this isn't true. First, the consortium is basically Japanese ...
So, through Montrose which Adam Stachura says is Gods own country, obviously unbiased as he lives there! ------------------
So, through Montrose which Adam Stachura says is Gods own country, obviously unbiased as he lives there! ------------------
Sometimes the results of the bombing look awesome. A large complex of buildings around the Ministry of Finance completely, and I mean completely, destroyed - just piles of concrete rubble. Sometimes it is shocking. Office blocks and apartment blocks that have had their sides blown off, with floor after floor left tipping drunkenly. Some areas of flat complexes appear untouched while others have been devastated. And sometimes the results look almost commonplace: block after block of 8-10 storey apartments, still very much lived in, with chunks taken out, walls of individual flats missing and the space gaping open, black marks ...
So, the next part of my journey brought me into Dundee, and then just outside the other side was this view ------------------
The red card from Sunday's match (where Spurs played so well for much of the match and just couldn't turn the possession and chances into goals), reminded me of this article I randomly came across the other day - an interesting run down of 10 'classic' red cards. It was linked to from where I was reading about Dean Windass having been given three red cards in one match, which I thought was pretty impressive. That makes No.9 in the list. One sending off that I remember in particular isn't in the list. Carling Cup semi-final, second leg, 2002, at ...
Yes, todays the day, I am 41 (technically not until this evening) but that's detail.....I'm off to West Aberdeenshire & Kincarding today and then onto Gordon. So today I'm going to do a snapshot of photos from my "commute". Enjoy!This is a misty Ladybank in Fife. ------------------
As I was opening up the cafe this morning, little Sophie burst through the door with this morning's copy of the Internet under her arm. Flicking through the pages as I sipped my espresso, I spotted a couple of curious stories. First Andrew Way, head of the Royal Free Hospital in London, complains that the Government's botched IT rollout has cost the hospital £10 million. That's £10 million that can't now be spent on medical equipment because it's gone into the coffers of IT companies. I'm not one to serve up knee-jerk criticisms of health spending. It's easy to attack ...
Well, it's been less than three days since nominations closed, and much has happened already. I've been bombarded with invitations to join Facebook groups, questions about process and general organisational stuff. And I'm the Returning Officer...The Spring Conference takes place this weekend at the University of Warwick, just outside Coventry and, if you're a member of Liberal Youth, try to get
Following research that toddlers who gesture more gain a larger vocabulary, experts are calling for "teachers to encourage more gesturing in schools". Have they really thought that one through?
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the blogosphere a little spat is developing between two Plaid Cymru Parliamentarians over indications that the nationalists are going to allow Labour to introduce top-up fees for Welsh students. Adam Price MP writes on his blog: The consultation on Jane Hutt's controversial plans to introduce 'top-up' tuition fees belatedly into Wales ends on Monday. I doubt that my party will make a formal submission but I'm certain that the issue will come up in what will undoubtedly prove an interesting meeting of the party's National Council on the 21st February. The proposals mirror closely the recommendations of ...
For Gordon Brown to have have lost Sir James Crosby as a key adviser and deputy chair of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) because of the sacking of the HBoS whittle blower was unfortunate. In the space of a few days to find that Glen Moreno, who heads UK Financial Investments (UKFI) which overseas the public £37bn investment UK banks, may also go as a result of his former bank was linked with tax evasion, is disastrous. With bankers falling over themselves in the orchestrated dance of the sorrowful during the week. While bonuses are still being flaunted around in ...
Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Kirsty Williams has followed in the footsteps of Federal Leader Nick Clegg and completed the 25 Random Things meme.:1. Kirsty is not my first name - Victoria is2. I have 3 Kidneys3. In my youth I represented Wales in Sports Acrobatics4. I spent my 21st Birthday in Houston Texas, which sounds great, except I was supposed to be in Guadalajara5. One of the great things
When I was an Indymedia mirror operator I used to get weekly calls from concerned police officers worried about "dangerous content" on "my site". It's the nature of the project that it attracts all kinds of people who often post very foolish things in public view, however I've noticed that police find dealing with IM very confusing and this makes normally sensible investigators try some very foolish things: Recently Kent Police confiscated one of IndyMedia's servers because they believed it contained information pertaining to some threatening comments posted by an animal-rights activist. They had previously approached the server's operator with ...
Just now I was to be found issuing a schoolmarmly ticking awf to noted libertarian Ms Charlotte Gore for being a grumpy sourpuss over the advent of the (noted social democrat) Social Liberal Forum. I paraphrase: "It's not fair!" said she. "It is fair," said I, "Work harder." But here's where I think she may have a point: Is [...]
It would appear that Keith Vaz has managed to upset Boris Johnson to the point where, in a telephone conversation between the two men, the latter "launched an X-rated tirade" at the former.Now I freely admit that Keith Vaz frequently irritates me, it's something about his style, I suppose, but he was quite legitimately seeking clarification after Boris's stellar performance in front of the Home
Libertarians often go on about how the state, whilst pretending to promote a free market actually more often than not corrupts that market through its own actions - protection, government contracts and so on and that this leads to the skewing of the market towards bigger corporations. I came across a good example today. The chief executive of an Oxfordshire based construction company Leadbitter (who are amongst other things building new blocks on my halls site now here at Brookes) writes for the local paper that: The only crumb of comfort for Leadbitter is that changes in Government guidelines should ...
The by-election for a seat on Sodbury Town Council has been won for the Liberal Democrats by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Jobbins, a holder of the Military Medal, who received more than half the vote. The vacancy was due to the resignation of a Conservative councillor, and the election was called by the Green Party. Col Jobbins commented "I am very pleased by this substantial vote of confidence. I hope to live up to voters' expectations and I will work for the town of Chipping Sodbury and all its people" Steve Webb MP described the result as excellent and said "I ...
