There's an in-depth feature on 'the next generation' of politicians by Simon Usborne in today's Independent, with a particular focus on Liberal Youth, the youth wing of the Lib Dems. Here's an excerpt: When I suggest to [Elaine Bagshaw, Liberal Youth's chair] and her colleagues that they are unusual, they pause. "Not unusual as in weird," I suggest, "just as in uncommon." Bagshaw looks up and down the row, smiling, and jokes: "No, we're probably quite weird." The fact is, few young people care enough about politics to vote (37 per cent of 18-24-year-olds, according to a 2005 Mori poll), ...
At last a major political party has announced that they would axe the trident programme and not replace it. The Disgruntled Radical has the full story
Thanks for all your recs so far. The thing I am loving about Spotify, and that I didn't realise until {[info - personal]} moviegrrl mentioned that you could do it, is collaborative playlists! So I have made my girl power list collaborative, which means you all can go and add to it if you like. If you've not got spotify yet, you can get it from here. It works on the LJ model - free accounts have ads, and you can pay to be adless - and the ads haven't been too intrusive and annoying so far. So, if anyone ...
Here, look. I'm writing an actual post, rather than filling this with digests of Twitter posts. Well blow me down. It's motivated by anger, of course. The smug bastards at The Times are crowing about how they've been big and brave and public interesty by forcing the naming of Nightjack, the CID blogger who recently won the Orwell Prize for being bloody brilliant. I'd link to his site, but he's taken it down in self defence. Any quiet 'we know it's you but we'll keep schtumm so long as you don't go too far' policy that his bosses might have ...
From the BBC News website: Nick Clegg has called for the Trident nuclear deterrent to be scrapped, saying it is too expensive and no longer meets the UK's defence needs.The Lib Dem leader is the most senior politician to say Trident should not be renewed when it expires in 2024.The UK still needed a deterrent, he told the BBC, but a "like for like" replacement was out of the question.Well done, Nick. He is right to oppose the renewal of Trident. And he is right to use the arguments he has. During the last Liberal Democrat leadership election, when Chris ...
The sun must have gone to people's heads. In just 1 day today I've had to deal with 6 issues of anti social behaviour, 5 of them big, one involving racial harassment. I've only just finished the last of the e-mails, and glad i won't be around when the police sergeant opens his e-mails in the morning for those that came through during the evening. Also an act of "corporate vandalism" and...
I can't be the only (ex) Liberal Democrat Constituency Organiser that sees huge parallels between the experience of Mary Portas in her BBC programme 'Mary Queen of Charity Shops' and trying to organise a political party. I've always liked business programmes – Dragon's Den, The Apprentice, Tough at the Top etc etc – as I find [...]
I've done my best to wade through the Digital Britain report this evening, but I hold my hands up and say I've got nowhere near it! It's a beefier document than I expected. My initial thoughts are cautiously positive, although there are plenty of points I'd like to have seen included or expanded on. I'm also not convinced about the 50p landline tax. Rather than spew out my thoughts sporadically I'm going to take my time giving the document a thorough review to gauge its impact on Birmingham. In the meantime, keep an eye on Rhubarb Radio's fantastic Digital Britain ...
Tonight on BBC News at Ten Nick Clegg said that Britain cannot afford to replace Trident. The report also said that he poured doubt on its military usefulness. Tomorrow's Guardian will have an article by Patrick Wintour under the title: "Nick Clegg says Lib Dems won't replace Trident because world has moved on", already available on the net.Like we said in 2007, Trident is useless, dangerous
This was supposed to be a humorous blog post about the fact that Twitter is currently offline and I was wondering how it will be possible for all those iPhone and Blackberry users to tell their followers what they are doing in 140 characters or less. It was then that I was reminded that Twitter is currently being used in Iran to document the ongoing situation following their Presidential Election. With heavy reporting restrictions in place and because of the rules banning unauthorised gatherings, Twitter is playing an important role in Iran, encouraging open discussion and enabling the process of ...
The Scottish Government yesterday outlined its new road safety strategy, with the laudable aim of cutting road deaths by 40% and halving the number of serious injuries within 10 years. Some of it does seem sensible, such as an approach to driver training which emphasises lifelong learning and improvement. Far too many people consider that passing a test gives them an automatic expert status when it comes to motoring. Only a tiny proportion of drivers will take part in schemes such as Pass Plus, which provide additional training after someone's passed their test. But there are other proposals which are ...
This niceness concept is proving to be quite rewarding. I haven't felt moved to bite the head off of a blogger recently (although a few seem quite capable of self-decapitation I understand...), and that loss of irritation allows me to be a touch more mellow in my approach to the public. The atmosphere at Euston Tower is a bit tense at the moment, with targets coming under pressure and delays in dealing with correspondence increasing. The result, more telephone calls, more reminder letters, more aggravation all round. Accountants are hassled by their clients looking for refunds, or the withdrawal of ...
Still no sign of a Labour, UKIP or Green leaflet. The Lib Dem leaflet arrived today and I saw two Lib Dem leafletters out delivering in parts of Norwich North on my way home from work so the Lib Dems have hit the ground running.
Why no blogging, you ask? Ah, citizens, I am an old, weary Head of State and the Republic grows dilapidated [waves jewelled hand feebly]. It is not just that more mundane things are preoccupying me, although they are. I have kept the Republic open for business through far more tumultuous periods than this (e.g. the great [...]
I do love Lib Dem Voice - they can have a big sloppy kiss instead of a hat tip (actually, they might prefer beer, so shall we settle on a pint?) for announcing that Nick Clegg has said that the Liberal Democrats will not replace Trident. I am ecstatic because I have been a long time opponent of us having a nuclear deterrent at all for all sorts of reasons - morally, I don't think it's right that we should have such weapons of mass destruction, I don't think that an expensive new missile system is the answer to the ...
Normal blogging - or as close to normal as it gets here - will now resume.
A new technology that I found via Tech Crunch allows users to be able to play games via their browsers, their TV's and you might ask how I shall explain more below. The technology allows you to add a controller to your TV that is connected to the Internet and you play the games via your TV on the Internet and you can play on your computer browser are you impressed? If you are then you need to check out OnLive but the only problem is if you live in the UK you can not be a Beta tester otherwise ...
From The Guardian: The Liberal Democrats today become the first mainstream party to declare they will not renew Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent system with an equivalent modernised system, as parliament agreed in 2007. Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, told the Guardian he was making the move because of the rapidly deteriorating public finances and because the case for such a powerful nuclear deterrent in the post-cold war world was "a complete fiction". Figures in the cabinet and the shadow cabinet have been privately pressing for their parties to renounce a replacement for Trident, but have not been able to ...
CON 39 (-1) LAB 25 (+7) LD 19 (+1) personally after looking at these results I am a little worried for the future of Labour and I think they need to be more worried then me. Labour used to be a political party for the working class and the ethnic minorities but now they seem to be a party that is just clinging onto power by any means necessary. All Labour need is a new change of faces at the very top, Brown is bad news for Labour I have said that time and time again and the best thing ...
The One Wales Government opened another chapter on their abortive attempt to gain powers over affordable housing today when they announced that they are going back to the drawing board and starting from scratch. The previous attempt to draw down powers was introduced just under two years ago and was heavily criticised by Welsh Liberal Democrats and the legislative scrutiny committee for its lack of ambition. It was scuppered when the Secretary of State for Wales took up the suggestion of a Plaid Cymru Special Advisor and inserted a veto for himself in the instrument, meaning that any attempt to ...
One of the setbacks of living in the distant suburbs of London is that you tend to have less of a social life than you might otherwise have. A long day at work, with a wearying commute at the end of it, tends to make you feel that doing anything other than going home is too much like hard work. However, living in inner London means that you gain that extra valuable time to do things that are fun. Alternatively, you can organise events to see other people. Ailsa Newby, wife of our Treasury spokesman in the Lords, had decided ...
With the revelation of the writer of the Night Jack by the Times newspaper as I wrote earlier Lancashire Telegraph have posted on their site about it. Night Jack was a great blog every time I read the site which wasn't often but its a shame to see the site go offline. Lancashire police have given a statement as followed: "We have conducted a full internal investigation and the officer accepts that parts of his public commentary have fallen short of the standards of professional behaviour we expect of our police officers. "He has been spoken to regarding his professional ...
Last week's Selly Oak Ward Committee meeting had a presentation from the Council's Highways department on plans for the replacement of the Dogpool Lane bridge.The main reason for replacing the current bridge is because it has weight restrictions, but it will also help reduce the risk of flooding following last September's flood. Two intermediate supports were installed under the bridge in the
Research by the Welsh Liberal Democrats has revealed that 31 laptops, 10 blackberry devices and 6 mobile phones have been reported lost or stolen in the last three years from the Welsh government, raising further concerns about the protection of data help by public authorities. Welsh government figures also show that a majority of the lost/stolen laptops were from Plaid Cymru leader's Economy and Transport department. In their 2007 Assembly election manifesto, Plaid Cymru promised a free laptop for every school child in Wales. This latest revelation of lost/stolen data is yet another blunder in the increasing list of instances ...
Salford Liberal Democrats. Liverpool road, well if you can't beat them!
Tue 16th
20:46
Thoughts from the Train: Digital Britain - not exactly commemorating Lord Reith's death...
There is a certain irony in the fact that, on this day in 1971, Lord Reith passed away. Doubtless he would have been horrified by some of the content that his beloved BBC now transmits, but the concept of a public sector broadcaster, providing quality programming for the nation, still exists. My more economically liberal friends probably rail against the idea of state broadcasting but, given the slide in standards at both ITV and Channel 4, and the increasing number of digital channels that churn out a stream of repeats, we should perhaps be grateful that someone is still producing ...
A Welsh Government scheme to make use of universities to kick-start the fight against the recession has stalled because none of the proposals have met the grade, this morning's Western Mail has reported. The Education Minister Jane Hutt had announced the £2m economic support initiative a few months ago and hoped that projects would be up and running this month. However, the Higher Education Funding Council in Wales decided that the five submitted schemes were not good enough. Both the universities concerned and HEFCW appear to be talking at cross purposes in the article and the sort of joint working ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbppSi_2c_U take a peak! Imagine if this was you or me, Crooks well i will leave you to decide.
If you are a regular reader of this blog you may recall that back in April I was invited to attend a seminar hosted by the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) on the issue of tackling empty homes. I relished this opportunity to lobby ministers and civil servants face to face for action. In many ways it was the logical next step of successful my local campaign. Well, since then there has been a reshuffle and Ian Wright MP has been replaced by another Ian - in this case Ian Austin MP, who will take on the responsibility for housing and regeneration within CLG. Today ...
Well Jim Devine Livingston's MP has today been barred for standing for Labour at the next General Election after being dropped following investigation into his expenses by the Labour Party's NEC. It wasn't even four years ago that my close friend and colleague Charles Dundas turned up at the Labour by-election head-quarters with a few others carrying new brooms to demand a clean sweep and new start for Livingston*. It was in reaction to one of Devine's election promises which was actually to correct something not done by the then Labour run local council. However, he and his heavies (yes ...
There are some politicians you don't really mind that much being beaten by, and Robin Cook was one of them. His re-election to Livingston in 2005 was not unexpected and also not particularly unwelcome. His stance on the Iraq War, and resignation from the Cabinet on principle, a rare thing in this Government, as well as his diligent service as a constituency MP showed him to be a decent human being. I had cause to visit him once with a problem and he sorted it with some sensitivity. When he died in August 2005, I was genuinely saddened. Yet another ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJzLu2Yu5Ek You have got to watch this rude but funny so be warned.....
I back in January 2009 relaunched the political weblog project to try and get more politicians blogging in hope that I would have helped someone spread their message to the general public and to give us bloggers something more interesting to read but since got rid of the mini site that I created for the project but it still lives. Since January I have not made it a priority but have been talking to politicians to get them blogging and many have either said they will think about it or they are really interested. One of the really interested ones ...
After much thought, Mark Young has recently decided to stand down as our Parliamentary Candidate in the Vale of Clwyd. Mark has decided that he wishes to devote more time with his family and with his business. Mark without doubt, has been a stalwart of the local association for a number of years and has worked tirelessly and with success for the party in the Vale of Clwyd. I am sure that I speak on behalf of all our members in the Vale and wish Mark every success and best wishes for the future. Bob hwyl Mark! Rhodri Jones Chair, ...
Jim Devine, MP will now never face the Livingston electorate at a General Election after being deselected by the Labour Party's NEC sub Committee which is investigating MP's expense claims. Clearly they were less convinced than the local Labour Party who backed him last week by his explanations of thousands of pounds being paid for shelving, which has yet to be found, to Mr Devine's pub landlord. He also paid over £2000 to an electrician he met in a pub in London and who carried out rewiring work to his London flat. The invoice submitted for this work had an ...
In the Commons this afternoon to hear new Secretary of State Ben Bradshaw launch the final report on 'Digital Britain'. Among many important matters, the report dealt with the issue of access to broadband - both at current speeds and at proposed 'next generation' speeds. The key points were: - to reaffirm a 'universal service broadband commitment' that everyone would be able to achieve 2 Mbps by 2012; this would be based on existing technology such as DSL, 'fibre to the cabinet', new wireless coverage and possibly 'satellite infill'; some of the money for this would come from what looks ...
I am making a spotify playlist of what might be called girl power music - stuff by women that isn't being submissive to some man, basically - and here's what I've got so far. And it's woefully inadequate. You see, the thing is that the music that I am familiar with is mostly hairy men shouting about stuff... So you lot need to rec me some stuff. I don't want any Spice Girls or stuff like that, and would love to be introduced to some nice female-fronted metal. Political/protesty stuff also welcome. Rise Up by Skunk Anasie was one of ...
There are reports that Damian McBride is back working for Gordon Brown only a couple of months after he was forced to resign in disgrace following the Smeargate scandal. I agree with Fausty that if this turns out to be true then it is completely unacceptable. This government has a long track record of reinstating people who have previously been forced to resign (in fact the second most powerful person in the government is one such person). This time it will not wash though. The only reason Brown was able to move on from that scandal is because McBride went ...
I have been informed by Cllr David Jones that the new date for our petition to be presented is 23rd June, at the Executive Committee meeting of the new Central Bedfordshire Council. This is a change of date to what was originally announced here. It is item 5 on the agenda. The meeting starts at 9.30 a.m, and will be held at Council Chamber, Priory House, Monks Walk, Shefford. (click headline for link) MEMBERS OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND THIS MEETING, So if you can make it, why not get along?
2. John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD): What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the arrangements by which the Official Solicitor is appointed to act in the family division. [279664]The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Bridget Prentice): There has not been a recent assessment and there are not any plans for one. However, the family procedure rule committee
This morning I attended the Credit Crunch Summit organised by the Council, which focussed on help for small businesses. I have to admit, I have been quite sceptical in the past about the value of these events although I haven't wanted to get into a political bunfight about it unlike some other local politicians as I don't think that was helpful. Comments have been made in the press that Reading is well placed to weather the recession. My own view is that the recession is clearly impacting on different people and businesses in different ways and it is not helpful to over-simplify the ...
Gordon Brown is poised to free-up billions of pounds to tackle Britain's council house crisis. Just 400 local authority homes were built in 2007, despite a waiting list which may grow to five million by 2011. Now, following calls from the LGA, the Prime Minister is considering letting councils keep profits from rents and right-to-buy [...]
Guido has just written a blog post about how Alastair Campbell thinks that all MP's with mental health problems should lose their seats and personally I agree with him. We elect MP's when they are sane and we want them to represent us in Parliament we don't want insane people in Parliament so the best thing we can do is sack mentally insane if they become ill whilst MP's. The Prime Minister is known for throwing his Nokia phones so will we see Mr Brown getting sacked if getting rid of insane MP's become a law in the UK? I ...
Sad But True: We don't stand a Chance. The only thing that could possibly give us any say in Westminster is still a hung parliament. This has been roomer/common knowledge for a while now, but unfortunately the ex-Tory-boy Clegg's refusal to put us to the left of New Labour (where we belong) in his guardian interview [...]
Published Date: 16 June 2009 By BRIAN FARMER CONSERVATIVE Party leader David Cameron raised eyebrows last night when he adopted a German accent to underline his opposition to identity cards. He pledged to scrap ID cards during a question and answer session with voters in Norwich. Explaining his concerns, he adopted a German accent and said: "Where [...]
So say the BBC; "The Labour Party's biggest financial backer trade union Unison has said it will no longer give financial support to MPs that do not support its values. General Secretary Dave Prentis told union members it would not give any more "blank cheques" to the party. He said Labour MPs and candidates at the next election [...]
Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing , Communities , Education Tuesday 16th June 2009 – 3:13pm More teenagers dropping out of school, college and work Teacher who had drink spiked by pupil loses negligence case against Newham Council School's lunch time banana ban 'over the top' Thousands of five-year-olds 'missing out' on first-choice schools [...]
I read a lot of blogs, mostly dry stuff about economics. Most are well written, but few so good that they make you want to read it like a novel, wondering what will happen next. Nightjack was in the latter category, and exploded to public attention when it won the Orwell prize. I was saving it up, just like I'm saving up episodes of the Wire, not splurging on them all at the same time. I was particularly enjoying "24 hours to solve the case" series. Some of its conclusions were too pessimistic for a liberal like me, too gloomy ...
Today's Guardian reports on yesterday's move by the House of Lords to accept an amendment which will ban tax exiles and non-doms from making a donation to British political parties. The amendment was moved by rebel Labour peer Lord (Dale) Campbell-Savours and backed by Lib Dem peers. Peers last night voted to ban non-residents and so called "non-doms" from donating to political parties, in defiance of the Labour and Conservative frontbenches. A backbench Labour amendment, designed to force the Tory donor Lord Ashcroft to clarify his tax affairs, was passed by 107 votes to 85, a majority of 22. The ...
The Government has just published its Digital Britain report, detailing the UK government's strategy for broadband and digital content. The Guardian has a quick summary of its conclusions: • Illegal filesharing is "tantamount to theft", repeat offenders will have their broadband connection reduced. • Part of the BBC licence fee will be used to fund universal broadband access • But also a levy will be placed on all fixed phone lines to help pay for universal broadband • A small part of the licence fee digital switchover surplus will fund regional news pilots between now and 2013 • Talks between ...
If the answer proves to be correct then this is another huge foul up by this discredited Labour Government who have been trying to Jam extra houses into the south west for some time now. On 20th May, the High Court gave an oral judgement that the published Regional Spatial Strategy for the East of England failed to meet certain requirements of the EU Strategic Environmental...
Every so often you come across something simple that the council has done which makes you think-that was a good idea. In Botanic Gardens there is a chain-saw sculpture of a dragon.The children at the local primary school were involved with the project-not wielding the chain-saw but writing a poem which be seen engraved along the tail. My children have outgrown regular visits to the park (for the time being) so I had missed the installation of this artwork. It, like the gardens are well worth a visit. My colleague Cllr John Dodd has launched a campaign to bring back ...
I had my first chance this evening to speak with Paul Larkin. Paul has joined the Lib Dem group on Sefton Council. I was very impressed not just by Paul's knowledge of the issues facing people in the Derby Ward of Bootle he represents but by his obvious dedication to improve the lives of people living in what is one of the poorest areas in Britain. Paul's ward adjoins the northern boundary of Liverpool and our Lib Dem colleagues in County Ward-Paul Clark et al- are his closest neighbours. The Liberal Democrats are now established as the main opposition in ...
We have two planning applications that you may be interested in looking at this week. The first is for Internal alterations to Albert Villa for the installation of 1 stud wall in the roof space, at Technology House Lower Bristol Road. The application was first submitted on 2nd June 2009 and has a decision date of 28th July 2009. The application reference number is...
The Orwell Award winning Night Jack the blogger who is a police officer by profession is going to get unmasked according to a report that Iain Dale has found on the BBC's website and personally I think its wrong what the ISP is going to do. The High Court has sided with the newspaper who wants to expose the blogger and personally I think this is disgusting. Bloggers are meant to be given some respect and Night Jack should be given some dignity. All that is going to happened to Night Jack is that he will get a sack from ...
The conclusions of our sixth meeting are now posted on the Forum website at The meeting made a strong plea for Bath to develop a clearly articulated vision of the sort of night-time economy it wants, and a route map of how to get there. It also called for restrictions to be lifted so that shops could open later than the...
I have wondered for a long time how very different history may have played out had Gordon Brown have stood against Tony Blair for the leadership of the Labour Party in 1994. Given how hugely things could have differed this might seem like a bit of an invidious task but I will have a stab at what I think some of the most important consequences might have been. I think Gordon Brown would have lost and lost quite heavily. This would have been a good thing for a number of reasons. Firstly it would have meant that Gordon Brown's sense ...
Moat-cleaning services, tennis court repairs, the 'flipping' of second homes to make a profit, the claiming of mortgages that don't exist, two BNP MEPs ... all are examples which represent the negative issues within our political system that have come to a head very, very quickly over the last month. This problem however is simply the result of an underlying fault in British politics – the lack of ambition, empathy and passion for everything this country represents. The leader of this society should be able to walk into packed football stadiums, from Stamford Bridge to Huish Park, and have everyone ...
The BBC is reporting how Iran is trying to control the media by restricting all foreign media to their offices and personally I think this will give new media a leg up on the old media if they report from the streets of Iran. If the bloggers in Iran get out and about in the cities and get pictures for their blogs then this will have a massive affect as new media will beat old media over and over again until the old media hacks realise that new media is here to stay and its good. So lets see the ...
The Daily Express reports today that a lady is suing the Environment Agency for £300,000 after a branch fell on her head. According to the Express, 58 year-old Doreen Prior has been unable to work since the accident and believes a proper check would have spotted that the branch was dead. This is, of course, utterly moronic. Is anyone seriously suggesting that the Environment Agency should check every tree on every footpath - thousands of miles worth - on some sort of regular basis just in case a branch falls on someone? That would clearly cost millions - probably hundreds ...
After imploring folks to disregard the BNP in a blog post last week, I had resolved to practise what I preach and not mention them again anytime soon. It seems that there are many who steadfastly refuse to do so and are intent on showering them with publicity and awarding them as much undeserved influence as possible. It has resulted in a new "-ism"; sans any official name, let's call it You-look-like-a-racist-BNP-memberism, where anybody who fits the purported BNP profile is immediately assumed to be a member, discriminated against and reviled. Case in point - The Daily Mail has run ...
Our policy on Europe is simply all over the show in this party; we make popularist anti-EU noises while trying to maintain a pro-European stance. Nick Clegg's performance on BBC Radio 4's 'You and Yours' phone-in is a blatant example of the confusion that regins at the heart of party policy. As reported on Politics [...]
Shahid Malik is someone who had to resign from a government post once and lets hope he doesn't have to do it twice because then the best place for him would be with Mandelson in the Lords. Shahid Malik has been up to no good again but Guido and Tory Bear are pushing to get him sacked and I don't think they will rest until he is. The Sunlight Centre for Open Politics the organisation set up by the pair is leading the campaign and to read up more about what they have been up to including a letter from ...
From now on anonymous commenters (i.e. those who are not logged in with either a DW account or a valid openID), you'll be presented with a CAPCHA image. I know, I know, and I hate them too, but I am sick of the amount of spam comments I am getting. If you ARE logged in you should still be able to just comment as usual. Sorry 'bout tha' This blog is proudly sponsored by
So after signing his party up to a ragtag bunch of right-wing political parties in the European Parliament, with comrades that include Latvians who celebrate the Waffen SS and Poles who seek to oppose the 'Germanisation' of Europe, David Cameron might be believed to have a strange view of Europe and Germany's distant Nazi past. [...]
Let's hope Nick can avoid the urge to do impressions of Germans at his meeting on Thursday.
Yesterday, the Calman Commission on Scottish Devolution published its final report. It runs to some 300 pages and makes substantive recommendations on the powers of the Scottish Parliament, including financial powers and accountability, strengthened relationships between Westminster and Holyrood, and radical changes to the working procedures and rules of both Westminster and Holyrood. The report is unanimous. It is a remarkable achievement. When it was established many commentators said that nothing would come of it - that no agreement was possible with such a broad range of participants. They have been proved wrong. Liberal Democrats were right to press for ...
A govemment makes a decision and a million people walk through the capital to protest about it. The decision is implemented. Years later public pressure forces an enquiry - to be held in secret and not to apportion any blame but to see if we can learn any lessons.A government makes an announcement of the election result and a million people walk through the capital to protest about it. 2 days
Last year I blogged about National Express's plans to install ticket barriers at stations on the East Coast mainline, banning all but travellers with tickets from the platforms. Part of that post said,As "Simon" from National Express "Customer Relations" says, "People will no longer be allowed on the platform without a ticket. This is going to be implemented on every station up and down the East
The Iraq inquiry must be in public - there is nothing really else to say is there?
The Sun reveals its new strapline...
Last night I attended most of one of the local Police and Communities Together (PACT) meetings covering the Eccles Rd/Valley/Broadgate Meadows/Overdale and Linksway/Green Avenue area. One of the things you find upon becoming a councillor is that you have many meetings occurring at the same time and far too many to attend all of. In [...]
A choice between between hidden cuts or massive cuts is hardly a choice at all. Would we want a government that says it's not cutting essential public services but secretly has to or would we want a government which supports the so-called 'laffer curve' side of economics which supports implementing cuts in essential public services during a downturn in the economy despite the fact that it has been shown in history that this only makes matters worse and the real prosperity follows from investment in public services and economic stimulus packages, you only have to look at the downturn caused ...
Is it just me or does Tim Ireland have a problem with Iain Dale. Iain is a good blogger, I don't like Tories but Iain is one of those Tories that you can take a liking for. Iain does like to keep his friends close but he isn't someone who attacks someone or points someone out so I don't understand what Tim Ireland has against him? Tim Ireland really does need to find something better to do with his time then to make graphics like the one he is using as his twitter profile image. Either Tim has nothing better ...
Facebook is growing as many will tell you that's why I always say on this blog that we should use it to campaign that is why I have been yelling that we use the site to campaign but Tech Crunch has reported that the site has moved its offices and personally I like the pictures and think that you should be able to see them and enjoy them as well. Facebook has a massive affect on the world if the site was to go down today we would be in serious trouble or wouldn't we?
The mainstream press has been awash with stories of green shoots in the economy, the recession is over etc. It is without doubt that some areas of the economy have benefited from the most massive and costly stimulus package in this nation's history. How could it not? Meanwhile, Austrian School Economists have been heckling from the sidelines, warning that it could be a one off effect; that once the quantitative easing "wears off", the underlying weakness in the economy will once again show through. Those voices have been warning of a double dip recession. It is the job of politicians, ...
As we discovered yesterday, Nick Clegg is the special guest on Radio 4's You and Yours this morning and will be taking phone calls and emails from the public. If you have thoughts on the matter and can't get on air yourself, why not use the space below to alleviate your frustration?
Many people use facebook just to create an online presence but personally I think Facebook can be used to a candidates advantage if they use it for campaigning and getting the troops geared up and I shall discuss some of the advantages below. A facebook group is something that a candidate needs to make sure they have. A facebook group can help to promote the candidate and they can help to make the campaign more widely known about because when someones friend becomes a member of a group then it appears on their profile and friends can see what their ...
Harking back to the Franks inquiry into the Falklands just won't wash as an excuse to hold the Iraq war enquiry privately. The Franks inquiry was held nearly thirty years ago before the internet and the Freedom of Information Act. (David Miliband) said the government was "determined to match" the Franks inquiry into the Falklands war, which he said had set the "gold standard" in terms of thoroughness and access to papers. Gold standard! Perhaps David Miliband should read the withering words of former Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan on the subject: For 338 paragraphs he painted a splendid picture, ...
BT are even more incompetent than I made them out to be last week. It will be at least another week – possibly two – before I have home internet again (I've now registered with a different provider...) I'll try to update this during that time, but no promises...
...I mean the one where the media and, presumably, some people, get all hysterically excited about the certainty that a British man is going to win Wimbledon for the first time since that fellow who is now a shirt. Fortunately, judging from BBC Breakfast this morning, the one person who is certainly not in danger of getting over-excited is Andy Murray.
2 Big Stories Should we be pleased that Labour are finally granting the public an inquiry into the Iraq war? Not when it's held in private, as Gordon Brown suggests in the case of the long-awaited review. The BBC has the response of Rose Gentle, mother of a British soldier who died in Iraq: We have fought and fought for this but it will be no use and it could all be for nothing behind closed doors. Nick Clegg was also unimpressed. Meanwhile, neighbouring Iraq, the ramifications of Iran's disputed election continue to play out with protests in Tehran and ...
The MPC has replaced Tim Besley with Adam Posen (hat tip to David Smith). Posen is a name familiar to me from debates about the plight of Japan since 1990: Krugman mentions him favourably in this regard, and seems to use his name when he wants to criticise the US government taking half-measures to fix the financial crisis. Posen is apparently a fan of fiscal action during a depression, though Tyler Cowen can find alternative explanations for how government spending worked for Japan.This will be interesting - I look forward to his first speech in the new role.
Surprise party for a friend yesterday. Arranged by his wife Lesley Horton, who writes detective books. Hope she didn't leave any clues. (Her books are terrific: Snares of Guilt; On Dangerous Ground; Devils in the Mirror; The Hollow Core.)
Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire: I've blogged before about some of the myths around Obama's campaign – the exaggerated tales of seas of small donors and soaring turnout. Now it's time to look at how the votes played out across the country and see what it tells us. The US Presidential election is (with some minor exceptions) a first past the post election run across each state, with the winner scooping all the spoils. It doesn't matter whether you win New York state by 1% or 99%; either way the result counts the same in the tally towards winning the ...
A little while ago, my daughter - young Jezebel Quist - found herself in hospital for a few days (nothing too bad, all better now). As a parent stuck in there with her for much of that time, I was interested to see how the NHS fared. Remember that the National Health Service has received a massive three-fold increase from £35 billion in 1997 to £110 billion planned for 2010/11. To be fair, the population is also aging and old people cost the NHS a lot more. Then there's the increased cost of all the exciting whizzy new drugs and ...
Alison Goldsworthy reported from the Compass annual conference on Freedom Central on Monday that a senior Plaid Cymru figure had suggested that a referendum on the further transfer of powers to the Welsh Assembly was 'frankly unlikely' in this term of office. Now the reborn Secretary of State for Wales, Peter Hain has backed that judgement up with an interview in the Western Mail in which he suggests that the target date of 2011 promised in the One Wales agreement for a referendum is not really on the cards. I am sure that there are many Plaid Cymru members this ...
Here's a quick review of some interesting subject matter in the FT and elsewhere (press READ MORE):
Paul Canning on The Wardman Wire has raw video linked from yesterday's Tehran rally and points out how vital Twitter has been in getting information outPaul Waugh has an excellent summary of the mess Ed Balls has managed to get himself intoMark Wadsworth questions whether the car scrappage scheme will have much or any effect at all in the endProf. Paul Reynolds admires Gordon Brown's ability to utter "brazen untruths". I can't say admiration is my first response...And Heresy Corner thinks Brown's decision to hold the Iraq inquiry in secret is misjudged
A matter of hours after blogging about the Live Music bill being proposed by a Lib Dem Lord, news reaches me that The Rainbow in Digbeth has been given a noise abatement order by Birmingham City Council. This is a real blow to what is a real hotbed of cultural activity - the Rainbow is far more than just a pub. The events are known nationally and the place attracts an incredible mix of international artists and local unknowns. If this really is off the back of one complaint from a resident of Abacus (which by the way is a ...
All hail the healing power of tea and cornflakes when faced with an early-morning splitter of a headache. Almost feel human at the moment. # RT @girlonetrack We should line up all the blog commenters who shout "First!" in front of a firing squad and ask them, "Who's first, then?" # Headache returning: need more tea. Will pass on the second bowl of cornflakes though. # RT @rhianonjameson wishes @Kirakitty a speedy recovery. (Seconded here – good luck and all) # "Corse itz Monday." – http://cheezburger.com/tw/?v2-29484 #lol #dogs # Hurrah for Nigel Short – sill mixing it with the teenage ...
I've heard a couple of her tracks recently and they both mentioned voting – in the song `Him` she muses about who her bf votes for (as well as many other things) and in another `F*** you` she states `look inside your tiny mind and look a bit harder cos you're so uninspired, cos we're [...]
Ian Taylor, the pro-European Conservative MP of Esher and Walton, has announced that he is to stand down at the next election. Tim Montgomerie from Conservative Home has said that the decision has nothing to do with the expense scandal although other Conservatives have claimed otherwise. I've been impressed by Ian Taylor and will be sorry to see him go. I don't say that because of his European views - I take a far more sceptical view - but because he has been a good constituency MP with a strong independent streak who is prepared to speak his mind. He ...
I was going to do a posting about Gordon Brown's disgraceful decision to hold an inquiry into the Iraq war behind closed doors, but I don't think I have anything to say which has not already been said by, amongst others, David Watts, Caron, Costigan Quist, Paul Reynolds and Willie Rennie. Public scrutiny is the best way to ensure something like this never happens again. Light must be shone on the murky workings of government which led us into this disaster.
