Ever since I first found out what Twitter was it sounded right up my street. My friends have got used to me occasionally sending random texts about bizarre things that have happened during my day, so now Twitter lets me do it for the benefit (or not) of a few more people. As one of [...]
Monday, my own Question on the recent investigation by the UN Rapporteur on Indigenous People on the recent violence and deaths in the Peruvian Amazon: good supplementaries from Shirley Williams and Susan Thomas on the LibDem bench, plus Lords Howells, Jenkin of Roding and Brooke of Sutton Mandeville from the Tories, and the Bishop of Exeter. No Labour backbenchers. Also asked a supplementary on Baroness Hanham's Question on the lack if washing or sleeping facilities for people detained overnight at Heathrow airport, Wednesday, attended the Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) and was re-elected vice-chair. I founded the Group in 1976 ...
Nick is taking part in the Reuters 'Great Debate' this coming Monday
The first meeting of the day was at Elementis in order to follow up some of the questions raised by its imminent closure. I went along not really expecting anything but wondering what the company would say. In the event I was pleasantly surprised at just how much they were prepared to say and to share with us, and also surprised at the amount of work which will go into shutting the plant down.
If what this is telling us is true then Brown and the Labour party have walked into a trap by the Conservatives and are screwed. Merdoch has apparently decided to support Cameron over Brown at the next election and all his papers will be Tory supportive. First of all Murdoch must be mad to back the Conservatives but hey what can you say, its all that money that he has away in his bank that is making him make insane decisions! So Brown has lost the support of the NOTW, The Sun and other newspapers. Stay tuned for more Labour ...
Whilst the number of views for Dave Carroll's protest song about United Airlines breaking his guitar continues to soar (up by around 700,000 in the last 24 hours), United Airlines has responded with a pun-tastic statement that the situation has "struck a chord" with them. In return, Dave Carroll has recorded a response: Apart from the good news that it looks like the second song is going to see the light of day too, it's interesting to note that although Dave Carroll has a respectable number of followers on Twitter (over 1,000), the millions of views on his clips hasn't ...
Fabulous Salford Star leisurewear launched: ...For every true new Salfordian... the amazing bling baby grow with sparkling gold Salford Star logo on white cotton... only £5+50p p&p! click on SHOP t-shirts and hoodies out soon! <a title="Salford Star Baby GrowSalford Star baby model Sophie Skeffington with dad, sporting the new baby grow with gold logo..." rel=lightbox[example] alt="Click [...]
I received this leaflet yesterday. Sorry about the print quality but the original is very difficult to read in the first place. It looks like it was printed on an old photocopier. I also received the Craig Murray leaflet today but this had been widely posted elsewhere so I won't publish it here. The score ? Lib Dem 7, Tory 6, Labour 3 (including one freepost), UKIP 3 (including one freepost), Green 0 Still not seen in large parts of Norwich North (friends in Mile Cross, Sprowston, Drayton and Taverham have all not got it), Holden 1, Murray 1.
Here is the Labour Freepost from the Norwich North by-election. Interesting fact is that the "ordinary voter" in Mile Cross is someone I know and a person I know to be a long term friend of the Labour candidate.
Something I rather like about this Torchwood story arc is the moral ambiguity. Of course we can sit back and say how nasty the Government is to lie to the people, ship off ten percent of the little buggers to the alien drug factories and save their own kids into the bargain. And of course we know, in the context of the programme, that the goodies will win and the baddies be vanquished, so fighting the good fight is worthwhile. But it's interesting to think about what you would do as Prime Minister, or a member of the cabinet. Suppose ...
The ruling party of Bulgaria has been defeated spectacularly in the national parliamentary elections 5 days ago. Despite coming second in earlier polls the GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) gained 40% of the vote. Under Bulgaria's new hybrid voting system, a mixture of proportional representation and majority voting, GERB gained 116 seats out of 240 a mere 5 short of an outright majority. The Bulgarian Socialist party took 17.7%, less than half of what they achieved last time. GERB's leader Boiko Borissov campaigned heavily on an anti-corruption ticket. The Week reports: "Last year the EU blocked €500 million ...
Well, I've finally had a letter back from Ian Austin MP, Communities and Local Government Minister in response to my call for action on empty homes. His reply came shortly after I blogged that the Labour government had gone quiet on empty homes since the May local elections. Mr Austin says, in his letter which I received today: "Thank you for your letter...I am pleased that you found the seminar hosted by my predecessor, Iain Wright MP, useful. The seminar was well received...I too am keen to tackle the problem of empty homes and to encourage local authorities and local communities to do ...
Fri 10th
20:56
Do we as political groups sometimes not take the long term view of policy decision and only take the...
I sometimes look back on decisions where opposition was taken without serious longterm views. We cannot afford to object solely on the fact it does not fit our train of thought at this moment in time or on the whim of certain individuals. strategic policy making must by it's nature take in extreme case scenarios i think we [...]
We received out UKIP Freepost leaflet for the Norwich North by-election yesterday. I've been busy (working) and travelling to Fakenham (my old council ward) to get my computer fixed so have been rather busy. So the person (brave soul, posts anonymously) who keeps implying I am holding back in UKIP leaflets ought to perhaps get a job, a family and a busy life before criticising my lack of time to post every leaflet up to this site immediately. Both my wife and I received the same leaflet so it must be assumed that UKIP will have only one Freepost. An ...
Parents in North Kingston have long been campaigning for a new secondary school. Five years ago, when I was the Executive member for Children and Young People's Services, I had to take some stick from the parents, because at that time the number of children did not warrant a new school. Funding is only allocated from central government if the overall provision in the borough is...
How many more troops will need to die in the futile war in Afghanistan? I have never supported it. I say this not as an anti-war activist - I supported and continue to support the war effort in Iraq. But unlike Iraq, which has seen the toppling of Saddam and the first tentative steps towards a more democratic and prosperous society, I can't see how any long term, sustainable improvements can be secured in Afghanistan. This is what I wrote over a year ago. It seems more pertinent today following the news that another British soldier has died, taking the ...
There's a series of ads for hair gel that show young people in various repressive regimes expressing themselves by, er, restyling their hair. OK in adland. But not in Mexico. An email arrives from Eulette at Amnesty International: I don't know about you but I've definitely had some interesting hairstyles in my time. Those who knew me a [...]
It's been a whacky old week in Haringey politics. I'm only now getting fully up to speed with it, as I've been moving house. Labour councillor Alan Dobbie has defected to the Tories. Alan is a mid-ranking and very long-serving councillor who has held quite a lot of posts in the Council, including Mayor (twice), and Labour chief whip only a couple of years ago. Though he's not been 'Cabinet' material (and in the current crop of Haringey Labour councillors, we're talking IKEA self-assembly, rather than Chippendale, here), Alan is something of a player. At first I was surprised, as ...
From Alice in Wonderland: 'No, no!' said the Assistant Commissioner, 'evidence first - inquiry afterwards.''Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. 'The idea of having the evidence first!''Hold your tongue!' said the Assistant Commissioner, turning purple.'I won't!' said Alice.'Off with her head!' the Assistant Commissioner shouted at the top of his voice. Nobody moved.'Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time.) 'You're nothing but a pack of cards!'At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her: she gave a little scream, half of fright and half ...
Yesterday saw the Third Reading of the Political Parties and Elections Bill, which kicked off with a Government amendment increasing the number of Electoral Commissioners to be persons nominated by political parties to three. Lord Rennard, something of an expert on elections, I'm told, noted how important it was that commissioners should have genuine hands-on experience of running winning campaigns, as well as the array of legislation relating to them. It was, as Lord Bach noted, a subject on which Lord Rennard had been consist for nearly a decade. Debate then moved onto a series of amendments designed to address ...
A poster on Mudflats has looked at all the first term Governors in the USA since 1900 - all 1200 of them. They found that there have been only three who have resigned without being forced to do so: Jim McGreevy, Eliot Spitzer and Sarah Palin. Jim McGreevy "coupled the announcement of his decision to resign with a public declaration of his homosexuality and an admission to having had an extramarital affair with the man he had appointed homeland security adviser". Eliot Spitzer was alleged to have been involved in a prostitution ring. Sarah Palin resigned because.....um.............er....................ah yes, she didn't ...
My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Dyed in the Wool Calder's First Law of Politics is that if all the parties agree on a new law it is bound to turn out to be a disaster. My Second Law is that the more power the government takes for itself, the more arbitrary the exercise of that power becomes. This is why, with Labour's effective nationalisation of childhood, we see children taken into care on apparently flimsy grounds whilst others die at the hands of their parents despite countless visits from public-sector professionals. The same thing happens in ...
...Some photos I've snapped recently around Newbury. Click to enlarge. First, here's embryonic Newbury's Cinema at long last starting to look like one (a cinema). A wonderful Chinese dragon from last Sunday's carnival: St Mary's church, Shaw in glorious sunshine: Shaw House: Queen Victoria and her lions, again in glorious sunshine:
April Pond has a moat! shouts the headline on Tory Iain Dale's blog, as he tries (a little too desperately) to rattle Lib Dem cages with campaigning in the Norwich North by-election enters its final fortnight. Iain's write-up is light-hearted enough, no doubt the better to distance himself from it with amused irony when the sheer hypocrisy of his posting is pointed out. Here's what Iain says: Not that I am being 'remoatly' 'moatist'. Every house should have one. But seeing as though a Tory MP got the mickey taken out of him for having one, I'm not sure LibDem ...
Guardian has the story (so much as there is one).
A couple of days ago Craig Murray posters mysteriously started appearing on lamp posts and road signs around Norwich. As anyone with knowledge of politics in Norfolk would know, this is not acceptable as a legitimate means of campaigning. It might work in Scotland (somewhere Mr Murray has more experience of), but in Norfolk, indeed throughout most of the country, it is fly posting. After some protests I gather Broadland District Council and Norwich City Council had to go around and remove Mr Murray's posters. Now as someone who claims to be an "honest" man, will he reimburse the council ...
If you looked at that picture that I got from Guido you would think that both Sarkozy and Obama were giving the women they are looking at a once over but when you watch this video it shows that Obama isn't and Sarkozy is! No wonder Sarkozy wants to ban the burka because a Burka doesn't show a women's curves. A dirty devil is what Sarkozy is...
Yesterday on LDV we rounded-up for you the Lib Dem blog-posts covering the scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch's News Media Group following the Guardian's expose of their illegal activities. Day 2 of 'Coulson-gate' has seen more desptaches from Lib Dem blogs: Cameron, Coulson and a lot of writs... (James Oates) Coulson is horribly exposed and Cameron would be making a grave error of judgement if he decides to keep him and then finds that he is submerged in a blizzard of litigation- even without criminal prosecution. As with the tangled affair of George Osborne last summer, Mr. Cameron may find that ...
{franklinc} In the New Statesman's "Observations on Fairtrade" I was quoted as saying that free trade, not Fairtrade, is the key to developing countries like my own. Here are a few reasons why this is so. Most of the Fairtrade premium charged by supermarkets does not make it to the poor in developing countries. It has been estimated that only ten per cent filters down, most of it consumed by Western retailers. No wonder that many people suspect that supermarkets are granting monopolies to their own-brand Fairtrade-approved goods for the sake of their own profits. They convince consumers that they ...
I have been watching the swine flu outbreak since it started. The rate of cases were doubling every seven days until figures stopped being published a week ago. There are now around 9,700 cases in the UK with the West Midlands being one of the highest affected. I prepared a briefing for work recently as I am running a large IT programme. This does not look like being the mass killer similar to 1918 spanish flu that some feared. However it could debilitate 60% of the working population if it peaks all in one go, due to infection and those ...
This week's by-elections resulted in in the incumbent parties holding their seats, but this hides a good performance by us in two of the three by-elections. In Brockhurst ward of Gosport we were defending two seats in one ward as a result of a husband and wife team of councillors emigrating to Australia. The backdrop for this by-election was then made tougher still as a result of this week's decision by the Standards Board to bar our council group leader Peter Chegwyn from office for two years. The Conservatives however had their own problems, as Sir Peter "Duck Island" Viggers ...
I had a range of cases today and it's great to go and meet residents, three sorted and one ongoing. One really showed me a gaping flaw in how we deal with residents as a council. One issue concerned comunity charge collection and how we deal with residents who fall behind. Not happy with what i [...]
I was fascinated to see Iain Dale had linked to THIS story on my blog yesterday with a rather poor attempt to link April Pond (Lib Dem candidate for Norwich North) with the greed and cynical Tory grandees who claimed excessive expenses whilst ignoring my story that directly related to him and his time in North Norfolk. It seems odd that coastal defences and flood protection, something Iain was always keen to claim the Tories would help the residents of North Norfolk with, seemed unwilling to comment or link to that story. Come on Iain. What is your opinion about ...
I have been asked to go on 'Good Morning Wales' tomorrow to talk about the use politicians make of twitter following an item in the Western Mail in which a senior academic suggested that keeping our remarks to 140 characters or less would be a good discipline and help us cut back on waffle and jargon. David Crystal, professor of linguistics at Bangor University, was giving evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee, which is investigating the spread of jargon into political discourse. They have cited numerous examples of largely meaningless phrases commonly used by politicians, including "best practice", "stakeholder ...
Just past the 18,500 hits mark. And i love reading the comments even if they get a bit strong sometimes. What ever you view i hope you don't mind if i don't censor, it spoils the articles. I think we should be able to have a place to speak freely and throw out the PC [...]
The Western Mail reports the comments of an unnamed Government Minister as saying that talented people will be discouraged from standing for election in Wales by a public perception that politicians are "dodgy". The Minister's remarks indicate unease amongst some Assembly Members at the 108 recommendations of the Sir Roger Jones report into their allowances: The Assembly Government minister said: "I didn't like the tone of the report at all. I think it is quite wrong to suggest that AMs are in it for what they can get out of it. "These stories (of expenses abuse) have created a situation ...
An email drops into the Voice's inbox asking us to alert readers to the following event: Just wanted to give you a heads up that on Monday, Nick Clegg, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, will be joining the Reuters UK team to take questions live for one of the first purely social media events of its kind. No topic is off limits. Should you wish to post a question, read the comments thus far and get a firsthand account of Nick Clegg's take on the importance of social media in politics, please click here. The event will take place ...
I have just heard the sad news that Colin Hendry's wife, Denise, has died after a battle with a serious infection. Denise has suffered terribly since her botched cosmetic surgery operation in a private hospital in 2002. Denise had been seriously ill in Salford Royal Hospital for 11 weeks, and died on Friday surrounded by her family. Although I have never met Denise, I first met former Scottish football captain Colin, shortly after his wife's first operation and was saddened to hear how it had affected their family life. Colin had no choice but to give up his playing and ...
Worshipful Company of Paviors have given Southport its top award. The work includes amongst other things the space around the War Memorial and in London Street. Well done. Residents have mentioned to me several times what a good job has been done. Doing an equally good job are the two men photographed with Simon and me. They are cleaning the pavements on Lord Street and removing the chewing gum. You can see their handiwork outside the Town Hall and (where we are photographed) by the bandstand. This is no easy task. The men work between 6pm and 9pm and in ...
Kevin Maguire who is a known Labour party mouth piece and part of the Red Rag crew has made the following comments about the loyalty of Alan Johnson to the Prime Minister: "Home Secretary Alan Johnson was a picture of innocence during the plot to oust Brown and replace him with a former postie with the initials A J. Not so his entourage. It has come to the attention of No 10 that one of his team offered a job in Downing Street to a hackette."Now I am really enjoying this whole thing when Johnson was made the Home Secretary ...
Why is Torchwood such pants? Dr Who is absurd and overblown but somehow you can suspend disbelief and just enjoy it - most of the time. Daleks towing planets around the universe just didn't cut it for me. Daleks in general are just daft - always have been and always will be. Torchwood by contrast is more rooted in normality being based in Cardiff but it somehow never manages to traverse the credibility gap which the best sci-fi does to make it plausible. The things they have at their disposal all work - and brilliantly. Why doesn't the super computer ...
Fri 10th
15:40
Coulson-gate, day 2: Lib Dems refer NotW phone-tapping case to the Independent Police Complaints Com...
Despite the concerted efforts of some sections of the media to ignore the story in the hope it'll go away, yesterday's Guardian revelations about the extent of the illegal activities of Rupert Murdoch's news group in illegal phone-tapping activities remain big news. After yesterday's rather rushed attempts by Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates to try and kill the story ('move along, folks, nothing to see here' – I paraphrase, but only just), Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne has decided to refer the Met's inquiry to the Independent Police Complaints Commission for further investigation. Chris says: The Metropolitan ...
Two key projects are under threat in Southport and some are wondering if it is the nationalised bank RBS who are to blame for closing a line of credit to the developer who has now gone in to administration. Scarisbrick Ave is in the heart of Southport's tourist quarter linking Lord Street with the Promenade. Blythe Homes were developing the site and it was to accommodate the borough's Independent Living Centre and some social housing. To most folk the level of guaranteed investment should have ensured that the project was completed. Rumours persist that the attitude of Blythe's bankers RBS ...
There are just 13 days to go until the Norwich North By-Election, caused by the resignation of Labour MP Ian Gibson. This election is very important as it could be the last parliamentary by-election in England before the general election, but also April Pond is a great local candidate who deserves an excellent result. Norwich is a great city to visit, so why not spend some time helping out on the ground. You can find the details of how to get to our campaign HQ on the Norwich Liberal Democrats website. If you can't help out in person, then why ...
The Labour party had the Smeargate to bring out the dirt in their party, the Tories are going through the Hackgate to bring out the dirt and there is only one main political party left that hasn't had a gate style scandal. So could this help the Lib Dems at the polls? I think it could, many Lib Dem candidates don't juice a story out as much as they can because they think the people wont like the idea and that's where I think they are wrong. If you ask me then my opinion is that every Lib Dem Parliamentary ...
Fri 10th
14:41CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg - This vulnerable man has been hung out to dry by a government despe...
Over at the Daily Mail, Nick Clegg picks up Lib Dem colleague Lord (Alex) Carlile's support for Asperger's sufferer Gary McKinnon, who faces health-threatening extradition to the US to face charges of computer hacking. Here's an excerpt: Despite what the U.S. authorities say, Gary McKinnon is no cyber-terrorist. He is a computer whiz with a serious medical condition. That is not to say he isn't a criminal. His hacking into American military computers and leaving messages was foolish and illegal. No one, not even his supporters, are suggesting that his crimes go unpunished. ... But Gary McKinnon has been hung ...
The third deadline for the report of the Boundary Commission into the structural review of local government in Suffolk was originally due on 31 December, then mid-February, and then 15 July. Money has been spent by the district and borough councils, as well as by the County Council, planning for what might be to come, and contesting the process thus far, with all the inefficiency and dislocation that comes with an uncertain future. And today, another blow to good governance comes with Justice Foskett's ruling (CO/4722/2009 Forest Heath DC vs Electoral Commission Boundary Committee for England) published this morning, in ...
Thursday: The War Games part four. At this point it doesn't seem as funny or as relevant to be playing "spot the plot coincidences" any more. Instead, remember this: There are some corners of this universe that have bred the most terrible things, things that stand against everything we believe in. They must be fought. Not the 456. Although, we must fight them; obviously we must. But they're just a bunch of inhuman gangsters with a protection racket. No, I mean the quisling politicians who might accede to them. How short is the step from league tables to gas chambers? ...
At last night's Full Council I asked a question to my colleague Tony Robertson: COUNCIL 9 JULY 2009 QUESTIONS RAISED BY MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL 1. Question submitted by Councillor Brodie Browne to the Leader of the Council (Councillor Robertson) "Can the Leader use his best endeavours to have placed on the Council website a detailed list of all allowances actually paid to individual Councillors, both by the Council and by those bodies - both locally and nationally - funded from the Council tax through a precept or levy" This may seem a strange question so let me explain the ...
Rehman Chishti who likes to be known as "Ray" is someone who I have been reading up on a lot because its my fundamental belief that someone must be mentally insane or a political career animal to join the Conservatives so to hear of a guy with a name as "Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti" joining the Tories from Labour is awkward. First of all lets focus on Mr Chishti's name "Atta-Ur-Rehmane" means "A gift from God" and the "Chishti" is from the Islamic group which comes from the Sunni Brealvi sect. Right moving on from his name which should have given you ...
Gosport BC, BrockhurstLD Rob Hylands 562 Siobhan Mitchell-Smith 523 (50.3; +2.8)Con 364 / 339 (32.6; -7.0)Green 131 (11.7; +5.6)Lab 60 / 56 (5.4; -1.4)Majorities 198 / 159Turnout 28.16%LD hold x 2 Percentage change is since May 2008Lichfield DC, WhittingtonCon 345 (65.1; -5.1)LD Penny Bennion 185 (34.9; +5.1)Majority 160Turnout not knownCon holdPercentage change is since May 2007Suffolk Coastal
In yesterdays Whittington by-election (Lichfield Borough Council) the Conservatives comfortably held the seat.
When a blog reader graduates from University they should drop me an email and I will get them a shirt to wear to the ceremony. The shirt can be seen below... Hat Tip Dizzy Thinks.
The US Senate Elections are finally over! Last November's contest has dragged on, primarily as a result of a protracted legal battle in closely fought Minnesota. Last week, however, incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman finally abandoned his legal suit after the State's Supreme Court found unanimously in favour of Democrat Al Franken, the liberal former radio talk show host and author of 'Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right'. Franken is becoming adept at getting his way in the Courts, Fox News having failed in their bid to sue him for ...
If so, please explain to me why such documents RANDOMLY START SHOUTING IN CAPITAL LETTERS before switching back to lower case before A BIT MORE SHOUTING JUST LIKE A BONKERS COMMENT ON A BLOG. I mean, why? Oops, sorry. I meant, WHY? I know it would be really, really mean of me to conclude that all those terribly clever lawyers just want to make their detailed work hard to read by SPRAYING ABOUT CAPITAL LETTERS AS IF THEY HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE ABOUT WHAT MAKES FOR SENSIBLE LAYOUT AND WHAT DOESN'T. So is there a reason? I do hope there's ...
Gosport BC, Brockhurst Lichfield DC, Whittington Suffolk Coastal DC, Walberswick and Wenhaston
Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, was dismayed this morning to discover that his Facebook account has been disabled and that he has been removed as administrator of a number of Facebook campaign groups, without any explanation or warning. This move is perverse and should be reversed. Tom has been a model [...]
Just seen on Lib Dem Voice that Tom Brake MP has had his Facebook account disabled just hours after he used it to organise a large public display in his constituency: Tom, who last year became one of the first MPs in Britain to offer his constituents regular online advice surgeries, is widely noted in the media for his use of the internet to engage with the public. Hundreds of people gathered last night in Wallington town centre to protest against the axing of the N213 night bus service. They were mobilised largely through the Save the N213 Facebook group ...
Tom Brake has now managed to get in contact with Facebook who have advised him that his account was automatically suspended when their system detected an unusually large amount of traffic to and from his account. Clearly, a social network originally set up for networking amongst university peers needs to evolve to cope with new types of users and their networks, balancing communications amongst large groups with safeguards against spam. Facebook say they are working hard to get Tom's account back up. Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, has had his Facebook account disabled just hours after ...
The attentive amongst you will have spotted amongst the 30 tips from m'colleague Mark Park for aspirant politicians: Subscribe to at least 20 sites using an RSS reader, 10 of which are not party political. Using an RSS (feed) reader is a huge time-saver and an effective way of keeping up with news and information. But there's no point just being an expert on party politics if you want to be an elected official. RSS readers are many and various – my favoured one is Google Reader – and having just returned from engaging in another of Mark's tips, a ...
The IDeA Leadership Academy "Fast Track" programme for younger councillors is currently looking for applicants for its 2009-2010 programme which starts this September. The course is ideally suited for younger members of Council Groups and it would be great if our younger Lib Dem Councillors were well represented each year. More information on this flyer, applications should by directly to the IDeA through your Council.
Liverpool John Lennon airport is organising a consultation on its noise action plan. It is asking people to comment by 21st October. You can find the material on the website here. You can also e mail them asking for a hard copy (environment@liverpoolairport.com) On a linked point, I have been appointed by the City Council to be one of two councillors to serve on the Noise Monitoring Sub Committee, which brings together people from the airport and people from a number of organisations. I am happy to raise any noise related points. I am not sure yet when the next ...
You may remember that "London" Luton Airport was introducing a £1 charge to drop people off, well, it has been introduced and predictable chaos has ensued according to this Times article. To make this system work they have "re-engineered" the road system and it had been chaotic with tailbacks of more than a mile greeting travellers. The management said it could take up to "six months to clear the congestion caused by the new scheme"! You should also read the comments, they are all depressingly true. A number of times I've had to queue down some dingy stairs and that ...
As I headed to Harrogate for the LGA conference last week, it was impossible to avoid comparing that with the many previous conferences I've attended with the Lib Dems in just the same venue. We're frequent flyers at Harrogate, home of our MP Phil Willis, in a conference centre he opened – if I remember the plaque correctly. Barely months before, LDV had had its own crowded office and a successful fringe event – the recording of which is still available as a recording if you want to hear all over again – so returning for the summer events as ...
I got the train to work today. I went out of my house in a medium-sized Cotswold village, walked 200 yards and got on a bus to the station. At the station I bought a coffee from the politest man I have met all year - essentially Jean-Luc Picard without the underlying grumpiness - then two minutes later the train arrived. I got a seat and spent ten minutes sitting next to a pleasant man from Wales (one of those exquisite accents which sounds like waves crashing on the shore) while we both read our respective newsprint. I got off ...
The Conservatives still seem to be trying to hold the line that their Director of Communications does not have a problem with the growing scandal at the News of the World. Iain Dale points out that the Police will not be prosecuting Mr. Coulson and seemingly regards this as something that he can simply ride out. Frankly, I don't think he can, and I think that one of David Cameron's most commendable characteristics - his loyalty to his colleagues- is in grave danger of proving to be his greatest weakness. It was always going to be a risk hiring Coulson ...
Whilst the Metropolitan Police declare open season for those wishing to bug and phonetap politicians and public figures, it is becoming apparent that, if senior figures at News International didn't know what was happening at the News of the World, they were inadvertently working hard to cover it up and to protect their journalists from prosecution. Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer takes up the story... Now I turn to the role of Parliament and this House. In 2008, during the passage of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, under Clause 75, we debated whether there should be a prison sentence ...
"The Youth of Today" consortium of youth organisations is seeking councillors who would be interested in taking part in the young people's councillor shadowing programme to be launched this Autumn. The programme aims to give young people aged 13-19 a chance to shadow their elected represenative providing experience of local leadership and democracy. More information in this letter, and on this enquiry form. Enquiries should be direct to the British Youth Council: Henry.Tapp@byc.org.uk
Liberal Democrat MP Normal Baker is campaigning to "clamp the clampers". Motorists are being held to ransom by unscrupulous private car clamping firms. If you feel you've been overcharged or conned, there is no independent means of redress. Clamping on private land is already illegal in Scotland. Let's ban it in England too. Please sign the petition here The Government have begun a consultation into clamping but have ignored the option to ban clamping on private land entirely. To have your say, visit the consultation website Join the new Facebook group here. If you're interested in campaigning locally on this ...
The Conservatives are adorable* where they know that opposition is strong they will bring out the cheapest of cr** to attack a candidate for example Iain Dale and his continuous nit picking of the Lib Dem Candidate in Norwich North April Pond. Now Mr Dale has brought to light that she has a moat on her home of residents, and I ask him one question. How is that anything special? If she has a moat clearly she can afford it from her own money and unlike Tory MP's isn't getting it done with public money. The Tories got moats with ...
Picture: MODThe picture is a recent one and shows an RAF Typhoon intercepting a Russian Tu-95 Bomber, NATO designation "BEAR". This is skirting British air space after having overflown Norway. It is a deliberate military incursion by the Russian Air Force: it is an entirely hostile act.It is also far from unique. According to the House of Commons Defence select committee there have been at least 18 such unauthorised military incursions into British air space in the past two years.The point of the RAF releasing this photograph is, however a pointed one. The Tupolev 95 may not be as primitive ...
Parliament resumes formally next week in Strasbourg, which means that frantic struggles are taking place behind the scenes this week to secure the jobs which bring the bigger offices and other fringe benefits of status. The race for president of parliament was enlivened by the withdrawal on Monday of one of the two internal candidates from within the European People's Party: Italian Mario Mauro's decision to pull out paved the way for Pole Jerzy Buzek to be named the EPP's candidate by acclamation. The Socialists decided not to field a candidate, they will support Buzek in return for EPP votes ...
With the Police saying they are not going to investigate how is it going to built up and become like the Smeargate where it continues for days and days on the MSM. Political Betting has named the whole situation as the Hackergate and I think it could become interesting with the cooperation of a few individuals. If people like John Prescott and other politicians who's phones were hacked into take action and sue the NOTW then this story will take a new light and will become more media worthy leading to it continuing and damaging the Conservatives. The Main Stream ...
One thing that concerns me is the failure to recognise that it is the way that children are treated in care that gives rise to many of the problems they face in later life.The DCSF Select Committee saw the system in Denmark which is so very different both in the way it treats families and is so much better in terms of outcomes.However, although it is obvious from this that whatever may happen to
Further to my attempt to freeze all Dundee City Councillor salaries to last year's levels, made at the recent Policy & Resources Committee (click on headline above to view more about this), as reported in today's "Courier", I have since discussed the matter with the Depute Chief Executive (Finance) and he has spoken with a senior Scottish Government civil servant on the issue. I have now written to her seeking legal clarification as to whether or not a local authority can freeze or restrict councillor salaries below the level set in the guidance issued by Scottish Government. I have obtained ...
The Southport Visiter deserves praise for taking the initiative and launching a petition about the KGV VIth College funding crisis. John Pugh MP has been on the case and raised this matter in Parliament. I think it is important that everyone gets behind the petition. Writing in The Visiter John Siddle says: KING George V College today thanked the Southport Visiter for leading a campaign calling on the government to release £40m it had promised for a dream rebuild. On Friday, we launched a Downing Street petition demanding Gordon Brown delivers on a pledge to transform the town's flagship college. ...
Two Big Stories The Times has reports of a humanitarian disaster unfolding in Tamil refugee camps: About 1,400 people are dying every week at the giant Manik Farm internment camp set up in Sri Lanka to detain Tamil refugees from the nation's bloody civil war, senior international aid sources have told The Times. The death toll will add to concerns that the Sri Lankan Government has failed to halt a humanitarian catastrophe after announcing victory over the Tamil Tiger terrorist organisation in May. It may also lend credence to allegations that the Government, which has termed the internment sites "welfare ...
United Airlines is suffering an unfolding customer services disaster, courtesy of one unhappy customer whose luggage they failed to take care of. His response? To produce an funny and catchy music video chronicling United's failings: (You can see the film on the YouTube site, with its description giving details of the luggage incident, here.) It's already been viewed 600,000 times and two further videos are promised. There's a lot of talk in the industry about how you measure the impact of social media compared with, for example, traditional advertising. One of the major problems is that it's a matter of ...
Every day now news stories slip into the press about hikes in fees, from increases in seatbelt fines and passport costs to rising Court debt fees and Land registry fees. And here's the rub. Whilst those of us working in the private sector face redundancy, part time working, enforced holidays, loss of bonus' etc, the public sector seems to carry on regardless. It seems immune to the problems facing the rest of us. Where else would you find price increases the response to falling demand other than the public sector? "Its to protect the quality of the service". Oh right ...
BIRKDALE VILLAGE SUMMER FESTIVAL Saturday 18th July, 2009 12 NOON - 4.30PM Trade Stalls, BBQs and Food, Fairground Rides, Live music, Children`s Entertainmener Starting at 12 noon, Birkdale Village will come alive with activities for the whole family. The live music, performed from a stage, starts at 1pm and runs until approximately 4.30pm 6 different acts, including singers and bands, will be performing on stage during the afternoon - with something for everyone. There will be plenty of Fun Fair rides and an Entertainer for the kids, too. All the usual shops, cafes and bars and pubs will also be ...
Today CentreForum has published a major piece of research on the Britain's fiscal mess. It aims to counter some of the unbalanced analysis that now dominates the public discussion of the UK's looming debt. If you want the publication itself, the PDF is called "A balancing act". Subscribers will be getting a beautiful bound copy soon. The fiscal deficit exploded when the government's revenues collapsed: the forecast for 2009-10 fell from £608bn to £496bn in just a few months. So why are all the arguments focussed on spending cuts? Sure, everyone recognises that spending became unsustainable under Labour - though ...
Congrats to Lib Dems in Sutton for gaining seat from the Tories: http://bit.ly/KwPYP # Writing a piece on "30 things any would-be politician should do this summer". Suggestions welcome # @caronmlindsay And that's a suggestion rather than advice for me I take it {:)} in reply to caronmlindsay # Stat of the day: 13% of regular internet users have not used email in the last 3 months (Enders Analysis) # Computer telling me I'm too far to the right. I *think* it's the fingerprint scanner saying that of my finger. # Off to get the train to Bristol. Choo choo. ...
On Wednesday I dropped by the Sparkplug awards before our midweek campaign session. It was a happy and buzzy occasion with dozens of young men and women getting awards from Lib Dem Mayor Anna Berent, for completing courses with Sparkplug. Sparkplug is an innovative project that gives young people who may be at risk of crime [...]
Thousands of public figures, it appears had their phones hacked. Not by the shadowy secret services or the police, but by private investigators in the pay of the News of the World newspaper. Implicated is Andy Coulson - then editor of the News of the World, now a key aide to David Cameron and the Conservatives. I have two questions. First, why are the police not investigating further? I'm thoroughly confused as to what's going on here. On the one hand, the police say there's no new evidence. But a large basis for the Guardian's story is, they say, from ...
This is Leicester Unitarian Chapel - or "Great Meeting" - in East Bond Street, now hidden away behind the new Highcross shopping centre. As its website says, it is the oldest complete brick building in the city and one of its most important surviving buildings. In the 19th century the city was known as "radical Leicester" and the city's first seven mayors following the overthrow of the corrupt old corporation in 1835 were Liberals and members of the congregation at East Bond Street. When it was first built the chapel it was a brick cube and it still retains an ...
I've covered the feeding and watering troughs before but not mentioned this one nustled on the side of East Heath Road on the Heath. The viewpoint is stunning as you emerge from Gainsborough Gardens and Heathside and look across the Heath. I used to live on Christchurch Hill and it was without a doubt one of my personal favourite walks and views... I currently serve on the Hampstead Heath Management Committee and as a result particpate in a series of walks and site visits on the heath. But even so there are just so many features and facets ...
Neil Rakine having seen the passion of the Livingston fans on Saturday when they wanted to save their club and Gordon McDougall who was on holiday at the time are apparently about to launch a £500,000 rescue deal for the club. The deal that will offer all the creditors a 50% payback on what they are owed, which would be a better payback than in the club, with limited physical assets went into liquidation. Even then the £500,000 isn't enough to cover all the debts that have been publicly made known are £1.35m (this is less than many teams and ...
The links from this blog entry come with spoiler alerts so if you are Sky+ing or recording all the episodes of Children of Earth the Torchwood five party look away now, there's nothing to see here. As those who know me know I've always been a big sci-fi fan. Readers of this blog will see the occassional reference to the genre. But I don't Blog about Doctor Who or Torchwood because I easily get utdone by other Lib Dems and one of them is a fluffy elephant. So here are the best of the Lib Dem Torchwood blogs Millennium Elephant ...
There's an old saying to the effect of when you sup with the devil you should use a long spoon. Given the undue and malign influence that Aussie/Yank Rupert Murdoch's News International empire exerts on the body politic of this country, it is shocking though somehow not surprising to hear that they've just had to pay out a million pounds for tapping into people's private phonecalls. Now it happens that the editor of the News of the World at the time that these unethical and underhand activities took place was one Andy Coulson. He stood down in 2007 and is ...
The Western Morning News reports that Sally Morgan, PPC for Central Devon, sent off an angry email to Cowley Street after she received a fundraising call from the party. She is quoted as writing "Please do not employ apparatchiks to telephone me at home to tell me how well the party did in the local elections only days after I and many of my colleagues lost our seats." She has, incidentally, since described this as "me blowing off steam to somebody in the party", adding "I am still a parliamentary candidate. I have no argument with the party", so it's ...
Tory Health Spokesperson, Andrew Lansley, has this week called for a real terms increase in spending in the NHS after 2011 and is urging the Labour Government to match his commitment? Has Andrew Lansley been watching the news? Does he not realise that we are facing the worst public debt levels in our history? Hasn't he read the warnings from organisation like the Institute of Fiscal Studies that we face the biggest sustained cuts in public spending since the 1970's? And why can't savings and efficiencies be made to the NHS budget? End the gold plated NHS pensions. Scrap the ...
Well, even an iron fist sometimes misses. Seems that the Iranians are defying their oppressors My soul goes out to them – don't give in!
