In about 15 minutes I will be 44 years old. So as I you do these last few weeks I have been reflecting at my lot in life. This was aided by a trip to see friend's in the House of Commons. Now I have been there several times and each time gets to see a bit more of the building which I didn't know about and spend a little time in the mad world of politics. Of course you won't be surprised to hear that I love it and it always peps me up, this time my mate took ...
The American constitution, as we know, cares little about the dangers of widespread possession of guns. Which makes what the American justice system does care about in the field of firearms even more remarkable...Steve McNair was quite the All-American story. Born and raised in small-town Mississippi and educated at a historically black university with no great sporting reputation, he developed
Ah well, one can only dream...
I am something of a classical music lover. Educated at a North London comprehensive which had yet to address its demotion from grammar school status, we had the benefits of a somewhat elitist education without our parents having to pay for it. A love of music was one of the by-products (another was a deep suspicion of certainty, but that's another story...). And so an invitation to attend the First Night of the Proms was too good an opportunity to give up. Whilst orchestral music is not uppermost on my hit list - I have a weakness for chamber music ...
A thought has hit me about what the Tories were doing at the last election. Reports came to me that the Tory Toddlers aka the Conservative Future were going around asking opposition parties if they could follow them around for a politics assignment for University. The cheek! The Tories really do know how to act crafty and how to play it clever. This is a warning from me to any Lib Dem reading this. If someone approaches you to ask to help you or to follow you around knock them back. Only get volunteers who are existing volunteers at election ...
47) R. A. Sasaki, The Loom and other stories (Saint Paul: Graywolf, 1991, ISBN 1555971571). A series of linked short stories about a Japanese-American family. It portrays the discomfort of growing up in two cultures rather well. 46) Nancy Weber, The Playgroup (New York: ibooks, 2004, ISBN 0743497627). I was curious to read some of Nancy Weber's fiction after reading The Life Swap. This definitely feels like it was written by the same person. I really liked it - the cover implies a fairly conventional horror novel, but actually there is very little horror at all, and what there is ...
All evidence of general voting patterns based on speaking to a small number of people really do not hold water, so what I am about to state should be taken with a decent pinch of salt. Speaking to a group of work colleagues today, I commented that my face is making an appearance on one of the leaflets coming through their doors at the moment. Being someone who keeps politics out of the workplace as much as possible, they enquired "Which party ?" When I explained it was the Lib Dems I was met with a very positive reaction from ...
We were going to be away for a few days, but the pouring rain meant that paddling at home was as good as going to the coast. So we have had a "day off" and done all sorts of domestic catching up. John was called out to look at a nasty sewerage problem locally and whilst waiting for a VERY long time for Nortumbrian Water to answer the phone found to our delight that our Lib Dem MEP for the...
Nearly three years ago I put some funky shit in the pages for this journal. I've finally got round to adding more funky shit - namely the expanding menus on the left.There's also a spiffy new section there showing posts that have recently received comments.
So David Cameron visits Norwich North for a campaign visit, all good so far. He only stayed for around 20 minutes at the venue, again, not too bad. He met experts from the University of East Anglia working on cutting-edge research aimed at turning crop waste into fuels. Again this isn't too bad. BUT......................... He flew by helicopter to get there! Remember the crap slogan - "Vote Blue, get Green", well what a load of tosh. Firstly only the Liberal Democrats manifesto's were voted the Greenest, secondly the Tories were the dirtiest Party in Europe and now have joined a ...
I was thinking of screwing myself up into a flurry of indignation over the Tories and their new European parliament grouping. But Alex has got there first so there's no point in "knocking out" (Boris phrase that) a flimsy "Me-too": The big problem is that the "European Conservatives and Reformists Group" is made up of only 55 MEPs from eight countries, only just enough to qualify as a "Group" within European Parliament rules - by contrast, the major players that can actually get things done, the European Socialists, the European Liberals and the European People's Party that the Conservatives have ...
Just a few months ago, David Cameron was comprehensively (and wrongly) shredding the idea of proportional representation in the Evening Standard. So it is interesting that today two of his most senior MPs are advocating Proportional Representation for a mainly elected Second Chamber: We favour a system of Proportional Representation for elections to the chamber. We believe that the First past the post system, with its ability to deliver clear party majorities, works well for the Commons and entrenches its role as the source of legitimacy for a government; however, the second chamber requires a demonstrably different system Elections for ...
Fri 17th
21:25
How many independents will stand in 2010 and with the vote share raising fron the BNP will we see a ...
I been taking some time out to study the key areas which could fall in 2010.The split vote worries me, it's obvious who the key people will be and the vibes i am getting back at present could offer a few shocks. I don't think the tories will have everything there own way. And i really don't [...]
Yes, it's time for another 'take out the trash' posting... Councillor banned over misconduct (BBC) A hearing has found the former deputy council leader of Somerset County Council guilty of two counts of breaching codes of conduct. The two-year investigation looked into dozens of complaints about the behaviour of Liberal Democrat councillor Paul Buchanan. ... Speaking after the tribunal Mr Buchanan said he was "very disappointed" at the overall adjudication panel's findings. He said: "I'm pleased my case that I clearly didn't seek to intimidate Mr Jones was upheld. [But] I'm disappointed the rest of the charges weren't dropped and ...
It's obvious really. You're going to a meeting on the greenest of green topics (bio-fuels). You obviously choose one of the most environmentally disastrous forms of transport (a helicopter) to get there don't you? ...And it's just a year or so since we were urged to "Vote Blue - go Green". Is it any wonder why Labour's private polling shows that voters have little or no idea what the Tories stand for?
Isn't that Lord Bonkers at the back?
There seems to be a lot of missed placed comment running round the net at the moment, but the facts are it is no nearer to closure than it was three months ago. That is even with the intense actions by the Police. It is a credit to them for the effort they have shown. I [...]
Beddington & Wallington Local Committee The main agenda items for this meeting were the results of the Butter Hill traffic management trials, decisions to be made on public realm project funding, and an update on local safety scheme proposals. There was an excellent attendance of around fifty residents at this meeting. The meeting got off to an awkward [...]
Perhaps i will just post this picture by email and ask for a quick comment?
Fri 17th
20:29Tonight i ask the question have we made a mistake in allowing our social housing to fall in to the h...
This is the Valley many good people of this city reside here, Monday morning i will ask to meet with the Directors of City west and ask what is going wrong. I have raised the issues time and time again over the level of residents desperate for housing, and this is what we see months later. [...]
The Irish playwright Oscar Wilde flirted with Catholicism for most of his life. He was tempted to convert while an undergraduate at Oxford, but he was threatened with disinheritance by a fervently Protestant relative if he did, so perversely and typically became a freemason instead. He was later minded to follow his young seducer and devoted friend [...]
Liberal England is about to have another of its internationally famous prize quizzes. This time, as a change from all that boring politics, I shall be offering you a chance to win James Hogg's biography of the British film actor James Robertson Justice. I hope to post the questions here some time tomorrow, so please come back and try your luck then.
This week's playlist (a day or two early) started out as a 'what I've listened to this week' one, then mutated slightly. Now it's *mostly* soft-psychedelia, with a little raw bluesy stuff thrown in. I think it works... All This Is That by The Beach Boys is from the criminally underrated Carl & The Passions: So [...]
Sir Fred Goodwin was a guest of the PM's at Chequers no more than six months before being forced to quit as RBS' boss. Is there any greater demonstration that Gordon Brown did not have a clue what was going on with the banks until they fell around his ears? The words of William Blake might be relevant here (then again they might not be and I just include them anyway because they're good): "Prudence is a rich, ugly, old maid courted by incapacity." It seems that Gordon Brown's incapacity lost the courtship. We have seen Lord Myners carrying the ...
Kevin Carson destroys the myth of The Republicans as a small government party. Just replace Republican with Tory (and Reagan with Thatcher) and you're looking at a very similar picture. And that last bit, replace Democrat with Labour...
One of the many new parties challenging in the Norwich North by-election are the Libertarian Party, and they have been in Norwich North pushing their message on the doorsteps of the constituency for the last few days, spending much time in Taverham and Drayton today. The question from my point of view is whether there is actually a market for their message. The Libertarian Party are all about freedoms, and I can't argue with that. However they differ from the liberal view on freedoms in that they believe in a very much reduced role for government. Now that sounds like ...
{Click here to vote in the Total Politics Best Blogs Poll 2009} It's that time of year again, when Total Politics asks you to vote for your Top 10 favourite blogs. The votes will be compiled and included in the forthcoming book, the Total Politics Guide to Blogging 2009-10, which will be published in September. This year the poll is being promoted/sponsored by LabourList and LibDemVoice as well as Iain Dale's blog. The rules are simple. 1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite). 2. Your votes ...
Am I the only person who thinks that giving someone just ten years for planning mass murder through an act of terrorism is an extremely soft sentence ?
This is the Freepost letter and leaflet I received this week.
If I said this to someone today they would turn around and ask me if I was sane or not? After the number of blog posts by me on the issue of campaign community's people will think I have lost it if I say to them not to do it but genuinely I mean it doesn't. A man organised his Birthday BBQ via Facebook and was he in for a surprise, the Police with a helicopter and a riot van stormed into the party and closed it down. The party that was in a field was considered by the Police ...
I said I'd post the new Tory leaflet I received as part of the bumper Freepost pack of leaflets a couple of days ago, so here it is. I have not copied the fold out inside (which spreads to an A3 size) as it is too big and shiny to get a decent picture of.
The BBC has the story: Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has attacked government "chaos and confusion" over renewing the Trident missile system. No 10 has insisted the timetable for renewing Trident is unchanged. But earlier, officials implied that key decisions would be put off until May 2010 ahead of a conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Mr Clegg said the prime minister should make a "climbdown" and admit the missile system was not justified given equipment shortages in Afghanistan. In a statement, Downing Street said there had been "no change" in the government position that Trident would be renewed. Here's ...
There has recently been a few reports in the news on the ongoing supermarket packaging issue after the Local Government Association recently called on WRAP asking them to to publish, every three months, the amount of packaging each supermarket produces. Supermarket waste and packaging adds to the costs of householders council tax bills as it adds to the waste in all our bins for landfill. This can be reduced by having more card and less plastic packaging or reduced packaging of both the hard plunnets and wrapping varieties (Currently within Bracknell most soft plastics can not be recycled through the ...
Selfish drivers who double park or block dropped kerbs with their vehicles are the target of new powers for Salford's parking attendants. The city council can now issue penalty charge notices to these offenders without the need for traffic signs or road markings. Wheelchair users, mobility vehicles and mums pushing prams will benefit from the new legislation, introduced by the government recently. The move has been welcomed as a "common sense solution" by NSL, the company that supplies parking enforcement for the council. Previously, councils were unable to pursue offenders unless there were signs or double yellow lines at dropped ...
HAZEL MUST GO! SALFORD MEETING LOADS TURN UP TO VENT ANGER OVER HAZEL Last night over fifty people turned up at Pendleton Bowling Club in Salford to support the Hazel Must Go! campaign. And it was decided that the campaign really starts now... <a title="Hazel Must Go!Public meeting at Pendleton Bowling Club" rel=lightbox[example] alt="Click to view [...]
From Prawn Free Lembit: A BERLIN brothel is offering discounts to customers who go there by bike or public transport in an attempt to cut carbon emissions. But have they considered the carbon dioxide produced while people are "at it"? Like looking at the pictures in the Daily Sport, some things are just never going to be carbon neutral.Interesting stuff from the outspoken Lib Dem MP if I say so myself, Lembit has a talent for writing but clearly it is being wasted on writing for the Porn Paper. I have suggested on this blog on previous occasions that Lembit ...
There were six principal council elections held on the 16th July. We held three wards, the Tories two and Labour took a seat from the Tories. In the only Town and Parish Council result reported to ALDC we held the seat. In the Merseyside metropolitan borough of St Helens we held all three seats in the Moss Bank ward. The council was on a knife edge. Lab 23: LD 19: Con 6. We lead a LD/Con administration. When a well respected councillor for Moss Bank ward, Anne Heyes, died, control of the council was at stake in the ensuing by-election. ...
Lot of media interest in Chek Whyte this morning and his relationship with the Liberal Democrats who deemed him the saviour of Langworthy. about 2 hours ago I am still trying to find out where the Liberal Democrats came in? and how this guy was the saviour of Langworthy. First time i read about him was [...]
Just one (cautionary) point though. Reference was repeatedly made to "the majority" of service users being from Little Hulton. This is simply not the case, whichever way you look at it. Little Hulton residents make up a small plurality, but the service users are actually fairly evenly distributed across the City. This is the only [...]
Twitter, for those who don't know, is an online social network where people can post 140 character messages known as "tweets". Tweets can be a cool link you found, a question to your followers, or just an idle comment about what you're doing. Although small at 5 million users (Facebook has 60m), its annual growth stands at over 1000% (200% for Facebook). It's pretty hot stuff. Now, I don't know whether any of the Twitter users who read Lib Dem Voice have checked recently, but a tweet search for "libdem" makes pretty depressing reading (Non-Twitter users can check it out ...
It felt like today was the day I should write my first blog on Freedom Central. Heading up communications for the Welsh Lib Dems has been a busy business since I started a few months ago. With a few hours to breathe and one hell of a weird week to look back on, I thought I'd use this and future posts to give readers a communications perspective on the stories that you see in the Welsh media. I've blogged alot at www.sustainwales.blogspot.com before but I'm blog-rusty so bear with me a few posts, hopefully I'll make it worth everyone's while. ...
From the FT, an excellent analysis by Philip Stephens. Find the whole article here; this comes highly recommended.
News has come out today of a poll conducted by ConservativeHome, indicating that almost half of Tory candidates would be "not uncomfortable" with Scottish separation from the Union. Take a little moment to digest that. Yes, the Conservative and Unionist party's next generation aren't too hung up on the whole "union" thing. Of course, the other [...]
The link is to a debate on the new WEEE proposals. From an accounting perspective I find it rather sad that the so called cost benefit analyses are basically wrong.From a human perspective I find the obsession with measuring the worth of everything in GBP sad.
What has happened? On June 30th, Alan Johnson announced that ID cards would be voluntary for British citizens. This meant the ditching of a scheme that would have made it compulsory for airport staff and pilots at Manchester and London City airports to have them, as part of the ID cards trial. Previously, the government said they would be compulsory once 80% of the population had them. Johnson was also forced to admit that the government had previously wrongly presented ID cards as a 'panacea' for terrorism. Johnson did say he remained a supporter of ID cards and that the ...
Erewash BC, Abbotsford Con 471 (53.4;+2.1)Lab 306 (34.7;-14.0)Peter Aanonson LD 105 (11.9;+11.9)Majority 165Turnout 23.0%Con holdWarwickshire CC, Arbury and StockingfordLab 1331 (41.7; +13.5)Con 1079 (33.8;+2.6)BNP 449 (14.1;-10.4)Green 170 (5.3;-10.8)Rachel Field LD 118 (3.7;+3.7)Socialist Alternative 43 (1.3;1.3)Maj 252Turnout 21.4%Lab gain from ConDerbyshire CC, Kirk Hallam divisionLab 1261 (
Fri 17th
14:07General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army and Sir Jock Stirrup, the Chief of the Defence Sta...
Armed Forces chiefs call for By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent Published: 11:46AM BST 17 Jul 2009 Comment why are our men in this position expected to fight without the tools. I say get them out now... (L-R) Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, Chief of the Defence Staff and General Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of General [...]
Fri 17th
14:02Unannounced checks on children's services introduced after the Baby P case should be halted because ...
Baby P checks 'should be halted' Baby P died after months of abuse despite being monitored by officials Ofsted, which is tasked with the inspections, has been accused by children's services directors of using inspectors who are not well trained. It is believed that out of the first nine councils checked, "serious concerns" were reported [...]
BBC faces paying out a redundancy bill running into millions of pounds as half of staff are expected to refuse the move to the corporation's new headquarters in Salford. Well call me a cynic, but £2million pound is a neat figure that sounds strangely familiar?
Erewash BC, Abbotsford Warwickshire CC, Arbury and Stockingford Derbyshire CC, Kirk Hallam division Wychavon DC, Droitwich Central Christchurch DC, Portfield St Helens BC, Moss Bank Cirencester TC, Watermoor
Back in April, I mentioned the Icelandic general elections and predicted how the result may eventually lead to Iceland joining the European Union, well guess what? Today the Althing (the Icelandic Parliament) formally applied to join to become the ...
Yesterday saw the announcement of the result of that rare creature, a by-election in the Lords. In the event of the death of a hereditary peer, an election is held to fill the vacancy, the electorate being those Peers sitting on the same benches. In this instance, twenty-seven hereditary crossbenchers voted to fill the vacancy arising from the death of Viscount Bledisloe on 12 May. The result, the election of Lord Aberdare, whose father's death had caused an earlier by-election. In the Chamber, it was Day 8 of the Committee Stage of the Coroners and Justice Bill, with the proposed ...
I am someone who thinks socialising with the voters can help a candidate so after reading Mark Pack's blog post about an Afghan Presidential candidate using the Internet to create a community I liked the idea and headed over to the website. On the website I come across a page called "Host your own campaign events" and this is the sort of thing that I suggested to Nick Clegg's team in a previous blog post. In my opinion if local parties held events in which the PPC took to the stage and socialised with residents I have a funny feeling ...
It's good news that the Government has decided to delay the initial gate decision on Trident until after the Non Proliferation Talks next year. It'll help to give those talks a chance.We had strongly criticised the Government's rushed decision on Trident in 2006. We said that the big decisions should be delayed until after the NPT talks - actually in 2012 - 2014 at maingate. However, what this does show is that the Government are either playing fast and loose with their timetable or it was never that tight anyway.It calls into question Labour's original proposition on Trident. What can ...
THERE'S nothing funny about the war in Afghanistan. As still more British troops are lost and injured, and as the politicians throw mud at each other about whether we've got enough helicopters out there, the harsh reality is—we're losing the war. This is a tough admission. But many in that troubled land are not only sympathetic to the Taliban, they're actually working with them to defeat the "occupying" forces. The argument used to justify the war is that if we pulled out, it would become a hotbed for terrorism. But I believe our presence there is provoking some to side ...
My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Afghan recap House Points has been going for so long that, while writing a column, I sometimes have the feeling that I have written it before. I'm sure you often have that feeling when you read them. But then there are a lot of subjects on which this government has made little progress over the past 10 years. Take Afghanistan. Back in March 2006, just as Ming Campbell was being elected Liberal Democrat leader, I questioned what exactly our troops were doing there. The then defence secretary John Reid, I reported, ...
There were two by-elections in the West Midlands yesterday, the Liberal Democrats held their seat in Droitwich Central and Labour gained a seat from the Conservatives in
Now, here's a challenge – write an entire article about public lavatories without recourse to toilet humour. Here goes, courtesy of the BBC write-up... Local authorities should have a "statutory duty" to provide public toilets, the government has been urged. Some 26 MPs have signed a House of Commons motion arguing that the closure of public lavatories in recent years has been damaging. ... The MPs, led by the Lib Dem environment spokesman Tim Farron, are backing a campaign by the British Toilets Association (BTA) for better facilities. Mr Farron said the fact councils were not compelled to provide toilets ...
The Guardian has published a list of all those Gordon Brown has invited to dinner at Chequers together with some of the gifts he has been presented with by visiting dignitaries. They include Jimmy Carr, Bruce Forsyth and the former director of the National Theatre Sir Richard Eyre. Other visitors include John Motson, the veteran football commentator, and his wife, Anne, Sir Fred Goodwin, the former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lord Myners, the city minister, who led the government charge against Goodwin, Sir Victor Blank, the former chairman of Lloyds TSB, who famously cleared the way for ...
MPs have condemned the "catastrophic mismanagement" of a college building scheme in England which could cost hundreds of millions of pounds. Committee chairman Phil Willis, a Liberal Democrat MP, said: "It really beggars belief that such an excellent programme which had showed real success in transforming the further education experience for students was mismanaged into virtual...
If you were a politician and there was something that you had done when you were younger that you now wanted to stop other people from doing through force of law and threat of imprisonment, what would be the best way to go about doing this without looking too hypocritical? I can think of a few: 1) You could claim that you are entitled to have had a private life before coming into politics and refuse to discuss whether you did or didn't do the thing. People will assume you did, and they may even assume you did more of ...
Many small independent stores have fallen victim to the economic downturn, but a growing number of communities are fighting back by banding together to buy and run cherished shops threatened with closure. To read the full story follow the link HERE
There are some "F-words" that you hesitate to use in politics for fear of offence, but David Cameron's new European Parliament Conservative Group, bodged together with sticky tape and suspicious armbands, has already had a rebellion, an expulsion and a putsch. Much more of this f-wording about and they'll be completely F- ascisted. Newly re-elected, newly expelled Tory MEP Edward McMillan-Scott described the Polish extremist who seized the Group's Leadership as "essentially a fascist," and on last night's PM programme, you can hear what the Conservative Leader said about "fags" that made one of his staff exclaim, "Oh my God!" ...
As the local paper, the Southern Report, highlights: In a shock move, Conservative candidate Chris Walker has quit the battle to take the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk Westminster seat from the Liberal Democrats. The constituency has been targeted by the Scottish Conservative Leader Annabel Goldie as winnable. ... The seat is held for the Lib Dems by Michael Moore. He has a majority of 5,901 over the Tories. Favourite to succeed Mr Walker is current Tory MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire John Lamont – however, he has made it clear he would, if elected, sit in both the Holyrood and ...
Those nice people at Lib Dem Voice published another piece by me yesterday, this one looking at how the way our laws treat political parties is at some distance from the reality of the role parties play in our modern democracy (which is, despite some issues, a far more positive one than many people are willing to give credit for). I look at whether our current approaches to elected politicians switching parties, MPs' communications allowances and councillors "tithing" part of their allowances are correct.
Quite an amusing interview on Radio 4 last night: with the Lab and Con chipping away at each other. These new eco towns - 4 in all across the country including Cornwall and Oxon. Seems like the building standard will be level 4 when at the time of possible fruition level 6 will be the par. Is it green or possible a bit brown? But then our PM is called Gordon Brown. Pun Pun.
Hey, York people! You too could end up with a couple of Big Holes In The Ground just like the ones in Bradford now that your city's council has hired Kersten England as its new chief executive. Ms. England, whose BA thesis at Manchester University was on the subject of "A Political Economy of Black Female Labour in Zimbabwe, 1900-1980" by way of interest, was previously best known for being the partner of Bradford Council leader and Tory PPC Kris Hopkins, and for claiming "there are no ghettos in Bradford" when she was "director of policy" at the local council ...
Fri 17th
10:00
CommentIsLinked@LDV... Nick Clegg: An end to the duopoly that dominated 20th-century Britain
The Independent today publishes an extrract from Nick Clegg's speech to the National Liberal Club, marking the 150th anniversary of the first Parliamentary Liberal Party caucus. Here's an excerpt from the excerpt: ... in the battle of ideas the Liberal Democrats are winning. The first party to identify the dangers of an overleveraged banking system. The first to advocate radical political reform. Consistent in our defence of civil liberties. Principled in our defence of the international rule of law. Outspoken in correcting our woefully imbalanced tax system. Radical on the need to make Britain environmentally sustainable. Brave in standing up ...
Vote Irfan Ahmed's Blog in the TP Top Blogs http://bit.ly/2Eyl1
It looks like the #plot turned into something much different after Guido went away from the hashtag and tweeted the following: Girls just want to have fun apparently. Hope Mrs Fawkes don't find out.I have a funny feeling Mr Staines didn't stay faithful to Mrs Staines last night so for the sake of political blogging I agree with him. Can you just see it happening, Guido being made homeless by Mrs Staines and having to live at the Devil's or the Bears house? Image that, she even takes the laptop of him when she kicks him out? No laptop, No ...
Bundanoon, in New South Wales, Australia, has voted to ban bottled water.
Well done to Cllr Dave Kent for winning the Moss Bank by-election in St Helens. This has meant that the Council remains in Lib Dem hands and is a vindication of the way the Lib Dems run the Council. Result: Lib Dems 1480 = 53.90 Lab 1011 = 36.82 Con 111 = 4.04 Grn 73 = 2.66 Ind 71 = 2.59 Maj [...]
MEPs amassed in Strasbourg on Monday, more than half of them new to Parliament. The place had a 'first day at a new school' atmosphere. Help desks abounded, eager young graduates pushed their CVs hither and thither hoping for jobs as researchers, the new boys (and girls! 35% of MEPs are women) felt lost and tried hard not to show it. Of the UK MEPs, fewer than one third are new, which gives us an advantage in the new Parliament. Of the French, 62% are new. Their political class had a clear-out. My successor Guy Verhofstadt made his maiden speech ...
Late night Mosque goers* were warned about swine flu and the increase of the number of cases and for that reason towels from the mosque have been removed. People have been told they should dry hands and faces after washing with the hand dryers and not use towels. This comes after inside news from Pharmacies in Burnley and Pendle so large numbers of people flocking to them to get the swine flu prevention medication. All I know is I need to stay careful over the next couple of weeks... *I guarantee that there isn't a conspiracy, especially at a Sunni ...
2 Big Stories Troops need more, says Dannett The BBC has the interview and the story: The head of the UK Army has said better equipment is needed to protect troops from roadside bombs in Afghanistan. General Sir Richard Dannatt told the BBC troops "needed more" and added that he would be compiling a shopping list of what was required. ... The general's comments will be seen as careful "parting shots". ... In return for their service, he says more money needs to be spent on equipment for British forces in Afghanistan. Earlier this week, the general – on his ...
Welsh Liberal Democrat MP, Lembit Őpik has teamed up with model Katie Green to wage war on the modelling industry. Kate Green famously quit a job after she was told that she needed to lose two stones. She blames the fashion world for the rising number of young girls with eating disorders. According to figures put together by the Liberal Democrats, there has been a 47 per cent increase of anorexia and bulimia in girls under 18 during the last three years. The Sun says that in a recent survey, 75 per cent of teens said they felt they needed ...
A House of Lords select committee report has followed up last week's Hotham Report by agreeing that the 30-year-old Barnett formula is "arbitrary and unfair" and should be scrapped. The Secretary of State for Wales however, appears to still be in denial. He is quoted as saying that the present funding formula is "more or less fair" but added "we've got to make sure that Wales get a fair deal in the future." On Radio Wales this morning Peter Hain asserted that currently the Barnett formula is fair as it applies to Wales and suggested that Holtham supports that verdict. ...
WE really have to ask our selves is this another waste of Public money as we in Bath have a perfectly good call centre at ensleigh. To read the full story follow the link HERE The opening of a regional fire control centre covering the west country has been delayed until May 2011, Fire Minister Shahid Malik said.
WE really have to ask our selves is this another waste of Public money as we in Bath have a perfectly good call centre at ensleigh. To read the full story follow the link HERE The opening of a regional fire control centre covering the west country has been delayed until May 2011, Fire Minister Shahid Malik said.
James Graham's early morning blog post shows why he's still one of the Lib Dem's top bloggers. Starting with the defection of Chamali and Chandila Fernando, James goes on to look at the problems the Lib Dems have getting more BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) candidates. He then discusses the drains parliamentary candidates have on their time and money, in a party with little cash to support them further; the tendency to treat ethnic minorities (especially asian communities) as a bloc vote; and the emphasis on localism where the number of years a candidate has lived in the area ...
@marshallmanson Will be interesting to see, esp. given how many times we've said United Airlines. There, done it again {:)} in reply to marshallmanson # Yikes, up to 1.2 million views now for the United Airlines clip: http://bit.ly/16jwbl # Facebook disables an MP's account for, er..., having popular groups http://bit.ly/vnHng # @rfenwick Put a bid in for a dumb waiter direct to kitchen in reply to rfenwick # Good to see Facebook's Director of EU Policy respond to an MP's problem, possibly because he's an ex-MP himself {:-)} http://bit.ly/fywrR # Puzzled by strap line on PoliticsHome website: "Live as it ...
Today Lord Bonkers shares some insights on subatomic physics. Friday Clegg, I read in the Manchester Guardian, has declared that a Liberal Democrat government (and it can be only a matter of months before we have one) will not renew Trident. Good for him. I have long believed that Britain simply cannot afford an independent nuclear deterrent; it costs so much that we may as well drop flaming bales of £50 notes upon our enemies. Here in Rutland we have, of course, never had nuclear weapons (we did try splitting atoms but found them terribly fiddly), but have on occasion ...
Well there is a new SNP short list for the candidate to contest the Glasgow North East by election and I list it below in full: David Kerr There you have it. The only name on the list is that of former BBC Scotland Journalist David Kerr. However, the press do need to get their facts straight over this 4th candidate thing. Anne McLaughlin didn't so much step down as step aside while elevated to MSP. Don't forget she had been the de facto candidate for a replacement on the list since 2007 as well as PPC for Glasgow North ...
This has become an incoherent babble but I was determined to finish it. My apologies. The defection yesterday of the Fernando siblings, on one level, is quite easy to laugh off. If Chamali and Chandila are "senior" party members on the basis that they have failed to get elected to any prominent position within [...]
The launch of the National Pandemic Flu Service coincides with the announcement that the NHS is preparing for the worse case scenario of 65,000 deaths this year through swine flu. The advise is based on 30% of the population falling ill. Children under 14 are being hit hardest and the NHS was told to plan for a worst-case scenario of up to half of all children being infected during a first pandemic wave. The figure of 30% for the model is based on the pandemics of 1957-58 and 1968-70, the scenario is also ranging the number of fatalities from 19,000 ...
Last week, former Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt MEP succeeded Graham Watson MEP as leader of the European Liberal Democrats. Fiona Hall MEP has now been elected to follow Andrew Duff MEP as leader of the British contingent of Liberal Democrat MEPs. Andrew has been a really fantastic leader. As a member of the Constitutional Convention he played [...]
Eddie Izzard is bringing his show STRIPPED to The NIA, Birmingham on Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18 November 2009.
