It's deja vu all over again in Folkestone & Hythe ... 18 months after Toby Philpott resigned as prospective parliamentary candidate, his successor, Neil Matthews, has also quit: Shepway Liberal Democrats are sorry to announce that Neil Matthews has stepped down as Parliamentary Candidate for Folkestone & Hythe due to personal pressures. Neil remains an active part of the Shepway Liberal Democrats and Liberal Democrat Councillor for Hythe West. In a letter to Party members, Shepway Local Party Chair, Bev Rolfe, paid tribute to Neil's work and said: "I'm sorry to announced that the Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for ...
Meanwhile, in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (or CSI: Mendlesham as I like to think of it), we'll be getting a new MP at the next election, following Sir Michael Lord's announcement that he will be retiring. Given that he ran to be Speaker earlier this year, one presumes that, at that time, he felt capable of seeing out another term, so the announcement came as a bit of a surprise. Or not, as the case may be... A few weeks ago, a colleague who shall remain nameless indicated that a Conservative councillor had told him that Michael Lord would ...
Nigel Pavaro reports on regeneration in Langworthy. [IMG: Share/Bookmark]
Yesterday I wrote up, and riffed off, what I had to say at last week's G2010 conference – but today is even more exciting: a video of the session in real-time. Oooh, I'm spoiling you, dear reader. I start speaking about 15 minutes in if you want to skip it ... Watch the Video Here &rauo;
After that temporary hiatus, caused by my stereo breaking, and the CD drive in my computer breaking, and my external CD drive breaking, and my replacement stereo and replacement external CD drive breaking, which lesser men would have taken as a sign not to bother continuing with my inexplicably-mildly-popular series of reviews, I'm continuing with ...
Tue 27th
22:30
Latest - Elizabeth Truss forced to explain herself to South West Norfolk Conservative members
Following on from the story yesterday about Elizabeth Truss, the newly selected Tory candidate for South West Norfolk, the BBC are reporting the the executive committee of South West Norfolk Conservative association have met tonight and asked her to return to speak to all party members at a special AGM to be held at the weekend. The executive could have rubber stamped her appointment but have chosen not to do so.
In my other blog I have been writing about the X Factor. For me, being a Liberal Democrat is seeing that something is wrong, and seeking to intervene to make a change. So, here's where politics meets the X-Factor. Each week is themed. The singers may be poor on one theme and good on another. But if they're poor one week, they could go out. And all the times people voted for them before, when they might have been much better, those votes won't help to save them. I think the current voting system is wrong. The acts that leave ...
Cara Hilton, Parliamentary Researcher to Karen Whitefield MSP, Airdrie & Shotts made a major email cock up this morning at 10.23am when she emailed every MSP and every Researcher. With me so far? Right, this Wednesday and next Wednesday USDAW are opening up their Edinburgh Offices from 5.30pm to 8pm for Glasgow North East telephone canvassing. Is this a new cross party approach by USDAW? Can I as the Director of Campaigns for the Scottish Liberal Democrats turn up tomorrow evening with my team of twelve? I suspect not, because unfortunately for Cara Hilton she emailed every single MSP and ...
The IT situation gets worse, if it were in hospital it would be dumped out the back with no warning! However on a brighter note we had our local Fairtrade meeting, and Maureen had our winning certificate that we received in London the other week to show everyone. Great pride and rightly so (and before you ask, after reading yessterday's blog - it was for DOING, not ticking boxes!). Then plans...
I have long held the view that Simon Cowell is destroying Western civilisation. Or at least that he is destroying popular music by draining every ounce of spirit and rebellion from it. Up until now I had believed I was alone. But the news from Hello Magazine that John and Edward got most votes from viewers after the last X-Factor show has only one explanation. The people of Britiain have turned against Cowell and are using John and Edward as their weapon. Not that I watch it, of course.
Two cracking posts from Sara Bedford: An over-inflated sense of worth from our favourite MP? looks at the extent of Nadine Dorries's merit that landed her Tory safe seat, and My mother always told me it takes two to tango - maybe someone should tell the Daily Mail... points out the inherent sexism of the nasty rag.Liberal Vision: Another government scam to fleece us highlights an astonishing new
The Civitas discussion of 'A balancing act' was, well, fun. Nothing like the "thrown to the monetarist wolves" experience I had feared.
A delightful bit of memorabilia has been passed to me by the usual sources-more of which later. The Southport constituency polled in January 1906 and Mr Astbury was victorious. The Tory candidate E.M. Hall was a barrister with a very high opinion of himself and the purveyor of 'dirty tricks', he was brought low. A couple of small points; firstly the Southport and Birkdale Liberals fought in red and secondly although Southport polled in January the 1906 election was not held on the same day all over the country. The red colours persisted until well into the 1960s. I have ...
"The Tories have been deeply ambivalent on the much more fundamental question of what we do about the future of the banking system," said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable. Commenting on the Tories' call for High Street banks to ban the payment of bonuses of more than £2,000 in cash, Vince Cable said:"The Tories have been deeply ambivalent on the much more fundamental question of what we do about the future of the banking system. "They have not given full backing to Mervyn King's proposals on splitting up the banks and these bonus proposals are short term, stop ...
I blogged about a Tory candidate in Cornwall going around misrepresenting her Lib Dem opponent. Apparently, according to twitter, she has still not apologised. Come on Caroline Righton. Sure to people of Newquay and St Austell deserve better. Apologise to your Lib Dem opponent and move on.
Despite the duck houses, moats, huge gardening bills and house flipping, David Cameron has staked his claim to the moral high ground in the MPs' expenses saga. Even this morning he proclaimed that the Conservatives have been 'leading the way' and 'setting the agenda' in cleaning up our political system. Even before Conservative MPs knew ...
You'd have thought he'd be famous enough by now, but apparently not ... The Independent reports: Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik will complain to the Commons authorities today after his name was missed off a key internet search tool. The online of version of Hansard, which records everything said in Parliament, has a "search by Member" page – but Mr Opik's name is not on the alphabetical list. It means his Montgomeryshire constituents cannot simply click through to find his written and spoken contributions. When told of the error Mr Opik said: "I'm both appalled and amazed by this and ...
The Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard reports: A COUNTY councillor from Tewkesbury has been chosen to represent the Liberal Democrat party in the Cotswolds for the forthcoming general election. Mike Collins, 46, will oppose Cotswold MP Conservative Geoffrey Clifton-Brown who has held the seat for the last 17 years. ... "It's time for a change, so I pledge to the people of the Cotswolds that I will do my best to represent them in a fair and honest way," he said.
I am pleased to report that after my representations to the Co-operative they have reviewed their decision to close the shop on Atholl Court. The original announcement made last Thursday prompted a strong response from local residents with protests outside the shop and a petition of over 700 signatures calling for the shop to remain open. [IMG: Collecting petition signatures] I immediately contacted the Co-op and relayed local concerns about their decision and asked for them and council officers to meet to seek a solution which would keep the shop open. Over the past four days I have spoken to ...
Call the IT helpdesk? Or ask a Parliamentary Question? Well it seems that Southend West's MP would choose the PQ route. We can only guess what office drama led to this question: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what steps the House of Commons Commission (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to make the Parliamentary House of Commons intranet compatible with computers running Windows Vista 64-bit edition; and if he will make a statement. Nick Harvey MP (for it is he) resisted the temptation to tell Mr Amess to try ...
The Hounslow Chronicle has the story: The Liberal Democrat leader of Richmond Council has apologised after a photograph of a child swearing appeared on his party's website. The image was used following Serge Lourie's decision to postpone the signing of a contract to develop Twickenham Riverside. It shows a young boy sticking up two fingers, alongside the caption 'liar liar pants on fire' and accompanies an article attacking the borough's Conservative group and residents' group Richmond United Group (RUG). It claims they have spread lies about the controversial proposals, which include allowing developer Countryside to build 32 homes on the ...
The following information is intended to provide a brief synopsis of the progress to date on the construction of the new Carnegie Primary School in the east of Dunfermline. "All members of the Fife Council team working on the project are cognisant of the challenging timescale to open the school for the new academic term August 2011.The new Carnegie Primary school is being procured and will be constructed by a contractor appointed under a traditional single stage design and build contract. Initial 'expression of interest' tenders were invited with an advertisement in the Official Journal of the European Journal (OJEU) ...
The meeting of Bury Council tomorrow (Wednesday) sees a debate on the 10:10 campaign, which calls for a reduction in carbon emissions of 10% in 2010. A motion put forward for debate by the Liberal Democrats calls for the Council to commit to the 10:10 cause. A similar motion put forward by the Lib Dems in parliament last week was voted down by the government. I hope nothing similar happens in the Town Hall tomorrow. The threat of climate change caused by carbon emissions is enormous, and we need to take big strides to stop what could well be a ...
While on holiday in Greece this year, I met a lad from Abergele who is a sergeant in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. One of our conversations turned to Afghanistan and he told me what the conditions were like and how at times it was a very lonely place. The conversation then went on to how well Goody Boxes were received and what a boost to morale this had. This got me thinking that I would like to show my support and appreciation for the very difficult environment they are in and I also wanted to help. When I returned to ...
Whilst visiting the pharmaceutical plant, I received a message from home. Cincinnati had been rushed to the vet, and I needed to ring the practice to find out what was happening. Luckily, the vet was satisfied that he had had a good night and was recovering well. However, I would need to bring him in again on our return. And so, a fortnight ago, I took Cincinnati back to the vet, with Katherine for company. There is no doubt that he is struggling, in that he is losing weight, his hind legs are weakened by muscle loss, and he is ...
It is ludicrous and insulting to compare the decision Blair made to join the American invasion of Iraq with the deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing of Karadzic
[IMG: mark-camera-0221-angela-cropped-bw2] I am 45 and in a rapidly diminishing minority. I have not yet been criminalised. Surely it is now a matter of time before I slip up on a speed trap (I drive a Porsche), a wheelie bin infringement (not actually got to wheelie bins where I live) or get caught accidentally snapping a copper on my mobile phone . I have come perilously close - I was stopped a while back on the M11 for eating tic tacs . The policeman is his unmarked police car was absolutely certain that I was "using a mobile phone whilst ...
Back in July I blogged about our local campaign to improve Hexham Road estate which has been gaining momentum in recent months. This follows years of neglect of the area by Labour politicians on Reading Borough Council. Today I spoke to Council officers about exciting new plans designed to make the external estate environment on Hexham Road 'greener' and more appealing to residents and visitors. They include plans to: plant around the estate on the open green spaces mature trees designed to offer seasonal colour to have the greatest impact, together with seasonal bulb planting, offering colour to the estate over a number of ...
Earlier this month I had the pleasure of undertaking the official opening of the new West End Boys Amateur Boxing Club, based at Dundee West Church (see http://tinyurl.com/westendabc) - its great to have another sporting group active in the West End. The boxing club has now produced a training video and asked if I'd put it on www.dundeewestend.com - so here it is! If you are interested in the club, e-mail them at info@westend-boys-abc.com for more information.
Facebook has introduced the option to modify the accounts of users who have passed away. From the Facebook blog: "How do you deal with an interaction with someone who is no longer able to log on? When someone leaves us, they don't leave our memories or our social network." Friends or family of the deceased can notify Facebook via this form, providing proof of death (eg an obituary or news article) and request to have the account "memorialized." "Memorializing the account removes certain sensitive information and sets privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it ...
Thanks to Andrew Reeves for this gem about the Conservative candidate in the new St Austell and Newquay seat. Seems the Tories are getting a bit desperate in the South West and have resorted to dirty tricks already. All the Liberal Democrats are asking for is an apology from Caroline and the matter will be forgotten but her complete lack of decency has prevented her from even doing this. When you go around telling people that you're opponent called you a d******d in public you better have some bloody good evidence to back it up. And does Caroline have this ...
It's not just UK post offices that are at risk of closure and taking steps to campaign to keep themselves open, as this story from Florida reveals: Residents of a Florida town are sending coconuts to the U.S. postmaster general as postcards asking him to reconsider the closing of their post office. Locals in Lantana and surrounding areas said they are mailing coconuts, which cost about $4 postage, to Postmaster General John Potter with marker messages asking him to reconsider the planned closing of the small Lantana post office, one of three in Florida's Palm Beach County marked for closing ...
Elizabeth Truss, the newly selected Conservative PPC for South West Norfolk is facing potential deselection following the revelations that she had an affair with fellow Conservative (and MP for London & Westminster) Mark Field. My response to this is W. T. F. There are several aspects to this that are noteworthy: There is no suggestion that Mark Field is going to be deselected. Why should it be that a woman is held to a higher standard than a man? Didn't it take both of them to have an affair?It seems that the local Tories in Ms Truss' constituency are angry ...
Mark Littlewood needs to resign from the Liberal Democrats in order to take up his post as head of the Free Market think-tank, the IEA. Mark is a former Head of Communications for the Liberal Democrats, and a proper classical liberal. He was director of Liberal Vision, a think tank that campaigns for low tax, small state and greater personal liberty within the Lib Dems. His great strength is in his media nouse and contacts. During our last party conference, Mark was able to get considerable air-time for Liberal Vision. Personally I'm happy he's going on to bigger and better, ...
Here's some information that's come through about a series of chances to get involved in cycling if you live in or near Speke The 1st Sunday of every month will be a Cycling Sunday in Speke! You can have some fun, meet other people who enjoy cycling, get some exercise and see parts of Speke and Liverpool you haven't seen before. The rides will leave Lifestyles Austin Rawlinson at Parklands, Speke at 2pm, and will last 2-4 hours. Upcoming Cycling Sundays: 1st November 2009 6th December 2009 3rd January 2010 7th February 2010 November 1 National Wildflower Centre. Come along ...
Worryingly quiet out here at the moment! Has everyone gone on holiday for school half-term, or have they all been seized for thoughtcrime by the Forward Intelligence Teams, as seen in yesterday's Graun? The best summarisation on that story has been posted by nalsa here; worth reading if you haven't yet seen it. More likely, like myself, they have "NOTHING to SAY", as Oliver Hardy once put it. Little to comment on here at the moment; in terms of news it can best be summarised as "meh" to the Lisbon Treaty, "no" to Tony Blair as president of the EU, ...
I thought I should let you know that I am still alive, although blogging has been a lot lighter than I thought it would be. Healthwise, it's been an interesting, in the Chinese proverb definition of "interesting" time. Recent tests have revealed that my body is doing some strange things, so these have to be investigated some more. In a way that's a good thing because it will hopefully show up some answers, but there are elements of it which are also a bit scary. Ironically, though, and fortunately, I have had some flashes of feeling if not exactly good, ...
On the back of a record breaking Freshers campaign, Liberal Youth took the lead in campaigning for action to be taken over the student loan debacle. A fortnight ago, LY's Chair, Elaine Bagshaw called for the resignations of both Ralph Seymour-Jackson, Chief Executive of the Student Loan Company and Michael Hipkins, Director of Student Finance ...
I know a lot of you have been interested in the exact details of the offer from the Council to refuse workers. Here are the full details of the latest offer which was not supported by the Unions and turned down by 92% of refuse workers even though I believe it is extremely fair and corrects many of the service deficiencies that have been around in Leeds for years. Bin Strike Offer to Unions -
Not content with the revelation that Benito Mussolini was an MI5 agent or that my dad was, according to the Fourth Protocol, an East German agent, it now appears that Fidel Castro's sister, Juanita, was a CIA agent. She joins the ranks of most unlikely CIA agents along with Peter Bessell MP. Apparently she became discontented with ...
Merely a website tip. I bring you, with heavy recommendation... STUFF WHITE PEOPLE LIKE Have a butcher's, it be verrrry funny.
That would be what well known Conservative blogger Tory Bear would call it based on this article he has written about York Uni Liberal Democrats. Apparently the local party in York were subsidising young members to join (shock horror, wanting to get more young people involved in politics and more people out campaigning in a general election year!). Quite apart from me not seeing anything wrong with this at all, parties (including the Conservatives) have been offering young members subsidised membership rates for decades! The really ironic thing is that Conservative Future in Leeds were subsidising their parties young persons ...
Sunday was a mix of the good, the bad and the downright careless. In the morning I went down to Dunston with the local councillors and our Blaydon candidate Neil Bradbury to do some photos outside the Fed Brewery which S&N want to close. Then I managed to wreck the video camera. Apparently it doesn't like being dropped on the ground. The night before I had managed to wreck an external hard drive
So a random snippet of news on the radio today, due to the recession McDonalds are to close all their stores in Iceland.
Tue 27th
13:33
My mother always told me it takes two to tango - maybe someone should tell the Daily Mail ...
"Down's Syndrome cases soar as women delay starting a family" screams the headline on today's Daily Mail. That's right, there are more children with Down's Syndrome and more women having terminations because of the sheer evil selfishness of women. We all know that, despite its high percentage of female readers, the Mail has a nasty ...
As a woman who has stood in the past as a parliamentary candidate, I have followed with interest the recent debate amongst the Conservatives regarding all-women shortlists and the rehashing of the debate amongst the LibDems. One person who has spoken out strongly against all-women shortlists is the always outspoken MP for Mid Bedfordshire, Nadine Dorries. ...
More for future reference and a reminder to research it more when I have the time, I wanted to flag up this Guardian article on Toulouse's new street-lighting system. Interestingly, they're installing street lights that are dimmer when there are no people around, thus saving energy, reducing light pollution and possibly creating an interesting set ...
Kathy Brewis asks in The Times, Who are the curators kidding?, attacking the soon-to-be-reopened Ashmolean Museum in Oxford for (that tired old hack's cliche) "dumbing-down". The irony, which doubtless will escape Ms Brewis is this: she hasn't stepped foot in the revamped museum. Yes, that's right a journalist who complains of dumbing-down has done so by spewing out 900 words without undertaking any primary research beyond a bit of Googling, and parsing a press release. I didn't actually trouble to read Ms Brewis's article in full – I really didn't see the need to do so before deciding to attack ...
A campaign is running to bring back the Rise festival which Mayor Boris Johnson scrapped. You can see a brief history of the festival here. But essentially the idea is a free music festival with a clear anti-racism message - a message which Boris Johnson removed when he was elected last year (is it really only last year Boris was elected? feels like a lifetime already). With a lack of financial support once the fundamental point (anti-racism) was cut out of the festival, Boris cancelled Rise completely. The UpRise group are trying to resurrect the festival, with plans to hold ...
Selections for council candidates are now well underway in most areas with local elections next May; and if they aren't then now is the time to start. Many areas have had robust approval procedures for a number of years, but this is now compulsory for all candidatess wanting to stand for the Liberal Democrats in council elections in England. The English Liberal Democrats have also brought in new rules that require candidates in England to make a financial contribution to aid party campaigning if they get elected. Again, this has been standard practice for a long time in many areas, ...
If you had 26,000 spare of something, and knew of 90,000 people that wanted that something, you'd probably do something to try and make sure you shifted that 26,000. No, I'm not talking about the ticket demands at the average West Brom home game (you may have guessed that) but instead about empty homes. According to Shelter Cymru and the Chartered Institute of Housing, there are an estimated 26,407 empty properties in Wales at the moment. And this doesn't include houses waiting for a new tenant or that have only just become empty, these are properties that have been empty ...
The latest Ofcom survey of internet users in the UK shows that less than half believes downloading shared copies of copyright music and films should be illegal. 42% say it should be illegal, against 33% who believe it shouldn't be illegal and 25% who don't know. I'm not aware of comparable figures for other laws, but 42% strikes me as being a very low figure. It highlights another problem with the Government's dalliance with taking tough (sounding) measures to enforce the law. Though Labour now is backing away from the idea that someone could be cut off from the internet ...
Willem Buiter explains the fiscal position, the causes of the crisis, the greatness of the Mansion Tax, why higher education can take more of the fiscal strain . .. meanwhile Adam Posen's first major speech from his MPC role is a gem, adding yet more layers to the argument about how QE works.
Everyone's favourite young Conservative blue coloured fluffy bear has a shock headline this morning: "Lib Dem PPC in Bribery Scandal". It turns out that the "scandal" is that Lib Dem York Outer parliamentary candidate Madeleine Kirk has put out a statement where she talked about the record number of people they had signed up to the party and the "bribery" portion is that local students were able to join the party for free rather than for £5 (an already heavily subsidised rate of the sort that all parties do). So it's not really a scandal and it's not really bribery. ...
I mentioned last week that I was speaking at the Government 2010 conference as part of a panel discussion on 'Blogging, Social Media and New Media'. 45 minutes might be enough time – at least if you believe Tony Blair – for the Iraqis to have launched weapons of mass destruction directed against the UK; but it was enough time only to scratch the surface of this topic. With four speakers, Iain Dale as chair instructed us all to stick to a strict 5 minutes. As I (too often) find conferences are long on theory and terminology, and short on ...
In June - August 1992 I posted 111 personal items of correspondence. Just over one a day to, amongst others, competitions (New Statesman: 4, Lucozade: 1), newspaper letter pages (Guardian: 1, Yorkshire Evening Press: 4), Locoscript Software (1), Michael Portillo (1), Liberal Democrat News (1), Conservative Central Office (1),* the Sergeant at Arms (1), the Post Office (3), the Iranian Government (8) and various friends (34). In other words, I used to write quite a lot. And count quite a lot. Now though I hardly ever post an item. Instinctively therefore I have some sympathy with the Royal Mail management's ...
There is a prompt demonstration of Nick Griffin's poor grasp on religious knowledge coming up this Saturday. The hard-line intolerant factions within Islam in Britain are a minority, as the British Muslims for Secular Democracy hope to show in London. (What can we expect from a man who seems to believe - Question Time, last Thursday - that Christianity in Britain goes back to the Ice Age.)
Tue 27th
10:28
Oh dear, Nick Griffin will no longer be able to look to Agincourt as a sign of English superiority!
It has long been stated, as fact, that English forces were overwhelmingly outnumbered at the Battle of Agincourt. It would appear, that 'we happy few, we band of brothers', to which William Shakespeare refers in Henry V, may not have been true, but a piece of English, and importantly Elizabethan, propaganda. Apparently it is a complete myth ...
Eric Empson (right) joining Prospective MP Ian Swales (centre) and local Councillor Glyn Nightingale in Ian's "Save our Post Offices" campaign Former Redcar & Cleveland Council Leader Eric Empson has yesterday announced his resignation from the council. Eric, who will be 85 next month, has represented Ormesby on the Council since 1989, initially on Cleveland County Council and later the Borough Council. He led the council from 2003 to 2007, when the Council achieved a 4-star rating. But Eric feels the time is right to step back now. Eric said: "After discussions with my doctor I feel my health will ...
Commenting on the Tories' call for High Street banks to ban the payment of bonuses of more than £2,000 in cash, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: "The Tories have been deeply ambivalent on the much more fundamental question of what we do about the future of the banking system. "They have not given full backing to Mervyn King's proposals on splitting up the banks and these bonus proposals are short term, stop gap solutions designed to stem public anger but which fail to get to the heart of the problem. "The bonus pool in the banking system derives ...
[IMG: 22951-1-menzies-campbell-mp] Commenting on the news that the British Government has scaled back planned cuts to the Territorial Army budget, North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell said: "Some common sense shown but more needed. "The Government's hasty retreat was almost inevitable, cheese paring of the Territorials made absolutely no tactical or strategic sense. The TA could have been irretrievably damaged. What they need is investment, not cuts."
I have been trying, ever since Baby Peter's tragic case, to get the Serious Case Review published. A Serious Case Review (SCR) is produced after any such case by the agencies involved in that child's care. It tells the chronological story of who did what and when. It is an invaluable document - but it is kept secret. An Executive Summary is published - but that really doesn't tell anything like the whole story. I have been battling to change this - so that SCR's can be published. In Baby Peter's case I have asked the Information Commissioner to publish ...
I live fairly close to the centre of Great Britain. If you count the islands then it is Dunsop Bridge and if you don't count them it is Whalley. So if I wanted to set up a private postal business then it may be good to start from this area. However you may find that most of your business comes from the cities and there is not so much to send to the islands. If I am asked to deliver a parcel to a Scottish island then it is going to cost me a lot more than sending one to ...
There is a bus stop on Muswell Hill - and Muswell Hill is aptly named. The steep gradient sees toddlers tumble, mothers with buggies hang onto them for dear life, wheelchairs needing restraining and older people picking their way fearfully to get to said bus stop. As for when it is wet or slippery.... It has been there a long time - but what has changed is that this is the primary bus stop that local people in Muswell Hill will have to use to get to the new community health centre at Hornsey Hospital at the bottom of the ...
There is an interesting piece by Unity on Liberal Conspiracy this morning which highlights how Nadine Dorries' comments about having got to parliament without having needed any form of positive discrimination seems to be contradicted somewhat by a contemporaneous account published in The Times. What I want to focus on though is the following claim from Nadine in her Conservative Home piece: I have never, other than when looking into the eyes of my new born babies, felt as proud as I did on that night. That pride, that sense of achievement, the knowledge that I was selected on the ...
The question was raised `should electricians that have not requested clearance from the ISA be allowed to work in the school in an ad hoc basis`. Roger Singleton of the Independent Standards Authority was asked whether or not there'd be pressure for all tradespeople to be cleared as some would start using it as a marketing ...
One of the more intriguing episodes of our trip to India was a visit to the headquarters of Emcure Pharmaceuticals on the outskirts of Pune. Now I'm not an expert in the production of generic drugs, but one could not help but be impressed by their enthusiasm and attention to detail. One thing that did hit home though was the costs of production. It was claimed that they could produce a range of commonly prescribed drugs at less than a quarter of the cost currently paid by the NHS, a notion that, if true, could drastically reduce its running costs. ...
This week The Voice is running a four part series from the Centre for Cities, a think tank that works on analysis and policy to boost city economies. They launched their 'Cities Manifesto' at the Bournemouth Lib Dem Conference and this series looks in more detail at its main planks. You can also find out more at http://www.citiesmanifesto.org. All the major parties spent party conference season trying to advance their localist credentials. However, there's more the Liberal Democrats could do to reassert their radical localist credentials - most significantly, by taking their ideas on reform of tax and spending at ...
Ever wondered why that flippin' great hole at Forster Square in Bradford is still a building-site-masquerading-as-a-roundabout. It's now official - the building company has probably gone bust. But wait! They have a cunning plan to make lots of dosh. It seems they think Bradford Council (or rather Bradford Council tax payers) can buy it back from them. Now somewhere or another I heard a rumour that Tory minority run Bradford Council's just about bust too. Hmmmm. Even so Bradford is planning to knock down the Odeon, a beautiful art deco building. That would be another site they couldn't afford to ...
Oh, the high powered life of a local councillor. Yesterday afternoon I had a two hour introductory session on local government finance, then last evening I walked around Gatley, visiting a couple of people, and spotted some streetlamps that aren't working. If only I'd taken photos, I might have featured on the wonderful glum councillors website. Anyway, here's the list. If it's just a faulty bulb they should be fixed within a few days - it may take longer if the fault is something more serious. 1. Lamp outside 14/16 Coniston Road, Gatley 2. Lamp outside 200 Kingsway, Gatley (marked ...
From Chesterton's Autobiography, first published in 1936: Charles Masterman used to swear with derisive gusto that when we went canvassing together, he went all down one side of a street and up most of the other, and found me in the first house, still arguing the philosophy of government with the first householder. ... it is perfectly true that I began electioneering under the extraordinary delusion that the object of canvassing is conversion. The object of canvassing is counting. The only real reason for people being pestered in their own houses by party agents is quite unconnected with the principles ...
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] Ok, I've discovered the most frequently played lists on my iPod... if anyone is bothered here is the top 15: Friendly Fires - "Jump in the pool" The Maccabees - "Toothpaste Kisses" The Maccabees - "Can you give it" Muse - "Knights of Cydonia" Pendulum - "Hold your colour" Ladyhawk - "My delirium" Muse - "Time is running out" Muse - "Stockholm syndrome" The Maccabees - "No kind words/Bag of bones,..." Damien Rice - "9 Crimes" The Knife - "Heartbeats" Nouvelle Vague - "Road to nowhere" Idlewild - "Mistake pageant" Pendulum - "9,000 Miles" Friendly Fires - "Paris" ...
In case it wasn't already obvious, one of the things I'm interested in is the power of oratory. As everyone knows, it's not just about what you say, but how you say it. Indeed, many of Obama's speeches are not filled with anything particularly revolutionary, but his style of delivery, the timbre of his voice, ...
Over the weekend I took a phone call from our Focus Team editor in Haughton, Alan Macnab. While out walking his dogs in Springfield Park he saw that the whole of the surface of the play area there was covered with broken glass. I went up on Sunday morning to meet Alan at the park. It was apparent that dozens of glass bottles (an empty 24-bottle lager case could also be seen) had been deliberately
Every year I get angry about this and I never vent it, well this is the year, sit back and relax. From last week onwards the presenters on the BBC all end up wearing pristine poppies day in, day out. First it is those on BBC News, then it spreads along other shows until everyone is wearing them, I suspect that as time goes on we will see the stars on Strictly Come Dancing wearing them as well and that is when it will really annoy me. However, the staff haven't picked these poppies up in their local shops, they ...
So, Eleanor Laing survived her meeting with Epping Forest Conservative activists last night. And, to be fair, she won a thumping victory over the local Tory malcontents. [IMG: Laing Billboard] It suggests to me that many Conservatives still haven't grasped the scale of the expenses scandal or the desire that many local residents have for a fresh start. I can't help wondering if the outcome would have been different if, instead of a closed meeting with the party faithful, Mrs Laing had organised an open public meeting for all her constituents, like those that attended by some of her colleagues. ...
Earlier this year the Scottish Liberal Democrats called for a review of the lifetime blood ban on gay and bisexual men. When I spoke in favour of the motion I highlighted that the ban was on perception of risk rather than actual sexual practise. It appears that this reappraisal of 'risk' is something that the NHS will be looking at. HIV- gay and bisexual men who have not recently had unprotected sex may well find that they will be able to give blood. It would bring us into line with New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Japan and Australia all of whom ...
So the BBC, the local newspaper and local website are reporting that Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing has survived another day and will remain the Conservative candidate at the next general election. Now it is down to the electorate to decide her fate.For one, I will not be voting for her. I believe she has used the expenses system to her own gain. She doesn't need a second home because her
2 Big Stories Police trainee fights for life after homophobic attack – Telegraph Brown fights to save Blair's EU Presidential hopes – Guardian 2 Must-read Posts Politicians must chatter clearly in the age of twitter, thinks Mark Thompson: Perhaps what will start to happen is that politicians will realise that being vague about something in a speech and then "clarifying" it in a briefing afterwards will not work in the world of Twitter and blogs. Camden councillor Alexis Rowell's mission to turn his borough green from top-to-bottom has reached the Town Hall roof: Our green roof is little more than ...
The Oakwood Fish Bar in Leeds Not only is the frontage a beautiful example of Art Deco design, the fish and chips are great too. We used to pop in regularly when we lived in Leeds a few years back.
Today my white poppy arrived, and I shall be wearing it to remember all victims of war, and to promote pacifism in general. The quote is from the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas whose birthday it is today. And death shall have no dominion. Dead men ...
Apparently, if I stop posting here, people will start ringing me to check I'm ok, or wondering what I'm up to, or other similar things. This is especially true if I just, y'know, stop writing stuff and stop commenting elsewhere. Well, I did. It started as a weekend break from t'internet in which I didn't even look at my email, then it turned into a few months where I simply scanned my email for important stuff, occasionally checked into Twitter, but otherwise didn't read any of my reading, friends or feed pages and simply turned off. Honestly? It's been good. ...
[IMG: fast-news-261009.jpg] To view the latest edition, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXACmKLxM9U
[Cllr Stephen Springthorpe has asked each of the parliamentary candidates to spell out why Silverhill residents should vote for them - here's my reply...] Dear Stephen, Many thanks for your email. Perhaps the best way for me to answer is first to make brief mention of my work background and the political campaigning that I have done to ...
The Government has slightly amended its planned six-month halt to all TA training. A £20m spending cut has become a £17.5m spending cut. Spot the difference. They surely might as well not have bothered amending the plans at all, if they were not going to amend them significantly. I again urge you all to join the thousands who have signed my Downing Street petition urging Labour not to halt all TA training for six months. If we keep up the pressure, Gordon Brown might further shift his position.
