Here's a very short video I made on Saturday night. It's an old joke, although it is one of mine: I wrote it a decade ago for a comedy show on my university's radio station, Leeds Student Radio. I hesitate (no I don't) to mention that said comedy show won that year's Radio 1 Student Comedy Award for Best Spoken Word programme. So now that I've lowered your expectations, here's a joke that will only work if you're the right age to have watched the Children's ITV show Knightmare.
So the Conservatives have brought out their own Jedward poster, two weeks after Labour paid the X Factor contestants their own backhanded compliment. I don't think either of the posters work particularly well, although Labour's is certainly better in terms of message. But to my mind both posters make their originators look shallow, desperately groping towards what ...
No more than 60 seconds walk from where we live in Westminster, a school is under a rebuild turning it into an academy school (all good in itself) but why on earth do they need to keep the building lit up 24 hours a day? There are certainly no workmen there at night, so why ...
Busy day today, at 11am along with my family we were at a service to mark the inauguration of Halifax Parish Church as Halifax Minster. It was a great service led by Bishop Stephen of Wakefield, the Deacon, and of course Revd. Hilary Barber who has worked so hard to achieve this change in status. Well done Hilary. It's great for the church, it's great for Halifax, and it's great for Calderdale. Later on in the afternoon, I was at Wakefield Cathedral for an inspirational Christian Aid Service entitled "Countdown to Copenhagen" demanding climate justice. It was a timely reminder ...
It would be nice to write about how we enjoyed stirring Christmas pudding today and making the Christmas cake. It is stir up Sunday. However more the matter for a political blog is what is consultation ? a word often used, and very often abused as a mechanism. At our LGA Selector Panel we were required to match proposals to the Coughlin Case (2001) - para 108. I cannot recall this ever been...
With Trixy at Is There More to Life than Shoes?
I would like to share a fantastic article with you. It was written by Elaine Bagshaw, Chair of Liberal Youth, and was published in the Student Times. You can find the original here, it's on page 12. Elaine Bagshaw, Chair of Liberal Youth, the youth and student wing of the Liberal Democrats, gives us 10 reasons why Students should vote Lib Dem at the next election after 12 awful years of let downs from the Labour government. 1 - We deserve better Students have been let down time and time again by Labour. We're talking about more than just tuition ...
I've been away a few days, and the responses to the Doctor Who post have brought up some very interesting points, so I thought I'd go through those I've not yet responded to as a separate post (there are some I've still not responded to even after this. And I owe a couple of you ...
I went to visit a disabled constituent today who lives off Northumberland Avenue. She is a double amputee and is undergoing therapy for phantom pains in her limbs. She was smiling. On previous visits her face had been etched with pain. I had reason to smile today too. I had spent two years trying to get her home kitted out so that she could get around in her wheelchair and finally things had been sorted by Ridgway, the contractor employed by Reading Borough Council to carry out home adaptations. Before I had got involved my constituent had been sitting at home waiting and ...
Hi, I will be undating my blog again soon. However you can catch up with me on facebook. If you have any questions about the Council please email me on Bart.Ricketts@councillors.kingston.gov.uk or call text me : 07973 254 169 Or call the Council direct on 0208 547 5757...
Although I am in Edinburgh, the support of the excellent Jonathan Glancey for my current favourite Leicestershire lost cause has not escaped me: The fight is on — perhaps too late — to save what the city council hasn't managed to demolish of the Bowstring Bridge at the junction of Leicester's Western Boulevard and Braunston (sic) Gate. You would have to be deeply thick to even think of wrecking this special stretch of late Victorian engineering.Or a member of Leicester's ruling Labour group.
An awesome and hilarious spoof movie trailer from Saturday Night Live. PS: Glenn Beck is a right-wing (there;s a surprise) Fox News host.
Only this morning I blogged about the homophobic stance taken by the Church of Scotland on allowing an openly gay man to undertake minister training, you can read the story here. Now it appears that the European Commission will be putting pressure on the Labour government to drop the exemptions from equality legislation by religious organisations who currently have the right to refuse to employ LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) staff. This opt out has allowed churches and other religious organisations the option to refuse to employ LGBT people. Although thankfully there have been some successful cases at employment ...
This afternoon the great British weather tried to simultaneously dampen the spirits of Prestwichianites, and short circuit the Christmas lights ahead of their switch-on. Thankfully it failed at both jobs, and her off Coronation Street (you know, the thin blonde one) pressed the magical button to light up the Prestwich Christmas tree in front of a bumper crowd. The "Prestwich becomes Las Vegas... No, Blackpool... No, Prestwich with a tree in it" celebrations came at the end of another hugely successful Farmers Market. Once again people flocked from all over to get their hands on home-made jam, ostrich burgers, various ...
Please follow this link to view the plans and let Trafford Council know your views on the subject.
Welcome to the 143rd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (8th – 14th November 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, partly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget, by the way, you can now sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Irfan Ahmed implodes on ...
I've sung its praises before, but this very simple sub-£10 device is still my favourite gadget: [IMG: USB memory card reader] It's simple. It's reliable. It's cheap. It does a useful job. It not only reduces the number of hassles in life but also the number of cables you need to make equipment work. It's a USB memory card reader. It means that when I take a photo with my digital camera, I can just pop the camera's card in this reader, stick the reader into any computer with a USB port and - bingo! - there are the photos ...
Baroness Buscombe. Not someone I had heard of when I woke up on 16th November. Then an interview with her on Today assailed my ears. A rude awakening. She's chair of the Press Complaints Commission. The last Chair of that body, Sir Christopher Meyer, managed to deal quite smoothly with the role; but, then again, he was a diplomat. Just listening to this interview on Today you can tell immediately that, whatever else Baroness Buscombe is (her background is in advertising followed by a stint on the Tory shadow bench in the Lords), she is not a diplomat. 'Noblesse oblige' ...
I notice his blog posting today. Perhaps others who are interested would like to view this map: Grenville, York, Chatham, Pitt, Aberdeen to name a few in one small area of 1900 terraced housing. I look forward to researching the others – I live in Chatham Street.
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Charities, Cardiff Central MP Jenny Willott, has called for the Government to reinstate the £750,000 it has diverted from a fund for small charities. She will be tabling an Early Day Motion on the subject. She explained: "This decision is a major blow to many small charities who had been promised the money and made plans based on those promises. "What is so appalling is the manner in which this has been done, with no warning or consultation. How does the Government expect to convince other public bodies to abide by the Compact when they treat ...
Local Liberal Democrats are calling for a rethink on the proposed job cuts at Twinings. Prospective parliamentary candidate Tom McCann and I met union members and officials on Saturday to discuss the proposals and believe the company should think again. Tom McCann welcomed the offers of support and retraining for affected workers and urged staff to make full use of them. "But first" he said "the company should explore all other options. Twinings is an important part of Andover's economy. A successful and expanding Twinings factory is essential for the future of the Walworth industrial park and of Andover. Equally ...
Mumsnet are (allegedly) turning into quite a pivotal phenomenon in British democracy. They seem to be playing a similar role to that of the Women's Institute with Tony Blair in 2000 or, indeed, to that of the Soothsayers with Roman Emperors – i.e reminding leaders of their human fallibility. First we had Gordon Brown being thoroughly hob-nobbed by the biscuit question. Now David Cameron has had his own Mumsnet embarrassment, this time with a Nappies question. It took him "nine minutes and counting" to answer a question on the "four nappies a day rule for doubly incontinent disabled children". The ...
In early December, world leaders will gather in Denmark for a crucial conference on climate change. Their challenge will be to agree radical measures to tackle global warming. Our challenge is to demand they do so. That's why my colleague (and the next MP for Lewisham East!) Pete Pattisson, and thousands of other concerned citizens, will be joining The Wave on December 5th in central London. The Wave is a mass demonstration to show our support for a safe climate future for all. Those taking part will march through London in a wave of blue, and finish by circling Parliament. ...
This biography first appeared in the Dictionary of Liberal Biography, produced by the Liberal Democrat History Group. William Wyndham Grenville, later the first Baron Grenville and more commonly known to historians as Lord Grenville, was born on 25 October 1759. Like many Whigs of his generation, he mixed support for repressive domestic measures with modest support for administrative and economic reform. He strongly believed in a limited number of what later became distinctively liberal views. Although a Whig, he spent much of his political career happily working in government with Tories, notably Pitt. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, ...
Mr. White's Bill (taken from the film "Mr White Goes to Westminster" - The Bill would create a new independent tribunal, which would adjudicate whether a media outlet had stated something untrue. If so the offended against party would be given commensurate space to write or say whatever they like. For example, if a newspaper were to publish a half page article on page five which was entirely untrue then the object of the lies would be given half of page five to write whatever they like.Scrap BBC license fee collection, which costs £100 million per year and fund the ...
Sun 22nd
17:50
Moving from Blogger to Wordpress - ten lessons learnt the hard way (aka "The Long March")
The Voice recently highlighted how popular Blogger is with new Liberal Democrat bloggers. But if you've started with Blogger and want to move over WordPress what do you do? Paul Walter recounts the lessons he learnt along the way: NERD'S CORNER, with apologies to any grandmothers for ovum-evacuation lessons herein On 28th September I decided, in a fit of conscience, to clear out all the posts from my Blog archive with other people's photos in them. I did it the wrong way and, in a tantrum, deleted all my old blog posts and started a fresh blog on Blogger. WRONG. ...
[IMG: xmas-lights.jpg] Today was one of those incredible days when everything seemed to going on at the same time and almost overlapping into a strange amalgam of politics and community events that occasionally present themselves. The day started off with me making the first of 3 visits to the Longfield Precinct to drop off a table for the Save Heaton Park campaigners to use for the petition etc. After I had helped them setup I had a chat with the nearby Save the Longfield Suite campaigners - sited the otherside of the Longfield Suite entrance! Then I had a wander ...
Councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council had the opportunity to hear statements from members of the public about the proposed hostel and wet house near Kingsmead Square, at full council. The Liberal Democrat Councillors were disappointed when the ruling Conservative Group refused to hold a debate on the topic. Nearly all the business owners and residents who came to speak
Scores on the Doors is the neat name that Kingston is giving to the Food Hygiene Ratings for premises in the borough. There are 859 businesses that have to be assessed - not just the obvious restaurants and pubs, but anywhere that serves food, including works canteens, schools and care homes. When each premise is inspected it is given a star rating, from 5 stars down to none. So it is worth checking the list to see whether your favourite eating place is up to scratch. 1 star is rated as Poor and No stars is clearly very inadequate. In ...
As reported in yesterday's 'Courier', a City Council Planning Enforcement Officer has advised me that, following my requests on behalf of residents to get the owner of the McCheyne Church to tidy the badly overgrown grounds : "I have tried repeatedly to contact the owner on the mobile telephone number you gave me and left messages but there has been no response. I have now prepared a draft report for consent to take Direct Action which will hopefully be included on the Agenda for the next DQ Committee in December." As you can see from the photo (above right) the ...
While I am delighted that the Government is currently reviewing sex crimes, and looking at announcing its ten year strategy to tackle violence against women a major part is missing from the review itself. Baroness Stern, a cross-bench peer is leading the review of sex crime and she is very concerned that despite the review and the ten year strategy rapists will continue to walk free in the future. Baroness Stern has been visiting police forces with a better track record ensuring that this best practice is seen and then shared amongst other forces rather than the usual way of ...
Writing, as I am, in an Edinburgh hotel bedroom, this seems an appropriate choice. Runrig began as an almost wilfully obscure band. Its roots were in Skye and the Outer Hebrides and many of its early songs were sung in Gaelic. I have their third LP -"Recovery" - from 1981 (Market Harborough Woolworth's bargain rack in used to broaden my tastes nicely), and much of it is concerned with the history of the crofters. They later became more commercial, with anthems like this one and "Loch Lomond" (still with a Gaelic interlude) becoming particularly popular. Runrig are a political band, ...
There has been agreement for some time that the bus lane on the Warwick Road, heading into Acocks Green Village from the north, should be removed. It causes congestion, provides very little benefit to buses and is part of an old scheme which no-one believes has any place in the future development of Acocks Green. It now looks likely that the work to remove the bus lane will be completed this financial year, possibly around the end of February or start of March. This work to be carried out will be: removal of the bus lane (while retaining the existing ...
Twitter has been buzzing today as a result of the publication of an Ipsos MORI poll in The Observer which shows the Conservative lead down to only 6% after a period which has seen Tory leads of up to 20% in some surveys. The UK Polling Report's swing calculator projects that this would be the ...
Centro are proposing to move the bus shelter and stop, currently outside Greggs (1142 Warwick Road) down the Warwick Road a short distance onto the splitter island by 1146 Warwic Road. Centro, the City Council Highways Department and National Express West Midlands all agree that the current location is not ideal because: The footway is narrow at this location and heavily used Congestion is caused when buses are unable to pull into the stop, due to use of the disabled parking bay prior to the bus stop Moving to the new location will tackle both these problems If it is ...
"It is morally reprehensible to ask young men and women to put their lives on the line for us, in our name, in the absence of a plan that actually might mean they succeed." Nick Clegg, The Andrew Marr Show, 22-11-09
I've often wondered why newspapers are willing, completely free, to provide me with information that others are paying good money to access on newsprint. Now I've had the tables turned on me with a teaser story which ends with the words "Read the full story in Monday's Northern Echo". So I'll just have to. You can decide whether you want to buy a copy by clicking this link .
I have had an iPhone for about a year, and like all iPhone owners I love it. It sounds terrible to say the iPhone has changed my life, but it is true I now effectively carry a computer on me - read much more online, update websites, tweet and do lots of other stuff on the go.
The East African Union is set to become a proper free trade and free movement area from the middle of next year. This is excellent news. Part of the global trade problem is the extremely high barriers erected between developing countries, especially in Africa. This Union, modeled on the EU, of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya should promote greater trade and prosperity in the region, which has a GDP per capita (PPP adjusted) of just $1,200. Plans are also afoot to deepen the Union quickly with a single currency, the East African Shilling, a trans national judiciary, trans national ...
The cottages have been empty for a while, since Western Challenge pulled out from buying them. They look a bit of a mess now. We have asked the council to see what can be done.
We did lose one vote during the debate on the theme resolution at the ELDR Congress, 'Liberal Answers For A New Prosperity', ironically on an amendment to an otherwise perfectly acceptable clause. A late proposal to call for a 25 per cent reduction in the administrative burdens for business by 2014, compared with their current level, set this bureaucrat's antennae twitching. What did it mean? A 25% reduction in the number of regulations? A 25% reduction in the administrative impact of regulations? Indeed, where did the figure of 25% come from at all? Having spotted it, and argued against it ...
This just in from Islington Liberal Democrats: John Szemerey, former Conservative parliamentary candidate for Islington South & Finsbury, has thrown his support behind local Lib Dem campaigner Bridget Fox. "Bridget Fox and the Lib Dems offer the real change that Islington and Britain desperately needs" said John. "It's clear that at the next General Election, the Conservatives just can't win here in Islington South & Finsbury. If people are fed up with Gordon Brown and his failed Labour Government, they should support Bridget Fox's Lib Dems. The fact of the matter is that voting Conservative in Islington South & Finsbury ...
Bath and North East Somerset Council has spent nearly £150,000 on publicity relating to the Bath Transport Package and BRT scheme, it has been revealed this week. Cllr Nigel Roberts quizzed the Cabinet member responsible for transport at Council this week and found that total spending thus far on publicity relating to the BTP including the BRT scheme was £145,136.51. However, only £30,819 has
It's good to see that those in charge of marking the Day of Remembrance have told David Cameron and Gordon Brown that they were wrong to turn the act of remembrance in to a photo opportunity. Quite why we should believe the Tory spokesman who claimed it was a "last minute decision", is beyond me. How many people just happen to turn up with a camera man with an expensive SLR camera with them in case you make a "last minute decision" ?
Four days ago I emailed Norman Lamb MP and Andrew Lansley MP regarding an issue to do with swine flu vaccination. I e-mailed the exact same e-mail to both MPs, gave no further prompts and wondered who would get on to this issue, with the strong hope that both of them would bring the government to account over the fact that some asthma sufferers are being denied the vaccine because of "technicalities". Norman Lamb replied within two hours, and I have received a subsequent e-mail from his office out of courtesy explaining that they will get back to me. As ...
For some time I have been concerned that it is not possible to scrutinise the details of the treasury forecasting. That is because the government have historically refused to provide the data that they put into the Economic Model.They are happy to provide a copy of the program, but without the data it is not possible to check the figures.We are in a really challenging situation as a country
in the 21st century we saw disposable incomes and affluence rise. People are visibly showing their wealth as a marker in society. with people obsessed more by material possessions there is a waste indutry associated with this consumption. as more goods come from overseas it is noticable that UK manufacturing is in decline. even m&s source clothes from the far east - a no no for them even 10 years ago. with this watershed it seems that the overseas producers get the supply chain and the waste. we sit pretty thinking that we are oh so saintly for having reduced ...
Feeling rather blue after browsing the LibDems' new web site, I decided to view the 'Pocket Guide to LibDem Policy'. It runs to twenty three A4 pages. Even printed double sided and folded in half, you'd need very deep pockets to hold it.
The swine flu vaccination programme will be extended to offer children over six months and under five protection against the virus. Extending the vaccination programme to young children is supported by the panel of experts that provide advice on vaccination issues - the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Vaccination of people in clinical risk groups is well under way, with more than seven million doses of vaccine already distributed. Vaccinating these groups remains a priority to protect those at greatest risk from swine flu. For more information on this article click here.
Sun 22nd
12:58
The Bromley Tory councillor who runs gentlemans clubs employing east european women tells the Sunday...
http://bit.ly/6irbHX
With the permission of Hillcrest Housing Association, I'm highlighting the Caring Christmas Trees Scheme to help support the work of Gowrie Care, who support people with learning disabilities, mental health issues, autism or people who are or have been homeless. Here's a bit of information about the scheme : The concept is simple. All profits from the tree sales will go directly to Gowrie Care. By purchasing one tree you could provide people with opportunities. Money raised will be invested in projects to improve the lives of people we support. Previous money has been used to access courses, short breaks, ...
Good for Tavish Scott in highlighting at last week's First Minister's questions the burgeoning cost of Scotland's public bodies to the taxpayer, with the disclosure that at least 1 798 employees in the sector earn more than £100 000 a year. Six public sector executive board members are paid more than Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister (£197 000) or Alex Salmond, First Minister (£145 000). A further 1 596 are paid between £80 000 and £100 000 — more than a Scottish government minister. The total salary bill for the highest-paid is at least £400 million a year. If you ...
[IMG: Network_Arts_3] I posted in August about Network Arts, a wonderful arts group for people with mental health needs which meets at the Lee Centre on Aislibie Road. Back then the members of Network Arts were campaigning with the support of the Liberal Democrats against South London and Maudsley NHS Trust's plans to close the group down to save cash. I'm really pleased to say the campaign was successful, and the group will continue. My colleagues Pete Pattisson and Chris Maines are pictured celebrating with group members. Pete said, "Network Arts Lewisham provides a lifeline for dozens of local people ...
With the latest Ipsos MORI poll for The Observer showing a reduced Conservative lead to only 6% (Con 37%, Labour 31%, LD 17%) talk of a potential hung parliament has reared its head again. Indeed if these figures are put into the UK Polling Report swing calculator then we get the following: So, the Conservatives would be only 2 seats ahead of Labour as the largest party but 38 seats short of an overall majority. Before I continue I will just caveat that this is the narrowest lead for the Tories for almost a year and it could turn out ...
The opening of the new Yate Health Centre, seen on the left behind the newly opened library, has been delayed due to a problem with the ventilation. It is now hoped it will be opened in late January/early February, once the problem has been investigated and fixed.
Those of us that remember Spitting Image's series of sketches showing Ronald Reagan's brain as missing will be interested to hear the news that Mussolini's brain in missing. Knowing that Mussolini was an MI5 agent came as quite a shock recently, but apparently stranger news has revealed that his brain has appeared on Ebay for 15,000 ...
Football matches can be a tribal affair and in several parts of the world the 'beautiful game' can turn into a battlefield. In Lebanon, so I am told, many games are played without crowds of supporters in case they break out into sectarian fighting and restart the civil war. In case you think that sounds far-fetched, ...
As part of a Government-funded scheme, many of our local bus shelters are currently being replaced. The new shelters will have raised bases to help people who have difficulty getting up onto buses, and they should all be big enough to accommodate wheelchairs, anticipating the newer types of buses with ramps that will come in the future. What's more, the shelters will have displays with real-time information about when the buses will arrive - another government scheme is paying for most of our local buses to be fitted with sensors so their position is known. There have been some problems, ...
I can only give you a quick taster of what happened at yesterday's Lib Dem Voice organised Lib Dem Bloggers' Unconference as I have to vacate the laptop as my long suffering husband wishes to harvest his crops on Facebook's Farm Town. The sooner we have more than one thing in this house that connects to the internet the better. His desktop monitor has gone and while I think his time might be better spent getting a new one rather than harvesting imaginary crops, I have to be nice and share. Anyway, it was an awesome day. It was lovely ...
So the Government has announced more guarantees for children and parents in this year's Queen Speech. What the government has done over the past 12 years is to put more and more responsibilities on the school and taken away more and more parental responsibilities. Of course, if children get one-to-one tuition and extra time is spent teaching they will make progress.Children should be taught by a
The will be major resurfacing works between 4th and 11th December affecting Shire Way, Yate from the Edgeworth junction down to the Westerleigh Rd mini-roundabout, plus Bredon from the entrance to the second junction. They will be planing off the existing surface, then resurfacing. Traffic will be controlled by temporary traffic lights, with work starting around 8.00am each morning and run until 5.00pm. South Glos has sent out letters to households most directly affected, including the advice "Alternative routes are advised for the duration of the works". That could be difficult - Bredon is a cul-de-sac! But no doubt they'll ...
First and foremost, the news that YouTube is rolling out automatic subtitling is good news for the hard of hearing: The machine-generated captions will initially be generated in English. At first they will only be found on 13 channels. These include National Geographic, Columbia, as well as most Google and YouTube channels... Currently YouTube offers a manual captioning service but video makers tend not to use it. (BBC) There are two other benefits it may bring. More widespread captioning of YouTube films means more of them will be practical to watch in situations where you can't have the sound turned ...
No spoilers here, just a question. Why do people think that everything the Doctor says is the truth? There are some times when he is CLEARLY joking...
Nick Clegg has recently published his plan for Afghanistan in the time see the link here. I was having an email discussion with my brother (not a Lib Dem supporter) on this point. He I think came up with some points that I think deserve a public airing. E-mail trail below; Brothers Post Nice article, but we've already had 8 years in which Mr Clegg's suggestions could have been implemented. If NATO hasn't got their Afghan strategy together by this point, you have to assume that they never will. As long as Karzai is in power this war is a ...
....or how Britain was taken into a war it did not want for reasons that later turned out to be bogus gets a good airing in this morning's Sunday Telegraph, which publishes details of secret papers that reveal: Tony Blair, the former prime minister, misled MPs and the public throughout 2002 when he claimed that Britain's objective was "disarmament, not regime change" and that there had been no planning for military action. In fact, British military planning for a full invasion and regime change began in February 2002. The need to conceal this from Parliament and all but "very small ...
I was struck by one comment on the All Wales Convention report that was published this week. Somebody described it as the Richard Commission for slow-thinkers. And yes, we have been here before. An important report highlighting the severe shortcomings of the political compromises we are having to work with in lieu of a devolution settlement. The present arrangements have institutionalised bad legislative practise, they have hamstrung the government from delivering on all of its programme, despite having electoral approval for those measures, and they have caused us to waste time and money examining our own navel when we should ...
It is the 76th anniversary of the Holodomor famine in the Ukraine, deliberately engineered by Stalin and brutally carried out by his henchmen. Last year there was a solemn commemoration in the Ukraine and in many parts of the world. I took part with about 2,000 others in the ceremonies in London. Although Gordon Brown sent a personal message on the 75th anniversary last year Holodomor has still not been recognised as genocide by the British government.
I don't like this, being carried sideways Through the night. I feel wrong and helpless - like A timber broadside in a fast stream.I remember David Steel choosing the Norman MacCaig poem "Sleeping Compartment" when he took part in Radio 4's With Great Pleasure some years ago. And it conveys well the oddness of travelling by sleeper train. There is the magic of going to bed in London and waking up somewhere near Edinburgh. There is the personal service of being asked if you would like tea or coffee the next morning. And there is the old-fashioned strictness of being ...
We have asked the council to look at what can be done to stop the verges in Old Fosse Road being churned up
With all of the high winds Oolite Road seems to be suffered badly with rubbish, we have asked the council to sweep it up.
Eaglescliffe, Yarm and the other parts of the Western Area Partnership Board's responsibility are traditionally seen as fairly affluent and not in need of the kind of help and advice which is readily available in some less affluent parts of the borough. The credit crunch and recession have seen that perception change and at long last we've succeeded in getting recognition that there are people
The latest Ipsos MORI poll for the Observer has Labour support jumping by 5% at the expense of the Conservatives and narrowing the gap between the two biggest parties to just 6%. The poll has the Conservatives on 37%, Labour on 31% and the Lib Dems on 17%. That's well into hung parliament territory and really quite surprising just six months out from a General Election. As the graph on page three of this "getting opinion polls right" pdf shows, the Labour lead over John Major's government from August 1996 to Februrary 1997 was consistently between 12 and 25% across ...
We tend not to be too poll-obsessed here at LDV - of course we look at them, as do all other politico-geeks, but viewed in isolation no one poll will tell you very much beyond what you want to read into it. Looked at over a reasonable time-span and, if there are enough polls, you can see some trends. Here, in chronological order, are the results of the 19 polls published in October – the number is extra high again this month because of the daily YouGov tracker polls which ran during party conference season. (And many apologies for the ...
[IMG: Merseyway Shoping Centre] Christmas has come early for Stockport's shoppers as the Council, in conjunction with town centre partners, announce that parking will be FREE in Merseyway car park from the 12th December up until Christmas Eve. The free parking at Merseyway runs all day from Saturday 12th December up to and including the 24th December. This is in addition to the free parking already offered by the Council in the run up to Christmas, as well as the bank holiday's on the 25th and 28th December 2009 and the 1st January 2010.
It's Sunday. It's 7am and we've got some coffee art to wake you up this morning. But first, the blogs and then the news. 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here's are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: Mathematical error leads to blunder by Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales reports Ali Goldsworthy on Freedom Central Christians engage with politics - quite rightly as Lynne Featherstone reports on a visit to a local church group Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren't ...
The County Council's urban transport plan is now up on the web. http://www.hertsdirect.org/docs/pdf/s/stautp2009.pdf
Have been pretty busy with work and various other things, and have been bad at reading. My DW inbox has 394 messages in it, my email a mere 90, and Facebook 186. Also I have stuff that I need to link you guys to, and my brain is not working. Have I missed anything important recently? Mat is still making me watch old!BSG, and it really is totally rubbish. The only thing in it which even approaches cool is old!Tigh, who is dead sexy. Dirk Benedict is THE worst actor ever, and I keep being confused by stuff like Boomer ...
The Government has long had a knack of turning a good idea into an operational nightmare. One case in point is the Queen's Speech proposal for personal care at home. The Prime Minister has given an undertaking to find a way of ensuring that older people with the highest needs can remain at home, regardless of means. The bill will attempt to help 400,000 people ('guaranteeing' free personal care for 280,000 and providing assistance to 130,000 others). Difficult to argue with? In the small print not covered by the nationals screaming about the General Election is the fact that this ...
WESTMINSTER'S usual business stopped for the "State Opening of Parliament" on Wednesday. It's an impressive show, with lots of pomp and ceremony, including a Royal parade from Buckingham Palace to the House of Lords. The Queen sits on a big gold throne, then she reads out the government's plans for the coming year. Although it's called the Queen's Speech, she doesn't write it, the Prime Minister does. But, I wonder if she's tempted to add bits in like, "My government has decided to give everyone free ice cream in February," or "Katie Price will be detained in the Tower of ...
Conservatives 37% Labour on 31% Liberal Democrats 17% (not suprised about this tbh) Conservative lead drops to 6% after economic optimism amongst the public increases to 43%
If you are Irish there is no doubt about the political question of the week. It is should Ireland have a replay with France for a place in next year's world cup? Not only do the Irish have the question of the week, they also have the answer and it is yes. Politicians have become involved even if they are all Irish so I will continue with this blog as the heading is politics for novices, not sporting cheats for novices. Henri says he didn't cheat, as it was just instinct that made him touch the ball. If that is ...
