Joe is going to Copenhagen as a Liberal youth delegate. He will be blogging live from the event, but are his preliminary thoughts.
David Cameron and his party have been bending over backwards to tell us how petty and spiteful it is to bring class into politics. They have a point, up to a point. Certainly the Crewe and Nantwich by-election was a dreadful miscalculation by Labour – who, let us not forget, were treating the constituency as ...
Nick Perry, the Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, has responded furiously to the recent announcement from Network Rail that train services into Central London will be withdrawn from 2015. At the East Sussex County Transport Conference on Friday 27th November 2009, Richard Howkins from Network Rail, communicated the following confirmed message: "From 2015 services ...
Having met Sandra Affleck, Chair of Kirriemuir Heritage Trust, I am looking forward to next year's celebration of the life and work of Kirriemuir's own J M Barrie. It was an enormous pleasure to talk to Sandra and discuss her experience with organising the Barrie Celebration. We discussed the need for more tourist accommodation, proposals for developing Kirriemuir Hill, Kirriemuir residents' modesty about their heritage and the opportunities for celebrating the town's illustrious past. [IMG: Sanjay Samani with Sandra Affleck, outside recently refurbished Airlie Arms] I am looking forward to a varied fortnight of events to be held from 7th ...
I just received my Chumby One - the budget version of last year's most hyped internet device. These days they are positioning it as the world's most advanced bedside clock radio (which would be true apart from the fact that Pure Digital just launched the relatively expensive Sensia ). Upon unboxing the device my first surprise was the size of the thing. The official photography gives the impression of a device which might be approximately fifteen to twenty cm wide. The actual device is slightly more than ten centimetres, and that's including the volume knob which sticks out the side. ...
Bernanke and Mervyn King are probably more involved in fiscal policy than their governments are in monetary policy. For now, that is not ideal
The BBC has just run an article on its Magazine pages commenting on how moderate we have all been in the face of the recession. It argues that counter to the early press speculation of widespread strikes and social break down we have all been remarkably calm and well-tempered in the face of earnings declines and the falling economy. We are apparently the "heroes" of this recession. But the point about this recession is that for many people they have not yet really felt it. I exclude obviously the communities that have lost major employers, and the swathe of people ...
It is 9.45pm and sadly, I am in the Blaydon Lib Dem office printing more Focuses. I'll leave the regular Labour readers of this blog wondering which wards I am printing. They can read them when they come through their letterboxes. They won't lilke them, but there again, they never do!This afternoon I did a delivery in Newcastle North, one of our other target constituencies on Tyneside. Thankfully
There is a report going to the HHCC Scrutiny Panel meeting on Tuesday on the results of a major survey of RBC tenants who live in flatted areas and receive a cleaning service in communal (estate) areas. This is the first survey to be carried out on this Council service since 2007. The Labour-controlled Council in Reading took the decision in 2006 to introduce service charges to make up the funding shortfall they needed to keep the Council's stock 'in-house' i.e. under Council control. In the Lib Dems, we are concerned about the impact that charges (which will be an additional charge ...
On the BBC Wales website the new leader of the Welsh Labour Assembly Group, Carwyn Jones says it would be difficult to have a "constructive relationship" with a future Tory UK government which cut public services. However, what is more surprising is the reaction of Monmouthshire Conservative MP, David Davies who goes further than any Tory has done before in spelling out how his party in government would treat a better empowered Welsh Assembly: "Providing of course that Wales remains a part of the United Kingdom. And it's Labour that gave us devolution and then the new Government of Wales ...
I'm sorry for doing a bunch of short posts in a row, when I should be doing my longer ones, but I wanted to make a brief point. I have seen several people linking to an 'anti-X-Factor' campaign, to get the track Killing In The Name by Rage Against The Machine to number one, in 'protest' ...
Yesterday I went, along with quite a few other Lib Dems from all over the place, on "The Wave", the march to put pressure on the government in the run-up to Copenhagen. I took a few pictures of how the day looked from where I stood. Here are a few of the less crappily taken ...
Tom Harris, the leading blogger and Labour MP has done a blogpost today which I feel needs a riposte. I know some people think I bang on about electoral reform too much but today I can honestly say a bigger blogging boy made me do it. I have quoted his main points along with my thoughts below: ...even those of us who aren't brainy enough to understand the arguments in favour of ditching first-past-the-post (FPTP) have valid reasons for keeping the system the way it is. And yes, one of those reasons is that it benefits the Labour Party - ...
The terrible news from Redcar of the closing of the steel plant down there, with the loss of 1700 jobs directly and many more additional supply jobs, was a thoroughly depressing reminder of the many large factory closures in the North East. Manufacturing accounts for a smaller and smaller amount of our GDP but still accounts for a lot of exports. A lot of people say that if we don't make things our economy is built on foundations of sand. I have to say I agree. Unfortunately the UK, one of the most centralised countries in the western world, is ...
The banks will be voting on 16 Dec about scrapping cheque system by 2018 (see Times article here) - an announcement about it is expected in January. At the moment about 1 payment in 25 is still made by cheque in the UK. Cheques are inconvenient for banks because they cost more to process than electronic transactions. But how else will one individual be able to send payments to another safely? And do you want to be forced into setting up yet more direct debits? Small companies are also against stopping the cheque system because of the extra costs they ...
Catherine Bennett in the Guardian:For much of its history the length of the average union, before it was ended by the death of a partner, was the same as it is now, before being terminated by divorce: 11 years.
.....a "climate change sceptic" or as Mr Miliband dubbed those of a different opinion to himself last week - a "climate change saboteur" ...... but boy they are not making it easy for me. For I find myself increasingly wondering - just how much money is there in this for those who are leading the climate change vanguard? How much kudos, fame and bandwaggoning is tied up in this particular cause? The scientists taking their research funds; the energy companies taking their subsidies; the politicians taking centre stage with their great moral crusade on which they pontificate, and use to ...
So, you're trying to tell me that East Coast Trains can't cope with radio 4??? Dammit, I need to feed my addiction, I've been at work most of the day and I've been deprived! Still, I've fixed 'em. I found those Crotchwoot audio plays on my HD that I hadn't listened to yet. And in this world, Ianto isn't dead....
Welcome to the 146th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (29th November – 5th December 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, usually 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. Noblesse Oblige Makes ...
Anne Applebaum is an important writer. She is the author of one of the most important books of the last ten years. It is a scholarly work of research into one of the darkest passages of human history: the depravity of Soviet Communism. Her book Gulag, is not a polemic. It is a dispassionate and calm investigation into something that almost defies description. For that reason it is a searing indictment of the crimes of the Communist system. Every word carries conviction. Every word should be taken seriously. Anne is also the wife of Radek Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister. ...
David Cameron celebrates four years as Conservative leader today — a record that eclypses those of his three predecessors. Like them, however, he has not yet had the chance to get his hands on the keys of No 10 Downing Street. Moreover, while it is perhaps still more likely that he will be Prime Minister ...
(with a jovial hat tip to the Hon. Cllr. Lady Mark Valladares) Wakefield Westgate Train Station really is the most depressing train station in the world. It's not even a shed. But it DOES have one redeeming feature - a very pretty long-haired chappie occasionally mans the Cafe Ritazza rip-off kiosk. I have been known to buy something from him just for the opportunity for a chat. Anyway, you find me in procrastinatey mood. I am meant to be doing a blog redesign for someone, and although he has given me lots of pointers for back end functional stuff he ...
In October, I emailed the London Mayor to oppose a permanent split between the Bank and Charing Cross branches of the Northern Line, which had been mooted. I have received an email from the General Manager of the Northern Line in response. I have replied with some further queries, as it still appears that Transport for London could be planning to split the branches at certain non-peak times of the day - a really bad idea. At the moment, you can get trains in and out of town on the Edgware branch via either Bank or Charing Cross. If the ...
On Friday the South London Press published this letter of mine about the new pool at Loampit Vale. Tagged: Ladywell Pool, Lewisham Centre, Loampit Vale, Planning, pools, public services
A very impressive finale for Gorton 100. Lots of people turned out and had a great afternoon, ending with a truly impressive fire spectacular in Gorton Park. [IMG: Gorton 100 Fireworks]
According to The Independent the Labour Party campaign managers have identified 31 seats where the increasingly sceptical Conservative tone over climate change might benefit them and the Liberal Democrats. In these seats, of which 7 are Lib Dem held seats, the Labour Party believes that it might be possible for incumbents to benefit from an above ...
I recently asked the City Council's Head of Transportation for an update on progress towards a demand responsive transport pilot in the city. If successful, this pilot should lead to a possible community transport project for the city which could help those areas - including parts of the West End - currently poorly served by bus services. I am particularly thinking of those served by the 69 service (three times a day only and nothing at all at weekends), the former 74 service (removed by Stagecoach Strathtay in July) and other streets in the West End with no or little ...
Another glimpse of my hero J.W. Logan is provided by James Moore's The Transformation of Urban Liberalism: In the Harborough constituency Liberal lecturers were frequently refused access to Anglican schoolrooms where they wished to hold meetings. Eventually the Liberal Association became so frustrated with the situation that parliamentary candidate J.W. Logan built himself a portable meeting room which he took from village to village. The mobile contraption - dubbed the "Free Speech Hall" - obviously worked and following its introduction the local clergy were less reluctant to hire out school halls to Liberal candidates.
I have just signed Cancer Research UK's Cancer Commitment, which was drawn to my attention by a number of people in Hendon. The charity invited me (and all other Parliamentary candidates) to pledge that, if elected, I "will seek to help make the UK's cancer outcomes among the best in Europe in the next ten years and will support measures to: Detect cancer earlierProvide world-class cancer treatmentsPrevent more cancersTackle cancer inequalitiesProtect the UK's research base."Having sadly lost both of my grandmothers to cancer, I strongly support this - why should the UK's cancer outcomes not be the best in Europe, ...
[IMG: He's got more power over the internet than you may think. Photo credit: 10b travelling, Flickr] He's got more power over the internet than you may think. Photo credit: 10b travelling, Flickr URL shortners are all the rage these days. If one of most popular ones was to suddenly stop working, a huge number of links and services across the internet would break. So you'd hope that the main ones are all robust, reliable services, wouldn't you? So just thought I'd mention what the .ly in bit.ly stands for. That's be Libya. But it's ok. Colonel Gadaffi is a ...
As of Friday 4 December 2009 The Council continues to monitor the situation. Swine flu is continuing to spread throughout the UK. So far, most swine flu cases have been mild, with symptoms similar to those of seasonal flu. Only a small number of people have had more serious symptoms. Numbers of people using the National Pandemic Flu Service and collecting anti-virals has been fairly level over the past month. Seasonal flu is now also circulating in the community. It is important that eligible people take up the swine flu vaccine when offered, even if they think they may have ...
[IMG: the-link-001.jpg] Hundreds of local residents and represents of all three main parties on Bury Council turned out at lunchtime today to form a human chain around the Longfield Suite. The event was billed as an opportunity for residents to show their support for the Longfield Suite and they certainly made it clear that they opposed Bury Councils plans to "reconfigure" the Suite. A move which could see the end of the much prized dance floor. Vic D'Albert said, "If ever we needed to show that local people care and that local people want Bury Conservatives to change their mind ...
My eye was caught by the figures put together by Ed Fordham, the Liberal Democrat candidate in Hampstead & Kilburn who is up against Glenda Jackson at the next general election. They are for various MPs in and around this new constituency. Number of appearances in Hansard since 2005 general election, excluding votes Lynne Featherstone 2,559 Sarah Teather 2,542 Frank Dobson 2,508 Average MP 1,822 Karen Buck 1,814 Mark Field 981 Rudy Vis 219 Glenda Jackson 40 In other words, Glenda Jackson would have to be an MP for 64 years in order to chalk up as many appearance in ...
...the Quintin Kynaston School redevelopment, NW8. Recently I went to a local ward forum, which was the best attended I'd ever been to – the reason? Local people are very unhappy about the development of the school, known locally as QK. Or more precisely, they're unhappy about the lack of consultation on the proposed development. Or ...
Many of us in Warwick attended the Demonstration against the planned closure of Warwick Fire Station today. The proposals are part of a county wide review of the Fire Service. If they go ahead will mean the closure of Warwick and Kenilworth fire stations leaving just Leamington to cover all three towns and surrounding areas. This will impact all three towns. Everyone I spoke to on the march today are deeply suspicious of the response times between Leamington and Warwick that we were given in the consultation documents. We have every reason to be. Documents unearthed by Lib-Dem councilors across ...
As well as being Britain's coolest actor for a short while in the 1960s (thanks to Blowup), David Hemmings could sing. As a boy he played Miles in the original production of Britten's The Turn of the Screw and in 1967, at the height of his acting fame, he recorded an LP while he was in Hollywood making Camelot. In his memoirs Hemmings is dismissive of the whole project: The angel purity of my childhood voice had long since been scarred by singing in Bierkellers, as well as by tobacco and whisky ... Thank God, the record company bought my ...
Recently I heard proud dad Demetrios Demetriou speaking about withdrawing his 14 year old son from school. But this isn't just a story of a father upset with the school his son attends, or a family taking up home schooling on principle. Demetrios and his son Lagi make up Stavros Flatley, the novelty dance act which ...
I am pleased to report that First Capital Connect have been good enough to reply to my email in a timely fashion, with a relevant manager having kindly agreed to meet. I'll set this up and report back after it has happened. Obviously, the current state of affairs on the former Thameslink route is deeply unsatisfactory for passengers. At the meeting, I shall be seeking the company's assurances that their talks with the unions will soon have reached a positive conclusion - so that passengers stop suffering the awful inconvenience to which they have been subjected on this line. We ...
Last year, probably the worst rioting Greece has seen since the restoration of democracy in 1974 took place. The riots started when Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old student, was fatally shot by the police, after an altercation with a small group of youths in Exarcheia, central Athens. Consequently, there were angry demonstrations within Athens and similar demonstrations in other Greek cities as well. This situation went on for the next few weeks, The roots were complex but most Greeks believed them to be part of a wider social uprising. People were concerned with corruption scandals, most of which involved mishandling of ...
Thank you to all the Bracknell blog readers, linkers, bloggers, local PPC's, councillor's and campaigners who have read and commented on this site. I have been very pleased with the progress of our Bracknell Blog. It has become a hub for local issues and local comment as well as local comment on national issues. I'm not one to publish readership figures but I do believe rankings are important because they help gain a readership see Reading List 'Why it matters' here. This blog is now the 4th most popular political blog in Berkshire see here and has entered the top ...
Who is the only person never to have been elected (by the people) to the post of Vice President, and then President of the US? In October 1973, US Veep Spiro Agnew resigned because of criminal charges of tax evasion and money laundering and accepting ...
An editorial in yesterday's Financial Times will no doubt make the Lib Dem leadership very happy. In a piece entitled A Taxing Problem, the FT set out the ways in which they think taxes should be raised (albeit with the specific aim of dealing with the budget deficit, as opposed to the Lib Dem aim ...
IT workers have been subject to usually high competition from lower paid professional Non EU Workers (mainly Indian) within their industry. I expect this is not the only industry that is affected the same issue. This is of course an issue for all the EU nations but the UK seems to be effected by this problem to a higher extent. This extract of a letter to Andrew Mackay Bracknell MP from A Bracknell blog reader explains the problem quite well; Despite the worsening economic climate and the wave of redundancies affecting IT departments across all industry sectors, 35,430 UK work ...
I am somewhat astounded that the Board of Directors at the Royal Bank of Scotland are being so petty and arrogant at the same time. Vince Cable MP was right to call their bluff over this and say go on then, quit. The Directors defence was they have to pay these bonuses out of £1.5billion for them to remain competitive. I disagree, no-one in the banking community is hiring new staff at the current time and secondly, if the Board of Directors had kept their finger on the pulse and run their bank responsibly they wouldn't have needed the massive ...
People of Witney, your attention please. As you are no doubt aware, there is a great danger threatening your planet. If you don't act on that your planet will be good for nothing but demolition to make way for a hyper-space bypass. So what are those seeking to represent you after the next General Election doing about it people of Witney? Well you Lib Dem PPC Dawn Barnes was telling the people who are going to discuss this great danger to go ahead and do something, a big something. Think of something really big, then double it, multiple by 10, ...
I tweeted on twitter last night to someone last night that the arguments given by those who deny global warming are akin to those given by a football fan to justify their continued thoughts that their team still are the best, even after a heavy defeat. Despite the weight of evidence, the melting of the North Pole, rising temperatures, freak weather patterns, flooding, more extreme hurricanes and cyclones, and a host of other evidence from a vast range of sources from across the globe, there remains this hardcore of mainly right wing groups, more obsessed with dollars that justice, who ...
Well this should make the election a lot more interesting... Not everyone's happy about it though!
But apparently it does. If you threaten me with physical violence, and attempt to track down my home address I will report you to both the police and your ISP. Anyone who tries to defend or excuse such behaviour will be blocked from ever commenting on this blog. If you think this is me being ...
If you could choose up to three items for your Christmas stocking, what would they be? That was the question LDV posed to a group of Lib Dem bloggers. And over the next two days we'll reveal what they told us, with all their choices added to the Amazon carousel widget featured on our home-page, referral fees from which will help support Lib Dem Voice: so get clicking and ordering. In part one, four bloggers – Jennie Rigg, Millennium Elephant, Mark Pack and Alex Foster – give us the low-down on their Xmas faves. Jennie Rigg 1) The Very Sexy ...
This is a really easy cake, which pleases adults and children. It keeps well too and can be frozen and thawed with no effect on quality - so bake one to eat now and one to freeze. If you really like citrus flavours, experiment with different marmalades. 100g soft margerine or butter 100g caster sugar 2 large eggs 3 ...
St. Paul's Church in the Jewellery Quarter opens its doors for a number of Christmas concerts this month. On the lunchtime of Tuesday 15th there will be community carols, followed by a service of nine lessons and carols with the Birmingham Bach Choir on Sunday 20th. The church will also be open for midnight mass on Christmas Eve from 11.30pm and a Christmas Day service at 10am.
Nearly two years since the introduction of an empty homes strategy in Reading (following a successful Lib Dem campaign)the need for action on empty homes has never been more pressing. As Chair of Scrutiny I insisted that once the strategy was introduced an empty homes update report should be presented to councillor every quarter to ensure we keep this issue on the agenda and ensure that progress is being made on this issue. The latest report going to HHCC Scrutiny Panel next week shows that there are currently 517 that have been empty for 6 months or longer and increase of 25 ...
How do you cheer up when immensely grumpy? Usually I stuff my face and watch Doctor Who, but - astoundingly - there's been lots of new comedy on that's actually funny. Though not on ITV, obviously. My many tediously grumpilating health problems include a dodgy right arm (neck, shoulder, wrist, hand, thumb...), which has been much worse than usual for a month and more, making typing painful and texting practically non-existent. So my blogging's collapsed and I've been more socially rubbish than ever. Thanks in particular to the cheerifying if ironically named Armstrong and Miller Show and to Beautiful People, ...
In 14 days time we will be commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of a Parliamentary Bill that was to become the Housing Act 1980, a piece of legislation that ushered in a social revolution. It was the start of the Right to Buy, which built on previous legislation in 1957 and has since enabled 2 million tenants to buy their own home. Today's Observer has a piece looking at the impact of this policy, that along with the Falklands War and the splitting off of the SDP from Labour, helped to re-elect Margaret Thatcher in 1983. I well ...
Concern over the environmental future of the globe has been rising steadily. The reality is no-one knows where this is going but it clear that we have a responsibility to act. That's why Copenhagen talks are so important and the pressure on politicians is so intense. For my own part I was proud to join Nick Clegg MP and the Liberal Democrats in the wave and march today from Upper Brooke Street down to Westminster. http://www.hampsteadandkilburn.org.uk/index.php
Far too quiet out there for any haranguing and pontificating, what with the major news items of the day being the rather open-and-shut Knox case and Amir Khan's demolition of a tomato can in Newcastle last night, neither of which are worth commenting upon even in the most cursory manner. Anyway I'm not in the mood because it's Sunday and I've spent most of the morning bringing a colleague's recalcitrant Dell laptop back to life, which wasn't as easy as I first thought but it's now purring. So this afternoon, my plans are to eat the roast dinner that I ...
Saw this poster in an Antiques shop in Leeds. Interesting to see how far back negative campaigning goes! It's a Tory poster that was used in Cambridge during the 1929 general election.
From The Argus: The Liberal Democrats have announced their candidate for Hove MP in the next general election. Paul Elgood, the Lib Dem leader on Brighton and Hove City Council, was selected by the party at a meeting on Thursday night. Councillor Elgood stood for the Hove seat in the 2005 general election, more than doubling the Lib Dem vote to 8,002.Wasn't there a Frank Sinatra song about Hove the second time around?
I see that Joan McAlpine has done a write up of the Scottish Blogosphere in light of recent events that have seen a bit of a decimation of the politic blogs here in recent weeks. Understandably Jeff is quite pleased about it: Who can blame Jeff from her comment: "Scotland is different in that our bloggers are highly individualised. They often link to each other's sites, even when they are on opposite sides of the political fence.So you can access Scottish Tory Boy and Soapbox, by Labour's Kezia Dugdale, from Jeff Breslin's SNP Tactical Voting, the most widely read political ...
when they have ministers allow themselves to go on to Desert Island Discs and Kirsty Young has to act like Andrew Marr in talking about a recent scandal.
Stephanie Flanders, the BBC's economics editor, can be listed amongst those who have some influence on the public discussion of economic policy making in the UK. So her 'Stephanomics' – which is part of the BBC News website – merits a read from time to time. In a recent piece she suggests that there is a certain amount of solace for the Conservatives in what Ben Bernanke, head of the US Fed, has been saying about financial regulation in the UK. However, Stephanie gives what I think they call 'a bum steer' on the other side of 'the pond'. Liberal ...
I couldn't resist this one! I was visiting Birtley with our Blaydon candidate Neil Bradbury recently and discovered this "For Sale" sign. I snapped this on my Blackberry.There used to be a time when estate agents were seen as amongst the lowest of the low in terms of professional standing. Now, their standing must be something to which politicians must aspire! So were Gordon Brown to lose the
Judging from this photo posted on Twitter by Alun Preece the Cardiff Bay barrage has not been that successful in stopping flooding in that area. One could say that this is the consequence of global warming except that this sort of flooding tended to occur before the barrage was put in. Nevertheless, projections for rising sea levels do put the Assembly building as being under water within 100 to 150 years. Maybe True Wales will get their way after all. It also occurs to me that not only is the entrance to the oval basin underwater but so is access ...
Whickham Lib Dems held their annual Xmas fayre yesterday in the community centre in the village (in Blaydon constituency for those who don't know the area). I had a table selling jams and chutneys and my cookery exploits of Friday paid off when the 4 apple pies I made sold out quickly! Here are a few pics from the day itself:Me and that jam and chutneyCllr Peter Maughan and partner Eileen on the
Two years ago, Lib Dem MP Norman Baker, in an article published here on Lib Dem Voice, asserted that the questions arising from the death of UN weapons inspector David Kelly – the BBC's source for the allegations that the Government 'sexed-up' its WMD dossier in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq – would not go away because ... the conclusion that the government weapons inspector took his own life cannot be supported by the facts. ... The key question was this: why was Dr Kelly's such a strange death? Nobody would commit suicide that way, but nor can ...
A couple of years ago Nestle registered its partners blend coffee as fairtrade, this amounted to just 0.2% of their coffee sales but made them a fairtrade coffee producer. For the rest of the farmers who are not part of the scheme, they are still subject to relentless driving down of prices- synical greenwashing if ever I saw it. Now they are at it again. Reports are that they are trying to
Rod Liddle has built a career out of being controversial. Forced from Radio 4's Today programme in 2002, after writing what was considered to be a party political column in The Guardian, he went on to make a controversial documentary for Channel 4 entitled 'Immigration is a Time Bomb'. The film expressed concerns about the impact ...
Stockport Council is celebrating a double achievement after scooping two Green Apple Environment Awards for promoting sustainable travel through the Active Stockport campaign and the highly successful Environment Fair, held this summer. The awards were presented at a prestigious ceremony held at the House of Commons on Tuesday 17th November. Launched in 2008 the Active Stockport campaign aims to encourage residents to use sustainable modes of travel in order to reduce congestion, improve air quality and improve health and wellbeing. Meanwhile the Council's Environment Fair was led by Environmental Services, Sustainability, Regeneration and Housing Strategy to celebrate World Environment Day. ...
I joined Derek O'Rourke and his team at the Co-op in the Kingsgate Shopping Centre, Dunfermline to help promote their fundraising effort for the St. Dunstan's charity. St. Dunstan's wants an independent future for blind ex-Service men and women. For almost a century, it has been giving invaluable physical and emotional support to blind and visually impaired ex-Service men and women. With the help of their unique expertise, experience and comprehensive range of services, they enable them to lead independent fulfilling lives.
A new weekly round-up of random press clippings, compiled for The Voice by former Fleet Street News Editor (and former Liberal News Editor) Philip Young, including snippets you might have missed. "Almost two million Britons have accepted pay cuts or chosen to work part-time in an attempt to stave-off unemployment as the recession bites. But the desperate measures mean that income tax receipts have collapsed by almost a fifth, and now the Government is facing the biggest peacetime deficit in history. Next week Ministers will confirm that they are likely to borrow close to £180 billion this year - the ...
The best way of dealing with the idiots who think that a few emails can prove that the world does not heat up with too much CO2 is pumped into the atmosphere, is through mockery.
Alex Foster treated the day with commedable seriousness From Friday's issue. Techies and Norse blood at Bloggers' "Unconference" Liberal Democrats do not like being organised. Nor do bloggers. So when the first get together for Liberal Democrat bloggers took place last Saturday, it was inevitable that it would be billed as an "Unconference". And where should such free spirits meet but Edinburgh? As G. K. Chesterton once wrote, "It seems like a city built on precipices, a perilous city. Great roads rush down hill like rivers in spate. Great buildings rush up like rockets." The select group of bloggers who ...
I was shocked to see in the Guardian that Robert Holdstock, the author of Mythago Wood and quite a few other fantasy novels, has died at the age of 61, from an E Coli infection.....This blogger puts Mythago Wood in his top ten list of fantasy books.........A marvellously atmospheric work, it captures somehow the feel of the English countryside and its woodlands and fields, which can be ordinary
Scottish Water has very useful Regional Community Managers who are helpful at assisting elected representatives with constituents' concerns on matters affecting Scottish Water's operations and Anne-Marie Dewar, our local Regional Community Manager, is very approachable. Anne-Marie has recently updated local councillors about the 2009 Warm Pipes campaign - here's the details she sent below : "Beat the cold, wrap up this winter Scottish Water's Warm Pipes campaign has been a great success in the last few years and you will see this being re-launched for winter 2009 in early December. The key message of our campaign is to ensure that ...
President Obama outlined his Afghanistan strategy this week and he has got it quite amazingly wrong. the surge of an additional 30,000 troops is one thing but telling your opponents when you plan to leave is sheer stupidity, his strategy has little to do with 'winning' in Afghanistan and everything to do with the US political cycle.
As there isn't one is the preset list from Google for next years World Cup in South Africa, I've created this myself. If you wish to add it to your own Google Calendar click on the + icon at the bottom right. I will be updating the knockout stages as soon as we know which teams will be in each fixture. If you wish to get the calendar on your mobile, you might consider using Goosync, you'll need a premium account to sync calendars other than your primary one. They are available from £19.99. [IMG: GooSync]
The survey I did about the Keighley Farmers' Market and Oktoberfest showed that it does bring people into Keighley and that they then also spend money at other Keighley outlets. It also showed that the great majority of people rated the events as good or excellent. Here's my letter in this week's Keighley news (Impression of market was very positive): My letter in this week's Keighley News
You know I don't often agree with Alex Salmond but he has said the following about nasty and underground Internet comments that cause offence or are untrue. "The internet is a wonderful tool. It gives us a means to engage with the public, to motivate activists and to affirm our positive case for Scottish independence. "We must use the internet for positive campaigns, to build our case and not get engaged in the negative agenda. The SNP can only win and will only win on a positive agenda."Of course I don't agree with his ultimate aim of his use of ...
It's Sunday. It's 7am. It's time for a special Alan-rich (or is it Steve?) YouTube treat, but first the blogs and the news. 2 Must-Read Blog Posts What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: The truth may not be out there after all: Peter Black reports on the Ministry of Defence winding down its UFO hunting activities. The fight on terrorism has been used to justify all sorts of policies, though the argument (made by someone Peter quotes) that UFO hunting is essential to the ...
You know all the hoo ha over MP expenses and the subsequent setting up of the independent Kelly Commission to recommend how to proceed to take all of this out of MPs' own hands? Well - the recommendation was for an Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) to be set up. All Parliament had to do for it to come into being was rubber stamp its' setting up and the people to be on it with a straightforward motion to the House. It was truly dreadful, therefore, to find that the Tories had tabled an amendment to this motion to remove ...
I don't know what you expected to read about when you saw the headline. I bet it wasn't a story about a stopping up order on a piece of road in Burnopfield. I came across it on the internet. I think it was published in the Evening Chronicle or the Journal and you can read it by clicking here and agreeing to go to the document. What you will see is a notice from a Government Department. Nothing extraordinary in that - except that the notice refers to a district that no longer exists (Derwentside), and says you can see ...
When do you tell lies? It is the sort of question that you find in some newspapers and magazines that use questions and answers to interview people. A common answer is that the interviewee lies in order to protect their friends. When I was a student in the eighties I was taught some psychology and I distinctly remember that we should not be confirming illusions. If someone is confused then they become more confused if you lie to them. The Bible tells us that we must not bear false witness but are there really times when the truth hurts and ...
Hat tip Either the BBC are sucking up to them with their tongues firmly up their arses or they are too scared to be alone with front bench spokesmen needing `support`. I can't think of any other reason why two weeks running they have two Tory party members (each time one's in disguise to the casual viewer). Thing ...
