A huge amount of good wishes to Launceston girl Sophia de Rochefort who has made the shortlist for Miss Cornwall 2012. Part of the contest is a public vote which opens on February 14th. Forgive me if I link to that occasionally when it opens. In the meantime, if you are on Facebook, please 'like' Sophia's fanpage. Tweet
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The Australian puts it very well.
Tomorrow morning Radio Cornwall will be running a story on council tax and, specifically, the delay I had in paying mine. I haven't talked about it before now because I view a person's private financial matters as being personal - just as the rest of their private life should be. However, I understand that others, including Radio Cornwall, see it as an issue worthy of coverage when a councillor is late paying their council tax. The law is pretty clear. A councillor is disqualified from voting on budget issues if he or she is two or more months behind on ...
I'm not what you'd call a football fan. Yes, I always listen out for Derby's result and occasionally listen to Radio Derby's commentary, though it really hasn't been the same since Graham Richards retired. But I've probably been to fewer than 10 professional games in my entire life. One of the reasons for my disenchantment with football is the constant nonsense spouted by many of the people running the game. Such as Paul Jewell's recent pronouncements on female assistant referees or the ludicrous assertion by Adrian Bevington of the FA (and many others) that the next England manager should be ...
The dust has hardly settled since Boris announced his plans to build a tunnel under the Thames and today, he is reported in the Evening Standard as telling residents of Hammersmith that it was time to maybe tunnelise the A4. What with his suggestions on tunnels to replace Park Lane, is Boris going to leave ...
Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, has laid out the key issues for the party's AMs in 2012, in a statement last week. She added: "Fuel poverty in Wales is a serious issue. Rising energy prices have had a huge impact on family budgets this winter, despite having a milder winter. Just last month, we saw the number of households living in fuel poverty in Wales rising to 41% - the highest percentage throughout the UK. "In a civilized society, vulnerable people should not have to worry about whether or not they can afford to heat their homes. ...
It has been a bad year for Ed Milliband and Ed Balls, and it isn't even 17 days old yet. I'll mention but not dwell on the non-relaunch relaunch that didn't really achieve much. The level of indifference provoked in ... Continue reading →
It was cited that the leader of Tory run City of Westminster decided to stand down for personal reasons and wanted to 'change gear'. Perhaps the extra double yellow lines he rather cunningly imposed on 23 December were stopping him getting into his car and engaging first gear, let alone changing gear. This decision will ...
Stephen Tall writes in slightly wary support of the proposal from the Sutton Trust that the government should fund places for poor students at the best private schools: But those who think Sir Peter is wrong-headed should reflect seriously on what their alternative to the status quo is. Sure, everyone on the liberal-left champions the comprehensive ideal that all local state schools should be great schools — but decades later we're still waiting. And in the meantime thousands of pupils are losing out each and every year, while the intelligentsia which wrings its hands at the thought of selection by ...
Today is Martin Luther King day and I want to pay tribute to this giant of a man. 'We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.' Martin Luther King's words are just as relevant today as then. I am thinking of those governments who carry out systematic abuse of their citizens, the Arab Spring protestors and those in Africa who live under the rule of a tyrant. Good people need to speak up.
Mon 16th
21:30
Public funding of private schools - an idea worth considering, if only because it's better than the ...
My chairman at the Education Endowment Foundation, Sir Peter Lampl, was in the headlines today for his call for the government to fund places for bright children from poor backgrounds at the best private schools. Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, said leading independent schools should be fully open to pupils whose parents cannot afford the fees. He advocated a revival of a grant scheme to subsidise fees at day schools which was abolished in the 1970s. ... Sir Peter said that more than two-thirds of places at independent day schools were essentially state funded until 1976 when ...
I have been doing some gentle research on this idea of a new Royal Yacht. I have to admit to being a trifle baffled. This whole "new Royal Yacht" malarkey started with a letter from David "Two brains but naff all common sense" Willetts to David Cameron, which praised "The Future Ship Project for the 21st Century", quoting Rear Admiral Bawtree who sees it "as a potential replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia". I've been having a look at the website for said "Future Ship Project", which is also known as "The University of the Oceans". First of all, the ...
The Liberal Democrat website has the full text of the speech on responsible capitalism that Nick Clegg gave at the Mansion House today. It is worth reading the whole thing: Our problem is what Jesse Norman has called crony capitalism. It's easy to throw rhetorical rocks at directors, bankers and businesses. But, if we are honest, this is as much a failure of politicians and regulators, the authorities too often cowed by corporate power. Whether that is political parties of all stripes in hock to vested interests or regulators struggling to stop supermarkets from putting the squeeze on small suppliers, ...
Conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove's suggestion that a new royal yacht should be "a gift from the nation to her majesty" on the occasion of her diamond jubilee earned diplomatically short shrift from Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg today: (Also available to view on the BBC website here.)
This just came into my possession. Apparently Sweden forcibly sterilises transgender people. WTF, Just WTF. I'm not a big one for slacktivism but I think I'll make an exception for this
Granted, this is not one of the best versions of the seemingly ever present (and quite frankly past it's time) meme. It is also not one of the great contributions to political discourse, is quite infantile and,frankly, is beneath the holder of the office of MP to be playing these games. That said, do we really want to live in a society where MPs lose jobs for using a very popular internet meme to get a message across? Oh, and while I'm talking about this, if anyone out there seriously thinks that Tom Harris really believes Alex Salmond Is Europe's ...
There has been much media coverage of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's joint press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, today, with Prime Minister David Cameron having also commented following a meeting with the President. Much of the coverage has focused on what Mr Clegg said about settlements, and there is a a short video of those remarks, which I really recommend to anyone who is interested in what Mr Clegg said. As part of his remarks at the start of the press conference, before taking questions, Mr Clegg said:I'd like to be clear: there is no stronger supporter of ...
It's Big Energy Week this week. Which has me almost as excited as International Mountain Day. So here is a video from Chris Huhne about it:
Hold the page! I was going to post about equality of outcome versus equality of opportunity, having failed to put this subject to rhyme and include it on my poetry blog (http://simonsworlds13.wordpress.com), but that will now be my next post here followed, probably, by an appearance of Agile Workers on The Odanglesex Chronicles. What has changed these well-laid plans? Michael Gove has proposed UK taxpayers fund a new royal yacht as a gift for Queen Elizabeth II to mark her diamond jubilee. Explanation for non-Brits: Michael Gove is the Secretary of State for Education in our coalition government. Elizabeth II ...
I was on Radio Tay news today on the subject of the proposed closure of the Balfour Street Branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland on the University of Dundee campus :
Mon 16th
18:01
Statement from Sheffield Hallam University Liberal Democrats on extradition case of SHU student Rich...
Today Richard O'Dwyer lost his court case against extradition to the USA for running a website that provided links to websites where users could illegally pirate copyrighted TV material. He will be lodging an appeal with the high court and he cannot be extradited without the specific permission of the Home Secretary Theresa May. Richard's actions were not a crime in the UK because his website did not host the files but rather hosted links to the websites that did host the files, like google does. If extradited, Richard could face 10 years in federal US prison. This situation is ...
I was fascinated to come across this snippet from seventeenth-century Ireland. It is one of the many depositions made by Protestant settlers who were attacked by Catholics during the insurrection of 1641 (I have modernised the spelling and punctuation). But the deponent is not an English or Scottish Protestant - he came from much farther away: John Fortune, for 20 years a servant to Captain Richard Steele, and by birth an Indian Pethagorian, but now a Christian and Late an Inhabitant of Ballinakill in the Queens County, sworn and examined deposeth: That since the begining of the present Rebellion, viz. ...
I possibly got it wrong, but I thought the leadership programme was supposed to be to help people who were disadvantaged in means to get political experience to get ahead in the party. I didn't realise it was just a not-pale-and/or-male preferred candidates list. Disadvantaged, to me, does not JUST mean being a woman or being LGBT+ or BAME. If you've been an elected mayor, or you are the Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Candidate Association, or you are the wife of a currently serving junior minister, that does not scream disadvantage to me. Please note that I am not ...
That sentence comes from this Guardian article which reports on the, wait a minute, let me find the right words, supremely idiotic, inappropriate, insensitive idea from Michael Gove that we should spend £60 million of our hard earned taxes into a new yacht for the Queen to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee, and how we should push the boat out (sorry) on celebrations to cheer us all up a bit. Well, I'm sure all these people who are losing their jobs, or the disabled people whose benefits are being cut, would be delighted to see that. Surprise? Is that really all? ...
Beautiful eh? But what's that I hear you say? My TV cuts off about two inches of the picture on the left hand side? Tell me about it.... [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
At last, Westminster and the UK media have woken up to the reality that Scotland is sleepwalking towards independence. The phoney war is over and finally we may get some serious debate rather than evasion, insults and accusations of 'talking Scotland down'. When the Scottish Liberal Democrats refused to form a coalition with the SNP after the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections, it was not just personal antipathy to Alex Salmond's unbearably smug persona. Our then leader, Nicol Stephen, warned that the SNP would spend the whole time in government blaming Westminster for everything, rather than concentrating on actually making a ...
This morning I was pleased to help launch Europe's first major campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of glitzy tobacco packaging to children. The Coalition Government will shortly launch its consultation exercise on whether to follow the example of Australia and introduce the plain packaging of cigarettes. The roof top events space of Bristol's ...
Nice to see the Sun give such prominence to Lord Oakeshott's attach on Board Room inequality. But check out the comments from readers. NEARLY 90 per cent of Britain's biggest firms have no female bosses, damning figures show. There is no woman executive director at 310 of the top 350 companies. And only 43 ladies are in the most senior roles — one fewer than in 2008. The figures will put pressure on David Cameron to tackle the divide. Last week it emerged the number of women in British boardrooms was at its highest level ever. But Lib Dem peer ...
The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest. Today's Campaign Corner question: Aarrgh! There's just too much information online. How do I cope? Make use of news aggregators. If you want to know what is happening in the world of UK politics, Politics Home is a great start, as it pulls together the latest content from traditional and online news sources into one regularly-updated front page. For more specific Liberal Democrat news there is the essential Lib Dem Blogs and ...
Mon 16th
15:38
Oh Southend Council what have you done? People used to trust you but soon there will be none.
In May as regular readers of this blog will know I will be running for Southend Council. I'll be running as a Liberal Democrat candidate in the Westborough ward. We'll see how that goes but over the weekend the aforementioned council managed to make it into national news in both the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail. The story was about the council ensuring that councillors don't get parking tickets for outstaying their alloted time in a pay & display bay. They are doing this by having all councillors cars number plates inserted into traffic wardens hand-held devices that will block ...
It has taken too long for Clegg to identify himself with long Liberal Party tradition of employee ownership and Industrial Democracy. It would be wrong not to acknowledge that this represents some welcome movement but it fall a long way short of the proposals endorsed by the Liberal party as I will discuss later on. The Employee Ownership Association founded by Jo Grimond (Chair) and Liberal candidate Robert Oakeshott (Chief Exec) has today published a report on the wider case for Employee Ownership Clegg's proposals are in tune with new Labour's view about more active shareholder. The Liberal Party ...
To the naïve, taken in by superficial politics, Michael Gove's brief bid, rapidly sunk*, to get the Queen a new yacht may not have the hallmarks of political genius stamped firmly on it. But you would be wrong. Because think about it. What has Gove achieved today? He has got large numbers of people writing the word yacht. And that means finding out how to spell the pesky word yacht. We now have a nation freshly educated in where that pesky t goes, not to mention the irritating h. It's mass education to raise our spelling levels. So well done, ...
Last weekend marked the official start of the Candidate Leadership Programme, with a residential training weekend in Greenwich. For many, this Programme marks an important shift in thinking to improve the diversity of our Parliamentary Party. I write this piece to give a participant's point of view. Despite efforts for years to get candidates from diverse backgrounds to become approved, sadly, and not without great effort on behalf of organisations such as the Campaign for Gender Balance (CGB), the result did not show in terms of elected Parliamentarians. The Leadership Programme is designed to focus on the steps post-approval and ...
Mon 16th
14:49
Why does the Western world object to Chinese Approaches to Aid and Investment in Africa?
When after World War II, the cold war arose, and eventually expanded its theatre to Africa, where influence was sought through aid an investment, a Western liberal consensus was born, offering a view of a moral responsibility to provide aid to Africa to encourage economic development. Since the rise of China, Africa now has an alternative to the Western agenda for the first time. This rise of an alternative supplier of investment has caused much criticism from the West. The West who has chosen to split their criticisms into both the liberal and realist camps, to ensure a sustained criticism. ...
Did The Land Reform Process aid Reconciliation in Post-Apartheid South Africa? When in 1948 the Afrikaner dominated National Party of South Africa rose to power, and instituted laws which divided citizens into racial groups, and forced segregation between them, South African racial Apartheid was born. This devastating legacy of violence, forced removals of black communities from their land and this disenfranchisement lasted some forty-six years until in 1994, when until the African National Congress Party, under Nelson Mandela, triumphed in the first free elections South Africa had ever seen. The policies of the National Party left deep scars on the ...
Wow, it feels like forever since England last pulled on their whites to play Test Cricket, to be precise it will have been 148 days by the time they step onto the pitch in Dubai tomorrow when they face Pakistan in a three match series in the U.A.E. Their last test series against India saw a 4-0 whitewash and them crowned number one in the world, so now sees the start of the hard task of consolidating this position. Conditions in the U.A.E. will be unfamiliar, this is England's first tour there, they will also not be the easiest conditions ...
Mon 16th
14:34Sorry, but Ed Balls didn't say anything spectacular. It's still the same old Labour Party.
In the narrow political sphere that seems to be twitter, there has been a furore growing. The Source is Ed Balls. It seems to be the popular assumption that suddenly Labour have accepted the cuts and and the coalition is vindicated. Sadly, as much as I hate to say it, I think it's wishful thinking. Take a look at the substance of what exactly Ed Balls said. The first point he makes is not that he endorses the coalitions cuts, indeed he never has, it's that he "accepts" them. This to me is the biggest example of weasel words. Balls ...
Students in orange boiler suits took to the streets in Edinburgh on Saturday to remind people that last week marked the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the US's military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. This is where 171 men are held, most without any charges being brought under a brutal regime where there have been reports of torture. Among them is Shakar Aamer,a British resident who's been there almost since the start. He's never been charged with a crime and was cleared for release initially 5 years ago. Why on earth has he not been returned to ...
Last week David Cameron and Ed Miliband both sounded their commitment to tackling excessive payouts in the financial sector. Today was Nick Clegg's turn. The speech he delivered to CentreForum and the City of London this morning was all about 'responsible capitalism' and 'unlocking shareholder power'. He talked about vested interests in the British economy and the need to shine a light on boardroom practices. He also expressed a desire to see wider employee share ownership – trust in people, rather than the "interventionist state" – and the move towards a "John Lewis economy". Clegg said: [Liberals] recognise that narrowing ...
Many congratulations to Mark Littlewood, a very clear winner of the Liberal Voice of the Year over at Lib Dem Voice. This website championed Mohamed al Bouazizi who didn't quite make the top of the list - but many thanks to all who supported him. Andrew Emmerson has pointed out that the vote was of course run on First Past the Post - and is running preferential vote as a trial to see if that changes things - so do pop over and see at his blog. But no bad grace - Mark Littlewood was a clear and worthy winner ...
We took a severe beating in late 2010, from which we're still not entirely recovered. From here, we can go in two directions: we can build a Higher Education policy that we can be proud of, or we can leave our policy in the pieces it's currently in, and prepare for 2015's brutal assault. It's hard to see a treasured policy fall apart under the pressure of electoral and financial reality. We all know there are positive aspects of the increase in graduate contributions that we can claim as ours: a Labour or Tory government would not have faced the ...
Today's announcement by Nick Clegg of measures to facilitate more employee share ownership has been leapt on by Labour media darling Chuka Umunna as an endorsement of Ed Milliband's 'Responsible capitalism' idea. Leaving aside the somewhat audacious claim that Ed Milliband came up with the John Lewis model of business, Umunna's response demonstrates that Labour ...
Further to my earlier post on reasons Mitt Romney will lose in November, I missed this... I would say that's probably that for Mitt....
(For more on the story see the BBC report Nick Clegg plans more employee ownership.)
Death Comes to Pemberley, P.D. James I really wanted to love this book. What could be better than the combination of an homage to Jane Austen's biting Pride and Prejudice as penned by the magisterial crime writer PD James? And the thing is it's not actually bad. The writing is Austen-esque, the murder mystery is intriguing, the ends are wrapped-up. But there is a gaping chasm in Death Comes to Pemberley where its soul should be. The protagonists, Mr and Mrs Darcy, take centre-stage, yet — James having presumably judged they wouldn't be credible suspects, and so having given them ...
Some brief examples of how the Lib Dems are achieving stuff in government: Nick Clegg wants to see more employee ownership of businesses to make them fairer and to encourage workers to commit to them. It's an obvious call which only a Tory could object to so Nick will have a job on his hands getting it past George Osborne. I love the comment from Labour's Chuka Umunna that this represents Nick Clegg following Labour's lead. That might have been relevant if Labour had done anything to encourage employee ownership over those 13 wasted years. Lib Dems are also seeking ...
I've been asked to post this on my blog and I'm proud to do so. Please read it. Last week the government was defeated three times on the Welfare Reform Bill. On Tuesday this week there will be another debate in the Lords - this time on proposed changes to DLA (Disability Living Allowance). Sue Marsh is calling for a pause on Tuesday to reflect on DLA legislation in the light of the Spartacus Report. Pat's Petition asks for the government to stop and review all the changes to benefits that are creating a perfect storm. Pat's Petition has now ...
One news story has deeply worried me is the recent death of an Iranian scientist. What worries me is the lack of outrage and coverage it seems to be getting. Most of the headlines I've seen on the issue implicate at least Israel in the death - if that read the other way round I'm sure there would be outrage in western nations should Iran have been implicated in the killing of a foreign scientist. Reading around this I became more worried as this is just one of a series of incidents that I hadn't heard about at the time. ...
Today will see the announcement of the successful applicants to the first round of LEAF funding from the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC). Congratulations to all! I'm involved in a bid to be submitted on Friday, so I appreciate the work it took to get the bids in on time. We're undertaking three months' work in as many weeks, I'm told. LEAF is the "Local Energy Assessment Fund" - a.k.a. loose change DECC found in its trousers pockets before the year-end wash. It was announced in December with two bid rounds. It's £10 million for projects including feasibility ...
How much is it worth to have a celebrity present a load of trade awards? That's the question for Cornwall Council after the Western Morning News revealed that the authority, via the Cornwall Development Company, has paid TV presenters Kirsty Allsopp and Ben Fogle £6,000 each to present the annual tourism awards in 2009 and 2010. It should be noted that CDC has said that this amount was covered by commercial sponsorship and so did not cost taxpayers anything directly. But how much does having a celebrity matter? It's obviously nice for the award winners to have a (vaguely) famous ...
Today, or rather last night in the UK, the Australian Open tennis tournament got under way. 5 of the 6 Brits who made it to the draw were in action and every single one lost. That leaves Andy Murray as the last Brit standing and he hasn't even started yet. Poor showing although that being ...
In the Daily Mail, David Laws gives readers a tour d'horizon of the economy, ending with some optimisim: The first good news is that inflation should fall - and steeply. Last year, inflation rose because of higher energy and food prices, and the rise in VAT. Most of those increases are behind us - last week, energy price cuts of five per cent were trumpeted. Inflation, which peaked last year at 5.6 per cent (retail prices), should be down to about 2.5 per cent by May. That will help hard-pressed household budgets. The second piece of good news is that ...
The BBC reports: Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has urged more companies to offer shares to their employees, saying it will improve productivity and unlock growth. He told an audience in the City that the government planned to cut red tape, and reform the tax system to accommodate employee ownership. It is hoped the measures will create what he called a "John Lewis economy". ...The Lib Dem leader told the event hosted by the City of London Corporation and Centre Forum think tank: "We don't believe our problem is too much capitalism – we think it's that too few people ...
I'm trying out the new Android app for Path – the new social networking service. I've discovered something rather troubling... Most of the app's communication with the Path servers is over SSL. This means that no-one can see the data you're sending and receiving. If there are snoops on your network, they will only be able to see the encrypted data flowing back and forth. In general, this is a good thing. Apart from images. If your friends are posting images, they are sent over http. No security. Anyone monitoring your network connection will be able to see all the ...
The relaunch of the Beveridge group featured in Lib Dem Voice on 10th January, said that it hoped to generate debate amongst Liberal Democrats about how public services are best delivered. Liberals in general are clear that public services should be democratically accountable at the lowest possible level. Where there is far less agreement is the role of choice, competition and the private and voluntary sector in provision of these services - particularly in relation to health and education. Inevitably many people's reactions are heavily influenced by their own personal experience as a service user, public service employee or indeed ...
London is reported by the annual Cushman & Wakefield report to be the best European city to do business. This is 22nd consecutive year its been given this accolade. London's success is largely down to its great global connections with more international flights than Paris and Frankfurt added together. But it's also despite its high pollution levels, 25th most polluted out of 25, and its quality of life being only 10th out of 25. Amazingly 28% of all aircraft noise pollution in Europeis suffered by Londoners – both from Heathrow and London City flights paths. 4,300 people die prematurely from ...
It has been suggested this morning (Telegraph) that NHS "no-show" patients should be charged a fee – basically a fine by another name. Norman Lamb, a key adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, told the Sunday Express: "We should consider introducing a charge for missed appointments. "People have to understand when there is only a limited amount of money available it means cuts on care that could go on other patients." I'm surprised this has been suggested and I am most definitely against it, for two reasons. Firstly is having heard stories about the historical (thankfully!) practice of Charing ...
The problem's not "too much capitalism..its that too few have capital." Nick Clegg gave a very articulate, liberal and pro-market, pro-capitalist speech this morning; extremely proud of the content and philosophy set out by the Deputy Prime Minister. Under the DPM proposals, tax and regulation will be reduced to provide better competition within the market ...
A nice way to keep blogging frequency up, and convey my thoughts on multiple topics at the same time, would be to watch the BBC's debate show, Question Time, and publish my thoughts on each of the questions, and on the pannelists debate itself. Enjoy... "David Dimbleby chairs a debate in Tower Hamlets in east ...
Day 15 In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fangirls (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you've received or have left for someone. I first really got into Doctor Who fandom when djm4 took me along to a monthly gathering of Doctor Who fans that had been going since before the old series went off air. They were a friendly bunch, the kind who managed to combine an encyclopaedic knowledge of the show and all things related to ...
I was pleased that I was able to sit and watch PMQs at work last Wednesday, even more pleased as the lead topic brought up by Ed Miliband was rail fare rises. Regular readers will no that I, as a suffering commuter am opposed to such hefty rises and I fear a time when the poor hard working commuter will be priced off the networks altogether. I honestly think that cross party cooperation is needed for this and hoped to see some serious debate happen and some head way. My hopes were soon dashed... as I should have probably feared. ...
This Sunday, the Guardian reported that Nick Clegg will argue for a 'John Lewis-style' economy in a speech to be given to the City of London Corporation and CentreForum. It is reported that Clegg will say that this could happen if the government gave workers the right to request shares in the company they work for. The policy is a response to the complaints that boards are rewarding failure by giving bonuses to chief executives despite the share price of their company suffering. But this isn't a new idea. John Stuart Mill argued that the best type of company is ...
Tomorrow, members of the European Parliament will have the chance to vote for a new President — what in Britain we would normally call a Speaker or Presiding Officer (incidentally, there are too many presidnets in the EU set-up, which is one small reason among many larger ones why the British tabloids make fun of it). ...
The Iron Lady cast a steely shadow over the Westminster village last week. Memories of Baroness Thatcher's reign of heavy metal terror still strike fear in those who inhabited the place in the days when she would mercilessly handbag anyone who dared to cross her path. Last week, of course, her major Hollywood biopic was released. Fearing unfavourable comparisons, the PM appears to have gone into manic overdrive; launching an overlapping series of popular-sounding and eye-catching initiatives. Having spotted that City fat cats are still awarding themselves performance-related perks, which bear no relation to their performance, the PM has become ...
So far, only the Sun in its usual inimitable style, appears to be reporting the story I heard on Good Morning Scotland that Tom Harris, pugnacious Labour MP for Glasgow South has been forced to stand down from his post as Labour's New Media Adviser. This is because he put out a You Tube video satirising the comments by Alex Salmond's parliamentary aide Joan McAlpine that the unionist parties were "anti Scottish." The video was yet another Hitler parody. The Guardian wrote a couple of years ago about how this phenomenon of using that scene from the movie Downfall to ...
Title has been changed (see below) While it may be strange link to make, it is an important one. We may believe we are doing the right thing, but so do people who do horrific things. We need to keep ourselves in check. Narcissists can come across as flashy and neat, with good interpersonal ...
I have just been appointed as co-chair of the Lib Dem housing policy group. We have been tasked with looking at the whole of our policy and reporting back with a paper and a resolution to our autumn conference this ... Continue reading →
So, in January 2012 Ed Balls finally admits what the Liberal Democrats knew in May 2010, that we had no choice but to cut our deficit. This is not the first time Labour has been dismissive of Lib Dem positions, only to concede later that we were right. They rubbished Vince Cable's warning that we were heading for economic disaster, and I still recall the words of Angela Eagles, Gordon Browns Executive Secretary to the Treasury. In April 2008 Eagle took part in a debate in Parliament on the UK economy in which the Liberal Democrats tabled a motion suggesting ...
The independence referendum is coming in autumn 2014. What everyone is asking is what should the question be? How many questions should be asked? Should a question have multiple options or not? If you have multiple options, what system should be used so that the result is decisive? I'm going to lay out two possible ...
*link redacted due to me not noticing it was f-locked* Goths up trees Must submit Mat to this... (tags: silly goths ) WTF is with empowered women in video games now? This is the funniest thing I have seen in weeks :) (tags: gender ) Memory Myths Quite proud that there's only one of these I didn't already know - combination of biology teacher dad and training in evidence law ;) (tags: memory ) Signal boost: women write about comics I need to remind myself to do something about this. (tags: comics feminism ) nanila takes lovely photos of Kensal ...
Mon 16th
08:54
Opinion: Speaking up for Scots - a referendum on independence needs democratic legitimacy
All sorts of scare-stories surround a future Scottish referendum – from practical questions about the debt rating of an independent nation to more emotive fears of a new wave of Highland clearances. Yet amidst all the manoeuvering by both the pro and anti-unionists seeking to define the framework under which the question will be answered (in particular whether it should be a straight in-out decision) the respective leaders at Westminster and Holyrood retain one glaring blindspot. Scotsman columnist Bill Jamieson is entirely correct when identifying an "effective disenfranchisement which could undermine the referendum vote as envisaged," but perhaps not in ...
Health experts at the University of Bristol have been looking into the impact of the competition introduced into the NHS by the last Labour government: Hospitals rated as better by the health quality regulator before the policy reform attracted more patients and from further away post reform. This suggests that patient choice is having some effect on their selection of hospitals and that more patients are choosing (with their GPs' help) to go to better hospitals. Moreover, they conclude that competition resulted in better services: The research finds that hospitals located in areas where patients have had more choice since ...
Mon 16th
07:55'There but for the grace of...' A couple of things Lib Dems should consider before joining the attac...
Tempting though the schadenfreude is, I think Lib Dems would be wise not to enjoy too much Labour's discomfort at Ed Balls' decision to declare Labour cannot promise to reverse any of the Coalition's cuts. I can of course entirely understand the urge to shout 'Ha! Told you so' at the shadow chancellor. In an interview for The Guardian published on Saturday, Mr Balls stated categorically: "My starting point is, I am afraid, we are going to have keep all these cuts. There is a big squeeze happening on budgets across the piece. The squeeze on defence spending, for instance, ...
Yesterday's Radio 4 programme, "David Cameron's Big Idea" (13h30 on 15/01/12: available for a week on the BBC's "Listen Again" website) claimed that one of the areas of Conservative/Liberal Democrat overlap which excited the negotiating teams which formed the coalition was a mutual desire to put an end to Westminster and Whitehall dictacts and devolve decision making to the lowest possible levels. Alas this enthusiasms for trusting professionals and the people has been very short lived. The year is as yet not a month old and nurses have been ordered from the top to visit their patients every hour. Local ...
With the new University of Dundee semester starting today, I have slammed the decision by the Royal Bank of Scotland to close its branch at the university's student union and have written to the Royal Bank's Chief Executive Stephen Hester criticising the decision and asking for a review of the decision before it goes ahead. It is understood that the Royal Bank is planning to close the branch in March or April. The decision to close the branch at the Student Union is really detrimental to the University of Dundee's students and staff. Its been a hugely busy branch over ...
River Crescent - just south of Perth Road Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of attending what has become a very pleasant annual fixture when the residents of River Crescent get together for a coffee and cake at the rather superb cafe at Dundee Botanic Garden, near to River Crescent itself. It was an extremely pleasant afternoon and good to chat with local residents about a variety of local issues. River Crescent has a very active and hard-working residents' association who do really good work for the local neighbourhood.
A popular history of the building blocks of US political geography (NB the author is not the wingnut Mark Steyn). I learned a number of things from it, including the importance of the 1790 Nootka convention and why Hawaii has more interesting borders than one might have thought. I had not really taken in that the block shapes of Colorado and Wyoming reflected a general aspiration to create states covering seven degrees of longitude and four of latitude (three for the four states immediately to the east). Some boundaries are set by landmarks which may be ephemeral - the circle ...
Yesterday's Telegraph reports that the Liberal Democrat Cabinet Minister with the sharpest elbows, Chris Huhne has hailed David Cameron's decision not to scrap the 50p higher rate of income tax before 2015 as a victory for his party. The Energy Secretary is reported as saying that the junior Coalition partners had "won the argument" over reducing the tax burden on the rich at a time of austerity. Chris Huhne added that it was an example of how the Conservatives still needed Liberal Democrat support "if they want to get anything else through". Interviewed on the Pienaar's Politics programme on BBC ...
... is trying to work out which is more depressing: the number of people I know and trust who, when gven a free vote, still decided that the government's idea of bashing the disabled was a good one, totally against the will of Conference, or Mark Littlewood winning Liberal Voice of the year Now, on the face of it, the first one wins by a clear margin. It affects far more people, and affects those people far more, than the result of an internet poll which can easily be gamed. And yet... There's something that my gut says is very ...
We came to Canada with two elderly cats. One had to be put down a few months later. We replaced her with a tom kitten who is now 5 years old. Our other cat is around 18, so a very elderly lady who won't be around for much longer, though I'm hopeful that she might ...
Great news that a Bristol group have been awarded Government funds to promote home energy efficiency. Bristol Green Doors has secured £78,000 from the Local Energy Assessment Fund. My Lib Dem colleague Energy Secretary Chris Huhne is today announcing the first 80 beneficiaries of the £10 million fund. The funding comes as the Government gears ...
