The New Statesman has set two tests to see if David Cameron is serious about so called 'moral capitalism'. One is to withdraw the knighthood from Fred 'the Shred' Goodwin - the bank's former CEO. The other is to prevent the bank paying the current CEO, Stephen Hester, his million plus bonus. Sadly these tests say more about the paucity of thinking on the Labour left than the glib Cameronian soundbite of 'moral capitalism'. What RBS and the other banks need is a dose of hard anti-trust legislation. All of the banks - regardless of who owns them - need ...
..to businesses for the water main burst on Oxford Street. That's not what caught my attention however. In the article in the Evening Standard, the refer to the Victorian pipe renewal plan, one we are all aware of. Years of digging up roads. Years of disruption. Years of being told we're getting an update to ...
Well, not wild exactly, but I do think that Johann Hari's resignation from the Independent was the right outcome. As I said in July of last year when the scandal broke: He has always seemed to me more of an academic essayist than a journalist. A good example are his slightly irritating appearances on The Review Show, where new film or novel has to be compared with three others to make sense of it. So it was no great surprise to me that he should turn out to be more at home copying passages out of his interviewees' books than ...
In memory of Etta James who died today aged 73 here she is performing Something's got a hold of me.
Last night, I was again minute-taker at the latest Friends of Magdalen Green committee meeting. There was good news to report - the Friends' charity Christmas cards sold out during the festive season. We discussed our first 2012 members' newsletter - this will cover our activities during last year - fundraising, attending community events, our success with new BBQ tables on the Green and campaigning for other improvements on the Green - and our plans for the forthcoming year. Our forthcoming AGM in May was also discussed. Taking place in May, this will feature a presentation on the history of ...
The Coalition's big economic idea is that significant cuts in public sector employment will be more than compensated by a veritable blossoming of the private sector. Displaced public sector workers will find themselves rapidly migrating to new private sector jobs. There are plenty of reasons for thinking that the economic reasoning is flawed. And there is precious little evidence that it is happening. The public jobs are disappearing sure enough. But the promised private sector expansion is rather slower in arriving. That is not in itself great surprise, if you read the economy more plausibly. But on Wednesday night the ...
Interviewed by The Breeze today on the invitation to householders to join in the HomesFitForTheFuture campaign in which householders open up their homes for visitors to coe and see how homes can have theri energy consumption greatly improved and thus save money and reduce CO2 emissions. A win win campaign. The main weekend will be March 17 18 but the campaign to encourage householders to take up sonme of the ideas on offer for their own homes will last two months.
Went to the launch in Bristol today for their bid to win the Green Investment Bank Bristol. It should be in Bristol as this area has a large silicon industry, many green and environmental industries, 4 top universities and many other qualities. Bringing the bank to Bristol woul also benefit B&NES and our growing environmental and silicon sector.
Good news this evening - the SNP have announced that they accept that the Electoral Commission should oversee the independence referendum. It's a welcome concession from them, made easier by the reasonableness of Michael Moore, who made it clear he would allow the Commission to report to the Scottish Parliament. It's nice to see people behaving like grown ups for a change. The timing of the SNP's announcement - pretty much after close of business on Friday, put me in mind of that great West Wing episode, "Take out the trash day" where Josh Lyman explains to Donna that Friday ...
I was sad to see today that a Lib Dem councillor had defected to the Conservatives. Cllr Nigel Clarke was elected two years ago as the Brentwood West Lib Dem on the borough council but he has decided to walk across the floor for reasons that he has kept onto himself. Personally speaking I find this outrageous. Not just because he's a Lib Dem who has decided to move on but because he is now not standing for the same values as when he was elected. If he truly believes his political ideals have changed then you can't argue with ...
I have been interested in following a discussion on Lib Dem Voice, stemming from an article written by a participant in the Candidates Leadership Programme. The programme hasn't been without controversy, but while considering its strengths and demerits it occurred to me that however ambitious and far-reaching its aims - and however successful it is in selectively nurturing talent - a very real and more pressing danger to improving the gender balance of Lib Dem parliamentarians appears to have been overlooked. We've all heard the by now familiar arguments in favour of gender balance and it's difficult not to be ...
Last night, I wrote about North West Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies' strong reaction to Diana Wallis' resignation as MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, just a few days after he supported her bid for the presidency of the European Parliament. Today, he's launched an astonishing attack on her on his website. Chris has never been one for holding back about stuff but his comments are strong even for him. He says he feels deceived, that "even by low standards of bad losers this marks a new descent. If Diana's husband, Stewart Arnold, takes her place in February, as he ...
China's sovereign wealth fund has bought a stake of nearly 9% in Thames Water and Chancellor George Osborne is pleased about it, boasting that, " It is a vote of confidence in Britain as a place to invest and do business." I would describe it more as selling the family silver. Infrastructure companies are made to measure for ...
Zoe Williams's article on top vs. bottom-end supermarket salaries is interesting and full of good intentions, but I fear it doesn't lead us anywhere useful. Her argument is that supermarkets don't pay their staff a proper wage (perhaps because of in-work state benefits), which allows them to make excessive profits and pay their CEOs an exorbitant salary. To these CEOs she cries out, "To grab so much in excess of what you could ever spend or need, at a cost of so much hardship, to so many people, defies comprehension." She also gives us lots of handy numbers: the supermarkets' ...
Our black and Asian MPs and aspiring candidates continue to maintain a Trappist silence about the stark race inequalities in Britain today so expertly highlighted in an Independent on Sunday special report earlier this month. We now have 28 BAME ... Continue reading →
I've said it before and I'll say it again. There is something about the Airbus A380 that scares the living hell out of me. I'm not the best of flyers. All my friends know that. When i took my first ever flight from Heathrow to Newark in the USA, I darn near kissed the ground like the Pope ...
The "Lighter Later' campaign has been one that many MP's across the board have been supporting for a long while. Its been a campaign that LibDems have gotten behind for many reasons as the 10:10 website details. Having and extra hour or so of daylight could mean a reduction in the number of road traffic accidents ...
Latest information is that Herts County Council continue to tough it out, insisting that there is nothing wrong with the signs or the road markings for the scheme designed for them by Hertfordshire Highways. Meanwhile the number of aggrieved motorists who have appealed to the Traffic Penalties Tribunal has now reached 429. Grounds for appeal include: obstructed view of the prohibition signs, incorrect positioning of the prohibition signs, absence of road marking until 12/09/2011 and incorrect wording of the Traffic Regulation Order. A hearing by the Tribunal is scheduled for next week.
Its no surprise to the people that follow me on Twitter that I am a grumbling fare paying passenger in this country's shambolic transport system. Hardly a day goes by without my being late for work because the trains have failed in some way and it often feels like South West Trains and Network Rail, ...
Fri 20th
17:23
Economy and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee 16/1/2011 Part 3 Peel presentation on Wirra...
Cllr Denise Realey asked if it was true they would have tidal power by 2020? Mr. Mawdsley said that was incorrect, they had finished the feasibility study, settled on a location, technology and costed it. The total cost came to £3.5 billion for 720 MWh of power. It would last for one hundred and twenty ...
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week And the winner of our Liberal Voice of the Year award is... Mark Littlewood (66 comments) by Stephen Tall Comeback Clegg - the Times' reasons to be cheerful about the Lib Dems (23 comments) by Helen Duffett Opinion: What's happened to democracy in the Liberal Democrats? (68 comments) by George Potter The Lib Dem Candidates Leadership Programme - a participant's view (44 comments) by Layla Moran Tim Farron MP writes... Are two Eds better than one? (21 ...
Last week was the first in my looks at the various Summer Olympiads in the lead up to the return to London in July to be the first city to host a third Summer Olympiad. Today it is the turn to take a look at the second in Paris, which did not have an opening ceremony. Although seeing as the Olympics started on 14 May and ended on 28 October as part of the World Fair it may explain why. There were no medals from these games with the winners receiving cups or trophies and professionals were allowed to take ...
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Fri 20th
16:56Economy and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee 16/1/2011 Part 2 Peel presentation on Wirra...
Mr. Mawdlsey went into detail about what would be in the "neighbourhood areas". Part of it would be residential, with high density families called Sky City. They also hoped to have an area for corporate headquarters, studios, small and medium sized enterprises and a civic/educational hub. There would be a channel for large vessels as ...
There are still suggestions that Mustafa Ameen interfered with the scorecard when Amir Khan fought Lamont Peterson over a month ago. It may be the case that Mr Ameen was really helpful and corrected genuine errors in the scoring by WBA supervisor Michael Welsh during the fight. It may also be the case that something more sinister is going on. I watched an interview at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/16646592.stm and Mustafa feels that he should not have been described as a mystery man. Well he was to most people. At around one minute Mustafa categorically denies wrongdoing at any time in his life. ...
News that one of China's leading wealth funds has taken a 9 percent stake in Thames Water is significant. The investment comes quick on the heels of a Gulf sovereign wealth fund taking a similar size stake in Thames Water's parent company, Kemble. It's a measure of confidence in Britain's infrastructure technology and role in the world as a safe haven for long term investment crows George Osborne. Liberal Democrats may be inclined to take a different view. What Osborne fails to mention is that because of increased water-scarcity throughout the world – including the UK - water is set ...
The question arises from James Graham's excellent blog on how raising the personal income tax allowance, a central plank of Liberal Democrat influence in the Coalition, makes it more likely that large companies will pay fairer wages. James was responding to Zoe Williams in the Guardian (well worth a read), who rightly highlights the negative societal impact of companies paying their employees wildly differing amounts – sky-high executive salaries at one end of the spectrum, and sub-living wages at the other that have to be topped up by complex and costly welfare spending. Of late there has been a great ...
Commenting on the surprise news that Liberal Democrat MEP Diana Wallis is to resign from the European Parliament following her unsuccessful bid to become its President, North West MEP Chris Davies said: "One day Diana Wallis was campaigning to become ... Continue reading →
The recycling of TVs, mobile phones, computers and other electrical equipment is to be increased. Electrical and electronic materials are Britain's fastest growing waste stream, with more than one million tonnes generated annually. Although the products contain valuable metals, and ... Continue reading →
It's strange how this selective amnesia thing works. The official Opposition has been agitating over recent weeks about when the government will publish the promised consultation on a Statutory Register of Lobbyists. You'd think they had always been in favour of such a thing. Er, no, not exactly. Because there were calls for its introduction under the last government. Liberal Democrats, for instance, asked repeatedly why the then Labour government wasn't responding to clear recommendations from select committees to do just that. Labour ministers didn't want to know. We even proposed amendments to at least require companies to report on ...
North West England Euro-MP Chris Davies is backing a call by the European Parliament for a plan to curb the waste of huge quantities of food. Studies estimate that as much as 50% of food gets wasted each year by supermarkets, ... Continue reading →
Fri 20th
14:06
St Louis Rams to play in London in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The Patriots await them in 2012.
NFLUK has just announced that for the next three years the St Louis Rams will play in London for one game each season and for the 2012 season it will be the Golden Boy himself Tom Brady and his New England Patriots who will be their opponents. I must say I think this is a genuine step forward and a step towards seeing if there is a real viability to having a team play permanently in the UK – most likely in London. By having a team committed to playing here for three successive years the league will be able ...
Platelets should be within normal range when I see Professor M on January 30 if they continue to reduce at the same rate as they have since the previous reading< WBC 4.79 [4.00-11.00 10^9/L] RBC 2.97 L [4.5-5.8 10^12/L] Hb 10.4 L [13.0-16.5 g/dL] PCV 0.310 L [0.400-0.540 L/L] MCV 103.2 H [77.0-95.0 fL] MCH 35.0 [20.0-36.0 pg] MCHC 33.9 [32.0-37.0 g/dL] RDW 18.4 H [11.0-15.0 %] PLT 501 H [150-450 10^9/L] MPV 10.7 H [7.4-10.4 fL] Neutrophils 2.33 [2.2-6.3 10^9/L] Lymphocytes 1.30 [1.3-4.0 10^9/L] Monocytes 0.44 [0.2-1.0 10^9/L] Eosinophils 0.06 [0-0.4 10^9/L] Basophils 0.04 [0-0.1 10^9/L] NRBC 6.1 H ...
I was really pleased to find out this week that Chorlton based Ecospheric and Action for Sustainable Livng (AfSL) have been successful in their bid for a £50,000 grant from the Government's Local Energy Assessment Fund. Detals about their Ecoville project taken from Ecospheric website: Action for Sustainable Living in partnership with Ecospheric have secured Chorltonville funding from the Local Energy Assessment Fund (LEAF) to help promote energy efficiency in all its 262 households. LEAF is a government grant for communities to help them understand the potential for improvements in their homes and prepare for new opportunities in sustainable energy ...
There are times when we question whether we would intervene in an action when something is going wrong. A couple of years ago Boris Johnson made headlines because he helped in a mugging (in a good way) and there was a debate as to whether members of the public should get involved in crime prevention. The answer will vary from person to person. Some may think it is better to cross the road and look the other way. Others may think that something should be done if there is a reasonable chance of success. There will be others who would ...
If you thought the idea of an evening spent listening to local councillors, debate next years council budget was depressing, you'd be right, however the prelude to the meeting in the form of a briefing given by Stuart Bain Chief Executive of East Kent Hospitals, referring to the future of emergency treatment for major trauma, wasnt without some concerns either. I understand that management of East Kent Hospitals are currently "engaging" with staff, doctors and local MP's over changes in dealing with major trauma. This apparently follows from advice by the Royal College of Surgeons, the drift of discussion (I ...
It's a dark winter night in Westminster but the building from which a group of men emerge is still wreathed in light. The men clamber into a sleek car, which streaks away through the emptying streets. Their journey is short in physical distance, but it's long on significance for all of them. They are serious of face and purpose as the vehicle stops by one of the quieter spots on the riverbank. The heaviest of the men is the first to get out, he flashes a look along the river bank, and seeing it deserted, nods quickly to his companions, ...
Much of the debate around reforming the Lords gets caught up in the idea that the two Houses are rivals, where one gaining legitimacy automatically undermines the capacity of the other to do its job. In fact, the two Houses work best when they work together, and for that having a more assertive Lords can only be helpful. In the last week, both Lords and Commons have debated Individual Electoral Registration. It's an idea that all parties say they support, but which Labour in particular are now being very cautious about, even though the previous Government started the process. My ...
The snuggle drought is over, The snuggle drought is done. Can you hear the happiness, 'cause here it comes. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Working from home with BBC Parliament on in the background as the Commons enjoys the Christopher Chope Hour. Mr Chope is one of my party's partners in government and often speaks on Friday mornings at heroic length on whatever piece of backbench business is being debated today. Today it's the Daylight Saving Bill, daylight apparently being an endangered species on a par with the panda or the rhinocerous. Jacob Rees-Mogg said that if Mr Chope spoke for a mere five minutes on each of the amendments tabled in his name, he'd be speaking for a commendable two hours and twenty ...
If I said the words "telecare" and "telehealth" to the person on the street it's likely they wouldn't have a clue what I was on about. They're hardly phrases which just trip off the tongue. But dig under that jargon and you'll find that these are really very simple technologies which can help elderly people and those with long-term conditions right across the country. Yesterday I hosted a launch of the Three Million Lives campaign. Very simply this campaign is a public declaration of how Government and industry will work together to make sure millions of lives are transformed. And ...
This week for the first time in my life I went to an auction (in Colchester). It was fun - the weird variety of stuff being auctioned, the pleasant and helpful staff of Reeman Dansie, the mixture of often eccentric-looking people there to bid, the excitement when bids competed - including the two things I bid for, both metalwork of artistic value (got one). It would be fun to go even if you weren't bidding. They get through an extraordinary number of items in the time. The auctioneers could double as horse-race commentators. The one minus? That items were often ...
Cllr Richard Kemp, Church Ward Liberal Democrats, 16, Dovedale Road, Liverpool L18 1DW; e-mail : Richard.kemp@liverpool.gov.uk Cllr Joe Anderson, Leader, Liverpool City Council By E-Mail 20th January 2012 Dear Joe, An Elected Mayor for Liverpool As ... Continue reading →
Following on from the election of Martin Schulz to the Presidency of the European Parliament earlier this week, European Parliamentarians have been electing fourteen Vice-Presidents and five Quaestors. Incumbent Vice-President, Edward McMillan-Scott (Liberal Democrat, Yorkshire and the Humber), having been elected last time as a member of the European People's Party when the Conservatives were still members, was successfully re-elected as a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, meaning that the Liberal Democrats are directly represented on the Bureau, which is the administrative decision-making body in parliament dealing with issues such as buildings and MEPs' expenses. The full ...
Liberal Democrat Vision for Dulwich Hospital site Local Liberal Democrat councillors deeply regret the running down and the loss of services at our hospital in East Dulwich. We want to keep our Hospital not lose it. We congratulate local residents who have fought a long running campaign to protect health services being delivered from this site. Given the current position of the site we believe it is important for the community and local elected representatives to be clear about the long term aspirations for the area taking into account the new economic realities. We have, therefore, set out below our ...
On Monday I turn 40. Its caught me off guard somewhat and I am confused as to how I should feel about the whole affair. There have been all those cliche's said to me about life beginning at 40 but I am not so sure that that is true in my case. I can safely say that my ...
When you are being constantly castigated for starving schools of funds, the natural response of any educationally-minded government is to take the sting out of the attack by upping their game. This is in fact precisely what the Welsh Labour Government have done, with an undertaking to put 1% more into school budgets than the increase in the block grant. This is the second year of that policy and all the signs are that local Councils are playing ball and delivering the extra money direct to schools. The Welsh Government also have the benefit of the extra £450 that is ...
So, I've been wanting details about life in an independent Scotland for a while. Yesterday, we were treated to Alex Salmond's vision for defence. Now, this is the same Alex Salmond who trashes Westminster at every single opportunity. He's been particularly critical about the Coalition's defence cuts, particularly as they affected air bases at Kinloss, Lossiemouth and Leuchars. So, I almost choked on my Earl Grey when I read that he'd said this: "The configuration of the Army in Scotland, the mobile brigade, which is the outcome of the defence review, looks exactly like the configuration you'd want for a ...
BBC News - UK inquiry into rendition and torture collusion scrapped "Oh damn, we're having to scrap our whitewash because the rozzers are investigating it now!" (tags: government ) Time To Take Another Walk Down Gin Lane The world's only master gin distiller is a lady. I approve. (tags: gin ) FactCheck: Will disabled people suffer under the Welfare Reform Bill? | The FactCheck Blog Factcheck punctures hyperbolous claims from both sides here. (tags: disability ) MPs support parents in fight against pornographic sex education This is very, very scary indeed. (tags: education ) Official home of the LEGO® DC ...
H/T to @duncanstott for tweeting the brilliant infographic below, showing how Political Betting see the chances of a hung parliament emerging in 2015. (Click to enlarge) Its a fascinating ponder, as is the great commentary they've added. It's all poised very delicately...
The Rio 'Earth' Summit in 1992 was the "world's biggest ever political gathering" with 108 heads of state or government. Its successes and failures on the environment and development continue to shape those debates. In June, Rio de Janeiro will host the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, a.k.a. Rio+20. A very early draft document suggests it will cover a wide range of topics, including access to food, water and energy; marine litter and pollution; eliminating "market distorting and environmentally harmful subsidies ... including those on fossil fuels, agriculture and fisheries" (I'll believe it when I see it); strengthening the UN ...
Last night brought the end of this particular phase in the long-running saga of efforts to find a solution to the twin problems of having enough parking spaces in the centre of Yarm for the right lengths of time for all the people who would like to park there. For at least the 30 years that I have been involved in local politics, this has been an issue. This isn't the place to give a full
A list I'm half-qualified to appear on > '23 Successful People Who Wake Up Really Early' http://t.co/hbjHPjii # On bus out of London, listening to Babyshambles, reading Economist. Looking forward to Sat morning lie-in... Til, say, 6.30 am? # Delighted to know I've been doing it right > 'Panelist Tips for Success' by @hopisen http://t.co/WzNratUL (h/t @markpack) # Genuinely very sad to read of death of Reginald Hill, my absolute favourite crime writer http://t.co/etrf6ppv # Initiated this morning into work tradition by @eleanorlondon et al: b'fast at iconic Regency Cafe (Pimlico/Victoria) http://t.co/y0IzhTlB # @xtophercook @eleanorlondon sorry, Chris, I was lurking ...
There should be a word for what people mean when they say disinterested and don't mean disinterested. Disinterested means something similar to impartial- you don't have a view and can arbitrate the debate fairly. What people seem to mean is that they have an extreme form of negative interest in a subject. Uninterested doesn't quite ...
Andrew Duff MEP Lib Dems have been given assurances from the European Commission that countries which do not comply with new welfare rules for laying hens will be closely investigated and, if appropriate, taken to court. Under intense political pressure from Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament, the Commission confirmed its commitment to put in place infringement procedures as of January 2012. Lib Dems met with EU Commissioner Dalli to push for swift actions against any country ignoring the new EU ban on battery cages. Andrew Duff, Lib Dem Euro MP for the East of England said, "It is great ...
A commentator has noted that, whereas 2011 was the year of "get Nick Clegg" the media has now moved on and the 2012 target is to be Ed Miliband. The unjustified pillorying of any politician does little to enhance the quality of our political process and the attempts to undermine Ed Miliband are not to be welcomed (see previous post) but I am pleased that, for a while at least, Nick Clegg has moved out of the firing line. This is well deserved. Already this year Nick has received a good press by articulating some well established Liberal Democrat policies ...
Today's award goes to the Daily Mirror for: Man arrested in Saddam Hussein statue buttock investigation
I have received concerns from local residents that water is leaking from the site of the former Parkview School on Blackness Road and it is resulting in colder days of a lot of ice across the pavement. See right. This is an obvious trip hazard, particularly for pedestrians walking along the pavement in the dark, and I have therefore asked the City Council to see what can be done to resolve the problem.
Faith and Pride will be holding the first of our monthly social meetings at the end of January. They will be an opportunity to meet other gay Christians in a welcoming environment. Full details will follow.
Northumbria Water are installing some new sewers in the Consett area. The £296,000 scheme will increase the capacity of the sewerage network and begins on Monday 30 January 2012. The work will take up to two months to complete and will involve installing 50 metres of new sewer pipe in public land north of Hallgarth and renewing 40 metres of sewer pipe on private land in Howden Wood. During this time there will be an increase in traffic along Pemberton Road, Consett Lane and Hall Road as construction traffic will need access to the site compound. However Northumbria Water will ...
Zoe Williams makes a good point in the Guardian when she questions why the taxpayer effectively subsidises companies like Tesco by paying out tax credits which would be unnecessary if they paid decent wages, whilst executives reward themselves massive bonuses from the profits they make as a consequence. There is clearly something wrong here. But she only tells half of the story. Yes, allowing highly "profitable" companies pay low wages is a scandal, but so is artificially increasing those wages by imposing income taxes on low incomes. This is effectively a dead weight cost on labour; neither the employer or ...
Tonight I attended the Council's standards meeting. The meeting's remit is not to discuss the standard of Ealing Council! It is to create, amend and enforce the rules that try to ensure that Councillors do not break the rules. This could be not declaring a gift from a planning company who have submitted a planning application or lying about facts in a Council meeting etc. Many of the complaints raised are from political parties claiming a Councillor from another party has broken the rules. Rarely are any of the complaints upheld. Given that a new law is coming into force ...
Chris Davies' comments today, concerning Diana Wallis MEP's resignation, made uncomfortable reading. The whole list system for election to the European Parliament is a pile of unlaundered pants. The sooner it is reformed the better But once rules are in place, you can't pick and choose how to apply them. The rules were used to replace Liz Lynne with the person who came second to her in the previous selection. The same rules should be used to choose Diana Wallis' successor. Yes, there is only a Rizla thin difference between 2nd and 3rd in the last selection in the relevant ...
