This is the good news in the Independent. It confirms what I have thought since last October. For the minority party in a coalition, it is better not to have your hands tied too tightly. Liberal Democrat MPs have marched through the lobbies so often for illiberal policies since the coalition was formed that the public now has little idea of what the party stands for. Ministers have honoured
I have, I must confess, been confronted with signs of my mortality of late. No, I'm not dying, I'm not even ill. it's just that, in recent months, the notion that I am still young has taken a bit of a kicking. I've known that I'm in my mid-forties, but there has been a piece of me that, emotionally at least, has striven to deny the fact that I am, to put it kindly, getting on as bit. I've been dwelling on my long-term finances, on my health, on the future. Ah yes, the future. I've never been very good ...
This is the first example of the kind of article I have been dreading, the hymn to Englishness and all that encompasses. This one comes from a 'life-long Labour supporter' - as if that makes it okay - and it is printed in the Independent, not normally the home of extreme views. Now don't get me wrong, I agree with pretty much everything this writer says about England and its proud traditions, creativity and strong identity, including the lively range of modern influences he cites. I am a proud Englishman and I celebrate this country every day in all its ...
Black survivors of the Nazi Holocaust are demanding the real story of Hitler's Germany is told. Their story is largely untold, their battle for compensation mostly fruitless. Thousands of African descent perished in Nazis concentration camps. Published – New Nation, Feb ... Continue reading →
The View from Creeting St Peter ponders the Twitter-fuelled resignation of Eirian Walsh Atkins as head of constitutional policy at the Cabinet Office. "As a proud Englishman I feel outraged that Welsh and Scottish MPs can enforce laws on the people of England, whilst vice versa isn't possible. I believe that an English Parliament is the only way ahead, allowing English people to vote for parliamentarians to make decisions that directly affect them; on health, on education and on economic development." Neil Woollcott makes a robust contribution to the debate on Scottish independence. And Landon Thomas Jr, in the New ...
FROM: Hilary Hannah, Human Resources Excellence Consultant TO: Kenneth Spotlessnob, Assistant Chief Executive and Director of Transformational Excellence and Strategic Vision cc: Eustace Ojukwu, Human Resources Excellence Consultant Kenneth: I attach the full report on TESV's piloting of an aspirational head:seat ratio within OCC's Agile Working Strategy. The summary report is as follows (please let me know if you'd like to raise any points before it goes to Ed and Cllr Wayneflete). Transformational Excellence and Strategic Vision has achieved the aspirational target of 1 seat to 2.51 heads within a challenging timescale. The actual ratio at the time of writing ...
...Not very good ultimately. The senility is not a particularly valid framework for a shallow cut and paste of the Thatcher life. ...Ultimately disappointing and quite pathetic. One good performance when Thatcher lectures her cabinet around the time of the poll tax. Good performance from Anthony Head as Geoffrey Howe. If you want to see a film about senility in general then this is for you. It could be about anyone with senility – your father, mother, aunt, uncle, grandmother. ...A rather cheap hook on which to hang a shallow biopic which stretches itself far too thinly with very little ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 258th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (22nd-28th January, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can 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. Liberal Democrat Whip resigns over MEP selection ...
Roy Harper is an artist who gets many passing mentions in Rob Young's Electric Eden, but never a paragraph to himself. Yet Alex Petridis in the Guardian recently called him "the most original, and the most underrated of the singer-songwriters who followed the 60s folk boom". Here he is on The Old Grey Whistle Test with a song that owes much to the 1960s, though the lyrics - "One of those days in England with the country goin' broke" - certainly belong to the economic problems of 1977. This was a year when we almost won Eurovision with a number ...
I'm often asked which web and iPhone apps I find most useful as a digital gypsy. While I am always trying out new things these are the apps I use everyday and are part of my digital toolbox: HootSuite You can manage all your social networking (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) from this app. The three things ...
We've not often LibLinked through to the 'Breaking News' section of Peterbrook Primary School's website. In fact we never have before. But their report of Nick Clegg's visit, alongside local Solihull MP Lorely Burt, deserves a wide audience, and here's a snippet: Together with Solihull M.P Lorely Burt and an entourage of press and media broadcasters, Mr. Clegg came from London to see us so that we could share with him our curriculum developments using 'Pupil Premium' funding to support the learning and personal development needs of all pupils, with a specific focus at times, on those pupils who are ...
[IMG: Lynne speaks at FinFuture event] Yesterday, Ed Butcher, Lynne Featherstone and I attended a conference on Blackstock Road organised by FinFuture, a local regeneration charity. The aim of the event was to bring together residents, businesses and the three Councils that cover Finsbury park to discuss how the area can be improved. The Finsbury Park area is held back by the difficulties in getting Haringey, Hackney and Islington to work together and prioritise a place that often feels neglected. For instance Ed and I have struggled to even get the Boroughs to co-operate on simple things like Christmas lights ...
Today, it emerges that Eirian Walsh Atkins has resigned. For those of you who don't know her, until Friday, she was the head of constitutional policy at the Cabinet Office. Why was she important? Perhaps because she has been preparing the government's consultation proposal on a statutory register for lobbyists... a key part of the political reform package promoted by Liberal Democrats. Interestingly, she resigned because of a message on her Twitter feed, wishing "that Unlock Democracy would die". Now you might think that such an attitude is, to put it mildly, unhelpful. You might also wonder if her attitude ...
Here's a round-up of stories we haven't had time to cover on the site this past week... Lib Dem MP Tessa Munt is taking on sexism in the BBC: 'The BBC must ensure there are more women presenters and executives working on its radio network if it is to justify its licence fee, MP Tessa Munt said today after she found that in some cases there were fewer female voices than 25 years ago.' The FT reports how Danny Alexander, Lib Dem Treasury chief secretary, has highlighted a crackdown on high pay in the public sector: Danny has the power ...
We went to the second last performance of this year's panto at the King's in Edinburgh. Allan Stewart, Grant Stott and Andy Gray were as funny as ever. I have been singularly rubbish at taking photos this week so here are some views of the subtle and not so subtle lighting Bob has put into his new DJ haven. And my favourite drink of the moment is...
1. Introduction 2. The Three Refuges 3. The Four Noble Truths The Eightfold Path: 4. Right Understanding 5. Right Intent 6. Right Speech "And what is right action? Abstaining from taking life, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from unchastity. This is called right action." - Buddha Gotama I always thought this was the third part of the Eightfold Path, until looking things up for this series of posts, when I found out that Right Speech was the first part of ethical conduct, and Right Action the second. It would make sense, right? Action the most important with speech part of action. ...
This week the Liberal Democrats have had a close escape. Diana Wallis's sudden resignation as an MEP highlight flaws in the party's rules for picking a successor. Those rules aren't new, but many people (myself included) have not paid that much attention to them in the past. It was only the circumstances of a resignation surrounded by controversy which brought attention to their weaknesses. Weaknesses only side-stepped by the decision of Stewart Arnold not to seek to succeed Diana Wallis. Most of the events of the last few days are specific to the Diana Wallis resignation – the fallout amongst ...
Wellington Bomber In 1941 the Third Reich was at the pinnacle of its power, the Luftwaffe was triumphant and controlled the skies over Europe, the German Armies still undefeated were pushing towards Moscow and a German victory was inevitable. Within four years Germany was defeated, her roads and railways were shattered, her industry crippled and the once proud Luftwaffe blasted from the skies or hiding in woodland and under Autobahn bridges. The RAF air offencive had played a massive part in this victory and was indeed the arm of the British forces that did the most against Germany.To ...
"Marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman," says Dr Sentamu. "I don't think it is the role of the state to define what marriage is. It is set in tradition and history and you can't just [change it] overnight, no matter how powerful you are. "We've seen dictators do it in different contexts and I don't want to redefine very clear social structures that have been in existence for a long time and then overnight the state believes it could go in a particular way. "It's almost like somebody telling you that the Church, whose job is ...
This story is about the good that local councillors can do. The story is about Amy Kitcher, a Lib Dem councillor from Merthyr in South Wales and the help she was able to get for a former serviceman in her ward who found himself living in a bare flat with nothing other than a sofa and thin blanket and £63 a week to live on. The ex-soldier - Paul Thomas - was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and was finding it very tough to make any progress but thanks to the local community has been able to get the ...
Here's how The Guardian reports today's news that the Coalition will offer further concessions to the NHS reform bill in an attempt to head off a revolt in the House of Lords led by Lib Dem peer Baroness Williams: ... ministers will table a series of amendments to the health and social care bill that will oblige Andrew Lansley to maintain the NHS as a national public service and, his critics say, limit his ambitions to expand the role of the private sector. The changes will also spell out the kind of services that must be offered by GPs and ...
There has been quite a bit of press reporting about David Lammy's comments about the operation of the care system acting to undermine discipline.Clearly this is not the only reason that the looting occurred, but I know of a number of cases where the care system has undermined parental discipline to the clear and obvious detriment to the children. Hence I agree with him about the principle.
I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed to say I'm an English cricket fan. Don't get me wrong, Pakistan are a good side and fully deserved their win, but it's all about expectations. I grew up with an English side full of good players but not a team, they would often suffer batting collapses and you would rarely fancy their chances of winning any test let alone a series. This meant that any victory was greatly received, whilst any defeat was to be expected. Now however they are the number 1 ranked test team in the world. They got ...
Archbishop John Sentamu's decision to invoke the word "dictatorship" and compare elected politicians who want to introduce same-sex marriage to dictators saddens me. Not for the over-the-top rhetoric – that is all too common when it comes to politics or morality, let alone when politics and morality meet. But rather because John Sentamu knows all about dictatorship thanks to his own personal bravery. He was jailed by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin for insisting on judicial independence. What a shame that a man who has such personal experience of dictatorship as he does now uses the word in the way he ...
Here for you - or themselves? That this country, and the world, face the worst economic conditions for a century can no longer be denied. Millions are seeing their living standards drop, their pay frozen and their benefits and services cut. But those who are suffering the most in this age of economic austerity are not the causes of the problem merely its victims. The architects of these problems are a small self indulgent minority and the politicians who cravenly allowed them to line their own pockets at the expense of everyone else and to the detriment of society now ...
Sun 29th
11:45
Bonuses do not work. It is not about banker bashing, it is about what actually provides incentives
Bonuses do not work. The situation with RBS goes to show all too well. The RBS board has awarded the CEO a bonus of £1 million in addition to his £1.2 million salary despite: RBS over his term has cut lending to small business as it has continued to de-leverage its balance sheet RBS over his ...
This month it was announced that the East Dulwich Police station has been given a stay of execution for 2012. Hooray. Despite East Dulwich Police station only being 40years old, and the previous East Dulwich Police station (junction of Crystal Palace Road/Upland Road) still being used by some secretive Police units, it suffers from concrete cancer. You can see me pointing in this picture to the reniforcing rusting steel where the covering concrete has fallen away. The stay of execution to its closing is due to other building works and some Police teams are temporarily being housed in East Dulwich. ...
A touching story epitomising the compassionate side of politics reaches The Voice via Dominic Hannigan: Prompted by Merthyr councillor Amy Kitcher, wellwishers from all over the borough have come to the aid of Paul Thomas, who was living in a flat in conditions he described as a "living nightmare". And the dad-of-two, who is battling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, admits that, if it wasn't for the help of local people, he might even have considered taking his own life. "If it wasn't for Amy Kitcher and if I wasn't such a strong person, I could be dead by now," the ...
The Independent write Clegg can reap rewards from his canny tax plans in which there is significant praise for Nick Clegg which is worth reading: Another politician showing more boldness since the turn of the year is Nick Clegg. He ruffled Tory feathers this week by taking the unusual step of making public the Lib Dems' demands ...
A story from one of my favourite internet sources. Special prize to anyone who can guess the country without googling. A friend who wanted to register his company for VAT, decided to try doing this through the internet. After a Google search he was directed to the government portal and to his surprise found the VAT registration form 101; he was impressed that there was even an option to add the relevant attachments to the form. He filled out the form, but when he tried to submit it the website gave him the message that the operation could not be ...
What do Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, the Conservatives' Peter Bottomley and our own Jenny Willott have in common? They've all signed up to this Early Day Motion tabled by Liberal Democrat MP for Ceredigion, Mark Williams. Mark's motion welcomes a recent report, Job-Sharing at Senior Level: Making It Work, highlighting that job-sharing can stem the 'female brain drain' by enabling more women to progress into senior roles while combining work with family. It notes a striking finding that 80% of highly qualified women wish to work part-time and calls on the Government to consider the implications of this in the context ...
Shelves being stacked with some of the 20000 new books In 48 hours the forty year wait by the Drum Brae, East Craigs and Clermiston communities for their Library will finally be over. The new Drumbrae Library Hub will open to the public for business at 10.am on Tuesday. The hub will include a Day Centre for frail older people who also will be taking up occupancy this week, as well as council offices, occupied before Christmas. This extraordinary project has gone like clockwork - on time and on budget. well done all involved in making that happen. This library ...
This is more of a personal reflection (rambling) rather than a discourse about politics. I've never been involved in a campaign before, well not really. I've written about things, tweeted a few things, argued with a few people about the merits and cons of a particular policy or cause but always been lower ranking minion or foot soldier. The City Status letter to Nick Clegg, which I'm sure you've all read about in the Medway Messenger or in this Blog, was the first one I picked up the torch and ran with. I did take it upon myself to write ...
Sun 29th
09:40
LDVideo: Clegg on RBS Hester's pay - "these figures seem like they're from another planet"
The debate reverberated here on LibDemVoice yesterday: Should Stephen Hester accept his bonus? Here's what Nick Clegg had to say about it all yesterday: (Available on the BBC website here.) And here's how Jeremy Browne handled the issue on BBC1′s Question Time on Thursday night. * Stephen Tall is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, and also writes at his own site, The Collected Stephen Tall.
Last week I spoke at my old High school. Not exactly the same building - that was raised to the ground a couple of years ago - but the new incarnation a few yards away. The event was part of the Speak out Speak up Holocaust memorial project run across four schools in the area. As well as an exhibition, which is travelling the Western Edinburgh area and will be at the Drum Brae Library in a few weeks, there will also be a talk by one of the survivors of Auschwitz. To begin the project a very powerful play ...
I recently visited FoodCycle's Station House Community Café . They also had celeb Thom from Channel 4's 'Three Hungry Boys' . We were invited there to show our support for FoodCycle and help to reach their £5,000 target on crowdsourcing website PeopleFund.it. The café is based at MIND in Haringey on Stapleton Hall Road. It uses surplus food and dedicated volunteers to create healthy meals for the community every Friday lunchtime, running a 'pay what you can' scheme so anyone can come along. To help keep the Café running, they're offering rewards in return for pledges on www.peoplefund.it/foodcycle including a ...
Sky News reports that a committee of MPs has warned that the Government must take action to clean up party political funding before another "scandal intervenes". The Political and Constitutional Reform committee has called on the Coalition Government to stick to pledges to reform party financing "in order to remove big money from politics". The problem though, as they identify, is to build a consensus around changes, and that seems as far away as ever. This is evidenced by the outcome of the 15-month inquiry by the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which proposed last year that a £10,000 ...
Skirting the issue: women's boxing and enforced femininity (tags: sport feminism ) Avaaz - Stop Murdoch's BBC robbery Slacktivist cut 'n' copy email to send to the Hulture secretary. (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
I am on Wave 102 news this morning about my call to increase funding for improvements across 7 schools in the city including Ancrum Road and Blackness Primary Schools. Click 'play' to listen :
Some years ago, at my request and those of local residents, the City Council erected some fencing at the east end of the Green, near to the Riverside Approach/Magdalen Yard Road junction, to stop a minority of irresponsible drivers from parking on the Green edge and damaging the grass. The fencing has worked pretty well, but some of it has fallen - see right - so at the request of residents and the Friends of Magdalen Green I have asked the council's Environment Department to have it sorted. The Department's Head of Environmental Management has kindly agreed to get the ...
WOOOOOOHOOOOO! Finished my 15 mile run this afternoon feeling about a million times better than after my 14 miler (and having run at a much faster pace, even)! While I can't be exactly sure why this one felt so much better, I'm guessing it has to do with: Getting good sleepRunning consistently last week - not trying to fit my runs in amid travelCarb loading and eating well in the two days before the long run (especially noshing on pretzels for an extra dose of salt)Eating a better breakfast (bagel w/ cream cheese)Fueling more consistently: Gu before the run, as ...
I had to have a nap earlier because of a headache, and I woke up giggling to myself with this story almost fully formed. One bit took some work (you'll see which). If you like it, you can buy it for 99 cents at Smashwords, Kindle (US) or Kindle (UK), but you can, of course, ...
...at the GAA Dr McKenna Cup Final. Now those of you outside Northern Ireland may be saying this is no biggy it is only a game. This is the first time a Unionist First Minister (or Prime Minister) has attended a game of the Gaelic Athletic Association, ever! Tom Elliot, his opposite number as leader of the UUP, said in his bid for the leadership in September 2010 that he would not attend GAA or gay events. One wonders if the Pride organisers in Northern Ireland are sending off their invites to Peter Robinson to attend one of their events ...
As a convinced Wildean (celebrating beauty and social justice in all their forms) since my Oxford days and as a sometime chronicler of Soho's bohemian history, I'm surprised at myself that I had never been to the Green Carnation bar/club in Greek Street until last night – or indeed heard of it. Maybe it hasn't been in existence ...
Because I was self censoring my Twitter outlay yesterday in protest at Twitter threatening to censor when requested by a Government on a country basis here are some of the gems you missed from me. Londonderry/Doire have been awarded the Fleadh after the in-out-in manouvering of the Ulster Council BBC ignore the fact that a third Northern Irish golfer is ahead of England's best in Dubai. Where's Gavin Maybin at -5? The whole Liverpool beating Man United running commentary and rants from me. The Athletics from Glasgow. The Ice Skating from Sheffield My night with some haggis, neeps and tatties ...
