Adam Smith Matt Burrows asks how we can build public confidence in the free market. There has been much talk recently about the reform of capitalism and political economy. There is genuine anger among people about the conduct and the lack of accountability of political and economic elites. This is coming from places I would not expect (i.e. right-of-centre voters) and it is worrying. I welcome David Cameron's criticism of "crony capitalism", but I doubt whether the Conservative Party would do all that is necessary to provide change. City financiers fund the Conservatives to 50 per cent of its income ...
Like Occupy, the UK Suffragette Movement to gain votes for women was widely criticised for the manner in which the direct action tactics that they chose. In Egypt, they endure thebullets; in Syria, they risk torture and summary execution; in China, they are immolatingthemselves in ever greater numbers, directly giving theirlives for an ounce of equality. In the West, they sit in tents and paint funnysigns. It's not because they're uncommitted, but because that's all they needto do. They endure the taunting of the right, the chilling weather and the riskof arbitrary arrest but they stay ... and many of ...
Barack Obama, in his inaugural speech as president, spoke ofhow those unwilling to unclench their fists were 'on the wrong side ofhistory'. This is true of the monarchists, the imperialists and thetotalitarians whose battles against the tide saw them swept away by humans'resistance to arbitrary control just as soon as there existed the technicalcapability to do so. Cheap printing facilitated the downfall of the kings,cheap firearms the colonialists, and cheap media the communists. Today, the Internet is in turn doing for the authoritarians, fatallyundermining those willing to resort to the long arm of the law to restrainsocial and political revolution. ...
Perhaps my favourite non-fiction book (classing poetry as fiction) is "Normal Accidents" by American sociologist Charles Perrow. Most sociologists seem to write a kind of priestly jargon ideal for excluding the 99.9% of the world who haven't got the faintest what they're on about, but some American academics (I well remember J.K. Galbraith) write English that is both cultured and accessible. Charles Perrow is one. He analyses the causes of major high-tech accidents and finds certain themes. The more complex the technology, and the faster it operates, the more likely are "unexpected interactions", things coming together that aren't supposed to. ...
MANCHESTER Liberal Democrats will urge Wednesday's City Council meeting to reduce the default speed limit to 20mph. Their plans are being backed by Transport Minister Norman Baker who has encouraged the Council to make use of new powers to reduce the speed limit and save lives. Manchester has the North West's second highest rate of overall pedestrian casualties. And last year 166 people were needlessly killed or seriously injured on Manchester's Roads and nearly 2000 people were hurt. The Lib Dem proposal would see 20mph becoming the speed limit on all residential roads, but excludes major routes. I am very ...
Tue 31st
20:56
Southwark Council consultation on increasing cemetery space #ForestHill #HonorOak #se23
Fresh on the back of Southwark Council's proposal to expand its cemeteries on to recreation grounds in Honor Oak, they are now consulting on plans to increase the capacity of Camberwell Old Cemetery. This burial ground is bounded by Forest Hill Road, Wood Vale and Underhill Road, and is very nearly full to the brim. ...
Stripping Fred Goodwin of his knighthood may be popular- it is also deeply wrong. At a time when convicted criminals, such as Jeffery Archer, can still be called Lord Archer and still have access to the privileges of the peerage, to strip a man convicted of no crime, because what he may (or may not) have done is unpopular looks like the worse kind of witch hunt- it is giving in to the baying of the mob. Many tabloid newspaper editors and journalists have been knighted or have received other honours- how come there has been no such outcry against ...
If you read this, leave me a one-word comment about your day that starts with the third letter of your USERNAME. Only one word please. Then repost so I can leave a word for you. Don't just post a word and not copy - that's not as much fun! (for those interested, my word on [IMG: [personal profile] ] staceyuk's entry was "arsebandits" - I went for my original U|N rather than this one - because the annoying guy who drinks in the pub had his even more annoying friend with him today, and then another friend of theirs came ...
This is partly here so people know what will be coming up on this blog, but mostly so I have an aide memoire I can refer to myself. These are the projects I'm working on at the moment or planning to do this year: Finish proposal for a traditionally-published novel in a series in someone ...
If you have been the victim of a theft of materials from your garden, or know of someone who has, we would be grateful if you could drop us an email at foresthill@lewishamlibdems.org.uk. There have been a number of similar incidents reported in recent weeks, and we would like to know how widespread the problem ...
Lewisham Council have posted notice that they will be resurfacing Kirkdale from 217 Kirkdale down to Sydenham Road, starting on 6th February for about two weeks. For more details, please contact Len Haylor on 020 8314 2129 or Sue Garlick on 020 8314 2095.
I was delighted to learn today that I have been shortlisted in the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) Awards 2012 in the "Online Councillor of the Year" category! I was particularly honoured as I am the only councillor from a Scottish local authority shortlisted in any of the 11 categories. LGiU advised me : "I am pleased to inform you that you have been shortlisted for an award at the 2012 LGiU and CCLA C'llr Achievement Awards.Now in their third year, the C'llr Achievement Awards are established as the only national ceremony to recognise and reward the fantastic work of ...
TweetAll the sympathy I had for the Occupy movement dissipated the moment they started to occupy buildings. Not only are the current wave of protesters behaving in a sanctimonious manner, they also lack an appreciation of the difference between crime against the person in crime against property and an understanding of value in the consumer-based ...
I received a letter from my GP surgery recently as I now fall into an age group which is offered heart and blood pressure screening. I had to phone up yesterday to make an appointment for a blood test. I don't often ring the doctor so this may be unusual but I got through in a couple of seconds but it took twelve minutes to get connected to an actual person. I had to pay to listen to music interspersed with a comment something like "your call is important to us". I heard it dozens of times but couldn't tell ...
1. Introduction 2. The Three Refuges 3. The Four Noble Truths The Eightfold Path: 4. Right Understanding 5. Right Intent 6. Right Speech 6. Right Action One more entry on Ethical Conduct before I tackle the slightly more obscure subject of Mental Development - and this one really got long, as you might expect. After Right Speech and Right Action comes Right Livelihood; because it's just just about what you say and what you do, but deeper than that: how you live. It's arguable that simply by observing Right Action and living by the precepts, one would achieve Right Livelihood, ...
Tue 31st
19:20
New LDV members' survey now live: your views on benefits cap, tax, Europe, Scottish independence and...
The new LDV members' survey is now live. So if you are one of the c.1,300 registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum — and any paid-up party member is welcome to join — then you now have the opportunity to make your views known. Questions we're asking this month include: what you think of the Coalition's £26k benefits cap; whether you back the NHS reforms; your views on Scottish independence; what you think about Nick Clegg's speech on tax-cuts for the lowest paid, and about tax-rates for the wealthiest; how you think Nick Clegg and David Cameron handled ...
They would have seen this post in December which included the following pearl of wisdom regarding Euro summit vetoes....... I want to ask a simple question that goes to the heart of all this kerfuffle. What exactly has Cameron vetoed? When you cut through all of the noise (and my, is there a lot) you find there is no treaty to veto, nothing has been tabled and nothing of substance has been agreed. There has been an agreement to negotiate a treaty by March. So again, and cutting through all the noise, the choice made by Cameron was not to ...
...A very comprehensive review from Mark Kermode on Simon Mayo's Five Live show. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
The police are asking for Neighbourhood Watches to be vigilant due to mopeds being stolen in the southern area of the City of Bath. - If you own a motorcycle this is the time to review its security. Really make sure you have done the best you can to ensure it is not an attractive proposition for thieves. - If you hear motorbikes racing around in the middle of the night, call 999 as soon
The party's East Midlands Region Spring Conference takes place on Saturday 18 February 2012 at Abington High School, Station Road, Wigston Magna LE18 2DU. Norman Lamb MP and Bill Newton Dunn MEP will be among the speakers and the programme also includes: Policy debatesA Special General meeting to approve the rewritten regional constitution (you spoil us!)WorkshopsFor the full programme and bookings see the East Midlands Liberal Democrats website.
There was one principal council by-election held on the 21st January. The Conservatives gained a seat from an Independent in the Uppingham ward of Rutland UA. Last May, the ward elected one Conservative, one Liberal Democrat and one Independent, with the Conservatives topping the poll. Unfortunately, in this by-election the Lib Dems came third behind Labour who had not stood last year. The Liberal Democrat candidate Peter Golden's vote share went down by 2.1% polling200 votes, which was 24.0% of the vote share. There were three Town Council by-elections reported to ALDC, the Lib Dems gained two seats and held ...
Following a successful first meeting before Christmas, the Social Liberal Forum North East branch are delighted to be welcoming Ian Swales, MP for Redcar, as guest speaker at their next meeting. The meeting will take place on Friday 10th February ... Continue reading →
Moves in the House of Lords to amend the health and welfare bills have been getting the lion's share of recent coverage, but this week sees a quartet of Liberal Democrat peers leading the charge on a different topic – the Legal Aid Bill. Lib Dem Lords Thomas, Carlile, Clement Jones and Phillips have a set of amendments down for debate tomorrow to put right what Ken Clarke hasn't got right in his zeal to end the so-called 'compensation culture'. The amendments look to tighten up and improve the plans to ban so-called 'referral fees' in personal injury cases. Its ...
Lucky Winnersh residents have the following to look forward to: Danywern Drive and Sherwood Road area will be dug up by Southern Gas Networks starting mid-February for about 3 weeks The bridge over the A 329 (M) between Winnersh and Hurst needs some maintenance which will last a week and involve a couple of days of closing the road between about 9.30 am and 3 pm in mid-June Works around the junction of Sadlers End in Bearwood Road for the cricket club will continue until about mid-March. And the Scottish & Southern Energy work in Reading Road from the crossroads ...
It is my firm belief that local people know the area they live in best, village to village, town to town. I have been asked to have a think about what policy changes should be made so that people in rural areas get a fairer deal and the resultant rural policy paper will be presented at Autumn Conference. Clearly, we must be realistic - none of us expects to have major services (such as hospitals) on our doorstep. However, it seems to me that there are some areas of Government policy which could reflect rural needs more effectively. I chose ...
Holidaymakers have been warned to watch their words after two friends were refused entry to the US on security grounds after a tweet. This startled me, when browsing the BBC News site. The US Department for Homeland Security denied them entry into the United States after one of the friends jokingly tweeted they were going ...
Every now and then, a policy comes along from a government that in time, is accepted by the opposition parties and becomes entrenched in our body politic and hence country. The Thatcher and Major governments did lots of things that subsequent governments have been able to unpick or slowly nudge back on. But policies like the Trades Unions reforms and most of their privatisations have stuck and become entrenched. It is not conceivable that a government of any stripe would roll the Union reforms back or for example renationalise British Telecom. By getting broad acceptance of these changes, the Conservatives ...
Last week I attended the presidential lecture by Donald Munro at the Arc and Arc (the St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society). All newly elected presidents give a lecture. Donald chose as his topic the history of printing and publishing in St Albans up to the end of the nineteenth century. Not many people know that St Albans had the third printing press in England after Caxton's Westminster press and a press at Oxford. The St Albans press was set up in 1479 and housed in the school, then part of the Abbey. One of the earliest printers ...
I never really thought I'd be giving interviews on the topic of poo, but that's exactly what I was doing yesterday. It's all part of a drive to encourage more people than ever before to spot the signs of bowel cancer. So on Monday I launched the Government's first ever national bowel cancer awareness campaign, in the hope that we can save lives across the country. Of course, nobody actually wants to talk about poo, but we need to get over that little bit of embarrassment and make that trip to the GP. At the moment, most of us aren't ...
Chorlton Lib Dem MP, John Leech, has just sent out a Press Release and handed in an EDM (see below) calling for Alan Turing to be pardoned. Alan was a hero, who help shortened the Second World War by cracking the German enigma codes. The fact that he was persecuted by the state for being Gay is a scandal that shouldn't be allowed to stand. John signed an EDM in 2007 about Alan, but this EDM is prompted by a petition on the Downing Street web page calling for a pardon submitted by local resident Will Jones. His petition has ...
We sometimes hear suggestions that climate change advocates should stop talking about "climate change" or "global warming" and try to reframe the issues by using less alarmist phrases like "clean energy". I agree that horror stories, based on "Frankenstein's monster" / "end of the world is nigh" frames and narratives, aren't persuasive. Some climate sceptics can be won over by stressing the additional benefits of policies to cut carbon emissions, such as saving money or creating local jobs. There's a bigger point here. We need to make sure that environment and economic policies reinforce one another. But that's not the ...
29th January. We couldn't defend the Falklands if we tried... 31 January. We can destroy every fighter aircraft in South America, let alone Argentina It's like The Telegraph has hired Ed Miliband's speechwriter with all these u turns...
Following pressure from the Lib Dems, the main path through Gatley Rec Ground will be properly repaired with work starting in the next few weeks. The tennis and basketball courts also need repairing, and the aim is to do those in the next financial year (2012/13). The Recreation Ground is a well-used, and well-loved local resource all year round, with its childrens' playground, skateboard ramps (used by all ages), football pitch, tennis court and basketball court, plus the adjoining bowling green. It's excellent news that such an important resource for the local community will get this work done. View Cheadle ...
We have all heard stories about people falling asleep on the train or bus and ending up in the wrong place, or even getting on the wrong vehicle and finding oneself travelling in the wrong direction. However, I am not so sure I have ever come across somebody inadvertently finding themselves on the way to the South Pole before. Today's Telegraph reports that a marine mechanic was reportedly working on an anchor aboard the 52ft Nilaya in Auckland harbour, when the yacht hurriedly cast off as immigration officials tried to serve deportation papers on the skipper, Jarle Andhoy, 34: Mr ...
As a percent, how much of the UK economy is given over to: - Financial services - Manufacturing - Retail - Professional services eg lawyers, accountants etc ?
The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual. Mankind are greater ...
Via Mark Valladares comes this gem from the Earl of Caithness: Insert the following new Clause— "Amendments to the Island Of Rockall Act 1972 (1) The Island Of Rockall Act 1972 is amended as follows. (2) In section 1 (incorporation of Rockall into the United Kingdom as part of the County of Inverness), after first "shall" insert "for adminstrative purposes". (3) After section 1 insert— "1A Ownership of Rockall Rockall is owned by the United Kingdom and, in the event of Scotland leaving the United Kingdom, it shall be owned by the United Kingdom."" A sensible precaution for any shipping ...
Whilst the Commons continues to doze, the Lords continues to put in a long shift at the legislative coalface. This week, the highlights are as follows; Day 2 of the Report Stage of the Protection of Freedoms Bill takes place on 6 February, with rumours of a Conservative-led rebellion on the vexed question of the vast array of people and organisations that have access to your home. We hope to have an article on the subject nearer the time, so watch this space. On 7 and 9 February, the Committee Stage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders ...
Just sent out a Press Release and handed in an EDM (see below) calling for Alan Turing to be pardoned. Alan was a hero, who help shortened the war by cracking German codes. The fact that he was persecuted by the ... Continue reading →
HMRC has released an interesting table of data showing how the burden of income tax has been spread across those in the UK paying it from 1999 to date. The raw tables are available here (also attached below).The gist of this information is that the richest 25% are paying a higher percentage of their income in tax than they were under the last Labour Government whereas the poorest income tax-paying 25% are paying a lower percentage of their income in tax than they were under the last Labour Government.In fact if you look at the tables the biggest percentage jump ...
An interesting development mentioned by the Guardian, regarding Syria; Hillary Clinton, William Hague and Alain Juppé are due at the UN security council in New York on Tuesday to support an Arab League plan to end the violence in Syria and to try to overcome Russian-led opposition to a UN-backed demand for political change in ...
Yesterday I went to parliament to attend a meeting organised by the Social Liberal Forum. The point of the meeting was tolobby our peers to support party policy and party principles by getting them to support the Lords' amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill when they vote on it tomorrow. Last Friday I wrote an article on Lib Dem Voice about the aims of the meeting so you can read more about those here. The meeting itself was under Chatham House Rules which basically means everyone could say exactly what they thought as no one is allowed to disclose who ...
Returning to my earlier theme about what makes for good action photos, here is a reminder of the great example from Lithuania, courtesy of Mayor Arturas Zoukas: (It went slightly wrong for him in the media in the end, as he got some flack for having specially arranged for a car to be parked illegally so he could then drive over it. That makes for a good reminder about the need for such visuals to be genuine.) For further advice, including what to do with nostrils, see For the love of chocolate, if you're going to take an action photo ...
I am very unhappy with the number of female Lib Dem MPs. 7 out of 57 is not good enough and we need to improve. The leadership programme which assists those from underrepresented groups to become candidates will hopefully help. 7/57 = 12.3%. So, less than an eighth of our MPs are women. The Conservatives have 48/307 = 15.6%, Labour 81/258 = 31.4%. Activists from the two other parties have pointed this out to me on numerous occasions. They are right to. It is embarrassing. We definitely need more female candidates. In 2010 we only had 134 (21.3%). The Conservatives ...
Today the Boundary Commission will be making their announcement about the next stage in the process that is leading inexorably towards a cross-border 'Devonwall' parliamentary constituency. The second formal consultation stage will take place over the four weeks from March 6th until April 3rd. This is the stage at which people can read what others contributed during the first consultation stage and comment on them. In essence, it's the chance to rebut and argue with those who you disagree with. Back in the autumn the first consultation stage saw thousands of individuals, organisations (including Cornwall Council) and political parties make ...
The Independent reports that David Cameron has now pulled off the remarkable feat of alienating both our European partners and his own party's Europhobes. Brilliant ! In December he managed to isolate the UK and fail to get anything he wanted out of the summit other than the temporary admiration of the europhobic press and MPs. Now the consequences of his incompetent negotiating are becoming
After several days of uncertainty, it has now been formally announced by Liberal Democrat headquarters that Rebecca Taylor will become the new LibDem MEP for Yorkshire and Humberside following Diana Wallis's sudden resignation. Diana's move came as a shock to friends and strangers alike, particularly as she had only just stood unsuccessfully to be President of ...
On Friday, myself and a number of other Trans activists had a productive meeting with the General Medical Council (GMC) in London, on professional standards and continuing professional development. The GMC are running a consultation which nominally finished Friday, although we were told that responses sent after then may still be read so there is still time to get your views in. Staff we spoke with certainly seem receptive and switched on to the extent that once Sarah started quoting the Equality Act at them from her written copy, one staff member was able to join in and finish the ...
Liberal Democrat MPs are promoting a debate in Parliament about the prospect of charging a council tax premium on second homes. The debate is being put forward by Mid Dorset and North Poole MP Annette Brooke who has written about it on Lib Dem Voice. It is supported by, among others, St Austell and Newquay MP Stephen Gilbert. The concept of charging a premium was first raised by Cornwall Council Director Tom Flanagan during an appearance before a Parliamentary select committee last year. Although it's not formal council policy, it is certainly an issue worth considering in an area where ...
There's a new website produced by Cornwall Sports Partnership which helps people to find local sports and activity clubs and it's well worth a look. The Get Active Cornwall site lists hundreds of local activities and, whilst there are some obvious clubs still missing, it's well on the way to becoming a first stop resource for anyone who wants to try something new. One small caveat - the site relies on the information provided to it by the clubs so a few are listed by the addresses of their club officers rather than the actual club location - but hopefully ...
Local councillor Michael Green has demanded action from the district council about the level of litter on Grimston Road: discarded pizza boxes are particularly common at the junction with Shirley Road.
On the off chance everyone's bored and wondering how to fill their day - what is this woman looking at David Cameron thinking? (Picture from the Telegraph)
Tue 31st
10:03
Mr Lammy and the right wing Labour Party show their true colours are Tory blue when it comes down to...
David Lammy just goes to show that there are many in the Labour party who are about as far right wing as many in the Tory party. Him linking the riots to smacking children are not only ridiculous but dangerous and give him another chance to bash social workers as they make the poor working ...
Southwark Council proudly announced they've 1,400 tonnes of salt and grit in stock for this Winter. We've not had snow so they've not needed to use that grit or salt. At £30-40 per tonne that should be good news for Southwark tax payers... So can they keep this grit and salt to use next winter making a windfall saving of around £50,000? Well they could have if they'd kept it in good condition and way from any rain. If it gets wet before use salt and grit cakes and doesn't go through spreaders properly if at all. It also leaches ...
In addition to the Government's proposals to allow councils to charge full council tax on second homes, other Liberal Democrat MPs and I have tabled an amendment to the Local Government Finance Bill to give councils the discretion to introduce a Second Home Premium. Second home owners often ask why they should be 'punished' in this way just because they choose to spend their money on a second home or because they need a second home for work purposes. They may add, 'we spend money in the area and we do not have the same call upon services as people ...
There were two alternative ways of reporting yesterday's figures on the university application figures, the first since the introduction of £9k maximum fees. The Guardian's reality... The first way is to look at the figures, and try and understand what they might be saying even if they don't fit with your ideological position. To its credit, this is the position adopted by The Guardian today: As widely predicted, Ucas figures yesterday showed the number of applicants had dropped by 8.7%, the steepest fall in decades. But that powerful finding masked a number of other issues. There was, for example, a ...
Jo Swinson MP trains women MPs in Kurdistan, Iraq This is really interesting. (tags: libdemmery feminism ) The Arkh Project | What is Arkh? One to watch, I think (tags: gaming games ) This is what women in superhero comics should be "This defines Stephanie Brown in my eyes. She gets the shit kicked out of her, and she keeps coming back, keeps fighting back, keeps on trying. Why? Why does she subject herself to the scorn of the Batfamily, the dangers of Gotham city, the physical and emotional stress and trauma of being a hero? Because she's a hero. ...
Stockport Council will be repairing all faulty streetlights in Orchard and Rosewood Gardens shortly. The problem has arisen because the roads are not adopted by the Council - they are still in the ownership of the developer who therefore has responsibility for fixing these sorts of problems. Since the Lib Dem team intervened, Council officers have been working to get the roads properly adopted. Normally, the developer has to hand them over in the proper condition - with all the streetlights working. However, in this case the Council has made an exception and will make sure the streetlights are working ...
...Dave, Eden, UKTV Gold, Good Food. The Austin Powers song would be much less catchy. The BBC's currently catching some heat due to its lack of female representation in its top news programming. Lib Dem MP Tessa Munt is leading the charge, and is currently not facing much resistance. The Today Show, Radio 4′s flagship current affairs programme, typically has a male host, and around 80% of its correspondents are men; Tory MP Louise Mensch is taking aim. Of all of the BBC's woes, this is a relatively simple one to fix. The bigger issue is cultural, and is as ...
As part of the research for a little treat I'm lining up for the March edition of my monthly Liberal Democrat newsletter, I've come up with a long list of Liberal Democrat policies that were in the 2010 manifesto and either have been or are being implemented. I found quite a few I either didn't know about or had forgotten, such as the ending of animal testing for household products. (Kudos to you if you can genuinely say at this point, "But I knew all about that"!) So starting Wednesday, each day one of these will be posted up on ...
Simon Hughes MP writes at Comment is Free, following the publication of the latest UCAS figures. He acknowledges the top-line 8% decline in applications and the mass protest that followed the original decision, but points out that applications from students in deprived areas have barely declined at all: ...a more objective analysis of the data shows a clearer picture. Although applications were down by a significant number, the total number of 18-year-olds in England this year is significantly down as well. If you adjust the figures to take account of changes in demographic, the application rate in England - which ...
Ahead of the preliminary university application figures late last year, I posted five questions by which to judge them when they were published. The gist of all the questions was, "what do the figures really mean if you scratch beneath the surface?". In particular, the big spike in applications in the last year before the new fee arrangements, coupled with the declining teenage population, means that crude headline number comparisons can be very misleading. As it turned out, the five questions were a pretty good guide to what the university application figures really meant. Now that we have the full ...
Cambridge City Council is to launch a consultation and review to find out whether people in the city want more 20mph zones. The council's ruling Liberal Democrat group has allocated £60,000 in the council's budget to pay for a review, research, consultation survey and design work over the next two years. They have also reserved £400,000 to implement new schemes if the idea gets the approval of residents and businesses. Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Planning and Sustainable Transport, Tim Ward said: "There have been some concerns that the current approach of creating a patchwork of small 20mph zones may ...
Lib Dem MPs, including the party's deputy leader Simon Hughes, look set to obtain concessions from Iain Duncan Smith to win their support for the Coalition's controversial welfare bill, which will introduce a benefit cap of a maximum of £26,000. Here's how The Guardian reports the news: The government is expected to make a series of concessions in the coming days on it controversial £26,000 household benefits cap to win over wavering Liberal Democrat MPs. Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, is expected to agree that a discretionary fund should be established to ease the burden on families ...
Further to my article earlier this month about concerns from residents about the state of the walkway from the railway station to Tesco Riverside and the fact that it is claustrophobic given the concrete barriers that Network Rail has insisted upon being in place as the adjacent roadway runs in parallel to the rail station concourse, I have now received the following useful update from the City Council's Director of City Development: "We have now met with Network Rail and they have agreed that we can extend the Riverside layby to both the east and the west. Network Rail were ...
This post will really only be of interest to other people who self-publish or plan to. The rest of you can ignore it. It's a little addendum to the post I made last week. There is nothing more likely to get arguments raging on self-publishing discussion boards than the question of pricing one's book (and ...
Durham County Council will support the 2012 Remembrance Day Parades in Consett and Chester-le-Street. That was the good news at the meeting of the local committee tonight. In many areas the parades are supported by the local town or parish council, or in Durham City by the Charter Trust, but Chester-le-Street and Consett are two large communities with no layer of local council beneath the unitary county council. That's why the county has agreed to continue the support which it has taken over from the former district councils. It's a decision which they intend to review each year. I'm delighted ...
At the well attended AGM of the Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats earlier this evening the following people were elected to the executive committee. Chair: John O'Neill Treasurer: Michael Carchrie Campbell Membership Development Officer: Stephen Glenn
I hardly ever make any promises to myself - for a start it defies the point of the self being a solely indivisible entity. That means that a promise becomes far less binding as it ensures that what makes a promise a promise, i.e. the notion that it is a contract from one person to another is lost. That leads to the second point that without that interaction between two or more people you have no danger of letting anybody down, and so without that edge, somebody like me who has made a habit of letting himself down from time ...
