The Kink Kontroversy, the Kinks' third album, was their last in their early 'beat group' mode. While it's a definite improvement on the previous two albums, it's also a step back in terms of Ray Davies' songwriting from the non-album tracks that had recently appeared as singles and EPs. It seems, bizarrely, that Davies was ...
Much to my surprise, postings on this blog have been included in the Golden Dozen in two of the past three weeks. Surprise, because the blog has been relatively quiet of late, but also because I'm not prone to controversy (despite my opinion piece for Liberal Democrat Voice last week). I don't really write with a mass audience in mind - my life isn't that exciting, and my opinions insufficiently 'spicy'. I don't hold a key position in the Liberal Democrats, my council is hardly one to grace the pages of Private Eye's 'Rotten Boroughs', and I'm quietly happy. Of ...
After months of uncertainty over its viability and wondering whether we'd even have an airport in the Tees Valley in a few months' time, Friday's announcement of the sale of Shares to Peel Investments brings some relief. Sadly, it doesn't bring the certainty we crave. The airport is undoubtedly of great value to some people in the area. We know for instance of businesses in the borough who
The latest football fuss about racism (or allegations thereof) appears to have ended in a belated apology from Luis Suarez and Kenny Dalglish (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17004667). The apology for the failure to shake hands isn't by any means the most significant episode in this sorry story, and it's important to recognise that much of it has been deliberately and unhelpfully stoked up (including by Surly Alex, for whom no incident is too important to be used for petty point-scoring). The real question, though, is why Liverpool FC has been so reticent to state its unconditional opposition to racism in all forms? ...
It seems I have a letter in tomorrow's Guardian. The contents will be familiar to anyone who read yesterday's post about the 1997 British Monopoly Championships, which were held on the nuclear pile cap at Oldbury-on-Severn: I was one of the schoolboys who took part in the Monopoly championships on top of the nuclear pile cap at Oldbury-on-Severn in 1977. Whether I rubbed shoulders with bricklayers and merchant bankers I do not recall, but I did win a couple of games and reached the last dozen competitors. In the next game I had built several houses on Park Lane and ...
Every so often here at The Rambles of Neil Monnery we put together a guest blog. This is one of those occasions. My old Journalism SIADian compadre Mr Sean Breslin has composed the following with his feelings on the Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra incident. He may well have a semi-regular football piece here on the blog in the near future. I hope you enjoy. I would see myself as quite a placid, lucid almost intelligent individual but for at least three hours a week (more if my team loses) all those character traits go out of the window. I ...
We are delighted to invite you to the first meeting of the South East Social Liberal Forum. To help with the ambition of the Social Liberal Forum to develop radical, distinctive and progressive policies and manifesto for the next election, ... Continue reading →
First the French and the Italians played a boring match. Then the English fluked a win over Scotland. Then the Welsh cheated their way to a narrow win over Ireland. This week, England fluked a win over Italy, then the French chickened out of playing Ireland even though it was only minus ten centigrade, then the Welsh cheated their way to an entirely undeserved win over Scotland. If I were a member of the governing board of the RFU, I would be training referrees in the following: spotting and stamping on minor rule infractions every time they happen, especially when ...
According to the Tory controlled City Councils Budget Proposal Document (p33), they are intending to set aside £30,000 to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The document also states that "..Councillors will also have the opportunity to use their Community Leadership funding to help support local events." Local LIB DEM ward councillor, Darren Fower says he'll not use ANY of his £3,333 share of the £10k Community Leadership Fund to afford such royalist activity! Commenting, Cllr Fower told us: "Its got nowt to do with being an anti-royalists and everything to do with some basic fairness! "For example, year in year ...
In engaging with the debate about drugs policy with politicians and ministers you regularly find that they will claim there is no contradiction between encouraging abstinence of substances and reducing harm. They insist that their policies are compatible with harm reduction. I have come across evidence that this simply is not true. The UK Cannabis Internet Activist website has been trying to engage the Department of Health in a discussion about running a campaign designed to reduce harm caused currently by the propensity of those taking cannabis to smoke it with tobacco. They have launched a campaign called Tokepure which ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 260th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (5-11 February, 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. What is [the] ...
TweetThe Lib Dems have not been quiet about their position on the NHS bill. While the coalition agreement makes assertions, the bill produced is outside of our ideologies. I cannot put it any better than the Social Liberal Forum does here; "You will have seen that the long-running debate over Andrew Lansley's Health and Social ...
FROM:Dale Brashcon, Transformational Excellence Champion TO: Douglas Black, Performance Networking Consultant cc: Albert Doxe, Transit Facility Manager No, Douglas, I didn't order 200 barrels of cleaning fluid through Supersmart. I ordered 200 black biros. FROM: Douglas Black TO: Dale Brashcon Dale: The Supersmart code is definitely for barrels of cleaning fluid and the supplier will enforce payment. Albert is asking where we should put them as he understands he is about to have to find space for a large number of cocks removed from offices under out time management initiative. FROM: Douglas Black Douglas Black wishes to recall this message. ...
Forget David Cameron's summit to tackle racism in football... whatever happened to his pre-election promise to tackle racism in society? There was a time - two months before the general election to be precise – when a former Leader of ... Continue reading →
When the man from the Very Large Insurance Company wrote that he'd arranged to transfer £100 into my bank account, in compensation for past errors, I scoffed, because he did not have my bank details. But, this week, $154.17 appeared in our Royal Bank of Canada chequing account. After banking charges, my actual compensation amounts ...
This past week has been really exciting for me, from doing interviews in Westminster, trekking down to Surrey to see the local Conservative party in action and sifting through a massive pile of research for my Beginners guides to the 3 main Parties. The LibDem guide is more comprehensive than the others at the moment, the medium of ...
Sun 12th
17:27
In other news... Vince upsets Tories, Liverpool to choose mayor, Radcliffe hexes Clegg, and Hughes s...
Here's a round-up of stories we haven't had time to cover on the site this past week... Cable sticks by Les Ebdon as his choice of 'university tsar' – the Lib Dem business secretary is opening up a rift in the Coalition: Business Secretary Vince Cable is standing by his candidate to head the university fair access watchdog, despite a rejection by MPs. Les Ebdon had been put forward by ministers as their preference for director of the Office for Fair Access. But MPs on a select committee have voted to try to block the appointment. However ministers are not ...
Normally I wouldn't want to lend such a misguided group even the few atoms of the oxygen of publicity this blog can offer, but maybe, since oxygen is lethal at high concentrations, this contribution might help to ensure that the breach of trade descriptions that is the new "Liberal Left" group in the Lib Dems is stillborn in the poisonous compound it creates from both words. For unless they are simply caving into the pressure of Americanisation and the gross corruption of our political language and landscape that has caused (ably assisted by oxy-morons such as "Liberal Conspiracy"), there is ...
The Courier has informed us of the local Conservatives plan to rename us North Kirklees. The change of name is suggested as part of their plan to merge our Council with Kirklees Council that runs Huddersfield. The argument is that by sharing services efficiencies will be found. The plan seems oblivious to the fact that Calderdale Council already works with other Councils to share services. Not just Kirklees, but Bradford too. A recent example is the work being done with Bradford Council to create new facilities which will treat waste, improve Calderdale's recycling rate, recover energy and substantially reduce the ...
Here's a story that shows politics in both its best and worst lights — the facts, as far as I've gleaned them from the local paper, the Thame Gazette, are as follows... Four Conservative councillors on Aylesbury Vale district council coined a nickname for the openly gay leader of the Lib Dem group, Stephen Lambert — they called him 'Lily' on at least four documented occasions, at the election count last May and at a number of group meetings. The homophobic slur came to light 'when a member of the Conservative group approached [Cllr Lambert] with notes of the comments'. ...
Writer and Artist: Norihiro Yagi Publisher: Shonen Jump Advanced What's it about? In a pre-industrial world in which monsters called yoma infiltrate human settlements in order to hunt and feed on human viscera, female warriors known as Claymores (after the huge swords they carry) are employed to hunt and kill the yoma. Half yoma themselves, these warriors have the strength and speed needed to fight yoma, and the ability to sense them out when they're hiding among humans. The warriors' inhumanity, clear in their lack of pigmentation in hair and skin and their shining silver eyes, makes it hard for ...
The savages are circling around Andrew Lansley and his NHS reforms. Or translated into something more politically correct, the indigenous tribes have cornered the contemptuous invader, and are closing in for the kill. Stories have been floating in the press that David Cameron is about to sack Mr Lansley and give way on most of his reforms, and particularly those that need legislative approval. Mr Cameron's expressions of "full confidence" cuts little ice in this football-mad country, where club chairman habitually express full confidence in managers the day before sacking them. Mr Lansley and the reforms appear friendless. The various ...
bideford-judgment-final I find it ludicrous and outrageous that the National Secular Society objects to prayers being said at the start of Council meetings, and even more objectionable that a judge has accepted their fallacious argument that, just because prayers are ... Continue reading →
I'm watching all of Woody Allen's films in chronological order. After his previous films, it's hard to see why anyone would let Woody Allen make another comedy. I'm glad they did! "Bananas" is the first truly funny Woody Allen film. Right from the start it contains gags which – amazingly – make you laugh. A departure from his earlier films! The jokes come at an even pace, a good mix of satire, slapstick, surrealism, and sight gags. The semi-improvised dialogue has a "stand-up" feel to it. What's surprising is just how consistent it is. I'm used to being able to ...
Although the council has filled a few in, a lot more have appeared. We have reported them to the Council for repair.
A small milestone, hope you have found these posts useful. Nigel and Steve
So I've been quite laxidasical in updating this blog, but there's a reason for this. I'm currently putting my HTML / CSS / PHP skills to good use and building a new site. I hope to have this new site up and running by March. In the mean time: 1. Lib Dems work for you all year round 2. Labour continue to jump on the band wagon of every campaign we Lib Dems (especially Daisy) have ever started 3. Tory's can't win here – frankly if you vote Tory in Redlands or Katesgrove you only let tired old Reading Labour ...
I'm watching all of Woody Allen's films in chronological order. Take The Money And Run has a promising start. A faux documentary with some excellent gags. But it leaps around the story with no real regard for the viewer. It's possibly the first "mockumentary" and, as such, is a trail-blazing piece. But as with his earlier films the gags are few and far between. Once the jokes hit, they're often substandard and fall flat. You can buy Take The Money And Run from Amazon . [IMG: flattr this!]
We have reported the tree in Bloomfield Rise to the council. Hopefully it isn't too damaged.
Earlier this week The Guardian reported that Nick Clegg 'is to revive all-party talks on party funding admitting that extra state funding is off the table, but insisting a wider deal is still possible': Clegg as deputy prime minister is responsible for constitutional affairs, and was not taking the initiative as Lib Dem leader. The aim would be to set out heads of agreement on a range of issues by Easter. This high-level agreement would cover individual and company donor limits, the treatment of union affiliates, spending caps at elections and the distribution of existing state funding between parties, currently ...
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dems on Broxtowe Borough Council. It's been a very eventful week this week, so I'll try and cover everything briefly. Whilst things have been busy locally I was also delighted to see the Lib-Dems win two seats from the Tories in Towcester and also held a seat in Windermere with 75% of the vote. It's been a good week for us. May I also take the opportunity to wish my Grandad a happy 91st birthday today. 1. Borough Council Leader ...
[IMG: Parking sign] I've been asked by the Council whether residents would want extra parking controls for the Olympics -in particular a temporary extension to the hours of the Stroud Green CPZ. The key text from the email I've received is below: With the preparations and build up to the Olympics continuing, Traffic Management service is continuing to develop their plans to ensure the smooth flow of traffic throughout the Borough during this period. Whilst Olympic tickets include free travel in London, one question is whether ticketholders from further afield may still use their own transport to travel to the ...
The attitude of former Liberal Party leader David Steel to Nick Clegg's House of Lords reform proposals has been lukewarm at best. Although the party he headed up repeatedly called for a democratic upper house, Steel has not been supporting Nick Clegg's attempt to turn those often made demands into policy. He even signed a cross-party letter against the proposals that was published the day of Clegg's formal announcement. Instead, Steel has been pursuing a different, much more modest, line – arguing that some modest reforms can be secured and they should be banked immediately as radical reform will take ...
Well, from this picture my husband took in Morrisons yesterday, it depends which shelf you buy them from. On the more prominent top shelf, you can buy 3 for £1.55 or, on special offer, 6 for £2.50. Wow. What a bargain. Except, if you look on the lower shelf, you can buy a box of 6 for £1.50. Supermarkets do this sort of stuff the whole time, quite blatantly and unashamedly. It's pretty sneaky, though and it deserves highlighting. Thankfully, their ploys are not working in this case given that the bottom shelf is a lot emptier. But every single ...
The end of Consett's ex Civic Centre has come quickly. A reader has kindly sent me a set of pictures of the demolition saying Hi Owen Just thought I would post these pictures of the Civic before it dissapears for good, such a sad end to a fine building.... I'm not so sure about the "fine building". It was designed by the notorious John Poulson (for younger readers – he did bird for his part in the most notorious episode of corruption in the North East) and had many shortcomings, but it was also the scene of some great local ...
I enjoyed the BBC4 series How the Brits Rocked America less as it went on. Though the first part was necessarily dominated by the Beatles (I am not convinced they were best, but they were certainly first), other bands like the Zombies got due credit too. And who could resist a clip of Graham Nash haranguing Peter Noone for not supporting Donovan's ideas for bringing about world piece, watched by a young Graham Gouldman? But watching part 2 I began to suspect that the argument of the series was determined by the clips they had clearance to use. There was ...
You would think that the SNP would have had all its plans for the referendum totally thought through. After all, this was a manifesto pledge in 2007 so they've had at least five years to work out the detail of it all. Instead, since Mike Moore launched the UK Government's consultation, the SNP has increasingly looked like it's making up its policy on the hoof. Thankfully, many of the process issues between the UK and Scottish Governments are on their way to being resolved. It looks very much as if the referendum will be in Autumn 2014 as the SNP ...
I was amazed to hear that Many councils across the UK hold christian prayers at the start of each meeting. Pleased to see that today The High Court has ruled that "The saying of prayers as part of the formal meeting of a Council is not lawful under S111 of the Local Government Act 1972" after a former Bideford Town Liberal Democrat councillor challenged Christian prayers being part of every council meeting. A Judicial Review was brought by the National Secular Society. Fortunately prayers at the start of Southwark Council meetings do not occur. I'd have been horrified if they ...
The launching of the 'Liberal Left' group this week has already led to lots of comment, especially on Twitter. Those on the Right of our Party have, rather predictably, condemned it as divisive and self-interested. You might expect me, as someone on the Left, to disagree with them. But I don't, I think they are largely correct in their analysis, and here's the reason why. I believe we need a united, pragmatic and positive Left in the Liberal Democrats; which, I believe, despite the protestations of some, remains a centre-left Party. As a member of the Social Liberal Forum, I've ...
I have not commented on Carwyn Jones idea for another Welsh think tank or policy institute to generate ideas to improve public services, largely because I am always suspicious of easy targets. It is not that I do not support such a body, we can always do with fresh thinking, it is just that Welsh Labour has hardly been a hotbed of original thought since the Assembly got underway and, if the First Minister's comments are any guide, that has not changed. My first reaction was very much in line with the AM quoted by Matt Withers in this morning's ...
The current exhibition at the Scott Polar museum on Lensfield Road in Cambridge is of documents relating to Scott's final expedition to the South Pole. Very moving, but it also has some flashes of humour: clearly polar exploration had its ... Continue reading →
Keith Holloway and the local Lib Dems are asking residents around Broadway, Daylesford Road and Daylesford Crescent if they would like the High Grove Road 20mph zone expanded to include that area. A teenage boy was recently injured on Broadway when a speeding car came onto the pavement, and residents have often complained about the speed of cars in the area. Although not perfect, there's strong evidence that 20mph zones do reduce average traffic speeds significantly – by a few miles an hour. That might not sound like a lot, but in an accident it can make the difference between ...
When approaching an MP or a political party, it always helps to understand what makes that party or party member tick. How can we frame our argument in a way that seems natural to the person we're speaking to? Many activists write off entire parties as 'evil' or 'opponents' when actually, the party wants the ...
What awful news to wake up too on a Sunday morning. When Michael Jackson died suddenly in 2009, aged just 50, I was saddened and shocked but inevitably not surprised at the news. He had lived such a rollercoaster life in the limelight that it almost seemed inevitable that he would be shot down in controversial circumstances, such was the way that he lived his life. It was nevertheless a shock on hearing the news. A Gifted Songbird But today's news that Whitney Houston has died aged just 48 has more than shocked and saddened me. It has truly upset ...
There's a striking finding in today's Sunday Times/YouGov poll which carries a worrying message for Nick Clegg. Asked which of the three main party leaders they most trusted on the NHS, 71% of Labour voters picked Ed Miliband, 61% of Conservative voters picked David Cameron but only 36% of Lib Dems picked Nick Clegg. That was a statistical dead heat with "none of them" who came in at 35% amongst Liberal Democrat voters. Amongst those who said at the time in May 2010 they were Liberal Democrat voters, the figures are even lower – just 15% pick Nick Clegg and ...
I was reflecting on the Oh(U) dear post I wrote on my Friday evening train journey again yesterday. Fundamentally, my overriding concern with it is the idea that it seems to be peddling: that if technology is good enough, human contact is unnecessary for learning. I knew I'd seen that idea somewhere before! For a view from 1951, you might want to spend a couple of minutes reading Issac Asimov's (very) short story "The Fun They Had". And if that's not convincing enough, you might enjoy this rather amusing clip from the 1967 film 1999 AD. The poor child looks ...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 570 party members responded, and we're publishing the full results. Majority say referendum should offer straight yes/no choice on independence... LDV asked: Thinking of the forthcoming referendum in Scotland, some have said the referendum should offer people the straight choice over whether Scotland should remain part of the UK or negotiate independence. Others however say that a third option should be included on the ballot paper, offering people the chance to ...
Help crown the winner of our competition to find a logo for the Sports Charter – to kick homophobia and transphobia out of sport. Last November I launched a competition to find a logo for sports clubs, fans and players across the country to mark their support for the Charter for Action to tackle homophobia and transphobia in sport. The first stage of the competition closed on 18 January and we were delighted to have received nearly 70 entries, most of them from young people. Our judge Rugby Union star Ben Cohen has now shortlisted the top six entries and ...
Having previously criticised the increasing brevity of Federal Executive reports to conference and got a positive response from Tim Farron to my conference question on the matter, it's good to see the FE report is longer and more substantive than many recent ones. Reports to Liberal Democrat Spring Conference 2012
The Financial Times reports an innovative new development in Bristol designed to help local businesses: A Bristol credit union is launching its own bank notes with which traders in the city will be able to pay their business taxes. The Bristol pound, which is supported by the Liberal Democrat-led city council, will be accepted tender in the city by businesses that sign up to the project. ... The plan is to encourage more local trading - as the pounds will only be accepted by other shops or businesses in the city. "One of the ways we can protect independent traders ...
MP Julian Huppert has secured a three hour Parliamentary debate in support of a national newspaper campaign to promote safer city cycling. Julian will lead the backbench business committee debate in Westminster Hall on The Times cycling campaign on February 23. He secured the debate as the government announced a £15 million boost to cycling with £8 million for transport charity, Sustrans to enhance cycle routes and £7 million to make it easier for cyclists to use the railways. Julian has been in discussions with the rail industry in the hope that some of the cycle rail money will be ...
MP Julian Huppert has secured a three hour Parliamentary debate in support of a national newspaper campaign to promote safer city cycling. Julian will lead the backbench business committee debate in Westminster Hall on The Times cycling campaign on February 23. He secured the debate as the government announced a £15 million boost to cycling with £8 million for transport charity, Sustrans to enhance cycle routes and £7 million to make it easier for cyclists to use the railways. Julian has been in discussions with the rail industry in the hope that some of the cycle rail money will be ...
Following complaints from residents about the state of the pavements in Windsor Street on its east side (see right), I took up the matter with the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have now been promised footpath repairs at both the north and south ends of the street.
Just 194 votes separated Romney from Ron Paul in the Maine caucus. That comes after Santorum's three primary wins. The three ABRs (anyone but Romney) are picking him off in different states. Gingrich is looking good in his home state of Georgia and may do well in other southern states. Santorum is making a strong stand in Michigan, which ought to be a shoe-in for Romney – his father was state governor. It still looks as though Romney will be the eventual GOP nominee, but it looks as though it will be a mightily long, drawn out contest and his ...
I'll be participating along with Dundee Liberal Democrats in supporting the University of Dundee Volunteering Fayre later this month :You can download the above poster here.
St Albans District Credit Union is looking to offer services to local residents from the new advice and information centre at the Civic Centre in St Peter's Street, St Albans. The move follows the official launch last week of the advice and information centre which offers residents access to a range of local services all in one place. Advice, guidance and information is currently provided at the centre by Oaklands College, St Albans District Citizens Advice Bureau, St Albans City and District Council and the Volunteer Centre. Opening the centre officially, Councillor Aislinn Lee, the Mayor of St Albans City ...
I'm currently in the process of submitting stories to various paying markets, and most of the big SF magazines, while they take email submissions, still want the files to *look* like they came out of a mechanical typewriter ca. 1970 – monospaced font, double-spacing and all. This is a bit of a pain to do, ...
A few days ago it was announced that a new centre-left pressure group would be launched within the Liberal Democrats called 'Liberal Left.' Liberal Left seeks to promote Liberalism as an outlook of the centre-left. The group is opposed to the current Coalition Government between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, which it sees as being "Eurosceptic, neo-liberal, and socially conservative." The group aims to oppose the Coalition on economic and fiscal policy and to provide a "positive alternative". Furthermore Liberal Left aims to create a broad alliance on the left between the Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Greens. Ultimately ...
