WalesOnline reports: The Welsh Government has come under attack for paying £160 subsidy per passenger on North-South flights - while bus services face the axe for consuming more than £2 subsidy per passenger. The Welsh Government says it has to cut bus funding in April because its transport budget is under pressure, but it will continue paying £1.6m a year for the flights between Holyhead and Barry. The air service carried just 10,000 passenger journeys last year - compared with 114 million on Welsh buses. Eluned Parrott, Welsh Liberal Democrat shadow transport minister, said: "We all know that difficult choices ...
The news that an assassination plot has been uncovered by the Russian security forces, reminds me of a little known Tim Robbins film - Bob Roberts. In that a folksy right wing populist candidate employs various underhand tactics in an attempt to win an US Senate seat and (spoiler alert) arranges his own attempted assassination. Here's a flavour: Surely Putin must have seen the script?
Mon 27th
22:59
The Fellows of the RCP are livid about the Health Bill. I make that every Royal College now against.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) held an EGM for Fellows today on the NHS Bill. The RCP President has come under heavy criticism from his own members for attending last weeks health summit. Here's the text he has sent to members today following the EGM. It's quite something... Today's Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the fellows finished just over an hour ago, and I wanted to ensurethat you are informed of the outcome as soon as possible. The EGM was called by 20 fellows to discuss the Health and Social Care Bill and a motion that the RCP should ...
From London Buses (Transport for London) a sign at Hampstead Station Bus Stop B explaining that the 268 bus will not be stopping here "from Monday 27 February 2012 until Sunday 4 February 2012". It's time travel! Locked in a loop from the end of February until the beginning of the same month like in Groundhog Day. And someone at this major taxpayer-funded organisation has proof-read this rubbish and thinks it's alright. It really stinks.
That's right you heard me, all you Lib Dems are wonkers. Complete and utter wonkers. By that of course I mean constitutional wonks. Constitutional obsessives. Now i'm not saying there is actually anything wrong with that, indeed it's often what makes us Lib Dems. However, quite frankly is it really what we need to be obsessing over right now? I've written before about this issue: When Will We Ever Talk the Language of the People , but since then, our position hasn't got better. It's got worse. It's harder. The threat is graver. Our existence is up for grabs. I ...
This evening, after my weekly ward surgeries at the Mitchell Street Centre and Harris Academy, I attended City Council committee meetings. At the Education Committee, I supported an amendment to re-establish a working group on parking and pupil safety at schools across the city. The issue was brought up by one of the Ferry Ward members in relation to Forthill Primary School and the amendment rightly widened the issue to ensure all parking concerns outside city schools are addressed. I sought and obtained assurances, however, that the issues at Forthill Primary School would be addressed in early course. There have ...
in·cred·u·lous adj. 1. Skeptical; disbelieving: incredulous of stories about flying saucers. 2. Expressive of disbelief: an incredulous stare. The Evening Standard mentioned a small story on Lambeth Council's apparent vehement and politicised approach to budgets. It seems prudent to mention the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 which clearly identifies the necessity of political restriction ...
I long ago concluded that one of the keys to a calm, happy life is not watching Question Time and not listening to Any Questions? Too many Dimblebys for a start. But these days those programmes dominate my Twitter stream while they are on, so it can be hard to remain wholly ignorant of them. And there are times when you just have to take notice. On Friday the Lib Dem minister Sarah Teather was on the panel for Any Questions? The second question asked how work experience has managed to get such a bad name. In her reply (which ...
If you think I'm currently lacking inspiration, you could be right, anyway scraping the bottom of the blogging barrel for content, I've come up with Missy the cat, I could of course pick up of one or two local stories Cllr Ian Driver, upset about something or other, Kent council doing its best to curb the access to information. I even thought of commenting on scarf wearing at airports, but have no desire to be arrested for what was once considered free speech. Murdoch is also someone who needs commenting on, it seems that with so much needing to be ...
Well I've finally uploaded the last of the footage I took at the Special Council meeting a week ago to Youtube. A few videos ended up with errors so about three speeches have been cut. It's all in a playlist now if you want to see it from start to finish. Part 1 (all 15 ...
Great news. It is reported that Michele Rawlings has been found. I would like to send my love to her family.
Three quick observations: Twice the email says that, if amendments are passed, the NHS Bill "should be allowed to" pass. That's a rather lukewarm phrase but its repetition makes clear the main point the email is trying to persuade members of – which is that they should not be pressing for the NHS Bill to be dropped (a tough challenge). Oddly there's no reference to the line about 'we need to tidy up the privatisation mess left by Labour' which Liberal Democrat peers have been pushing. Why the inconsistency of message? The email is (unlike many of last year's emails) ...
Those foolhardy few who have read my blogs since inception or thereabouts will know that I have written in the past complaining about the loss of what one might call "Staff Common Room" facilities at Brookes, with the loss of the Lloyd Common Room and then no plans to provide anything similar - a private space reserved for staff meals, events and R&R - in the New Library and Teaching Building. At the same time the SU fought and lost a not very wholehearted battle to get a "proper SU" social facility in the new building too. And at the ...
Today I have met three leading members of the Addaction team in Liverpool. For those of you who don't know Addaction they are probably our biggest national charity dealing with drugs addiction with a turnover of £40,000,000+ and about 1,200 ... Continue reading →
BBC News reports: Nick Clegg has set out changes to the NHS reforms which he says should mean the bill can be passed into law. In a letter co-signed by Lib Dem peer Baroness Williams, the deputy prime minister sets out amendments he wants to see which would limit competition and the role of the private sector. Downing Street said they were "not significant amendments – they are areas where reassurance is required". ...Mr Clegg said he supported five "final" changes to the bill which aims to give GPs control of much of the NHS budget and would open up ...
Everyone knows that the UKIP fanatics want Britain to withdraw from the European Union but now they are making up stories to support their case. Paul Nuttall, the party's North West MEP, has claimed that new EU laws would require ... Continue reading →
Last week I blogged about the questions raised by the resignation letter of Cllr Scott Mann, the former Deputy Leader of the Conservative group in Cornwall Council. In his letter, Cllr Mann suggested that his group had twice voted not to put an further public money into the project but that there was now a plan by the leader to spend up to £16 million. I've just had the following reply to my questions of last week: Statement re Stadium funding Following recent media reports over the question of funding for the proposed Stadium for Cornwall, the Council would like ...
Divorce hasn't exactly played a big part in my life but recently divorce has played an unwitting role in dictating my short-term future. So today I was interested in a piece in The Independent entitled Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Why breaking up should be much harder to do. It is a very interesting read and poses some interesting questions. Divorce has become all too common. The rise of the internet generation has played a role in that but more importantly the stigma of getting a divorce has all but evaporated. People fail at marriage all the time. Things don't work out for ...
[IMG: Shirley Williams] That looks like the choice facing Liberal Democrat members following today's moves on the NHS Bill. On the one hand there is Shirley Williams putting her name alongside that of Nick Clegg in a letter to Liberal Democrat peers, calling on them to back the amendments being moved by Tim Clement-Jones this week. The implicit message of this is that Shirley Williams no longer thinks dropping Part 3 of the bill in its entirety is the best route to pursue. Instead, she is backing the push to amend Part 3 further. The simple top-line explanation is that ...
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Mon 27th
16:24
Opinion: Hacking scandal should not be an excuse for politicians to settle scores with the media
I have deliberately kept away from the hacking and press freedom story over the last few years but now I have had a full apology from News International, it is time to offer a view. The recent arrest of Sun journalists over alleged payments to police brings to over thirty the number of journalists currently being investigated by the Metropolitan Police as part of the phone hacking scandal. It has become one of the biggest investigations for decades and will result in court cases and further evidence to the Levison inquiry. It's right that criminal investigations take place, but as ...
The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest. Today's Campaign Corner question: We've started doing a lot more direct mail in my local party, partly because there are so many shared houses and blocks with one letterbox. How can we make our letters better? Direct mail is a very important and powerful tool, as long as you remember it's about quality as well as quantity: Make the letters neat: first impressions count whether you are a letter or a human. ...
FROM: Brett West, Head of Modernisation and Business Practice TO: All Directors and Heads of Service The implementation of the Agile Stationery Strategy has been impressive and with 93% of ordering officers now trained by Piers, Gaveston, Edwards, the small teething problems over ordering should now be a thing of the past. However, the next quantum leap is to change the nature of our relationship with stationery. On our transformational journey towards the paperless office, OCC should have far less need of hard copy stationery. Early indications are that our expenditure on stationery is some 62% above what an agile ...
... Edinburgh will remain in no overall control as SNP decide not to field a majority slate.
On Saturday, local Liberal Democrats, including MP Ian Swales, took to the streets to oppose the Council's unfair plan to increase Council tax by 3.5% this year.Redcar and Cleveland Council plans to turn down a grant of nearly £1.5 million from the Coalition Government to freeze council tax, and to raise it by 3.5% instead - increasing the burden on local people. Liberal Democrats in Redcar have launched a petition to put pressure on the Council's ruling Labour Group to think again. So far they have obtained over a thousand signatures, with more and more people signing up every day ...
It seems that the lorries that deliver to the new Tescos on Holmefield Road are rather larger than expected. Annoyingly this is having a huge knock on effect not just on people using the row of shops but on people who live near that junction. This is not the good community relations the people from Tesco talked about when we saw them at licensing committee. I will be pressing for something to be sorted at this junction - including for Tesco to be more considerate of both people using the other shops and people actually living here. A couple of ...
Our peaceful occupation of land in England for leisure or gardening or amenity is the result of a century of struggles for land access. "He who controls the land controls the life of the people": and our native soil was alienated to landlords by the Enclosure movement and in Scotland by the vicious Highlands Clearances; and today such risks are still real. Fortunately Liberals began a defence of the people's land-rights in the reforms of the 1906-1911 Parliament. More land cannot be produced by landlords no matter how high its price goes. Charging more for it is no remedy for ...
The Association of Liberal Democrat Engineers and Scientists (ALDES) organises a fringe event at each conference. Our fringe event this Spring is entitled 'The UK Space Industry: An Unsung Success Story' – a topic very close to my heart, as an engineer designing space missions out of an office in Hertfordshire. Yes, ladies and gents, the UK 'does space'. And what a lot of people don't realise is, we do it very, very well. The UK space industry has bucked the national trend and has seen impressive growth during the recession. Areas such as satellite broadcast, communications, equipment and support ...
The arguments over the health bill continue to rumble on and the consequence of the debate is that any light shed on the substance of the proposals has been lost in the heat of political discord. I am but a humble pundit and my conclusions can be oversimplified thus: 1. Labour is being about as dishonest about this Bill as it is possible to be. There is not one single, solitary measure in the proposals which was not being introduced during the last Labour government. Any Labour politicians who says otherwise is lying. Bare-faced, Pinocchio-nosed lying. Competition, GP commissioning, private ...
The Independent write Lords reform is a fight that Nick Clegg will never win which is not a very flattering portrayal of the Lib Dem's move to reform the House of Lords but there is a small section of praise for the Lib Dems which is worth highlighting: It's a common complaint among Conservative MPs that the ...
Mon 27th
13:05
It's Official. I'm the Lib Dem candidate for Westborough ward in Southend for the May elections.
It has been unofficial for a while but that all changed following two new pieces of information over the past few days. Last Thursday I had a interview with five local Lib Dems to decide whether or not I could be approved to run for Southend Council as a Lib Dem. I passed this interview. Then two days later whilst sitting on London Bridge platform I got an e-mail saying that I had been chosen to stand in Westborough for the forthcoming election. It had been unofficial for a couple of months but now as they say it is all ...
On the Guardian's Comment is Free, Chris Rennard warns that Libdems should beware becoming part of a grand plan to secure permanent Conservative domination: Thirteen years of opposition were especially painful for those Tories who formed their political opinions in the years when Margaret Thatcher appeared to reign supreme. Opposition from 1997 was humiliating and served to increase the fiercely competitive instincts of the Cameron circle. Time in opposition helped them to plan to try and ensure that, if Labour let them win back power, they would never lose again - even with historically low levels of support for the ...
Via @quarridors, it appears as if Nottinghamshire are blocking Trans patients from accessing HRT and in the process rather unnecessarily burning money. Late last year and rather quietly, a number of GID-related medications including Testosterone, Estrogen and Goserelin were added to the "Red list" of drugs which cannot be prescribed by GPs. This came to light when one GP refused (Or was unable) to prescribe Testoserone to one Transman. The intent here seems clear. It's not just that GPs require specialists to recommend the drug, as otherwise it would be on one of the "Amber" lists. Instead, any prescription must ...
Yup, you heard me right. Proof. Proof that this Conservative government has started to implement a plan for the NHS that is dangerous to vulnerable people and runs the risk of leaving many of them behind. This isn't a post of hyperbole or hysteria. Its cold hard facts straight from the pages of the Governments ...
Nick Clegg has long championed mental health issues and he made sure that an extra £400 million has been put into the most effective talking therapies. That's already made a difference to over half a million people. Yesterday he wrote about his initiative in the Sunday Express:Too often these experiences are swept under the carpet - dealt with behind closed doors. Britain is an open and compassionate nation, but we Brits are a private people too - often preferring to put on a brave face rather than ask for help.So three cheers to the Sunday Express for tackling Britain's biggest ...
Much of the recent column space on Health issues has been filled with criticism or scepticism of the summit that David Cameron held in Downing Street, and more specifically Andrew Lansley's Health & Social Care Bill. The sceptics say that Cameron only invited 'Yes people' - people who would confirm his own world view of NHS reform, and who would be nice about Mr Lansley. As usual, I ain't bovvered about the Conservatives and what they do to attract media criticism. The more the better as far as I am concerned. What concerns me is what the Liberal Democrat leadership ...
Over the weekend, the employment minister Chris Grayling 'revealed' to the Telegraph and their right-wing media buddies that the Socialist Workers' Party was behind the high-profile opposition to the Government's workfare proposals. Quite frankly, I think the Government subsidising free workers for business is wrong; they should at least be paying the market rate for ...
In the last couple of weeks, we have seen the creation of Liberal Left and Liberal Reform. In fact, Liberal Reform was the Economic Liberal group that had been last year and is now renamed. We also saw the faction against factions with a brilliant manifesto written by Adam Bell. Apparently, there is another grouping called LibsLeft too. There is also the Social Liberal Forum. One might add in Liberal Vision (a website write I occasionally write for) but they are less a faction and more a group of people engaged with developing liberal ideas, promoting liberalism and discussing politics ...
Blood test this morning at 08.40, followed by appointment with Dr L in Haematology Outpatients. Platelets slightly up at 532 compared with 526 last time, Neutrophils a bit better at 1.73, but no change in the Hydroxycarbamide medication is recommended, Dr L handed us a list of things to look out for and to be reported to the 24-hour chemotherapy advice service. Patients are supposed to have a 'Chemotherapy Alert Card, the first we had heard of this. Dr L said he would remind Dr Harrison at St Thomas's, who is following up 24 patients with the C-MPL W515L from ...
Unsurprisingly, up to twenty Liberal Democrat peers could-potentially-oppose an elected Senate, reported by the Independent today. Turkey's do not vote for Christmas; especially since half of them, if not all, would be voting to end their careers. I was surprised by Lord Carlile remarks, who said Clegg had "perilously little" understanding on the functioning of ...
Mon 27th
10:55
Only 12 days left to have your say on UK Government independence referendum consultation
In January, you might remember Michael Moore, the Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland (never get tired of hearing that one) launched the UK Government's consultation on the proposed independence referendum. That was the night that Alex Salmond turned diva and marched onto the evening news programmes to give away the date he'd been keeping to himself. Michael Moore's consultation seized the initiative from Alex Salmond and forced him to start coming up with some answers. Hopefully we'll get the process sorted out soon and then go on to have a positive and passionate debate about the actual issues. ...
Last week, an article was published here attacking Tesco for exploiting the unemployed. Two major factual errors, albeit fairly understandable ones, were at the heart of the piece. The first was that Tesco's unpaid work experience scheme was being forced upon the unemployed by the Job Centre. In actuality, participation was voluntary and the scheme was not part of the government's Mandatory Work Experience (aka 'workfare'). In neither scheme is work unpaid, as benefits are paid in exchange for labour. The second error was to suggest Tesco was 'expecting the jobless to line-up' for exploitation. The truth of the matter ...
Across the borough Chineham aside (I didn't know the Tories had the power to de-village an area, but whenever they talk about villages, they don't include Chineham) The least controversial bit was the villages. They've all ended up with a target to meet the needs of their children (minus Tadley for health and safety reasons). The rest of the out of town development (including reserve sites)
Yet another demonstration in Moscow has attracted tens of thousands of people to take a stand against the idea that Vladimir Putin can return to the Presidency of Russia that he only vacated in 2008. The fact is that whatever the expressed will of the Russian people, it has already been overruled by the will of Vladimir Putin himself. Mr. Putin is determined to maintain his power, even in the face of determined protest. Some, including the gaoled tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, suggest that change is inevitable in Russia, but to me this underestimates the tenacity of Putin- a man who ...
Mon 27th
09:55
*Data-geek alert* Spreadsheets of all main party donations, 2001-11, available to download here
There are many ways to live it large on a Friday night. Here's what I did to get the weekend party started... grazed on the Electoral Commission's website, looking at the data available of all declared donations by the Lib Dems, Labour and the Conservatives between 2001 and 2011. Here are the results of my labours... First, this blog-post from Saturday night (surely prime-time for data-geeks everywhere, no?), 10 things you might not have known about party political funding over the last decade. Secondly, and far more excitingly, I've uploaded Google spreadsheets of the three main parties' donations received between ...
The Welsh Government comes under attack this morning for getting its priorities wrong over transport in Wales. Opposition parties have quite rightly pointed out that paying £160 subsidy per passenger on North-South flights, while bus services face the axe for consuming more than £2 subsidy per passenger is unsustainable: The Welsh Government says it has to cut bus funding in April because its transport budget is under pressure, but it will continue paying £1.6m a year for the flights between Holyhead and Barry. The air service carried just 10,000 passenger journeys last year - compared with 114 million on Welsh ...
The last few days has seen seep into the media an idea that has been doing the rounds of pro-Lords reformers in government for a little while. It is an answer to the question of how the Coalition Government could get Lords reform through the Lords itself without the legislation being bogged down in filibustering and disruptive tactics designed to wreck other legislation. For all the childish temper tantrum tinge to the views of some peers (mainly Conservative) – 'if you dare take away my place in the Lords, I'll scream and I'll scream and I'll wreck all your bills' ...
Recently the results of the biggest comprehensive study into the voting habits of ethnic minorities ever undertaken in Britain were released. While statistics are difficult to make definite conclusions, it does make for some interesting reading for the Lib Dems for a number of reasons. The 2010 Ethnic Minority British Election Survey (EMBES) was directed ...
On Ken Livingstone's Alleged Tax Avoidance. This is EXACTLY how I feel. (tags: epicfail labour ) First female ascent of The Angels' Share Climbing Awesomeness :) (tags: climbing ) Natalie Portman with a tache. I miss my BeardOfEvilTM now :( (tags: ) LOL I loved this cartoon (tags: funny ) Teller Reveals His Secrets Penn is louder, but Teller is cooler. (tags: ) Doncaster 'is part of Scotland' after 900-year-old administrative error comes to light - Yahoo! (tags: awesome ) Doctor Her » Women in Doctor Who "To my mind, the problem with Dr Who is not the women that ...
That is "the first rule of politics" in the sense of the "first rule of comedy, Spike" catchphrase in the late lamented David Croft's Hi de Hi. In this case, the rule I am thinking of is: Always book a venue slightly too small for your expected audience. That way the room/hall will seem full and vibrant. LibDems love to repeat the story of the agent who put out one chair for a meeting. Three people arrived. The agent brought in two extra chairs from the next room, then released a statement to the press about the meeting saying: Extra ...
One of the joys of being involved in the European Liberal Democrats (ELDR), is that you discover that there are all sorts of things going on that you might never have known about otherwise. I had not, for example, realised that Liberal Democrats were collaborating with one of our Dutch sister parties, Democraten 66 (or D'66 as most people refer to them) and Sweden's Centerpartiet on an energy policy for Europe. Partly, this will teach me to read the documents sitting in my pending tray (shorthand for, things that look vaguely interesting and that I ought to read one day). ...
The Sun on Sunday reported yesterday that the independence referendum would be held on Saturday October 18th 2014. I am not sure that this would be a particularly appealing front page splash for a launch issue. I mean, I'm not sure people care too much about the actual date. I wonder what's going on - did the Sun just make it up or was it a deliberate endeavour by the SNP press office? Whatever, 18th October is inappropriate to start with. You can't have a referendum about the whole of the future of Scotland during the school October break. Another ...
The public meeting on Councillors Allowances is scheduled for tonight at 18:30 at Anglia Ruskin University in the Centre of Cambridge. The link with details (and a map to the venue, which is copied below) is; Councillors Allowances Review Alternatively if you want to have your say electronically you can always use the on-line form; Councillors Allowances Survey I cannot stress enough; this is your only chance to stop Councillors getting a ridiculous pay rise. As the Conservatives have previously demonstrated whatever the "Independent" panel suggests; they will vote for. This is your chance to help steer the panels recommendation ...
The public meeting on Councillors Allowances is scheduled for tonight at 18:30 at Anglia Ruskin University in the Centre of Cambridge. The link with details (and a map to the venue, which is copied below) is; Councillors Allowances Review Alternatively if you want to have your say electronically you can always use the on-line form; Councillors Allowances Survey I cannot stress enough; this is your only chance to stop Councillors getting a ridiculous pay rise. As the Conservatives have previously demonstrated whatever the "Independent" panel suggests; they will vote for. This is your chance to help steer the panels recommendation ...
Conservative MP Nick de Bois put an apparently appealing case on Lords reform at the weekend – yes, let's get rid of hereditaries, but hey, let's not rush: Lords reform should not be rushed. Appealing that is, if you've missed out on the last century. Because not only is it a century since further Lords reform was first promised by a government, but in the interim that have been proposals, debates and schemes aplenty. [IMG: House of Lords. Photo: Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament] Of course there are some hotly contested points in any reform ...
Residents in Marchfield Crescent are very pleased that the unadopted pavements in the street are currently being upgraded to a good standard and adopted by the City Council - see right. Back in 2007, I proposed - and the City Council agreed - that funding on upgrading unadopted pavements be increased two and a half fold. This has made a real difference in terms of getting badly conditioned footpaths made up to acceptable standards - both in the West End and across the city.
Mon 27th
03:03
The Clash of Beliefs: Secularism and Faith Communities and the Need for InterAction on Shared Values
The recent speech at the Vatican by Baroness Warsi on militant secularism and the aggressive stance that it has taken against faith and faith communities, sparked a debate for a few days in the UK and followed on from her recent speech in which she stated that anti-Muslim sentiments were now part of the after dinner discussion in many living rooms in Britain. The debate on faith has many times been heated and intemperate and secularists and faith communities have taken increasingly aggressive positions, though the former having been angered that faith communities have become increasingly prominent in the public ...
