Jake Lyne has just been declared the winner of the Bodmin Town Council by election. The full result is Jake Lyne - Lib Dem - 442 Independent - 213 Menyon Kernow - 194 Conservative - 141 The turnout was 18.36% and it was a Lib Dem gain from Independent. That's a great result for Jake who, at 19 becomes the youngest member of the town council by some 20 years and the youngest elected Lib Dem in Cornwall (St Agnes Labour Parish Councillor Joe Vinson is 18). As well as being a fantastic result for the Lib Dems, it was ...
Red faces at the Daily Telegraph for: Witchcraft is growing threat to children in Britain, warn police
It's over 100 years since the charabanc disaster on Long Close Bank, Medomsley, and there are probably some modern readers who won't even be familiar with the term "charabanc". But they and everyone else can find out all about this dreadful coach crash through an exhibition at the Park Lodge at the bottom of Blackhill and Consett Park. There's usually something interesting to see down there courtesy of the Consett and District Heritage Initiative and it's well worth a look down. If you want to wait till they come up the hill, however, put in your diary May 9, 10 ...
All, Just a quick reminder to all Shipston residents that ASL have submitted their proposals for the green field site on Campden Road. I quote the summary from their application: Development of a supermarket (A1Use Class) with associated petrol station (Sui Generis Use Class), customer parking and servicing area; an 'Extra Care' Retirement Development (Use Class C2) comprising up to 80 cottages and 50 apartments and associated care and staff facilities; up to 54 residential dwellings (C3 Use Class) including 35% affordable provision; a community use building (D1/D2 Use Class); and associated access arrangements, open space, allotments and landscaping. To ...
Is now up at the Mindless Ones, along with lots of YouTube videos.
Five hundred and thirty seven business leaders have written to the Daily Torygraph to request that the Chancellor reverses the 50p highest tax rate. For those who don't wish to visit the website here is the full letter: "SIR - Given the state of the British economy, we urge George Osborne, the Chancellor, to consider scrapping the top rate of tax in his forthcoming Budget. The tax, which is in effect a 58p tax after national insurance is taken into account, puts wealth creators like us in a very awkward position. We believe the richest should help the poorest in ...
The list of 60 novels submitted for this year's Arthur C. Clarke Award has been published, and we are invited to guess what the final shortlist of six will be. As I've been doing with other awards recently, I've crunched out the numbers on members of both Goodreads and Librarything who have each book, and come up with the following table ranked roughly in order of popularity taken across the two sites, including also ratings (NB that the Goodreads figure is not for those who own the book but for those who have bothered to rank it; the Librarything ratings ...
BBC just had a party to celebrate eighty years of World Service and an imminent goodbye to the World Service's HQ, Bush House. A magnificent building and a very good evening at which I heard some spectacularly good (and sadly unrepeatable) gossip about this week's political news, and some genuine insights into diplomatic matters, a self-consciously pompous observation which underlines the extent to which large parts of my life increasingly resemble an Olivia Manning novel, although with fewer shortages, a smaller prospect of a German invasion and less time spent waiting in hotel lobbies. Anyway, one thing that struck me ...
Eric Joyce has made the news again today. I'm not going to be linking to any of the articles and here is the reason why. The reason he has made the news was that he is accused of an affair with an at the time 17 year-old student at one of the high schools in his constituency. Someone who was working in his constituency office. She also co-chaired the debate at her high school, one of those at which I stepped in as agent because our Lib Dem candidate was working at the time and unable to get time off. ...
Following some excellent work by Emma Brownbill, copies of meeting minutes from the North's "Gender Governance Group" (G3) have been uncovered. Formed in 2005, this was initially a forum for gender practitioners from the North of England to discuss their experiences but lately has taken a slightly more sinister turn. It seems the group is concerned about the more progressive approach taken by Charing Cross becoming the UK standard and wants to have input into the forthcoming Royal College of Psychiatrists' Standards of Care and UK-wide NHS commissioning guidelines to ensure they can carry on as they are. (The UK-wide ...
The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden burned down in 1808. Not an event that is much remembered these days, but I have been reading about its troubled refurbishment and re-opening the following year in a brilliant book called The Making of Victorian Values by the historian Ben Wilson. When it re-opened in September 1809, the theatre-going public were outraged to find that the seats and the pit were much less comfortable, and up at the top the audience had to peer between pillars and through 'pigeon holes' to get a view of the stage. The tickets also cost more. The problem ...
Yesterday, I visited One World is Enough on Bridge Street with the Chair of the Cambridge Fairtrade Steering Group, Revd Pat Heap. We were there for a photo to illustrate a story for the Cambridge News about the Fairtrade retail audit that we are carrying out during Fairtrade Fortnight. One World is Enough was the first fairtrade shop in Cambridge, and is unique in the city, I think, in stocking only fairtrade goods and it's run by Peter and Laura Harlow. It is an eclectic cornucopia of beautiful and original clothes, jewellery and gifts from around the world - everything ...
March 1st. Dydd Gwyl Dewi. St. David's Day. The patron saint of Wales. The sun is shining. What a great day to be Welsh. Even Google is getting in on the act. In fact, what better day to ask a question – What is 'Welsh'. What is it that makes me inherently (and if you've ever met ...
I'm not the only person today calling on all Liberal Democrats who are voting Conference reps to formally support the NHS and Social Care Bill. You can do this online at http://www.winld.org.uk/nhs-motion/. The last few weeks have seen significant developments in the choppy passage of the NHS and Social Care Bill through Parliament. Our Health team and in particular our colleagues in the House of Lords have made huge efforts to scrutinise the Bill and improve it since the non-debate at Birmingham Federal Conference, removing a number of the worst aspects of Andrew Lansley's original Bill. Their efforts are to ...
Norwich South MP Simon Wright has welcomed today's announcement of a £50m summer schools fund to help the most disadvantaged pupils. The money will help up to 100,000 pupils make the transition from primary to secondary school, a time when Ofsted research shows performance can take a significant dip. Commenting Mr. Wright said "I know how difficult it can be for many children to make the transition from primary to secondary school. It can be a stressful time for children. The announcement of the summer schools fund is excellent news for children and parents worrying about the transition. I urge ...
I didn't watch much of England's game last night, but what struck me was the team. It didn't look that inspiring, yet it was hard to think of a fit player who should have been in it but was not selected. Forty years ago every club in the old First Division had a player who ought to be in the England team - at least in the opinion of its fans. And often they were mavericks, both in their lifestyle and style of play. I am thinking of people like Rodney Marsh, Stan Bowles, Frank Worthington, Charlie George, Duncan McKenzie ...
It has been repeatedly said that under the Get Set Scheme 125,000 free tickets would be allocated to London school children, and that would be one in eight school children in London. These figures are quoted in a number of Mayoral press releases and there is even a video of the Mayor saying that! However, it turns out that in practice just 95,761 tickets will be allocated to London school children. For the Mayor's office to now be claiming that despite always saying "125,000 children" or "125,000 pupils" they actually meant school kids and teachers is a bit rich to ...
This week has been hectic, all in capitals and underlined in blood. The result is that I'm exhausted before our Scottish Conference even starts. I should warn you that if you are looking for political gossip and debate, you will be sorely disappointed. This post is cosy domesticity in its entirety. I'm writing this in the comfort and calm of my sister's house. She's only recently moved so it's the first time I've seen it. I banned myself from helping with the move before she banned me for being useless. Anyone who knows how cluelessly impractical I am will understand. ...
India introduced a job guarantee programme, for the rural poor in 2005. It was dismissed by many as fiscal folly. Yet this developing country has weathered the financial storms of the economic downturn far better than most European countries. Argentina ran a successful programme in the wake of their debt default and Canada has had a good experience with such programmes. Job guarantee as an economic policy builds on the concept of employer of last resort. The policy requires that the public sector offers a fixed wage job to anyone willing and able to work. The job pool expands when ...
Richard Reeves, one of Nick Clegg's Special Advisors, can have a rather wicked sense of humour, as he's just demonstrated: Nadine Dorries' very vocal condemnations of the Lib Dems' influence on the Coalition have won her many fans among grassroots Tories. But it looks like she's also won praise from another quarter: the Lib Dems themselves. They are delighted with her prominent claims that they are acting as a brake on some true blue Tory plans. After her attacks on the Clegg effect in PMQs a while back – and this week during the UQ on the Lansley Bill – ...
Well done to Mike Tuffrey, Lib Dem London Assembly Member, who asked a series of detailed questions putting the strong case for keeping the London Fire Brigade Museum open. Mike who is also a member of the London Fire Emergency and Planning Authority, uncovered that since 2005/06 the annual attendance to the museum has tripled. The real cost to the taxpayer of keeping the museum open is just £81,000 a year, but the cost of the cost of closing the museum and storing the collection is estimated to be more than three times higher, at £276,000. The London Fire Brigade ...
As a Welshman St David's Day has been an occasion to be marked all my life. But for the last quarter century I've celebrated my home country's national day as a resident of England. This morning began with a walk through Victoria Tower gardens, bathed in sunshine, with daffodils already open among the trees. The ...
It doesn't seem possible for it to have been four years already since my dad died, and equally it seems much longer. But, four years ago today, I was playing board games with friends, when I got the phonecall at about 12:45, to tell me that fifteen minutes earlier it had happened. I'd known it was coming, and all of a sudden, it was too late to say goodbye. Sometime last year, I was looking at the website of the Friday Night Ride to the Coast club, idly pondering the idea, and I saw that one of the rides was ...
Did you know that the happiest people are in Northern Ireland? Laugh-a-minute DUP MP Nigel Dodds told us so at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday. The DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson, on his feet following this announcement, bore something of a burden. Not known for his cheery disposition, a colleague twice entreated him to "Smile Jeffrey". High pantomime was the order of the day. Dear Gerry Kaufman seems to think that longevity in the House should be matched by longevity of questioning. Well into his sixth paragraph, it seemed, the Speaker gave him fierce winding up signals and commented: "The right hon. Gentleman ...
As you may be aware on Tuesday 21st February I introduced my Road Safety No.3 Bill to Parliament, the Bill was passed and is now awaiting its second reading which is scheduled for Friday 27th April. Since my speech I ... Continue reading →
Liberal Democrat Councillor Chris Naylor has spoken out against the proposed redevelopment of Hawley Wharf. The development is at odds with the heritage of Camden and the wishes of local people. The homes will be 95% small private flats in an area that needs more family homes, flouting Camden's agreed 50% affordable homes policy. The ...
So the Coalition , sorry, For Marriage's campaign is doing well. Oh, I'm not too worried that they are about to tip the balance against the Government's civil marriage equality plans. But they are doing far better than they should be. Their petition against marriage equality has, at the time of writing, just under 65,000 signatures. The campaign for equal marriage has just over 10% of that number signing up. They've also got vocal supporters who are much more able to get press coverage of their authoritarian views. Be it Ann Widdecombe suggesting marriage equality is being foisted on an ...
I knew I'd be posting about Israel at some point or other. But little did I know it would be so soon and in connection with two separate but not unrelated events taking place within the UK rather than the Middle East. First off, lets address the resignation yesterday of Baroness Jenny Tonge. Apparently, saying that Israel will not last forever "on it's current performance". Ed Milliband got it dead wrong when he mis-quoted Tonge. She simply pointed out that Israel could not last forever in it's current form. She also added that she thought Israel would reap what it ...
Along with Mossley Hill Lib Dem Councillor Tina Gould I have been badgering both Tesco and the Council's highways and parking people about the problems caused by the massive lorries (see earlier post) We have now had a reply from Tesco and the vehicles they use will get smaller and in fact should be 8 metre vans soon as opposed to articulated lorries. (Of course they did tell us all along that they would be using smaller vans so what is happening is really only them doing what they said) They are also going to restrict the delivery times so ...
We have recently seen a lot of activity in Parliament on the issue of park homes and the problems park home owners are facing across the country. To some extent 2011 saw familiar frustrations and delays that have, unfortunately, often characterised attempts to solve park homes problems in the past. However 2011 also saw headway being made. The tireless efforts of campaigners and activists have built real momentum and an appetite for change amongst my colleagues in Parliament. I firmly believe this is filtering through and that the Government will be drawn to action soon. Events such as the Park ...
Honestly. How can anyone think this was appropriate in the middle of Manhattan? Source: Daily Telegraph
The title of Tom Chatfield's book 50 digital ideas you really need to know is really rather a misnomer as this is not so much a book about important ideas as a dictionary defining 50 digital terms you're likely to have heard of but may not know that much about. One of the "ideas" for example is email. The mini-history of email is interesting and well-written, but it's not the sort of grand idea the book title might make you expect. By presenting a potted history of how email (and the other 49 subjects) evolved, the book provides detail which ...
I just recorded a rather stuttery interview with Alan Simpson for BBC Radio Ulster, about Davy Jones. I did about five or six minutes, and that will be broadcast, intercut with Monkees music (and hopefully with some of my repe- re- repetition, repetiton, repetition and st-stu-stuttering cut out) some time between three and five today. ...
Did you know that the happiest people are in Northern Ireland? Laugh-a-minute DUP MP Nigel Dodds told us so at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday. The DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson, on his feet following this announcement, bore something of a burden. Not known for his cheery disposition, a colleague twice entreated him to "Smile Jeffrey". High pantomime was the order of the day. Dear Gerry Kaufman seems to think that longevity in the House should be matched by longevity of questioning. Well into his sixth paragraph, it seemed, the Speaker gave him fierce winding up signals and commented: "The right hon. Gentleman ...
Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus i chi i gyd! Yes, it's the first of March, the sun in shining, and (despite essays), I'm in an excellent mood – it's St. David's day, the patron Saint of Wales, and my nationalist/patriotic side is blossoming. And I'm blogging. Also fun. Economically, I've shifted back to January, but have ...
Thu 1st
12:38
Budget night at Wirral Council & Off licence application for 46 Hoylake Road, Bidston turned dow...
Well tonight councillors at Wallasey Town Hall meet to decide among other things Wirral Council's Budget for 2012-2013. So far we have had the surprise Labour Budget at its last Cabinet meeting on the 13th February, which was then rescinded by the new Conservative/Lib Dem Cabinet on the 21st February. Labour councillors then "called-in" the ...
Yesterday Conservative peer Norman Lamont was the latest in a sequence of Tory peers to take to the pages of ConservativeHome to argue against their own party's policy and opposed elections to the House of Lords. However, he is also an excellent example of why the Lords should be reformed, for he is just the sort of MP I had mind when writing a piece for Left Foot Forward last year: The voters have cast their verdict and an MP is out of office. What should happen to them next? Most people's answers to that are somewhere on the spectrum ...
I can confirm today that Conwy County Borough Council's Environment Department has received a Marine Consent License, this license will now enable us to redistribute the wind blown sand below the high water mark at certain states of the tide (Spring Tides). This will hopefully assist with the problem of the sand blowing around as at least it will get wet twice a day!!! I have asked that we deal with this issue before the Easter Break. We will also monitor the situation. Mike
Leith Lib Dem Councillor Marjorie Thomas Here is a release relating to a terrific Community Energy scheme we've put in place in Leith. I took the opportunity to visit the Cables Wynd block with local Lib Dem Councillor Marjorie Thomas yesterday and I have to say it was a very impressive scheme lifting hundreds of people out of fuel poverty and really improving the quality of their lives. Residents in one of Edinburgh's largest block of flats are set to benefit from cheaper fuel bills thanks to the City of Edinburgh Council. A new £2.25m communal-heating system is being installed ...
"The Euro is doomed,' said the Europhobes last year, and I still see letters in the local papers saying much the same. Well, there can be many a slip between cup and lip, but it doesn't look doomed to me. ... Continue reading →
Listen to the Labour spin, the media furore, or the special interests in the healthcare unions, and you'd think that the Health and Social Care Bill had been crafted by the evil Tories and naive Lib Dems to maliciously snatch all hope of critically needed health and hospital care from the poor and vulnerable, dooming great swathes of the population to lives of miserable illness and suffering, all to help the 'rich and profiteering' private healthcare companies milk every last penny and drop of human decency out of society. Left leaning voters are angry – indeed opinion polls show that ...
It would be churlish to be too critical of Chris Huhne's acceptance of £17 207 (tax free, I think) severance pay after voluntarily resigning from his cabinet post. Probably, faced with outrageous lawyers' fees to defend him in court he feels that money from any source is welcome. What I think will stick in the craw of most electors is the fact that cabinet ministers grant themselves such generous conditions. What other walk of life gives such a generous pay off when voluntarily leaving a job after less than two years? That £17 000 is the equivalent of Job Seeker's ...
You have to wonder what is going on in Nick Clegg's mind sometimes. Not content with being seemingly oblivious to the major difference within the party at the minute, he seems hell bent on being as random as possible when it comes to major policy. Take the NHS Bill which he has up until now supported, ...
by Fiona Hall MEP* On Thursday and Friday this week, heads of governments from all EU Member States - including David Cameron - will come to Brussels for the Spring European Council which is dedicated to promoting competitiveness and economic growth. Liberals & Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) are stepping up to the challenge by turning the usual Council rhetoric on the 'need to stimulate economic growth' into a concrete plan of action and measures that will help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) create and safeguard local jobs. With SMEs making up to 99% of all businesses in the ...
Charlotte Brontë: L'Ingratitude Text, facsimile, translation, Gillian Anderson podcast (seriously!) (tags: bronte belgium )
The World Bank have released some interesting statistics. Data from 1981-2008 has illustrated that the number of people in the developing world existing on $1.25 per day or less has declined markedly. As the study shows, the United Nations goal of cutting the extreme poverty rate by 2015 has already been met. The narrative familiar to many is often the exact opposite, with globalisation/free markets/big business/other evil villains worsening the lives of the very poor in the developing world. The facts, however, show something completely different: There are still too many individuals living in poverty but that should not trick ...
Southwark Liberal Democrats have started a great series of slightly different local party events, as a result of which I was in the Shortwave Cinema earlier this week for a screening of ToryBoy. It is a documentary by John Walsh of his experiences getting selected as a Conservative Parliamentary candidate and then fighting Middlesbrough against the controversial Labour MP Sir Stuart Bell at the 2010 general election. It is a hugely enjoyable documentary, which mixes humour, drama and education. Humour such as John Walsh's attempt to explain flash-mobbing to the massed ranks of Middlesbrough Conservatives (viz 6 people, mostly aged ...
We've been concerned about the amount of litter near the Canadian Grill on Silverdale Road, and litter in the woodland opposite the parade. The issue has been raised by several residents – this is an update. At the request of the Lib Dems, the Council's Area Conditions Officer has revisited the site in the last few days. He will be visiting the take-away regularly to check on the amount of litter in the area and taking action as needed. Take-away owners should be clearing up litter dropped near their premises (when it's from the take-away). A litter pick is also ...
The members of the Bureau of the European Liberal Democrats (ELDR) are gathering in Brussels today. I know this in part because I follow the Treasurer's Twitter feed (@RomanJakic), and partly because, rather surprisingly, I'm on the agenda for their meeting tomorrow. For tomorrow, the nominees for places on the ELDR Financial Scrutiny Committee are considered, a process which remains something of a mystery to me. I know that there are five nominees - a Croat, a German, a Swedish-speaking Finn, an Italian from Catalonia... and me. What I don't know is what the criteria for appointment are, or how ...
I blame Wimbledon, myself. I was at the press conference nearly 10 years ago when they announced they were putting a roof on Centre Court. 'It'll never rain again in June,' I said, as did every other wizened and cynical tennis hack. And it barely has rained during late June and early July since the roof became usable in 2009. Wimbledon has had two days in three years on which it has used the roof. The problem is that it's raining less and less in the rainy season too, which is why we have a problem. A big problem. When ...
Thu 1st
09:21
Fiona Hall MEP writes... Join the Lib Dems' campaign to boost small businesses across Europe
On Thursday and Friday this week, heads of governments from all EU Member States – including David Cameron – will come to Brussels for the Spring European Council which is dedicated to promoting competitiveness and economic growth. Liberals & Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) are stepping up to the challenge by turning the usual Council rhetoric on the 'need to stimulate economic growth' into a concrete plan of action and measures that will help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) create and safeguard local jobs. With SMEs making up to 99% of all businesses in the EU, providing two-thirds of ...
The Labour Party is circulating a document with the headline "Lib Dem Coalition Close Walk-In Centre". The article goes on to state that "this will put greater strain on A&E departments and local doctor's surgeries" and places the blame for this on the 'Lib Dem Coalition'. In election campaigns it is common for political parties to blame each other for things that have gone wrong, and most of the public are perfectly capable of sorting the hyperbole from the facts. But when exaggeration becomes deliberate falsehood then there is a duty to point out some of the more salient facts. ...
Would We Have Drugged Up Einstein? How Anti-Authoritarianism Is Deemed a Mental Health Problem | Personal Health | AlterNet Non-conformity = marginalisation shocker (tags: popeshitsinwoods ) Burger King to stop using unemployed people in burgers * snerk * (tags: funny ) BBC News - The Raspberry Pi computer goes on general sale Huzzah! (tags: technology ) Cineworld flaunts '4D' movies • reghardware OMG THIS MEANS THEY CAN RERELEASE THE TINGLER!!!! YAYAYAYAYAAY! (tags: film ) Tasteful Comics * snerk * (tags: funny ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
In November 2010, Beatbullying ran a "Big March" over a number of websites to highlight the suffering faced by children who were being bullied. Today, they are repeating the exercise and it's bigger, better and global. They call for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to be amended to include a right to be protected from bullying by their peers as well as abuse by adults. I fully support this enterprise and I thought that I'd reprise the post I wrote at that time about my experience of being bullied as a child. Writing it once was ...
On legal aid: Ministers have made a significant retreat on two key aspects of the Legal Aid Bill after cross-party talks in the House of Lords. Amendments to the legislation will ensure that victims of domestic violence and victims of clinical negligence in obstetrics cases that results in their children being severely disabled will continue to receive legal aid. On schemes for the unemployed: Ministers have dropped the threat of sanctions for unemployed youngsters on a controversial work experience scheme. It follows a meeting with dozens of firms with concerns, after criticism it amounted to "unpaid forced labour"... Following Wednesday's ...
When and where was the last war between states in South America? (Not counting internal conflict, islands or Central America.)
This is the third update on how my meeting with Jenny Willott went and, given that the meeting took place over a week ago, I'm sorry for the delay in getting this up. This was meant to be the last update but it's grown so long that I'm going to have to do a fourth update covering what I see as the failure by Lib Dem MPs to communicate properly with the public and with members over the Welfare Reform Bill. But in this post I just want to focus on the political dimension of what's happening and my impression ...
There's a certain irony to the fact that it seems to regularly escape the memory of Conservatives that they failed to win the general election in 2010. Despite Tory MPs having to negotiate on a daily basis with a rival political party just to keep their leader in Number 10, no substantive discussion seems to happen among Conservatives about why, in such conducive conditions, they failed to win a majority. One reason for that is perhaps that would involve some rather uncomfortable truths. It's a fairly uncontroversial statement to say that more Britons share the fundamental beliefs of the Conservative ...
The BBC have published a poll today that indicates that there is minimal support for independence for Wales, even if Scotland decides to go it alone. The results of one poll has to be treated with caution of course, but this particular outcome is consistent with previous results and therefore can considered to be fairly accurate. It shows that the Plaid Cymru leadership contest, in which two of the candidates are competing to see who can be the most hardline on independence, is taking place within a complete political vacuum. The party has never appeared more out of touch on ...
Steps Theatre, Central Library, Wellgate, Dundee Saturday 3rd March at 3pm Dundee Gaelic Choir The Wighton Singers Ancrum Road Pipers and introducing Dundee Junior Gaelic Choir Admission Free! (Donations Welcome)
Last night, I attended the latest meeting of the Harris Academy Parent Council at which there was an update on preparations for the impending decant of the school to the Rockwell site in August 2013 when the new school building project commences in Perth Road. The decant preparations are taking shape with a draft accommodation schedule progressing and meetings scheduled about issues like school transport and catering at Rockwell. There was also a discussion about the Curriculum for Excellence and on school communication with parents.
