Ealing Liberal Democrats have slammed Ealing Council this week for the huge number of streets that have not had their household waste collected. The streets in my ward that have not had their waste or recyclables collected either at all, or on the wrong day, include: Bollo Lane, Antrobus Road, South Parade, The Avenue, Woodstock Road, Whellock Road, Fielding Road, Blandford Road, Marlborough Crescent, Blenheim Road, Queens Anne's Garden, Ramillies Road, Berrymede Road, Esmond Road, Rothschild Road, Church Path and Cleveland Road!!! This was the roads where residents phoned me or emailed me. Tweet me on @CllrGaryMalcolm if your road ...
Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg knew that the legislation, which until Monday was widely expected to appear in next month's Queen's Speech, would be highly controversial with members of both parties who campaigned on civil liberties in Opposition. The potential for Liberal Democrat activists to revolt over such an issue should not be underestimated.writes Sam Coates in today's Times. No doubt you can find it behind the paywall somewhere. Trouble is, I am no longer convinced that Mr Clegg did know that. What struck me about the conference call some of us Lib Dem bloggers had with some of the ...
Hertfordshire County Council have now announced that they are taking legal advice about the Traffic Penalty Tribunal adjudication. Depending on that advice they may decide to appeal against the Tribunal's adjudication. However they now say (for the first time) that "if our processes are found wanting we will take steps to re-imburse the affected motorists, with our apologies." Fair enough – but why didn't they look into the legalities and, more importantly the practicalities of the situation when the warnings came in at the end of August? The situation could have been fixed quickly and easily then, and we would ...
The Coalition Government has a good record on rolling back the many intrusions into civil liberties by the last Labour administration. So the news headlines of the last few days have caused me some dismay. A leak from the Home Office (by who and with what purpose, I hope we will find out) suggested that ...
The canvassing season is upon us and Kew's team has been pounding the streets each night. Results so far are very encouraging. After last years backlash to the coalition. People on the doorsteps seem to be adjusting to the new regime and blame for coalition policies are no longer being directed solely at the Liberal Democrats. People are slowly realising that the blame for the predicament we are in lays mainly with the previous Labour government. One highlight from tonight's canvassing was a lady who praised us for our Kews News leaflets. This was an unprompted remark and I was ...
I was delighted to welcome George Lyon, MEP for Scotland, to the West End today, to meet my campaign team - here's a couple of photos taken on Magdalen Green, prior to us having a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon's campaigning!
I received an email from Eddie Chauncy yesterday – the creator of the wonderful TMA song and friend of Surf Teddy. About the TMA song Eddie writes: I really only shared the song with my DD307 Facebook crowd as some light-hearted fun, but was stunned at the response! Who'd have thought it?! Surf Teddy's become a bit of a legend in his own right. For us on the course this year, it's been a kind of illustration of social psychology. If we ever needed convincing about emotion as an interactively-shared construction, this did it! You might find it fun to ...
Wed 4th
20:45
For the first time in 8 years my name will appear on a ballot paper. (PS: as a Lib Dem.)
It's official: I will be the Lib Dem candidate in the 3rd May Oxford City Council elections, standing in Headington Hill & Northway ward. This was the letter awaiting me on my return from work today: The last time I stood for election — in neighbouring Headington ward — was 2004. Here's my election special Focus leaflet... complete with all your Lib Dem faves: a bar-chart with squeeze message, 'Working hard all year-round' slogan, petition slip, and pot-hole action. Lib Dem Focus, Headington ward, Oxford City Council (May 204) I guess it worked (I won 61% of the vote and, ...
Quick short story here. This one's going in the short story collection but not being sold separately, as it's too short... Free Will And Testament One of the great pastimes for those of us with a rigorous mathematical bent is to annoy philosophers, and so it was that last Tuesday I was spending my free ...
All I was thinking about on my post-work 10k run today was the news that Micah True, better known as Caballo Blanco, has died. While these things are always sad, Caballo's story has always been a deep source of energy, happiness and inspiration - today's run in tribute to him was no different. Easy, smooth, light and fast. Run free! News report and article on Chris McDougall's blog - Thanks for everything, Caballo.
Life is so difficult these days, attitudes have changed and as a fifty something I display all the external signs of being a grumpy git and I suppose it's an involuntary reflex to change, what was once acceptable and mainstream is no longer. This story I find particularly irritating about Royal Mail taking exception to comic postcards produced by Bamforth's (for 140 years), complaining that a couple postcards from the first and second world wars were anti-Germanic. I feel drained by the shallow superficiality of political correctness and failure to acknowledge that there was a time, when there was every ...
Shirley Williams is speaking in Nottingham on the afternoon of 5 May 2012. More details on the Nottingham Liberal Democrats website.
Consett Town Centre: 07/03/2012 - 03/04/2012 Number of calls for area:- 200 Number of community related calls:-54 Alcohol seizures:-03 Genesis way urban park John Street There have been no reported home burglaries for this period There were 4 thefts from sheds or garages in the following areas, Elsdon Gardens x2, Fairways and Villa Real Rd. A Letter drop and information was distributed to homes in the area affected and there have been no further problems since this time. Extra patrols were carried out. There was also a theft from the Gold stall inside the Derwent Centre. Anti- social Behaviour and ...
Nominations closed at 12 noon today and the Liberal Democrats are standing in all 20 seats across Salford. Additionally, Claremont Councillor Norman Owen is standing for Mayor as the official Liberal Democrat candidate. Councillor Owen said today: "We have excellent, hard working candidates in 20 seats across Salford and in many of those wards, especially the inner-city wards, it's a straight fight between the Lib Dems and Labour. Labour have admitted that under their leadership of this city mistakes have been made, why else would they have selected an ex-Eccles MP to run Salford instead of their current leader?". "Labour's ...
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You may have read or heard about the LBC Mayoral Debate that took place earlier this week. Brian Paddick the Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate debated some key issues with the three other main mayoral candidates at the LBC Studios in Leicester Square. The live online poll at the end of the debate put me as joint winner on 24% with Boris Johnson languishing in 3rd place. Brian pushed a lot of great policy ideas on crime, transport and housing. You can see a quick clip of the debate here on the BBC website. Brian said: "I apologise for the 'other ...
The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that's fine, we're grateful for people taking the time to read the site. You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are four simple ways: 1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there's something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you're an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or ...
Generated via RedKid Based on characters by Charles M. Schulz First we have the snooping row today we hear that the Conservatives want more closed, secret court hearings. The issue is over whose say so court proceedings should be secret. Cameron says it should be the Ministers, but Clegg is saying this power should not go to Parliament but remain with the judiciary. Maybe David Cameron fancies himself as the next James Bond (which after all is just 4 years older than the PM as a film franchise) with Theresa May as Q, but there is too much talk from ...
Yesterday Mark Pack summarised the current state of play on the snooping row ("The wheels are coming off the online monitoring wagon"). This topic has generated more emails, blogs and tweets from angry Lib Dems than anything I can remember. Party members seem to be united in their opposition to increased monitoring, so much so that statements from the so-called right and left of the party are virtually interchangeable. From the Social Liberal Forum: Any furthering of the already-extensive powers to interrogate peoples' communication, especially in the absence of proper oversight, would constitute an ineffective and illiberal intrusion of our ...
We have recently made substantial changes to the ALDC Facebook group. The group has now become closed, meaning that non-members have been removed and only ALDC members will be permitted to join from here on. The group will become a secure online space for our members to discuss strategy, tactics, and campaign stories with ALDC officers and each other. We would like to see as many members as possible take part. Simply log into Facebook, look up 'Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors', and join the conversation!
Below are the presentation and handouts from Care UK, who are proposing replacing the existing office block behind Abney Hall with a care home. The presentation was originally made to the Cheadle Village Partnership. Please do not take this as either support for, or opposition to the proposals – this will most likely end up as a planning application for us to consider. However, we are always keen to hear residents' thoughts. Abney Hall care home proposal – presentation to Cheadle Village Partnership Abney Hall Care Home proposal leave behinds
You ignore the "Staffie guards this house" sign as you gingerly make your way towards the front door. First you hear the barking, then the run up the hallway, the huge thud as the dog hits the door with force followed by the leaflet disappearing straight into the dog's mouth as you reel back from ...
Wed 4th
14:21
Planning a trip to Canada or the Caribbean? US Immigration may have other ideas... (The Independent)
New security checks are already in place - even for flights hundreds of miles from American airspace Filed under: Transport, United States Tagged: Business and Economy, Canada, Caribbean, Immigration, Immigration to Canada, Travel, United States
Most holy Mary, to thy faithful care and particular protection and to the bosom of thy mercy, to-day and every day, and particularly at the hour of my death, I commend my soul and my body. All my hope and consolation, all my trials and miseries, my life and the end of my life, I ...
On Monday, Ed Miliband, Leader of the Opposition, launched the Labour Party's local election campaign. Ed proclaimed that the government is "out of touch", and challenged us on growth, fairer taxes and a stronger society. On growth, he claimed that we need to deal with the deficit otherwise we won't have growth in the future. On fairer taxes, Ed said we "are raising taxes for pensioners but cutting them for millionaires". Actually, this month has seen the personal tax allowance for pensioners increase, and from next year they are frozen until the personal tax allowance catches up. Or does Ed ...
Many commentators have already given their views on what the election of Respect candidate George Galloway means for politics and the Labour party. It is true this post is a little late but as the sub heading for this blog says, 'comment takes time'. Last year, I wrote about the changing nature of political parties. In that post, I warned the there was a danger that the parties became shells for leaders to use to win elections. The election of George Galloway could be seen in this context. It is always difficult to know exactly why voters protest in the ...
As others have blogged - good pieces from Zoe O'Connell here , Miss S-B here, the always brilliant Lord Bonkers here, just for starters - there was a heated conference call last night between SpAds and Policy advisors from Great George Street and many of the active Lib Dem blogosphere. For what's its worth, here are a few observations. (These are my take outs from the call, didn't have time to write everything down, too much shouting going on...) 1. I appreciate the time everyone took to do this call (and of course hats off to Helen Duffett for organising ...
We geeks might be kicking against the pricks over here in the UK, but in the US we've actually infiltrated the White House. Pictorial evidence: [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Nominations closed at 12 noon today and the Liberal Democrats are standing in 31 seats across the Manchester. In Moston they have decided not to field a candidate this time but have but have stood aside and urged local people to vote for the Independent candidate. Manchester Lib Dem Group Leader Marc Ramsbottom said today: "We have first class candidates in 31 seats across the city and its clear we are the main competition to the Labour Party. Labour have already said they don't want any opposition in the Town Hall; that would be bad for democracy and bad for ...
Five years ago today my Grandfather died. My father left when I was eight and my two Grandfathers stepped in to fill the void and take his place. I was always closer to Pop, mainly because Granddad Pullen, though a good man, wasn't as warm when my sister and I were young. He'd been away a lot when my Mother was small and I think he was at a loss of what to do with us! Pop always treated us as adults, he spoilt us rotten too, and he was always willing to talk, often over vast ranging topics and ...
Wed 4th
12:50
The Independent View: A note to the Liberal Democrats on university access and information
A child's fate is often decided very early on in its development. That is why government intervention must happen early. Liberal coalition policies such as parenting classes and the pupil premium will help us move away from what Nick Clegg calls a "closed society" where people's circumstances at birth haunt them for the rest of their life. The most effective intervention happens before the age of 11, but this mustn't be where it ends. A lack of decent careers advice and university guidance at some secondary state schools means that many talented pupils are failing to meet their potential. Just ...
I was one of a number of Lib Dem MPs to publicly oppose the government's suggestions on online snooping. I have linked to a letter in The Independent of which I was one of the signatories.There is another letter in The Guardian. I don't know why my name doesn't appear in the letter in The Guardian, but to me it is important to record that I have publicly opposed such an extension of state
A bit of a mea culpa from me here as I promised Malcolm Harvey I'd blog about this months ago and am only just getting round to it - but I guess now is as good a time as any. If you're interested in political geekery and memorabilia, this is definitely for you. It's an exhibition called: Democracy for Scotland: The Referendum Experience Exhibition at the Museum of Edinburgh, Canongate, the Royal Mile, Edinburgh until 24th April 2012 The Exhibition's creators say: The exhibition draws largely on the collections of the Scottish Political Archive (SPA). SPA is based at the ...
This morning's news that Nick Clegg has demanded changes to plans to hold court hearings in secret and that the Government has started to retreat on its plans to monitor digital communications, are very welcome. I was one of many Liberal Democrats who publicly condemned moves to monitor e-mail and internet traffic and was horrified by the official response from Home Office Minister, Lynne Featherstone that it was okay because the Government would not read the content of any communication. Such an assurance spectacularly missed the point. Now we are told by the Deputy Prime Minister that these contentious measures ...
It's a question often asked of environmentalists who live out in the sticks: how do you reconcile the need to cut down on car dependency with the need for cars in rural areas? The question is borne out of a failure to view taxing transport in a sensible way, a failure that's been highlighted by the recent spate of panic buying of petrol and diesel with a possible tanker drivers' strike on the horizon. Let's consider the environmental impact of cars for a minute. A car that drives one mile in the country makes exactly the same contribution to global ...
Writing for The Guardian, Pauline Pearce says: I announced earlier this month that I am planning to stand for election as a Liberal Democrat councillor in Hackney, yet I'm still posed a common question by journalists and friends alike: why the Lib Dems? Following the riots, all the major political parties courted me. But when the bad press came out about me having being a drug fixer after a sting in November 2011, hardly anyone wanted anything to do with me any more. The Liberal Democrats, however, didn't turn their backs like others did... For me, this is all about ...
Facinating research suggestion being tested in Santa Cruz – can Police predict and then stop crime that hasn't yet happened? They're trying futuristic sfotware that looks at crime data and predicts where it is next most likely to happen. They then put more emphasis on those locations for Police patrols. The hope is that this will prevent crime or if it fails to do that increase the chances of catching the criminals there and then. The software has developed by mathematicians from Santa Clara University – George Mohler and co. In a previous successfil test 2004-05 they predicted 25% of ...
ED'D JOB: THE BLOG OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE EDELBERTHA SPENGLER (draft) Hi! You know the feeling when some much-loved member of the team returns from a very special holiday - you all cluster around looking at her photos and admiring her tan. Well, I've just come back from Egypt, eager to get back in harness and work with all the wonderful people in OCC again. I couldn't wait. Of course, I was very happy that Kenneth would be an inspired leader while I was away, but I do enjoy being Chief Executive here. Anyway, in Egypt they have pyramids. You're not ...
Nick Clegg, Ed Davey and Naomi Colvin of Occupy will be among the speakers at the Social Liberal Forum (SLF) conference on Saturday 14th July. You can now register through the Social Liberal Forum website. Last year's conference sold out so do book your place soon. The theme for our conference is "Intergenerational Justice". Since the economic crisis that began in 2007, we now have a young generation that will be poorer than its parents; this is unprecedented in British history since the last world war. At the same time the older generation will have to retire at a later ...
What the Betamax Case Teaches Us About Readability I'm a fan of readability with my middle-aged eyes. (tags: copyright ) Can a neurotypical understand what autism is? — Crooked Timber Probably not, but it is worth trying. (tags: autism ) Wolfson Prize: Schoolboy plan to save euro 10-year-old suggests restoring drachma to Greece. (tags: economics eu ) Ghosts,Dreams,Nothingness Gwyneth Jones: "For a long time, I used to enjoy frightening children..." (tags: sf ) The Chagos Islands 40 years on remain a black mark on Britain | openDemocracy "imperious brutality and contempt." (tags: ukpolitics ) Vibeke Brask Thomsen & GenderHopes My ...
Last week, communications professional Ed Staite showed that the traditional media's ability to scoop can be challenged by the new media. Staite claims that the Sunday Times wanted him to say he could help a fictitious company influence the Conservative party. He posted his version before the paper came out. If you missed the story you can read his side here. I would link to the newspaper's version but can't because of their pay wall. However, if you subscribe to the Times's website you can way up both versions.
Back in January I blogged about research coming out of Bristol University: They conclude that competition resulted in better services: "The research finds that hospitals located in areas where patients have had more choice since the NHS reforms have had higher clinical quality (as measured by lower death rates following admissions) and shorter lengths of stay than hospitals in less competitive areas. What's more, the hospitals in competitive markets increased their quality without increasing total operating costs or shedding staff, suggesting that the policy of choice and competition in healthcare can have benefits." The crucial 'but' is that in these ...
When I applied to university the first time around, back when I was a pupil at Ballymena Academy, I couldn't understand why we had to apply based on the results of our predicted grades. It seemed to me, and still does, that it would be fairer to have the university admissions process after real grades had ...
Last night there was a conference call between policy advisors within the LibDem party and the more vocal grass-roots, such as myself, on current proposals to extent interception powers. It was more than a little enlightening and certainly heated at times. It included the Senior Policy Advisors, (SPAds) special advisors and policy unit staff who are Liberal Democrats, but work alongside the Civil Service. Much of the job of a SPAd for example is to tell a Civil Servant that they're proposing something the minister won't stand for, without having to worry the minister too much about it. It's also ...
So, this morning's news brings noises that the leadership appear to be moving in the right direction on the CCDP, and they are certainly making the right noises on the secret trial plans too, but I still don't think they are there, and I still don't think they get that civil liberties are a red line issue, not just for me, but for many Lib Dems. The usual progress of contentious policy in the coalition appears to beThe Tories (or their underlings) announce something The Lib Dem leadership says "Our members probably won't like that, but we'll try and get ...
I'm glad to announce my candidacy for Liberal Youth Vice Chair. Firstly, I want to talk about what I have achieved over the last year working on the Liberal Youth Executive. As England Convenor, I've revived Liberal Youth England (LYE) by writing its constitution from scratch. It's not perfect, but it was a starting point ...
Initial reports that the Government wants to change how private communications data can be stored and accessed have rightly caused great concern, not least amongst Liberal Democrat activists and Parliamentarians who all seek to safeguard civil liberties from erosion ... Continue reading →
Walking: it's time to take action on this major terrorist threat | Mark Pack Count Packula illustrates the absurdity of the CCDP proposals (tags: ) The Fireplace Delusion : Sam Harris Today seems to be a day for good analogies (tags: ) EHRC - Commission's statement on privacy (tags: ) BBC News - Pupils 'made more violent by computer games' Surely the headline on this hould be "Pupils made more violent by crap, inattentive parenting"? Who do the daft bloody media think supplies the computer games/internet connection/games console/etc. (tags: ) Taking potshots at Labour is not enough AC McG makes ...
Crime has continued to fall in Cheadle and Gatley over the last year – continuing a trend that's seen crime falling for the last few years and many fewer victims of crime. But there are still problems. Burglary is down, but one burglary is one too many. Shoplifting is up and police are working hard to tackle the well-publicised increase in metal thefts, due to the soaring price of scrap metal. Police are once again based at the police post in Cheadle village, so we have police based in the heart of our community instead of being stuck out on ...
Wed 4th
09:43
On iplayer -If you get the trivia question about William Wallace boy chorister BBC Radio 4 has the a...
If you get the trivia question about William Wallace in a Lib Dem quiz one evening BBC Radio 4 are broadcasting all the possible answers on Tuesday http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01f5lcx Now on iplayer same link
Wed 4th
09:22
Advice for the Lib Dems from some of the most successful people on the planet: Are we doing the righ...
It is 'common knowledge' that you have to make your own mistakes but this is perhaps the worst piece of advice there is. Life is too short to make every mistake yourself and if you did you would probably be dead or certainly wouldn't get very far in life. Learning from other's mistakes is an ...
Over the last year I've had three meetings with Norman Baker MP, both pressing the case for transport improvements in our area and discussing how we can better work together with the Department of Transport and the various other agencies. Areas discussed include: - A new tram-train service for Cheadle and Gatley, and for Marple. Tram-trains are a low-cost light rail that's used on the continent and is currently being trialled on a line going into Doncaster. We expect those trials to take a while to finish. Hopefully, tram-train will get the go-ahead to be pushed out nationally in the ...
This year's budget was, in general, a good one for Lib Dems. Most notably, the party's number one priority of taking more low-paid workers out of tax was fast-tracked, while the controversies, and specifically the cut in the 50p top-rate at a time when pensioners' tax allowances are being frozen, have hit their Tory backers' support in the polls. However, there is one lesser noticed and malign Budget change, the 'Charity Tax' — a cap on tax relief which threatens to cost the charitable sector hundreds of millions of pounds — which has not attracted mainstream media attention. That needs ...
Further to my update last week about the problem of stones on the Riverside pitches, there were still problems at the weekend when two of the six pitches were still unplayable. I have been again in touch with the City Council's Environment Department about the situation and am on Wave 102 news regarding the concern this morning - click 'play' to listen:
The Daily Mail isn't popular with Liberal Democrat members. It is, however, popular amongst Liberal Democrat voters. If you're one of the former puzzled about the latter, today's edition provides a good example of one of the reasons why this is so: the Daily Mail has a leader on an issue of civil liberties, praising Nick Clegg for taking the liberal line and calling for more of the same. There's rather more to the Daily Mail than the usual simple descriptions capture.
From 4 Non Blondes last week... to 2 Princes this week. Yep, it's the Spin Doctors with the biggest of their hits. Indeed, it if wasn't for the moderate success of earlier single "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" (which I probably prefer), they'd pretty much qualify as One Hit Wonders! Andrew
When I took my 16+ (then called "O" levels)and 18+ "A" level examinations in the 1950s they were set by the rather grandly named Northern Universities Joint Matriculation Board, NUJMB or JMB for short. No one doubted their integrity or veracity, which may be because that was a more deferential age, but I suspect also because they did what they did honestly and to the best of their ability in the light of the teaching materials and examination techniques available at the time. I don't actually know, but am fairly certain that, although they would levy a charge to cover ...
No, no, no! That is my answer to Lynne Featherstone's recent email to LibDem members. No, no, no! You simply cannot extend the RIPA powers to monitor communications. You must instead reform RIPA and introduce tighter controls on monitoring communications. I've spent a few days just counting the number of emails from LibDem activists in my email account, all of them appalled by what the government is proposing. I have never had so many emails on any subject. I've had more emails about this than spam emails saying things like "Be the pied piper of chicks". But I have kept ...
I don't think anyone ever thought there was much love lost between Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone. The explosion of expletives that Johnson let fly at Livingstone in a lift yesterday merely confirmed matters. It's unedifying to say the least: London is an ancient and venerable city, and yet it finds itself potentially in the ...
Just to let people know I'm still alive. I'm currently only able to write about 1000 words a day, because I'm working, and those words haven't been appearing here because they're parts of longer things — my piece on Something Else By The Kinks is about 3300 words long now (that will be up tomorrow, ...
None of the 33 level 1 & 2 partners in Durham's new Visitor Information Network are in Consett. The network has been set up by private businesses and the county council to provide a mainly technological replacement for the Tourist Information Centres that the county formerly had, with computer and touch screen terminals backing up some limited face to face-to-face provision, and all linked to the Visitor Contact Centre which handles telephone, postal, email and text enquiries. Apparently Durham gets around 5.5 million visitors a year, and 1% (around 55,000) of them used to use the Tourist Information Centres. Let's ...
