TIL that high ropes courses and remaining dignified do not go hand-in-hand. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
There's a big storm at the moment over the US Department of Justice going after several of the biggest publishers for alleged price-fixing of ebooks, which they allegedly did in order to prevent Amazon having a monopoly on book sales. Charles Stross has the best summary I've seen of the expected effects, here. Now, a ...
This year's Social Liberal Forum Conference – on the theme of Social justice for today's youth and future generations – is being held on 21st July at King's College, London. Nick Clegg will be delivering the inaugural William Beveridge Memorial Lecture, while Ed Davey will be talking about economics for future generations. The current plan is to run parallel sessions on the following topics: Is the government tackling the causes of the riots? Does inequality only matter when it becomes intergenerational? Well-being through the generations Is education the key to social mobility? The housing generation gap The great care scandal ...
On Thursday, I attended my first TeaCamp. It's a mini-meetup for UK Gov folk doing interesting digital things. These are some random jotterings based on the discussions both at the event and at BeerCamp afterwards. All conversations were under Chatham House Rules. Social Media is a problem for all organisations – whether public or private. Rightly or wrongly, the "public" see an organisation as having a single mind and a single focus. Anything which gives the impression of a lack of unit cohesion is extremely troublesome. But troublesome for who exactly? Part of the issue with social media is its ...
At the conference in Birmingham I would say I was satisfied with the way police dealt with security. It may have something to do with being raised in Northern Ireland that I noticed certain things that maybe many of my party colleagues didn't quite see, or maybe didn't quite understand was was going on, such as swabs off various parts of the ICC first thing in the morning, or the odd movement at the edge of my peripheral vision. Of course while I may have been satisfied with how the security operation went at Birmingham, that has to be taken ...
My other half captured some of the scene in Göynük with her iPad; hopefully this brief video can convey some of what words fail to express. Watch this video on YouTube Embedded with WP YouTube Lyte.
Andrew Wiseman, the Chair of the Liberal Democrats' Federal Conference Committee (FCC: and someone I like and respect), has announced on the Lib Dem Voice website the police's instruction to impose the discriminatory and controversial accreditation process to decide who attends our Conference (the only party conference that actually decides anything, so the police potentially blocking people from attending is interference in the functioning of the party). A post not written by him, but on behalf of FCC, can be viewed at I've made my views plain in the past. Party members wishing to express theirs have only a ...
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You would have to be on Mars not to know that the combination of Ealing Council and its new waste and recycling contractor, Enterprise, in combination have left some areas of Ealing and Chiswick with many days of no waste collection. After regularly visiting different roads over the past two weeks, the winner for the road in Southfield, Chiswick that Enterprise has ignored the most is Esmond Road. See some pictures today of three examples you can see walking from South Parade northwards on Esmond Road (there are about twenty occasions where waste is waiting to be collected): Exhibit OneExhibit ...
I blogged recently that Nina Boyd is researching a group of wealthy ladies who were committed antivivisectionists - one of them Nora Logan, the daughter of the Liberal MP for Harborough J.W. Logan. Nina has now written a little more about this project on her website: I am researching a group of women who committed their lives to animal welfare. They lived and worked together from the beginning of the twentieth century until the last of them died in the 1960s. Margaret Damer Dawson, Nora Logan, Nina Duchess of Hamilton and Brandon, Lizzie Lind af Hageby, Leisa Schartau and Berthe ...
Sat 14th
18:45
"Hard to believe she's just 16!" The headline that sums up the morality of the Daily Mail
Next time that esteemed family newspaper [/irony] the Daily Mail screams at the permissive society for its outrages against decent family values it will be worth recalling this article and its beyond-parody headline: Hard to believe she's just 16! Kendall Jenner looks older than her years as she shows off her model shape in stunning bikini shoot For those who feel they must, here's the link. As one of the Mail's readers, Daisy from Asia, comments with admirable understatement: Bit worrying that she's only 16 – who exactly are these photos aimed at? I'm not sure that question need detain ...
...of my distant cousin Frederic Whyte's biography of the campaigning journalist W.T. Stead (the reason why I am posting this becomes clear on the fourth page of six).
My applause for last month's Budget on this blog looks more out of touch by the day. The Budget has led to a string of PR difficulties, for which the government seemed ill-prepared. First it was the age-related allowances, then hot takeaway food, and now it is charitable giving. Perhaps the back-and-forth of coalition deal making leaves the PR behind. But what the last week shows above all is just how skilled the charitable sector is at public relations and lobbying. There is quite a bit of fuss about corporate lobbying in politics, but businesses look flat-footed by comparison. The ...
There's no prize at stake - just the opportunity to prove you're wittier than any other LDV reader... Here is Tory Chancellor George Osborne flanked by the two Lib Dem members of the 'Quad', Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander. What do you think might be being said or thought by or about them? And the winners of our last caption comp is... Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Tim Farron & Prince Charles "I want that hat" Edition. The winners, according to The Voice's judging panel of one, was this one by Nick (not Clegg): Tim to ...
Brian Paddick and his Liberal Democrat team has said that part of the solution to the housing crisis is to make better use of our existing assets, including empty homes. He has pledged: To create an extra 40,000 homes in the spaces above London shopsTo bring empty homes in London back into use as affordable housing, insisting boroughs establish clear strategies for tackling empty properties and so bring 50,000 empty and underused properties back into use as housing.With retailers and transport companies, identify unused urban space above and around supermarkets and stations for affordable housing and make it easier for ...
Any organisation with a heavy reliance on the commercial sector for its financial solvency is bound to run into problems when its sponsors turn out to have difficult-to-defend practices or connections. For the London Olympics to market itself as the most ethical ever therefore was just asking for trouble. This morning's Independent brought those problems to organisers in spades by revealing that Olympic-branded gear, which is to be worn by British athletes and Games volunteers, is being manufactured for Adidas in sweatshop conditions in Indonesia. They say that with just over 100 days to go before the Games begin, their ...
I noticed John Scalzi's challenge to his readers to read this year's Best Short Story nominees, and thought that this would be as good a day as any to get through them myself. They are all short, they are all available for free online, and three of them are very good. My preferences will be allocated as follows (in traditional reverse order of preference). 6) "The Homecoming", by Mike Resnick (PDF). The Hugo shortlists seem to feature a lot of stories about Alzheimer's, and I have never read one in the short fiction categories that was any good at all. ...
There is an old episode of the Simpson's which the evil Aliens Kang and Kodos replace Bob Dole and Bill Clinton and so the people of America are doomed to vote for one or the other evil Aliens. Homer Simpson suggests voting for a third party candidate. Yeah Sure. Throw your vote away!!! Basically this is what Councillor Osborne, Medway Labour Press officer is suggesting. Labour is the only voice of opposition to the incompetent Tories. The first part of the blog post is, rightly pointing out the Council overspend on the Stoke Crossing and calling the Council to account. ...
Part Night Lighting Scheme – Progress update from Herts County Council The conversion of Hertfordshire County Council owned street lights in St Albans district to part-night operation commenced on 1st March 2012. By 16th March just over 4,000 of the district's lights had been converted. The conversion target for the district is 9,928 units or approximately 75% of HCC lights in the district. During the period 1-16th March works progress by division was as per the table below. Works have yet to commence in the other four divisions. 51 Sandridge 96% 43 Harpenden North East 93% 48 St Albans Rural ...
Federal Conference this autumn takes place in Brighton, and as you would expect FCC and conference office staff are in discussion with Sussex police about security arrangements for conference. 1. Security at conference Most security arrangements will be those we always have at conference and are not controversial among conference-goers (as shown by reps' feedback). The Brighton venue is of course very used to these levels of security, both for our conferences and those of other parties. The police and security services have however also requested that we use 'accreditation' for conference reps. There are widely different views within the ...
I don't tend to watch the Royal Variety Show and so I've only just discovered this absolute gem from last years show from the ever-fabulous Tim Minchin. There are not many superlatives I can't throw at this - it is, quite simply, one of the best things I have EVER seen. That's not hyperbole - I defy you to watch this and not be in awe of his lyrical and musical dexterity and the precision with which he executes his "Three Minute Song": Enjoy: Andrew
[IMG: Winston Churchill] "I am an English Liberal. I hate the Tory Party, their men, their words and their methods." So said Winston Churchill in 1903. As a Liberal, Churchill held high government office and, along with Lloyd George, was regarded as one of the driving forces of Asquith's reforming administration. Was Liberalism his true political ideology? Or should we judge his position from his re-ratting in 1924 and his long association and later leadership of the Conservatives? Those were the questions posed in the latest Liberal Democrat History Group meeting, held at the party's spring conference. In case you ...
Yesterday's Daily Mail told us that Lembit Opik would be making his debut as a wrestler at Welshpool Town Hall last night. I had a search on the net, but as the only mentions I could find suggested he would merely be attending the event I did not blog about it. But look what happened last night. Lembit did attend the wresting, and the County Times, the Mid Wales newspaper, reports that he was "unable to keep his mouth shut and managed to talk himself into a grudge match with Welsh bad boy Kade Callous at the same venue on ...
A response to my It's not as if the presenter on a TV news program needs to do anything other than look pretty and be drooled over, is it? from the author of the said Evening Standard piece: I'm glad to have got your attention. I think it right to bring different criteria to assessing the performance of a breakfast time tv presenter reading an autocue than to evaluating the inaugural lecture of a Regius Professor. I'm sorry the distinction escapes you. Good of him to respond, even if the reply leaves me unconvinced.
The link is to an interesting story that people read forward into the current policies in the UK.
Well, Wirral Council's Standards Committee meet on Monday afternoon to agree a new Code of Conduct. They have a late report (item 4) on the agenda that recommends that they adopt a Code of Conduct that applies to the conduct of councillors (and independent Members). True to Wirral Council form though, the appendix recommends at ...
We stumbled upon the Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris on our recent visit. We loved it so much we went back and each bought a book. We must have spent over an hour in there all told. It is near Notre Dame, and sells the latest (English language) books, but it has the shambolic, lived-in feel of a second hand bookshop. It's staffed by young Americans and has little alcoves to sit and read, plus there's a piano upstairs that regularly gets played. A beautiful cultural oasis...so much so that I was tempted to buy a novel for once. ...
Here's your starter for ten in our weekend slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate... Incumbent Mayoral candidate Boris Johnson has developed plans for Londoners to keep more of the tax revenue generated in the city to spend on better public services. Boris said the capital should be getting a greater return from the tax it contributes to the exchequer. According to the Evening Standard the equivalent of £2,500 for every Londoner goes to other parts of the UK rather than being spent on public services in the capital. Boris Johnson said that London should no ...
Image adaptation and resizing is a hot topic at the moment. With devices of varying screensize accessing your site, how do you ensure that the crappy 240*240 phone gets a reasonable experience while still making everything look gorgeous on the retina-busting iPad? One of the very first things we're taught in HTML school is that we should separate content and style. <span font="comic sans" colour="red">This is wrong!</span> Instead, we should be doing <span class="stylish">This is corrent!</span> Yet, the very next thing we're taught is <img src="example.jpg" height="120" width="90" /> Well hang on a second! We've mixed up content (example.jpg) with ...
Northstowe Development Site The next meeting will be on the 18th April 2012 at Cottenham Village College, the agenda is; Welcome & introductionsAgree minutes from the last meeting/ Matters arising (available here - via Google Docs)Legal matters Review of the representations Feedback from the first meeting of the Northstowe Economic Development Group Update on the Northstowe Team Upcoming site visits Any other business Future meeting dates: 16th May and 20th June The agenda is also available as a document here (via Google Docs). The representative for Bar Hill at the meeting will be our County Councillor John Reynolds, if you ...
Cllr Andy Pellew 4,000 children across Cambridgeshire are to get free cycle training over the next academic year as part of Transport Minister Norman Baker MPs boost to cycling. The Government will hand £160,000 to Cambridgeshire County Council to fund training in 2012/13 as part of an national strategy that will deliver £11 million as part of a national fund. In addition, Norman Baker has increased the funding for the following two academic years by £2 million. This means that the Government will spend over £35 million on teaching children to cycle safely, competently and confidently on the road over ...
Cambridge MP Julian Huppert 4,000 children across Cambridgeshire are to get free cycle training over the next academic year as part of Transport Minister Norman Baker MPs boost to cycling. The Government will hand £160,000 to Cambridgeshire County Council to fund training in 2012/13 as part of an national strategy that will deliver £11 million as part of a national fund. In addition, Norman Baker has increased the funding for the following two academic years by £2 million. This means that the Government will spend over £35 million on teaching children to cycle safely, competently and confidently on the road ...
Alison McInnes MSP With the start of the new school term on Monday, my weekly surgeries across the West End recommence with surgeries on Monday at : Mitchell Street Centre, (The Base) at 4.20pmHarris Academy, (Main Reception) at 4.50pm On Monday, I will be joined by Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, for more joint MSP/councillor surgeries - all West End residents welcome!
There's nothing quite like the Muslim call to prayer. I heard it earlier this afternoon while walking through an open air market. The air was full of the sharp scent of citrus, the earthy smell of fresh vegetables, and the spiky odour of fish out on display. Mothers and grandmothers manned their stalls, haggling with ...
Someone asked me the other day what I did for a living so I created the term Direct-to-Learner™ or Direct-to-Student™ business to describe it. Direct-to-fan is a business model that has been around for a while, where musicians bypass the major label system to sell direct to their fans. In a similar way the Direct-to-Learner™ ...
I first heard this in my local pub the other week. The wonderful Willoughby Arms in Kingston.
