I'll have some proper posts up later this week, but for now, links: A really nice post on Cosmic Variance talking about something I'd somehow missed, even though it's research from 13 years ago and quite widely known — David Deutsch showed that you can derive the Born rule by using the Many Worlds Interpretation ...
I've never been to a party conference before. The closest I've come is watching proceedings on TV and local party's AGM. The first lacks the atmosphere, the camaraderie, the hustle and bustle, the immediacy and the nights at the bar and the second, well it's a different sort of event altogether! This year, though, that's all set to change. In September, I'll be packing my bags and heading off to Brighton. I'm really looking forward to it - to meeting new people, many of whom I interact with online. To the big speeches from Nick Clegg, Tim Farron, our various ...
Mon 16th
23:14
The Liberal Democrat FCC should stick to party policy on the accreditation of conference representat...
In the middle many people's local election campaigns and with a post on one blog, the chair of the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference Committee (FCC) has launched a consultation on conference accreditation. This is an odd way of doing things, particularly as it is rumoured that the exercise came as a surprise to some FCC members. But it is even odder than that. The subject was debated and decided at the party's last Autumn Conference. Andrew Emmerson has the text of the motion that was passed in Birmingham last year. So my reply to this consultation is that FCC should ...
Mon 16th
23:10
Nadine Dorries has a story to tell me involving bedroom,a deck chair,role playing and a hasty exit
It's pretty standard Twitter urban myth that Nadine Dorries once tried to get selected as a Lib Dem PPC (Prospective Parliamentary Candidate to me and you) seeing this brought up earlier in the day, I simply suggested that somebody ask Nadine, nobody was keen, so in my politest manner I did. The response may surprise some of you: @AAEmmerson Not quite, bt I can tell you a v funny story about a bedroom,a deck chair,role playing and a hasty exit if you want to email me! — Nadine Dorries MP (@NadineDorriesMP) April 16, 2012 @violacadan @AAEmmerson Mustblog it. SO funny. ...
A head of steam has been building for a while on the lack of transparency on Greenwich Council and this has now resulted in action. Cross party, and no party, activists, including the Greenwich Liberal Democrats, are calling for a change to the way the Council operates and return to the committee system from the current leader ...
Mon 16th
22:52
Polls, Polls, Polls, Polls, Polls, Polls, Polls, Polls...UKIP third largest party in the UK.
UKIP are now the third most supported party. Dramatic news. Whilst watching Arsenal play with nine men v Wigan this evening (seriously where were Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey) the bastion of politics The Sun were busy tweeting and boy they were tweeting something that will change the face of politics in the UK. It is so important I don't think I can waffle on and can ignore typing it (well copying and pasting) any longer. No I seriously have to do it right now. Need to get the news out in case some people haven't heard the news. So ...
A proud day for me today. The official unveiling of The Royal Welsh Way at Bodysgallen Hall. My thanks to everyone who made this happen. Road signs almost all in place along the section of the A470 (Roundabout of A55 north along the A470 to Roundabout Marl Lane) Pic courtesy of Robin Formstone.
I apologise for any rain you may have encountered this evening. Unless of course you are one of the people who was added to the drought area earlier today, in which case you're welcome. Saturday may have been the first friendly match of the season but that was away. It was also the opening day of the greens at Ward Park, Bangor where my team North Down play their home matches. Therefore today I was always going to get down there to play a few ends. Of course this morning the Sun was out, but I was helping my Mum ...
A strange, maybe even disconcerting number... what does it mean, what's the story? Well, it marks the swing from Labour to Respect in Bradford West. George Galloway, now once again sworn into Parliament shows how the 'new politics' is still to come. In an era where we see growing calls for a new solution to ... Read more
Ileft it a while before blogging this, and I thought my moment hadpassed, but today's news that MI5 had failed to renew their security certificate gave my thoughts a new lease of life. A furore greetedthe government's publication a few days ago of its plans for aninoffensively named "Communications Capabilities DevelopmentProgramme" i.e. giving themselves the ability to spy on who you'retalking to and when and by what medium in real time without having toask anybody's permission. There was a rapid pull back when theyrealised that they couldn't just push it through without anybodynoticing. Reaction in the LibDem half of the ...
I am a Liberal. I find that the term is used by people who have no stake in it to mean things I don't recognise - and sometimes by people who do have a stake in it. It also means different things in different places - so I thought I'd define what it meant to me. It isn't altogether strange that the word means such different things in different countries: after all, the military dictatorship of Myanmar (Burma) calls itself Socialist, as does the main French centre-left party, which has its faults but is certainly democratic and civilian; and the ...
Today, I had the pleasure of campaigning with North East Scotland MSP Alison McInnes across the West End, starting with a visit to Dundee rail station, at which Alison and I welcomed potential improvements that would see station refurbishment to the tune of £14 million - see right. A report to the City Council's Policy and Resources Committee next week identifies that £11.68m of the funding has been secured with the remaining £2.23m being sought from Network Rail. It is vital that remaining funding is achieved and I will be seeking assurances to achieve that. After visiting the rail station, ...
Thanks to my New Statesman article from 2008, longstanding readers will know all about Dr William Penny Brookes from Much Wenlock and his place in the founding of the modern Olympics. But this film may help introduce him to a wider audience.
Mon 16th
21:12
Opinion: If rich philanthropists don't like the idea of a tax exemption limit, they know what they c...
It is as if George Osborne has got a political death wish. First, there was the botched pensioners' tax announcement. Then, there was the hilarious pasty tax. Now, the charitable donations tax ememption limit idea is attracting great opprobrium. But hang on a minute. There is something in that tax exemption threshold idea. It is quite wrong that tax exemption is given for donations to "charities" beyond the remit of the Charities Commission. There is rather vague talk of unspecified East European "charities" being used. But, in any case, I think most people would be surprised to learn that donations ...
no news. Today's Judicial Review of the Belle Vue Town or Village Green application was adjourned until Friday after a day largely taken up with a careful establishment of the historical facts, followed by the applicant's case as to why they believe that an error of law had been made by the council in reaching the decision to refuse the application for Belle Vue to be registered as a Town or Villlage Green. It's probably true that chess lacks spectator appeal, and the same may be thought true of the legal process as we were taken through statute after statute, ...
Now that you've graduated, and you've got your degree in your hands, you've realized that you don't want to be a psychologist. After battling through Harvard, or got the best PhD online, and completing your thesis, you think that the last thing you want to do is listen to people's problems. What do you do now? You're not alone: more than 75% of psychology degree graduates go on to work outside specifically psychological careers, and about 40% go on to higher education. There are dozens of untapped markets for those interested in psychology work outside counseling. Despite the many options ...
Tim Farron writes to tell me that no Liberal Democrat-run council in England has raised its Council Tax: While Labour and the Tories fight over how many of their councils raised Council Tax, it's clear that with the Liberal Democrats your money is safest: no Liberal Democrat-run council in England has raised Council Tax. This stands in stark contrast to Tory and Labour-run councils which have been racking up the Council Tax in these difficult times. Ordinary working families are struggling already with paying bills, without their councils increasing the burden.Yes, times are hard, but I find myself a little ...
Mon 16th
19:50The latest security theatre shows that the FCC has grown stale. It's time for a change.
The Federal Conference Committee, the committee responsible for organising Liberal Democrat conferences has launched a whitewash designed to ignore the will of conference "listening exercise" on Lib Dem Voice asking people to email their thoughts on an accreditation (conferenceinformation@libdems.org.uk). The fact that they are even asking shows just how stale and out of touch they are. It's time for a change. I should make it clear that I'm fully aware that not all of the FCC are in favour of this, and indeed many have argued against. Alas, there voices were not strong enough and will rightly or wrongly suffer ...
The new issue of Liberator is on its way to subscribers, so it is time to spend some more time with Rutland's most celebrated peer. This time is Diary is devoted to answering questions from his readers. Here are the first. "In 2010, I told the prime minister that his Health Bill was probably OK and I'd support it, but I didn't read it properly first as I got bored after the first 50 pages. I now find that it is about as popular as a return to the use of leeches in medical practice. Can you advise me?" - ...
Alton Towers latest TV adverts, featuring a black man peering out of the darkness beside the words "your worst nightmare" smacks of crude racial stereotyping. The screen-grab (above) was taken from a ten-second ad screened last night on Channel 5. ... Continue reading →
Life is just so different these days, lounging around Flaig mansions this afternoon having been up earlier this morning for the benefit of BBC radio Kent, to give them my uncharacteristic upbeat appraisal of the Turner contemporary, with little spoiling between now and work, I thought I'd watch a film on Netflix. The choice is not extensive however it is generally easier than finding a DVD and stuffing it in the player, still life is not always that easy, for some reason films would not display however categories did and I was somewhat surprised that a category exists for gay ...
We have confirmed that the application has been refused. It is due to the possible building of a care home on the site.
Tomorrow I'll be off to the European Parliament in Strasbourg for three days as part of an EU scheme to give bloggers and journalists a better understanding of the EU. I've arranged to meet and briefly interview several Lib Dem MEPs and I'll naturally be blogging about my experiences. It should be fairly interesting to see what my impressions are as I'm going there with an open mind yet have, so far, gone from being devoutly pro-EU to radically eurosceptic (I once voted UKIP, ugh) and then back to the Lib Dem brand of euro-reformism. So I can't wait to ...
It's reasonably typical in an economic downturn, especially in economic downturn that is so manipulated by political houses to demonstrate who is right and who is wrong, but the issue of tax avoidance is never far from the news nowadays. In line with this, the work by the Coalition, comprised of the centre-left Liberal Democrat ...
The deadline for getting onto the electoral roll, or for getting a postal vote, for the local and Mayoral elections this May is Wednesday this week. If you are not on the roll, but want to be, you need to sign a form and get it back to the electoral services section of the Council by 5pm. You can download an electoral registration form, and a postal voting form, from the Electoral Commission website which you can find here.http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/
Redrow Homes have put in a planning application for more houses (and some flats) on the Cressington Heath Development. You can see the details on the Council's planning explorer section The detail of the application is actually in the section called "Related Documents".
Mon 16th
16:54
Tom Brake MP writes...Complex benefit cases must be brought back within the scope of legal aid
There is a political consensus around the need to reform Legal Aid. Indeed Labour oversaw thirty reviews and consultations on the subject whilst in power. The UK's legal aid spend is one of the highest in the world, with many cases coming before the courts which do not necessarily require legal expertise to resolve. The coalition government's aim to deliver savings of £350 million from the annual Legal Aid budget by 2015 amounts to a relatively modest saving of 17% against the £2 billion per annum Legal Aid bill, and many of the measures proposed relate to efficiency rather than ...
Mon 16th
16:28
Matthew Harris: Can I quietly, respectfully and judiciously suggest that you are DEAD WRONG? All bes...
Matthew Harris (who has an excellent blog) has written a couple of blog posts (here and here) criticising me and several other bloggers who wrote up accounts of 'that' conference call on the proposed Snooping legislation. Do read the posts in full to get the whole picture - and so Matthew's views can be properly understood. But in summary, the first post criticises the fact that the details of the calls were reported (he uses a West Wing analogy to suggest it should have been kept in the family) and the second post to suggest at the very least a ...
The latest issue of Liberator magazine (issue no.352 - April 2012) has just been mailed to subscribers. In the unlikely event that you are not yet a subscriber, here's a summary of the contents: The editorial column Commentary examines the misjudgements that led to the health bill. It also explains why the Liberal Democrats need a distinct economic policy. The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin begins with the inside story of the debacle of the health debate at the Gateshead conference. 'A matter of numbers' - Ruth Bright (Liberal Democrat candidate in Hampshire East in 2005) says that body confidence ...
Here is a link to my favourite song ever. With the festival season just around the corner and legendary local bands such as The Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays recently announcing their reformation and Spring/Summer tours, I thought ... Continue reading →
I was all set to write a piece outlining my views on conference accreditation when Caron sent around this rather excellent piece that said everything I wanted to say and more - so pop over over there to read her contribution. But the long and the short of it is that the FCC have asked for comments on what the party thinks of the need to get accreditation for conference. They sent it on Saturday afternoon, and you only have a week to make your feelings plain. There's an e mail address to respond to conferenceinformation@libdems.org.uk Given the views expressed ...
Saturday: Please, please, please read this GOLDEN posting from Mr Dave and then take the time to write - POLITELY - to the FCC (conferenceinformation@libdems.org.uk) about their BLITHERING proposals to let the POLICE decide who can come to OUR Conference. Please remind them that we're the Liberal DEMOCRATS and not the "Liberal DO-WHAT-THE-FUZZ-SAYS-OCATS". Only POLITELY. Here's what Daddy Richard wrote:I am distressed to learn from Andrew Wiseman's article for Liberal Democrat Voice of 14th April that once again you are considering conceding to the police the right to conduct checks on which of our members are permitted to attend Federal ...
Mon 16th
13:54Opinion: If rich philanthropists don't like the idea of a tax exemption limit, they know what they c...
It is as if George Osborne has got a political death wish. First, there was the botched pensioners' tax announcement. Then, there was the hilarious pasty tax. Now, the charitable donations tax ememption limit idea is attracting great opprobrium. But hang on a minute. There is something in that tax exemption threshold idea. It is quite wrong that tax exemption is given for donations to "charities" beyond the remit of the Charities Commission. There is rather vague talk of unspecified East European "charities" being used. But, in any case, I think most people would be surprised to learn that donations ...
When I was a youngun my dad had the Reader's Digest Complete DIY Manual, and it was bloody fabulous. Clear, concise, well illustrated, and comprehensive, The DIY Book (as it was referred to in our house) rarely ever got put back on the shelf, because it was so constantly in use. It had step by step instructions for how to do EVERYTHING a DIY enthusiast might possibly want to, and a few things that even my dad baulked at trying. So when I decided to take up machine sewing recently, and a couple of websites (yes I'm looking at you, ...
I have previously commented on nations more liberal and more tolerant than ours with respect to their treatment of those who choose to smoke. In addition to Germany and The Netherlands I have observed pragmatic approaches that guarantee smoke free air for the many without victimising the significant few in France, Austria and Switzerland. It is mildly surprising that Switzerland offers some of the best facilities for travelling smokers despite being home to the WHO an organization that seeks to impose its politicised extra budgetary funded will on all without actually having to do anything as inconvenient as obtaining a ...
Hot on the heels of my paper on Planning in a Free Society, the IEA has published a paper by my colleague, Kristian Niemietz, entitled Abundance of land, shortage of housing. No prizes for guessing what Kristian's conclusions are. I strongly recommend reading the report, but if you are in a hurry, here is the summary from the IEA website: Not enough is being done to reduce the extraordinarily high cost of housing in Britain. This is the finding of a new report released today by the Institute of Economic Affairs Abundance of land, shortage of housing. In the research ...
Mon 16th
13:00Reason why The Sun politics isn't worth the paper it is written on #297 - Lib Dems to be reduced to ...
'Sun poll: Lib Dem big guns face boot as MPs in meltdown at election' booms out a headline in today's edition of The Sun. A headline we have seen before but heck why not read it once more? Let's have a look at the first few paragraphs: THE Lib Dems will be almost wiped out at the next General Election — losing all but SEVEN of their current 57 MPs, a major poll predicts today. The most high-profile casualty will be party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Other top guns getting the boot include Business Secretary Vince Cable, ...
Willie Rennie appeared on yesterday's Sunday Politics along with SNP minister Alex Neil and Labour's finance spokesman Richard Baker to talk about SNP cuts in grants to bus companies which have led to job losses, service reductions and what Willie described as "chaos". Willie calmly outlined to the minister how he could reverse the cuts by using consequentials from the Budget. He also suggested that we need to look again at whether we can afford free bus travel for every 60 year old and whether we should roll this back to 65. So, he made two sensible suggestions about how ...
We have seen much furore over the effects that a restriction on the level of higher rate tax relief for charitable deductions may have on philanthropy. Nine out of ten charities are opposed to such a move and warn that large donations could reduce by as much as 20%. In the Lib Dem 2010 manifesto, we proposed reforming gift aid to operate at a single rate of 23%, giving more money to charity while closing down a loophole for higher rate taxpayers. The 2010 manifesto also proposed giving tax relief on pensions only at the basic rate, so that everyone ...
Or: My Party is turning me into Granny Weatherwax When All I Want to Be is Nanny Ogg (with apologies to those of you who do not read Pterry; some of this might be a bit opaque to you. This and this might help before you start) You guys know me. I'm a good time girl. All I want to do* is have a few beers and sing lewd songs, and enable others to do the same if they want to. My personal investment in the character of Gytha Ogg is so great that she's front and centre in the ...
Brian Paddick and Pauline Pearce on their campaign for the May 3 elections.
One of my more pungent posts is in this week's Golden Dozen as Number Six in the Top Seven most-read Lib Dem blog postings of the week (if you're wondering how something called the Golden Dozen can involve a Top Seven, then I must tell you that it all makes sense if you're a Liberal Democrat). So, was I wrong? I am wrong sometimes. There was that time in 1976. A great virtue of blogging is that it enables one to say what one is thinking in the moment, straight away. That is what can give blogging a ...
Lib Dems in Southport have been in the forefront of the campaign for a fairer deal on public transport locally. At the 28 March meeting of the Southport Area Committee, Cambridge Ward's Pat Keith raised the issue of the 40% increase in Arriva Child Bus Fares. She successfully persuaded the councillors to unanimously back a motion calling for Arriva to rethink the massive increase. Now my Birkdale Ward colleague Councillor Shaw has carried out an investigation which reveals that Arriva charge higher bus fares in Southport and Formby than they do in Liverpool. "I think it's absolutely disgraceful. Our local ...
Eastercon reports @lizbatty has an impressive collection. (tags: eastercon ) Belgium explained | New Europe Andy Carling: "Brussels calls itself the Capital of Europe and acts like an obscure hamlet." (tags: belgium )
At a meeting organised by Thrive last Friday the usually silent and ignored voices of asylum seekers and refugees were heard by those who need to hear. For some time now those housed under a contract given by the UK Borders Agency (UKBA) to a local private housing provider had been experiencing problems that no decent person in our country would find acceptable. Some had complained to the housing provider, but been met with no action at best, indifference, or verbal and racist abuse at worst. The issues revolved around no more than the need to be treated with dignity ...
You kind of expect motions passed at Federal Conference about Federal Conference to be taken seriously by Federal Conference Committee. Especially in a year when they're up for election. Unfortunately the message from the motion on Accreditation for attendees at Conference does not seem to have got through. This motion condemned the system and called on Parliamentarians to work with the Police to question the need for such a system. After all, we should not tolerate a situation where the Police dictate who can engage in the political process and how they can do it. That's completely unacceptable in a ...
In a mixed paradigm environment, how do you ensure content is surfaced which is context specific? By which I mean – how do you make your content serve the user's time-bound constraints? What I'm trying to say is – serendipitous discovery must be restricted based on temporal imperatives. Or, to break it down further, a user may only have a specific amount of time to dedicate to your app; how do you deal with that? In a mobile game, the interface may present the user a choice of "Quick Play" for when the user is waiting for a bus, "Medium ...
My Response to FCC about #ldconf Accreditation Dave knocks it out of the park. (tags: libdemmery ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Mon 16th
09:55
Charity Tax: let's treat all citizens equally & let's democratically agree what constitutes publ...
I suggested at the end of last week there were reasons to be encouraged that the Coalition might see sense on the Charity Tax. And according to today's Financial Times there does indeed seem to be signs of concession, albeit not a total U-turn: People close to the chancellor have told the Financial Times Mr Osborne is considering two proposals in particular to limit the damage done by his proposed cap on tax reliefs of whichever is higher: 25 per cent of a person's income or £50,000. One plan is to have a separate limit on charitable donations of 50 ...
Mon 16th
09:48
The first solution focused local authority: Significant improvements to council services as a result
In 2009 Reading Borough Council began a new project to use the solution focused approach within one of their directorates; what was called 'Solutions 4 Reading'. It became such a success that they expanded the approach across the whole council. The programme applied the pragmatic and positive Solutions Focus approach to coaching and change to ...
Mon 16th
09:24Paddy Ashdown: If everyone dodged taxes there would be no hospitals, no schools, no welfare
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Paddy Ashdown was at his most forthright on the subject of tax relief for charitable donations. Paddy reminded Marr that he is the President of UNICEF UK, and therefore knows exactly how charities will be hit by the government's proposal of a £50,000 or 25% of income (whichever is higher) limit on tax exempt donations from one individual. But he told Marr that it is the poor who pay when tax monies are diverted excessively to charities. He said that he thought there was a sensible balance to be struck on this ...
I came across these absolutely appalling figures, via the Daily Mirror, the other day. My regular readers (all twelve of them) might recall that one of the topics I'm most likely to get ranty about is the welfare system and the government's welfare reforms which are basically taking support away from the sick and disabled purely in order to save money - without any regard to the human cost. Now, back to the figures from the Daily Mirror. Via a freedom of information request they found the following: We've used the Freedom of Information Act to discover that, between January ...
On Saturday I carried the news that Lembit Opik is make his debut as a wrestler at Welshpool Town Hall on 2 June. Now you can watch a video of the embarrassingly contrived confrontation that led to this turn of events. Liberal Democrat Voice, which has also posted this video, adds the news that Lembit has another ambition. He wants to be elected as Northumbria's first police and crime commissioner. Perhaps it would be better if he became a masked superhero and left it to the commissioner to call upon him in time of need?
Today's Guardian publishes figures which underline why Nick Clegg insisted that the budget include a tycoon tax so as to ensure the rich pay their share of the money needed to reduce the deficit and provide public services. They say that Treasury figures show that almost a thousand UK taxpayers earning more than £1m a year have a tax rate of less than 30% of their income. The Treasury also revealed that of the 200 taxpayers earning more than £10m a year, 12 are paying less than 10% in tax: The new Treasury figures show 10,000 UK taxpayers earn between ...
In the Telegraph, Tim Leunig argues that the hosepipe ban falls unfairly on domestic users, and that there are other ways to use less water: We are among the 20 million people in southern and eastern England affected by a crude prohibition that falls unfairly and disproportionately on domestic users. Drought orders are about to be extended to the Midlands and the South West. Yet there is a better alternative: why can't those of us who want to fill up our children's paddling pools, or turn on the sprinklers to keep our lawns alive, be allowed to pay more to ...
I have been to a dead city. I am not referring to a town that inspires the sentiment of "Marietta's Lied" from Korngold's "Die Töte Stadt"; rather, I speak of the Roman city of Perge. It once thrived but now only is home to stray dogs, of which there are many to be seen sleeping ...
Chris has allocated funds to this but it may take Herts Highways (and in particular the electricity company) up to six months to get round to dealing with it.
Once again, Northern Ireland lags behind progress in the rest of the United Kingdom. The health minister at Stormont, Edwin Poots MLA of the DUP has said that he will not be rushed on lifting the ban on gay men giving blood. Last October, he was quizzed by the health committee in the Northern Ireland ...
Just returned from a short visit north of the border where among other things I took in Saturday's Scottish cup semi final - won by Hibs. But having an hour or so to kill before the game I managed to track down Cathkin Park - home of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers (or Third Lanark) FC from 1872 to 1967. It's an evocative reminder of what happens when unscrupulous football club owners overreach themselves. There's another football club on the south side of the Clyde that could well do to remember this...
