Yesterday, I spoke of the inability of the government to deliver a clear narrative, well Labour is a single party and seems to be having similar troubles itself... The recent coalition government budget has succeeded in exposing the opportunism within the Labour benches... (or maybe its just incompetence?) In the budget there were a number ... Read more
Via @suttonnick: [IMG: Western Mail front page - ] * Mark Pack is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and writes a monthly newsletter about the Liberal Democrats.
I now know what Sky Alantic is for. Recently they showed Game Change, the film about the McCain/Palin 2010 campaign. It is a superb film, which makes some sense of this strange episode in American history. Why? How? ....did the McCain campaign choose Sarah Palin as their VP pick? Did they live to regret it? The film attempts relatively plausible answers to those questions, in an entertaining package. Woody Harrelson is brilliant in the film, as McCain's campaign manager, Steve Schmidt. I was left thinking, as I thought at the time, why didn't McCain just choose Kay Bailey Hutchison? Answer: ...
Today I had the pleasure of attending the retirement bash for my friend Phil Wheeler. Phil has been the other Lib Dem councillor in my ward for the last five years and was my running mate last time we had an election. He had grown up in a political household his mother being Mayor of the village he grew up in. Indeed she was the third woman to be Mayor of that town. Phil started out in the St Andrew's Liberal Club in the early 60's. It was through the party he met his wife Maggie and he then settled ...
Jennie Rigg writes about being an embarrassment to the party ("Or: My Party is turning me into Granny Weatherwax When All I Want to Be is Nanny Ogg.") "Once the bemusement of the situation has died down and you realise that London is, under the glitz and glamour, a city chock full of smells which you usually associate with the aftermath of a drunken New Year's Eve. And with a more than above average homeless population, reality hits home for the desire of your opponent is that you join these unfortunate people." On The New Journalist, Vaughan Jones tells us ...
Predictably the Cabinet rubber-stamped the closure of Broomsdene tip today. In response to the reader who asked what scrutiny there would be of the £1 million plus price tag attributed to the work said to be required for Broomsdene I can confirm that the answer is none. I had already written to ask for any written figures to back up the numbers in the report, and the email I had received was backed up verbally. There are no written reports or calculations to be had. We just have to take the estimates on trust! My question to the cabinet after ...
By coincidence, an article in the Guardian appeared raising questions about Abu Dhabi's ability to complete its Guggenheim Museum on time just as I was finishing reading Jo Tatchell's book about the city, A Diamond in the Desert. Subtitled "behind the scenes in the world's richest city", the book does what it says on the cover, in ...
"Why doesn't Rutland declare UDI, secede from the UK and become a stateless society with private law and stuff?" - Jock, Oxford Really, don't you read my stuff? Rutland has been an independent nation since the occupying Leicestershire forces were driven back over the border in 1997 (I myself led our forces in several skirmishes in that war). We now live as an anarcho-syndicalist collective - albeit one consistent with our most ancient families continuing to enjoy full possession of their landed estates. For myself, I continue to plot the overthrow of the Duke of Rutland and his replacement with ...
If you've never had to deal with a horny leprechaun,you don't know how lucky you are. Over the last few weeks, a lot of middle-aged men had been turning up suddenly dead, with their pants round their ankles and a smile on their face — sometimes, but not always, in the company of their wives. ...
Labour is against reducing the 50p top-rate tax to 45p for those earning more than £150,000. What could be clearer? As it happens, quite a lot could be clearer. First, the omnishambles... Given how widely predicted George Osborne's decision to reduce the top-rate was you would have thought Labour would have anticipated it and worked out their line. They failed to — as Mark Pack noted here, Labour's Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna contradicted himself within 24 hours, while Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls declined to declare his hand. When Labour did eventually work out its official position — they are ...
MPs tonight voted by 295 to 260 against the Cornish Lib Dem amendment to abandon the Government's proposal for the pasty tax which will cost Cornish jobs. During a debate on the budget VAT measures, there were seven MPs called to speak on the issue of static caravans and five on the subject of church alterations, but only one (Stephen) on the issue of the pasty tax. The resultant vote was a lot closer than might have been predicted. Labour (sensibly) withdrew their own amendment on the subject which was not so well supported and allowed the vote to take ...
Bar Hill Village Sign As always tomorrows Bar Hill Parish Council meeting will start with the "open forum" which is the opportunity for any member of the public to turn up and raise an issue they'd like to see the Parish Council to discuss. If you have anything for the Open Forum please feel free to come along, if you can't make the meeting just let me have your comment and I'll raise it (as a Parish Councillor) on your behalf. The full agenda for tomorrows meeting is; Apologies for absence/ declarations of interestApproval of minutesMatters for discussion; Sale of ...
Wed 18th
20:05
Labour put down amendment which would have given Tories tax cut for richest they wanted - and which ...
I realise that Parliamentary shenanigans and point scoring isn't everybody's cup of tea, but it's worth pointing out that Labour today squandered a relatively good position going into the first PMQs of the new Parliamentary term. Ed Miliband had an open goal ahead of him given controversy over the pensioners' tax allowance, "pasty tax" and charity tax relief yet he and his strategists still managed to misunderstand parliamentary procedure to a ludicrous extent. He's just lucky that more excitable members of the Tory benches didn't take their chance to have some fun. Miliband looked not to Labour big hitters of ...
Wed 18th
19:59
Labour put down tax amendment that would have given Tories tax cut they want - which Lib Dems stoppe...
I realise that Parliamentary shenanigans and point scoring isn't everybody's cup of tea, but it's worth pointing out that Labour today squandered a relatively good position going into the first PMQs of the new Parliamentary term. Ed Miliband had an open goal ahead of him given controversy over the pensioners' tax allowance, "pasty tax" and charity tax relief yet he and his strategists still managed to misunderstand parliamentary procedure to a ludicrous extent. He's just lucky that more excitable members of the Tory benches didn't take their chance to have some fun. Miliband looked not to Labour big hitters of ...
On Tuesday 17th April, I spoke at Shepway Council's Development Control Committee on behalf of Sandgate Parish Council against a proposed new development at 15 Radnor Cliff, Sandgate. I'm delighted to say that the Development Control Committee listened to me and the other speakers against the development (local resident Joanna Ames and District Councillor Robert Bliss) and voted against the development by 11 votes to 2. With many thanks to local resident Ian Barker for much of the material, I said: "Good evening Councillors, and thank you Chairman. "I should start by saying that, despite what it says in your ...
Remember this? Now there's this: Ahem. First Labour abstain on cutting 50p rate, now table amendment that would replace 45p rate with 40p rate. — Mark Pack (@markpack) April 18, 2012
VERY worrying news from central Africa. With the newly independent South Sudan in ever more violent confrontations with its northern neighbour Sudan, will we see war once again between them? KHARTOUM, April 18th (Reuters) – Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Wednesday his "main goal" was to free South Sudan's citizens from the ruling ...
Following Lib Dem pressure, it has been confirmed that Gatley Hill will be properly resurfaced over the next few months. Gatley Hill is in desperate need of repair. We did get potholes fixed a couple of years ago, but they're back again and need to be sorted. We're very glad that the Council will now be doing a proper repair which will see this well-used road (although it's technically in a park, it's the main access to Gatley House, the Scout Hut, several residences, allotments and the fields where the Gatley Festival is held each year).
There is evidence of severe wear at the beginning and at the end of Albert Street. Chris has drawn this to the attention of Herts Highways
On Monday, I was a panellist on a Voice of Russia radio discussion show about Iran's nuclear programme; please click here if you want to hear it.
So with 100 days to go before the Olympics come to London, Lord Coe has revealed the motto for the 2012 Games Inspire a Generation Picture via the BBC At the same time the double Olympic Champion and London 2012 Chairman was unveiling a giant set of Olympic Rings composed of 20,000 flowers at Kew Gardens. He said of the motto: "It is everything we have been saying since we have started this extraordinary journey. "It is the heartbeat, the very DNA of this organisation and a rallying cry for the athletes to come to the UK to perform at ...
Wed 18th
16:51Fiona Hall MEP writes: Subsidies for nuclear energy go against Coalition agreement AND economic comm...
With the Government due to announce new measures to encourage investment in low carbon power generation as part of its Electricity Market Reform (EMR), it is time for Liberal Democrats to speak out against public subsidies for nuclear energy. Why? Because among the Government's proposals is the so-called Feed-in Tariff with Contract for Difference (FiT CfD) which will offer a price guarantee and revenue certainty for investors in low-carbon electricity generation – including nuclear. Such a public subsidy to help build new nuclear power stations in the UK would go completely against the Coalition Government Agreement and prolong "the most ...
It was an amazing coincidence that Lady Warsi's interview on BBC2′s Newsnight spoke so lamentably about the state of the coalition the evening before YouGov put the Tories 11 points behind Labour. The Conservative Party chairman without hesitation accused us of being immature and failing to accept collective responsibility within the coalition. Patrick Wintour's article in yesterday's Guardian highlights the despicable manner in which Lady Warsi, as a cabinet member showed no loyalty to her coalition partners by putting the boot in as soon as the going got tough and the Tories started struggling in the opinion polls. The whole ...
Labour have got into a real mess on the Tax rate for over 150Kpa. They first forgot to vote against the resolution and went home. Only 2 Labour MPs voted with the SNP against the new rate.Having missed that opportunity they face the difficulty that they are not allowed to propose an amendment to increase tax. In an attempt to get round that they have proposed to remove the additional rate.
Despite the apologies from Ealing Council and its waste contractor, Enterprise, there are a lot of questions that need answering. What actions were taken by Ealing Council before the contact started to ensure the contractor did what they had contractually promised to do. The twenty million a year contract is a huge one and so many residents have been left asking why the mess occurred. See this article about Ealing's problems from the website Let's Recycle. For weeks, residents did not know when their waste was to be collected, they understandably thought that recyclables were going into landfill and the ...
..though I expect the Labour Party will be trying to turn it into a logo shortly....
This isn't an exhaustive list, but it showcases some of the excellent achievements of Liberal Democrat councillors in administration across Scotland over the last five years. Scottish Liberal Democrats are part of 13 coalition administrations across Scotland. This includes running the big councils of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh and the Highlands. We also help control Fife, Perth and Kinross, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire and Borders. Over 150 councillors have a strong record of delivering for their local communities. Over the last five years Scottish Liberal Democrat councillors have delivered for local communities across ...
With just 100 days to go to the London Olympics, you might be interested to read this quote about the interaction of sport and commercial interests: "Of course sponsors have to receive value for money, but sport has to remain sport, a concept rooted on the track and not in the balance sheet. It must not become another consumer-entertainment package. In all sports we have to protect the fundamentals of sportsmanship, self-determination of the individual and the pursuit of excellence free of commercial expediency, and as Voltaire said 'the price of freedom is eternal vigilance'." You might be surprised to ...
We live in a world of our own creation. This means we can find it inconceivable that outsiders don't know the acronyms we use daily. How can anyone possibly live without understanding what we do? Customers don't understand your company's acronyms, processes, or business model. It's worse than that, though – most users don't even recognise your company's name! Here's a great example. In Zinio's world, everyone knows who Zinio are. They live in Zinio town, drink Zinio coffee from the Zinio shop. ZINIO! It's the first thing on their minds when they wake up, and what they dream of ...
Ahem, this is the sort of thing that happens when you let the public put content on one of your websites:
Fascinating research from Josh Bivens. He suggests that far from reducing economic growth and employment much regulation can boost both. His argument sounds convincing. When economies are doing well and booming new regulations takes resources away from increase output. That at such times people are willing to pay more so costs of regulation are passed onto buyers feeding inflation. But when capacity is not growing and company board rooms have record cash piles and are unable to pass price rises on adding regulations can make companies use some of their cash mountains to impliment new regulations. The example of regulations ...
Willie Rennie being interviewed by the press at campaign launch in Inverness. Credit: Karen Fraser Every Council seat in Scotland is up for grabs on May 3rd and Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie was in Inverness on Monday to launch the party's Local Elections campaign. He outlined four main priorities that the party's councillors would be fighting on over the next five years. These are: Creating jobs and boosting the economy Early intervention to ensure that children are given the support they need when they need it Improving the environment, boosting recycling Taking care of our aging population, making ...
Here's a simple way to copy files to and from your BlackBerry PlayBook when you're using Ubuntu. This should work with any form of Linux. This is a step-by-step tutorial with screenshots. On The PlayBookPlug your PlayBook into your Linux computer using a USB cable. You may see this screen (or similar) you can dismiss it. [IMG: PlayBook Windows or Mac] In the Settings menu, scroll down to "Storage & Sharing". Ensure that the "USB Connections" is set to "Connect to Windows". [IMG: PlayBook file sharing setup] Scroll down and make sure that "File Sharing" is set to "ON". [IMG: ...
He's been refusing their overtures for a few months now but Nick Clegg went back on the Today programme this morning - and was in a feisty mood. I thought his best performance for quite a while. (Although - as ever - we get pulled up on tuition fees, still easily the single biggest mistake made by Lib Dems in government) (Update - post PMQ's, The Guardian would seem to agree with my analysis of Nick's performance - see below) Here's the transcript - some diamond quotes in here... James Naughtie: Coalition Government involves some pretty hard bargaining, some difficult ...
The Eurozone's politics according to the Financial Times "In the last two years British newspapers have been promising more or less the same thing to Eurozone citizens: collapse, soon." Yet it hasn't happened. (tags: economics euro ukpolitics eu ) What is it like to be a libel defendant? In a word, unpleasant. (tags: freespeech )
Mansion tax is not Land Value Tax, but it is a place to start down the road to shifting a significant part of the tax base from income to wealth. There seems little argument that mansion tax would be a more effective method of taxing non-resident Non-Doms who acquired over 60% of the properties valued at over £2m in recent times. The inequalities in wealth in the UK far outstrip inequalities in income. The top 10% of households own more wealth than the rest put together: 0.3 per cent of Britain's population owns 69 per cent of its land. The ...
[IMG: IE logo] IE Business School in Madrid has teamed with Siemens to offer a scholarship to female tech entrepreneurs. To win you need to submit a business idea. You need to submit an idea for a business. Rules: The WEE contest provides a unique opportunity for young women to think on new ideas in their careers and provides the seed to launch new business ventures. In order to provide an experience that is both educational and effective, a comprehensive set of policies and procedures have been developed around the Contest. About participants: Registered participants must be women. She can ...
Reblogged from TopOfTheCops.com: The two main political parties have both chosen multi-stage processes to select their Police and Crime Commissioner candidates. The Conservatives have gone for a centralised verification process. Candidates apply, are interviewed (I'm not yet clear whether all are interviewed or just a proportion), and a Candidates Committee verifies their suitability, whereupon their ... Read more
So I just watched this video: ... which is an unofficial Paddick supporters' vid, the first half of which attacks Boris and the second half bigs up Brian. And the bit that stuck in my mind was a joke's only funny the first time around. Londoners have a choice on May 3rd between a joke that's not funny any more, an apparently corrupt hasbeen who keeps rising like Zombie Mr Grimsdyke, an environmentalist, and a former police chief who knows what he's doing and loves the city he wants to be mayor of. And the media keep talking like the ...
There have been three planning applications recently approved by Wirral Council's planning officers in the last few weeks. Two of these are concerning the Bidston Moss retail park. Further details are below and for more detail please click on the links. Application No.: APP/11/00650 Application Type: Full Planning Permission Decision Level: Delegated Ward: Bidston and ...
Wed 18th
10:07
Is thirty minutes hanging on the telephone really a service Cornwall wants to sell to others?
One of the major problems with the new waste and recycling contract has been the inability of the call centre to cope with the deluge of inquiries and complaints. Waiting times of 30 minutes or more are common as the facility struggles to cope with more than 8000 calls per day. Yet this is a service that Cornwall Council wants to sell to other authorities and public bodies around the country. My experience of the call centre has always been excellent - when I can get through. But if Cornwall Council wants to sell this service to others, it surely ...
Improbable research: why random selection of MPs may be best | Education | The Guardian (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Here is what I am emailing to conferenceinformation@libdems.org.uk - conferenceinformation.hat.libdems.org.uk.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one) in response to the consultation about party conference (deadline Saturday 21st April): Dear Andrew, In itself, the idea that background checks might sometimes be a necessary part of extra security for events seems to me very plausible. So too does the possibility that the large number of journalists and TV cameras in attendance at the autumn round of party conferences make them a more attractive target for disruptive or violent action than ...
[IMG: Electoral register form] Via a slightly odd story in the Daily Telegraph comes the news that Nick Clegg is pushing for the current legal penalties for not returning electoral registration forms to be continued when individual electoral registration is introduced. I say slightly odd, because Tim Ross's report misses out nearly all of the context, simply talking about: Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, is backing proposals to ensure that every individual is responsible for registering themselves on the electoral roll. However, ministers fear that thousands of young people, particularly students moving house after leaving university, fail to re-register ...
It has been a longer while than usual hasn't it? Well I've decided to get back into the swing of things, reinvigorated and ready to go. I may even talk politics from time to time...
[IMG: 20120418-080608.jpg] All, Quick bit of news this morning. The proposed development on the land at the end of Hornsby Close has moved forward – and the planning application was online yesterday. You can see the application here. I haven't had the chance to look at it properly yet (that's a job for this weekend) but I would welcome any comments – particularly as the Town Council only has 21 days to comment. Remember to also comment to the district Council directly. Some of you will have seen my earlier post on this subject – so just to be clear ...
The Telegraph reports that the former Justice Secretary, Jack Straw has called for the Freedom of Information Act to be rewritten. Mr. Straw has claimed that minutes were not taken of some "high level" meetings in order not to leave a paper trail while other important decisions would be made by text message, reducing accountability rather than increasing it: He said that senior civil servants feared "horrific detail" from their notebooks about their ministers' "streams of consciousness" would be made public under the transparency law, which he passed as Home Secretary in 2000. Mr Straw said some discussions between ministers ...
Ah, it all becomes clear now. Gus O'Donnell used to be one of Britain's top civil servants, running the civil service in 2005-11 and right at the heart of the big decisions made by 10 Downing Street. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph he reveals an, er..., interesting approach to evidence. He thinks broadcasters shouldn't pay attention to properly conducted opinion polls carried out in line with the rules of the British Polling Council and instead... should use betting odds to make decisions. He said: The best form of objective evidence is probably the betting odds. Not exactly a ...
MP Julian Huppert has nominated Cambridge's Saffron Brasserie for a national competition to find the country's best South Asian restaurant. Saffron Brasserie in Hills Road serves Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine and will compete for the Tiffin Cup. The competition is an annual event organised by a cross-party group of Members of Parliament known as the Tiffin Club. Each MP is invited to nominate on South Asian restaurant from his or her constituency to go through to a regional final. The competition raises money for charity and this year it is supporting World Vision which aims to combat poverty and its ...
MP Julian Huppert has nominated Cambridge's Saffron Brasserie for a national competition to find the country's best South Asian restaurant. Saffron Brasserie in Hills Road serves Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine and will compete for the Tiffin Cup. The competition is an annual event organised by a cross-party group of Members of Parliament known as the Tiffin Club. Each MP is invited to nominate on South Asian restaurant from his or her constituency to go through to a regional final. The competition raises money for charity and this year it is supporting World Vision which aims to combat poverty and its ...
This week's act is, I think, the first time an artist has featured twice in this series. Indeed, I have specifically sought to avoid featuring an artist more than once in this series as well as featuring songs previously featured elsewhere on this blog. In the face of strong competition, though, I have put my reticence to one side in order to feature the beautiful and gifted Ms. Marcella Detroit for a second time after a previous outing as part of Shakespear's Sister. Here she is with her solo hit, I Believe, which I had on cassette single, back in ...
I want to hear what you would change if you were elected. It could be better community relations, more opportunity for the youngsters, cheaper housing. You tell me, I'm listening. Love P
Just a quick reminder that today there is an event at the Napp Building (196) on the Cambridge Science Park promoting cycling and allowing you to try out various different kinds of bikes 11am-3pm. See you there!
Last month, Iwas pleased to confirm that,in addition to the upgrading and adoption of the Marchfield Crescent pavementsrecently, Marchfield Road's footpath would be similarly upgraded - and I ampleased to see this has now commenced - see right. I am also pleasedthat the nearby Marchfield Terrace will have its pavements improved in the2012/13 financial year. It was through my insistence that the CityCouncil increased its funding on unadopted pavements two and a half fold to£500 000 a year. It is making a real difference to poorly conditionedpavements in the West End and I will continue to campaign for improvedpavements across ...
Another interesting image spotted in Edinburgh at the weekend. Denouncing Scotland's historic national language may not be the best policy for a newspaper supposedly committed to the union...
