I'm hoping to get the next Kinks post up tonight, but in the meantime here's some links: Bloated website code drains smartphone batteries. Obvious, of course, but nice to have some numbers on it. Look at those numbers, web designers, and think of just how much energy that javascript and flash monstrosity you're coding is ...

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

After the disappointment of losing the pasty tax vote in the House of Commons yesterday, the campaign goes on. My friend Kernow King has organised a march and celebration of all things pasty in Falmouth on Sunday 29th April. As the poster says, the event starts with a march from The Moor at 2pm. This will make its way to Events Square where there will be a few speeches, a lot of entertainment and maybe the odd beer or two. It promises to be a grand day out. So if you care about the campaign to stop the pasty tax, ...

Posted by Alex Folkes on A Lanson Boy

Having read this, this and, most of all, this, it is clear that this is the answer to the connundrum of who is right about the Abu Qatada deadline. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post

Posted by Paul on Liberal Burblings

On Tuesday this week, the cabinet of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council voted to introduce a flat-rate charging policy for adults with special educational needs (SEN) to travel to college. The move will also hit elderly people attending day care centres and adults with SEN using day services and respite care. Post-16 SEN learners will be hit with a £380 charge per year, while the elderly and day service users will face a cost of £3 for a return trip. The Council cuts to adult SEN learners comes at a time when Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat Children's Minister, has just ...

Posted by Chris Abbott on Chris Abbott

We've waited a long time for this, the lost novelisation of the lost Doctor Who story, brought to life from the final version of Adams' script by one of the best-placed of the current Who authors. And it is pretty damn good. Having watched both the 1992 video of the surviving parts of the original 1979 filming, and the webcast version with Paul McGann, and also read a previous fan-produced novelisation, the single most important thing about this new version is that it actually makes sense. Roberts has teased out threads of narrative left him by Adams, thickened them up ...

It may sound obvious, but in previous Mayor contests the Liberal Democrat candidates have often been rather reluctant to say this on national TV: 'Just as impt on May 3rd to vote for @LondonLibdems for the Assembly as for me' says @brianpaddick #SkyLondonDebate #paddickpower — Merlene Emerson (@merleneemerson) April 19, 2012 Brian's quite right – and it's great that he's used coverage on national TV to say this.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

[Cliche alert/] A week is a long time in politics [/cliche], but it was 7 days ago I suggested there were signs of encouragement the Coalition would start to see sense on the misguided Charity Tax — and both Nick Clegg and David Cameron have signalled they're willing to think again. Here's Nick in the Telegraph: Nick Clegg made clear the Government was preparing to climb down when he met rich philanthropists at a private reception in Whitehall on Tuesday evening. The Deputy Prime Minister told them that the Government had been "beaten around the head and neck" and wanted ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on stephentall.org
Thu 19th
20:50

Feminism and Knickers

I've recently devoured Caitlin Moran's How to Be a Woman, which I am now wholeheartedly pressing upon any woman I've ever met who doesn't agree with me about being a strident feminist. It's a delight of laughing memoir combines with impetuous and logical deductions about not only the role of women in society, but also ...

Posted by Curious on Political Parry

An on-line petition was recently launched in Southport to demonstrate the level of support for Sefton Council introducing doorstep collection of cardboard and plastic has already attracted over 1000 signatures. Birkdale councillor Simon Shaw, Sefton's Cabinet Member - Environmental, has said a big "thank you" to all those who have signed. The petition was started as part of a plan to secure a share of Eric Pickles' £250m "Weekly Collection Support Scheme" in order to fund the extra cost of adding cardboard and plastic recycling to the current paper, cans and glass weekly collections. Councillor Shaw said: "The response so ...

Posted on birkdale focus

A High Court judge has ruled that Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council acted unlawfully when it decided that land at Manydown, west of Basingstoke, was not available for housing development in the next fifteen years. The Council has been ordered by the Court to review this decision before completing its Core Strategy which says where house should be built between 2012 and 2027. The delay could

Posted by Gavin James on Councillor Gavin James
YouGov

(Quick explanation of this — I'm writing a novel, trying to do the whole thing as quickly as possible in first draft, and I'm not going to worry too much about beautifying the language or anything of that nature until I do the second draft. This draft's all about getting the plot and structure down. ...

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

The Liberal Democrat Federal Conference Committee plan to ignore the conference decision on accreditation and have asked for my views. Here they are.A. The request for views1. The timing of the request on Liberal Democrat VoiceI have deliberately waited before replying to allow myself to give a calm and considered response but I find that my astonishment at FCC's course of action has only

Posted by David on Disgruntled Radical

Here's a really rather good (but unofficial) video promoting Lib Dem London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick: * Nick Thornsby is Thursday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs here.

Posted by Nick Thornsby on Liberal Democrat Voice

There is no way that the Formula 1 circus should be going anywhere near Bahrain this weekend. The report published by Amnesty International contains grim evidence of unfair trial, arrest, police brutality and torture. The last cases they document took place in mid February, a time when the Bahraini Government was trying to portray a benign image of new found respectability. Abdulhadi al-Khawaja is a human rights activist serving a life sentence for taking part in last year's protests. A life sentence. And if he's not released soon, that life might not have much left to go given that he ...

Posted by Caron on Caron's Musings
Thu 19th
18:52

Where's Daddy Bernie?

Dear Tamara Ecclestone,Your Daddy is in Bahrain helping prop up a devious regime. Have you watched the news today or did it clash with your fashion TV viewing? Maelo Manning

Posted by Maelo Manning on libdemchild, aged 11
Thu 19th
18:17

Hidden Battles

It is not often you get a chance to watch a film in working hours. Hidden Battles formed part of the programme of my employer's annual conference this afternoon and I was there to tweet about it and, in particular, the expert panel discussion that followed. (One of the leading military psychologists who took part, incidentally, was Simon Hughes' brother.) The film was moving precisely because it took such a cool look at the effect that killing has upon forces personnel. And, as Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes said, 20,000 people leave the British Armed Forces every year.

Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England
Thu 19th
18:06

Memories of Turkey

"Did you enjoy your stay?" The question, posed by the young lady stationed at the reception desk of the Paloma Renaissance in Beldibi, carried no hint of being rehearsed. Doubtless it was something she had been trained to ask: the query's formulation was as professional and crisp as her tan jacket. Nevertheless, she looked hopeful ...

Posted by CDF on Whirled Peas

From the BBC: Labour peer Lord Sugar has urged people not to vote for his party's candidate Ken Livingstone. The peer defied Labour leader Ed Miliband by telling his 1.8 million followers on Twitter not to back the former mayor's bid for re-election. "I seriously suggest NO ONE votes for Livingstone in the Mayoral elections," he wrote. I don't care if Ed Miliband is backing Livingstone . I seriously suggest NO ONE votes for Livingstone in the Mayoral elections — Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) April 19, 2012 * Mark Pack is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and writes a monthly newsletter ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Liberal Democrat Voice

Last Saturday, Federal Conference Committee chair Andrew Wiseman invited responses in an article on Liberal Democrat Voice from members on the controversial issue of an accreditation system for Conference. Sussex Police had requested that party members would have to submit their identity details and past addresses so that they could be checked out by the Police to keep out people who might cause security issues. Unsurprisingly, the Liberal Democrat blogosphere has been vocal in response. If there has been a post out there in favour of such a system, then I've not been able to find it. At Liberal England, ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
Thu 19th
17:06

Another Marathon

A quick shout out to my friends Phil and Faye who are once again putting themselves through the torture of the London Marathon this weekend. Complete madness, but the best of luck to both of you...

Posted by Jeremy Rowe on Jeremy Rowe
eUKhost

This morning at the House of Commons I was one of the speakers on a panel organised by the South Asia and Middle East Forum on prospects for the peace process between Israel and Palestine. I confess I tend not to use the term "peace process" myself, as far from leading to peace up till now it has ...

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

Read about the visit of the Olympic torch to Sutton North ward on my local blog here.

Posted by Lester Holloway on cllrlesterholloway

When I last posted I described how the term "Liberal" has come to mean different things in different places, its roots, and how it evolved in Britain. I ended by describing the party I joined at the end of 1966 as I saw it then. So if I told someone I was a Liberal and they didn't understand, roughly what would I say? The constitution of the Liberal Party (before merger with the Social Democratic Party) said Liberals "put freedom first". All other political creeds have at best a conditional adherence to freedom. Nationalism, for example, can be advanced along ...

Posted by SibatheHat on Siba The Hat

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 chairwoman without hesitation accused us ... Continue reading →

Posted by Issan Ghazni on Issan Ghazni

The Guardian reports: The government is coming under cross-party pressure from within the coalition to stay the extradition of a Sheffield student who founded a website sharing links to TV shows, and to review the US extradition treaty in the wake of the case. The home secretary Theresa May signed an extradition order last month for Richard O'Dwyer, 23, to be sent to the US, where he faces 10 years in high-security prison. O'Dwyer founded a website, tvshack.net, in 2007, which acted as a search engine for people to find out where they could watch and in some cases download ...

Posted by Nick Thornsby on Liberal Democrat Voice

Read about the result of the Rosewood Grove / St Helier hospital nursery planning application on my local ward blog here.

Posted by Lester Holloway on cllrlesterholloway
Thu 19th
14:55

A Politician's answer...

Here's a video of Theresa May explaining how she didn't get the timing of the arrest of Qatada wrong yesterday. It's a clever answer... How so? Because she gives herself two options. If the appeal is deemed to be outside the timeframe, then she can say The Home Office was right all along. If the decision is made to hear the appeal she can argue that this has been done at the discretion of the court and no mistake was made. It neutralises the possibility that she can be blamed for any mistake - which as @paulwaugh pointed out yesterday, ...

Posted by Richard Morris on A VIEW FROM HAM COMMON

[IMG: Screenshot_2012-04-13-22-40-37] [IMG: Screenshot_2012-04-13-22-40-51] [IMG: Screenshot_2012-04-13-22-41-15] [IMG: Screenshot_2012-04-13-22-41-34] [IMG: Screenshot_2012-04-13-22-41-58] [IMG: Screenshot_2012-04-13-22-43-23] [IMG: Screenshot_2012-04-13-22-43-43] [IMG: flattr this!]

Posted by Terence Eden on Terence Eden has a Blog

We've all been there. When your favourite pair of jeans loses a button, your computer slows to a crawl or your bike gears start rattling, it can feel like the end of the line - time to get a new one. Everyone knows it's possible to repair stuff like this, but most of us don't know where to start. Now all that's about to change. Introducing Remade April 2012 is Remade month, when 10:10ers around the world share the skills and build the confidence to fix their clothes, bikes, computers and anything else that we can keep alive with a ...

Posted by Andy Pellew on Focus on King's Hedges

We've all been there. When your favourite pair of jeans loses a button, your computer slows to a crawl or your bike gears start rattling, it can feel like the end of the line - time to get a new one. Everyone knows it's possible to repair stuff like this, but most of us don't know where to start. Now all that's about to change. Introducing Remade April 2012 is Remade month, when 10:10ers around the world share the skills and build the confidence to fix their clothes, bikes, computers and anything else that we can keep alive with a ...

Posted by Andy Pellew on Focus on Bar Hill
Thu 19th
14:02

Let's Get Inspired

There's a saying that was often bandied about when I was growing up in Camborne: "Anyone with any get up and go, gets up and gets out of Cornwall". I think this massively underestimates the talent and potential of Cornish young people. We're a hardworking, resilient bunch and there's no shame in rating the beautiful countryside above the gold-paved streets of the big smoke. Since I've been involved in politics, I've trained and mentored many young people to stand as candidates and develop their skills. It's now just 1 year to the next Cornwall Council elections and I'll be running ...

Posted by Anna Pascoe on Anna Pascoe

The County Council has published it's plan for the maintenance of the Highway Network in Cambridgeshire over the coming 12 months. This plan represents the works programme for the Economy, Transport & Environment Directorate for the forthcoming year. It was passed at the last cabinet meeting and has just been made available on the County Councils website at the following address; Of particular interest to residents of Bar Hill will be the South Cambridgeshire link near the bottom which shows the works scheduled to go on in South Cambridgeshire by Division (and Parish). Looking through the list there are ...

Posted by Andy Pellew on Focus on Bar Hill

Nick Clegg joined James Naughtie yesterday in the Today studio, for the programme's first of a series of interviews with the party leaders before the elections on 3 May. Clegg talked about the budget, the compromises of coalition and Lib Dem electoral prospects, among other things. You can listen to the interview in full over on the Today website here, or read a transcript of the interview below. Full transcript: James Naughtie: Coalition government involves some pretty hard bargaining, some difficult compromises for both parties. You might think therefore that the opportunity of a local election campaign would be quite ...

Posted by Nick Thornsby on Liberal Democrat Voice
Thu 19th
13:45

Waste chaos rumbles on

Complaints from individuals continue to roll into me regarding missed rubbish collections nearly three weeks after the implementation of the new waste contract between Cory and Conservative-led Cornwall Council. The good news is that the majority of the complaints I have received have been dealt with after being referred to the relevant people. The bad ...

Posted by Jeremy Rowe on Jeremy Rowe

Thanks to Network Rail – following a request from the Lib Dems (and concerns raised by residents), they have been along the railway alongside Belmont Road, Gatley. Network Rail have been down there, removed the litter they were able to safely, and even sent us some photos of the work that's been done.

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith Holloway, Iain Roberts & Pam King

Stockport has been ahead of the pack on jobs for some time, and the latest unemployment figures see that trend continuing. However, youth unemployment remains a problem here as elsewhere and we are keenly awaiting the Lib Dem Youth Contract to start up fully. o The number of people in Stockport claiming Jobseekers allowance decreased by 1.9% month-on-month o At March 2012, Stockport had a JSA claimant rate of 3.5% o Stockport experienced a month-on-month decrease (1.9%) which was larger than the average for Greater Manchester (0.9% decrease), North West (1.2% decrease) and the UK (1.1% decrease) o The 16-24 ...

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith Holloway, Iain Roberts & Pam King

There'll be a "Geodiversity Day" on Saturday 21st April 2012 organised by Cheshire RIGS group. RIGS stands for Regionally Important Geological/geomorphological sites. It's starting at Tam O'Shanter Urban Farm and will be all day and will include the RIGS Geodiversity trail. There's no need to book and it's free. For further details phone 0151 653 ...

See the link for these.

Posted by john on John Hemming's Web Log

The demand made yesterday by Cornwall Liberal Democrats for an inquiry into the waste and recycling fiasco is gaining some traction. This morning one of the council's scrutiny committees agreed to hold an inquiry into the damage to the council's reputation. Yesterday my colleague Jeremy Rowe wrote to the Leader of the Council asking for an apology for the failures and an inquiry into what went wrong. Jeremy's letter asked for the following: First, that you and the council should stop pretending that these are only a few teething troubles and acknowledge that there are very large areas of Cornwall ...

Posted by Alex Folkes on A Lanson Boy

Unison's advertising campaign for the May elections is a bit odd. Odd because, for example, if you click on their Facebook ads you get taken to the front page of the union's website rather than to a story about the ads. Odd too because the ads rather coyly say "Vote for the party that cares" rather than naming a party Unison wants people to vote for. But one thing is clear. The ads say "Please don't vote for public service cuts". Well, Labour is pledged to public service cuts in order to reduce the deficit. Smaller and slower cuts than ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Sheffield Hallam University Liberal Democrats are delighted to present Standing Up to the Snoopers' Charter, a talk on civil Liberties with Lembit Opik on Monday 23rd April (http://on.fb.me/HJJz1a). The venue is Pod A, Hallam Union, Pasternow Row, Sheffield and the time is 5:15pm. Anybody and everybody welcome! The new society has already gained several members and things are getting off to a cracking start, we hope to host many more exciting events. We also have a new twitter account, http://www.twitter.com/SHULibDems

Thu 19th
12:00

Make tax records public

Britain and the British seem very bashful about money. Secrecy reigns. So we're all suspicious other don't pay taxes and I think this makes people a little resentful of taxation. But their is a different way. In Norway every one's tax records are public. You can see who dodges taxes and who pays not just the legally correct but morally correct amount of tax. You can decide who to do business with on the basis of whether they're playing a full and active part in helping to pay for all the public services a modern western countries populace have come ...

Posted by James Barber on James Barber
Thu 19th
12:00

Campaign Countdown 9

Keep going! - there's only two weeks left! If you're anything like me the last few days, and the days to come are a blur of activity around the postal vote. Teams up and down the country will be spending the weekend making sure as many of those postal votes have a cross next to our candidate(s)' name. Once you've done this, it might be a good time to catch your breath and have a look at what's happened so far. Take a look at what your canvass data is telling you. Are we winning? Is there a swing against ...

Posted on ALDC
Thu 19th
11:41

Debate Mate

Today, I was one of a number of mentors for the charity Debate Mate helping Judge and run the Debate Mate Cup Deutsche Bank 2012 Regional round in Birmingham hosted at Birmingham University. The day was a major success and showcased how a simple activity such as debating can give young children a number of ... Read more

Posted by esainsbury on Voice of A Citizen

I, like most people in the UK this morning and am really rather annoyed with Theresa May for not having the basic mental capacity to get her dates right. By now Abu Qatada should be on a plane bound for Jordan where he is going to be tried for his alleged part in bomb plots ...

Posted by Spidey on Spiderplantland

Speaking on the Stephen Nolan show yesterday Nick Griffin brought his BNP rhetoric to Northern Ireland, including saying that there was no "democratic mandate" for the influx of foreign nationals into the Province. While there may be a mandate for the number of people that come into Northern Ireland from elsewhere, there is however a democratic mandate ...

Posted by stephenpglenn on Liberal Democrats in Northern Ireland

The Friends of Regent's Canal have discovered a new planning application - to let Starbucks confirm their hold on this beautiful canalside building. The application confirms that it should have been primarily a Canal Information Centre all along, which is very different from what we've got and what the application plans to continue! Details of the ...

The debate over the desirability or otherwise of an Elected Mayor for Bristol is hotting up. Candidates for the role are now beginning to declare themselves, should the citizens of Bristol vote to move to the mayoral model. Events to discuss the issues are now occurring pretty much every week. The day of reckoning is nearly upon us. The School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol is collaborating with the Faculty of Environment and Technology at the University of the West of England to run last minute briefing sessions on the day before the referendum. I will be ...

Posted by admin on Alex's Archives

From Gladstone in the 19th century through Richard Jackson in the early 20th and Rosie Barnes in the later 20th, Liberals and Social Democrats have had a strong association with Greenwich, Woolwich, Blackheath and environs, during which time the area has played an important part within this political tradition on the national stage. Things have ...

Posted by Greenwich Liberal on Greenwich Liberal

Letterboxes across London this week have been receiving the official information booklet for May's London Mayor and Assembly elections, complete with a two-page election address from each of the Mayor candidates. For all the value of the detail of the booklet, the reality is that most voters only glance briefly through such a publication. The initial, quick impression each candidate gives matters far more than the detail of what they say in third paragraph, fourth sentence. Those sentences only make it into wider prominence if an embarrassing typo makes them into diary column fodder or if policy naivety means a ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Many of you will not recognise the name Greg Ham but once one of, if not the, most famous flute riffs in pop music strikes out you will immediately know the song. For it was Ham whose flute underpins all of Men at Works big global smash Down Under probably the only song in history to reference a vegemite sandwich, men chundering, a VW combie. As well as flute he played, saxaphone, percussion (see the bottle playing at the start of the video for Down Under) and keyboards. Ham was found dead at his Melbourne home today at the age ...

Posted by Stephen Glenn on Stephen's Liberal Journal

A while back, I penned a series of posts profiling forgotten liberal heroes (to which a couple of other people also kindly contributed), looking at some of those who achieved great things for liberalism in their time but have been unjustly forgotten - such as Margaret Wintringham, the very first female Liberal MP. There is also another group of people who I think are often unjustly obscure - those local campaigners who are often at the heart of their local community and local party, delivering liberalism and helping others, but as their stage is a local one they are often ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Liberal Democrat Voice

Dear Resident, I live on the West Hill. In fact I am the only candidate for the coming election who lives in Castle. I have been actively involved in campaigning against communal bins for the West Hill since the idea was first mooted by the Conservative Council in 2008. We celebrated in 2009 as the ...

Posted by nickperrylibdem on Nick Perry For Hastings & Rye

Peter Black: Call to reform Freedom of Information Act See, Jack Straw's approach here is something I don't get. Rather than fix the problem (politicians are self-serving, corrupt, and terrified the electorate will find out about it - to which my solution would be "get better politicians, then") he wants to modify the thing that shows us what the problem is. (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments

There have been few people in the public eye whose death has actually moved me to real, sorrowful tears. The passing of Elisabeth Sladen, who played Doctor Who's Sarah Jane Smith was one such event. She had been a childhood heroine not just to me but my daughter, who's a keen Doctor Who and Sarah Jane Adventures fan. In her memory, there are three things I want to share with you. First, the tribute to her I wrote last year. So after a hard day's envelope writing last night, we headed back to my sister's where my niece Laura was ...

Posted by Caron on Caron's Musings

Call me old-fashioned, but I've always been a bit of a stickler for deadlines. The 'dead' bit implies a degree of finality, the 'line' bit a sense of clarity. And, as someone whose role involves administering a system filled with statutory deadlines, I'm a dab hand at arguing for their imposition and enforcement.So, watching the fallout from the Home Office's botch of the deportation of Abu Qatada, I am somewhat shocked by the utter futility of the arguments being deployed.Let's start with the appeal deadline. If Sky News are to be believed, the Home Office have misinterpreted the clear, published ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

Citi 5 Bus Stop Sign On Crafts Way (Bar Hill) The key word in the title is "Commercial", these are the services Stagecoach runs without any subsidies from the County Council and so can pretty much change anything it likes to anything it likes at will (with the obvious proviso that the key is to make money, not to provide a service). The following changes are improvements to the existing services; New Route X4 - Eaton Socon - St Neots - Cambourne - Cambridge Combined with route X5 will offer a service to Cambridge every 15 minutes throughout the day. ...

Posted by Andy Pellew on Focus on Bar Hill

"Mrs May", as my friend comically likes her referred to as, has perhaps been the most useless of cabinet ministers. Yes, Andrew Lansley lives on another planet in terms of thinking he is organised and good with communication, but he has been DOING things. Yes, Michael Gove is the most dangerous, pious and arrogant SS of Education, who is doing his best to make schools elitist and marketised (and I'm still fighting him, every day). But Auntie May has taken lack of understanding, lack of research, poor communication, lack of action and inability to listen to new heights. From her ...

Posted by Lee on Lee Dargue

The short version: he likes them. The longer version: read here.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Nick Clegg's director of strategy, Richard Reeves, has announced that he is to step down from his position after deciding to move to the United States. Reeves was instrumental in establishing the 5-year Lib Dem coalition strategy, which he famously represented on a graph plotting "Lib Dem identity" and "Government unity and strength" over the five year parliament. Reeves was previously the head of Demos, and biographer of John Stuart Mill. The Guardian has more on Reeves' resignation: [Reeves] and his American-born wife, Erica, are to depart for the US in the summer to give a chance for his two ...

Posted by Nick Thornsby on Liberal Democrat Voice

Oddly, I've not seen anyone mention what the Lib Dem manifesto said about tax and charitable giving in all the current debates over the 'tycoon tax' and its proposal to limit charitable tax benefits for the richest. Here is what the manifesto said: Liberal Democrats will support the voluntary sector by:... Reforming Gift Aid to operate at a single rate of 23 per cent - giving more money to charity while closing down a loophole for higher rate tax payers. In other words, the principle that the tax breaks for charitable donations by the richest should be restricted was what ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Cllr Peter Downes An extra £12.5 million of government funding for Cambridgeshire schools has been welcomed by Cambridge MP Julian Huppert. The money is designed to relieve the pressure on school places and comes after Julian joined MPs from across the county to campaign for extra funding, raising the issue in the House of Commons. He received a promise from Education Minister, Michael Gove to review the county's grant funding and the latest investment is part of an additional £600 million for schools across England this year. It comes on top of the £800 million already announced for 2012-13 to ...

Posted by Andy Pellew on Focus on Bar Hill

Cllr Peter Downes An extra £12.5 million of government funding for Cambridgeshire schools has been welcomed by Cambridge MP Julian Huppert. The money is designed to relieve the pressure on school places and comes after Julian joined MPs from across the county to campaign for extra funding, raising the issue in the House of Commons. He received a promise from Education Minister, Michael Gove to review the county's grant funding and the latest investment is part of an additional £600 million for schools across England this year. It comes on top of the £800 million already announced for 2012-13 to ...

Posted by Andy Pellew on Focus on King's Hedges

Over at Liberal Democrat Voice, Caron Lindsay underlines Labour's confusion and incompetence over the UK Administration's budget, which they have labelled as one for millionaires. She reminds us that Labour squealed long and loud about how wicked the Coalition is, particularly on cutting the 50p tax rate to 45p. However, when they had the chance to vote against it in March, as Ed Balls promised they would, not one of them did. Now they have tabled an amendment which, if it had passed, would have set the top rate of tax at 40p: Let me explain. The Finance Bill clauses ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

The University of Dundee Botanic Garden has a Family Fun Daytaking place this Saturday - 21st April - from 10am to 4pm. The event includes many attractions such as a BBQ, woodturning, bee keepers, face painting, garden games, whacky workshop, pot a plantand a play by DBS Productions. It will be a great family day out in the West End!

Yesterday, I took part in the latest meeting of the City Council's Local Economy Monitoring Group, at which there was an excellent presentation by Chris Brodie of Brodie Economic Research. Chris gave an very detailed and useful resume of the effect of the economic downturn after 2008 and, in particular, how it has affected Dundee. The key message from Chris's presentation is that, although the economic situation has been challenging, Dundee is well-placed for the future, particularly given the Waterfront development, V&A at Dundee, life sciences, digital media and so much more. There was also discussion about the success of ...

My 'Focus' election leaflet for the 2012 council election which is now being printed ready for distribution next week:

Posted by Peter J Banks on Peter Banks - a new voice for Scott Ward

It has to be said that very many Liberal Democrats will not be at all sorry to learn of the departure of Richard Reeves. In particular, the very many people Reeves alienated in 2008 when he said all social Liberals should join the Labour Party will be shedding no tears. I encountered him on relatively few occasions: in person he was perfectly polite and amenable, despite it being glaringly obvious that we had politically very little in common. He did appear at a few Federal Policy Committee meetings, and I think it's fair to say that the disconnect between him ...

Posted by Gareth Epps on Gareth Epps

If you have not yet had a chance to respond then follow this link:

Posted by chriswhite on Chris White