Yesterday's figures from the Office of National Statistics show that the economy shrank by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2012. Officially a double dip recession, then. It was predictable that Labour would seize on these figures to explain how awful the Coalition Government is and how wrongly they are handling the economy. But, whoa there nelly. Lets look at this situation again. Lets do the thing which few appear to be willing do. Lets examine the context of these economic figures. Anybody remember Gordon Brown promising, as Chancellor, "no more boom and bust"? Brown was right to highlight the ...
Continuing their series of asking MEPs to produce a diary feature presenting one week of their parliamentary lives, Public Service Europe have this week published an entry from our Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson.It soon becomes very clear that the man is busy: his seven days (Monday 9th - Sunday 15th April) sees him visit Gibraltar, celebrate Bristol's inclusion in the shortlist for the
A week to go, and how has the local election campaign gone so far in Winnersh? In some ways, as normal. Depending on the weather you either get sunburn, windburn or trenchfoot. The latter this year. And my shoes are almost worn out, which is what happens when you are out for 3 hours walking the streets every night.... Plus deliveries, and running round with letters and bits of paper. In other ways, this has been a far from normal campaign. The changes to the rubbish collection have been almost – but not quite – the sole topic on the ...
Act On Theatre Group who will present the show is run for young people in Consett by young people from Consett. An award of £3,000 at the "Its Up 2 U Event" last Autumn enabled them to produce their first show in a local school, and soon they're moving onto the stage of the Empire. "We have an amazingly talented cast who deserve a good audience," writes their young producer. It sounds too good to miss, and tickets can already be bought at The Empire or online at http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase
There's a letter in there from one "Concerned Voter" complaining that candidates spend more time writing to the local paper than they do knocking on doors talking to actual voters. I haven't actually written to the Echo since I stopped being press and communications officer for the local party, although obviously I read it, so I just emailed to say the following:I write in response to "concerned voter" of Rastrick. Obviously, I can't speak for other candidates, but the reason I no longer do door-to-door canvassing is that the last time I did it, someone set their dog on me. ...
Today was the last meeting of the City Council of this term. Attention was rightly focused on a number of councillors who are retiring. These include our outgoing Lord Provost George Grubb who has been a councillor since 1999 and started out delivering leaflets for me 22 years ago! Others include Marilyne MacLaren our Education Convenor elected by just 8 votes at my first election count in 1986. She has gone on to have a distinguished career in that field. They are joined by a number of other Lib Dems elected 5 years ago who have found it difficult to ...
Rupert Murdoch was the cause of my first and only political speech while at university. This was back in 1996, I think, and a motion had been proposed that the common room should subscribe to BSkyB for the football. My pithy contribution was something along the lines: I don't like Murdoch. I don't like Sky. I don't want it here. I know — a regular Cicero, eh? I guess my views were coloured both by my youthful socialism (which I soon grew out of), and by having lived in Merseyside during one of News International's most shameful episodes, its smearing ...
This morning, after a visit to constituents about a local problem, I had the pleasure of attending another area "walkabout" - this time in the Logie Estate where, along with council officers and two of my ward colleagues, we looked at a number of issues - including footpaths condition and railings. The remainder of the day was spent campaigning across the West End. This is my fourth election - and by far the most enjoyable. I am extremely grateful to all residents for their kindness and, in particular, all who have have contacted me to voice their support. Here are ...
A little while ago we reported that the campaign Keith's run with local residents to get a puffin crossing on Schools Hill looked to have been successful – we had a verbal agreement from Sainsbury's to fund the new crossing. We're pleased to announce that that's now been confirmed in writing. We don't yet have a date for the installation of the puffin crossing – it will replace the existing zebra crossing on Schools Hill. We'll post an update as soon as we have the details.
We reported recently that the Lib Dem team had got agreement from the Council to resurface Gatley Hill – one of a number of roads around the area that will be resurfaced in whole or part over the next few months. We're glad to report that the Gatley Hill resurfacing has been done, and it looks great. We're especially glad it's been completed in good time for July's Gatley Festival.
First published in The New Statesman on Monday Is it any wonder that the public tire of politics, when politicians spend an inordinate amount of time squabbling over an issue they all fundamentally agree about?All three main parties put reform of the Lords in their manifestos, we can argue about the details, but the principle of a need for change was clear. Today, a cross-party group of parliamentarians has published a report that recommends some sensible and appropriate changes to the way the upper house is constituted. At which point professional politicians all over the shop will throw toys out ...
This blog has been becoming more chaotic recently, and I've started more and more projects that I haven't finished. So I'm going to try to set myself an actual schedule, so I can complete some of these. So for at least the next few weeks this is the plan: Cerebus Fridays – A book-by-book look ...
Jeremy Hunt MP As the true depth of Jeremy Hunt's involvement with the Murdoch scandal is uncovered more than a few Liberal Democrat commentators have suggested that we should be rethinking the future of the party within the Coalition and whether we should even continue. Martin Shapland tweeted this on 24th April; Here's an idea. This would be an excellent time to walk out on the sleazy, Incompetent, onnishambolic Tories I'm sure he speaks for a good many. After all we have taken A LOT of flak for the policies of the Coalition and a lot of Local politicians are ...
The Evening Standard reports: Scotland Yard was today asked by the elections watchdog to investigate "unprecedented" evidence of voter fraud ahead of next week's polling for London Mayor. The Electoral Commission passed evidence to police after six Labour councillors in Tower Hamlets wrote to warn of "serious abuses of the electoral register". It follows growing concerns of cheating in the east London borough, involving the creation of bogus voters at a series of addresses. An investigation by the Evening Standard this year found instances of eight names registered in one room to vote. It is claimed that a man locked ...
Own up, who clicked though thinking the title doesn't make sense? I'm here to tell you it does. Homosexuals aren't the only people who sleep with someone of the same sex. Not only do you get those "situational homosexuals" in same-sex environments (most infamously in prisons) but there are also those, oft-thought mythical, people known as bisexuals. "Bierasure" is something I've seen mentioned a lot, mainly thanks to the close eye I keep on opposition to Stonewall. Stonewall are rather infamous for ignoring bisexuals. It's really opened my mind to the concept and sometimes I'm left rather blown away by ...
Below are recently submitted Planning Applications in the Chorlton area. You can find out more information about any of the proposals on the City Council's Planning Portal at http://tinyurl.com/yv6lex or by contacting the South Area Planning Group Manager - Roger Hall; Tel: (0161) 234 4536; email: r.hall@manchester.gov.uk . You can also make a Planning representation (in support or opposition) to Mr Hall or the designated planning officer for each application. Please feel free to contact me on (07947383740; cllr.v.chamberlain@manchester.gov.uk) if you wish to discuss any application and please also send me a copy of any representation you make. 098975/FH/2012/S1 52 ...
Whatever the faults of the mayoral system in general and the Leicester's current office holder in particular, Sir Peter Soulsby does have a stronger interest in the city's heritage than some who have had charge of its affairs in recent years. Today's Leicester Mercury reports his visit to the Victorian All Saints Brewery, which has long been derelict and prey to vandalism and suspicious fires. Derelict Places explored the site in 2007, and I took the photograph above from the graveyard of the neighbouring church a couple of years after that. The Mercury report begins: A conservation strategy is being ...
Today, ComRes has published a new poll showing Conservative Boris Johnson 8 points ahead of Labour's Ken Livingstone in the race to be London's Mayor. After YouGov showed them running neck and neck at the start of the week, UK Polling Report suggests that the overall picture is a small lead for Johnson. The result seems extraordinary, given Labour's strong polling in the capital and the pile-up of political problems now engulfing the Conservative-led government. If Johnson makes it over the line, he'll prove that one theory of American presidential elections has crossed the Atlantic: Bugs Bunny always beats Daffy ...
David Parsons, the Conservative leader of Leicestershire County Council, survived the special meeting called to demand his resignation on 18 April after the voting split along party lines. But that meeting did not mark the end of this affair. Today's Leicester Mercury reveals that Parsons used his car and chauffeur to go to his daughter's wedding, but made no payment was made to the council afterwards. Surely Leicestershire Conservatives could find an alternative leader who would not be a positive embarrassment to them?
From BBC News: The leader of Bristol City Council has announced she is to step down. Barbara Janke said she would stand down as council leader and as leader of the Liberal Democrat group. Ms Janke announced her decision to the Lib Dem-controlled authority's cabinet earlier. She said she made the decision as she approached her 65th birthday. She said it had been an "enormous privilege" to serve as council leader in 2003-2004, 2005-2007 and from 2009 to the present. She will remain leader of the Lib Dem group until the group's annual meeting on 8 May, when a new ...
Via YouTube:
When Labour's shadow minister of education, Stephen Twigg, announced his "Office for Educational Improvement" idea, it was quite well received by many of us. It pushed a lot of our buttons, not least the welcome emphasis on evidence and the idea of protecting educational policy from the whims of politicians with "transient ambitions". The question that crossed my mind was how this might be combined with our liberal themes of localism and democracy to improve it further. So to start a debate, here's a suggestion: How we might "devolve" educational policy. We could create a council to deal with educational ...
When the announcement that one of Ireland's most renowned artists Louis de Brocquy has died on a Thursday, aged 95, there is only one way to honour him with an Artful Thursday. His age means that the Dublin born painter was in the womb when the Easter Uprising happened in Phoenix Park in the year of his birth. Over his career he has used a variety of styles in series of paintings. Here is his work The Inner Human Reality (1979) it is a style of portraiture he was to use often from 1975 to 2005. This one is based ...
Residents have reacted angrily to a decision by the Labour-dominated Council that will hit Chorlton badly. Town Hall bosses have declared Chorlton an 'Affluent Area' and slashed spending on a range of services. This is despite the wealthy Council sitting on a reserve of £170 million and an underspend of almost £9 million. Chorlton's road budget is already the lowest in Manchester, they won't upgrade the ageing play equipment in Chorlton's only park, and only ONE of 200 Council apprenticeships is going to a Chorlton youngster. Residents are seeing more crumbling roads and pavements, more graffiti, more litter, more blocked ...
A decision on item 10 (which was the Wirral Churches' ARK Project planning application for 55 Duke Street, Birkenhead, CH41 8BW) was deferred at Tuesday's Planning Committee. The reason given by the Chair of the Planning Committee, was that officers had asked for it to be deferred due to further information having been received which ...
On Monday 23rd March 2012 the Cabinet of Hertfordshire County Council decided: not to challenge the Traffic Penalty Chief Adjudicator's decisions, not to fight any appeal made to the Adjudicator, to cancel all Penalty Charge Notices issued and unpaid, to send a letter in respect of each penalty charge that has been paid stating that the Council will refund the charge provided an Application is received no later than the deadline given in the letter to pay any penalty charges that are unclaimed or claimed after the notified deadline to charity to give the person who paid the penalty charge ...
Just for a couple of days, they are selling my latest e-book about the lost history of the allotments movement for free on Amazon. Can you sell something for free? Well, probably not - it is being given away. You can download it onto Kindles but also onto ordinary computers:
There is no more conservative nation on earth than the English when it comes to money (the Scots by comparison are real money innovators; remember John Law). So we miss out on radical thinking about money and its creation. This is the first part of a two-part article I wrote for the online magazine Stir about how to heal the discnnect between money and real wealth. The trouble with the English, or at least those that rule them, is that they have forgotten there is one... http://stirtoaction.com/?p=1447
Well, it's hardly been what you'd call a slow news week, has it? In case you are frazzled by the ever changing headlines, I thought I'd bring one of the more bizarre Jeremy Hunt related stories to your attention. Iain Martin in the Telegraph writes about the night in May 2010, the second week of the Coalition, when he went to attend a lecture given by James Murdoch. The events he describes are farcical and are if you feel in need of a break, go and get yourself a cup of tea and a biscuit and simply enjoy the story. ...
As Housing Convenor I am disappointed by the lack of vision by the other parties on housing.None of the parties match the Lib Dems commitment to triple the building of Affordable Homes and our manifesto is also the only one to actually mention tackling Homelessness. The SNP do commit to carrying on with the award winning 21st Century Homes council house building project that our Joint Administration have started. The Tories have treated housing as a planning issue which is fine in its place but are saying nothing about the need to boost supply. Labour is long on process but ...
Brian Paddick is not going to be the London mayor. Such a statement is sacrilege for party loyalists who are required, as if by oath, to keep up the pretence that their man can win on 3rd May when every ... Continue reading →
The. Liberal Party......pledges itself to find immediate employment for those now out of work on works of national utility and development, many of these works, like electricity, telephones, housing, roads, and railways, being long overdue. It is surely better, instead of wasting our substance by spending £70,000,000 a year on 'doles' for which there is no return, to lay out this enormous expenditure in providing work on plans which will leave the nation richer and more efficient for its tasks. The details of these plans are set forth in the liberal pamphlet 'We Can Conquer Unemployment'.
Over the past couple of months hundreds of residents have been campaigning to protect leafy Gunnersbury Triangle from a proposed development. The campaign recently has had a lift when Professor David Bellamy has joined the campaign against the development. The proposed development on the adjacent land, Collonial Drive, Chiswick, contains over a hundred flats with buildings over 6 stories tall. Your three Liberal Democrat Southfield Councillors are against this development as it will cause damage to the Triangle, both visually and to the wildlife as the buildings would be only metres away from the border of the Triangle. There would ...
Thu 26th
13:56
Opinion: It is time to pick a fight and show we are serious about institutionalised faith based homo...
At the next general election Liberal Democrats should look forward to being able to point to the introduction of same sex marriage as a Liberal Democrat achievement. Although the move is supported by some Conservatives, it has only happened because of Lib Dem pressure. That the Party has made the issue such a high priority, especially when working with a conservative Party, helps to communicate to the pubic how much we care about equality for LGBT people, and is something that we should be able to draw collective pride. However, the Government is still failing in its commitment on page ...
Thu 26th
13:52
Doing something is better than doing nothing - A good philosophy for life as well as being a Lib Dem
Yesterday I wrote for a new political blog over at SpeakerChair.com. This website launched this week and has already seen an article from an MP and I know of some very exciting op-ed pieces coming next week. My debut piece was entitled Why the Lib Dems are still a force for good which I think is a good place to start. I shall still be primarily blogging here but some pieces will appear over there. Obviously all my non-political pieces will still be homed here but some of the politics – certainly the national Lib Dem stuff may go over ...
Part of encouraging cycling is making the cycle hire scheme work much better. Satisfaction of those who register and actual use a bike is dropping, while many find the casual users' scheme too complicated. The Liberal Democrats first advocated a bike hire scheme in 2001 and want to make sure it works for the widest range of Londoners. Generating more income will come through greater usage by many more people. Liberal Democrats will: Promote the scheme to groups who are not using it regularly, particularly women and younger adults who live in London.Make the scheme easier to use for casual ...
On Monday 23rd April, Lembit Opik came to Hallam Union and delivered a talk, primarily about Civil Liberties, in which he also outlined his opinions on the leadership of the party. It was no surprise to us that the local media decided to report only the more controversial part (would 'ex Lib Dem MP delivers defence of civil liberties' really be big news?) however the polar reporting rather makes it look as though the talk centred around the future of Nick Clegg. It didn't. Lembit's points were that he felt that the leadership would most likely be unable to ...
Sutton councillors are set to approve a new committee structure to run the authority at Full Council on Monday, and the ruling Lib Dem group have decided on who fills which position. Sadly none of the roles involves me, so ... Continue reading →
Wednesday: Top story on the BBC: an unnamed driver - known only as "Master Gideon" - has crashed his car into the Paris Metro. Apparently he misread the signs. OK, look it's NO GOOD pretending this is good news. We're in a recession again. The difference between the expected +0.1% growth and the surprise -0.2% contraction is pretty tiny. But that's just saying that the economy would have been pretty dire even if we HAD avoided a second recession on a technicality. This is NOT the outcome we wanted. We should admit that and ask what we could do better. ...
Cllr Neil McGovern (LD, King's Hedges - Cambridge City) Cambridge City Councillor, Neil McGovern discovered a dog's bite is certainly worse than its bark while out election canvassing last night (Wednesday, April 25). He was bitten on the hand as he tried to put a note through a door in the city's Atkins Close to let the homeowners know he had called while they were out. Suddenly, the dog leapt at the letterbox and took a bite out of Cllr McGovern, who is standing for re-election in the King's Hedges ward. Cllr McGovern abandoned his canvassing and went to the ...
The elections next week are about who can provide the best local services. Last year, more than 40 libraries were closed by Conservative and Labour councils. In stark contrast, for the second year in a row, no Liberal Democrat-controlled council in England and Wales closed any library. Liberal Democrat-controlled Cardiff is opening five new libraries and Portsmouth and Bristol are also opening new libraries. While Conservatives and Labour councils cut their budgets without regard for the most vulnerable, Liberal Democrat-controlled councils know how to protect essential services. Libraries are a life-line for local communities, especially for those who are less ...
A Citizens Advice Bureau advisor will be available every Tuesday from 8th May 2012 at Darley Avenue Sure Start Centre (Next to Barlow Hall Primary School). The advisor will be available between 9.30am and 1.30pm (Last appointment @ 12.30pm). Appointments are essential. To book an appointment please ring 0161-245-7013
Sat 28 April - Farmers' Market and Craft Fair, 11am-5pm Our regular market, held on the last Saturday of each month. The cream of the North West's farmers, growers, producers and artisans descend on Chorlton Green to sell directly to the public. Several new stalls this month! FARMERS' MARKET - IN FRONT OF THE HORSE & JOCKEY (NOW 16 STALLS) CRAFT FAIR - INSIDE THE PUB BBQ - ON THE TERRACE (IF FINE)
The Tax Payers Alliance has made much of reported local government pension scheme deficits. I have time for the TPA having got them involved in barmy local government decisions in the past but on this issue I think they've missed the point. With an ageing population we need to ensure all pensioners are well provided for. If we don't the economy will have an increasing proportion of poor consumers. Not good for business. And we know poor citizens cost the government more in health and social care. So what is the state of the local government pension schemes? Well surprisingly ...
Saturday 16 June 2012, University of Bedfordshire. Satellite events, and dinner on Friday 15 June 2012. ALDC and the LGA Liberal Democrat Group invite you to the main Liberal Democrat event of the summer, our Local Government Conference at the University of Bedfordshire, Bedford. Bedford has seen significant electoral success for the Liberal Democrats over the last few years, and Bedford's directly-elected mayor Lib Dem Dave Hodgson was comfortably re-elected earlier this year. Register online, via credit or debit card here We've got a busy day planned for you, the programme will be available soon, but here are some highlights: ...
Three mayoral elections will take place a week today. Though the media has fixated on London's Boris/Brian/Ken campaign, there are contests also to elect the first-ever mayors of Liverpool and Salford. In addition the following cities will hold ballots on 3 May on whether to adopt the elected mayor system: Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield. Here, in alphabetical order, are the Lib Dem standard-bearers to become mayors of their cities next week... Richard Kemp — Lib Dem candidate to become Mayor of Liverpool Official website; personal blog. Liverpool Echo profile: LIBERAL Democrat Liverpool mayor ...
If you are a bus user in East Cornwall, First Group is looking for people to join their Customer Panel. According to the First website: The goal is to provide a forum for constructive change and input into strategic issues. This aims to lead to improvements in bus services in your local community. The Customer Panel is not designed to deal with one-off individual complaints which will continue to be handled by our Customer Services team. If you are interested in finding out more, contact buscustomerpanel@firstgroup.com Tweet
I have been rather busy of late, external auditors in my company, active social life and something personal on my mind (which may crop up in a future blog post when I finally contribute to the NHS debate that I've so far stayed away from). As such I've been very bad at writing here - so bad in fact that when I've just looked I had six partially started but unfinished posts. Five of these I have just deleted, they are no longer current so they wouldn't be relevant. One of which I couldn't ignore though, for it is one ...
For many years Adrian Slade has interviewed prominent Liberal Democrats. To mark his recent decision to make his archive of the interview recordings available to researchers and other interested parties, Lib Dem Voice will be running a selection of his write-ups of interviews from over the years. The first is with broadcaster, writer and Liberal Democrat, Barry Norman from 2003. For British cinemagoers Barry Norman is the personification of film. For twenty-six years, with only a brief break in '81/'82 when he fronted 'Omnibus' for the BBC, he was the authentic voice of 'Film', the regular comment and review programme ...
The elections next week are about who can provide the best local services. Last year, more than 40 libraries were closed by Conservative and Labour councils. In stark contrast, for the second year in a row, no Liberal Democrat-controlled council ... Continue reading →
Oh dear!
Yesterday evening, the more I mulled over the events of the previous 24 hours, the more I started to think that what Jeremy Hunt's adviser is alleged to have done could have broken the law. If we are to believe the Secretary of State, his adviser went completely rogue. On his own initiative he is alleged to have leaked privileged information to one of the potential bidders in a deal worth billions of pounds. From the published e-mails between him and Frédéric Michel (Murdoch's point man on the deal) it would also appear that he leaked details of speeches Hunt ...
Even positive stereotypes can hinder performance, researchers report (tags: ) What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for? - Super User The fact that someone felt the need to ask this question makes me feel really old. (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
I've never had a lot of time for the Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds. Whenever I have met him, I am reminded why I find being in a coalition with the Comservatives so very difficult sometimes.Of course, I haven't seen that much of him, as I live in a part of his constituency that both he, and his local Conservative Association, appear to have forgotten - they very kindly sent us leaflets for the neighbouring constituency in 2010 (and their MP is much nicer... can we have him instead?).That said, I see him on television occasionally, as you ...
Thu 26th
09:18
Political scientists are limited by their reliance on existing data sets, and there is not enough em...
Shouldn't there be more to political science than running regression analysis on other people's datasets? That question has often occurred to me when sat in a university room somewhere around the country at one of the academic political science conferences as yet another presenter looks at British electoral politics through the eyes of a statistician. It is a tribute to the profession that it produces data sets - most notably the British Election Study series - which are then so heavily used by so many people. A tribute, but also a weakness because the easy availability of credible data sets ...
I've just done a Google search for yesterday's report into conditions at Cornton Vale which I know is going to make horrendous reading. What is it going to take for Kenny MacAskill to do something about this? The sooner he's got rid of and replaced with someone competent and knowledgable like Angela Constance, the better. But that's for a later post. I found what I was looking for and clicked on the link. Immediately, a pop up window came up reminding me about the Scottish Government consultation on the independence referendum which closes on 11 May and giving me a ...
This is apparently the wettest April on record. Yesterday it absolutely chucked it down and there are four days more of heavy rain to come. There are currently 40 flood warnings in place. The ground is waterlogged. The streams are full. In short, it is very, very wet. However, officially, we are still in the middle of a drought due to low levels of water in the resevoirs and aquifiers. This is meant to be the result of a dry autumn and winter. But they weren't especially dry and there's certainly no shortage of rainfall. So to blame it on ...
The title of this post is based on an REM song rather than a statement of fact. Nevertheless, it seems pertinent given the action of the Catholic Church, reported in yesterday's Guardian of writing to every state-funded Catholic secondary school in England and Wales asking them to encourage pupils to sign a petition against gay marriage. There is no debate, no discussion, just an absolute moral stance that pupils are being asked to sign up to irrespective of their own sexuality. And what happens if a pupil refuses? Will they be persecuted by their peers as 'queer'? In the face ...
I was really ill on my last two birthdays, which rather cramped my style; I'm in better health this year, thank god, and therefore able better to express my appreciation for the good wishes people have been sending me over the internets, and also to add how much they cheered me up last year and the year before, though I wasn't really able to express my gratitude at the time. Someone who celebrated their 45th birthday on the day I was born (such as the great historian of Babylonian astronomy Asger Aaboe, or Canadian governor-general Jeanne Sauvé) would have been ...
Cambridge MP Julian Huppert Cambridge MP Julian Huppert has quizzed the government on the action it is taking to make sure pension holders have the chance to invest their retirement funds in ethical companies and not just those offering short-term returns. He paid tribute to Cambridge Retrofit, who aim to retrofit Cambridge buildings by 2050. He spoke at their launch last week, welcoming the landmark energy efficiency initiative to make Cambridge the first UK city to reach national targets of an 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions. Julian told Parliament that he wants pension fund trustees to look closely ...
Cambridge MP Julian Huppert Cambridge MP Julian Huppert has quizzed the government on the action it is taking to make sure pension holders have the chance to invest their retirement funds in ethical companies and not just those offering short-term returns. He paid tribute to Cambridge Retrofit, who aim to retrofit Cambridge buildings by 2050. He spoke at their launch last week, welcoming the landmark energy efficiency initiative to make Cambridge the first UK city to reach national targets of an 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions. Julian told Parliament that he wants pension fund trustees to look closely ...
Note from Herts County Council Consultation on nursery class intake policy for September 2013 Hertfordshire County Council is consulting on the proposal to end the two intake policy (September and January) for admission to nursery class and wants to hear your views. An offer of a place at a nursery class or nursery school is made to parents in April and it is currently Hertfordshire County Council's policy that children are admitted to nursery through 2 intakes: * September intake - children who will become 4 years old between 1 September and 28 February of the academic year * January ...
