A warning received via Neighbourhood Watch: Information received indicates that letters from the International Fifa World Cup Online Lottery are being delivered in Brentwood. These may soon be received in other areas. These letters are mainly being sent to elderly people, and are saying that the person has won a large sum of money and that to receive the money they are to fax over their bank details to the following fax number 020 7681 1447. This appears to be a scam. Never give out your bank details to anyone, without checking to ensure that the recipient is bona fide. ...
Friday, 25 May 12.00 – 3.00 at the YMCA is another chance for young people to get this "proof of age" card. The cards are aimed at people aged between 14 and 25-years-old and are run in partnership between Durham Constabulary and Durham County Council. To sign up for a card you must bring along a valid passport, driving licence or PASS accredited card. Alternatively you will need a 'verifier' to complete part of the application form. Verifiers must be over 25-years-old and know the applicant personally.
I believe Rebekah Brooks presided over a conspiracy to corrupt British politicians and undermine our democracy. That is not what she is being charged with. She has been charged simply with attempting to pervert the course of justice. She has only been charged essentially with the destruction of evidence. In my view she is probably guilty, but these are the lesser charges in any event. It seems to me that Brooks was a primary figure in Rupert Murdoch's blackmail and bribery of the British political class. She also, I believe, orchestrated the bribery and corruption of the Police and various ...
As I mentioned on Sunday, last night I was going to see Justin Currie, erstwhile frontman of Del Amitri. Having wavered over buying a ticket, I was quite excited by the time the actual gig came round. Of course, with increased excitement comes increased potential for disappointment... Happily, this didn't happen! It was my first time in The Fleece in Bristol - a somewhat rough and ready venue with a capacity of, I would guess, around 200 (although you shouldn't quote me on that, I'm about as good as estimating attendance at these things as the Police are at protest ...
David MacLean, the Leicester Mercury's excellent political correspondent, is leaving the paper for greater things. In a farewell post he writes: "A couple of years ago - while some editors were still so scared of the internet that they banned their reporters from blogging or using Twitter - senior Mercury staff were actively encouraging reporters to jump on board. It was my use of Twitter and this very blog that has made being political correspondent at the Mercury so rewarding." How would Keynes have solved the eurozone crisis? Writing in the Financial Times, Marcus Miller and Robert Skidelsky make some ...
Tonight, I attended the Annual General Meeting of Friends of Magdalen Green, taking place in Dundee West Church. In a well attended event, Matthew Jarron, Museum Curator at the University of Dundee, gave a highly informative and entertaining talk of the work of Sir Patrick Geddes during his years at University College Dundee. I'm delighted to continue as Secretary of Friends of Magdalen Green for another year. Here's a photo of Matthew during his lecture tonight:
I have spent the last couple of days in Belfast with the "day job" at which I organised a professional meeting in the stunning surroundings of Belfast City Hall. Here's a couple of photographs from City Hall:
Nina Boyd has been continuing her researches and writes to tell me: It seems that it was Isabel who was the subject of the exchange in the House about prison conditions for suffragettes (your blog 10 July 2011). Isabel was arrested and imprisoned in June 1908. Nora was arrested on 21 November 1911, but there is no evidence for her going to prison apart from the notoriously unreliable 'Roll of Honour of Suffragette Prisoners 1905-1914', a list compiled in about 1950 based on the recollections of former suffragettes.
On his excellent blog, Gareth Epps has written a thought-provoking post about the moderation on Liberal Democrat Voice. I have posted this reply as a comment for the post: Gareth As a long time, and continuing, admirer of yours, it is very disappointing for me to read this as it is a sign of a personal failure by me, as part of Lib Dem Voice team, to sufficiently communicate with you to iron this all out. All I can say is that we are doing our level best to try to have a consistent comments policy, as developed over the ...
But I could not be more delighted. When I say mucks up, I mean that I, as a Scottish member got this on the Pupil Premium which isn't relevant here. But the quality is great. There's real passion in this. I had a right old whinge last week about an e-mail sent out out after the local election. It was dire. With today's, I could believe Nick wrote it himself. I could hear him say the words. I get a bit cross every single time Nick comes up here and they send him to yet another business and nobody gets ...
Apart from grandstanding councilors I just wonder what Thanet Independent Group is about, admittedly there appears to be a statistically higher chance of reference to LGBT matters, which you may not be familiar with, just so as you don't fret to long LBGT refers to lesbian gay bisexual transgender, if you didn't know, and why should you, I had similar difficulty with the acronym BLT being a regular aficionado of that great British culinary marvel the bacon and egg sandwich, it never occurred to me that a bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich existed nor that it would be sufficiently popular ...
Julian at the Westminster launch of the Red Cross campaign MP Julian Huppert joined forces with a leading national charity today (Tuesday, May 15) to push the government to include life-saving skills on school timetables. Julian and members of the British Heart Foundation met Education Minister, Nick Gibb following the charity's high profile campaign for emergency life support to be taught in biology lessons. The meeting came after Julian led on an open letter signed by 44 MPs to Education Minister, Michael Gove last month calling for schoolchildren to be taught CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). And he visited the British Heart ...
Julian at the Westminster launch of the Red Cross campaign MP Julian Huppert joined forces with a leading national charity today (Tuesday, May 15) to push the government to include life-saving skills on school timetables. Julian and members of the British Heart Foundation met Education Minister, Nick Gibb following the charity's high profile campaign for emergency life support to be taught in biology lessons. The meeting came after Julian led on an open letter signed by 44 MPs to Education Minister, Michael Gove last month calling for schoolchildren to be taught CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). And he visited the British Heart ...
Now I know this isn't something that, as Liberal Democrats, we should be asking ourselves but maybe it might be worth asking the average voter this question. We used to be the party generally associated with PR and far too ... Continue reading →
Original posted on LibDemVoice Back in September 1999 Paddy Ashdown gave his farewell speech to the Liberal Democrats' Federal Conference. The speech set out some challenges for Liberal Democrats as we approached a new century. What is interesting to note, reading it almost 13 years later, is how prescient his speech is when looking at the credit crunch and the current Eurozone crisis: Here is the inescapable fact. Power is now moving, increasingly, beyond the confines of the nation state and is rapidly making many of its institutions irrelevant. He continued, We must start taking global governance seriously. The nation ...
Cllr Sarah Whitebread (LD, Market) Utility companies could be charged a daily fee for road closures while they carry out work across Cambridgeshire. The idea has been put forward by Liberal Democrat Councillor Sarah Whitebread and would apply to companies laying new gas or water mains or carrying out similar work in the county. Cllr Whitebread, who represents Cambridge's Market Ward on Cambridgeshire County Council, claims the move could prevent lengthy closures such as the one which brought the city's East Road to a virtual halt for weeks while new gas mains were laid. She made her suggestion during Question ...
Cllr Sarah Whitebread (LD, Market) Utility companies could be charged a daily fee for road closures while they carry out work across Cambridgeshire. The idea has been put forward by Liberal Democrat Councillor Sarah Whitebread and would apply to companies laying new gas or water mains or carrying out similar work in the county. Cllr Whitebread, who represents Cambridge's Market Ward on Cambridgeshire County Council, claims the move could prevent lengthy closures such as the one which brought the city's East Road to a virtual halt for weeks while new gas mains were laid. She made her suggestion during Question ...
Caron is having a bit of a retrospective on blog posts posted over the last five years, and I thought I'd join her! 2011 - This Is Likely To Be The Least Popular Post I've Ever Written - My plea for some dignity from some of the more enthusiastic supporters of David Laws (and to not hate me!) 2010 - So Now: Where Do I Stand? - My thoughts on the then brand new, and exciting, Coalition agreement. 2009 - My Grumpy Letter To The Owners Of The Canterbury Tales - The Canterbury Tales was offering a discount for the ...
Memes were all the rage in the early days of blogging, but they seem to have died out. Which is a shame, as they were one way new bloggers could tell us something about themselves and feel they were joining the club. So well done to Caron.s Musings for starting a new meme - Five Years in Five Posts - looking at what she was writing at roughly this time of year over the last five years. Already Jennie Rigg, a certain fluffy elephant and Nicholas Whyte have taken up the challenge. As I have been blogging for far too ...
A couple of people have been looking back at their blog posts on this day over the last five years, so I thought, why not? 15 May 2011: I commemorated the death of Peter Grimwade (among other Whoniversaries), wrote up a Doctor Who audio starring Mary Tamm and quoted Neil Gaiman on Who. 15 May 2010: I gave a grudging yes to the new British coalition government, reported that Northern Ireland's local government reform was to be delayed yet again (it has just been restarted), and reviewed a Hugo-nominated novel that didn't much impress me. 15 May 2009: I complained ...
With the London Olympics media noise having been gradually heating up over the last year, the proximity to the actual event, seems to have bought the media babble up to simmer, prior to boiling over as the inevitable hysteria of the games themselves. I'm just thinking back to the previous Olympics, to compare the hype and smokescreen erected around China in which, broadcasters notably the BBC played down the human rights abuses in the host country as hundreds of its staff (400+) enjoyed the trip of lifetime courtesy of us taxpayers. Of course you cannot compare the UK (while it ...
There are two scheduled meetings next week:- Tuesday 22 May 2012, 6.30pm at Ebor House, FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday 24 May 2012, 6.30pm at Ebor House, PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING - All meetings now start at 6:30 (unless previously agreed otherwise ...)
Good to see the recent improvements in the party's general emails continuing with the latest from Nick Clegg. It has a clear, simple message, presented with a touch of human interest and passion rather than a deadening list of bullet points and decimals points. It even has a hint of a story in it. What would I change to make it even better? A clearer personal story – as that is what really moves people – and using the email more to enhance the overall Liberal Democrat online presence. Pointing people to a story on The Independent website makes sense ...
In amongst all the other debates at today's full council meeting came a strong statement from the authority in opposition to the pasty tax. Together with my colleague Edwina Hannaford, I proposed a motion asking for the council's strong support for the measure which would threaten jobs and manufacturing industry. I pointed out that the pasty tax is unenforceable and strikes at the heart of a Cornish staple. The council agreed with no opposition and a single abstention to the motion and will now lobby all MPs to point out the folly of the Government's proposal. Tweet
To mark the Jockey's 500th anniversary, they've lined up a fun weekend commemorating the pub through the ages. Thurs 17 May - Manchester Morris Men dance on the Green @ 8pm Fri 18 May - Back to the 1940s, 7pm til midnight With themed decor symbolic of World War Two Britain, and a special wartime food and drink menu for the evening. Music courtesy of Matt Nickson, aka Matt of Matt and Phreds, aka The Vintage Gramophone DJs Sat 19 May - The Tudor Era, 12pm til 6pm Taking it right back to where it all began, with a guest ...
Casting an eye over events in Greece I'm grateful that the UK has avoided a similar fate. I don't want to imply that UK and Greek circumstances are equivalent to each other, that the UK is or was ever close to defaulting on our sovereign debt, however, there are some parallels - and some differences - that are worth exploring. Greece went to elections on May 6 2012 and without an outright election winner, talks are still ongoing to form a Government over a week later. This isn't so unlike how the 2010 election unfolded in the UK. The electorate ...
Why do you do what you do? What adds juice to your life? Someone recently asked me what drives me? When I was a child I was told by my grandfather that you should never do anything because of the money so subsequently financial reward has never been a big part of why I get ...
It's a little known fact that the Joker was originally known as the Scoremaster, until someone realised that was particularly silly, so they went for another extra card in the deck instead. Greece: Trying to understand SYRIZA – Paul Mason provides some interesting background and context for the current political situation in Greece. Meet the new boss – "Thus, in our fair city, we see a public manifestation of the petro-sheiks' triumph over the leveraged buyout merchants." Top GOP Pollster to GOP: Reverse On Gay Issues – Andrew Sullivan with some fascinating internal Republican polling. I wonder if the same ...
Tuesday: Auntie Caron has come up with one of those Internet Me-me-me-s thingies that you find on the Wibbly Wobbly Web. "If you have a blog," she asks, "what were you writing about this time in previous years?" Auntie Jennie has already had a go, so I will too. How things have changed! Five years ago I was very, very young and little and not even recognised as most famousest Blogger of the Year yet! Also the government were VERY unpopular and the economy was in TATTERS. Oh well; not everything changes. Let's head backwards in time... [vworp... vworp... vworp....] ...
The Pupil Premium is one of our biggest achievement in government, and helps the poorest children in our country bridge the gap when it comes to the quality of education they receive. Manchester has had an extra £19million this year, and the overall spend is some £1.25 billion this year, increasing to £2.5bn by 2014/15. The Pupil Premium ticks all the boxes for the Party. It is designed to help the most disadvantaged, it allows schools to spend the extra money flexibly, and it is new money on top of the school budget. So why are we not shouting about ...
Turkey's largest-circulation daily newspaper, Zaman, celebrated 25 years of publishing today at London's City Hall with the launch of an exhibition of images of Turkey through the eyes of 25 celebrated international photographers. The contrasts between tradition and modernity as well as between west and east shout out at the viewer, as do different perpectives ...
Following the success of the #yestomayor campaign the electors of Bristol bucked the UK trend and voted in favour of an elected mayor (In the final results 41,032 voted Yes, 35,880 voted No to a mayor) Whilst much mileage has been run up between the bloggers and the campaigners over the pros and cons of the plan now begins the long crawl to the election of Bristol's first elected mayor in mid November. In earnest and out of interest I travelled down to see the first candidate make a play for the votes of the common and not so common ...
Lib Dem Voice have published the text of an email that I sent to a constituent earlier today. He wrote to me to ask about my views of the government's proposals "to re-define marriage", which he believes "will have far-reaching consequences...[that] will have an adverse effect on the stability and flourishing of our local community." I beg to differ.
If you missed it, it is worth watching the first episode of 56 Up on ITV Player. Aired last night, it is the latest in Michael Apted's Seven Up series, which filmed a group of seven year olds in 1964 and has since caught up with them every seven years. One of the group is Liberal Democrat Councillor Neil Hughes, who represents Shap ward on Eden District Council in Cumbria. Neil was previously one of our councillors in Hackney and is also a lay preacher. As you can see from last night's film, the Seven Up series has followed Neil ...
Scotland on Sunday's Kenny Farquharson noticed something interesting today: It's not the brightest thing for their South of Scotland MSP Chic Brodie to slate Labour going into coalition with the Tories at Council level when the SNP has done much the same thing, not just where Kenny mentioned, in Dumfries and Galloway, but also in Perth and Kinross. Brodie slammed Labour for betraying voters. "For Labour voters across the country the growing number of Tory-Labour pacts in councils across Scotland are a real betrayal of what they voted for. Scotland's councils need progressive partnerships to protect people from the Westminster ...
In today's News Letter, the seconder of Saturday's motion on Human Sexuality in the Context of Christian Belief at the General Synod of the Church of Ireland is reported to have said that it would be "very helpful" for Dean [Tom] Gordon to now say whether he was in a sexual relationship with his partner. No ...
Caron has done a retrospective, so I am shamelessly copying her in lieu of actual content:May 15th 2007 - Welcoming a new f-lister, some stuff about My Life, and a meme May 15th 2008 - a feed of my posts to Twitter for the previous 24 hours May 15th 2009 - a pre-BloodIsTheLife linkspam May 15th 2010 - two beer and politics related posts; the first to do with Lib Demmery, and the second to do with a Take Back Parliament demo I went on. May 15th 2011 - I reckon this one is the most interesting of this random ...
Perhaps the landlord of the bar was having some fun with his flags...
Found via Nosemonkey, this time-lapse map of European history is rather good:
The following is the text of an email that I sent to a constituent earlier today. He wrote to me to ask about my views of the government's proposals "to re-define marriage", which he believes "will have far-reaching consequences...[that] will have an adverse effect on the stability and flourishing of our local community." I beg to differ. Dear sir, Thank you for your email regarding the government's proposals to change the law on marriage in the United Kingdom. This is not a local authority matter, and so has no relevance to my role as a local councillor. However, as you ...
Today's Western Mail leads on a lecture by the Welsh Education Minister in which he indulges in the language of class war to attack his UK counterparts. Leighton Andrews attacked the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government's record on education and welfare reform and accused it of a policy of "English exceptionalism" and a failure to consult with the devolved administrations that can be traced back to the public school system. It certainly got the headlines, even though the direction of welfare reform has the broad support of the UK Labour Party whilst outcomes for pupils in England continue to be better than ...
In the old Cornwall County Council, the Liberal Democrat administration got into a lot of trouble for spending money on bottled water rather than expecting people to drink from the tap or installing simple water coolers fed by the tap. Yet today the new Cornwall Council unveiled the far on offer from their new suppliers which includes... bottled water from Yorkshire I look forward to hearing the justification for that decision. UPDATE - Cabinet member Cllr Jim Currie has promised to look into this. Tweet
Our Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the most important Ginger Rodent in the UK, is 40 today. I had to make sure you all knew his real age because I heard a rumour* that because it's a time of austerity, he's only allowing 21 candles on his birthday cake. It doesn't seem like 5 minutes since he was Scottish party press officer, or since I was part of the team that approved him as a Parliamentary candidate. Danny is a good highland boy who knows how to laugh at himself. It therefore seems appropriate to give this ...
The stadium for Cornwall project suffered a major blow today as councillors voted by 55 votes to 46 against any idea of public funding for the project. The debate lasted all morning and heard from a wide variety of speakers. It's probably fair to say that those unequivocally in favour of the stadium were pretty few and far between. Indeed, no proposal to recommend approval of funding was ever made - perhaps fearful of a major defeat. Instead, there was a proposal moved early in the debate by MK's Dick Cole to defer the decision for more information. Some will ...
[IMG: 4koma comic strip - A Clash of Writers] see more Comixed
Following the eurozone crisis on twitter is depressing. Journalists and market analysts take you on their rollercoaster ride, which has few peaks and many plunges. Any news is an opportunity to predict the worst case scenario: from #grexit (Greece's exit from the euro) to #eurogeddon (you can guess that one). Journalists report the story making sure the full flavour of catastrophe gets to your
Back in September 1999 Paddy Ashdown gave his farewell speech to the Liberal Democrats' Federal Conference. The speech set out some challenges for Liberal Democrats as we approached a new century. What is interesting to note, reading it almost 13 years later, is how prescient his speech is when looking at the credit crunch and the current Eurozone crisis: Here is the inescapable fact. Power is now moving, increasingly, beyond the confines of the nation state and is rapidly making many of its institutions irrelevant. He continued, We must start taking global governance seriously. The nation states, their governments and ...
I thought I might have a trawl back through the archives of this blog and look at what I was writing at roughly this time for the last five years, just out of interest. Way back in 2007, it was goodbye (and good riddance) to Tony Blair. In 2008, people were opening their pay packets to discover that Labour had doubled taxes on the lowest paid by abolishing the 10p tax rate. In 2009, I was taking a trip down Memory Lane, remembering my political firsts In 2010, I was not happy about the habitual male domination of the election ...
Six lucky (or, in five cases, rich) countries get to jump straight to the Eurovision final. The winner of the 2011 contest and therefore host country for this year, Azerbaijan, automatically qualifies, as do the Big Five nations who significantly bankroll Eurovision. Money talks and, in this case, sings. Fortunately for the UK, we're one of them. So how do the six songs that have taken these coveted places stand up? Let's take a look, as we go throoooooough the keyhole. United Kingdom – Appealing guitar and smooth strings underscores the human anagram's waltzing ballad. Hump is an old pro ...
Tony has been a first rate Leader of our Party. He has been in the job for 10 years l have a great respect for Tony. He has worked tirelessly to bring together people from different communities and political parties in the borough to work together. I have been enormously impressed by his ability to persuade people to work together in the common interest rather to pursue divisive and sectional interests. Sefton have greatly benefited by his consensual approach. He is known as the 'world's most reasonable man'! I am delighted Tony has agreed to become the Lib Dem deputy ...
Iain Brodie Browne was elected last night (14 May 2012) as the new Leader of the Lib Dem Group on Sefton Council. The Birkdale Councillor had acted as Deputy Leader for the past 5 years. Iain told the Lib Dem Councillors that their job was to robustly challenge the actions of the ruling Bootle group of Labour councillors and to hold them publicly to account for the decisions they take. "I met with Southport's Lib Dem MP John Pugh yesterday to discuss the tough decisions that lie ahead - for example on Libraries, Tourism investment and the Green Belt. Lib ...
Using your mobile phone abroad will be cheaper from this summer after MEPs voted to cut roaming charges again. The new limits set in the European Parliament mean phone calls will cost no more than 28p per minute, while the ... Continue reading →
As many people will have gathered, I'm a bit of a Luftwaffe geek with far too many books and pointless anecdotes. As I read Friday's Medway Messenger I turned to the history section and was shocked to see a German Mistel on the page. After my initial confusion I read the article to discover that the two aircraft were in fact developed by Short Bros or Borstal and was a way of crossing the Atlantic in one journey rather than short hops to Iceland. The Empire flying boats were able to make the journey on their own but it meant ...
The problem with nerd politics Cory Doctorow on interfacing with the real world. (tags: politics internet ) Dell response regarding insensitive comments from Mads Christensen @Dell apologises (on Google Plus so nobody will see it). (tags: ) What a performance The ten best managerial excuses for poor performance. (tags: management ) Herman's hermit kingdom When Andy met Herman. #fb (tags: eu ) Marginalized Complaints from medieval scribes. "St Patrick of Armagh, deliver me from writing!" (tags: writing )
Redcar and Cleveland Labour Run Council have announced that they are considering charging all disabled blue badge holders to park in all council run off street car parks. Of those 25 car parks, there are 79 bays that are specifically marked for disabled badge holders only. All residents who hold blue badges were notified of this possible change by letter today (14th May 2012). The council claim that this will help to resolve the financial mess they have found themselves in, but Ian Swales, local MP for Redcar says: ''This is yet another example of how this Labour-run council are ...
Having listened to Chloë Sevigny talk about her role in "Hit and Miss" on yesterday's Woman's Hour (It's right at the start) I think I have to stand by my first view that the production company are seriously lacking in clue, as shown by the fact that their initial casting call was for a pre-op trans woman. (The pre-op bit was explicit) The way such interviews usually work is that the production or publicity company will have a fact sheet or similar that they will give to the show and, although Chloë has some interesting views as a result of ...
[IMG: 2012 Olympic Torch (London 2012)] Are you interested in seeing the Olympic Torch first hand? Want to be involved in the Torch's journey through Shepway? Apply to be a volunteer marshal! Shepway Council are looking for people to assist in safely managing the route of the Olympic torch Relay through Hythe, Seabrook, Sandgate and Folkestone by marshalling along the route on Wednesday 18th July 2012. For a full job decription and application form visit www.shepway.gov.uk/torchrelay Published and promoted by Tim Prater, 98a Sandgate High Street, Folkestone, CT20 3BYPrinted (hosted) by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 ...
Yesterday's stage did turn into a sprinters stage but with that corner just before the finish causing problems. Read into it what you will but the sprinters did seem to take two different approaches to the corner. Matt Goss appeared to slow and wanted to take a wider entrance into the corner while others were going in hot braking later in time to turn at the far crash barrier before reapplying the full pressure for the straight. Whatever you views and I know I exchanged some via twitter with the Red Jersey wearer himself and a number of sports fans ...
See larger image Mormons [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD) New From: £10.71 In Stock Used from: £9.70 In Stock Release date July 17, 2007. Last Saturday, PBS ran a documentary about the Mormons. Lasting in excess of 270 minutes, it detailed the history of the faith and its long struggle to fit in ...
I have spent the day clutching at a couple of straws. Last week in the tractor factory Nick Clegg appeared to confuse the 'deficit' with the National Debt when he said, "We have a moral duty to the next generation to wipe the slate clean for them of debt. We have set out a plan - it lasts about six or seven years - to wipe the slate clean to rid people of the deadweight of debt that has been built up over time." It sounded like a fail in GCSE Economics. But suppose he wasn't mistaking the policy to ...
The election result shows we are asking the wrong questions Two quotes from this, which I think demonstrate that the writer gets it: "Every decision that is made that goes against what we believe in does significantly more damage than bringing in a policy that we do." and "for every list of things we can produce that we have done well, people produce a list of things that 'we' have done that is far worse and many feel offended by. Providing a cherry picked list says that we are not listening to their concerns." (tags: ) Producer Craig Wallace on ...
As always, I'm strangely late to this party. I've sat and I have watched when really I should have done more or said more and for that I have regrets. I've always stood by my friends and here, rightly or wrongly I'm doing it again. Lisa or "spidey" has been a friend on line for over two years now, not just to me but to quite a few of us. She served the Libdem party and wrote for her award winning blog spiderplantland, which at the moment won't load and I'm hoping this is just a technological glitch rather than ...
Last Wednesday night, I took part in a conference call Julian Huppert MP and other bloggers who were interested in any potential web snooping plans. When I say interested, I mean "would start frothing at the mouth if any of our MPs voted for anything remotely like what was being touted in the media at the beginning of April. In fact, most of us want to see a rolling back of the powers which already exist. Despite our concern, a draft Bill was announced in the Queen's Speech. Julian Huppert wrote for Liberal Democrat Voice that I am delighted to ...
There's a lot of talk this morning about the Institute of Advanced Motoring going on a tilt against cyclists, trumpeting up the results of an unscientific 'survey' that supposedly shows 57% of cyclists regularly going through red lights. Until, of course, you go into the actual figures – as this Guardian article does – and discover that even on their self-selective terms, less than 2% say they do it regularly. I'm not denying that some cyclists do jump red lights, but the idea that it's some great problem has entered our national urban mythology as a fact, helped by prejudice-fuelling ...
The words breathed on the page and I lost them. But where were my eyes? Too outside myself, or too deep inside. My voice became ostracised. For me, the narrative voice and distance of the narrator is one of the most ... Continue reading →
I've just run across this rather unscientific poll which suggests that despite (because of?) two years of coalition government, Vince Cable is still the people's favourite to dig us out of the economic mess that we're currently in. However, my enthusiasm is tempered somewhat, not only because of the self-selecting nature of the respondents to the poll, but also that Gordon Brown is currently at number two. Go figure. It may very well all change over the course of this week while the poll remains active, but it's interesting to see that the Lib Dem minister who was most closely ...
Keen to move on from the poor headlines of the last few weeks, Nick Clegg has sought to re-focus attention on his flagship social mobility agenda with a speech on the Pupil Premium. The Pupil Premium is the government's main policy for reducing educational inequality in schools, meaning that schools get extra funding for every child on Free School Meals (£488 this year, £600 next year). IPPR has always welcomed the Pupil Premium but have expressed concerns that it will not be spent directly on providing extra support for the children who need it. Under the current model, schools are ...
Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg has rejected the idea of regional pay scales in the public sector. The idea has been proposed by Tory Chancellor George Osborne. The problem with regional pay levels is how they are calculated. Whilst some aspects of living in Cornwall are cheaper than south east England, many other factors make it more expensive to live here including the costs of public transport and house prices relative to wages. Such a complex calculation didn't seem to be in the mind of the Chancellor who looked at the move as a quick way to reduce the pay ...
An inhabitant of Mowsley who appeared to have lunched well saw me looking at the map and urged me to take the gated road to Laughton. He was right. It was a pretty walk past the most ramshackle cricket ground I have seen, though I suspect that last time I came this way the road was not fenced and the passing places were not signposted. Laughton itself was lovely too. It can't be much more than five miles from Market Harborough and its train service to London, but it feels as remote as a village can. This blog is keen ...
Welcome to a new occasional series about the mysteries of TalkTalk's HomeSafe web filtering service and some of the sites it decides to block. Today it's the turn of the body that runs much of social housing in Islington: .@TalkTalkCare Why does HomeSafe block as pornography the site for the body that runs social housing in Islington? partnersislington.net — Mark Pack (@markpack) May 14, 2012
Not that I have one, of course. Although I wouldn't be likely to tell you if I did, much as I love you all. Modern technology, if aren't careful, can let slip things you might prefer to keep to yourself. I've been caught out by it before. Remember that time I was so proud of myself that I'd got Skype working on my iPad by video so I could talk to my niece when she was on her travels last year? Well, like a mutant ravenous bugblatter beast of Traal, it hadn't dawned on me that if I could see ...
I have updated residents in the past about the lane restriction on Riverside Drive at the junction with Riverside Approach, following a vehicle hitting the rail bridge structure last November. I have complained to the City Council about the on-going delays in getting the lane restriction permanently resolved and have now received the following feedback from the Head of Transportation : "I have had feedback from Engineering Staff as follows : 'As far as I'm aware the alterations to the kerb line to suit bridge height restrictions have just been completed. There is a current nearside lane restriction at the ...
Returning officers at elections who fail to complete their job properly will no longer be entitled to claim their entire fee. That's a proposal being put forward as part of the new Electoral Registration Bill which also introduces individual registration to combat fraud. At present, returning officers are paid a large fee for their work. They would suggest that it is a fee which is justified given the high profile of the role and the responsibilities involved. It is a role which is usually filled by the chief executive of the local authority and the fees often range between £12,000 ...
I am pleased to advise that Tayside Police is again holding mobile surgeries for the area served by the Lochee and Ryehill Police Stations - the West End and Lochee. This is an excellent opportunity for local residents to speak with the police officers who serve our local area and raise any issues or concerns they may have. There will be a mobile surgery at 11am to 1pm on Monday of next week - 21st May - outside the Spar on Perth Road near to Sinderins. All residents welcome!
Towards the end of the recent London election campaign , a fellow Lib Dem campaigner and I turned up at Westcombe Park Station one morning to start delivering leaflets, when we saw that we had been beaten to the best pitch outside the station by the Green Party. The sight of this elderly gentleman with ...
