Early today I was at City Hall in Belfast and then later at St. George's Church for highlighting IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia). This year in Northern Ireland we are celebrating 30 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Northern Ireland. This came into being some 15 years after the 1967 act removing the status of crime from gay men in England and Wales and 2 years after Scotland. This was because of a five year case through the European Court of Human of Rights brought in the name of Jeff Dudgeon against the United Kingdom, and the ...
Local residents around Gondar Gardens with local councillors Nancy, Flick and Russell are here celebrating after the latest scheme for development on the reservoir was emphatically turned down by Camden's Planning Committee last week. But although we've won this particular fight - the war's not over yet! The developers may well appeal against this decision and are already in the process of the appeal against the refusal of the previous scheme. (This appeal against refusal of the first scheme (destroying all of the reservoir space, replacing it with luxury houses in the 'pit' accessed via a car lift) will be ...
Could YOU become a Board Member for this exciting new venture? Becoming a board member is one of the most challenging and rewarding volunteer assignments. Yate FM say "We want all of our board members to feel that their commitment of time, skill, and resources is valued and worthwhile" Yate FM's Mission Statement is "To reach out to all of the diverse groups in the community to give people a voice, enable talent to develop, provide training opportunities, access to equipment and to nurture a sense of inclusion." The project board will contain up to 7 individuals who represent the ...
According to this clip provided by Lib Dem Voice it suggests they possibly have...
Further to my item yesterday about the need for a new RBS cash machine at the University of Dundee Students' Union, the bank has moved fast to deliver its promise of a new machine - now in action - see below.Although I was very critical of the bank's decision to close the student bank branch, I am nonetheless grateful that it has honoured its promise to keep a free cash facility for university students.
Mr Baldwin, legendary Conservative PM It would be easy to Caricature the Conservative party as the Galactic Empire, Lord Cameron reporting to Baroness Warsi's throne room at the pinnacle of Millbank towers and being reassured that; Soon the Rebellion will be crushed and young Clegg will be one of us. Their MPs an army of grey clones who are desperate to privatise everything and make as much money as humanly possible at all times crushing the will and rights of the common voter but this is simply not the case. Ed Milliband can spout the platitude Same old Tories... as ...
Very sad to learn of the passing of Donna Summer, whose superb music had so much influence during my younger years. 'Last Dance' was always my favourite Donna Summer hit:
From Letters to a Young Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens: I pass to an observation of the late Sir Karl Popper, who could himself be a tyrant in argument but who nonetheless recognised that argument was valuable, indeed essential, for its own sake. It is very seldom,as he noticed, that in debate any one of two evenly matched antagonists will succeed in actually convincing or "converting" the other. But it is equally seldom that in a properly conducted argument either antagonist will end upholding exactly the same position as that with which he began. Concessions, refinements and adjustments will occur, and ...
Stockport Art Gallery has it's annual Open Contemporary Art Exhibition running until 24th June, and for my money it's well worth a look. The exhibition is organised by SKarts, and includes cash prizes for the works of art judged the best – go along and see if you agree with the judges decisions (I didn't, but that probably says more about my taste in art than anything else). The Gallery, opposite the Town Hall and next to Stockport College, is free to visit. Opening hours: Monday: Closed, except for bank holidays 11am – 5pm Tuesday to Friday: 1pm – 5pm ...
This afternoon I attended the second half of a Global Diplomatic Forum conference on "Two Years of the UK Coalition Government's Engagement with the World". Barbara Serra from Al Jazeera vigorously chaired a session on the UK's Role in the Middle East and North Africa Politics, but it was disappointing that no-one on her panel ...
This week's lectures have been about the response of networks to a sinusoidal drive and how to analyse them. First of all, this involved using an incredibly difficult method based on solving differential equations (so difficult that the attempt terminates part way through after much baffling mathematics), a "sneaky" approach based on complex algebra and finally a "super sneaky" approach based on the impedance model. This final method turns all of the steady state sinusoidal circuit analysis problems which seemed pretty difficult using the first two methods into problems which can be rather more simply solved by the application of ...
Series 1 Episode 1 of "All New Blockbusters" on Challenge. One thing: They're not kids! [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
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 ...
This afternoon was the civic highlight of the year with the annual mayor making (or mayor choosing) ceremony at the town hall. Rob Tremain was elected for a second term as mayor and Dave Gordon for a second term as his deputy. Congratulations to them both. The event brings together the great and the good of the town including representatives from many town organisations, churches and charities. There are mayors from across East Cornwall and we were joined this year by Pat Harvey, Chairman of Cornwall Council. As well as the usual business, there was a special award for Graeme ...
Donna Summer RIP. A legend passes. Pourquoi such praise? – someone might ask, if they were reading this. Well, my mind goes back to the summer of 1977. A long time ago. To give you an idea of how long ago it was, I actually had hair in those days. Yes. Actual hair – lots of it. I spent the summer at Butlin's Minehead. I could tell quite a few stories from that time. I was 18 years old. My fellow room mate was a 30 year-old Scouse taxi driver. I was in the lower bunk. He was in the ...
When there are safe opportunities to reduce the salience of nuclear weapons we should take them - independently, writes Menzies Campbell
Watch Vince Cable explain what it is: Vince Cable worked hard to secure the deal, including travelling to the US to meet personally with the General Motors senior management. Earlier in the week, the latest quarterly trade statistics showed the first car industry surplus since 1976, demonstrating that today's news is not the exception but rather the norm.
Queen visits Merseyside as part of Diamond Jubilee Tour 17/5/12
Much excited gathering at tonight's annual council meeting will most likely be adding to this blog as the night goes on. PLEASE NOTE ALL COMMENTS IN THIS POSTING ARE LIKELY TO BE INACCURATE AND PERSONAL OPINION. I'm led to believe that a new post has been created, in yet another embarrassing move by Labour it's understood that the new post has been created to pander the independents. Clark back as council chair no surprise, " quite surprised " says chair 15 minutes of waffle. Followed by tributes to Brian Goodwin Standards arrangements agreed god knowns their enough of them eligible ...
One of my regional MSPs, Joan McAlpine was ordered to apologise to Parliament today after showing discourtesy to parliament. The parliamentary aide to the First Minister missed her opportunity to question ministers on cases due to osteoarthritis and its impact on the NHS because of a dinner date with Big Eck. I understand that McAlpine ...
[IMG: Where and what? ] Photo © 2012 Michael Carchrie Campbell
Today was the first meeting of the City council since the elections. Traditionally the first duty is to appoint a Lord Provost and Deputy convenor. Gorgie/Dalry councillor Donald Wilson was unanimously elected to succeed George Grubb. Donald was a popular choice on all sides of the Chamber. Hailing from Selkirk where his late father, a baker, made the famous Selkirk bannocks in his bakery. Coming from Selkirk has meant that Donald has a very powerful sense of history this being a town which was decimated with all but one of it's male population falling at Flodden. Borders generally get the ...
Notice from the county council NOTICE is given that the Hertfordshire County Council propose to make an Order under Section 16(A) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, the effect of which will be:- 1. To prohibit all traffic from using that length of A1081 St Peters Street, St Albans from its junction with the A1057 Hatfield Road/A4147 Catherine Street roundabout south westwards to its junction with B691 Victoria Street, a distance of approximately 316 metres, except for access. 2. The existing one way traffic system on Adelaide Street, St Albans will be temporarily suspended, to enable all vehicles to travel in ...
Earlier this week, some farmers received a most unwelcome disturbance. It was the Israeli settlers from the illegal development, who came to cut down the grapes and destroy the olive trees that were their livelihood. This is going on all over the Occupied Territories at present. In other places it appears to be the IDF. At Wadi Fuqeen, one of the eye-witnesses said: "Whoever was awake ran towards the sound to defend the village. There were a few young settlers with tools destroying some trees close to settlement. When they saw the villagers they began insulting and shouting at us. ...
Lock your doors! Bar your windows! The Harborough Mail reports a new sighting of the Black Beast of Harborough: A large black labrador-sized animal was seen near Arthingworth. It was spotted from about 40 metres away through a low-powered telescope on Wednesday, May 2. The report, made to the Big Cats in Britain group, described the animal as black with white patches on the front. It was definitely not a dog, said the report. The incident is the latest in a series of sightings of 'black beasts' stalking the Harborough countryside which go back as far as the 1990s. These ...
The Cheadle Area Committee covers three of the Stockport Council wards: Cheadle & Gatley, Cheadle Hulme North and Heald Green. We aim to move the location around, spending a year in each ward in turn. This allows local residents from each area to have a chance to get to the area committee, even if travelling is an issue. Two years ago the Area Committee was in Cheadle Hulme. Last year we held it in Cheadle village. For the coming year it will be at Bolshaw Primary School, Cross Road, Heald Green. View Cheadle and Gatley in a larger map By ...
"I Love Shoe" has been chosen for an Olympic Film Festival run by Shetland Arts. The film, based on an original song by the young people from Consett, really is an example of our young people promoting Consett across the length and breadth of the nation. Shetland Arts is taking a UK-wide part in the London 2012 Festival celebrating the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 'A Hansel of Film - Shetland to Southampton and Back' is a relay of screenings of short films made by the public in each of the nations and many of the regions of the ...
Well, there's a headline you probably didn't expect to read today. Enjoy. * Nick Thornsby is Thursday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs here.
There is speculation in the newspapers that the Blair and Mandelson Show is poised to make a re-entry into mainstream UK politics, to make the case for that phenomenon they call 'growth': http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/2012/05/16/back-to-the-90s
As the state of the junction of Borrowdale Avenue and Gainford Avenue in Gatley has once again deteriorated, the Lib Dems have secured repairs to go in. Temporary repairs will be completed in the next few days to make the roads safe, with permanent repairs scheduled for the next couple of months. The residential junction's not only used by people going to and from the lakes estate, but also traffic cutting through to avoid the speed humps on Silverdale Road and so gets more than its fair share of traffic by some margin. We want to ensure that it's at ...
Flip Chart Fairy Tales has put up an interesting post entitled 'A post-liberal future'. In it, they argue that economic and social liberalism has been the dominant force in our politics for the last quarter century, exemplified in both Thatcher and Blair. Both of the large parties have represented an alliance between liberal and illiberal ...
Four years ago at this very moment I was sitting (or possibly standing) inside Wembley stadium watching the Pompey team warm-up for their FA Cup Final appearance against Cardiff City. When I first started following my local team the likelihood of ever winning the FA Cup seemed pretty far-fetched. The run in 1992 was the closest I thought we would come and in all honesty that team deserved to win the competition. That Highbury semi-final was something else but that as they say was that. We had a couple of runs to the quarter-finals but winning the competition was not ...
Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister and current leader of the liberal grouping in the European Parliament, has rejected talk of Greece leaving the Eurozone. Interviewed on the Today programme yesterday he said such speculation was aimed more at influencing public opinion in Greece than it was a prediction of the likely outcome of the current crisis. Verhofstadt warned that the EU is unprepared for the contagion that would result from a Greek Euro exit, saying: There is no real firewall around the other economies of Europe, we only have a few fire extinguishers. You can hear the full ...
Today was the first meeting of South Ayrshire council where "the ten Conservative Councillors - the largest political group within the Council - formed a minority administration working in a Partnership Agreement with the nine Labour Councillors." i.e. a coalition by another name. Labour after giving the LibDems hell for working in partnership with the only ...
Because they have headlines like this in their local paper: Former wife of lion tamer was running brothel There's a huge story there, but I'm not sure if it's for a supporting character in the Fenland version of Northern Exposure, or the central character in a magic realist novel.
This afternoon I hope to attend the launch of Changing Attitude Ireland's Parish LGBT Welcome leaflet at St George's Parish Church, Belfast. The speaker is Pádraig Ó Tuama and the event is between four o'clock and a quarter to five. Filed under: Blogging
From the Harborough Mail: Roman remains have been discovered at a site in Harborough which has been at the centre of a battle between developers and residents. The Mail understands archeologists have found remains at the so-called Windy Ridge site off Glebe Road in Little Bowden. County Hall, which is responsible for archeological finds, confirmed that Roman-era items have been unearthed but had no further details.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have quite a collection of ties. Some of them go back years, many are recent purchases or gifts. Quite a lot of them are from various societies or clubs to which I belong or have belonged. I'll be taking a picture of one each day, and posting it ...
As you will know by now, despite a 5% swing from Labour to Liberal Democrat (against the national trend) and a 10% increase in our vote share, Labour was given a second chance in Castle on 3 May. I wish Castle's new councillor Judy Rogers well, and as a Castle resident myself will watch to ...
The Guardian reported on Tuesday that Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone is to reform the Equality and Human Rights Commission, cutting its budget and removing some of its responsibilities, most notably its obligation to assess how Government policies would affect the poorest. Now, if ever there was a quango in need of reform, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission is that body. Dysfunctional seems to be the best word to describe the EHRC. Wasteful would be another. For three years running, the National Audit Office qualified its accounts. Last year was the first year since its formation in 2007 when it ...
Today's Telegraph contains an astonishing story about the UK Energy Minister, Greg Barker, whose responsiblities include tackling climate change. They say that Mr. Barker upset his colleagues by using the office microwave to heat a cushion for his pet dachshund Otto. The paper says that Mr Barker, who is understood to bring the dog to work at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), reportedly put Otto's puppy warmer in the same microwave used by staff to heat their lunches. "When [he] first arrived we had to watch our step, as the dog wandered around the office," a source ...
The Guardian reported on Tuesday that Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone is to reform the Equality and Human Rights Commission, cutting its budget and removing some of its responsibilities, most notably its obligation to assess how Government policies would affect the poorest.Now, if ever there was a quango in need of reform, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission is that body. Dysfunctional seems to be the best word to describe the EHRC. Wasteful would be another. For three years running, the National Audit Office qualified its accounts. Last year was the first year since its formation in 2007 when it managed ...
[IMG: New Series: a tie a day] The tie of the White Lion Society
Cornwall Council is getting ten percent less from pay and display car parks in Launceston than was the situation they inherited from the former North Cornwall District Council. This is despite (or, more likely, because of) year on year overall price rises. When Cornwall Council took over responsibility for parking in April 2009, the total income from the four pay and display car parks in the town was £183,318 a year. In the year 2011/12, Cornwall Council took £165,307.36 - a drop of more than £18,000 or around 10%. In only one car park, the Cattle Market, is the council ...
Expenses Returns for the Local Elections 2012 [IMG: The 2012 ALDC guide to completing your election expenses return can be downloaded below] We all know that they have to be done but getting round to the election expenses is most activists least enjoyable election task. Your local authority should supply you with a set of election expenses forms. There are 3 basic forms to be submitted for each candidate: 1. The expenses form -this has changed radically in recent years do NOT assume that they way you did it four years ago will be OK this time. 2. The candidate's ...
The Home of Cricket We may have had our summer all ready (do you remember the few nice days we had in March?) but today is when it really starts! Yes that's right, today is the first test match of the Summer - I don't think I get as excited at Christmas! As usual, the first test is also at The Home of Cricket - Lord's. That's special for every visiting team, it's the place everyone wants to play given all the history that surrounds the ground - every player would love to get their name on the honours board. ...
I have come 6th in the ballot for Private Members Bill. I do not need to decide as to which subject my PMB should address is until Mid June. Much that it is quite likely that I will be looking at judicial secrecy and the accountability of the state as a subject for a Private Members Bill. However, this is not guaranteed. However, if anyone wishes an alternative proposal to be considered could
A couple of days ago Cornwall Council was asked to choose between two options on the stadium project. The option that got most votes was an outright rejection of the idea of any council funding. Anyone in the room would be absolutely clear that this was what those who voted were calling for. The other option was the one I voted for - it said that there needed to be a proper business case put forward for the scheme and that the full council was entitled to see that (and the answers to other significant questions) before taking a decision. ...
"It might surprise you to know that under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, the police and the courts can decide if you or someone else might feel insulted" states the front page of the Reform Section 5 campaign's website. But this is unlikely to surprise many Lib Dems, who just a couple of months ago, at our Spring Conference in Gateshead, passed a motion (pdf) which called for the right to free speech to be protected through: The repeal of section 5 of the Public Order Act, which creates 'non-intentional' speech offences, and the removal of 'insulting' from ...
LIB DEM MPs LINE UP AGAINST REGIONAL PAY Following the cold water poured on proposals for regionally adjusted pay for public sector workers by Nick Clegg local MP John Pugh has sought to stiffen opposition by co-ordinating Liberal Democrat opposition to the proposals. Southport's MP is behind a letter sent to the Guardian on behalf of 22 Lib Dem MPs including former party leader Charles Kennedy criticising the idea . John told us: "It is important to note that opposition goes beyond this group as we did not even approach the 25 MPs who have ministerial positions.- many of ...
A year ago today, at around this time, I was standing on the shores of the Firth of Forth in North Queensferry watching Willie Rennie do his media interviews after becoming leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Personally, he's had a marvellous year. His rating could hardly be higher within the party. People might not want to go leafletting with him, but they trust, respect and like him. He's relentlessly criss-crossed the country visiting members and attending their events and campaigns - and, exhausting though it is, you can tell he's enjoying himself. He's had the First Minister on the ...
The UK Treasury has admitted that the white paper on bank reform, based on the recommendations of the Sir John Vickers report, will not be published until June. If the legislation is passed much of it will not be implemented until more than 10yrs after the crisis that prompted reform. There's urgency for you. The Government can, of course,screw up education & the NHS & much else at very high speed. Meanwhile JP Morgan Chase follow UBS in uncovering massive trading losses ($2bn).JP Morgans boss, who doubtless will still be richly rewarded, admits to "errors,sloppiness and bad judgment".Then Clinton Cards ...
The Department for Transport has formally announced a trial for tram-trains in Doncaster. This is the technology that allows cheaper, lighter trams to run on standard railway tracks as well as tram tracks. Following discussions we've had with the minister, Norman Baker, we know that this trial is an essential step on the way to getting a new station at Cheadle, and hopefully at Gatley and Adswood too. The overall scheme for us would most likely be for a tram-train route to run between Stockport and Altrincham on the Chester line. The other local line likely to benefit from tram-trains ...
To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be place under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the ...
Yesterday, during Prime Minister Questions, Cameron said something stupid. At the end of PMQS, Peter Hain asked a question about renewable energy specifically on the Severn Barrage project in Wales. The Prime Minister replied with this answer: I heard the right hon. Gentleman on "Farming Today" waxing eloquent on this project. I think that it ...
Expert debunking of Cardinaql Keith O'B rien on same-sex marriage (tags: ) Nerds and Male Privilege | Paging Dr. NerdLove THIS "The reason why male privilege is so insidious is because of the insistence that it doesn't exist in the first place. That willful ignorance is key in keeping it in place; by pretending that the issue doesn't exist, it is that much easier to ensure that nothing ever changes.... They will find one girl in their immediate community who will say that she's not offended and use her as the 'proof' that nobody else is ALLOWED to be offended." ...
Over the weekend, I wrote about how welcome the ancillary details are in the newly published Electoral Registration and Administration Bill. Those are the "and Administration" part of the Bill, but the main act is electoral registration, with the Bill laying out details of the move to individual electoral registration across Great Britain, catching up with Northern Ireland. I've written before about why individual electoral registration is a good policy, and hence has been long pushed for by the Electoral Commission and supported by all the main political parties. In brief, it is to do with principle (your right to ...
Yesterday came the news that Groundwork South West has gone into administration with the immediate loss of 130 full-time and part-time staff. Although based in Plymouth, Groundwork have an office in the old National School on Western Road in Launceston. I'm not yet sure what the effect will be on that operation which also houses offices for a number of small organisations, but it is clearly a loss for our local area. Tweet
I wrote last week about the odd situation in Gwynedd, where a lack of candidates forced a non-election in one ward, and that ward turned out to be crucial for overall control of the Council. Nominations for the ensuing by-election have now closed, and the electors of Bryncrug/Llanfihangel sadly haven't shown a continued spirit of anarchism by refusing to nominate anyone again. Instead, having not been able to find a single candidate a few weeks, this time they've found five, including three different independents. However, it looks like the election won't be as crucial as originally thought, as Plaid Cymru ...
Despite preaching austerity and cuts, it seems that the message of 'we're all in it together' hasn't quite reached the fourth floor bunker at County Hall. Council bosses installed a shiny £5000 coffee machine in the new cafe a month ago, but it has yet to make a single cup - sitting there gathering dust as, according to staff, they haven't yet been trained how to use it. Earlier this week, the authority unveiled bottles of water shipped in from Yorkshire. Tweet
In the sequel to Part 1, I can at least bring good news. This time it is about The Rambles of Neil Monnery, blocked by TalkTalk's HomeSafe for many months as porn but now finally released and viewable. Quite why it took so long since I first reported this is a bit of a mystery, alas, as TalkTalk haven't engaged in conversation. Meanwhile, if I want to find out who to phone about the scaffolding put up outside my house, I have to turn on access to porn as the website for the local housing PFI company is still classified ...
Earlier today (well Wednesday night) I attended the Ealing Council planning committee where the Colonial Drive application was discussed. Let me thank all of the residents who attended the site visit last weekend or the planning committee meeting a few hours ago. In the meeting, residents Malcolm Haxby and Jan Hewlett as well as Southfield ward Councillor Harvey Rose, spoke up against the developer's planning application. They listed the many reasons why the set of 100 or more flats would be bad for both the skyline and the nature reserve, as well as the likely parking issues that the development ...
I have always been committed to promoting equality for all; whether I'm signing a Parliamentary motion on human rights abuses in a foreign country, campaigning for Show Racism the Red Card by getting my footy boots on or fighting for ... Continue reading →
