Via the FT: Vince Cable, business secretary, has vowed to resist "bonkers" proposals to allow bosses to fire underperforming staff at will, as coalition tensions flared over a Number 10-inspired report on cutting jobs red tape... Mr Cable reacted angrily to reports that Mr Cameron would back the proposal for no-fault dismissal, with one official close to the business secretary saying the idea was "bonkers" and without any evidential base. One ally said Mr Cable was surprised the prime minister was not distancing himself from the report by Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist and leading Conservative donor, after allegations that ...
Someone's started up a petition on the Number 10 website to introduce STV in local elections in England. I've long thought that this would be a decent step to improving local democracy and accountability, so if you feel the same, why not go and sign it?
Last year West Sussex County Council inspectors swooped on East Grinstead's streets and demanded that shopkeepers remove advertising signs from the pavement outside their shops. But look, they are creeping back! However, contrast the amount of clutter caused by a solitary advertising sign with all the stuff deposited on the street by the local authorities. From the left: CCTV mast, parking sign, random bollard, parking payment machine, streetlight, another parking sign, pedestrian signpost, another streetlight. Is all this junk needed? I suspect not.
I remember the good old days of being a Liberal Democrat. The days when I could argue about politics for hours, be proud to wear a yellow rosette and generally feel superior about my political views. I am not saying I don't support the Lib Dems anymore, I do. It's just that now in debates ...
Following yesterday's devastating fire the latest news is: 1. Sainsbury's is being cleaned of smoke damage, all food etc has been removed and the shop will be restocked for opening on Tuesday all being well 2. Egglescliffe Community Centre has escaped with just loss of power. They hope to get power back some time tomorrow and to open for normal service on Tuesday. 3. The pharmacy has been
During May lots of Brighton artists open their homes to the public as part of the Brighton Festival. Programme continues until the end of May.www.aoh.org.uk I felt a bit despondent coming back to East Grinstead that there was nothing like that on my doorstep. So I was really pleased to find out about the exhibition "We are Example" at the Greenstede Gallery at Chequer Mead. Example are a local art group weareexample.blogspot.co.uk , the exhibition is on until 30th May and it's very good. Do go along if you can.
Those of you who have known me for a long time might remember me talking about my Canadian cousin Dianne. I never met her, but we used to correspond by email a lot. One of the reasons that I never met her was that she had a lot of health problems, which ended up claiming her life at a very young age a few years ago. Her brother, my cousin Mark, is going to be running a marathon to raise funds for the hospital that cared for her (and also my uncle John in his final illness). Specifically, he is ...
I think this story about how David Cameron has been spending "crazy" amounts of time on his iPad playing "Fruit Ninja" is wrong on two levels. Firstly I simply don't believe that he spends very much of his time playing games (and what is the definition of "crazy" in this context?). No modern Prime Minister ever really has that much spare time. But secondly and much more importantly, even if it was true, so bloody what? It is continually lamented that our politicians do not act like normal people. What could be more normal than a middle aged man getting ...
In 'The Heroes and Villains of Westminster' in The Sun they consider Vince Cable this weeks hero and have some very positive words to say about him which are worth reading: Take a bow, Vince Cable. For the blunt-speaking Business Secretary has secured a fantastic deal that has saved Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port factory in Cheshire ...
Five people playing one guitar. Unsurprisingly over 100m views. The original of the song (200m views) One person playing two guitars
You know, I think this outfit is cute. Also cute: THE SPACE NEEDLE! So, yesterday was race day. I'd originally signed up for this AGES ago, thinking that it would be my first big run after London. Obviously, with a 5K a week after the marathon, that wasn't the case and, because of things that I'm not currently talking about, this had to be downgraded from a "race" to a training run. My goal was to hold a nice steady 10:30 pace for the whole race, since I've still got to go out and do a long run today (which ...
Last week I posted some pictures of street art and grafitti in Bristol. It's not a subject of which there is a shortage of examples, so here are some more: Andrew
Today York City beat Luton Town in the Blue Square Bet Premier play-off final to return to the Football League. And, according to several people on Twitter, Vince Cable was there to see them do it. Vince is an alumnus of the city's Poppleton Road Primary School and Nunthorpe Grammar School. And, according to an article he wrote for the Daily Mail in 2009, he is a lifelong York City fan: Like many little boys of my generation I learned sports skills in the street and the local park. I was introduced early to the excitements of heaving crowds on ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 274th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (13-19 May, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Formerly Liberal Democrat ...
The Olympic flame will be coming to South Glos on Tuesday 22 May and then again briefly on the morning of Wednesday 23 May. Full details of the route and a detailed map are available online www.southglos.gov.uk/2012olympictorch along with a listed of frequently asked questions. South Gloucestershire Council has created a £5,000 one-off Challenge Fund to maximise the 2012 Olympic legacy potential. There are 25 grants of £201.20 available for groups registered with the Community Games programme, which aims to bring communities together to take part in sporting and cultural activities inspired by, and in celebration of, the London 2012 ...
The Lady: A Homage to Sandy Denny, a tour commemorating her songwriting legacy, began in Liverpool last night. Sandy Denny died in 1978 at the age of 31. The tour website suggests that In the years since her death, Sandy has emerged as one of the UK 's greatest singer-songwriters.This is slightly clumsy, and I wonder if it is even true. While the songs of Nick Drake, who was once the acme of undeserved obscurity, are heard so often as backing music on BBC programmes that you are tempted to groan, Denny remains something of a cult figure. Maybe this ...
My old New Statesman columns have disappeared down the memory hole and are no longer to be found on the magazine's website. That's Socialism for you. Fortunately, I took the precaution of keeping copies of Calder's Comfort Farm, so I am able to reprint some thoughts of mine on Olympic traditions that were published on 14 April 2008: The practice of parading the torch around the world dates all the way back to 2004. But it's true the idea of carrying the flame from Olympus to the venue has a longer pedigree. Like most Olympic traditions, it was invented for ...
My mate David was down at the Wesley St Carnival today and met these 2 Labour party members. I'm not sure if they're activists are elected members. I have a nagging feeling that I've seen these 2 characters in Bootle Town Hall recently - they all look the same to me. I haven't had a chance to speak to David and I didn't know that he was going to the carnival. I had hoped to get down myself this weekend but a trip to Bolton yesterday and household chores today made this impossible. I hope that the carnival was a ...
Writing up the latest in my Local Liberal Heroes series has reminded me of the strangest Liberal Democrat committee meeting I've sat through. There's been some good contenders over the years, but the winner has to be the Federal Conference Committee in the 1990s where Roger Liddle and I were in a minority of two in trying to persuade the rest of the committee to ignore Olly Grender's advice and to take an amendment tabled by Richard Denton-White. To those of you who don't know the four of us, this will mean nothing. To those of you who do, marvel ...
Sun 20th
17:25
In other news... Paddy in Lords bust-up; Manchester elects Lib Dem lord mayor; Defections round-up
Here's a round-up of stories we haven't had time to cover on the site this past few days... Lord Ashdown and Lord Phillips in Lords reform clash (BBC News) Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown has clashed with one of his party colleagues during a debate on government plans to reform the House of Lords. Lord Phillips of Sudbury complained that the proposal would turn Parliament's second chamber into a clone of the House of Commons, with politicians simply following the party line when it comes to voting. In finger-jabbing exchanges, Lord Ashdown argued that most peers should be elected. ...
A quick update to my post from yesterday about the plans to ban all photography on Glasgow's Subway. There's now a protest planned, along with Facebook page: SPT are consulting on new bye-laws. Proposed Byelaw 12.1 states: "Passengers must not take photographs, or make video audio or visual recordings on any part of the subway." The penalty is a fine of up to £1000. If you agree that this is a bit disproportionate, like this page. If you are actually in Glasgow, take the opportunity between now and the closure of the consultation on 15th June to post on here ...
Commenting on the launch of the Welsh government's White Paper on Local Democracy, the Welsh Liberal Democrats Shadow Minister for Local Government and Communities Peter Black AM said, "This represents a complete failure of the Labour party to acknowledge the real problems that face local democracy in Wales. In the local elections a few weeks ago, we saw too many uncontested elections and turn out that was far too low, yet one of the proposals the government has put forward to change the name of the body that draws up election boundaries. This is not the radical thinking that Welsh ...
Sorry I've missed by previews of the last few stages, I've been a little bit busy in real live. But on Friday on Stage 13 we actually had a broad straight finish for a flat stage. Matt Goss was getting the lead out towards the end and had the jump on Mark Cavendish. But when the sprint came to the left of the road Cav was boxed in, freewheeled for a couple of beats before the gap opened for him again as Matt Goss returned to the centre. He took the opportunity kicked again for the line and in the ...
We understand that the roundabout should have been planted by now however the delay has been due to heavy ground conditions and the councilmteam will sort it as soon as they can get onto it
My Liberal Democrat Voice colleague, Caron Lindsay, has recently written about the proposed reform of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Given that I am one of those people who theoretically should benefit from its work, perhaps I ought to put some thoughts out there. Let's start with the negatives. The EHRC was hobbled from its outset by Labour's insistence on packing its leadership with Labour hacks, who saw their role as a political one. It also suffered from appalling financial management and a sense of mission creep. It was symptomatic of an administration which thought that bigger was ...
Sun 20th
12:35
Light the cycleway! 200-signature petition to be presented to Conservatives at Shire Hall 22nd May
With the backing of colleagues at Cambridge University Press, my trade union UNITE and fellow Liberal Democrats, I am running a petition for lighting the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway and shall be presenting it to the Conservative Cabinet of Cambridgeshire County Council next Tuesday, 22nd May. At present we have 200+signatures, but people are still signing. The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway was a long time a-coming and has been extremely controversial since its inception. But - love it or hate it - its less contentious collateral has been the cycleway running alongside it. This is well used and provides many cyclists and ...
I don't think I have ever voted in this category before, but after last year's debacle when I failed to vote for Randall Munroe of xkcd, and he missed winning the award by a single vote, I have decided to educate myself thanks to the Hugo Voters Package. There are five artists in this category (none of them Randall Munroe, for some reason) and I have heard of only one, so I am judging the others purely on the basis of the four pieces submitted for the Package; if they have done better (or worse) work over the last year ...
Yes, it's true. The Olympic Torch will be starting it's journey on 24 July from Ham Parade and running directly across ham Common. here's a map and details. (click image to enlarge) Lots more details by clicking here #hamishollywood
First things first: Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice wins Expression of the Day for his 'thin homogeneity'. He was writing about an Independent diary story about Paddy Ashdown's criticism of politicians who have never had a job outside politics - which seems to be most of them these days. The Independent credits Paddy's remarks to the North Devon Journal, and there you will find a report of a wide-ranging Ashdown speech: "The difference with politics today and politics when I was leader of the Liberal Democrats, is the people working in politics. "I worked in the military. I was ...
Well the "salt 'n' sauce" Cup final turned into an annihilation. Hibs are now on a Nelson - the cricketing expression for 111 - having been hammered 5-1 by Hearts. I will get the difficult bit over first. Congratulations Hearts you were the better team on the day and, in spite of all of your problems this season off the pitch, you were the better side all season. So far so magnanimous. Hibs....oh dear. It was a great day out until 3pm. The old adage of being better to travel in hope than arrive was never truer than yesterday. If ...
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 ...
I see Private Eye magazine has in it's current issue, in the Rotten Boroughs section, a feature on Thanet, the author reporting on a recent news story covered in the local press, concerning the former leader of the council, of which we are all familiar admittedly a bit of ancient history has been added, to beef up the story, however I just wonder, if the contributor will be tapping into the rich vein of controversy over current Labour leader Cllr Clive Hart's recent new appointments to the council. Still where would a journalist start, well I suppose cries of "shame" ...
That's Paddy's view, as reported in the Independent's diary here: Paddy Ashdown, the first leader of the Liberal Democrat party, has remarked on how politics has been taken over by people who have never had a job anywhere else but in politics, giving the strong impression that he does not approve. "The difference with politics today, and politics when I was leader of the Liberal Democrats, is the people working in politics," he said. "I worked in the military. I was involved in business. I have been unemployed twice, working as a voluntary youth worker. Today's politicians have simply only ...
With the screening of episodes 9 and 10 of the Bridge last night, another great Scandinavian TV series ends. Apart from the rather bizarre story line, excellent script and a high standard of acting, in my view the theme music was a stand-out feature of this series. Already there is talk of a British re-make in partnership with French TV, which does not quite work for me. largely because the major differences in language and culture. I think it is best left alone. I quite enjoyed this spoof report of a re-make though in which the initial setting will be ...
Filed under: Blogging
John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, has returned to the subject of marriage equality and civil partnerships this week. I firmly believe that redefining marriage to embrace same-sex relationships would mean diminishing the meaning of marriage for most people, with very little if anything gained for homosexual people. If I am right, in the long term we would all be losers. He seems not to realise marriage equality isn't just about "homosexual people" and at the same time spreads that common falsehood that civil partnerships and marriage are "equal" and thus nothing further needs to be done. I understand it's easier ...
Maehem Sez : I had an abortion Powerful stuff (tags: ) Scarlett Johansson On the Ridiculous, Sexist Portrayals of Superheroines | ThinkProgress "It'd be nice to see a superheroine have a relationship, whether it's with a superhero or a normal person, that's about providing her with affirmation, with a reason to fight, rather than that acting as an illustration of her weakness." (tags: ) Feminist Whoniverse on River Song's Bi-ness I didn't realise River was bi. (tags: ) The Girls' Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse: Know Your Idols #25 Miss Marple (tags: ) Tim Harford — Article — The weighty ...
...n one handy infographic. Funny, I thought there would be more. Although one rules not just the UK and 15 other realms to boot.... (click on the image to enlarge) Hat tip to the Beeb (where there is lots more info if you're REALLY interested...
Voters had to take some care when voting in Prestatyn North on May 3rd, as the Labour candidate was called Paul Penlington and the Conservative Allan Pennington. But the council's counting staff did not take the same care when it came to the count, as WalesOnline reports: Returning officer and council chief executive Mohammed Mehmet said a block of ballot papers which should have been allocated to the Labour candidate Paul Penlington were "inadvertently" allocated to Tory Allan Pennington, who won the last of the three seats available on the ward. Mr Penlington or Labour now have until May 24 ...
Writing in the Financial Times, former Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell has urged Britain to drop the so-called 'Moscow criterion' — which commits us to maintaining an independent nuclear deterrent capable of obliterating the Russian capital — in order to open up the possibilities of a more targeted, and cheaper, nuclear alternative to the renewal of Trident: Nuclear weapons have no intrinsic merit. Their significance is in deterrence. If you ever have to use them it can only be because they have failed in their primary purpose. But nuclear policy ought always to be assessed in its political context. It ...
We were going to start a campaign to try and sort out this neglected part of Odd Down, maybe it won't be needed. It will be interesting to see what the co-op are planning whether it is another company or themselves.
If you want tickets, e-mail me at teaparty@frasermacpherson.org.uk - many thanks!
I was pleased to note that, at my request and following the recent road resurfacing on Colinton Place and Pentland Crescent, the "Keep Clear" signs on the bend in the road have been re-painted. See below:Immediately after the surfacing work, the bin collection could not take place in Colinton Place due to cars parked on the bend and the markings are a helpful reminder to drivers.
Best Novel: Among Others, by Jo Walton - HOORAY!!!! Best Novella: "The Man Who Bridged the Mist," by Kij Johnson Best Novelette: "What We Found," by Geoff Ryman Best Short Story: "The Paper Menagerie," by Ken Liu Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation: Doctor Who: "The Doctor's Wife," written by Neil Gaiman, directed by Richard Clark Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book: The Freedom Maze, by Delia Sherman Grand Master Award to Connie Willis. Solstice Awards to John Clute and posthumously to Octavia Butler. Service to SFWA Award to Bud Webster. Congratulations to papersky!!! ...
Yesterday Chelsea won the Champions League. Meanwhile, I was considering what to post as my Sunday Sound. The former event made the answer to my later considerations obvious: Enjoy! Andrew
