In July 2010 I blogged about Leicestershire County Council's attempts to save money by turning out street lights at night. Now Shropshire is implementing a more ambitious programme along the same lines: Shropshire Council approved proposals to convert 70 per cent of its streetlights to 'part-night lighting' in September 2011, meaning they are lit until midnight and then switch themselves off until 5.30am. Work is due to start on the first lights in the programme in mid-June.The Shropshire website talks about kilowatt-hours of power and tonnes of carbon, but does not say how much money is being saved. In Leicestershire, ...
Apparently today was world goth day - http://www.worldgothday.com/faq.html I celebrated by remaining aloof from, and indifferent to, such mainsteamness. And I wasn't because I knew nothing about it at all until I saw Charlotte Gore (who, lest we forget, is not a Tory) tweeting about it five minutes ago... [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Stover road will be closed on the nights of 24th and 25th May between Badminton Road and the Yate Road Roundabout. The weight limit on Station Road will be suspended during the closure.
Cllr Claire Young has been campaigning for lower speed limits on these busy roads The end of the long campaign for lower speed limits on the B4465, Westerleigh Road and Nibley Lane is in sight. The Traffic Regulation Order has been signed and work will start on installing the new signs in the week beginning 28th May. The work will take about 3-4 weeks to complete. Thank you to all the residents who collected signatures on the petition, signed it or wrote in to support the proposals during the various consultations. If anyone would like to volunteer to join the ...
With days to go to the 66 days to go until the Olympic Games and 99 to go until the Paralympics*, the Olympic Torch Relay reached Bristol. After work, I took a walk through Millenium Square which had hosted an afternoon of enterntainment as well as broadcasting BBC coverage of the relay on it's big screen. I then took a wander up the route from the Harbourside, through Welsh Back to Castle Park to find myself a vantage point. Once the flame had passed me, I followed it and, by judicious use of a number of shortcuts, I managed to ...
So various Lib Dem committees say that they just have to allow police accreditation checks to let Liberal Democrat conference to go ahead. Do they have to or can we creatively think our way around this dilemma keep Lib Dem Conference liberal and move it into the 21st century. Most of us who have working in a modern business environment know all about tele-conferencing. With Skype being readily available and used widely even images can be broadcast to delegates computers wherever they are. Most people have broadband or can gain access to someone who does fairly easily. So do we ...
Today I spoke with the owner of the shopping parade who stressed again that he wants to see the shops rebuilt but it will take time to assess the damage and decide on what needs to be done and what can be done. I've emphasised that one thing everyone I've had contact with agrees on is the need to have the shops back. There's no interest at all in having anything else on the site, but a lot of
Nick Clegg today spoke of his aim to boost social mobility at a conference organised by the Sutton Trust, arguing Britain must create an open society "where what matters most is the person you become, not the person you were born." "These are challenging times but that doesn't mean we can give up on making society fairer and helping people get on in life. In the past year, since we published the Government's first social mobility strategy, we've made great progress - school children are benefiting from a cash injection through the Pupil Premium, young people are getting into jobs ...
With apologies for the delay posting an update but last Thursday Bar Hill Parish Council held its monthly meeting. The first order of business was to elect a New Chair and Vice Chair after the previous Chair, Margaret Sellars (who was at the meeting Chairing this item in the agenda) stood down. Two nominations came forward, one for each role, which meant that there was no hustings (which went well with there being no campaign or manifestos) and each candidate was elected unanimously. With the newly elected Chair in place we then proceeded with the rest of the agenda. I'm ...
These are the implements of the new HUU LGBT+ shipping tax I will hopefully be rolling out over the next few days. In order to gather a few pennies more each year for important things, 10p for each vocalisation of a "ship" at coffee socials and meetings will be levied. Going to ask people to put their names to it if they want to chip in~
Over at my JC blog I have had a moan about a Barnet blogger who has suggested that Barnet's Jewish and Greek communities are "represented" on the council by those councillors who happen to be Jewish or Greek, while other communities (including, apparently, the Irish Catholic community) are (she says) not represented at all, as there are (apparently) no councillors who are members of the communities concerned. Why can a Jewish councillor not represent someone who is Irish, or vice versa? We elect councillors as individuals to represent a whole ward, not as representatives of this or that community. ...
Sky News wins with: Men Caught Defacing Zuma's Penis Portrait
Don't forget Faith, Pride, and Chat, our informal social evening, is taking place on Friday, 25 May at 7 p.m in St George's Church on High Street. There will be Twix in addition to the usual biscuits. More details....
This is an email I didn't receive: Mark, I'm sorry that you're going to be angry with me by the end of this email, but I'm realistic enough to know that I'm unlikely to win you over with what I'm about to say. But I hope you will keep on reading and at least understand that we both share the same values, even if on this occasion I've supported a decision you very much disagree with. It's conference accreditation and in short – it's going ahead. I know from your response to our consultation that you won't like this. However, ...
So here goes for 8pm on 22/5/2012 – BBC Three 1. Montenegro – let's be clear – no one expects this to qualify or to receive many points. It's basically experimental gurgling with a bit of opera thrown in for good measure. Oh, and a wooden horse on stage. Why? No one really knows except ...
Filed under: Blogging
When I said the other day that I'd be offline next week, I didn't realise that this was the week that Plok was coming to visit, so I won't have time to write for the next couple of days. Since we're going away on Saturday morning, and I won't have net access for a week, ...
What a day to be a Lib Dem! I won't mention polls, Trident, Beecroft or Party accreditation to prevent my head remaining forever in my hands...rather than say any more Chris Ward sums things up very well in my opinion. However Nick Clegg's comments on university access are worth more than a quick tweet. Nick has been ...
Imagine the scene. It's a dirty whitewashed three-storey government building in the capital city, surrounded by high walls with US helicopters parked around. Inside sit several US generals and two Europeans, in the dusty heat. The war they are there to discuss is secretly assumed to go on for 25 years. They all know they cannot win it despite superior air power and unlimited cash. They had all given it their best shot with use of terrible weapons. Neighbouring countries have been mercilessly bombed, and ushering in governments very unfriendly to the US and the West. It was time to ...
Stockport Council is encouraging young people to come along to an opportunities and jobs fair at Reddish Vale Young People's Centre on Thursday 24th May, from 11.00am to 3.00pm. The event has been organised by the Council's Services for Young People and is for Stockport young people aged 16 to 19 who are not in education, employment or training. There is no need to book in advance and young people are encouraged to attend to find out more about work and training opportunities in Stockport. There will be information and guidance on apprenticeships, college courses and current job vacancies. Local ...
Claire sent me this video - no reason for posting it other than I think it's brilliant.
I saw precious little of Deputy Prime Minister's Questions this afternoon. The phone rang even before it started and then I had to go off to do the school run. However there were some wee gems in the few minutes I did manage to watch. First of all, Nick Clegg was attacked on Lords Reform and reminded that some of our Peers are less than helpful on the subject. Nick decided that this was not a time for tact and subtlety: "The power of a whiff of ermine on a person's views on this subject never ceases to amaze me." ...
While looking at some online archived footage of the Lords, I noticed a message on the parliamentlive.tv site which stated that the authorities had, since 2009-10, been looking for ways in which they could feed the same video material to mobile devices. Curious as to what was taking so long, I put in a parliamentary question to our brand new Chairman of Committees, Lord Sewel. I have reproduced the exchange below. Lord Tyler: To ask the Chairman of Committees what progress has been made since 2009-10 in delivering archived video coverage of parliamentary proceedings to mobile devices.[HL168] The Chairman of ...
At lunchtime today and along with representatives from Friends of Balgay, ward colleagues, the City Council's new Environment Convener, council staff and local residents, I had the honour of attending a photo call event to mark the competition of a memorial to around 10 000 Dundee people buried in unmarked graves at Balgay Common Ground between 1870 and 2004. Works have involved selecting and placing a large boulder in the chosen corner of the grounds and installing a simple memorial plaque to the boulder face. Leading to the boulder, a short path was created with an edging made of reclaimed ...
As part of the CIPR's Social Summer series, I'll be talking about social media and the public sector on 7 June. More details here. The talk accompanies the forthcoming CIPR book Share This, which you can pre-order from Amazon here.
Every now and then I do something that requires me to provide "proof of address". There's starting a phone contract, applying for security jobs, signing on, etc. For whatever reason these companies need "proof" of my address, either a utilities bill or bank statement and unfortunately for me I struggle to provide it. My utilities and council tax is included in the rent. My banking is purely online. Until recently I "bought" my internet from my housemate. Now I buy my internet directly, I finally have an "addressed bill" to use. But that stops me from taking up Virgin's offer ...
East Grinstead has witnessed a significant victory for local people. Badly timed and managed roadworks at the junction of London Road and Imberhorne Lane brought the town to a standstill earlier this month. Drivers were understandably outraged and vented their anger on West Sussex County Council and Wickes who were responsible. Patronising responses from WSCC cabinet member Pieter Montyn and the Wickes project manager were rightly condemned in the press and social media. But people power won through. Mr Montyn eventually issued an apology for the handling of the roadworks and engaged WSCC highways staff to work with the contractors. ...
This morning, I attended the launch of the new local community plans across the eight wards covering the city, including the West End. See photo - right. This was a well-attended event at the Marryat Hall involving community representatives, council officers and councillors and representatives from other partners such as NHS Tayside, Tayside Police and Tayside Fire & Rescue. The Community Plans aim to tackle many local issues in communities across Dundee and there is a detailed new plan covering the West End 2012-17. The next meeting of the West End Local Community Planning Partnership takes place on Thursday of ...
Today is the member's first day at the 2012 Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show. And what a beautiful day it is to attend a flower show too. The weather is sunny, however the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is host to a dark irony. Veolia Water sponsors the 'Naturally Dry' Garden at Chelsea, a garden inspired by William Wordsworth and designed by Vicky Harris Garden Design, whose web site tells us that: ...it is possible to have a beautiful garden during times of drought... Veolia Water is part of the French multinational Veolia Environnement, an organisation that the BIG ...
I used to write a blog each day and sometimes more than one per day. I know that I don't publish blogs as often as I used to, but maybe that is why I received an email yesterday from a 'professional writer'. She was willing to write blogs at no cost to me. All she wanted was a link in the blog to a company. This might be fine for blog writers who aren't interested in writing their own content. It would also be fine for people who wanted to call a blog theirs when it was written by someone ...
Tue 22nd
15:52
On the tendency to illberal and illogical bollocks among some at the top of the Lib Dems
... I hereby quote Andrew Hickey:we have to get rid of all the liberalism in order to be 'electable', just like we had to get rid of Charles and then Ming and replace them with Clegg, because he seems more like those hugely popular figures Tony Blair and David Cameron, so he made us more 'electable', which is why we had such a huge gain in seats in 2010... What the electorate like is people sticking as close as they can to the centre of the Overton Window, which is why outspoken people like Tony Benn, Diane Abbot, Paddy, Charles, ...
I'm sure Duncan Greenland, Andrew Wiseman and Tim Farron were under no illusions that their announcement on Liberal Democrat Voice that accreditation has been approved would be met with universal acclamation within the Party. If they were, they'll probably be crying into their beer now. The lack of sensitivity, the inference that those of us who oppose accreditation don't care about the safety of staff came straight from the Jeremy Clarkson School of Charm. It was only ever going to outrage people. So, a few observations. However livid I might be with Tim Farron for putting his name to that ...
Today's announcement that design contracts for the Trident successor submarines have been signed is being portrayed as the Coalition Government moving a step closer to a full Trident replacement. In reality the final decision for Trident replacement is still years away. Until 2016's Main Gate decision, the 'point of no return' at which contracts are finalised and billions of pounds committed, there are still important questions to be asked about the future of the UK's nuclear deterrent. And if it wasn't for Liberal Democrat influence in this Government, this simply would not be the case. It is because we are ...
Yesterday, along with the West End roads inspector and a local resident, I took part in a site inspection of the roadway in Perth Road outside Harris Academy, where - in the layby adjacent to the bus stop - the road condition is poor, leading to large puddles forming. See photo of road surface - right. This situation is inconvenient for bus passengers getting off the bus and is exacerbated by the rainwater that flows south out of the West Park complex nearby. Although the layby here will be reconfigured and improved in time as the new Harris Academy building ...
I was reading various blogs and other things last night on the subject of police accreditation for Liberal Democrat Conference, and I was struck by the fact that several people I saw on the other side of the debate to me were using the 'why get upset about it, there are more important things to worry about' argument. I was reminded of that today, when Jennie Rigg wrote this after receiving a similar response from someone else: Yesterday, someone I care about a lot told me that while this decision was deplorable, the other stuff I was posting about yesterday, ...
Tue 22nd
14:59
Doctor Who - Invasion of the Dinosaurs: Another Totally Convincing Triceratops at Moorgate
[IMG: Posted by Picasa] Coming Soon... A monster review!
Liberal Democrats who want to understand how the party runs can easily become confused by the range of offices, executives, committees, subcommittees and working groups that they encounter. Some have grand sounding names and are made up of "the great and the good". Others are little heard of with powers unknown. One of the most obscure is probably the English Council. I confess to being a bit of a nerd when it comes to matters of party organisation, but even I have found myself asking – "what on earth does English Council do?" Last year, through my regional party, I ...
Early on in Mark Schaefer's book Return on Influence there is a graph showing the level of traffic to Quora as it progressed from launch in early 2010 to hot trendy site in early 2011. There is a massive spike in traffic during that transition, triggered by Robert Scoble's eulogising post "Is Quora the Biggest Blogging Innovation in 10 Years?". Superficially, this is a great example of online influence at work. A former mid-level employee turned himself into an online celebrity via use of social media and now can help make sites a success with just one post of praise. ...
When we were in opposition we had a leader who said: "I will refuse to have an ID Card and to have my details put on the Register" That was a principled stance. Made at a time when some were talking about bringing in compulsory ID Cards. It was a principle of civil liberties and having principles can be costly. Look at that comment again. Refuse to have my details put on the register. Yet yesterday the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference Committee (FCC), announced that after seeking advice from the Federal Finance and Administration Committee (FFAC) that accreditation would take ...
Today's Guardian reports that after Vince Cable's success in forcing a Government climbdown on the reform of employment rights, Nick Clegg has stepped up to the mark on social mobility. The paper says that the Deputy Prime Minister has vowed to address the "absolute scandal" of Britain's lack of social mobility and open up a society that is "too closed" and "too static". They add that the government has published 17 trackers to assess progress in improving life chances over the coming decades. These include school readiness, the proportion of children on free school meals achieving a "good level of ...
Chateau Sucker – Fascinating article from New York magazine about fraud amongst high-end wine connoiseurs. (via) Angela's Choice – Jason O'Mahony posits that the history of the next fifty years will be determined by what Angela Merkel decides Germany's path through the Euro crisis will be. Colchester's Tipping Point – A perspective on town centre regeneration and the cultural sector in this town from Marc De'Ath The corruption at the heart of our political system – Sometimes we all need to be reminded that our system is a long, long, way from being clean. No, I will not "grow a ...
The decision of the ELDR Bureau to hold the Spring Council meeting in Armenia sparked a good deal of debate as to how far the borders of Europe extend. No such ambivalence could be seen in the hundreds of predominantly young people we saw at an outdoor celebration of Europe Day. This small country, a shadow of its historic past, manages to be on good terms with near neighbours Russia, Iran and Georgia. The relationship with Turkey to its east have been hostile since the deaths of more than a million Armenians in the early twentieth century, whilst more recent ...
How gobsmackingly disappointing it is that accreditation has been approved once again for Conference, in the face of vociferous opposition. I wont go through all the arguments again about why accreditation is wrong - do feel free to visit this link (and the others it mentions) if you are interested. But I would like to make some other points. 1. The piece 'justifying' the decision, which includes the implication that if you are against accreditation then you are less interested in the safety of others visiting the conference than those who are for it, comes with Tim Farrons name attached. ...
Tough though these last two year have been, there are some times I am really glad we are in there holding the Tories back. Make no mistake, the proposals for employers to basically hire and fire at will, and for public bodies to privatise services without protection of employees' rights, having been received by the Government last October, would have been in the Queen's Speech this May if it hadn't been for the Liberal Democrats. It strikes me as very odd that people think that the reason we are in this mess is because our workers are lazy. I thought ...
We are back after a rest day. Probably needed as much by commentators and fans after stage 15 and the finish. Matteo Rabotinni (FAR) had attacked on the big category 1 climb of the day some 93 km from the end, but there was a small group between him and the peleton, but this included Damiano Cunego (LAM) who had taken the virtual lead on the road. On the final descent he had crashed on a slippery turn but got back on his bike and carried on. The peleton were closing in on Cunego and soon had defended the maglia ...
Welcome back to a suddenly rather quieter set of benches, as the avalanche of key votes has settled, and a new Parliamentary session glides effortlessly away from the Gracious Speech. We're still catching up after the recess, so bear with us... Having debated the Speech itself, and given the Government several pieces of its mind over Lords Reform, the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill has its Second Reading today. For more information, check out Norman Lamb's piece, published in Liberal Democrat Voice last week. The European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill has its Second Reading on Wednesday. Whilst the ...
An organisation for which I am Secretary has had our website domain hosted by Easyspace for some years. Just hosting - nothing more. Two years ago I was substantially overcharged for a late renewal. I wrote seeking a refund. My letter was not replied to and yes, I was remiss in not chasing it up. This cavalier attitude to real customer service, as opposed to what Easypace say about their service meant I had no intention of renewing when that subscription of two years ago expires on 16th June this year. I received an Email on 17th May 2012 from ...
Lib Dem Voice reports that three party committees have agreed to police requests to allow them to vet democratically elected conference representatives at the party's autumn conference. This was despite the previous conference rejecting the idea and a 'shotgun' consultation during the local election campaign also overwhelmingly rejecting the proposal. The crucial part of the staement issued by the chairs of the three committees is this: "In the unlikely circumstance that the police recommend that we do not accredit a party member, the final decision as to the attendance of any Party member rests with the Party..."So why bother? The ...
Last week, I wrote a letter. It was to support an application that was being put together to give Robin Gibb a Knighthood. Before writing the letter of support, I researched Robin's life and work. Born on the Isle of ... Continue reading →
Social mobility is in the news again recently. Nick Clegg is using it to promote the Pupil Premium and is today announcing forward-looking social mobility indicators which will apparently allow the Government to observe and possibly intervene earlier rather than later. There's also been a lot of talk about public schools and Oxbridge university admissions. ...
The idea that Liberal Democrat and Conservative political fortunes are tied together comes in two forms. The basic – that with both being in government, the public's overall view of the government (and in particular its economic record) will heavily determine its view of both parties come the next election. Sink or swim together then. Then there is version which adds an asymmetric twist. Namely that if the public views the coalition as a failure both parties will sink together but, being the smaller of the two, it is possible for the public to rate the coalition and credit the ...
... so here's a picture of the wonderful and vocal Hibs support that were let down so badly by their team at the weekend.
Twelve days ago I wrote about the "New Politics being dead" and the distrust in Politics that has become more and more prevalent over recent years. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who feels the same as Vince Maple, the newly elected leader of the Medway Labour group (congratulations by the way!) wrote in Medway Messenger's Party People of similar observations. Vince wrote about how scandals in National Government, the Cash for access for David Cameron, the Murdoch Press (which haunts the big two parties) and the Libdems Tuition fees. All of which are true, I'd argue that ...
Hayek and the Welfare State, Yet Again Do get any acquaintances who take Hayek seriously to read this. (tags: economics ) Eurovision 2012- what you see and don't see (VIDEO) @arzugeybulla 's Storify summary. (tags: eurovision azerbaijan ) #Azerbaijan: Turning Over a New Leaf? - International Crisis Group I was too optimistic, back in 2004. (tags: azerbaijan ) The Fortsas hoax A peculiar bit of literary history. (tags: belgium ) #Azerbaijan: Authorities Violently Disperse Peaceful Rallies @HRW release quoting my old friend Giorgi Gogia. (tags: azerbaijan ) #Azerbaijan journalist blackmailed with sex video How to deal with dissenting voices. (tags: ...
As Nick Clegg bangs the social mobility drum today at the Sutton Trust announcing social trackers to measure fairness in society, we welcome his re-affirmation that social mobility matters. At Family Action our work with disadvantaged and vulnerable families, means that every day our workers witness the fundamental unfairness of some children's circumstances. The pupil premium and the extension of Sure Start to two-year olds are important policy wins. But Family Action is concerned that the Coalition is missing the boat by not focusing enough on babyhood and the first steps in early intervention. A wealth of neuroscientific and Millenium ...
'Equality of opportunity' is a buzzword designed to get around talking about inequality of income - Telegraph Blogs Pope shits in the woods news in the Torygraph. (tags: ) Nat on organising and running a conference while on the dole This is truly inspiring. (tags: ) who_daily: HELP WANTED! Who Daily are recruiting, for those of you who have some spare internet time. (tags: ) BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - More or Less If you have any sense you'll be listening to More Or Less anyway, but it's especially important that anyone with any political inclinations whatsoever listens ...
Those are the words that persuaded me to join up to the Lib Dems. They mean a lot to me. They clearly mean a lot to whoever designed the membership card too, since they are on it. Of course, the lawyer in me points out that it could be argued that it only means not being enslaved by your own ignorance, and not the ignorance of others... Yesterday, despite direct and personal evidence given by members of LGBT+ Lib Dems that the process was directly discriminatory, and evidence given by lots of people that the process would not make anyone ...
Over the next decade, around a fifth of existing power plants are due to close, against a background of projected increased energy demand and increasing energy prices. We need new investment simply to keep the lights on and avoid blackouts becoming a feature of daily life. But we also need investment in electricity generation for our climate change goals. We must decarbonise Britain's electricity generation, to meet our Carbon Budgets as we transition to a low carbon economy. We need an estimated £110 billion investment in electricity generation and transmission this decade alone. So we need electricity market reforms to ...
Apparently You read 590 words per minute. That makes you 136% faster than the national average.I'm assuming that's a US national average. Check your score here: [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Found at the bottom of the Bignews In-Tray, some rather passionate, press release (below) from Thanet Conservatives. A tad intemperate in its language but there appears little to disagree with in the content. As always I keep an open mind, have always been inclusive and honest, unlike some bigots in Thanet and if anyone from Labour would like to retort, please knock yourself out, Bignews Margate, now in its eighth year is still fighting hypocrisy in the pursuit of truth and justice, and the British way of life. My view is that Clive Hart, will struggle to justify recent events, ...
Yes, we're back in Strasbourg, apparently, for another week of drama and excitement. Alright, perhaps I exaggerate a bit... and apologise for being a little behind. Yesterday saw the first debate on the new EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which will include a provision for visa-free travel to Canada for all EU citizens, something the Americans could perhaps learn from, as well as a series of short debates on, amongst other things, the EU's internal security strategy and strengthening the rights of vulnerable consumers. Today, debates on SME access to structural funds, homophobia, bluefin tuna and trade with China, ...
No look-back at the disco greats of the 70s and 80s would be complete without the Bee Gees and it was dreadfully sad to learn of the passing of the hugely talented Robin Gibb on Sunday:
I've got a new project for myself & for the blog - running and reviewing all of the King County Trails! (See map) On Sunday, I needed to get in a 16 mile run. On the suggestion of roommate, who had talked to someone from King County at her 5K in the morning, I headed for Kent and the Soos Creek Trail head. Sadly, my inability to read the information on the back of the map led me to believe that this was an 11 mile trail each way, instead of 11 miles round trip. Ahhh, doubling back to make ...
What determines the size and location of the Overton window? What types of proposals for government action are viewed as acceptable or sensible? Which proposals are viewed as popular enough to make their way into policy? And which proposals are outside the window – viewed as too radical to consider seriously? Even more fundamentally, which proposals are "unthinkable" in the current context? One answer is "public opinion". A more sophisticated answer is public opinion as mediated to politicians through a range of focus groups, political advisors or media representations. Clearly there is plenty of scope for a gap to open ...
In which the two greatest monsters the Doctor has ever faced team up...
As I start typing this it's around 45 minutes since I saw a tweet by @caronmlindsay that alerted me to the decision of the Federal Conference Committee (FCC) to pursue a policy of accreditation for this year's autumn conference. Well, I say the Federal Conference Committee but it transpires that they passed the decision on to the Federal Finance and Administration Committee (FFAC), which itself is a sub-committee of the Federal Executive (FE). The result: the FFAC voted in favour of accreditation with one dissenting voice; step forward Ms Caron Lindsay. My second public reaction was this tweet: I haven't ...
From this morning's Independent: Cable forces Tory U-turn on workers' rights Moves to give companies sweeping powers to dismiss under-performing employees are set to be abandoned by David Cameron following a bitter Coalition split over the issue. The Prime Minister risks a new row with the Conservative right by accepting that plans to allow employers to "fire at will" cannot be forced through in the face of Liberal Democrat resistance. Conservative Cabinet ministers are arguing for the Government to take an axe to employment law which they argue is helping to choke off economic growth and job creation. A report ...
If I go Liberal Democrat Conference these days it is to help out with the party newspaper rather than as a voting representative. So in a way the announcement that the Lib Dems are to continue to insist on police accreditation of representatives does not affect me. But it has still saddened me. It appears we now live in a country where you need police permission to attend political conferences. I grew up in a country where we congratulated ourselves precisely because we did not live like that. This was seen both as a way of showing we were not ...
I still don't know what EXACTLY I am going to do about this, other than (obviously) put myself forward for federal conference committee to try and prevent it happening again. I also endorse the candidature of Alastair Calder McGregor, who will be standing on a similar platform. One think I will question is the probity of the decision: can this be put before the federal appeals panel because in passing the buck around the alphabet soup of federal committees to overrule a sovereign decision of conference the FCC may have outstepped the bounds of their powers? FAC is not, after ...
