The Evening Standard reports the collapse of the roofs of four "£1million Victorian townhouses" in Stockwell: The Solicitor General Edward Garnier was among those evacuated after masonry, bricks and other debris fell into the properties and sent rubble flying onto the Stockwell street. MP Mr Garnier said his wife was inside at the time and feared a bomb had gone off.Thankfully Mr Garnier and his family escaped unhurt, but I do not know what surprises me more about this story: the news that the MP for Harborough lives in Stockwell or the discovery that he is a neighbour of Will ...
Egglescliffe & Eaglescliffe council have planned a weekend of events to celebrate the Jubilee. The weekend kicks off with an exhibition in Egglescliffe community centre on Durham Lane on Saturday morning while crafts, games, puppet shows, music and face painting goes on outside on the grass near the library. The council aims to celebrate in style after the horror of last weekend, so bring out
In 2007 the Ofsted inspectors visited Mowsley St Nicholas C of E Primary School in Leicestershire: Pupils' personal development and well-being are good. They behave well and have excellent relationships with each other and with adults. Pupils feel very happy and safe because, as they say, 'the school's really nice and small and we're well looked after.' The pastoral care of pupils is very good. Parents really value this because they believe it really benefits their children's academic and personal development. The comment made by one that 'Mowsley is a small school with a big heart' was supported by many ...
Done a bit of messing about with layout and stuff tonight. The major differences you will notice are in the navlinks at the top right... ;) Let me know if anything is particularly awful on your browser or anything. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Today I attended the first meeting of the Bootle Seven Cabinet at Southport Town Hall. Where once we had ten cabinet members representing residents across the borough, we now have a slimmed down version with all seven coming from Bootle. The meeting lasted all of nine minutes. This wasn't that surprising because all seven members are from the same party and therefore there wasn't the usual debate across three parties as happened before. An interesting development was the axing of the two Conservative party members from the outside bodies that carried allowances, replaced of course by Labour members. That's two ...
Austerity and growth, of course, are not opposites. We need a good dose of both. But, with European opinion moving against the former and in favour of the latter, Oxfam has chosen a good moment to publish this short book written by eleven eminent economists and social scientists. You can download Be Outraged: Austerity isn't working as a PDF from the Oxfam website. So, before we forget altogether, let's pause a moment to remember some of the good things about austerity and bad things about growth. In the early days of the environmental movement it was widely believed that there ...
Cllr Susan van de Ven (LD, Melbourn) A £5 million boost for Cambridgeshire Transport from Lib Dem Minister, Norman Baker has been welcomed by the county's Liberal Democrats and Cambridge MP, Julian Huppert. The funding will boost cycling, opening up new routes and improving cycle parking, and encourage people onto public transport in key areas of employment and growth across the county. Julian said: "It is great to see a Lib Dem minister in government delivering on public and sustainable transport for Cambridge and the county generally. "Norman Baker has shown time and time again that he genuinely understands the ...
Cllr Susan van de Ven (LD, Melbourn) A £5 million boost for Cambridgeshire Transport from Lib Dem Minister, Norman Baker has been welcomed by the county's Liberal Democrats and Cambridge MP, Julian Huppert. The funding will boost cycling, opening up new routes and improving cycle parking, and encourage people onto public transport in key areas of employment and growth across the county. Julian said: "It is great to see a Lib Dem minister in government delivering on public and sustainable transport for Cambridge and the county generally. "Norman Baker has shown time and time again that he genuinely understands the ...
Non contraversial ceremonial meeting to formally adopt the Mayor for 2012/13 and thank the 2011/12 mayor for their contribution to the borough over the 12 months. Out going was cllr David Leeks (Con -Tadley South). Unlike his predecessors, David became Mayor with out a year as Deputy, due the the Phil Heath/Conservative bust up, I have the upmost respect for David and his wife for having a
[IMG: Calculator and notepad] In sympathy no doubt with all the failing Tube lines at the moment, the mathematical heads at Transport for London are failing too at the moment. Today TfL sent out a press release about river boat services. The news was a two-thirds increase in the number of Thames Clipper weekday services. The headline on the press release? It was "Daily weekday River Bus services to treble..." Oops.
Three more parents have been prosecuted for failing to ensure their children attend Thomas Clarkson Community College in Wisbech. All three pleaded guilty to the charges at Peterborough Magistrates' Court. One was given a 6-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 costs and a £15 victim surcharge, while the other two were each given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 costs and a £15 victim surcharge. The prosecutions were brought by Cambridgeshire County Council. Education welfare officers, who are conducting regular truancy sweeps in the area, thanked local shops and supermarkets for their support. Thomas Clarkson ...
Three more parents have been prosecuted for failing to ensure their children attend Thomas Clarkson Community College in Wisbech. All three pleaded guilty to the charges at Peterborough Magistrates' Court. One was given a 6-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 costs and a £15 victim surcharge, while the other two were each given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 costs and a £15 victim surcharge. The prosecutions were brought by Cambridgeshire County Council. Education welfare officers, who are conducting regular truancy sweeps in the area, thanked local shops and supermarkets for their support. Thomas Clarkson ...
On Sunday I blogged about The Lady: A Homage to Sandy Denny - a tour currently crossing the country. Out in the Shires went along to The Barbican to experience it last night: Inevitably, some of the performances were stronger than others - Lavinia Blackwall stands out as perhaps the most Sandy-like of the cast, and her interpretation of A Sailor's Life (accompanied by Swarb) was a great intro. She then moved on to a perfect rendition of the eerily bleak Late November, a song whose lyrics sound traumatic enough before you know what the subject being obliquely treated is... ...
Nick Clegg has been in Berlin today, along with Vince Cable. to meet with German ministers and launch the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, a £1 million reward for an invention that's changed the world and benefitted humanity. He took the opportunity to talk about the economic crisis engulfing Europe, making the point that Europe has to work together to sort it. There were no diplomatic niceties in his language as he criticised the failure to find a solution so far: ...our response to this brewing crisis has been woefully fragmented. We have failed on a number of fronts. We ...
Disappointed not to see any excitement outside the council offices tonight as the council debate Manston Airport with extra helpings of night flights. Any how THE COMMENTS IN THIS POST WILL BE MY OWN VIEWS AND SUBJECT TO CORRECTION and may well be wrong please use the comments section at the bottom of the post to correct the inevitable errors. A quick thought before hostilities in the debate begin, apart from two members in the labour(Greens), the group were in support of night flights last time this was debated. A petition presented to the council will not be considered by ...
There are currently major changes to the drop-off area at the BRI and BRHC due to the development work going on at the BRI. More information about the changed arrangements, which are due to last until 22 June, can be found on the University Hospitals Bristol website.
The Links Neighbourhood Watch meeting last night was urged to ring 101 if they see anything suspicious. That's the national number for non-urgent crime reports. There are a number of things that might provoke that, and one in particular was that charity bags marked "Treating Children with Cancer" have been delivered/collected in our area but are apparently not genuine. The Genuine Charity of that name have said that they do not operate in this area, and the bags are not ones they currently use, so if you see these bags being delivered or collected please note the number of the ...
Somehow I missed Caron coming up with the idea of posting about what she was blogging about at this time of year in each of the last 5 years. Thankfully Daddy Alex posted his list yesterday so I thought I'd play along with the meme. Here is what I was saying on or about 24th May in: 2011 It must be the time of year but I was blogging about objections to Lord's Reform on this time from Labour's Chris Bryant. I also did a pedant's check on Jim Allister's reciprocation in naming conventions for the other 26 counties of ...
Praise for the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable comes today from a very surprising source, Peter Oborne in the Daily Telegraph. Rebuking Adrian Beecroft for calling Vince a socialist, Oborne heaps praise on him: I believe that any serious and objective consideration of Mr Cable's record in office shows that he has been a formidable Cabinet minister, an important ally of enterprise, and, above all, one of the most loyal and supportive members of this Government. And praises his record on employees' rights: Mr Cable is right and Mr Beecroft, along with his Conservative admirers, has taken a very ...
It is day's like today, when it's sunny and there's a slight breeze that it's a great time to be a cyclist. The reason I mention this is because I recently met Martin Gibbs to speak about Cycling. Martin is ... Continue reading →
Over at my day job at MHP Communications, we've been using our Online Reputation Audit tool (ORA) to look at the online reputation of the Royals. PR Week reports: Research by MHP Communications has revealed that the Queen's online reputation score of 75 per cent tops even those of Prince William (72 per cent) and the Duchess of Cambridge (70 per cent). The research was conducted using MHP's online reputation audit, analysing Google search results used by consumers, journalists and analysts. Almost all members of the royal family are viewed favourably by the online world, with only Prince Andrew scoring ...
The release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted of the Lockerbie Bombing in which 270 people died, on compassionate grounds is almost always described in the media as a controversial decision but I think it was the right one. I accept the cynical case that his release was convenient to the Scottish government in many ways: it prevented his "martyrdom" in a Scottish prison; it may have helped the lucrative business of trading with Libya; it was helpful to the SNP government's wider aims to remind everyone about ways in which Scottish and English law (and, by extension, Scotland ...
Thu 24th
15:37
From politics to Formula 1 - since when did the world's issues become so black or white?
I've been constantly harangued by people for claiming that Liberal Democrats being in government is allowing Tory policy to come true. This is technically correct, I don't deny it. But as with everything else in the world, it's too easy to make a simple comment on a complex matter. For example, the easy assertion of "you're letting the Tories attack people" is allowed, yet my responses of "we can't have everything our own way" and "it's better to have half your way, than none at all" are dismissed as nonsense. Why is it my opinion is wrong here, despite it ...
In a departure for this blog, a piece I wrote for the New Statesman earlier this week ended up, not on The Staggers, but in their business blog. Goodness, what next, The Economist? Anyway, here it is in all its glory... Watching the Facebook IPO launch on Friday struck me as a typical example of Emperors New Clothes syndrome. Mainly because I've lived through it before.In March 1999 my agency picked up the global ad account for a new dotcom that was going to revolutionise the world of clothes retailing. It was called boo.com. Started by three twenty something Swedish ...
A draft planning brief has been prepared looking at what development would be appropriate on the North Sutton site in light of the developer interest in the area. Exhibitions of the brief will be available to view in Central Sutton Library for the whole of the consultation period, and there will be a staffed exhibition ...
Many of you will have seen the news yesterday that common buzzards may be at risk following anecdotal evidence from the shooting industry that buzzards, which usually scavenge dead animals, may be eating some of the 40 million young pheasants that are released each year for shooting. My colleagues on the Lib Dem Defra backbench Committee and I have been very clear that we oppose measures that would harm a protected bird of prey that's only now recovering after decades of decline, and we've been making this case to Defra ministers. We believe the focus should be on tackling the ...
With Joaquin Rodriguez winning the stage into Cortina d'Ampezzo yesterday Mark Cavendish is still in the maglia rossa (red jersey), just by one slim point over the wearer of the maglia rosa (pink jersey) there is one flat stage left and two on the mountains. So that crash caused by Ferrari may well prove vital in deciding where this jersey goes. Today is the last flat stage before the final Time Trail into Milan on Sunday, indeed if anything it is downhill most of the way as we finish 900m further down than we start. There is just one thing ...
Thu 24th
13:55
How referendums are the most effective way to maintain the status quo & what it means for Lords ...
Warning: this post contains paradoxes and thinking in progress... Paradox 1: When asked, most people in this country say the current system of British politics needs to change. Yet the public consistently votes for small-c conservative parties and causes. Paradox 2: As both a liberal and a democrat, I want a more participative democracy. Yet I'm sceptical referendums are the best way to achieve this. A brief history of referendums in this country Let's take a look at our three most recent experiences in this country of referendums: Just three weeks ago, 11 cities in England voted on whether or ...
The Spineless Liberal takes a brief look at whether we should allow people in jail the vote...
Générique Simpsons : parodie de Game of Thrones Hilarious!
Or, how liquid democracy gets you the sack in the end. How The German Pirate Party's Liquid Democracy Works – Sounds like an interesting way for members of an organisation to discuss things. And no need to get pre-approved for discussions by the police. SF, big ideas, ideology: What is to be done? – Charles Stross on whether SF is a genre of 'big ideas'. The Fandom Issue: Marvelous – "At what point is the triumph of comic-book culture sufficient?" Some interesting parallels between geek culture and the Tea Party. How a stranger carrying a rucksack got within 10 feet ...
The appointment of the Dagenham and Rainham MP, Jon Cruddas, to head up Labour's policy review has caused some excitement across the commentariat. [click here, and here.] Mr Cruddas used to be pigeon-holed, inaccurately, as a tribune of Labour's "old left". More recently, he's attracted interest as an architect of "Blue Labour" and a champion of the white working class, too long forgotten, the story goes, by the north London elites. Otherwise, Cruddas is best known for his tough local battles with the BNP. What I find really interesting about Jon Cruddas is that he may get what political narratives ...
A couple of extracts from this Hugo-nominated novelette for your enjoyment. At one point our narrator writes of:...risking my life and the old sub to chase a wild hair through the vast, dark ocean.This would be a jarring enough metaphor if "hare" had been spelt correctly, as a waterlogged animal would not get very far once submerged in the vast dark ocean. With the incorrect spelling of "hair", the entire sentence is nonsensical. Later on, when we first encounter the ray of light of the title of the story, it appears thus:...there was a gloaming light in the very far ...
It was November 5th 2011, the date for that hotbed of radical fervour that is Yorkshire and Humber regional conference. Those who know me will not be surprised that I was running late so things were already underway when I arrive. Those people will be further un-surprised that I hadn't registered in advance either, confident that people would be willing to take my money on the day! The session was already underway so I quietly slipped in through the door and sat at the back. That's right – at an openly advertised meeting, where Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister of ...
"Yes, of course I agree with Nick" The fluidic nature of the European economic crisis has led to a change in tack by the Coalition as David Cameron finally remembers that he agrees with Nick and moves away from the harsh reality of Austerity and moves to increase growth and central Government investment. It was started by European leaders (including Mr Cameron) trying to convince Chancellor Merkel that Europe needs to change its options and Germany should realise that the Greeks and other nations are not going to be able to repay all their debts to them and that the ...
I have been doing a series on the past Olympics but yesterday the International Olympic Committee announced the shortlist of candidate cities that had passed the technical audit and would be carrying on for consideration for the 2020 Games. Baku in Azerbaijan and Doha in Qatar both fell at this hurdle leaving three cities in the running. First up is the bid from a first time national host with Istanbul. If they win it will be the first Games to straddle two continents just as the city itself does as venues are planned for both side of the Bosphorus. There ...
My absence from the blog over the last couple of days is because I've been in London having been invited to attend one of two Buckingham Palace garden parties. Each year, Cornwall Council receives two invites for its councillors and, having entered the draw unsuccessfully in the past, was lucky enough to be picked this year. Derek Holley, an Independent from Saltash, was the other and Rob Nolan was also invited as the retiring mayor of Truro. I apologise in advance for the fact there are no photos accompanying this blog, but cameras (and camera phones) are absolutely banned from ...
We were all sent the wrong details to link to the Councils parking review - please see below for corre As part of the Parking Policy Review (PPR), and as agreed at Cabinet on 7th December 2011, a public engagement exercise will take place for a period of four weeks starting from today, to gauge opinion on issues relating to the size, days and hours of control of Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs), as well as on the maximum stay in pay and display bays. I would welcome your views on this issue and ask that you send your comments to ...
Hillcrest Road Last month, I updated residents that the very poor road surface in Hillcrest Road was, at last, to be resurfaced. The work should have started this week, but residents have contacted me to say it hasn't. I sought an update from Tayside Contracts who advised me yesterday: "The works at Hillcrest Rd have been delayed due to a number of reasons. A combination of the poor weather experienced from April to date and unforeseen circumstance being experienced on a number of other jobs have prevented the works starting when planned. To exacerbate this, the closure for the works ...
Liberal Democrats, as a party, have a proud record of standing up for the way our country views and treats with compassion and humanity those who seek sanctuary in our country. This culminated in the ending of the detention of children in the notorious Yarlswood, and the opening of the new pre departure accommodation at Cedars, for those families with children who were sadly being returned to their country of origin. As well as actions as a party though, there are very many individuals who are both concerned about, and working with and for, asylum seekers in their locality. This ...
Caviar Diplomacy: How Azerbaijan silenced the Council of Europe 29 pages, PDF, excellent report. (tags: azerbaijan )
Pleasance Court Last night, I chaired a very productive and positive meeting with residents of Pleasance Court ("The Coffin Mill") off Brook Street, and am grateful to all residents who attended and to Home Scotland representatives who both hosted the meeting in the residents' lounge and participated in the discussion. Ross & Liddell, who factor many of the properties on the south side of the mill, are also very supportive. The principle of re-forming the residents' group was agreed by all who attended and will be holding another meeting in the coming weeks to progress this and to update everyone ...
Today's Western Mail reports on yet another row over process that has erupted between the Welsh Government and their UK counterparts. The paper quotes a senior Welsh Government source who claims that on the last two occasions when they met, David Cameron had told Carwyn Jones that the Assembly election system would not change without the consent of the people of Wales, we sought clarification from 10 Downing Street. However this is disputed by 10 Downing Street whose spokeswoman said: "We have always been clear that we would consult on any changes to electoral arrangements for the Welsh Assembly which ...
Manal al-Sharif: 'They just messed with the wrong woman' - Profiles - People - The Independent (tags: ) 9-year-old's blog shames school into changing food | Technically Incorrect - CNET News (tags: ) Google rejects automatic pornography block rules (tags: ) Who is Agent Coulson's Dad...? (tags: ) James illustrates some of the problems with accreditation for Lib Dem conference Specifically, as a former asylum caseworker, he thinks requiring delegates to go through the accreditation procedure may fall foul of no less than five articles of the ECHR... (tags: ) Leave Business Secretary Vince Cable alone - he's the moral ...
One (and as far as I know, only one) current or former Lib Dem/SDP/Liberal MP has presented a 45 minute ITV programme about venereal disease. Can you guess who it is? (Answer after the jump.) Jo Grimond, during his time as party leader. The show was called The Shadow of Ignorance and aired in April 1960. The Catholic Herald was not impressed: "Venereal disease is the result of promiscuity, and since the programme was dealing with human beings. not animals, the moral issue should have been discussed, but never was ... In duty bound I sat the programme out, and ...
The agenda and reports for this meeting can be found by following the link. Present Cllr Harry Smith Cllr Don McCubbin Cllr Denise Roberts Cllr Bill Davies (Chair) Cllr Steve Niblock Cllr Andrew Hodson Cllr George Davies Cllr Pat Williams Other councillors The Chair, Cllr Bill Davies asked councillors present to introduce themselves. The following ...
We've come so far, only to go backwards. In 1964, the British people elected Labour into power, and more specifically, elevated Harold Wilson to be Prime Minister; his origins were modest, he was born in Huddersfield. His father was a works chemist and his mother was a schoolteacher. He rose through hard work, guile and ...
Everybody's talking about Jeremy Paxman's evidence at Leveson yesterday, where he described how Piers Morgan explained to him at a lunch how to hack somebody's phone and how people would be very stupid not to set a code. He wasn't telling us anything that wasn't already in the public domain, though. Piers Morgan talked about that himself in the first instalment of his own memoirs, The Insider, as far back as 2004. The really interesting stuff from a Liberal Democrat Voice point of view happened when Andrew Marr gave his evidence. He was talking about the authority and credibility of ...
It's been quite a while since my last post, but now the exams are out the way, third-year is done and the summer weather is here! Plenty news and much to look forward to. First up I managed to secure a placement at a law firm in Aberdeen over the summer. Having fired off countless applications for summer work it was brilliant to be able to secure something. I was hoping to find something for a fortnight or so but really struck lucky as this placement will run for six weeks and it's being paid to boot. Not long after ...
Since David Cameron took over the leadership of the Conservative Party, there has been a concerted effort to "detoxify" the brand. They've been very careful, if not always successful, to present themselves as economically liberal and liberally conservative on social issues (supporting marriage as a social good but for everyone, for example). However there have been few, recent, clear cut votes in the House of Commons to show just how deep this change goes. With the confirmation (although it was pretty obviously always going to be this way) of a free vote for the Conservatives on civil marriage equality, it's ...
You will forgive, I hope, a bit of collective pride from the Liberal Democrat Voice team. It's not every day one of our co-editors is mentioned, in glowing terms, at a judicial enquiry, as Stephen has already written. To recap, Andrew Marr was talking about the authority and credibility of the political blogosphere. Top left on page 83 if you don't want to read the whole thing. "You look around and a lot of the most influential highly respected political commentators aren't newspaper journalists, actually, they are bloggers. I'm thinking of people like Tim Montgomery on Conservativehome or Mr Pack ...
On Tuesday I enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Olympic Torch Relay as it reached Bristol for an overnight stop on it's tour of the UK - and shared them here. Today, I'm sharing a couple of videos: the BBC's trailer for coverage of the tour and the London 2012 animation which features many of the landmarks it'll visit on it's way to the Opening Ceremony in just 64 days time! Andrew
Yesterday morning Cleveland Police confirmed that the fire at Orchard shops was caused deliberately and the focus of investigation has now shifted to finding the culprit. Ward councillors and the local MP, James Wharton, have worked together on the impact of the fire since Saturday morning and yesterday James issued a media release on behalf of us all. The text is reproduced below: Arson
Here's the BBC's Andrew Marr speaking in October 2010: "Most citizen journalism strikes me as nothing to do with journalism at all. A lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting. They are very angry people. ... Most of the blogging is too angry and too abusive. It is vituperative. Terrible things are said on line because they are anonymous. People say things on line that they wouldn't dream of saying in person." And here's Andrew Marr speaking to the Leveson Inquiry yesterday: "You look ...
Ok, this is a problem. After 3 years and training for a marathon with no problems, my running bras (Moving Comfort Fiona) have started causing me massive chaffing. They're not comfortable on long runs and I dread every post-run shower. The chaffing is squarely in the middle, just under the band, on my front and I have no idea why this oh-so-reliable favorite is causing me issues all of a sudden! I've got too many long runs coming up to let this persist...guess it's time to get refitted for sports bras. Sigh. Do you know how much those things cost?!? ...
Myself, a number of Liberal Democrat councillors as well as others discussed topics (some from residents) that Ealing Council might scrutinise in the coming year. Ealing Council has four committees that will be focusing on a range of topics. Today was a chance to add new ideas and come up with a more concise list which will be agreed in the next couple of weeks. Ideas that were discussed and generally thought to be useful were as follows: 1) Environment and Transport Customer experience (mystery shopping) including people phoning the council, obtaining CPZ permits and vouchers, problems finding information on ...
Sefton Council are consulting on the future of the library service. It is important that as many local residents as possible make their views known - especially if you use our local Churchtown Library. Please fill in the questionnaire on the Sefton Council website using this link Library questionnaire is here The Council says on its website "At this stage of the review we wish to seek information about how you use the current library service, and at a later stage we will gain your views about some possible options and recommendations for the future. You can take part in ...
Councillor Iain Brodie Browne, newly elected leader of the 20-strong Lib Dem opposition group on Sefton Council, has spoken out against the Bootle takeover of the Council. Following Labour's success in the local elections in winning seats in Sefton Central and Bootle, although none in Southport, Sefton Labour Leader Cllr Peter Dowd has announced his new Cabinet - and every Cabinet member is a Bootle Labour councillor. "I am appalled at the lack of geographical balance in the all-powerful Cabinet," said Cllr Brodie Browne. "Before Labour gained overall control of the Council the Cabinet comprised 4 councillors from Southport, 2 ...
Which you can find here: Do you agree or disagree that all couples, regardless of their gender, should be able to have a civil marriage ceremony? - Agree Please explain the reasons for your answer, limiting your response to 1,225 characters (approx 200 words): - Because universal human rights should be universal, not denied to people because of their sexual orientation (or race or gender for that matter) If you identify as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual would you wish to have a civil marriage ceremony? - yes [I'd love to be able to marry my boys. Unfortunately, ...
