Some malingering trots turned up to enjoy the sunshine outside Nick Clegg's London home today - courtesy of UK Uncut. UK Uncut commissar, Jean Sandler, 42, told the Beeb "Nick Clegg is one of the architects of austerity; he's a millionaire and lives in a £1m home." On this ridiculous logic I am a third of a millionaire and many of my neighbours will be half or three quarters of the way there. Of course the majority of the equity in my home is owned by the building society - as I imagine it is in most of my neighbours. ...
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dems on Broxtowe Borough Council. May I start with a quick apology to people still waiting to receive replies to correspondence over the past week or so. I've been snowed under at work but I will get back to you next week. 1. New MayorAt the council meeting on Wednesday evening councillor Margaret Handley from Greasley was elected as the new mayor of Broxtowe. The new deputy mayor is Stapleford councillor Iris White, so congratulations to them both. It was ...
I've been meaning to post this since yesterday but life (in the form of packing for a house move) is getting in the way... ...anyway, as is my custom, here's the latest Simon's Cat video: Andrew
Deborah Orr has a column in today's Guardian that reveals that she too was affected by the roof collapse in Stockwell. So that is a row of half a dozen houses that is home to Edward Garnier (MP for Harborough and Solicitor General), Will Self and Orr herself - a useful reminder of how our national life is dominated by London and the South East. So far so unsurprising. Nor should we be surprised that the first Orr "knew of anything unusual was when my teenage son appeared, barefoot, in the local pub where I'd just met some friends". The ...
I know back in October I wrote about the proposed Conservative move for an "In/Out" referendum for the EU and said that the time was not right well now I'm going to suggest that later this year will be the time. Nick Bowles had said that the UK would only get one shot at a referendum or threatening one and last year was too early. However with Greece unable to form a government, their imminent departure from the Eurozone, Spain forcing in austerity policy, the Italian, Portuguese and Dutch economies shrinking and only the German growth keeping the Euro afloat ...
Two years ago I was at Wistanstow in Shropshire, one of the candidate sites for the martyrdom of St Wystan and the subsequent miraculous growth of golden hair from his first resting place (his remains were later taken to Repton in Derbyshire). But Wistow in Leicestershire has the strongest claim to be the site - when the Church appointed a commission to investigate the claimed miracle, its members all came from the East Midlands - and that is where I was today. St Wistan's, Wistow, has Norman fabric but a pleasing Georgian interior, complete with box pews and plain glass. ...
As you know, I am very much opposed to accreditation for party members for our Conference. When I had the chance to vote on it as a member of FFAC, I opposed it and would do so again - every time. This afternoon, Tim posted on Liberal Democrat Voice that he had secured exemptions for those who had "identity related concerns". this would include transgender colleagues & people who needed to be sure previous identities were not revealed. I will let you into a little secret. I knew this was planned. When I was told about it, he very first ...
Blyth Town Council has set aside a small budget for ward councillors to spend on items for their wards. It's not a large amount, so new bus shelters are not likely to be done. If you have any ideas for Plessey Ward , let me know, but currently I'm considering:- Seats at bus stops Litter bins A seat within the Blyth Rugby and Cricket Club for watching sports A seat at Broadway field (technically just outside the ward, but across the road from Plessey Ward ) Contact me to make your (sensible and not rude!) suggestions
This rather, well, precious phrase is the title of a leaflet issued by Northumberland County Council. Actually, it will attract more readers than the other title, "Northumberland Local Development Plan, Core Structure Issues and Options: Consultation May to August 2012" Once you get beyond the title page, it makes a lttle more sense. Basically, NCC are consulting on new Planning & Development issues. You can have your say by viewing the document at libraries (In Blyth, that's opposite the bus station or within the Blyth School --the former BCC ) Alternatively, it's online, at www.northumberland.gov.uk/corestrategy Or you can attend the ...
Unemployment continues to defy the reported double dip recession, falling nationally and across Birmingham. Acocks Green is now showing a year on year fall – one of four wards in Birmingham to do so. Nationally the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 5.6% to 5.5% in April, while in Birmingham it fell from 12.6% to 12.4%. Our city's unemployment rate, while still painfully high, has now fallen narrowly below Liverpool's, so is currently slipping down the core cities league which is topped by Manchester and Nottingham. In Acocks Green the unadjusted monthly unemployment figure fell by 46 to 1,152 (or ...
The latest round in the ongoing LibDem conference accreditation saga has been opened by party president Tim Farron in a LibDemVoice post. It isn't good. (Although kudos to Tim Farron for engaging with and discussing the issue – it's a situation he probably had no role in creating) Firstly, the cardinal rule of minority issues has been broken: "Nothing about us, without us". LGBT+ LibDems did not know this was going to be announced and we certainly didn't approve anything like this. From what Tim has said subsequently on Twitter, it appears that no Trans people at all were involved ...
Walking through Cambridge today, I spotted the regular Socialist Worker Party stall near the Grafton Centre. The stall had posters of David Cameron with the tagline He must Go (well, its not up to the SWP but the electorate) and a poster with the inevitable cry out to the TUC to call a General Strike. Leaving aside the fact that to call a strike requires an industrial dispute and a secret ballot of members. Yes, PCS, NUT and others have an existing mandate to strike. But to get the likes of the British Dietician Association and United Shops Distributive and ...
Having initially been quite enthusiastic for Robert Nozick's ideas in Anarchy, State and Utopia, the prospect of taking a politics course at University focusing on precisely the issues of fairness, the role of the state and the justifications for equality (on different levels) was something I really looked forward to. I was surprised then, to come to the conclusion that I'd been somewhat too keen on Nozick's ideas, with which there are a number of obvious problems. I found particular difficulties reconciling Nozick's jump between a Kantian notion of the rational agent and self-ownership. Though largely a sceptic of utilitarian-type ...
It's today! It's the final! I have booze, I have Euro snacks, and I have time for some snark before it all kicks off. We've come this far together. One more night. Let's see at who's made it through the rigours of the two semi-finals (I mean the acts, not you and I) and look at the line-up for tonight's Euromusic spectacular. No pussyfooting about – this is Truth. [IMG: Arnold Dorsey] United Kingdom – As Arnold Dorsey (call him by his name) himself points out, Love Can Set You Free is a grower. Unfortunately, most of the voting public ...
Liberal Democrat President Tim Farron MP writes to update members on the accreditation process for Autumn Conference: Dear friends, I am instinctively against accreditation. As a liberal, the whole notion unsettles me, although FCC and the FE have accepted FFAC's advice that there is a serious financial threat to the Party if we were to disregard police advice. I want to thank everyone for getting in touch in the last week to share their views on the accreditation issue. Whether it was via email or twitter, or even those who have commented on the Lib Dem Voice article (I did ...
There's no prize at stake - just the opportunity to prove you're wittier than any other LDV reader... Here's Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable, the man who declared war on Murdoch, side-by-side with the man who LOL-ed with News International. What do you think might be being said or thought by or about them? And the winner of our last caption comp is... Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Nick & Dave "Can you feel the love?" Edition. The winner, according to The Voice's judging panel of one, was this one by Tom King: Nick: "And ...
So, in a refreshing change from coverage of the progress of some large gold Ronson lighters around the country, Saturday has been set alight instead by the news of several people eating cake in the street outside Deputy Prime Minister Clegg's London mansion (his description, or at least Vince's, not mine!). If they're anything like half of the rest of Britain, his neighbours will be wondering who lives near them who can attract such a fuss, maybe a philandering footballer, or an infamous paediatrician. Those of them who have had opportunity to borrow a cup of sugar from the nice ...
Great visit to an innovative research group at Bristol University. The School of Interaction and Graphics has about twenty academics working on the products and devices of the future. Engineers, computer scientists, physicists and even an archaeologist and anthropologist make up the team, drawn from Britain and abroad. Research done here in Bristol will soon ...
Time for a new higher fence!!
We've written before about our plans for real improvements to the centre of Cheadle village – several hundred thousand pounds to enhance the village. This money is a follow-on from improvements to Gatley – repaving Church Road and improvements to Gatley Green. Our first job is to find out what the problems are that we want to solve are, which means consulting residents, businesses and visitors to Cheadle. We want to make sure we do it properly – there's no point rushing it and ending up making bad decisions. So the current plan is to kick off the consultation after ...
Read about the public consultation on a proposed redevelopment of the Zurich building and gasworks site on my local blog here.
We are used to stories of how Labour in Government wasted stacks of cash during their 13 years in office. From aircraft carriers to PFI projects to centralised ID databases and other IT projects, billions were needlessly thrown away. Those billions burnt the gaping hole in our public finances that the Coalition is trying, in difficult circumstances, to fix. Another example of Labour profligacy came to light this week in the Times (£). Apparently, £1 million a month of our hard earned taxes is going to pay costs on unoccupied state of the art fire service control rooms built by ...
[IMG: CC, Wikimedia user Bluemoose] Rothamsted Research, the agricultural research institution founded in 1843, is set for a busy day on Sunday when three separate rallies are expected to take place over a current field trial at the centre of a crop of aphid-resistant wheat. The wheat crop produces an aphid alarm pheremone, which occurs naturally in many other plants, to deter aphids from settling on the crop as well as attracting natural predators such as ladybirds. On 27 May, protesters opposed to field trials intend to destroy the work of the Chemical Ecology team in what they term a ...
I've watched the rise of the German Pirate Party with fascination. From a tiny base, they have begun to really make large strides in terms of both electoral success and party development. Personally I find their policies rather attractive, putting the radical back into politics whilst keeping away from the decrepit left/right structure of 20th century politics. But their innovation in party and policy development is what is really interesting about them. Their emphasis on transparency really is something I can wholeheartedly support, and their request that any coalition talks be livestreamed online is in keeping completely with my previous ...
Read about how councillors are responding to concerns about Chaucer House on my ward blog here.
At next Tuesday's Cheadle Area Committee (to be held at Bolshaw Primary School, Heald Green, starting at 6pm) several changes to parking regulations around Cheadle will be considered. On Old Rectory Gardens (the parade of shops and take-aways next to the Post Office), waiting is currently limited to 1 hour. The shops requested a change to reduce the time to 15 minutes – they want the parking to be for people to nip into the shops along the parade and keep the throughput of shoppers. After a consultation, the proposals are coming to Area Committee for consideration. A long-standing problem ...
This has been an oddly disjointed week. In 18 years as a councillor I have never been without an office or a telephone for more than a few hours. This last week I have spent without a functioning office, PC or land-line. This has been an unsettling experience but I have been assured that it will all be sorted on Monday. If you are a constituent, or anyone else, who has struggled to get hold of me I do apologise. Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly! Thursday saw the second council meeting of this term. There is always an ...
Read about the Rosehill bowls club members dodging cricket balls on my local ward blog here.
Read about efforts to tackle speeding on Sutton Common Road, on my local blog here.
One detail from Carina Trimingham's unsuccessful legal action this week (possibly subject to appeal) is about using families in election leaflets: [IMG: Old Bailey: the scales of justice] Mr Justice Tugendhat said in a written judgment: "Ms Trimingham was not the purely private figure she claims to be. Her reasonable expectation of privacy has become limited. "This is mainly by reason of her involvement with Mr Huhne, both professionally as his press agent and personally as his secret mistress, in circumstances where he campaigned with a leaflet to the electorate of Eastleigh about how much he valued his family." Regardless ...
Mark Henderson's outstanding book The Geek Manifesto urges professional scientists and those who want to promote a scientific approach to public policy to unite and to make our presence felt in medicine, in journalism, in the environmental movement and above all in politics. The risks of not doing so have been laid bare all to clearly in the ongoing battle to defend a scientific experiment from thoughtless vandalism in the form of an anti-GM protest. 'Take the flour back' is a protest that aims to (in their words) 'decontaminate' a field trial this coming weekend that is planted with genetically ...
We may have had a bit of a bashing in this month's local Council elections but the Welsh Liberal Democrats' influence on Government policy continues to show. On Thursday the First Minister launched the pupil deprivation grant, a £32m boost for schools targeted at the most deprived pupils. That scheme would not have been in existence if the Welsh Liberal Democrats had not insisted on it as part of the budget deal we struck with the government. It has met universal approval from schools, teachers and parents. Earlier in the week the Finance Minister announced details of how she will ...
Well we have had all the action over the last two days. On stage 18 the last flat stage of the Giro no sooner had the Eurosport commentary team said that the four man breakaway were too far ahead for Mark Cavendish to even think of the intermediate sprint points that Sky went to the front and brought the gap down exceedingly fast to enable Mark to pick up the five points on the line for that contest. With 18 intermediate points he is second only to break away king Martijn Keizer VCD. However on the line maybe Mark left ...
Many constituents in the western part of the West End Ward get their telephone and broadband services from the telephone exchange at Invergowrie. A constituent recently wrote to me to say that various Broadband providers fail to give the best deals to people served by the Invergowrie exchange. To quote my constituent: "For example, Plusnet for broadband and calls would cost me £12.99/month but someone with an upgraded telephone exchange would pay £6.49. Sky would be £7.50 for unlimited broadband and telephone calls, but a Sky customer with the Invergowrie exchange would be £17. AOL is £10.20 for people with ...
Sat 26th
08:55
The Weekend Debate: What's wrong with making membership of the second chamber a lottery?
Here's your starter for ten in our weekend slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate... The debate about what a reformed House of Lords should look like has been defeating legislators for well over a century — and here's a novel proposal from Sandy Walkington, who stood for the Lib Dems in St Albans at the last election: Greece is not exactly in fashion at the moment. But we could learn a thing or two from ancient Athens. They chose their office holders by lot from amongst the citizens, who then had to serve for a ...
Like most kids growing up in Catholic Ireland, I "did" some of O'Faolain's short stories at school. I guess I hadn't appreciated how big a figure he was in the (admittedly small) world of the arts in mid-century Ireland, constructing the literary self-image of the new state as it found its way to becoming the Republic. This book was his third history book in five years, coming after his edition of Wolfe Tone's autobiography in 1937 and his biography of Daniel O'Connell in 1938; he claims not to be attempting a serious academic history, but this is disingenuous; he must ...
Each year, I do a bit of a Eurovision theme and, this year, as Britain heads to guaranteed defeat tonight in Baku, I thought I'd highlight one of my favourite Eurovision losers of all time! Gigliola Cinquetti's 1974 entry for Italy - "Si" - was one of the best Eurovision entries of the 1970s but faced something of an uphill struggle in that she was up against Abba and "Waterloo". Gigliola Cinquetti came a creditable second to Abba that year, with Olivia Newton John's UK entry "Long Live Love" coming fourth. Here's the Gigliola Cinquetti original version: ... and here's ...
Stockport has been selected as one of the twelve towns across the country to be a Portas Pilot. You can see the video that formed part of Stockport's bid here: As a Portas Pilot town, Stockport will receive around £100,000 in additional funding, along with a tailored package of support from Mary Portas and the Government. This is excellent news for Stockport. Whilst Stockport Borough has an excellent record for jobs and businesses, retail in our Town Centre has long been a concern, not least because of the competition we face from Manchester and the numerous out-of-town retailing centres such ...
Russell is generally one of the better writers of Who spinoff fiction (the novelisation of the TV movie, the Torchwood novel The Twilight Streets, the Tenth Doctor / Wilf novel Beautiful Chaos) but this early Missing Adventure is not a hit. Aliens who look exactly like cats plan to tear the earth in half, as you do, but are stymied by the fact that continental drift has moved crucial equipment out of alignment over a few dozen millennia (when continents would only have drifted by about a kilometre). Some nice descriptive passages, especially about Cumbria and Polly, admitted by the ...
I recently did a post on the nature of Liberal Islam for the Liberal Youth blog, The Libertine. Unfortunately, it may prove not to come true... it looks like Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, my favourite candidate in Egypt's Presidential elections, has not made it through to the run-off. Still, he would've been good... let's wait ...
There have been no posts for the past week as I've spent it walking in mid-Wales with Anglo-French Walks(for details of which please see earlier post). I have not therefore been able to keep a close eye n the news but have picked up the following: Last Sunday a bishop called for prayers for the Olympic flame. What on earth is the point of prayers for a flame? (If they are that it doesn't blow out than they've obviously failed.) I think this is a rather sad attempt to link the Church to the Olympic razzmatazz. The Church should think ...
Earlier this week, I highlighted the concerns residents and I have about the new footpath on the north side of Riverside Drive (in front of the development site at the old Homebase store) being, in our view, too close to the very busy roadway and too narrow. I have been in correspondence with the Head of Transportation at Dundee City Council regarding the matter, asking what the possibilities are for moving the footway a bit away from this hugely busy roadway - or widening the pavement - or installing safety barriers. Most recently, I have received this feedback: "The pavement ...
To round off disco-retro week, the GIbson Brothers:
A new form of democracy is emerging - Liquid Democracy. Could this be the new form of policy making and conferences to come?
