The developer & agent, Bellway Homes & Nathaniel Lichfield, have set up a website with the proposal on it, along with the questionnaire in electronic form. Sadly, they still haven't provided a printable version so that people can write their comments after seeing printouts of the webpages, but I've asked them for one. I hope lots of people will look at it and register their views. I've had a
At the 2010 General Election all three main British political parties argued for reform of the House of Lords. And that is still on the Coalition Government's agenda. It is indefensible that in the 21st Century the Upper House of the UK's Parliament should be comprised of appointees and a sizeable residue of hereditary peers and Anglican bishops. As ...
The world's most decorated football team is to be sensationally and humiliatingly demoted from its home of 122 years by its own Scottish Premier League rivals. The disbelieving saga of Rangers' financial turmoil has today taken a severe turn for the worse as Aberdeen, St Johnstone and Inverness Caledonian Thistle joined the voices of Hearts, Dundee United and Hibernian by declaring that they will veto Rangers' application to be re-admitted to the Scottish Premier League as a new company. This means that the 8-4 majority required can not be achieved with 6 clubs having now already publically stated their opposition ...
This evening I attended a meeting organised by Churches Together in Launceston to discuss the possibility of setting up a new debt advice centre for Launceston. The meeting was called by Keith Roberts, who initiated the work that led to the founding of the Launceston Foodbank. We heard about the debt problems being faced by Foodbank clients and others and from Ian, from Honiton Debt Advice Centre, about the process of setting up such a facility. I'm backing such a move because I understand that many people are facing huge financial worries at the moment and some expert advice on ...
A quick plea to my regular readers on behalf of Launceston Foodbank. They were established back in December and, together with my fellow Cornwall councillors, I gave them a grant from my community chest to help them start up. The Foodbank is currently making an appeal for supplies. It seems that demand is growing and the summer is a time when people are less able to give because they are often away on holiday. It doesn't require a lot, but please buy an item or two from the Foodbank shopping list of tinned and dried goods when you do your ...
I was rather horrified earlier to read this line from the Daily Telegraph coverage of the Better Together (campaign against Scottish Independence) launch today. "The campaign has brought in Blue State Digital, the US political experts who ran President Barack Obama's web campaigns, to build a website and oversee its online strategy." The reason being that throughout most of the Yes to AV campaign whenever Blue State Digital were mentioned it was often followed by the phrase "forgive me for swearing". I have no doubt that they are very good at running US nationwide campaigns but when it came down ...
Today, I've been to visit the Purple House, a women's centre in Hull. I was incredibly impressed by the range of services they offer to women. Their philosophy is to help any woman that comes through the door, however big or small her problem. So although much of their work is related to helping women suffering from domestic abuse, they also help people with training, benefits, housing, sorting out bills, and so on. They provide a huge amount of support from a relatively small building. The women I have met who volunteer or access services there have told me how ...
Michael Gove is probably a very nice man. I don't doubt he is well educated and his intentions are all good. If his aspirations to make every child achieve their full potential, then that's great but I get the feeling that because he had a good education that has served him well and he probably enjoyed it - every child should get the same experience. This appears flawed. Every child at school
One item that went pretty much without notice, clouded by things, earlier in the year, what with the slippery negotiations and general arm twisting which surrounded the demise of Thanet's conservative administration, was the reallocation of a big chunk of money much of which will literally go up in flames on the 19th July. I refer to £50,000 that had been originally been destined to fund the Margate, Big Event which over the last few years has become a favourite for residents and visitors, I noticed recently a lot of hits on this site arrived after including, Big Event as ...
Queen Edith's residents will remember the public concern two years ago, when Punch Taverns, the owners of the old Queen Edith wanted to knock the building down and replace it with housing. As councillors we supported the strong local opposition to getting rid of a pub, and we argued that the pub was an important community facility. See previous post. Sadly, even though we were able to defeat the planning application in 2010, the Queen Edith closed because of other problems, leaving us with not a single pub in this ward. The principle that pubs matter though, is still one ...
St Lawrence, where Stanley Unwin is buried, was locked, but I had already found an impressive Congregational church in the village. Pevsner says it dates from 1771, though there was a poster elsewhere mentioning a celebration of its 305th anniversary, so the congregation must be older than this building. The picture above shows the rear, but the front is both monumental and plain too. With its large manse and later Sunday school, the grouping was reminiscent of Rothwell. There is a Holyoake Terrace in Long Buckby, which I suspected had been named for George Holyoake - and I was right. ...
New consultant today, because Dr L is on leave. Platelets were 491 compared with the normal rage of 140-450; Haemoglobin 10.5 [13.5-16.5] anf White Blood Cells 4.1 [4.0 - 11.0}. Not ideal but an improvement on previous readings. The verdict was 'keep on taking the tablets', ie Hydroxycarbamide 7 says a week. Dr M also gave me a prescription for Zovirax tablets for the cold sore on my upper lip, something I've never had before in my life. It could be something to do with having an impaired immune system. Its getting on for a year since I was first ...
And here, in short order, is the second of the two posts I promised you in my last post. I've never really got "Pride" - I lose lots of points off my PinkCard for that. Personally, I'd rather get on with my life rather than shout about my Sexuality. And whilst I appreciate that there are still issues of Equality to fight for, I'm really not sure Pride Marches are the best way to go about this - although I will concede this may not have always been the case and may not be the case elsewhere. I also have ...
As regular readers of my site know, I like to keep the content as positive as possible. Every now and again, something crops up that I feel is important enough to bend this unwritten rule. Sadly, it has come to my attention that con artists have been targeting streets in Camborne where it is known that older people tend to live. The con ranges from pretending to be a florist delivering a bouquet, to being a distressed young mum short of money to put on her electricity meter. The aim is either to get inside the house to steal items ...
One thing my love of long-running local casework sagas (see potholes passim, for example) has taught me is how many different councils have developed – that is, paid for – their own individual IT systems to do very similar tasks, such as recording and managing reports of mine. Competition and variation frequently has many merits, but given how often those systems are not that great and given how many different systems there are, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that large sums of money are being wasted by numerous different parts of the public sector all paying for pretty ...
... when it's what Boris Johnson is reduced to saying after some intensive cross-examination by Caroline Pidgeon at the GLA, I think it rather counts as compliment to Caroline. Hat tip: Boris Watch
There has been lots of media coverage today for the release of 15,500 aerial photographs from the Aerofilms collection. They were taken between 1919 and 1953, and eventually some 95,000 photographs will be available at Britain from Above. Allow me to recommend this shot of Market Harborough from 1926, taken before Welland Park Road was built.
You know what it's like.. you wait ages on a new post from your favourite blogger... and then two turn up at once. And now, it's even happening with me! First of two posts tonight - the latest Simon's Cat: Andrew
Yesterday's Independent on Sunday told us that: Senior Tories are already discussing holding an "open, televised" contest for the next leader of the Conservative Party in an attempt to prevent a Gordon Brown-style coronation of George Osborne, it emerged yesterday.The paper went on to say that this open contest is being planned for when David Cameron steps down rather than as a plot against him, but even this reflects poorly on his authority after only two years as prime minister. As the paper also said, that contest has already begun. Michael Gove's plan to bring back O levels is best ...
People wrongly assume that 20mph limits delay journey times. Yet, average city speeds are generally well below 20mph owing to congestion and queues. And traffic flows more freely at 20mph than 30mph: drivers make better use of road space by packing closer and junctions work more efficiently and at a higher capacity as its easier to merge. Because drivers feel safer, some leave their cars at home, further reducing congestion. 20mph limits mean quicker journeys. Optimal speeds for maximum urban traffic flow have been mathematically modelled and 20mph is more efficient than 30mph. · Drivers cut their spacing as braking ...
I like to think of myself as a moral person. I try to live my life without hurting anyone else and showing consideration to others and, where possible, to put myself out of my way to help others. I like to think that I suceed most of the time and hopefully if there is some sort of judgement day then I'll have more in the black than in the red. It's quite an English thing actually. Live and let live, root for the underdog, etc. And, like most things in life, I can blame my parents for this. They raised ...
Yes, it's true. Tim Farron has written to Lord Adonis, Chairman of Progress, inviting Progress to attend Lib Dem conference in May. The text of the letter is at the bottom of this post. It will be interesting to see Andrew Adonis' reply - given that, while he is often seen as an 'honest broker' between Labour and the Lib Dems, having been selected as a Lib Dem PPC in 1994, his review of David Laws '22 Days in May' was a less than flattering review of the party. For example here is his conclusion... 'As for the future, Laws ...
Did anyone see the Morecambe MP David Morris on Sky TV? He was talking to Kay Burley last week about the the Government's change of mind over a VAT rise for the sale of park homes and from the report in my local newspaper, The Visitor, the exchange became quite heated when Kay repeatedly asked about the u-turn. David's opinion was that the Government had made a decision, then consulted on it and then responded to the public consultation (by changing its mind). He didn't quite grasp that a change of mind via consultation could be perceived as a u-turn. ...
Mon 25th
16:58
Guest Blog by John Leech MP: Still think the Lib Dems aren't making a difference in Government?
The past few days have provided plenty of evidence that the Liberal Democrats are stopping the Government from being more right wing. On Friday, Michael Gove talking about taking the exam system back to the 1950′s. Today, David Cameron is making a speech about scrapping Housing Benefits for the under 25′s. Kites flown, and quick vetoes by the Lib Dems, about Regional Pay and "No fault" sackings. All the press reports this morning have reiterated that David Cameron is making this speech as Conservative leader, to a Conservative audience, at a time when the Conservative Party feels under pressure. Proposals ...
The media are premature in supposing that the Liberal Democrats will divide the Coalition by blocking changes to the school exam system. I hope that Conference will provide the opportunity for discussion of the exam system and that positive engagement will produce something far better than Gove's initial outline proposals suggest. Liberal Democrats should welcome the proposal for a reduction in the number of exam boards and call for them to be independent of commercial organisations such as text book publishers. We should call for a better balance of experienced teachers, educationalists and subject specialists, from universities or industry, on ...
Over the last few days, Granville Parade in Sandgate has had an endless procession of tankers arriving to "pump out" what I understand to be sewage tanks underneath the promenade. According to a message to Sandgate Parish Council from Southern Water today, the pump has broken and the tankers are acting as a replacement until a new pump can be put in place. They suggested this may be a big job (no sewage jokes, please) and could take some time to replace the pump. The Parish Council is chasing the earliest possible repair: the constant tanker movements in that area ...
I've been watching the Tour de France since Channel 4 started showing coverage of it in the mid-1980s – and so for me, no matter how good ITV4′s coverage is, it'll never seem right without the theme music being the electronica version of Frere Jacques – and I thought that this year I'd try blogging about the race as it happens. Obviously, part of the reason for that is that this could be Britain's best ever year at the tour, but it's also because the Tour is such a massive event I think it could make for an interesting writing ...
First fruit at the Orchard for the Future! As part of the Orchard for the Future project, Dodington Parish Council and Wapley Bushes Conservation Group are running a free Fruit Tree Care Workshop on Sunday from 10am to 1pm. We will be learning about pruning and about how to care for the young trees we planted last year, and starting to rehabilitate some very old fruit trees. This is an open event, so it could be useful to people who perhaps have a tree or two in their gardens. If you're interested, just turn up! The meeting point is the ...
With a somewhat expected predictability, indeed it seems as night follows day, so howls of outrage from some quarters in the Liberal Democrats follow David Laws' suggestion that government should be looking to make "deeper tax and spending cuts" and to reduce the size of the state. There's even a poll running on some secret, exclusive members' forum website offering options that range from "[David Laws] is off his rocker" to "[David Laws] ought to be the next leader of the party", which, last time I looked, does not appear to have been all the one way traffic its organiser ...
As many will know the Cable Car officially opens this Thursday at midday. It aims to carry 2,500 people every hour between the North Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks north of the river, from the 02 to the ExCel, taking about 5 minutes per journey. It will operate from 7am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8pm-9pm Sat and 9am-9pm Sun and will ...
For further information on Tennis opportunities please see the relevant websites below Lawn Tennis Association : http://www.lta.org.uk/Tennis Lancashire: http://www.lta.org.uk/in-your-area/Lancashire/ Find a Court or Club: http://www.lta.org.uk/clubs-schools/Find-a-Court/
There are some good economic reasons for the decline of British manufacturing. But decades of government policy are also to blame. All manufacturers in rich countries face challenges and threats from cheaper labour costs overseas. We can compete successfully with a combination of high levels of productivity and investment, as well as getting the best out of our people. Britain can do better at the leading edge of invention and technical expertise, and where there are high barriers to market entry. What are the building blocks of successful manufacturing? 1. It is long term. The product life of manufactured goods ...
In the run up to the 1997 election, Tony Blair led Paddy Ashdown up the garden path with a promise of a progressive alliance between a modern reforming Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. Well, 'fool us once' and all that. 15 years later the Liberal Democrats remain a broad church. Orange Bookers, social democrats, Coalition supporters, Coalition sceptics, whatever Evan Harris is - there's room for all of us. Labour on the other hand are turning in on themselves. A confused party with a weak leader and rampant trade unions holding the purse strings and becoming ever bolder in ...
I took a bit of time this weekend to see a few films in the Film Festival. I loved Dragon a martial arts crime drama set in Yumman province in 1917. The cinematography was a bit "chocolate box" but there are worse crimes in film making. I really liked it. It had a very strong narrative. The fight scenes were not many so that side of things didn't dominate the way other dramas allowed it and it looked great. The solo in California Solo was ageing britpop star Robert Carlyle. This was a wee gem. His character is working happily ...
Today the Education Minister John O'Dowd has named 18 schools that would benefit from the £173m new building fund, but most startling in their omission is the fast growing integrated sector. Is this a failure for a shared education future in Northern Ireland that we are building 18 new segregated schools with the best facilities, ...
101 Ways to Win an Election - the new book from Mark Pack and Ed Maxfield will hit the shelves on July 19th. Mark and Ed have very kindly offered a discount for ALDC members, £2 off the RRP and free Postage & Packing! Anyone interested should have a look at the offer here, and you can find more details on the book itself on Amazon. Lib Dem cllrs and ALDC members can redeem their discount by contacting Katy Scholes at Biteback Publishing by email, or on 0207 091 1260.
I was privileged to attend the Edinburgh Lecture on Friday by His Holiness the Dalia Lama. It was an amazing occasion and it was great to see and hear such a great man speaking. I was so pleased to see so many people there in a full Usher Hall. I was particularly pleased to see our new Lord Provost welcome him. His civic leadership was in stark contrast to the lack of it shown by our First Minister who would not meet with a man who, in most peoples eyes, is the most saintly on the planet. I cannot understand ...
The Orange Books' authors made it what it is. Had it not been for David Laws MP and Paul Marshall, it might have been nothing more than an obscure collection of policy articles by the rising stars ofBritain's third party. But by including an article that called for the replacement of the National Health Service with a National Health Insurance Scheme (Laws) and proposing a title and a cover that literally painted over the Yellow of collectivist social democracy with the Orange of liberalism (Marshall), The Orange Book's authors ensured that the Liberal Democrats would at last begin to debate ...
By Sam Fisk – Liberal Youth International Officer International interventionism and its timing have become a central debate in recent times. Whether it is lack of action in Rwanda to the ever controversial Iraq war there is clearly little consensus. However recent events in Syria have shown the time to act is now. Of course ...
We have just had the latest newsletter from the Cricklewood Improvment Programme and thought it worth posting as it's full of activity. Congratulations Cricklewood! NEWS from CRICKLEWOOD - May - June 2012Welcome to 'News from Cricklewood' newsletter geared to keeping you in touch with CIP activities and inviting your suggestions and support. We hope the sun will shine for all London 2012 events.OLF Public Realm Following CIP's successful bid for funds to the Outer London fund Round 2. We are working with Barnet, Brent and Camden councils. Our project manager is Osita Udendon of Udenson Caldbeck Associates . We were ...
This is a truncated version of a speech delivered at RAND last Thursday. The full speech can be read here. The UK has maintained at least two Frigates or Destroyers in the Gulf and Indian Ocean region since 1980. They now contribute to the Coalition Maritime Force based in Bahrain and comprised of sailors and ships from 25 nations. Its mission is to conduct counter-piracy and counter-terrorism patrols and ensure the safety of the internationally important arteries of global trade in the region. We have a UK naval staff in Bahrain, co-located with the multinational maritime headquarters and we provide ...
Creation of a "snoopers' charter' giving law enforcement agencies easy access to details of phone calls and e-mails must be strongly resisted, says a North West England Liberal Democrat Euro-MP. The Coalition Government is consulting on proposals intended to help ... Continue reading →
And so, in a blaze of publicity and disappointing negativity, the "No" campaign is officially launched. Much ado about nothing in my view. Personally, these launches do little for me. The strange launch of Yes Scotland, since ridiculed as the Declaration of Cineworld, and problems with its campaigning website on which twitter followers were presented as supporters were uncharacteristically dismal by comparison with the SNP's usually slick presentation. Given these difficulties, any intelligent person would have thought that the "No" campaign would have learned from these errors and would project a far more professional appearance. You might have also assumed ...
On Saturday, Social Liberal Forum Scotland members met in Glasgow for a day of brainstorming and lectures. I was gutted that illness prevented me from being there but I am promised all sorts of goodies which I will share with you over the next few days. Also, Cllr Robert Brown tweeted throughout the day. With his permission, I have made a Storify thingy which gives the main points of lectures on social liberal values, the Coalition, market and Willie Rennie's speech. Enjoy. [<a target="_blank">View the story "The Scottish Social Liberal Forum event in tweets" on Storify</a>]
*This post is focused solely on David Cameron's "plans post-2015" on housing benefit, not all his welfare reform speech* There can be no doubt that David Cameron's speech today on welfare reform shows how worried he is about his political life-span. It was a cry for help from the Tory right; a pledge to attack ...
With the predictability of a partner changing 'our' plans at the last minute, the announcement that UK inflation has fallen to its lowest level for two and a half years has been greeted with calls for more Quantitative Easing (QE) to stimulate growth. Much of the media presentation of the facts of this latest inflation data has focused on the fall being a 'surprise'. In reality most of the drop was predictable enough, as the article I link to above states, the VAT increase in 2011 fell off the index for the first time in May, while the situation in ...
...as evidenced by this monster I stumbled across in Richmond Park yesterday.
We've just heard from Camden's officers about a drop-in session about transport related issues (NB cars, bikes, lorries etc, not buses and trains) in the West Hampstead area. Here are the full details from Camden: Public drop-in Session - West Hampstead Area Scheme, Thursday 12th July Following the approval of the West Hampstead Place Plan as the strategic guidance for the area, Camden Council want to ask local stakeholders about their views on specific transport related issues in the West Hampstead area. As a local resident or business, we want to know what things you think would improve the streets ...
Tufton Bufton Tories are threatening to break the coalition agreement and vote against the House of Lords reform bill. Their feeble excuse is retaliation for the Liberal Democrats' refusal to support David Cameron's failure to refer Jeremy Hunt to the proper authorities to pronounce on his suitability for making an impartial decision on the Murdoch case, given his proven chummy links with Murdoch and all his works. Whilst those in the Westminster bubble and a few anoraks outside it salivate on the minutiae of the evidence given to the Leveson enquiry I suspect the rest of us have already come ...
Camden has lots of interesting buildings, some important like the British Museum, and some quite small. Many of these are "listed", which means taking special care over changes to them. Here in West Hampstead we have a Conservation Area around West End Green but we have traditional only had two "listed buildings" - the Fire Station and the Synagogue in Dennington Park Road. More recently, Emmanuel Church and the Victorian public conveniences by West End Green have also been listed. Also, Hampstead Cemetery has specially designated status. But we do have lots of buildings and features which give our area ...
Talk to someone involved in charity fundraising about which causes people in Britain like supporting and the chances are you will hear some good-natured joshing about the country's enormous love of animals, with donations to look after them often dwarfing those for all sorts of excellent causes involving humans. Rather more shocking however is one of the nuggets of information in Professor Cathy Nutbrown's recent interim report into early years education in our country. She found that colleges usually require more qualifications for someone to be trained to look after animals than they do from people who want to be ...
I was pleased, along with my LibDem colleague Craig Duncan, to take part in the Dundee launch of the "Better Together" campaign this morning - the cross-party campaign that will be making the positive case for Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom. Speaking with Dundee people in the High Street, we had a very positive response from residents. Here's a couple of photographs from earlier this morning: Being interviewed by Wave 102 's David Proctor With the cross-party team from the Better Together Dundee launch Many thanks to Cllr Richard McCready for this photograph
This morning I went out with a local resident to see the state of the Zig Zag path between Newport and the town centre. The pathway is horrendously overgrown with weeds and stinging nettles and very difficult to get through. I've reported it to Cornwall Council and asked them to take action as soon as possible. I've also reported the graffiti on the unpainted wall halfway up the path. Tweet
Farewell Elizabeth Shaw One of the best DW vidders pays tribute. (tags: doctorwho ) The Increasingly Monolithic Republican Party Commentary from Lincoln Mitchell. (tags: uspolitics ) If History Repeats, Everyone's VP Guess Is Wrong | RealClearPolitics ...but I think it will be Rubio. (tags: uspolitics )
The leak to the Daily Mail of the education secretary's proposals for replacing the current GCSE system has set off a predictable storm of fury from many quarters. These proposals are – as Nick Clegg has laid out in forthright terms – not coalition policy, haven't been discussed in cabinet, and haven't been seen by the Lib Dem in the Department of Education, Sarah Teather. Many – both within the Liberal Democrats and without – have accused Mr Gove of wanting to return to a two-tier system where educational potential is determined two years before the exams take place. This, ...
The past few days have provided plenty of evidence that the Liberal Democrats are stopping the Government from being more right wing. On Friday, Michael Gove talking about taking the exam system back to the 1950′s. Today, David Cameron is ... Continue reading →
'Good news'' Since my last E-cops message, there has been no crime reports for Bar Hill village. The Skate Park in Bar Hill has had numerous visits from myself and my colleagues, so far all appears to be in order. I have identified certain characters making use of the area for the reasons other than that for which it is intended, therefore we are fully aware who to look for when we attend the location. We will continue to pay attention to the Skate Park, and I would like to pass a message onto all the young people making use ...
I was not entirely surprised to hear that David Laws believes that public spending should represent about 35% of GDP. The fact that Danny Alexander then responded by suggesting that 40% would perhaps be more appropriate merely indicates that Liberal Democrats disagree amongst themselves as to the optimum size of the State. And, whilst I am more likely to be on Danny's side of any debate on the question, I do find myself wondering whether or not David has missed the point.For it is not the amount of money spent that should be the starting point for the debate, it ...
This is an article that was printed in the April edition of the Liberator magazine that I wrote such a long time ago I forgot all about it! In the UK it is culturally rude to ask how much someone earns, but it may be a more important question than we have previously realised. So ...
DC Women Kicking Ass - DC Conducts a Second Nielsen Survey on the New 52 (tags: ) BBC News - Last Pinta giant tortoise Lonesome George dies RIP Lonesome George :( (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Mon 25th
09:56
The extra paragraph I'd have put into Willie Rennie's Scotland on Sunday article on independence que...
Willie Rennie wrote for yesterday's Scotland on Sunday about the need for clarity in the question put to the Scottish people in the referendum. His message was simple - that we need a clear, simple question in the referendum and the result must be beyond doubt. While I would have liked there to be more than one question on the ballot paper, the succession of expert opinion (including the SNP's own favoured expert) has persuaded me that the question of independence must be settled by a simple yes/no question in a stand alone referendum. That doesn't stop the development of ...
Under Charles Kennedy's leadership, the party had a simple and generally popular approach to public services: Kennedy consistently supported higher spending on favourite public services and appointed as party spokespeople those with experience of that service. So in education, for example, it was ex-headteacher Phil Willis leading for the party, promoting costed policies to put more cash into the party's priorities. Overall, the party's plans involved raising at least as much in extra taxes or savings as it wanted to spend, so the net effect was fiscally respectable but for each individual public service the party's answer was pretty much, ...
Congratulations to North Cornwall Lib Dem MP Dan Rogerson who has secured a commitment from the government to the next stage of the ban on second home voting. The Electoral Review Panel, which I chair, has persuaded Cornwall Council to lead the way in clamping down on people using second homes to register to vote - potentially influencing elections in areas where they have little real connection. But this action relies on the register of those claiming a council tax discount for their second home. With the creation of the right for council's to charge full council tax on second ...
Last week I posted about the work being done by foyer projects across Cornwall to help homeless young people. These housing schemes don't just put a roof over the heads of people who would otherwise be on the streets or sofa-surfing, they also help them find training or jobs and prepare them to live independently. According to the reports over the weekend, Prime Minister David Cameron is now saying that he wants a future Conservative government to abolish housing benefit for under 25s. The question is therefore... what will happen to young people like those we met last week? These ...
My apologies for the error in a previous post. It now appears that Cornwall Councillor Lance Kennedy is not in the final three for the Tory nomination to be Police and Crime Commissioner candidate. My commiserations to Lance. Tweet
The Guardian discusses hip-hop and the view of women it portrays: While blatant examples of misogyny abound in hip-hop - a recent line from Jay-Z and Kayne West's That's My Bitch boasts "I paid for them titties, get your own" - there is space within the genre to challenge the sexism, according to dream hampton, co-author of Jay-Z's bestselling book Decoded. "Is mainstream hip-hop sexist? Absolutely," she said, in a phone interview from the US. "But that is not the whole story - there are as many bitches and hos in the Bible as in hip-hop, but you can't have ...
Mon 25th
08:53
Nick Clegg needs to condemn Cameron's welfare plans in the strongest language imaginable
Many Liberal Democrats will have been choking on their Sunday Corn Flakes yesterday as they read, with horror, David Cameron's plans to slash benefits even further than this year's Welfare Reform Bill. If he had his way, there would be no Housing Benefit payable to anyone under 25. The critical part of the reports is, however, this sentence: Downing Street said they were Conservative plans for after the next general election. That's all right then. This rubbish isn't going to happen on our watch. Except.....there are lots of young lives that may be even more ruined than they are already ...
This morning's Independent highlights once again how Labour's agenda is being dominated by opportunism and oppositionism rather than policy and principle with a report that Ed Miliband's party is planning to derail reform of the House of Lords at the earliest possible stage. The paper says that Labour intend to join forces with Tory rebels in tabling a Commons procedural motion in an attempt to derail the bill at its first hurdle. They are expected to vote against a Commons timetable for the Bill, forcing every part of it to be debated by the whole house rather than in committee. ...
From BBC Northampton (where it appears you have to make your own entertainment): Woman cut free from bedroom handcuffs by firefighters
I am concerned to have been advised that a decision by Perth and Kinross Council to withdraw a vital school bus that takes Harris Academy pupils home after the school day to Invergowrie, Longforgan and Inchture will adversely also affect pupils in parts of the West End of Dundee. Last week, Perth & Kinross Council advised Harris Academy parents who live in the Perth & Kinross area of Carse of Gowrie that the 3.50pm Number 16 school bus operated by Stagecoach Strathtay would no longer be supported by their council and was being withdrawn. This is apparently because of budget ...
I've not had much chance to write here for a few days because I've been working on the Mindless Ones' annotations of the new League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but thought I should at least do a brief update about seeing Van Dyke Parks live last night. Unfortunately, thanks to Megabus arriving nearly two hours late ...
