The Johnson clan was out in force this evening at Daunt's Books in Marylebone High Street, for the launch of Stanley Johnson's latest book: Where the Wild Things Were (Stacey International, £8.99) — a paperback collection of his travel and environmental journalism. Stanley has form in the environmental field; I first met him when we were both in ...
Next week sees the release of NOW! 82 which means that this week's entry means I'm halfway to featuring one of the tracks (listed here). That will be sometime next spring around the time of the release of NOW! 84... For now though, it's back to 1998 and NOW! That's What I Call Music! 41. The Beautiful South's "Perfect 10" was a contender, as were Lutricia McNeil with "Someone Loves You, Honey", Jennifer Paige with "Crush" and The Corrs' version of "Dreams" amongst others. Instead though, I've gone slightly leftfield (for me) and chosen Culture Club with "I Just Wanna ...
According to the Manchester Evening News (which should know), Marc Ramsbottom, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats on Manchester council, has been selected as the party's candidate in the Manchester Central by-election. Marc lost his council seat in May's elections. That contest is taking place because the sitting Labour MP Tony Lloyd is standing down from the Commons to stand for election as Greater Manchester's first police and crime commissioner. It is expected that the by-election will take place on the same date as that contest: November 15 Marc Ramsbottom's Labour opponent will be Lucy Powell. Like Jon Ashworth, ...
The first time I ever attended a council meeting (1970s, Leeds Town Hall), the radio and papers took a keen interest in municipal goings-on, to the extent that they would even visit councillors at home to interview them. When I became a councillor myself in Cambridge in the 1990s, the press had their own table in the meeting room and usually turned up to report, even on quite dry topics. By the mid-2000s, the local paper, the Cambridge News, had relocated to the sticks, and there were many meetings at the Guildhall with no journalists at all, let alone members ...
Wed 18th
19:44
Marc Ramsbottom selected as Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary candidate for Manchester Cent...
Manchester Liberal Democrats are pleased to announce that Marc Ramsbottom has been chosen as the prospective parliamentary candidate for the upcoming Parliamentary by-election for Manchester Central constituency. Marc is very well qualified to be Manchester's next MP he is a local resident and former councillor for Manchester city centre for 12 years. He has stood in the constituency in the last two elections, halving Tony Lloyd's percentage majority. Marc says "I'm delighted to have been chosen to fight for the constituency for the third time. I want to use this election as an opportunity to air all the good things ...
After watching the early evening news and watching another hapless soul dragged in front of a huge panel of MPs and humiliated, I was moved to tweet "Why do we now drag incompetent people in front of parliamentary sub committees for ritual humiliation, what actually happens as a result?" This was because I feel like I've been watching sub-committees all year, what with Leveson, LIBOR scandal and now this G4S. And I'm also struck by how it feels a bit like putting someone in the stocks, throwing rotten veg (insults and pointed questions) at them and us all somehow feeling ...
Wed 18th
18:55
Opinion: Why aren't Liberal Democrats complaining loudly about draconian new family immigration rule...
It's not often that I find myself on the same side of an argument as Sayeeda Warsi. It's even less often that I find myself on the same side when it comes to marriage equality. I am thankful, however, that the Baroness was in Cabinet to lead the charge - along with Liberal Democrats - against the Home Secretary's outrageous plans to impose a draconian income threshold (of up to £40,000) on British citizens who wish to bring their spouses to live with them in this country. The Coalition's harsh immigration cap is hard enough for a Liberal to stomach ...
This article in The Independent looks at some of the problems with the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. The systemic problems with this process are exacerbated by the Cheshire West decision in the court of appeal. Sam Smith, Lucy Series and Anna Raccoon (not her real name) have written some useful pieces about this. We are closer still to publishing the draft Family Justice Bill.
I've done a short video about my chapter in
I realise the headline may well pre-destine this post for John Rentoul's ever-expanding #QTWTAIN category. But Hopi Sen, an influential Labour blogger, is always worth listening to, and this week he put forward a scenario in which "a LibDem-Labour realignment could foil the Tories": Could this happen? For the first time, it seems at least plausible. Senior LibDems feel let down by the Conservatives over Lords reform and the AV referendum. They feel they have delivered painful changes to their policy programme for the sake of national unity and this generosity has not been reciprocated. They see the Tory backbenches ...
Wed 18th
16:04
'You were a graffiti artist in the last century Sir? Well that means you are banned from public tran...
Twitter is sometimes really an excellent source of information. This lunchtime I saw a tweet with a link to an article on The London Vandal website. Not what you'd call really my natural territory. Being someone who is very boring an law abiding and who lets say didn't exactly set the art world on fire before dropping it full-time after Year Nine. A website on graffiti was't one that I had visited before. However... The story linked was about how the police had gone on mass raids across the capital of known graffiti artists a couple of weeks before the ...
I have been writing away from here again. Bad Neil. Expanding my audience. Today my début piece on The Periscope Post went up. I'll be writing weekly over at said site on a variety of issues. I chose to have a nice upbeat topic for my first piece – about false rape allegations. Yeah all sweetness and light eh? Anyway here we go... There are very few things everyone reading this piece will agree on. One of those things will be that rape is one of the most disgusting (if not the most disgusting) crimes that any human being can ...
Writing in the Telegraph, David Laws has been giving his thoughts on how Cameron and Clegg can breathe new life into the coalition, not by a new Agreement as he says the one we have is the most effective and bold programme of any peacetime government in the last 100 years. He adds that it's vital that the Coalition does continue because the consequences of failure for the country would be unpalatable for the country. Alongside the over-riding priority of the economy and stimulating economic growth, he gives an outline of what the Coalition could achieve over the next two ...
Today, the Transport Select Committee has released a report on Road Safety, an issue close to my heart. The big issue the press have got hold of is the increase in Road Deaths for the first time since 2003. ... Continue reading →
[IMG: House of Lords. Photo: Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament] You propose something. Someone objects to it, giving many reasons. You offer to make some changes to meet some of the objections. A deal is made and progress is achieved. A perfectly normal sequence of events, both inside and outside politics and whether the matter is as mundane as what to eat for dinner tomorrow or as public as the wording of Parliamentary legislation. One big risk, however, is that you offer compromises which are too small to win over extra support yet also too ...
Ed Balls alternative to the UK Government's austerity programme has taken a bit of a kicking today with the Independent reporting that theLabour-affiliated Fabian Society has sounded the alarm that the party risks being out of step with public opinion on the crucial issue of tax and spending at the 2015 general election. It suggests that voters have become more "small c-conservative" in the age of austerity: Its warning, based on extensive opinion research, is a reminder to the Labour leadership that its eight to 10-point lead in the polls could melt away in the heat of an election campaign. ...
It is surely not simply the feverish atmosphere that always takes hold as the end of term approaches. The backbench Tory revolt over Lords Reform has genuinely destabilised the Coalition. The party leaders may have been back out on the road in a show of unity. They may have reaffirmed their commitment to see it through until 2015. But it's just not quite the same. Like any relationship where one partner has been unfaithful, the trust has gone. While the leaders profess everything in the garden is rosy and they'll stay the course, each attempted relaunch comes with a slightly ...
This morning, Cornwall Council's cabinet agreed to press ahead with the plan for a higher education bursary. As I've written before, it's a good scheme which will provide a lot of help to local young people. But I raised some concerns about the details and got some answers: - The current plan is to target students studying 'competitive' degrees at the top 30 universities. Cllr Bert Biscoe suggested that this was discriminatory and that we should not be cutting off at the top 30 universities and, in particular, that we should be including universities in Cornwall within the scheme. Others ...
I am on today's Wave 102 news about the issue I recently raised about the need for more free-to-use cash machines across the city. Click 'play' below to listen. The first item on the news broadcast highlights the call by SUSTRANS for more 20mph speed limits in residential areas, an issue I have recently highlighted with Dundee City Council.
There were a few problems when GDS tried to alter the font of the BETA gov.uk site. Yesteday, Creative lead Chris Heathcote took to the GDS blog to explain some of the issues. Essentially the font wasn't rendering properly in ... Continue reading →
A Transport Select Committee report on Road Safety "should have gone further" to quantify the effects of changing the speed limit to 80mph says South Manchester MP John Leech. Mr Leech had proposed an amendment to the report to ask the Department for Transport to set out "the financial implications of the proposals and a calculation of the expected increase in deaths and serious injuries as a result of the increased speed limit." John has repeatedly argued that the speed limit should not be raised without evidence that this would not compromise road safety and lead to an increase in ...
Charles Beaumont has recently written on this site about the potential for the Lib Dems to go further in taxing the financial sector. In doing so, he raises two options: the Financial Activities Tax (FAT), which he favours, and the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). For clarity at the outset, the FAT is generally understood to be an additional corporation/income tax on the excessive profits/remunerations in the financial sector. An FTT, on the other hand, taxes all the transactions of financial organisations, such as banks and hedge funds, at the point at which their deals are settled. Whilst the overarching thrust ...
I wrote recently about a shift of dimensions between Clegg and Cameron and how the dimensions of their "marriage" has shifted. Tack this onto the problems that have arisen from Lords reform it would appear that the house of cards the Coalition was built on was about to collapse. Serious cracks were visible between the two parties for the first time since the European crisis last autumn. Populist view of Clegg and Cameron Rebellions need to be dealt with and a Coalition Civil War must be averted as a Government tit-for-tat voting against itself at this economically precarious time could ...
Below are recently submitted Planning Applications in the Chorlton area. You can find out more information about any of the proposals on the City Council's Planning Portal at http://tinyurl.com/yv6lex or by contacting the South Area Planning Group Manager - Roger Hall; Tel: (0161) 234 4536; email: r.hall@manchester.gov.uk . You can also make a Planning representation (in support or opposition) to Mr Hall or the designated planning officer for each application. Please feel free to contact me on (07947383740; cllr.v.chamberlain@manchester.gov.uk) if you wish to discuss any application and please also send me a copy of any representation you make. 099546/FO/2012/S1 49 ...
Background Dadabhai Naoroji was the first ever BME member of the UK Parliament. In 1892, he contested the seat of Central Finsbury, campaigning on Gladstone's platform of Liberalism, and was successfully elected with a majority of five. He lost his seat in the General Election of 1895. Liberal Democrats had their second BME over a hundred years later when Parmjit Singh Gill won the Leicester South by election in 2004. Award The Dadabhai Naoroji Award will be presented annually at the Party Conference to the local Party that has done most to promote BME participants to elected office as Councillors, ...
Wed 18th
11:55Lib Link: Christine Jardine: Scottish Lib Dems on the ropes but definitely not down and out
Christine Jardine was until recently the Scottish Liberal Democrats' very own CJ inside Downing Street as special adviser on Scottish affairs. She's now returning to full time politics in Scotland and is looking towards Westminster and Holyrood elections in 2015 and 2015. She's started off by writing in yesterday's Scotsman about what she sees as the way forward for the party in Scotland. She puts forward a robust defence of the calm professionalism of our ministers, MPs and advisers and argues that we activists need to get out on the doorsteps and take the message of their achievements directly to ...
So the torch is getting closer to the newest Royal Borough, the parking restrictions are swinging into place, we are being encouraged both to enter into the Olympic spirit and go into immobile "lock-down" simultaneously, the trains and buses and car parks are all preparing to "go Olympic" and our green spaces are disappearing under ...
For the last few weeks, the Papua New Guinea olympic team – athletes and coaches – have been staying in the Village Hotel, Cheadle and training at Woodbank Park, Stockport. Those that have qualified for the Olympics now travel down to London this week and we wish them well. In addition to training hard, the athletes have taken the time to come to several events, including handing out awards to local schoolchildren at our Stockport BeInspired 2012 event at the Plaza. They've also developed a good level of expertise in our local bus services! So best of luck to the ...
Regular readers will know that I think Woking Council's subsidy of curchgoers is ridiculous, illegal, and unfair. It's an issue I've raised with local councillor Carl Thomson in writing and on Twitter. A few days ago I entered into a discussion with him online about the issue. He has since deleted the tweets. But, as we know, the Internet has a long memory – so here they are. I've reordered a few to make our conversation clearer. None of my tweets have been deleted. It started when I saw him talking about Lords reform. @CllrCarlThomson no car? The perfect crime ...
I don't think anyone would call me a 'sensitive little violet', especially as one of the aims of the Social Liberal Forum Conference last Saturday was to increase our visibility. I'm not going to write about how any of the sessions at the conference went, because I didn't actually manage to sit all the way through any one of them. But others have started commenting already. I spent most of the day trouble-shooting. Fortunately there wasn't too much going on that I would class as trouble. In fact, the main problem we encountered was some bugs with the AV which ...
This week sees two books I've had a hand in formally published -
Is it possible to build a bigger Lib Dem core vote? Mark Pack has previously written here on the need for the party to adopt a 'core vote' strategy to protect the party from the adverse headwinds of the next election. I don't disagree with the aim, I'm just not sure of its realism. Here's why. What do we mean by a 'core vote'? First, let's define what's meant by a 'core vote': voters who identify with the party and stick with it through the bad times as well as the good. Traditionally this identification has tended to be class-based: ...
The Grauniad reports that Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has given the go ahead for three new free schools with a fundamentalist Christian ethos - including the teaching of creationism. But not apparently part of the science curriculum, so that's OK then. It is clear from Gove's recent axing of proposals for a much needed new community secondary in north Kingston, that he has gone free school mad - to the exclusion of any other model. And allowing dangerously deluded educational theories - such as creationism and so called 'Accelerated Christian Education' - outlined in this excellent blog - a foothold ...
Unemployment fell again last month- done by 65,000, falling for the third month in a row and confirming the picture that as economic downturns go, this one has seen unemployment levels rather lower than previous experience would have suggested. Job creation continues with the number of jobs up 357,000 over the quarter and up 544,000 on a year earlier. The major difference between UK and non-UK nationals is worth remembering though: Meanwhile: The government says it will underwrite £50bn of investment in infrastructure and exports to try to lift the economy... Under the "UK Guarantees" scheme, up to £40bn of ...
[IMG: Calabrese Pizza Express pizza] The venue for my talk to Westminster Liberal Democrats next Monday? A Pizza Express. What a very fine local party. It's 7:00pm for 7:30pm to hear me talk about politics, just possibly mentioning a book, and eat pizza (prioritise as you wish). Cost £20 for the pizza and a glass of wine. If you would like to attend, please contact Alistair Barr (alistair@maybury.plus.com).
Every week Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore writes a column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here's this week's edition. Farming It has been a challenging few months for farmers here in the Borders with the extreme weather putting pressure on feed and bedding supplies and causing untold damage to crops and disruption to livestock. We have also heard the worrying news that processors are aggressively cutting the price they pay to our dairy farmers at the farm gate. These cuts are extremely disappointing because they appear to fly in the face of rising prices in ...
I said I'd pause the Odanglesex Chronicles until or if I got new ideas either from my head or other ones. In the meantime I said I'd repost the old episodes with a few changes if I so fancied. This is the first. THE ODANGLESEX CHRONICLES From time to time I'm going to post communications received under a freedom of information request from the local authority of the relatively little-known English shire county of Odanglesex. Here's the first by way of introduction. FROM: Mandy Messenger, External Communications TO: Kenneth Spotlessnob, Director of Transformational Excellence and Strategic Vision We've got a ...
Every Olympics contains elements of both triumph and disaster. The 1972 Olympics in Munich were notable for both a terrible terrorist incident involving the Israeli weightlifting team and Mark Spitz's accumulation of seven gold medals, a feat not surpassed for over 30 years. The 1976 Olympics in Montreal are remembered both for Bruce Jenner's world ...
My reshuffle that is (both of them) Well the biggest debate was around...Scottish Secretary. Strangely the debate on the blog and especially in my twitter feed was not so much around the fate of Michael Moore (although one commentator said 'We'll have no getting rid of Moore talk after his stellar performance on Scotland Bill') and more universal distaste for my idea that Cameron might plonk Michael Gove on the Scots. Despite being a Scot, he was clearly seen as an English MP, and a very unpopular choice - possibly enough to tip the balance on Independence towards the Yes ...
Wednesday I have been busy in recent weeks organising an important event here in the East Midlands. I do not refer, let me hasten to add, to the visit of the 'Olympic Torch': for that piece of tomfoolery was devised by the beastly Albert Speer for the Berlin Games of 1936 and I shall have no part in it. So much so that, when it passed through Rutland, I stationed gamekeepers at every entrance to the Bonkers Hall Estate with soda siphons and strict orders to extinguish it should it show its face. No, I am talking about my role ...
Yes, it's a bad pun, but circumstances mean I haven't been able to use 'Andy Schleckond' this year, so an oblique reference to Frank's troubles will have to do. And in case you missed the news last night, Frank Schleck is now out of the tour after an 'adverse analytical finding' from a doping control on Saturday. The lab found traces of a diuretic in his sample, and while that's not a banned or performance-enhancing substance in itself, it's on a controlled list because it can be used to mask use of other substances. As I understand it, the principle ...
Huzzah! I received an email yesterday informing me of the excellent news that the Equal Citizenship motion on disability welfare issues has been accepted for debate at Lib Dem autumn conference in Brighton. So I just want to say a big, big thank you to everyone who helped get the motion this far - the next step is going to be lobbying MPs and local parties to get them to vote for the motion in the debate :) For reference, this is the email I received: Dear George,The conference committee decided yesterday to accept your motion for debate at the ...
I suggested at the weekend that there was one over-riding policy area where the Lib Dems and Conservatives agree more often that we disagree — the economy, and the need for deficit reduction — and that we should focus our combined energies on 'reforming capitalism'. But of course there are also fundamental disagreements between the two Coalition parties on how best we can boost growth. The Tories would prioritise implementing in full the 'Beecroft proposals' — including no-fault dismissal of employees — to make it easier for businesses to hire and fire workers at will, a supply-side reform they argue ...
Look. I am on holiday and I want to keep this blog going. So how about you share the burden a little and write me a guest post? I am chiefly interested in political posts, but as you can see from the list of 28 guests below, this blog has a wide range of interests. If you would like to write a guest post yourself, please send me an email so we can discuss your idea. In praise of slow government - Simon BeardChildren and the surveillance state: Will the Coalition keep its word? - Terri DowtyStandards matter in higher ...
The Top Four When those two towns are at either end of a stage it can only mean one thing. The classic Pyrénée's climbs of the Col d'Aubisque, Col du Tormalet, Col d'Aspin and Col de Peyresourde. Indeed the last time those two towns were the start and finish locations was only in 2010 when the route was reversed. The winner then was Pierrick Fédrigo who won the stage into Pau before yesterday's rest day. First up today is the 46th climb of the Col d'Aubisque in Tour history. Jérémy Roy climbed this first on what was an easier stage ...
LibDemVoice's surveys of party members signed-up to our discussion forum have been running for over three years now. (I posted yesterday the final set of figures from our most recent poll.) Our surveys are a way of testing members' views on a variety of hot topics. And as they've been running throughout the first two years of the Coalition they're also an interesting record of changing views on how the Coalition is regarded within the party. If you would like to take part in the LibDemVoice surveys, there are simply two steps you need to follow: 1) Be a current ...
Further to my article on Sunday, Thomson Street has now re-opened - see right - albeit at bit late - around 11am yesterday. I am continuing to liaise with City Council officers on this matter, particularly to get clarification as to whether or not a further road closure will be necessary to complete servicing to the new townhouses at the top end of the street. The clear concern is that this will be necessary and the photo above hardly indicates a completed job. Constituents in Thomson Street rightly feel they have put up with enough in the way of road ...
Wild Wanders at Balgay takes place tomorrow, Thursday 19th July, from 1pm to 3pm - part of a series of walks organised by the City Council's Countryside Ranger Service. Wild Wanders will explore the wildlife and natural beauty of Balgay Hill. There's a nominal charge of £1.50 per head and those wishing to take part should meet up at 1pm tomorrow at the Glamis Road entrance.
Prologue - Education from my perspective First, a bit of disclosure. I went to two state primary schools (one in rural Fife, another in the suburbs of Aberdeen). I then moved to an independent (fee-paying, academically selective, coeducational) secondary school (also in Aberdeen). My (completely anecdotal) experience of state and non-state provision was that the independent sector was generally much more flexible to individual student needs, better disciplined, fostered a stronger sense of community and made much better provision for a range of extra-curricular activities for those who wished to pursue them. I hazard all of the above with important ...
Wed 18th
01:42
Cllr Rosemarie Hollinghurst, Aldbury and Wigginton, at Hertfordshire Charity Garden Party
Cllr Rosemarie Hollinghurst After the Queen visited Hertfordshire recently she presented a signed portrait to the County Council. At the Hertfordshire County Council Charity Jubilee Garden Party on Saturday 14th July, 2012, the portrait was unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant for Hertfordshire, the Countess of Verulam during the Garden Party. Sadly, because of the poor weather it was actually an indoor Garden party, but nevertheless enjoyed by the representatives of the many carers' organisations and Hertfordshire charities in whose honour the event was held. Together with other guests, including members of the Afghan and Virgin Islands Olympic Teams, who are ...
A note from the county council to county councillors can be found here: Bus Pass Renewal Project
Those who argue we need a second chamber in parliament must think the rest of us are idiots. For whichever way you view it, telling us we need a body to oversee, revise, scrutinise or delay the work of those we elect to represent us in parliament, is telling us we have not chosen well enough. With the House of Lords Reform Bill in the news, we have an opportunity to be more radical and finish the work begun in the Parliament Act of 1911 by finally abolishing the second chamber of our parliament. A bit of theory first: some ...
