Nick O'Shea has been selected by Surrey Liberal Democrats as candidate for Police & Crime Commissioner. Antony Hook said, "Nick O' Shea is a great candidate and I have no doubt will be the best choice for Police Commissioner for Surrey" "I know from discussions I have had with Nick that he understands the serious issues of cross border ...
Three Rivers District Council Parks win National Award : The Aquadrome, Chorleywood House Estate and Leavesden Country Park have all been awarded the Green Flag in recognition of their excellent use of green space, well maintained facilities, and high standards of safety and security. TRDC regards its parks as very important places for the local community to play, relax, exercise, and get the generations together. ........................................ Tesco Please Take this seriously. Three Rivers District Council has contacted Tesco making it clear that there is evidence suggesting that certain conditions of their permission at the Mill End store have been breached ...
Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG) will hold two fringe events at the Party Conference in September at Brighton. LDEG Vice-Chair Antony announced today that the events titles have been confirmed as: "Winning Vote for Europe", which will be at 8pm on Sunday 23 Sept. and "Britain's Place in Europe; Europe's Place in the World", at 8pm on ...
This cycling based sculpture in Kingston's historic market gives the impression that it is not exactly official...
SCORES OF MPs want to ban "Darkie Day" – a Christmas festival in Cornwall involving minstrel-style blacked-up faces and Afro-wigs. Published in New Nation - 18/12/2006 Local yokels are determined to repeat their controversial knees-up on Boxing Day despite a howls ... Continue reading →
R.F.Delderfield was a great novelist who wrote "To serve them all our days" based loosely on the school I attended, West Buckland School, Devon, which Delderfield went to. I noticed today, while watching a film about Kenneth Williams, that R.F.Delderfield wrote the first "Carry on" film, "Carry on Sargeant". You could have knocked me down with a feather.... [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Listen again to my Sunday Nation show on Sounds of Urban London radio here! The full track playlist is listed below. This week I was joined by special guests Tracey Ford and Nathan Edward. Tracey lost her 17-year-old son Andre ... Continue reading →
Yesterday I suggested that the spirit of Humphrey Jennings that had inspired Friday's Olympic opening ceremony. I was alerted to the parallels with his work by the excellent tweeter Lang Rabbie, who pointed out that one of the sections of the ceremony was entitled 'Pandemonium'. Pandemonium was the title of an anthology by Jennings. I long ago lost or gave away my copy of it - looking at the prices on Amazon I rather wish I hadn't. And an article in today's Observer suggests we were on to something. Frank Cottrell Boyce writes: We shared the things we loved about ...
The work of the Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot has appeared here before. He wrote the song I'm Not Sayin' that was recorded by Nico with help from Jimmy Page. In 1978 he reached no. 41 in the UK singles chart in his own right. Remembering how much air time this song got, I am surprised it got no higher. Gordon Lightfoot is still playing and touring. Read all about him at Lightfoot!
On Friday I was the guest speaker at the Whickham U3A. They have regular meetings called "feel good" sessions. Somehow I managed to get an invite to make 40 senior citizen ladies feel good. I wasn't there with my politician's hat on but rather I was there to talk about self-sufficiency and how I am getting on growing my own food and generating my own electricity. Nevertheless, I was introduced
I'm republishing an article I wrote in April last year following the conviction, for racially-aggravated harassment, of Terry Fitzpatrick. For even more background detail on this man who are welcome to read this article by Lee Jasper. Trial by Jeory reported on ... Continue reading →
There are good reasons to be afraid. A few years ago, I was walking from town to the Clonard area where I was living. It was late at night, and I had spent my money on a few pints with friends. I realised as I was leaving town that my mobile phone was out of ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 284th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (22-28 July, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. The night of ...
As far as I'm aware, there are no Committee meetings at Blyth Town Council next week. If I hear of any, I'll post
Applications have closed, and I now have a pretty good idea as to what happens next. So far, so good. Our next task as a shortlisting committee is to decide how many we aim to shortlist and decide how to get from where we are now to what we want. We also have to decide upon a spending limit - there is a recommended amount, which I am minded to agree - and on a format for the members meeting in Cambridge, which we're working on. So, what's next on the agenda? There are doubtless some applicants who have either ...
I could not resist putting this up given the controversy around product placement and the way that small retailers in particular have had a hard time from trading standards as a result of draconian legislation passed so as to facilitate the Olympics.
Earlier this month Harrow Council caught the headlines for its new electoral registration system: Harrow Council has become the first local authority in the country to take its electoral registration online. As authorities across the country contact residents to ensure their details are added to the electoral register, Harrow will be asking people to respond to the annual canvass online. The council said residents would be able confirm details "at the click of a button", avoiding "cumbersome paper forms". [Public Service; hat-tip: Toby James] This is not quite as novel as it may sound, because for several years other councils ...
One of the benefits of being here in the US as the Presidential campaign heats up is that you get to see what the candidates are doing to each other. So, without further ado, here's the latest Obama campaign ad...
The first two of our events during Belfast Pride 2012 take place today, Sunday 29 July. At 6pm, the first 15 minutes with Christ service takes place in St George's Church, in High Street, Belfast. Then at 7, also in St George's, we are showing the film Love Free or Die, which is about Gene ...
In today's Observer, Andrew Rawnsley writes about Ed Miliband's struggle to gain credibility as a future Prime Minister and acceptance of Labour's as-yet unspecified alternative approach to the economy. He says that although Francois Hollande is a good international role model to whom the Labour leader can point as a successful socialist President, he needs to beware a changing mood in France: It is very important to Labour that it has now edged ahead of the Conservatives on the crucial question: "Who do you most trust to run the economy?" But thoughtful Labour people, including people close to Mr Miliband, ...
Conservative Home have done an interesting poll of their members asking what form the next Government is likely to have. Here are the results: A Labour majority - 20% A minority Labour government - 11% A Labour-Lib Dem coalition - 22% A second Tory-Lib Dem coalition - 8% A minority Tory government - 19% A Conservative majority - 20% A Liberal Democrat majority or minority government - 0% For me the most interesting fact was that only 40% of respondents reckoned that any party would win a majority. Meanwhile, 30% predict that the Liberal Democrats will find themselves in Government. ...
Boy, am I tired this morning! I'm not suited to sitting up till 1am and then getting up at 7:30 for a meeting. I'm an old lady (about to be older) and I need my sleep. The fact that this was written yesterday shows just how tired I was - after a busy day, I collapsed on the sofa and went to bed early last night. Anyway, here's my account of Friday's Olympic opening ceremony. I usually avoid these things because they bore me. A lights show and lots of people walking round. And boring speeches.However, with the Games here, ...
Security services to get more access to monitor emails and social media | Technology | The Observer (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Previously we reported how a block of votes for Labour candidate Paul Penlington were wrongly counted as being for similarly named Conservative rival Allan Pennington in the Prestatyn North ward count this May. The High Court has now ordered a recount: [IMG: Election count] Denbighshire blamed human error after votes cast for Labour's Paul Penlington were counted for Allan Pennington. The council has admitted the Labour candidate would have won if his votes had been correctly allocated... The recount will take place amidst conditions of strict secrecy in front of a senior High Court official and in the presence of ...
Not done one of these for a while, but people still continue to put interesting things on the internet. Come write me down – Phil Edwards explains the phenomenon of policy-based evidence. Reviewing through the Time Machine: Remembering Margaret Cavendish – Ro Smith on the 17th century female founder of science fiction. I'd honestly never heard of Margaret Cavendish or The Blazing World before this, but it sounds fascinating. How I Lost My Fear of Universal Health Care – An expat American in Canada's experiences of what it means to not have to worry about the cost of getting ill. ...
Over at the Huffington Post UK, I've written a post looking at Vince Cable's credentials to lead the Lib Dems. My conclusion? Not convinced, though if this were a rational world he'd be a shoo-in for Chancellor... Lots of politicians have 20:20 hindsight. Foresight, however, is generally in shorter supply, which explains why Vince Cable is being acclaimed once again, tipped at the age of 69 both as a potential successor to either the 40-something George Osborne as Chancellor and/or the 40-something Nick Clegg as Lib Dem leader. The 'Septuagenarian Sage of Twickenham' is enjoying a Second Coming-of-age. Age does ...
Staying overnight with cousins in Broadstairs, home of Charles Dickens and childhood home of Edward Heath; a pleasant and quiet resort town which is actually built around two sandy beaches on the edge of Kent. This book collects classic photographs of the town and compares them with the way the same places look today (well, 2007); what struck me was that if anything the last few decades have seen some of the overdevelopment of the early twentieth century rolled back, and the town is if anything prettier now. Walking along the esplanade yesterday I felt a little as if something ...
Good luck to all those partaking of the Race for life event at Palm Bay, this morning. Mrs Me leaves for race after her warm up routine is completed, which naturally includes advice to me to not to make a mess whist she is out and to make myself presentable by the time she returns.
Listen to some great rare groove and soul on my Sounds of Urban London radio show today at 2pm GMT! Plus special guest Tracey Ford, the mother of Andre Smartt-Ford who was gunned down in Streatham five years ago. She'll ... Continue reading →
News came through yesterday that Matthew Gibson has hung up his quill and has closed his Solution Focused Politics website as he is to busy to keep it going at this current juncture. With a full time job and studying for a PhD (basically making himself smarter – note to self – don't stand too close to Matthew as people will confuse it with evolution and I won't be the latest model if you get what I mean) he feels that it is time to shut it down as he can't give it the attention he feels it deserves. His ...
Back in February, I was pleased to be advised by Dundee City Council that it had agreed to my request made on behalf of local residents to provide an extension to the handrail at the Kelso Steps to assist residents and visitors to Royal Victoria Hospital - particularly the elderly - negotiate the steps in the wintry weather. I am pleased to say that the extension is now in place - see right - although I do feel it could have extended further along the path at the top and have therefore asked if further improvements could be made there. ...
The council has leased a new Civic Car, an Audi A8, at an annual contract Hire Charge of £12,627.30. A local resident enquired about this, and I have received the following explanation. The Audi A8 replaced the Civic Car BMW in May 2012. The BMW which, due to its age and use, was breaking down on a regular basis and required replacement parts more often. This was becoming increasingly costly. The reliability of this car could not be guaranteed and had the potential to leave the Chairman without transport or in a vulnerable position while carrying out civic duties. The ...
