Following representations by local residents at the last Beddington & Wallington Local Committee calling for action to prevent further illegal encampments in Mellows Park by Travellers, it was agreed that the best solution was to install earth mounds along the open perimeters of the park. It was noted as a method that had been used ...
I'm working through this excellent manga series about the difficulties of raising an autistic child in contemporary Japan; in this volume, Hikaru Azuma finishes elementary school and moves on to junior high, his mother Sachiko dealing with the problems of a new and tremendously unsympathetic special education teacher in his old school and with the insanity of the system for choosing the next step - is there any country that gets this right? They also have to deal with bullies from a neighbouring school and also help Hikaru's fellow students (and their parents) with other difficulties: the dyslexic kid, the ...
Shock horror Craig Mackinley, who? well this is the Tory Candidate, for the Police Crime Commissioner post for Kent. Perhaps like many who initially welcomed the idea of an independent boss of police forces across the country, given rather unchallenging poor undemocratic rubber stamping police authorities, the reality is that party politics will dominate the elections in November. So it's really no surprise that the Kent Tory candidate is not keen on a level playing field in which independent candidates are assisted as in other elections by free postage to electors. Political parties, shouldn't in my view have anything to ...
News that the abject failure of the Coalition to reach a compromise on Lords reform has brought forth a distinctly typical response from we Lib Dems – dang it, we're going to make speeches about it! The motion itself is ... Continue reading →
This is the third post in my series looking at the various factions within the Lib Dems. In my last post I looked at Liberal Left (not the formal group itself but a wider group within the party that shares several views). As with my previous two posts, the same provisos apply with regards to this post: the term "factions" is somewhat misleading as the actual factions are more like overlapping schools of thought, and the Lib Dems have far greater party unity than Labour or the Tories to boot, and lots of people within the party don't consider themselves ...
I absolutely love sport and in particular the festival of international sport that is the Olympic Games. I've watched every Games since Los Angeles in 1984, admittedly with varying degrees of interest. And while I'm naturally cynical at the way in which the Olympics are rapidly becoming the World Corporate Games - just another symbol of the strength of global capitalism - undoubtedly they continue to inspire, entertain, thrill, disappoint, create controversy, produce heroes and, most significantly, play host to the highest level of competitive sport. Unlike in previous years I have been able to remove myself from the TV ...
Posted in General nonsense The Prime Minster, David Cameron, has written to everyone involved in helping deliver a successful and safe Olympic Games. A copy of his letter is attached below. While I thank the Prime Minister for his acknowledgement and kind words, I am certain I won't be resting on his or anyone else's laurels! Thanks all the same Dave. Looking forward to doing it all again during the Paralympics.
Rumours are going around that Virgin are about to lose the West Coast Mainline to First. A couple of weeks ago, the rumour did the rounds in Westminster that First had won the contract by bidding silly money. There is talk in ... Continue reading →
Just went to see Brave with Holly. It's not perfect - no film ever is - but by Cthulhu it's good. Despite the plot revolving round the relationship between a mother and daughter (which really should NOT be remarkable, but it is) the cast is still majority male, and the story revolves around patriarchal structures. And the short before it is an entirely male affair too. For a film which many have been saying is Hollywood hearing feminist concerns... Well, it's a step in the right direction, but there's still a long way to go. All that said, though? I ...
Well before it has launched one of Cameron's most cherished policies – the planned move to elect police commissioners for all 41 police authorities in England and Wales – is looking like a very bad idea indeed and one that ultimately raises important questions about the practical limits of democracy. On Radio 4′s 'Today' Nick Herbert, Minister ...
It has been widely suggested that a government-engineered housebuilding boom may end the recession and bring electoral success to the Tories or LibDems in 2015 (depending on who gets the credit for it). Experts have been scrambling to answer the question of why there is such a shortage of housing, what the obstacles to housebuilding really are. The Coalition government has so far focused on schemes to help first time buyers and provide housebuilders with finance. These approaches tend to assume that the major obstacle to expanded housebuilding is lack of loan finance due to a banking system still in ...
For generations in the wilderness Liberals held firm to the belief that British businesses would be transformed for the better if they were owned and controlled by their employees. From the Yellow Book , to Ownership for All and on to Jo Grimond this was the USP of our economic policy. After Paddy stepped down as Leader the policy fell from view but has been taken up again by Norman Lamb (although maybe not in the in such a radical distributionist fashion) Today the BBC carries two reports on the biggest group of worker owned business is Europe and asks ...
To object follow this link As local councillors Monica Coleman, JayneMcCoy and I are very concerned about the continued reduction in train services from Sutton and Wallington and the failure to extend services to our area in the past. Opportunites have been missed to extend the East London Line (Overground) to Wallington and beyond. The Tramlink extension hasn't materialised yet and our trains will be overcrowded for many years to come. Now we face another cut to our services. If they go ahead, the changes will mean that our Thameslink trains will stop at Blackfriars with no through trains to ...
Just a thought, but with average rail fares across England set to rise by 6.2% following the revelation of today's inflation figure, presumably we will be seeing a freeze (or even a fall) in Cornwall. Rail fare rises are set by a formula. At present, companies are allowed to raise them by 3% more than the August RPI inflation rate. The justification for the level of rise is the investment that is being put into the rail network. And, as I've mentioned before, there is a lot of investment going into the network to the North and the South Wales. ...
I am a great believer in apprenticeship. I have talked about the career possibilities here, and went for a trim at Fielden Park here, thanks to an apprentice. Latest full year figures show that apprenticeships in Manchester went up from 2580 ... Continue reading →
Enjoy it here.
Tue 14th
14:46
How would the media and public react if Nick Clegg quit to spend more time with his family?
I read a fine piece earlier today (yes I know it was posted eight days ago but I hardly ever check my google reader) by Louise Shaw entitled Don't Menschn the kids.... now apart from being a first rate play on words and far better than any I have thought up over the years (damnit) it has a very interesting and pertinent point to it. Louise Mensch resigned as an MP last week and blamed the strain of juggling a family life along with her work as an MP as the main reason. In general she has been taken at ...
Throughout the summer holidays up to 13,000 16 to 17 year olds across England and Wales will be taking part in the second year pilot of the National Citizen Service. This is the Coalition government's flagship youth development programme described by David Cameron as: "A kind of non-military national service. It's going to mix young people from different backgrounds......Above all its going to inspire a generation of young people ... what they can achieve and how they can be part of the Big Society." The scheme is a three week programme in which young people spend the first two weeks ...
When I re-read Stockport's Portas Pilot Bid the other day, I was actually surprised at how much was packed into it.You can read our successful Portas Pilot bid here – it's worth a look and won't take you long (honest!). Here's an update on some of the projects referred to in the bid: National market day & special market events When BBC North West came along to film in the market a couple of weeks ago, I was glad to see it was busy – despite being a weekday lunchtime. Thanks to the hard work of market traders and the ...
Picture the scene: It is the Liberal Democrat party conference 2025, and the party are in high spirits. The leader stands on the stage and makes the welcoming speech to the faithful. 'Not so long ago, it was said that the third party of British politics could travel to parliament in a taxi. Well, look how we travel now.' At this stage a long line of London black cabs drive in and the occupants disembark. 'Conference, I give you 100 Liberal Democrat MPs' - as they all line up on the stage in front of an audience cheering and applauding ...
Is this Paul Ryan's no cost way of dealing with the ageing population?
And it's the job of this man: In all the debate about what the Tories might offer the Lib Dems to get their precious boundary changes, there's a fundamental truth that seems to be being avoided. While both Lords Reform and changes to constituency boundaries are ostensibly constitutional issues, they don't lie at the heart ...
(You would only end up paying the fees if you were made of money!) Throughout the Tuition Fees debate it was a constant worry that the rhetoric being used would convince students that they couldn't afford to go to University, they would see that fees were going up and assume that this meant they would need a lot of money in order to be able to get a place. All of this (of course) is simply not true, not a single penny is paid in fees (unlike when I attended after Labour first introduced tuition fees) until after graduation, then ...
I don't think it would be a shock to anyone that knows me that I was would enjoy two hours of PE a day. In fact not a lot would've made me happier at school than spending ten hours a week playing sport. Yes I said playing sport and not doing Physical Education. I think there is a distinct difference between the two and one that should not be ignored. When the Mayor of London said last week that he thought two hours of PE a day was a great idea then he's right. It is. However great ideas in ...
I have to say, I was sceptical about the Olympics being held in London, well maybe not sceptical but definitely not as enthusiastic as I could have been. I'm quite a big sports fan really, I follow quite a few (Cricket, Football, Tennis and F1 in particular but any major event that's going on), however I had absolutely no desire to actually buy Olympics tickets. I think for me it was the way they came out that put me off... I didn't want to be entering a ballot or anything, if it had been first come first served then I ...
The Equal Marriage debate in the UK appears to be dividing the country if we were to believe the hype. However, as Conservative MP for Henley, John Howell says on Conservative Home, there will be wider benefits to the country if we legislate and have marriage equality. As Gary Spedding has said in a ...
Paranoid conspiracy theories about mass mind control via subliminal messages in party political broadcasts aside, it is the voters, not the politicians, who get to choose how to go about making the decision on who to give their votes to. Knowing why people vote the way they do is tough. That is not only because people may be reluctant to be honest to others about their motivations, but also because people are often bad at understanding themselves. In fact, one of the findings increasingly coming out from research into how we make decisions is that often we make a decision ...
Romney's Not So Bold Choice "By choosing Ryan, who has little foreign experience and who despite, like most of the people on the planet, being more exciting than Romney, is hardly an inspiring figure or great orator, Romney did not help himself" (tags: uspolitics )
You can read the first instalment of Chris Davies's View from the North here. It will some as no surprise to members in the North West that I asked them some questions on issues relating to the environment and reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). I have led on environmental issues for the pan-European Liberal group in the Parliament since 1999, but since being re-elected in 2009 I have made sustainable reform of the CFP my biggest policy priority. I asked whether members agreed with the majority of the world's scientists that the climate is changing. 88% agreed ...
Weeks ago, I got an email from Premier Inn advertising very, very cheap rooms. I decided to book one for a quick night away during our two week holiday. We're spending the time at home mainly because we wanted to do the Festival seriously. I hadn't realised when booking that 12th August was the night of the Olympics closing ceremony, but you can't change the date with these cheap offers so, off we went. As it turned out, having some exploring to do the next day made the ending of the Olympics a little more bearable for us. After a ...
Lib Dem Voice asked the question 'who do you think are the most effective non MPs at promoting the party?' and the results are out. It's an interesting and eclectic mix and it's hard to argue with any of the names on it. What's more interesting who isn't on the list. Any bloggers. Now, I'm slightly exaggerating for effect as both Mark Pack and Stephen Tall figure. But I wouldn't class them as bloggers, given they run Lib Dem Voice, just as I wouldn't call Tim Montgomerie (Conservative Home) a blogger either. But where was Caron Lindsay, Nick Thornsby, Richard ...
Apologies for not having posted these for a while, but there haven't been too many new ones recently: 121321: New signage, Culver Street East. 121322: Listed building consent for 121322 121252: 60 bed care home, Clarendon Way. Please note that I am a member of the Council's Planning Committee for the next municipal year. This means that I'm required to act in a 'quasi-judicial' manner with regard to applications before the Committee and as such, can't make comments in favour or against planning applications as I may then have pre-judged them before they come to Committee. I can give advice ...
There's a grants scheme linked to Health and Wellbeing that could be useful for local groups looking to apply for funds. The deadline for this next round is 23rd August so there's not a huge amount of time left Here is the link if you want to follow it up.
This column appeared in Liberal Democrat News on 21 May 2004. I don't get all the references any more, but at least I wrote it with a certain brio. Keeping up with the cojones Tony Blair likes people to think he is a pretty mean hombre. Hat pulled down, eyes screwed up against the desert sun. Think Charles Bronson in the opening scene of Once Upon a Time in the West. So he must have been delighted when George W. Bush told Alastair Campbell that "Your man has got cojones." Oddly, in a later interview reported in Bob Woodward's book ...
We now know the date of the licensing committee meeting about whether or not the petrol station on Garston Way/St Mary's Road will be able to sell alcohol 24 hours a day. This is the filling station by ASDA where St Marys Road starts going down into Garston village. The meeting is on the 5th September. Richard Oglethorpe and I will be there on behalf of local people (thanks to those who signed the petition asking us to represent you). Richard appears to be the only Councillor to have sent in an objection ( which means effectively that two of ...
Looking back at season 1 of Grimm | Den of Geek (tags: ) Reasons to Buy Art (by living artisits) (tags: ) geek with curves: How To Feed and Care For a New Geek (tags: ) The Rt Hon Trouble - your fuckin horoscope NSFW but funny (tags: ) Being able to hear music for the first time ever. | Art Of The Story (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Local Link is the bus service open to all that will pick you up from your door and take you to either Gatley or Heald Green village centres. Here's more information how Local Link works and how to book your trip. Local Link has previously covered everything in Gatley and Heald Green between Kingsway and the railway line – the South Park Road estate, the area around Springfield and Delamere Roads and then down to the Lakes estate and into Heald Green. The area covered has now been expanded. It now covers the whole of Heald Green Styal Road from ...
There's zero chance of Nick Clegg cutting a deal with David Cameron on boundary changes in exchange for party reform — that's the firm message I've got from some of those closest to the Lib Dem leader in response to my post last night, Nick Clegg should say no to any link between state funding and boundary changes. It's pretty rare for in-the-know Lib Dems to contact me unprompted about a story and to refute it in no uncertain terms: we're just not that kind of a top-down party. So when I get various messages with outright denials that there's ...
I have to confess I'm a bit of an Olympo-sceptic. Not about the Olympic Games themselves. Every four years I watch the Games rather obsessively. I'm particularly partial to athletics. It is here that you can witness some monumental individual achievements wrought from aptitude honed by unwavering dedication. The only thing that detracts from enjoyment is the ever-present suspicion about doping, which can unjustifiably taint genuine excellence. I'm sure my enjoyment of athletics is in part because it is the only televised sport that I've ever really participated in, having for many years been a club runner - albeit one ...
I am on Wave 102 news this morning about good news for West End sport as the West End Sports and Heritage Association, along with three other Dundee sports hubs, has successfully obtained funding through a Community Payback funding bid. This will see improvements to the Riverside changing facilities in the coming months and is great news for West End sport. Click 'play' below to listen:
Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 500 party members have responded, and we're publishing the full results. Oakeshott, Ashdown and Pack top your list LDV asked: Which prominent Lib Dems who are NOT MPs (eg, peers, campaigners) are doing an effective job of promoting the party to the public? Please write-in. Lord (Matthew) Oakeshott Lord (Paddy) Ashdown Mark Pack Evan Harris Baroness (Shirley) Williams Lord (Chris) Rennard Caroline Pidgeon AM Willie Rennie MSP Baroness (Susan) Kramer Stephen ...
From a Calder's Comfort Farm, the column I used to write for the New Statesman website, published on 24 June 2008. A couple of summers ago the excitement over Cash for Honours was at its height. There was even speculation that Lord Levy's troubles might see the end of Tony Blair. What would we have made in 1973, I wonder, of the thought that the arrest of Alvin Stardust's manager might one day bring down the government? But in those days the link between politics and pop music was closer than most voters realised. One of the most popular bands ...
Residents have recently complained to me about the poor state of the road in Hyndford Street at its junction with Speed Street. I raised the matter with the Roads Maintenance Partnership who have responded as follows: "An order has been raised by the Road Maintenance Partnership inspector to repair a dip in the carriageway opposite the junction with Speed Street with a timescale for repair of twenty eight days or sooner."
The City Council's summer recess ended last night, with the Development Management Committee, the committee that determines planning applications, taking place. There was one application in the West End on the agenda, for a proposed small business development on the west side of Peddie Street. I asked questions of the deputation that spoke in support of the developer, but - along with all other members of the committee - supported the recommendation to refuse the application. This development would have had an adverse impact on the residential amenity of adjacent residents - for example by overshadowing and loss of parking. ...
Eric Idle, accompanied by a proverbial crooning "fat lady", has sung his song. The Olympic flame has been extinguished. The athletes are heading for home: Heathrow has even set up a special terminal for their departure, the front façade of which features a picture of a Guardsman saluting and "Good-bye" painted in white letters. I ...
As we watched the Women's Volleyball at Earl's Court last week, I remember remarking to my daughter that as well as the number of spikes, blocks and digs for each team, the scroreboatd should also show the numeber of high fives, low fives etc. Every single point of Volleyball is ended by a round of hugs, high fives and low fives for both teams. It is quite extraordinary. It is as if their batteries will run out if they don't touch the other team members regularly. That's the same for the women as for the men. Well, I notice now ...
[IMG: 20120814-001106.jpg] All, A quick(ish) report on tonight's Shipston Town Council meeting. These aren't the official minutes, so apologies for any inaccuracies – if you see any let me know and I'll put them right. This doesn't cover the whole of the meeting – just the bits I think are most interesting. One other apology – the letters from the pro and anti supermarket campaigns will appear here over the next couple of days, instead of today and tomorrow. Housing Needs Survey A few months ago I proposed a housing needs survey for Shipston. The idea of surveys like this ...
Tue 14th
00:08
Lib Dem defections to Labour remind us why the party needs to find its' radical soul again
It is with a mixture of sadness and sympathy that I learnt of the defection of two prominent BAME Liberal Democrats to Labour. There's no getting around it, James Allie and Nader Fekri are both highly able and experienced councillors ... Continue reading →
