Today JW and I had the first game of ping-pong we've played since August 7, 2009, when the cumulative score was 123-118 in his favour. He set off for Grenoble a month later, and in October I broke my leg so we just hadn't had much of an opportunity, what with him being away, and then my EVAR operation in 2010, and this year non-stop downpours. Anyway, it was the best day of the year today, and I won the game 21-16!
I'm rather shocked by the statement from Mike Nesbitt the leader of the UUP sent to party members after the regret by Cllr Crawford using the word disease to talk about gay people (as I wrote about yesterday). First up he says: "[Equal Marriage] continues to give local political parties problems, even though there is no realistic prospect of it being introduced in Northern Ireland" Wow! Most of the people of Northern Ireland remember when there seemed no realistic prospect of the IRA ended their armed struggle and giving up their arms. Many remember when there was no realistic change ...
I recent finished reading Mark Boyle's book about freeconomy called The Moneyless Man. It really is an eye opening book. Great stuff - and a lot to consider. After all - what on earth are we doing putting money on such a pedestal these days. We are hardly gordon gecko with red braces - yet do we idolise money before happiness. At times I have - yet the moments I have got paid the most I have been least happiness.I work for the NHS now so no problems with money anxiety! I support the community through my work so I ...
Its the middle of a barmy summer (well a short respite in a barmy wet summer) and an election campaign is on full pelt. I was out today supporting Dr Jon Roger's campaign to become mayor of Bristol. He's a top bloke. As a GP he has a very good rapport with people. He would serve the City very well. So out I was plodding the streets on Horfield. Old stomping ground from when I used to live up that way.
It has only taken three weeks but I now have broadband at home since I moved house on Friday 27th July. There must be a better system for changing an internet provider as there were times when I felt that I had lost my right arm. However it is much more important for many other people. I do not have a business that is dependent on the internet and I do not need access for my work. If any politician wants a project then they can investigate how broadband is provided. The subject for the first blog at my new ...
A belated post from Pirate Day... Very glad that the whole family went and became record breakers together with the other 14,000 people who turned up in one place dressed up as pirates! Aha me Penzance hearties. Take that!
Mitt Romney may present himself as a man of action given his umpteen expensive fast cars and a jet ski but an element of intellectual policy substance was missing. Then Mitt did a Disney. He waved a magic wand like a fairy godmother and conjured up a plan. Oh, it wasn't one he had made earlier but one that Paul Ryan had made earlier but that is irrelevant. Now Mitt has a plan. Perhaps I am getting my Disneys mixed up. Is Mitt being Cinderella instead who can now go to the ball (Republican Convention) because he has his dress ...
[IMG: Posted by Picasa]
[IMG: Posted by Picasa]
The British government, in common with most of its other European and North American counterparts, disapproved of Wikileaks, as they saw the phenomenon as undermining the way the world goes about its diplomatic business. As a journalist, I took a contrary view and thought that this enforced openness taught ordinary people a lot about how states do ...
[IMG: Posted by Picasa]
Julian Assange the boss of Wikileaks is trying to slip out of facing justice in Sweden, hopefully the British authorities will guarantee his safe arrival in Sweden to answer charges of sexual assault. It seems to me a rather naive claim to suggest as his fan club would have it, that Sweden has a dodgy legal system. Given the choice of defending myself against bogus charges as some gullible campaigners have it, I would rather it was in European country than anywhere else, almost laughable is the protest from South American countries, hardly known for stability or human rights during ...
Lib Dem Business Minister Norman Lamb is seemingly determined to carry on where his predecessor Ed Davey left off – liberalising industry in favour of the ordinary consumer. Many in the media are today picking up on his fight against ... Continue reading →
A good friend of mine alerted me to this recent article by the great Ross McKibbin of St. John's College Oxford in the London Review of Books. Ross McKibbin, in my view, paints a brilliant picture of the state of government in the UK. How accurate he is only the participants will know, but it strikes ...
In Belarus, a country within Europe and bordering the European Union, Alexander Lukashenko's regime continues to stifle free speech and fend off calls for democracy. We've previously posted about how clapping in the street can earn you an arrest, now it seems a photo with a teddy bear can do that too. Last week a Swedish PR firm parachuted teddy bears holding messages about democracy over Minsk, democracy in an attempt to break through the heavy media censorship. This caused a diplomatic dispute, with Lukashenko asking all Swedish diplomats within Belarus to leave. Since then two journalists have been arrested ...
The Manchester Evening News reports: Members of Greater Manchester's axed police authority are to toast their own demise - with a taxpayer-funded bash at the five-star Lowry Hotel. About 100 people are expected for a three-course meal at the swish city-centre venue to mark the scrapping of the authority. Set up to hold Greater Manchester Police to account, it will make way for the region's first elected police commissioner in November. Well, that's one way for the (Labour-run) body to spend money... * Mark Pack has written 101 Ways To Win An Election and produces a monthly newsletter about the ...
Residents living in and around the community field, located to the rear of Norwood School, have complained to local LIB DEM ward councillor, Darren Fower, that the gates to the field have been locked all summer, preventing them and their children from enjoying the facility during the summers months. Commenting, Darren explained: "Residents have raised their concerns via email, Facebook and at our regular ward surgery. It seems that despite previous agreements that the field would be open to the public, outside of school hours, this agreement has not been kept. Why this is I have no idea? "I have ...
Sat 18th
12:13
On Twitter, Leveson, media standards... and Labour MP Ian Austin labelling Russell Brand "a disgusti...
I love Twitter and I hate Twitter. At its best, it is a brilliant way of enjoying a shared moment with friends and friends-of-friends, whether glorying in the Olympics or bitching about X-Factor. At its worst, it is a bile-filled bearpit, where opinions are sprayed with scant regard for their accuracy in the race to be first or funniest or most outraged. For fans of cognitive dissonance, it's a wonderful window-on-the-world which explains much about how and why the media works as it does. Lord Justice Leveson would have learned much from observing a life-in-the-day-of Twitter. He would, for example, ...
Last night Channel 4 repeated that episode of Clive Anderson Talks Back when Peter Cook takes on the persona of four comedy characters — an oddball UFO-spotter, a quirk old-school football boss, a faded '60s rockster, and (joyfully, inevitably) an out-of-touch judge — and breathes a life into them which elevates each above mere caricature. The latter character reminded me of perhaps Peter Cook's finest hour: his impersonation of Mr Justice Cantley summing up the 1979 Jeremy Thorpe trial, with its epic pay-off line to the jury: You are now to retire (as indeed should I) carefully to consider your ...
The way in which some individuals or groups become heroes often seems random to me. Why this activist over that one, why that cause and not another, is a bit of a mystery. And I find myself a bit bemused about both of this week's cause celebres in particular.Let's start with Julian Assange. I am minded to favour transparency over secrecy, and I don't want my government to break international law, so the notion of a group dedicated to uncovering covert acts is a worthy one. However, the way in which WikiLeaks operated, releasing information in such a way as ...
[IMG: 20120818-101340.jpg] I was only swiftly passing by .. if this isn't a professional job it is very impressive indeed! Also, amused by Dr Who who showed up just after I took photo – he's not at all pleased to get the Eccleston-style jacket in this weather :)
Brian's Soapbox August 2012 Lovely pictures of Brian May at the Closing Ceremony (tags: ) BREAKING NEWS: Calderdale on flood alert - Local - Halifax Courier Oh joy. (tags: ) Nader Fekri's resignation letter - Local - Halifax Courier Local politics continues... interesting. (tags: ) 'Brave' director Brenda Chapman breaks silence on being taken off film | Inside Movies | EW.com "This was a story that I created, which came from a very personal place, as a woman and a mother. To have it taken away and given to someone else, and a man at that, was truly distressing on ...
11:15 – 12noon Procession through St Peter's Street to Verulamium Park with the Hertfordshire splinter of the Paralympic Flame, carried by Flame Ambassador Gobi Ranganathan, the UK No 1 Wheelchair Badminton Player and supported by local children, young people and disability community groups. The procession will not only be escorting the Hertfordshire splinter of the Paralympic Flame but it will be showcasing 89 banner flags designed by children from local special schools and adults form local disability organizations to celebrate the Paralympic Games, using disability arts to celebrate disability sport. 12noon – 12:15pm Welcome Ceremony in Verulamium Park for the ...
Sat 18th
09:49Adrian Sanders writes... What progress has been made towards achieving full primary education for al...
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were created by the world's richest nations and institutions to tackle the major problems facing the developing world. The second goal states that by 2015 all children should be able to complete primary school. This was an ambitious goal as primary enrolment rates in 1999 were under 60% in some countries. Current primary school enrolment stands at 90%, however progress varies over the developing world. The enrolment rates of wealthier regions like Latin America have remained roughly the same over the last decade staying around 95%, but poorer regions have seen much larger improvement since ...
Due to the complications of multiple accounts with Blogger, Google etc, I shall not be posting any more blogs on this site. The new site will be alandwinter.blogspot.com
Results from the Lib Dem Voice member surveys often get picked up by the media (including this graphic) and other websites these days. They also often generate lively discussion online, not only on Lib Dem Voice itself. As a result, there are various questions about the accuracy or otherwise of the surveys which often come up. The following FAQ cover the questions I've seen asked, and provides answers to them. If you've got any other questions to add to the list (or queries and suggestions on the answers), by all means get in touch or post a comment below. If ...
Sat 18th
08:30
The Germans think this British politician may be the most dangerous politician in Europe? Really?
A while ago The New Statesman published a thought provoking piece suggesting that Angela Merkel was Europe's most dangerous politician. It's a controversial article that even mentioned Hitler and Merkel in the same piece. You can imagine the reaction in Germany... Anyway, Spiegel has now published its own list of Europe's 10 most dangerous politicians. Some of the names are as you'd expect (Le Pen), others are debatable (Tsipras)...and then there's the single British name on the list. Can you guess who it is... Here he is... Click here to see what they say about him. But remember. Be afraid. ...
Many years ago, when this book originally won the Nebula, I read it and was distinctly underwhelmed. But that was in the days before my bookblogging became serious; now that I am almost finished working through the Nebula winners, I felt I owed it to the book (and to its author, who engaged with me very gracefully and decently over my criticism) to give it another try. Well. In fairness the novel itself is not all that bad, just very ordinary; our viewpoint character is a beautiful aristocrat bred for a submissive personality (which she is able to overcome just ...
Welcome to a new feature for my blog. Saturday Six will be a hand-picked half-dozen selected from my favourite blogposts and articles of a week; drawn from the pool of blogs I read and links I've followed on Twitter. It's likely to have a political bent as though I don't write as many political posts as I would like, I do read plenty! On that basis, Stephen's Liberal Journal and Caron's Musings are likely to feature regularly, as they do this week. While I'm mentioning other blogs, I'd also point you in the direction of Jonathan Calder's Six of the ...
Late last year, at my request, the Housing Department had the back areas of the City Council-owned flats in Polepark Road tidied up. Residents have complained to me that the areas are again overgrown - see below: I contacted the City Council about this and the local Housing Officer has now updated me as follows: "I visited Polepark Road ... regarding the complaint about overgrown bushes and general untidiness of the area. I have issued a line to Enviroment Department to prune back the shrubs at front and rear of the 3 blocks. I have also issued a line to ...
How would you feel if your MP described you as "among the worst idlers in the world"? You would feel pretty insulted I would imagine. I would also imagine that you would be pretty angry that the person you elected was using the platform you and your neighbours gave them to insult the British people. Well, Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne), Priti Patel (Witham), Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton), Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) and Elizabeth Truss (South West Norfolk) have done exactly that. They have co-authored a book "Britannia Unchained - Global Growth and Prosperity" in which they claim that the British are ...
Well with the imprisonment by the new Communist regime in Moscow of three members of a pretty poor punk combo, there is only one possible choice. What is most abhorrent about the case is the Russian state's use of psychiatry to justify their actions - just like the old Socialists. The act of protest is not a sign of mental illness and was comprehensively debunked in the 60s and 70s. I'm not sure even the Chinese use it as an excuse in their repression these days...
