We live under a government which has set about stigmatising benefit recipients and prescribing mandatory work for many of those who wish to continue to receive assistance. It is seeking to introduce an Universal Credit system to integrate systems of assistance in a bid to "make work pay". We can be in no doubt that work in the formal labour market is portrayed as a virtue. Possibly the ultimate virtue. No work? No right to consider yourself a proper citizen. Of course, we also have unhelpful comments from the rapid right about the idle British worker. And we have repeated ...
Seven non-religious arguments against marriage equality are taken apart by Neue Politik. "Go behind the scenes of most think tanks and you find a group of barely post pubescent scribblers, with first class honours degrees but fourth class experiences of the real world and real life." Richard Kemp gives his view of the Policy Exchange report calling for the sale of social housing in affluent areas. Mental Health Cop, in a terrific post, defends care in the community: "Very many of the county asylums in this country were appallingly desperate places. They were often home to various undesirable and unfortunate ...
The mainstream media in Britain like to poke fun at the Liberal Democrats, saying they are obsessive about constitutional reform. This is meant to be an insult, but should be regarded as a compliment; the other two main parties are happy to live with the corrupt old system we have at present in England as ...
I bought this a month ago in Broadstairs, and am now able to share with you both the exciting two-page documentary on the making of The Dæmons and an exclusive Doctor Who comic strip story. Here's the documentary: Page 59 Page 60 And here's the (untitled) comic strip: Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Enjoy!
This morning I attended the funeral of Mick Eddy, a Thornaby Independent Councillor who will be missed by more than just his own party or ward. Mick had been a teacher for all of his working life. His love of children and desire to see them do well shone through everything he did. I didn't always agree with him but that's life. I did enjoy talking with him about how children could be
Over Monday and Tuesday, I have :Attended a meeting of the Balgay Stakeholders' Group at the pavilion in Lochee Park. This is a very useful quarterly meeting at which City Council Environment Department Officers, representatives from the Friends of Balgay and local councillors discuss issues affecting Balgay Park. There was a productive discussion on a number of issues including a new bench for the Poor Ground in Balgay Cemetery, new planting at the Rose Window and flower displays.Had a useful meeting with Housing Department officers about the railings in the Logie estate.Held two ward surgeries - at Harris Academy and ...
Tue 21st
20:36
Lib Dem call to increase the government science budget above inflation over next 15 years
There's always a slightly odd dance of press releases and timings in the run up to the Liberal Democrat autumn federal party conference. The underlying dynamic is a simple one: press release a policy motion or policy paper before the conference and it can get two slugs of media interest – in advance and then when debated at conference. However, wait until conference before publicising what is after all only a proposal for a policy until the votes are taken – and you then only get one slug of media interest. Post debate, it's old news in the media's eyes. ...
I had a leeetle bit of a moan about Twitter at the weekend — in particular its tendency to turn even normally quite intelligent and courteous people into the worst kind of insult-spewing trolls — and I'm afraid I'm going to do it again now... Yesterday saw the launch by the think-tank Policy Exchange of a report entitled Ending Expensive Social Tenancies. Now I've not had chance to read it yet. (It's 48 pages long.) But then I doubt that many folk have. You don't have to agree with its reasoning or conclusions to try and engage with its arguments. ...
The Serbian chess grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić has died at the age of 89. After fighting with the Partisans in World War II before becoming one of the world's leading players in the 1950s and 1960s. Just as chess is important to Armenian identity today, having a player who could compete with the leading Soviet grandmasters as an equal mattered a great deal to the new state of Yugoslavia - this in an era when Stalin had said: "I will shake my little finger and there will be no more Tito." Gligorić also had many battles with the young Bobby Fischer, ...
1. I'm very glad Craig Murray is no longer a member of the Liberal Democrats The former British ambassador to Uzbekistan has done many admirable things in his professional life, but his nasty attempt to smear an alleged rape victim of Julian Assange on BBC Newsnight yesterday was shameful. 2. I'm very glad David Allen Green is a member of the Lib Dems — and more importantly, a liberal While he can be a cussedly rude individual, the journalist-lawyer's impeccably staunch defence of due process — a principle Assange's supporters appear happy to flush down the nearest Ecaudorian loo — ...
Praise be to Barnet Council. On Wednesday 18 July, I took a copy of Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks' daily prayer book out of East Barnet Library. I needed three, so I ordered two more, as the Council's website says that there are several copies in libraries across the borough, according to the "Aqua Browser" (why "Aqua"? What does any of this jargon actually mean?). What I, as a secular Jewish agnostic, wanted with three Orthodox Jewish prayer books is a question that need not detain us until later. A helpful librarian and I filled in the two forms for the ...
"Ross McKibbin ... paints a brilliant picture of the state of government in the UK," said Greenwich Liberal the other day after reading Ross McKibbin in the London Review of Books. I am not sure I would go quite that far - a lot of McKibbin's discussion of the government is guesswork - but this observation on wider British society is spot on: Manufacturing takes place within the social world. Different kinds of people have an interest in it and its success or failure has observable social effects. Banking and finance, though we need them, are now asocial activities. When ...
Local City Councillors have now been notified by officers at the Town Hall that the next meeting of the Peterborough North Area Committee, which covers South Werrington and North Gunthorpe, North Werrington, Walton and Paston has been moved from the 11th September to 4th October. According to the notification, "...due to availability of the chairmen for the Neighbourhood Panel (Police) and the Area Committee, the 11 September meeting date has been moved....", the meeting will still take place at Paston Ridings Primary School.
I know politics tends to be played in a certain way and that Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition are there to oppose. It's there in the title. But it is remarkable just how many times Labour in opposition are now against almost exactly what they did when they themselves were in office. In some cases not just against them, but viscerally against them suggesting all manner of nefarious motives on the part of the EVIL CONDEMS for even considering them. There's a good example today. It has been reported that the government is encouraging the NHS to use its expertise globally ...
Tue 21st
18:36
Capitalism in crisis. A smaller state and lower taxes will make things worse, not better.
The advanced capitalist economies are in trouble. Economic growth is anaemic or negative; government debt mounting; banking systems are on life support. There are big differences between the individual economies, but some combination of these three, or at least two of them, afflicts more or less all major economies – Australia and some Scandinavian economies excepted perhaps. The crisis may not be as severe as the one in the 1970s (it is if you measure GDP statistics but not by any other measure), but there is a pervasive sense of hopelessness. Nobody seems to have a convincing solution. Broadly two ...
A few people have asked me what the road works on Western Road at the junction with St Johns Road are all about. They are causing considerable delays, especially at peak periods. I am told that they are emergency works to repair a gas main. Normally, Cornwall Council requires more than a month's notice for major roadworks, but emergency works can take place without this. I have asked how long the council expects these works to take. I would have expected that 'emergency works' would have seen contractors working into the evening to get the problem fixed as soon as ...
Those evil members of the Pink Mafia/metropolitan gay elite at C4EM have found this very thorough article calling for marriage equality: A Plea In Law For Equal Marriage. Check it out! If you feel benevolent and particularly generous, this writer always appreciates things bought for him from his wishlist
I am uneasy myself at UK Government plans to export NHS services overseas so as to generate income for reinvestment in the domestic service, but Labour appeared to have excelled themselves in their criticism of the scheme. According to the Telegraph, Labour have criticised the proposals as an example of David Cameron's "rampant commercialisation" of the NHS, however, it has now emerged that Gordon Brown's government set up a profit-making arm called NHS Global to "maximise its international potential... and bring benefits back to the UK taxpayer". Its purpose was to "market valuable assets across the system overseas, ranging from ...
I am proud to annouce that as from the 28th August 2012 I will be taking up the role of Interim Director of Voice4Change, England. A press release appears on their website at The text from the website is as follows; ... Continue reading →
Back in December last year I blogged about how tax hasn't changed over time, quoting the Mirrlees review: Despite some predictions to the contrary, countries are not being forced inexorably to tax less in an increasingly globalized and competitive world economy. Between 1975 and 2008, taxes rose as a proportion of national income in virtually every OECD country. On average, the tax take rose from 29.4% to 34.8% of national income. In no OECD country was there a significant fall in the tax take over this period... Within the total tax take, we might expect that governments would find it ...
"Of course you know", said a friend of mine the other day, "Kalevipoeg is really simply a football hooligan". Well, of course, an Estonian mythical giant is, by definition, going to have certain Estonian characteristics: A large capacity for alcohol- checkA desire to spend time deep in the countryside- checkAn ambivalent relationship with Finland- checkWanting to be anywhere except Estonia for long periods of time- check Yet it had not occurred to me that Estonia's great national hero could be seen in quite the same light as the A Team Young Casuals of [NAME DELETED ON LEGAL ADVICE] United FC. ...
That first day of normality after holidays is always awful. Last night when I set the weekday alarm on my phone for 6:25 am, my heart sank. This Summer has been, despite the weather, one of the best ever. We've done loads. First of all we had the first week of July up on the Black Isle, which surely has to be one of the most gorgeous places on earth. I mean, look at this: Bob also had the last two weeks of the holidays off work. While we didn't go away, we had some great fun at the Festival, ...
I have already pissed off some people by saying that the #menagainstrape hashtag actually does nothing productive so lets have a look at some of the tweets coming through with the hashtag... Very good point. Is the default position on rape that all men are pro. Do we actively have to 'opt-out' of this position to declare that we actually think it is vile? I need conformation on this... Another excellent point. Men lie (as do women) to win brownie points. Sums up my feelings perfectly. Oh apparently we do have to opt-out of being pro-rape. Ah someone can see ...
A long hiatus from blogging, although there has been much to write about. I was travelling across Europe at ground level, for a change, of which more in later blogs. One of the countries I travelled through was Germany, where despite the marvellous array of beautiful landscapes and quirky towns and villages with centuries of history to chose from, sooner or later one comes up against the appalling 12 years of Nazi rule. In the beautiful abbey of Quedlinburg we find that the sinister and creepy Heinrich Himmler expelled the church to build an absurd and horrible SS shrine around ...
Tue 21st
13:20
LibLink: John Pugh MP - With hindsight, Cable's deficit reduction plan looks better than Osborne's
Lib Dem MP John Pugh has written a thoughtful, balanced piece on economic policy for the New Statesman website. He freely admits he has voted for every part of George Osborne's economic strategy brought before the Commons ("I did not know if it would achieve all its major objectives but I certainly did not know it would not") but says the facts are plain: it's not working. Here's an excerpt: Yes, jobs are being created in the private sector, unemployment is not moving upwards, the deficit is down, our export markets are engaging with the emerging economies, inflation is low ...
Todd Akin, the Republican politician claimed women can prevent themselves becoming pregnant as a consequence of being raped, sits on the House's Space, Science and Technology Committee. That's right, the Missouri congressman who said on television "It seems to me, ... Continue reading →
Is twitter going all Facebook on us? '93% of people won't share this photo because they don't care about cancer/the armed forces/midgets/bad acting in Eastenders ruining the thespians of the future and if you don't share it then you are showing the world that you don't care.' We've all seen those things on Facebook and I ignore the lot and today on twitter there is a #menagainstrape hashtag that people are using to signal that they are against rape. All nice and dandy but aren't all men broadly against rape just like they are against cancer et al like the ...
I've just received the following information which I'm delighted to re-post. It's great news and good luck to them! Launceston sportspeople determined to create an Olympic legacy are reviving the town's old athletics club. Launceston Athletic Club and Cornwall Athletics are hosting Star Track Day on Thursday, August 30 to give young people the chance to benefit from coaching in running, jumping and throwing as well as taking part in fun games and activities. Those who catch the bug will be able to join Launceston Athletic Club which will run Wednesday and Friday evening sessions for all adults and children ...
I just got back from holiday and I know that I promised quite a few days ago that I'd finish writing my series on the various Lib Dem "factions" but instead something else has come up. Which is why I'd like to talk about rape. TRIGGER WARNING. You see, over the past few days, the case about Julian Assage and his alleged rape of two women in Sweden has caused a bountiful tide of sexism, misogyny and rape apologism to rear its ugly head. Before we go any further, let's quickly establish some facts: Firstly, I like Wikileaks. I think ...
Most of would feel more than a little uncomfortable at the idea of a man in his early forties dating a girl not yet sixteen – especially if she insists they're "just good friends" and he says he wants to marry her. Seems a bit...creepy. But rugged Hollywood actor John Ireland was happy to admit to a relationship with teenage starlet Tuesday Weld, as the October 1960 edition of Photoplay magazine reports in it's feature "Should a girl be sexy at 15?". Tuesday Weld is no ordinary girl, it must be said. John Ireland was far from the only older ...
It hardly feels like any time has passed since I was at Edgbaston last summer watching England become the number 1 ranked test team in the world. I was probably very harsh on India back then, claiming that as number 1 side in the world they should be able to compete anywhere and we had annihilated them. Since then England have proved that actually, there are a lot of really good teams around that can dominate any given series. England's spell at the top of the rankings lasted just 11 tests (losing 6 tests, 2 series and winning just 3 ...
On Friday, three women in Russia were handed two year prison sentences for walking into a Moscow cathedral and performing a three minute protest song about the rotten state of their government, led by one man (Putin) in some shape or other, for nearly 13 years. The verdict has been condemned by the UK, US and German governments, human rights groups and the EU, who see this as a real test of Russia's and Vladimir Putin's credentials as a the leader of a 'democratic' state, something that has been steadily weakening since the farcical events of their presidential elections a ...
How do you manage to cut down my ranty blog post from Saturday into something short enough for a Newspaper to print in its letter page? Well here is how: I READ in the News Letter (August 18) that Mike Nesbitt has written to UUP members asking them not to dance to the republican tune on marriage equality. I would like to assure Mr Nesbitt that, while I want to see marriage equality in all parts of the union, I certainly am not a republican. He also says that marriage equality has no realistic prospect of coming about in Northern ...
With this very kind review of 101 Ways To Win An Election. Thank you Stephen!
The case of Julian Assange is complex, involving the legal systems of four countries, murky politics and allegations of sexual misconduct. But through all this smoke and noise, it's important to remember why everyone knows the name of Julian Assange. The organisation he founded, Wikileaks, has exposed dark practices and abuses that governments have gone to a lot of trouble to keep quiet. In the main these are democratic governments, answerable to the voter and the tax-payer which should be operating in a transparent and open way. There is a link below to a video which was obtained and made ...
"My friend group has a case of the Creepy Dude. How do we clear that up?" « CaptainAwkward.com "Most people think in their heart of hearts that they are moral stand up awesome people who would never allow bad behavior to stand and that they are brave enough to stand up to it. Very few people actually are. When confronted with something horrible that they have ignored and dismissed they are going to minimize it, because to acknowledge how awful it is will be to do more than challenge their beliefs about the situation, it will also challenge their beliefs ...
It was all so theatrical: the small balcony, the symbol of the Ecuadorian embassy affixed to the railing, the gold, blue and red of the Ecuadorian flag. Julian Assange, neatly dressed in a blue shirt and maroon tie, stepped out and spoke to his adoring fans. I suppose the tableau would have been more to ...
John Hemming has discussed music performers and digital copyright in the past, and today Sarah Thompson advances the conversation by considering the seminal court cases in the debate over copyright issues in the digital age. You can read more from Sarah at the online resource where she frequently writes, which covers industry topics like how music production careers have evolved in the last
You've probably seen news of the latest 'most stupid question to ask Hillary Clinton' (h/t to @helenlewis) but if you haven't, here is it... From Sec. of State Clinton's recent "townterview" in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: Interviewer: Okay. Which designers do you prefer?Hillary Clinton: What designers of clothes?Interviewer: Yes.Hillary Clinton: Would you ever ask a man that question?Interviewer: Probably not. Probably not. It reminded me of the other most stupid question she's probably ever been asked. But it also reminded me of this:
Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur who founded Pay Pal and VC who backed Facebook early on, has given $1million to Tea Party aligned Super PAC Club for Growth. This comes after he contributed the same sum to the pro ... Continue reading →
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. Three-quarters want Coalition to go on til 2015 – but 40% say it should end early to allow for differentiation LDV asked: When would you like the Coalition to end? 10% – As soon as possible, definitely this year 3% – It should end in 2013 9% – It should end in 2014 40% – It should stop shortly before ...
A local winner, in the shape of the Leicester Mercury, for: 'Self-combusting' noodles cause fire at food factory in Leicester
The amount an individual or family have to pay towards Care Home costs has always been a 'bone of contention' and this subject has again recently found its way into the news. Local authorities, the NHS and PCT all have different interpretations of the regulations and criteria used to calculate the amount an individual, or members of their family has to contribute towards their care. As a result, all the local authorities in England are petitioning the government to issue a clear, concise and unambiguous directive so that the criteria used to calculate charges imposed are uniform throughout the country. ...
On Friday 24th August at 8pm, Batty at Balgay takes place! Meet at Mills Observatory to look for and listen to bats as they emerge into the evening air. Further details at http://tinyurl.com/battybalgay.
That august publication The Independent carries a report that the NHS is trying to export its brand abroad. Britons resident abroad do of course have very limited access to the NHS should they seek medical services while visiting Britain. There was a time when anyone working abroad who maintained Class 2 National Insurance contributions could get treatment without ...
Talking about The Iron Legion Tagged: me elsewhere
