Continuing the rerun adventures in Odanglesex County Council with Kenneth Spotlessnob's attempt to find a slogan for his directorate. FROM: Kenneth Spotlessnob, Director of Transformational Excellence and Strategic Vision TO: Dale Brashcon, Transformational Excellence Champion Dale: The word for the entries to brand the Directorate is quality rather than quantity. Six entries was a bit low. Could you present the whole thing in an upbeat, positive way in line with our core values? You know the result, of course. Kenneth By the way - can we meet with Neil at four to discuss an implementation trajectory for my learning experiences ...
Sometimes great classics (often by American writers) fail to grab me and I'm afraid this was one of those times. The novel follows the dubiously named psychiatrist Dick Diver, his wife and former patient Nicole, and the young actress Rosemary who he falls in love with, over a period of several years in and around southern France. Most of the characters seemed frankly unpleasant people to me, and while there are some dramatically violent moments they don't seem to lead to much. The Great Gatsby had much the same observations to make about society but I thought did it better. ...
Congratulations to all our successful GCSE and A level students, their parents and teachers. Amidst all the excitement of the results, the County Council's Education Transport Team has put out a practical reminder: as this is the busiest time of year, please apply for your post-16 bus passes as soon as possible after result, to help them to assess and order passes for the start of term.
An Eighth Doctor Adventure that I felt might have worked better as a TV episode; in a dying city on a desolated planet, two gangs of mods and rockers, kidnapped from 1965 England many years before, are preparing for the final conflict, when the Doctor, Fitz and Compassion arrive and expose the computer and alien intelligences behind it all. OK but not all that much there compared with some of the other books in this range.
When writing about the Priory on my return from Tynemouth, I used its gatehouse as an illustration. But that is as much a military building as an ecclesiastical one. The photograph above shows some more of the ruins. The many gravestones date from the 18th and 19th centuries. There were later military buildings here, but when the army left in 1960 anything that was not Medieval was obliterated. Today archaeologists would be looking to conserve those buildings as an important part of the site's history.
Issan Ghazni will be taking volunteers from Nottingham and the surrounding areas to support Jill Hope in the Corby by-election on Saturday 1st September. He has already put out a call across the East Midlands Region for anybody living near ... Continue reading →
On 18th of August, 2012 Dacorum Borough Council held a Civic Reception in honour of Max Whitlock, the young gymnast from Adeyfield, Hemel Hempstead who won two bronze medals for his prowess in the London 2012 Olympic Games. Together with Dacorum Mayor Bert Chapman, Tring Mayor Nick had a chance to meet and talk to both Max and his parents. Nick said afterwards, "Max is a young man of great talent and dedication who has developed his gymnastic skills to the highest international standard. But he is also a young person of quiet confidence and great charm who is fully ...
Some people are still upset by the myth that student fees will be unaffordable. Try this video.
With the Met discussing the way it may rearrange the way they are to provide the local SNT (Safer Neighbourhood Teams), it is uncertain as to how Sergeants, PCs and PCSOs will be allocated across Southfield and the other wards across Ealing. When I saw that our Southfield police team has only about 4 members (two short of where we should be) I decided to set up a petition to get the Met to give us the police we need to reduce burglary, vehicle crime and robbery in the area. We have collected over 500 and aim to get as ...
I was very sad to hear of the death of Donald Gorrie last night. Donald was the dominant figure in Edinburgh Liberal politics from his election to the then Town Council in 1971 representing Corstorphine. He first came to public prominence as an athlete. The 880 yards was his distance and he competed for Scotland at this level. Donald served in local government between 1971 and 1997 when he was elected as the first ever Liberal Democrat MP in Edinburgh and the first Liberal since WWII. Donald was the Liberal group leader on both district and regional councils when I ...
Fancy having some really good quality photos done at a moderate price, and helping this worthy cause at the same time? Come along to Castle Combe Village Hall next Saturday to have some studio photography shots done. Three prints for £10, and/or pay £10 to get all your photos on CD. All profits go to Help For Heroes. It's a great way for people to get professional photos done of themselves and their family at a low price, and support charity at the same time. More details available about the photographers here
There have been no posts for the last three weeks as I've been away on holiday for two of them and spent the third coping with the chores that accumulate in a fortnight's absence. My first week was spent walking with my Anglo-French friends in Oxfordshire. The actual walking was something of a disappointment. Although the villages are pretty (plenty of thatched roofs) the Oxfordshire countryside is rather flat and uninteresting, made even more-so by the removal, presumably in the 50s and 60s, of many hedges, so that there are now enormous fields with the rights of way running through ...
"Every child should start secondary school with a head start, not a false start"
"As to papists, what has been said of the Protestant dissenters would hold equally strong for a general toleration of them; provided their separation was founded only upon difference of opinion in religion, and their principles did not also extend to a subversion of the civil government. If once they could be brought to renounce the supremacy of the pope, they might quietly enjoy their seven sacraments, their purgatory, and auricular confession; their worship of relics and images; nay even their transubstantiation. But while they acknowledge a foreign power, superior to the sovereignty of the kingdom, they cannot complain if ...
Donald Gorrie, the former MP and MSP, has died at the age of 79. Gorrie was the MP for Edinburgh West from 1997 to 2001, and MSP for the Central Scotland region from 1999 until 2007. However, these raw facts do not tell the full story of his political life. A long-standing member of the Liberal Party, Gorrie served as a councillor at either regional, district or city level from 1971 until his election as an MP twenty-six years later. A tireless campaigner, especially in regards challenging sectarianism (he was fiercely opposed to faith schools) and the creation of a ...
Sun 26th
14:15
Tim Leunig writes... Housing priority Number 1: reversing the rise in the age of first-time buyers
Sir Adrian Montague's report on housing, published earlier this week, calls for a larger private rented sector. This is a very bad idea because being a private renter is the least popular tenure choice in Britain. Only 2% of people wish to be private renters, compared with 82% who want to own, 14% who want to live in social housing, and 5% in other tenures (see here for details). I bet that Sir Adrian is not a private renter. The private rented sector has its place, most notably for young people who have yet to settle down. But thanks to ...
Earlier today, along with other campaigners from the "Better Together" campaign, I was in the City Centre speaking with shoppers to make the case for Scotland remaining part of the United Kingdom. The team that included Dundee Liberal Democrats, Dundee Labour Party, Dundee Conservatives and people with no political affiliation was part of a weekend-long and Scotland-wide series of events. We had a very positive response from people and its clear from recent opinion polls that public opinion is strengthening towards Scotland staying in the United Kingdom. It is good to see cross-party co-operation and people of no party political ...
This morning I listened to an edition of The Reunion in which Sue MacGregor brought together five women from the pop scene of the 1960s: Petula Clark, the child star of the 1940s whose career went stratospheric in the 1960s; Sandie Shaw, the barefoot pop princess who won the Eurovision Song Contest; Helen Shapiro, Britain's first teen pop star who was supported by The Beatles, Jackie Trent, singer and songwriter who wrote hits for Petula Clark, Scott Walker and many others; and Vicki Wickham, the legendary producer of Ready Steady Go who went on to manage Dusty Springfield.This seems to ...
The BBC reports the sad news of the death of former MP, MSP and stalwart Scottish Liberal Democrat Donald Gorrie: Former Liberal Democrat MP and MSP Donald Gorrie has died aged 79. Mr Gorrie represented central Scotland in the Scottish parliament from 1999 to 2007, and represented Edinburgh West as an MP before devolution. ... His former parliamentary assistant, Hugh O'Donnell, who succeeded him in parliament said: "Donald Gorrie was my mentor, my friend and my guide. "He will be sadly missed by those who respect a politician and a man of independent character and principle". Scottish Liberal Democrat leader ...
I've already put it online as a PDF, but here's my submission to the committee on the draft Communications Data Bill in a slightly easier to read format. QUESTION 1: Has the Home Office made it clear what it hopes to achieve through the draft Bill? Considering the draft bill itself, there is no apparent restriction on the powers that are granted by it, which does not give any way of assessing exactly what the intentions are. The powers could be used for deployment of "black boxes" en mass throughout the UK, could be used to just to target known ...
First Man, by Neil Hansen Review of biography of Neil Armstrong. (tags: space ) A Man On The Moon, by Andrew Chaiking My review of a book about the Moon landings. (tags: space ) Moondust, by Andrew Smith Another book about the Moon landings. (tags: space ) Obituary: Neil Armstrong | The Economist The best so far, with the great picture taken just after they left the Moon. (tags: death space ) Neil Gaiman's Journal: Neil Armstrong Gaiman, Stephenson, and Armstrong: 'If you ever wondered what my face looks like when I'm going "This is really happening, and I am ...
Today's Observer carries an interesting and informative profile of Prince Harry saying that his arc of narrative, early tragedy, boisterous misbehaviour, respectable adoption of responsibilities in adulthood, interrupted by occasional bouts of boisterous misbehaviour, mirrors many classic spans of fiction, not least that of Shakespeare's Prince Hal. They add that it has also, albeit unwittingly, allowed the prince to become the focus of many public debates over what the British royal family is "for", and how it should behave. What I found most endearing about the article though was the respectful tone that it adopts throughout, culminating in this wonderful ...
I haven't really followed much about the Anders Brievik story, except the headlines that he killed 77 people in two separate attacks, and that his maximum prison sentence will be 21 years (although that may end up as life imprisonment). Can you imagine the furore if it had happened in this country? "Animal!" Placards waving. Protests. Marches. Lack of respect for authority. What kind of society is so accepting to not have a death sentence for such a heinous crime? When the court started assembling for the sentencing on Friday morning I ran some thoughts through my own head. "He ...
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've been publishing the full results. This is the final part. Party members give Lib Dems 7 out of 10 for influence within the Coalition How would you rate the extent of the Liberal Democrat influence within the Coalition Government, where 10 is highly influential, and 1 indicates no influence. 1: 1% 2: 6% 3: 15% 4: 11% 5: 10% Lacking influence = 43% (+12%) ...
The direct, personal decision by Rupert Murdoch to fly in the face of the rules that are supposed to circumscribe newspaper editors and publish the unfortunate pictures of Price Harry in flagrante is an act of both political calculation and of defiance. The Murdoch Empire is not merely on the back foot, it is in the dock, both of law and of public opinion. Murdoch now resorts to twitter to apply the whip to the nag of the British body politic, but his newspapers retain the power that they had before the hacking scandal virtually intact. Indeed, the arrogant and ...
I'm not a particular fan of Queen - them having been somewhat before my time (or at least before I listened to pop), although I can remember seeing at least some of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert as we did have a telly by that point. I'm also one of those people who hears the opening bars of Under Pressure and can't help but think of Vanilla Ice. Not Good. Putting all that to one side, though, I found these videos while trawling You Tube for Annie Lennox performances. First up, Lennox, David Bowie and Queen in rehearsal with, amongst ...
Unsurprisingly I was truly disgusted at The Sun for their decision to publish the Prince Harry photos. Not a few hours earlier had I been praising the UK media for their handling of the situation and not showing photos of him naked. It was a clear invasion of privacy and even though it was out there the UK media had no need to go down the same path. Then of course a certain newspaper broke ranks and decided that they had to do so because it was in the public interest. Public interest trumps privacy but was this really in ...
I believe that some people who have concerns about marriage equality are not homophobic. Whilst it is hard for those of us who are personally affected by their opposition to accept this, I think it is something we should remember. Know thy enemy after all! But when it comes to opposition from the upper echelon of the Catholic Church's command structure, I feel that the "We aren't homophobic!" line is completely without merit. Today, in Scotland, they have declared it to be National Marriage Sunday and propose to form a new group against marriage equality known as the National Commission ...
From St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral: I write to let you know of a concert in the Cathedral by singers from the vocal ensemble 'The Australian Voices' on Wednesday 29th August at 7.30 pm. This dynamic, young choir have a fantastic reputation for singing of an incredibly high standard; they are currently over from Australia performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival before they embark on a tour around the United Kingdom. Their programme will include beautiful choral classics from Mozart and Bach to Bruckner and Rachmaninov. Those who buy tickets for the concert also get free entry to a vocal workshop ...
Donald Gorrie was a giant of Edinburgh politics. He was first elected to the corporation in the early 70's - and had been on the scene ever since - in various roles. This Beeb piece while boringly accurate doesn't do him justice. There are a huge number of things to say about Donald Gorrie - and lots of them will come out over the next few days and weeks. But let's be clear Donald was absolutely clear the Scottish Lib Dems made a strategic mistake in refusing to deal with Alex Salmond in 2007 (and before). And events since then ...
A poll for the Mail on Sunday buy Survation has the Lib Dems on 10% with 'Others', while UKIP are on 12%: Survation / Mail on Sunday Reshuffle poll – State of The Parties CON 30% LAB 37% UKIP 12% ... Continue reading →
The LA Times obituary...
I don't normally do this but shamelessly stolen from spaceref.com Personal comments to follow later... "We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job. He served his Nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. He also found success back home in his native Ohio in business and academia, and became a community leader in Cincinnati.He remained an advocate of aviation and ...
Mouchel, the civil engineering firm, was founded in Briton Ferry (Llansawel) in 1897 by Louis Gustave Mouchel to introduce the then new French technique of reinforced concrete to Britain. It went on to build the magnificent Liver Buildings on Liverpool's waterfront in 1909. But early on it developed a consulting arm which became gradually bigger and was followed by entry into the public sector outsourcing business. In this role it became the design arm of Hertfordshire Highways. It has been announced this afternoon (25th August) that Mouchel Group plc has gone into administration. The assets have been sold by the ...
