Just back from a 10-minute discussion on 5 Live with a Tory and Andrew Russell of Manchester University, discussing the reshuffle. To state the obvious, if the likes of Peter Bone and the swivel-headed sirens of the anti-Coalition Right are happy by something, Liberal Democrats will be less so. That said, on the Lib Dem side no Cabinet seats changed hands. The implication for Cameron Conservatism, though, is far-reaching. Because where once stood inclusivity, 'Vote Blue Go Green', an end to Euro-obsession and the rest of it, now we see the promotion to sensitive positions of someone who should have ...
I was lucky enough to see the wheelchair fencing today at the Excel Centre, East London. On the piste, close to me, was Justine Moore who is the GB Team's representative in the women's foil contest. Foil is the form of fencing where you score points by hitting the opponents chest. The athletes in their wheelchairs move around a lot, to avoid attacks, and then launch counter attacks. I think that wheelchair fencing is perhaps more exciting to watch than conventional fencing. GB fencer Justine Moore Justine was not a favourite but the Paralympics is a real chance to take ...
It is another day at the Paralympics and the golds just keep on coming to keep the Royal Mail stamp designers busy. The first gold of the day took the total for the Paralympic Games to 20, or two bullseyes for the winner of number 20. It wasn't a tense matter of would Britain win gold in the compound archery final at the Royal Artillery Barracks at Woolwich, but which one would win gold. Defending champion Dani Brown was up against Mel Clarke. It came down to the last arrow with Clarke needing a 10 to wrest the title from ...
I am livid beyond belief this evening. There is much in the Government reshuffle to be annoyed about, but what has sent me into the stratosphere of mega pissed-offness is that for some reason our mainly white privileged middle aged male ministers have decided to hand over the Equalities brief to the Tories. We all sighed when Theresa May was made equalities minister in 2010, but were then overjoyed when this responsibility was delegated to our own Lynne Featherstone, who could be 100% relied upon to do the right and liberal thing. That's why she talked down default blocks on ...
Ahead of the reshuffle, I posted four criteria against which the Liberal Democrat part of the shuffling should be judged. Now nearly all the details are in, how does it look? Most importantly, have people been put in jobs they've got a decent chance of doing well? It's hard enough being a minister in the smaller party in a coalition government without having lots of people thrown into policy areas they are completely new to. On this score, the reshuffle does very well. In particular, David Laws at education, Jeremy Browne at the Home Office, Norman Lamb at health and ...
Just what do we expect of Thanet council, not much, no surprise to find the councils parking consultation flawed. First they want your postcode, not to bad but a bit intrusive, secondly it gets a bit weird as one thing they need to know is if you're a councillor amongst other things (but not whether you work for the council) more sensible things, like if you live in Thanet are also included. Question 4 asks which types (plural) of transport you use regularly, allowing only one choice, if like me you drive a car van cycle and walk then this ...
My latest article for the Huffington Post; On the final day of protests against government contracted ATOS Healthcare and the Department of Work and Pensions, many people have come together to declare their unhappiness at the current proposals around benefits for the disabled. People who are completely anti-cuts, fighting for their own or someone else's ...
Update 21.32: Well, minutes after posting this Lynne Featherstone has been confirmed as junior minister at the Department for International Development. This is a good thing, but I think the below points stand. Losing Ministerial presence in both the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence remains a problem; Lynne and colleagues we will have to ...
Aspiring Paralympic swimmer, Rebecca Lawes has teamed up with Cambridgeshire County Councillor, Kilian Bourke to highlight the problems faced by the disabled travelling around Romsey in Cambridge. Together they negotiated dangerous pavements with uneven slabs and grooves and other trip hazards, with Rebecca's parents giving Kilian tips on how to handle a wheelchair. They identified a series of accessibility problems that are not ordinarily evident to fully mobile pedestrians. They found that dropped kerbs often led directly into deep ruts on the road's edge, which were almost impassible for those in wheelchairs. "It was extremely difficult for me to manoeuvre ...
The agenda for the monthly Parish Council meeting on Thursday is now available (see here - via Google Docs). Other than the standing items (Apologies, Approval of minutes, etc) the main issues are; - Matters Arising from the Previous Minutes (including Bar Hill Skate Park, The Farmhouse, Upkeep of Viking Way, and the Bar Hill Massive) - General Correspondence Received (one of these will be the Bar Hill Timebanking Article I'd like the Council to approve for the next issue of the Bar Hill News) - Clerks Financial Report (including Parish Council Website, Approval for Works and Payments, Annual Return, ...
It will be interesting to see how the new series works out. Not just because the Liberal Democrats are involved, but also because Peter Mannion (played by the mighty Roger Allam) has always been the nearest thing to a sympathetic character that The Thick of It has.
The Harboroiugh Mail has the press release issued by Edward Garnier after he was sacked as Solicitor General: "Of course it is disappointing to lose one's job in Government but losing out in politics is not unheard of and often has nothing to do with merit or messing things up. "The Prime Minister told me that I had done an excellent job as Solicitor General but he needed to change the faces round the table. My replacement, [North East Hertfordshire MP] Oliver Heald, will enjoy the work as I have - it is a huge honour to work in Government ...
Following the decision by the county council to "stop up" (extinguish) any unrecorded rights of way over certain areas of Belle Vue, and objections by local residents, a Planning Inspector visited the site today accompanied by representatives of the local council, both local councillors, and a number of local residents who had made representation to him. He took advice about the precise location of these boundaries, levels of local use and the purposes for which any paths were used, and allowed features of the land to be pointed out, but disallowed any comment on the merits of the proposals as ...
You can catch up on the rolling LibDemVoice live-blog of today's reshuffle here and the current list of official Lib Dem appointments here. Three Lib Dem ministers are at the time of writing departing the Coalition Government for the backbenches. Each of them has issued statements as follows: Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat MP for Brent Central: It has been a huge privilege to serve as an education minister in the coalition government over the last two and a half years. I'm hugely proud of the part I have been able to play in ending child detention, and rolling out the ...
Sarah Condon, the woman behind the campaign, now has a blog called Keep HSBC in Kibworth. She wrote yesterday: Really busy day all day outside HSBC in Kibworth today. I was there from 10am until 3.30pm. There was a constant stream of customers all day and queues for much of the time...I took in excess of 250 signatures!
Jeremy Hunt, appointed Secretary of State for Health just a few hours ago, is already under fire for his stance on the Olympics NHS tribute, homeopathy and abortion. But never mind. David Cameron appointed Hunt because he wants someone good at getting the government's message across. No doubt, Hunt will occasionally be able to get the odd point across amongst all the cross fire.... [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Tue 4th
19:55
Cabinet Reshuffle: in which Cameron takes everything I hold dear, stamps on it, & laughs in my f...
So, not only have we lost Lynne from the equalities brief, but the brief itself has been moved to culture media and sport. Yup, women and equalities are not quite important enough to be mentioned in the title of a department that's already about what many people consider to be frivolities - not me, but I bet you a tenner the people who decided to move the brief there. And that's not even the worst of it. We've lost Ken Clarke from justice, which, OK, I know he isn't perfect, but he's a Tory I respect. In his place, who ...
From the University of Leicester website: In response to the huge amount of local and national interest in the ongoing work, the Greyfriars Project will be open to the public this Saturday, 8 September 2012, giving you the chance to view the remarkable progress which has been made and some of the items unearthed. The University of Leicester, working in partnership with the Richard III Society and Leicester City Council, will open the site to the public on Saturday between 11.00am and 2.00pm. Access will be from Greyfriars Street itself. Admission is free and no advance booking is needed. However, ...
This weekend saw Nottingham City and Leicester Liberal Democrats working together and campaigning in the Corby by-election! Although the by-election hasn't been called yet, there are still many activists from across the region making their way regularly to Corby to ... Continue reading →
I'm beginning to get the hang of the Lovejoy books now: a richly described and usually mildly exotic setting; an utterly convoluted and insane plot (as in conspiracy); a moderately convoluted and insane plot (as in storyline); lots of antiques lore injected into the text with varying degrees of randomness; and many many women competing to get into our hero's bed (though the sex is never very explicit). It's quite a different Lovejoy from the TV series - younger, randier and frankly more criminal. It helps me get to sleep at night reading a few pages before lights out. (At ...
So, in the current government reshuffle, two notable changes are the departure from the DWP of Chris Grayling and Maria Miller. Instead they have been replaced with two people who most members of the public will never have heard of. They are Esther McVey (former parliamentary private secretary to Chris Grayling) and Mark Hoban (the former Treasury Minister), with both of them being Conservatives. That these are the new job holders is probably certain given that the official Number 10 twitter account has tweeted the appointments. Mark Hoban is taking over from Chris Grayling as Minister of State for Work ...
There's a fascinating court case at the European Court of Human Rights. Four Christians who have claimed discrimination in their jobs applied separately but they are being heard together. I look forward to the result of this case. The fact that we have the court to resolve these issues, setting a precedent for the future, can only help not hinder. Nadia Eweida refused to remove a cross whilst working for British Airways Shirley Chaplin refused to remove a cross and was moved to a desk job at Royal Devon and Exeter Trust Gary McFarlane was dismissed from his job with ...
I've known for some time that Robin Hobb is to be one of the Guests of Honour at Loncon 3, the 2014 Worldcon; and was rather guiltily conscious of the fact that I had never read any of her books. Even apart from the Worldcon connection, she has been recommended to me several times by you guys. Well, if you did recommend her to me, you can feel very smug, because I thoroughly enjoyed Assassin's Apprentice, the tale of the bastard son of a prince whose natural and supernatural gifts turn out to be useful to his grandfather in the ...
We're still updating our reshuffle live blog but now we're starting to get a clearer picture of who's in and who's out, here's a list of Lib Dems who we know are members of the government. This list will be updated when further appointments are confirmed. Cabinet With no changes to Lib Dems at Cabinet level, the line-up remains: - Nick Clegg – Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President of the Council - Danny Alexander – Chief Secretary to the Treasury - Michael Moore – Secretary of State for Scotland - Vince Cable – Secretary of State for Business, Innovation ...
Tue 4th
18:22
Maria Miller's appointment: have you forgotten what was said when Theresa May got the role?
Maria Miller's appointment to, amongst other things, the Women and Equalities brief has received quite a lot of criticism from non-Conservatives today. One part of that is wrong, but understandable – a simple mistake in not realising that the role she's taken on isn't the one Lynne Featherstone had but rather the one Theresa May had. As the BBC got this wrong, it's no surprise many others followed in also getting it wrong, even though the accurate information is readily accessible in many places such as in Theresa May's own write-up on the Home Office website. Not double-checking something the ...
It seems Linda Jack and Zadok Day agree - not sure I've ever seen that before. And I disagree with them both. Laws at Education is a great appointment. Education is very important as I've blogged before - I actually think, given a terrible Hobson's Choice between the two, that I would improve Education over Health. Fortunately we don't have to make that choice. David Laws has good ideas. David Laws has ideas the other parties don't always agree with. David Laws likes free schools. As do I. I'm not a Right Wing Lib Dem tho, however much some members ...
If you are an NFL fan in the UK then until the past few weeks you have been looking forward to the new season with very few flies in the ointments. However slowly it has dawned on people that there was no TV deal in place in the UK and in fact NFL coverage could all but dry up but happily with the opening game less than 36 hours away those worries have been erased with the announcement today that Sky Sports will once again be showing comprehensive coverage of the sport in the UK. Now other coverage had slowly ...
As a 'thank you' for all his hard work the Liberal MP for Southport presented his agent with a handsomely engraved silver salver. I was John Pugh M.P.'s agent when he first won Southport but sadly it was not me who got given the 120 ounce silver salver. The MP was another John, J M Astbury KC, who fought and won the seat in 1906 and his agent was the legendary A. Keith Durham. Now I must make clear I do not hold a grudge against John Pugh for failing to give me such a lavish gift. When I fought ...
D66 the left Liberal Party from the Netherlands is being tipped to enter government. With the recovery of the Labour Party the possibility of a 'purple coalition' is growing. That was the coalition that ran the government between 1994 and 2002 and has always been seen as D66's preferred option. The coalition would consist of D66, the Labour Party and the right wing Liberals VVD. The election is on the 12th September Earlier this year D66 put out a statement on their position which can be found in full here and their website is here Forward Now Towards a prosperous, ...
Why not join hundreds of other Lib Dem Voice readers in getting our latest headlines by email? Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there's new stories of interest. Some people like subscribing to its news feed (RSS) and checking that way. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day's posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with a note of how many comments each post has got and convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want ...
It was a pleasant surprise to come back from holiday to see that the County Council has given top billing to my proposal for lighting the Guided Bus cycleway in a report going to Cambridge councillors tomorrow night (Wednesday 5th Sept). This year I have been leading a campaign calling for better lighting along the city stretch of the Guided Busway bridleway, following a spate of accidents. Cyclists have been injured while riding there, and others, especially women and older people, fear for their personal safety on dark stretches of the path. Together with Trumpington councillor Caroline Shepherd, I launched ...
I've been thinking about writing this post for a while, but today's announcement of the Government reshuffle has finally tipped me off the fence and into writing it. Back in June, I wrote a post questioning whether it was in the national interest for the Liberal Democrats to remain as part of the coalition government, and given what has happened since then, I'm now convinced that it's not. As I've said before, I voted for the coalition at the Special Conference in 2010 and given the circumstances at the time, it was the least worst option available to the Liberal ...
During my trip to Iceland I'm told that the whalers have a large amount of whale meat sat in freezers that they simply cannot sell. You see, hardly anyone in Iceland eats it. Only about 6% of Icelanders say that ... Continue reading →
Guided Busway Cycleway Former Queen Edith's councillor Amanda Taylor has welcomed the top billing given to her proposal for lighting of the Guided Bus cycleway in a report going to Cambridge councillors tomorrow night (Wednesday 5th Sept). She has led a campaign calling for better lighting along the city stretch of the Guided Busway bridleway, following a spate of accidents. Cyclists have been injured while riding on the cycleway and others, especially women and the elderly, fear for their personal safety on dark stretches of the cycle path. Together with Trumpington councillors Caroline Shepherd and Andy Blackhurst, the Lib Dem ...
More re-posted Odanglesex adventures. The previous Leader of the Council was Lord Pond. He was found out in various misdeeds and now both politicians of his party and officers are keen to forget him as soon as possible. FROM: William Wayneflete, Leader of the Council TO: All Odanglesex County Council I thought I should let you know that I have been informed that an exhaustive routine check of our records has revealed that the convicted necromancer "Lord" David Pond, a cat-herd, was once a member of this council, elected for the Graveigh division. An intensive and rigorous investigation is now ...
Residents have contacted local LIB DEM ward councillor Darren Fower, about traffic issues as a result of work taking place on the junction of Brookside and Fulbridge Road. Commenting, Darren said: "Residents say that the traffic problems are at their worst during the usual rush hour times, with people heading to and fro work. According to the City Council, the work is to repair a burst main leak, and is being done by Anglian Water. According to their records, the work should be completed by the end of this week?" To see other roadworks planned or presently taken place in ...
A special ceremony will be held to mark the start of construction work at Cambridge's newest primary school. Cambridgeshire County Council Chairman John Powley will perform the ceremony at Trumpington Meadows Primary School at 3pm on Monday 10 September. Also present will be executive headteacher Judith Osler and representatives from building contractors Willmott Dixon. The new school will cater for 420 pupils age 4 -11, drawn from families moving into homes on the new housing developments in the south of the city. The school will also make provision for pre-school children. Promoted by the Trumpington Federation governors, it will be ...
So David Laws is reportedly back in the government as an education minister. OK, it's not a cabinet role but in my view it is a well deserved return for one of the Lib Dem's best MPs. I debated this situation on LBC yesterday with Peter Oborne chaired by the presenter, former Sunday Express political editor Julia Hartley-Brewer. You can listen to it below: listen to 'Here's @MarkReckons debating Peter Oborne on LBC on David Laws' expenses' on Audioboo I had initially thought the discussion was going to be more wide-ranging but it became clear quickly that the focus was ...
The official line is that today's reshuffle is all about prioritizing the economy - with reasonable evidence for this with Ken Clarke staying on with an economic brief; Cameron beefing up the Whip office and thus backbench discipline; and appointing someone with previous experience of that role – Patrick McLoughlin – to Transport to push through infrastructure projects like HS2. But the commentary from Twitter to the BBC is already painting this as a move to the right. Lib Dem tweeters are suddenly gloomier about the lifetime of this coalition, but here's what I think: the Tories have inadvertently given ...
Charges for the Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing are set to change from Sunday 7 October. From 6am on 7 October 2012, cash payments at the Crossing will increase from £1.50 to £2.00 for cars, from £2.00 to £2.50 for 2 axle goods vehicles, and from £3.70 to £5.00 for heavy goods vehicles. The Crossing will remain free for motorcyclists and discounts will continue for local residents and DART-Tag account holders who pay in advance. Any vehicle using the crossing between 10pm and 6am can continue to do so for free. The money raised will be used for improvements to increase capacity ...
Now, I have been around on Facebook for quite some time. I remember when in the UK it was only possible to get onto the platform if one had an email address from Oxford or Cambridge another place. Fortunately for me, at that point, I did. Since that time, Facebook has changed dramatically. ...
For some reason the Welsh Assembly is still in recess even though Parliament has resumed meeting for two and a half weeks before breaking up again for Party Conference season. The Welsh Assembly, like Parliament bases its recesses around school holidays, though we are meant to be a bit more family friendly. However, as there is no uniformity around Wales as to when schools take their holidays this often means that the Assembly recesses stretch out a bit more than they should, just so we can accommodate all 60 AMs. That is why Leighton Andrew's proposals to standardise school term ...
I was tempted to say that this is basically a reshuffle to get rid of people who have cocked things up. But then Jeremy Hunt was appointed Health Secretary.... It would have been good news if Andrew Lansley had left Health well over a year ago. Now, it is closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. It is shame that Ken Clarke is leaving Justice, though he was always a bonus for the Lib Dems, and will at least still be in cabinet. We should take satisfaction that all five Lib Dem cabinet ministers stay as they are, ...
Steve Webb and Tony Davis out talking to residents earlier this year If you live around Shire Way, Rodford Way and Abbotswood you will have seen a flurry of leaflets for the by-election this week. The Liberal Democrat Focus Team candidate is Tony Davis, a long-term campaigner for our area. If you haven't made your mind up who to vote for, please ask yourself when you last heard from any of the other parties before the election was declared. Indeed, have you ever heard of the other candidates before? Compare that to getting Focus on a regular basis, and indeed ...
Lib Dems in Hertfordshire have pledged to oppose any handover of policing functions to G4S Chris White, Herts County Council Lib Dem Group police spokesperson, said: 'The astonishing news that Herts, Beds and Cambridgeshire constabularies will be pressing ahead with this privatisation is likely to lead to a collapse in public confidence in policing in the three counties. 'Even before the Olympics fiasco, the record of G4S was questionable. Policing is a public sector service and should not normally be handed over to private companies – especially private companies which are known not to deliver. I don't want to see ...
In amongst the paperwork for the Autumn 2012 Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton is the bundle of reports from various party committees and bodies. The idea of the reports, and the ability to question them, is a great one. The content of the reports can have a tendency to be a little too banal or general to make for a meaningful report back from committees to people who elected them. Take this shock news from the FCC report, for example: We have a great line-up for the rally on Saturday evening. Some excellent speakers have been chosen. Gosh. However, even ...
Would you like to discover... ...our great outdoors by going on fossil forays or star gazing? ...our fantastic local food? ...our rich heritage, from Rolls Royce to Ram Hill Colliery? ...your creativity, with Chinese origami or writing "flash fiction" ...what's going on in your local area for older people? ...events for all ages, including Discovering Dinosaurs workshops? Discover is a new festival of over 200 events being held throughout South Gloucestershire between 6th September and 4th November. It brings together a number of different events including the Celebrating Age Festival, Active Mind Month, South Gloucestershire Taste Festival, the Out and ...
The date of the Frome Vale Area Forum meeting originally scheduled for Thursday 6th September has been changed. It will now be held on Thursday, 20th September, 2012 at 7pm at Frampton Cotterell C of E Primary School.
South Gloucestershire Community Learning Service is offering a range of FREE part-time courses in community venues to help you gain a qualification, improve your job skills, help your children's learning or get more involved in the local community. The courses are aimed at people aged 19 years and over. You can find out more in the online prospectus.
Some changes are being made to local bus services from 2nd September 2012. Those that most affect us locally are: The "Eighties services" 85, 87 & 88 have been replaced by a new service 222. This service will connect Chipping Sodbury, Yate, Iron Acton and Frampton Cotterell with Emersons Green, Kingswood and Longwell Green. Sections of the route in North Yate, Iron Acton, Ram Hill and the Emersons Green Treatment centre will be served on a Demand Responsive Basis, this means that the bus will only call at demand responsive stops if requested by a passenger on the bus, or ...
Following on from improvements in Cheriton and Morehall over recent years funded by Local County Councillor Tim Prater's "Member Highways Fund" (MHF), more works are hopefully planned this year. The Members Highway Fund is an amount of money delegated to County Councillors each year to spend on works in their division - currently £25,000 per year. Previous MHF funded works in Cheriton and Morehall include: New one-way system in Chart Road / Morehall Avenue Replacement bus shelters in Sandgate High Street and Horn Street New bus shelter in Weymouth Road County Councillor Tim Prater is now working with Kent Highways ...
I'm sure we've all had that horrible moment where we have to scrabble madly in our wallets and purses for change for the bus or that all-important train ticket. So I was very pleased to hear that to Manchester ... Continue reading →
Folkestone West & Sandgate County Councillor Tim Prater is pleased to have signed off this morning on more access improvements for pedestrians in Sandgate and the Enbrook Road / Enbrook Valley area. New pedestrian dropped kerbs will be installed at 8 sites across the junctions of the following roads: Chichester Road, St Paul's Way, Meadowbrook, Darnley Close, Southernwood Rise, Oxenden Road as well as across Enbrook Road at the bus stops opposite Enbrook Court and at the bus stops adjacent to Military Road. These works are to be funded from the Folkestone West Member Highways Fund (MHF). Additionally, the terrible ...
Work to improve Junction 11 on the M11 - the interchange for Trumpington, the Addenbrookes Hospital and villages along the southern A10 corridor - is set to begin next month. Cambridgeshire County Council will be carrying out the work which will include widening and re-aligning some of the slip roads, installing traffic lights and re-surfacing the roundabout. The works will start on Monday 17 September and are expected to be completed by Christmas. Working hours will generally start after the morning rush hour at 10am to 4.30pm to minimise disruption while some overnight closures will be necessary to resurface the ...
As Simom McGrath commented on Twitter: Just think thisis the first reshuffle for nearly 100 years in whichwe Liberals are wondering which of our Ministers will get moved — Lib Dem Life (@libdemlife) September 4, 2012 How to judge the changes being made today on the Liberal Democrat side? Here's the criteria I'll be using: Most importantly, have people been put in jobs they've got a decent chance of doing well? It's hard enough being a minister in the smaller party in a coalition government without having lots of people thrown into policy areas they are completely new to. Does ...
Hugo Awards: An apology and explanation Commenters not happy. (But using paid service would have prevented problem.) (tags: internet sf ) Neil Gaiman's Journal: Hugo is The Doctor's Wife Gaiman confirms he is writing another episode. (tags: doctorwho sf ) The Trouble With Atheists: A Defence Of Faith Francis Spufford on belief. (tags: religion ) Legacy Libraries, Five Years On ... The project formerly know as "I See Dead People's Books!" (tags: books )
Waiting in the wings: Vince Cable There is a lot of speculation at the moment as to Nick Clegg's future as leader of the party, with Vince Cable supposedly waiting in the wings with support of "top liberals." In all seriousness though, how likely is it? Nick's popularity nationally as well as within the party has definitely waned since Tuition fees through a combination of Coalition politics, media concentrating on bad policies and not the good as well as a certain amount of sniping from the Conservative right. The Coalition was never going to be easy. Working with another party, ...
Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, David Rimmer and Nigel Ashton are holding their next monthly advice centre on Saturday 8th September, from 11 am to 12 noon at St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Council problems you may have. No appointment necessary. Just pop in. We hold our advice centre every month (except August) on the second Saturday of the month at St John's School.
.labourpressGenerous of you to tweet link about gaffes by Labour. (At least I presume you read beyond headline? bit.ly/O89CGf) — Mark Pack (@markpack) September 4, 2012 UPDATE: Looks like Labour's press team have now zapped their unfortunate tweet.
A rational man is one who aims at goals and takes action to achieve them. This is a definition of rationality currently in vogue in some schools of thought. However, it is a fundamentally uninteresting definition: 'goals' are construed as whatever a person was aiming to achieve with an action, and so any action is ...
Last week's Radio 4 Eduction Debate, still available on their "Listen Again" facility, discusses how children should be taught. Flavour of the moment from the "experts" appears to be cleverly directed self discovery, and classrooms devoted to this aren't classrooms at all, but SOLEs (Self Organised Learning Environments). I have very occasionally seen lessons organised (and yes, well done, they are organised, not disorganised) in this way and greatly admire the teachers capable of managing them. However, it is not the style that suits all teachers. Others can inspire by a more teacher-centred approach, generating a love for their subjects ...
Laura Bates: Everyday Sexual Assault (tags: ) Neil Gaiman Writing Another Doctor Who Episode? | Tor.com Please please PLEASE let it be true. (tags: ) BBC News - Clampdown on debit and credit cards going ahead (tags: ) Mustn't Bumble « Adrian Sanders MP (tags: ) Communiquetion Breakdown - It's Always The Same :: Liberal Insight Interesting thoughts on coalition 2.0 (tags: ) Factcheck: Is there enough brownfield land for 1.5 million new homes? | Full Fact (tags: ) BBC - Blogs - Doctor Who - Ask the Execs: Asylum Special! (tags: ) Do headline figures on annual cost of ...
There'll be a post about this on Mindless Ones closer to the time, but I just thought I'd let people here know that for the second year in a row there will be a Mindless Ones stall at the Thought Bubble comic convention in Leeds in November. We'll be selling various books and comics by ...
What do you make of OSCAR PISTORIUS'S 'outburst' at the end of the T44 200 metre final when he was beaten by ALAN OLIVEIRA? Stands to reason, if you've got bionic legs you'll fare better than someone without. If yours are more bionic than another's then you'll have a bigger advantage. Bionic-bodied shouldn't be allowed to compete with able bodied. The stride length is clearly a factor and he was right to bring the subject up. What I want to know is, why aren't these jumping stilts in the Olympics yet, then we can all get bionic!
As I'm going to be doing little else than sip Earl Grey while watching the News channel for reshuffle news, I thought it might be a good idea to have an open thread to cover events. If you want a laugh, you can have a look at the predictions I made last night. So, what do we know so far? Well, Andrew Mitchell, the former International Development secretary was last night appointed Chief Whip. Sayeeda Warsi is not going to be Party Chairman any more. Ken Clarke is moving from Justice and is expected to have a Minister without Portfolio ...
'Surely it can't be' said the man in the next seat when the big screen focused in on the next presenter of a medal. But when the announcer then confirmed that It was indeed George Osborne who was about to dish out the gongs, there was a momentary pause, and everyone, men, women and children starting booing. Now let's be clear. This wasn't football stadium, aggressive, threatening booing. This was pantomime booing. It was done with smiling faces and every around me was in a fit of giggles for about 5 minutes afterwards, doubly so when someone informed us that ...
If you believe the rumours, David Laws is set to return to Cabinet. In what can only be described as the most anticipated return to front-line politics of a generation, and crikey, just in time too. The Coalition is nearly at breaking point and Summer Recess came at just the right time. Squabbles, name-calling and ...
The UK Border Agency (UKBA) did not have a happy birth. It was conceived by the Labour government as a supposedly tougher response to the alleged hoards of immigrants that were a threat to the British way of life- or some such nonsense anyway. It was, in short, a political project, and like most political projects it failed to take into account a whole range of practical difficulties. These difficulties become more obvious every day, and it is now not far short of a serious disaster. The basic problem is that since the UK chooses to administer its immigration policy ...
For those who are unaware there's a film, called Downfall, which is set in Hitler's bunker in the last days of the Third Reich. There's a scene in it where a furious Hitler launches an angry tirade at his generals following the realisation that the war is lost. The internet has turned this into a meme by changing the subtitles on the clip to make it appear that Hitler is talking about current events instead - or possibly changing it so that Hitler is someone else entirely. And now one of them has been done for Iain Duncan-Smith - the ...
One of the problems faced by the SNP is the army of so called cybernats who spew nasty, insulting bile across the internet at anyone who dares to question SNP policy or independence - which, of course, are one and the same thing. Alan Cochrane from the Telegraph wrote earlier this year about these toxic, often anonymous individuals.Those who cannot take part in this great debate without questioning the patriotism, and often the parentage, of those who don't agree with them are much more accurately described as Cyberscum. As such they are, of course, a legitimate target for those who ...
One of the problems faced by the SNP is the army of so called cybernats who spew nasty, insulting bile across the internet at anyone who dares to question SNP policy or independence – which, of course, are one and the same thing. Alan Cochrane from the Telegraph wrote earlier this year about these toxic, often anonymous individuals. Those who cannot take part in this great debate without questioning the patriotism, and often the parentage, of those who don't agree with them are much more accurately described as Cyberscum. As such they are, of course, a legitimate target for those ...
Results are in: As you read this the reshuffle has probably begun. Warsi was a clear winner with almost 60% of readers who voted thinking she will get kicked out of the cabinet. Most commentators disagree - saying she will be moved but not removed. We'll see... A three way tie for second. I believe Cheryl Gillan is out. But with female cabinet ministers at a premium, that may make Caroline Spelman safe. And the smart money is on Jeremy Hunt being promoted. I know... In the Lib Dems, Michael Moore is the popular guess for leaving. But again most ...
This was the scene last night when Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne turned up at the Olympic stadium to present the medals at the 400m T38 victory ceremony: (Available to view on YouTube here.) As I asked on Twitter last night: Always worth considering the opposite: did anyone seriously expect George Osborne would be cheered at Paralympics? — Stephen Tall (@stephentall) September 3, 2012 * Stephen Tall is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum, and also writes at his own site, The Collected Stephen Tall.
Last Summer, at the request of local residents, I raised with the City Council concerns about the future of the two rather historic plaques that were at the Blackness Road entrance to the old Logie Secondary site, by then a construction site for the new St Joseph's Primary, Park Place (Victoria Park) Primary and Park Place (Balgay Hill) Nursery Schools. The concern was about possible damage or loss during construction and - all credit to the City Council's Project Manager - she had them placed in her office at Council HQ for safe keeping. As the new schools are soon ...
Residents have expressed concern to me that the children's roundabout at the Roseangle playpark is missing - see photo below:Having contacted the City Council's Environment Department about the 'missing' roundabout, I am assured that it has been only temporarily removed for safety reasons, following damage to the spindle. It will be either repaired or (if not repairable) replaced, hopefully in the near future.
