I rarely shout at the television (unlike the Today Programme on Radio 4) but I could not believe my ears tonight when I heard Charles Clarke, commenting on Nick Clegg's apology, say "The essential thing about politics is that you've got to tell people the truth". Charles Clarke ! He's having a laugh ! If the young Charles Clarke, who I knew as a student leader, had come face to face with
Over the last few years millions of pounds have been spent on conservation work around Stockport Marketplace and Underbanks. Here are some photos that shows what been done, include some "before" photos.
Next week, Greater Manchester Police will be holding 10 different recruitment Information Events in 5 different locations across the Force area, and aiming to see in excess of 1000 potential candidates who are interested in the role of a PCSO. All candidates must attend an Information Event in order to apply for one of these vacancies. The link to the booking site is www.gmp-recruitment.co.uk and these events will be held as follows: · Monday 24th September – The East Manchester Academy, 60 Grey Mare Lane, East Manchester, M11 3DS Daytime: 10:00 – 12:00 Evening: 18:00 – 20:00 · Tuesday 25th ...
Britain can learn lessons from the rest of Europe over the right to die, argues Lib Dem MEP on the Public Service Europe site. "As Alex Thomson of Channel 4 News observed, this seems to be the British pattern: disaster, flawed legal inquiry, cover-up, campaign, wilderness years, proper inquiry, and finally an apology." The View from the Hills looks at the Hillsborough tragedy. Katie Billotte on Ms. blog explains the background to the Pussy Riot trial in Moscow: "While for most Americans, Eastern Orthodox Christianity is completely off the radar ... it is actually one of the only growing Christian ...
A guest posting from David Tattersall Your recent lovely Birkdale blog about dear old Viv Bingham reminded me about the Co-op's little understood financial support for Labour. The Co-op shops may be "Good with Food", as their telly ads keep saying, but they keep very quiet about it being also "Good for Labour." Tonight I simply Googled "Co-operative Party finance" and turned up a very interesting page on the Unlock Democracy web site. Do have a look at The up-to-date post, dated 10 August 2012, claims that the Co-operative Group donated £809,000 in 2011 to the Co-operative Party - ...
Quite properly much has been made of the Hillsborough Report. Our MP John Pugh- a devoted Liverpool fan - has played his part in supporting those who have campaigned on this issue. Pride of place amongst politicians must go to the work of Steve Rotheram . Last night the Liverpool Echo published this poem by Carol Ann Duffy. the full article is here [IMG: Tributes at the Hillsborough memorial 620] Tributes at the Hillsborough memorial Carol Ann Duffy is Poet Laureate - a coveted title awarded to a handful of poetry's most celebrated and talented names. A graduate of Liverpool ...
Earlier today I posted The Poke's parody of Nick Clegg's apology over tuition fees, suggesting it has made him cool again. Since then The Poke has asked for permission to release the parody as an iTunes single and Nick has agreed, asking for any proceeds to go to Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust. This is brilliant for Nick, and not just because it shows the public that he has a sense of humour and supports good causes. It has established this rather kind parody - "I strangely find this rather moving" says a commenter on my earlier post - as ...
There's no doubt about it, there's been a change in language and tone in the last two weeks. After Nick first going onto the front foot on the Pupil Premium last week and then later that day calling certain Tories 'infantile', we now have Simon Hughes and Vince Cable going on the attack on the benefits issue - and telling George Osborne enough is enough. Here's Simon speaking for the backbenchers... "We are coming to the crucial period as to where we go now. If more money has to be found there are many in our party and beyond who ...
Walter Lindrum in the nude I cannot for the life of me understand the fuss in the newspapers about Prince Harry playing billiards in the nude. Isn't that what most gentlemen prefer to do when relaxing after dinner? It is certainly my practice here at the Hall, as my many guests will remember. Besides, playing games in the nude used to be norm - and not just in billiards, where the great Walter Lindrum won the first two of his world titles without a stitch on. Competitors in the original Olympics generally wore only frowns of concentration, and when competitive ...
When Gateshead Council decided to remove 100 allotments from its books nearly two years ago, the concerns about this sell-off were raised by me at the Cabinet meeting at which the decision was taken. This was a significant reduction at a time when the move should be in the other direction. In my ward there are no council owned allotments. They are all privately owned but as with other areas,
On Tuesday evening I (along with many others, I suspect) reported two sites to Facebook. One was a community page called "Dale Cregan Tribute" and another page was entitled "Dale Cregan OBE". On Wednesday I received mails from Facebook saying: Thanks for your recent report of a potential violation on Facebook. After reviewing your report, we were not able to confirm that the specific page you reported violates Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. I actually thought that if Facebook's guidelines did not prohibit the celebration of extreme violence in such a way, then there must be something wrong with ...
Last year was the first time I'd been to a Federal Conference in 13 years. I thoroughly enjoyed every exhausting moment. Conference is the best fun you will ever have, but if you're new, it can be a bit overwhelming until you get used to the sensory overload. I spent the first day wandering round like a child in a toy shop. So, with that in mind, I thought I'd throw together a fairly random list of tips and hints for getting the best out of the annual cornucopia of Liberal Democracy. 1. Plan your days The Conference day starts ...
From the paperwork for the forthcoming Lib Dem conference in Brighton: In b) (line 9), delete: '7 million' and insert: '700,000'.
So you want trumpet lessons? You normally have three choices: In-person trumpet teacher Books & DVD's Online If you are looking to learn trumpet online then the four most popular sites are TrumpetStudio.com, eTrumpetLesson.com, PlaywithaPro.com and ArtistWorks' Online Trumpet School with David Bilger. Here is a little review of each of them: TrumpetStudio.com Pros – Good ...
@thepoke Permission granted, but all proceeds to @sheffchildrens please. — Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) September 20, 2012 Right decision, nice use of the medium and appropriately speedy response.
The problem with Ed Miliband, indeed all of those who came into politics without doing anything else first, is that he still carries the air of the delayed adolescent. Basically Ed Miliband looks like a spotty youth in a cheap suit. So no shock to see that the latest polls do not have him carrying it off as party leader. Meanwhile the Tories seem determined to prove beyond all doubt that they are still the "nasty party". While not quite as foolish as Mitt Romney, you know that sometime, somewhere probably all the Tory front bench have agreed with the ...
Further to the charity ad they made a few months back The West Wing cast has made another great 4 minute film. I miss that programme Hat tip to @helenlewis and The New Statesman who explain what it's all about....
The writer and broadcaster Gavin Esler — perhaps best known as one of BBC Newsnight's presenters — has met a great many leaders but not many great leaders, as he told a literary lunch at the Oxford and Cambridge Club in Pall Mall today. His musing was linked to his latest book, Lessons from the ...
Earlier in the year, the government set aside £114million to be invested in high-speed broadband projects across the country. Today the amounts per city have been announced and I'm glad to see that Manchester is awarded a large portion of the cash. ... Continue reading →
From a Party news release: Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham, Martin Horwood has been appointed as the Chair of the Liberal Democrat 2013 Local Election Campaign. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg said: I am delighted that Martin will be heading our 2013 local election campaign. With Martin's wealth of local government and campaigning experience, I know he will do an excellent job. I look forward to working with him to deliver the results our hard-working councillors and activists deserve. Commenting further, Martin Horwood said: I'm honoured and a little daunted to be asked to take ...
Last Friday a private members Bill on mental health discrimination made progress at Westminster. Southport MP John Pugh was one of those who spoke in the debate supporting the move. Below are a couple of extracts from the proposers speach and John's contribution. The clip from Parliamentary TV is well worth listening to as it explains the main provision of the Bill Gavin Barwell, MP for Croydon Central introduced the second reading of the Mental Health (Discrimination) (No.2) Bill in the House of Commons on 14 September 2012. My Bill's purpose is simple: to tackle the last legal form of ...
After Nick Clegg's apology last night, some creative souls thought it would be a good idea to run it through autotune and release a spoof version. After the spoof delighted You Tube viewers and social networking sites, its creators, satirical outfit The Poke, contacted Nick via Twitter to ask if it could be released as a single. His reply came very quickly: The more exposure Nick's apology gets the better as far as I am concerned. In our unforgiving, macho political climate, saying you got something wrong and saying sorry for it is a brave thing to do. Nick accomplished ...
The recent proposals to relax certain planning regulations are a cause for serious concern, and could have negative repercussions in Sutton. The proposals include temporarily extending permitted development rights to allow bigger house extensions, and for businesses and commercial premises to extend by up to 200 square metres without needing planning permission. This means that ...
The ever excellent MoneySavingExpert - Martin Lewis - has launched a campaign to rename student loans - graduate contributions. For two years he has been trying to explain the new student finance system and keeps coming across young people who are being put off university becauseof fears of going into debt. Martin Lewis says of the new system: "Labour and the National Union of Students (NUS) on the other hand want a graduate tax. Frankly, in reality, that's close to what we have now, as the repayments are more like a tax than a loan."Perhaps if Clegg and the Parliamentary ...
I had a call from head office this morning to tell me that they would like to apologise for giving me misleading information before. They have discovered what they refer to as 'management issues' in the Launceston Delivery Office and tell me they have taken the appropriate action. They now accept that there have been problems with local deliveries and they are taking action to put them right. They are, hopefully, sending me an email with an apology in it and I trust that this will be an apology to all residents who have suffered postal delays, not just to ...
As Benjamin Franklin wrote back in the eighteenth century, "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes". So while tax policy may not set hearts racing, anything that takes money from people's pockets will provoke a strong response. Already, in government, we've had major successes. Our flagship tax policy of a £10,000 tax-free allowance is being implemented, which will provide millions of taxpayers with an tax cut of £705 per annum by the end of this Parliament; we've raised capital gains tax for higher rate taxpayers; and we are clawing back £7bn worth of ...
Whether for blog posts or for other content which goes online, these four rules from the BBC's news search optimisation team are pretty good: use words that people would use in search in order to find the information being provided avoid words that people would never use in search to find that content put the most searchable elements at the front proper names are often used in search, so – following rules 1 and 3 – names should be included in the headline and if appropriate at the front. (The full post has some nice detail on how following these ...
As the head of an independent economic research institute, it's not my job to attend the Liberal Democrat conference (or indeed that of any other party). But, following up this FT article, I'd like to share some thoughts on this line from a motion you will be debating at conference: Conference recognises that the difficult decisions taken by the Coalition Government have ensured the credibility of the UK government's position in the financial markets allowing the UK to borrow at record low rates. and on an amendment to the motion which you'll also debate: Conference also notes that it would ...
Last night when I saw the email from Nick Clegg entitled "it is difficult to say this but..." I honestly thought he was resigning. My heart lodged in my throat as I fought to stream the video. I, personally, feel Clegg has done a good job. Well as good as anyone can do in a Coalition. Yeah we've had to back down on things, I was disappointed about Trident, I was deeply hurt when we had to abandon Lords reform and I, like many was devastated over Tuition fees. The decision to vote with the Government and not stand by ...
This post by Martin Lewis highlights the fact that the student finance system is not like a proper debt. Comparing it to a mortgage. If you don't pay the mortgage then someone comes round an repossesse your house. You need to pay the mortgage whatever your income is. For student finance you don't need to pay if you don't earn over £21,000 and bailiffs don't come around and repossess your
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I am having huge amounts of stress right now. Educational Psychologist stuff for Holly continues at glacial speed (after two years of "there's something wrong" we finally had the meeting which MIGHT lead to her getting put forward for formal assessment this morning); I am getting into the routine of two jobs but it's still a hassle; gym is helping with exercise-depression-management but that's a struggle too; and I found out yesterday that a long-standing friend has been unexpectedly diagnosed with a severe illness which will probably be very life-shortening. This is a long-winded way for saying: I don't have ...
It's probably a bit of a no brainer. Most people, except the rich, think it's perfectly reasonable to ask those who have vast stocks of wealth to pay their fair share in tax. At a time when most people on average earnings are struggling, haven't had a pay rise for years and see their wages buying less and less, the rich bleating about their tax burden is bound to grate. If you earn £40k, you'll pay some tax at 40%. If you are so rich that you pay capital gains tax on your multi million pound stock of assets, you ...
Stocktoberfest - Stockport's first ever German beer festival - is on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th September 2012. It features 50 German beers, bratwurst, pretzels and oompah band. Advance tickets £10 per session can be excahnged for a Stein Glass and 2 beers on arrival. Tickets are available from High Peak Beer Co, in the Market Hall and from Stockport Tourist Information centre, Staircase House, 30 Market Place. email tickets@stocktoberfest.co.uk. Session 1 Saturday 29th September, 7pm to midnight. German themed fancy dress competition (strictly no military uniforms), lots of prizes to be won. Session 2 Sunday 30th September, 11am to ...
So, Clegg has issued an apology. He's sorry, he's really really sorry, he's SO FUCKING SORRY that he made a pledge on tuition fees that he personally didn't believe in for cynical political gain, and he's never going to promise anything again. He promises. This might be something of a harsh summary but...it's not brave or laudable to apologise when it's the only option left open to you, and the only reason you're apologising is that it's the only strategy you have left to gain something from a public who detests you. it's not fair to implicitly include in your ...
So asks the new tax campaign website launched by the Liberal Democrats today: We believe that everyone should pay their fair share of tax. That means the people who have the most paying more than those who have less. To help make that happen, we want to give a tax cut to every working family in the country by raising the amount you can earn before paying income tax, initially to £10,000 a year. This would give every working person in the country a tax cut of over £500. You can sign up to back the campaign or to find ...
The Rambles of Neil Monnery feels like it should change it's tag-line from 'Another pointless voice in the vast ocean that is the interwebs' to 'All Nick Clegg. All the time' as the past what 18 hours or so has seen quite a dramatic shift in Nick Clegg's attitude to both governing but also towards his own party. His apology was unsurprisingly autotuned and ThePoke website cheekily asked if they could release it as a charity single and lo and behold the Lib Dems and Clegg himself have agreed as long as the money raised goes to Sheffield's Children's Hospital. ...
A fairer, more sustainable economy - that's what Lib Dem conference will be about I'd like propose a new hashtag – #IAgreeWithSimon. Hughes, that is, specifically I agree with this: At the next election we will be judged by whether relative to the rest of the western developed world we have steered our way through these difficult waters. The government's record to date is not encouraging, and with Liberal Democrats gathering in Brighton on Saturday to debate how the to shape the nation's political economy, conference fringe will once again be where it's really at. The Social Liberal Forum has ...
This post is from Robin Rea, reporting back from Freshers Fair at Manchester University. Hear how he got on... I´ve spent the last two days helping out Manchester Liberal Youth at the Manchester University Freshers Fair. I´m pleased to say it was a great experience and we got lots of positive reactions from students. I ...
When I want to secondary school in 1949 the boys aged 16+ , in what was rather curiously called the Upper Fifth, were still studying for their School Certificate. This was a school leaving certificate and to obtain one pupils had to pass in, I think, at least five subjects, which included English and Mathematics, although I feel the pass mark was only 35% in each subject. Many boys, possibly the majority, left school a this stage to go into business, or train as bankers, solicitors, accountant, architects, or other professions.Those intending to enter higher education remained in the Sixth ...
...was that he made it. It certainly seems to be the thing that has most thrown people. Quite simply, we are not used to to MPs saying sorry. Sure they do the occasional 'sorry' for something that has gone wrong, ... Continue reading →
This year, the Liberal Democrat autumn conference has one day per theme, covering jobs, education, environment and tax. Saturday is education day, with David Laws giving a keynote speech. For many party members he is more respected than trusted; recognised for his skills yet leaving people uneasy over quite what a David Laws manifesto would look like or whether it was right to bring him back into government this year. Saturday is his big chance to win over members. If he chooses to take it, that is – as there are others who want to see him take a more ...
So who knew that Nick's apology yesterday would result in various mash-up videos on YouTube? Oh. Everyone. However who knew that it would turn out better than many of the wannabe stars that go on The X Factor et al? I mean Frankie Cocozza or Nick Clegg autotuned? Exactly. Click here to view the video on YouTube. Some of the comments on the video though aren't exactly the nicest though: Fuck off and die, Clegg. Good song but too soft on him. Well they like the song at least Nick. Nine thumbs up for him to go and die. Lovely. ...
Most of you by now will have seen the next LibDem party political broadcast in which Nick apologises. In case you haven't, here is the video: I admire Nick for apologising, I really do. Neil Monnery told him to do it a year ago & Neil pointed out that he or his advisers thought that an ...
The Spanish Game, Charles Cumming Perhaps I'm just not a spy novel reader? After all, I tried Le Carré and found it dull. And now I've tried the author cited as his latter-day incarnation, and (I'm sorry) but I failed again. To be fair, The Spanish Game is an entertaining enough read. I read it while in Spain, and Cumming (who has lived there) is spot-on in capturing the Madrilenian essence as well as conjuring an oppressively claustrophobic atmosphere. The plot is detailed and thorough — involving a disappearing Basque politician, ETA and some old foes — with protagonist Alec ...
Three bits of news from the leading (only?) liberal think-tank, CentreForum... First a departure: chief economist Tim Leunig is leaving to to serve as Policy Adviser in the Department for Education. I detect David Laws' hand in that decision. Tim is an undoubted economic liberal but defies ideological pigeon-holing — the fact that he stood for and was elected to the Lib Dems' Social Liberal Forum's council testifies to that. He has a forensically rigorous mind which sometimes leads him to conclusions that folk take umbrage at (the people of Liverpool for a start!), but he is utterly and brilliantly ...
Paul Lewis Money: UNIVERSAL CREDIT - 97% TAX RATE FOR SOME (link is apparently broken, sorry) (tags: ) Every Women's Refuge in the UK Could Close Due to Universal Credit | the void (tags: ) Against Captial Punishment | Jack of Kent (tags: ) 'Minority Report'-style predictive policing trialled by West Midlands Police - Home News - UK - The Independent (tags: ) Policing The Land - in honour of #LDConf | Sarah Brown's Blog Hope this gets sung at glee club. (tags: ) Nick Clegg outlines new domestic violence guidelines - UK Politics - UK - The Independent Apparently ...
Last weekend it was my 22nd birthday. The week immediately prior was my last week of work. The weekend before that was a holiday to visit my ancestral homeland of Yorkshire with my grandparents (yes, it turns out that I'm part Northern - I'm still coming to terms with the revelation). And all this together, and the the general busy nature of things, has meant that I haven't blogged anything since last Monday and have spent most of my waking hours just generally taking a break from everything and, to be completely honest, spending a wee bit too much time ...
Hansard for 9 February 1983 brings us this: Mr. Graham asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why a payment of £341 was made by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Palestine for 1981-82, as listed in the Appropriation Accounts for that year. Mr. Hurd: When the mandate for Palestine terminated in 1948 certain liabilities of the former Palestine Government remained outstanding to be met by Her Majesty's Government. The payment of £341 listed under subhead "B4: Palestine" in the 1981-82 Appropriation Accounts was for a new artificial leg for Mr. M. A. Issa, who used to ...
Thu 20th
09:25
LibLink: Mark Pack - The Home Office has got it wrong about online snooping 'safeguards'
The Voice's Mark Pack has taken to the (web)pages of The Spectator to dispute the case put by Home Office Minister James Brokenshire about the Draft Communications Data Bill: What do you do if a regulator has failed? Leave them unreformed and instead give them greater powers? That is the line Home Office Minister James Brokenshire is arguing. The regulator in question is the Interception of Communications Commissioner and the powers relate to online monitoring. For the Draft Communications Data Bill would not only give the government far more scope to monitor what we do online, but Brokenshire also argues ...
I am biased. I have a bee in my bonnet about David Laws at the moment.... But... on Today this morning, when asked about Nick Clegg's apology, he entertained a two minute debate with John Humphrys about our manifesto pledge to phase out tuition fees. WRONG! The apology was quite clearly and specifically about the pledge to vote against any rise in tuition fees! And this was from David Laws, our golden boy, who is meant to have an intellect as sharp as a surgeon's scalpel! And he's an Education Minister! What is going on? Was he bluffing? Being...gulp...disingenuous? Did ...
As Jonathan Calder thought earlier, when you get an email from someone with the subject 'There's no easy way to say this' you normally expect the body of it to include some form of 'it's not you, it's me'. However, the video this email from Nick Clegg linked to didn't include that, but it was on the same lines, even if it didn't end with him leaving. The problem I have with it is that all he actually apologises for is the pledge on tuition fees, not the policy itself. A lot of people are putting out the 'but Labour ...
A great pleasure to meet with the President of Malawi – Her Excellency Joyce Banda. As you can see – a formidable woman. I was exceptionally pleased to have an early opportunity to meet with this powerful woman who is determined to move her country in the right direction – economically, constitutionally and to repeal the 'bad laws'.
This Autotune remix of Nick's apology is brilliant.... Hat tip to @thepoke
A query from a constituent about school meals has led me to the Welsh Government;s draft guidelines on healthy eating in schools. They are available here if you are interested. The guidelines run to 79 pages and are designed to deal with all food and drink served to pupils at break times, lunchtimes, afternoon break and after school clubs across the whole school day in all local authority run schools. This includes all food and drinks served at any outlet on school premises at these times, for example a school tuck shop, vending machine, outside serving area or canteen. There ...
The pupil premium — additional cash targeted at the most disadvantaged children — is the policy of which Nick Clegg is proudest and with which he is most closely associated. The policy itself dates back to Julian le Grand in the 1980s (when it was touted as a progressive version of school vouchers) but it was Nick who put it firmly in the political mainstream as long ago as 2002 in a pamphlet he co-wrote based on experiences of it working within continental Europe. Though the Tories nominally signed-up to the concept of a pupil premium in their 2010 manifesto, ...
Bobby Dean has been Communications Officer of Liberal Youth since 2011, being re-elected earlier this year, and was the person who founded the Libertine. Unfortunately, due to work commitments (we all have to pay the bills), Bobby has had to tender his resignation. His letter is below. Dear team It will come as little surprise to you ...
Our debate on welfare reform is a dismal scandal - Spectator Blogs - Alex Massie on top form UK government is squatting on 1.67 million unused IPv4 addresses - Not sure about the maths here. Can each individual IP address really be worth nearly $100? Does Romney seriously think he can spend next 5 weeks running on slogan of "I'm gonna get you suckers"? via @DPJHodges If Toynbee's rhetoric today was actually true wouldn't we essentially be living in a fascist state? - Polly goes way over the top. I'm not sure she's giving herself any further hyperbole headroom for ...
Today's Ofsted report is stuffed full of nuances and caveats which many of the headlines are missing, so this report from the BBC is well worth reading in full. UPDATE: Well, that was good advice when written. Now however the BBC has chopped the story back to something much shorter with much less information. Strange. Here instead is a link to the full Ofsted information.
Our damned media have been predictably ungracious in their response to Nick Clegg's apology over tuition fees. The despicable, opportunistic and hypocritical Labour Party has been predictably worse. When will we hear the Daily Mail apologise for years of lying ? When will we hear the Labour Party apologise for starting an illegal war and for leaving the country's finances in such a
Are we seeing the first signs of a recovering reputation? While I wouldn't say standup comics are a reliable bellwether,given that their job is to take the mickey it's encouraging to see some grudging admissions from Marcus Brigstocke following Nick Clegg's apology. Puts him firmly in with much of the Lib Dem party membership, I'd say... [IMG: Marcus Brigstocke Tweets]
My latest in the New Statesman. Some cracking comments over there if you fancy it....plus maybe, just maybe, the first signs that folk are willing to at least entertain the idea of coming back to us... Well, I'm in trouble. Me and the other 40,000 activists in the Lib Dems. As has been well documented, there has been more than a touch of debate about the party leadership ahead of conference (we're at 10% in the polls - of course there has!) and the word on the street is that , generally speaking, this isn't going down well with the ...
On Tuesday John Hemming (Lib Dem MP for Birmingham Yardley) used a House of Commons backbench debate to raise his concerns about the governance of Jersey: There is a country where there are allegations that crimes by powerful people are not being investigated and prosecuted. A journalist has been refused entry to stop reporting about an issue. The chief of police has been suspended to stop him investigating crimes. Bloggers are being threatened to stop them talking about people. Decisions by the state not to prosecute cannot be challenged, nor is private prosecution allowed. The country is Jersey. The journalist ...
From Sheena Wellington at Friends of Wighton: Reigning Glenfiddich Fiddle Champion Maggie Adamson and guitarist Brian Nicolson will provide the musical treats for the Friends of Wighton Cappuccino Concert on Saturday 22nd September in the Wighton Heritage Centre on the Central Library. 20 year old Maggie Adamson, currently studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, is one of Shetland's finest young fiddlers who exemplifies the dynamic techniques which has made the Shetland fiddle style famous. Maggie is regularly accompanied by Brian Nicholson (a member of Hom Bru and many other groups), perhaps Shetland's most gifted and prodigious guitarist. The pairing ...
I'm delighted to learn that Riverside Nature Park has been awarded a Green Apple Award from the national Green Organisation. It is a bronze award for good environmental practice and great to see the nature park being recognised so comparatively early in the life of the park, that was opened last year. You can read more about Riverside Nature Park at www.dundeecity.gov.uk/environment/riversidenature.
Plans are well under way for this year's Discovery Film Festival, taking place between 20thOctober and 4th November at Dundee Contemporary Arts. Discovery Film Festival 2012 will feature the best films for young audiences from across the world, as well as workshops, special events and not one but two special exhibitions in the galleries, curated with young audiences in mind. The film festival will be welcoming back Norway's lovable talking twig, Twigson, whose first adventure was such a hit at last year's festival that the festival this year is screening the sequel, Twigson Ties The Knot. Discovery Film Festival 2011 ...
This column appeared in Monday's Manchester Evening News: Last year 174 people were killed or seriously injured on Manchester's roads and there were nearly 2000 road casualties. These shocking statistics help explain why Manchester has the North West's second highest rate of overall pedestrian casualties; and the UK has Europe's highest proportion of pedestrian road deaths and lowest levels of children walking or cycling to school. Half of the people hit by a car at 30mph will die; in contrast 90% of those hit by a car at 20mph survive. In February I proposed a Lib Dem 'Twenty's Plenty' Council ...
A lengthy piece by Richard Reeves has just been published online by The New Statesman. There is much in it that I agree with. Apart, that is, from the main thrust of the argument. It would be worth performing a detailed discourse analysis on the piece, but now isn't the time. Reeves ploughs a familiar furrow. He thinks Clegg should stay as leader. That comes as no surprise. But Reeves counsels that Clegg needs to complete his mission to 'liberalise' the party. Again, this doesn't come as a huge surprise. Reeves argues that: The question about the leadership is, at ...
Migraine Awareness week ended on 8th September, so I'm a bit late making my annual rant on the topic, but Dr Ann Robinson in The Guardian has made me cross. The NICE guidelines which have been been in the news are for the Diagnosis and Management of Headaches in Young People and Adults. If my experience ...
Turning down Durham and Crook for new town councils makes a Consett Town Council look less likely, and that's what happened today in the county council meeting. The consultation in Crook had given a pretty decisive thumbs down to plans for a town council. Durham was much closer, but in a non-binding consultation and a very low turnout the majority who wanted a town council was wafer thin – too thin to proceed on safely. It was a matter of high emotion for some of my colleagues, but as an outsider looking in I thought the decision not to proceed ...
Two and a half years ago, Nick Clegg could do no wrong. A nation took him to its bosom, wooed by his direct and personal approach to the TV debates. He wasn't oily like Cameron or stiff and staid like Brown - he was less interest in cheap political point-scoring and more interest in direct down the camera appeals to the people at home. So popular was he in that first debate that the Cameron moderated his approach in the subsequent debates whilst Brown famously began to parrot his "I Agree With Nick" line. The Lib Dems rose and rose ...
Matt Gallagher, the Liberal Democrat Candidate to be Greater Manchester's Police and Crime Commissioner was on Sky News earlier today discussing Gun Crime: Video from
