This was the view on the approach to the proposed sports development for Yarm School around mid-day yesterday. Would anyone seriously want to put their sports pitches and pavilion there? I wonder if the design calculations for the pedestrian bridge have taken into account the impact of this sort of flood on the foundations, or is it written off as a "one in a hundred year event" and ignored
On "Late night with Letterman", David Cameron got praised for mentioning Texas and Nebraska. He knew the date of the Magna Carta and the place where it was signed, why it was signed and where a copy of it is now. He spoke eloquently about Wales, the Irish problem, the Olympics, the banking collapse, the Euro etc. He was copiously praised for a "flawless" Olympics. He was warmly applauded for the fact that political advertising is not allowed on TV in the UK. – Really warmly and lengthily applauded. He knew very specific details about Sebastian Coe's athletic record and ...
The AGM of my trade union, the Society of Authors, held at Conway Hall in Central London this evening, was unusually contentious, as various members objected to the way things have been handled recently. But those concerns were postponed to another day, when an extraordinary general meeting can be summoned. In the meantime, we got ...
One of the few false notes (actually he provided many false notes) of the Olympic opening ceremony was the performance of Paul McCartney. He is a living part of our musical history but, let us be honest, he voice has gone. It is not surprising, given his age, but in the past couple of years I have heard two survivors of the British Invasion generation who have definitely still got it: Steve Winwood and Colin Blunstone of the Zombies. The other day Andrew Hickey pointed us to this video of a short performance by Blunstone and his bandmate Rod Argent. ...
I think it was 1979 when Michael White wrote in the Guardian that Margate pier was the ideal image for the Liberal Party. Our conference in Margate had been interrupted by occasional explosions as the demolition experts tried to destroy the pier. It was, said Michael, "a Victorian structure that refused to go away". I wondered if any journalists this year would be tempted to compare the
Live blog of Question Time featuring Rt. Hon. Danny Alexander MP, Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman MP, Kirstie Alssopp, Steve Coogan, and The Mogg. The first programme of the series.
I am not a regular speaker at Liberal Democrat conferences, and when I do, I normally stick to issues of bureaucracy. Not always, but as a rule I don't really do policy. However, the more time I spend as a parish councillor, the more aware I become of the issues that affect small villages and rural communities. And, confronted with a conference motion that called for all residential roads to be made 20 mph zones, my interest was attracted, especially as my fellow colleagues on Creeting St Peter Parish Council are rather keen on the idea. There was a catch ...
The Samsung-Apple patent battle brings to light an area of intellectual activity of which my more academic colleagues are probably little aware. As an industrial scientist the value of a project is not measured by the number of papers published in peer reviewed literature or even in our own internal literature; it is measured, amongst other things, by the number of patents it has produced. Starting out on a project, the intellectual property landscape investigated and remains critical throughout. Scientific work to defend patents in legal actions is top priority, and in this there is the thrill of the chase ...
We're now just a two days away from the first birthday of the relaunched Aldes website. Over the last year, we've covered science policy issues of interest in the mainstream news, added an online sign-up form for membership and moved onto Twitter. We've taken the Aldes stand to the Social Liberal Forum conference (where we met Ed Davey) and the Open Rights Group conference and, back in March at the Spring Conference, showed foresight in passing a motion opposing monitoring of communications data a month before most of the mainstream press even started covering the issue. But one of the ...
Jennie Rigg surveys the possible alternatives and concludes that Nick Clegg is safe as Lib Dem leader for a while yet. "One of the key changes he wants to see from Nick Clegg this year isn't just the distinct Lib Dem vision that every activist is calling for, but a desire to articulate that vision at every opportunity, even when it makes the coalition travel over some bumpy terrain as a result. He says the failure of House of Lords reform will give the party 'leeway' to do this, and expects Clegg and colleagues to use the loss of the ...
There's a better, more meaningful future waiting for us. Not as the third party, but as one of three parties of government.said Nick Clegg in his leader's speech to the Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton yesterday. I am all in favour of the Lib Dems being a party of government, but I am not sure I follow the logic here. Because we are the third party and likely to remain so (unless it is in the 2014 Euro elections, when we could finish fourth or even fifth). And that means being in government depends upon our holding the balance of ...
Nearly 40 residents attended a workshop yesterday in Chipping Sodbury Town Hall to discuss the development principles - building style, traffic measures etc - for the big North Yate development that is included in the South Glos Core Strategy. Planning officers and developer representatives also attended, and they seemed to be listening to what residents told them. Perhaps we can have some influence on these smaller matters, even if the development is now likely to go ahead, judging by the Planning Inspector's preliminary response to the Core Strategy.
..........................The loud and prolonged cheering which followed the decisive rejection of a resolution urging the abandonment of the policy (employee ownership) was the climax of the Assembly and made it clear that the great majority of those present regarded the proposals as the cornerstone of Liberal Policy and the Party's main issue at the forthcoming General Election. Profit-sharing and co-partnership have, of course, been advocated by the Liberal Party for more titan fifty years; but to-day it wants to go a good deal further than merely welcoming the development of such schemes. It wants to extend them over a large ...
It's just a shame that it appears to have coincided with the end of the world.
Oh, Dear Constant Reader, how far we've come from the days of the last Labour leadership election. If you remember I stalked the internet accosting unwary Labour leadership candidates with questions about marriage equality. Ed Miliband, perhaps understandably, seemed most unprepared of the five candidates for these questions. His answers, such as to my question here or to Liberal Conspiracy here, were hesitant. 2. Would you allow gays to be legally married, rather than just be registered as a civil partnership? He hesitates. "I will listen to what people have to say on going further than that if there is ...
In his speech to federal conference this week Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie made quite a startling claim. He said: "We've already heard from some English nationalists that they want Scotland out. They don't value our United Kingdom. These are the allies of Alex Salmond's SNP in their fight to break up Britain. They are working together, attending each other's conferences and sharing ideas." That is a huge accusation to make and naturally I began asking questions. A member of staff soon alerted me to the "facts". A singular MP, namely Angus MacNeil, attended a conference of the English ...
So said Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in The Pink Panther Strikes Again while in the asylum as a result of being in charge of Inspector Clouseau. Well today the man who played Dreyfus Herbert Lom who portrayed Dreyfus with a more pronounced tic under the strain often related to Clouseau has passed away. His career spanned 60 years and although he appeared in The Ladykillers, Sparticus and El Cid, it will be always be as Peter Sellers character's nemesis that he will be best remembered. Lom was born into Austrian nobility in 1917 in Prague, the son of a count. ...
Ouch.
The Independent has an interesting comment piece in which they suggest that the New Labour legacy is about to be passed to the next generation. Apparently, rumours that Euan Blair is lining up to inherit the safe Labour seat of Coventry North West from Geoffrey Robinson, who will be almost 77 at the next general election may be less than accurate on the grounds that Mr Robinson adamantly denies any intention of quitting Parliament. However. the sons of other Blairite Cabinet Ministers do appear to be positioning themselves for a stab at the top. The paper says that Will Straw ...
Thu 27th
15:23
Tim Farron MP writes... Paddy Ashdown new Liberal Democrat 2015 General Election campaign Chair
One of the main messages to come out of what has been an absolutely fantastic conference in Brighton, is that it is time to look forward, time to make the second half of this Parliament count, time to prepare for the 2015 election campaign. Yesterday, Nick made an announcement that has shown the world just how serious we are about the fight to 2015 - he has appointed Paddy Ashdown to lead the General Election campaign team. Now anyone who knows Paddy knows about his campaigning prowess. There is no one quite like him when it comes to an election. ...
On Tuesday, in his speech to the Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton, Willie Rennie called on conference representatives from south of the border to make the case for keeping the union together and not just give the stage to the English nationalists. He said: We've already heard from some English nationalists that they want Scotland out. They don't value our United Kingdom. These are the allies of Alex Salmond's SNP in their fight to break up Britain. They are working together, attending each other's conferences and sharing ideas. But despite what you may have heard most people in Scotland don't ...
A new advert has been released in support for President' Obama's re-election. It is entitled 'Wake the F****' up, and is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. Supported by the standalone http://www.wtfu2012.com website, it features the story of a little girl urging her ... Continue reading →
The conventional wisdom in the British media is that the Liberal Democrats are doomed to a huge defeat in 2015. The only question that exercises such commentators as Polly Toynbee is how large the Labour victory will be and how long they will be in power. For sure, as Sir Mervyn King foresaw during the general election, in conversation with my friend David Hale, any government that took office in 2010 was going to face exceptional challenges. The economic situation when the coalition was formed was the worst in over 60 years. On top of this came the challenges of ...
The debate at this year's Liberal Democrat conference on the Justice and Security Bill was one of the highest quality of the whole conference, particularly on the part of those supporting the motion (and opposing the party leadership's amendment). It was no wonder after hearing those fantastic speeches that the motion was passed so overwhelmingly. It is true that significant amendments have been made to the Bill by Liberal Democrats since it first arrived in Parliament. It has undoubtedly been improved. One of the main improvements was to remove inquests from the scope of the closed material procedures that are ...
There is no denying that what Andrew Mitchell said to Police officers last week was uncalled for and rude. In my Grandfather's day as a Police officer you would have faced immediate repercussions and even arrest as Officers were people to be respected. Now however times have changed. I've worked with the General Public for around Fourteen years now and, if I'm honest, society has got ruder to people in uniforms be it Civil servant (like the Police) or corporate. A very "Upstairs/downstairs" attitude has come in where the ideology of the Customer is ALWAYS right has come in and ...
The "Westminster bubble" is a useful expression. It refers to an ecosystem of politicians, journalists, think tankers and numerous hangers on based Westminster who have there own version of reality. The Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton, which ended yesterday was firmly outside that bubble. Lib Dem conferences tend to inhabit their own bubble, of course. But after two years of appalling local election results, the complacency that characterises that bubble world was largely absent. Liberal Democrats are coming to terms pragmatically with a very uncomfortable reality. Westminster bubble types expected the party to be obsessed, as they are, with the ...
Jim Currie is the Cornwall Council cabinet member in charge of finances and corporate support. He's also deputy leader of the council and the former leader of the Conservatives on the old County Council. So when he states his unease with a flagship council policy, he deserves to be listened to. In an explosive email to all Cornwall councillors this morning, Jim has said that he is still deeply skeptical about the whole privatisation (or Joint Venture in council speak) proposal. He suggests that each of the new jobs created by the partnership could cost as much as a million ...
More local bureaucratic fun re-posted here: now the council's approach to performance review and reward. Believe me, this is not far off the truth. FROM: Conor O'Connor, Director of Human Resources Development TO: All Directors; Chief Executive Colleagues: The proposal for an Excellent Performance Delivery Environment (EPDE)I put before CRB has been approved. To summarise: * All employees will be graded from A - E by their line managers as part of the annual My Performance process. Grades will be reviewed and approved or amended by Team Leaders. * To prevent grade inflation, managers will adhere to the following performance ...
Think you can guess what this Facebook Page is about. A clue: Liberal Democrats. A second clue: Poland. As with the Liberal Democrat Forum for Africa, it's great to see the Liberal Democrats in Poland Facebook Page as there is huge potential for the party to expand its work in such places and with such communities. Good luck to all involved!
Every time there's a Lib Dem Conference the media indulges in leadership speculation. Far be it from me to suggest that this is because they have a limited repertoire of stories and can't be arsed to actually embed in the culture of the party enough to tell people what's really going on. They lazily repeat the lie that our polls are crashing (despite the ongoing ICM results - and ICM are always spot-on when it comes to us). So every six months they ring round every Lib Dem they can think of till they find one who is prepared to ...
This poster gladdened my heart. A group of passionate local people attended our last Beddington & Wallington Local Committee meeting demanding action to prevent travellers occupying the local park again. Together we agreed the best solution to the problem and as can be seen from my previous posting action taken. As a result of seeing ...
I don't know much about the man who sat two seats along from me on the flight home from Gatwick last night, but he made me deeply uneasy. I know that he's a Rangers fan, and that he's on Twitter, although I don't know his user name, and that he doesn't see women as equals in society. How do I know the third fact? Because he spent a large part of the hour long flight reading, although that's probably the wrong word, the lads' magazine "Nuts." This is not the first time that's happened recently. On a train journey to ...
The photo on the left shows the state of one of the Ridgegrove Estate bin areas this morning. Fly-tipped material including a fridge, a bed base and some wooden shelving means that it is impossible to get to the bins themselves. As a result, residents have left their rubbish bags as close to the bins as possible - but prey to vermin and cats. The sad thing is that these bins were emptied by Cory yesterday. But the fly-tipped stuff was just left where it was. Of course, there is no way that the regular dustcart can take away fridges ...
Thu 27th
11:25
Relaxation of planning laws: Conference call to listen to the expertise of local government
I made my debut at the Lib Dem conference on Wednesday to support the emergency motion calling for the withdrawal of the proposals to relax planning laws. The arguments against the proposals are: Councils already have discretion to negotiate the affordable housing part of s106 agreements, and will take account of any viability arguments from ...
A couple of weeks ago on these pages I called on the new Lib Dem minister for farming, David Heath, to ban the live exports of farm animals following a terrible event at the last port to allow the practice, Ramsgate. Since I wrote that post, another port – Ipswich – has begun live exports. One of the fantastic things about Liberal Democrat conference, particularly now we're a party of government, is the ability to question our MPs about the issues important to us. And that's exactly what I did when I spotted David Heath. He made it clear he ...
This summer, as we cheered our athletes to gold after gold after gold, Britain remembered how it feels to win again. But more importantly, we remembered what it takes to win again. Whether from Jess Ennis or Mo Farah, Sarah Storey or David Weir, the message was the same: we may be the ones on the podium, but behind each of us stands a coach. And behind the coach, a team. And behind the team, the organisers, the volunteers, the supporters. And behind them, a whole city, an entire country, the UK nations united behind one goal. What a contrast ...
To Liberal Democrat activists across the UK, chief whip Alistair Carmichael is one of the most popular parliamentarians. His sociable nature, wise head and sense of humour make him ideally suited for the challenges of being chief whip, but it means that one of our best media performers has been largely confined to the shadows of Westminster for the past two and a half years. Now the MP for Orkney and Shetland has partially emerged from those shadows to take over as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, succeeding Jo Swinson who stepped down after her promotion in the ...
The Sun had a small scoop yesterday, of little interest to much of the world but I would have thought of great fascination to the Lib Dem grass roots. The leader, it would seem, is not happy.....
Must try harder. That's my chief take-away from this year's Lib Dem conference | Stephen Tall (tags: ) Tessera: Bullies and predators (tags: ) Gossip, skeptics, and the mystery man | Hayley is a ghost (tags: ) Northowram and Shelf Tory councillor attacked for Hillsborough disaster comments (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus) Oh dear... (tags: ) Vince Cable promises better BME representation « (tags: ) More praise for the Everyday Sexism project (tags: ) Atos scandal: Benefits bosses admit over half of people ruled fit to work ended up destitute - Daily Record (tags: ) Letters: Job share to make ...
These are the words of the Ulster Covenant whose centenary people in Northern Ireland are celebrating this week. BEING CONVINCED in our consciences that Home Rule would be disastrous to the material well-being of Ulster as well as of the whole of Ireland, subversive of our civil and religious freedom, destructive of our citizenship, and perilous to the unity of the Empire, we, whose names are underwritten, men of Ulster, loyal subjects of His Gracious Majesty King George V., humbly relying on the God whom our fathers in days of stress and trial confidently trusted, do hereby pledge ourselves in ...
Rarely do public meetings in Ealing Town Hall's Victoria Hall fill the venue. Last night was very different. A full meeting with many residents from all over the borough having their say. From the Liberal Democrats we had myself and Councillor Andrew Steed present, as well as Councillors Jon Ball and Nigel Bakhai, our spokesperson for Heath matters, who had come back from the Liberal Democrat conference that finished earlier that day. The photo taken by Councillor Jon Ball shows the packed audience... Packed audience in Ealing town hall The debate pitted two people from each side against each other ...
Monday evening at conference saw a discussion between David Laws, economist Vicky Pryce and Simon Tilford from the Centre for European Reform entitled "Europe: from crisis to growth". This wasn't an event that one went to if one needed cheering up: the overall message coming from all the speakers was a downbeat one, even if they all picked out some small shards of positivity. Simon Tilford began by giving some reasons why on the face of it the past month has been a rather good one in the ongoing saga of the Eurozone crisis: we had the announcement from Mario ...
That's the question that Michael White asked, and here's the answer he reports: A total of 5,000, including media, commercial interests, VIPs and assorted observers, say officials. It's down on 2010 (6,500) but a recovery from last year's 4,800. The crucial figure is party members, 2,020 of whom are here, the same as last year. Not all are voting delegates. The last conference vote Wednesday was carried by 199 to 153. That last figure in particular is telling: 350 Lib Dem members deciding party policy out of a total of 48,000. As I wrote yesterday: Though we claim to be ...
Plenty of comment in today's papers about this week's Lib Dem conference and Nick Clegg's speech. Here's a selection of views... Benedict Brogan (Daily Telegraph) I suspect we are going to have to start talking about a Lib Dem recovery at some point. No, really. Nick Clegg's speech completed a fairly successful week for the Deputy Prime Minister. The polls are still terrible, and his prospects might look bleak, but as Dan Hodges argued earlier, Labour's support is soft and as we close on the election, the economy picks up and Labour's deficiencies come under scrutiny, their position can only ...
What happens to stolen bicycles? – Interesting post from the Priceonomics blog – because there's so little risk attached to bike theft, it makes it worthwhile for criminals despite the low rewards. Tom Harris is not a nice man – And the Pope is Catholic, but it's good to be reminded that the Labour Party have their own Nasty Party problem to deal with, even after they finally expelled Phil Woollas. Here's the foreword to my new book – Ben Goldacre's Bad Pharma. Put Whitey Back On The Moon – "Capitalism isn't just killing the planet. Capitalism is keeping us ...
Last week I was looking at my blog and realised how little on here over recent months has actually been about politics. See as that was the initial main thrust of the blog the revelation did rather startle me. Of course I do blog a lot of local political stuff either at Northern Ireland Lib Dems or LBGT Lib Dems Northern Ireland. I also It may have something to do with not being in work, as I used to commute in every day while composing something political to write about. it may also have something to do with my last ...
Also yesterday, I had the pleasure of chairing the latest meeting of the West End Christmas Fortnight committee. This year's Christmas events start on 17th November and run until 1st December. We had a really productive meeting and the West End Christmas Fortnight is taking great shape! Events will include: * Launch Day - 17th November : Community Fayre at Dundee West Church; Guild Christmas Coffee Morning; Dundee Art Society Christmas Fair (17th and 18th) and other launch events. * Monday 19th November : Children's activity at Blackness Library - making handprint Christmas trees. * Christmas Concert and Lights Switch ...
Yesterday, I took part in the latest meeting of the City Council's Local Economy Monitoring Group, that includes a cross-party group of councillors, senior council officers and representatives of Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses. The group reviews the city's economic progress and yesterday's meeting covered feedback from the City Council's recent Youth Employment Summit, the renewables sector, progress with the Waterfront and V&A at Dundee projects and the DWP Work Programme. The Local Economic Monitoring Group is a positive initiative and enables councillors and chief officers to hear views from local business representatives ...
