One thing that always nags at me is a sense that I should have *some* idea of what is going on in the pop-cultural world. This is one of the reasons I watch new Doctor Who, despite everything — a way of keeping in touch with the culture. Because even before the internet, I've always ...
The old pile was looking particularly fine as I was coming home from an event at the Wellcome Trust earlier this week.
It's been a manically busy time and my blogging (or the lack of it) has suffered as a result over recent months. One of the many topical issues on which I should be blogging is the on-going American Presidential Election. I haven't had the time to go into detail on the latest comings and goings in this intriguing Obama Vs Romney drama but I had to blog briefly on what is now a 4 or so week old (see, I'm clearly out of touch!) campaign add for Bridget Mary McCormack for State Supreme Court on a non-partisan election ticket which ...
It's absolutely not true to say that Westminster Tories have conspired in today's events because Cornwall Conservatives were in danger of making them look competent... But full credit to new Chief Whip (and yet another Old Etonain) Sir George Young, for managing to get all the main stories in one handy poster... Tweet
Such is the Conservatives' luck at the moment that no sooner is Sir George Young named as their new chief whip than a picture appears of him and his young children with Jimmy Savile. Well, almost. But this leaflet is a reminder of Savile's ubiquity in those days. In particular, he was the face of British Rail in all its advertising. When I was a student I had a theory that you could judge the importance of a station by the number of likenesses of Savile you could find on posters there. A major junction like York would be comfortably ...
What a wonderful way to complete a short leafleting session in Corby today? After braving the rain and cold weather, Chair of Nottingham City Liberal Democrats Issan Ghazni, and former Northampton Councillor Prince Sadeq Choudhury decided to rest and re-charge ... Continue reading →
Some classic early 80s ska from the archive of TOGWT.
I wrote about Andrew Mitchell on the 24th September. He had the support of David Cameron which is usually a sign of imminent departure. Well it wasn't imminent as he only resigned today. Headlines will say that Mr Mitchell resigned because of 'plebgate' and I suppose that is right as he may have lost authority following this embarrassing incident. My main concern was not Mr Mitchell's standing in his party but his party's relationship with the police service and society in general. The loss of a chief whip is not a big deal. The big deal is that we still ...
Thanks to @kaygeeuk on Twitter.
....as Eddie Cochran sang in Summertime Blues I'm gonna take my problem to the United NationWell I called my congressman and he said quote"I'd like to help you son, but you're too young to vote"I'm very pleased that 16 and 17 year olds will be able to vote in the Scottish referendum in 2014. Most pleased because it might cause the same pressure in our own General Elections, tho I know this isn't automatic, given the Scottish and Welsh commiment to more proportional voting systems hasn't filtered down to UK Parliament. I am not the most enamoured with Alex Salmond, ...
I can't read George Osborne's mind but I think he knows that he only had a standard train ticket today but sat in a first class seat. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and accept that he made a mistake when buying the ticket or maybe,as reported, his plans changed after buying it. Let's go one step further and blame one of his assistants making George perfectly innocent of any wrongdoing. We have to blame the assistant again because, according to the BBC, 'An aide to Mr Osborne initially refused to pay the £160 supplement'. The problem for ...
Breaking news this Friday evening: Andrew Mitchell has quit as government chief whip after criticism for making rude remarks to police officers at the gates of Downing Street. Mr Mitchell apologised for his conduct but denied using the word "pleb" in exchanges last month. ... The Prime Minister has accepted his resignation. Maybe he'd have fared better with a more frank apology right from the start – I suggested some options here. And in worse news for the Tories, George Osborne had become embroiled in a row about whether an aide refused to pay for a ticket upgrade when travelling ...
Two days ago I sent this tweet: Whatever the rights and wrongs of #gategate how can Andrew Mitchell stay in post? A chief whip has to be a figure of authority - he has none — Jonathan Calder (@lordbonkers) October 17, 2012This evening, in his resignation letter, Mitchell wrote: Over the last two days it has become clear to me that whatever the rights and wrongs of the matter I will not be able to fulfil my duties as we would both wish.I am not gloating over his fall - the Police Federation has not won my admiration over this ...
OK so there may not be any Lib Dem Councillors on Greenwich Council at present but London's Transport Heroine (a totally unbiased view of course) Lib Dem Assembly Leader and Chair of the Assembly's Transport Committee, Caroline Pidgeon has been leading from the front by standing up for Greenwich residents, taxpayers and users of public ...
There has been much merriment today at George Osborne's antics aboard the train to Euston. As BBC News tells it: George Osborne has been forced to pay for an upgrade after sitting in a first class train carriage with a standard class ticket. An aide to Mr Osborne initially refused to pay the £160 supplement and said the chancellor did not want to move into standard class, Virgin Trains said. ITV reporter Rachel Townsend, who was on the same train as the chancellor, Tweeted about the incident. He is lucky he is not living in the 1920s.Back in 2005 I ...
The publication of Statutory Instruments is not, if I'm absolutely honest, the sort of thing to which I pay much attention. However, this week The Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2012 was published. It comes into effect early next month. And it is going to be of considerable significance. Following the Localism Act local authorities are now allowed, for the first time, to discharge their homelessness duty into the private rented sector without the applicant's consent. This change brought the Government under pressure to lay down some conditions regarding the nature of the accommodation that can be used for ...
[IMG: A pile of newspapers] Straight out of the Ronseal school of website naming, it aggregates political news... providing you with the latest stories from a range of the most important and best media outlets and blogs. It's at aggregator.markpack.org.uk. Happy reading!
Work is underway to build the Metrolink extension to Manchester Airport. The line will extend from the South Manchester line at Chorlton and run on 14.5km (9 miles) of new track over the Mersey Valley and into Wythenshawe crossing the M60 and M56 motorways, continuing through to Wythenshawe town centre and on to Manchester Airport. These works will require a 24 hour closure of each motorway, although the two closures will not take place on the same date. M60 – The closure will be between junctions 5 and 8 from 10pm on Saturday 3rd November to 10pm Sunday 4th November ...
Let's see if we can get back to weekly updates... 121404: First floor extension for storage/distribution space (B8 use), North Station Road. 121834: First floor extension, Bristol Road. Please note that I am a member of the Council's Planning Committee for this municipal year. This means that I'm required to act in a 'quasi-judicial' manner with regard to applications before the Committee and as such, can't make comments in favour or against planning applications as I may then have pre-judged them before they come to Committee. I can give advice on planning issues and what to do if you have ...
The link here is to a case in the polish language paper Polish Express. It relates to a mother in Haringey. Part of the google translation says this: JW: Why the speculation? Magda: I'm in this for half a year, I see and hear. For example, at a meeting of barbecue in one of many of my translators, you were present with the same care and told her that "Polish children a good product adoption."
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week Vince Cable MP writes... My view on George Osborne's employee ownership scheme (73 comments) by Vince Cable MP Opinion: Clegg's cock-up over Page 3 - he should sign the "No More Page Three" petition now (58 comments) by Daisy Cooper Opinion: Britain should join the Euro (157 comments) by Geoff Crocker Employee share ownership - open letter to Vince Cable and Nick Clegg (63 comments) by Tracy Connell Nick Clegg is The Sun's Hero of the Week... ...
Twitter is a marvellous website and often allows you to see news happening first hand. Well I say news, sometimes it's only newsworthy because of the person involved: Obviously George Osborne still believes we are all in it together, just as long as he doesn't have to sit with the rest of us. I hope that £160 came from his own pocket!
In common with most of you, when I saw that Nick Clegg was The Sun newspaper's hero of the week – I grew worried that the path to populism which Clegg has embraced in recent months had led to a particularly illiberal precipice. Clegg has, since the unveiling of the differentiation strategy come to resemble politically the drunken man wandering from bar to bar trying to get served one final time, as the Deputy Prime Minister lurches from one initiative to another, hoping to turn the alchemy of populism into the solid gold of popularity. I discuss this further here ...
Fri 19th
15:45
Almost 200 SNP members cheer Gordon Wilson as he describes equal marriage as a "biological cul-de-sa...
Sometimes you wonder whether people actually think about the implications of what they're going to say before they open their mouths. Gordon Wilson has had plenty to say on the equal marriage issue, including that the SNP should not pursue the policy in case it mucked up the independnece referendum. He excelled himself at the SNP conference n Perth. According to the Telegraph, he told a packed fringe meeting that the SNP Government, by introducing marriage equality, was pursuing a policy that was a "biological cul-de-sac" because we need more children to be born to balance our ageing population. The ...
With effect from 4th November there are some changes to First services affecting our area. Passengers are advised to check timetables before travelling - new timetables should be uploaded on the South Glos Council bus timetable page shortly. Service 327 (Bristol - Yate) Monday to Saturday there will two additional journeys at 20:50 and 22:50 from Bristol to Yate.Monday to Saturday there will be an additional and later last journey at 2140 from Yate to Bristol. Service 329 (Bristol - Yate)The Monday to Saturday evening Service 329 will be withdrawn. The Sunday and Public Holiday daytime journeys operated by another ...
So the Scots are to get an in-out referendum on independence. But if they vote 'yes' where does this leave the Union Jack with the blue bits representing the St. Andrew's Cross? The obvious answer ...
Shas's answers are ( under the cut ) You can find links to all the other candidates' answers here [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Some groundbreaking research for the Tax Justice Network, carried out by James Henry, a former chief economist at McKinstry and expert on tax havens, has shown that the super rich have hidden, and thus paid no tax on, assets of some £20trillion. Of the World's approx 7bn people about 10million are rich enough to play this game but only some 100000 are so disgustingly rich that they account for about half the hidden assets. The unpaid tax would be enough to wipe out Africa's debt or go a long way to solving the Eurocrisis. John Christensen of the of The ...
As one who is known to grumble a fair bit about how the Liberal Democrats have been organised and run over the last few years I think it is worth welcoming some good news. The relatively new Chief Executive of the Party, Tim Gordon, gives the impression of being a Good Thing — and this week he has announced his first big change to how things will work. Alongside the ending of Liberal Democrat News and it's transformation into a new magazine, a move that has been long overdue, there is a significant restructuring of the organisation at Party HQ. ...
Fri 19th
15:05
Robin Tilbrook (English Democrats - "More Police-Catching Criminals!") - Oh dear - English Fail...
When the people of Essex go to the polls on November 15th they'll be faced with the following names, parties and slogans on the ballot: Nick Alston (Conservative Party Candidate) Linda Belgrove (Independent) Val Morris-Cook (Labour Party Candidate) Andrew Smith (United Kingdom Independence Party) Mick Thwaites (Independent) Robin Tilbrook (English Democrats – "More Police-Catching Criminals!") We made a decision not to field a candidate. The one thing that jumps out that is that Robin Tilbrook of the English Democrats wants more criminals catching the police. Oh dear for a misplaced hyphen. Is it bad that is the first thing I ...
Need advice? Visit Ambitions 2012 at UWE and talk to an expert. The event takes place over two days on 23 and 24 October at the University of the West of England Exhibition and Conference Centre. Featuring more than 100 local and regional organisations, including employers, universities, colleges, training providers and volunteering organisations, this is a great opportunity for all 13 to 19 year-olds to kick-start their future career. More details available here
International Development minister Lynne Featherstone writes a monthly column for one of her local newspapers. Here is the latest one..... What would we do without our schools, hospitals, post and sorting offices, small businesses and pubs? Our local services are the backbone of our community and need to be protected - but they have been under threat in Haringey for years. Right from our childhood, we begin to benefit from one of the most important local services - schools. It is vital that schools have enough money to provide a good education and pay their teachers decent wages. Haringey's schools, ...
Susan's answers are ( under the cut ) You can find links to all the other candidates' answers here [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
David's answers for FCC are ( under the cut ) David's answers for FPC are ( under this cut ) You can find links to all the other candidates' answers here [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
James's answers are ( under the cut ) You can find links to all the other candidates' answers here [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Evan's answers for FCC are ( under the cut ) Evan's answers for FPC are ( under this cut ) You can find links to all the other candidates' answers here [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
(If you're in an area with the elections, of course.)
I have a bunch more answers from candidates to post over the course of today (so twitter will likely be quiet) but before I do that I thought I'd have a go at this meme. Mark's post on it is here, if you're interested. And I think it's possibly telling that my first reaction on reading of the concept was "Only three?"... Having said that, I'm not really a person who does regrets: I tend to find that getting things wrong on occasion is a learning experience. Of course the first step to learning from your mistakes is to acknowledge ...
"And I thank Big Chief Boris and all his tribe for their gestures of support..." By Howard from Liberal Democrat News
Following on from Tim Montgomerie's confessional lead regarding three things he feels he has got wrong since starting blogging and commentating I thought I'd have a stab at confessing my own three: I was wrong to so quickly dismiss the claims of Charlotte Gore (with whom I had a long discussion at the 2009 Lib Dem conference on this subject) and various others that Lib Dems being in government would be "our worst nightmare". I think I had a somewhat naive view that once the party was part of a coalition that the public would be able to very clearly ...
MPs' expenses are in the news again, They have done nothing wrong so I don't blame the 27 MPs but I do blame a system that allows them to gain another income from their position in Westminster. We want our MPs to be paid appropriately for their important role. The trouble is that we have gone through one scandal in which MPs could rent a DVD or get their moat cleaned and bill the tax payer. More importantly the same scandal allowed MPs to have a second home a few miles from their first home and not pay for ...
Personally I am looking forward to 'The Thick of it' on Saturday when they will sending up public inquiries, but it seems that not everybody has the same level of anticipation. The Independent reports that the editor of The Times was required to write to Lord Justice Leveson earlier this summer explaining why the paper had run a short story revealing that the BBC2 show's current series would satirise a public inquiry run on similar lines to the press ethics inquiry. They say that the story was 208 words long and did not appear on a prominent page. It also ...
I thought that I'd try a different format for the preview this week, so let's see how it goes... Monday sees the Third Reading of the Local Government Finance Bill. After this week's drama, when the Government suddenly came up with an additional £100 million to support local council tax support schemes during the transition phase, one might expect the Bill to be passed relatively comfortably. However, Labour will almost certainly endeavour to ambush this if they can. Perhaps more interestingly, and certainly a more emotional moment than most, Lord Falconer of Thoroton will be introducing a Short Debate on ...
[IMG: Parliament - Big Ben] MPs accused of abusing expense rules? Check. Speaker trying to keep key information secret? Check. Daily Telegraph spilling the beans? Check. You could be forgiven for thinking you've slipped into a passing timestream and been wafted back to the past. The advantage of events repeating themselves is that people can learn from their mistakes first time round. But one lesson MPs don't seem to be learning: if you've got a good explanation for what you have claimed, openness not secrecy is the best option. At first glance the idea of MPs acquiring property thanks to ...
The Living Wage is something that all the main political parties endorse. According to the Prime Minister it is an idea 'whose time has come'; Nick Clegg is behind it; Ed Miliband praised it at the Labour conference; and Boris Johnson is a staunch supporter of the campaign. It is therefore unfortunate that, for an idea that enjoys such strong cross-party support, to date, the only local councils accredited as Living Wage employers are of one political colour – red. Figures out this week show that almost 1 in 5 working Londoners are paid below the London Living Wage. As ...
Reblogged from Traditional Catholics in Scouting: St Frideswide, pray for us. St Frideswide is the Patron of the City and University of Oxford. St Frideswide, a Saxon princess, became the first Abbess of a monastery in Oxford built for her by her father. But, mostly she retired to a hermit's cell where she lived a ...
theeconomist: This week's cover: Britain's immigration policy is crippling business and the economy. Wake up, Mr Cameron
Last night was the Al Smith Dinner, held in New York every four years (by the Roman Catholic church) and always attended by the main two Presidential candidates. Each makes a speech. And they have to be funny. Even Mitt. The amazing thing is - they were funny. Here's Romney... And Obama we know can be funny...here is at the last Dinner 4 years ago The really strange thing -is all the US politicians can do this. Here's George W Bush!! (really gets going 45 seconds in) Al Gore (I love this) Bill Clinton Now William Hague is funny - ...
Ninety years ago this morning the last Liberal-Conservative peace time coalition government imploded. Lloyd George resigned as Prime Minister, never to return to power. Austen Chamberlain was replaced by Bonar Law and has his place in history as the only Tory leader of the 20th century never to be Prime Minister. A month later the ...
Nick Griffin and the Limits of Free Speech | Robert Sharp (tags: ) On the need for Top of the Pops. (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Cheadle & Gatley Ladies Circle present an evening shopping extravaganza to raise money for Stockport & District MIND at Replay, Wood Street, Stockport, SK3 0DH (behind the fire station). Come along on Thursday 25th October 7.30pm to 10pm. Admission £1 includes raffle entry. Handbags, scarves, handmade cards, candles, jewellery plus many other stalls and a licensed bar.
At the moment we are being outmanoeuvred by the Tories on the PR front, as the Osborne distortion of employee ownership illustrates, and we are not differentiating ourselves in an increasingly right wing government. We need to issue two challenges, right now, in addition to the clamour around the Employee Share Ownership issue – especially with the TUC demonstration looming on Saturday, which I shall be attending (hopefully I will see other yellow rosettes there). They are related. The first is the austerity measures translated into cost-cutting. Why does this continue to be accepted when two economics Nobel prize winners, ...
It is 200 days until the 31st Deep Rock Belfast City Marathon. It is a race that I have never completed all of, though I have run several legs of the relay along its changing course. My late father also entered team of members of the Boys' Brigade in the event through the years. In 2007 I got a phone call while at work in Edinburgh to come home quickly as my father who had walked into hospital the previous night for a routine appointment did not have long left and was in the Marie Curie Centre in Belfast. Those ...
Halifax MP Linda Riordan has reportedly been renting out her London flat for close to £1,500 per month and at the same time claiming a similar amount from the taxpayer to rent somewhere herself. As far as I can tell this is not against the rules but it looks pretty dreadful. I would have thought all MPs would have conducted a thorough review of their affairs after the expenses scandal in 2009. It was a chance to recognise that even when things are "within the rules" they can still be wrong. I am not sure if the flat she is ...
Leo Barasi's piece over on Liberal Conspiracy raises an interesting point about the frequency of political opinion polling in the UK. We now have far more polls than before giving national voting intention figures (this Parliament so far: 878, 2001-5 312 in total, 1987-92 548 in total – to give some examples). But do we have too few? Due to the vagaries of random sampling, a poll that shows a party's support going up or down a couple of points doesn't really show anything. It's like tossing a coin 10 times and getting 4 heads first time round and 6 ...
I have welcomed the benefits offered to local communities and Dundee City Council by the Liberal Democrats' home rule plan. I mentioned the report of the party's Home Rule and Community Rule Commission earlier this week and it has detailed how a range of powers will be permanently transferred to the Scottish Parliament. There is a clear real need to go further than simply transferring powers from Westminster to Scotland. Under the SNP, Scotland has become more and more centralised in recent years, with Ministers trying to grab all the power to the centre, to Scottish Government offices in Edinburgh. ...
Last night, I took part in an additional meeting of the West End Local Community Planning Partnership (LCPP) at the Tartan Coffee House in Perth Road. The reason for the additional LCPP meeting was to allow for an update from the Capital Projects Team at the City Council about the forthcoming consultation on the planning proposals for the new Harris Academy building. I have already updated residents on the dates for the public exhibition of the proposals and there's a further update on the process from Mr Thewliss, Head Teacher, in a recent letter to the members of the Harris ...
I know I'm out on a limb here, as both the Liberal Democrats and the Electoral Reform Society, both of which I am an enthusiastic member, advocate that the voting age be reduced to 16. But I can generate little enthusiasm. Most of my teaching career has been with the 16-18 year old age group - sixth formers generally preparing for university. At 16 most of them have simply parroted their parents' views on social, political and economic issues. By the end on the two-year course some were beginning to think more critically, but most still adhered to the family ...
US political watchers are getting particularly excited by Gallup's post debate poll showing Romney with a seven point margin over Obama - surely enough to propel him to the Whitehouse in 19 days time. But this interesting analysis from the Huffington Post suggests some reasons why national polls - such as this Gallup one - are apparently at odds with state polling that shows Obama with leads in key swing states
Marc Ramsbottom, Liberal Democrat candidate for the Manchester Central By-Election Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat Leader, has today announced that Greater Manchester is to receive a £35million cash injection to boost Greater Manchester's economy and to create jobs.The investment from the Government's Regional Growth Fund will be given to Greater Manchester's Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to support large projects in the private sector which have the potential to create new jobs.Marc Ramsbottom, Liberal Democrat prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Manchester Central By-Election, said: "This is excellent news for Manchester. This money will help create lasting jobs ...
...and here are the answers on FPC. 1. Which of the following activities do you consider the most dangerous and why? - taking a single ecstasy tablet - taking an advanced motorcycle riding test - giving birth Giving birth. Around 100 women die every year in the UK whereas between 10-17 people die from taking ecstasy. Statistically ecstasy may be more dangerous because far fewer people
Here's my answers to Jennie's questions on FCC. Answers to Jennie Rigg's questions to FCC candidates 1. What ratio do you think is the ideal balance for keynote speeches, policy debates and Q&A sessions on the main stage at conference? I think policy debates should have the lion's share of the time, certainly over 50%, probably more, then Q&As and
Fri 19th
01:04
Posting the address not your opinion is the problem, don't pretend otherwise Nick Griffin
Sign up to the Despatch Box, the new weekly political e-magzine from digitalpolitico.net There has been a huge outcry over Nick Griffin MEP publishing the home address of a gay couple on Twitter, and urging his supporters to protest outside ... Continue reading →
